The Congressional Black Caucus has become a bedrock of support for President Joe Biden as he faces calls from congressional Democrats to stand down as the party's presidential nominee in November.

“The president has been running behind,” the Texas Democrat said. “We needed a surge, we got a setback.”

The Congressional Black Caucus is pushing the White House, Justice Department and the Department of Education to look into whether Florida school districts are violating federal discrimination law following changes to the state's Black history curriculum.

The toll of police brutality in America was on painful display as family members of Black men and women killed in custody sit alongside lawmakers in the House to hear the president’s State of the Union address.

Moments before the Senate began Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation vote to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, the chamber filled with the swell of history.

Top Democrats are pleading for President Joe Biden to act alone on some of the party’s core legislative priorities.

Lawmakers from both parties say once-stalled legislation on Capitol Hill that would change the nation's policing laws is now closer than ever to consensus.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Congressional Black Caucus, a nonpartisan group of Black members in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that provides a voice and highlights issues prominent in the Black community. With a growing number of Black representatives in Congress due to redistricting, members felt a more official group was needed to better serve their communities. So in 1971, 13 members of the House formed the initial group, but they were originally ignored by one prominent person: then-President Richard Nixon. After the group formed, Nixon initially refused to meet, and the members decided to do something about that, according to the House’s historical website. Currently at 55 members, the CBC forms about a quarter of the Democratic Party’s representation in the House.

WASHINGTON A sweeping overhaul of police oversight and procedures is being proposed by Democrats in response to the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement, according to a draft outline obtained by The Associated Press. It is the most ambitious changes to law enforcement sought by Congress in years. Bass said the package from House and Senate Democrats will be bolder than any law enforcement changes of the past decade. It is unclear if law enforcement and the powerful police unions will back any of the proposed changes or if congressional Republicans will join the effort. Booker and fellow one-time presidential hopeful, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, are co-authors of the package in the Senate.

Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, both former presidential candidates, are expected to announce a package in coming days, with a House bill coming soon. Both the Senate and House efforts are expected to include changes to police accountability laws, such as revising immunity provisions, and creating a database of police use-of-force incidents. We have a moral moment in our country, Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the CBC, said on a conference call Wednesday. With Democrats in the majority, the bills will almost certainly pass the House. She acknowledged the opposition the bills will likely face, but called on fellow lawmakers to consider the option of doing nothing.