NEWS: Congressional Progressive Caucus Issues Executive Action Agenda for Biden Administration

WASHINGTON — The Congressional Progressive Caucus issued its updated 2023 Executive Action Agenda for the Biden administration today. The agenda calls for President Biden to build on his record of progress by taking administrative action in five areas: to hold corporations accountable, raise wages and empower workers, lower costs of essential expenses, continue action on climate and environmental justice, and advance equity and justice.

“While Republicans’ first priority this session was to cut taxes for billionaires, progressives are working to cut costs for working families,” said Greg Casar, Congressional Progressive Caucus Whip. “This Executive Action slate represents real, positive policies the Biden Administration can deliver for the American people.” 

The agenda is designed to provide working families relief from the cost of living crisis, take on corporate misconduct, make progress on the fight for gender and racial justice, and continue to take bold action to address the climate crisis. It calls for executive actions, strong rulemaking, progressive implementation of signature Democratic accomplishments like the Inflation Reduction Act, and for federal agencies to enforce the law using all their tools to hold violators, including big employers, accountable. Key policies include: raising the overtime threshold to give millions of workers a raise, enforce actions against excessive and unfair rent hikes, crack down on anticompetitive behavior in the airline industry, strengthen the solvency of our banking system, take on Big Pharma’s greed, protect access to asylum and immigrants’ rights, muster the resources of the federal government to protect abortion access, ensure the safety of railroads, and accelerate clean electricity transmission through federal action. 

“I’m incredibly proud of what the CPC’s Executive Action Agenda was able to accomplish in 2022, and I am thrilled to announce our 2023 slate, which is primed for even greater impact,” said Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “Democrats made essential progress in the 117th Congress, and the work continues to lower the cost of living, hold corporations accountable, and keep our promises to our communities. With a divided Congress, President Biden must make full use of his executive authority to continue to deliver for working families.  I look forward to partnering with the President and his administration to enact this agenda and get results for everyone who calls this country home.”

This is the Caucus’ third comprehensive executive action proposal. Last March, the CPC issued its initial 2022 slate, which was then followed by a comprehensive agenda to protect reproductive freedom. 

The Biden Administration has taken action on a number of the CPC’s 2022 proposals. These include: student debt cancellation for 43 million people, closing the Affordable Care Act’s “Family Glitch” to expand coverage access; extension or redesignation of Temporary Protected Status for individuals from 13 high risk countries; protections for immigrant workers from retaliation for reporting workplace misconduct; establishing workplace wind standards for high-risk farm and construction workers; new national standards and data collection on police use of force and revisions to policies that allow for transfer of military weapons to local law enforcement; invocation of the Defense Production Act to catalyze renewable energy technology; equitable implementation of climate funding to ensure at least 40 percent goes to environmental justice communities; transparency requirements for the funding and management of nursing homes; and a Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring public companies disclose their climate risk. The Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services also took a number of actions to protect abortion advocated for by the Progressive Caucus, including protecting the right to contraception, protecting access to treatment for pregnancy-related medical emergencies, pharmacy and mail dispensing of medication abortionl, and aid for travel for abortion care.

The CPC 2023 Executive Action Agenda can be found here.

###

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is made up of nearly 100 members standing up for progressive ideals in Washington and throughout the country. Since 1991, the CPC has advocated for progressive policies that prioritize working Americans over corporate interests, fight economic and social inequality, and advance civil liberties. The CPC champions progressive policy solutions like comprehensive immigration reform, good-paying jobs, fair trade, universal health care, debt-free college, climate action, and a just foreign policy. The caucus has been the leading voice calling for bold and sweeping solutions to the urgent crises facing this nation, including ending America’s broken for-profit health care system, raising the minimum wage, eliminating political corruption, bolstering labor protections for working families, and taking swift action to stop the warming of our planet.