CBC Monitor Report Card Ranks Terri Sewell Worst Black Member of Congress

Glen Ford with Patrice Johnson for CBC Monitor

24 Sep 2015

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford, with Patrice Johnson for CBC Monitor

Black Agenda Report is once again publishing the annual CBC Monitor Report Card. The former all-time worst Black Congressman, David Scott of Georgia, has passed the torch to a new generation of corporate-bought politicians, represented by Alabama’s Terri Sewell – although Scott remains a close second. Overall, the CBC’s drift to the Right continues, with only 12 members scoring 80 or 90 percent. Not one scored 100, due to their deference to Israel.

CBC Monitor Report Card Ranks Terri Sewell Worst Black Member of Congress

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford, with Patrice Johnson for CBC Monitor

“Chicago’s Bobby Rush brings up the third spot on the ass-end of the Black Caucus.”

Although the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) continues to call itself the “conscience of the Congress,” the 46-member body lost its political cohesion at least ten years ago, when the awesome weight of corporate money definitively cracked the broadly progressive consensus that had previously dominated Black Democratic discourse. The 2005 defection to the Right of ten CBC members on bankruptcy and estate tax legislation prompted a group of Black activists in Washington, DC to launch a scorecard that would track the Black Caucus’s legislative behavior. The CBC Monitor issued its first Report Card in September, 2005, with the assistance of The Black Commentator. In 2006, The Black Commentator’s writers and editors founded Black Agenda Report, and continued to publish annual CBC Report Cards. After a hiatus of several years, BAR has resumed scoring the Congressional Black Caucus on crucial legislation.

We are sad to report that the rot in the CBC has grown deeper in the Age of Obama. A decade ago, 23 Black lawmakers – a clear majority – scored 90 or 100 percent in the first CBC Report Card. This year, only 12 Black Caucus members managed to score 80 or 90 percent. Not a single CBC member achieved a 100 percent score, due to their acquiescence to a unanimous U.S. House resolution, in July, 2014, affirming Israel’s right to “defend itself” even as the apartheid state was in the process of killing 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza, the vast majority of them civilians, including hundreds of children. Every CBC member lost ten points for going along with what Bruce Dixon described as their “cowardly, hypocritical and subservient” endorsement of Israel’s crimes in Gaza. That shameful vote is listed as #5 in the Report Card’s “Key.”

Seven members manage to score 90 percent, making them the

Not-So-Glittering Stars of the Black Caucus:

John Conyers Jr. (MI)

Donna Edwards (MD)

Keith Ellison (MN)

Barbara Lee (CA)

John Lewis (GA)

Robert Scott (VA)

Maxine Waters (CA)

Except for Ellison and Edwards, who were not in Congress ten years ago, each of them were among the highest scoring members back in 2005 and in most subsequent Report Cards.

The second biggest point loser was vote #4, which resulted in penalties for 32 of the 39 members scored. On June 19, 2014, the House voted on an amendment submitted by Rep. Alan Grayson, a white Democrat from Florida, that would have prohibited the transfer of "aircraft (including unmanned aerial vehicles), armored vehicles, grenade launchers, silencers, toxicological agents (including chemical agents, biological agents, and associated equipment), launch vehicles, guided missiles, ballistic missiles, rockets, torpedoes, bombs, mines, or nuclear weapons" to local police. Twenty-seven CBC members voted against the amendment, effectively endorsing the continued militarization of local police. Five Black lawmakers abstained, which amounted to same thing. Therefore, both “Nay” votes and abstentions, or “Not Voting,” have been penalized. The only CBC members that were not penalized were the eight that

Voted to Demilitarize the Police:

John Conyers (MI)

Donna Edwards (MD)

Keith Ellison (MN)

Hank Johnson (GA)

Barbara Lee (CA)

John Lewis (GA)

Robert Scott (VA)

Maxine Waters (CA)

Trickster Abstentions

Abstentions to avoid taking a position comprise the third largest category of penalties. These are listed on congressional roll calls as “Not Voting” – but of course, they are effectively “Aye” or “Nay” votes, and should be scored as such. The most penalties for this Report Card involved votes number 1, 2 and 9.

Votes on 1 and 2 serve to separate the real anti-war members from the phonies. On June 19, Rep. Barbara Lee introduced a bill that would have defunded U.S. military operations in Iraq. The measure would have prevented Congress from using the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq as “a blank check for endless war.” The next day, she put forward a bill to prohibit the the use of funds for the purpose of conducting combat operations in Afghanistan after Dec. 31, 2014, the date by which President Obama promised all American servicemen and women would return home. The purpose was to hold Obama to his word. All members that either voted against the two measures, or registered as “Not Voting” were deducted ten points for each bill.

