POLITICS
Biden-Sanders Policy Huddle Embraces LGBTQ Goals
Democratic leaders, allies hash out party platform ahead of August convention
Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden butted heads during the Democratic primary race, but now they’re teaming up to take on Donald Trump in November.
BY MATT TRACY
A unity task force created
by former Vice President
Joe Biden and Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders
drew from the platforms of both
Democratic leaders to map out 110
pages of recommendations for a
path forward for the presumptive
Democratic nominee one month
before the Democratic National
Convention.
Biden and Sanders are vying
to unite the party after a crowded
and contentious Democratic primary
race that saw Sanders perform
well, winning the popular
vote in the fi rst three states, before
the former vice president stormed
back in South Carolina and subsequently
pulled away in the following
contests when moderate
candidates dropped out and threw
their support behind him. The
race drew lingering distinctions
between progressives hungry for
sweeping change, particularly in
healthcare policy, and a moderate
fl ank of voters more satisfi ed with
an approach that builds on the
work of former President Barack
Obama.
As in 2016, Sanders’ team —
which helped push the party
platform to the left on a number
of fronts when Hillary Clinton secured
the nomination — again
sought to make a mark on the
platform, and the Vermont senator
will again make the case for Biden
after crisscrossing the nation campaigning
REUTERS/ CARLO ALLEGRI
dozens of times for Clinton
four years ago. But now, facing
the possible re-election of Donald
Trump, whose failure to lead has
most recently contributed to a nationwide
coronavirus death toll of
138,000 and counting, his team
seems to be approaching the unity
effort with a more determined
commitment to the urgent goal of
removing the incumbent president
from offi ce.
The six key areas of focus on the
agenda include climate change,
criminal justice reform, the economy,
education, health care, and
immigration, but queer issues are
also featured throughout.
Analilia Mejia, the national political
director for the Sanders
campaign, and Carmen Martin,
who had been appointed by Obama
to be US attorney for the District of
Massachusetts, led the task force,
which included four members
representing the Biden team and
four representing Sanders. Former
Secretary of State John Kerry
was among those on Biden’s side,
while Congressmember Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez helped make
recommendations on behalf of the
Sanders team.
The recommendations did not go
as far as some progressives hoped
— neither single-payer healthcare
nor the Green New Deal received
one mention — but there were
some key areas that are being
highlighted nonetheless.
The task force offered trade-offs,
of sorts, on healthcare, vowing to
give Americans the option to utilize
a “high-quality, affordable
public option” via the Obamacare
marketplace. At least one of those
plans will not have deductibles,
will be housed under Medicare,
cover primary care without copayments,
and control costs by negotiating
prices with doctors and
hospitals. Only low-income Americans
ineligible for Medicaid would
be automatically enrolled at no
cost, though it would be available
to anyone.
The task force also called for
reversals of the Trump administration’s
anti-LGBTQ healthcare
regulations and to “take action to
guarantee that LGBTQ+ people
have full access to needed health
care and resources, including by
requiring that federal health plans
provide coverage for HIV/ AIDS
treatment and HIV prevention
medications like PrEP and PEP,
gender confi rmation surgery, and
hormone therapy.”
The task force included LGBTQ
people, as well as women of color
and low-income women, when demanding
that federal funding be
restored for Planned Parenthood,
which offers gender-affi rming care
and reproductive healthcare.
Democrats said they are aiming
to counteract the coronavirus-driv-
➤ BIDEN & SANDERS, continued on p.25
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