Was Hilary Clinton a Member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus?
2 Answers
Donna Halper
Donna Halper, Professor of political communication, media historian, author, former reporter.
398 Views • Donna has 210+ answers in Politics of the United States of America
She may have attended a meeting or two, but I do not see her listed as someone who was actively involved. In fairness the Congressional Progressive Caucus was founded long before she was a senator: it was established in 1991, originally by six members of the House of Representatives, one of whom was Bernie Sanders. Members were always in what is today jokingly called the "Elizabeth Warren wing" of the party, far more liberal than many other representatives or senators, who tended to be centrist or center-left. Thus, since Mrs. Clinton, even when she was a senator, was never considered on the far-left of the party, it would not be surprising if she did not become a member-- there were many other centrist and center-left Democrats who did not join either.
Hillary Clinton has never been a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The CPC is the largest Democratic Caucus in Congress. In the early 90s Bernie Sanders convened the caucus and was one of the five or six cofounders. He was also the first chair of the caucus. The CPC was strongly opposed to NAFTA, which Bill Clinton supported, as well as many other trade agreements like the TPP, which Hillary Clinton worked to bring about and called "the gold standard" of trade deals, before later coming out against it. It should also be noted that while the CPC is open to both senators and representatives, Senator Sanders is the only senator in the caucus, so it is not unusual for a progressive senator ( for example Senators Warren and Brown) not to be members.
Written Mar 12
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