Yvette D Clarke (D-NY) ranks 381st in the House with an estimated net worth of $115,502 in 2014.  (More Recent)

CD9 is super important because the average net worth in the U.S. House of Representatives is over $6 million (2014). Nevertheless, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, Yvette D. Clarke received 82% her of campaign contributions ($537,295) from outside district. (Rank: 206 out of 421.), and she received 32% of campaign contributions ($211,772) from outside state. Over her career, for Responsive Politics)

Draft for Comment and Selection of Research Roles

Congressional Districts in dense urban environments do not sit in a vacuum easily separated from other neighborhoods, especially in NYC, and even more so in Brooklyn. The following litmus-test issues are important, but there is a larger issue.  How do we recognize the power available to our congressperson and strengthen it if necessary? Second, what is the overall political power of NYC and NYS congressional delegation in the U.S. Congress? Here are five main issues to consider:

1. Immigration Reform
2. Affordable Care Act (gov) (County Health Indicators)
3. Broadband Policy (franchise accountability and capital investments)
4. Coastal Flooding, Extreme Weather Resilience, and Global Warming
5. Homelessness Crisis, Supportive and Affordable Housing and the role of HUD in NYC

Government services build through the committee positions held by elected officials that is reviewed below and demands long tenures. Congressional District’s are won or lost on two issues — Jobs and Taxation. Tenure for a Ninth Congressional representative is threatened by the top two.

Based on American Community Survey Data 2015: Congressional District Nine earns over $4.5 billion in annual payroll, but over half of it is from health care and social services. The total 2015 annual payroll for the district is $4.5 billion and $2.4 billion comes from the provision of health care and social assistance.

Immigration reform (aka family disruption) threatens the well-being and employment of low- and moderate-income wage earners. This is the exact opposite of what people believe. Worse still, cuts in Medicaid and the gutting of the Affordable Care Act (that can be fixed) means significant job losses in the Ninth.

The Republican opposition design is complicated (e.g. the Faso and Collins upstate play is part of a national attack on Dem govs.), but for our district, the assault on Medicaid alone threatens the jobs and well-being of Brooklyn families in a very serious way. The Downstate medical campus (Winthrop/Clarkson) already face serious institutional deficits, but the issue is broader than that employment base alone.

Will our the NY Congressional delegation influence, authorize and allocate? Can they clarify these issues and resolve problems? How much time do they need? They must stand for NYC and NYS first, and only after that argue the positions of their respective political party. To this end,  an intense focus on CD9 first and then the NYC delegation as a whole to evaluate their effectiveness regarding specific concerns affecting the economic health, well-being, and diversity of urban life in NYC.

To begin, an examination of District 9 and the participation the NY Delegation’s committee assignments will be the first primary task.  These committees respond to the development of legislation that can expand or reduce the government’s role in your life and after that, in the authorization and future allocation of public resources.

Please review the following for the NYC locus of power in the House of Representatives committee structure.  Below are Evette Clarke’s assignments in the House. Pick an area of research that interests you and begins a fact-finding mission. Share this interest for coordination with other teams of Indivisible 9th as our communications protocol develops.

Be concrete and limit data to facts. These are names, places, dates, times, and other numbers. An idea can be concrete only if named individuals are accredited.

Yvette Clark’s Committees and Subcommittees

The following is aimed at developing a Research Group

Energy and Commerce Committee

Energy and Commerce are the oldest standing legislative committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Committee is vested with jurisdiction over matters relating to healthcare, energy, consumer safety, telecommunications, and trade.

• Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
  • This subcommittee reviews electronic communications, both Interstate and foreign, including voice, video, audio, and data, whether transmitted by wire or wirelessly, and whether transmitted by telecommunications, commercial or private mobile service, broadcast, cable, satellite, microwave, or other mode; technology generally; emergency and public safety communications. The primary concern is cybersecurity, privacy, and data security. The main agencies are the Federal Communications Commission, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Office of Emergency Communications in the Department of Homeland Security; and all aspects of the above-referenced jurisdiction related to the Department of Homeland Security.
• Subcommittee on Energy
  • This subcommittee examines national energy policy; fossil energy; renewable energy; nuclear energy; nuclear facilities. The main agencies are the Department of Energy; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A primary concern is the use of synthetic and alternative fuels; energy conservation; energy information; utility issues; interstate energy compacts; energy generation, marketing, reliability, transmission, siting, exploration, production, efficiency, cybersecurity, and rate making for all generated power; and pipelines. This committee is responsible for the laws, programs, and government activities affecting energy matters and its jurisdiction as they relate to the Department of Homeland Security.
• Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
  • The committee’s responsibility is to conduct the evaluation of agencies, departments, and programs related to the jurisdiction of the full committee on oversight and investigations.
• Subcommittee on Health
  • This committee’s primary concern is with issues related to public health and quarantine, drug abuse, hospital construction; mental health; biomedical research, and health information technology. The main concern is privacy, and cybersecurity; public health insurance (Medicare, Medicaid) and private health insurance, including medical malpractice and malpractice insurance. The regulation of food, drugs, and cosmetics is also a prime responsibility. The main agencies are the Department of Health and Human Services; the National Institutes of Health; the Centers for Disease Control; Indian Health Service; and all aspects of the above-referenced jurisdiction related to the Department of Homeland Security.
• Subcommittee on Environment
  • This committee examines all matters related to soil, air, and water contamination, including Superfund and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The primary concern is the regulation of solid, hazardous, and nuclear wastes, including mining, nuclear, oil, gas, and coal combustion waste. The authorizations derive from the Clean Air Act on air emissions.  The nation’s emergency environmental response in industrial plant security, including cybersecurity; the regulation of drinking water (Safe Drinking Water Act), including underground injection of fluids (e.g., deep well injection or hydro-fracking). The regulation of toxic substances (Toxic Substances Control Act) including noise; and all aspects of the above-referenced jurisdiction related to the Department of Homeland Security.
• Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection
  • Interstate and foreign commerce, including all trade matters within the jurisdiction of the full committee; regulation of commercial practices (the Federal Trade Commission), including sports-related matters; consumer affairs and consumer protection, including privacy matters generally; data security; consumer product safety (the Consumer Product Safety Commission); product liability; motor vehicle safety; and regulation of travel, tourism, and time.

