House progressives see their new agenda as blueprint for even more presidential action

“The list that we have arrived at is not just a messaging exercise,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal said of the group’s new proposals.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal and members of the House Progressive Caucus at a press conference outside the US Capitol in 2022. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

House Democrats may be in the majority but its 100-plus members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus don’t see that as a reason its movement can’t still persuade President Joe Biden to advance its priorities with his executive authority.

The CPC last Thursday released its 2023 slate of proposals it says that if enacted would lower the cost of living, expand worker power, make travel safer, level the economic playing field and make health care more accessible.

Pramila Jayapal, the CPC’s chairwoman, told Supercreator in an interview the day before the agenda was released that she views it as the group’s only vehicle to make meaningful change in a divided government where Republicans control the House and Democrats control the Senate and White House.

“And so I think that that’s why it takes on even more importance because we’re probably not going to be able to pass the rest of Build Back Better,” she said of the legislation that House Democrats passed last Congress to invest historic federal resources in social and environmental programs since the 1930s. “So we need to do something to address these critical issues for the American people.”