经过数周的电话和缩放会议，前副总裁乔·拜登周三，美国竞选团队公布了备受期待的拜登-伯尼·桑德斯联合工作小组的结果。
这份110页的文件为这位前副总统提出了政策建议，并包括了下个月密尔沃基民主党大会前民主党纲领的措辞。
“我赞扬工作队的服务，并帮助我们党和国家建立了一个大胆的、变革性的平台。我非常感谢参议员桑德斯共同努力，团结我们的政党，为子孙后代带来真正、持久的变化，”拜登在宣布这些建议的声明中写道。
五月份成立的工作组的目标是向民主党全国代表大会平台委员会和拜登本人提出一套统一的政策建议。
这些小组被分为六个议题领域:气候变化、刑事司法改革、经济、教育、医疗保健和移民。每期都有八人小组，其中四人由拜登挑选，四人由佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯挑选。成员包括拜登和桑德斯的忠实者、专家、社区领袖和政治家——从纽约州众议员亚历山大·奥西奥·科尔特斯到前国务卿约翰·克里。
2019年12月6日，在爱荷华州锡达拉皮兹，民主党总统候选人前副总统乔·拜登和前民主党总统候选人约翰·克里一起竞选。
2019年12月6日，在爱荷华州锡达拉皮兹，民主党总统候选人前副总统乔·拜登和前民主党总统候选人约翰·克里一起竞选。未定义的Win Mcnamee/Getty图像，文件
还有几个传闻中的副总统候选人也在这个特别工作组中，比如加利福尼亚州的众议员凯伦·巴斯和俄亥俄州的玛西娅·福吉。
工作队由桑德斯任命的安娜利亚·梅希亚和拜登任命的卡梅尔·马丁领导，两人都致力于协调和支持工作队的工作。
鉴于最近关于种族和系统性种族主义的全国对话，一些了解工作队工作的消息来源暗示，种族平等和正义是许多平台建议的重点。
由克里和奥西奥-科尔特斯领导的环境工作组提出了一些广受欢迎的建议，比如在拜登政府执政的第一天重新加入《巴黎气候协议》，这些建议被纳入了民主党全国委员会的建议中。然而，这位纽约女议员对绿色新政的出价并没有成功。工作小组建议“民主党承诺通过清洁能源和能源效率的技术中立标准，在2035年前消除发电厂的碳污染。”
拜登竞选团队呼吁迅速扩大规模，呼吁在未来五年内安装5亿块美国制造的太阳能电池板。公司安装这些太阳能电池板的工作将来自清洁能源经济。工作小组强调，清洁能源经济中的所有工作都应该提供加入工会的机会。
民主党人呼吁建立一个“环境正义基金”，旨在投资解决气候变化对美国人影响的种族不平等的政策。
该文件还包括对拜登的刑事司法政策的建议——这是继乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)去世后备受讨论的话题，也是拜登过去因卷入过去的刑事司法法律(如1994年的犯罪法案)而遇到的问题。
“黑人父母必须与他们的孩子“交谈”，试图保护他们不受本应宣誓保护和服务他们的警察的伤害，这是不可接受的。该政策称:“每年有超过1000人被警察杀害，其中四分之一是黑人，这是不可接受的。
大部分政策与拜登之前宣布的刑事司法计划一致，承诺投资社区警务，并让警察部队代表他们所服务的社区;增加司法部对警察不当行为的模式或做法调查;并制定国家使用武力标准，这将允许致命武力只能作为最后手段。
文件写道:“我们将要求所有联邦执法机构立即应用这些标准，并以州和地方一级采用这些标准作为联邦拨款的条件。”文件还要求官员在学院和工作中接受非暴力策略、适当使用武力、隐性偏见和同伴干预方面的培训。
该组织还建议降低联邦政府起诉侵犯公民权利的执法官员的意图标准。
该政策不包括呼吁大麻合法化，但反映了拜登之前的政策，即毒品合法化，并删除那些以前被控使用大麻的记录，以及其他建议。
工作队的教育计划呼吁通过资助有吸引力的学校和企业来消除学校隔离，这被称为“有助于促进融合的学校交通倡议”该计划包括将第一部分的资金增加两倍，以消除白人占多数的地区和少数民族占多数的地区之间不成比例的资金。在中小学，它呼吁扩大免费餐项目，并承诺支持全面的健康和营养服务。
该计划禁止营利性私立特许学校，反对私立学校代金券和任何剥夺公立学校系统纳税人资助资源的政策。该平台旨在结束从学校到监狱的管道，并承诺为聘用指导顾问、社会工作者和学校心理学家提供“足够的资源”。它呼吁恢复第九章对变性学生的保护，保护女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和变性学生免受歧视。
