As Congress returned to work yesterday, Rep. Cal Dooley (D-CA), the unquestioned workhorse of Congressional New Democrats, announced he would retire from the House at the end of his current term, his seventh. While we will acutely miss his leadership, anyone who knows his record must conclude he has richly earned a fresh opportunity to launch a new career. Those who measure members of Congress by seniority, high-ranking committee assignments, or glory-seeking credit for legislation might not appreciate Dooley's accomplishments. But New Democrats know him as a tireless contributor to the growth of the New Democrat movement in the House and around the country, and as a courageous champion of bipartisan legislation on a wide array of issues, in one of the most partisan periods of recent political history.

Dooley is perhaps best known as a founding co-chair (along with Rep. Jim Moran of VA and former Rep. Tim Roemer of IN) of the New Democrat Coalition in 1997. In no small part thanks to Dooley's leadership, the NDC quickly grew to become the largest caucus in the House (currently boasting 74 members), routinely attracting big majorities of freshmen Democrats and of all Democrats representing competitive districts. He was also instrumental in the founding and growth of the New Democrat Network PAC, and has been a constant friend and ally of the Democratic Leadership Council and Progressive Policy Institute.

But for all his political leadership, we value Cal Dooley most for his service in the battlefield of ideas.

First and foremost, he has been the most resolute champion among House Democrats for trade expansion, understanding not only its importance for his heavily agricultural Central Valley district, but also for the national economic growth that occurred under President Bill Clinton's presidency. From NAFTA to Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China to presidential Trade Promotion Authority, Dooley was the go-to guy among House Democrats, and never shrank from the proud claim that support for trade was a matter of longstanding Democratic tradition as well as service to the national interest.

Dooley has equally distinguished himself on technology issues, exemplified by the agenda of New Economy regulatory reforms and public investments advanced by the NDC for much of its existence.

But beyond these core areas of concern, and Dooley's underlying belief that Democrats cannot be both pro-growth and anti-business, it's hard to find an area of public policy in which he has not sponsored path-breaking legislation and fought for bipartisan achievements under the most difficult circumstances.

Dooley was one of the primary House Democratic champions for the New Democrat legislation that eventually became the No Child Left Behind education reform act. He has been the leading House Democratic proponent of second-generation environmental policies that seek to use market forces to achieve tangible and mandatory improvements in air and water quality. He has fearlessly defied party orthodoxy in seeking bipartisan reforms of abuses in the legal system, including product liability, asbestos litigation, and class action reforms. And most recently, he crafted a Medicare prescription drug benefit bill based on a PPI proposal that respected fiscal responsibility while getting help to the poorest and the sickest seniors.

Many of Cal Dooley's ideas languished in a House of Representatives more partisan and polarized than any since the nineteenth century, run by Republicans who would prefer no action to any kind of compromise. But many of those ideas are so well ahead of the curve that they will see the light of day in future Congresses, perhaps led by the New Democrats whose movement was nourished so lavishly by his stewardship. We'll miss him when he leaves Congress, but we suspect this workhorse will continue to labor in the fields of public policy to the betterment of his country.