1 2020 Democratic Party Platform 2 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 5 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4 6 PREAMBLE 5 7 PROTECTING AMERICANS AND RECOVERING FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC 8 8 BUILDING A STRONGER, FAIRER ECONOMY 12 9 Protecting Workers and Families and Creating Millions of Jobs Across America 14 10 Raising Wages and Promoting Workers’ Rights 14 11 Enacting Robust Work-Family Policies 15 12 Investing in the Engines of Job Creation 15 13 Building A Fair System of International Trade for Our Workers 18 14 Putting Homeownership in Reach and Guaranteeing Safe Housing for Every American 19 15 Leveling the Economic Playing Field 20 16 Reforming the Tax Code to Benefit Working Families 20 17 Curbing Wall Street Abuses 21 18 Ending Poverty 21 19 Protecting Consumer Rights and Privacy 22 20 Tackling Runaway Corporate Concentration 23 21 Guaranteeing a Secure and Dignified Retirement 23 22 ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL, AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HEALTH CARE 24 23 Securing Universal Health Care Through a Public Option 25 24 Bringing Down Drug Prices and Taking on the Pharmaceutical Industry 26 25 Reducing Health Care Costs and Improving Health Care Quality 27 26 Expanding Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment 27 27 Expanding Long-Term Care Services and Supports 28 28 Eliminate Racial, Gender, and Geographic Health Inequities 28 29 Protecting Native American Health 29 30 Securing Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice 29 31 Protecting and Promoting Maternal Health 30 32 Protecting LGBTQ+ Health 30 33 Strengthening and Supporting the Health Care Workforce 30 34 Investing in Health Science and Research 31 35 PROTECTING COMMUNITIES AND BUILDING TRUST BY REFORMING OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE 36 SYSTEM 32 37 HEALING THE SOUL OF AMERICA 35 38 Protecting Americans’ Civil Rights 35 39 Achieving Racial Justice and Equity 36 40 Protecting Women’s Rights 38 1 1 Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights 38 2 Protecting Disability Rights 39 3 Honoring Indigenous Tribal Nations 39 4 Ending Violence Against Women 42 5 Ending the Epidemic of Gun Violence 43 6 Supporting Faith and Service 43 7 Supporting Press Freedom 43 8 COMBATING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND PURSUING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 44 9 RESTORING AND STRENGTHENING OUR DEMOCRACY 49 10 Protecting and Enforcing Voting Rights 49 11 Reforming the Broken Campaign Finance System 50 12 Building an Effective, Transparent Federal Government 50 13 Making Washington, D.C. the 51st State 51 14 Guaranteeing Self-Determination for Puerto Rico 51 15 Supporting the U.S. Territories 52 16 Strengthening the U.S. Postal Service 52 17 CREATING A 21ST CENTURY IMMIGRATION SYSTEM 53 18 PROVIDING A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION IN EVERY ZIP CODE 56 19 Guaranteeing Universal Early Childhood Education 57 20 Supporting High-Quality K-12 Schools Across America 58 21 Making Higher Education Affordable and Accessible 60 22 Providing Borrowers Relief From Crushing Student Debt 60 23 RENEWING AMERICAN LEADERSHIP 62 24 Revitalizing American Diplomacy 63 25 Rebuilding America’s Tool of First Resort 63 26 Reinventing Alliances 64 27 International Institutions 64 28 Foreign Assistance and Development 65 29 Transforming Our Armed Forces for the 21st century 65 30 Ending Forever Wars 65 31 Securing our Competitive Edge 66 32 Defense Spending 67 33 Keeping Faith with Our Veterans and Military Families 67 34 Civil-Military Relations 68 35 Mobilizing the World to Address Transnational Challenges 68 36 Global Health and Pandemics 68 37 Climate Change 69 38 Technology 70 39 Nonproliferation 70 40 Terrorism 71 41 Democracy and Human Rights 71 42 Advancing American Interests 74 2 1 Global Economy and Trade 74 2 Africa 75 3 Americas 76 4 Asia-Pacific 77 5 Europe 78 6 Middle East 79 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 10 11 12 The Democratic National Committee wishes to acknowledge that we gather together to state our 13 values on lands that have been stewarded through many centuries by the ancestors and 14 descendants of Tribal Nations who have been here since time immemorial. 15 We honor the communities native to this continent, and recognize that our country was built on 16 Indigenous homelands. 17 We pay our respects to the millions of Indigenous people throughout history who have protected 18 our lands, waters, and animals. 