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Good afternoon.
Thank you for joining us today.
I am Representative Stephen Horsford of Nevada's 4th Congressional District and I'm honored to have served as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 118th session.
I'd like to take a moment to thank my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus for the immense trust that they have placed in me over the past two years.
It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as chairman of this historic caucus.
Over the past 23 months, the Congressional Black Caucus has made extraordinary strides during truly extraordinary times on behalf of the communities that we are honored to serve each and every day.
We have worked to advance solutions to create safer communities and to hold police officers who violate the public trust accountable.
In light of the conservative Supreme Court's decision to undo decades of precedent in race We're good to go.
While working in an unprecedented way to engage corporate America and to hold Fortune 500 companies accountable to the commitments that they made to racial equity and justice.
We have fought to protect our democracy and access to the ballot from far -right extremism.
And I am proud to say that our caucus put forward an economic prosperity agenda aimed at closing America's racial wealth gap.
And providing greater economic opportunity through increased homeownership, supporting more entrepreneurs to start and grow their business, and to focus on raising the wages of Black Americans as we have done for all Americans.
The Congressional Black Caucus ends the 118th Congress with a historic 60 members.
Thank you.
We will enter the 119th Congress with a record 62 members.
Despite the outcome of the election, our work will continue and the Congressional Black Caucus, which is the conscience of the Congress, will forge ahead.
As we head into the 119th Congress and a new Trump administration with our largest membership in history, our objectives remain clear.
We will stand firmly against any effort
This week, as we commemorated what would have been the 100th birthday of one of our founding members, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm,
I was reminded of the immense contribution that black women have always had on our caucus, and in fact this House.
I'm also proud to say that from one black woman in 1971 to today, more than half of the Congressional Black Caucus is comprised of black women.
I can think of no better person in this time to lead this historic membership than another gentle lady from the state of New York.
Our next leader is a colleague and a friend of immense capabilities that is perfectly positioned to take on the challenges that confront the American people in the years to come.
I could not be prouder to pass the baton to my friend Congresswoman Yvette Clark.
It is with my full confidence that chair -elect Yvette Clark and the entire Executive Board will lead us through this next chapter and towards better days for all of the constituents that we represent.
Congratulations to Chair -elect Yvette Clark and to the new Executive Board of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Thank you very much Mr. Chairman.
Greetings and good afternoon everyone.
It's great to see you all on this very historic and momentous occasion.
I'm Congresswoman Yvette D. Clark and I proudly represent New York's 9th District in the United States Congress.
I'm also honored to share this moment with you and announce that my colleagues have just recently elected me by acclamation to take the reins of the prestigious caucus as its chair in the 119th session of Congress.
I'm grateful to my colleagues and I know we have a long road ahead.
But I'm ready to lead the caucus toward a pathway forward.
First, I'd like to thank Congressman Horsford, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, for your exemplary leadership during the 118th Congress.
It has been my honor and my privilege serving as the first vice chair under your guidance and direction.
The CBC has achieved so much under your leadership as chair.
In keeping with tradition, we set out to improve our community by addressing the issues the caucus prioritized.
Democracy and civic participation, education, environmental justice, the future of work, healthcare, housing, and public safety.
We have accomplished so much despite navigating a volatile We're good to go.
I think?
I look forward to being sworn alongside you in January and working with each of you as we continue to shape our leadership roles in the 119th Congress.
So let's go.
As I stand before you today, I can't tell you how much this is truly a full circle moment for me.
I cannot continue without acknowledging our CBC co -founder, the Honorable Shirley Chisholm.
I've had the honor and privilege of standing before you today as we've recently observed what would have been her 100th birthday.
The iconic Congresswoman Chisholm was my Congresswoman and a predecessor.
She was an audacious force amongst her peers and set the foundation for what this great caucus represents today.
In 1971, 13 titans of American history united to create a transformative force of black political power unlike any that came before it.
And since its founding, the Congressional Black Caucus has maintained its mission to advocate and implement policy for preserving and advancing the black community.
