Backgrounder from RootsAction.org: Hakeem Jeffries and Progressives
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the House Democratic leader, succeeding Nancy Pelosi. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). Jeffries is mentioned in RootsAction’s “Progressive In Name Only” (PINO) report; he’s not a full-blown PINO, but he was referenced as being “On Our Radar” because he was out of step 50 percent of the time on the “pivotal progressive issues” we analyzed. In other words, Jeffries’ voting/co-sponsorship record put him at about the 20th least progressive of the roughly 95 CPC members. (Unlike many of the 20 most un-progressive CPCers, who are members of both the CPC and the corporatist New Democrat Coalition, Jeffries’ only philosophical/ideological caucus is CPC.)
Jeffries is a cosponsor of Medicare for All, but not the Green New Deal or the Green New Deal for Cities. He went against the House Democratic leadership and was among 92 Dems who voted to cut 10 percent from the military budget in 2020 (Pocan amendment) and among 86 House Dems in 2021 (AOC amendment); Hoyer and Clyburn voted against those 10 percent cut amendments, and Pelosi doesn’t vote but opposed those amendments.
Many reports say Jeffries was a “corporate lawyer” before becoming an elected official, but they offer few details.
One of Jeffries’ most troublesome actions was to join forces in 2021 with the onerous, conservative Dem Rep Josh Gottheimer to form Team Blue PAC in order to bolster Dem incumbents against progressive Squad-like primary challengers:
Here’s a telling quote from Jeffries to The Atlantic in August 2021: “I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now.” He added: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.” (This comment borrows “the fierce urgency of now” quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. -- while firmly distancing himself from “democratic socialism,” which MLK supported.)
Jeffries seems to be running for Dem leadership on a slate with Katherine Clark (MA) who is a member only of CPC, and Pete Aguilar (CA), who is a member only of corporatist NDC. Clark cosponsors Medicare for All and the Green New Deal (but not Cori Bush’s GND for Cities), and she voted both times for the amendment to cut military spending by 10 percent. Aguilar cosponsored the Green New Deal, and voted both times not to cut the bloated military budget.
PELOSI PARALLEL: When Nancy Pelosi came to Congress, she joined the Progress Caucus. In the 1990s, she regularly cosponsored the “single-payer” universal health care bill (now called “Medicare for All”) . . . but as House Democratic leader, she has not gone anywhere near it. Unlike most House Democrats and the CPC, she voted for NAFTA in 1993, one of her worst votes back then. She joined most House Democrats in voting not to authorize Iraq invasion in Oct. 2002. As speaker, Pelosi mocked the Green New Deal proposal as “the Green Dream or whatever they call it.”
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the House Democratic leader, succeeding Nancy Pelosi. He is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). Jeffries is mentioned in RootsAction’s “Progressive In Name Only” (PINO) report; he’s not a full-blown PINO, but he was referenced as being “On Our Radar” because he was out of step 50 percent of the time on the “pivotal progressive issues” we analyzed. In other words, Jeffries’ voting/co-sponsorship record put him at about the 20th least progressive of the roughly 95 CPC members. (Unlike many of the 20 most un-progressive CPCers, who are members of both the CPC and the corporatist New Democrat Coalition, Jeffries’ only philosophical/ideological caucus is CPC.)
Jeffries is a cosponsor of Medicare for All, but not the Green New Deal or the Green New Deal for Cities. He went against the House Democratic leadership and was among 92 Dems who voted to cut 10 percent from the military budget in 2020 (Pocan amendment) and among 86 House Dems in 2021 (AOC amendment); Hoyer and Clyburn voted against those 10 percent cut amendments, and Pelosi doesn’t vote but opposed those amendments.
Many reports say Jeffries was a “corporate lawyer” before becoming an elected official, but they offer few details.
One of Jeffries’ most troublesome actions was to join forces in 2021 with the onerous, conservative Dem Rep Josh Gottheimer to form Team Blue PAC in order to bolster Dem incumbents against progressive Squad-like primary challengers:
Here’s a telling quote from Jeffries to The Atlantic in August 2021: “I’m a Black progressive Democrat concerned with addressing racial and social and economic injustice with the fierce urgency of now.” He added: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.” (This comment borrows “the fierce urgency of now” quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. -- while firmly distancing himself from “democratic socialism,” which MLK supported.)
Jeffries seems to be running for Dem leadership on a slate with Katherine Clark (MA) who is a member only of CPC, and Pete Aguilar (CA), who is a member only of corporatist NDC. Clark cosponsors Medicare for All and the Green New Deal (but not Cori Bush’s GND for Cities), and she voted both times for the amendment to cut military spending by 10 percent. Aguilar cosponsored the Green New Deal, and voted both times not to cut the bloated military budget.
PELOSI PARALLEL: When Nancy Pelosi came to Congress, she joined the Progress Caucus. In the 1990s, she regularly cosponsored the “single-payer” universal health care bill (now called “Medicare for All”) . . . but as House Democratic leader, she has not gone anywhere near it. Unlike most House Democrats and the CPC, she voted for NAFTA in 1993, one of her worst votes back then. She joined most House Democrats in voting not to authorize Iraq invasion in Oct. 2002. As speaker, Pelosi mocked the Green New Deal proposal as “the Green Dream or whatever they call it.”
