Posts by: Progressive Change Campaign Committee

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CALIFORNIA: With the retirement of Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), the liberal group Progressive Change Campaign Committee says it’s making the district a priority, and it will endorse Dr. Lee Rogers for the seat.

Anti-spying protestors were mostly disappointed by President Obama’s proposed reforms to the NSA surveillance program. Obama kept it vague, and defended the program as necessary for national security. Karissa Gerhke, an organizer with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, says though she doesn’t think the president is doing enough, there is still something to celebrate. “The main thing here today is that Obama’s announcement today would not have been possible without Edward Snowden,” says Gerhke.

Yesterday, GOP Rep. Buck McKeon, a longtime member of Congress and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, announced his retirement. The move could pave the way for an interesting experiment, one that could provide a glimpse into how progressive policies play in a swing district that’s already very difficult for Democrats.

The Democrat vying for the seat in California’s 25th District is Dr. Lee Rogers, who not only aggressively embraces Obamacare, but wants to expand it to achieve “universal” coverage, and even wants to expand Social Security. In an indication of what this candidacy might look like, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which supports Rogers, notes that he champions “Medicare access for all,” and in a PCCC email going out today, Rogers says:

“I’ll fight to allow people to buy into Medicare. I’ll push for Medicare to negotiate drug prices to lower costs. And I promise to help bring us closer to universal healthcare coverage.”

President Barack Obama announced Friday significant changes to National Security Agency permissions and policies — changes that the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) says never would have occurred were it not for the actions of agency leaker Edward Snowden.

“Obama’s announcement today would not have been possible without Edward Snowden,” committee organizer Karissa Gerhke said in a statement Friday. He is a hero and a whistle-blower, and deserves clemency.”

The PCCC has raised more than $45,000 via the Edward Snowden Legal Defense Fund while advocating for Snowden’s pardon.

As a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Adam Green might be expected to lead the effort, but Warren’s decision to remain on the sidelines has left him resigned to seek concessions from the overwhelming front runner. Clinton “determines her own fate,” Green tells Time. “If she embraces things like more Wall Street reform and expanding Social Security benefits instead of cutting them, there will be very little space for a primary challenge of the left.”

Wisconsin congressional candidate Kelly Westlund’s family has been on unemployment benefits. Today, she stepped up on this issue and sent an email to the Progressive Change Campaign Committee’sAi??nearly one million members — telling her story, saying that Republicans who oppose extending unemployment benefits are out of touch, and asking people to contact their senators in every state.

Westlund is running in one of the House seats Democrats need to take back the majority, Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District. She announced for Congress last month on a theme of economic populism. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) proudlyAi??endorsed her on Day One of her campaign.

Read Kelly Westlund’s email to PCCC members here:

My name’s Kelly Westlund, and my family’s relied on unemployment benefits before.

My husband is a carpenter.Ai??When Wall Street banks tanked our economy and crashed the housing market, there just wasn’t a lot of demand for the homes my husband specialized in building.

We needed unemployment benefits for several months to make ends meet.

Today, I’m on my local City Council and I’m running for Congress in Wisconsin. The issue of unemployment benefits is personal for me.

The U.S. Senate is scheduled to vote today on whether to extend unemployment benefits.

I’ll be calling both of my senators today. Can you call yours and tellAi??them to vote “yes” today?

Republicans in Congress may block unemployment benefits.

My Tea Party Congressman, Sean Duffy,Ai??says he “struggles” to get by on $174,000 a year. That’s how out of touch they are.

I know that when that check comes in, families immediately use it toAi??buy groceries and pay utility bills and put gas in the car. Theyai??i??re reinvesting those dollars in our communities.

Protecting these earned benefits (and, I’d add, increasing the minimum wage) would create real economic growth that just doesnai??i??t happen when rich …

On Monday, the Boston Globe’s front page featured a wide ranging profile of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and all of the amazing work PCCC members have done to push the Democratic Party to embrace Elizabeth Warren’s agenda and fight for progressive change.

Can you help us continue to fight for Elizabeth Warren’s agenda in 2014? Click here.

The Boston Globe: Progressive wing waves Elizabeth Warren banner

Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor are cofounders of Progressive Change Campaign Committee. The group has been promoting the political profile of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in presidential primary states.

WASHINGTON ai??i?? Elizabeth Warren has pledged she will not seek the White House in 2016, but that has not stopped diehard Warren boosters from promoting her political profile in presidential primary states, saying she is best positioned to push the Democratic Party to the left.

A group called Progressive Change Campaign Committee is waging the most visible of these pro-Warren crusades, training volunteers, meeting with labor leaders in New Hampshire, and handing out stickers with Warrenai??i??s name.

But there are costs to party unity, as the Massachusetts senator becomes a central figure in an intensifying battle for the Democratic Partyai??i??s soul.

