Many times in politics there are attachments to bills, which address alternative challenges that have nothing to do with the title of the legislation. Each year Congress has thousands of entitlements and pork projects that cost the citizens billions of dollars. These pork projects are hidden in the bill and very few citizens know that they exist.
The representatives in Congress based on the lobbyists and large corporations understand that appropriations for large federal projects start with a relationship. Politics is always about who is going to get billions of dollars to implement their plan or project.
Sometimes the principals are in plain sight and there is no mystery which investment group is behind the legislation. Other times it is necessary to pull certain strings and make certain commitments to another project, to get a personal project accepted. Sometimes it is necessary to be covert and not reveal who is connected or behind the bill.
Many times pork projects do not waste taxpayers money, because they enhance and improve local citizens’ lives. Legislators in Congress would not know which local roads or bridges needed federal funds to be repaired, without help from local representatives, local firms, and lobbyists. Federal appropriations impact every aspect of our lives, and politics is the vehicle to get things done.
As a community, African Americans fundamentally are not involved or aware of the politics that exist in their local school board or their local mayor’s office. Many times we would rather complain about what our local, state and federal representatives are not doing, than finding out what they are doing.
Angela Glover Blackwell is the founder and CEO of PolicyLink, a national research and action institution, and has put together a list of policies that President Obama’s administration has initiated that are positively impacting African Americans. The historic health care legislature will dramatically improve the lives of 7 million African Americans without health insurance.
Also in that health care bill are little-noticed provisions to restructure the college loan system to push an additional $36 billion to college students’ loans. Grant programs will receive an additional $2.56 billion, which will go directly into historically black colleges and universities. President Obama has laid the groundwork for an extraordinary growth in economic and social programs for millions of African Americans, which is available for anyone to see. So far the president has invested or proposed:
- $5 billion targeting energy efficiency and jobs to low income communities
- $250 million for Choice Neighborhoods, in communities with opportunities
- $400 million to open new supermarkets in underserved communities
- $600 million for summer youth jobs
- $210 million for Promise Neighborhoods using Harlem Children’s Zone
- $8.1 billion for nutritional support programs
- $4 billion for Race to the Top educational grants
- $10.2 billion for early childhood education
- $144 million for prisoner re-entry programs
- $ 4 billion for Community Development Block Grants
- $ 4 billion in job-training programs for youth
It is obvious that our president is aware of the challenges confronting our community, and is providing opportunities in our cities and poor communities. In politics it is important to read between the lines and take advantage of benefits, because your community meets the requirements.
It is essential for African American communities to begin to do their homework and due process and find out what federal, state, and local programs are available for their community. We can sit around and wait for our leaders to take us by the hand to receive benefits, or we can take the initiative and find out what is available.
Our president is laying the foundation and it is up to us to build the walls and the roof to complete the building. The doors are being open and all we have to do is get busy and walk through the doors of opportunity.
By Roger Caldwell
