Rep. Jayapal: A Progressive Agenda for Working People That Is Both Popular and Possible
By Representative Pramila Jayapal
From the Inflation Reduction Act to the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, progressives are proud to have been part of the most significant Democratic legislative accomplishments of this century, in close partnership with the Biden administration. But across this country, many families are still struggling to make ends meet. There’s more work to be done, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus has a plan to break down the barriers that have kept the American promise of equality, justice, and economic opportunity out of reach for too many.
The Progressive Proposition Agenda is our Day 1 agenda for 2025. It’s popular, populist, and possible, with a slate of top-priority policies that will empower poor and working people. Centered on equity, justice, and empowerment, the agenda would raise wages and lower costs; help correct the inequality in our economic, education, and political systems to ensure economic, racial, and gender justice; continue progress on the climate crisis; and protect and expand Americans’ rights and freedoms.
We’re proud that the agenda has been endorsed by numerous organizations from across the progressive and labor movements, including Indivisible, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Working Families Party, MoveOn, the Sierra Club, National Nurses United, and many more. And we’re especially proud that these important policies are supported by the vast majority of Americans across the ideological spectrum and all areas of our country, according to new polling from Data for Progress.
All together, these policies lay out a path forward for the country, one that speaks to the needs of Americans who are struggling to get by and looking for a better future, and one that we can deliver starting on Day 1. In a critical election year, the Progressive Proposition Agenda could help motivate swing voters and base voters alike.
Today, working people are dealing with the corporate greed that is driving up costs of basic necessities from gas to groceries to prescription drugs. On top of that, the demands of low-wage work and the high costs of caring for families make it more challenging for working people to care for their families in the way they would want. The Progressive Proposition Agenda would invest in care for seniors and people with disabilities, provide free pre-K to all 3- and 4-year-olds, and ensure no family spends more than 7% of its income on child care, policies supported by at least 73% of voters.
Americans are working harder than ever, and they’re not seeing the benefits. Too much power today is concentrated in the hands of the wealthy and large corporations, which benefited from Trump’s tax cuts while earning record profits and padding their pockets. Americans strongly support taxing corporations whose CEOs make at least 50 times their median employee’s salary and requiring corporations to pay the same rate on profits earned abroad as in the U.S. And they want to see stronger safety protections for workers — a policy opposed by only 8% of voters.
The Progressive Proposition Agenda puts money back into Americans’ pockets, significantly raising the minimum wage with automatic cost-of-living adjustments, requiring tipped workers to be paid a minimum wage before tips, and ensuring that workers with disabilities and teenagers are paid at least the federal minimum wage.
We’re tackling climate change, establishing National Clean Energy Standards while investing in public transportation, and expanding walking and biking infrastructure around the country.
And we’re bringing back the reproductive protections that Trump and the Supreme Court stripped, passing federal legislation to codify nationwide rights to abortion, contraception, and in vitro fertilization.
These ideas, especially those that address the needs of working families, are even more popular among voters of color, young people, and women — groups we cannot take for granted in November. For example, Black voters (89%), Latino voters (83%), and Asian voters (78%) support universal pre-K more than voters overall (76%). Additionally, polling finds strong support for these policies among Independents, rural voters, and those living in a swing state, especially for populist economic policies like expanding Medicare coverage and guaranteeing paid sick and family leave for workers.
If voters deliver Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and return President Biden to the White House, Democrats are ready to hit the ground running on major legislation that fundamentally restructures our democracy — like finally passing the John Lewis Freedom to Vote Act that ensures the right to vote for every citizen, the PRO Act that strengthens union rights and collective bargaining, and immigration reform. We’re also ready with bills that invest in our people, from the Expanded Child Tax Credit, which slashed childhood poverty by nearly half before it expired, to the Child Care for Every Community Act, under which no family would pay more than 7% of its income in child care.
With the Progressive Proposition Agenda, Democrats in Congress can meet the urgent needs people are facing; rewrite the rules to ensure majorities of this country are no longer barred from the American promise of equality, justice, and economic opportunity; and motivate people with an understanding of what progressive governance under Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and a Biden White House would look like.
Representative Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) is the Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.