Axios: Left’s dream agenda

Posted on October 29, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
Left’s dream agenda
 
Illustration of a donkey's silhouette inside a tsunami wave.
Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
 
House progressives are planning to use their growing power to force votes next year on their most sweeping and divisive policies, including Medicare for All, abolishing ICE and cutting aid to Israel, Axios’ Andrew Solender writes.

Why it matters: The ultimate goal is to get these policies on the front burner for a Democratic president in 2029, even if that means forcing House Democrats into tough decisions

🔎 Zoom in: Here is what progressives most want to see go to a House vote in 2027, according to lawmakers, candidates and operatives who spoke to Axios:

1. Medicare for All. The Medicare for All Act introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) has 118 co-sponsors — more than half the House Democratic caucus.

The left wants to force the issue onto the floor and make their Democratic colleagues reckon with the policy’s popularity in public opinion polls.

The aim is to make support for Medicare for All a must for any 2028 presidential candidate to win the primary.

2. Abolish or defund ICE. Several progressives pointed to Rep. Delia Ramirez’s (D-Ill.) “Melt ICE Act,” which would cut all funding for ICE detention and monitoring of immigrants.

Another bill would go even further, fully abolishing ICE and dismantling ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

Moderate Democrats have long opposed defunding ICE. Party leadership has proposed reforms to the agency’s practices rather than cutting funds.

3. Cut aid to Israel. The Block the Bombs Act, which would restrict presidents’ ability to transfer offensive weaponry to Israel, is the left’s marquee legislation on this issue.

The left is putting external pressure on the party’s pro-Israel wing, which suffered serious losses in House primaries this year.

4. AI. Progressives have been some of the earliest adopters of anti-AI rhetoric, proposing strict regulations on the technology, a moratorium on data centers and a ban on Flock cameras.

5. Affordability. Progressives are eyeing a living wage, universal child care, lifting the payroll tax cap to shore up Social Security, and repealing a cap on federally subsidized public housing.

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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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