In its first session Legislative Report Card on the 110th Congress, the NAACP found some improvement in the voting record of members of the U.S. Congress in addressing fundamental civil rights agenda items in 2007.
"The NAACP legislative report card is intended to reflect how responsive elected federal officials are to the genuine civil rights needs of all Americans," said NAACP Interim President & CEO Dennis Courtland Hayes. "Although much has changed in the last 50 years, there is still much to be done. Racism, segregation, bias and disparities continue to plague our nation. We need to understand how, and if, our elected federal officials are dealing with these problems."
The current report card shows how all 100 voting members of the U.S. Senate voted on 15 recorded votes (out of a total of 442 recorded votes in 2007) and how all 435 voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted on 25 recorded votes (out of a total of 1,177 cast in 2007). Issues ranged from education to labor and economic development to health care and predatory mortgage lending and criminal justice including hate crimes, increased funding for police officers to reducing recidivism, international justice issues and others.
Specifically, 42 percent of Senators received a failing grade and 45 percent of House members received an "F." This is an improvement over the last Congress, in which 54 percent of Senators failed and 52 percent of House members got an "F," according to the latest report card.
"Nearly half of the House and Senate fail on the NAACP's
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