Dec. 16, 2007, 8 a.m. -  Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, a senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Co-Founder and Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy, released the following statement regarding the release of the Mitchell report highlighting an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in professional baseball. The report, which was released this afternoon, concludes that the use of performance-enhancing drugs and human growth hormone are widespread in Major League Baseball (MLB). It also makes recommendations to improve the MLB drug-testing program.

“Baseball, the great American pastime, has historically embodied our nation’s hopes, dreams, values, and ideals. We cannot afford to sit on the sidelines while some players destroy the integrity of this sport by engaging in the culture of cheating fostered by the use of performance-enhancing drugs—breaking both the law and the public’s trust.

“It is my hope that Major League Baseball will approach the findings of the Mitchell Report with the seriousness that is warranted, and I urge the baseball players and players’ union to cooperate with MLB management to implement the recommendations set forward in this report. Furthermore, it is my hope that all of the players who have received awards for performances that were enhanced by the use of drugs will immediately return the awards to MLB. The first step in restoring the reputation of baseball is taking all necessary actions to show players and fans that cheating will no longer be tolerated.

“The most devastating impact of steroid abuse has been on our nation’s most valuable resource: our children. Young athletes, emulating their professional role models with the use of performance-enhancing drugs, have paid for this poor judgment with their lives. Our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see, and we need to ensure that they make it to that future.

“I am hopeful that MLB will implement all of the recommendations in the report as well as initiate its own investigation on amphetamine use. I will be closely monitoring the response to the Mitchell report, and I am prepared to proceed with a legislative response or recommend future oversight hearings if necessary. We must ensure that when our children trade baseball cards of their heroes, they are trading players who embody the characteristics inherent in good role models rather than trading players who succeed by cheating.”

Barbara Lee Takes Fight to Eradicate HIV/AIDS to South Africa
                                           
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) – a member of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) Board of Directors and chair of the CBCF’s Africa Globalism Subcommittee – recently spent a week in South Africa with members of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc., (CBCF) and its African Globalism Committee, utilizing the trip as an opportunity to visit health clinics and meet with governmental health officials in the region.
Lee was joined on the trip by Elsie L. Scott, Ph.D., the president of the CBCF and chief executive officer, and U.S. Del. Donna M. Christensen of the Virgin Islands. She attended a program where Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu was the keynote speaker. The archbishop, Lee said, was critical of his country for not reacting aggressively in the fight against AIDS. However, the archbishop offered words of encouragement, “reminding all of us that the people of South Africa had already overcome their successful liberation struggle,” Lee said.

The trip to South Africa coincided with World Aids Day, providing the perfect backdrop for the joint-delegation to address and investigate the most pertinent issues currently surrounding this epidemic. In addressing the Diplomatic Association of Pretoria, Lee reaffirmed her commitment in doing whatever she can to provide funding without restrictive and harmful limitations to help communities combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has swept through the African continent.

During the five-day trip, the delegation met with the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Johannesburg, providing Lee and other delegation members with an opportunity to update South African officials on the U.S. HIV/AIDS policy known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Lee was a coauthor of the bipartisan legislation that established PEPFAR, which designated $15 billion for the prevention, care, and treatment of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

She also co-authored the Global AIDS and Tuberculosis Relief Act of 2000, which established the framework for the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  To date, the Global Fund has committed $4.4 billion in 128 countries to support aggressive interventions against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.  In 2005, she successfully passed legislation to focus U.S. foreign assistance on the impact of AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children in developing countries. She has also introduced H.R. 3337, the HIV Nondiscrimination in Travel and Immigration Act of 2007, and H.R. 175, which adds India to the list of countries designated to receive focused assistance by the President.

Congresswoman Lee, who emphasized the critical need to engage the private sector in the ongoing fight against this insidious disease, visited a HIV/AIDS testing site in the Zola area of Soweto.  The site is sponsored by a private-public cooperative; Levi Strauss Red for Life Initiative, Centers for Disease Control, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department.

“We talked to young people regarding the importance of getting tested,” said Lee, who led by example by getting tested publicly. “We noted the very thorough pre- and post-testing counseling that was taking place as well as enhanced efforts for confidentiality. It was really impressive. We were very inspired to see young people sign up for testing – and saying our speeches convinced them to get tested.”

Later, the CBCF delegation traveled to Pretoria to meet with the nation’s minister of education, Naledi Pandor. “Minister Pandor is a brilliant South African woman committed to the education of all of her country’s children and to its progress and development,” Lee said. “Apartheid is the major challenge of South African’s education strategies” Lee affirmed, “inequality in the nation’s school system still exists as a result of decades of apartheid.  This obstacle further complicates cooperative strategies that are necessary to effectively channel aid into the country.

Congresswoman Lee has adamantly restated her commitment to fighting the Global HIV/AIDS epidemic, and continuing her efforts in Congress to bring forth and support policy which responds to the “humanitarian crisis of our time” accordingly, proactively, and with compassion.

Norton Wants Congress to Eliminate Remaining Racial Discrimination in Cocaine Sentencing

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Judicial Nominations Task Force, applauded the unanimous U.S. Sentencing Commission decision to make retroactive its November ruling equalizing sentences for powder cocaine and crack convictions. 

At the same time, she said, “The baton has been passed to Congress to complete the reform by eliminating the egregious and racially discriminatory remaining disparities in the mandatory minimums courts must continue to use.”  Under current law, possession of five grams or more of crack cocaine triggers a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, while simple possession of any quantity of powder cocaine and most other controlled substances by a first-time offender is a misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum of one year in prison.  Almost 82 percent of those imprisoned for crack are African Americans in contrast to those held for powder cocaine offenses and many other drugs.