Congressional Caucuses: What’s the Point?

By Kelly McDonough, Vice President, Political Affairs for BIPAC

Given the difficulty Congress has faced in passing substantive legislation this year, it's a wonder that congressional caucuses don't play a more prominent role in providing opportunities for members to reach across the aisle and also build relationships within their own party. Only 22 bills were signed into law before the 113th Congress left for recess, the fewest number at this time of any Congress in history. Caucuses are the individual issue task forces of the United States Congress and it's within these groups that ideally, many policy challenges are addressed.

Officially, a congressional caucus is a structured, yet informal group of United States Senators and Representatives who meet to pursue common legislative objectives concerning a shared interest. They are certified working groups of the United States Congress. They date back to colonial times, but were often thought of as corrupt, back-room meetings filled with tobacco smoke and whiskey. It wasn't until the mid-20th century that the caucuses we view today began to take shape, and in the last 20 years the number of active caucuses has sky rocketed.

There are more than 200 caucuses existing in Congress at any given time. The exact number registered with the Committee on House Administration for the 113th Congress is 238. But just because a caucus hasn't registered, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It could simply be dormant due to a chair or co-chair having lost reelection or retiring from Congress completely.

Although caucuses exist in both the House and the Senate, the majority of caucuses exist in the House. The primary reason being that Senate offices have much larger staffing operations they can dedicate to issues and legislation. Members of the House, however, have fewer resources, and as a result rely on the help of caucuses to share information, compile research and produce reports on particular issues.

There are several types of caucuses. A few examples are:

• Party/Ideological: Blue Dog Coalition, Liberty Caucus, Senate Democratic Caucus, House Republican Caucus
• Demographic: Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues
• Industry Groups: Congressional Automotive Caucus, Congressional Caucus on Wild Salmon
• International: Congressional Caucus on Vietnam, US-Mexico Friendship Caucus

What strikes me as interesting is that despite having more than 200 working groups for members of Congress to join, in addition to the committee and subcommittee groups already in place, the legislative process is still stagnant. Of course the gridlock can be blamed on leadership, intentional party strategy and other political motives. But if you can't come together over rock-n-roll, bourbon, bikes or peanuts - all of which have registered caucuses - what can you come together on?

For questions or comments about this article, you can email Kelly McDonough at McDonough@bipac.org.