Politics

CBC Member Refuses To Credit Obama For Record Low Unemployment Among Blacks

Kerry Picket Political Reporter
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WASHINGTON — Missouri Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver refuses to give credit to either Donald Trump or Barack Obama for the low unemployment rate among blacks and Latinos.

The Daily Caller asked the Congressional Black Caucus member after the State of the Union Tuesday night if he could point to anything President Obama did to bring down the black unemployment rate. Cleaver responded, “To tell you the truth, probably nothing–probably nothing, just like Donald Trump has done nothing.”

He continued, “Presidents take credit for good economies. I mean, they just do and they take the credit for a lot of things. You know presidents don’t draft legislation. Most people in the public believe they do. The so-called Obamacare was drafted by three committees in the house.”

President Trump boasted about the black unemployment rate in his State of the Union, saying, “Unemployment claims have hit a 45-year low.”

He went on to say, “African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded, and Hispanic-American unemployment has also reached the lowest levels in history.”

Members of the CBC sat in their seats with no reaction toward the president after he made those comments.

Cleaver took issue with Trump’s proclamation about the black and Latino unemployment rate, claiming to TheDC that the president was not being truthful and that the unemployment rate was going down since the beginning of Obama’s first term.

What he should have said, if he was going to be truthful, ‘is there is a seven-year trend line going down and I am pleased to have been able to keep the economy running humming and improving and it has stabilized–you know the black unemployment levels.’”

Cleaver added, “This is not new it started a long time ago and it’s been dropping.”

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