With unemployment across the U.S. at 9 percent, Chairman Emanuel Cleaver, II and members of the CBC called for extending jobless benefits beyond the current expiration date of Dec. 31.

“It is virtually impossible to live any kind of productive life without hope,” Cleaver said on the house floor. “And there are millions of Americans who unfortunately cannot place their hope in this body.”

See also: Obama Congressional Black Caucus Speech: Stop Complainin’ And Fight

See also: Washington D.C. Hotel Lobby Swankier Than a Club

This reconciliation is no coincidence, as both the White House and the CBC anticipate a hard fought battle for the 2012 presidential election.

CBC chairman Emanuel Cleaver recently told a reporter that ”most CBC members are feeling better” about the direction the president is taking.

Read more at the Huffington Post.

Sharpton, who spoke to the president shortly after the speech remarked, “He said this is what I’ve done, and it helps Blacks and helps the county and now let’s get to work,” Sharpton said. ”It’s important to remind people who may be discouraged, don’t compare him to the Almighty, compare him to the alternative.”

“Ordinary (African-American voters) are hurting and want action, but they are not going to abandon ship and are not the ones who are all but saying (Obama) sold-out,” said a Democratic staffer for a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. “That’s coming from people who didn’t back Obama from the start.”

Read more at the New York Daily News.

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A lot of Blacks working in corporate or other professional fields do too.

It’s not a complaint… I’m just stating my reality. But there’s something that happens when you deal with a lot of non-Blacks and then jump back into Black surroundings. I make references that I know other Negroes will have a much higher chance of understanding. I speak in terms of “we” and speak of a shared ancestral struggle that brings on occasion a familiarity and sense of camaraderie that doesn’t automatically come when dealing with non-Blacks. It’s something I almost didn’t take notice of until I recently saw President Obama speak at the CBCF Gala in Washington, DC.

The 44th President of the United States is nothing if not a gifted orator. He takes queues from all the great performers; from presidents to preachers to stand up comedians. The President understands timing and the milking of a moment for maximum effect. But for all his amazing skill it seems to only amplify when he is surrounded by an audience of Black folk.

Not African-Americans. Black folk

The President has a way about him when dealing with other Black folks in various situations. (Remember when Obama saw Queen Latifah a few years ago and greeted her with a “What Up, Queen?” in a Chicago style drawl?) His speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Gala was no exception. From facial expressions to heavy preacher rhetoric and pacing — Obama dropped a hot 16 for the Caucus Gala attendees (a friend asked when he finished his speech “Did he just drop the mic?) and they responded with cheers and applause.

For a President who is supposedly losing his “Black base” he sure seemed to have them eating out of the palm of his hand on Saturday night.

More coverage of the CBC Convention here.

President Obama, who has been traveling  the country on his “Pass This Bill” tour hit all his major talking points at the Gala. He mocked the GOP for being “pro” many of the things in the Jobs Bill right up until he suggested it. “Y’all used to like building roads.” Obama delivered with attitude and a rare sense of authentic annoyance that seemed less rehearsed and more unleashed. He continued his supposed “class warfare” by pointing out the rich should pay their fair share. But Obama hinted at the troubling time that he’s been having with the CBC. “I listen to some of y’all…” he said with a defiant look in his eye.

Obama walked in the room with what seemed to be a frustration at the questioning he’s received about his policies when it comes to Black Americans — which as of late has been coming directly from the CBC. His method of dealing? Spelling out what he’s already done but SAYING “African-American” when he did it.  This came with applause and screams of “That’s right.” He pointed out the 17% unemployment rate amongst Blacks and that this Jobs Bill would help Black Americans and all Americans — but he needed help to get it passed. This was a direct response to some of the Black caucus members, like Rep. Maxine Waters, who specifically stated at the conference that it wouldn’t/couldn’t pass

“I expect all of you to march with me and press on. Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do, CBC.”

That wasn’t aimed at Black People as the Associated Press claimed. That was for the CBC itself. If the members weren’t happy about his commentary they probably didn’t want to say it to the audience that was screaming with glee as he delivered those parting words. Obama spoke to the audience not simply as a President to the nation–but with the comfort of one speaking to family. When he said “we” it wasn’t as in “We, Americans…” it was “We, Black Folks…” bringing a sense of camaraderie that not only did the audience need, but Obama probably needed himself.

Elon James White co-hosts \ the widely popular podcast Blacking It Up! which airs live Mon-Thurs 1:30pm ET. Follow Elon James White on Twitter  @elonjames

And though he didn’t say it directly, for a second term, too.

Obama’s speech to the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus was his answer to increasingly vocal griping from black leaders that he’s been giving away too much in talks with Republicans — and not doing enough to fight black unemployment, which is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent.

“It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y’all,” Obama told an audience of some 3,000 in a darkened Washington convention center.

But he said blacks need to have faith in the future — and understand that the fight won’t be won if they don’t rally to his side.

“I need your help,” Obama said.

The president will need black turnout to match its historic 2008 levels if he’s to have a shot at winning a second term, and Saturday’s speech was a chance to speak directly to inner-city concerns.

He acknowledged blacks have suffered mightily because of the recession, and are frustrated that the downturn is taking so long to reverse. “So many people are still hurting. So many people are barely hanging on,” he said, then added: “And so many people in this city are fighting us every step of the way.”

But Obama said blacks know all too well from the civil rights struggle that the fight for what is right is never easy.

“Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,” he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. “Shake it off. Stop complainin’. Stop grumblin’. Stop cryin’. We are going to press on. We have work to do.”

Topping the to-do list, he said, is getting Congress to the pass jobs bill he sent to Capitol Hill two weeks ago.

Obama said the package of payroll tax cuts, business tax breaks and infrastructure spending will benefit 100,000 black-owned businesses and 20 million African-American workers. Republicans have indicated they’re open to some of the tax measures — but oppose his means of paying for it: hiking taxes on top income-earners and big business.

But at times, Obama also sounded like he was discussing his own embattled tenure.

“The future rewards those who press on,” He said. “I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.”

Caucus leaders remain fiercely protective of the nation’s first African-American president, but in recent weeks they’ve been increasingly vocal in their discontent — especially over black joblessness.

“If Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House,” the caucus chairman, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, recently told McClatchy Newspapers.

Like many Democratic lawmakers, caucus members were dismayed by Obama’s concessions to the GOP during the summer’s talks on raising the government’s borrowing limit.

Cleaver famously called the compromise deal a “sugar-coated Satan sandwich.”

But Cleaver said his members also are keeping their gripes in check because “nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president.”

Still, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., caused a stir last month by complaining that Obama’s Midwest bus tour had bypassed black districts. She told a largely black audience in Detroit that the caucus is “supportive of the president, but we’re getting tired.”

Last year, Obama addressed the same dinner and implored blacks to get out the vote in the midterm elections because Republicans were preparing to “turn back the clock.”

