84 House Democrats Say ‘No’ to Austerity

from In These Times:



84 House Democrats Say ‘No’ to Austerity
The Congressional Progressive Caucus’ budget may have failed, but it failed well.

BY Cole Stangler


On Wednesday, the House of Representatives took up floor debate and voted on three Democratic alternatives to the Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) budget—the first a version of the Senate Democrats’ budget, the second a proposal from the Black Caucus, and the third a budget crafted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which with 72 members is the largest Democratic Caucus in the House.

The CPC’s Back to Work budget, like the other Democratic budgets, never had a realistic possibility of passing in the House, which is dominated by a Republican majority that has now passed the Ryan budget three years in a row. But the CPC’s ability to garner support on the Democratic side for its budget serves as one way of evaluating the kind of leverage the caucus has today in Congress. And while most media attention focuses on the supposedly deep ideological divisions within the Republican Party, the vote on the CPC’s budget can serve as a lens into similar kinds of splits in the Democratic Party in the House.

At a meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, supporters and allies of the Progressive Caucus said they were hoping the budget would receive more than 100 votes—a figure that would mean that more than half of the Democratic caucus supported the budget. The CPC’s budget ultimately fell short of that target, losing by a vote of 84-327. In 2012, by contrast, it was rejected 78-346. Among Democrats this year, it was rejected 84-102, good for a six-vote improvement from last year’s Budget for All.

CPC Executive Director Brad Bauman was hoping the budget could do even better, but said that he was “happy that we are moving right direction as far as building more and more support for these baseline progressive ideals.” ........................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/14775/the_congressional_progressive_caucus_democrats_budget_failed_well/