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32-733: The Commission was formed out of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 2008, following the death of Tom Lantos , with the passage of H.Res.1451, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Establishment Resolution . Through this mandate, the Commission became a formal body of the House which serves to provide educational and advisory services to Members of Congress, coordinate human rights initiatives in

64-564: A hearing by the House Ethics Committee . Following Lantos's death from cancer in 2008, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initiated a bill to reform the caucus as the "Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission"; the bill passed unanimously. The passage of H.R.1451 established the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and its mandate. As established in H.R.1451: The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

96-655: A monthly column, in French, for Le Devoir on a wide range of topics from politics to culture and is a regular contributor to the Spectator (U.K.), the Toronto Star , Le Monde Diplomatique and Le Monde . Though John D. MacArthur disinherited his son J. Roderick MacArthur , the latter served on the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation until his death in 1984. In 1980, John R. MacArthur persuaded

128-730: Is a unique body in the House of Representatives, and its function as established in the resolution is notably different from other commissions in the United States Congress, such as the Congressional-Executive Commission on China or the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe . Though the resolution states that the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission must collaborate with the Senate and

160-486: Is willing to advance LGBT rights, regardless of their sexual identity or orientation; it has historically been co-chaired by every openly-LGBT member of the House. The caucus had 194 members, all of them Democrats , in the 118th United States Congress . The most common caucuses consist of members united as an interest group . These are often bi-partisan (comprising both Democrats and Republicans) and bi-cameral (comprising both Representatives and Senators). Examples like

192-620: The Congressional Bike Caucus works to promote cycling , and the Senate Taiwan Caucus promotes strong relationships with Taiwan. The House Committee on House Administration (HCHA) prescribes certain rules for Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs). Each Congress, CMOs must electronically register with the Committee on House Administration, providing the name of the caucus, a statement of purpose ,

224-535: The Department of State and Department of Justice . The Congressional Human Rights Caucus was founded in 1983 by Tom Lantos, a California Democrat , and John Porter , an Illinois Republican . Lantos was Hungarian by birth and had the distinction of being the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress. In 1987, the caucus invited the 14th Dalai Lama to speak about the situation of Tibet . It

256-593: The Senate to set legislative agendas, select committee members and chairs and hold elections to choose various floor leaders . They also oversee the four Hill committees , political party committees that work to elect members of their own party to Congress. Ideological congressional caucuses can represent a political party within a political party. In the United States two-party dominant political system, these congressional caucuses help congregate and advance

288-722: The United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate and governed under the rules of these chambers . In addition to the term "caucus", they are sometimes called conferences (especially Republican ones), coalitions , study groups, task forces, or working groups. Many other countries use the term parliamentary group ; the Parliament of the United Kingdom has many all-party parliamentary groups . The largest caucuses are

320-661: The party caucuses comprising all members of one house from one party (either the Democrats or the Republicans ) in addition to any independent members who may caucus with either party. These are the House Democratic Caucus , House Republican Conference , Senate Democratic Caucus and Senate Republican Conference . The caucuses meet regularly in closed sessions for both the House of Representatives and

352-467: The CMO officers and the employee designated to work on issues related to the CMO. The HCHA rules include the following: John R. MacArthur John Rick MacArthur (born June 4, 1956) is an American journalist and author of books about US politics. He is the president and publisher of Harper's Magazine . MacArthur is the son of J. Roderick MacArthur and French-born Christiane L’Étendart. and

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384-670: The Commission is composed of one Co-Chair and four Executive Committee Members from each party. The two Co-Chairs and eight Members of the Executive Committee are appointed by the Speaker and Minority Leader. N/A Congressional caucus A congressional caucus is a group of members of the United States Congress that meet to pursue common legislative objectives. Formally, caucuses are formed as congressional member organizations ( CMOs ) through

416-535: The ERA, marching on April 28, 2023 to the Senate in support of S.J. Res 4, the bill to affirm the ERA. The Southern Caucus was a Senate caucus of Southern Democrats chaired by Richard Russell , which opposed civil rights legislation and formed a vital part of the conservative coalition that dominated the Senate into the 1960s. The tone of the Southern Caucus was to be more moderate and reasonable than

448-525: The Executive branch, the Commission itself is composed only of Members of the House of Representatives. Members are not appointed to the Commission, but are able to join by request at any time, similar to a caucus. The Commission also does not compile an annual report. It is the only body in the House of Representatives that is intended to frame all issues through the lens of international human rights norms. Similarly, there are significant differences between

480-523: The Gulf War. The girl's account was later challenged by independent human rights monitors. "Nurse Nayirah" later turned out to be the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. Asked about his having allowed the girl to give testimony without identifying herself, and without her story having been corroborated, Lantos replied, "The notion that any of the witnesses brought to the caucus through

512-520: The House, and communicate with the Executive branch as well as international human rights entities to facilitate human rights initiatives in Congress. The Commission is nonpartisan and is led by two co-chairs, one Democrat and one Republican. The current co-chairs are Congressmen Jim McGovern and Chris Smith . The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission is not a national human rights institution (NHRI). The United States does not currently have such an institution. Some duties typical of an NHRI are conducted by

544-621: The Kuwaiti Embassy would not be credible did not cross my mind... I have no basis for assuming that her story is not true, but the point goes beyond that. If one hypothesizes that the woman's story is fictitious from A to Z, that in no way diminishes the avalanche of human rights violations." Lantos and John R. MacArthur , the foremost critic of the Nayirah issue, each had op-eds in The New York Times , in which each accused

