Terms of Engagement: What a Top Progressive Organizing Group Wants from Biden

Progressive powerhouse the Center for Popular Democracy issued a list of demands to the incoming Joe Biden White House in December, setting up the terms by which key players on the left intend to challenge the new administration. 

"Democracy isn’t just about an election," CPD co-Executive Director Jennifer Epps-Addison said in a statement. "We have to keep organizing and turning out for the future we want to build for our communities and families."

A list of demands

The group has released a comprehensive list of issues that need solving in the wake of four years of President Donald Trump's "racism, misogyny, xenophobia and regressive policies that have worsened inequalities in our communities." The demands come as part of a petition called the People’s Transition Memo.

"Our nation is at an inflection point," the memo declares. "The past four years of the Trump administration have been consumed by inhumane, harsh policies, utter disregard for democratic principles and disastrous responses to every crisis we have faced."

In the memo, CPD lays out the urgency of an agenda that rejects "business as usual" and prioritizes the repair of communities that have felt the outsized effects of the Trump administration's attacks. The group demands action on voting rights, an end to structural racism in American institutions, particularly policing, education and healthcare reform, and an economic justice platform. 

“These are the demands of the people who showed up in record numbers for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and sent them to the White House," said Epps-Addison. 

CPD is a progressive powerhouse, with funding in the tens of millions—$34,289,145 in 2018—and influence that's felt around the liberal sphere. As Blue Tent reported, CPD was a key actor in flipping Georgia blue in 2020, working hand-in-hand with local organizations to turn out the vote. 

Part of a larger effort

The demand list from CPD is one of a number of progressive documents circulating as Biden prepares to take office. Progressive group Demand Progress has also issued calls for the administration to be more responsive to the base and to make reversing the damage of the Trump era a top priority. 

Demand Progress released a December white paper laying out how to take advantage of polling showing that Americans are largely united in their rejection of corporate dominance and the revolving door, arguing that "in a deeply divided country, something that voters across partisan lines can agree on is that the interests of working families, not corporate giants and their lobbyists on Capitol Hill, should be prioritized in the cabinet composition process.”

Epps-Addison sounded a similar note in her statement announcing CPD's memo and list of priorities. 

"We have been fighting for a long time to guarantee healthcare for all, for humane immigration policies, for transformation of our criminal legal system, for a country where we all have the freedom to thrive—and now, the incoming administration must work to implement this change," said Epps-Addison. "We will not go back to business as usual.”