Small Business Committee

Initially a “select committee” it a became permanent standing committee in 1975, the House members granted legislative jurisdiction and oversight to protect and assist small businesses. The Committee has jurisdiction over matters related to small business financial aid, regulatory flexibility, and paperwork reduction. Additionally, the House Small Business Committee has legislative authority over the Small Business Administration (SBA) and its programs.

• Subcommittee on Agriculture, Energy, and Trade
  • The committee addresses policies that enhance rural economic growth, increasing America’s energy independence as focused on how well small businesses can compete effectively in a global marketplace. There are five oversight responsibilities 1) on all agricultural policies, 2) on environmental issues and regulations (including agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers), 3, regarding energy issues, including expansion of domestic resources whether they are renewable or non-renewable. The remaining concerns regard international trade policy with particular emphasis on agencies that provide direct assistance to small businesses. The main bodies are the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) the Office of International Trade, the Department of Commerce’s United States Export Assistance Centers, the Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service, and the Export-Import Bank. Oversight of infringement of intellectual property rights by foreign competition is also a major concern.
• Subcommittee on Health and Technology
  • The committee addresses how healthcare policies may inhibit or promote economic growth and job creation by small businesses. Members examine small business job growth through the creation and adoption of advanced technologies. Oversight includes implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Maintaining the availability and affordability of health care coverage for small businesses is a top concern. The committee examines general technology issues, including intellectual property policy in the United States, telecommunications policies including, but not limited to, the National Broadband Plan and allocation of electromagnetic spectrum. The Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program are the main implementation resources
• Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access
  • This committee evaluates the operation of the financial markets in the United States and their ability to provide capital to small businesses. It reviews federal programs, overseen by the SBA. The impact of federal tax policies on small businesses requires oversight of capital access and financial markets and the Implementation and revision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. All SBA financial assistance programs, including guaranteed loans, microloans, certified development company loans, and small business investment companies are its central concern, including the Department of Agriculture business and industry guaranteed loan program. The management of the SBA disaster loan program is included in its oversight responsibilities.
• Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations
  • This committee examines the operation of government programs that affect small businesses, including the SBA. It creates proposals to improve cost-effectiveness, and it reviews the regulatory burdens and how they may be alleviated. Oversight includes all issues affecting small businesses and federal agencies, the management of the SBA, and the SBA’s Inspector General. It oversees the implementation of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget. It uses the Congressional Review Act. It calls for transparency of the federal rulemaking process as required by the Administrative Procedure and Data Quality Acts and supports the implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
  • Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce
    • This committee assesses the federal procurement system, including the participation of small businesses in providing goods and services to the federal government. The committee examines technical assistance services to small businesses in general and reviews the broad scope of workforce issues that affect the ability of small businesses to obtain and maintain qualified employees. Oversight includes government-wide procurement practices and policies that inhibit or expand participation by small businesses in the federal contracting marketplace. All contracting programs established by the Small Business Act, including HUBZone, 8(a), Women-, and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Programs. Technical assistance through SBA personnel as it involves the Offices of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, and Procurement Technical Assistance Centers The committee also oversees the SBA Surety Bond Guarantee program all federal policies that affect the workforce including, but not limited to, the roles of the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board. The SBA’s entrepreneurial development and technical assistance programs unrelated to participation in the federal government contracting is of equal interest.

Ethics Committee 5R 4D

The Committee on Ethics derives from authority granted under House Rules and federal statutes. Various authorizing rules govern the scope of the Committee’s role, and laws  see: http://ethics.house.gov/search/node/jurisdiction

• There are no subcommittees

Other Areas of Interest to RESEARCH

Yvette Clarke is also involved with
Congressional Progressive Caucus  https://cpc-grijalva.house.gov
Congressional Black Caucus http://www.cbcfinc.org

Evaluating the State of Congressional District Nine

It is reasonable for Indivisible Ninth to provide our representatives with supports of every kind.  RESEARCH if Indivisible Ninth can imagine strengthening the position of Evette Clarke in the U.S. Congress in a variety of ways. Our goal is to do so until it becomes necessary or apparent for us not do so. That is our right as voters.

We also recognize that representing the Ninth Congressional District and the community is a family tradition of the Clarke family.  Yvette’s mother, Una Clark is a Former NYC Councilmember, 40th District, Brooklyn, New York, and in June 2015, Major Bill DeBlasio appointed Mrs. Clarke to the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York (CUNY), an institution that breaks down barriers and glass ceilings with great success.

A goal of Indivisible Ninth is to assure it reflects in its membership the people of this district based on what they know is right outside their front door and what they feel in their hearts as voters.  The Indivisible Ninth membership sees its diversity as one of the great powers of NYC that must be respected, whether we citizens or not, whether native or foreign-born, of any racial or ethnic origin that we care to describe ourselves.  We will stand as one and make our views known to one another.

See on the demography of CD9 for details.  In brief, CD9 has over 750,000 people. Name a country; we have people from there.  Our West Indian population is our largest, our Congressperson, Yvette Clarke has Jamaican roots. District Nine has a growing population from the Middle East and Latin America.  We are old and young, white, brown and black and we like it that way. We will fight to keep our diversity with every resource at our command.