This year, New Dems celebrated our 25th Anniversary! Founded in 1997 by Reps. Cal Dooley (CA-20), Jim Moran (VA-08), and Tim Roemer (IN-03), the New Democrat Coalition was composed of Members who were fed up with toxic politics and wanted to make progress on the issues most important to the American people. Twenty-five years later, that mission remains the same. New Dems are dedicated to breaking through the gridlock in Washington to advance a forward-looking agenda that strengthens our economy and ensures every American can succeed in it. 

To celebrate this anniversary, New Dems hosted a press conference with Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer, held a Member meeting with our original founders, were featured in a profile in RealClearPolitics, penned an op-ed in Newsweek, and received congratulatory statements from Speaker Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, Whip Clyburn, Assistant Speaker Clark, Caucus Chair Jeffries and Vice Caucus Chair Aguilar, outside organizations, and New Dem alums, including Governors Jared Polis and John Carney and Senators Gary Peters, Chris Murphy, and Kyrsten Sinema. The New Dem Team also pulled together a 25 year history summary of the Coalition.

• Hosted Nearly 100 New Dem Member Meetings in the 117th Congress.  

  • Notable Guests: 

    • USTR Katherine Tai

    • Labor Secretary Marty Walsh

    • Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

    • Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo

    • Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra

    • Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

    • Education Secretary Dr. Miguel Cardona 

    • Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough

    • EPA Administrator Michael Regan

    • Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Dr. Cecila Rouse

    • Infrastructure Czar Mitch Landrieu 

    • NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan

    • White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients

    • Economists Larry Summers, Wendy Edelberg, Mark Zandi, and more

• New Dems endorsed 120 bills. More than 34 became law, 16 passed the House, and 8 bills were partially enacted in the 117th Congress. 

• Hosted dozens of staff briefings and meetings for Members and Staff

In 2022, New Dems established a first of its kind Inflation Working Group within the Coalition and released a comprehensive action plan to fight inflation, which Forbes called the “best inflation-fighting blueprint to come out of Congress yet.” The New Dem plan examines the actions President Biden and Congressional Democrats have taken to cut costs and outlines tangible steps federal policymakers can take to reduce prices on essential goods and services and provide relief to American families, workers, and businesses.

Our plan received extensive coverage in the press, including CNBC, Forbes, the Washington Post, and FOX, among other outlets. Throughout the year, we made incredible progress on this plan by passing the CHIPS & Science Act, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, working with the Biden administration to rollback ineffective Trump-era tariffs on our allies and close trading partners, and encouraging executive actions to lower housing costs. 

Our Members amplified this plan in their districts across the country to show Americans that New Dems are committed to and have a plan to lower costs on everyday necessities. New Dems will continue working closely with the Biden administration and our colleagues on both sides of the Capitol and across the aisle to fully execute this Action Plan to Fight Inflation to provide additional relief to families and set the American economy up for long-term success. You can find the full NDC Inflation Action Plan here.

From the beginning of budget reconciliation negotiations, New Dems prioritized legislation that lowered health care and energy costs for Americans and tackled climate change. We crafted a budget reconciliation bill that included these priorities– a core part of our Action Plan to Fight Inflation. New Dems fought for and ultimately secured these core priorities in the NDC-endorsed Inflation Reduction Act. By extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, enabling Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, and boosting clean energy production, the Inflation Reduction Act will improve our economy, save American families money, and ensure cleaner air and water for future generations. New Dems will continue pushing for our priorities that didn’t make it in the final budget reconciliation, including the Child Tax Credit, which cut childhood poverty nearly in half in 2021.

Since last year, the NDC has led the charge on a bipartisan innovation bill that lowers costs, secures supply chains, and boosts American global leadership. The NDC-endorsed CHIPS and Science Act invests $52 billion in domestic chip production, significantly boosts cutting edge research and development through the National Science Foundation, establishes regional tech hubs to create jobs and spur innovation in new parts of the country, grows our STEM workforce, and expands American-made 5G technology.  The Coalition laid out priorities for the bill at the end of 2021, helped shape and advance the legislation through committees, called for urgent action on this legislation as part of the New Dem Action Plan to Fight Inflation, endorsed the bill, and ultimately passed it through the House and onto President Biden’s desk.

New Dems showed that even during a time of hyperpolarization, it is still possible to reach across the aisle and get things done for the American people. 

New Dems played a central role in working with Members on both sides of the aisle and the Capitol to pass this legislation and successfully included NDC Chair Emeritus Kilmer’s RECOMPETE Act, a billion-dollar program that will create good paying jobs and lasting economic growth in communities that have been left behind, in the final bill. Finally, New Dems also wrote to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo urging the Department to ensure rural America is a top priority when distributing funds and resources made available in the bipartisan innovation legislation.

At the beginning of 2022, New Dems called for action to combat the climate crisis by reaching a strong agreement on a final budget reconciliation bill to protect our planet for future generations. New Dems made going big on climate one of our top priorities for the Build Back Better Act and secured comprehensive climate policies in the House-passed bill to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions, invest in resilience efforts, create green jobs, and ensure the U.S. leads the global fight against climate change.  New Democrat Coalition Chair Suzan DelBene (WA-01) and New Dem Members Abigail Spanberger and Josh Gottheimer, joined Climate Power and League of Conservation Voters in a press conference to call for immediate action on a final bill that includes strong climate provisions and led an effort with the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition and the Congressional Progressive Caucus to call on the Biden administration reach a deal to tackle climate change and lower costs for families.

