New Faces in Congress is a diary series meant to highlight our new and diverse members of Congress in the Democratic Party. These 36 House freshmen range from political neophytes to seasoned legislative veterans. The series will run every Sunday morning, bright and early.
Last week, the New Faces in Congress series continued with a profile on Rep. Jill Tokuda of Hawai'i's 2nd district. If you missed it, feel free to click on this link to read all about her!
This member of Congress joined the Squad upon arrival in Washington, DC, helping increase the total members of this group to nine. Before joining Congress, he was on the Austin City Council, where he vowed to resist Trump on day one of his 2016 election. His district was the most diverse and poorest in Austin, so he has experience in serving underserved communities.
Texas gained two districts in the 2020 Census, and Austin could no longer be cracked by the GOP in multiple directions without risking every seat in the general area. GOP mapmakers drew a deep blue vote sink to protect their other incumbents — one perfect for a leftist to join Congress. His primary against establishment opposition was a mere formality, as he crushed that opposition. That was tantamount to election here.
Today, the spotlight is on Rep. Greg Casar!
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Rep. Greg Casar (Texas-35)
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Biography
What does Rep. Greg Casar have to say about himself? Quite a lot, actually! Here is his biography from his campaign website.
Greg is an Austin City Council Member and movement organizer who has supported working families from San Antonio to Hays County to East Austin. The proud son of Mexican immigrants, Greg has passed policies to protect families from being separated, raised wages for thousands of workers, and has successfully fought to expand civil rights protections.
As a Council Member, Greg authored the paid-sick-days laws that passed in Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, implementing what the Austin-American Statesman called the “most progressive labor policy for the entire state and possibly the American South.” He also raised wages for the City’s lowest-paid employees from $7.25/hour to $15/hour with health care benefits.
When the State Legislature threatened to close the Planned Parenthood in East Austin, Greg worked with the city-supported clinic to keep it open. He also cleared the decades-long backlog of sexual assault evidence kits and expanded shelter for survivors of family violence.
Greg continues to fight and deliver for affordable housing. He led the largest affordable housing elections in Texas history, and personally organized with tenants to block evictions and help mobile home communities purchase their own property. He has made sure that families who are being pushed out by rising prices can stay in their neighborhoods.
Greg kept immigrant families from being separated by leading the statewide campaign against Texas Senate Bill 4—the infamous “Show Me Your Papers” law. He authored “Freedom City” policies that have reduced discriminatory arrests across Texas, and he worked to get those policies passed in San Antonio, Austin, and Hays County. Casar successfully ended all arrests and fines for low-level marijuana possession in Austin.
Casar has fought for fairness by closing inexcusable tax loopholes for the wealthiest, and he has made sure that everyday Texans have a voice in government.
Casar lives with his fiancé Asha Dane’el and their dog Coco.
Casar also highlights his background and priorities in his introductory ad for his first campaign. It is less than :90, but it really boils down to the essence of what Casar stands for.
Wikipedia has an extensive entry about his biography, and I would be ignoring fair use by posting it all. So I will settle for more information about his early history, especially in community activism and organizing.
Gregorio Casar was born in Houston to Mexican immigrants.[11] He attended Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, where he ran track.[12] Casar then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and social thought from the University of Virginia in 2011.[13] He began his activism in college, organizing with Students and Workers United for a Living Wage, which called for the university to pay its workers a higher living wage.[14]
Casar is Roman Catholic.[15][16]
Workers Defense Project
Before running for office, Casar worked as policy director for the Workers Defense Project (Proyecto Defensa Laboral), where he won victories such as rest and water breaks for construction workers, living wage requirements, and against wage theft.[17]
Casar joined Workers Defense Project shortly after graduation as a community organizer. In 2011, he led the Workers Defense Project efforts to require that construction workers be allowed to take rest and water breaks: ten minutes for each four hours worked, and no more than 3.5 hours without a break.[18] Casar also organized against major corporations, including White Lodging,[19] and successfully led the fight to include living wage and other labor protections in an incentives deal the Austin City Council planned to give to Apple.[20]
Rep. Casar is likely to use his community organizing and time on the Austin City Council to continue to push for progressive legislation in the halls of Congress. He does have an advantage in fighting the GOP in that he comes from a state where they are dominant and always ready to neuter Austin-based legislation with statewide laws. He is used to working in the minority in a statewide setting.
Notable Media Headlines
As a member of the Squad, Rep. Greg Casar isn’t the ordinary freshman legislator content with a seat on the back bench. He has already made notable headlines. He seems to be asked frequently to give his thoughts on the talk news shows nationally, and he made headlines before even joining Congress.
In one of his first speeches, he orates about what could be possible in Congress, instead of fixating on Hunter Biden and Twitter.
He first appeared on my radar during the debt ceiling debacle, before a deal was reached. The Republicans has skipped town to head home, and the Democratic members of Congress took advantage of the absence of their colleagues to say some choice words about the standoff. Casar even crossed the aisle to make his point known.
He sat for many interviews during this time — one of which he announced that he was voting against the debt ceiling deal on NPR.
