- Socialist wing of the Democratic Party
- Consists of 76 Members of Congress
- Has close ties to the Institute for Policy Studies and the Democratic Socialists of America
- Has ties to the Communist Party USA
Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) was founded in 1991 by Bernie Sanders, a self-identified socialist who had recently been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Sanders' CPC co-founders included House members Ron Dellums, Lane Evans, Thomas Andrews, Peter DeFazio, and Maxine Waters. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) was also involved in CPC's founding and in Caucus activities thereafter; IPS continues to advise CPC on various matters to this day.
Another key player in establishing CPC was the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has maintained a close alliance with the Caucus ever since. In 1997, DSA's political director, Chris Riddiough, organized a meeting with CPC leaders to discuss how the two groups might be able to “unite our forces on a common agenda.” Among those who participated in the meeting were Bernie Sanders, labor leader Richard Trumka, professor Noam Chomsky, feminist Patricia Ireland, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Senator Paul Wellstone, journalist William Greider, and the socialist author Barbara Ehrenreich.
Beginning in 1997, CPC worked closely with the newly launched “Progressive Challenge, a coalition of more than 100 leftist organizations that sought to unite their activities and objectives under a "multi-issue progressive agenda." To view a list of many of the major groups that co-sponsored the Progressive Challenge, click here.
On November 11, 1999, CPC drafted a vital Position Paper on economic inequality, which called for “legislative initiatives” to combat the “income and wealth disparities” that “distor[t] our democracy, destabiliz[e] the economy, and erod[e] our social and cultural fabric.” Lamenting that “two and a half decades of government policies and rules governing the economy” had been “tilted in favor of large asset owners at the expense of wage earners,” the document derided the “pro-investor bias” of America's existing “tax policy, trade policy, monetary policy, [and] government regulations.”
In 2005 CPC spelled out its political agendas in what would become its signature document, the “Progressive Promise.” Therein, the Caucus emphasizes its commitment to four major priorities: Economic Justice and Security; Civil Rights and Civil Liberties; Global Peace and Security; and Environmental Protection & Energy Independence. Under the rubric of these items fall a number of additional key CPC objectives, such as these:
- "To uphold the right to universal access to affordable, high-quality healthcare for all."
- "To … create new jobs in the U.S. by building more affordable housing, re-building America’s schools and physical infrastructure, cleaning up our environment, and improving homeland security."
- "To ensure [that] working families can live above the poverty line and with dignity by raising and indexing the minimum wage."
- "To sunset expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and bring remaining provisions into line with the U.S. Constitution."
- "To fight corporate consolidation of the media and ensure opportunity for all voices to be heard"—essentially a plan for purging conservative voices from the airwaves by means of the "Fairness Doctrine" or adherence to the principles of “localism.”
- "To bring U. S. troops home from Iraq as soon as possible."
- "To encourage debt relief for poor countries" as outlined in the United Nations Millennium Project, a massive redistributive scheme calling for the governments of wealthy countries to commit 0.7% of their GNP to promoting “the economic development and welfare of developing countries.”
- "To free ourselves and our economy from dependence upon imported oil and shift to growing reliance upon renewable energy supplies and technologies."
- To “eliminate [the] environmental threat posed by global warming,” an objective that may be accomplished by increased emphasis on “solar, biomass, and wind power.”
- "To promote environmental justice," a term founded on the premise that hazardous-waste landfills and pollution-emitting industries tend to be situated disproportionately near minority neighborhoods.
A 2002 report by Joelle Fishman, chair of the Communist Party USA's Political Action Committee, stated that the Progressive Caucus “provides an important lever that can be used to advance workers' issues and move the debate to the left in every Congressional District in the country.” In a 2010 CPUSA report, Party member David Bell identified Progressive Caucus members as his organization's “allies in Congress.”
As of March 2015, CPC consisted of 68 members of the House of Representatives—all of them leftist Democrats—and one U.S. Senator (Bernie Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats).
For a comprehensive list of all 69 CPC members, click here.
For a list of noteworthy former members who left the Caucus prior to April 2011, click here.
For additional information on CPC, click here.
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