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Bill Johnston

What's in the 2024 Democratic Party Platform?

By William (Bill) Johnston

This article is a list of goals the Democratic Party intend to achieve in the future.

As such, it does not include past Democratic accomplishments nor the references to Trump. It also does not include why achieving these goals is important. To do so would make this article much too long, and the reader can usually infer the why from the statement of the goal itself.

Descriptive adjectives were added to better describe technical, "inside politics" terms.

In some cases, the Platform listed the same goal in more than one Chapter. This redundancy was left in the article to give the reader a sense of the Party's importance on the item.

 

Table of Contents

  1. Grow Our Economy from the Bottom Up & Middle Out

  2. Reward Work, Not Wealth

  3. Lower Costs

  4. Tackle the Climate Crisis, Lower Energy Costs & Secure Energy Independence

  5. Protect Communities & Tackle Gun Violence

  6. Strengthen Democracy, Protect Freedoms, & Advance Equity

  7. Secure our Border & Fix the Immigration System

  8. Advancing the President's Unity Agenda

  9. Strengthening American Leadership Worldwide

Chapter One Grow Our Economy from the Bottom Up & Middle Out

Prevent supply chain shocks and corporate greed.

Bring factories home.

Rebuild our roads, bridges, ports, airports, water systems, electric grids and broadband.

Create hundreds of thousands of good-paying union jobs.

Build America's first actual high-speed rail lines.

Replace every toxic lead pipe in the country within a decade.

Bring affordable, reliable, high-speed internet to every American household.

Restore America's role in producing the tiny computer chips.

Send Americans back to the moon and on to Mars.

Lead the most pro-union Administration in history.

Pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.

Oppose state right-to-work laws,

Guarantee public sector bargaining rights.

Codify the right to organize for domestic, farm, and unprotected laborers.

Hold companies accountable for violating child labor law.

Support workplace whistleblowers.

Make it harder for employers to misclassify workers as independent contractors.

Ban most non-compete agreements,

Support all efforts to fight the privatization of the U.S.P.S., ensure it is financially sustainable and protect its universal service obligation and on-time delivery.

Work for a fairer tax code for small businesses.

Increase loans under 159k to mom-and-pop businesses.

Help family farmers pay off distressed loans.

Limit foreign ownership of U.S. farmland.

Restore the Child Tax and Earned Income Tax Credits.

Raise the federal minimum wage to at least $15-an-hour.

Fight for paid leave and better health care.

Invest more in public schools and affordable housing.

Reduce the need for foster care, by supporting families and engaging kin.

Invest more in preventative health care, vaccines, and other treatments for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries.

Chapter Two Reward Work, Not Wealth

Prevent Americans earning less than $400,000 a year from paying more in federal taxes.

Pass a $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and sellers.

Cut taxes for middle-class and low-income Americans.

Have billionaires pay a minimum income tax rate of 25%.

End the preferential treatment for capital gains.

End abusive life insurance tax shelters.

Eliminate the "stepped-up basis" loophole.

Increase the stock buyback tax to 4%.

Improve IRS services & revive enforcement against tax cheats.

Raise the Corporate tax rate back to 28%.

Double the tax rate American multinationals pay on foreign earnings to 21%.

End incentives to shift jobs and operations overseas and book profits in low-tax countries.

Eliminate many subsidies for oil and gas companies.

Cap the deduction of executive pay at $1 million a year.

Eliminate the so-called "like-kind exchange" loophole on real estate profits.

Chapter Three Lower Costs

Bring prices down on health insurance, prescription drugs, housing, child-care, internet, banking and credit cards.

Make Health care a right in America, not a privilege.

Expand the Affordable Care Act.

Make the health insurance premium tax credit permanent.

Expand Medicaid-like coverage to the 2.8 million uninsured low-income adults who live in states who refuse the help.

Remove financial barriers for entrance to the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Let families have three years to resubmit Medicaid paperwork for children younger than six.

Double the investment in mobile health clinics.

Keep community and rural health centers staffed & equipped.

Grow the health care workforce.

Incent primary care practitioners to work in rural and low-income areas.

Stop certain hospital, insurance, and Big Pharma mergers that increase health care prices for consumers.

Push to exclude medical debts from credit scoring entirely.

Protect access to reproductive health care.

Reduce maternal mortality.

CAP the Prescription Drug cost of every single American.

Add 50 drugs a year to the list of price - negotiable drugs.

