I recently counted and the 435 members of Congress are involved in 220 caucuses. I did, I counted them. Let's see, let's do the math. Four hundred thirty five members divided by 220, carry the 1 (I know, mixed math) means that each member is a member of 1.97 caucuses. Presumably, we can round up and make it an even 2. Caucuses have way more than 2 members each so members of Congress are probably involved in way more than 2 apiece.
There is, I kid you not, a Cement Caucus. (It's true...look it up.) A Bike Caucus (presumably bicycles, though one can never tell. Perhaps they are bipartisan enough to include motorcycles). Does this include only members of Congress who bike to work? Doubtful. They mostly get to work being driven individually in limos. If we have another gas crisis like in the '70's, could they at least carpool? Again, doubtful.
- Editor's Note: The above is a rare example of what happens
when the joint committee on Printing gets its teeth into a
project... trains start to run upside down.
What with caucuses and committee meetings, one wonders how they ever get ANYTHING done. It is a miracle, really. I didn't have the courage to look up the caucuses in the Senate at this time. I'm guessing here, but I doubt there is a Black Caucus in the Senate, since there's only one black senator and who's he going to caucus with, really?
It is easy to imagine that some caucuses overlap in their mission statements. The Cement Caucus might be a subset of the Construction Caucus. There is no caucus for skateboards, which might be included in the Bike Caucus. Or perhaps there could be a Recreational Vehicles Caucus or even a Things That Go on Two/Four Wheels Caucus. Of course then we'd need a caucus for unicycles and tricycles.
Then there are committees. (Not to mention "Joint" Committees where members of both bodies meet together, held for the really important stuff like Printing and the Library.) Several committees have similar names...Homeland Security in the House vs. Homeland Security and Government Affairs in the Senate, Small Business in the House vs. Small Business and Entrepreneurship in the Senate. I guess those topics aren't important enough to have Joint Committees. One can excuse the Rules and Administration Committee in the Senate and the Rules Committee in the House--commonly known as the Speaker's committee--as those two bodies have vastly different ways of conducting their affairs, more's the pity.
Don't get me started on informal groups, like the Tuesday Morning group in the Senate.
In an era of division, perhaps there should be fewer caucuses and committees. More talking to people you disagree with, and finding common purpose. But I ain't holding my breath.
