The leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus has met with the top brass at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and pushed back hard against a new party policy to blacklist consultants who work with primary challengers.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., vice chair of the caucus, was also in the meeting with Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., and said that the turn the DCCC has taken in the 2020 cycle under her reign is worse on a small-d democratic level than previous cycles, when the party was not exactly kind to challengers.

“Pramila Jayapal, Mark Pocan, and I met with Cheri Bustos to make it clear that we strongly oppose her new policy that stifles competition and blackballs any consultant who works for a challenger. We made the point to Cheri that Nancy Pelosi, and Ben Ray Luján never adopted such a heavy-handed policy,” Khanna told The Intercept in a statement. “Ben Ray Luján in particular had a much kinder and more inclusive approach.”

Khanna said that it is such an egregious assault against the progressive wing of the party that even Rahm Emanuel, the hard-knuckled, hippie-punching DCCC chair from 2006, wouldn’t have countenanced it. “This unprecedented grab of power is a slap in the face of Democratic voters across the nation. It’s something even Rahm Emanuel would not have done and is totally tone-deaf to the grassroots activists across our nation. Voters are sick of the status quo holding on to power and stifling new voices. They are sick of D.C. politicians who care more about holding on to power than a true competition of ideas,” said Khanna.