Issue 20-71 "The Black Caucus"

NDE are the national educational radio network presents

special of the week. The following program was produced by the Washington

reporting program of the University of Missouri's Graduate School of Journalism

and is narrated by David Marr delays across

Independence Avenue from the Capitol are the three House office buildings.

It is Tuesday and today as they do every Tuesday a group of 11

congressmen and one congresswoman is meeting in one of these buildings to discuss common

problems such meetings are not unusual. Great power is wielded behind the

cold stone faces of the three House office buildings. Legislation is shaped

deals are made understandings reached votes traded sometimes long

before any legislative action is taken across the street in the Capitol while the

system works as it should. Each congressman tries to get the maximum amount of leverage

he can and will the maximum amount of power he can to best serve the interest of

the people who elected him. If you can find other congressmen with the same interests they

may become a bloc and will correspondingly more power. So today's

meeting is not unusual except that all of the 12 congressmen meeting

today are black. They meet somewhere on Capitol

Hill every week under the name the Black Caucus. They represent they say the

24 million Americans in this country who are black and the caucus

is say its members and attempt to make the nation's Congress work harder

for the nation's black citizens. Unlike many other call the actions within the

Congress the Black Caucus has become fairly widely known. The group has taken

stands on some issues and has made a good deal of news. Black Caucus members

boycotted President Nixon's state of the Union address then demanded time to answer it on

network television that the man was initially rejected. But they are still pressing

it. Our year ago the group asked for a meeting with President Nixon.

Originally they were turned down. Told in effect says one member Don't call us

we'll call you. After more than 12 months of pressure and some

negotiations that meeting between Mr. Nixon and the 12 black congressman was

scheduled for March. We have heard most about the run ins between the Black Caucus and

chief executive but the caucus has also been moving in the legislative branch of government.

The improvements of their status within the House of Representatives especially in the area of

committee assignments may ultimately prove much more important than either the boycott of the

state of the Union address or the ready access to the president. The black

caucus idea that is black members meeting together to discuss mutual interests and

problems is not new. Caucus member Augustus Hawkins of California has been in

Congress since 1962 after a great deal of service in the California

legislature. The idea of the meetings he explains began a four or five years

ago.

I think that it grew out of the

consultation of several of those who

would simply discuss some of these problems.

Well you know meetings usually

on the floor of Congress itself. I think the idea of

actually started about five or six years ago when only three of

four of us did that. And as a membership increased

it became more formalized because obviously there was a necessity

then to to meet in a larger place and to.

To be a little more particular about the issues we discussed

the manner in which we did it in the 94 US Congress there were nine black members on the

caucus had its first session formal organization came in the 90 second

Congress with the election of a chairman and the assignment of members to committees of the

caucus. It would be a mistake to look at the Black Caucus as simply a

block of votes. One because its members frequently do not vote as a block

and two because the caucus sees itself as being much more than that.

Nor is it designed simply to be a publicity seeking irritant being irritable its

members admit can work sometimes but real power in Congress is often

wielded behind the scenes outside the range of the microphone and camera.

The members of the Black Caucus are looking for some of that kind of power too.

Talk to a black member of Congress and they'll tell you he represents much more than simply his

own district. This additional burden often is not by choice and

important part of the congressman's job is to act as an on blood xmen between the various

federal agencies and his own constituents. If a man does not receive his

Social Security check once to get into or out of the army feels his mail

service is poor or has any other complaint about the federal government. He can often get

action by writing his congressman. The black congressman also finds that he not only

receives mail from his own district but also mail from blacks and other parts of the nation

who are represented by whites. Again Augustus Hawkins of California.

We do get a tremendous amount of mail from areas outside

of our own areas outside of our state as amount of funding.

And these inquiries letters

charges problems etc represent

the same type of problems perhaps that we have within our own district but from

individuals not directly represented by us. And obviously there is some

interest across these district lines that

cement individuals together and this is one of them.

We found for example in the black veterans and

serviceman that their problems are pretty much national in character

and. Most of the men who write to us concerning some of these

problems don't really identify what district they they come from but nevertheless they

represent problems. Probably it's a it's a base overseas

that has been the source of a great amount of discrimination patterns of discrimination.

And so in tackling a problem like this we're tackling it not for just for our own

district but for every black man and wherever we may

they come from.

So it is not unusual to hear a black congressman like paren Michel of Maryland

say he and his black colleagues represent most of this nation's black

citizens whether they're in their district or not.

23 25 million black Americans some of whom have black

representation others do not. All of them are

theoretically represented in the Congress. But inside in the deep

south states. They really don't have any representation.

