Astead Herndon

I think we should see it as an effort in flag planting, in litmus test creation.

And progressives in Congress are trying to define what affordability means to them ahead of the 2026 midterms and ahead of a 2028 presidential election that will define the party's future.

And so as we think about a post-Trump America, this feels to me like a good place to start.

Joining me now is Congressman Greg Kesar.

He's the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a member from Texas.

Thank you for joining us.

I mean, as we talked about, we wanted to talk about the new affordability agenda that the Progressive Caucus released.

And my first question was kind of why release this agenda now?

Democrats are obviously not in the congressional majority.

Why at this moment?

It sounds like you find these planks achievable in, you know, the ability to kind of keep Democrats together and kind of unify the caucus around them.

Can you explain that to me?

Because, you know, Congress hasn't necessarily gotten itself a reputation for passing big bills over the last couple of years.

How achievable is this stuff?

If I hear you right, it sounds like you're saying some of this agenda should be seen as a signal to fellow Democrats in 2026, 2028, saying this is what affordability means to us.

To that point, is that the reason that I don't see things like climate change or even Medicare for all listed amongst these planks?

You're mentioning that you wanted to focus on things that have consensus across the party and across kind of an achievable group of people.

Is that the reason I feel like some progressive priorities that of the past I remember hearing things like the Green New Deal, for example, aren't on this list?

Flagships and battleships.

It does feel a little bit, though, that Democrats are talking about climate less.