mobanmarketRecognizing that merely having a slate of progressive champions on key congressional committees will not be enough if their voices are drowned out by Wall Street Democrats, a coalition of grassroots organizations on Thursday sent a letter calling on presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to significantly limit the number of committee seats given to “members of Congress who have records of working in the service of the corporations.”
“The agenda of the Problem Solvers Caucus is to thwart the will of the Democratic voters who elected the new majority to enact a strong progressive agenda centered on the needs of regular Americans rather than the wealthy and powerful.”
—Progressive coalition letter
Signed by 19 progressive groups representing millions of Americans, the letter (pdf) specifically calls out Democratic members of the so-called “Problem Solvers Caucus,” a bipartisan group of lawmakers backed by the corporate-funded organization No Labels.
“Recent media reports have underlined and made public that the agenda of the Problem Solvers Caucus is to thwart the will of the Democratic voters who elected the new majority to enact a strong progressive agenda centered on the needs of regular Americans rather than the wealthy and powerful,” the progressive coalition’s letter reads. “Inclusion on key committees or subcommittee leadership positions for Problem Solvers Caucus members and other corporate-aligned members would jeopardize the progress the new Democratic majority in the 116th Congress can make on behalf of the American people.”
View a list of Problem Solvers Caucus members here.
“We urge you to limit the seats on the key committees—Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Intelligence, and Ways and Means—as well as subcommittee chairmanships from members of the Problems Solvers Caucus, and other corporate-aligned members of Congress, in order to ensure that the 116th Congress delivers for working people and their families and not Wall Street, monopolistic mega businesses, corporate polluters, or self-interested billionaires,” the letter continues.
The coalition’s demand comes as grassroots advocacy groups are also urgently pressuring Pelosi to give powerful committee seats to lawmakers like Reps.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who are committed to advancing Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and other progressive priorities.
As The Intercept first reported earlier this month, Ocasio-Cortez is taking on self-described fiscal conservative and Problem Solvers Caucus vice chair Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) for a seat on the Ways and Means Committee, the House’s key tax-writing panel.
“As the Democratic Party’s base and Americans more generally recognize the importance of instituting programs like Medicare for All and ensuring full employment, reactionary Democrats—frequently aligned with groups like the Problem Solvers Caucus—are holding the party and country back,” said David Segal of Demand Progress, one of the groups behind the letter to Pelosi. “We need leadership to put progressives on key committees so they can fight for economic prosperity for everybody, not just corporations and those who are already wealthy.”
Read the full letter and its signatories: