Rep. Jayapal helps establish new liberal think tank

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Indian-American lawmaker Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington, is behind the effort to set up a new liberal think tank for policy development and outreach to voters. She is on the board of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center (CPCC), announced Oct. 10, which describes itself as “an outside entity” aimed at leveraging the power of the existing Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC).

“The Center will be the bridge that links the CPC with progressive stakeholders and will provide cutting edge policy analysis and message guidance to the broader progressive community to help drive progressive ideas and reforms into the public debate,” says the website.

Currently, there is another major liberal think tank, Center for American Progress, set up by former Obama supporters and advisors and headed by an Indian-American, Neera Tanden,.

“This is a critical piece that I think has been missing,” Rep. Jayapal was quoted saying in a news report from Rollcall.com, adding, “The goal here is to leverage the power of the progressive movement to enact strong progressive legislation and really build our movement for change across the country.”

Jayapal listed a string of issues that the CPCC will work on, among them, “Medicare for all, protecting women’s health, developing a demilitarized foreign policy, making college without debt a reality, making sure that we are fostering and advancing workplace democracy and collective bargaining rights, humane immigration reform, gender equality, addressing climate change,” Rollcall reported.

“By working with outside partners – advocacy groups, labor unions, and think tanks – we will provide resources outlining the interests of the American people,” the organization says on its website. It has put out an ad to recruit an Executive Director for the Center.

“The CPCC will convene different progressive stakeholders to advance cutting-edge, independent policy analysis and most importantly, work to realize the enactment of progressive policies – which are overwhelmingly supported by the American people,” the organization says on its website.