Washington Informer

Just two months into her new job as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Marcia Fudge has noticed her Day Timer refuses to allow her to pencil in any free time at all.

But, that comes as no surprise.

She's helped to avert a fiscal cliff disaster, saved social programs for the poor, advocated on behalf of the Voting Rights Act and promoted the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act – and she managed to pull it all off in 60 days.

Fudge continues to stump for Democrats who are scurrying to reach a deal to end the sequester which took effect on March 1.

"It's been extremely busy," said Fudge, the congresswoman from Ohio whose already left an indelible mark on the nation's capital.

"We happen to be in a very busy cycle with Congress. There are many issues that we face such as immigration, jobs, the Voting Rights Act and so much more," said Fudge, 60.

In January, Fudge was selected to replace Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, (D-Missouri), a fiery preacher and the 22nd chair of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

Fudge said the mission of the CBC hasn't changed since its inception in 1969.

"We are still here to speak for those who don't have a voice," she said. "We are still here to make sure that our people get their fair share as we talk about spending and funding programs."

Fudge said she's aware that African Americans are behind the proverbial 8-ball, specifically when the government talks about fiscal cliffs, sequesters and other measures. Those measures often lead to cutting or ending services like health care, early education and jobs that offer family-sustaining wages, she said.

Blacks are likely to suffer more than others when deep fiscal cuts are made, Fudge said.

There's an axiom that says, 'When white people have a cold, blacks have pneumonia.' Fudge takes the adage seriously.

"We have to create an environment that makes people want to hire. When the federal government can't make a decision as to what we're going to do fiscally, that creates a lot of uneasiness in the (job) market," she said. "The wrong way is to start cutting everything across the board."

Fudge, who served two terms as mayor of Warrensville, Ohio, has made fighting poverty one of her top legislative priorities. Now, she's charged with setting the political agenda for more than 40 black representatives in Congress and currently serves as the national spokesperson on issues that affect African Americans.

Fudge was elected to Congress in 2008 following the death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who served as Ohio's congresswoman for a decade. Fudge served as Tubbs Jones' chief of staff throughout her tenure, she not only learned the ropes but emerged as a politically savvy leader. The second-term congresswoman also has earned a reputation as a relentless advocate for the poor and the downtrodden.

"Obviously, one of my major issues is poverty and I'm on the Agriculture Committee. I make sure that our children have decent meals in schools," Fudge said. "I have to make sure we don't significantly cut food stamps and we make sure that our food banks are funded and that people have a place to live."

She's also concerned about the well-being of blacks and others.

President Barack Obama's health care initiative provides Americans an opportunity to obtain health insurance, Fudge said. "[Overall], I think the president is doing a good job."

However, Fudge said, many of the president's initiatives are a direct result of the CBC's efforts.

"... It is the Black Caucus that has its fingerprints on a lot of these programs people now see. Initiatives like Head Start, Early Head Start, the Pell Grants and so many other important things were born out of the Black Caucus," Fudge said.

"We've gotten community clinics put in and things that help us, especially in the black community. The president's jobs bill came as a direct result of the jobs tour the [CBC sponsored] last year. So, all of this means that we have to keep working hard," she said.

Fudge continues to fight for an increase in the federal minimum wage. And, her work on behalf of legislation to protect women has finally paid off. The House passed the Violence Against Women Act on Feb. 28.

Fudge and her colleagues in the House worked to improve the measure by expanding protections in the bill to include members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, along with Native American and immigrant communities.

"Underreported cases of domestic assault, dating violence, sexual assault and other acts of violence against women continue to be a serious problem in this country, and I hope that Congress' bipartisan support of this legislation shows victims they are not alone," Fudge said. "Passage of this legislation ensures victims of these crimes will continue to have options available to find the assistance they need."

The frigid temperatures sweeping through the nation's capital did little to dampen the excitement created by thousands of members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, who marched several thousand strong from Capitol Hill to the Washington Monument.

The 100-year-old organization and the largest African-American Greek-lettered sorority in the world, retraced the steps of its 22 founders Sunday as they marked the centennial of the Women's Suffrage March.

"Two months after our founders received their papers to become a chartered organization at Howard University, they participated in the suffrage for women's right to vote even before African Americans had the right to vote," said Gwendolyn Boyd, one of the sorority's past presidents.

"It was part of the vision of the organization itself. They were about change and they wanted to make a difference in their lifetime because they knew the march was something they had to be a part of. They didn't know where it would lead, but they were hoping women would get the right to vote and eventually African Americans would get the right to vote," Boyd said.

