Barbara Lee chosen to lead Congressional Black Caucus

California Congresswoman Barbara Lee has been chosen to lead the Congressional Black Caucus.

Rep. Lee will succeed Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who presided over a year of enormous change for the CBC as one of the group's members was elected president and another, who supported his opponent, passed away. 

Lee may put the organization on a more distinctly progressive path. She has served as the chair of the House Progressive Caucus and was an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War. She also made headlines when she cast an historic vote against President Bush in 2001.

Four days after the September 11 attacks, the Senate unanimously approved a measure authorizing Bush to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against anyone associated with the terrorist attacks of September 11. In the House, the bill passed 420-1. Lee was the sole dissenter.

In announcing Lee's election, Kilpatrick hailed her successor as a "stalwart for human rights, global peace, and social justice."
 
Lee, who was elected unanimously to the new post, promised a "unified and bold agenda" for the CBC. She was first elected to Congress in 1998, in a special election to fill the seat of retiring Congressman Ron Dellums.

She serves on the House Appropriations Committee, but she will reportedly resign her post as the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Described as a leader in the effort to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan, Lee was arrested for protesting in front of the Sudanese embassy in Washington in June 2006 and has traveled to the Darfur region several times.

She has also fought to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa and in the African American community at home. Her bills to create the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, to protect AIDS orphans, and to create a $15 billion fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria were all signed into law.  

She represents the ninth congressional district in California, which includes most of Alameda County, including the Cities of Albany, Ashland, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Emeryville, Fairview, Oakland and Piedmont.

Other CBC Members elected to leadership posts include:
 
Representative Emanuel Cleaver (MO) - First Vice Chair
Representative Donna Christensen (VI) - Second Vice Chair
Representative G. K. Butterfield (NC) - Secretary
Representative Yvette Clarke (NY) - Whip