19 20 We respectfully acknowledge that we present this Platform at our 2020 Democratic National 21 Convention on the lands of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, 22 the Forest County Potawatomi Community, the Ho-Chunk Nation, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band 23 of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the 24 Menominee Nation, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior 25 Chippewa, the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community, 26 and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Band of Mohican Indians. 27 4 1 PREAMBLE 2 3 America is an idea—one that has endured and evolved through war and depression, prevailed 4 over fascism and communism, and radiated hope to far distant corners of the earth. Americans 5 believe that diversity is our greatest strength. That protest is among the highest forms of 6 patriotism. That our fates and fortunes are bound to rise and fall together. That even when we fall 7 short of our highest ideals, we never stop trying to build a more perfect union. 8 9 When the American people go to the polls this fall, we will be choosing more than a candidate. 10 Character is on the ballot in this election. The character of our President, yes, but more than that: 11 the character of our democracy, our society, and our leadership in the world. 12 13 The challenges before us—the worst public health crisis in a century, the worst economic 14 downturn since the Great Depression, the worst period of global upheaval in a generation, the 15 intolerable racial injustice that still stains the fabric of our nation—will test America’s character 16 like never before. 17 18 The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare deep-seated problems in our society—the fragility of our 19 economy and social safety net, the risks posed by growing inequality, the impacts of racial and 20 economic disparities on health and well-being, and the profound consequences of deepening 21 polarization and political paralysis. 22 23 The bill has come due on the Trump Administration’s hollowing out of our public institutions: 24 the sidelining of experts, the rejection of science, the underinvestment in research, and the gross 25 corruption and abuses of power. President Trump’s dereliction of duty has caused the deaths of 26 tens of thousands of Americans, the loss of tens of millions of American jobs, and lasting harm 27 to our children’s education and future. 28 29 And it has revealed, at tragic economic and human cost, the emptiness of the Republican Party’s 30 “America First” foreign policy. Under President Trump, America stands alone. Friends and foes 31 alike neither admire nor fear President Trump’s leadership—they dismiss and ridicule it. The 32 Republican Party under President Trump has made America small—when we are a people called 33 to do the greatest things. 34 35 Democrats will fight to repair the soul of this nation. To unite and to heal our country. To turn 36 this crisis into a crucible, from which we will forge a stronger, brighter, and more equitable 37 future. 38 39 We must right the wrongs in our democracy, redress the systemic injustices that have long 40 plagued our society, throw open the doors of opportunity for all Americans, and reinvent our 41 institutions at home and our leadership abroad. We do not simply aspire to return our country to 42 where we were four years ago. We know we must be bolder and more ambitious. 43 44 We must once again stop another Republican recession from becoming a second Great 45 Depression. President Trump and the Republican Party have rigged the economy in favor of the 46 wealthiest few and the biggest corporations, and left working families and small businesses out 5 1 in the cold. Democrats will forge a new social and economic contract with the American 2 people—a contract that creates millions of new jobs and promotes shared prosperity, closes 3 racial gaps in income and wealth, guarantees the right to join or form a union, raises wages and 4 ensures equal pay for women and paid family leave for all, and safeguards a secure and dignified 5 retirement. 6 7 We must guarantee health care not as a privilege for some, but as a right for every single 8 American. For a century, Democrats have fought to secure universal health care. In the depths of 9 the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump and the Republican Party are trying to tear health 10 care away from millions of people who depend on it for survival. Democrats will not allow that 11 to happen. We will not rest until every American can access quality health care and affordable 12 prescription drugs. 13 14 We must steel and strengthen our democracy, not distort and debase it. Democrats believe there 15 is nothing to fear from the voices and votes of the American people. We will restore the full 16 power of the Voting Rights Act and stamp out voter suppression in all its forms. We will curb 17 the corrupting influence of money in politics and protect the integrity of our elections from all 18 enemies, foreign and domestic.