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Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) accused Israel of “war crimes” shortly after visiting Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, prompting then-U.S. Ambassador David Friedman to walk out of a meeting with her in 2018. The story is told in Friedman’s new memoir. Jayapal and several other Democrats had been touring Israel with a group sponsored by J Street, a George Soros-backed left-wing organization that opposes many pro-Israeli policies. Jayapal went to Yad Vashem, a memorial where visiting heads of state and dignitaries pay their respects to the victims of the Holocaust. The memorial is renowned both for the quality of its historical...

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) urged President Joe Biden “to take executive action, so that we truly can build back better and deliver on the very agenda that he laid out and that progressives have been at the forefront of fighting for this entire time.” Jayapal said, “I have to be clear that we are also going to, at the same time that we work on legislation, call on the president to take executive action, so that we truly can build back better and deliver on the very agenda that he...

Progressives in Congress are lining up behind a bill that would shrink a regular week of work from 40 hours to 32 - bringing the four-day work week to America. The Congressional Progressive Caucus just endorsed the aptly named "32-Hour Workweek Act," according to a statement from Rep. Mark Takano, the Democrat representing California's 41st district. The caucus, comprised of nearly 100 legislators, is a key progressive voice and has made its power known during recent infrastructure negotiations. "For far too long, workers across this country have been forced to put in longer hours as their wages barely budge," chair...

SEATTLE — When U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal returns home to Seattle, the Congressional Progressive Caucus chairwoman always goes for a walk along the Puget Sound. “Everything feels closed in sometimes in D.C., and so when I come home, I just like to ground myself in that spaciousness,” Jayapal said in a recent interview with The Associated Press during a trip back to the city she represents. Jayapal’s ritual is calming at a time her career has rapidly ascended into the top tiers of U.S. politics, showcasing the progressive street cred she amassed in Seattle and a political sensibility she has...

Congressional Progressive Caucus Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said on Friday that it’s worth Democrats passing the party’s sweeping social spending and climate change package even if they lose the House in next year’s midterm elections. Jayapal was asked early Friday ahead of an expected vote on the legislation if it's worth the party passing the legislation if it could help the GOP take back the House next year, just as Republicans did in 2010 following passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal on Monday said her caucus is ready to move forward on two bills key to President Joe Biden's agenda "as soon as tomorrow," a significant concession after previously seeking direct assurances from Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on the legislation. Speaking with CNN's Victor Blackwell on "CNN Newsroom," Jayapal said that after spending the weekend reviewing the legislative text and conferring with the progressive caucus, she is ready to pass the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill as well as the $1.75 trillion social safety net expansion bill once a few details in...

In what can only be described as another case of “do as I say, not as I do,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) was caught maskless while celebrating her birthday with invited guests despite her previous condemnations of anti-maskers. The video, posted by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Instagram Monday evening, showed Jayapal not only celebrating without a mask but also blowing out her birthday candles – a hazard that health experts have warned could potentially spread coronavirus.

The far-left Democrats forced out provisions to fund Israel’s Iron Dome from the continuing resolution that would keep the government funded and raise the debt ceiling, according to reports. According to Army Technology, “Iron Dome provides defence[sic] against short-range missiles and rockets which pose a threat to the civilian population,” such as those fired from Gaza earlier this year. Due to there not being enough votes to pass the CR as a result of pushback from far-left Democrats, a Politico reporter claimed that House Democrats were forced to remove the Iron Dome provisions to pass the measure. Before the provisions...

Former staffers of the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said the congresswoman’s office is a “miserable” and “harsh” environment, BuzzFeed News reported. BuzzFeed spoke with 14 anonymous ex-staffers who worked for Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington over the course of her nearly five years in Congress. The report, which took three months to compile, said the former staffers described the work environment as an “especially harsh office with a boss whose treatment of workers runs contrary to the public expectations she has set for others.” Ex-staffers speaking with BuzzFeed painted Jayapal as someone who publicly berated those who...

