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By Mark Gruenberg
WASHINGTON—Upset by what was left out of the House Democrats’ $3 trillion economic stimulus bill – notably guaranteed payments to every worker, jobless or not – the 95-member Congressional Progressive Caucus wants to delay a House vote on the legislation scheduled for tomorrow.
But while Progressive Caucus co-chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and her colleagues campaign for the pro-worker sections omitted from Pelosi’s 1,815-page measure, major progressive groups, including MoveOn and two big unions, apparently abandoned them. They back Pelosi’s “vote-now” demand instead.
The lawmakers, led by Jayapal – author of the biggest, an income guarantee of all of a worker’s wages up to $90,000 a year, plus health coverage – and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., also told their members to stay undecided on the bill. The two, however, did not threaten to lead a revolt.
“These concerns – from how we end mass unemployment and ensure access to health care during a pandemic to getting relief to all businesses and their workers – need to be addressed…at the scale necessary to fully respond to this crisis and deliver certainty to the American people,” the progressives wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She wants a vote on May 15.
But given Republican racism and opposition to doing anything, the Service Employees, the Teachers, the Working Families Party, United We Dream, Indivisible, and their allies retorted, a vote now is imperative so the House can...
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