“It is a joke when Republicans say that they have urgency around this bill,” Ocasio-Cortez shouted into the microphone, mask in hand, as she pointed toward the GOP side of the aisle. “If you had urgency, you would legislate like rent was due on May 1.”
But Ocasio-Cortez, like many of her progressive colleagues, thinks her own party is also falling short: "I can’t go back to my community and give people false hope."
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“There’s an enormous amount of pressure, I think, that progressive leadership is under, that’s saying, ‘Well, are you really going to vote against crumbs for hospitals?’” Ocasio Cortez said in an interview just before the vote last month. “I think a lot of that leadership is going to have to depend on outside agitation.”
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Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, frequently work behind the scenes with Speaker Nancy Pelosi to shape major bills. But some in the caucus complain they are disappointed with the final product — which usually skews toward the caucus’ moderate wing, the “majority makers” who delivered Democrats the House.
The coronavirus negotiations have been even more top-down than usual because lawmakers are spread across the country with a small group of leaders hammering out the details in Washington. And it's even more difficult for the left to mobilize.
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Progressive caucus leaders say they are determined to have a louder voice in the upcoming coronavirus aid talks, particularly in the Democratic-led House. Progressive lawmakers — backed by an increasingly restive grassroots base — are pushing a list of even more sweeping programs to help the tens of millions people who have lost paychecks and the 1.1 million people who have fallen ill with the virus.
Among their ideas: free coronavirus treatment, paid family and sick leave for all workers, free protective equipment, halting evictions and foreclosures, and relieving student debt.
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After going along with previous relief measures, Jayapal and her members have big expectations for the next bill. And Pelosi has privately said it could feature a major priority for the progressive caucus, according to people familiar with the discussions: a paycheck guarantee program. That bill, drafted by Jayapal and her Senate counterpart, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), would provide grants to businesses to pay 100 percent of worker salaries of up to $100,000 for three months.
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“If you look at the history of this country, when did safety nets come in? The Great Depression. Good programs come out of desperate times,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a progressive caucus member. “I think this has shined a light on the fractures and the fault lines in our society.”
" / Twitter
️ on Twitter: "@patstokes Best part of the analogy is we have our very own Lord Haw Haw with Donald Trump" / Twitter