The movement behind Warren is not as intense as the conservative Tea Party version for Republican candidates, but pushing against the partyai??i??s center is the goal for both.

ai???Weai??i??re going to make sure that every Democrat who runs for president is forced to say whether they agree with Elizabeth Warren on key issues, like expanding Social Security benefits and more Wall Street reform,ai??? said Adam Green, the 37-year-old cofounder of the group.

Warrenai??i??s impassioned stance on expanding Social Security is in defiance of President Obamaai??i??s proposal to trim the growth of benefit payments in future years. On …

Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor are cofounders of Progressive Change Campaign Committee. The group has been promoting the political profile of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts in presidential primary states.

Elizabeth Warren has pledged she will not seek the White House in 2016, but that has not stopped diehard Warren boosters from promoting her political profile in presidential primary states, saying she is best positioned to push the Democratic Party to the left.

A group called Progressive Change Campaign Committee is waging the most visible of these pro-Warren crusades, training volunteers, meeting with labor leaders in New Hampshire, and handing out stickers with Warrenai??i??s name.

Ever since it caused an outpouring of indignation on the left by attacking Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the Wall Street Journal, Third Way, the neoliberal think tank, has been ducking questions about where, exactly, its funding comes from.

But at a demonstration on Wednesday outside its Washington, D.C., office, senior vice president Matt Bennett admitted that, contrary to the impression Third Way initially gave of the finance sector providing a minuscule amount of its funding, Third Wayai??i??s money comes overwhelmingly from its board of trustees ai??i?? which, as Daily Kos and others have shown, is itself overwhelmingly composed of people who make their living in finance.

Asked by Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green to name a percentage of Third Wayai??i??s funding that comes from peopleAi??in the finance sector ai??i?? rather than institutions ai??i?? Bennett concededAi??that ai???the majority of our financial support [comes] from trustees.ai???Ai??When Green pressed Bennett for a ai???ball parkai??? or a ai???percentageai??? guess, Bennett demurred. ai???Iai??i??m not going to get into that,ai??? he said.

On a brisk, sunny Wednesday afternoon a handful of protesters stood outside of 1025 Connecticut Ave NW in Washington, while a boisterous woman led the groupai??i??s chants.Ai??ai???What is America going to be?ai??? they asked. ai???Corporate Greed or Democracy?ai???

People from all across the country, including retirees and caregivers from Illinois, Montana, and North Carolina, had been brought together by leftist organizations Social Security Works and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) to denounce Third Way, a centrist democratic think tank, and their stance on social security.

ai???Up with America,ai??? they jeered at the faAi??ade of the building housing the groupai??i??s headquarters, holding signs that read ai???We are from the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party,ai??? a signal of support for the freshman senator who supports expanding Social Security.Ai?? ai???Down with Third Way.ai???

Progressives, led by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee,Ai??pushed back hard onAi??Third Way’s attack on Elizabeth WarrenAi??and their claim that economic populism was “disastrous” for Democrats. As a growing team of progressive groups joined the fray, Third Way’s Democratic co-chairs started distancing themselves from the attack.Ai??The New York TimesAi??called the campaign’s successAi??”the latest indication that the liberal wing of theAi??Democratic PartyAi??is ascendant.”

Last week, corporate-funded think tank Third Way attacked Elizabeth Warren in Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal — saying her bold economic populism is “dangerous for Democratic Party.” Wrong!

Polls show Warren’s ideas are popular in red, purple, and blue states. That’s why Wall Street fears her.

The PCCC is leading the fight against Third Way’s corporatist strategy and calling them out for refusing to make their Wall Street ties public.

Over 100,000 people have joined our petition calling on Third Way to disclose their Wall Street donors. Click here to sign on.

The petition and actions by PCCC members have already been covered by the New York Times, Washington Post, ABC News, Wall Street Journal, and more!

The New York Times reported:

In a sign of the leftai??i??s new aggressiveness, a coalition of liberals is trying to marginalize a centrist Democratic policy group that was responsible for a Wall Street Journal op-ed article this week that said economic populism was ai???disastrousai??? for the party.

The coalition, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and three other liberal advocacy organizations have urged their members to contact a group of congressional Democrats who are honorary leaders of the centrist group, Third Way. It published the op-ed article on Monday contending that the liberalism of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio of New York City and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would lead Democrats ai???over the populist cliff.ai???

The article ai??i?? written by Jon Cowan, president of Third Way, and Jim Kessler, its senior vice president for policy ai??i?? criticizes progressives like Ms. Warren and Mr. de Blasio for opposing measures to cut ai??i?? Social Security and Medicare.

The liberal groupsai??i?? campaign has already gotten results, the latest indication that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party is ascendant.

