The Blue Collar Caucus is a United States Democratic Party congressional caucus that advocates for labor and working class priorities. It was founded in 2016 to focus the Democratic Party on blue-collar issues. The caucus is considered economically progressive. According to its founders, the goal is to re-orient the Democratic Party to focus on issues such as trade unions, wage stagnation, offshoring and job insecurity, especially in case of manufacturing and building workers. It also seeks to protect American workers from globalized competition, make domestic manufacturing viable, and cultivate industries that can provide stable employment.
History Formation The formation of the caucus was declared on 1 December 2016 by Democratic congressmen Marc Veasey (Texas-33) and Brendan F. Boyle (Pennsylvania-13), who became its co-chairs and stated that the caucus would aim "to focus Congressional efforts on alleviating the economic anxiety felt by working class Americans that was so pronounced in the 2016 election, and re-engage Democratic efforts to reach these voters."
Boyle and Veasey became friends in January 2015, and bonded over having similar socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as sharing the sentiment that their party failed to fully represent their political viewpoint. The idea of creating the Blue Collar Caucus originated from a conversation Boyle had with one of its constituents; during the conversation, Boyle's constituent suggested creating a caucus that would specifically represent blue-collar workers. Later in December 2016, Veasey and Boyle began circulating letters inviting other congressmen to join the caucus, with Donald Norcross (New Jersey-1) being the first to join.
By February 2017, the caucus had reached 26 members. Its co-chairs took different approaches to the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump, as Boyle boycotted the inauguration, while Veasey attended it. Boyle argued that Trump was the only candidate who paid attention to industrial plants in his district closing and moving operations to Mexico. At the same time, both co-chairs declared their intention "to keep the pressure up on their Republican colleagues to express their criticisms of Trump in public." They announced meetings with blue collar leaders and trips around the country to help the Democrats understand their loss in the 2016 presidential election. In March 2017, the caucus hosted a listening session with labor leaders such as Terry O'Sullivan, Bob Martinez, and James Boland.
Trump's first presidency 2017 The caucus met 4 times in total in 2017, and hosted leaders of AFL-CIO and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. In April 2017, the caucus co-chairs signed a letter denouncing Trump's meeting with Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago and demanding Trump to combat unfair trade practices of Chinese companies. The same month, they expressed relief that Andy Puzder, Trump's nominee for Secretary of Labor, resigned; the caucus criticized his "anti-worker record". Alexander Acosta was subsequently confirmed for the position. In May 2017, the caucus released a statement criticizing Trump's 2018 United States federal budget proposal for including cuts to the Department of Transportation, TIGER grants, and other infrastructure investments. The caucus stated that it would hold Trump accountable for his promises made to working-class voters; it demanded a "blue collar budget" instead that would demonstrate Trump's commitment to "America First" principles.
In September 2017, Boyle proposed The Patriot Employer Act that would punish companies for offshoring and reward them with tax credits for keeping jobs in the United States, offering high wages and employing war veterans. In August 2017, Boyle launched the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Caucus together with the Republican congressman Ryan Costello (Pennsylvania-6). In December 2017, the caucus opposed the overhaul of the Higher Education Act proposed by the House Republicans known as the PROSPER Act. Boyle criticized it for including cuts to the student loan repayment programs and proposed expanding loan forgiveness programs instead, along with reducing their interest rates. The same year, he also co-sponsored the Medicare for All Act. 2018 In January 2018, Boyle introduced the Stable Genius Act that would require presidential candidates to undergo medical examination and have its results made public before the election. The same month, Boyle expressed his disappointment that Trump withdrew from the talks on a bipartisan immigration package. The package would have extended the possibility of obtaining legal status to immigrants affected by the DREAM Act but restrict them from sponsoring their family members, eliminated the diversity visa lottery, and funded border projects such as constructing a physical barrier on the border. In March 2018, Joe Biden met with the Caucus to discuss 2018 midterm campaigning. In June 2018, the caucus condemned the Janus v. AFSCME ruling, calling it "a wolf in sheep's clothing" and "a case brought by billionaires in the name of ‘fairness' to employees who benefit from collective bargaining but don't want to pay their fair share". By November 2018, the Blue Collar Caucus had 49 members, reaching its peak.
