When we were Capitol Hill staffers more than a decade ago, the Congressional Progressive Caucus had members, but not much power.
Times have changed. As a result of both successful Democratic primaries and proactive power-building by progressive incumbents over the past four years, a reformed and strengthened CPC is now poised to make progressives a more powerful force within the House than at any time in modern American history.
They aren’t just the four-member “squad” but also include newly elected progressive insurgents like Marie Newman, Cori Bush, Mondaire Jones and Jamaal Bowman. Combined with Pramila Jayapal, the CPC’s current co-chair, and her deep bench of committed progressives like Ro Khanna and Lloyd Doggett, the squad has become a platoon on the way to a battalion.
It’s not just votes though, it’s how you organize those votes. For years, the CPC has grown in size, but membership has traditionally required little of its members. No more. Just last week, the CPC passed game-changing reforms to its own caucus rules. These rule changes will empower the CPC to organize itself to negotiate and vote as a single bloc on specific legislation to secure progressive improvements or remove dangerous provisions. With just a slim margin in the House, Democratic leadership will need the votes of progressives to pass legislation. The CPC now has the opportunity to use this leverage to ensure bills include progressive priorities.
Conservatives have long been at this game. We’ve seen the consequences when progressives are not willing to wield the collective power of their votes. Over and over again, House Democratic leadership has asked progressives to compromise their values to pass bills that have been watered down or contain trade-offs designed to satisfy the most conservative members of the Democratic Caucus. The reality is that those conservative members have been better organized and more willing to make clear demands backed up by their votes. With this newly organized and empowered CPC, progressives have cards to play in all future legislating during the Biden era — cards they just haven’t had during the Trump era.
"exciting" - Google News
November 21, 2020 at 12:50AM
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House progressives are building something new, exciting, and powerful - Roll Call
"exciting" - Google News
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