Where We Stand: Partial Draft of Democratic Party Platform Already Voted Upon By Delegates; Covid-19 Pandemic Is a Prime Focus

Editor's Note: What is difficult to understand following the Democratic Party Convention (and their draft version) is the fact that the Republican Party issued the following statement: WHEREAS, The RNC has unanimously voted to forego the Convention Committee on Platform, in appreciation of the fact that it did not want a small contingent of delegates formulating a new platform without the breadth of perspectives within the ever-growing Republican movement.

What follows is a partial draft of the Democratic Party's Platform. The Wall Street Journal noted that delegates have remotely voted on the document earlier in August, but a final vote is ahead. The entire document extends to approximately 80 pages.

When we do not have competent, experienced, compassionate leaders in government, the American people suffer. That is the case with the novel coronavirus. President Trump and his Administration missed multiple opportunities to protect the American people from this deadly pathogen. Instead of recognizing the danger and confronting it head-on, President Trump lied to the American people about the disease’s severity, its transmissibility, and the threat it posed to lives and livelihoods.

Make no mistake: President Trump’s abject failure to respond forcefully and capably to the COVID-19 pandemic — his failure to lead— makes him responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. COVID-19 has laid bare deep fault lines in our economy, our society, and our health care system. Disparities in health care access, in environmental quality, in the employment market, and in housing have contributed to disproportionate rates of infection and death among Black Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos.

President Trump’s failure to pay attention to early intelligence reports about the pandemic wasted critical weeks in which we could have prepared for the outbreak. Once the pandemic began spreading in the United States, the President’s failure to lay out clear, consistent guidelines for cities, states, businesses, and school districts to control the spread of COVID-19 created widespread confusion and chaos. His reckless disregard for the advice of public health experts has made it harder for mayors and governors to protect the American people. Rather than surge the production of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies where they were needed most, the Administration held life-saving resources hostage for political obeisance. Instead of bringing Americans together, President Trump tried to divide us, using racist and xenophobic rhetoric that has contributed to an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. And in the midst of the pandemic, the Trump Administration is arguing in court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act and rip health coverage away from tens of millions of people.

President Trump and his Administration have also failed to drive an economic response that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge before us, preferring to act as though the recession caused by his incompetent mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic will correct itself. He has hung small businesses out to dry while cutting blank checks to the largest corporations; failed to enact adequate support for public school systems, colleges, universities, and state and local governments to maintain public services and jobs; endangered the health of essential workers by failing to enact workplace safety standards; and neglected to protect working families from economic ruin. Democrats will save lives by using every available tool to beat back this pandemic, which continues to sicken and kill hundreds of Americans per day, and lead a global effort to prevent, detect, and respond to future pandemic threats.

We must start by making COVID-19 testing widely available, convenient, and free to everyone. We must also expand funding so state and local public health departments can hire sufficient staff to conduct contact tracing for everyone who tests positive for the novel coronavirus. Only through widespread, regular testing and tracing can we hope to understand the scope of the pandemic and contain it.

In a public health crisis, we all have to rely on each other. That’s why Democrats support making 9 COVID-19 testing, treatment, and any eventual vaccines free to everyone, regardless of their wealth, insurance coverage, or immigration status. We are all only as safe from this disease as are the most vulnerable among us.

It has always been a crisis that tens of millions of Americans have no or inadequate health insurance — but in a pandemic, it’s catastrophic for public health. The current crisis would be even worse without the Affordable Care Act in place. But in the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans need even more help, which is why Democrats will take immediate action to preserve and expand health insurance coverage. We will provide direct, increased support to states to enroll eligible adults in Medicaid, have the federal government cover a higher percentage of the bill, and add incentives for states which have not yet expanded Medicaid to do so.

For people who risk losing their insurance coverage if they lose their jobs in this pandemic and in President Trump’s recession, Democrats believe the federal government should pick up 23 percent of the tab for COBRA insurance, which keeps people on their employer-sponsored plans.

Read the entire platform as presently configured: https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-07-21-DRAFT-Democratic-Party-Platform.pdf

RESOLUTION REGARDING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY PLATFORM

As Adopted by the Republican National Committee Paid for by the Republican National Committee Not Authorized By Any Candidate Or Candidate's Committee www.gop.com

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Where We Stand: Partial Draft of Democratic Party Platform Already Voted Upon By Delegates; Covid-19 Pandemic Is a Prime Focus

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