DNC Party Platform Update

The Democratic Party (DNC) Platform covers Topics including:

Climate Change - The Party sets Aggressive Goals of Eliminating Carbon Pollution from Power Plants by 2035 and achieving Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions for All New Buildings by 2030, with the Goal of Achieving Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050.

But the Platform makes No Mention of the “Green New Deal,” a Sweeping Congressional Resolution to Combat Climate Change that is widely Supported by the Party’s Progressive Wing.

The Coronavirus Pandemic - Democrats signaled in their Platform that Responding to the Coronavirus Crisis is a Top Concern. It is the First Full Policy Section of the Platform. Many of the Proposals are broadly consistent with what Democrats have so far Supported, including:

- Increasing Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

- Providing more Aid to State and Local Governments for Initiatives specific to Covid-19, such as Contact Tracing.

- Free Coronavirus Testing and Treatment for Everyone.

- Free Vaccines when they become Available.

- Expand Paid Sick Leave and Unemployment Insurance to help Workers impacted by the Health Crisis.

Criminal and Racial Justice - Democrats want to “overhaul the criminal justice system from top to bottom.” But notably, the Platform does Not include Support for Defunding the Police, which has become a Rallying Cry for some Activists amid the Nationwide Reckoning over Racial Justice and Police Brutality. Instead, Democrats Support:

- National Standards Governing the Use-of-Force, like Banning Chokeholds.

- Eliminate Cash Bail.

- End For-Profit Detention Centers and instead Prioritize Investments in more Effective and Cost-Efficient Community-based Alternatives to Detention.

- Decriminalizing Marijuana and Legalizing its Medical Use. But the Platform Advocates for leaving it up to the States to Determine whether to Legalize Marijuana for Recreational Use, a Position that Disappoints many Progressives.

The Economy - The Economic Platform Blends and Borrows Ideas from across the Party’s Ideological Spectrum.

There are Echoes of Sanders “The U.S. economy is rigged against the American people”, and Subsections that address “Curbing Wall Street Abuses” and “Tackling Runaway Corporate Concentration”, Issues highlighted repeatedly by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

Over all, there are few Surprises here:

- Support Raising the Minimum Wage to $15 an hour by 2026.

- Invest in Infrastructure, including High-Speed Rail.

- Support Aggressive steps to encourage Homeownership by increasing Affordable Housing and by giving a $15,000 Tax Credit to First-Time Home Buyers.

- Promises to Reject every effort to Cut, Privatize, or Weaken Social Security.

Education - Democrats support:

- Making Public Colleges and Universities Tuition-Free for Students whose Families Earn Less than $125,000. The proposal does not go as far as the Plan Proposed by Sanders, which Stipulates Tuition-Free Public Colleges and Universities for Everyone.

- Support making Community Colleges and Trade Schools Tuition-Free for All Students.

- Ban For-Profit Private Charter Schools from receiving Federal Funding.

Foreign Policy - Democrats support a Two-State Solution that would Establish an Independent Palestinian State alongside Israel. Democrats also believe Jerusalem should Remain the Capital of Israel. Some Activists have expressed Disappointment with the Platform because it does Not Criticize Israel’s “occupation” of Palestine.

Health Care - The Section on Health Care is something of a Catchall that broadly Outlines Democrats’ desire to:

- Bring Down the Cost of Prescription Drugs.

- Reduce Health Care Costs.

- Improve the Quality of Care.

While it nods the need for Medicare-for-All, it stops far short of Backing it. Some would like to see Medicare as an Option to the ACA Public Options. “Democrats believe we need to protect, strengthen and build upon our bedrock health care programs, including the Affordable Care Act,” the Platform reads. “Private insurers need real competition to ensure they have incentive to provide affordable, quality coverage to every American.”

Immigration - “Out of many, we are one”."

- Will Rescind President Trump’s Fabricated “National Emergency,” which Siphons Funding away from our Men and Women in Uniform to Construct an Ineffective Wall on the Southern Border.

- Immediately Terminate the Trump Administration’s Discriminatory Travel and Immigration Bans that Disproportionately impact Muslim and African People, and Invite those whose Visas have been Denied to Re-Apply to come to the United States.

- Reinstate, Expand, and Streamline, Protections for Dreamers and the Parents of American Citizen Children to keep Families Together in the Communities they have long called Home.

- Protect and Expand the Existing Asylum System and other Humanitarian Protections.

- Reverse Trump Administration Policies that Prevent Victims of Gang and Domestic Violence, as well as LGBTQ+ People, who are Unsafe in their Home Countries, from being Eligible to Apply for Asylum.

- Will Prioritize Family Reunification for Children still Separated from their Families, and will Restore Family Reunification Programs Ended by the Trump Administration.

- Support Legislation to Treat the Spouses and Children of Green Card Holders as Immediate Relatives and End their Unfair Separation and will Eliminate Family-based Green Card Backlogs and Reform the System to Speed-Up Family-based Visas, and will work with Congress to Eliminate
Immigration Barriers, such as the Three- and 10-year Bars, and Remove the 10-year Waiting Period for Waivers to the Permanent Bars that keep Loved Ones Apart.

- Expand the Annual Visa Cap for Victims of Sex Trafficking, Violence against Women and Children, and other Heinous Crimes. Ensure that same Sex-Couples and their Children Receive Equal Treatment in the immigration and Naturalization Systems.

- Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants. Democrats want to Fast-Track this Process for those Workers who have been Essential to the Pandemic Response and Recovery Efforts.”

Other Highlights - The Democratic Party Platform is filled with Promises, many of them Grand and Somewhat Vague.

- Supporting Statehood for Washington, D.C.

CLICK HERE for Platform Draft.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker