Minorities’ House Gain May Help Clinton : Congress: Election of record number of non-whites is seen as major boost for incoming President’s economic programs.

The influx of black and Latino members in next year’s Congress is expected to not only increase the powers of minorities within the House Democratic caucus, but also smooth the way for the Clinton Administration’s economic programs.

Based on Tuesday’s election results, membership in the House’s Congressional Black Caucus will jump from 25 to an all-time peak of 38 in the next session, not counting non-voting delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C. The Senate will gain its first black member since 1979--and its first black woman ever--when Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois takes office.

The House’s Hispanic Caucus will increase its ranks from 11 to 17. That includes the first Puerto Rican woman, as well as one more Cuban-American and four more Mexican-Americans than held seats in the expiring Congress.

Latino newcomers Lucille Roybal-Allard and Xavier Becerra, are both from the Los Angeles area.

The small number of Asian-Americans in the House also will increase with the election of two Californians, Republican Jay C. Kim, the mayor of Diamond Bar, who will be the first native Korean to serve in Congress, and Democrat Mark A. Takano, a Japanese-American junior high school teacher in Riverside County.

They will join three others of Japanese ancestry--Reps. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii), Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento) and Norman Y. Mineta (D-San Jose).

Several of the new lawmakers already have blazed new political trails.

Nydia Velasquez, elected from a largely Spanish-speaking district in New York City, has been a national advocate on Puerto Rican issues. In 1984, she became the first Latino to serve on the New York City Council.

Corrie Meek, 66-year-old black legislator from Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, will be starting a new career on Capitol Hill after winning a reputation as an advocate for women, minorities and the poor since she was elected to the Florida Legislature in 1979.

“There’s going to be more force for change,” said Eva Clayton, the first black woman ever elected to Congress from North Carolina. “It’s not going to be easy . . . but we have great hopes.”

Like Clayton, several black and Latino women will be among the record 47 female members of the House next year. Some congressional observers believe that some issues will galvanize alliances of blacks, Latinos and women that will account for as many as 100 votes.

Together, minorities will make up about 20% of House Democrats--a bloc that Speaker Thomas S. Foley and his lieutenants cannot afford to neglect.

The combined clout of black and Latino Democrats could help minorities advance to key posts on the House’s Ways and Means and Appropriations committees, two panels on which minorities have had limited representation.

To be sure, the group is far from monolithic and will not march in lock step on every issue. But overall, some Democratic leaders believe minority members will more than offset the Republican gain of nine House seats in Tuesday’s election.

“The party loyalty of the new members is going to make for a better performance (by the House),” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento), vice chair of the Democratic caucus. “It will be of great value to President Clinton in his first year in office.”

At least one of the new black members of Congress, Chicago Alderman Bobby Rush, already has close ties to the Clinton camp, having served as national director of a voter registration drive that added more than 3.5 million Democrats to the rolls.

Rush, a former Black Panther, turned to electoral politics years ago. Like other blacks in the freshman ranks, he has legislative experience and expects fast action from an institution that often is criticized for its slow pace.

“The American people want Congress to be an agent for change,” Rush said. “They won’t tolerate any excuses.”

A senior Clinton adviser said: “I expect Bobby Rush to be one of the leaders in pushing our agenda.”

Melvin Watt, former state senator in North Carolina, is another of the new black House members who may emerge as a leader among the freshmen. A Yale Law school graduate and civic activist, Watt said he anticipates broad support among minority members for Clinton’s program.

“It’s in our interest as Democrats and in the nation’s interest to be cooperative and get something passed on the economy and a major step toward resolving the healtlh care crisis,” Watt said.

Rep. Mike Espy (D-Miss.), who was the first black House member elected from Mississippi six years ago, said many of the black freshmen will be coming from rural areas in the South, where they had to reach out to white constituencies to win their seats.

“They will be more pragmatic and less dogmatic” than some of black House members from urban districts, Espy said.

Clayton, for example, won election from a relatively poor rural district in eastern North Carolina. “My priorities are dictated by where I come from,” she said. “Rural economic development, improved infrastructure, housing, education and good health care.”

Asked whether she would back Clinton’s program, she replied: “We don’t agree on everything and I’m not going to be a rubber stamp. . . . But he knows what it’s like to come from a rural area.” The influx of minorities is a direct result of changes to the Voting Rights Act in 1986 that led to the creation of new districts tailored for black or Latino candidates after the 1990 Census.

Minorities in Congress

Here is how minority membership of the outgoing Congress compares with the new one: Blacks Current: 25 New total: 38

Latinos Current: 11 New total: 17