Press Releases

WASHINGTON-Today, Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) sent a letter to President Obama urging him to sign a Model Employer Executive Order to reward good federal contractors and guarantee workers’ rights to collectively bargain. The text of the letter is below and a signed version can be found here.

Dear Mr. President:

Thank you for showing your commitment to working families by issuing executive orders that ensure a minimum wage and workplace protections for hundreds of thousands of Americans working under federal contracts. We now ask you to issue a new executive order in defense of these hard-working Americans: a Model Employer Executive Order that gives an incentive for corporations to provide good middle class jobs. 

Holding corporations who receive taxpayer money to a minimum standard, as you did with the first two executive orders, is a logical first step. We must also reward those who go above and beyond. A Model Employer Executive Order would give preference for federal contracts to those companies that do more than just the legal minimum by providing living wages, paid leave, and covering health care for their workers.  It would also require contractors to respect their employees’ right to collectively bargain. 

The potential impact for working families is substantial. According to a report by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the U.S. Senate, “companies that receive government contracts employ an estimated 22 percent of the American workforce, approximately 26 million workers.” The National Employment Law Project interviewed over 500 federal government contract workers and found that 74 percent do not have sick leave, 89 percent do not have health insurance through their employer, and 58 percent receive no benefits at all.  The right to collective bargaining, which is the most effective way workers can fight for these basic benefits, has been under attack. 

The corporations that are doing their part to correct the causes of economic inequality should have a competitive advantage when pursuing government contracts.  Instead, they are currently undercut by corporations who only pay the legal minimum and take away workers’ seat at the table.  A Model Employer Executive Order would give a competitive advantage to corporations that treat workers well.  The Congressional Progressive Caucus stands ready to work with you to finish the job of making sure taxpayer dollars are not funding the low wage economy.

The CPC previously sent letters to the President asking him to sign a Good Jobs Executive Order and to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers. 

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WASHINGTON-Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) released the following statement after President Obama announced a new agreement with China to reduce carbon emissions.

“We applaud President Obama for negotiating an historic agreement with China to reduce carbon emissions in the coming decades. The United States and China are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, which makes the agreement announced today a vital step towards limiting the worst effects of climate change. It sets the stage for a larger deal that we hope will set emission targets needed to keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees. We urge Congress to follow President Obama’s lead and take concrete action to combat climate change now.”

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WASHINGTON – Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) released the following statement today after the close of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit where American negotiators continued pushing to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

“Free trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership must be negotiated in the open with Congressional oversight and input from the working people most affected by the policies at stake. Secret negotiations are not the way to cut a deal that will cost American jobs and slash wages.

“The APEC summit ended today without a final deal agreed upon, which is yet another self-imposed deadline negotiators missed. The reason is simple: the Trans-Pacific Partnership is far from the ‘21^st-century trade agreement’ it’s been called—it amounts to a corporate handout at the expense of workers in all negotiating nations. We urge American negotiators to fight for the best interest of working families—not the world’s richest corporations.

“We stand with the hard working people fighting the Trans-Pacific Partnership and demand the public be told what’s happening behind closed doors.”

WASHINGTON—Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) Co-Chairs Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) released the following statement today after the Supreme Court declined to review lower-court rulings on marriage equality in Virginia, Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana and Wisconsin.

“The Supreme Court’s decision to deny appeals from states that want to prohibit same-sex marriage makes our nation one where gay and lesbian couples have a right to the pursuit of happiness and that’s cause for celebration. In thirty states and the District of Columbia, you will soon be able to marry who you love—period. If we get organized and fight together, equality will always beat discrimination.

“In the coming days at state capitols, city halls, court houses and chapels all around the nation, committed couples will promise to be legally bound together for the first time. We share their joy and wish them luck, yet stand in solidarity with the countless Americans who continue to wonder when the freedom to marry will reign in their communities. The fight for equality isn’t done until all Americans can marry who they love in their home state, and further until these individuals cannot be legally fired, denied housing, or refused service for doing so.

“Thirty states down—twenty to go.”

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