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the Washington state Democrat, was accused in a published report Monday of running a ‘miserable’ workplace despite a public persona of being a strong progressive force for workers across the country. Buzzfeed News, ran a long-form article about Jayapal's apparent reputation among ex-staffers in Washington, D.C. The report cited 14 former workers from her office who worked there over the past five years. They described an "especially harsh office with a boss whose treatment of workers runs contrary to the public expectations she has set for others," the report said. The report-- which took three months to...

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said during a virtual town hall Saturday that the infrastructure bill touted by President Joe Biden focuses more on “transitioning to a clean, green economy” than physical infrastructure.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., took to Twitter early Tuesday to announce that she has been diagnosed with COVID-19, and excoriated several Republicans locked down with her during last week’s riot at the Capitol who did not wear masks. Jayapal posted that she was "locked down in a secured room at the Capitol where several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask but recklessly mocked colleagues and staff who offered them one." Her office issued a statement that said some members and staff were informed by Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician of the U.S. Congress, that those secured...

Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Thursday on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” that President Donald Trump must be removed from office because he “incited and fueled” an assault on the Capitol by domestic terrorists.

After calling on Attorney General William Barr to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, Democrats unloosed a barrage of insults and accusations and refused to allow the witness to answer questions. The farce followed a repetitive pattern as each Democrat on the Committee would pose a loaded question, Barr would start to answer but be interrupted after a few seconds by the questioner's shouts of "reclaiming my time." Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) defended the protocol, insisting that "a lying snake like Barr must never be given the chance to use a public forum to say things we don't want...

Four House Democrats have written to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on the United States to cut assistance to Israel should it proceed to apply sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, JTA reported on Monday. The letter was initiated by Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Betty McCollum of Minnesota. The letter to Pompeo is circulating among Democrats in a bid to add signatures. “Should the Israeli government move forward with the planned annexation with this administration’s acquiescence, we will work to ensure non-recognition as well as pursue conditions on...

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders just got a new endorsement, this time from one of Washington state’s own Congressional representatives, Pramila Jayapal. Jayapal — whose district encompasses most of Seattle, Burien, Edmonds, Shoreline, and more — teased at the endorsement in an interview with The Washington Post, pointing to her confidence in Sanders’ ability to take on incumbent President Donald Trump in November. “What I feel we need is a candidate who is entirely authentic about what’s wrong and steadfast about it and can rally people to believe he can trust them,” she stated. “Bernie has that. I can feel Bernie...

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the co-chair of the Progressive Caucus, proclaimed on Wednesday that “there was no raw evidence” of an “imminent threat” to warrant the elimination of Iran’s top terror chief, declaring that President Trump “recklessly assassinated” Qasem Soleimani. Jayapal, upon emerging from a congressional classified briefing on the strike eliminating Iran’s top general, proclaimed that there was “no evidence of an imminent threat or attack” to justify the action against the terrorist mastermind, who directed terrorist proxies abroad. She claimed: President Trump recklessly assassinated Qasem Soleimani. He had no evidence of an imminent threat or attack, and we...

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) is hitting back after reports India's foreign minister declined a congressional meeting she was slated to attend, with the lawmaker calling the move a "sign of weakness." It was reported last week that Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was slated to meet with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, but refused to do so because Jayapal was part of the group. Jayapal, who was born in India, is the sponsor of a bipartisan resolution urging the country to end communications restrictions and mass detentions in the Jammu and Kashmir regions. She wrote in a Washington Post...

A tense hearing over border detention practices erupted into a shouting match between former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Thomas Homan and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., as Homan grew frustrated in his attempts to defend his former agency. Jayapal, the vice chairwoman of the House Judiciary Immigration and Citizenship Subcommittee, repeatedly cut off Homan for exceeding his allotted time. It started when the former ICE director responded to a previous statement Jayapal made about the Trump administration's use of funding for additional detention beds. "I'd like to remind you, under the Obama administration we did that most of the...

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, suggested Friday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hurt the progressive cause when she downplayed the influence of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and other freshman lawmakers. Pelosi told The New York Times last week that Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., "have their public whatever and their Twitter world, but they didn’t have any following. They’re four people, and that’s how many votes they got.” “I don’t think those comments were helpful to a broader picture of how we build progressive power...