So I see my job as a congressman serving in the

Congressional Black Caucus as really representing blacks across the nation who

are in difficulty. And we're not getting adequate representation.

That's in addition to of course the job of representing the constituents in my district

Caucus members what Congressman Duffy although when the caucus takes a stand it is speaking as

the elected representative of this nation's blacks. The 12 congressmen say

they are the highest elected black officials in the nation right now and House

Majority Leader hell biogs agrees with them.

Well I think the effectiveness is in the. Present a point of

view. Representative you take a. If

you're not a mostly.

Black community of the United States and it represents roughly 20 to 23 million people

on the other side of the aisle Representative John Anderson of Illinois chairman of the House

Republican Conference says he also feels the caucus members are speaking for this

nation's black community.

I realize that that opinion political opinion in the black

community in this country ranges the spectrum from those who support the

militants who speak the language of violence and those who are.

Like the late Whitney Young men who certainly gave every evidence of being

dissatisfied with conditions as far as blacks are concerned and yet willing to

try to work out peaceful solutions. And I think as I look

over the. The black members of the U.S. House of Representatives that there are all of them

responsible men who have been honored by. Through the

elective process to be representatives and to come to Washington to speak for

the black community in the district and in the state that they represent. And by and

large I think they do represent the responsible voices that ought to be listened

to. The black community in our country.

Caucus members feel that when they take a stand they can pressure white congressmen

who have blacks in their district to vote with the caucus. This so-called ripple

effect says Missouri's William Clay could give the caucus as many as

150 votes.

But I think we have to look at the 12 black members of Congress

from a different perspective. Even though we constitute only 12

actual votes are potential here in the house or somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred

and fifty votes because I say that because there are a hundred and seventy

three congressional districts in this country where the percentage of

black vote is anywhere from 10 to 50 percent.

And in many instances that black vote out there is a

balance of power in those congressional districts had Blacks stayed at home

or had they voted for a different person then

these hundred fifty congressmen wouldn't be sitting here today. So

I view our numbers here in as many many more than 12.

You know our job now is to analyze those districts

pinpoint the congressman who should be voting for our best interests

and to make sure that we get a vote.

Democrat Morris Udall of Howrah Zona a liberal member of the house and a candidate for the

majority leader's post during the last Democratic Caucus agrees with Clay's

analysis of the potential power of the Black Caucus. UDALL used himself

as an example.

Well there's an implication here I think these 12 have considerable leverage in that there's an

implication here for those of us who have substantial black constituencies if I'm a

white man representing half a million people and 10 percent of them are black

I'm going to think twice before I will go against

a key movement a key bill a key amendment that's been debated and sponsored

by the Black Caucus my black constituents are going to wonder what

explanation I have if the Black Caucus here in Washington is determined that a certain vote is

necessary and I have refused to go along with them so from the

standpoint of there's a shock wave effect that goes out and they can put a little bit of pressure on

a lot of the congressmen the white congressmen.

There is another important aspect of power in the house. The assignment of committees

the committee assignments each member draws often have a direct correlation to how much power

he can wield within the walls of Congress. If a man has a seat on an important committee

say public works or Ways and Means or the Rules Committee he can often do favors

for other members. His vote is worth more and he can ask more in return

for it. A well placed committee chairman or a man with a swing vote on a

committee can often decide the fate of a piece of legislation long before it ever gets

to the floor where the entire membership of the House could vote on it. Thus the

Black Caucus has tried to improve the position of its members on House committees. There

has been a definite improvement in committee assignments for the black members between the ninety

first and ninety second Congresses. The black caucus takes some of the credit but there

were other factors to consider.

Representative Perrin Mitchell of Maryland there's no question but that the committee

assignments reflected clog if you want to call it that of the home.

When the when the 90 second Congress convened and even before that

the caucus had been meeting and I had met with them developing a strategy and the strategies

that there are so few of us in the house only a handful only a dozen

that strategically would be far more important to have us represented on as many committees as

possible rather than having us concentrated on one to appoint

committees.

And that was a strategic decision to play golf and I think it's

clear that the Congress had the clout to deliver on that strategy in the first

session of the 94 US Congress the eight black members served on eight different committees

four were on Education and Labor already a traditionally liberal Committee.

Others served on Judiciary House administration District of Columbia

foreign affairs Veterans Affairs the post office and Civil Service Committee

and the Internal Security Committee. No black representative served on what I

consider to be the three most powerful House committees rules ways and

means our appropriations. And the 90 second Congress the black

representatives picked up seats on six new committees including Public Works

banking and currency and most important a seat on the Appropriations Committee.