Joined by several other groups and organizations, including members of the National Congress of Black Women, the National Women's History Museum, the National Organization for Women, and the League of Women Voters, the Deltas filled the West lawn of the U.S. Capitol with an estimated 20,000 who donned the sorority's colors which included its signature crimson and cream.

The crowd estimate, which was provided by Delta officials, was approximately 12,000 more than those who attended the original march in 1913. That gathering attracted a reported 8,000 people just one day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson.

It took seven years following the original march for the 19th Amendment to pass, legislation that gave women the right to vote.

Rallies took place before and after the march, similar to what occurred in 1913.

"I'm 51-years-old and it's my hope that I live to see a woman become the president of the United States," said Linda Brown, a Delta chapter member who hails from Baltimore, Md. "I also want to see more laws enacted to protect women [against violent acts]."

Prior to the march, leaders of the Deltas and others, fired-up the crowd with a litany of speeches that challenged them to continue to fight for women's rights.

"We still need justice to roll down like an endless river and righteousness like a never failing stream," said Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the sorority's national chaplain.

"We still must speak up even now while the Supreme Court considers voting rights again and a statue of Rosa Parks is being enshrined on Capitol Hill," said McKenzie, the granddaughter of one of the sorority's founders, Vashti Turley Murphy.

Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers swarmed the area as Cathy Lanier, the District's first female chief, addressed the crowd. She stomped the streets and braved the cold with the Deltas during the historic march.

Lanier spoke of her personal struggles as a single mother with a 9th grade education trying to raise an 8-year-old child.

The fact that Lanier was appointed to the highest ranking position in MPD, is a testament to what all women can accomplish, said Cynthia Butler-McIntyre, the Delta's current president.

"Two months after the founding of our great organization, our founders realized there was work to do and by walking in the march, they let it be known that our organization would not sit on the sidelines and watch any intolerance toward women or African Americans. They sent a booming message that change was coming," Butler-McIntyre said.

Marchers, most of whom huddled closely together in an attempt to keep warm as temperatures dipped well below freezing and intermittent snow flurries fell, trekked from the U.S. Capitol to the Washington Monument. The route included a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue and past the White House.

Delta Sigma Theta was founded in 1913 by 22 African-American women at Howard University in Northwest. It has an estimated membership of between 270,000 and 300,000 around the world and many who attended the march represented locations that included the Philippines, Germany, England, Bermuda, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Guam and nearly every state in the Union.

Parade participants marched according to their state, country and the organization that they represented.

Some of the more recognizable names to have pledged as Deltas include Congresswoman and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Marcia Fudge, the late Dorothy I. Height, Lena Horne, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and Ruby Dee Davis.

Singers Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack and Natalie Cole, news personality Soledad O'Brien, actresses Keisha Knight Pulliam, Cicely Tyson, and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and former Miss America Pauli Mayfield are also Deltas.

Two months ago, the sorority marked its centennial with a 22 Impact project in which more than 13,000 Deltas participated in community service oriented deeds throughout the District.

Deltas helped to prepare meals for individuals living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses at Food & Friends in Northeast.

Members also helped to put together Black History Month pamphlets and archive audio files at the Mary McLeod Bethune House in Northwest while others offered career advice at a women's Dress for Success event at the Salvation Army in Southeast.

"We do this as Black History Month has closed and Women's History Month begins," Boyd said, during the March 3 ceremony. "We celebrate women's history, which is something we're very much a part of. While we have accomplished much, there is still much to be done for African-American rights and the rights of women."

Delta Sigma Theta plans to continue its centennial celebration in D.C., with its annual convention July 11-18 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Northwest.

One day before $85 billion worth of automatic, across-the-board cuts to domestic and defense programs kicked in, a panel of five policy experts painted a dire picture of the effects on communities of color, including Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and African Americans.

One specialist, Ellen Nissenbaum, senior vice president for Government Affairs at the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities in Northwest, said sequestration could have been avoided.

"This is absolutely a man-made creation. We didn't ever foresee sequestration which is the victory of their goals," she said of the Republicans in Congress who refused to come to an agreement with President Barack Obama and their Democratic counterparts. "Everyone agreed to 10 years with a hammer. But the hammer is so attractive to some representatives."

The effects of the sequester will not be felt immediately but experts expect it to begin to bite in the next few months.

In 2011, Congress passed a law putting the onus on both parties to agree on a plan to implement $4 trillion in budget cuts. The Budget Control Act of August 2011 required $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts divided equally between domestic and defense programs over the next 10 years. Failure to forge an agreement would trigger an additional $1 trillion in arbitrary budget cuts.

A Super Committee appointed by Obama wasn't able to reach consensus on how to reduce the deficit, which set the stage for a series of bruising battles between the GOP and Democrats on deficit spending and tax hikes.

