Latinos to Lead in 113th Congress
By Raisa Camargo, Voxxi
The vice president told the new chairman Rep. Ruben Hinojosa of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in front of a crowded audience intermingled with administration officials and supporters Thursday night that the time of change for the Latino community is now.
“Ruben, as you are being sworn as chairman of this organization, Charlie is handing you a baton that is even more valuable than the one he was handed…” Biden said. “Now, the nation and the Hemisphere understand that the Hispanic community must be important.”
Throughout his speech, the vice president lauded the parallel between the number of Hispanic members in Congress and the importance that was placed on the Latino vote throughout the campaign. He said for that reason Republicans had an “epiphany” on immigration.
In that regard, he said Latinos should echo a strong message: “…let the world know and let Republicans know, let others know that in your state if you ignore the needs and concerns of the Hispanic people you will not win,” he said.
What was described as the “awesome potential” of Latinos was embraced by some newly elected Hispanic members of Congress as they celebrated their swearing-in ceremony. The total number of Hispanics in Congress is now up to 36. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus members made swift statements of some of the policy priorities that they hope to partake in the road ahead.
Members of Congressional Hispanic Caucus highlight issues for 113th Congress
One of those representatives to watch is the youngest member Joaquin Castro, who is taking over former Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ chairman Charlie Gonzalez’s Texas district that is coincidentally the freshman Congressman’s hometown. He was accompanied by his twin brother Julian Castro; the Mayor of San Antonio.
The Castro brothers have evoked plenty of praise from their own party as possible contenders to a higher ticket.
Joaquin said it was a special time for him to be sworn in particularly since his friends and family members came along to stand by him. In terms of his policy priorities, Joaquin said he hopes this new Congress will be very different from the old Congress.
“The last Congress was paralyzed by high partisanship and the country can’t afford that in the coming years,” he said. “We can’t have a group of lawmakers who are unwilling to compromise on anything.”
He told VOXXI that a top priority for him will be immigration reform, while indicating that he would “sign up for any task force” and “play whatever role” his colleagues believe will help push the debate forward. He also indicated that he wants to delve into higher education issues and explained that it was something that drove him into public service.
“I am going to be looking at revising the college advising system in our schools to send more kids to college,” he said. “When they do get there, I really want to work on the developmental education or remedial education programs because remedial education is the graveyard in higher education.”
Education and immigration reform was also reiterated by Vice President Joe Biden who cited that 17 percent of graduates are of Latino descent, while 25 percent in K-12 grades are Hispanic children. He reinforced that the political agenda moving forward resides within the Latino community.
That sheds more expectation on newly elected members such as Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. She said that the number of Hispanic members of the caucus and its diversity has a lot to say about pending issues among working class communities such as immigration, job security and women’s health issues.
Although, Grisham said there is more pressure than just immigration reform.
“Everything’s on the agenda,” she said. “Here is what Latinos are interested in job security, making sure there is a pathway for success in the future, they’re concerned about their kid’s future – we spend so much time on just comprehensive immigration reform that we stop talking about issues that matter to all American families.”
She told VOXXI that she believes the 112th Congress was the worst in the nation’s history in terms of partisanship.
“Every freshman recognizes that our voters, our communities expect us to be able to break through this hostility and the inability to work together. This is the class that is supposed to get that done,” she said.
The Hispanic increase in the U.S. House of Representatives is four—up to 28 from 24. As previously reported in VOXXI, eight of the nine new House members are Mexican Americans and one—Florida’s Garcia—is Cuban American. Of the newly elected Hispanics, four are from California, three from Texas and one each from New Mexico and Florida.
This article was first published in Voxxi.
Raisa Camargo is a staff writer at Voxxi.
[Photo by bclinesmith]