This diary is about strategies for pushing House Populist Caucus members toward joining the "Progressive Block," our last line of defense against efforts to destroy meaningful health care reform.
Congress is getting to work on the details of health care reform, and a major battleground will be whether to include a strong public health insurance option for all Americans.
The new Populist Caucus led by Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01) has yet to weigh in on the specifics of health care reform. That needs to change soon if Braley is serious about turning this caucus into a voice for the middle class in the House.
Reps. Michael Arcuri (D-NY); Pete DeFazio (D-OR); Betty Sutton (D-OH); Leonard Boswell (D-IA); Steve Cohen (D-TN); Joe Courtney (D-CT); Keith Ellison (D-MN); Bob Filner (D-CA); Phil Hare (D-IL); Mazie Hirono (D-HI); Hank Johnson (D-GA); Steve Kagan (D-WI); David Loebsack (D-IA); Eric Massa (D-NY); Linda Sanchez (D-CA); Jan Schakowsky (D-IL); Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH); Peter Welch (D-VT); and John Yarmuth (D-KY).
While it is something of a mixed bag, take a look at Populist caucus membership in the other Democratic ideological caucuses:
Blue Dogs and New Democrats (1): Arcuri (what joiner Arcuri is!)
Blue Dogs only (1): Boswell
New Democrats only (2): Braley, Courtney
Progressives only (11): Cohen, DeFazio, Ellison, Filner, Hare, Hirono, Johnson, Loebsack, Sanchez, Schakowsky, Welch
No previous alignment: (5): Kagen, Massa, Shea-Porter, Sutton, Yarmouth
Clearly, there is a strong tendency toward the Progressive caucus among the Populists, even though they were organized by a New Democrat. Further, Progressive punch puts the median lifetime score on "crucial votes" for this group at 55.5 of 256 (between Courtney at 54 and Loebsack at 57) in the Democratic caucus, placing it decidedly in the left-wing of the party.
This is a Dear Colleague letter being circulated by Bruce Braley.
This is an interesting internal shift in the House, and suggests that no current ideological caucus is quite capturing the moment. The plank for this group is economic justice, universal health care, affordable college education, consumer safety, fair trade, and good paying jobs. Culturally, though, this has more of a rural farmer and union feel than the progressive caucus, with its heavily New Left and multi-ethnic approach, but policy-wise it is substantially different than the Blue Dogs.
The Blue Dogs are have always relied on the argument that their districts are more rural and swing than the mainstream of the Democratic Party, and positioned themselves as more populist than liberal. Since 2002, though, that group has become riddled with corporate lobbying influence, and their brand has suffered. The progressive caucus doesn't have any requirements for belonging, so it's stocked with anyone who wants to attach their name to progressivism for any reason, often so they can triangulate against progressives with something along the lines of 'even the liberal Barney Frank believes that a bailout of Wall Street is necessary' or so that Dennis Kucinich can use it as a stepping stone to run for President.
This is an interesting development, and I suspect there's going to be some strong caucus reorganization going on as an expanded Democratic majority finds its sea legs.
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