WASHINGTON (NNPA)�More than half of the members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives received a grade of "F" on the NAACP�s civil rights report card.

The Legislative Report Card covers issues considered important by the NAACP for the first half of the 107th Congress, which recently concluded.

Although the Senate is controlled by Democrats and the House is controlled by Republicans, a majority of members in each body received flunking grades.

"It still clearly shows that so many members of the House and Senate still don�t have a clear understanding or they really disregard the real needs and concerns of the African American community," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. "It�s got to be one or the other. They either simply don�t understand or they have no regard for it."

Fifty-two of the 100 senators received "F�s" and 226 members of the 435-member House received "F�s" on votes related to education, election reform, foreign affairs, discrimination, economic justice, health care, hate crimes and charitable choice.

The grading scale is "A," 100-90 percent; "B," 89-80 percent; "C," 79-70 percent; "D," 69-60 percent; "F," 59-0 percent.

Among the most startling revelations in the report was the grade of "F" for Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), who won accolades from many liberal organizations when he switched his party allegiance from Republican to Independent last spring, tipping Senate power to Democrats.

Sen. Jeffords did well on predatory lending, hate crimes and AIDS prevention, but fared poorly on public education and economic justice issues, the NAACP said. He also voted in favor of the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was opposed by the NAACP, and voted against the Patients� Bill of Rights, also supported by the NAACP.

Sen. Jeffords has gone from bad to worse. His final grade was "D" on the previous NAACP report card.

Curiously, the NAACP did not include two crucial votes by Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The first was the Sept. 14 vote that gave President Bush broad latitude in using military force in response to terrorist attacks without congressional intervention. The second omitted vote was on the anti-terrorist legislation, the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, passed in late October that many civil rights and civil liberties organizations, including the NAACP, say compromises American civil liberties.

Mr. Shelton said both those issues came up after the NAACP board had decided which issues to consider for this report card. Referring to the USA PATRIOT Act, Mr. Shelton said, "That vote was an important vote, but not a civil rights vote."

However, at an NAACP board meeting since Sept. 11, the board discussed the PATRIOT bill and decided to lobby to make it as fair as possible, Mr. Shelton said.

"The board made it clear that they want to preserve civil liberties and civil rights, while at the same time protect the security of our nation," Mr. Shelton explained. "Overall, the problem is that there were some very, very helpful issues in the USA PATRIOT Act. There were some issues that we were concerned about and we weighed in on how they were to be implemented to make sure that a number of the components had sunset clauses."

Congressional Black Caucus member Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) was the lone opposition to the bill that gave President Bush the latitude to use military force. Rep. Lee got an "A" on the report card.

Not surprisingly, an overwhelming majority of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) received "A�s." In the CBC, all Democrats, there were 24 "A�s," 8 "B�s," 3 "C�s," and an "I" for incomplete for Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.), who was just elected in June. The three receiving "C�s" were: Reps. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), Carrie Meek (D-Fla.), and Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.). The 38-member CBC has two non-voting members. They are Dels. Donna Christian-Christensen (D-V.I.), and Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-D.C.).

Also, as usual, House Republican Conference Chairman J. C. Watts, the only Black Republican in Congress, was among those with "F�s." He voted with the NAACP 21 percent of the time.

"Unfortunately, there is really a tenet within his party right now that unfortunately drives the votes of the members and he�s still subject to the leadership of his party," Mr. Shelton said.

There were 13 districts where one senator received an "F" and the other got an "A," including the Vermont district of Jeffords and his Democratic colleague, Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Also, in 18 senatorial districts, both lawmakers got "F�s." In 11 senatorial districts, both lawmakers got "A�s."

The final report card for this Congress will be released when Congress adjourns at the end of this year.

The mid-term grades speak to both lawmakers and civil rights lobbyists, Mr. Shelton noted.

"It says we have a lot of work to do in helping legislators first understand how important these issues are and that these really are, in all too many cases, life and death issues," he said. "It (also) says there is an opportunity for people to actually bring their averages up."