see the (unofficial...) blog on the congressional black caucus
No black agenda?
hehe... shhhh don’t tell anyone... come on y’all pass this stuff quiet before anyone notices... When people write there is no CBC agenda or no black agenda (ala Tavis) I know they must have canceled their subscription to their local black owned paper. Forget the meetings with Al Sharpton and the press he gets. Forget the symbolic meetings with black ministers and Marc Morial at the White House. Pay attention to this list. What matters is what is passed into law and what is funded with cash — everything else is time waster.
see the (unofficial...) blog on the congressional black caucus
01. Community Health Care Centers. Whip Jim Clyburn put his $11 billion bill in the health care bill verbatim to fund community health care centers. This is bigger than anyone realizes or reports. DONE
02. Haiti Debt Relief. Rep. Maxine Waters’ bill to encourage financial institutions to relieve Haiti’s debt will probably be signed by President Obama today. DONE
03. Crack Cocaine/Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity. Rep. Bobby Scott’s bill to finally make the punishment for crack and powder cocaine even — after 26 years — was reported out of the House last year. The Senate then passed a bill changing the sentencing ratio from 1:100 to 1:18. Looks like the House may pass 1:18 with a quiet suspension. PENDING
04. Black Farmers. This week Rep. Jim Clyburn met with Reps. G.K. Butterfield, David Scott, Bennie Thompson and Artur Davis on appropriating $1.2 billion to finally pay black farmers who won a discrimination suit against the Dept of Ag. SOON
05. Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This is the only initiative that helps blacks directly that President Obama has spoken in public on. He is, and I bet he’ll remain, silent on DC voting rights and black farmers. Maybe because Bush, Reagan, Carter and George Bush did the same before him? ...but then he did add more cash for HBCUs as part of the corrected health care reform bill... DONE
06. $600 million for summer jobs. Reps. Barbara Lee and Emanuel Cleaver have been working on this since November 2009 when the number was $2.2 billion. The latest is that yesterday a meeting was canceled. BACK BURNER
07. DC Voting Rights. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton now has absolutely no reason to show up on the House floor. This went bust bigtime this week. The fact that 600,000 people in this country have no political representation in the should be a CBC priority. It is not. DEAD
08. Health Care Reform. Reps. Barbara Lee, Jim Clyburn and Del. Donna Christensen spearheaded health care reform for the CBC. It passed. DONE
09. Achievement Gap in Education. This issue should be getting a bigger push by the CBC and incredibly it’s not. If it were not for Reps. Bobby Scott and Gwen Moore the issue would never come up in a hearing. Fortunately, Educ Civil Rights Division head Russlynn Ali and her boss, Eduction Secretary Arne Duncan are very focused on the issue. Look for Ali to bust a move regarding Title 10 related issues soon. PENDING.
CREW of 42 see the (unofficial...) blog on the congressional black caucus