#BlackPower: Maxine Waters and other Black Caucus members take charge on Capitol Hill
Waters, who leads the House Financial Services Committee, is among several key leaders making tracks with new Democratic majority.
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They always say the tables can turn.
With a new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, the Congressional Black Caucus is seeing its members step into key leadership roles. During the Republican House majority, not a single African-American chaired a committee, according to The Hill.
Now, Congressional Black Caucus members are leading five major committees:
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.): Financial Services Committee
(First woman and Black person to ever run it)
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.): Oversight and Reform Committee
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas): Science, Space and Technology Committee
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.): Education and Labor Committee
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.): Homeland Security Committee
Last year, Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) served as the first senators to serve as honorary co-chairs of the CBC’s 48th Annual Legislative Conference, a designation usually reserved for members of the House of Representatives.
Further, fresh faces like Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.), the former National Teacher of the Year and Rep. Lauren Underwood, (D-Ill.), a former nurse, are expected to bring new energy and perspective to the caucus.
Other history-making reps like Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American woman elected to Congress and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, the first Black woman representative from Massachusetts, have wasted no time setting their political and moral priorities on Capitol Hill.
“Mr. Trump, you took an oath just as I did five days ago, to protect and defend the Constitution and the American people,” Pressley stated. “Sir, you dishonor that oath. You devalue the life of the immigrant, the worker, and the survivor. I see right through you and so do the American people.”
She was reprimanded for the speech.
Other new members of the CBC include Rep. Antonio Delgado, a New York attorney who was blasted by Republicans for being able to actually rap, and Rep. Lucy McBath, activist and mother of slain teenager Jordan Davis.
Check out the full roster of CBC’s representatives here.
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