Require drugmakers that raise prices faster than inflation to pay the difference back to Medicare.

Crack down on drug patents used to shut out competition.

Require drugs developed with taxpayer dollars be available to taxpayers at reasonable prices.

Guarantee quality childcare for less than $10-a-day per child.

Restore the expanded Child Tax Credit.

Strengthen Head Start.

Improve and expand home- and community-based services.

Eliminate the 700,000-person Medicaid waiting list.

Give care givers a bigger share of Medicaid payments.

Require minimum staffing standards at nursing homes.

Guarantee every American worker up to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for a new child or loved one to recover from an illness, domestic violence or military deployment.

Promote competition for essential items like gas and groceries.

Crack down on oil companies' collusion to raise prices.

Boost competition across our economy.

Hold executives at failed banks accountable by clawing back compensation and banning them from the industry.

Cut red tape to help more builders get federal financing.

Offer corporate landlords a basic choice for the next two years: either cap rent increases at 5% or lose federal tax breaks.

Build or renovate 2 million homes nationwide.

Reduce home heating, cooling, and water bills.

Provide free, universal preschool for four-year olds.

Stop private-school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and opportunity scholarships.

Hold charter schools to the same transparency standards as public schools.

Make trade school and community college free.

Recruit more teachers, paraprofessionals and school personnel.

Never back down from our ironclad commitment to protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Reject efforts to privatize Social Security or cut any benefits.

Oppose any actions to cut Medicare benefits.

Expand traditional Medicare coverage to include dental, vision, and hearing services.

Make sure retirees never run the risk of losing their pension.

Chapter Four Tackle the Climate Crisis, Lower Energy Costs & Secure Energy Independence

Manufacture solar, wind, battery, and other clean technologies.

Invest in solar modules that will power 18 million homes.

Double large-scale energy storage by year's end.

Triple clean-energy generation by 2030.

Incent investment in energy transmission and upgrades.

Speed up environmental reviews and clean energy permitting.

Scale up development of clean energy on public lands.

Invest in clean energy research and development.

Launch an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate control.

Slash overall electricity rates by 9% and gas prices by as much as 13% by 2030.

Release strategic reserves to blunt profiteering.

Promote competition with cleaner and cheaper renewable fuel.

Build new plants to make batteries, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.

Provide incentives for private companies to hire registered apprentices and pay prevailing wages.

Put more than 20,000 young Americans to work on clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience projects.

Triple the size of the American Climate Corps by 2029.

Unite Democrats against the Republican war on clean energy.

By 2050. reduce emissions per mile by as much as 50 percent.

50% of all new cars sold in the U.S. by 2030 will be electric.

Give school districts rebates to buy electric school buses.

Double funding to repair and expand transportation and public transit and reduce pollution and traffic.

Electrify our ports and waterways.

Prioritize a goal of zero-emissions freight.

Require low-carbon materials and clean power be used in all new federal buildings by 2030.

Guarantee clean water from every faucet.

Speed the cleanup of the toxic Superfund and brownfield sites.

Restore the vital "polluter pays" tax.

Eliminate billions of dollars in unfair oil and gas subsidies.

Release our own energy supplies to keep costs down.

Plant millions of trees to combat the urban heat island effect.

Make every community more resilient to climate change and extreme weather.

Reinforce our nation's infrastructure.

Put power lines underground.

Make electric grids more reliable and more energy efficien.t

Pass the bipartisan Disaster Resilience Tax Credit.

Increase protections for America's Arctic, and ensure clean water.

Triple renewable energy worldwide and double energy efficiency by 2030.

Chapter Five Protect Communities & Tackle Gun Violence

Establish universal background checks.

Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Require safe storage for guns.

End the gun industry's immunity from liability.

Pass a national red flag law.

Increase funding to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).

Fund gun violence research.

Fund 100,000 additional police officers.

Fund $5 billion for community violence intervention.

Create a new Violent Crime Reduction and Prevention Fund.

Pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.

Expunge federal marijuana-only convictions.

End state-level use of private prisons and detention centers.

Restrict solitary confinement, chokeholds, and restraints on pregnant inmates.

Guarantee access to medical care in prison.

Eliminate profiteering from diversion, bail, electronic monitoring, commissaries, and reentry programs.

Support rehabilitation and education for inmates in prison and after their release.

Boost access to transitional housing, affordable housing, mental health and substance use treatment.