We have come a long way.
Today, I am proud to boast that the Congressional Black Caucus will enter the 119th session of Congress with a historic 62 members, marking the largest number of black federal lawmakers in United States history and the historical win of two black women serving in the United States Senate together.
I want to also highlight that 20 of my fellow CBC members represent areas without majority minority districts, elevating our position in Congress to combat blatant racism and policies intentionally overlooking more diverse and minority communities.
As Speaker Emeritus Pelosi would say, proving that our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power.
The next two years will stand among the most trying in our caucus's history, and we must be the resistance against extremism and continue to be the conscience of the Congress.
The CBC will have to fight back against a second Trump administration hell -bent on rolling back decades of progress in civil rights, healthcare access, economic equity, education, women's rights,
and so much more.
With the implementation of Project 2025.
Project 2025 is a policy to dismantle protections for marginalized and underserved communities while consolidating power amongst white conservatives and above all within Donald Trump.
Thank you.
Must be equipped and prepared to face this challenge head -on, proactively, and with the tools and resources to combat extremist ideologies.
This plan, Project 2025, I have proactively embraced my role and presented each member of the Congressional Black Caucus with An overview of the 900 page right -wing manifesto that would set America back into a dystopian future eroding our civil rights and civil liberties.
In this pivotal moment, know that America cannot survive on passive indignation alone.
Our communities cannot survive on hope and the promise of better days ahead.
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
I think?
We're good to go.
We're good to go.
So everyone...
We're good to go.
I think?
And I can assure you that under my leadership, the conscience of the Congress will be clear.
Our resistance will be dignified and it will be unified.
And together, we will be stronger moving forward.
As a community, we've endured so much, but there's a greater reward for enduring for the night.
But we know that joy comes in the morning.
Again, I am honored to stand before you as your newly elected chair, and I'm looking forward to serving the caucus on our constituents and continue representing the residents of District 9 in Brooklyn in the greatest city in the nation.
I will now turn it over to my dear friend, our newly elected first vice chairman.
Troy Carter from the great state of Louisiana.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am Troy Carter, proudly representing Louisiana's second congressional district.
I am honored to stand before you with these incredible, talented, passionate leaders to enter into the 119th Congress as the first Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Before I start, I want to take a moment to pay homage and respect to an outstanding leader who has led with passion, with love, with strength, with tenacity and determination.
I'm speaking of none other than our outgoing, current and outgoing chair, Stephen Hornsford.
Give him a round of applause.
Stephen has served with distinction, with energy and commitment.
Like most have never seen before.
So having served as his second vice chair, I've taken good notes and look forward to advancing the issues and causes that are important to the American people.
While we hoped in the 119th Congress that we would be doing more offensive plays, our votes came up a little short, but we're not out by any stretch.
We're going to do some blocking and tackling.
We're going to advance issues.
We're going to protect the democracy.
We're going to recognize the importance of maintaining a democracy that says freedom and justice for all.
We're not out at all.
We're going to be at every table.
We're going to come in early.
We're going to stay late.
And we're going to send a message to the American people that we're going to continue to fight for our democracy.
The framers of the United States Constitution some 237 years ago set out to create what was dubbed to be a more perfect union.
We're not there.
That Constitution has been amended some 27 times because it wasn't perfect.
But the goal of making a more perfect union is still here.
Ladies and gentlemen, we may not have the votes, but we've got our voice.
And we will be ever vigilant to make sure that we uphold and stand firm on the principles of fairness, justice, fairness and justice for all.
As the Congressional Black Caucus has always done, we will be at the table.
We will be fighting for your rights.
We'll be fighting to make sure that we have the country we're supposed to have and that, in fact, we have a more perfect union.
Thank you very much.
I'm honored to be here.
Now I will bring up our second vice chair, the outstanding lady from Georgia, Lucia McBath.
Well, thank you so, so very much.
And I'd like to take a point of privilege as well to say thank you so, so very much to our outgoing chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus of the 118th Congress, Stephen Horsford.