What followed was a Democratic rout that Obama acknowledged as a “shellacking.”

Where blacks had turned out in droves to help elect him in 2008, there was a sharp drop-off two years later.

Some 65 percent of eligible blacks voted in 2008, compared with a 2010 level that polls estimate at between 37 percent and 40 percent. Final census figures for 2010 are not yet available, and it’s worth noting off-year elections typically draw far fewer voters.

This year’s caucus speech came as Obama began cranking up grass-roots efforts across the Democratic spectrum.

It also fell on the eve of a trip to the West Coast that will combine salesmanship for the jobs plan he sent to Congress this month and re-election fundraising.

Obama was leaving Sunday morning for Seattle, where two money receptions were planned, with two more to follow in the San Francisco area.

On Monday, Obama is holding a town meeting at the California headquarters of LinkedIn, the business networking website, before going on to fundraisers in San Diego and Los Angeles and a visit Tuesday to a Denver-area high school to highlight the school renovation component of the jobs package.

theGrio had a unique vantage point on the tour, having streamed all five stops and having sent correspondents to moderate each of the town halls.

But what is in store for the initiative in the future?

theGrio.com reports:

What we heard was a consistent complaint from the CBC that the president was spending more time in rural towns in Iowa than in the black community; that the White House was shrinking from addressing black communities by name; and that the president and his team weren’t pursuing the kinds of “targeted” — meaning targeted at poor and black communities — economic remedies the CBC supports.

Read more at theGrio.com

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West responded to Carson’s remarks on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” saying, “When you start using words such as lynching… that’s a reprehensible word and I think we should move away from that language,” he said. “One of the things I’m starting to think about is reconsidering my membership in the Congressional Black Caucus, because I don’t think they’re moving in the right manner toward solving the problems in not just the black community, but all of America.”

The blatant hypocrisy that West displays for daring to accuse anyone of race-baiting is laughable and pathetic. After insinuating that President Obama and he are more alike than his supporters may realize—claiming that it’s “hypocritical” that Obama’s “big Black bus is not going into the Black community”— West was led by FOX’s Laura Ingraham to call his CDC colleague, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), a “plantation boss,” while casting himself as Harriet Tubman.

Read more at YourBlackWeb.com

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The “For the People” Jobs Initiative is a five-city tour, and launched in Cleveland, Ohio August 8th.

According to TheGrio.com, the Atlanta job fair featured help finding work with the federal government, GI Bill and veterans’ job training, help for job seekers over age 55, and advice on interviewing, along with offering direct contact with potential employers.

TheGrio.com reports:

Thursday’s event took place in 90-plus degree Atlanta temperatures, and some job seekers fainted as they waited in lines that wrapped around the building in the early hours of the job fair, hoping to talk to the more than 90 employers who signed up for the event.

Read more at TheGrio.com

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For The People! 4,000 Show Up for Black Caucus Jobs Fair

Waters expressed her and other Black Caucus members’ dilemma of having to walk a line, TheGrio.com reports:

“We don’t put pressure on the president,” said Waters. “Let me tell you why. We don’t put pressure on the president because ya’ll love the president. You love the president. You’re very proud…to have a black man [in the White House] …First time in the history of the United States of America. If we go after the president too hard, you’re going after us.”

Read more at TheGrio.com

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For The People! 4,000 Show Up for Black Caucus Jobs Fair

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) launched a “For the People” Jobs Initiative in response to alarmingly high unemployment rates in Black America.

VIDEO:

Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) hosted the fair, and afterward, she and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is hosting similar events in other cities, held a town hall meeting.

Read more at TheRoot.com
RELATED:

CBC Launches “For The People” Jobs Tour

With Black unemployment at 16.2 percent and no solution on the horizon, the Congressional Black Caucus, who have been vocal about the lack of unemployment programs aimed at African Americans, are launching their own cross-country job fair beginning next week.

The CBC will hold job fairs, town hall meetings, job readiness programs, and seminars next month, as part of their “For The People” jobs initiative resolution.

In the last two years, the CBC has introduced over 40 job creation bills to address unemployment to the House of Representatives.

Complete info below or you can visit the CBC website.

Dates and Locations
August 8
Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Host
Cleveland State University – Student Center
2121 Euclid Ave
Cleveland, OH 44115

August 16
Congressmen John Conyers and Hansen Clarke, Hosts
Wayne County Community College, Downtown Campus
1001 W. Fort St., Detroit, MI, 48211

August 18
Congressman John Lewis, Host
Atlanta Technical College
1560 Metropolitan Pkwy SW
Atlanta, GA 30310

August 22-23
Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, Host
James L. Knight Center, Downtown Miami
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church
1140 NW 62nd Street
Miami, FL 33150-4219

August 30-31
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Host
Southwest College

What to bring to the event:

1. First, bring a great attitude. You have less than 4 seconds to make a first impression. Your attitude is the greatest influence on the impression you make.
2. Solid eye contact and a strong handshake are a must.
3. Bring several copies of your resume on good quality paper. Make sure that you check for grammar and spelling errors. Show that you take the job fair as seriously as the recruiting companies.
4. Depending on the job you’re after, you may wish to bring a portfolio with samples of your work. Bring your sense of flexibility along… there are likely to be many suitable vacancies.
5. Finally, along with a positive attitude, the most important thing to bring is a point of view. That is, think from an employer’s point of view. Companies want to recruit the best staff to drive their companies forward. They’ll be pleased to meet with you to discuss opportunities, however you should be ready to sell yourself to them.

Participating Employers:

AES Management Corp

Aflac

AJ Automotive Group

AT&T

Atlanta Workforce Development Agency

Bell

Braxton Educational & Technical Cons.

Center for Families & Children

Cintas

Cleveland Catholic Charities

Cleveland Municipal Court

Coca Cola

Corrections Corp of America

Cuyahoga Community College

Cuyahoga County

Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing

Delaware North Company Sport Service

Embassy Suites Hotel

Employment Connection

Fannie May Confections Brands, Inc

Farmers Insurance Group

Fifth Third Bank

First Merit

General Electric

General Motors

Google

GrafTech

Greater Cleveland RTA

Greater Cleveland Veterans Business Resource Council

Green City Growers Cooperative

H&R Block

Intel

Jeanology Clothing Store

JPMorgan Chase

KeyBank

Kraft

Lincoln College of Technology

Lincoln Electric

Louis Stokes VA Medical Center

Lowes

Magna

Marathon Oil

Marriott

McDonald’s

McKesson

NewsCorp

NextEra Energy, Inc

Palladium Health Care

PepsiCo

Pfizer

Pizza Hut

Plain Dealer Publishing Co

Planned Parenthood

Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits

Primerica

Progressive Insurance

Rite Aid Corporation

Rosetta

Roush Industries

Shamrock Staffing

Sherwin-Williams

Speedway

Sprint

St. John Medical Center

St. Vincent Charity Medical Center

Starbucks

State Farm

SunTrust Bank

Target

The Federal Metal Company

The Lube Stop, Inc

The Protective Group, Inc

Thermo Fisher Scientific

United Credit Education

United Rentals

United States Marine Corps

UPS

Urban League of Greater Cleveland

US Customs and Border Protection

USDA

US Coast Guard

Vector Technical Inc

Verizon

Wal-Mart

Wayne County Airport Authority

Wells Fargo

WJBK Fox 2

RELATED:

CBC begins tour to end Black unemployment

CBC Chairman and Missouri democrat Emanuel Cleaver said that if he was a Republican, it would be a night to party, in reference to the debt deal struck between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Cleaver appeared on MSNBC to speak about the deal — and while he was glad a deal was done — he is disappointed with the concessions the president made; specifically pointing out that this deal will hurt the poor and leave the rich alone.

