WASHINGTON — Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued the following statement on the ongoing infrastructure negotiations:

“Progressives have been clear from the beginning: a small and narrow bipartisan infrastructure bill does not have a path forward in the House of Representatives unless it has a reconciliation package, with our priorities, alongside it.

“We look forward to seeing the progress made by the twenty Senators. But the votes of Congressional Progressive Caucus members are not guaranteed on any bipartisan package until we examine the details, and until the reconciliation bill is agreed to and passed with our priorities sufficiently funded. The investments we identified months ago are long-standing Democratic priorities, including affordable housing, Medicare expansion, strengthening the care economy, climate action, and a roadmap to citizenship.

“Our Caucus will continue to demand that Congress fulfill the mandate we were elected on: to deliver necessary, urgent, and transformational change for working families.”

WASHINGTON — Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Vice Chair of the House Antitrust Subcommittee, issued the following statement in response to an executive order from the Biden Administration to promote competition across several sectors of the American economy.

“President Biden promised to build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, and we’re thrilled to see that he is keeping that promise with what will be a truly transformational executive order.

“The decades-long consolidation of corporate power has only deepened income inequality, stifled small businesses, hurt competition and innovation, threatened the free press, allowed exorbitant prices in necessities like prescription drugs, and entrenched racial inequity in the economy. Today’s order will address these problems and more, with real, tangible results for consumers, small businesses and working people.

“We all know someone who has been affected by anti-competition practices: families who have had to drive to Canada just to buy insulin, travelers losing hundreds of dollars while airlines face no recourse, grandparents unable to participate in daily life because they can’t afford hearing aids, neighbors trapped by predatory banking practices. By unleashing the competition powers of the federal government and empowering everyday people, we can break the grip corporations have on our economy and put money in the pockets of the people who need it.

“Progressives inside and outside of Congress have been some of the loudest voices calling to rein in monopolistic practices and for a redistribution of corporate power. This executive order will go a long way toward restoring fairness in systems that have preyed on working people for far too long.”

WASHINGTON — Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, issued the following statement in response to developments in negotiations around an infrastructure package, including statements by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-12) that “[t]here ain’t no infrastructure bill without the reconciliation bill” passed by the Senate first that the House of Representatives would consider.

“For weeks, House progressives have been adamant that the White House and Congressional leadership cannot abandon the deep needs in American communities on climate action, housing, health care, childcare, immigration, and making billionaires and large corporations finally pay their fair share, for the sake of a bipartisan compromise. A recent poll of our 95-member Caucus showed overwhelming support for the House not passing a bipartisan infrastructure bill unless a larger reconciliation package containing our progressive priorities moved simultaneously.

“The stakes are too high in this moment, and progressives won’t let our chance to meet the needs of working families pass without a fight. We thank the Speaker for her work in these negotiations, and her commitment to guaranteeing that Congress will not only pass legislation to fix our roads and bridges, but also build back bold by enacting the transformational change that Democrats were elected to deliver for the people.” 

Ahead of Putin meeting, lawmakers — including the Chair of the House Armed Services Committee — tell Biden that they support his efforts to, “create a stable and predictable U.S.-Russia relationship in support of strategic stability in Europe and the world.”

WASHINGTON — CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) led more than a dozen lawmakers today in supporting President Joe Biden’s upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the United States works to restore diplomatic efforts on key areas of cooperation and conflict between the two countries. The members of Congress — which includes Chair of the House Armed Services Committee Adam Smith (WA-09) — identified specific areas of global importance including arms control to prevent a new nuclear arms race, addressing climate change, combating violent extremism, reducing cyber threats to national economies and infrastructure, and reducing global economic inequality. 

The lawmakers also urged President Biden to reverse his proposed expansion of nuclear weapons funding while working with Russia to avert a nuclear buildup around the world. Additionally, they called for Wednesday’s summit in Geneva to result in U.S. support of a path to a peaceful resolution of conflicts that have come dangerously close to triggering a wider war in areas such as eastern Ukraine.

“We believe that armed conflict between Russia and the United States would be a catastrophe for both countries, for Europe, our allies, and for the world,” said the lawmakers. “We support your efforts to create a stable and predictable U.S.-Russia relationship in support of strategic stability in Europe and the world….We urge you to follow up on this diplomatic engagement with Russia by reviewing and reversing the current proposed expansion of nuclear weapons funding.”

The lawmakers’ call to prioritize arms control comes at a moment when the U.S. and Russia combine to hold more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear warheads. President Biden has stated that, “the spread of nuclear weapons is the greatest threat facing the country and, I would argue, facing humanity.” He has also articulated a global vision that would “bring us closer to a world without nuclear weapons.”

The letter was signed by U.S. Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Donald S. Beyer Jr., André Carson, Jesús G. “Chuy” García, Raúl M. Grijalva, Sheila Jackson Lee, Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr., Mondaire Jones, Ro Khanna, Barbara Lee, James P. McGovern, Ilhan Omar, Jan Schakowsky, Adam Smith, and Juan Vargas.

The full text of the letter is available here. 

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The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is made up of nearly 100 members standing up for progressive ideals in Washington and throughout the country. Since 1991, the CPC has advocated for progressive policies that prioritize working Americans over corporate interests, fight economic and social inequality, and advance civil liberties. The CPC champions progressive policy solutions like comprehensive immigration reform, good-paying jobs, fair trade, universal health care, debt-free college, climate action, and a just foreign policy. The caucus has been the leading voice calling for bold and sweeping solutions to the urgent crises facing this nation, including ending America’s broken for-profit health care system, raising the minimum wage, eliminating political corruption, bolstering labor protections for working families, and taking swift action to stop the warming of our planet.