Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
congressionalblackcaucus
Maxine Waters Calls Obama’s CBC Criticism ‘Curious’
04 months ago
California Rep. Maxine Waters said on Monday that she didn’t know who President Barack Obama was talking to when he told attendees at the at the annual Congressional Black Caucus awards dinner to “stop complaining.“
“I don’t know who he was talking to, because we’re certainly not complaining,” Rep. Waters said on CBS’s “Early Show.”
Water was referring to comments the president made at the Congressional dinner Saturday: “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.”
“I found that language a bit curious because the president spoke to the Hispanic Caucus and certainly they are pushing him on immigration and despite the fact that he’s appointed [Justice Sonia] Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, he has an office for excellence in Hispanic education right in the White House, they’re still pushing him and he certainly didn’t tell them to stop complaining,” she said.
“And he never would say that to the gay and lesbian community who really pushed him on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Or even in a speech to AIPAC, he would never say to the Jewish community ‘stop complaining’ about Israel.”
Although President Obama didn’t name any names, Colorlines.com’s Shani Hilton says it’s not too hard to figure out who he was referring to. Hilton writes:
He also used it to criticize–without naming–CBC members like Maxine Waters and Jesse Jackson, Jr, who have said that they’re “getting tired” of Obama’s inaction on black unemployment: “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.”
Obama to Black Lawmakers: ‘Stop Crying, We’ve Got Work to Do’
04 months ago
The Congressional Black Caucus hosted its 41st Annual Legislative conference last week–a four-day mix of issue forums, roundtables, and after-hours events.
President Obama used his time to address the CBC, perhaps unsurprisingly, as an opportunity to sell his jobs bill, The American Jobs Act. “Pass this jobs bill, and every worker in America, including nearly 20 million African American workers, will get a tax cut.”
He also used it to criticize–without naming–CBC members like Maxine Waters and Jesse Jackson, Jr, who have said that they’re “getting tired” of Obama’s inaction on black unemployment: “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.”
It was a strange rallying cry, considering that the CBC, out of frustration, launched its own jobs initiative this summer that included a series of jobs fairs across the country. And the conference itself was host to multiple panels and information sessions on jobs, job creation, and the black wealth gap that has been exacerbated by the recession.
More than 70 forums and panels ran over the course of the four days, including one of the CBC’s first issue forums on LGBT rights, featuring anti-bullying advocate Sirdeaner Walker, whose son killed himself after taunts about being gay; Cheryl Kilodavis, author of “My Princess Boy” (and Colorlines Daily Love subject); Valerie Spencer, a transgender activist and founder of the Transcend Empowerment Institute; and Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute.
The issue forums served as a place for attendees to listen to experts, and share the experiences they’re having in their hometowns, be it Dallas, L.A., Atlanta, or Camden, N.J.
District of Columbia Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton led a panel on D.C. statehood, featuring Johnny Barnes, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “No one can deny that every American should be treated the same, and we’re just not, in Washington D.C.,” Barnes said. Not only do the 600,000 District residents not have a vote on national issues, the city just had its credit outlook downgraded by Standard and Poor’s, in large part because its budget is tied up with Congress.
The ALC has been running since 1970, and has become a popular place for black power-players to socialize with legislators, celebrities, and each other. It’s not uncommon to get handed a flyer to a club party that’s co-opted the conference name, and even The Root D.C. polled frequent attendees on what makes for a good social event.
This year’s conference was sponsored by a long list of big name corporations including Coca-Cola, Verizon, Wal-Mart, Toyota, ExxonMobil, Comcast, Time-Warner, AT&T, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and PepsiCo.
Leaked Memos Confirm Suspicions About Maxine Waters Ethics Probe
06 months ago
After details of the debacle surrounding the ethics investigation of Congresswoman Maxine Waters leaked earlier this week, her lawyer is calling for a swift end to the case. Politico’s coverage of now-disclosed House Ethics Committee emails and memos seems to confirm the suspicions of many who believed Rep. Waters’ case to be a bungled partisan affair.
The most recent controversy in the case is evidence that two top committee lawyers secretly communicated with Republicans during and regarding the investigations of both Rep. Maxine Waters and fellow Congressional Black Congress member Charles Rangel, who was found guilty of 11 counts of House ethics violations last November. Sharing evidence is strictly prohibited during House ethics investigations, as Ethics Committee members are the prosecutors and congresspeople the jurors in such cases.