New Dems are laser-focused on improving access to quality health care for Americans across the country. That’s why this Congress, New Dems prioritized passing a budget reconciliation bill that lowered health care costs by extending the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies and closing the Medicaid coverage gap. New Dems made both priorities key elements of our Action Plan to Fight Inflation and secured the enhanced ACA subsidies in the American Rescue Plan last year and the Inflation Reduction Act. New Dems will continue to push for closing the Medicaid coverage gap.

On top of that, New Dems endorsed a slate of 22 bipartisan health care bills aimed at addressing mental health and substance use disorders and ultimately passed 10 of these bipartisan bills through the House. New Dems received coverage on this effort in Bloomberg Government. New Dems are committed to delivering impactful, durable solutions to tackle these devastating and urgent public health crises, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic.  

Also this year, New Democrat Coalition (NDC) Health Care Task Force, led by Co-Chairs Kim Schrier (WA-08) and Terri Sewell (AL-07), endorsed a slate of 14 health care bills focused on lowering health care costs, improving health care delivery, and strengthening the Affordable Care Act. The bills would address the health care workforce shortage, increase health equity, streamline care, and increase transparency. This health care slate is central to the New Dems’ Affordability Agenda outlined in our Action Plan to Fight Inflation, which focuses on lowering costs for Americans on necessities like health care. 

Finally, NDC Health Care Task Force Co-Chairs Reps. Sewell and Schrier wrote a letter to Congressional Leadership urging the inclusion of H.R. 7666, the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act, in an end-of-year package. This comprehensive, bipartisan legislation includes 10 New Dem endorsed bills that previously passed the House and will address the mental health and substance use disorder crises by providing life-saving recovery, care, and support programs for Americans. Ten NDC-endorsed bills passed in the end of year government funding package. 

Last year, New Dems outlined strong infrastructure priorities and worked to include them in the final Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Coalition endorsed 22 infrastructure bills, with 18 included in the final Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As implementation began on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law this year, New Dems worked to ensure that all communities were equitably and equally served. The NDC Rural Reinvestment Task force pushed the President to ensure that Rural communities can access all the opportunities and resources of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, providing specific solutions including the designation of a rural coordinator and creating a common application system to access federal funds.  

As a part of the New Dem Action Plan to Fight Inflation, New Dems pushed President Biden to take action to lower the cost of housing and build more affordable housing units in August. When President Biden announced the White House’s Housing Supply Action Plan in October, multiple New Dem recommendations were included, including maximizing the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, incentivizing better zoning, planning, and permitting practices, and promoting more affordable housing development. New Dem Infrastructure Task Force also hosted a roundtable with industry and nonprofit leaders to discuss ways to increase affordable housing development and address housing insecurity.

This year, New Dems continued pushing to roll back and end misguided Trump-era 232 tariffs on key trading allies and partners. These tariffs are ineffective and can increase prices for U.S. manufacturers and hardworking families. New Dems applauded the Biden administration’s effort to allow duty-free imports of steel into Japan and the decision to remove 232 tariffs on Britain and create a new U.S.-U.K agreement. Amidst Russia’s inhumane war in Ukraine, New Dems also supported Commerce Secretary Raimondo and the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to temporarily suspend 232 tariffs on Ukraine for a year. Lifting these tariffs is important in ensuring the U.S. uses every tool at our disposal to aid the Ukrainian people’s fight for democracy. New Dems are continuing to call for the roll back of 232 tariffs and pushed the Administration to reevaluate tariffs on South Korean steel. Additionally, New Dems pushed the Biden Administration to remove tariffs on Canadian solar products to help boost good-paying solar manufacturing jobs. The Biden admin listened to New Dems and acted by removing these tariffs to increase trade between the United States and Canada, strengthen our supply chains, and expand access to affordable clean energy for U.S. households. Moving forward, increasing trade in environmental goods like solar must remain a top priority as we work with countries around the world to combat climate change.

Improving public safety for all Americans is a top priority for the New Democrat Coalition. That’s why our Coalition took action to pass legislation to fight crime, prevent gun violence, improve mental health resources, and provide local police departments with the resources they need. First, New Dems voted to pass the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which provided critical funding to state and local governments to keep law enforcement officers on the job. To date, the ARP has provided at least $10 billion in new public safety and violence prevention funding. House Democrats also secured more than $100 million in Community Project Funding for more than 100 law enforcement and community policing initiatives across the country. New Dems also helped pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first gun violence prevention law in a generation. 

Over the summer, New Dems also took action to endorse a slate of seven common-sense bills to protect public safety, invest in effective local law enforcement training, promote programs that de-escalate violence and improve mental health care, increase law enforcement accountability and transparency, and create programs to break the cycle of violence in communities that are disproportionately impacted by crime. Three of these bills, includingRep. Gottheimer’s Invest to Protect Act, Rep. Horsford’s Break the Cycle of Violence Act, and Rep. Demings’ VICTIM Act  passed the House. 

CNBC: Democrats are Better for our Country and Economy by NDC Chair Suzan DelBene LINK

Newsweek: ICYMI via Newsweek: It's on All of Us to Protect a Woman's Right to Choose by NDC Chair Suzan DelBene LINK

Newsweek: Meet the New Dems - the Moderate Members Defending Our Democracy by NDC Chair Suzan DelBene LINK

CNBC: Congress must pass an innovation bill to fight inflation, boost national security by NDC Future of Work and Capitalism Co-Chair Mikie Sherill and NDC Member Jim Himes LINK

The Hill: American Competitiveness Legislation is the Key to Tackling Today’s Economic Challenges, Creating Tomorrow’s Opportunities by NDC Chair Suzan DelBene LINK

Fox: New Democrats will 'get stuff done' on inflation An all-hands-on-deck strategy is needed to defeat inflation by NDC Vice Chair Scott Peters LINK