Congressional caucus
Encyclopedia
A congressional caucus is a group of members of the United States Congress
that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. Formally, caucuses are formed as congressional member organizations (CMOs) through the United States House of Representatives
and governed under the rules of that chamber
. They are not always called caucuses, and are sometimes titled coalition
s, study groups, task forces, or working groups. In most other countries, the same kind of group is called an all-party parliamentary group
.
es are the party conference
s, which are the partisan caucuses comprising all members of one house from one party (either the Democrats
or the Republicans
). These are the House Democratic Caucus
and House Republican Conference
in the House of Representatives and the Senate Democratic Caucus
and Senate Republican Conference
in the Senate
.
The caucuses meet regularly in private closed sessions to set legislative agendas, select committee
members and chairs, and hold elections to choose various floor leader
s. They also oversee the four Hill committee
s, political party committee
s that work to elect members of their own party
to Congress.
s with a common ideological orientation:
Other groups are associated with members of Congress (such as the Democratic Leadership Council
and Republican Main Street Partnership
) but are not considered caucuses.
.
The Congressional Black Caucus
for African-Americans has included members of both chambers, but the election of Barack Obama
as President
had left no black Senators, making the CBC exclusively Representatives. Senator Roland Burris
, who succeeded Barack Obama
in the Senate, was a member of the CBC, but Burris left office on November 29, 2010, succeeded by Mark Kirk
, so there are again no black Senators. There are two Hispanic
s caucuses: The Congressional Hispanic Caucus
, for Hispanic Democrats, and the Congressional Hispanic Conference
, for Hispanic Republicans. Congressional Republicans formerly belonged to the Hispanic Caucus but later split off to form the Hispanic Conference. The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
is for Asian American
and Pacific Islander American
members, but is not exclusive to such members.
(comprising both Democrats and Republicans) and bicameral
(comprising both Representatives and Senators). For example, the Congressional Bike Caucus
works to promote cycling
.
prescribes certain rules for Congressional Member Organizations. Each Congress, CMOs must electronically register with the Committee on House Administration, providing the name of the caucus, a statement of purpose
, the CMO officers, and the employee designated to work on issues related to the CMO.
The Committee on House Administration rules include:
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. Formally, caucuses are formed as congressional member organizations (CMOs) through the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and governed under the rules of that chamber
Chambers of parliament
Many parliaments or other legislatures consist of two chambers : an elected lower house, and an upper house or Senate which may be appointed or elected by a different mechanism from the lower house. This style of two houses is called bicameral...
. They are not always called caucuses, and are sometimes titled coalition
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
s, study groups, task forces, or working groups. In most other countries, the same kind of group is called an all-party parliamentary group
All-Party Parliamentary Group
An all-party parliamentary group is a grouping in the UK parliament that is composed of politicians from all political parties.-All-party parliamentary groups:...
.
Party conferences
The largest caucusCaucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
es are the party conference
Party conference
The terms party conference , political convention , and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membership...
s, which are the partisan caucuses comprising all members of one house from one party (either the Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
or the Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
). These are the House Democratic Caucus
Democratic Caucus of the United States House of Representatives
The House Democratic Caucus nominates and elects the Democratic Party leadership in the United States House of Representatives. The group is composed of all Democratic Representatives in the House...
and House Republican Conference
Republican Conference of the United States House of Representatives
The House Republican Conference is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives. It hosts meetings and is the primary forum for communicating the party's message to members...
in the House of Representatives and the Senate Democratic Caucus
Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate
The Senate Democratic Caucus is the formal organization of the current 51 Democratic Senators in the United States Senate. In the 112th Congress, the Democratic Caucus additionally includes two independent senators who formally caucus with the Democrats for the purpose of committee assignments...
and Senate Republican Conference
Republican Conference of the United States Senate
The Senate Republican Conference is the formal organization of the Republican Senators in the United States Senate, who currently number 47. Over the last century, the mission of the Conference has expanded and been shaped as a means of informing the media of the opinions and activities of Senate...
in the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
.
The caucuses meet regularly in private closed sessions to set legislative agendas, select committee
United States Congressional committee
A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty . Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under their jurisdiction...
members and chairs, and hold elections to choose various floor leader
Floor Leader
Floor Leaders are leaders of their political parties in each of the houses of the legislature.- Senate :In the United States Senate, they are elected by their respective party conferences to serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for their parties and to manage and schedule the legislative and...
s. They also oversee the four Hill committee
Hill committee
The Hill committees are the common name for the political party committees that work to elect members of their own party to United States Congress...
s, political party committee
Political party committee
In the United States, a political party committee is an organization, officially affiliated with a political party and registered with the Federal Elections Commission , which raises and spends money for political campaigning...
s that work to elect members of their own party
Political parties in the United States
This article presents the historical development and role of political parties in United States politics, and outlines more extensively the significant modern political parties. Throughout most of its history, American politics have been dominated by a two-party system...
to Congress.
Ideological conferences
Other caucuses are organized political factionPolitical faction
A political faction is a grouping of individuals, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with a political purpose. A faction or political party may include fragmented sub-factions, “parties within a party," which may be referred to as power blocs, or voting blocs. The individuals...
s with a common ideological orientation:
- On the Democratic side, there is the Blue Dog Coalition (conservative DemocratConservative DemocratIn American politics, a conservative Democrat is a Democratic Party member with conservative political views, or with views relatively conservative with respect to those of the national party...
s), New Democrat CoalitionNew Democrat CoalitionThe New Democrat Coalition is a Congressional Member Organization within the United States Congress made up of Democrats who support an agenda that the organization describes as moderate and pro-growth. A July 2009 Press release described the organization as "the largest moderate coalition in the U.S...
