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Acongressional caucus is a group of members of theUnited States Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives. Formally, caucuses are formed ascongressional member organizations (CMOs) through theUnited States House of Representatives and theUnited States Senate and governed under the rules of thesechambers. In addition to the term "caucus", they are sometimes called conferences (especiallyRepublican ones),coalitions, study groups, task forces, or working groups.[1] Many other countries use the termparliamentary group; theParliament of the United Kingdom has manyall-party parliamentary groups.[2]
The largestcaucuses are theparty caucuses comprising all members of one house from one party (either theDemocrats or theRepublicans) in addition to anyindependent members who may caucus with either party. These are theHouse Democratic Caucus,House Republican Conference,Senate Democratic Caucus andSenate Republican Conference. The caucuses meet regularly inclosed sessions for both theHouse of Representatives and theSenate to set legislative agendas, selectcommittee members and chairs and hold elections to choose variousfloor leaders. They also oversee the fourHill committees,political party committees that work to elect members of their ownparty to Congress.
Ideological congressional caucuses can represent a political party within a political party. In the United States two-party dominant political system, these congressional caucuses help congregate and advance the ideals of a more focused ideology within the two major relativelybig tent political parties. Some caucuses are organizedpolitical factions with a common ideological orientation.[3] Most ideological caucuses are confined to the House of Representatives. The rosters of large caucuses are usually listed publicly. Members of Congress are not restricted to a single ideological caucus, creating overlaps between the organizations.
Among the most visible caucuses are those composed of members sharing the samerace orethnic group. The most high profile of these representpeople of color. The Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus also form the Congressional Tri Caucus when they sit together.
The ERA Caucus (Equal Rights Amendment Caucus) was formed March 28, 2023, by representativesAyanna Pressley andCori Bush to affirm theEqual Rights Amendment as the 28th amendment of the U.S. Constitution,[4] having met all requirements of Article V in 2020 with the ratification by the 38th state, Virginia.[5] The Caucus has quickly grown to be one of the largest in the U.S. House of Representatives, standing at 69 members in May 2023.
The ERA Caucus quickly showed their support of the ERA, marching on April 28, 2023 to the Senate in support of S.J. Res 4, the bill to affirm the ERA.[6]
TheSouthern Caucus was aSenate caucus ofSouthern Democrats chaired byRichard Russell,[7] which opposedcivil rights legislation[8] and formed a vital part of theconservative coalition that dominated the Senate into the 1960s. The tone of the Southern Caucus was to be more moderate and reasonable than the explicit white supremacism of some Southern Senators.[9]
The caucus was where theSouthern Manifesto was written[10] which supported the reversal of the landmark Supreme Court 1954 rulingBrown v. Board of Education and was signed by 19 Senators and 82 Representatives.
The formation of theCongressional Equality Caucus (formerly the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus) was announced on June 4, 2008, byopenlygay members of congressTammy Baldwin andBarney Frank.[11][12] The mission of the caucus is to work forLGBTQ rights, the repeal of laws discriminatory against LGBTQ persons, the elimination ofhate-motivated violence, and improved health and well-being for all persons, regardless ofsexual orientation,gender identity, orgender expression.[13] The caucus serves as a resource forMembers of Congress, their staffs, and the public on LGBTQ issues.[13]
The LGBT Equality Caucus admits any member who is willing to advance LGBTQ rights, regardless of their sexual identity or orientation; it has historically been co-chaired by every openly-LGBTQ member of the House. The caucus had 194 members, all of themDemocrats, in the118th United States Congress.
The most common caucuses consist of members united as aninterest group. These are oftenbi-partisan (comprising both Democrats and Republicans) andbi-cameral (comprising both Representatives and Senators). Examples like theCongressional Bike Caucus works to promotecycling, and theSenate Taiwan Caucus promotes strong relationships with Taiwan.
TheHouse Committee on House Administration (HCHA) prescribes certain rules for Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs). Each Congress,[nb 1] CMOs must electronically register with the Committee on House Administration, providing the name of the caucus, astatement of purpose, the CMO officers and the employee designated to work on issues related to the CMO.[14]
Members of both the House and Senate may participate in CMO, but at least one of the Officers of the CMO must be a Member of the House. The participation of Senators in a CMO does not impact the scope of authorized CMO activities in any regard.