Democratic Policy Task Forces

[lpetrich]

Jennifer Epstein on Twitter: "NEW this morning: Biden and Sanders roll out the members of the 6 Unity Task Forces that will offer recommendations to the DNC platform cmte and to Biden. Includes @.Johnkerry, @EricHolder, @vivek_murthy, @aoc, @RepJayapal, @rweingarten, @econjared, @StephanieKelton. https://t.co/fGHHFJcUVE" / Twitter

The task forces:

• Climate Change
  • Rep. Kathy Castor
  • Kerry Duggan
  • Catherine Flowers
  • Former Secretary of State John Kerry, Co-chair
  • Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy
  • Rep. Donald McEachin
  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Co-chair
  • Varshini Parkash
• Criminal Justice Reform
  • TN State Senator Raumesh Akbari
  • Chiraag Bains, Co-Chair
  • SC State Rep. Justin Bamberg
  • Former Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta
  • Former Attorney General Eric Holder
  • Symone Sanders
  • Rep. Bobby Scott, Co-chair
  • County Supervisor Stacey Walker
• Economy
  • Rep. Karen Bass, Co-chair
  • Dr. Jared Bernstein
  • Dr. Darrick Hamilton
  • Dr. Ben Harris
  • Stephanie Kelton
  • Sara Nelson, Co-chair
  • Lee Saunders
  • Sonal Shah
• Education
  • Professor Alejandro Adler
  • Rep. Marcia Fudge, Co-chair
  • Lily Eskelsen Garcia
  • Dr. Heather Gautney, Co-chair
  • Maggie Thompson
  • Christie Vilsack
  • Randi Weingarten
  • Professor Hirokazu Yoshikawa
• Health Care
  • Dr. Don Berwick
  • Dr. Abdul El-Sayed
  • Professor Sherry Glied
  • Mary Kay Henry
  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Co-chair
  • Chris Jennings
  • Rep. Robin Kelly
  • Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Co-chair
• Immigration
  • Cristobal Alex
  • Rep. Veronica Escobar
  • Marisa Franco
  • Juan Gonzalez
  • Marielena Hincapié, Co-chair
  • NV Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall
  • Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, Co-chair
  • Javier Valdés

 

[lpetrich]

Jennifer Epstein on Twitter: ""I commend Joe Biden for working together with my campaign to assemble a group of leading thinkers and activists who can and will unify our party in a transformational and progressive direction," Bernie Sanders says." / Twitter

It's commendable that JB and BS are working together, along with their followers.

I’m Joining the Sanders-Biden Taskforce on Climate. Here’s why: by Varshini Prakash, Executive Director of the Sunrise Movement
Varshini Prakash on Twitter: "I am proud to share that @BernieSanders has nominated me to join the Sanders-Biden Task Force on Climate alongside @AOC and @CathFlowers. ..." / Twitter

I am proud to share that @BernieSanders has nominated me to join the Sanders-Biden Task Force on Climate alongside @AOC and @CathFlowers.
After much deliberation with allies and movement leaders, I have decided to accept the nomination. 1/

Here’s why:
When our movement endorsed @BernieSanders in Jan, we said we’d keep fighting for a #GreenNewDeal no matter what.
I was proud to endorse him then, and I’m grateful to receive his endorsement to carry on the fight for our shared agenda in this task force. 2/

I trust and respect Bernie’s leadership. Still the decision wasn’t easy to make. It’s no secret that Biden wasn’t the favorite candidate of our movement or of young ppl broadly
While Biden has done much good over his career, like many powerful politicians, he’s also done harm 3/

Biden’s been on the wrong side of issues like NAFTA, mass incarceration, record deportations and the Iraq War.
And we cannot ignore the ongoing sexual assault allegation from Tara Reade and a long history of him pushing the boundaries of consent with women’s space and bodies 4/

We are in touch with and following the lead of survivor justice organizations in their approach to addressing and responding to Tara Reade’s allegations and navigating how to ensure justice and accountability 5/

But the stakes of this election are clear. We cannot afford another 4yrs of Trump pushing us backwards.
This election is about saying no to fascism and white supremacy.
And I believe in our movement’s ability to begin winning a #GreenNewDeal under a President Biden. 6/

I feel a responsibility to win whatever we can from this platform.
But -- and this is impt -- The stronger & louder our mvmt is in calling for a #GreenNewDeal, the more power I will have when I enter these talks. And the more courage & resolve you will give me to fight for us 7/

I don’t entirely know what a task force like this will accomplish. That’s why we must keep speaking up & taking action
B/c what I do on a task force is much less important than what we do collectively as a movement this yr. Our political power exists because of our ppl power. 8/

Through it all, I know I won’t be going at it alone.
As I step onto this task force, I’m taking each and every member of our movement with me.
I will fight as hard as I can for a platform that will do the most good for the most people. 9/

We’ve got a lot of work left to do, @sunrisemvmt.
Keep organizing like our lives depend on it. Keep fighting for someone that you don’t know.
I can’t wait to be with you all in the streets again. 10/

 

[lpetrich]

Varshini Prakash: I’m Joining the Sanders-Biden Taskforce on Climate. Here’s why:

None of this would have been possible without the organizing and power that youth climate justice movements and allies have built over the last several years. A year and a half ago, our movement was joined by then Representative-elect Ocasio-Cortez in Nancy Pelosi’s office demanding that the Democrats develop a solution at the scale of the climate crisis. Now, together, we’ll be helping to write the Democratic Platform on climate. Our nomination on this task force shows Joe Biden and his campaign are beginning to take seriously that power and the significance of young people within the party if we want to defeat Trump this November.

