Nancy Pelosi

For Undercounted Communities, A Census Cheetah – Politically and Fashionably!

Posted by David Montalvo

IMG_3046

She is not a politician of pantsuits or tweed skirts.

Those are for lions, already all-powerful to many and who travel in large packs, like Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

But it’s not for a second-term congresswoman.

Instead, from behind a cherry blossom in Brooklyn’s concrete jungle, a swifter, more energetic, and just as fiercely competitive cat appears – the cheetah.

Donning an animal-print trench coat, sharp Christian Dior eyewear and blood red lipstick, Rep. Yvette Clarke made two points Saturday:

  1. Not only does she have style, it’s edgy and frankly it works for her!
  2. And, invoking her inner cheetah, she is on the hunt for constituents slow to return their census forms.

“I believe democracy is not a spectator sport,” told Clarke to a crowd outside a post office in Crown Heights, encouraging them to fill out and mail 2010 Census forms.

IMG_3021Most, if not all, present were Caribbean and African Americans, though Clarke said the post office at Nostrand Avenue and Empire Boulevard was an important location for this initiative.

“This is the nexus where lots of immigrants come,” she told The NYC Delegation. “It’s a hard-to-count district.”

Though national outreach efforts seem to focus on Spanish-speaking communities, they are a small group in this district.

But, said Clarke, there is a high “concentration of African Americans,” another low turnout group.

Indeed, nationally almost 70% of census forms have been returned, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with 51% for all of Brooklyn. Here in Crown Heights and East Flatbush, which have some of the highest black and Caribbean populations in this district, have the lowest return rate so far – as low as 34%.

But across Prospect Park in Park Slope and Cobble Hill, where there’s a larger white population, there’s a much higher return rate for Clarke’s district and for Brooklyn – a percentage closer to the national average.

Clarke said even this number is low for white Americans in her district, though she doesn’t attribute it to antigovernment sentiment, as one report recently indicated.

“This is one exercise that is immune to antigovernment,” she said.

In fact, Census workers said they see feelings of fear toward the government, not feelings against it.

Yvette Mendes, a census outreach worker at Clarke’s event, said Crown Heights and East Flatbush have a “high immigrant community,” so she believed this was a logical location for such an event.

Mendes said such communities might worry about their immigration status and possible deportation, so they don’t participate in the census, even though “they’re secure, they’re confidential,” she said.

Projecting through a megaphone, Clarke told the crowd of about 30-or-so people that by not being counted, they are turning money away for the community, like schools and hospitals, and they are telling Washington: “We don’t need your assistance. Send that check somewhere else.”

IMG_3024She told The NYC Delegation that being accounted for in the census is like an ATM transaction: If we don’t deposit population numbers, we can’t withdraw the federal funds we need.

And, seeing as this is her first national census as a member of the House of Representatives, this leopard-clad congresswoman appears ready to fight for those funds for her district.

“I’m a competitive congresswoman,” she added.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Posted by Dana Rapoport

In Washington, this past weekend, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and other fellow Democrats, took part in a great moment in the journey for improving millions of lives in America. It was a moment they have been preparing and anticipating – for a very long time, probably since November 2008.

Velazquez and her colleagues believed in the urgency and importance of this goal and made sure to be as outspoken as they could be, to make sure this opportunity will not be missed.

On Saturday, standing in front of 500,000 people, Velazquez called on Congress and the president to pass the immigration reform immediately.

Yes, perhaps the timing wasn’t perfect for the “March for America” rally, the nationwide rally for immigration reform. Not when the health care reform was being voted on in the house.

“We stand here to say to the Republican leadership in the Senate, to the Democrats in the Senate and also in the House, and the President Barack Obama, we want immigration reform now,” Velazquez called Sunday.

Velazquez, with more than 20 Congressional Hispanic Caucus members behind her, has already decided on Thursday, to support the health care bill. The CHC supported the bill, despite the fact that it prohibits illegal immigrants from buying health care from the proposed health exchanges. “The broader impacts of the legislation, override the other concerns,” The CHC statement said.

So maybe, the timing of the rally wasn’t so poor after all.

Congresswoman Velazquez has many different chairs to sit in.
She Chairs the Hispanic Caucus, the Small Business Association and Rep. of New York City’s Congressional District 12. She’s a Democrat-Latina with close ties with the Speaker of the House.
Most of the time, all these roles go together well, but on rare occasions, they can conflict. Generally, immigrants and small businesses, her constituency and her party share congruent interests.

Was it her loyalty to the CHC, SBA, to her constituency? Was it to Pelosi, her party, to America, her career, or all of the above that convinced her to support the controversial overhaul?

As for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Velazquez says its good news after all.
Only a week before the vote, the CHC threatened to derail the health care bill unless changes were made to the bill’s immigration provisions. But Velazquez and the caucus said that the 8.8 million Latinos who will benefit from the reform, are good enough reasons to support it.

“In my home district, it improves options for 324,000 residents, and expands care to 86,000 more,” she said in a statement on Monday.

For Small Businesses, the bill will provide tax credits for up to 249,000 New York small businesses to help make coverage more affordable.

“In my district alone, 33 clinics will see critical improvements, meaning more options for the men and women of Brooklyn, Queens and the Lower East Side,” Velazquez said.
[NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation will issue a statement Friday regarding the reform]

Her constituency doesn’t really care or understand, how their women in DC will vote. And those who are informed -don’t always agree.

In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on a sunny Wednesday, a day before the CHC announced they unanimously support the reform, residents and business owners of Congressional District 12 weren’t following closely after Pelosi’s head-count.

Senior Italian residents were strolling, Hispanic school kids were playing in the streets, and Hassid Jews in long black coats were busy unpacking, reorganizing grocery shelves and replacing goods with “Kosher for Passover” products.