Late last year, former staff director Blake Chisam told the now-resigned chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren, another Democrat from California, that the improperly shared information “would have so tainted the proceedings that there would have been no option but to move to dismiss.”
That’s exactly what Waters’ attorney is hoping to do.
Speaking in a statement about Politico’s recent revelation, Waters’ lawyer Stan Brand made clear that because of the committee’s misconduct, they “will explore all of [their] options to bring this matter to a conclusion.” Brand says that the only solution to the matter would be immediate dismissal with prejudice.
“No other remedy exists to cure this misconduct,” he continued. “Given that both current Members and staff are implicated in these documents, any other suggested remedy would lack legal credibility and would confirm an unprecedented level of bias against my client. Given this sample of damaging evidence of the Committees misconduct, we fully expect the Committee to act in good faith in this matter. If need be, we will explore all of our options to bring this matter to a conclusion.”
Waters issued her own statement as well, saying that the affair flies “in the face of objectivity and should concern every member of the House.” She continued, her choice of words blatantly expressing the misgivings she holds regarding the investigation. “Given what appears to be politically motivated and gross misconduct by the committee, the committee must immediately conclude this seemingly manufactured case.”
Questions Remain in Ethics Committee Probe of Maxine Waters
07 months ago
With a year, a handful of attorneys and their credibility gone, the House Ethics Committee has yet to make substantial progress in its corruption case against Rep. Maxine Waters. The lingering investigation against the California Democrat has garnered as much attention for its controversial process as for the alleged dealings of Rep. Waters. While the member of the Congressional Black Congress has repeatedly made clear her desire to move forward with a public trial in an attempt to clear her name, the Ethics Committee hasn’t shown any intent of clearing up the matter or offering an explanation for the administrative bungles that have plagued the case.
Rep. Waters, who represents California’s 35th congressional district, has been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Ethics Committee because she advocated on behalf of OneUnited Bank, a black owned financial institution whose board of directors included Rep. Waters’ husband. The beleaguered bank ultimately received $12 million in federal bailout funds dating back to 2008.
The investigation came at the same time another member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Harlem’s Rep. Charlie Rangel, was charged with multiple counts of ethics violations. On November 19, the day after Rangel was found guilty of 11 of the 13 charges, Rep. Waters’s impending trial was abruptly canceled and has not yet been rescheduled. Additionally, the two lawyers on the congresswoman’s case were put on administrative leave, yet no explanation has been offered as to why.
The explanation may never come. Robert Walker, an ethics attorney who has served as a staff director to the House Ethics Committee, told TPM Muckraker that unless Waters sees exposing the committee as relevant to her defense, the full story might not ever see the light of day. The details of the case remain ambiguous, but it seems clear that the investigation has tainted the reputation of the Committee. Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, puts it plainly to TPM: “The questions swirling around the committee undermine its fact finding in the case.”
While there’s still no verdict on whether or not Rep. Maxine Waters is did anything wrong, the committee has now extended an investigation of Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, a fellow member of the Congressional Black Caucus. This makes three prominent Black lawmakers in just over a year who have found themselves under the eye of a watchdog organization in dire need of its own watchdog organization. The Representatives under investigation shouldn’t be ignored (and there are a host of reasons why), but neither should the Committee’s own stagnation.
CBC Drops Its Own Budget: $5.7 Trillion Deficit Cut Without Gutting Programs
010 months ago
The Congressional Black Caucus this week continued its tradition of releasing an alternative budget — something the caucus says its done nearly every year since 1981.
The CBC Fiscal Year 2012 budget restores some of the cuts to funding proposed by President Barack Obama–particularly the cuts that hurt poor people and people of color. Programs like the heating assistance program, community development grants, and Pell grants would all see their funds returned to current levels. It would also increase funding to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund.
Crediting “tough, responsible decisions,” which include allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire, and increasing other tax-based revenue, the CBC claims its budget will save $5.7 trillion on the deficit.
“We just want to put our priorities out there,” says Brandon Garrett, policy director of the CBC. The caucus uses “the same methods and numbers” as other Democrat and Republican groups while putting together its budget, although its claims haven’t been evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office.
