Press Releases

WASHINGTON — Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) issued the following statement applauding the newly released results of drug price negotiations between Medicare and pharmaceutical companies, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act:

“Progressives in Congress and the Biden-Harris administration share a fundamental belief: health care is a human right, and no American should go broke or get sick because they can’t afford proper treatment. Two years ago, we took historic action towards that goal by taking on Big Pharma and passing the Inflation Reduction Act, landmark legislation that authorized the government to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of working people. Today, the transformative impact of that deal—and the hard work progressives did to make it happen—is becoming clear.

“Thanks to the IRA, the new prices negotiated by Medicare will save millions of seniors and other beneficiaries $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year of the program alone - while saving taxpayers $6 billion. Thanks to a newly empowered Medicare, after two decades of overpaying for the basic medicine that people need to treat common ailments like diabetes, blood clots, and arthritis, these savings will provide critical relief to people’s loved ones and family members.

“Years of progressive advocacy have led to this win, from demanding the House pass a bold drug pricing negotiation bill in the 116th Congress to holding the line during reconciliation negotiations in the 117th. But we’re just getting started. Our Caucus will continue standing up to corporate interests to lower health care costs, allow for the negotiation of every prescription drug, and ensure that in the richest nation in the world, all people have access to quality health care.”

WASHINGTON — Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) issued the below statement following the markup of the FY25 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act by the Senate Appropriations Committee:

“We are pleased to see that the Senate appropriations committee reported legislation today restoring the intent of the bipartisan Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act, legislation passed by Congress in 2022 to help support the critical mission of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. Today’s bill rejects a bad faith attempt by House Republicans to kneecap the capacity of the Antitrust Division and corrects language included in last year’s bill that made it more difficult for the federal government to combat the harmful effects of monopolies and concentration of industry. We thank Senators Shaheen and Murray and the Department of Justice for working to protect open, fair, and competitive markets, which will benefit American consumers and small businesses.

“We strongly encourage negotiators to ensure that this language becomes law and reject Republican attempts to modify the text. This fix is crucial to ensure that the Antitrust Division can continue its important work to lower prices and protect working families.”

Last year’s version of the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) legislation undermined the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act by setting a cap on appropriations to the Antitrust Division at $233 million for FY2024, regardless of fees collected. In a March letter led by Representative Jerry Nadler and Senator Amy Klobuchar, progressives called on appropriations leadership to correct the language and allow the Antitrust Division to retain the increase in merger filing fees.

Since 1989, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has been partially funded through merger filing fees. In December 2022, Congress enacted the bipartisan Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act to update the funding formula for premerger filing fees as part of the year-end government funding package. This legislation lowered fees on smaller acquisitions and increased them for the largest mergers, raising additional revenue to strengthen enforcement of antitrust laws. 

WASHINGTON — Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) and 53 of her CPC colleagues wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson welcoming a debate and vote on H.J. Res. 122. This Republican-led legislation would invalidate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) recently finalized Credit Card Penalty Fees Rule (Regulation Z), which lowers most late fees charged by big banks issuing credit cards from $32 to $8, just a quarter of the original penalty. 

“We look forward to this opportunity to highlight the Republican Majority’s enthusiastic support for junk fees, including exorbitant credit card fees,” the lawmakers wrote. “We think it is critical that the American people understand the House Republican Conference’s firm and dedicated commitment to protecting the business model of unfettered, predatory fines imposed by large corporate banks against ordinary Americans.” 

“We look forward to a promptly scheduled vote that allows every House Republican to go on the record opposing an initiative that will rein in a loophole exploited by corporate giants to boost their profits at the expense of American households,” the Members added. “We are unsurprised that House Republicans uniformly insist on defending large corporate banks’ current practice of overcharging Americans with credit-card late fees and welcome the opportunity to highlight the contrast in our priorities on the House floor this summer.” 

The CFPB estimates that the largest issuers earn about five times more from late fees than it costs them to collect those fees. Ending this practice through the rule, which requires large companies to prove that fees higher than $8 are necessary to cover their actual collection costs, will save Americans $10 billion annually, averaging $220 a year in savings for over 45 million people.

The lawmakers concluded by noting that “the Congressional Progressive Caucus has strongly supported the Biden Administration’s laser focus on lowering costs for ordinary Americans, providing financial breathing room for working families, and creating an open and even playing field in which companies must compete with each other to provide working people with better products, services, and wages. We are proud to partner with the Administration to address priorities in our CPC Executive Action Agenda to attack junk fees across American industries like banking, where corporate bad actors have gotten away with business models that maximize profits through unfair penalties, fee harvesting, and bait-and-switch tactics, preying on financially vulnerable and less-educated customers in particular.”  

The letter was signed by CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Deputy Chair Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Whip Greg Casar (TX-35), Alma Adams (NC-12), Becca Balint (VT-01), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Cori Bush (MO-01), André Carson (IN-07), Troy Carter (LA-02), Matt Cartwright (PA-08), Judy Chu (CA-28), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Christopher Deluzio (PA-17), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Debbie Dingell (MI-06), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Dwight Evans (PA-03), Valerie Foushee (NC-04), Maxwell Frost (FL-10), Jesús ‘Chuy’ García (IL-04), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07), Jonathan Jackson (IL-01), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (GA-04), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Barbara Lee (CA-12), Summer L. Lee (PA-12), Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), Ted Lieu (CA-36), Morgan McGarvey (KY-19), James P. McGovern (MA-02), Grace Meng (NY-06), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Katie Porter (CA-47), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), Janice D. Schakowsky (IL-09), Brad Sherman (CA-32), Mark Takano (CA-41), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and Nikema Williams (GA-05).

WASHINGTON — Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s rulings in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce: 

“Today’s decision by an extremist Supreme Court eviscerates four decades of legal precedent that protects Americans’ rights to clean air and water, safe workplaces, and healthcare by preventing  the dedicated civil-servant experts who staff our federal agencies from implementing the laws enacted by Congress. This dangerous ruling overturns a unanimous Supreme Court determination, known as Chevron deference, that recognizes that judges are not policy experts and that it is entirely appropriate for knowledgeable regulatory agencies to respond effectively to protect Americans. 

“That is why Congress must immediately pass my Stop Corporate Capture Act, the only bill that codifies Chevron deference, strengthens the federal-agency rulemaking process, and ensures that rulemaking is guided by the public interest–not what’s good for wealthy corporations. 

“Today’s ruling creates massive uncertainty around the ability of the Executive Branch to fulfill its constitutional obligation to enforce our laws and casts doubt on the protections Americans depend on for a safe environment, financial markets, food products, prescription drugs, enforcement of our civil rights, and much more. It empowers the very same Supreme Court that struck down abortion rights to make far-reaching policy decisions. 

“Make no mistake: this is the outcome of a multi-decade crusade by big business and rightwing extremists to gut federal agencies tasked with protecting Americans’ health and safety to instead benefit corporations aiming to dismantle regulations and boost their profits. 

“In addition to passing my bill to codify Chevron deference, we must also enact sweeping oversight measures to rein in corruption and billionaire influence at the Supreme Court, whose far-right extremist majority routinely flouts basic ethics, throws out precedent, and legislates from the bench to benefit the wealthiest and most powerful.”