Rep. Jayapal Has Turned The Progressive Caucus Into a Fighting Force

By Daniel Marans, HuffPost

Last week, something unusual happened: The Congressional Progressive Caucus won a clear, if temporary, victory against the more conservative members of the House Democratic Caucus. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) conceded to pressure from the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) on Sept. 30 when she delayed a promised vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill favored by conservative Democrats.

The House’s 96-person progressive bloc, once dismissed as too large and ideologically inchoate to wield real power, had made clear that it had the votes to tank the infrastructure bill, pending firmer guarantees about the passage of the more progressive Build Back Better budget reconciliation package.