After six years at the helm of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, dedicated to “building the infrastructure” needed to effectively fight major policies on Capitol Hill, term-limited Rep. Pramila Jayapal is set to lead the CPC next. We are determined to ensure that our employees are “just as successful.” As much as possible. ”
Jayapal (D-Wash.) told Common Dreams on Wednesday that his legislative priorities include “comprehensive immigration reform, good-wage jobs, fair trade, universal health care, debt-free college, and climate action.” He talked about the time when he led a party caucus of about 100 members. , and a just foreign policy. ”
She was elected first vice chair of the CPC in June 2017, just a few months into her freshman term in Congress. Explaining his foray into leadership, Jayapal fondly said, “It was all because of Keith Ellison.” Ellison is a Minnesota Democrat who was a member of the House of Representatives and caucus leader and currently serves as the state’s attorney general.
“He was very encouraging,” she said of Ellison. “He knew all the reasons why I was running because he had heard me talk about it on the campaign trail… to strengthen the power of the progressive movement in Congress and how to I wanted to figure out how I could be more effective.” Inside and out, that’s where I came from. ”
Jayapal, who was born in India and came to the United States for college as a teenager, founded the immigrant advocacy group Hate Free Zones (later to become One America) after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ) was established. Seattle area residents elected her to the House of Representatives in 2016 during her first term in the Washington State Senate.
In politics, Jayapal has shared her life story with the world, writing and speaking publicly about her experiences as an immigrant woman of color, a woman who had an abortion, and the mother of a transgender daughter. She will be the first woman of color to serve as CPC co-chair, and will be joined by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who, as Jayapal said on Instagram earlier this week, is “one of the most courageous and capable progressive leaders.” (Democrat, California)’s guidance. I was honored to know. ”
U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Cori Bush (D-Missouri) speak with reporters in Washington, DC, on May 31, 2023. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-) Roll Call, Inc. (via Getty Images)
With support from leaders like Mr. Ellison and Mr. Lee (who will leave Congress after this session), Mr. Jayapal calls the Chinese Communist Party “a truly powerful force that can stand up for workers and get policy done.” He jumped into the party in hopes of turning it into a caucus. In 2018, she was elected co-chair with Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and became sole chair following changes to caucus rules in 2020.
“When I joined the company, I realized that we really didn’t have the infrastructure needed to be a powerful voice,” said Jayapal, who utilized the skills and connections she had developed as an organizer in this role. said. She is preparing to leave now.
“I came here and was able to think about not only how to build power internally, but also how to collaborate externally,” she said. “And that internal and external strategy, and the trust that I had and the relationships that I had, was my focus on building the infrastructure here in Congress and kind of uniting the movement around a set of priorities.” Fighting and standing up for was very important to our success.”
Jayapal recognized the need to hire staff and reform CPC rules to increase attendance at meetings and caucus cohesion. She explained, “I felt so strongly about a leadership transition to create a bench that I also placed term limits on the CPC chair.”
Because of that policy, she will hand over the torch to Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) early next month. Jayapal, who will become chairman emeritus, told Common Dreams: “I’m really proud that we’ve been able to build an infrastructure that we can hand over to the next chairman that didn’t exist before. Of course, it will continue to improve. .With new leadership.”
The 35-year-old will be joined by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as vice chair and Rep. Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (D-Ill.) as whip. They will face a Republican-controlled Congress and the second administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“It’s an honor to continue Chairman Jayapal’s legacy,” Casale said after the caucus elections earlier this month. “My entire adult life, I have fought back against the extremist, self-centered dictators in Texas. The Democratic Party must confront Trump directly. We must put the people first.”
Related article: New progressive caucus chair ready to ‘fight billionaires, fraudsters and Republican crooks’
On the same day Jayapal was first elected to Congress, Trump won his first presidential election. Before the White House campaign convened that night in November 2016, Jayapal described his victory as a “light in the darkness” and told his supporters, “If your worst fears come true, If so, we will be on the defense tomorrow.” According to the Seattle Times.
After four years of fighting against the first Trump administration, CPC members started 2021 with a new opportunity to advance progressive policies. Despite a divided Senate, Democrats took control of the House and President Joe Biden was sworn in, despite Trump contesting his 2020 loss. and incite rebellion.
