Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Obama to meet with CBC tomorrow

Writes Lauren Burke at Crew of 42:
Again, the 5 major initiatives the CBC will again push for with the President are:
1. A push for budget strategies to end systemic long-term “pockets” of poverty (also known as “10-20-30″).
2. A push for a redistricting task force and focus on Section 5 of the Voting right Act.
3. A push to designate unemployment extensions as an emergency so it may be funded without a “payfor” (H.R. 589).
4. Funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), other programs assisting the poor.
5. A push to fund NIH programs that focus on health care disparities and the office of minority health.

...

As the President has event after event regarding Hispanic issues (he has an event today in El Paso and another Hispanic event at the White House on Thursday) it would appear that issues facing African Americans has been placed on the back burner. Four months into 2011, can anyone name a piece of legislation or a policy initiative President Obama is backing that a CBC member is championing… or that the National Urban League is championing… or that the NAACP is championing…? Is there something comparable to The Dream Act for the CBC? If there a core issue such as immigration that the President plans to get behind? High unemployment, high dropout rates, health disparities and high incarceration rates continue to plague the black community. Will the President advocate policy on any of these issues in the same type of vigorous way he is on, say, immigration? Or will this be another meeting that results in no specific policy goals?

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