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Good morning everyone.

I am delighted to join you this morning to share updates on the work of the Congressional Black Caucus during the 113^th Congress and then answer questions you might have.

I want to thank the Joint Center again for honoring the CBC with the Partnership Award last night during its Annual Gala. We appreciate the long-standing relationship we’ve had with the Joint Center and look forward to continuing our work together.

During the 113^th Congress, the CBC has made it a priority to focus on advocating for legislation that

Addresses unemployment and poverty in the African American community;

That focuses on protecting the voting rights of all Americans;

And that ensures paths to citizenship and to this country are not adversely affected for immigrants from within the African Diaspora.

I’d like to expound a bit on the theme of last night’s dinner, “Jobs. Partnership. Progress.” and how critical it is for the people in this room to find ways of working together to address the challenges we are facing today.

Today, the unemployment rate of African Americans is at 13.2 percent, double the national rate.

Today, according to some studies, the average wealth of a white family is $632,000, while the wealth of African American families is at $98, 000 and Hispanic families, $110,000.

Today, African American men can expect to live approximately 6 years less than white men.

Today, African American women are twice as likely to give birth to low-weight infants.

Today, 42.7 million people, or 14.3 percent of this country’s population lives in poverty, with the highest rates among Native Americans at 27 percent, and African Americans at 25 percent.

Today, the gap in homeownership is wider than it was in 1990, with African-Americans twice as likely as whites to have suffered foreclosure.

Today, one in 15 African-American men is incarcerated, compared with one in 106 white men.

In 2013, this is not the America any of us hoped to have.

The roots of these disparities can be found in policies that institutionalized racism, and closed the doors of economic opportunity to African Americans and other communities of color.

This is why the work of the Joint Center and other leading policy minds in this room is so critical.

Without your recommendations and careful analysis of how public policy impacts communities of color provides insight and information that assists the CBC in the policies we choose to support.

And with the debates on the budget, immigration reform and other issues that we continue to have in public and behind closed doors, this information is invaluable to any progress we hope to make.

When no one who can speak to the experiences of our community is seated the decision making table, policies and programs that jeopardize our well-being are put on the table, and no one is there to make sure they are taken off. 

Without our voices at the table advocating for change, many of the issues that require our attention will be overlooked and unacknowledged.

This is why your support and partnership is so important to the CBC and to the communities we serve.
Without it, our work, which has always been to create opportunity for all Americans to work hard and have a chance at succeeding in their own terms, would be more difficult to do than it already is.

So thank you for the guidance you provide, and even for the criticism. It helps to steer us in the right direction, and keeps us accountable to our mission of listening and advocating for our community’s legislative concerns.

I’m now happy to answer any questions you all may have.