在高等教育方面，特别工作组的计划要求向历史上的黑人学院和大学、少数民族服务机构以及部落学院和大学提供资助。它旨在使社区大学免学费。该文件承诺批准每个借款人最多1万美元的学生减免，这与桑德斯免除所有学生贷款债务的计划相去甚远。它还对收入低于25，000美元的借款人的每月学生贷款支付设置了上限。该计划修改了公共服务贷款豁免计划，并使注册自动化。它建议免除每年10，000美元的学生债务，期限最长为五年。
在医疗保健方面，工作小组呼吁建立一个“高质量的公共选择计划”，由政府而非私人公司管理，但没有提及全民医保，这是初选期间的一个热点问题，拜登也坚决表示不支持这项政策。
“民主党人认为我们需要保护、加强和发展我们的基础医疗保健项目，包括平价医疗法案、医疗保险、医疗补助和退伍军人事务系统。私人保险公司需要真正的竞争，以确保他们有动力为每个美国人提供负担得起的优质保险。为了实现这一目标，我们将让所有美国人通过平价医疗法案市场选择一个高质量、平价的公共选择。
该工作组还建议将《平价医疗法案》的覆盖范围扩大到“儿童移民延期行动”或“DACA计划”的接受者，并“允许无证移民在ACA市场购买无补贴的保险”
该工作组还呼吁COVID-19测试和治疗“广泛提供，方便，对每个人都是免费的”。
参照COVID-19大流行突出的健康差异，特别工作组还建议，如果当选，拜登发布行政命令，指示所有相关联邦机构记录和报告美国医疗系统中有色人种存在显著差异的领域。
这些建议还包括围绕经济的政策，特别是在COVID-19的影响仍在全国蔓延的情况下，其中一部分政策题为“应对COVID-19大流行和特朗普总统的衰退”
该组织写道，不要搞错了:特朗普总统对COVID-19流感大流行的无能有力回应——他的领导失误——让他对成千上万美国人的死亡和随后由流感引发的衰退负责。
该计划包括要求15美元的最低工资，所有工人和家庭至少12周的带薪家庭和医疗假，废除“工作权利”法律，支持《家政工人权利法案》和《权力法案》，以“在整个经济中实施工资、工时、健康和安全规则。”
这些建议还高度重视解决种族财富差距，包括支持关于赔偿的研究。
该政策写道:“民主党承诺支持人权40的重要的第一步，这将建立一个委员会，研究246年的奴隶制和另一个世纪的吉姆·克劳种族隔离的遗产如何继续影响今天美国黑人的经济前景，并建议补救措施。”。
该政策小组专注于移民问题，并在很大程度上致力于废除特朗普政府制定的许多政策，包括对某些国家的旅行禁令，他们称这些国家对穆斯林和非洲国家的影响过大，以及导致家庭分离的庇护政策。
在拜登带头呼吁美国无证移民获得公民身份后，该特别工作组表示，他们将“与国会合作，改革我们的移民体系，为获得公民身份提供路线图。”
拜登表示，他将在就任总统的第一天向国会提交一项移民法案。
该组织还建议拜登下令国土安全部民权和公民自由办公室“对特朗普政府的移民政策进行审查，并提供补救建议。”
在与移民有关的建议中，还包括在移民和海关执法局以及海关和边境保护局(CBP)颁布“对已经在美国的人实行100天的暂停驱逐，同时对当前的做法进行全面研究，以提出改变执法政策和做法的建议”。
工作小组还建议重新分配流向移民执法机构的培训资源，并“要求移民执法机构和CBP活动的透明度和独立监督”，并呼吁终止那些“迫使地方执法机构承担移民执法职责，包括终止特朗普政府达成的所有协议”的项目。
Biden-Bernie Sanders Unity Task Forces release DNC platform recommendations
After weeks of phone calls and Zoom meetings, former vice presidentJoe Biden's campaign released its much-anticipated results from the Biden-Bernie Sanders Unity Task Forces on Wednesday.
