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Congressional Progressive Caucus Statement on Senate Parliamentarian Advisory Ruling on $15 Minimum Wage

February 25, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement on the Senate Parliamentarian’s ruling on the $15 minimum wage in the budget reconciliation package:

“I disagree strongly with the Senate Parliamentarian’s advisory ruling on the $15 minimum wage. As the recent CBO report showed, this provision would have a major budgetary impact and should be eligible for the budget reconciliation package. Let’s be clear: raising the minimum wage is COVID-19 relief.

“After more than 12 years since the last federal minimum wage increase to $7.25 an hour, we cannot allow the advisory opinion of the parliamentarian and Republican obstructionism stand in the way of the promise we made to voters across this country: that we would give 27 million workers a long-overdue pay raise and lift one million people out of poverty during this economic crisis. The current federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It keeps families trapped in poverty, erases the dignity of their work, and allows billionaires and big corporations to exploit workers. Workers need – and deserve – a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour.

“The White House and Senate leadership can and should still include the minimum wage increase in the bill. We simply cannot go back to the Black, Brown, AAPI, Indigenous, poor and working class voters who delivered us the White House and the Senate majority and tell them that an unelected parliamentarian advised us – based on arcane rules – that we could not raise the minimum wage as we promised.

“The ruling only makes it more clear than ever that the Senate must reform its archaic rules, including reforming the filibuster to allow populist and necessary policies like the $15 minimum wage to pass with a majority of the Senate.

“Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 continues to be a top priority for House progressives. We worked hard with Democratic leadership to ensure it stayed in our House relief package and we look forward to voting for a bold relief package in the coming days that raises the wage for 27 million people. We will continue working with our Senate allies and the Biden Administration to pursue every avenue available to us to deliver on our promise and guarantee a minimum wage for all workers of $15 an hour, not a cent less.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus Statement on Urgent Need to Cancel $50,000 in Student Loan Debt for Burdened Borrowers

February 17, 2021

Washington, D.C. -- Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement calling on President Biden to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for burdened borrowers:

“45 million Americans are stuck in the student debt trap – saddled with more than $1.6 trillion in debt that prevents them from pursuing their dreams, starting families, and investing in our communities. People of color are disproportionately burdened by student loan debt, creating a vicious cycle for Black and Brown borrowers and widening the racial wealth gap.

“As part of our People’s Agenda, the Progressive Caucus identified the cancellation of $50,000 in student debt as one of our top priorities for this year. Cancelling student loan debt is not only widely supported by the American people, it’s also an economic justice and racial justice issue. It would be a boon for our economy and provide a lifeline to millions of people who were swamped with insurmountable student loan debt long before this public health and economic crisis made things even worse. This policy is popular, populist, and beneficial to our economy and working class families. This crisis affects all communities – seniors account for the fastest growing demographic of student loan holders and one in five people paying off a student loan is over the age of 50. We are glad to hear that the Biden Administration has directed the Justice Department to review his authority over student debt cancellation. We believe that President Biden's legal advisors will agree that he retains the broad authority utilized by President Obama and President Trump to freeze and forgive federal loan debt. He should take this opportunity to immediately cancel $50,000 in student loan debt for borrowers across America and provide millions with this desperately needed relief.”

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Applauds Nomination of Julie Su for Deputy United States Secretary of Labor

February 11, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement applauding President Biden’s decision to nominate Julie Su to serve as Deputy Secretary of Labor:

“President Biden has made an excellent decision in nominating a progressive champion for workers’ rights to be the Deputy Secretary of Labor. From her time fighting for full civil rights as the Litigation Director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles to her dedicated public service on behalf of workers as California Labor Commissioner and then the state’s Labor Secretary, Julie Su has spent years powerfully advocating for working people, families, and a more equitable economy. I am excited to see President Biden nominate such a brilliant, talented, experienced, and progressive leader as he recognizes the wealth of contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and continues to build an administration that reflects the diversity of America.

“We know that Julie will ensure that the voices of working people are always at the table as the Department of Labor and the entire Biden Administration leads our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. That’s why the Congressional Progressive Caucus proudly worked over the last two months to urge President Biden and his administration to nominate Julie and ensure that she could contribute her exemplary service to working people across America at a pivotal moment for our nation.

“We look forward to partnering closely with Julie as we work to provide COVID-19 relief that meets the scale of the crisis, put people back to work, and give workers more power. Continuing the critical progress that Julie made in California, we will protect essential workers, expand collective bargaining and the right to unionize, and build a strong families infrastructure package by investing in the caregiving economy. We also look forward to working with Julie to support small and minority-owned businesses by providing direct assistance in the form of grants to keep people on payroll and rehire workers. Together, we must ensure that no worker, family, or small business is left behind as America recovers.”