We're waiting to see if a deal to raise the debt limit will pass its first major test in Congress. The House Rules Committee is voting on whether to advance the deal, which was reached by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the weekend. The White House says this deal represents a compromise, but there are members on both sides of the aisle who are signaling their dissatisfaction with it. On the Republican side, members of the Freedom Caucus are urging their party to block the deal. And on the Democratic side, some progressives say while they stand with President Biden and want this bill to pass, they're still disappointed. That includes Congressman Greg Casar of Texas. He serves as whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and we spoke to him earlier today before the House Rules Committee voted on this deal. Congressman Casar, welcome.
GREG CASAR: Thanks so much for having me on.
CHANG: Well, thanks for being with us. So assuming this proposal does advance, will you vote for this deal?
CASAR: This is not a both sides issue. There's really just one of the two political parties in this country who are willing to send us into default and devastate the entire American economy. And that's the Republican Party. Progressives and moderate Democrats are united around the ideal that America should pay its bills.
CHANG: Well, will you vote...
CASAR: So progressives...
CHANG: ...For this deal to make sure that the debt ceiling...
CASAR: Oh, yeah. No, I'm very happy.
CHANG: ...That the debt limit will be raised?
CASAR: I'm definitely going there next. But important first to note that the Democrats have been united from Day 1 and will continue to make sure that there is not a default. So you're going to see some Democrats vote yes and some vote no.
He held an interview with CNN explaining more about his decision to vote no on the debt ceiling deal.
He also often makes state headlines for resisting the state legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott, especially when their priorities target the communities he represents. For instance, he was vociferous against an anti-immigrant piece of legislation considered recently by the GOP in the state.
Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, helped lead progressives Wednesday in promoting federal legislation they say would bring more humanity to the country’s treatment of immigrants and push back on Republican efforts to have state and local authorities — or even everyday citizens — assume the role of immigration law enforcers.
“The path we’ve been on for decades of building more private prisons, putting more kids in cages, spending tens and hundreds of millions of dollars on border militarization, hasn’t worked,” Casar told reporters Wednesday.
Their proposal would end mandatory “no-bond” immigration detention, repeal laws allowing for criminal prosecution of unauthorized entry into the United States and limit the time in which federal authorities can initiate removal proceedings for civil violations.
It would provide an opportunity for those already deported to return and it would repeal laws used to justify having local authorities enforce immigration rules.
Casar said that would chip away at the foundation for Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s multibillion dollar immigration-and-drugs dragnet at the southern border.
“This law would make it very clear that federal immigration officials should be doing immigration and our local police forces, state police forces should be focused on keeping us safe from violence,” Casar said. “They shouldn’t be chasing immigrants all around the state.”
He also took Abbott to task for eliminating water breaks for workers during the worst heat wave to hit the state so far.
Needless to say, Rep. Greg Casar often charts a path very different from his other Texas colleagues. As the only member of the Squad from the South, he often votes in ways that are completely different from the typical Democratic member of Congress from Texas, let alone his colleagues from across the aisle.
Bills and Legislative Priorities
Rep. Greg Casar sits on the Committee on Agriculture, as well as the House Oversight Committee. The latter committee is a definite plum assignment for a freshman in Congress, while the former is a committee that rarely makes headlines but is vital to the well-being of the nation.
Some headlines related to his agricultural committee came when Rep. Greg Casar introduced the bill to punish those exploiting child labor, as well as a listening tour to support the Farm Bill he will help craft later this year.
As a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a member of the Squad, Casar will support much legislation that is affirmational — and has no chance of passing unless our side builds robust majorities in both parts of Congress. The Green New Deal is a good example of such work.
As a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, there are many different facets of legislation that are meaningful to Casar. One of which is immgiration (not to say that Hispanic lawmakers are SOLELY concerned about that issue!). Casar helped introduce legislation seeking to end the punitive immigration policies we have now for a more humane approach.
Rep. Greg Casar had an opportunity to opine about the Extreme Court at the end of June, and the two cases that mattered most to him were the affirmative action case and the student debt case. Here is what he had to say for both of them.
Casar is quite prolific on social media, and posts items ranging from his events, his interviews, and even the legislation he is sponsoring. To get a complete picture, it is best to follow him on Twitter, much like 8.5k others have already done.
As mentioned above, Rep. Greg Casar was a NO on the Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Deal, much like the vast majority of the Squad. Casar will likely continue in Congress to try and move legislation in a more progressive direction — especially when Democratic lawmakers regain a majority in both chambers and hold the White House.
Rep. Greg Casar brings his community organizing and activist spirit to Congress, where he fights each day to pass more progressive priorities — a tall task when the GOP holds the House. His time on the Austin City Council in the regressive state of Texas gives him the exact experience needed to stand up to the Republicans, which is likely why he was given a seat on the Oversight Committee.
As a member of the Squad, Casar is much more likely than your typical new legislator to make national headlines. He has made waves, especially during the debt ceiling debacle, and he is starting to be noticed for his efforts. He seems to relish interviews and public speaking judging by the number of times he has been found in front of a camera.
Casar is likely to be in Congress for a long time, and with more time and experience he is likely to make much more of an impact upon legislation. He will continue to be a voice for underserved communities, much like other members of the Squad. Regardless of his path forward in the House, Rep. Greg Casar will continue to make Austin weird, as the slogan about the city goes!
Next Sunday, I will profile Sydney Kamlager-Dove of California’s 37th district. See you then!
Rep. Greg Casar (Texas-35)
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