Congressional Constitution Caucus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Congressional Constitution Caucus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | None |
| Founders | Scott Garrett Virginia Foxx Rob Bishop |
| Founded | January 3, 2005[1] |
| Political position | Right-wing |
| Seats in the Senate | 0 / 100
|
| Seats in the House | 26 / 435
|
| Website | |
| Official Caucus Website | |
The Congressional Constitution Caucus is a congressional caucus made up of 41 members of the United States Congress. The caucus was founded in 2005;[2] it had 37 members the first year it was founded.
The group was founded and formerly led by Republican U.S. Representative Scott Garrett of New Jersey,[3][4] who sought to push the Republican Party leadership to move increasingly to the right.[3]
House of Representatives
History
The Caucus was informally created by Representatives J. D. Hayworth, John Shadegg, Sam Brownback, Bob Barr, and Richard Pombo in the 104th Congress. According to the group, its purpose was to encourage constitutional debate in Congress and the nation and, in time, to restore constitutional government.[5]
The Caucus was officially registered as a Congressional Member Organization in 2005 by Congressmen Scott Garrett, Virginia Foxx, and Rob Bishop. In a 2006 interview, the three described themselves as leading "...a team dedicated to downsizing the amount of power usurped from the states by the federal government."[6]
In 2011, the group's membership grew rapidly following the entrance of new Tea Party-aligned members elected in the 2010 elections.[3] In 2011, the Caucus and the Tea Party Caucus jointly sponsored a closed-door speech to the caucuses by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the topic of "separation of powers."[7]
At its peak in the 113th Congress, the Congressional Constitution Caucus had 76 members. However, the caucus possessed over 100 members when it existed informally in the 104th Congress.[5]
Ideology and political issues
The members of the Caucus are strongly opposed to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and are outspoken opponents of the individual health mandate.[8] The group has supported constitutional challenges to the ACA. In 2014, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected one such challenge in the case Sissel v. United States Department of Health & Human Services (ruling that the ACA did not violate the Origination Clause of the Constitution),[9] the Caucus issued a statement saying "The judges got it wrong."[10]
According to the founders of the Caucus, the main focus of the Caucus is to "ensure the federal government is operating under the intent of the 10th Amendment of our Bill of Rights." The Caucus has worked towards this goal through sponsoring legislation like H.R. 3449, H.R. 1227, and H.R. 1229.[6]
