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After more than a decade in exile, political analysts predict that Democrats will regain control of the House of Representatives in the November elections.  If forecasts are correct, Democratic House leaders will have the power to set the legislative agenda and enact measures to check the powers of the President for the first time in twelve years.

House leaders are already preparing for the victory.  Within the first 24 hours of regaining power, Leader-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi has promised to pursue an agenda that includes introducing legislation to raise the minimum wage, repealing the ban on negotiating Medicare drug prices, lifting the ban on federal support for embryonic stem cell research, and securing U.S. ports.  She has also promised to embrace a fair and open process that allows the Republicans more input than Democrats received as the House minority.

We must applaud Pelosi for her magnanimous approach.  However, given the margin of victory that African American voters are likely to provide the Democrats this election season, African Americans also have a right to a fair and open process that includes our policy priorities in Leader-in-waiting Pelosi’s agenda.  

High on the list of high-impact priorities are the following proposals:

1.  Introduce and pass comprehensive Katrina legislation that includes a victim’s compensation fund akin to that awarded the 911 families.  More than one year after Katrina, black hurricane victims are still being victimized by the atrocious federal response.  Many black evacuees remain displaced and are struggling to gain an economic foothold in whatever community in which they had been unceremoniously dumped.  A Democratic Congress must refocus attention and assistance on these displaced Americans by:  1) passing elements of the Congressional Black Caucus comprehensive Katrina legislation that have been overlooked; 2) developing a compensation and relocation fund that assists these families in regaining their psychosocial and economic equilibrium; 3) investigating what happened to the billions of reconstruction dollars doled out to well-connected firms; and, 4) analyzing the extent to which local, state, and federal governments were responsible for the failure of the New Orleans levee system.

2.  Introduce and pass legislation to fix and expand the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system.  With African American unemployment numbers always roughly double that of the general population and with more unemployment expected as a result of increased immigration and globalization trends that send U.S. jobs abroad, the federal government must modernize inconsistent state unemployment systems by standardizing the UI eligibility requirements across states, adding on a wage insurance component to protect against the loss of income resulting from job displacement due to immigration and globalization, and revamping federal job training programs to provide better and more comprehensive training opportunities appropriate for the modern workforce. 

3.  Equalize education funding in the states by introducing and passing legislation authorizing a federal education incentive fund that induces states to eradicate unequal school financing schemes.  For decades, states have embraced the criminal practice of undermining the educational integrity of school districts located in low-income, often racial and ethnic minority, areas by using local property taxes as the basis for sustaining local schools.  The tragedy of this approach is that school systems located in poor areas receive far fewer resources than those located in well-to-do neighborhoods.  While Title I was designed to offset some of these inequities, the formula has become increasingly ineffective in closing these disparities and Title I dollars do not even reach most of the schools serving low-income middle and high school students due to the way the funds are distributed in the districts.  The federal government must use its power to induce states to transition from inequitable local property tax school funding formulas in favor of a better formula such as one that would aggregate local taxes at the state level and fairly redistribute the funds to schools.

4.  Improve the quality and effectiveness of primary and secondary schools by introducing and passing legislation that encourages comprehensive school reform in the states.  When considering that 75 percent of prison inmates have dropped out of school and the national African American graduation rate hovers at 56 percent, we must begin to understand that our kids are in crisis in part because our schools are in crisis.  Education is the great equalizer, yet African American children and other low-income racial and ethnic minorities are consistently subjected to a substandard quality of education contributing to alienation and gross achievement differentials that undermine their opportunities for success in life.  Comprehensive reform, particularly in middle and high schools, must engage students and set high expectations for all by: 1) changing how teachers and principals are trained and distributed, 2) introducing challenging coursework that is standardized and engaging, 3) providing academic assistance for those who need it as soon as they need it, 4) involving parents, family and community in the student’s learning process, and 5) assuring the safety of students in schools.