Garrett says the CBC budget differs from the Democrat budget because it focuses mainly on issues that members of the caucus consider priorities.
“We just talked to all the members, and asked them what they wanted to see. We craft our budget based on the needs of our members and our other constituencies.” Garrett says, adding that districts with largely black populations that aren’t represented by a CBC member — such as Tennessee’s 9th District, which is 60 percent black and represented by Steve Cohen — are also considered.
CBC Marks 40th Anniversary With "Substantive" Talks With Obama
010 months ago
The Congressional Black Caucus executive board met with President Barack Obama in the White House yesterday, symbolically marking their 40th anniversary and what the group called “its long-standing relationship with the White House.”
Details on the content of the meeting are few (calls for comment from the CBC weren’t returned), but a statement called it a “substantive and wide-ranging discussion.” Topics included the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund (TANF-ECF, formerly known as welfare) and unemployment benefits.
Prior to the meeting, CBC Chair Emanuel Cleaver told BET.com he had higher hopes for this meeting than meetings with past presidents. “I’ve been in those meetings over the years, and I have to say, in spite of the goals, desires and hopes of everyone who participated, I don’t think anything has come out of any of those meetings.” He added that he intended make recommendations to the president.
It’s unclear what the outcome of the meeting will be–the CBC’s brief statement alluded to future meetings, but no action items:
Washington, DC–Earlier today, the Congressional Black Caucus Executive Board held their first meeting of the year with President Obama building upon its long-standing relationship with the White House. In a substantive and wide-ranging discussion, the Executive Board addressed federal budget issues and our country’s long term investment in our most vulnerable communities. More specifically they discussed the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund (TANF-ECF), empowerment zones in persistent poverty communities, and unemployment benefits. This is the first of many conversations, the CBC looks forward to holding a follow up meeting with the President and entire Caucus. The meeting reflected our ongoing relationship and agreement to continue the conversation on key issues.
Rep. Cleaver: GOP Manufactures Black-Brown Tensions
011 months ago
On Tuesday members of the Congressional Black Caucus led by Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver lambasted Republicans during a House Immigration Subcommittee hearing for trying to generate tension between black and immigrant communities in an effort to pass anti-immigrant bills that would serve neither community.
The committee’s newly appointed leaders–Reps. Elton Gallegly, Steve King and Lamar Smith, are longtime anti-immigration hardliners who gathered folks for a panel called “Making Immigration Work for American Minorities,” in which House members debated the impact that immigrants had on high unemployment and depressed wages in communities of color. Gallegly, King and Smith argued that immigrants drove down wages and were primarily responsible for the unemployment crisis in black communities.
“I am concerned by the majority’s attempt to manufacture tension between African-Americans and immigrant communities. It seems as though they would like for our communities to think about immigration in terms of ‘us versus them,’ and I reject that notion,” Cleaver said in his statement, the AP reported.
Gallegly showed he pays attention to all the statistics about the recession’s disproportionate impact on communities of color and young people. “Many of those most impacted by the current job crisis are minorities,” Gallegly said in his statement. “The unemployment rates for blacks and Hispanics are 15.7 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively. They often compete for jobs with low-skilled immigrant workers.”
Gallegly showed he pays attention to racial disparities in education, too: “And young people have been hit especially hard by the recession. In fact, of young U.S-born blacks (ages 18-29), 55 percent have no education higher than a high school diploma. And of young U.S.-born Hispanics, 54 percent have no education higher than a high school diploma.”
“With unemployment at or over 9 percent for 21 months, jobs are scarce,” said Smith in his prepared remarks. “Virtually all credible studies show that competition from cheap foreign labor displaces American workers, including legal immigrants, or depresses their wages.”
But CBC members quickly debunked that argument.
“It seems as though they would like for our communities to think about immigration in terms of ‘us vs. them,’ and I reject that notion,” Cleaver said in a written statement, the Ventura County Star reported.
Other CBC members including Rep. John Conyers spoke up against the GOP’s tactics to divide communities of color, which he called “abhorrent and repulsive.”
“We cannot afford to let people who have political agendas divide us,” Rep. Maxine Waters said, adding that the hearings were an attempt to divert attention from the real, myriad causes of high black unemployment rates.
