But more than a century and a half after slavery was abolished, there still remains an intense debate over whether the federal government should compensate the descendants of former slaves to atone for the country's legacy of slavery, in the form of reparations, and what form reparations should take. 40, a bill that would create a federal commission to study "the lingering negative effects of the institution of slavery" in the U.S. — looking at various forms of "economic, political, educational, and social discrimination" — and to develop proposals for "appropriate remedies," including potential reparations for Black Americans.