The 110-page document lays out policy recommendations for the former vice president and includes language for the Democratic platform ahead of the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee next month.
"I commend the Task Forces for their service and helping build a bold, transformative platform for our party and for our country. And I am deeply grateful to Senator Sanders for working together to unite our party, and deliver real, lasting change for generations to come," Biden wrote in a statement announcing the recommendations.
The goal of the task forces, which were formed in May, was to make a unified set of recommendations to the Democratic National Convention's Platform Committee, and Biden himself, on policy proposals.
The groups were divided into six issue areas: climate change, criminal justice reform, the economy, education, health care and immigration. Each issue had teams of eight people, with four picked by Biden and four picked by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The members were a mix of Biden and Sanders loyalists, experts, community leaders and politicians -- ranging from N.Y. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to former secretary of state John Kerry.
Also on the task force were several rumored vice presidential contenders such as Reps. Karen Bass of California and Marcia Fudge of Ohio.
The task forces were led by Analilia Mejia, who was appointed by Sanders, and Carmel Martin, who was appointed by Biden, both of whom worked to coordinate and support the work of the task forces.
Given recent national conversations on race and systemic racism, several sources with knowledge of the task forces work have hinted at racial equality and justice being front and center in many of the platform recommendations.
From the environmental task force led by Kerry and Ocasio-Cortez, popular proposals such as rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement on day one of the Biden administration made it into the recommendations to the DNC. However the New York congresswoman’s bid for a Green New Deal didn’t make the cut. The task force did recommend “Democrats commit to eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 through technology-neutral standards for clean energy and energy efficiency.”
The Biden campaign has called for a rapid scale up calling for 500 million made-in-America solar panels to be installed in the next five years. Jobs for companies to install these solar panels will be from a clean energy economy. The task force stressed that all jobs in the clean energy economy should provide an opportunity to join a union.
Democrats have called for the creation of an “environmental justice fund” aimed at making investments in policies that address the racial inequity in climate change’s impact on Americans.
The document also included recommendations for Biden’s criminal justice policy--a much discussed topic following the death of George Floyd, and a subject that has posed problems for Biden in the past due to his involvement with past criminal justice laws like the 1994 crime bill.
“It is unacceptable that Black parents must have “the talk” with their children, to try to protect them from the very police officers who are supposed to be sworn to protect and serve them. It is unacceptable that more than 1,000 people, a quarter of them Black, are killed by police every year,” the policy states.
Much of the policy tracks with Biden’s previously announced criminal justice plan, pledging to invest in community policing and having a police force representative of the communities they serve; increasing Department of Justice Pattern-or-Practice investigations of police misconduct; and instituting national use of force standard, which would permit deadly force only as a last resort.
“We will require immediate application of these standards to all federal law enforcement agencies and condition federal grants on their adoption at the state and local level,” the document reads, also requiring officers to train in nonviolent tactics, appropriate use of force, implicit bias, and peer intervention, both at the academy and on the job.
The group also recommends lowering the intent standard for federally prosecuting law enforcement officials for civil rights violations.
The policy does not include a call to legalize marijuana, but mirrors Biden’s previous policy of decriminalizing the drug, and expunging the records of those previously charged with cannabis use, among other recommendations.
