The Congressional Black Caucus boasts a record 62 members for the next session of Congress, contributing to the largest number of black federal lawmakers in history, according to the organization.
In total, 67 blacks will serve in Congress. Five Republican members are not listed as members of the CBC.
While members of the caucus plan to support a policy agenda for blacks and marginalized people under the Kamala Harris administration, instead, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the CBC’s role will be to support President-elect Donald Trump and his congressional supporters. is responsible.
“We’ve always been the conscience of Congress, and that’s regardless of who’s in charge,” Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told NBC News. “We always try to work with people whenever possible. But we also call them. And now we have more of these leaders to call truth to power and make sure the voices of the voiceless are heard.”
Founded in 1971, the Congressional Black Caucus is not affiliated with a political party, although all of its members are Democrats. Its mission has been to represent Black and marginalized groups through voting rights, access to health care, greater educational opportunities, jobs, criminal justice reform, and foreign relations with predominantly Black nations around the world. According to his websiteCBC members currently represent 120 million people in the United States and 41% of black Americans.
Meeks said the CBC’s mission will be clear for the 119th session of Congress: To challenge the Trump administration’s policies that particularly affect black people, including health care access and prescription drug costs, among other issues. And he said “out loud”.
“Instead of just having a quartet, now you have a whole choir,” Meeks said. “And we will be loud and clear and persistent and consistent because this administration is a threat.”
Dr. Meeks has been selected to oversee Trump’s Cabinet picks and policies, particularly Medicaid and Medicare. Mehmet criticized himself and Linda McMahon, who was chosen by Trump as the minister of education. Meeks said he expects the group to maintain vocal dissent when necessary, but actively focus on policies that will affect average people.
Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Meeks pointed to calls to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which the CBC will vehemently oppose. “We’re going to show exactly who’s working on this effort because it’s going to have a direct impact on our community,” he said.
Both the House and Senate would be controlled by Republicans, limiting the potential influence of the CBC and congressional Democrats more broadly. Niccara Campbell Wallace, executive director of the Rolling Sea Action Fund, said that makes the CBC’s increase from 60 members in the 118th Congress all the more remarkable.
“Even though Republicans have the next session of the House and Senate,” he said, “you get a good sense of what these historically Black members of Congress can do in terms of influencing what comes down the pipe.”
Rolling Sea Action Fund is a hybrid PAC that raises money for black congressional candidates as well as advertising and other campaign spending.
Wallace said his work and the CBC’s were vital because “Black Americans believed in the ideals of what America could be and would be, even though we weren’t always at the table or at the forefront of the minds of the Founding Fathers.”
In addition to opposing the legislation and the Trump administration, Meeks said he is already looking ahead to the 2026 midterm elections.
“Two years go by too fast,” he said. “That’s why we’re going to be campaigning and moving forward for the whole of two years.”
“We’re going to make it clear that in just two years, we can reverse and stop some of the things, some of the tragedies of the administration-elect,” he said, “and their policies will plague” our communities, as well as poor white communities. This will affect the whole country.”