Black Caucus shows constituent changes

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About 35 years after its founding, Congressional Black Caucus members no longer vote lock step with each other and the Democratic Party, reflecting a significant change in the economic status and demographics of their constituents and their own political aspirations.

"At one time, it was easy for a black legislator to say 'When I vote this way, my constituents will like this,'" said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland Democrat, a former caucus chairman now in his sixth term in Congress.

Mr. Cummings said the economic and racial diversity of his Baltimore-based district has exploded in less than a decade, and growing wealth in his district has caused him to have to strike more of a balance in the way he votes.

"It is a blessing that we are now moving into these diverse populated districts, but at the same time it brings new challenges," he said. "Some don't like it, but I guess it is the price we pay for progress and being relatively successful."

In the early days, members said, the caucus' mantra went hand in hand with President Johnson's vision to use federal policies to close disparities in employment, wealth, health care and civil rights between blacks and whites.

"When we first started out, we were dealing with a dozen members, and man, it was easy," said Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, a founding member of the caucus.

But as the American social climate has changed and more blacks have moved out of poverty -- only a quarter of blacks are at the poverty level today, compared to more than half in 1965 -- the politics have changed, as well. More blacks are interested in lower taxes and pro-business policies that will lead to job growth.

The changes have played out on a series of votes this year, such as passage of the Republican-led bankruptcy bill, which 10 members of the caucus voted for, and elimination of the estate tax, which drew eight votes from the 41-member caucus.

Five members, all Democrats, voted for both measures: Reps. David Scott and Sanford D. Bishop Jr. of Georgia, Albert R. Wynn of Maryland, Harold E. Ford Jr. of Tennessee and William J. Jefferson of Louisiana.

The caucus was founded in 1969 by 13 members of the House, primarily representing urban districts in the Northeast, Midwest and far West. Though it remains all-Democratic, it now has grown to 41 members, including a senator, Barack Obama of Illinois, and has spread to the booming suburbs near Southern cities.