Chief Washington Correspondent CBS News Host Major Garrett said during the most recent broadcast of CBS News’ “Face The Nation” that President Donald Trump’s efforts, and subsequent successes, to improve the lives of minority communities in the United States was the most underreported news story of 2019.
Garrett’s remarks came during a segment where host Margaret Brennan told the panel she wanted to hear their most “undercovered story and your beat and story you wish you could have covered.”
“So sometimes undercovered stories are complicated,” Garrett began, noting that Trump’s rhetoric sometimes does not match his actions. “And this one, I think, falls resolutely in that category.”
“And yet it can be fairly said that this administration, because of President Trump’s quiet prodding, has done quite a bit for funding of historically black colleges and universities,” Garrett said. “The First Step Act, which was a massive first step toward criminal justice reform. Just a couple of weeks ago, in this newly signed defense bill, there is a law that says if you are seeking work for the federal government or any contractor, you don’t have to be asked and you cannot be asked about your criminal history until right toward the end. That’s a significant change long sought by criminal justice advocates, plus opportunity zones in the tax bill directed at communities of color.”
Garrett noted that Trump’s achievements for minority communities have been so historic that it is a record that “almost any president after three years would want to claim, particularly President Obama.”
“That is a legacy on the agenda side, that almost any president after three years would want to claim, particularly President Obama,” Garrett said. “Many of those things were sought. But you know what? Republicans would not go for it. Quietly, persistently, President Trump has pushed Republicans in this direction. And I think that’s an under-covered story and part of something that neither he nor Republicans really talk about it, but it doesn’t make it any less real.”
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CBS News' Major Garrett: President @realDonaldTrump has a policy legacy of helping minority communities that “any president…would want to claim”https://t.co/5dzmoEPns9 pic.twitter.com/krmJZYbE3J
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 29, 2019
The Trump administration also highlighted some of the successes they have secured for minority communities:
- THE WASHINGTON POST: For The First Time, Most New Working-Age Hires In The U.S. Are People Of Color
“The surge of minority women getting jobs has helped push the U.S. workforce across a historic threshold. For the first time, most new hires of prime working age (25 to 54) are people of color, according to a Washington Post analysis of data the Labor Department began collecting in the 1970s. Minority hires overtook white hires last year. Women are predominantly driving this trend, which is so powerful that even many women who weren’t thinking about working — because they were in school, caring for kids or at home for other reasons — are being lured into employment, according to The Post’s analysis.”
- REUTERS: Tight U.S. Labor Market Shrinks Gender And Race Gaps To Record Lows
“A tight U.S. labor market and booming demand in industries with an abundance of female workers is drawing more women back into the workforce, helping to shrink the longstanding gap in the labor participation rate between men and women to the narrowest on record. Other parts of a report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed that the longest economic expansion on record is leading to improvements for workers who are often left on the sidelines. Not only did the unemployment rate for African Americans drop to a record low of 5.5% in August, it narrowed to being 1.62 times the white unemployment rate, the smallest gap ever.”
- THE NEW YORK TIMES: Minority Women Are Winning The Jobs Race In A Record Economic Expansion
“…Hispanic women have emerged as the biggest job market winners in an economy that has now grown for 121 straight months, assuming data released in coming months confirms continued growth. Employment rates for Hispanic women between 25 and 54, prime working years, have jumped by 2.2 percentage points since mid-2007, the eve of the Great Recession. That’s the most of any prime-age working group. Black women came in second, adding 1.6 percentage points.”
- WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Black Unemployment Rate Hits Record Low
“The unemployment rate among black Americans hit a record low in August, closing in on the gap in unemployment rates between white and black Americans. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics released their August report Friday, which showed the economy gained 130,000 jobs in August with the overall unemployment rate holding steady at 3.7%. The report also showed that black unemployment fell to 5.5%, which is the lowest rate recorded since the Labor Department started tracking the number in the 1970s.”
- THE DAILY CALLER: Black Unemployment Hits Record Low, Spurred By Uptick In Employment For Black Women
“The unemployment rate for black workers fell from 6.0% in July to 5.5 % in August, data from the Department of Labor reveals. These number surpass the record low set in May 2018 of 5.9% for black unemployment. These record low numbers are impacted by unemployment numbers for black women. While July numbers revealed unemployment for black women to be at 5.2%, August numbers saw that figure drop to 4.4%.”
- CNS NEWS: Hispanic Unemployment Rate Ties All-Time Low
“The number of Hispanics and Latinos employed set a record high in August as their national, seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate matched its record low of 4.2%, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday show. In August, the unemployment rate for Hispanics and Latinos, aged 16 and up, was 4.2%, down from 4.5% in July, returning to the record low of 4.2% in April and May – which broke the record low of 4.3% set two months earlier in February.”
- ASSOCIATED PRESS: Unemployment Rate Hits Record Low For Asian Americans
“The unemployment rate for Asian Americans fell to 2.1% in June, its lowest level on records dating to 2003. The result reflects Asian Americans coming off the sidelines to look for work and finding it.”
- BREITBART: 6.2 Million Individuals Off Food Stamps Under Trump
“The most recent USDA data shows that 6,268,285 individuals discontinued their participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)— the program in charge of food stamps— since February 2017 when Trump finished his first month as president.”