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Clyburn: Southern governors slighted blacks |
WASHINGTON — The highest-ranking African-American member of Congress on Friday accused Southern governors opposed to economic stimulus spending of indifference to the plight of poor blacks who might benefit from the federal funds.House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, amplified earlier statements that the governors’ hesitation in accepting stimulus money had insulted him because “these four states are in the heart of the black belt.”Clyburn singled out Republican Govs. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Rick Perry of Texas, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Haley Barbour of Mississippi for criticism.The four governors have said they might turn down their states’ shares of the $787 billion stimulus bill Congress passed last week — with almost no Republican support — and President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday.Clyburn said the measure reserves some funding for census tracts in which more than one-fifth of the residents have lived at or below the federal poverty level for the last 30 years. He said 12 of South Carolina’s 46 counties qualify for the targeted aid, all along the impoverished Interstate 95 corridor.
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