A shift in tone
After another strong primary night for former vice president Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders admitted Wednesday that his campaign had fallen behind and promised to do nothing that would undermine the Democrats’ effort to defeat President Donald Trump. Though he said that he would stay in the race, Sanders stressed that he would do so to press Biden to elaborate on how he would tackle issues such as health care and climate change.
Sanders has campaigned on a false choice between his radical agenda and a corrupt status quo, so his implication that Biden could move the nation in a positive direction is a welcome change of tone, and one we hope his supporters rally behind.
The former vice president shares almost all of Sanders’ broad goals: universal health-care coverage, universal college access, tax hikes for the wealthy and fighting climate change, to name a few. That he proposes accomplishing them at a far smaller price for the federal government does not mean he would fail to make a big difference in people’s lives.
On health care, for example, Biden pitches building on Obamacare, which undersells his plan’s ambition. The former vice president would establish a Medicare-like program that any American could buy into, including those with private health insurance. Low-income Americans would be auto-enrolled.
On climate change, Biden would rejoin the Paris accord and commit the nation to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions no later than mid-century, with a substantial down payment by 2025.
As for college affordability, Biden would double the maximum value of Pell Grants, vastly boosting the number of students eligible for federal help, and halve student loan payments. This plan, like the others, lacks the stark simplicity of Sanders’ proposals, but that is in part because it takes into account complexities that the senator disregards.
We do not expect Sanders supporters to be pleased that their preferred candidate is losing. But this is not an existential moment for the progressive agenda.