The Progressive Promise
Fairness For All
The Congressional Progressive Caucus offers the Progressive Promise for all. We believe in government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Our fairness plan is rooted in our core principles. It also embodies national priorities that are consistent with the values, needs, and hopes of all our people, not just the powerful and the privileged. We pledge our unwavering commitment to these legislative priorities and we will not rest until they become law.
1) Fighting for Economic Justice and Security in the U.S. and Global Economies
» To uphold the right to universal access to affordable, high quality healthcare for all.
» To preserve guaranteed Social Security benefits for all Americans, protect private pensions, and require corporate accountability.
» To invest in America and create new jobs in the U.S. by building more affordable housing, re-building America’s schools and physical infrastructure, cleaning up our environment, and improving homeland security.
» To export more American products and not more American jobs and demand fair trade.
» To reaffirm freedom of association and enforce the right to organize.
» To ensure working families can live above the poverty line and with dignity by raising and indexing the minimum wage.
2) Protecting and Preserving Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
» To sunset expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and bring remaining provisions into line with the U. S. Constitution.
» To protect the personal privacy of all Americans from unbridled police powers and unchecked government intrusion.
» To extend the Voting Rights Act and reform our electoral processes.
» To fight corporate consolidation of the media and ensure opportunity for all voices to be heard.
» To ensure enforcement of all legal rights in the workplace.
» To eliminate all forms of discrimination based upon color, race, religion, gender, creed, disability, or sexual orientation.
3) Promoting Global Peace and Security
» To honor and help our overburdened international public servants – both military and civilian.
» To bring U. S. troops home from Iraq as soon as possible.
» To re-build U.S. alliances around the world, restore international respect for American power and influence, and reaffirm our nation’s constructive engagement in the United Nations and other multilateral organizations.
» To enhance international cooperation to reduce the threats posed by nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction.
» To increase efforts to combat hunger and the scourge of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases.
» To encourage debt relief for poor countries and support efforts to reach the UN’s Millennium Goals for Developing Countries.
4) Environmental Protection & Energy Independence
» To free ourselves and our economy from dependence upon imported oil and shift to growing reliance upon renewable energy supplies and technologies, thus creating at least three million new jobs, cleansing our environment, and enhancing our nation’s security.
» To promote environmental justice in affirmation that all people have an inherent right to a healthy environment, clean air, and clean water wherever we live, work, and relax.
» To change incentives in federal tax, procurement, and appropriation policies to:
(A) Speed commercialization of solar, biomass, and wind power generation, while encouraging state and local policy innovation to link clean energy and job creation;
(B) Convert domestic assembly lines to manufacture highly efficient vehicles,
enhance global competitiveness of U.S. auto industry, and expand consumer choice;
(C) Increase investment in construction of “green buildings” and more energy-efficient homes and workplaces;
(D) Link higher energy efficiency standards in appliances to consumer and manufacturing incentives that increase demand for new durable goods and increase investment in U.S. factories;
» To eliminate the environmental threat posed by global warming and ensuring that America does our part to advance an effective global problem-solving approach.
» To expand energy-efficient transportation choices by increasing investment in synthesized networks, including bicycle, local bus and rail transit, regional high-speed rail and magnetic levitation rail projects.
» To preserve prudent public interest regulations that encourage sustainable growth and investment, ensure energy diversity and system reliability, protect workers and the environment, reward consumer conservation, and support an expanding marketplace that rewards the commercialization of energy-efficient technologies.
Progressive Promise, October 2005