During Biden’s term, which ends next month, the Jayapal-led caucus will push the Democratic president on issues such as access to contraceptives, climate action, corporate responsibility, higher wages, lower costs of essential goods and relief for international migrants. The government succeeded in encouraging various administrative actions to be taken. There are several priorities, including what is at stake.
The caucus also played a key role in enacting the Democratic Party’s main “Build Back Better” agenda. In the summer of 2021, Jayapal told Congress and the president that House progressives must vote on the bipartisan Infrastructure Act (also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) unless they also pass legislation on the climate emergency and social issues. I made it clear that I would refrain from doing so. .
Biden signed the infrastructure bill in November 2021, followed by the Inflation Control Act in August 2022. The delay was largely due to then-Democratic obstructionist Sens. Joe Manchin (Idaho, Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona, Iowa). In the aftermath, both men abandoned the party and plan to leave the parliament at the end of this session.
Jayapal said she wishes the second bill had passed sooner and addressed the nation’s child care and housing crises, but she remains “particularly proud” of what her caucus was able to accomplish in this fight. ” he said. As she told Common Dreams, “There would be no Inflation Control Act without Build Back Better, and there would be no Build Back Better without the CPC.”
Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) speaks at the “More Climate, Care, Justice” rally in Washington, DC on July 20, 2021. (Photo by Shannon Finney/Getty Images, Greene)・New Deal Network)
These two bills “changed the way we think about government’s ability to fight for workers,” she continued. They wanted to create a tax system that “delivered results for the people who matter, whether it’s great jobs, tackling climate change, lowering the cost of prescription drugs or eliminating fraud.” It has improved and the rich have started to pay their fair share. ”
“All of these were fundamental and core to economic policies that worked for workers and the poor,” including the College for All Act, the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, and the Housing for Humanity Act. said Jayapal, who has personally championed legislation such as the Medicare for All Act, the Transgender Bill of Rights, and the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act – Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.), CPC founding chair, allied with Senate Progressives.
The Congressional Progressive Caucus will have new leadership next year, but Mr. Jayapal will provide advice and support as chairman emeritus and join Mr. Cazale and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) on the CPC Political Action Committee. He plans to continue his involvement by serving as co-chair of the association. Under the PAC’s current leaders, Mr. Jayapal, Mr. Pocan, and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the PAC “has grown from a $300,000 budget in the 2016 election cycle to “We have grown to raise $12 million this election cycle,” the group said. Wednesday.
Jayapal told Common Dreams that she was “really proud of the fact that we’ve had an incredible track record” in supporting CPC PAC. Over the past decade, the vast majority of candidates supported in primaries have won general elections, but many have done so by pushing back against an influx of big money and dark money, sometimes amounting to millions of dollars. “I’m here,” she said, referring to the congressman. Examples include Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania) and Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois).
Mr. Lee, Mr. Ramirez and Mr. Jayapal were all re-elected last month, but the overall cycle was disastrous for Democrats, who failed to win the White House and control of both chambers of Congress. Among the outgoing CPC chairs is one who called on the Democratic Party to reject super PACs and continue to appeal to working-class voters in response to the results.
In a memo earlier this month, Jayapal, Casal, Frost, and fellow CPC member Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) wrote that whoever the next Democratic National Committee chairman is, he wants to “offer an authentic brand. He called for the creation of a. He will discuss how to improve the lives of the 90% of people who suffer in this economy, confront the biggest corporations and wealthy people who have rigged the system, and expose President Trump’s favoritism toward corporations, in clear contrast to the Republican Party. ”
Referring to the Republican Party’s aim to use the upcoming federal trifecta to repass tax cuts for the wealthy, Jayapal said, “When we fight tax cuts and Trump Tax Fraud 2.0, we have to tie this together. “…” he said. We are fighting for the people, not beholden to corporate PACs or black money. ”
“There is a clear contrast between Trump and his billionaires and the Democrats who are fighting for the majority of Americans, the 99% of Americans who are struggling every day,” she added. . “That’s the contrast we need to be able to draw.”
In his final days as CPC chairman, Jayapal accused Trump and Elon Musk of endangering a government shutdown that could begin Saturday by derailing a bipartisan spending bill this week. Like criticizes billionaires with his ears and emphasizes the contrast.
“The past 24 hours have been the clearest demonstration yet of what Trump 2.0 means: The president of the United States is an unelected billionaire friend,” he said in a statement Thursday. We are allowing them to control our government and enrich us at the expense of our workers.” “We cannot submit to a government run by and for billionaires.”