We really want to thank you so much for your commitment and your tenacity and your strength and overall just your uplifting our communities.
We are so, so thankful and grateful to you.
And thank you for all the great foundation that you've left.
For us.
My childhood started in Illinois in the heart of the civil rights movement.
I am a civil rights baby.
My father was our town's first and only black dentist while my mother was a hospital nurse.
And my father was Illinois branch president of the NAACP.
And in our household, it was expected from the time that we began to walk that we would be marching as well.
I have been fortunate to be a mother of the movement and supported my fellow survivors as an advocate after my son was killed by a man who didn't like the loud music that the teenagers were playing in their car.
I came to Congress and I have served Georgia for six years now after they said that a black woman couldn't win By telling her story and fighting for gun safety in Ruby Red,
Georgia.
The Congressional Black Caucus has been at the center of the historic progress to protect our communities.
The first comprehensive gun violence prevention package in more than 30 years.
The CBC helped to deliver that.
The communities that we represent are counting on us.
In the 119th Congress and beyond, to speak out on their behalf and deliver what they need most.
Affordable housing so they have safe and healthy homes to raise their families.
Economic opportunities so that success can be a possibility for all, not just a few.
And reforming this country's criminal justice system so that no incarcerated person fears for their safety while in federal prisons.
The CBC and I have been proud to lead a number of bills that do just that and I look forward to continuing that work these next two years.
The CBC knows how important it is to work across the aisle when it makes sense for this caucus and this country.
And we know how to stand up for our communities when they are faced with dangerous threats from those who seek to divide with violence and vitriol.
I am so very grateful to have been elected to serve in the next Congress as the second Vice Chair of the CBC.
Next, I'm so very proud to bring up our next Secretary of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 119th Congress, Marilyn Strickland from Washington.
Thank you very much.
It is my honor to stand before you today as the newly elected Secretary of the Congressional Black Caucus.
As you heard earlier, we are 62 strong.
And here's what that means.
We are the largest affinity caucus in the U .S. House of Representatives.
And although we did not win the House majority, the Republicans have a very narrow majority.
And here's what that means.
We have a lot more power than people think we do.
In order to pass legislation, it has been required for the Republicans to reach across the aisle and get Democrats.
That means we have power.
It means we have leverage and we have opportunities.
So we will fight against Project 2025 and everything happening to take away our rights and take away everything that we have fought for.
And at the same time, I stand here before you today as part of the caucus that represents people from every corner of the United States.
As I often say to folks, the African American community is not a monolith.
And the diversity of this particular caucus, the states we represent, the districts we represent, are proof of that every single day.
It's my honor to serve alongside these incredible leaders.
I want to thank my former chairman, Stephen Horsford, for his incredible leadership.
That is our mantra.
Thank you very much, and it's my honor now to represent...
Hello and good afternoon everyone.
I too want to congratulate our outgoing chair, Congressman Stephen Horsford from Nevada.
He has shown us what leadership and mentorship looks like.
He has been an amazing leader of the Congress and the caucus this last term.
And I also want to congratulate him on Founders Day, since he is an alpha.
This is how you know it's a black press conference.
I am standing here today as the newly elected whip for the Congressional Black Caucus.
And while I do represent La La Land, I am going to keep it real.
We are facing unprecedented challenges with a technical majority in the House with Republicans and the new administration coming in in Donald Trump.
And we are not going to BSU.
We are at a critical moment.
And these next two years are going to be very painful and very messy.
But in the words of my constituent, Tiffany Haddish, we ready.
Every single one of us came here and ran to be part of this leadership board because we believe in legislating with a purpose and we believe in fighting for black communities.
And we know that when you help black people, you help everyone.
So we are going to continue to fight against racism.
We are going to work with our constituencies to help design And defend policies that make sense and defy others
here in Congress to oppose us.
62 members strong means great power, great negotiating power, great leverage.
And it also means that we have the opportunity and the authority to go into communities across this country and talk about the importance of our communities, of our safety, of our prosperity.