Limit reincarcerating people to only serious violations of supervised release.

Implement and enforce Title IX.

Eliminate the rape kit backlog.

Chapter Six Strengthen Democracy, Protect Freedoms, & Advance Equity

Restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act.

Sign the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.

Pass the DISCLOSE Act, to ban foreign entities from contributing to candidates.

Strengthen public financing with small dollar matching for all federal candidates.

Crack down on foreign nationals who try to influence elections.

Pass a constitutional amendment that will ban all private financing from federal elections.

Require full disclosure of contributors.

Ban 501(c)(4) organizations from spending on elections. Prohibit corporate PACs and lobbyists from donating to anyone they lobby.

Require all federal candidates to disclose at least 10 years of tax returns.

Reestablish merit-based federal contracting.

Ban political appointees from interfering in grantmaking.

Strengthen laws that regulate lobbying by foreign governments and lower the threshold for registering as a federal lobbyist.

Restore reproductive freedom for every woman in every state. Protect access to abortion.

Create a new path for pharmacies to dispense FDA-approved medication abortion.

Expand reproductive health care for service members, veterans, and their family members.

Make Roe the law of the land again.

Strengthen access to contraception so every woman can get it.

Protect a woman's right to access IVF.

Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

Guarantee affordable, high-quality childcare from birth until kindergarten.

Improve long-term care and support family caregivers.

Ensure every American has access to high-quality, culturally competent care before, during, and after pregnancy.

Double the maximum Pell Grant.

Deliver 40% of the overall benefits of our investments in infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing investments to disadvantaged communities.

Ban so-called "conversion therapy".

Protect LGBTQI+ children from bullying and discrimination.

End the homeless crisis among LGBTQI+ youth.

End violence against transgender Americans.

Prioritize the investigation of hate crimes against trans and non-binary people.

Enforce laws that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities.

Oppose efforts to weaken the ADA.

Build on the ACA to prevent health care discrimination.

Enforce the Supreme Courts Olmstead integration mandate requiring public agencies to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities.

Enforce non-discrimination protections.

Promote equitable treatment of students with disabilities.

Support home and community-based care and end the subminimum wage.

Promote nation-to-nation partnerships with Tribal Nations.

Strengthen Tribal sovereignty.

Make federal resources for Tribal Nations more accessible.

Make IHS funding mandatory.

Invest in housing in Tribal communities.

Address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous persons.

End policies that target American Muslims as security threats.

Combat hate crimes and white nationalist terrorism.

Increase security at houses of worship.

Protect the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion for everyone.

Maintain the separation of church and state.

Advocate for religious freedom across the world.

Direct federal antitrust agencies to investigate media mergers.

Appoint an independent media professional to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Fund National Endowments for the Arts, Humanities, and music education in public schools.

Reject the unequal treatment of residents of D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories.

Support statehood for D.C. & restructure Puerto Rico's debt.

Support self-determination for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa.

Improve health care facilities in the territories & help the U.S. territories diversify their economies.

Expand clean energy and water systems to be more resilient.

Reimburse U.S. territories for more migration costs.

Restore Medicaid eligibility for legal migrants.

Protect voting rights of U.S. citizens who live abroad.

Chapter Seven Secure our Border & Fix the Immigration System

Secure the border.

Reform the asylum system.

Expand legal immigration.

Support a pathway for long-term undocumented individuals, improve the work authorization process & secure the DACA program.

Add additional border patrol agents, immigration judges, asylum officers, and cutting-edge inspection machines.

More funding for cities and states sheltering migrants.

Strengthen requirements for valid asylum claims.

Fund enough asylum officers and immigration judges to facilitate timely decisions.

Expel migrants who are crossing unlawfully.

Deploy more cutting-edge inspection machines to detect fentanyl at our ports of entry.

Stop tech platforms from being used for criminal conduct, including sales of dangerous drugs like fentanyl.

Permanently increase family-sponsored and employment-based immigration.

Increase immigrant visas by(to?) 250,000 by 2029.

Increase the number of family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visas.

Ensure children who came as dependents on their parents' temporary visas can remain in the U.S. even after turning 21.

Streamline applications of at-risk Afghan allies to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Adjust the legal status of Afghan evacuees to lawful permanent resident.

Extend work authorization to those who utilize lawful visa pathways.

Create work permits for immigrants, long-term undocumented residents, and legally processed asylum seekers.