On June 17 of this year, CBC members had another opportunity to show their anti-war colors. Massachusetts Democrat James P. McGovern sponsored a bill to remove United States Armed Forces deployed to Iraq or Syria on or after August 7, 2014, other than Armed Forces required to protect United States diplomatic facilities and personnel, from Iraq and Syria. It is listed as vote #8 in the Key. Twelve members voted against it. Based on their votes or abstentions on all three anti-war measures, the following are part of

The “War Party” Within the Caucus:

Joyce Beatty (OH)

Emanuel Cleaver (M))

William “Lacy” Clay (MO)

Hank Johnson (GA)

Danny Davis (IL)

Marcia Fudge (OH)

Al Green (TX)

Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX)

Donald Payne Jr. (NJ)

Charles Rangel (NY)

Bennie Thompson (MS)

G.K. Butterfield (NC)

Andre Carson (IN)

Jim Clyburn (SC)

Cedric Richmond (LA)

Corrine Brown (FL)

Gregory Meeks (NY)

Bobby Rush (IL)

Sanford Bishop (GA)

David Scott (GA)

Terri Sewell (AL)

Marc Veasey (TX)

The “War Party” comprises 22 members, a solid majority of the 39 CBC members scored for this Report Card.

The vote on item #9 in the Key, Florida Democrat Kathy Castor’s amendment to require the Secretary of Education to develop and enforce conflict of interest guidelines for all charter schools receiving federal assistance, reveals the closeted supporters of school privatization through charters. Although no members of the CBC voted against the amendment, eight members registered “Not Voting” – clearly a politically motivated abstention to avoid offending the charter school machine. The following members are

Charter School Tricksters:

Yvette Clark (NY)

Hank Johnson (GA)

Gwen Moore (WI)

Alcee Hastings (FL)

Emanuel Cleaver (MO)

Bobby Rush (IL)

Sanford Bishop (GA)

David Scott (GA)

Vote #3 on the Key attempts to detect the very tricky CBC members that dare to overtly undermine the (already weak) Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Republicans passed a bill to “improve upon the definitions provided for points and fees in connection with a mortgage transaction, and for other purposes.” The following CBC members went along with the

Wall Street Crowd:

Frederica Wilson (FL)

Joyce Beatty (OH)

Emanuel Cleaver (MO)

Jim Clyburn (SC)

Marc Veasey (TX)

Corrine Brown (FL)

Gregory Meeks (NY)

Bobby Rush (IL)

Sanford Bishop (GA)

David Scott (GA)

Terri Sewell (AL)

The House passed President Obama’s fast-track authority to push through his secret Trans Pacific Partnership corporate trade deal on June 18 of this year. (Vote #6 on the Key.) The bulk of his support came from Republicans, but a trickle of Democrats joined with Obama and the GOP to give thumbs up to a measure that would lead to more exporting of jobs overseas and reduction of workers’ rights. The following members comprise the

CBC Trio for TPP

Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX)

Gregory Meeks (NY)

Terri Sewell (AL)

Nine members of the Black Caucus abstained or voted to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline, which will pump tar sands crude oil from Canada to U.S. refineries, will lead to massive amounts of carbon pollution for years to come and would seriously threaten surrounding communities, ecosystems, and watersheds. The members that voted for item #7 in the Key are

Wedded to Big Oil

Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX)

Al Green (TX)

Donald Payne Jr. (NJ)

Bennie Thompson (MS)

Jim Clyburn (SC)

Cedric Richmond (LA)

Marc Veasey (TX)

David Scott (GA)

Terri Sewell (AL)

Finally, two CBC members appear to believe their districts are located in Likud neighborhoods in Israel. With Prime Minister Netanyahu’s rants ringing in their ears, they proudly voted against the Iran Deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed at Vienna (#10 in the Key), when it came up for action on September 11 of this year. They are the

Black Lawmakers from Tel Aviv

Alcee Hastings (FL)

David Scott (GA)

There was one standout Black lawmaker of 2014 through September 2015. Of the ten votes scored during the period, Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell succeeded in voting against Black people’s interests eight times. Sewell only voted correctly twice: on the charter schools and Iran deal bills, #9 and #10 in the Key. Otherwise, you can’t get any “wronger” than Terri Sewell, with a score of 20 percent.

Sewell is following in the path of her predecessor, Artur Davis, who consistently scored at or near the bottom of the CBC Monitor Report Card – usually just a few points higher than the all-time worst Black Congressmen David Scott and Sanford Bishop, both from Georgia. This year, Scott and Bishop are tied for Second Worst, with 30 percent each.

Chicago’s Bobby Rush brings up the third spot on the ass-end of the Black Caucus, with a score of 40 percent. What a sad and shameful way for the former leader of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party to grow old.

Although the Congressional Black Caucus lists 46 members, this year’s CBC Monitor only scores 39 of them. The Delegates from Washington, DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands (Eleanor Holmes Norton and Stacey Plaskett, respectively) cannot vote on the House floor. Newer members Alma Adams (NC), Brenda Lawrence (MI) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ) were not in the House for the full period of scoring. Cory Booker is a U.S. senator, dealing with a different set of legislative measures. And Republican Mia Love was left off the list because we believe her white Utah constituency and her party affiliation renders her membership in the CBC a politically meaningless technicality.

Click here to view the 2015 CBC Report card for the 114th Congress, along with supporting explanatory links to all the relevant votes and legislation.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at [email protected]. Patrice Johnson is a veteran journalist living in New York City.

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