Because we are contributing to the health, to the wealth, to the safety, to the prosperity of everyone else across this country.
So we are not going to miss a step.
We are not going to miss out on the negotiating tables.
And we are not going to miss out on standing up and speaking for Black people.
Thank you.
And I'm going to turn it back to our chair -elect, Yvette Clark.
So as you can see, we've got an A -team here.
We will be Sworn in in the month of January, and as you have all heard from our executive board, many of whom serve currently under our chairman,
we are indebted to him and grateful for all of his time, sacrifice to really be out front.
Congratulations.
There's a lot of discussion right now.
Absolutely.
And let me...
Absolutely.
Please, join us.
So today when the caucus met, we talked about the role of leadership and the duty that you have.
And part of our duty is to cultivate leaders.
So as we think about these committee assignments and the long game, we have to think about where people are being placed and having a very specific plan so that members of the Congressional Black Caucus themselves are in positions of leadership and there's succession planning happening.
That's both at the committee level, but also within the Democratic Caucus.
And if I might just add that real briefly.
While we have and will continue to defend the seniority, we're also going to make sure that we have the absolute best person serving.
Seniority is a major part of the program.
But being able to be the very best person that we have to offer in any of these given seats will be a very close second.
Our duel, actually.
Seniority.
Okay, very well.
Yes.
Mm -hmm.
Well, you know, I think we definitely have to cross those bridges as we get to them, but we're not gonna tolerate it.
We're not going to tolerate it.
We've never tolerated it, and that won't be the case going forward.
Will censure resolutions be part of that?
Absolutely.
Whatever we have in our arsenal, of course censure resolutions, and we have to call it out.
It has to become a part of the public record, and we have to appeal to our leadership as well as the leadership on the other side of the aisle.
But at the end of the day, no one gets a pass on racism.
And in that particular case, it was just that member.
We're good to go.
Yes.
I'm gonna make my way around.
Well, I mean, we've already begun circulating letters.
Concerning mass deportations and whatever this administration can do in its waning days to undergird their temporary protected status, deferred departure policies,
we understand that particularly across this nation, you have blended families.
Someone in that family may be a citizen, the other person may be a resident, the other person may be in between status, without status.
We're good to go.
I'm sorry, would you tell me your name?
Gabriella Reuters.
Okay.
I was wondering if the CPC has a position on Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter, and in light of that pardon, is the caucus as a whole calling for more pardons, specifically pardons?
We have one chairman at a time, so I'm going to let our chairman, Chairman Horsford, begin that, right, who's working on this.
Come this way, Mr. Chairman.
Well, I'll just say two things.
Number one, we support the leader's statement that has been released calling on President Biden to use his full authority We're good to go.
We're good to go.
Also have gone through the process for consideration for pardon.
So we support Leader Jeffries and the statement that he released on this just yesterday.
Secondly, the Congressional Black Caucus working with groups including the NAACP and others have called for clemency and the use of clemency by the Biden administration,
particularly based on the disparate incarceration rate.
I was curious to kind of piggyback off of Michael's question, whether the caucus is planning to make an endorsement in the agriculture ranking of a race, where a member of your caucus, David Scott, is running against two challengers.
I know you guys are being very specific.
I'll just say, because this deals with both this Congress and leading up to the next one, we've invited every candidate and or current ranking member to participate in a candidate's forum for them to outline their goals and objectives for why they seek the position,
whether it's to retain the seat or to become...
Yes.
Yeah, I think we've been extremely successful in this Congress, and we don't even have as slim a majority.
Between our membership, our ranking members, and our leader, Hakeem Jeffries, we've been able to negotiate and navigate through some very tumultuous issues.
And I think that we have already set up the prototype for that.
Colleagues understand what our unity means in the context of what is before us.
And we're prepared.
We're prepared.
Does the CBC view him as perhaps a better alternative?
I'm going to have Marilyn.
So I serve on the House Armed Services Committee, and I did an interview last night about this very topic.