They were busy taking care of their small businesses and hardly gave any thought to the Washington thriller

On Grand Avenue, Willferd Ochoa sat in the back room of a small car service office. His cell phone was constantly ringing. Between conversations he said that Velazquez should vote against the bill.

“It has to be for everyone,” he said. “If someone is illegal but he has money to buy it, he should be able to.”

In the 21 years Willfred has been living in the US, he never visited a doctor here. Only when he goes home, to Ecuador, he gets all his check-ups -usually all in one day.

In an accounting office in Bushwick, Refael was also very busy. He had been helping small businesses and immigrants with their accounting papers and legal aid.

“We never know how many, or what kind of changes were made,” he said.
“I support the amnesty, but this is how the system works, you have to respect the law. If you’re illegal – you’re illegal,” Refael said, regarding the illegal immigrants provision.

Last week, Obama embraced a framework for legislation offering a new high-tech identification card for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want a job.
But on Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham who offered the legislation said:

“If the health care bill goes through this weekend, that will, in my view, pretty much kill any chance of immigration reform passing the Senate this year.”

The health care bill passed 219-212, but the immigration reform will probably have to wait.

After clashing recently with another Democrat, Rahm Emanuel, who has been pushing for his own goals,Velazquez stated “he’s always about winning”, she found out you sometimes have to sacrifice to be on the winning side.

Velazquez Joins the Anti-Rahm Emanuel Choir

Posted by Dana Rapoport

Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is the man everyone loves to hate recently – or once again. He’s being blamed for either being too pushy (and naked), or not pushy enough.

With a health care reform to pass, Emanuel has received growing attention for various reasons; mostly unsympathetic.

Immigrant and minority groups, who played a role in getting Obama into the White House, feel that their interests have been pushed back. Emanuel, possibly the closest man to the President, could have acted as the catalyst or the roadblock. It all depends on what his most pressing issue is.

And all other issues, inevitably, have to wait.

This week, Nydia Velázquez, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, expressed her concerns regarding “The Limits of Rahmism”.

“There are strong feelings about Rahm Emanuel among members of the Hispanic caucus,” Velázquez told The New York Times Magazine.

“People feel Rahm Emanuel has not been helpful in moving forward. He’s always about the numbers. He’s always about being the pragmatist. He’s always about winning,” Velázquez stated in the 8,000-word Emanuel profile. (A profile Emanuel himself didn’t take a part in.)

No legalization, no reconciliation

Velázquez and Hispanic lawmakers blame Emanuel for barring illegal immigrants from buying policies on new insurance exchanges in the Senate health care bill.

His caution on easing rules for immigrants, The Wall Street Journal wrote, derive from fearing such a position will hurt Democrats at the polls.

Immigrant rights groups slammed Obama for slow action with the bill legalizing the status of undocumented immigrants, and health care for illegal immigrant, but is the former Illinois Senator the (only) one to blame?

Frienemies

But Velázquez and Emanuel couldn’t have been in greater harmony over the years – at least throughout their shared time in Congress, between 2003-2007. They voted together 95.65 percent of the time, (23 out of 22 votes).

In 1114 floor votes, they disagreed only 97 times. And only one of those 97 instances was an immigration related bill (Border Security — Diversity Visa Program, HR4437).

Even with her BFF Nancy Pelosi, Velázquez voted the same way only 87.5 percent of all floor votes. On immigration issues, however, they voted together.

But even since he’s been in office, Emanuel hasn’t always been an immigration antagonist. Last year, he got credit for clearing the path for increased benefits for immigrant children and pregnant women in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. It was Obama’s first major legislative victory.

As a religious pragmatist, Emanuel’s stance on immigration, may be, like Velázquez unintentionally suggested this week, the winning one. Focused on the health care bill, some say winning passage of an amnesty bill for the undocumented immigrants is unlikely.

Velázquez could be rightfully mad with Emanuel, and so may other minority interest groups, but right now, they all need to take a number. He’s set on finding a majority.

A Health Care Reformer

Posted by Dana Rapoport

Washington was under a thick blanket of snow this week, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t stop working for a minute. She was trying to shovel in any vote she could get, from fellow Democrats to Non-Democrat fellows.

But there’s one person she doesn’t need to worry about convincing to vote for Obama’s health care overhaul.

With one of the most liberal voting records in the House, Velazquez has voted 99.3 percent of the time with the Democratic Party so far in the 111th Congress.

This is not to say that New York is usually a source of concern for Pelosi, but Massachusetts didn’t used to be one either until recently.

As a Chairwoman of the Small Business Committee and Chairwoman for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, most of Velazquez’s effort, time and PR are devoted to either loans for small businesses or Hispanic education and immigrant rights.

This week, however, Velazquez released a statement on health insurance and lowering health care costs for New Yorkers.

Yes, she’s a progressive democrat, committed to small businesses and representing her majority immigrant, working families constituency. Supporting a public option is not a political risk for Velazquez, it’s a given.

On Friday, Velazquez released a statement, on congress’ recent approval of the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act, (H.R. 4626). A legislation that will lower health care costs by promoting competition among providers.

“In New York State, the two biggest health insurance companies control 46 percent of the market, and premiums for families increased by 97 percent between 2000 and 2009. Subjecting the health insurance industry to the same anti-trust laws as other industries will help prevent price fixing and monopolizing of the market. H.R. 4626 passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 406-19 and must now be considered by the U.S. Senate.”

The Daily Gotham reported that Velazquez wasn’t always committed to the Obama’s health care reform, but since she joined her party’s stance, Velazquez made a fairly convincing performance last July