“If you lift the bun, what you see is antithetical to everything the great religions of the world teach. Which is take care of the poor, take of the aged. I am concerned about this because we don’t know the details. And until we see the details, we’re going to be extremely non-committed, but on the surface it looks like a Satan sandwich.”

Read more at Sacramento Bee

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During the gathering, members debated the ability of a universal job creation strategy to address persistent and disproportionate African American unemployment.

“Can you imagine a situation where any other group of workers, if 34 percent of white women were out there looking for work and couldn’t find it?” asked Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat and chairman of the caucus. “You would see congressional hearings and community gatherings. There would be rallies and protest marches. There is no way that this would be allowed to stand.”

Read more at HuffingtonPost.com

RELATED:

CBC tour begins to end Black unemployment

The tour is scheduled to commence this summer in Chicago, and will visit cities including Detroit, Cleveland and Los Angeles. The national unemployment rate is currently at 9.1 percent, however for African-Americans, the unemployment rate sits at 16.2 percent.

The Root Reports:

The CBC plans to continue introducing legislation based on this community response. At the tour’s end, the organization will commission a newly created CBC jobs advisory council of top black economic and business experts, to draft a report tying together each component of the initiative. The report will detail the outcomes of each event and propose a long-term solution for job creation and economic growth.

Read More At TheRoot.com

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CBC Fighting For Jobs And Taking Heat For Criticizing President Obama

Scholarships are offered to students through the various CBC members’ district offices and are available to high school seniors or full-time undergraduate, graduate or professional school students with a minimum 2.5 grade point average.

Application deadlines range from Thursday, April 14 through Wednesday, June 1, 2011, depending on the scholarship.

To apply, interested students should submit their application materials online to http://www.cbcfinc.org/scholarships. All packages should include:

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The most resounding statement came Monday from Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, who said he is “struggling to understand how this budget helps us to best achieve” the goal of protecting “our children from a mountain of debt.

“Cutting funding to programs that assist hard-working Americans, help families heat their homes, and expand access to graduate-level education seems to conflict with the notion of winning the future,” Cleaver said in a statement. “We cannot win the future by leaving our most vulnerable behind. Our success as a Nation is interwoven in the success of every community. Until we grasp that concept, as a nation, we will never see the full potential of this country.”

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West and Tim Scott of South Carolina were elected in November as the first black Republicans in Congress since former Rep. J.C. Watts left eight years ago.

While Scott declined to join the caucus, West pushed for membership, saying he wants to try to steer the group away from what he calls failed social welfare programs and big-government solutions.

A strident conservative, West is the first Republican to join the caucus since Rep. Gary Franks of Connecticut lost his seat in 1997.

The 43-member caucus also elected Missouri Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver as its new chairman.

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“The most important thing is that there has to be a different perspective. There has to be a different voice. We cannot have this monolithic voice,” West told reporters Monday after breakfast during a new-member orientation.

Earlier, West had told POLITICO that he’d be interested in joining the CBC, making him the first black Republican member since then-Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma.

Like Watts, West criticized the liberal views that have dominated the black caucus.

“One of the problems we see in relation to the black community is that we cannot have this monolithic viewpoint of victimization and dependency,” West said. “I’m an inner-city alumnus of Atlanta, Ga., and I think I’m living the American dream. And that’s what we need to get out to all young black men and women in our country.”

Text continues after gallery:

Asked if that culture of victimization dominated the CBC, West said, “If you look at some of the failures in our inner city, with the liberal social welfare … programs — you look at my neighborhood, at Houston, at Detroit, at Chicago — this is not the recipe for success.

Staff members for the CBC, which has said it would welcome West as a member, have spoken with West’s aides about setting up a meeting, he said.

Read entire article at Politico.com

Washington (Politico)– The Congressional Black Caucus says it will gladly accept the two newly elected black Republicans into its group, opening the door to partisan diversity in a caucus that has been historically Democratic.

“Membership in the Congressional Black Caucus has never been restricted to Democrats,” CBC chairwoman Barbara Lee said in a statement to POLITICO. “Should either of the two African American Republicans recently elected to the House of Representatives request membership in the Congressional Black Caucus, they will be welcomed.”

Lee’s statement noted that, “during the 40-year history of the Congressional Black Caucus, there have been three African American Republican members of the House of Representatives. Two congressmen, Melvin Evans of the Virgin Islands and Gary Franks of Connecticut, decided to join the Congressional Black Caucus, however, Congressman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma did not.”

Top Black Politicians Gallery:

Last week, POLITICO reported that freshman-elect Allen West, who defeated Ron Klein in Florida’s 22nd district, was interested in joining the caucus. “That has been a monolithic voice in the body politic for far too long. There is a growing conservative black voice in this country,” West said.

The only other black Republican elected this cycle, Tim Scott of South Carolina’s first district, is less interested in joining. “I haven’t really decided. I’m probably leaning against it at this point,” said Scott, who served in the South Carolina Legislative black caucus for his first year before dropping out because he felt the ideological differences were too great.

Read entire article at Politco.com

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WASHINGTON — The leader of the Congressional Black Caucus warned fellow Democrats on Monday against rushing to judgment and pressuring New York Democrat Charles Rangel to admit ethical misdeeds.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said members of both parties should not presume Rangel’s guilt. However, her message is aimed at Democrats who may want Rangel to admit to the allegations against him to avoid an election-season ethics trial.

The strong statement makes it unlikely that the House Democratic leadership would act against Rangel and risk losing support of the 42-member Black Caucus for legislative initiatives.

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A House investigative panel last week announced that it was charging Rangel with unspecified violations of standards of conduct. The charges will be publicly read Thursday at the first proceeding of a separate panel of four Democrats and four Republicans. The eight lawmakers will judge whether the allegations can be proved by clear and convincing evidence.

Lee said in a written statement: “Any rush to judgment to short-circuit the ongoing review of Congressman Rangel by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct will do a disservice to the well-established processes of the House of Representatives. Attempts by Republicans and Democrats to presume guilt before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct completes its review of the facts, which are only known to them and Congressman Rangel, violates the core American principle of the presumption of innocence.”

