With 22 new U.S. Representatives in 2025, the House Baltic Caucus has now reached an all-time high of 100 members. It’s a great milestone for U.S.-Baltic relations. The Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) thanks co-chairs Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) for their leadership in guiding the way, and Baltic Americans and our Baltic embassy friends for their excellent outreach in reaching this goal. And it wouldn’t be without the interest of those Members of Congress who want to further associate themselves with promoting good ties with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
The House Baltic Caucus (HBC) is a bipartisan registered caucus of the U.S. House. The caucus members are interested in strengthening economic, political, and cultural ties with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
With 100 members, possible future goals seem attainable. There are 435 members in the U.S. House. By reaching 25% of that body, there needs to be 109 members in the caucus. Certainly, that seems possible. Currently, there are members in the HBC from 38 states and Washington, DC. Why not reach 40 states, or more?
We’re not finished. Is your U.S. Representative a member of the House Baltic Caucus? If so, thank them; if not, please urge them to join to help support the U.S. relationship with the Baltic countries.
With this playing out, it is worth a moment to reflect on the caucus’s 28-year history.
Before the Baltic Caucuses, there was an Ad Hoc Committee on the Baltic States and Ukraine whose co-chairmen were Rep. Dennis Hertel (D-MI) and Senator Donald Riegle (D-MI), which was active in the 1970s. Membership exceeded 100, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Ad Hoc Committee ceased to exist.
After its founding in 1997, the House Baltic Caucus (HBC) gained members quickly. By April 2001, there were 56 members, increasing to 68 by April 2002 and 71 by July 2003. It was at a time when Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were preparing to join NATO, and Congress was supporting that goal. At one point soon thereafter, membership peaked at just over 80.
After each two-year session of Congress, natural attrition (usually retirements) meant the Caucus would, on average, lose about 10-12 members. Membership was dormant throughout the 2010s, in the 60 to 70-member range, but eventually dipped into the low 50s. In 2017, there was a significant bump with 22 new members, raising the total back to 74. It was the biggest increase since the formative years, and only matched by the record pace of 2025, in which 22 members joined through July.
During the first three years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2022), recruitment fell, with only a handful of new members joining. Since then, the trend has been skyward, and certainly due to the increase in security concerns following Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Numbers have increased significantly in each subsequent year. Following the 2024 election and the usual retirement decline, the HBC stood at an all-time high starting point of 79 members. Since then, one member passed away this year – Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia – but with the great surge, the 100-member level was attained.
The idea of forming Baltic Caucuses in Congress was formulated in the mid-1990s, when it was realized that these groups could be helpful with Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania seeking closer ties with the U.S., and as they prepared to join NATO. Not just as bodies to support possible legislation, the caucuses would also be a vehicle for interaction with the Baltic American communities.
The Baltic American Freedom League (BAFL) in California was a leader in supporting the foundation of caucuses in both the U.S. House and Senate. The Joint Baltic American National Committee has also long been a consistent partner for the Baltic caucuses, and both organizations have coordinated closely with the caucus leadership offices.
It was also significant in that two of the selected chairmen of the respective caucuses were of Lithuanian heritage. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), who assumed office in the U.S. House in 1983 and was elected to the Senate in 1996, was a logical choice to be the lead Democrat for the formation of the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus (SBFC). The person who succeeded Durbin in his House seat in the 1996 election, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), became the first Republican co-chair of the House Baltic Caucus. The first Democratic co-chair of the House caucus was Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Senator Durbin’s Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus Republican counterparts have been Senators Slade Gorton (Washington), Gordon Smith (Oregon), and Chuck Grassley (Iowa), who is the current SBFC co-chair.
When Rep. Kucinich left Congress, he was replaced as HBC co-chair by California congressman Adam Schiff. Rep. Schiff served as co-chair from 2013 until 2021 and was succeeded by Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who was co-chair from 2021 until his election to the U.S. Senate in January 2025. Another Californian, Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA), took over as Democratic co-chair in January of this year. Both he and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) serve, as did Rep. Gallego, on the House Armed Services Committee, which has positioned them to help guide funding for the Baltic Security Initiative, the most crucial Baltic legislation over the past few years. When Rep. Shimkus stepped down in 2021, Rep. Bacon, a former Air Force Brigadier General, took over as the Republican co-chair.
May the success of the House Baltic Caucus grow. Congratulations on reaching 100!
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