Help us continue to put pressure on Wall Street-backed …

In a sign of the leftai??i??s new aggressiveness, a coalition of liberals is trying to marginalize a centrist Democratic policy group that was responsible for a Wall Street Journal op-ed article this week that said economic populism was ai???disastrousai??? for the party.

The coalition, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and three other liberal advocacy organizations have urged their members to contact a group of congressional Democrats who are honorary leaders of the centrist group, Third Way. It published the op-ed article on Monday contending that the liberalism of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio of New York City and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would lead Democrats ai???over the populist cliff.ai???

The article ai??i?? written by Jon Cowan, president of Third Way, and Jim Kessler, its senior vice president for policy ai??i?? criticizes progressives like Ms. Warren and Mr. de Blasio for opposing measures to cut … Social Security and Medicare.

The liberal groupsai??i?? campaign has already gotten results, the latest indication that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party is ascendant.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Progressives United and Democracy For America all called on Schwartz Tuesday to resign from her position as honorary co-chair of Third Way. Democratic primary opponent John Hanger echoed the demand. Mark Bergman, a spokesman for Schwartz, said she would not resign but said in an email to The Huffington Post that she thought the op-ed was “outrageous, and strongly disagrees with it.”

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is calling on Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) to drop her affiliation with the think tank Third Way.

Schwartz, who is currently running for governor, serves as an honorary co-chair of the think tank. The call, made by PCCC co-founder Adam Green in an email to supporters on Wednesday, is the latest shot in a recently in an escalating feud between Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Third Way.

The Liberal Fix team was very excited to sit down with the Press Secretary for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and talk about the challenges that progressives face, the opportunities that exist, as well as their recent focus on expanding Social Security.

The PCCC has played a large part in moving the dialogue on Social Security away from decreasing benefits to expanding existing benefits.

Most recently and notably Senator Warren offered her full support for expanding Social Security and made a very public statement in support of the effort.

Add Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to the growing chorus of voices calling for the expansion of Social Security benefits.

Groups such as MoveOn.org, the Campaign for America’s Future, Patriot Majority and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee have been campaigning for expanded Social Security benefits since the re-introduction of Harkin’s legislation.

“Social Security is incredibly effective, it is incredibly popular, and the calls for strengthening it are growing louder every day,” Warren said.

But Harkin’s bill, which has also drawn the support of Begich, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), has forced the issue into the political mainstream, and Warren’s backing turns the issue into a likely topic in the 2016 Democratic presidential race.

“This summer no one even talked about (expanding benefits), but now we’re really building momentum,” Kimberly Fountain, campaign director for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told Raw Story.

If Elizabeth Warren is emerging as a kind of spokeswoman for the new economic populism that many Democratic activists want the party to embrace heading into 2014 and 2016, this speech that Warren is currently delivering on the floor of the Senate suggests the push to expand Social Security could become a key issue in the argument over the Democratic Party of the future.

In remarks Warren just began delivering, she strongly endorsed the push to boost Social Security benefits — in keeping with Senator Tom Harkin’s proposal to do the same — and condemned the “Chained CPI” that liberals fear Dems will embrace in strong terms.

By planting a flag on the need to expand Social Security, Warren may have just added this issue to the pantheon of preoccupations that are driving those who want to see the party embrace a more economically populist posture going forward. Liberal bloggers such as Atrios and liberal groups like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, have been pushing for a Social Security expansion, arguing that Democratic priorities should be centered on the idea that declining pensions and wages (and savings) are undermining retirement security, and that the party should above all stand against undermining the social insurance system.

Elizabeth Warren is a popular figure on the left wing of the Democratic Party due to her aggressive focus on inequality and financial reform. Last week, The New Republic’s Noam Schieber floated her as a potential candidate in the 2016 Democratic Party, where should could serve as a foil to the more Wall Street-friendly Hillary Clinton.

The PCCC has not said that it is trying to draft Warren into the race. Instead, the group appears to be trying to demonstrate the popularity of her anti-austerity, pro-financial reform message in the hopes that other Democratic politicians will begin to emulate it.

In a statement on O’Malley’s keynote speech, PCCC spokesperson Matt Wall alluded to who the real target of the organization’s “Elizabeth Warren wing” campaign might be: Not O’Malley, who is currently polling at 0% among New Hampshire Democrats, but presidential heir apparent Hillary Clinton.

“It’s fantastic that Governor O’Malley took the fight to those who would cut Social Security benefits. That’s a winning message for Democrats and a potentially defining issue in any Democratic primary,” said Wall. “Hopefully Hillary Clinton soon says that she opposes any cuts to Social Security benefits—and makes clear that Democrats are united around that position going into 2016.”

It’s time to reshape the debate around Social Security. For too long Democrats have been playing defense, working to protect Social Security benefits from cuts when really we need to EXPAND Social Security benefits. Now a growing number of voices are calling for Social Security expansion — and they’re beginning to turn the conversation.

