November 10, 2006, Washington, DC
PDA National Board Members Rep Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), anticipate adding at least seven new CPC Members in the 110th Congress. This would increase the size of the CPC to at least 71 Members, making it by far the largest and most diverse sub-group among all Democrats in the new 110th Congress to take office in January and an increase of 14 new House Members in just the past 18 months.
“ Some inside-the-Beltway commentators, columnists, and conservatives want the American people to believe that last Tuesday’s election results have especially empowered moderate-to-conservative elements within the House Democratic Caucus in the 110th Congress, but that is an incomplete picture of the new political landscape on Capitol Hill,” Congresswoman Lee noted, pointing out that the newly-expanded Congressional Progressive Caucus will be decidedly larger than either the ‘Blue Dog’ or ‘New Democratic” Coalitions.”
“We also anticipate that at least half of the incoming chairs of the House standing committees will be Progressive Caucus Members,” Congresswoman Woolsey underscored, “and we are so pleased that our friend and leader –soon-to-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi – belonged to the CPC before assuming leadership duties for all House Democrats. We will support Speaker Pelosi in the adoption of strong ethics reforms, the restoration of open, free-wheeling debate on the House floor that gives voice to the hopes and needs of all Americans, and the offering of a wide range of floor amendments to major bills.”
CPC Members stand to benefit from the degree to which the election results vindicated their leading edge work to change President Bush’s policy in Iraq. In addition to the CPC Co-Chairs, it was CPC Members like Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA, and founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus) who first warned against authorizing President Bush to use military force in Iraq and they were the first to speak out in January, 2005 to end the occupation of Iraq and to bring our troops home. “This election made crystal clear that a growing majority of Americans across the political spectrum agree with us,” the CPC Co-Chairs pointed out. “The American people want an end to the Iraq fiasco and it will be progressives who will be dogged in making that happen.”
Drawing upon their Progressive Promise agenda first unveiled in June, 2005, CPC Members are also expected to advocate: (1) for a different national security strategy that uses diplomacy and conflict mediation and beyond over-reliance upon using military force to protect U.S. national security and combat terrorism; (2) for reducing poverty and promoting economic fairness beyond raising the minimum wage; (3) for election reform beyond voter verifiable paper trails to ensuring the voting rights of all Americans and voluntary public financing; and (4) for energy independence beyond repealing tax breaks for oil and gas companies to curb reliance upon imported oil from the Middle East and reduce global warming.
http://pdamerica.org/articles/news/2006-11-10-08-07-52-news.php
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