576-643: The Kuwaiti diplomat's daughter who helped fake the Iraqi baby-incubator atrocity. MacArthur has been a reporter for The Wall Street Journal (1977), the Washington Star (1978), The Bergen Record (1978–1979), Chicago Sun-Times (1979–1982), and an assistant foreign editor at United Press International (1982). MacArthur serves on the board of The Author's Guild and the Death Penalty Information Center . He received

608-515: The People's Republic of China . Members of the caucus asserted that the companies had agreed to block "politically sensitive terms" from their search engines. The companies refused to attend the hearings. A year later, Lantos excoriated CEO Jerry Yang for Yahoo's aiding the Chinese government in the arrest of dissident journalist Shi Tao , calling Yang and other executives "[moral] pygmies". Lantos

640-428: The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and committees in the House of Representatives. Most notably, the nonpartisan structure of the Commission grants both parties equal power within the Commission, regardless of which side is in the majority or minority. Unlike a committee which has a Chair from the majority and a Ranking Member from the minority, the Commission is led by two Co-Chairs who have equal say. The leadership of

672-428: The caucus is to work for LGBT rights , the repeal of laws discriminatory against LGBT persons, the elimination of hate-motivated violence , and improved health and well-being for all persons, regardless of sexual orientation , gender identity , or gender expression . The caucus serves as a resource for Members of Congress , their staffs, and the public on LGBT issues. The LGBT Equality Caucus admits any member who

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704-617: The explicit white supremacism of some Southern Senators. The caucus was where the Southern Manifesto was written which supported the reversal of the landmark Supreme Court 1954 ruling Brown v. Board of Education and was signed by 19 Senators and 82 Representatives. The formation of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus was announced on June 4, 2008, by openly gay members of congress Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank . The mission of

736-578: The foundation to partner in creating and funding a Harper's Magazine Foundation to acquire and operate the magazine of the same name. This new entity acquired Harper's Magazine (which was then losing nearly $ 2 million per year and was on the verge of ceasing publication) for $ 250,000. He became president and publisher of Harper's Magazine in 1983. In 1993 he received the Baltimore Sun ' s H.L. Mencken Writing Award for best editorial/op-ed column for his New York Times exposé of " Nayirah ",

768-611: The grandson of billionaire John D. MacArthur . He grew up in Winnetka , Illinois , graduating from North Shore Country Day School in 1974. He graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in history in 1978. In 2017 he was named a chevalier in the French order of arts and letters. He lives with his wife and two daughters in New York City. He is well known for his skeptical stance of the internet, all things technological and insistence on print publishing. MacArthur writes

800-416: The ideals of a more focused ideology within the two major relatively big tent political parties. Some caucuses are organized political factions with a common ideological orientation. Most ideological caucuses are confined to the House of Representatives. The rosters of large caucuses are usually listed publicly. Members of Congress are not restricted to a single ideological caucus, creating overlaps between

832-524: The meeting, Lantos predicted that Charm Tong's 50 minutes with Bush "would reverberate around the world". The Irrawaddy wrote in December of that year that lobbyists were attributing Bush's subsequent "outspokenness on Burma" to "the Charm Tong Effect". In 2006, the caucus held hearings on the alleged collaboration of Google , Yahoo! , Microsoft , and Cisco with Internet censorship in

864-592: The organisations. Among the most visible caucuses are those composed of members sharing the same race or ethnic group . The most high profile of these represent people of color . The Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus also form the Congressional Tri Caucus when they sit together. The ERA Caucus (Equal Rights Amendment Caucus)

896-600: The other of distortion. MacArthur suggested that Lantos may have materially benefited from his having accommodated Nayirah. Nayirah was later revealed to have connections to lobbying firm Hill & Knowlton in the employ of Kuwaiti activist group Citizens for a Free Kuwait , a lobbying firm which also rented space to the Human Rights Caucus at a "reduced rate". The New York Times condemned Lantos's "lack of candor and lapse of judgment" in presenting her testimony without giving these facts as context, and called for

928-429: The testimony aired on ABC's Nightline and NBC Nightly News reaching an estimated audience between 35 and 53 million Americans. Seven senators cited Nayirah's testimony in their speeches backing the use of force. President George H.W. Bush repeated the story at least ten times in the following weeks, and Lantos himself argued that Nayirah's account of the atrocities helped to stir American opinion in favor of participation in

960-532: Was a strong supporter of the 1991 Persian Gulf War . During the run-up to the war, the Congressional Human Rights Caucus hosted a young Kuwaiti woman identified only as " Nurse Nayirah ", who told of horrific abuses by Iraqi soldiers, including the killing of Kuwaiti babies by taking them out of their incubators and leaving them to die on the cold floor of the hospital. Nayirah's testimony was widely publicized. That night, portions of

992-570: Was formed March 28, 2023, by representatives Ayanna Pressley and Cori Bush to affirm the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, having met all requirements of Article V in 2020 with the ratification by the 38th state, Virginia. The Caucus has quickly grown to be one of the largest in the U.S. House of Representatives, standing at 69 members in May 2023. The ERA Caucus quickly showed their support of

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1024-764: Was the first formal invitation to the Dalai Lama from a U.S. government organization. Lantos later alleged that two Tibetan nationalists were executed by China in retaliation for this visit. On 31 October 2005, Lantos and the caucus helped arrange for Shan Burmese activist Charm Tong to visit the White House to discuss the Burmese political situation with President George W. Bush , National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley , and other senior officials. Charm Tong spoke with Bush about war rape and other women's rights issues in her home of Shan State . Following

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