(moderateModerateIn politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan or radical. In recent years, political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword....
Democrats), Congressional Progressive CaucusCongressional Progressive CaucusThe Congressional Progressive Caucus is the largest caucus within the Democratic caucus in the United States Congress with 83 declared members, and works to advance progressive issues and positions....
(liberal and progressive DemocratsProgressivism in the United StatesProgressivism in the United States is a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century and is generally considered to be middle class and reformist in nature. It arose as a response to the vast changes brought by modernization, such as the growth of large...
), and Democratic Freedom Caucus (libertarianLibertarianismLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Democrats). - On the Republican side, there is the Republican Study CommitteeRepublican Study CommitteeThe Republican Study Committee [RSC] is a caucus of over 170 conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives...
(conservative politics Republicans) and the Liberty CaucusLiberty CaucusThe Liberty Caucus is a group of Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It hosts a luncheon in Washington, D.C., every Thursday....
, which is sometimes called the Republican Liberty Caucus (libertarianLibertarianismLibertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Republicans). The Tea Party CaucusTea Party CaucusThe Tea Party Caucus is a caucus of the United States House of Representatives and Senate launched and chaired by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on July 16, 2010. The caucus is dedicated to promoting what it considers fiscal responsibility, adherence to the movement's interpretation of...
also has 60 Republican members in the House of Representatives and four in the Senate.
Other groups are associated with members of Congress (such as the Democratic Leadership Council
Democratic Leadership Council
The Democratic Leadership Council was a non-profit 501 corporation that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s...
and Republican Main Street Partnership
Republican Main Street Partnership
The Republican Main Street Partnership is a group of moderate members of the United States Republican Party. They tend away from the dominant social conservatism of many Republicans and towards a moderate fiscal conservatism and limited government to a degree. The group is the rough equivalent of...
) but are not considered caucuses.
Racial and ethnic caucuses
Among the most visible caucuses are those composed of members sharing the same race or ethnic groupEthnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
.
The Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing the black members of the United States Congress. Membership is exclusive to blacks, and its chair in the 112th Congress is Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.-Aims:...
for African-Americans has included members of both chambers, but the election of Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
as President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
had left no black Senators, making the CBC exclusively Representatives. Senator Roland Burris
Roland Burris
Roland Wallace Burris is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party....
, who succeeded Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in the Senate, was a member of the CBC, but Burris left office on November 29, 2010, succeeded by Mark Kirk
Mark Kirk
Mark Steven Kirk is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, Kirk was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Illinois's 10th congressional district....
, so there are again no black Senators. There are two Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
s caucuses: The Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Congressional Hispanic Caucus
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus comprises 21 Democratic members of the United States Congress most of whom are of Hispanic origin. The Caucus is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics and Latinos in the United States and Puerto Rico...
, for Hispanic Democrats, and the Congressional Hispanic Conference
Congressional Hispanic Conference
The Congressional Hispanic Conference is a Republican Party-controlled caucus in the United States Congress. The CHC was formed in 2003, with the stated goal of promoting policy outcomes of importance to Americans of Hispanic or Latino and Portuguese descent. These priorities included support of...
, for Hispanic Republicans. Congressional Republicans formerly belonged to the Hispanic Caucus but later split off to form the Hispanic Conference. The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus founded on May 16, 1994, by former Congressman Norman Mineta, is a bicameral caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who have a strong interest in promoting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders issues and advocating the concerns of...
is for Asian American
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
and Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander American
Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...
members, but is not exclusive to such members.
Interest group caucuses
The most common caucuses consist of members united as an interest group. These are often bipartisanBipartisanship
Bipartisanship is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system such as the United States, in which opposing political parties find common ground through compromise. The adjective bipartisan can refer to any bill, act, resolution, or other political act in which both of the...
(comprising both Democrats and Republicans) and bicameral
Bicameralism
In the government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses....
(comprising both Representatives and Senators). For example, the Congressional Bike Caucus
Congressional Bike Caucus
The Congressional Bike Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of the United States House of Representatives launched by Oregon representative Earl Blumenauer. It is officially registered with the Committee on House Administration, the house committee responsible for regulating caucuses. The caucus aims to...
works to promote cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
.
Rules
The House Committee on House AdministrationUnited States House Committee on House Administration
The United States House Committee on House Administration deals with the general administration matters of the United States House of Representatives.-Jurisdiction:...
prescribes certain rules for Congressional Member Organizations. Each Congress, CMOs must electronically register with the Committee on House Administration, providing the name of the caucus, a statement of purpose
Statement of purpose
A statement of purpose, or personal statement, is a brief and focused essay about one's career or research goals, and is frequently required for applicants to universities, graduate schools, and professional schools. It is a required document when applying for admission to most professional...
, the CMO officers, and the employee designated to work on issues related to the CMO.
The Committee on House Administration rules include:
See also
- Caucuses of the United States CongressCaucuses of the United States CongressThis is a list of every congressional caucus of the United States Congress listed by the U.S. House Committee on House Administration, showing the years each caucus was active...
- All-party parliamentary groupAll-Party Parliamentary GroupAn all-party parliamentary group is a grouping in the UK parliament that is composed of politicians from all political parties.-All-party parliamentary groups:...