“Many American workers are suffering from the same economic condition, and our broken immigration system creates a race to the bottom for the worst paying and most difficult jobs,” Cleaver said. “Playing politics with immigration only reinforces the status quo.”
Immigrant rights advocates said Republicans’ concern for communities of color was disingenuous. “Another day, another hypocritical attempt by Republican immigration hardliners to disguise their mass deportation agenda in more popular terms,” Frank Sharry, head of the immigration reform advocacy group America’s Voice, said in a statement. “But these politicians have been voting against the rights of workers for years. This hearing is a transparent attempt to rebrand their extreme, anti-immigration agenda, and it won’t work.”
Sharry highlighted report cards from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the NAACP that showed that Gallegly, Smith and King consistently voted against student aid, job training programs and affirmative action programs that would have supported young people and people of color during the recession.
Immigrant and civil rights advocates also highlighted research from the Immigration Policy Center that shows that immigration does not cause black unemployment, and that there was no strong correlation between the two. Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, testified that high unemployment rates in black communities was a persistent trend spanning decades and was due more to the war on drugs and mass incarceration policies, as well as black folks’ restricted access to high quality public education and decent housing and jobs.
Consider it the right-wing nativists’ version of the right-wing anti-choice stalwarts’ black genocide myth, which have also exploded onto the national stage in the current debates around women’s reproductive rights. It’s a tactic built around using actual facts about inequality to create the illusion of empathy for communities as a way to drive through divisive, exploitative policies that wouldn’t help address the actual issues communities of color face.
Congressional Black Caucus "Cannot Accept" Obama Budget Cuts
011 months ago
As President Obama huddles today with Senate Democrats on his $3.7 trillion budget proposal, the Congressional Black Caucus is emerging as one of the loudest House Democratic critics of a plan that Marc Ambinder at National Journal calls “The Budget Nobody Likes.”
In his press conference yesterday, Obama insisted that “just like every family in America, the government has to do two things at once: It has to live within its means and it has to invest in the future.” He compared the budget to the balancing act many families must make when they decide to cut back on eating out and other luxuries in order to save for their kids’ educations.
Yet, several House Democrats, including CBC members, have disagreed. A spokesperson for Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.–who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, where the real fight with GOP deficit hawks will be engaged–criticized the president’s analogy, saying, “It isn’t cutting luxuries, it’s cutting things that are vital.”
CBC Chair Emanuel Cleaver agreed in a harshly worded statement reacting to Monday’s budget. “Rebuilding our economy on the backs of the most vulnerable Americans is something that I simply can not accept,” Cleaver said. “I understand that now is the time for us as a nation to sacrifice in order to protect our children from a mountain of debt; however, I am struggling to understand how this budget helps us to best achieve this critical goal.”
Obama’s choice to attack the deficit by cutting community development funding and home heating assistance, among other programs, will almost certainly have disproportionately negative effects on blacks and Latinos, who are twice as likely to live in poverty as the rest of the population.
On the House floor yesterday, Rep. Jackson railed against Obama’s choices. “In the midst of the worst economy most of us have ever seen, we are cutting the legs of the unemployed, the underemployed and the economically insecure out from under them.”
Jackson and other House members see Monday’s budget as an extension of last year’s tax cut deal. “Our point has been that the real problem is the tax cut deal that was launched in December,” says Jackson spokesperson Andrew Wilson. Jackson argues that the deal Obama made with Republicans in order to get unemployment benefits extended has had consequences for the deficit, which now leads to cuts that affect the “poorest of the poor, those who are unemployed, those who are stuck in failing schools.”
That unemployment deal extended the Bush-era tax cuts–including cuts for the richest people in the country–and will add $858 billion the deficit. That $858 billion has now become part of Obama’s balance sheet, something he has to grapple with as he makes what he called “difficult choices” about budget cuts.
Conventional wisdom is that the White House knows this budget proposal is pure positioning–the president gets to define himself as a responsible spender, and Democrats can restore the unpopular cuts during the messy process of actual appropriations.
