Suburban Caucus

An informal group of over 70 Republican members of the United States House of Representatives with primarily suburban constituencies, founded by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL). He planned a suburban agenda in early 2004, made a presentation on it at the party’s national convention in New York, formed a House GOP caucus around it and commissioned pollster John McLaughlin to test potential policy items.

From initial membership of 22, it has grown to over 50 members. Caucus members include representatives from New York to California, Minnesota to Florida. It's includes moderates such as Mike Castle of Delaware, and more conservative House members like Pete Sessions of Texas and Tom Feeney of Florida.

The agenda is broken down into four main categories: education, healthcare, conservation and economic issues. Specific points include: keeping child molesters from becoming teachers; making health insurance fully portable; long term saving for children; more cleanup and less court for the superfund environment program; and expanding federal backup to fight international drug gangs.

Legislation

Health Information Technology Promotion Act (H. R. 4157) setting guidelines to establish electronic medical records
School Safety Acquiring Faculty Excellence Act (H.R. 4894) linking state and national criminal databases to make sure interstate child molesters are not hired as teachers, coaches or bus drivers.
Charitable Donations for Open Space Act (H.R. 5056) creating tax easements for charitable donations for open space.
Gang Elimination Act of 2006 (H.R. 5291) fighting new suburban drug gangs.
Open Space and Farmland Preservation Act (H.R. 5313) establishing local grant programs to protect suburban open space.
401 Kids Family Savings Accounts (H.R. 5314) establishing savings for kids from birth to pay for education or to purchase first home.
Deleting Online Predators Act (H.R. 5319) protecting children from online predators especially on social networking sites such as MySpace.com.

External links

"Suburban agenda" (Washington Time Editorial, 11 May 2006)
"In turnaround try, House GOP focuses on suburban voters" (The Hill's Congress Blog, 9 May 2006)

United States Congress

Members and leaders

Members

Current	By length of service Freshmen Youngest members Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Delegates Longest-serving members ever

Senate	Current by seniority by age Dean of the Senate Former senators Living Earliest serving Earliest living Expelled or censured Classes Born outside the U.S.

House	Current by seniority Dean of the House Former representatives Living Oldest living Earliest serving Expelled, censured, and reprimanded Deaths by year

Leaders

Senate	President (list) President pro tempore Majority and minority leaders Assistant party leaders Democratic Caucus (Chair Secretary Policy Committee Chair) Republican Conference (Chair Vice-Chair Policy Committee Chair)

House	Speaker Leaders Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group Democratic Caucus Republican Conference

Districts

Caucuses,
women and
minorities

Offices, employees, services, and the Capitol Complex

Legislative
offices

Offices

Senate	Curator Historical Library

House	Congressional Ethics Emergency Planning, Preparedness, and Operations Interparliamentary Affairs Law Revision Counsel Library

Employees

Senate	Secretary Chaplain Curator Historian Librarian Pages Parliamentarian Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper

House	Chaplain Chief Administrative Officer Clerk Doorkeeper Floor Operations Floor Services Chief Historian Pages (Page Board) Parliamentarian Postmaster Reading Clerk Sergeant at Arms

Library of
Congress

Government
Publishing Office

Capitol

Office
buildings

Senate	Dirksen Hart Russell

House	Building Commission Cannon Ford Longworth O'Neill Rayburn

Other
facilities

Powers, privileges, procedure, committees, history, and media

Powers	Article I Copyright Commerce (Dormant) Contempt of Congress Declaration of war Impeachment Naturalization "Necessary and Proper" Power of enforcement Taxing/spending

Privileges and benefits	Salaries Franking Immunity

Procedure	Act of Congress (list) Appropriation bill Budget resolution Closed sessions (House) Closed sessions (Senate) Cloture Concurrent resolution Continuing resolution Dear colleague letter Discharge petition Engrossed bill Enrolled bill Expulsion Joint resolution Joint session (list) Lame-duck session Majority of the majority (Hastert Rule) Multiple referral Procedures (House) Reconciliation Rider Saxbe fix Sponsorship Suspension of the rules Unanimous consent Veto Line-item veto Pocket veto Veto override

Senate-specific	Advice and consent Classes Executive communication Executive session Filibuster Jefferson's Manual Journal Nuclear option Presiding Officer Recess appointment Riddick's Senate Procedure Senate hold Senatorial courtesy Seniority Standing Rules Tie-breaking votes Traditions Treaty Clause

Committees	Chairman and ranking member Of the Whole Conference Discharge petition Hearings Markup Oversight List (Joint) List (House) List (Senate) Select and special Standing Subcommittees

Items	Gavels Mace of the House

History	Divided government House Gerrymandering Party control Senate Senate election disputes

Media	C-SPAN Congressional Quarterly The Hill Politico Roll Call

Websites: House of Representatives; Senate

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