Chairing the Congressional Progressive Caucus during a Republican trifecta is an unenviable position, but Rep. Greg Casar, a first-term Texas native, sought it without facing any opposition in his bid to lead the group in the 119th Congress.
Although Republicans hold only a slim majority in the House of Representatives, the charismatic 35-year-old, who represents a district that includes parts of San Antonio and Austin, plans to take a patient approach to policy over the next two years. He is betting that the legislation of newly elected President Donald Trump and the Republicans will fail, causing voters to reward the Democrats in the coming elections.
“Trump won’t be able to help himself,” Casar said The shipping. “He’s going to try to pass another tax break for billionaires. He’s going to betray the working people he said he would be there for. And so I think this is a real opportunity for progressives to show that Republicans are just total frauds when it comes to working people’s issues. And I think this will give us the opportunity to retake the House by huge margins and then put forward a truly progressive economic vision for the country.”
At a time when many pundits and elected officials are calling on Democrats to move to the center in the wake of a poor showing last month that saw Republicans gain control of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House, Casar and the other new leaders of the Progressive Caucus — Vice Chair Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Whip Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois — are doubling down on their ideals. But the chances of any of their legislative priorities gaining traction are slim. None of the three passed any bills during the 118th Congress, when the Republican Party controlled only the House of Representatives, and they make no promises to engage in the maneuvering and negotiating necessary to pass legislation in the new Congress to press.
Casar said he would be willing to vote for “good ideas” from Republicans and noted that the Progressive Caucus has previously worked across the aisle on issues such as “privacy legislation and trying to clamp down on unauthorized surveillance at the FBI.” block’. But he was not optimistic that Republican leaders would advance such bills or others he approved.
“Mike Johnson and Donald Trump and his co-president, Elon Musk, don’t seem very interested in pro-working class policies,” said Casar, who replaces Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington as caucus leader. “Their first priority sounds like a tax break for billionaires, so I’m not hoping they’ll have any ideas other than terrible, stupid, and petty ideas.”
Trump and his party plan to roll back some of the legislation President Joe Biden signed into law that progressives love, including some provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. Omar, Casar’s deputy, said maintaining the Biden administration’s performance is a possibility because of the small advantage Republicans have in the House of Representatives.
“Our priorities also include keeping the progress we’ve made intact, and we know there will be a path forward for that, as their majority is extremely small, so we just have to hold the line and make sure our caucus is united. ,” said Omar, who served as caucus whip in the 117th Congress and will begin her second term as deputy speaker. The shipping. She also pointed out that progressives included provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue Plan during Biden’s term, saying that “there may be opportunities for us to put some of our priorities in any major bills that come through .”
Garcia, the newcomer, sounded the most hopeful that progressives would be able to establish their priorities under Republican hegemony.
“We believe that our core values and the agenda we advance – the proposals within them – are wildly popular across partisan divides, so we’re going to fight hard to make sure people are aware of them, ” he said. “And therein lies the hope and confidence that we can pass legislation that benefits the working class across the country, on both sides of the aisle.”
In the ongoing debate over the factors that led Democrats to lose ground among virtually every demographic group in the 2024 elections, caucus leadership firmly believes that a more centrist positioning is not the answer. On the contrary, Casar says his party has not moved sufficiently to the left.
“If the Democratic Party were a little more like Chairman Jayapal and a little less like [West Virginia Sen.] Joe Manchin, I think we would have won this election,” he said at a news conference introducing the caucus’ new leadership. “I think we would have won this election because I hear expert after expert talking about how the Democratic Party should focus more on wages, housing and child care. Well, guess what? It was the Progressive Caucus that – sometimes despite opposition from our own party – raised wages, housing and child care.”
Casar also responded progressively to Republicans’ most effective attacks on Democrats last cycle.
“The Progressive Caucus says clearly: It was not a trans person who denied your health insurance claim. It was a giant health insurer that was no longer regulated by the Republican majority,” he said during the December 5 press conference. “It wasn’t an asylum seeker who increased your rent. It was a Wall Street hedge fund that did that, just like the Wall Street hedge fund CEOs that Trump is trying to fill his cabinet with.”
In addition to problems at the kitchen table, Garcia identified another factor contributing to Democrats’ losses: Biden quit the campaign in July, suddenly making way for Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I think there were several circumstances that determined the outcome, including the president’s very late exit from the vote, and that made it very difficult for Harris to perform better,” he said. The shipping.
Many are familiar with the House of Representatives “Squad,” nicknamed Omar and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley, which was adopted in 2019 to define a new generation of progressive members, and expanded in the subsequent elections. However, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which the aforementioned congresswomen are all members, predates that group. Then-Rep. Bernie Sanders and Representative Maxine Waters founded it in 1991. Today it has about 100 members of the House of Representatives, who typically represent deep blue districts, as well as Sanders, the caucus’ only senator.
It remains to be seen how much influence the caucus will have in the Democratic Party under Casar’s leadership, but House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated that they – and basically every other group in the party – would be listened to.
“I have great respect for the members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the New Dems, the Blue Dogs, the Problem Solvers, Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Asian and Pacific Islander Caucus, the Equality Caucus and the Women’s Caucus. Jeffries said at a news conference last week. “We, as House Democrats, authentically and most accurately represent the hopes, dreams, aspirations, fears, concerns, concerns, life experiences, and passions of the American people, consistent with what the House framers have designed. in our democracy. And I expect that everyone’s involvement will remain important. And my view of the House Democratic Caucus has been: Everyone Matters.”
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