The arbitrary cuts were designed to be so onerous and unappealing that Democrats and Republicans would put their heads together and compromise on a range of budget cuts, close tax loopholes and raise revenue. But partisan politics, political brinksmanship and genuine philosophical differences on the size and scope of government have deepened the divide between both parties.

While conservative Republicans grudgingly agreed to unprecedented budget increases at the end of last year to avoid the "fiscal cliff", they have been adamant about doing anything other than cutting social programs they call entitlement programs.

At an event hosted by the Northwest-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, titled, "The Impact of Sequestration on the Health and Well-Being of Communities of Color", panelists said minority communities who depend on federal assistance programs will be disproportionately affected.

"While most Americans will feel the impact of the sequestration, it will have a devastating effect on communities of color as the budget axe falls on programs that many low-income people rely upon to stay healthy," said Ralph B. Everett, president and CEO of the Joint Center at the March 1 discussion. "To pull the rug out from under them would not be wise. Without investment today, we will pay a higher price down the road."

Brian Smedley, Ph.D., vice president of the Joint Center and director of its Health Policy Institute, said sequestration will cause 600,000 women, infants, and children to lose WIC services, while 70,000 children won't be able to take advantage of Head Start programs. In addition, community health centers will see 900,000 fewer patients, conduct 25,000 fewer cancer screenings and perform 424,000 fewer HIV tests that are covered by funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The proportion of minorities served by each program ranges from 46 to 77 percent, said Smedley.

In the weeks leading up to the March 1 trigger, Obama and various federal agency heads had voiced their concerns about the cuts in a steady drumbeat of doom. Furloughs, budget cuts and delays could cripple Homeland Security, defense and law enforcement. Newly appointed Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the $46 billion in cuts will definitely have an impact, but would not be as devastating as some contend, and certainly will not reduce the U.S. military to a second-rate power.

Obama decried the lack of action by Republicans, describing the across-the-board cuts as a meat cleaver decimating social programs when a balanced approach is needed.

"At a time when our businesses have finally begun to get some traction, hiring new workers, and bringing jobs back to America, we shouldn't be making dumb, arbitrary cuts to things that businesses depend on and workers depend on like education and research and infrastructure and defense," he said. "It's unnecessary, and at a time when too many Americans are still looking for work, it's inexcusable."

In a February 22 certification letter from Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi to Mayor Vincent Gray (D) and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), Gandhi noted that the District and the nation has operated under a cloud of uncertainty, with the biggest uncertainty coming from "measures that the federal government might take to reduce federal deficits during an era of austerity that may last for some time."

The Washington metropolitan area is particularly susceptible to sequestration because of the profusion of federal government agencies, defense contractors and ancillary companies and entities that depend on them. About 25 percent of District residents work for the federal government and federal civilian employment accounts for 28 percent of all wages and salaried jobs in the city. In addition, federal contracting produces thousands of jobs and pumps billions of dollars into the local economy.

Nissenbaum said sequestration is one piece of a much larger puzzle of financial challenges.

"What Congress does now sets the precedent, good and bad," she said. "Not tackling long-term debt will jeopardize these programs. We need investments but we cannot do that under these circumstances."

"We need the right mix to stabilize the debt which equals $1.5 trillion on top of what we've already done ... there needs to be a balance in revenues and spending cuts. There need to be no cuts to low-income entitlements and non-defense discretionary programs."

Of the $2.75 trillion in budget cuts to this point, about $1.6 trillion has come from spending cuts, she said, and Republicans insist that any deficit-reduction replacement deal include only spending cuts. Democrats want a mix of spending cuts and tax increases.

Sophia Kerby, of the Center for American Progress in Northwest, said Congressional Republicans put the economy in jeopardy during the debt ceiling debates in 2011 and again in 2012. She criticized Republicans for "threatening the economy by risking massive and harmful spending cuts that will hurt the middle class, damage the economy, kill hundreds of thousands of jobs, and harm the most economically vulnerable among us."

Kerby cited deep cuts to long-term unemployment benefits; suspension of workforce development programs; cuts to critical job-creating programs such as the Build America Bonds program, housing assistance, education and other programs; and budget cuts which will mean the loss of federal, state, and local public-sector jobs, which disproportionately employ women and African Americans.

Amber D. Ebarb, of the National Congress on American Indians in Northwest, said sequestration merely adds misery to the desolation that already encompasses these communities.

"We're very worried about the impact of the programs coming down," she said. "This is a major threat to tribal nations. It will limit resources of core services the tribes provide to their people ... we have a growing population with growing needs."