There is already precedent set for reparations to be funded through deficit spending – empirics prove.

How would a slavery reparations program be funded? Deficit spending is the most feasible approach. The taxes needed to support such an expensive program would be onerous. And there is precedent for it: In 1833, the United Kingdom passed the Slavery Abolition Act across much of the British Empire. 51 It paid to liberate its enslaved population by compensating slave owners to the tune of £20 million through deficit spending (£2.4 billion/$3.11 billion today). 52 To put the cost of slavery reparations in context: The program would be less pricey than the proposed outlays for proposals for Medicare for All at $20.5 trillion and the Green New Deal at an estimated $50-$90 trillion. 53 54 Where the Campaign for Reparations Stands Now The most recent version of H.R. 40, the bill that would set up a federal commission to study slavery reparations, has been endorsed by President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. When it was introduced, the bill had 157 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives. The bill had not made it out of committee in the 31 years since it was first introduced. 4 44 But on April 19, 2021, the Judiciary Committee advanced the bill to the U.S. House of Representatives on a 25-17 vote. 55 It currently has 176 co-sponsors, all of them Democrats. It would need 60 votes in the Senate to be passed.