In June, the PCCC put together a coalition of over 30 national groups representing over 20 million Americans leading the movement to expand Social Security benefits including the PCCC, AFL-CIO, National Organization for Women, Social Security Works, Latinos for a Secure Retirement, MoveOn, Democracy For America, and CREDO Action.

In July, the PCCC launched the campaign on MSNBC’s Ed Show. On the show,Ai??Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) discussed their bills in the Senate that would expand benefits by $452 for retirees at age 75 and $807 at age 85. By ai???scrapping the capai??? on what the wealthy pay into Social Security, the Harkin-Begich plan will pay for these benefit increases and leave trillions left over to extend Social Securityai??i??s solvency beyond its current $2.7 trillion surplus.Ai??Alan Grayson (D-FL), Mike Honda (D-CA), and over 40 members of Congress have co-sponsored House versions of the Harkin-Begich plan.

Over 649,000 progressives have signed on toAi??petitionsAi??calling on Congress to expand Social Security benefits.

In August, local PCCC members held events around the nation pressuring their representatives in Congress to support expanding Social Security benefits and generated media coverage in Kentucky, California, Iowa, New Jersey, Colorado, Hawaii, and Texas. The PCCC released polls showing expanding Social Security benefits is popular in red, purple, and blue states.Ai??RecentAi??pollsAi??from states as diverse as Kentucky, Iowa, and California show that expanding Social Security benefits is popular by over 2 to 1. In Texas, Colorado, and Hawaii, it’s 3 to 1.

Last week, …

Karissa Gerhke here, Director of Member Engagement with the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. Last week, I joined labor unions and organizational partners at the Kentucky Labor Federationai??i??s Biennial Convention. We discussed work weai??i??ve accomplished, as well as upcoming plans to build progressive power in 2014.

The energy at the convention was invigorating. I was able to reconnect with AFGE members we worked with during the government shutdown ai??i??Ai??census workers like Jeremy Lannan who is thrilled to be back to work but ready to organize against those that caused the shutdown.

I met folks like Will Emmons and Tyler Simonds, two young activists working to organize a workersai??i?? collective in Lexington, and Clifton Gardner ai??i??Ai??a retired UMWA miner who wasAi??happy about the UMWAai??i??s recent win against Peabody CoalAi??but is tired of Democratic candidates who donai??i??t stand up for working class folks.

The air in the convention hall was electric with buzz about the 2014 election.Ai??For the first time in years, it looks like Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell could lose his seat in 2014, and Kentucky labor is eager to seize this opportunity.

The McConnell election is only half the story though. Kentucky is the last southern state where Democrats hold the majority at the state level ai??i?? and they retain it by a slim margin. Union members are afraid (for good reason) of a Republican majority in the State House. It would likely lead to destructive policies like right to work legislation and restrictive voter ID laws. If Kentucky is going to retain their Democratic majority, it will be crucial to recruit bold, exciting candidates that actually represent working families of Kentucky.

One recurring theme throughout the convention was that there arenai??i??t enough people running for office who represent the interests of everyday working families. As Clifton put it, ai???itai??i??s hard …

TBQ’s Alexia Nader interviews Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor, founders of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC).

After meeting as student activists and organizers at the University of Virginia, Adam Green and Stephanie Taylor worked at MoveOn.org before leaving to found the PCCC. Prior to that launch, Green had worked in press and communications for several Democratic campaigns and party committees, while Taylor spent several years as a union organizer of health care workers in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. PCCC’s stated mission is “to build progressive power by changing who holds power.” Their website’s domain name is even more succinct: BoldProgressives.org.

“Social Security in 2016 could be the Iraq of 2008, meaning a definitive issue that primary voters make decisions based on,” said Adam Green, co-founder of Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is leading a concerted charge to expand Social Security benefits. Roger Hickey, director of the Campaign for America’s Future, characterized the coming battle over reforming the nation’s safety-net programs as a seminal moment for Democrats. “It’s a real point of conflict and battle within the Democratic Party. It endangers the Democrats’ ability to win elections. You don’t want to go into a presidential election saying, ‘I’m going to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.’ That’s the formula for making sure there’s not the first woman president.” And Justin Ruben, the head of the eight-million member MoveOn.org, has been even more unequivocal, saying in April, “Any Democrat who is voting to cut Social Security benefits is probably kissing his or her presidential aspirations goodbye.”

As Republicans and Democrats alike talk about trimming social safety-net programs to reduce deficits, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is pushing a proposal to increase Social Security benefits.

“There are plenty of ways to … get in a better place in the budget,” Brown said in call with reporters and PCCC members Wednesday. “Cutting social security is not one of them.”

He has signed onto a bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, that would make the Social Security benefit formula a tad more generous, would give seniors more robust cost-of-living increases, and would require wealthier Americans to pay more in Social Security taxes.