The task force's plan on education calls for the desegregation of schools through the funding of magnet schools and busing, referred to as “school transportation initiatives to help facilitate improved integration.” The plan includes tripling Title I funding to eliminate the disproportionate funding between predominately white and majority minority districts. In K-12 schools, it calls for expanding free meal programs and pledges to support wraparound health and nutritions services.
The plan bans for-profit private charter schools, opposes private school vouchers and any policies that would take taxpayer-funded resources away from the public school system. The platform aims to put an end to the school-to-prison pipeline and pledges “adequate resources” for hiring guidance counselors, social workers and school psychologists. It calls for the reinstatement of Title IX protections for transgender students and protections for LGBT students from discrimination.
In higher education, the task force’s plan calls for grants to be given to historically black colleges and universities, minority serving institutions and tribal colleges and universities. It aims to make community colleges tuition-free. The document pledges to authorize up to $10,000 in student relief per borrower, a far cry from Sanders’ plan to forgive all student loan debt. It also places a cap on monthly student loan payments for borrowers with incomes under $25,000. The plan revamps the public service loan forgiveness program and makes enrollment automatic. It recommends the forgiveness of $10,000 in student debt per year for up to five years.
On health care, the task force calls for the establishment of a “high-quality public option plan” that is administered by the government and not private companies, but steered clear of mentioning Medicare for All, a hot-button issue during the primaries and a policy Biden has firmly said he does not support.
“Democrats believe we need to protect, strengthen, and build upon our bedrock health care programs, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Affairs system. Private insurers need real competition to ensure they have incentive to provide affordable, quality coverage to every American. To achieve that objective, we will give all Americans the choice to select a high-quality, affordable public option through the Affordable Care Act marketplace,” the document states.
The task force also recommended extending Affordable Care Act coverage to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program, and “allowing undocumented immigrants to purchase unsubsidized coverage in the ACA marketplaces.”
The task force also calls for COVID-19 testing and treatment to be “widely available, convenient, and free to everyone.”
Referencing the health disparities highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the task force also recommended that, if elected, Biden issue an executive order directing all relevant federal agencies to document and report areas where significant disparities for people of color exist in the American healthcare system.
The recommendations also include policy surrounding the economy, particularly amid the impacts of the COVID-19 still being felt across the country, with a portion of the policy titled “Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic and President Trump’s Recession.”
‘Make no mistake: President Trump’s abject failure to respond forcefully and capably to the COVID-19 pandemic—his failure to lead—makes him responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans and for the pandemic-induced recession that has followed,’ the group writes.
The plan includes calls for a $15 dollar minimum wage, at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers and families, repealing “right to work” laws, and supporting the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights and the POWER Act to “enforce wage, hour, health, and safety rules across the economy.”
The recommendations also place a heavy emphasis on addressing the racial wealth gap, including support for a study on reparations.
“Democrats commit to the important first step of supporting H.R. 40, which would establish a commission to examine how the legacy of 246 years of slavery and another century of Jim Crow segregation continues to impact the economic prospects of Black Americans today, and to recommend remedies,” the policy reads.
The policy group focused on immigration honed in heavily on repealing many of the policies enacted by the Trump administration, including travel bans on certain nations they say have disproportionately affected Muslim and African countries, asylum policies, and policies that have lead to family separations.
Following Biden’s lead in calling for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the United States, the task force says they would “work with Congress to reform our immigration system to provide a roadmap to citizenship.”
Biden has said he would introduce an immigration bill in Congress on the first day of his presidency.
The group also recommended that Biden order the Homeland Security Administration’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to “undertake a review of the Trump Administration’s immigration policies and provide recommendations for redress.”
Also among the immigration-related recommendations, the enactment of a “100-day moratorium on deportations of people already in the United States while conducting a full-scale study on current practices to develop recommendations for transforming enforcement policies and practices,” at both the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The task force also recommended the reallocation of resources flowing to ICE for training, and to “demand transparency in, and independent oversight over, ICE and CBP’s activities,” and called for the end to programs that “ force local law enforcement to take on the role of immigration enforcement, including by ending all agreements entered into by the Trump Administration.”
