Vote on Cohen’s slavery bill set before primary

Rep. Steve Cohen (D) got a boost from House Democratic leaders this week when they scheduled a vote on his measure that calls for Congress to apologize for slavery.

Cohen, a white freshman who represents a district composed of a majority of African-Americans, is facing a challenging primary battle with Nikki Tinker, a black corporate attorney from Memphis. The primary is Thursday, Aug. 7.

{mosads}Cohen’s bipartisan resolution, which has 120 co-sponsors, got the green light from Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), staffers said.

Conyers has introduced his own measure, which goes further than Cohen’s resolution, calling for a review of whether the federal government should pay reparations for slavery.

Conyers told The Hill last year that he wants to move that legislation next year when, he hopes, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is president. Obama has not publicly stated his position on Conyers’s measure.

Asked last week whether it’s time for Congress to apologize for slavery, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she was open to it, though she hadn’t reviewed the specifics of Cohen’s measure. Pelosi last year contributed to Cohen’s reelection campaign.

After he won the seat of former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) in 2006, Cohen expressed an interest in joining the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), but backed down after CBC members balked at the idea.

CBC Reps. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) have endorsed Tinker, while other CBC members, such as Reps. Conyers and Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) are backing Cohen. Both Tubbs Jones and Meeks have co-sponsored Cohen’s resolution.