Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) announced plans to reintroduce H.R. 40, also known as the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act, as a way to fight back against the Trump administration’s federal DEI rollback, NBC News reports.
Despite having a Republican majority in the House, Pressley plans to push forward on the bill that had 130 co-sponsors during the last session, stating that the country is in “a moment of emboldened white supremacy and anti-Black racism.” “We have a hostile administration working actively to roll back decades of progress and more recent progress when it comes to our civil rights,” the congresswoman said while labeling the country as being at “a painful inflection point.”
The bill was first introduced by the late Democratic Rep. John Conyers in 1989, and when he retired in 2017, the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee took over as the lead sponsor, according to a 2021 article from NPR. Its name is a reference to formerly enslaved people getting their “40 acres and a mule,”
the bill initially would align a 13-person commission to study the effects of slavery and racial discrimination in the United States. The commission would hold hearings to submit its findings to Congress.Later, recommendations of “appropriate remedies” would be provided, along with the consideration of a
“national apology” for the harm caused as a result of slavery. “I don’t think anyone could argue against the fact that the trajectory of slavery has gone through the centuries, the decades and is in the DNA of descendants of enslaved Africans,” Jackson Lee once said during an interview.“America would do well to try to bring healing and repair in this time and this century.”
Presently, Pressley is carrying the torch amid the ban on DEI policies, labeling them “illegal and discriminatory” and encouraging Fortune 500 businesses to walk back on equity promises. Despite President Donald Trump saying in 2019 that he didn’t see federal reparations happening, a 2021 survey revealed that 77% of Black Americans supported issuing reparations tied to slavery. Only 18% of white Americans agreed. “I’m working actively to blunt the assaults from a hostile administration that means harm to everyone that calls this country home but will have a disparate impact on Black Americans,” Pressley said.
“Because throughout history, it has been proven that when other folks catch a cold, Black folks, figuratively, catch pneumonia.”
While roadblocks persist, Pressley is pressed to keep the bill at the forefront, including support from Senate leaders like Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who introduced the Senate equivalent in January 2025. Civil rights attorney and reparations advocate Nkechi Taifa supports the congresswoman’s efforts, stating, “We are in undeniably challenging times now” and “it is essential that H.R. 40 remain our North Star.”
In addition to reparations, the Massachusetts elected official is tackling legislation surrounding government-managed trust funds known as baby bonds, criminal justice reform, and a slew of racial equity matters while serving. Pressley says she loves “doing the work of consensus building.”
“I think I will breathe a new iteration of life into this movement,” the congresswoman said.