Tag: cbc

CBC ordered to shaddap and sit down until White House can dictate their #Syria position for them.

This is not a headline that the Obama administration particularly wanted to see.

Congressional Black Caucus Instructed to Hold Tongue on Syria

As an increasing number of African-American lawmakers voice dissent over the Obama administration’s war plans in Syria, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) [Martha Fudge, OH-11] has asked members to “limit public comment” on the issue until they are briefed by senior administration officials.

A congressional aide to a CBC member called the request “eyebrow-raising,” in an interview with The Cable, and said the request was designed to quiet dissent while shoring up support for President Obama’s Syria strategy.

…particularly since it’s coming from The Cable.  That it is showing up there is pretty telling, not least because it means that – oh, rarest of cases! – the Beltway Establishment is as leery of intervening in Syria as the rest of the country is. Continue reading CBC ordered to shaddap and sit down until White House can dictate their #Syria position for them.

“Congressional Black Caucus ‘disappointed’ in Obama’s Cabinet picks” …And, CNN?

I’m possibly being unkind by linking this:

Rep. Marcia Fudge, chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, expressed concern in a letter to President Barack Obama over the lack of African Americans among his new Cabinet picks.

“Congressional Black Caucus offices have had numerous phone calls from constituents questioning why none of the new appointees will be able to speak to the unique needs of African Americans,” Fudge, D-Ohio, wrote.

…but the answer to Congresswoman Fudge’s querulous question is simple enough, and compelling enough, to answer: None of the new appointees this cycle have been African-American – well, except for Susan Rice, who was useless on general principles – because African-Americans voted something like 90% for Obama in 2012, the CBC has no intention of opposing the President too openly for the rest of his term, and there’s frankly nothing more that African-Americans can do for Obama.  I mean, at this point Congresswoman Fudge’s demographic could start voting Republican again and it wouldn’t be any skin off of Barack Obama’s nose.

And that’s pretty much it.  Glad we could straighten that out!

Moe Lane

The CBC forgets its place.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have – wait for it, wait for it! – written a letter to the administration asking why the White House has put itself on the hook for spending 1.5 billion on one of Sen. Blanche Lincolns farm relief causes while not being able to find 1.2 billion to pay the 1999 Pigford settlement to minority farmers*.

“The current hardships experienced by other farmers should not trump hardships placed on African Americans and Native Americans by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the past,” they wrote.

The lawmakers say that Obama should also take administrative action to pay $3.4 billion the federal government promised to settle claims that it mismanaged Native American trust funds. Elouise Cobell is the lead plaintiff in the case against the Interior Department.

Continue reading The CBC forgets its place.

End of the Cuba Embargo?

Very possibly. From Fausta:

Cuba: U.S. Embargo to End?

The Fifth Summit of the Americas is coming up next week, on April 17-19 in Trinidad-Tobago. The Summit’s theme is “Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability.” It will be interesting to watch what the Obama administration has planned for the Summit regarding Cuba.

As readers may recall, last February the Lugar Report concluded that “progress could be attained by replacing conditionality with sequenced engagement, beginning with narrow areas of consensus that develop trust,” and recommended changing US policy towards Cuba. Following the report, in March the omnibus spending bill changed travel restrictions on American citizens with family in Cuba to once a year, and last week the Wall Street Journal reported that President Obama plans to lift U.S. restrictions on Cuba, allowing Cuban-Americans to visit families there as often as they like and to send them unlimited funds.

Continue reading End of the Cuba Embargo?

The Cuban situation about to get depressingly worse?

It can always get worse.

If you saw the CBC members’ visit to the Castro regime and winced (I’m sorry, but I can’t describe what happened there without using the word ‘slobbering’), I’m afraid that I have bad news for you: there may be more provocations to follow. Via Kausfiles, a reminder about how this regime operates:

…whenever it looked as if Cuba was on the path to rejoining the world, Mr. Castro has done something to derail its progress. Recall that he relentlessly battled Mikhail Gorbachev over perestroika and glasnost. Mr. Castro warned that these changes would be the Soviet Union’s downfall — evidently missing the point. In a new, flattering documentary about Cuba’s leader by Oliver Stone, ”Comandante,” Mr. Castro dismisses Mr. Gorbachev as a man ”who destroyed his country.”

Or consider what happened in 1996, after the Clinton administration and Cuba had settled on migration and drug interdiction accords. Mr. Castro (after months of warnings) shot down two planes operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue, killing four people. The result was the signing of the Helms-Burton Act, which tightened the embargo. Did Mr. Castro know that Congress would react this way? Of course he did.

Continue reading The Cuban situation about to get depressingly worse?

CBC preparing to oppose Obama over Gregg?

Probably not, but maybe some day the progressives will find their spines again.

Glenn Thrush has a statement from CBC Chair Rep. Barbara Lee that certainly sounds like they’re reserving the option:

“In this light, Sen. Gregg’s record of previously voting to abolish the Commerce Department and his attempts to block President Bill Clinton’s efforts to secure adequate funding for the 2000 census raise troubling concerns regarding his commitment to the department’s core missions.

We may know more when they get around to putting the press release on their own site. Continue reading CBC preparing to oppose Obama over Gregg?