Throughout 2018, the caucus members met with representatives of General Motors and Toyota, and with Pennsylvania labor leaders, where they spoke of the job loss caused by trade deals. The caucus co-chairs criticized the 2018 tax cuts passed by the Congress, calling it an example of trickle-down economics and arguing that it resulted in an average cut of $40,000 for the wealthiest 1% and only $980 for an average American. In January 2019, Boyle and Veasey, along with Jan Schakowsky (Illinois-9), a fellow Blue Collar Caucus member, introduced the Patriot Employer Act, which would close tax loopholes abused by companies while providing a tax credit to companies that provide "fair wages and good benefits to workers". In March 2019, Boyle criticized Trump's budget request for the proposed cuts to health insurance, transportation funding, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Final years In April 2019, regarding the opioid crisis, Boyle declared that he was "very concerned with the concept of safe-injection sites", stating that they fail to address the underlying cause and would be unfair to the people in the neighborhood they would be placed in. In May 2019, United Steelworkers met with the caucus met to advocate the passage of the PRO Act (H.R. 2474), a labor law bill that, if signed, would have protected workers from employer's retaliation regarding union organizing and other workplace collective actions, and increased penalties for workers' rights violations. In October 2019, the caucus introduced the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations Amendment Act, which would expand the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) program beyond the six grants it issued to at least one grant per each state and territory. The same year, Boyle postulated increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, and co-sponsored the Debt-Free College Act of 2019 and the Green New Deal.
In July 2020, Boyle secured the inclusion of the caucus' proposals in the Moving Forward Act, including the Innovative Energy Manufacturing Act (H.R.5165) to facilitate domestic job creation. The provisions of the Blue Collar Caucus included the revival of the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit, additional tax benefits for renewable energy projects, extending Davis-Bacon labor standards to apply to energy sector jobs, banning the Amtrak Call Center in Northeast Philadelphia from outsourcing its jobs, $140 billion in funding to school building reconstruction and remediation, and $25 billion in funding the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit included in the bill was a program of expanding the American manufacturing industry through clean energy projects that used exclusively US-made equipment. Another provision secured was additional funding to the federal-aid highway program in Pennsylvania, the Federal Transit Administration aid, and high speed rail PRIME grants. Later activities In 2021, the caucus was described as one of the five major groups operating within the Democratic Party, representing a laborist and Keynesian agenda. In March 2021, the caucus co-chair Veasey celebrated the passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act in the House of Representatives, which if signed into law, would have protected the right to unionize and the right to collective bargaining. The same month, Boyle co-sponsored the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act of 2021 along with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal (Washington-7). The act proposed a 2% annual tax on households and trusts with a net worth above $50 million, and a 1% annual surtax (3% tax overall) on those with a net worth above $1 billion. It also proposed measures against tax evasion such as a 30% minimum audit rate for taxpayers affected, and a 40% exit tax on those renouncing their US citizenship with a net worth above $50 million. As the co-founder of the caucus, Boyle promoted the act as a "fundamentally blue-collar policy".
In 2022, Boyle expressed his belief that Joe Biden made efforts to bridge the gap between the Democratic Party and working-class voters. In November 2022, a member of the caucus, Tim Ryan, contested a Senate election in Ohio. He was noted for being a member of the caucus and presenting himself as a "traditional unionist Democrat focused on the rights of blue-collar workers" who supported bringing back manufacturing jobs to the US while opposing defunding the police and criticizing Biden's student loan forgiveness policies. Ultimately, Ryan lost the election to JD Vance, who became Vice President under Donald Trump in 2025.
In 2023, Boyle criticized the Democratic Party's overreliance on "college-educated voters with higher incomes in cities and suburbs" at expense of the working class. He claimed, however, that Biden "clearly gets that", noting his Midwestern roots. Following the defeat of the Democratic Party in the 2024 presidential election, Brendan Boyle confirmed holding talks on "revving" the Blue Collar Caucus to "address our party's clear and consistent underperformance with working-class voters". In December 2024, Boyle argued that the Democratic Party's loss of blue-collar voters in the 2024 election was caused by a cultural disconnect, stating: "To too many working-class Americans of all different races and ethnicities, our party brand is that we represent people that aren't like them. And that's a real problem. I think it's more about culture and social issues than it is economic issues."
In 2025, Boyle condemned the 2025 United States federal mass layoffs, noting their nationwide impact as more than 80% of federal jobs were based outside of the Washington metropolitan area. In March 2025, the caucus held a hall meeting with the Pennsylvania AFL–CIO, where it spoke with federal workers. Boyle also spoke against the 2025 House Budget Resolution for including $880 billion cuts to Medicaid. He criticized President Trump's 2025 tariffs for targeting US allies such as Canada and the European Union countries; Boyle argued that tariffs instead need a "tailored approach" and should be used to combat "steel dumping from Asia" and target countries of which companies engage in unfair labor practices. Boyle also reiterated his view that Democratic Party needs to change its approach towards the working class, stating his concern about the fact that the party's popularity had improved amongst college-educated voters but further declined amongst the working class. Ideology