The House Progressive Caucus on Tuesday outlined an ambitious set of policy priorities it plans to push this biennium, sending the message that it intends to move the Democratic majority as far left as possible.
During a press conference Tuesday, the Progs said they would advocate to decriminalize sex work, create universal primary health care, tweak the state’s unemployment insurance system and raise tax rates on Vermont’s wealthiest residents.
While many of these proposals are hardly new to the Legislature, the seven-member caucus’ decision to put its might behind such an ambitious agenda stands in stark contrast to the approach favored by Republican Gov. Phil Scott and the Democratic majority.
The governor and the Dems have stressed that they plan to focus on little else other than Covid-19 relief this year. During his budget address last month, Scott even cautioned lawmakers against using $200 million in one-time money on new programs.
Rep. Selene Colburn, P-Burlington, who leads the Progressive Caucus, acknowledged that some of policy goals might be a hard sell for Democratic leadership. But she said there is room to work with Democrats to achieve common goals.
“There’s a lot of possibility for collaboration with members of the majority party, who do align with us and care deeply about these issues,” Colburn said. “Many of the things we talked about we’re working in collaboration with folks in the Democratic caucus and beyond to move forward.”
Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Essex, said Democrats and Progressives agree that the Legislature must focus this year on coronavirus relief, but they differ on what it looks like.
“We’re simply looking at how do we frame that Covid recovery,” Vyhovsky said, arguing that it should be centered around equity and social justice.
Rep. Brian Cina, P/D-Burlington, put it another way.
“When I started in the Legislature, someone had said, ‘The majority party’s job is to set the course of the ship and the minority party’s job is to warn about the icebergs that are in the way,’” Cina said.
“I actually think our job as the super-minority is to cry out that we’ve already hit a lot of icebergs,” he added.
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