Representative Clay points out these committees work in areas important to black

Americans.

The legislation is flows through these committees have a very

important impact on the people that we represent.

On banking and currency. For instance all of the major housing

legislation goes through their holy of federal subsidized housing

programs both middle income and low income housing. Public

housing goes through there also. So you know we have some

kind of an impact on the kinds of decisions that will

come from that committee now on appropriations all of your money bills go through there.

And we now have somebody on that committee representing our interests.

The question then is did the black members of Congress receive these better assignments because they

organized a definite positive answer isn't possible as representative

Morris Udall points out the organization did help. But the leadership in the

house was in the process of changing with the retirement of Speaker John McCormick. And

that's who may have had something to do with a better committee assignments there.

Of awareness I think an increasing awareness of the needs

and demands of the black people growing out of the city crisis. There are also a large

number of blacks they added three or four new wins in this Congress and this

was the first time in which they had begun to make these kinds of demands a group of five or six isn't

really much you know if you can ignore a group of that kind with impunity when you get to be 12 and

when you when that 12 professes to speak to 25 million Americans you can't very well

ignore it. Also we had a leadership change this year in which a

new leader Carl Albert a new speaker was attempting to to show his concern and

take charge and he was apprehensive you at least wanted to make sure that his election was carried

off.

There are a number of candidates for House Majority Leader Democratic majority leader and these candidates were anxious to

show the 12 block vote that they had concern and so I suppose promises and

assurances were made in that kind of an atmosphere that might not have been made if you've had a stable

leadership situation.

It should also be noted that many white congressmen also receive the chance to better their

committee assignments. The new leadership expanded 11 of the 21 standing

committees in the house to permit more members to serve on these committees seats were

added to agriculture appropriations of banking and currency. Veterans Affairs

and Public Works. So majority leader hell box feels that most of his fellow

Democrats black and white are satisfied with the committee assignments they

received the committee assignments this year to keep all its new

members incoming members who.

In my judgment would be exceptionally good. I

know of few if any members of the House who today I mean Democratic

members were not pleased with the committee's whether white black or whether they come from a city 0

from the country whether young or old in between.

The black members say they feel the new House leadership was more sympathetic to their desires

than the old leadership. The fact that the Caucus members were organized helped

but pressure was also put on the leadership from other sources especially from the new

members of Congress who are actually not to have to wait for a good committee assignments.

The caucus it would seem deserve some but not all the credit. There

was another interesting point brought out by the recent leadership changes in the house.

While the Black Caucus did approach those running for leadership positions Caucus

members did not vote as a bloc during the Democratic caucus. The 12 black

congressman split their votes among several candidates for reasons having nothing to do with

the Black Caucus.

Representative Maurice you to all of our Zona who ran for the majority leader's position and

lost explains I noticed kind of ironically I was a candidate

for majority leader and we had a very intense campaign for four five months leading up to the

caucus in January and the Black Caucus had

meetings with each of the candidates and announced that they were going to use the

clout of the increasingly large black membership to force events here to make

sure that the man who got their voter block a vote who's the man who's going to do the

most for the blacks. Well the star sounded very good but I told someone

there is no more unity in voting on this matter than in the black caucus than there

was in the white caucus on the first ballot with five candidates. I think

at least for the candidates had the black votes and they were scattered all over the

place it into a kind of interesting study in other things

overrode the Black Caucus concept of having a unit ruler unit vote

black from one of the blacks in California felt obliged to vote cast for a candidate who was in

California another black in that state felt other considerations were more important.

One of the blacks had a personal friendship with another candidate because they sit next to each other on a

committee and this was not a candidate who had been known to do a lot for Black to take a

particular interest in the problem. Geography compelled two others to go for still another

candidate same state idea. And so it went there was really no unity on a very

crucial issue of this kind in the Black Caucus even though if they had announced that they were going to

be very careful about how they gave their votes and maybe even vote as a bloc.

When many of the caucus members were asked if they ever disagreed with their fellow black

congressman the answer was usually that it would be impossible to find any 12

congressmen on Capitol Hill who all agreed on all the same issues. The

fact is that the 12 black members of Congress are all leaders from their own districts have

very different personalities and of other things to consider besides race when

they vote on any particular issue. A good example of this is the ss

t the supersonic transport representative Augustus Hawkins is in favor of the

project because it means jobs for the people in his district. Missouri's William

Clay felt the pressure of labor unions in his district for whom the ss t

also meant jobs. But Clay also felt the ss t was an example of

misplaced priorities and so he voted against it. Black

Caucus members than can often find themselves facing conflicting pressures as

can any other member of Congress. Charles Diggs of the tribe comes from a town where

labor unions are strong aerospace plays a big part in the districts of Augustus

Hawkins and William Clay two members of the caucus are from Illinois. And that

means the Dally political machine Congressman Clay meets frequently with other

Missouri congressman to discuss issues important to that state and other members do the

same thing. Representative Yudof of our Zona feels that eventually

these conflicting interests might create friction within the caucus and might

split the group.