Rangel is the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He stepped down from the post last March after the ethics committee found he should have known that corporations paid for two trips to Caribbean conferences.

He has been the congressman representing Harlem for some 40 years, but he has opposition in his mid-September primary.

Several Democrats have returned money Rangel raised for them. Democrats are concerned about an ethics trial while they are campaigning for re-election and while the party faces a serious Republican challenge to the Democratic majority.

On Friday a member of the Black Caucus, Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., compared a rush to judgment on Rangel with the Democrats’ embarrassment over the forced resignation of an Agriculture Department employee, Shirley Sherrod.

The resignation followed a misleading video posted by a conservative blogger, in which Sherrod said she didn’t initially give a white farmer as much help as she could have 24 years ago. President Barack Obama and others in the administration have since apologized, saying they didn’t realize the video took her remarks out of context.

RELATED:

Charles Rangel Charged With Violating Ethics Rules

“Haven’t we learned anything this week about jumping to conclusions? The railroading of Shirley Sherrod at USDA should be a lesson learned about hasty judgment and action based on inadequate, even false, information,” Fattah said. “That lesson must be applied to current case of Congressman Charlie Rangel.”

People familiar with the allegations against Rangel, who cannot be named because the allegations are not yet public, said some of the charges are related to:

Rangel’s use of official stationery to raise money for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of New York.

His use of four rent-subsidized apartment units in New York City.

Rangel’s failure to report income as required on his annual financial disclosure forms. The committee had investigated his failure to report income from the lawmaker’s rental unit at the Punta Cana Yacht Club in the Dominican Republic. Rangel also belatedly disclosed hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment assets.

His failure to pay taxes on all his income from the resort unit.

Click here to view photos.

From TheWashingtonPost.com:

Eighteen months after Barack Obama‘s presidential win seemed to usher in a new era in racial politics, a different reality has emerged: Black candidates in races around the country are struggling so much that the number of African Americans in major statewide offices is likely to drop from the already paltry three. And the possibility exists that there will be no black governors or senators by next year.

The drubbing Tuesday of Rep. Artur Davis (D), who was running to be the first black governor of Alabama, was the latest in a series of defeats of black politicians in primaries this year for statewide office. And some of the blacks who already hold such posts aren’t staying in them. Of the nation’s two black governors, New York’s David Paterson, plagued by ethics scandals, opted not to run this fall — the same decision made by the only black senator, Roland Burris (D-Ill.).

Aspiring black politicians, such as Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), who is running for the Senate, are underdogs in general election races. The only African American favored to win a gubernatorial or U.S. Senate seat is Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), who is running for a second term. And while a number of black Republicans are running, many of them are losing in primaries as well, and the number of black members of the GOP in Congress could be zero.

Click here to read more.

Click here to view photos.

RELATED:

Black Lawmakers Want To Limit New Ethics Office

Obama Dismisses Criticism From The Congressional Black Caucus

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stung by a series of inquiries, nearly half the members of the Congressional Black Caucus want to scale back the aggressive ethics procedures that Democrats trumpeted after gaining control of Congress.

Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, and 19 fellow black lawmakers in the all-Democratic caucus quietly introduced a resolution last week that would restrict the powers of the new independent Office of Congressional Ethics. The office, formed by Congress in 2008, is run by a panel of private citizens.

Black caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., is among the sponsors, but the full 42-member caucus did not endorse the measure. Lee declined comment through a spokesman.

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Congressional Black Caucus Pushes For Youth Summer Job Funding

The absence of support from top Democratic leaders for Fudge’s proposal — including from House Whip Jim Clyburn, a black caucus member from South Carolina — suggests that it isn’t going anywhere. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered no immediate comment.

Since its inception, the ethics office has investigated at least eight black caucus members, including veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., and five others in that group over privately funded trips to the Caribbean.

Some lawmakers have complained that the increased transparency of the new office is unfair to lawmakers who are ultimately cleared of wrongdoing.

Fudge’s spokeswoman did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment on the proposal.

The office, which doesn’t have the power to sanction lawmakers, essentially serves as an advisory board to the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, a congressional committee run by lawmakers who are charged with policing their colleagues.

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Obama Dismisses Criticism From The Congressional Black Caucus

The citizen-run ethics panel is far more open than the notoriously secretive standards committee, publicizing its referrals even when the standards committee finds no violations.

Fudge’s proposal would remove that power, and allow lawmakers on the standards committee to seal from public view the ethics office’s findings on matters deemed meritless.

The resolution also would make it harder for the ethics office to initiate investigations, requiring a sworn complaint from a citizen claiming personal knowledge of an alleged violation. That could prevent complaints from watchdog groups, for example.

It would prevent the standards committee from taking a referral from the ethics office within 60 days before an election in which the subject of the case is a candidate.

From The Washington Post

Congress will appropriate more than $1 trillion this year, and all the Congressional Black Caucus wants is $1.3 billion. But after six months of haggling over the funding for a youth jobs program, the group is running out of time.

The 42-member CBC has pushed for months for Congress to extend funding for a youth summer jobs initiative that was created in last year’s economic stimulus bill. Similar to a program in the District, the initiative gives localities money to hire young people ages 14 to 24 for clerical work, construction and other entry-level jobs that last six to eight weeks.

The funding is not specifically allocated based on race, but localities are encouraged to offer jobs to youths who are “most in need,” such as high school dropouts and children whose parents are incarcerated — groups that are disproportionately African American. The CBC hopes the funding will provide for about 300,000 jobs

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From TheHill.com:

The Congressional Black Caucus plans to meet this week to plot its strategy for the upcoming Supreme Court nomination.

Caucus chairwoman Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) has urged President Barack Obama to consider a minority or woman candidate to replace the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. In a statement earlier this month, Lee said it was “essential that President Obama consider gender and ethnic diversity on the high court in an increasingly diverse America.” At an appropriations hearing last week, Lee also tangled with Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s sole African-American jurist, over the lack of diversity among its clerks.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is leading the caucus’s approach to judicial nominations. She told The Hill that she would recommend that the caucus “take no position on a specific name yet.” She added, however, that “the caucus should be concerned if we get a nominee that appears to be considerably less progressive than the retiring Justice Stevens.”

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The caucus appears to be adopting a lower profile in the selection process after a number of members floated the name of one of their own, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), last year for the seat that ultimately went to Sonia Sotomayor.

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Black Woman On Short List For Supreme Court

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From The Hill:

The jobs bill on its way to the president’s desk will not help the black community, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said today.

The $18 billion legislation, which the Senate passed this morning, consists mainly of tax breaks for small businesses.

“The problem in the African-American community I don’t think will be helped a lot by that bill,” Cummings, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.

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The Maryland Democrat said that while he supports the tax credits, the Black Caucus will also be pushing for legislation sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, that focuses on impoverished communities and helps retrain workers.