Increase visas for the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status program for abused, abandoned, or neglected youth.

Provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, farmworkers, caseworkers, and other long-term undocumented individuals.

Chapter Eight Advancing the President's Unity Agenda

Protect kids' privacy and stop Big Tech collecting personal data online.

Ban targeted advertising to children.

Promote competition and privacy in the tech industry.

Promote interoperability between tech services and platforms.

Hold liable tech platforms when they host or disseminate violent or illegal content.

Pass the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

Ensure what is collected is only used for education.

Update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Establish high standards for AI safety and security.

Promote competitive markets for AI development and use.

Ensure workers get a voice in how AI is used & that they share fairly in any economic gains AI produces.

Accelerate hiring AI professionals across the federal government.

Advocate for the safe and secure development of AI.

Create guidelines, tools, benchmarks & best practices for evaluating dangerous capabilities and AI risks.

Prioritize funding for critical AI research & development that advances AI safety.

Ban voice impersonations.

Increase access to VA mental health care, expand suicide prevention & invest in opioid overdose prevention and treatment.

Expand women veterans' health care and access to benefits.

End veteran homelessness and support military students with disabilities.

Support military families with more affordable childcare & job opportunities for spouses.

Invest in stipends for caregivers.

Ensure the federal government is an employer of choice for military families.

Expand memorial benefits to honor the veteran's years of service and lasting memories.

Chapter Nine Strengthening American Leadership Worldwide

Strengthen our alliances in Europe and Indo-Pacific and the connections among our allies.

Strengthen NATO.

Help Ukraine recover economically.

Strengthen Ukraine's democracy.

Deepen Ukraine's political and economic relationship with European and transatlantic institutions.

Disrupt Russia's emerging military and economic alliances with Iran and North Korea.

Remain free to navigate across the Indo-Pacific area.

Stand with the Philippines to push back against hostile actions and coercion by China.

Expand our military presence in Japan.

Promote a free, open, connected, prosperous, secure and resilient Indo-Pacific area.

"De-risk" and diversify the economic relationship between the U.S. & China (PRC), not decouple.

Strategically increase tariffs on a variety of PRC products.

Outcompete China.

Reshore supply chains for materials critical for the 21st century.

Maintain as U.S. policy, the One China policy.

Work with the PRC on issues such as setting guardrails on the safe usage of artificial intelligence.

Negotiate a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

Create a new economic corridor to connect India to Europe through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.

Achieve a historic normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Achieve an integrated and economically connected Middle East.

Defend against Iran and its terrorist surrogates.

Organize Operation Prosperity Guardian, a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending international shipping and deterring Houthi attacks.

Assure Iran will never be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Insure a strong, secure, and democratic Israel.

Achieve a durable end to the war in Gaza.

Ensure the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

Oppose unilateral steps by Israel or Palestine, including annexation, that undermine prospects for the two-state solution.

Oppose settlement expansion.

Impose financial sanctions against foreign persons engaged in actions that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West Bank.

Jerusalem should remain the capital of Israel, as an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.

Support critical assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza

Support the Lebanese people living in an independent and sovereign Lebanon, free from the grip of the Iran backed Hezbollah.

Counter corruption, authoritarianism, democratic backsliding, and violence in Central America.

Restore diplomatic engagement with Cuba on discrete issues like migration and resuming flights.

Strengthen partnerships in Africa.

Advocate for the African Union to become a permanent member of the G20.

Underscore the importance of the U.S.-Kenya partnership

Invest $55 billion over three years across Africa.

Commit to provide nearly $20 billion in health programs across Africa.

Expand support for African-led peacekeeping operations.

Build 21st century U.S.-African partnerships.

Ensure Africa has a seat at the table in major global decisions by lobbying the Security Council to grant permanent representation for Africa.

Invest in America and our allies and partners to grow the middle class globally.

Fight for a global minimum tax.

Invest in members of our Civil and Foreign Service

Reach net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with climate science.

Invest in cutting-edge capabilities across all military services.

Modernize each leg of our nuclear triad:

  • (Land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)

  • Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs)

  • Strategic bombers with nuclear bombs and missiles.)


 

Well, that's the end of the Party's endorsed Platform. It shows exactly what the Party is willing to put into writing.

Please keep in mind this does include what individual candidates have said which may conflict, change or be in addition to what the Party has endorsed.

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