Incoming Democrats Amped Up To Leverage Their Victories At The Ballot Box Into Victories In Congress
“It’s a confluence of things. It’s about the committees that we’ll be appointed to. It’s about the values- and issues-based caucuses that we’ll serve on," said Rep.-elect Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) Some of their top issues will be gun control and health care. Meanwhile, the Pro-Choice Caucus is ready to stretch its wings with the Democrats now in power.
The Associated Press:
Freshman Democrats In Congress Ready To Use New-Won Power
Incoming members of the Democratic Party's new U.S. House majority say they're ready to turn the energy of their campaigns into real power on Capitol Hill. Rep.-elects Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and a handful of other liberal-leaning incoming Democrats used an orientation event for freshman lawmakers Tuesday sponsored by the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics to stake out some of their top issues — from gun violence to health care to climate change. (12/4)
Boston Globe:
Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, And Other Rookie Democrats Protest At Harvard
Flanked by a crowd of demonstrators chanting in support of universal health care and legislation to combat climate change, the soon-to-be lawmakers briefly abandoned the biennial program for newly elected members of Congress that was going on inside. Instead, some of the left’s rising stars — the first real glimmer of hope for progressive causes in about two years — staked out a strategy that doesn’t sound much like the bend-over-backwards-for-bipartisanship, please-sir-may-I-have-another Democrats who might as well have Republican footprints tattooed on their necks. (Ramos, 12/5)
CQ:
Pro-Choice Caucus Preps For Democratic Majority
An influential House caucus hopes to use the Democrats’ majority next year to counteract Republican efforts to restrict abortion and family planning, although the group still faces an uphill battle against a Republican Senate and administration with strong ties to the anti-abortion lobby. The Pro-Choice Caucus has been recently overshadowed by its conservative rival, the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, which counts Republican leadership and lawmakers from the influential Freedom Caucus among its members. (Raman, 12/5)