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Senate Passes Jobs Bill, Sends It To Obama For Signature

Congressional Black Caucus Frustrated With Jobs Legislation

From the Washington Post:

As Congress focused almost exclusively on health care late last year, the Congressional Black Caucus loudly complained that rising unemployment among African Americans was not getting enough attention. To express that frustration, one bloc in the 43-member group briefly withheld its votes for a key bill that Democrats were trying to pass. The caucus released a list of demands to include in the legislation that would create jobs in low-income areas.

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But as the “jobs bill” winds its way through Congress, civil rights groups say the various versions of the legislation are not directly addressing the problems the caucus wanted to fix. When the House passed its $154 billion version in December, it did not include a request from black lawmakers that 10 percent of the money in each of its provisions go to communities where at least 20 percent of the people are low-income. The version of the package that overcame a filibuster threat in the Senate on Monday does not include the 10 percent formula, nor does it include the additional funding for youth employment programs that is in the House bill.

“The final legislation must provide tools for ensuring that stimulus funds go to the places and people most in need,” a coalition of groups that included the NAACP and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights wrote to congressional leaders on Friday.

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Obama Dismisses Criticism From The Congressional Black Caucus

Congressional Black Caucus Hosts Annual Legislative Conference In D.C.

WASHINGTON — Call it the $6 billion boycott.

By boycotting a key House committee vote last week and threatening to abandon support for banking regulations, members of the Congressional Black Caucus got $4 billion added to a Wall Street regulation bill and $2 billion to a proposed House jobs bill in spending they sought for African American communities.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., this week inserted $3 billion to the legislation to provide low-interest loans to unemployed homeowners in danger of foreclosure. He added $1 billion for neighborhood revitalization programs.

The money would come out of the $700 billion financial rescue fund.

“For those of us who walked out, it was absolutely essential that we have parts of that legislation directed toward helping people who have been left out of all of these bailouts,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., one of 10 black caucus members in the Financial Services Committee, said.

The proposed jobs bill targets $1 billion from infrastructure spending for public housing repairs. It also provides $1 billion for an affordable housing trust fund.

With 40 members in the House, the Congressional Black Caucus can be a potent force.

“Since last September, we have continuously voted for bailout and reform for the very institutions that created this devastation, without properly protecting the African-American community or small business,” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said on the day of the boycott. “That stops today.”
Among the caucus’ demands were greater assistance for minority-owned auto dealerships and banks that lend in African-American communities and more government advertising in minority-owned media.

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Obama Dismisses Criticism From The Congressional Black Caucus

Jesse Jackson Says To CBC You Can’t Be Black And Be Against Health Care

From USA Today

President Obama said today it would be wrong for him to narrowly focus on the troubles blacks face in the recession, rejecting criticism from the Congressional Black Caucus that the government was ignoring the economic plight of minorities.

“I will tell you that I think the most important thing I can do for the African-American community is the same thing I can do for the American community, period, and that is get the economy going again and get people hiring again,” the president told Richard Wolf of USA TODAY and Justin Hyde of the Detroit Free Press in an exclusive joint interview.
On Wednesday, 10 members of the black caucus — of which Obama was a member when he was a U.S. senator from Illinois — boycotted a key House committee vote on financial reform. The group said it would push harder for Congress and the White House to tackle problems including an unemployment rate for blacks of 15.7%, higher than the national rate of 10.2%

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Jesse Jackson Says To CBC You Can’t Be Black And Be Against Health Care

Rep. Conyers Says Obama Is “Sucking Up To The Wrong People”

I love speaking with Rev. Jesse Jackson.  He walks and talks like a man who has seen and heard nearly everything.  Our civil rights leaders are social hubs through which many members of our society must travel in order to reach their destinations.   You can’t call yourself a black man and not know the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Rev. Jackson took things a step further by stating recently at a Congressional Black Caucus function that,”You can’t vote against health care and call yourself a black man.”

RELATED: Jesse Jackson Says To CBC You Can’t Be Black And Be Against Health Care

This comment was aimed at Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama, the only member of the Congressional Black Caucus who does not support health care reform.   What is most interesting about Jackson’s comment is that he is right, but not quite.  You can certainly argue that Davis’ lack of support for the plan implies  that his interests are not in line with the majority of African Americans in this country:  Most of them love Barack Obama and are willing to support anything that he supports.  The other sad truth is that health care reform is so complicated that most Americans don’t have a clue about what’s going on.   In that regard, we can argue that it is difficult for Davis to say that he represents the black community when he votes in a direction that is not correlated with the majority of African Americans in the state of Alabama.

Where Jackson is ultimately incorrect is that Artur Davis certainly has the right to call himself a black man, even without supporting health care reform.  Other prominent African Americans, such as Dr. Elaina George, have been vehemently outspoken against health care reform.  Dr. George even goes as far as arguing that health care reform is not only bad for doctors, it is also bad for the black community.  Davis, on the other hand, simply wants to be governor of Alabama, and taking conservative positions is the only way for a black man to get elected in that state.

Davis made his intentions clear with his eloquent, yet interesting response to Rev. Jackson’ s comment: “Rev. Jackson is entitled to his opinion…The voters are entitled to a governor who represents everyone in the state. They’re not looking for someone who speaks for a single community..His (Jackson) judgment is through the prism of race.”

Translation: “I don’t care what Jesse Jackson has to say.  I want to be governor more than I want to be committed to the black community.  Speaking for African Americans is not enough to get me elected, since whites and blacks see the world so differently.  Jesse Jackson is limited because he sees race in everything.”

RELATED: Black Caucus Says Public Option Or Nothing For Health Care

The bottom line is that Artur Davis, to some extent, is a slave to his self-imposed predicament.  When alleged black power shifts from community-based constituencies to formal political appointments that must be signed off by white America or corporate America, meaningful black leadership becomes highly diluted and ultimately distracted.  This point was made when I referenced Tom Joyner’s nervous response to our challenge against Wal-Mart during the Heather Ellis case (Wal-Mart is one of his primary corporate sponsors).  This is not to say that Tom Joyner is a sell-out; but it does imply that his loyalty to Wal-Mart is probably greater than his loyalty to a black woman that he doesn’t even know.  In America, there are two dominant types of capital: Political capital and financial capital.  African Americans are lacking in both, so you aren’t usually going to get rich or powerful by serving the needs of the black community.

All leadership has a “political daddy”: Someone or something that one must be loyal to in order to be successful.   The ultimate question black leaders must ask ourselves is, “Who’s your daddy?”, since the nature of the leader’s support base will dictate the incentives of the leader.  Many prominent African American figures are so hungry for power and validation that they will take support from any corporation or group of people who offer to provide it.  That’s like a teenage girl taking money from any boy who offers it without wondering if he is going to want the favor returned at the end of the night.  This is not to say that she shouldn’t take the money; it’s only to say that she better make sure that she likes the boy she’s dealing with.

