Table of Contents Categories
  • Congressional caucus
    •   Encyclosphere.org ENCYCLOREADER
      supported by EncyclosphereKSF

    Congressional Progressive Caucus

    From Ballotpedia - Reading time: 16 min

    Congressional Progressive Caucus
    Bi-cameral
    CPC.png
    Leadership: Greg Casar
    Established 1991
    Members 97
    Website Congressional Progressive Caucus

    The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is a bi-cameral caucus that works to promote in congress values consistent with a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people".[1]

    Background[edit]

    The CPC was created in 1991 by six members of the U.S. House: Ron Dellums, Lane Evans, Thomas Andrews, Peter DeFazio, Maxine Waters, and Bernie Sanders. Sanders served as the first chairman of the CPC.[2]

    The core principles of the Progressive Promise are as follows:[1]

    “
    • Advancing justice, dignity, and peace for all;
    • Tackling systems of oppression and dismantling structural racism and discrimination;
    • Taking on systems that privilege the wealthy and powerful to demand a government and economy that works for the people; and
    • A commitment to sweeping, transformative change.[3]
    		 ”

    Mission[edit]

    The CPC website listed the following issues as policy areas of focus:[4]

    • Climate Justice
    Excerpt: "We are in the midst of an unprecedented and deadly climate emergency. The Progressive Caucus strongly supports a Green New Deal to take immediate, necessary steps to protect current and future generations from the deadly impact of climate change. The climate crisis was created by a broken political and economic system that prioritizes corporate profits over the health and safety of our communities. If we are to address the full scope and scale of our global climate emergency, we need a new approach — one that recognizes environmental justice and economic prosperity must go hand-in-hand."
    • Progressive National Security
    Excerpt: "The Progressive Caucus is fighting to rein in bloated Pentagon spending, end America’s unauthorized forever wars, and rebalance our priorities abroad through robust investments in diplomacy, sustainable development, and humanitarian assistance."
    • Immigrant Rights
    Excerpt: "For far too long, our laws have denied immigrant families basic dignity and human rights. Children have been separated from their families, parents have been deported after decades in this country, and Dreamers have spent years of their lives in limbo. The Progressive Caucus supports a full overhaul our inhumane immigration system — including passage of the Dream & Promise Act, a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., due process in our immigration system, and a permanent end to xenophobic travel bans."
    • Education
    Excerpt: "At the Progressive Caucus, we recognize that funding education is one of the most critical investments that Congress can make. We support new, forward-looking and comprehensive investments in early learning opportunities, effective 21st century public schools and college free of debt. In addition, Congress must do more to support and fund teachers and education professionals, so they can work with dignity and enable student success. Lastly, we must ensure our commitments to students last through college — because any student who wants to go to college and get their diploma should be able to graduate without a lifetime of debt."
    • Democracy Reform
    Excerpt: "At the Progressive Caucus, we are committed to serving as a voice for working people, putting people over profits, and expanding access to the ballot box. We’re working to end the revolving door for elected officials, implement stringent transparency standards for all presidential and vice presidential candidates, provide public financing for elections, grant D.C. long-overdue statehood, and stop the flow of money in politics. We must restore our democracy to the people, where it belongs."
    • A Fair Trade Agenda
    Excerpt: "Working families can and should expect more from our trade deals. That’s why the Progressive Caucus released a first-of-its-kind progressive trade framework, which details a new trade paradigm with robust binding labor and environmental standards, an open and democratic process for renegotiating; an end to the secretive, investor-friendly tribunal system that gives big corporations special rights; an expansion of Buy American procurement provisions; support for communities of color disproportionately harmed by NAFTA; and an end to corporate handouts that promote monopoly power."
    • A Fair Economy
    Excerpt: "In order to give everyday families the future they deserve, we must close the tax loopholes and demand that elected officials prioritize everyday families — not corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors. The path to economic prosperity for all requires:
    • preserving guaranteed Social Security benefits for all Americans, protecting private pensions, and demanding corporate accountability.
    • investing in America and creating new jobs in the U.S. by building more affordable housing, rebuilding America’s schools and physical infrastructure, cleaning up our environment, and improving homeland security.
    • ending poverty wages by raising and indexing the minimum wage.
    • rewriting our broken tax code so that billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share."
    • Building Worker Power
    Excerpt: "At the Progressive Caucus, we’re fighting to expand labor protections to all workers — starting with passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which ensures that workers are protected and empowered."
    • Universal Health Care
    Excerpt: "Health care is a human right — and the failure of the United States to fulfill this basic need for millions is a stain on our country. At the Progressive Caucus, we’re fighting to pass the Medicare For All Act to guarantee health care to all people living in the United States. It’s past time to remove the profit motive from health care and ensure that every person has access to the treatment and care that they need."
    • Justice for All
    Excerpt: "At the Progressive Caucus, we are committed to dismantling racist, misogynist, xenophobic, and ableist institutions and systems. We must confront injustice and bigotry head-on, by ensuring that all legislation passed through Congress is intersectional and explicitly anti-racist in its intent."

    For a more detailed breakdown of the CPC's policy focus, please click here.

    Leadership[edit]

    119th Congress[edit]

    Leadership for the 119th Congress:[5]

    Members[edit]

    119th Congress[edit]

    118th Congress[edit]

    117th Congress[edit]

    116th Congress[edit]

    115th Congress[edit]

    External links[edit]

    Footnotes[edit]

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Congressional Progressive Caucus, "About the CPC," accessed August 4, 2021
    2. ↑ Wikipedia, "Congressional Progressive Caucus," accessed February 3, 2014
    3. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    4. ↑ Congressional Progressive Caucus, "What We Stand For," accessed August 4, 2021
    5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Congressional Progressive Caucus "Members," accessed March 20, 2025
    6. ↑ Congressional Progressive Caucus "Members," accessed March 20, 2025
    Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 | Original source: https://ballotpedia.org/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus
    Status: cached on February 27 2026 19:35:30
    Encyclosphere.org EncycloReader is supported by the EncyclosphereKSF