CBC Monitor Report Card, October 2008

Bill Quigley

22 Oct 2008

by Leutisha Stills and the CBC Monitor Team cbc

For a copy of this report card in ,PDF format, click here.

Since 2005, CBC Monitor has produced report-card style performance evaluations of the Congressional Black Caucus from an African American point of view. This is the CBC Report card for the First Session of the 111^th Congress, ending October 15, 2008.

We usually compile and publish the report card in early and mid-September. But the shocking and unprecedented trillion dollar chunk of corporate welfare which Wall Street speculators and bankers obtained for themselves over the last few weeks, thanks to craven and corrupt Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate forced us to revise our calculations and include the so-called Wall Street bailout legislation in this issue of the CBC Monitor Report Card. It was really that important. The amount expended in the bailout of Lehman Brothers alone, not the largest investment bank on Wall Street, would have been sufficient to guarantee the solvency of the Social Security program for decades to come. Future expenditures for a galaxy of human, housing, educational, infrastructure and job creation needs are seriously imperiled by this bailout, while absolutely no measures have yet been enacted to renegotiate mortgages, to lift wages, or to relieve millions of families from the crushing burden of debt.

As usual, the other legislation our report focused upon included a mix of domestic bills, along with continued funding of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A clear majority of Americans, and an even larger proportion of African Americans have indicated that they favor more funding for human needs, job creation, infrastructure and the like at home rather than continuing to spend more on arms and the military than the rest of the planet’s nations combined. We also included in the performance evaluation some representative legislation on the government’s illegitimate powers to harass dissenters, to conduct warrantless surveillance, and to label persons as “enemy combatants” and/or “terrorists’ without evidence or due process, along with anti-discrimination legislation.

Out of 37 members evaluated in the Black Caucus, eight scored 87.5%; one member scored 81.25% and earned a rating of “Consensus,” 20 members scored 60-70% and earned “Underachiever” status. The remaining 22% scored “Derelict.” Not surprisingly, the vote on the Wall Street bailout significantly lowered the scores of some representatives who otherwise might have scored much higher, while elevating the scores of a few others.

OCTOBER 2008 SCORES AND STATUS

FOR MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS

	Bishop, Sanford GA, 2^nd Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Butterfield, G. K. NC, 1st Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Brown, Corrine FL, 3rd Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Clarke, Yvette NY, 12th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Clay, William. “Lacy” MO, 1st Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Cleaver, Emmanuel MO, 5th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Clyburn, James SC, 6th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Conyers, John MI, 14th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Cummings, Elijah MD, 7th Score: 68.75% Status: Underachiever	D+
	Davis, Artur AL, 7th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Davis, Danny IL, 7th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Ellison, Keith MN, 5th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C
	Fattah, Chaka A, 2nd Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Green, Al TX, 9th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D+
	Hastings, Alcee FL, 23rd Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Jackson, Jesse Jr. IL, 2nd Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Jackson-Lee, Sheila TX, 18th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Jefferson, William LA, 2nd Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Johnson, Eddie Bernice TX, 30th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Johnson, Hank GA, 4th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Kilpatrick, Carolyn MI, 13th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Lee, Barbara CA, 9th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Lewis, John GA, 5th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Meek, Kendrick FL, 17th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Meeks, Gregory NY, 6th Score: 56.25% Status: Derelict	F
	Moore, Gwen WI, 4th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Rangel, Charles NY, 15th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Richardson, Laura CA, 37th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Rush, Bobby IL, 1st Score: 68.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Scott, David GA, 13th Score: 62% Status: Underachiever	D
	Scott, Robert “Bobby” VA, 3rd Score: 87% Status: Consensus	B+
	Thompson, Bennie MS, 2nd Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Towns, Edolphus NY, 10th 62.5% Underachiever	D
	Waters, Maxine CA, 35^th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Watson, Diane CA, 33^rd Score: 68.75% Status: Underachiever	D
	Watt, Melvin NC, 12th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D

This is the list of votes CBC Monitor used to compile this evaluation.

· HR 1424 – Emergency Economic Supplemental Act of 2008 – included additional “pork” spending, increasing the original price tag from $700 Billion to $840 Billion Dollars.

· HR 3997 – Amended Version of Emergency Economic Supplemental Act of 2008 - without the “pork” – orig. tag of $700 billion dollars.

· HR 2634 – Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Collection Act

· HR 5658 – Duncan Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2009

· HR 6304 – FISA Amendment Act of 2008

· HR 6275 – Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008

· HR 5244 – Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2008

· HR 7060 – Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act of 2008

Proportionally, the spread of votes, and the trends in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are roughly comparable to those in the Congressional Black Caucus on the bills used to construct this evaluation. New York’s Rep. Jose Serrano has the honor of achieving the highest rating in our index of any member of the 118th Congress, a perfect score.

OCTOBER 2008 CBC MONITOR SCORES AND STATUS

FOR MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL HISPANIC CAUCUS

	Baca, Joe CA, 43rd Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Becerra, Xavier CA, 31st Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B
	Cardoza, Dennis CA, 18th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Costa, Jim CA, 20th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Cuellar, Henry TX, 28th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Gonzalez, Charles TX, 20th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Grijalva, Raul AZ, 7th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B
	Gutierrez, Luis IL, 4th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Hinojosa, Ruben CA, 18th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Napolitano, Grace CA, 38th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B
	Ortiz, Solomon TX, 27th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Pastor, Ed AZ, 4th Score: 62.5% Status: Underachiever	D
	Reyes, Silvestre TX, 17th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Rodriguez, Ciro TX, 23rd Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Roybal-Allard, Lucille CA, 34th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Salazar, John CO, 3rd Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C
	Sanchez, Linda CA, 39th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Sanchez, Loretta CA, 47th Score: 87.5% Status: Consensus	B+
	Serrano, Jose NY, 16th Score: 100% Status: Honor Society	A+
	Sires, Albio NJ, 13th Score: 50% Status: Derelict	F
	Solis, Hilda CA, 32th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+
	Velazquez, Nydia NY, 12th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C+

OCTOBER 2008 SCORES AND STATUS

FOR MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER CAUCUS

The House Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus consists of only five members, perhaps too small a sample to be significant for comparative purposes. Their scores on our scale mark them uniformly as underachievers.

	Abercrombie, Neil HA, 1st Score: 75% Status: Underachieve	C+
	Hirono, Mazie HA, 2nd Score: 75% Status: Underachieve	C+
	Honda, Mike CA, 15th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	D
	Matsui, Doris CA, 5th Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	D
	Wu, David OR, 1st Score: 75% Status: Underachiever	C

Last year CBC Monitor began including in the semi-annual report cards evaluations of members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) , as well as evaluations of the 28 other districts in which African Americans make up a quarter or more of the population. Those scores will be issued in December or January, and thereafter with our September and April report cards.

COMING: DISTRICT OFFICE VISITS

Over the next few months we hope to expand the CBC Monitor project to include district office visits to selected members of the Congressional Black Caucus. If you’re interested in being part of a delegation to visit the office of your representative in Congress to discuss his or her performance on the issues covered by the report card and other matters, contact us at [email protected].

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.

More Stories