Let’s be clear about this: Artur Davis is a conservative Democrat working to become governor of Alabama.  I honestly wonder why he is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus at all, since there is only minimal connection between his incentives and those of the African American community.  This is not to say that he doesn’t have the right to be a black man, but there is a difference between someone who is black all the time vs. someone who is black when it is convenient.   Jesse Jackson is a black man all the time, Artur Davis is a black man who wants to be governor: One is not necessarily better than the other, but it is clear that we know the difference.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To get more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com.

Jesse Jackson recently spoke to the Congressional Black Caucus and directly addressed Artur Davis, a congressman from Alabama and a candidate for Governor. Davis was the lone member of the Congressional Black Caucus to oppose health care reform.

Jesse Jackson said:

We even have blacks voting against the health care bill from Alabama. You can’t vote against health care and call yourself a black man.

Davis would address Jackson’s statement, saying:

Rev. Jackson is entitled to his opinion…The voters are entitled to a governor who represents everyone in the state. They’re not looking for someone who speaks for a single community..His (Jackson) judgment is through the prism of race.

Jesse Jackson would later issue a statement, saying:

I offer no challenge to his integrity as a leader. Representatives should all vote their conscience in the interest of their constituency…There is a growing disparity among the black and the poor and we desperately need voices and votes..Among the black and the poor, the infant mortality rate is higher, life expectancy is shorter, poverty is growing and unemployment is highest…We need comprehensive health care that is more accessible and less expensive for all Americans. The historical Davis journey as a change agent continues and his latest quest deserves the support of the caring

Jackson Rides Bus To Fenger: “This Is A State Of Emergency”

VIDEO: Jesse Jackson Is Crowned A Prince In Africa

WASHINGTON — Ten months after Democrats took over the Capitol and the first African-American president moved into the White House, black lawmakers are in control of some of the most powerful positions in Congress — and face new challenges to using their long-sought influence.

There have been some victories — guaranteeing that stimulus money reaches some of the poorest parts of the country, expanding hate crimes legislation and moving to close health care disparities.

RELATED: Black Caucus Adjusting To New Political Realities

But “in some ways, our strategies haven’t caught up with our own power,” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, chief executive of the NAACP.

“The civil rights community is used to passing big omnibus legislative acts,” he said. “We’re not so accustomed to having the power to slice and dice that into 20 pieces and attach that to various other appropriations bills.”

For generations, civil rights were inseparable from black politicians. That era ended with President Barack Obama, who has declined to engage in traditional black advocacy.

So any new efforts to help blacks who remain disproportionately unemployed, incarcerated, unhealthy and undereducated will most likely come from the 42 members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“The goal is closing all of these gaps,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, chairwoman of the caucus and a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees budgetary spending. “When you look at all these huge systemic gaps, there’s still not equality and justice for all.”

But due to recent advances among blacks — Obama’s election chief among them — there is a new resistance toward efforts aimed at helping black people specifically, said University of Pennsylvania history professor Mary Frances Berry.

“We’re used to being supplicants at the table,” Berry said. “Now they have to be smart. If they want to do something about unemployment, they can target those who have the highest rates. If you target education, target the lowest achievement rates. Don’t say, ‘We’re doing this for black folks’; you say, ‘We want to target where the problems are.’”

That strategy has been taking shape for some time, said Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., who as majority whip is the third-ranking member of the House.

Clyburn cited an amendment in the economic recovery package that he worked on with Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, to ensure that 10 percent of federal stimulus dollars are spent in areas where at least 20 percent of residents have lived in poverty for the last 30 years.

“If I were designing a quote-unquote affirmative action program today, that’s what I would be using, the 10-20-30 formula,” Clyburn said. “We are finding more and more sophisticated ways of doing this on a nonracial basis.”

RELATED: All Members Of Congress Being Investigated For Ethics Are Black

But some still say the fractious black caucus — which famously split over endorsing Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 presidential primaries — should be doing much more to bring together leaders from the private sector, education and local government to tackle problems facing black America.

“The black power establishment altogether should be given a B-minus or a C-plus,” Berry said. “They need to pull together, join together and be smart about how they articulate what the goals and opportunities are.”

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said recently enacted legislation expanding hate crimes protection and changes he is pushing to mandatory minimum sentencing laws are evidence of “a whole new power syndrome on the national scene.”

He also said he planned to bring a bill through his committee calling for the government to study the issue of reparations to descendants of slaves. “This is not just a feel-good measure,” Conyers said. “This is very serious business.”

Obama opposes reparations and has said “the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed.”

The caucus also played a major role in pushing the House to formally rebuke Rep. Jim Wilson, the South Carolina Republican who shouted “You lie!” during Obama’s health care address to Congress.

“We weren’t just going to let that go and not say something about it,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.

She said Clyburn’s position as majority whip was crucial to this and other caucus priorities: “We’re able to sort of project and amplify our voices because he’s in the leadership.”

Clarke said that in bills such as the stimulus package, health care reform and auto industry bailouts, caucus members affect “the chemistry of the legislation” by ensuring that provisions to help minorities are included.

For example, the House health care bill provides billions of dollars to address the substandard health care many minorities receive. It’s unclear whether the provisions will remain after negotiations to reconcile the Senate health care bills.

Berry, the Penn professor, said the caucus’ effectiveness should ultimately be judged by results on problems in poverty, education, unemployment and other areas.

“We’re going to find out how smart they are, how committed they are and whether they have a fix on what the people need,” she said.

From Politico

The House ethics committee is currently investigating seven African-American lawmakers — more than 15 percent of the total in the House. And an eighth black member, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), would be under investigation if the Justice Department hadn’t asked the committee to stand down.

Not a single white lawmaker is currently the subject of a full-scale ethics committee probe.

The ethics committee declined to respond to questions about the racial disparity, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are wary of talking about it on the record. But privately, some black members are outraged — and see in the numbers a worrisome trend in the actions of ethics watchdogs on and off Capitol Hill.

“Is there concern whether someone is trying to set up [Congressional Black Caucus] members? Yeah, there is,” a black House Democrat said. “It looks as if there is somebody out there who understands what the rules [are] and sends names to the ethics committee with the goal of going after the [CBC].”

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VIDEO: Obama Addresses Congressional Black Caucus

ROUND-UP: Obama, The Black Caucus & The Nation

Black Caucus Adjusting To New Political Realities

President Barack Obama resumed his push to overhaul the health care system on Saturday night, telling a largely black audience that there comes a time when “the cup of endurance runs over” and to remember the “fierce urgency of right now.”

In a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual dinner, Obama said the country has been waiting for health reform since the days of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

The Senate Finance Committee is in the process of amending a health care bill introduced by Chairman Max Baucus of Montana.

Obama spent the past week focused on international issues meeting with world leaders in New York and Pittsburgh.