But Republicans are in the process of drafting a budget proposal that makes Obama’s look wildly generous. Which is why Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic says that, while Obama’s budget is just an opening bid, he’s concerned about the outcome:
You could make a case that, by embracing the Republican narrative on the size of government and calling for a five-year budget freeze at present levels, Obama has effectively bid too low in the negotiation over federal spending–that he’s committed himself, and the country, to less government than it needs. (It’s happened before!) Or you could make the case that, by making “tough” proposals to cut programs he supports, he’s establishing the credibility with voters that he needs in order to marginalize the Republicans and to preserve more spending than might otherwise be possible. (It’s happened before!)
I really don’t know which argument is right. I’m not a political strategist and, besides, not even the political strategists can be sure about this sort of thing. But I know I’ll be hoping that Obama prevails in the coming standoff with House Republicans, even though a victory would still leave the government perilously underfunded.
But with Obama willing to cut programs at the outset that disproportionately affect poor folks and people of color, it seems likely that whatever budget the president and Congress eventually agree upon will be most damaging to the most vulnerable.
Allen West and Tim Scott Don’t Bring GOP Closer to Black Caucus
01 year ago
Wednesday marks the first official day of the 112th Congress, and included in the much-talked about takeover of conservative lawmakers are Allen West and Tim Scott. Both become the first black Republican members of the House since 2003, and the first from the Deep South since Reconstruction. But both politicians are still weighing whether or not to join the Congressional Black Caucus.
The CBC is the oldest and most influential organization representing black members of Congress, and it’s historically been dominated by Democrats. That, of course, is no surprise: the overwhelming majority of black voters in the U.S. are registered Democrats. But, as West has it, the tide is steadily turning. At least 32 black lawmakers ran on the GOP ticket in 2010; fourteen made it to the general election, and two — West and Scott — eventually won House seats.
Of course, that doesn’t make their relationship with the majority of African American lawmakers any easier. Still, CBC leaders have welcomed both men to join their ranks.
“Membership in the Congressional Black Caucus has never been restricted to Democrats,” Caucus chair 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.”
West, who political scientist Jason Johnson told NPR’s Morning Edition was “fervently against 99 percent of what the [Caucus] stands for,” has actually expressed interest in joining.
“I think I want to bring in that intellectual debate and discourse,” he told Fox News Sunday. “I think there are different voices coming out of the black community.”
Notably, West has taken up more of the national spotlight because of his outspoken approach and Tea Party roots. He likens President Obama to a coward and reportedly wasn’t moved an inch by the election of the nation’s first black president. The former army lieutenant colonel retired after being investigated for firing a gun close to the head of an Iraqi police officer in 2004, and beat Democratic Representative Ron Klein for Florida’s District 22 seat. He then caused a national controversy after it was discovered that his chosen chief of staff, firebrand radio talk show host Joyce Kauffman, advocated for the hanging of undocumented immigrants. Although West ultimately replaced Kauffman, he blamed the meltdown on the “sexism” and “misogynist behavior of liberal media.”
Scott, meanwhile, who’s considered slightly more moderate than West, has so far said that he’ll decline the CBC’s offer to join. That position can be chalked up to this previous experiences as a state representative, when he joined the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus during his first year in office back in 2008. While the experience proved to be a good way to stay engaged, Scott lamented that it “didn’t meet his legislative objectives” and declined to stay on a second year.
The South Carolina lawmaker may have summed up his and West’s role in the new Congress best in a interview with his hometown paper.
“Obviously, when you’re an oxymoron, it creates more attention,” Scott told Charleston’s Post and Courier about being a black Republican. “It’s what you do with that attention that matters.”
Poll: Pelosi’s "Ethical Swamp" is Flooding (with CBC Members)
01 year ago
No surprises here, but there’s more bad news for Democrats headed into November. Fifty-two percent of likely voters in 12 competitive districts think that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has failed to rid Washington of corruption. That’s compared to only seven percent of respondents who think things have actually gotten better, according to a recently released poll.
After Democrats won the majority in Congress four years ago, the majority leader made an infamous vow to “drain the ethical swamp” on Capitol Hill. Four years later, several Congressional Black Caucus members have been rocked by high profile ethics scandals. The lawmakers in question have pointed fingers at the GOP, citing a targeted, racially-tinged conspiracy. Meanwhile, Pelosi has tried to frame the cases as proof of stronger accountability under her watch. So far, it looks like she’s losing the battle over messaging.