Progressive Elements of the 2016 Democratic Party Platform

by Tina Shannon, President 12^th CD Chapter, Progressive Democrats of America

1. Health Care
   1. Medicare opt-in for those 55 and older
   2. Public insurance option to compete with private insurance in ACA
   3. Allow states to set up single-payer healthcare system
   4. Repeal excise tax on high cost insurance plans
   5. Renew and expand community health centers
   6. Tax relief for caregivers to aging, disabled, or chronically ill family members
   7. Prohibit practices that keep generic drugs off the market
   8. Allow import of prescription drugs from Canada
   9. Fund Zika prevention and research
2. Social Security
   1. Raise the cap on taxable income
   2. No cuts by raising retirement age, COLA adjustments, benefit reduction
   3. Adjust COLA to include healthcare costs
3. Veterans
   1. Support the VA with full funding
   2. Oppose privatization of VA
4. Workers and Unions
   1. Union certification w/ card count
   2. $15 minimum wage
   3. Oppose right-to-work laws
   4. Dues checkoff
   5. Limited use of forced arbitration
   6. 12 weeks paid family leave
   7. 7 days paid sick leave
5. Jobs
   1. Independent infrastructure bank
   2. Build America bonds
   3. Clear backlog in land management agencies
   4. Make It In America plan
   5. Support Export-Import Bank
   6. Connect households to high speed internet
   7. Support NASA
   8. Federal funds for local youth employment programs
   9. Expand Americorps
6. Economic Inequality
   1. Funding for family farms and environmentally sustainable farming
   2. Stronger agricultural worker protections
   3. Expand New Markets tax credits for small business
   4. Target 10% of fund to long term high poverty communities
   5. Protect SNAP
   6. Expand Earned Income Credit
   7. Index Child Tax Credit to inflation
   8. Ratification of Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
7. Education
   1. Free Community College tuition
   2. Quantifiable affirmative action at higher education institutions
   3. Refinance college debt at lower rates with income based repayment
   4. Allow bankruptcy discharge of student loan debt
   5. Create fund to support Historic Black Colleges
   6. Restore year round Pell Grants
   7. Increase funding of Head Start, Summer, and after school programs
   8. Fund Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
   9. Oppose high stakes standardized testing
   10. Support restorative justice instead of school to prison pipeline
   11. Oppose for-profit charter schools
8. Housing
   1. National Housing Trust Fund
   2. Expand Neighborhood Stabilization Program
   3. Defend Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
9. Postal Service
   1. End prefunding of retiree benefits
   2. Restore services
   3. Restore supportive Commission and Board of Governors
   4. Add postal savings
   5. Vote by mail
10. Criminal Justice
    1. Reform mandatory minimum sentences
    2. Close private prisons
    3. De-escalate use of force training
    4. Body Cameras
    5. No military armaments for police
    6. DOJ investigate all police shootings
    7. Improve public defender funding and standards
    8. Reform civil asset forfeiture
    9. Executive action against solitary confinement
    10. Expand re-entry programs; restore voting rights
    11. Prioritize treatment and prevention for drugs
    12. Remove marijuana from Schedule I
    13. Remove obstacles to state legalization of marijuana
    14. Abolish death penalty
11. Immigration
    1. Clear family backlogs
    2. Implement DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
    3. Implement DAPA – Deferred Action for Parents of Americans
    4. DREAMERS – support state drivers licenses and in-state tuition
    5. Guarantee state-funded counsel for unaccompanied children
    6. Reject religious test
12. Gender Equality
    1. Pass the Equal Rights Amendment
    2. Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
    3. Appoint judges who support right to legal safe abortion
    4. Lift the bar on US assistance for safe legal abortions in developing countries
    5. Comprehensive Federal non-discrimination legislation for LGBT
    6. Support International Initiative to Advance Human Rights of LGBT persons
13. American Indian
    1. Streamline land trust process
    2. Address chronic underfunding of Indian Governments
    3. Funding for Bureau of Indian Education plus self-determination
    4. Full funding for Indian Health Services, Tribal Health Services, and Urban Health Services
    5. Hold annual White House Tribal Nations Conference
    6. Establish tribal representation in the federal government
14. Public Lands
    1. Establish American Parks Trust Fund
    2. Double size of outdoor economy
    3. Oppose Atlantic Coast and Arctic drilling
    4. Phase out drilling in public lands
    5. Protect the Endangered Species Act
    6. Support restrictions on discharges to Alaska’s Bristol Bay
15. Puerto Rico and US Protectorates
    1. Equal access to federal benefit programs
    2. Debt restructuring
    3. Extend ACA to Guam, Samoa, Virgin Islands, Northern Marianna Islands
16. Elections and Voting
    1. Restore Voting Rights Act
    2. Expand early voting and vote by mail
    3. Implement universal automatic voter registration (Oregon)
    4. Election day national holiday
    5. Fund HAVA
    6. Voter verified ballots
    7. Constitutional amendment against Citizens United decision
    8. Improve Census Bureau
17. Climate & Environment
    1. National Technology Climate Summit in first 100 days
    2. Reduce greenhouse gas to 80% below 2005 levels by 2050
    3. 50% of electricity from clean energy in 10 years
    4. Eliminate tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuels
    5. Include cost of pollution in pricing fossil fuels
    6. Convert Federal Government to clean energy
    7. Build and install half billion solar panels in 4 years
    8. Close Halliburton loophole in environmental protection regulations
    9. Honor local community bans on fracking
    10. Incentivize power line permitting for wind, solar, renewable energy
    11. Reduce methane emissions 45% below 2005 levels by 2025
    12. Support rejection of Keystone pipeline
    13. Oppose mountaintop removal mining
    14. National priority to eliminate lead poisoning in drinking water
18. Wall Street
    1. More funding for regulatory agencies
    2. Defend Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
    3. Reinstate Glass-Steagall
    4. Restriction from lobbying for 2 years
    5. Regulate bank execs serving on regional board
    6. End tax deferral on foreign profits
    7. Eliminate tax breaks to fund jobs programs
       1. Tax free overseas jobs
       2. Big oil and gas tax credits and subsidies
       3. Overseas tax inversions
       4. Billionaire tax loopholes
19. Trade
    1. Review existing trade agreements
       1. Eliminate private courts
       2. Accountability on currency manipulation
       3. Strong labor and environmental standards
       4. Access to life saving medicines
       5. Protect free and open internet
       6. No contravention of local & national laws on environment, safety, food, health
20. Guns
    1. Expand and strengthen background checks
    2. Ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines
21. Military, Nuclear, Foreign Policy
    1. Strengthen the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty
    2. Ratify the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
    3. Reduce spending on nuclear weapons programs
    4. Support nuclear agreement with Iran
    5. Limit troop presence in Afghanistan
    6. Lead assistance to war refugees from Middle East
    7. Update AUMF – Authorization for Use of Military Force – to be more precise vs ISIS
    8. Audit Pentagon and take action against fraud
    9. Close Guantanamo Bay facility