Before becoming president, Barack Obama was the only senator in the all-Democratic, 42-member Congressional Black Caucus. He wasn’t particularly active in the group and isn’t especially close to many of its members.

Animosity toward the president and his policies has boiled over in recent weeks, most notably with South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” comment during Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on health care. Democrats from Jimmy Carter on down have blamed the increasingly harsh criticism of Obama on racism.

Obama says it’s not racism but an intense debate over the proper role of government.

Watch Obama’s Speech Pt 1

Pt. 2

President Barack Obama made a pitch for members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday to fix the health care system this year.

Speaking to the annual legislative conference of the CBC, Obama said that America must reform its health care system now for the sake of the country and its children. “I know there are voices out there telling us we’re moving too fast when it comes to health insurance reform,” President Obama said. “They’re telling us to slow down. They’re telling us to wait.” To counter that trend, the president cited a case of a woman who discovered a lump in her breast in June and was told she would have to wait 6 months to be eligible for health insurance to cover her. He asked the audience how we could expect that woman to wait.

Citing efforts to reform the system dating back to Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, the president said Americans had waited long enough for health insurance reform. “There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over,” Obama told the cheering crowd.” There comes a time to remember the fierce urgency of right now. Now’s the time,” the president said.

Obama also cited statistics that showed racial disparities in economic opportunities for blacks and whites, including data that indicated “downward mobility” for young blacks while young whites were facing “upward mobility.”

To read more, click here.

Source: The Daily Voice

RELATED:

Obama Addresses Congressional Black Caucus

Black Caucus Adjusting To New Political Realities

WATCH Part 1:

WATCH Part 2:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The euphoria over President Barack Obama’s inauguration is giving way to political reality for African-American lawmakers as Democrats grapple with stubborn challenges facing a long-awaited domestic agenda.

“There is more recognition that this president has been in quite a political battle this year and it’s likely to continue,” said a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala. “There’s certainly a sense of pride and accomplishment, but there’s also a sense that gains that were hard-won can be easily lost.”

RELATED: Congressional Black Caucus Hosts Annual Legislative Conference In D.C.

Obama, who is scheduled to address the CBC’s annual legislative conference Saturday night, belonged to the all-Democratic, 42-member caucus before winning the White House. The only senator in the group, he wasn’t particularly active and isn’t especially close to many of its members.

Questions remain about how hard Obama can fight for the anti-poverty, education and health care proposals that helped him win near-universal support from black voters. There also is a growing realization that he will likely face years of criticism – some of it motivated by race – over his administration’s response to a sour economy and other issues.

Some in the CBC acknowledge Obama must govern more from the center to be a successful president. However, many of the group’s more liberal lawmakers expect him to seize the opportunity created by strong Democratic control of Congress to push through initiatives that have long been blocked by Republicans, such as public health insurance and sharp funding increases for urban development.

This is particularly true as the economic recession takes an outsized toll on black communities.

RELATED: Black Caucus Says Public Option Or Nothing For Health Care

“We want him to stand strong,” said Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.

In a conference call recently, Obama reminded CBC members that most of them represent politically safe districts, and that Democrats must look out for the interests of vulnerable moderates to maintain majorities and achieve their goals.

The CBC conference draws thousands of elected officials, business leaders and other professionals from around the country.

So far this week, the White House has gone out of its way to reassure them that it is committed to generating new opportunities for minorities. Along with Obama’s Saturday address, the administration dispatched a team of Cabinet secretaries to earlier panel discussions to highlight initiatives for creating jobs, improving education and preventing home foreclosures.

“It’s still very early and people are hopeful that things will get done,” said Valerie Maholmes, a behavioral scientist from Washington who was attending a Thursday session on rebuilding the economy.

Many attendees said they remain incredibly proud that the nation elected a black president and are optimistic about the future, despite the economy.

“I think for the first time probably in the history of America the black community feels they are in a position of power,” said James Bryant, a union leader from San Francisco. “I think African-Americans think there is no more wall.”

Bryant and others said they anticipated that Obama would face fierce resistance from the right. But some said they don’t understand the intensity and sometimes personal nature of the opposition.

Summer has ended. Congress has had its recess. And thousands of black politicians, policy leaders and business leaders are preparing to swarm the nation’s capital.

RELATED: Black Caucus Says Public Option Or Nothing For Health Care

Each September, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) hosts its Annual Legislative Conference (ALC). The ALC assembles African-American leaders from politics, business, unions and other industries to address pressing issues facing black Americans. With the failing economy on everyone’s mind, the theme for this year’s conference—Sept. 23-Sept. 26— is “Reinvest. Rebuild. Renew.”

Staying true to the theme of economic recovery, there are several roundtable discussions and panels devoted to economics, education and health—all cornerstones for success in American society.

RELATED: The Congressional Black Caucus Will Fast For Darfur

The first of these scheduled events is the Capitol Hill Day Summit, on which all of the panel discussions will follow the topic, “Providing Opportunities for All—Strengthening pathways out of poverty.” The three panels will cover how to re-define poverty, possible federal solutions and the CBC’s role in economic empowerment. These panels will include officials from policy organizations, academia and the federal government including Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Marc Morial of the National Urban League.

Click here to read more.

[SOURCE: The Root]

From CNN:

The House of Representatives on Tuesday formally admonished Republican Rep. Joe Wilson for shouting “you lie” during President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress last week.

The House passed a resolution of disapproval on a 240-179 vote that was mostly along party lines, reflecting the Democratic majority in the chamber. Five representatives voted “present.”

According to the Office of the House Historian, it was the first time in its 220-year history that the House has disciplined a member for speaking out during a presidential speech in the chamber to a joint session of Congress.

During debate on the resolution Tuesday, Wilson called the measure a waste of time and failed to offer an apology to the chamber as demanded by House Democrats.

“When we are done here today, we will not have taken any further steps toward helping” the nation deal with urgent challenges, said Wilson, a South Carolina Republican. “It is time that we move forward and get back to work for the American people.”

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—–

[12:15 p.m. 9/15/2009] – Black Congressmen Lead Push To Formally Reprimand Joe Wilson

From the Washington Post:

House Democrats plan to formally reprimand Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) on Tuesday for his outburst last week in which he accused President Obama of lying about proposed health-care legislation.

The vote on punishment will resolve the issue in the House, but behind the incident some see a broader question: Is racism a factor in the way the president is being judged?

With two simple words — “You lie!” — shouted during Obama’s speech to Congress, Wilson helped escalate an issue that has been on a slow burn for weeks, especially among African Americans. Many watched the rancor at last month’s town hall meetings with suspicion that the intense anger among some participants — including signs calling for Obama’s death and a movement questioning his citizenship — was fueled by the fact that a black man sits in the Oval Office.

Led by their most senior black lawmakers, House Democrats decided Monday evening to hold the vote. The decision risks escalating the partisan warfare that has erupted since Wilson’s outburst.

Click here to read more.