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Secures Inclusion of $15 Minimum Wage in Pandemic Relief Package

February 8, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement after working with Education & Labor Chairman Bobby Scott and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to secure the inclusion of a $15 minimum wage in the House of Representatives’ pandemic relief reconciliation package:

“In the midst of a deadly pandemic, millions of American workers are risking their lives for poverty wages that haven’t been raised in over a decade. It’s long past time for Congress to right this wrong and enact a minimum wage that allows families to live with dignity.

“The Progressive Caucus has long identified the inclusion of a $15 minimum wage as a top priority for this pandemic relief package. Today, we’re pleased to announce that, after working with Democratic leadership, we have secured the inclusion of this critical provision in the budget reconciliation package to raise wages for an estimated 27 million low-wage workers and lift nearly 1 million people out of poverty. The CPC thanks Chairman Scott, Speaker Pelosi, and Senator Sanders for working diligently with us to get this done. In the richest nation on Earth, there’s no excuse to pay workers a poverty wage – every job has dignity and every worker deserves a livable wage.”

The Progressive Caucus was the first caucus to support a $15 minimum wage, with the introduction of the Pay Workers A Living Wage Act in 2015.

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Applauds “Long Overdue” End to U.S. Role in the War in Yemen

February 4, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement on the announcement from the Biden Administration that the U.S. will end its involvement in the conflict in Yemen, a long-standing priority for the Congressional Progressive Caucus:

“President Biden’s decision to end U.S. participation in the brutal war in Yemen is a long overdue step towards peace. The Progressive Caucus has spent the last several years calling for an end to our involvement in this humanitarian atrocity, as the Yemeni people have endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of the Saudi-Emirati coalition. Last Congress, the Progressive Caucus fought for and was successful in passing a bipartisan Yemen War Powers Resolution in both chambers of Congress, which was later vetoed by President Trump despite the objections of national security experts, human rights organizations, and members of both parties.

“We applaud President Biden for listening to the consensus from the national security and human rights communities and ending U.S. support for these atrocities. But far more must still be done to address the human suffering in the region. The United States is partially responsible for the fact that 80 percent of the Yemeni population requires humanitarian aid. As we end our role in this conflict, we must redouble our efforts to facilitate peace in the region and provide the humanitarian aid that is so desperately needed. The Progressive Caucus will continue to champion robust investments in diplomacy while fighting to cut the bloated, ever-increasing Pentagon budget that fuels endless wars.”

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Applauds Passage of Budget Resolution to Urgently Address the Pandemic and Rescue the Economy

February 4, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement on the passage of H. Con. Res. 11, the FY 2021 Budget Resolution to expedite pandemic relief for millions of Americans:

“This is a moment for urgency and action. This week, House Democrats took the first critical step towards passing an ambitious and aggressive COVID-19 relief bill that will rescue our economy, prevent mass suffering, and help families and communities weather this crisis.

“We know the enormity of the challenges we face, which is why the Progressive Caucus has consistently — from the beginning of the pandemic — called for bold and expansive legislation that meets the scale of this crisis. The budget resolution passed last night is a strong framework and we look forward to passing a robust relief bill that ends this pandemic and keeps families afloat. We cannot afford a repeat of the jobless recovery from the Great Recession which cost millions of people – disproportionately low-income families and people of color – their homes, livelihoods and savings.

“As we move forward, the Progressive Caucus has identified five priorities to strengthen the proposed pandemic relief package. First, it is essential that this package increases the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Our current minimum wage is an abhorrent, immoral poverty wage – and it’s particularly shameful that frontline workers are being asked to risk their lives in a pandemic while being denied a decent, livable wage. Second, we support expanding access to health care by automatically enrolling the unemployed, uninsured, and their dependents in public plans like Medicare and Medicaid. Third, given the enormous toll this pandemic has taken on our states, municipalities, tribes, and territories, which are on the frontlines in combating this pandemic and vaccinating the public, we also support increasing aid to those governments. Fourth, we want to ensure that our relief is inclusive of and open to all communities, regardless of immigration status. Lastly, we strongly support robust payments to families to keep them afloat for the duration of the pandemic, both in the form of survival checks as well as through the child tax credit proposal which would cut child poverty in half.

“We look forward to working with House leadership and our allies in the Senate and the White House to pass this urgently-needed relief bill, rescue our economy, and fulfill our promise to the American people.”

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Progressive Caucus Leaders Reiterate Urgent Need for an Ambitious Pandemic Relief Package of at Least $1.9 Trillion

January 27, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Executive Board of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, led by Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Deputy Chair Katie Porter (CA-45), sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer reiterating the strong progressive support for a urgent and ambitious pandemic relief package of no less than $1.9 trillion.

