Poverty Reduction & Safety Net Programs

Rep. Karen Bass (CA-37), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, released the following statement after the House Judiciary Committee’s vote to approve two articles of impeachment against President Donald J. Trump: “Today is a somber day in the House of Representatives. For only the fourth time in United States history, the House Judiciary Committee has voted to advance articles of impeachment against a sitting President. The facts are clear: the 45th President of the United States of America a... Read more

The Congressional Black Caucus’ 2020 Census Task Force met with Census Director Steven Dillingham and pressed agency leaders about their plans to adequately count Black communities during next year’s census. In the meeting, held this week, several Black Caucus members, including CBC Chair Karen Bass and Task Force Chair Congressman Steven Horsford, questioned census officials on a broad range of topics related to the census, including assessing if adequate resources are being deployed to reach A... Read more

Rep. Maxine Waters returned home to Los Angeles on Wednesday to draw attention to the plight of 60,000 homeless county residents. “According to the latest point-in-time count, both the city and county of Los Angeles experienced a 12 to 16 percent increase from last year in the number of people that are homeless,” Waters, the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in her opening remarks of a hearing held in her district. Waters noted that “nearly 60,000 people in the county,” ... Read more

Today, the Trump Administration announced a proposed rule from the Department of Agriculture that would kick 3 million Americans off of the SNAP food benefit program. This latest attack on hungry Americans comes on the heels of the Administration attempting to change the federal poverty line in an effort to rob African American communities of basic assistance, access to education and quality health care. In response, Congressional Black Caucus members issued the following statement: “We know tha... Read more

Many in Los Angeles call our homeless problem "an epidemic," that continues to get worse. On Saturday, some Congressional leaders took to the streets of Skid Row in downtown L.A. to help come up with a solution. Homelessness in L.A. County is up 12% this year, close to 60,000 people. Meanwhile, in the city homelessness is up 16% to about 36,000. "It is time to declare a state of emergency and all that that entails," says Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass. "In the United States in ... Read more

For decades our country has suffered from systemic inequality and racial segregation that continues to prevent millions of African Americans from gaining access to new opportunities. Now, President Trump is once again attempting to rob African American communities of basic assistance, access to education and quality health care. The Trump administration is on the verge of making an end run around Congress by attempting to change the federal poverty line. In a recently released proposal, the admi... Read more

There is no barn at Sedrick Rowe’s farm on the outskirts of Albany, only a modest storage shed. Vintage equipment lies idle nearby. Rust, about the color of the soil where Rowe plants his organic peanuts and watermelon seeds, covers each piece of machinery. Weeds, green and persistent, grow up through the blades. The dated equipment isn’t decorative. It tills the soil and gets his seeds in the ground. He paid about $1,000 for the implements, sure he could make them work based on what he learned... Read more

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) is finding herself in high demand heading into 2020. The new leader of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus received a phone call from Joe Biden, the former vice president and current front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, just the other day. She caught up with Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), another White House hopeful, during a plane ride from Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. And Bass regularly chats up Sen. Kamala Harris, a fellow Californ... Read more

Today, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) released a 3:26 mini documentary explaining what African Americans have lost under the Trump Administration and why it’s important for them to vote in November. From safety and security to healthcare, equality and justice and other issue areas, the mini documentary details how a number of policies and programs implemented by President Trump and his Administration have hurt African Americans and other marginalized communities. We Have Lost A Lot Video “... Read more

Today, the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman Cedric L. Richmond (D-LA-02), released the following statement on House Republicans’ passage of the Farm Bill, which would cut $23 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and result in as many as 40,000 households losing nutrition assistance. The bill also cuts 265,000 children from the free school lunch program. “Although the Republican Party is supposed to be the party of family values, every day they ... Read more