5.  Authorize and appropriate resource support for African Union peacekeeping forces in the Darfur region of Sudan.  The U.S. turned its back on Rwandan genocide during the Clinton era.  Now there is ample evidence that the U.S. is again failing to act in the face of genocide in Sudan.  African Union peacekeeping forces have been deployed to the region, yet they have no resources to do an effective job of protecting the people against the abuses of the Janjaweed militias.  The U.S. must help the people of Darfur in part by building the capacity of AU forces to stop the genocide.

6.  Combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in African American communities by introducing and passing comprehensive HIV/AIDS legislation that: 1) provides immediate Medicaid service to those diagnosed with HIV, 2) mandates HIV testing for all incoming and outgoing prisoners, 3) requires the provision of condoms in prison, and 4) standardizes state HIV/AIDS (names-based) reporting and tracking systems.  According to the CDC, AIDS is now a leading cause of death for African Americans.  Since the beginning of the epidemic, African Americans have accounted for 40% of all AIDS diagnoses even though we are only 13% of the total population.  Unfortunately, the crisis is growing.  In 2004 alone, African Americans were 50% of all newly diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS.

7.  Spur economic development by passing legislation implementing federally funded business training programs in high schools, community colleges, HBCU’s and other minority-serving education institutions.  Small business is the engine upon which much of the U.S. economy rests, yet African Americans are not creating and sustaining businesses at the rate of other populations.  With perpetually high unemployment rates and the promise of higher unemployment in the future due to globalization, it is clear that African Americans cannot rely solely on traditional jobs to sustain ourselves economically.  We must be about the business of creating jobs through the creation of businesses.  Increased business education opportunities will help African Americans generate more income.

8.  Introduce and pass legislation to guarantee universal access to health insurance.   In 2005, there were about 47 million Americans without access to health insurance year-round. Approximately, 7 million of these individuals were African Americans.  Not only is our employer-based health insurance system broken, its “cash for care”, “disqualify if you are damaged” approach to eligibility is immoral.  To deny health care to those who cannot pay or those who have a pre-existing condition is the ultimate disgrace in a country with so many resources.  It is up to Congress to lead our nation in adopting an effective and efficient system that allows everyone access to quality health care.    

9.  Introduce and pass federal legislation standardizing state voting requirements and mandating paper verification voting systems.  As a result of the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002, many states have “upgraded” their voting systems to include electronic voting machines that are vulnerable to tampering.  U.S. democracy is a meaningless sham if elections can be manipulated to serve the interests of crooked political actors over those of the American public.  Our democracy is also irreparably damaged when citizens of this country are unable to exercise their right to vote due to arbitrary and inconsistent state voting laws that create barriers for lawful voting.  The Help America Vote Act must be amended to account for these factors.

10.  Respect the traditional seniority system in the House of Representatives that would allow ranking African American committee members—such as Charles Rangel, John Conyers, and Bennie Thompson—to ascend to their rightful place as chairs of powerful House committees.  Pelosi has hinted in the past that she may abandon the seniority system in favor of adopting the Republican practice of selling committee chairmanships to those members of Congress who have made the greatest fundraising contributions to the party.  This practice would undermine the influence of Congressional Black Caucus and other racial and ethnic minorities serving in Congress since they have a tougher time generating the amounts of cash raised by their white colleagues.

These are just a few of the policy proposals that are likely to make a substantive and dramatic difference in the day-to-day lives of African Americans.  Pelosi must work with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to make these priorities a reality.  The Democratic response to these priorities will give African Americans a clear indicator of where the party stands with regards to black issues and will help determine whether African Americans will continue to stand with Democrats after the party is over.

BC Editorial Board member, Dr. Maya Rockeymoore is President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions, a public affairs consulting firm based in Washington, DC. She is the author of The Political Action Handbook: A How to Guide for the Hip Hop Generation and co-editor of Strengthening Communities: Social Insurance in a Diverse America.  Maya can be reached at www.mayarockeymoore.com.