U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) visited three black churches in Los Angeles on Sunday morning to campaign for a redistricting effort in California that could add five or six Democratic representatives to his ranks.
The minority leader is back in the Golden State campaigning for Proposition 50 as Congress deadlocks over health care subsidies, leading to a government shutdown for more than two weeks. The ballot measure would give his party more power against Republicans, who Jeffries said have refused to negotiate on the shutdown and other issues.
“This is the trouble around us,” Jeffries told the congregation at First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles in West Adams after mocking President Trump’s 2016 gaffe. Reading the wrong book in the Bible. “People in government would rather shut down the government than provide health care to ordinary Americans. Evil at the top. Now they want to gerrymander congressional maps across the country to try to rig the midterm elections.”
The packed congregation — most dressed in pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month — embraced his message.
“It’s a way of trying to maintain equality,” said Kim Balogun, who was in the crowd Sunday. “Level playing field.”
For many members, First AME is more than a church. As the city’s oldest African-American church, it has been at the forefront of the fight for civil rights since its founding in 1872.
“This is family,” said Toni Scott, a retired special education teacher who worked at First AME for 52 years. “As one of the church’s former pastors often said, ‘This is a hospital. People are sick; we’re here to be treated,'” she said.
When news reached Los Angeles that Nelson Mandela was about to be released from prison, South African immigrants and anti-apartheid activists flocked to churches, anxiously awaiting the first glimpse of Mandela’s freedom. During the 1992 riots, First AME was A bastion of hope in a sea of chaos.
“God, we thank you for leading us through dark times and chaotic times,” the Rev. Charlotte Jones told the congregation Sunday. “We know that our church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was born out of protest.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (left) greets parishioners at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. “I am honored to join Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dorff in worship services at a Black church to reinforce the message of the importance of voting yes on Proposition 50,” Jeffries said.
(Ethan Swope/The Times)
For Jeffries, the first black man to lead a major party in Congress, the trip to the West Coast amid congressional gridlock is important.
“The African-American church-going community has always been fundamental to the black experience in America,” said Jeffries, who also visited congregations at Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in South Los Angeles and Resurrection Church of Los Angeles in Carson. “It was an honor to join Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dorff in worshiping at a Black church to highlight the importance of voting yes on Proposition 50.”
this State redistricting effortsProposition 50 is part of the national fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives instigated by President Trump. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House, but in June Trump began urging Texas Republicans to redraw the state’s congressional maps to Adds five possible Republican seats.
In response, Newsom proposed that California temporarily dissolve the independent redistricting commission, led by 14 citizens, to redraw the state’s map and add five Democratic seats, effectively undoing the Texas move.
Democratic-controlled state legislatures quickly enacted Redraw the map and arranged a November 4 special election Let them vote. Mail-in ballots are already in the hands of voters.
California Republicans, including former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger slammed the initiative Known as the “Great Scam.” Schwarzenegger called Democrats hypocritical, arguing that while they called Trump a “threat to democracy,” they wanted to “rip up the California Constitution” and “take power away from the people and give it back to politicians.”
Jeffries noted that unlike some Republican-led states, California is letting its citizens have the final say.
“We’ve said from the beginning that we want to find common ground as much as possible on both sides of the aisle, but unfortunately Republicans have adopted a take-it-or-leave-it, go-it-alone strategy from the beginning of this presidency,” he said, adding that was part of the reason Proposition 50 was so important.
Amid the current government shutdown, Democrats have said they will not vote for a funding bill unless it expands tax credits in the Affordable Care Act, which are set to expire at the end of the year for many Americans, and reverses Medicaid cuts passed by Republicans in July’s so-called “Beautiful Big Bill.”
If ACA credits expire, the average premium for Americans receiving enhanced tax credits will more than double, A health policy research firm found. But Republicans point out that they come at a cost: The Congressional Budget Office estimates they will cost the government Valued at $350 billion over the next decade.
The bill is now law and will Medicaid spending cut by $793 billionThe Congressional Budget Office estimates that this will result in 7.8 million Americans losing coverage.
Regarding the government shutdown, Richard Balogun, a member of the First AME Congregation on Sunday, believed that fighting for health care is a worthy cause.
“Isn’t it amazing that in the UK, in Australia… you have access to national healthcare? Maybe you don’t get treatment in the first hour, but you will get treatment,” he said. In the United States, “sometimes you have to ask yourself, if I go to the emergency room, can I afford the thousands of dollars I have to pay? That shouldn’t be the case in this country.”
The shutdown has consequences: 2.3 million federal civilian employees are without pay, and about 750,000 of them are on furlough. When employees are owed wages as the government reopens, this is roughly equivalent to $400 million in taxpayer money is spent every day The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government shutdown is necessary to pay employees who are not working.
Exceed National parks closed and air travel delaysWithout a funding bill, food programs for low-income families could dry up. Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program can see results as soon as one week after closing, CEO, National WIC Association. explain. Meanwhile, SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, could also further drain funds.
Republicans blame Democrats for shutting down the government over health care, but Jeffries blames Republicans for refusing to negotiate.
For Scott, the pink her congregation wore in support of breast cancer survivors only emphasized the importance of access to health care. (Jeffries wears a pink tie.)
“More people need to know what’s going on, so having him go from church to church, primarily in the black community — that’s where we have the most people: in our churches,” Scott said. “Some people may hear the word and see something in fake news, but we know that in church you hear the truth.”
