2A Q»0
NEWS^^e Charlotte ^oS2
Tuesday, November 21,2006
Democrats ease into issues
Continued from page 1A
Caucus and the members of
the committee - both
Democratic and Republican -
in developing an agenda and
oversight plan that serves the
interest of the American peo
ple...One of my highest prior
ities will be
election
reform.”
T ' h e
Judiciary
Committee has
oversight of the
courts, crime,
portions of
homeland
Clyburn
take that bankruptcy bill
back up. It was a bad biU,”
Waters says.
Waters also wants to estab
lish legislation that will cur
tail the spread of predatory
lending through payday
lenders. But she concedes
some legisla
tion will be dif
ficult to pass or
overturn.
“We can’t go
in thinking it’s
going to be a
cake walk.
Some of it will
get done,” says
Waters
security, and constitutional
issues, which
includes vot
ing. The com
mittee’s hall
mark legisla
tion in the
109th Congress
was the suc-
cessfLil renewal Conyers
of the Voting Rights Act with
bi-partisan support.
Members • of Conyers’ staff
says the normally outspoken
congressman is withholding
public comment on other spe
cific plans under his leader
ship until after Dec. 4, the day
committee assignments will
be made official.
But Rep. Maxine Waters (D-
Cahf.), slated to become chair
of the Judiciary’s
Subcommittee on Housing
and Community Opportunity,
speaks freely about her hopes
for the future.
She agrees that election
reform must be a priority, par
ticularly establishing a stan
dard for voting machines so
that they are required to have
a paper trail and eliminating
state-only voter identification
requirements. But she lists a
string of other issues that she
will be pushing, including
overturning of some legisla
tion pushed through by the
Bush Administration in its so-
caWed “war on terror.”
“He has undermined the pri
vacy of Americans with
Patriot Act One and Patriot
Act Two,” says Waters,
founder and chair of the 70-
member “Out of Iraq” House
caucus. She also wants to
revisit bankruptcy reform.
People filing Chapter Seven
bankruptcy used to be able to
get off virtually free of legal
obligations to pay debts,
allowing to get off to a fresh
start. However, Bush pushed
through legislation that
required bankruptcy filers to
enter a forced repayment plan
and gave lenders and busi
nesses new legal means to
recover debts.
“We have to see about over
turning some of that stuff and
making sure that they fall
under the constitution’s guar
antee for privacy. We ought to
Waters. “But we’re going to
have problems.
We’ve got
diversity right
in our own
caucus.”
Waters was
referring to the
Blue Dog
Watt Democrats, 37
moderate to
conservative members who
often vote with Republicans.
Rep. Charlie Rangel, who
will become chair of the pow
erful Ways and Means
Committee, which deals with
a wide range of financial
issues such as the minimum
wage, taxes, social security
affordable health care and
housing, says liberal
Democrats may need to cur
tail their message in order to
build broader support.
Rangel ticks off a list of
issues for which the
Democratic majority should
fight.
“I don’t see that there’s an
inconsistency with
Democrats and the issues
that Afidcan-Americans face,”
he says. “So, how do you com
promise in ending a war that
so many of your people are
being harmed and invited to
join because of economic rea
sons? How many kids are out
of school and on the streets
without training, without an
education? How many are in
the criminal justice system
because they didn’t have
alternatives? How many pub
lic schools are failing? What
is the need for affordable
housing? Can we not improve
to make certain that no one
falls between the cracks of
having access to health insur
ance? Those are principles
that the party believes in and
that minorities have to
believe in. So, I don’t see the
possibility of compromising
those principles. We just can’t
do it.”
Conyers, Rangel and two
other CBC members are slat
ed to rise to chairmanships.
Waters and 14 others to sub
committee chairs. Bennie
Thompson (D-Miss.), is slated
to rise to Homeland Security
chair and Alcee Hastings (D-
Fla.) is to head Intelligence.
James Clybum (D-S.G.)
win go fix)m chairmanship of
the Democratic Caucus to
House Majority Whip, the
person largely responsible for
unifying the party, galvaniz
ing and managing the votes,
and attempting to explain
legislation in a way that it is
palatable to opponents.
Congressional Black
Caucus Chairman Mel Watt
(D-N.C.), also a member of
Judiciary, says his first prior
ity will be raising the mini
mum wage from $5.15 an
hour to $7.25.
“I think if you look at that
platform, I think it’s an
African-American platform,
it’s a White-American plat
form, that is any hyphenated-
American that you can think
of If you’re American, that’s
your platform,” says Clybum.
“Blue Dogs - I can’t imagine
the Blue dogs being against
raising minimum wage, I
can’t imagine the Blue Dogs
being against having health
care more accessible. Are you
telling me that the Blue Dogs
are against making educa
tion more affordable? I don’t
think so. It’s a Blue Dog mes
sage. It’s a yellow dog mes
sage. It’s a Hispanic Caucus
message. It’s a Congressional
Black Caucus message. I
think that this is a message
that every one of our caucus
es can buy into.”
With the U. S. Senate divid
ed with a 51-49 Democratic
majority, even if Democratic
legislation gets through.
President Bush could veto a
bni that could only be over
ridden with two-thirds [60-
members] majority.
“The real question is does
the president want to grid
lock us, veto us and lame
duck himself?” asks Rangel.
“Just as he stayed the course
on the war and lost, is he will
ing to take a risk and staying
the course on budget and eco
nomic domestic issues I hope
he doesn’t.”
The real test will be
whether Democrats will work
effectively with Republicans.
“I really know that being in
the majority, you have a great
advantage in getting your
ideas to the floor, but many,
many Republicans and many
on the (Ways and Means)
committee are excited that
they too will have an opportu
nity to be involved in legisla
tions,” Rangel says. “And I
hope the president decides
that gridlock is not the
answer for Republicans or
Democrats.”
Breaking ground on
M.L. King Memorial
By James Wright
AFRO-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON — Many of the nation’s distinguished lead
ers, including the sitting president of the United States and his
predecessor, joined 5,000 people in Washington, D.C., on a cold
afternoon to participate in the groundbreaking of the long-
awaited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on Nov. 13.
When the memorial is completed in either late 2008 or 2009,
it will be the first memorial on the National Mall to honor an
African American.
"Dr. King showed us that a life of conscience and purpose can
lift up many souls,” President Bush said of King’s impact on
America. "And on this ground, a monument will rise that pre
serves his legacy for ages. Honoring Dr. King’s legacy requires
more than building a monument; it requires the ongoing com
mitment of every American.
"We will continue to work for the day when the dignity and
humanity of every person is respected, and the American
promise is denied no one.”
'Fhe memorial was the brainchild of members of Alpha Phi
Alpha Fraternity, of which King was a member, and it has won
the support of both Democrats and Republicans.
President Clinton signed the bill authorizing the fraternity the
right to raise money for the memorial in 1998. The fraternity’s
fundraising has reached about $65 million, with a goal of $100
million within two years.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) noted that his colleagues were
instrumental in the process of the memorial becoming a reality.
"It was Sens. John Warner and Paul Sarbanes who sponsored
the bill in the Senate,”he said. "It was Thad Cochran and Robert
Byrd that got the bill funded.
"This is the first memorial that honors a man who was not a
president and not a hero of a foreign war.”
Obama noted that in King’s later years, he was reviled by the
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