How President Biden will fit with the more progressive elements of the party was a topic this election season. This seems like the first test of this.
From Axios:
From Axios:
The Squad is trying to block a former Biden chief of staff from serving in the Biden administration, reports Axios' Alexi McCammond.
Why it matters: Progressives don’t want a Biden-Harris administration to morph into a third Obama term.
First up: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are boosting a petition against former Biden Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, calling him a "deficit hawk."
"Rejecting Reed will be a major test for the soul of the Biden presidency," reads a petition they signed.
Reed served as head of the Bowles-Simpson Commission under President Obama.
Omar told Axios she's "proud to join Justice Democrats and our progressive coalition in saying no to deficit hawks.”
"If the Biden administration is serious about protecting Medicare and Social Security, they must not appoint one of the biggest champions of cuts to lead their budget agency," she said in her statement.
The backdrop: Incoming Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush attended a protest last week outside the Democratic National Committee urging Biden to keep his promise to pass a $2 trillion climate policy.
Separately, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee employed the help of actor Mark Ruffalo today to blast an email to their nearly 1 million members. It urged Biden to pick Rep. Deb Haaland — a progressive elected in the 2018 midterms — for secretary of the interior.
Between the lines: Progressive groups and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party have been in communication with staff on the Biden-Harris transition team, discussing personnel and policy.
Ocasio-Cortez was the co-chair of the Biden-Sanders Task Force on climate change leading up to the Democratic National Convention last summer.