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\n

The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo<\/a> previewing plans for next term.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,\u201d Rep. Greg Casar of Texas said in the Friday memo obtained by Blue Light News. \u201cBig majorities are good for getting big things done. Our goal is not to win a battle against other Democratic caucuses. It is to pass longstanding progressive priorities that bring down costs, root out corruption, and boost wages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CPC will have at least 105 members next term, according to the memo. If Democrats had a narrow majority, progressives \u2014 and any other faction in the caucus \u2014 could have used their votes as leverage. Now that presumptive speaker Hakeem Jeffries will have as many 30 votes to spare, Democrats broadly are recalibrating their approach next term.<\/p>\n

Casar laid out a \u201cthree-pronged\u201d strategy for the CPC to “wield our power\u201d in the three-page memo \u2014 tackling legislation, oversight and \u201cholding Donald Trump to his word on populist economic policies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmall majorities give corporate special interest groups the ability to block popular populist policies by recruiting a small number of opponents; a big majority gives us the advantage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Casar previewed how the CPC can engage with Trump, noting that \u201cone of the few bright spots for bipartisan lawmaking\u201d was a housing bill that banned private equity firms from buying homes. He noted the caucus should push Trump to cap credit card interest rates, lower credit card fees for small businesses and lower prescription drug costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we oppose [Trump] strongly on the vast majority of fronts, we should send bills to his desk that would lower prices and raise paychecks. If he signs them, good. If he vetoes those bills, that will propel us to a continued Democratic majority and a trifecta where a Democratic president can sign these proposals into law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Casar also outlined oversight targets beyond the administration, urging Democrats to specifically investigate corporations that use customer data for \u201csurveillance pricing,\u201d health care companies that are \u201ctaking advantage of seniors\u201d through the Medicare Advantage program and artificial intelligence labs who are \u201cputting jobs and lives at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy focusing not just on the Trump administration but also on big corporations and billionaires, we will show the American people we are not just anti-Trump but also pro-worker and pro-consumer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said his group will still be power brokers in a massive Democratic majority in a strategy memo previewing plans for next term. \u201cWhile some in the press have speculated that a majority of this size undermines our influence within the caucus, they have it exactly backwards,\u201d Rep. Greg […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}