Congressional Black Caucus may be on collision course with Trump

WASHINGTON – The Congressional Black Caucus is on the verge of becoming the most powerful bloc in the U.S. House when Democrats take control in January, with members to lead at least five committees and more than a dozen subcommittees.

That could increase the likelihood of conflict with the White House, as black Democrats have been forceful critics of President Donald Trump, saying he's made racially loaded comments about black politicians, singled out black women for attack and equivocated about white supremacists who support him. Among those Trump opponents set to lead committees is Rep. Maxine Waters of California, expected to be chairwoman of Financial Services.

There will be a record number of black lawmakers in the House in January — more than 50 — and the chairmen will be among the most powerful, with the ability to issue subpoenas to get information from the Trump administration. They're already saying they want to probe Trump's short-lived policy of separating migrant families and hold hearings and investigate allegations of voter suppression by the GOP, among other areas.

The number of black committee chairmen will present a stark contrast to the current GOP-led House, which has none — a product of the fact that there are only two black Republicans in the chamber. Even so, the number of black committee leaders will be lower than in the 1980s, when there were seven, and on par with 2007-09 and 1991-93 when there were also five.

Those slated to lead committees in January also include Elijah Cummings, 67, of Maryland, on Oversight and Government Reform; Bennie Thompson, 70, of Mississippi, on Homeland Security; Bobby Scott, 71, of Virginia, on Education and the Workforce; and Eddie Bernice Johnson, 82, of Texas, on Science, Space and Technology.

Like many other Democrats, most of those lawmakers criticized Republicans for too little oversight of Trump, his administration and its policies, or for blocking Democrats from doing so.

They will now have the ability to investigate Trump and his administration and more directly challenge his agenda.

Trump described Democrat Stacey Abrams, a black candidate for governor in Georgia, as "not qualified" even though she has a degree from Yale Law School and was minority leader of the state's Legislature. He said Andrew Gillum, a black candidate for Florida governor, was "not equipped" to hold the office even though he serves as mayor of Tallahassee. Trump also called Waters, 80, who has served in Congress since 1990, "an extraordinarily low IQ person."

Waters has called the president "an immoral, indecent, & inhumane thug." On Friday, Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond of Louisiana said that Trump is "an insecure bully and lacks basic respect for others," citing "abusive and disrespectful" comments he's made about black women.

"This president clearly has demonstrated animus toward women in general, but black women in particular," Richmond said. "This has to stop."

The president's patterns of attacking lawmakers who criticize him suggest the committee leaders are likely to become targets if they follow through with plans for aggressive oversight.

"Overtly, he has manifested the kind of attitude toward African-Americans that is negative," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, 82, of Florida. Trump has disputed claims that he's made racist comments.

Waters said that as chairwoman, she would hold accountable financial and regulatory agencies under her jurisdiction. "For the last two years, Republicans in Congress have served as accomplices to Trump and have completely neglected Congress' oversight responsibilities, enabling corruption and destructive policies to run rampant," Waters said in a statement.