Progressive Groups Blast Democratic Party Leadership
Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Justice Democrats, Democracy for America, CREDO Action, and other prominent progressive groups blasted top House Democrats in a statement released on Saturday, The Hill reports.
The statement comes amid an escalating feud between House Democrats lead by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and left-leaning members of the caucus. The activists are siding with the latter group, and criticizing the Democratic Party’s leadership for “escalating attacks” on progressive politicians, instead of adequately challenging the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
“Just days after joining with Republicans to give Trump billions more to harm immigrant families, it’s deeply concerning that senior Democratic Party leaders and their aides have been escalating attacks on new leaders in the party who have been rightfully advocating a stronger approach to holding the Trump administration accountable to human rights abuses being committed on the border and against immigrants.”
The groups also urged Democratic leaders to join the fight to close the detention centers at the southern border, calling on top Democrats to help “hold ICE and CBP accountable.”
Pelosi’s spokesperson declined to comment to The Hill, pointing to one of the top Democrat’s tweets — Pelosi tweeted a number of resources meant to help migrants ahead of a mass-deportation operation organized by ICE.
As The Inquisitr reported, the public feud between progressive lawmakers and top Democrats has been escalating for some time, but it culminated following Pelosi’s decision to pass with no strings attached a Senate bill expanding funding for the Trump administration’s immigration authorities.
Progressives criticized Pelosi for passing the bill without attempting to negotiate better conditions for detained migrants, prompting the speaker to hammer the group in an interview with the New York Times.
Good work @HouseDemocrats. https://t.co/htwC3Q6GxG
— Waleed Shahid (@_waleedshahid) July 13, 2019
This lead to progressive members of Pelosi’s caucus — Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ayanna Pressley — responding to the Speaker, and slamming her for targeting four women of color instead of focusing on Trump.
Even President Trump eventually weighed in on the issue, siding with Pelosi who had he endorsed for speaker in 2018.
We have rights if ICE agents approach us in public. pic.twitter.com/y6xqKjhiK9
— ACLU (@ACLU) July 13, 2019
According to HuffPost, the feud is being lead both online and at activist conferences. At Netroots Nation, a progressive gathering held on Saturday, activists and organizers slammed Pelosi and other party leaders for criticizing progressive members of the House Democratic Caucus, while agreeing to fund the Trump administration’s immigration initiatives.
The two fractions are feuding on social media as well. The official Twitter account of the House Democratic Caucus attacked Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, further angering progressives who were quick to suggest that party leadership should focus on resisting Trump instead.
