Jim’s 10-20-30 plan directs at least 10 percent of appropriated funds to communities where 20 percent or more of their populations have lived below the poverty level for the last 30 years. He successfully got i10-20-30 inserted into four agricultural accounts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
ARRA expired in 2010, but Jim Clyburn continued his pursuit of the concept, and 10-20-30 has begun receiving broad bi-partisan support. The Republican Speaker of the House and the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee have inserted 10-20-30 into 12 funding accounts – 9 Agricultural accounts, 1 Commerce, Justice, 1 Interior, Environment, and 1 Financial Services and General Government – of the 2017 Appropriations Bill.
10-20-30 is helpful to predominately Hispanic communities in states like Arizona and New Mexico; Native American communities in states like South Dakota and Alaska; White communities in states like Kentucky and West Virginia; and Black, White and Hispanic communities throughout South Carolina. It is an efficient and effective way to assist citizens and communities along the I – 95 Corridor, and throughout South Carolina; and It removes partisan political decision making from the funding process.
Jim is working hard to make 10-20-30 permanent law and more broadly applied.
It took some time, but Jim Clyburn’s Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) became the law of the land in 2014. RESP allows the nation’s Rural Electric Cooperatives to make loans to their members to increase the energy efficiency of their homes.
Although new to the country, this program is not new to South Carolina. Several years earlier South Carolina’s rural electric co-ops determined that many of their members could realize tremendous savings on their utility bills by retrofitting their homes. A pilot program proved such to be the case.
It occurred to Congressman Clyburn that this South Carolina innovation should be codified so it could be broaden in the State and exported throughout the nation. The customers repay the loans on their monthly utility bills, and most of them realize significant monthly savings.
Jim is working to expand RESP and develop a similar program to make broadband more available in rural communities throughout the country.
Jim Clyburn’s bill creating the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor became law in 1996. Four years later, he proposed the Gullah-Geechee Heritage Corridor and was told that South Carolina was too small to have two Heritage Corridors, but he did not let that attitude deter him.
It took six years, but his Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor bill became law in 2006. In 2016, the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Commission, which manages the Corridor in partnership with the National Park Service, was reauthorized for five more years.
Jim is developing a third Heritage Corridor in South Carolina to highlight Revolutionary and Civil War sites. Tourism is South Carolina’s number one industry and heritage tourism is the tourism industry’s leading economic engine.
Congressman Clyburn is working to make sure South Carolina gets its fair share of the tourism economy.
Congressman Clyburn is proud to be working on a bill along with Senator Warren that tackles the existing debt burden. Under our bill, people with an income of under $100,000 could have up to $50,000 in student loan cancellation. Those with higher incomes could still see debt cancellation, based on a sliding scale. With this, 95% of student loan borrowers would get some relief, and 75% would have all their debt cancelled. Additionally, our bill would allow borrowers to refinance remaining loans to a lower interest rate and provide an opportunity for borrowers to discharge their debt in bankruptcy. Currently, student loan debt is the only debt you cannot discharge in bankruptcy. This will be a huge victory for our students, and a large weight off their shoulders.
Members of the House Democratic Caucus have introduced numerous other bills designed to address the growing student loan debt crisis. These proposals include debt-free in-state higher education, better student loan refinancing options, broadening loan forgiveness eligibility and more. House Democrats are committed to providing substantial student debt relief.
Congressman James Clyburn and House Democrats are committed to protecting our democracy and ensuring that all eligible Americans have the right to cast a ballot that is counted. Voter suppression has proliferated over the past decade, and the elimination of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court in 2013 in Shelby County v. Holder has cleared the way for the enactment of many insidious obstacles to the ballot box. At the same time, campaigns are unduly impacted by large contributions and expenditures, corporate lobbying undermines the public interest, and our political system is susceptible to nefarious foreign influence.
The House passed the For the People Act of 2019, which expands voter registration and voting access, makes Election Day a federal holiday, bans purging voters from voter rolls, restores the franchise to Americans who have completed sentences for felony convictions, promotes the adoption of paper ballots and ballot audits, ends partisan gerrymandering, protects election systems from cyberattacks, curbs the influence of big money in politics, and strengthens ethics laws.
House Democrats are also working to document voter discrimination throughout the country to determine which jurisdictions should be subject to an updated coverage formula under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires the “preclearance” of changes to election laws in places with a record of discrimination. Preclearance is a vital tool to combat threats to the franchise that should never have been shelved by the Supreme Court, and it must be reinstated pursuant to the Court’s opinion.
Now more than ever, voices of hatred and division threaten our national unity and our strength as a nation of immigrants. Congressman James Clyburn and House Democrats are working to ensure that America lives up to its highest ideals. This year, the House has passed resolutions condemning white nationalism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, and bigotry against minorities.
Among those most vulnerable are our fellow Americans in the LGBTQ+ community. House Democrats passed the Equality Act to prohibit discrimination of the LGBTQ+ community in public accommodations, public housing, education, and employment. Gender identity is specifically defined as among the prohibited categories of discrimination. House Democrats have also passed legislation that would block the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender Americans serving in the military.
House Democrats support comprehensive immigration reform that includes smart border security, common-sense reforms to our immigration laws, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The House passed the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, which prohibits the removal of certain undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and those who have lived here for many years under Temporary Protected Status and Deferred Enforced Departure.
Whip Clyburn supports H.R. 40, a bill to study the crushing economic, educational, and health impacts of centuries of slavery and later statutorily recognized forms of discrimination (like Jim Crow laws) on African Americans. This commission will recommend appropriate remedies to address the negative impact of intentionally structured disenfranchisement and discrimination. Congress must act so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past and instead move toward a brighter future for all Americans.