And so during this last Congress, there are six CBC members who serve on House Armed Services, and we spent three hours in a markup arguing about DEI.
And every time you thought the topic couldn't get any worse, something else ugly reared its head.
When we think about who serves in the military, 40 % of the people who are enlisted are people of color.
A large part of that is African American.
So as we think about his comments that talk about DEI, it's yet another disqualifying attribute that he has.
He has been accused of sexual harassment.
He has been talked about showing up at work drunk on the set of Fox News.
His own mother wrote a letter about him, saying that he was a horrible person who was abusive, and now this.
So it tells me that, number one, he's out of touch with the needs of the military, even though he served, and we thank him for his service.
But he has no business being Secretary of Defense.
So I can't speak for every member of the Congressional Black Caucus, but as a black member of Hask, who's an Army brat herself, he has no business as Secretary of Defense.
If he chooses to appoint Ron DeSantis, I suppose being a governor means he's been in charge of something.
What Trump wants right now is foot soldiers.
The only qualification as far as Trump is concerned is people who are loyalty.
I'll even use the word fealty because that means blind loyalty regardless of what happens.
So would DeSantis be an upgrade?
Perhaps because the bar is so low, but we need someone in charge of the Secretary of Defense.
Like Lloyd Austin, who has a four -star general, who's serious about national defense, who's serious about global defense, who is competent and able to do the job, and respect the fact that our military is diverse in every sense of the word.
You probably remember that when Trump was in office the first time, the CBC met with him that first year, and then as years went on, there were no meetings with the president.
I wondered if you gave any thought, Congressman Clark, about whether or not you're going to meet with President Trump, or is this going to just be, you know, sort of an adversarial stance where you just don't meet with him, or have you thought about that at all?
Can you comment on that?
You know, of course we have to give thought to it.
But I think that once the cabinet is set up, it will send a strong signal as to whether we're dealing with someone who we can have candid conversations with or whether it's going to be purely adversarial.
You know, just to be honest.
Yeah, just to add to that.
To be clear, this Black Caucus will be anywhere democracy is challenged.
Anywhere.
Where democracy or the rights of individuals are being challenged, we will be there.
If that means being in the Oval Office, we'll be there if invited.
If it means being with the Cabinet Secretary, we'll be there.
But if the underlying message is we will be ever -present, ever -vigilant, and we will do everything in our power to bolster this fragile democracy, to make it the strong democracy that it should be,
and anyone who interferes with that will be at odds with us.
The news just broke that Jerry Nadler is dropping out of the judiciary race and is endorsing Jamie Raskin.
How worried is the Black Caucus about the erosion of the seniority system for committee heads?
Is that a concern?
I would just like to say it's two separate issues.
You're announcing breaking news.
Obviously, there have been other standing committees and ranking member announcements.
What I want to say is this.
Leader Jeffries and our entire House Democratic leadership team have been very deliberate.
About making sure that we stay united as House Democrats.
And what we're not going to do is allow process, tradition, or practice get in the way of the unity on behalf of the American people.
The seniority has always been a part of, as Vice Chairman Carter indicated, but not the only criteria.
Because of the large number of members who historically were not given those opportunities, the CBC has advocated for that representation.
Because of it, we have five members who have been full chairs or ranking members, more than 20 CBC members who are chairs or ranking members of subcommittees and we have influence across every committee of jurisdiction.
That will not change.
That will not change.
And whoever ultimately becomes a ranking member or chair when we're in the majority, they have to understand that there are issues that the Congressional Black Caucus expects will be a priority within that committee.
That the representation on every committee should include.
I would like to recognize, along with our Chair -elect, our outstanding staff of the Congressional Black Caucus.
None of what we are able to do as members is possible without a professional staff that works every single day in our individual offices and within the Congressional Black Caucus.
And so Vince Evans as our Executive Director, Morgan as our Mr. Chairman.
Is being polished.
I'm getting inscribed your name, and it'll be ready for you on January the 3rd.