The Congressional Black Caucus' Green Agenda

Yesterday The Congressional Black Caucus gathered together Black business leaders, scholars, scientist and activists for the first CBC Green Roundtable.
As part of the event, CBC members Bobby Rush of Illinois (Chicago), Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, Barbara Lee of California (Bay Area) and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina
Broke down climate change and the revisions that were added to Waxman Markey that made them support the Waxman- Markey Bill.

Check out a clip of Bobby Rush's breakdown of Climate Change



Congressman Butterfield stated that the bill was a very complicated piece of legislation and most Americans don't understand the over 1000 pages that make up the Waxman-Markey Bill. Rush went on to say that when initial supporters of the bill came to the CBC "they tried to sell the bill as a 'Green Jobs Bill' but as we got more involved and went to more meetings we saw that everything was on the table except the Green Jobs." In order to change this the CBC worked to add specific revisions to make sure that Low-income communities and people of Color are not shafted by the Climate Bill.

Here are some of the revisions that were made:

$10 billion in the first year will go in the pockets of low-income workers
Green Centers of Excellence will be established at Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as predominately black institutions

Provide support to community based organizations that have written agreements with such qualified apprenticeship or other training programs to participate in identifying or recruiting targeted workers

Provide financing to minority entrepreneurs and businesses that improve energy efficiency;identify and develop alternative, renewable and distributed energy supplies;provide technical assistance and promote job and business opportunities for low-income residence; and increase energy conservation in low-income , rural and urban communities.

However, The Congressmembers warned that all of the provisions that were added during the house vote on the bill can be easily taken out during the Senate review process that is going on right now.

They urge all Americans to call their local senator and let them know DON'T Mess with the CBC provisions and make sure ya'll STRENGTHEN the Bill.

For more information visit thecongressionalblackcaucus.com