Allen West

Allen West Threatens To Quit Congressional Black Caucus Over Attacks On GOP, While Attacking Dems

Eric Kleefeld | August 31, 2011, 3:49PM

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

Rep. Allen West (R-FL), the hard-line conservative Tea Partier who is currently the only Republican member of the Congressional Black Caucus, is now saying that he might quit the group -- if they don't condemn remarks made by fellow member Rep. André Carson (D-IN) attacking Republicans.

"Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens," Carson told a CBC event in Miami. "Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me -- hanging on a tree."

This has West -- who has made no small amount of racially inflammatory remarks about Democrats and African-American voters -- calling for the CBC to denounce Carson, who holds a leadership position as CBC whip.

"It is unconscionable when a fellow CBC Member, Congressman Andre Carson, comes to South Florida and claims that some in the Tea Party would love to see black Americans 'hanging on a tree,'" West wrote Wednesday in a letter to CBC chair Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), which he also released to the media. "It is appalling to hear another CBC colleague, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, say 'The Tea Party can go straight to hell.'

"As Chairman of the CBC, I believe it is incumbent on you to both condemn these types of hate-filled comments, and to disassociate the Congressional Black Caucus from these types of remarks. Otherwise, I will have to seriously reconsider my membership within the organization."

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Spending

Dems Fight To Protect For-Profit Colleges From Disclosure Rules

Brian Beutler | February 17, 2011, 12:19PM

Dep. of Education Sec. Arne Duncan

There's a fight brewing between Democrats over whether to allow the government to crack down on for-profit colleges and universities.

The Department of Education is tired of federally subsidized student loans going to shady for-profit colleges that have poor track records of getting the students who do graduates good work -- often leaving them stuck with mountains of debt. To curb this phenomenon, the agency has been moving along with a new regulation they call the "Gainful Employment" rule.

Under "Gainful Employment" rules, for profit schools would have to show that their students can find work without getting stuck with unreasonable debt in order to qualify for federal loans.

But behind the scenes, a bipartisan bloc of House members see things differently. They say the rule would reach too far and clamp down on institutions that do a decent job of educating and preparing students. But they want to tie the Department of Education's hands completely, and block the funds they'd need to implement the rules at all.

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Keith Ellison

Tea Party Nation: Retire Rep. Ellison For Being A Muslim

Eric Lach | October 25, 2010, 6:06PM

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)

This weekend, Tea Party Nation (TPN) sent an email in support of Lynne Torgerson, who is running against Rep. Keith Ellison in Minnesota. In the email, TPN lists the reasons Ellison should be "retired." Among them: "He is the only Muslim member of congress."

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Pete Sessions

Top GOPer Pete Sessions Makes Racially Insensitive Remarks About Dem Incumbents

Brian Beutler | October 7, 2010, 5:14PM

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)

It's true that Democrats are spending ad money in a number districts recently considered safe. But NRCC chairman Pete Sessions dramatized that fact in a peculiar way in an interview with Roll Call today.

Sessions said that it's telling that the DCCC is spending money on "African Americans like Sanford Bishop. And when you have to retreat back to ... your hard base you're having to make tough decisions."

Democrats are seizing on the remark.

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