Name: Rep. Pramila Jayapal Touts Progressive Caucus’s Growing Influence
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Rep. Pramila Jayapal Touts Progressive Caucus’s Growing Influence

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×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Even when we don't win every race, we believe it's really important to be recruiting, investing early and helping our progressive candidates in races across the country run strong races.”- Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)“Even when we don’t win every race, we believe it’s really important to be recruiting, investing early and helping our progressive candidates in races across the country run strong races,” Jayapal said.Due to retirements, Cabinet appointments, some losses and the departure of Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota from the caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) now has 93 members.Until a June 1 special election in New Mexico and the conclusion of Turner’s race in November, the CPC will have three fewer members than it had in the last Congress. But because the House Democratic Caucus as a whole lost 12 members, the CPC now makes up a bigger share of the Democratic delegation in the House.AdvertisementAfter adopting stricter membership criteria, Jayapal recalled, “people thought we were going to lose members ― no, we’re actually a larger percentage of the Democratic caucus.” If elected, Turner would replace Marcia Fudge, who vacated Ohio’s 11th Congressional District to serve as Biden’s secretary of housing and urban development. Since Fudge was a member of the CPC, a win for Turner would effectively just backfill the seat Fudge vacated on the left-leaning bloc. But accounting for Turner’s star power and ideological zeal would make her a significant addition. While Fudge was a mainstream liberal, Turner has developed a reputation as a boundary-pushing firebrand of the kind at home with the “Squad” of progressive women elected to Congress in 2018. As the CPC seeks to shape legislative outcomes, more dedicated members like Turner could serve as a nucleus of hardcore progressives willing to hold the line in negotiations with the larger House Democratic Caucus.AdvertisementThus far this year, the CPC feels as though it has been able to fight for its priorities through behind-the-scenes negotiation.“We work very early to get our things in. We decide our priorities early,” Jayapal said. “Then we push with the committees. Then we push with the speaker.”In the last Congress, the closest that the CPC came to a with Democratic leadership was over H.R. 3, a bill to lower prescription drug prices. The CPC threatened to withhold its vote for the bill if it did not empower the federal government to negotiate prices for a broader set of drugs. Leadership blinked and the progressives won.Health care policy is once again likely to become a point of conflict between House progressives and the Democratic Party brass, including President Biden.Jayapal is leading a calling on Biden to lower the Medicare eligibility age to 55. The Biden administration reportedly plans to introduce a spending bill that allots to shore up the Affordable Care Act’s exchange subsidies, but that does not expand Medicare.AdvertisementJayapal is also of progressive lawmakers calling on the Biden administration to waive the patents on U.S.-manufactured COVID-19 vaccines to allow developing countries to manufacture them locally. The Biden administration has to the request.But Jayapal suggested that a knock-down, drag-out fight is not coming. The CPC exhausts other options and carefully weighs the tradeoffs before it decides to withhold its support for a Democratic bill, according to the progressive leader. “Any group of a few people can have the effect of bringing down a bill,” she said. “And if it’s a very, very progressive bill but it doesn’t include one priority, it’s just always a tough call to make.” Suggest a correctionNewsletter Sign UpHuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox.Successfully Subscribed!Realness delivered to your inbox

×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“Even when we don't win every race, we believe it's really important to be recruiting, investing early and helping our progressive candidates in races across the country run strong races.”- Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)“Even when we don’t win every race, we believe it’s really important to be recruiting, investing early and helping our progressive candidates in races across the country run strong races,” Jayapal said.Due to retirements, Cabinet appointments,...

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Rep. Pramila Jayapal Touts Progressive Caucus’s Growing Influence

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