Bklyn Congress Members vote on $1.1 Trillion Spending Plan
In a rare split with President Obama, Brooklyn’s four Democratic Congress Members rejected the House’s $1.1 trillion spending plan for next year.
The borough’s Democratic Congress members Jerrold Nadler, Hakeem Jeffries, Yvette Clarke and Nydia Velazquez all voted against the package while GOP Congress member Michael Grimm voted for it. The bill passed in a tight 219-206 vote in a fairly bipartisan vote considering how the House has been in a virtual gridlock the past few years.
Liberals generally did not like the bill because of the loosening of Wall Street, campaign funding and other regulatory laws, while conservatives grumbled because the allocation included money for Obama’s immigrant amnesty plan.
“This legislation is packed with anti-choice provisions that systematically deny women access to safe, legal abortions,” said Nadler on the House Floor before the vote. “It defunds critical clean air and water regulations, and forces EPA staffing to the lowest levels since 1989. The measure also includes language to defund a District of Columbia referendum legalizing recreational use of marijuana despite the fact that more than 70 percent of DC voters supported the referendum.”
City Council Airs Out Measures On Diversity in Elite City Schools
New York City Council Members heard testimony yesterday concerning two proposed resolutions and one bill to get more diversity in the city’s elite academic schools.
Of the three, the most controversial is a resolution back proposed state legislation to use multiple measures instead of the current specialized high school entrance exam to get into Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech – considered to be the the city’s best academic schools.
Brooklyn lawmakers Assemblyman Karim Camara and Senator Simcha Felder proposed the bill in Albany that would require multiple measures such as grades, attendance and state tests to get into these schools. East New York City Council Member Inez Barron introduced the resolution in support of the proposal and had 11 co-sponsors including Brad Lander, Alan Maisel and Antonio Reynoso from Brooklyn.
“Over the last two decades, there has been a steady decline in the number of Black and Latino students admitted to the so-called “elite” specialized high schools,” said Barron. “While the NYC Black and Latino student population is presently approximately 70%, only 11% of those students are in the specialized high schools. The policy of using a single test, the Specialized High School Admission Test, is totally counter to scientific studies and New York is the only city with such a policy. This admission test is a part of the testing industry that has historically been found to produce tests that have been racially and culturally biased. Thousands of academically talented African-American and Latino students are denied admission at rates far higher than those for other racial groups.”
Lander introduced a bill requiring the Departmnet of Education to issue an annual report on school diversity, including the release of demographic data by school, district, and citywide. The report would provide more detailed information needed to evaluate issues of segregation and diversity, identify the steps DOE is taking to address the issue, and report on year-over-year progress.
Co-sponsoring the measure from Brooklyn included from Brooklyn Barron, Maisel, Reynoso and Mark Trayger.
James Suggests Splitting up NYPD
Public Advocate Letitia James e suggested again splitting up the NYPD into three separate agencies at the recent Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce breakfast.
The city used to have the NYPD, the Metropolitan Transit Authority police and NYCHA Housing Police as three separate agencies. They were consolidated in 1995 under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
In addressing recent problems between the NYPD and their relationship with the communities they cover, James noted that the housing police used to have a very good relationship with housing tenants. Perhaps it is time to again look at making them separate agencies, she said.
Scheduled Events:
8 a.m. – The Boro Park Jewish Community Council hosts annual Legislative and Community Tribute Breakfast, Lipschitz Halls, 5000 14th Ave.
