Tuesday, February 24, 2009

CBC to Obama: Don't forget us

Politico:
When the first African-American president holds his first meeting with 42 veteran black lawmakers Thursday, it will be a mountaintop moment for all involved.

But members of the Congressional Black Caucus will also be sending the president a subtle message.

“Don’t take us for granted,” said one House Democratic aide.

The meeting between President Barack Obama and the CBC, scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, has been in the works for several weeks, but the timing is, in part, “the result of member concerns about certain things,” said an aide to a senior member of the caucus.

Caucus members are pleased, by and large, with the size and composition of the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this month.

But in the lead-up to the final stimulus vote, many grumbled that party leaders, including the president, buckled by allowing the GOP to strip out nearly $60 billion in aid to states to make way for an alternative minimum tax extension that will largely benefit the middle class.

Moreover, many members, including CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), are still bothered by Obama’s selection of New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg as commerce secretary — an appointment that ended with Gregg’s voluntary withdrawal over ideological differences with the White House.

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