From The Hill.com

Leading members of the Black Caucus are threatening to bring down healthcare reform if it does not include a strong public option.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said that President Obama will not be able to muscle through a bill that sidesteps a government-run plan.

“[Obama] can’t get 218 without a public option,” Conyers said on MSNBC last night. “This is simple arithmetic.”

Conyers tallied up the progressive members he expects to join him in opposing a plan with no public option.

“There are 83 Progressive Caucus members, 42 Black Caucus members 25 Hispanic Caucus members, 14 Asian Pacific members, and most of them are public option people,” Conyers said.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) agreed with Conyers’s ominous analysis and warned that House liberals will not settle for the kind of compromise that might be necessary in the Senate.

“You’re asking whether or not we will support some other altnerative to public option, and I want to be very, very clear,” she told MSNBC’s Ed Schultz.

Read The Whole Story

As members of Congress begin August recess, temporarily setting aside intense negotiations for a passable health care reform bill, the Congressional Black Caucus has vowed to continue pushing for specific provisions that its members feel are vital for African-Americans.

The original House and Senate bills would significantly reduce the staggering number of uninsured Americans, of which are disparately Black. But it won’t be as effective if other provisions are not also included, CBC members argue.
The CBC and the Congressional Tri-Caucus, which also comprises the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, introduced a bill recently that outlines their priorities for health care reform for people of color.

They call for expanded data collection, improved health care workforce diversity efforts, comparative effectiveness research provisions for the disaggregation of data, community-centric prevention efforts that focus on reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, language and translation services throughout the health care system and a significant investment in community health centers and in community health workers.

With hopes that certain reform provisions from their Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2009 will make it into the final health care bill, CBC leaders – including Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) – wrote a letter to both President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

”We are very concerned about the current negotiations and feel that it is necessary to restate our strong position on several issues and provisions going forward,” the letter stated.

They are vehemently urging Congress to keep efforts that would correct health disparities and make improvements to Medicare and health services for children. They argued that additional cuts to the proposed bill that passed the three House committees will weaken the initiative itself.

”The Tri Com bill is budget neutral and we are concerned that efforts to cut more costs would mean cutting the vital services, like prevention and comparative effectiveness or disproportionate share,” the CBC wrote in the letter, which was also signed by co-chairs of the CBC Health and Wellness Taskforce Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and Rep. Donna Christensen. (D-V.I.).
While nothing is finalized yet, Rep. Christensen, a medical doctor, said the new bill, as proposed, will include an expansion of Medicaid to young people that meet poverty guidelines.

”Those who meet 133 percent of poverty guidelines, which has been increased from before, will qualify for Medicaid,” the congresswomen said in an interview. ”It has been expanded beyond just the elderly and the disabled.”

Christensen wanted Medicaid to become a part of the public plan because, she said, services are not covered in the same degree. For example, Medicaid covers some expensive procedures for children differently than the proposed public plan, and long-term care is not covered the same.

Christensen, the first female physician in the history of the U.S. Congress, pointed out that those whose incomes are not above 400 percent of poverty, which amounts to about $88,000 for a family, will qualify for subsidies if they purchase their coverage from an insurance exchange. This exchange is being considered to go along with the hotly contested public option.

Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-MD) has also been fighting for the public option to be included in the final health care bill.

”[The] most significant part of the health care bill is the public option,” Edwards contends. ”It’s a vital option for people who don’t have insurance.”

Edwards represents Maryland’s 4th District, home to the state’s affluent Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Both Washington, D.C. suburban counties boast significant Black populations and are among the richest in the country. Yet, one-fifth of its residents are uninsured.

”The doctor would bill the public plan option like Medicare,” Edwards said, explaining how the public option would work.

The biggest health care concerns of her largely Black constituency are those related to accessing insurance, the amounts of co-payments, being denied for pre-existing conditions and sky-rocketing costs of premiums and deductibles.

”The U.S. health care system is one of the most expensive systems in the world. We spend $2.2 trillion per year on health care services and products, and yet approximately 46 million Americans are uninsured, 80 percent of whom are from working families,” Rep. Edwards wrote in an editorial, published in The Washington Informer.

”Almost half of all personal bankruptcies are attributed to medical debt. And, for the 80 percent of Americans who have health insurance, premiums, deductibles, and co-payments are skyrocketing; and we all pay for the flaws that leave millions uninsured and seeking care in expensive hospital emergency rooms. In fact, premiums rose 114 percent from 1999 to 2007, greatly outpacing incomes,” Edwards wrote.

She stated that a ”robust public health insurance option modeled after Medicare must be available to compete alongside private insurers”.

The public plan that the Maryland congresswoman hoped for won’t be as robust as she likes because a deal to water it down was made with a group of conservative ”Blue Dog” Democrats threatening to block passage of the bill over the cost.

Speaker Pelosi announced that the deal would lower the estimated cost of reforming health care by a $100 billion dollars and bring the total cost to under a trillion dollars over ten years. Specifics of the compromise called for less subsidies for the uninsured and more lenient requirements for mandates for large employers to provide coverage for their workers.

Also, in an effort to balance the board for competing private insurers, the rates for the ”public option” must be negotiated with doctors like the private industry has to do. If the compromised bill reaches the floor as negotiated, then it will likely infuriate progressives and will not be directly tied to Medicaid for which Christensen is lobbying.

”We do think that it makes sense to have a public option alongside the private option,” President Obama said at an AARP sponsored town hall event on health care. ”So you could still choose a private insurer, but we’d also have a public plan that you could choose from that would be non-for-profit, wouldn’t have, hopefully, some of the same high administrative costs, and would be potentially more responsive to your needs at a lower cost. I think that helps keep the insurance companies honest because now they have somebody to compete with.”

The president engaged older Americans about their concerns about health care reform last week. In an hour long forum, President Obama answered questions and cleared up misconceptions about components being legislated upon such as the bill’s affect on Medicare to a rumored clause that pertains to living wills.

”So the idea behind reform is: Number one, we reform the insurance companies so they can’t take advantage of you,” the president explained.

”Number two, that we provide you a place to go to purchase insurance that is secure, that isn’t full of fine print that is actually going to deliver on what you pay for. Number three, we want to make sure that you’re getting a good bargain for your health care by reducing some of the unnecessary tests and costs that have raised rates.”

Following the town hall the Obama administration shifted their health care sales pitch strategy to stress security and stability. In an email campaign, the president focused on eight specific consumer protections in order to ”create a new foundation for health care security”.

Some of these new provisions include non-discrimination for pre-existing conditions, exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays; no cost-sharing for preventive care, no dropping of coverage if a person becomes seriously ill and extending coverage for young adults.

”Over the next month there is going to be an avalanche of misinformation and scare tactics from those seeking to perpetuate the status quo,” Obama wrote in the email. ”But we know the cost of doing nothing is too high. Health care costs will double over the next decade, millions more will become uninsured, and state and local governments will go bankrupt.”