Washington Report: Updates From the Capitol

South Carolina Dems Uphold Greene’s Victory

The South Carolina Democratic Party’s executive committee voted Thursday night to uphold unemployed veteran Alvin Greene’s head-scratching bid for the U.S. Senate. The hearing had been requested by his opponent, former judge Vic Rawl, who was protesting the result.

There’s a lot of speculation surrounding Greene’s candidacy, ”and it’s definitely weird,” said South Carolina Democratic Party communications director Keiana Page, but the committee decided that Rawl’s lawyers didn’t provide sufficient evidence to warrant a new primary. Their arguments centered primarily on faulty voting machines and voters’ claims that they voted for Rawl, widely viewed to be the stronger candidate, but the machines yielded a different result.

This week House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-South Carolina) told news outlets that there’s a whiff of  “elephant dung” surrounding Greene’s candidacy, but David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, says furor over Greene is much ado about nothing.

“It’s a delicate situation that’s being blown out of proportion. It doesn’t matter who the Democrats nominate. They won’t win,” Bositis said.

Meanwhile, in Arkansas, state Sen. Joyce Elliott, who hopes to be the first African American to ever represent her state in Congress, got a big boost this week. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added her to its “Blue to Red” program, which provides competitive candidates with financial and communications support.

“Joyce Elliott has stormed out of the gate and the Red to Blue program will give her the extra edge to win in November,” said DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen. “Elliott has already proven her commitment to being an independent leader who puts Arkansas jobs and economic recovery first and we look forward to helping her keep making that case to voters in the months ahead.”

Ethics Panel Scrutinizes Lawmakers over Fundraisers

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating eight lawmakers to determine whether their vote on a Wall Street reform bill was influenced by their relationships with lobbyists. The probe involves five Republicans who voted against the bill and three Democrats, who voted for it, including black lawmaker Rep. Mel Watt (D-North Carolina).

Watt is known for his unflappable disposition and strong ethics. But since the story broke, Watt has been observed losing a bit of his cool. After being pressed by one very persistent reporter, he raised his voice and said, “How many times do I have to tell you, ma’am, I have no comment?” and then turned to the other reporters in the room, forming a megaphone with his hands, and said, “Hey, y’all: I have no comment. Does that register?”

His frustration underscores the very point that he and 19 other Congressional Black Caucus members hope to make with H. Res. 1416, which would limit the reach

of the Office of Congressional Ethics and require confidentiality until there’s been an actual finding of wrongdoing. Frivolous inquiries can be costly to lawmakers’ wallets and reputations.
“When this story gets to their [districts],” said Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), chief sponsor of the resolution, “all people see is they’re under investigation by Ethics and then they’re tried in the court of public opinion.”

Several lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been overheard expressing their outrage over the investigation and Fudge says she’s getting increasing support for H. Res. 1416. Still, she notes, it’s an election year, making it unlikely that they’ll make their support public.

Rep. Artur Davis (D-Alabama) doesn’t support the CBC resolution but agrees investigations should initially be kept confidential. He also questions the validity of this investigation when members voted precisely as they were expected to.

House Passes Small Business Bills, Moves Forward on Wall Street Reform

Following several days of difficult negotiation with fiscally conservative members, the House of Representatives finally passed, by a vote of 241-182, a bill this week that will provide $30 billion to community banks to loosen credit for small businesses.

Jennifer Collins, president of the Bethesda, Maryland-based Event Planning Group, believes that she and other entrepreneurs will now feel encouraged to seek additional financing and take more risk now that “support is on the way.”

Democrats say that H.R. 5297

will leverage up to $300 billion in loans while Republicans contend it will do little to boost lending to small businesses. The House also passed H.R. 5486 earlier in the week, which increases the capital gains tax deduction available to businesses and provides a deduction for start-up expenses.

“Republicans continue to favor corporations on Wall Street over small businesses on Main Street, supporting tax cuts for large corporations while standing against efforts to increase investments in small businesses,” said House Majority Whip James Clyburn. “While Republicans stand by special interests and support the same policies that created the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Democrats are committed to strengthening small businesses, creating American jobs and restoring fiscal discipline.”

Women and minorities scored another victory on Tuesday when the Wall Street reform bill conferees agreed to include in the legislation a provision to house an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion at each of the regulatory agencies.

Civil Rights Advocates Seek Strategy Against Racial Profiling

Civil rights advocates urged Congress to do more to fight racial profiling at a House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Thursday afternoon. The hearing featured testimony from black, Sikh, and Muslim groups, as well as the police chief of Salt Lake City.

Lawmakers will never be able to properly address racial profiling by the nation’s law enforcement officers if they don’t have an accurate assessment of how truly evasive it is, said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington bureau.

“The only way to move the discussion about racial profiling from rhetoric and accusation to a more rational dialogue and appropriate enforcement strategies is to collect the information that will either allay community concerns about the activities of the police or help communities ascertain the scope and magnitude of the problem,” Shelton testified.

Shelton believes that implementing a national data collection system would also lead to more effective training of law enforcement agents and officers.What Washington Will Be Talking About Next Week

On Tuesday, the White House will roll out what it says is the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness, which was prepared by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness. On hand to announce the plan will be HUD Secretary and USICH Chair Shaun Donovan, Labor Secretary and USICH Vice Chair Hilda Solis, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki.

The House Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing June 24 on mortgage lenders’ efforts to implement the Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program. On the hot seat will be the heads of Wells Fargo, Chase Home Finance, Inc., JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, CitiMortgage, and American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc.