Congressional Progressive Caucus


The Congressional Progressive Caucus is a congressional caucus affiliated with the Democratic Party in the United States Congress. The CPC represents the most left-leaning, progressive faction of the Democratic Party. It was founded in 1991 and has generally grown since then.
Midway through the 116th United States Congress, the CPC had 97 members, making it the second largest ideological caucus in the Democratic Party and the third largest ideological caucus overall. The CPC is co-chaired by U.S. Representatives Mark Pocan and Pramila Jayapal.

History

The CPC was established in 1991 by U.S. Representatives Ron Dellums, Lane Evans, Thomas Andrews, Peter DeFazio, Maxine Waters and Bernie Sanders. Additional Representatives joined soon thereafter, including Major Owens, Nydia Velázquez, David Bonior, Bob Filner, Barney Frank, Maurice Hinchey, Jim McDermott, Jerry Nadler, Patsy Mink, George Miller, Pete Stark, John Olver, Lynn Woolsey and Nancy Pelosi. Sanders was the first CPC Chairman.
The founding CPC members were concerned about the economic hardship imposed by the deepening recession and the growing inequality brought about by the timidity of the Democratic Party response in the early 1990s. On January 3, 1995, at a standing room only news conference on Capitol Hill, they were the first group inside Congress to chart a comprehensive legislative alternative to U.S. Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Republican Contract with America. The CPC's ambitious agenda was framed as "The Progressive Promise: Fairness."

Budget proposal for 2012

In April 2011, the Congressional Progressive Caucus released a proposed "People's Budget" for fiscal year 2012. Two of its proponents stated: "By implementing a fair tax code, by building a resilient American economy, and by bringing our troops home, we achieve a budget surplus of over $30 billion by 2021 and we end up with a debt that is less than 65% of our GDP. This is what sustainability looks like".

Electoral results

Senate

House of Representatives

Ideology

The CPC advocates "universal access to affordable, high quality healthcare", fair trade agreements, living wage laws, the right of all workers to organize into labor unions and engage in collective bargaining, ending certain provisions of the Patriot Act, U.S. participation in international treaties, responsible reductions in military expenditure, strict campaign finance reform laws, a crackdown on corporate influence and protection of Social Security benefits.

List of Chairs

Membership

All members are Democrats or caucus with the Democratic Party. In the 116th Congress, there are 97 declared Progressives, including 95 voting Representatives, one non-voting Delegate and one Senator.

House members

Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
Non-voting