12-6-2018
Separation of US House and US Senate
Can we take a look at the way the Congress of the United States operates? The Constitution specifically set up the US House of Representatives and the US Senate as two separate and distinctive bodies of Congress with distinct purposes in keeping with the checks and balances of our government. The US House of Representatives, as the name implies represents the people, while the US Senate represents the states. This is to prevent what corruption or collusion between members of Congress.
Congress has authorized the formation of Caucuses that abide by specific rules and have a purpose of uniting members of Congress toward a common goal. Some of these Caucuses are funded entirely by tax payer dollars, others are not. Over the years there are in excess of 240 individual Caucuses set up along special interests, sexual, religious, nationalities and other interests.
There are some Caucuses which cross over the line between the US House and the US Senate and there are members of Congress who may belong to more than one Caucus, presenting the appearance of, if not in fact creating, conflicts of interests.
So tell me how can Congress function properly or effectively when members are encouraged or discouraged from belonging to these Caucuses? How can members of Congress be unbiased concerning creating legislation apart from the interests of certain Caucuses? Not to mention the influence of special interest groups who petition for their cause before members of Congress?
There are some really interesting Caucuses so take a look at what a not totally reliable source Wikipedia has to say about Congressional Caucuses:
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 through the United States House of Representatives and governed under the rules of that chamber. Caucuses are informal in the Senate, and unlike their House counterparts, Senate groups receive neither official recognition nor funding from the chamber. In addition to the term caucus, they are sometimes called coalitions, study groups, task forces, or working groups.[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucuses_of_the_United_States_Congress
As of 6-24-2018 this is a list of congressional caucuses of the United States Congress, as listed by the U.S. House Committee on House Administration.[2] For caucus membership, see the articles at Caucuses of the United States Congress by term.
- Agriculture and Rural America Taskforce
- Ahmadiyya Muslim Caucus
- American Sikh Congressional Caucus
- Assyrian Caucus
- Auto Care Caucus
- Albanian Issues Caucus
- Bipartisan Congressional Task Force to Combat Identity Theft
- Bi-Partisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus
- Bipartisan Heroin Task Force
- Bipartisan Congressional Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus
- Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism
- Blue Collar Caucus
- Blue Dog Coalition
- California Democratic Congressional Delegation
- California Public Higher Education Caucus
- Carbonated and Non-alcoholic Caucus
- Cement Caucus
- Climate Solutions Caucus
- Congressional 21st Century Skills Caucus
- Congressional Access to Civil Legal Service Caucus
- Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus
- Congressional Adult Literacy Caucus
- Congressional Air Force Caucus
- Congressional Albanian Caucus
- Congressional Aluminum Caucus
- Congressional American Religious Freedom Caucus
- Congressional Animal Protection Caucus
- Congressional Army Caucus
- Congressional Arts Caucus
- Congressional Article I Caucus
- Congressional Assisting Caregivers Today Caucus
- Congressional Asthma and Allergy Caucus
- Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus
- Congressional Bike Caucus (CBC)
- Congressional Biofuels Caucus
- Congressional Biomedical Research Caucus
- Congressional Black Caucus (Must be Black to Join)
- Congressional Blue Collar Caucus
- Congressional Border Security Caucus
- Congressional Bourbon Caucus
- Congressional Brain Injury Task Force
- Congressional Building Trades Caucus
- Congressional Buy American Caucus
- Congressional Cambodia Caucus
- Congressional Cannabis Caucus
- Congressional Career and Technical Education Caucus
- Congressional Caucus for Effective Foreign Assistance
- Congressional Caucus for Middle Market Growth
- Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues (originally the Congresswomen’s Caucus until 1981)
- Congressional Caucus on Bosnia
- Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls
- Congressional Caucus on California High-Speed Rail
- Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka
- Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues
- Congressional Caucus on Long-Range Strike
- Congressional Caucus on Maternity Care
- Congressional Caucus on Poland
- Congressional Caucus on Public-Private Partnerships
- Congressional Caucus on Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan Americans
- Congressional Caucus on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- Congressional Caucus on the Deadliest Cancers
- Congressional Caucus on the Netherlands
- Congressional Caucus on U.S.-Turkey Relations and Turkish Americans
- Congressional Caucus on Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality Technologies
- Congressional Central America Caucus
- Congressional Chemistry Caucus
- Congressional Chicken Caucus
- Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus
- Congressional Children’s Health Care Caucus
- Congressional Citizen Legislature Caucus
- Congressional Coal Caucus
- Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI)
- Congressional Coast Guard Caucus
- Congressional Community College Caucus
- Congressional Cooperative Business Caucus
- Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus
- Congressional Czech Caucus
- Congressional Dairy Farmer Caucus
- Congressional Dietary Supplement Caucus
- Congressional Direct Selling Caucus
- Congressional Directed Energy Caucus
- Congressional Dyslexia Caucus
- Congressional Emergency Medical Services Caucus
- Congressional Estuary Caucus
- Congressional Everglades Caucus
- Congressional Financial Security and Life Insurance Caucus
