Biden-Sanders teams unveil unity plan

US Democratic Party harnesses strength going into November election

US presidential hopeful Joe Biden on Wednesday unveiled proposals crafted with supporters of his progressive exrival Bernie Sanders as the Democratic Party prepares to release its platform at August’s national convention.

The 110-page document calls for major steps to combat climate change, reduce systemic racism, expand affordable healthcare and reform a US economy devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

But the proposals did not include key liberal priorities that could prove too divisive for moderate voters in November, like a single-payer healthcare system, a so-called Green New Deal on environmental policy or abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Biden, who will face US President Donald Trump in the election, commended the task forces for “helping build a bold, transformative platform for our party and for our country.”

The recommendations include more ambitious environmental timelines than those in Biden’s initial climate proposal, such as eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035.

They also include criminal justice reforms that take on added significance in the wake of the May killing of AfricanAmerican George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

The task forces on climate change, healthcare, the economy, immigration, education and criminal justice reform came together in May to forge a roadmap for defeating Trump, and to engage voters who supported more progressive candidates in the primary race including

Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren.

“Though the end result is not what I or my supporters would have written alone, the task forces have created a good policy blueprint that will move this country in a much-needed progressive direction and substantially improve the lives of working families,” Sanders said.

The effort was billed as a “unity task force,” in part to avoid the disaster of 2016 when many supporters of Sanders, who lost the Democratic primary battle to Hillary Clinton, opted to stay home rather than vote for Clinton.

That helped Trump win key battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and contributed to his election victory.

“... the task forces have created a good policy blueprint that will move this country in a much-needed progressive direction and substantially improve the lives of working families.”

Bernie Sanders

US Senator and former presidential candidate from Vermont