More at CREW of 42 - the unofficial blog on the CBC
SIXTY-TWO DAYS LEFT IN THE 111th CONGRESS. CBC is ZERO for FIVE. Good thing health care reform passed. Without that, the Congressional Black Caucus would have nothing legislatively they could call a victory and nothing they could specifically tell their constituents was a victory focused on their needs and concerns. Without the addition of Whip Jim Clyburn's language to fund community health care centers in the health care reform bill the CBC would have little to show legislatively in terms of items on the "black agenda." I don't know if I can define the health care reform bill as a "black agenda" item -- so let's look at the items that clearly can be defined as such.
More at CREW of 42 - the unofficial blog on the CBC
As it stands now, the Congressional Black Caucus is ZERO for 5 on legislative victories. As Congress drifts into its do-nothing state with only 62 legislative days left before the target adjournment date in October and we get closer to November 2, which is 171 days away, there is no reason to believe this status will change.
With the second black President of the Unites States set on making certain he never publicly mentions black issues or concerns out loud (unless questioned directly during an interview with April Ryan of Urban Radio Networks or USA Today...) there is no reason to believe a change is coming. President Obama is apparently set on window dressing as policy. He has his meetings with Marc Morial, black ministers, Ben Jealous and Rev. Al Sharpton but in the end, he doesn't push items on CBC agenda in public or in private. He doesn't endorse specific CBC legislation even when his own cabinet is parroting the words and policy in that legislation (i.e. The Youth PROMISE Act). In the case of the latest Supreme Court nomination he didn't even bother with window dressing: No black candidates were interviewed.
Let's look at the list of specific CBC legislative priorities:
01. BLACK FARMERS SETTLEMENT: This is increasingly looking as if it will not happen. One has to ask: Was Majority Leader Harry Reid's attempt to Pass $1.5 billion bucks via unanimous consent realistic or a sign he has given up? Did he really think the Rs would not notice a $1.5 billion UC to fund black farmers? Stay tuned today as he will probably try again. Something tells me this may be Reid's way of being able to say he "tried." As Rep. Bennie Thompson told me yesterday: There are other ways to do this.
2. SUMMER JOBS FOR YOUTH: So now The Hill reports that Chris Van Hollen says the summer jobs money is an "emergency" meaning no offset need to be found. Meanwhile in the Senate there has been no indication from ML Reid or Max Baucus that they are interested in funding summer jobs — whether the amount is $600 million of $1.5 billion is irrelevant. NO amount appears to be cued up to passed by the Senate. Why does CBC Chair Barbara Lee continue to give polite interviews and docile press conferences on this matter?
03. DC VOTING RIGHTS: This was not even a Congressional Black Caucus agenda item Was it discussed at any CBC Wednesday meeting? Not likely. Of course most of the reason for that is that DC residents are apparently uninterested in their own voting rights and political representation. Couple that with the fact that their Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, is more concerned with not looking like she got beat by Wayne LaPierre than voting in Congress and you have failure defined.
04. CRACK/POWDER COCAINE DISPARITY: Yeah, there are rumors of a suspension in the House to reduce the racist disparity regarding crack cocaine and powder cocaine sentencing from 1-100 to 1-18. The 1-18 was quietly passed in the Senate. Now we find the House passing suspension vote after suspension vote re-naming post offices and congratulating the LA Lakers — and avoiding suspension votes that are actually important. Though the 1-18 is said to be on the brink of passing I will believe it when I see it. Of everything on this list this has the best chance as it was already passed by the do-nothing Senate.
05. SUPREME COURT PICK: Can I call this a Congressional Black Caucus agenda item? Yes. Why? Because they had two meetings on the matter — neither of which yielded anything. In my view, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton misplayed DC Voting Rights but she hit the nail the head on the issue of whether or not President Obama would pick a black person to be a member of the Supreme Court. But it was even worse than that: He didn't even bother to interview one. First black President? We could have gotten the same performance from George Bush.