I think one thing however you're going to have to you'll see develop in this Black Caucus

and it's inevitable in human affairs I suppose you begin to see splits and feuds

and conflicting ambitions and so far they've

maintained a unity.

But there are some very capable very bright and very ambitious men here and there's always a

temptation to stake out a position for oneself as the spokesman for the black people of

America I'm afraid that down the road some of these conflicts which you're

now all talk about quietly are not out in the open.

May may burst out in the open a little bit more.

The caucus has been careful not to let this happen. For one thing it does not take

unanimous stands on issues its members do not agree upon. Eight of the 12 members

must agree before the group takes a united stand out the chances are that if even

one or two members are in very strong opposition no stand at all will be

taken on that particular issue by the caucus. It is difficult to say who

is the leader of the group and in fact there most probably is no single leader

Charles Diggs is the chairman. But some members note he is the most senior man who

wanted the job. Congressman Hawkins feels the biggest differences among the

caucus members are in the area of style.

I don't think we differ very much on issues I think that basically we differ pretty much on stunnel

but not not really on issues I cant recall any

really specific basic issues on which weve had any

great disagreement obviously on many.

Minor issues we know we differ depending on our districts

obviously on an issue which would involve let's say whether

certain contracts let's say in defense

would would go west or would stay East that those of us

representing Western areas would be for these contracts going west depending on our

districts. So there have been some regional differences.

And there have been obviously some differences on

personality is there which sometimes arise out of a

regional or sectional interests. On the selection of

a person such as leadership in the organization

of the Congress itself that would obviously be some of us who would favor one

individual over another depending on what section of the country we come from.

But these have been relatively minor and actually the differences have been I think

almost negligible.

Hawkins also sees the caucus as a moderating influence on black congressman polling

all toward a middle position.

I think that also that it will it will

serve to some extent to reduce some of the rivalry that will

exist always I think among minority groups because they

are more militant and that is that there are certain great differences

within the caucus among the members that style their approach to

problems. And I think that as we progress and we

find that clear cut answers are not

always easy to come by that all of the members will

drift towards a a center in which the

even the most conservative members will I think

have more of a. Fighting

posture and some of the most

liberal ones I think will begin to understand that

talk is one thing but that getting action is quite another thing and so I think

that these differences will be somehow melted

down to a good constructive approach to the problems of getting

real results while the constituents and for the country.

So the caucus keeps together in part by only taking up issues on which the members agree.

By staying away from issues where the members strongly disagree and because Caucus

members see the advantages of taking a united stand they are often willing to give a little in

one way or the other. Eventually the Black Caucus hopes to get together a

staff and to begin studying issues to see how they affect blacks.

The direct election of the president is a good example. Many blacks as Congressman

Clay were for such reform because it was a liberal issue until it was

discovered that the direct election of the president would weaken black political power.

The caucus is now trying to raise $100000 to pay for a staff to make

studies of how certain bills will affect blacks and to keep track of how well other

congressmen represent their own black constituents. Perhaps the most

optimistic view of the caucus comes from Representative John Conyers although not

impressed with the changes that he has seen so far. CONYERS feels better things are on the

horizon for blacks in Congress and he sees the caucus as part of a new black

awareness.

We recognize that the black caucus is a very new and

exciting notion because it it does something that

blacks have never been able to see before the formation

of black political leaders initiating their

own programs speaking out to the president.

Unifying against nominees to the Supreme

Court fighting in mass for

better kinds of legislation that affect the

poor and especially the black. This is a very new and

exciting concept to black people here regardless of what the

immediate effect has been and been in terms of productivity So

here is an exhilarating for them you're living example of black unity

in a specific which no

substance too much of the rhetoric that goes on in the black community in

terms of uniting and joining together and becoming

brothers and recognizing our heritage and gaining black consciousness.

Perhaps someday there will be no need for a black caucus. No need for members of the

House of Representatives to meet on the basis of race. That time may still be a

long way off but it is getting closer in part because of the work of the

Black Caucus.

DAVID MARGAN lays narrating that production from the Washington reporting program

of the University of Missouri's Graduate School of Journalism and E.R. as a

special of the week returns at this time next week from an E.R. the

national educational radio network.