Today, the U.S. Senate passed the Every Child Achieves Act (S.1177) to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by a 81-17 vote. Due to the lack of substantive improvements to the underlying bill, the Congressional Tri-Caucus—which is comprised of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC)—maintains opposition to S.1177 and calls upon House and Senate leaders to make improvements...
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Today, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) met with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a policy meeting in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center where they discussed the CBC legislative agenda and policy issues impacting the African American community. CBC Chairman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) issued the following statement after today’s policy discussion: “Today’s policy meeting with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was a constructive meeting where members o...
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Today, Representative G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), delivered remarks on the House Floor regarding an amendment introduced by Representative Ken Calvert (R-CA) to allow the display and sale of the Confederate Battle flag at National Parks and cemeteries. Butterfield’s remarks as prepared for delivery follow. “I rise to express the utter outrage of the Congressional Black Caucus regarding the Calvert Amendment to allow Confederate imagery to remain ...
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Today, Representative G. K. Butterfield, Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), issued the following statement commending the South Carolina Legislature for its swift action to remove the Confederate Battle flag from Statehouse grounds: “Early this morning, the South Carolina Legislature took a decisive step toward uniting South Carolinians by passing a bill to remove the Confederate Battle flag from Statehouse grounds. The Confederate Battle flag has long been a divisive symbol inte...
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Tomorrow, Thursday, July 9th at 2:00 p.m. EDT, Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman, Representative G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), will testify on the importance of the CBC TECH 2020 initiative during the “Make It In America: What’s Next?” hearing hosted by House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer. The hearing will focus on the next steps in American innovation. Chairman Butterfield’s testimony will address the significance of African American inclusion in the tech industry and STEAM education. He...
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CBC Chairman, G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) released the following statement today on the second year anniversary of the Shelby County v. Holder ruling: “In the two years following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) in Shelby County v. Holder, voting rights have come under a renewed assault in states across our country. “Several Republican-led states have exploited the VRA by passing laws that severely diminish the right to vote and hinder Amer...
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Today, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) introduced a resolution honoring the nine shooting victims of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina: Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Sr., Tywanza Sanders, Cynthia Hurd, Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, and Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor who were murdered on June 16, 2015. The resolution calls for: • Immediate removal of the Confederate battle flag from th...
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Today, Representative G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), issued the following statement in response to today’s Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell: “Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and the individual mandate is a tremendous victory for our nation. Every modern day U.S. President has acknowledged the urgency of healthcare reform, but President Obama and Congressional Democrats successfully a...
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Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) heard from Baltimore clergy, community leaders, and academics on Tuesday, June 23, 2015, at a forum to discuss the vast disparities in economic conditions for African Americans and whites. The forum titled: The American Dream on Hold: Economic Challenges in the African American Community, was hosted by Congressman G. K. Butterfield, Chairman of the CBC, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Ranking Democrat on JE...
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The recent events in Baltimore are all too familiar to those of us who lived through the late 1960s, when riots broke out in major U.S. cities. President Lyndon Johnson appointed the Kerner Commission in 1967 to investigate the conditions that led to those events. When the commission's report was released in the next year it concluded that "our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal." For large segments of the African American population, not nearly en...
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