Everything about Congressional Hispanic Caucus totally explained
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) comprises 21
Democratic Members of the
United States Congress of
Hispanic descent. The
Caucus is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the
United States and
Puerto Rico. The CHC was founded in December 1976 as a legislative service organization of the
United States House of Representatives. Today, the CHC is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus aims to address national and international issues and the impact these policies have on the Hispanic community. The function of the Caucus is to serve as a forum for the Hispanic Members of Congress to coalesce around a collective legislative agenda. In addition to covering legislative action, the CHC also monitors
Executive and
Judicial issues.
CHC legislative priorities cover all areas that have a direct impact on the Hispanic community. In order to best address these diverse issues, members work in a smaller
task force that draws on their expertise and develops priority
legislation within each area. The CHC is currently composed entirely of Democrats, although it had been a bipartisan organization since its founding. The Hispanic Republican members decided to break off in 1999, led by the Cuban-American delegation from Florida. Senator
Mel Martinez, and Reps.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart,
Mario Diaz-Balart,
Devin Nunes,
Luis Fortuño,
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and
Trent Franks are members of the
Congressional Hispanic Conference. Senator
Bob Menendez, a Cuban-American Democrat from
New Jersey, is a member of Congressional Hispanic Caucus, while Senator
Ken Salazar (D-CO) isn't a member of either of these organizations.
History
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) was organized in 1976 by five Hispanic Congressmen:
Herman Badillo (NY),
Baltasar Corrada del Río (PR),
Kika de la Garza (TX),
Henry B. Gonzalez (TX) and
Edward Roybal (CA), to serve as a legislative organization through which legislative action, as well as executive and judicial actions, could be monitored to ensure the needs of Hispanics were being met. The goal was to work in conjunction with other groups, both inside and outside Congress, to strengthen Federal commitment to Hispanics and heighten the community's awareness of the operation and function of the American political system.
In
October 1981, the
House Committee on House Administration drafted new regulations stipulating that fundraising activities were to be moved off all government premises. Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus decided to maintain a legislative support organization on
Capitol Hill, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and moved the non-profit, fund raising organization, today known as the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Inc. to a new residence.
Past Chairs
1978-1980
Honorable
Edward R. Roybal
1981-1984
Honorable
Robert García
1984-1985
Honorable
Bill Richardson
1985-1986
Honorable
Matthew Martinez
1986-1987
Honorable
Esteban Torres
1987-1988
Honorable
Albert G. Bustamante
1988-1989
Honorable
Jaime B. Fuster
1989-1990
Honorable
E. "Kika" de la Garza
1991-1992
Honorable
Solomon Ortiz (
TX-27) (D)
1993–1994
Honorable
José Serrano (
NY-16) (D)
1995-1996
Honorable
Ed Pastor (
AZ-04) (D)
1997-1998
Honorable
Xavier Becerra (
CA-31) (D)
1999-2000
Honorable
Lucille Roybal-Allard (
CA-34) (D)
2001-2002
Honorable
Silvestre Reyes (
TX-16) (D)
2003-2004
Honorable
Ciro Rodriguez (
TX-23) (D)
2005-2006
Honorable
Grace Napolitano (
CA-38) (D)
2007-2008
Honorable
Joe Baca (
CA-43) (D)
Controversies
On January 31, 2007, a story on the
Politico.com website reported that Rep.
Joe Baca had called Rep.
Loretta Sanchez a "whore" in a conversation with
Speaker of the California Assembly Fabian Núñez, prompting Sanchez to resign from the CHC. Rep. Baca has denied this charge, but two other CHC members,
Linda Sánchez (Loretta's sister) and
Hilda Solis, expressed support for Loretta Sanchez. In the case of Solis, Baca called her "'a kiss-up' to Speaker
Nancy Pelosi", for which he's apologized to Solis both privately and publicly.
A year prior to the "whore" incident, The CHC's
Political action committee gave $3,000 to Joe Baca's children's campaigns for state offices in California. Although Baca recused himself from the decision to make the contributions, six members of the caucus criticized the decision, saying that CHC's PAC should support only federal candidates. Consequently, on
November 15,
2006, when Joe Baca was elected chair of the CHC, Solis and the Sanchez sisters challenged his election, saying that the voting should have been done by a secret ballot.
On Monday,
April 2,
2007, Congresswoman
Linda Sánchez closed her offices in honor of
César Estrada Chávez Day, a State holiday in California (which fell on a Saturday that year). CHC chair Baca made the following comment on Sánchez's decision to close the office "I believe the best way to observe César Estrada Chávez Day isn't by taking the day off from work or school".. On
April 12, Linda Sánchez announced that she's "suspended her membership in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, citing a need for 'structural reforms to ensure that the caucus is more equitable and inclusive of all its members'". She specifically stated that her decision "was not based on personal animus directed at Baca."
Membership
Officers
Other Membership
Current
Xavier Becerra (CA-31) (D)
Dennis Cardoza (CA-18) (D)
Jim Costa (CA-20) (D)
Henry Cuellar (TX-28) (D)
Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-04) (D)
Rubén Hinojosa (TX-15) (D)
Senator Bob Menendez (NJ-D)
Solomon Ortiz (TX-27) (D)
Ed Pastor (AZ-04) (D)
Silvestre Reyes (TX-16) (D)
Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23) (D)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) (D)
John Salazar (CO-03) (D)
José Serrano (NY-16) (D)
Albio Sires (NJ-13) (D)
Hilda Solis (CA-32) (D)
Nydia Velázquez (NY-12) (D)
Past
Loretta Sanchez (CA-47) (D) (Resigned her membership on January 31, 2007)
Linda T. Sánchez (CA-39) (D) (Suspended her membership on April 12, 2007)Further Information
Get more info on 'Congressional Hispanic Caucus'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://congressional_hispanic_caucus.totallyexplained.com">Congressional Hispanic Caucus Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
