Political Studies
Racial Diversity Among Top Senate Staff
Today, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released Racial Diversity Among Top Senate Staff. The report is critical to understanding diversity among top staff in the U.S. Senate, including chiefs of staff, legislative directors, and communications directors in Washington, DC personal offices of U.S. Senators, as well as staff directors assigned to committees. Data reflect Senate…
Joint Center President Discusses Systemic Inequality and the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Affect on Black Communities at the Black IDEA Summit
Joint Center President Spencer Overton joined Kingdom Fellowship AME Church’s Black IDEA Summit to discuss how systemic inequality that has plagued Black communities throughout history, and have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, Spencer spoke about how during the pandemic, many Black workers lost their job and face economic insecurity or were deemed…
September 23 COVID-19 Policy & Black Communities Roundup
McConnell’s Prioritization of Justice Ginsburg’s Replacement Over Coronavirus Relief Draws Criticism With the number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 surpassing 200,000, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s focus on replacing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg despite failing to pass a stimulus bill has drawn significant criticism. He has faced protests outside his Kentucky home and…
Joint Center to FCC: Don’t Facilitate Online Disinformation & Discrimination
Yesterday, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies submitted its analysis opposing the Trump Administration’s attempt to prod the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules that would discourage platforms like Twitter and Facebook from removing objectionable material—like disinformation that suppresses Black votes or facilitates housing or employment discrimination. In May—just two days after Twitter flagged a…
September 15 COVID-19 Policy & Black Communities Roundup
Coronavirus Stimulus Remains Deadlocked Last week, Congress remained stymied in its efforts to deliver another round of coronavirus relief, as Senate Democrats blocked a $500 billion GOP proposal. The Republican plan—which includes a weekly federal unemployment benefit supplement of $300 (half of the earlier benefit) and additional Paycheck Protection Plan funding—is viewed as insufficient to…
September 1 COVID-19 Policy & Black Communities Roundup
Speaker Pelosi Rejects White House Stimulus Offer as Insufficient Last week, efforts to reach agreement on a new round of coronavirus relief measures stymied, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected a $1.3 trillion bill offered by the White House. After a conversation with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Speaker Pelosi explained that…
August 25 COVID-19 Policy & Black Communities Roundup
Pressure Mounts to Fully Fund U.S. Postal Service On Saturday, the House interrupted its summer recess for a rare weekend session to pass legislation to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from implementing operational changes that could threaten the timely delivery of mail-in ballots for the November elections. The legislation passed would also provide $25 billion…
New York Times Covers Joint Center’s 2020 Report ‘Racial Diversity Among Top Staff in Senate Personal Offices’
The Joint Center’s report, Racial Diversity Among Top Staff in Senate Personal Offices, was covered in The New York Times. “If there were more diverse staff that could speak to senators about potential blind spots that may occur in the legislation, I think the legislation would be more responsive to the needs of minority communities,”…
Racial Diversity Among Top Staff in Senate Personal Offices
Today, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released Racial Diversity Among Top Staff in Senate Personal Offices. This report provides evidence regarding the lack of racial diversity among U.S. Senate personal office top staff positions. This report defines personal office top staff as all chiefs of staff, legislative directors, and communications directors in…
August 18 COVID-19 Policy & Black Communities Roundup
Kamala Harris Announced as Vice Presidential Candidate for Joe Biden Last week, Democratic Presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate, making the Senator the first Black and South Asian woman to run on a major political party’s presidential ticket. Senator Harris has introduced a number of…
August 11 COVID-19 Policy & Black Communities Roundup
Stimulus Negotiations Stalled Stimulus legislation negotiations between Republicans and Democrats collapsed late last week, as many Americans face economic hardship and evictions (the $600 per week supplemental federal unemployment insurance benefit expired July 31 and the moratorium on evictions from federally-backed rental properties expired July 25). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the Trump Administration…