Democratic Caucus Has Links to Socialists
Need further proof that a Democratic victory in the House in November would swing the lower legislative body far to the left?
Many of the Congressmen who would become chairmen of powerful House committees are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, co-founded by avowed Socialist Bernard Sanders.
The Progressive Caucus has had strong links to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International Party, and the DSA hosted the Caucus’ Web site during the 1990s.
The DSA’s Web site declares: “We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.”
The Congressional Progressive Caucus itself has stated that it seeks the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as soon as possible, and elimination of all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation.
One prominent member of the Caucus is Charles Rangel from New York, who would become the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee – the most powerful committee in the House – if the Democrats gain a majority of seats in the midterm elections.
As NewsMax reported in a recent story profiling the likely leadership of a Democratic-controlled House, the Democrats need to pick up only 15 seats to gain the majority for the first time since 1994, and a number of recent polls show strong public sentiment in favor of Democrats.
Under House rules, the majority party selects the chairman of each committee and subcommittee, and Democrats traditionally go strictly by seniority when selecting a committee chairperson.
That means the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee would go to outspoken liberal John Conyers from Michigan, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Here are other members of the Caucus and the committees they would chair:
Barney Frank (Mass.), Financial Services.
Henry Waxman (Calif.), Government Reform.
George Miller (Calif.), Education and Workforce.
Bennie Thompson (Miss.), Homeland Security.
Tom Lantos (Calif.), International Relations.
Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), Rules.
Nydia Velasquez (N.Y.), Small Business.
Sanders is giving up his House seat and running for the Senate from Vermont.