“With the economy in crisis, rock-bottom interest rates, and no sign of inflation, the economic consensus is clear: the best hope for the economy is a massive public investment to create jobs, raise wages, and keep people out of poverty,” the letter notes. “If we aim too low, the financial consequences will be catastrophic, long-lasting, and borne by the American families who can least afford it.”

“President Biden’s rescue package, which comes in at $1.9 trillion, is a critical first step meeting the economic need, but if anything, it doesn’t go far enough. Congress should be building off of this opening offer, not weakening it. Given the clear economic consensus and urgent need for government spending, we are deeply concerned that lawmakers – including a handful in our own party – are advocating to scale back the President’s rescue package,” the letter continues. “Deficit-financed investments, especially those targeted toward poor, working-class, and middle-class communities, will drive broad-based economic growth. Manufactured concerns about the debt will only get in the way of urgently-needed action and delay relief for millions of families.”

The letter was signed by 25 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Executive Board. The full letter is available here.

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Applauds Executive Actions on Pandemic Economic Relief, Including Food Assistance, Enhanced Labor Protections, and Pay Raises for Federal Contractors

January 23, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement applauding President Joe Biden’s executive actions to provide economic relief for families, including expanding food access for hungry children and families, ensuring survival checks reach the American people, restoring and expanding labor protections for workers, and beginning the process to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors:

“The pandemic has unleashed a level of financial distress across the country unseen since the Great Depression. An estimated one in four children are food insecure and nearly a million Americans are still losing their jobs each week. The executive actions signed by President Biden are a critical and long-overdue step to help families weather this financial crisis, keep food on the table, and survive the pandemic.

“The expansion of SNAP and other nutrition programs will help millions of people feed their families. We also applaud President Biden’s efforts to ensure low-income families can access their survival checks and expand labor protections so workers aren’t forced into taking unsafe jobs and putting themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19.

“Since 2014, the Progressive Caucus has led the charge to make the federal government a model employer by raising the poverty minimum wage for federal contractors and expanding paid family and sick leave. We have also been champions in pushing for a $15 federal minimum wage — taking the movement started by fast-food workers who helped make Seattle became the first major city in the country to pass a $15 minimum wage all the way to Congress with the Raise the Wage Act. In the coming weeks, building on President Biden’s critically important executive order to raise the wage for federal employees and contractors, I will join my colleagues in the House and Senate to re-introduce the Raise the Wage Act to lift the wages of millions of workers across the country.

“As we work to pass an ambitious and transformative pandemic relief package, these executive actions will help workers and families get by in the midst of this crisis. But ultimately, we must do more to help families thrive – not just survive this pandemic.”

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Applauds President Biden’s Day One Executive Actions

January 20, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement on the Day One Executive Actions signed by President Joe Biden:

“For four years, Donald Trump wreaked havoc on our nation, governing with lawlessness, cruelty, and chaos. Today, we turned a new page with the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – restoring decency, empathy, and justice to the White House.

“But much work remains to undo the damage of the last four years. We are pleased to see that President Biden is wasting no time in undoing many of the worst policies of the Trump Administration – including ending the Muslim Ban, restoring DACA for Dreamers, reinstating a fair census count, beginning to reverse cruel immigration policies that separated families, advancing racial equity within the federal workforce, and rejoining the Paris Accords – and pro-actively providing relief for the American people during this pandemic.

“As we mark the tragic milestone of 400,000 American lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden Administration is acting with urgency to expand public health and financial relief measures. We applaud the extension of the eviction, foreclosure and student loans moratoriums, the institution of a 100 day mask mandate, and the rejoining of the World Health Organization, and are ready to work with President Biden, Vice President Harris, and our Senate partners to build on these measures with the swift passage of a comprehensive and bold relief package that meets the scale of this crisis.

“This is a promising start, and we look forward to working with President Biden to build on these executive actions and pass transformative legislation through Congress. We have no time to waste.”

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Congressional Progressive Caucus Releases 116th Congress in Review Report

January 19, 2021

Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs for the 116th Congress, Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and Representative Mark Pocan (WI-02), released a report detailing the CPC’s accomplishments from the past two years.

The Progressive Caucus 116th Congress in Review report identifies the major legislative, communications, and procedural victories for the Progressive Caucus over the past two years and opens with a letter from the CPC Co-Chairs.

“The Progressive Caucus has spent the last two years fighting for policies that restore power to the hands of the people. We became the first Caucus to endorse impeaching this lawless President, advocated for low-wage workers during and in the wake of the longest-ever government shutdown, fought for sweeping policies to protect families and workers in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and demanded transformative and structural reforms to our criminal justice system and federal institutions as part of the long-overdue reckoning on racial justice,” write Representatives Jayapal and Pocan. “We have also looked inward to improve our functioning as a caucus and ensure we are a nimble and member-driven organization prepared to leverage power as we welcome President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to the White House.”

Read the full report here.

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