‘Power grab’: Clarke to Trump
on national emergency
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke calls President Donald J. Trump’s declaration of a national emergency a “power
grab.” Photo by Nelson A. King
Caribbean L BQ ife, March 1–7, 2019 3
By Nelson A. King
Following her election in January
as Vice Chair of the United
States House of Representatives’
Energy and Commerce Committee,
Brooklyn Congresswoman
Yvette D. Clarke on Thursday was
appointed to serve as a Senior
Whip for the 116th Congress.
Senior Whips are a group of
seasoned members of the House
of Representatives and Caucus
opinion leaders who meet on an
ongoing basis to discuss some of
the key issues facing the US Congress.
Senior Whips also bring balance
and diverse perspective to
the Whip Operation, which is
necessary to tackle some of the
more complex pieces of legislation
before the 116th Congress.
“It is an honor to serve as a
Senior Whip, alongside Majority
Whip Jim Clyburn and our colleagues,”
Clarke, the daughter of
Jamaican immigrants, told Caribbean
Life.
“I look forward to working
together on issues and important
legislation that impact our respective
districts and promote our
shared Democratic values,” added
the representative for the Ninth
Congressional District in Brooklyn,
New York.
“I am delighted to use my leadership
within the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, and experience
within the House Homeland
Security Committee to best serve
the most diverse Caucus in American
history, as well as the nation
that we love,” Clarke continued.
Clyburn said he was “pleased”
that Clarke will be joining his
Whip team as Senior Whip for the
116th Congress.
“Congresswoman Clarke is a
well-respected consensus builder
who has deep relationships within
the Democratic Caucus,” he said.
“She will play a key role in ensuring
that every voice of the most
diverse Caucus ever is heard.
“As we begin to advance an
agenda that will have a positive
impact on Americans’ everyday
lives, Congresswoman Clarke will
be an invaluable member of the
Whip team helping us secure the
necessary votes to pass critical
pieces of legislation.”
Clarke will also serve as a cochair
of the Medicare For All Caucus
during the 116th Congress.
By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette
D. Clarke on Feb. 19 described President
Donald J. Trump’s declaration of
a national emergency on the southern
border with Mexico as a “power grab.”
In an attempt to bypass the Congress,
Trump declared the emergency on Feb.
15 in order to access billions of dollars
that the US Legislature declined to give
him to honor his campaign pledge of
building a wall at the southern border
to keep out illegal immigrants.
“Donald Trump, who often criticized
President Barak Obama for his use
of Executive Orders, takes executive
overreach to a new level by declaring
a national emergency,” Clarke, the
daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told
Caribbean Life. “This is a power grab
by a president who has gone outside
the bounds of not only the law but of
reality.”
The representative for the predominantly
Caribbean Ninth Congressional
District in Brooklyn, noted that 61
percent of Americans disapprove of
Trump’s decision to declare a national
emergency.
She also said that illegal border crossings
are at a near 20-year low.
“There is no real crisis at the border,”
Clarke declared. “This is just another
attempt to distract from the fact
that neither Mexico, Democrats, or the
American people want to pay for Donald
Trump’s ridiculously expensive and racist
border wall.
“The president should admit that he
was unable to get Mexico to pay for the
wall, as he promised, and work with
Congress on comprehensive immigration
and comprehensive infrastructure
packages,” she added.
Another Caribbean-American legislator
was also very critical of Trump’s
declaration.
“At this point, I don’t know which
is worse: The fact that a proven liar is
leading the country and literally manufacturing
a constitutional crisis that
doesn’t exist based purely on racism,
hatred and bigotry; the elected leaders
who continue to support this administration’s
divisive policies and actions,
because of its bigotry; or the millions
of people in this country excited to be
a MAGA (‘Make America Great Again’)
follower in plain sight, eager to vote
for those who spew such hate,” said
New York City Councilman Jumaane
Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants.
“I’m glad to be a part of the America
that is the light that is still shining and
guiding us through the darkness, which
is the true national emergency,” added
Williams, a candidate for New York City
Public Advocate and representative for
the largely Caribbean 45th Council District
in Brooklyn.
“We’re going to confront the national
security crisis on our southern border,
and we’re going to do it one way or
the other,” said Trump in a nationally
televised address soon after Congress
passed a spending bill that omitted the
$5.7 billion that Trump had sought to
construct the wall.
“It’s an invasion,” the president
added. “We have an invasion of drugs
and criminals coming into our country.”
But Democratic, and even some
Republican lawmakers, analysts, and
political pundits say that Trump has set
up a huge confrontation with Congress
over the separation of powers, as outlined
in the US Constitution.
“This is plainly a power grab by a
disappointed president, who has gone
outside the bounds of the law to try
to get what he failed to achieve in the
constitutional legislative process,” said
Democratic Speaker of the US House
of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, of California,
and Senate Minority Leader
Democratic Chuck Schumer, of New
York, in a joint statement.
Clarke
named
Senior Whip
in Congress