- Congressional Fintech and Payments Caucus
- Congressional Fire Services Caucus
- Congressional Former Mayors Caucus
- Congressional Fragile X Caucus
- Congressional Franchise Caucus
- Congressional Freethought Caucus
- Congressional Friends of Denmark Caucus
- Congressional Friends of Egypt Caucus
- Congressional Friends of Liechtenstein Caucus
- Congressional Friends of New Zealand Caucus
- Congressional Friends of Norway Caucus
- Congressional Georgia Caucus
- Congressional German-American Caucus
- Congressional Global Road Safety Caucus
- Congressional Green Schools Caucus
- Congressional Grid Innovation Caucus
- Congressional Hearing Health Caucus
- Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition
- Congressional Hellenic Israel Alliance
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus (a Democratic group)
- Congressional Hispanic Conference (a Republican group)
- Congressional Homelessness Caucus
- Congressional House Cancer Caucus
- Congressional House Manufacturing Caucus
- Congressional Humanities Caucus
- Congressional Hungarian Caucus
- Congressional Independent Colleges Caucus
- Congressional Interstate 11 Caucus
- Congressional Invasive Species Caucus
- Congressional Inventions Caucus
- Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus
- Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus
- Congressional Lung Cancer Caucus
- Congressional Lupus Caucus
- Congressional Media Fairness Caucus
- Congressional Men’s Health Caucus
- Congressional Mentoring Caucus
- Congressional Military Family Caucus
- Congressional Military Mental Health Caucus
- Congressional Military Sexual Assault Prevention Caucus
- Congressional Mississippi River Caucus
- Congressional Motorcycle Caucus
- Congressional National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus
- Congressional National Parks Caucus
- Congressional Natural Gas Caucus
- Congressional Neuroscience Caucus
- Congressional New Americans Caucus
- Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
- Congressional Ohio River Basin Caucus
- Congressional Opportunity Action Group
- Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus
- Congressional Pension Protection for Working Americans Caucus
- Congressional Pilots Caucus
- Congressional Pollinator Protection Caucus
- Congressional Portuguese Caucus
- Congressional Pre-K Caucus
- Congressional Primary Care Caucus
- Congressional Progressive Caucus
- Congressional Public Health Caucus
- Congressional Public Transportation Caucus
- Congressional Puget Sound Recovery Caucus
- Congressional Ready Mixed Concrete Caucus
- Congressional Recycling Caucus
- Congressional Research and Development Caucus
- Congressional Rugby Caucus
- Congressional Scouting Caucus
- Congressional Second Amendment Caucus
- Congressional Semiconductor Caucus
- Congressional Serbian Caucus
- Congressional Shellfish Caucus
- Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus
- Congressional Singapore Caucus
- Congressional Ski and Snowboard Caucus
- Congressional Skin Cancer Caucus
- Congressional Slovak Caucus
- Congressional Small Business Caucus
- Congressional Smart Transportation Caucus
- Congressional Social Work Caucus
- Congressional Special Operations Forces Caucus
- Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus
- Congressional Submarine Caucus
- Congressional Taiwan Caucus
- Congressional Term Limits Caucus
- Congressional Transparency Caucus
- Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus
- Congressional U.S.-Mexico Friendship Caucus
- Congressional Urban Caucus
- Congressional US-China Working Group
- Congressional Values Action Team
- Congressional Veterans Jobs Caucus
- Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus
- Congressional Warrior’s Caucus
- Congressional Western Caucus
- Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus (CWRC)
- Congressional Working Forests Caucus
- Congressional Zoo and Aquarium Caucus
- Connecting the Americas Caucus
- Conservative Opportunity Society (COS)
- Creative Rights Caucus
- Dutch Congressional Caucus
- Electromagnetic Pulse Caucus
- Florida Ports Caucus
- Friends of Finland Caucus
- Friends of Kazakhstan Caucus
- Friends of Wales Caucus
- Global Investment in America Caucus
- Historic Preservation Caucus
- House Aerospace Caucus
- House Automotive Caucus
- House Baltic Caucus
- House Decentralized Wastewater Recycling Caucus
- House Farmer’s Cooperative Caucus
- House Freedom Caucus
- House General Aviation Caucus
- House Liberty Caucus
- House Paper and Packaging Caucus
- House Republican Israel Caucus
- House Rural Education Caucus
- House Sugar Caucus
- House Textile Caucus
- House Wire and Wire Products Caucus
- Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus
- Immigrant Servicemembers and Veterans Caucus
- International Religious Freedom Caucus
- Israel Allies Caucus
- Kurdish-American Congressional Caucus
- Law Enforcement Caucus
- Medical Technology Caucus
- Men’s Health Caucus
- Mental Health Caucus
- Missile Defense Caucus
- Municipal Finance Caucus
- National Service Caucus
- Northern Border Caucus
- New Democrat Coalition
- Public Works and Infrastructure Caucus
- Pro-life Caucus
- Planetary Science Caucus
- Real Estate Caucus
- Republican Main Street Partnership
- Republican Study Committee
- Romanian Caucus
- RV Caucus
- Serbian Caucus
- Skilled American Workforce Caucus
- Small Brewers Caucus
- Spina Bifida Caucus
- Task Force on Anti-Terrorism & Proliferation Financing
- Tea Party Caucus
- Tuberculosis Elimination Caucus
- Tuesday Group (a Republican group)
- Tunisia Caucus
- S.-Japan Caucus
- Veterinary Medicine Caucus
- Work for Warriors Caucus
As I stated earlier some Caucuses are funded in the House and while others in the Senate are not funded. I fail to see the purpose of Caucuses as they have the appearance of special interests written all over them and are surely comprising the Washington Swamp.
Think of a giant “shell game” where there are 241 shells and depending upon the ongoing legislation one must find which shell the 1 pea is under. – I am the Real Truckmaster!
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