David Dayen joins Sam to discuss his recently published piece in the Intercept, "House Progressives are Facing an Unexpected Problem in their Quest for Committee Power." Dayen lays out the recent history of the Progressive Caucus and illustrates how it's growing--it will be three times the size of the Freedom Caucus when it entered the House in 2011. Considering that Pelosi needs virtually every Democrat to vote for her on the floor; Progressives recognized this and made a power play--they wanted leadership roles on all domestic policy committees. Roads to progressive legislation like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, or expanded Social Security run through these committees. Placing Progressives in these committees will reshape the types of legislation brought to a vote under a future Democratically controlled Congress and Executive branch. Dayen and Sam break down why Progressives in the past have not been able to enact meaningful legislation in the House--Dayen believes it's a long-standing practice of self-selection, where Progressives flock to the Judiciary committee and New Democrats maximize their power on financial committees. How can we on the outside effect these inside deals? Dayen believes it's on the media and constituents to talk about it, which in turn will pressure on our elected officials.

And in the Fun Half: our takeaways from the National Climate Assessment, Rick Santorum is giddy that the Trump administration released the NCA report on Black Friday, an AEI VP declares she's not a doctor and then obfuscating the NCA report, how the oil lobby owns the GOP and Mike Lee illustrates that case and point, the fallacy of "Innovation," Bernie's new book is out tomorrow, showing family members the Brett Kavanaugh hearing, why the asylum process has always been a problem, the sexual anxiety of alt-right bigots, Gavin explains why he's stepping down from the Proud Boys and also why white supremacy is not real, and the big electoral wins in Minnesota. Plus your calls and IMs.

Check out today's sponsors:
Human Rights Watch if human rights are important to you, visit HRW.org/majority to make a donation and support its vital work around the world.

Blue Apron delivers fresh, perfectly portioned ingredients that you can use to cook incredible, restaurant-quality meals in as little as 20 minutes – right to your door! That’s BLUEAPRON.COM/MAJORITY to get your first 3 meals free.

The Calming Comfort Weighted Blanket comes with a 90-day, anxiety free, stress free, best night’s sleep of your life guarantee from Sharper Image:  Calming Comfort Blanket.com promo code “MAJORITY”.

Majority Report LIVE @ THE BK PODFEST, 2:30 PM January 13th, 2019. You can pre-order tickets here. 

The Michael Brooks Show live! @ The Bell House, February 1st 2019, Pre-order tickets here 

Get 10% off fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate with coupon code “majority” at justcoffee.coop

Check out The Michael Brooks Show at patreon.com/tmbs, and the new TMBS YouTube channel for all short TMBS clips

Check out Matt’s podcast, Literary Hangover, at Patreon.com/LiteraryHangover or on iTunes

Check out Jamie’s podcast, The Antifada, at patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at youtube.com/theantifada

Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter:

@majorityfm

@SamSeder

@_michaelbrooks

@MattLech

@jamie_elizabeth

@Bf1nn