The Sunrise Movement endorsed Bernie Sanders, and Presidential Scorecard — Sunrise Movement has these scores:

Bernie Sanders 183, Elizabeth Warren 171, Joe Biden 75, all out of 200

So this task force may end up improving JB's score.

 

[lpetrich]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "After conferring w/ grassroots activists and climate allies, ..." / Twitter

After conferring w/ grassroots activists and climate allies, I am accepting @BernieSanders’ nomination to co-chair the Climate Change Unity Task Force with Sec. @.JohnKerry.

Our planet is dangerously imperiled, and wherever there are decisions made, the people must have a voice.

I have always believed that real change happens not with a panel or task force, but in everyday people organizing mass movements to demand change.

Yet we should also commit to showing up everywhere- every space where there are decisions &formative conversations - w/ mvmt voices.

I am also encouraged that we‘re not in this fight alone.

To be on a team w/@CathFlowers, @PramilaJayapal, @FlyingWithSara, @AbdulElSayed, @StephanieKelton, @VarshPrakash & others pushing for 21stc public policy means we are in this together.

Inside pressure. Outside organizing.

Yes, Stephanie Kelton is in the economics team. The Deficit Myth is about her upcoming book on budget deficits. FlyingWithSara is Sara Nelson, the head of a big flight-attendants labor union, and also on the economics team.

Varshini Prakash on Twitter: "Can you believe that ..." / Twitter

Can you believe that just 18 mths ago our movement was joined by then Rep-elect Ocasio-Cortez in Nancy Pelosi’s office demanding Democrats develop equitable solutions at the scale of the climate crisis?

Now, together, we’ll be helping to write the Dem Platform on climate.

No doubt - organizing and movements made this possible. We have built power collectively and flexed it strategically.

The work continues both within these taskforces and outside them.

Good that both VP and AOC recognize the necessity of a two-pronged approach, an inside-outside one.

 

[lpetrich]

As to what political strategy this team might reflect, I will quote from Lyndon B. Johnson - Wikiquote

It's probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.

On FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, as quoted in The New York Times (31 October 1971).

 

[fromderinside]

My take on lpetrich opinion is based on his present residence. He could have moved to Springfield which has substantially lower tax rates and substantially poorer standard of living for residents.

Obviously I'm suited to speederfundus since my first vote here was to put water sewer rates on users rather than homeowners. Been kicking myself ever since. Not me said the home owner. Since users comprise all of those with not enough to pay bills it's their responsibility sez I. Jeez what a turd.

We are doomed by our ignorance of how things work. Live in second poorest county in state, well, 'cause farmers think like I did.

..and I hate that my sister insists on she built it all by herself.

Not an consistent bone in my body.

...the problem is I know that, for some the charm too.

Haven't been to a party convention since 2009. It's in Portland just too far away. Poor me.

 

[lpetrich]

Biden Taps AOC and Jayapal to Help Shape Party Policy

If you were to draw up a list of the most plain-spoken, passionate, and progressive women in American public life, you would have to include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Sara Nelson somewhere near the top. All of them, of course, were loud and ardent advocates for Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential primaries.

... It isn’t only the impressive trio of AOC, Jayapal, and Nelson who feature on these panels. Also on the health care task force is Abdul El-Sayed, who ran an insurgent campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Michigan and is the co-author of a book on Medicare for All. Also on the economy task force is Stephanie Kelton, a pioneer of Modern Monetary Theory and author of a forthcoming book on deficit hysteria. Also on the climate change task force is Varshini Prakash, executive director and co-founder of the Sunrise Movement — the progressive group behind the Green New Deal that gave Biden’s presidential climate plan an “F” rating in 2019. Meanwhile, Heather Gautney, an activist-scholar and top Sanders adviser, is co-chair of the education task force.

Something that author Mehdi Hasan finds very welcome. Especially since it is Joe Biden himself who signed off on that. So it might end up being JB's Obama nostalgia + much of Bernie Sanders's platform.

 

[Derec]

What is the use of nominating a nominal moderate like Joe Biden if the party is going hard left in a handbasket anyway through these task forces?

Take Mehdi Hasan. The far left, anti-American, pro-Iran writer for Al Jazeera (state organ of Qatar btw.) and Glen Greenwald's rag The Intercept. If he likes it, Dems are in trouble!

IF YOU WERE to draw up a list of the most plain-spoken, passionate, and progressive women in American public life, you would have to include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Sara Nelson somewhere near the top. All of them, of course, were loud and ardent advocates for Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential primaries.

We all know about AOC and her extremist views.
Pramila Jayapal? Dind't she vote against the recent 3 trillion dollar House bill (which will be almost impossible to get through Senate as it is) because it did not go too far enough?
Sara Nelson? Never heard of her, so I looked her up. Seems to be a stewardess of some sort. Why is she even mentioned here? Sara the Stewardess, Joe the Plumber. Tomato, tomahto.

Imagine my surprise then — or was it disbelief? — to discover on Wednesday morning that they had been appointed as co-chairs of three of the six “joint task forces” that are meant to unify the Democratic Party on policy in the run-up to November.

Unify the party by steering it hard left by appointing all these Sandernistas?

Also on the health care task force is Abdul El-Sayed, who ran an insurgent campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Michigan and is the co-author of a book on Medicare for All.

Apparently El-Sayed has campaigned with a pro-Iran radical cleric.
Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate’s Worrisome Friends

He also attacked Gretchen Whitmer for taking a trade trip to Israel.

Also on the economy task force is Stephanie Kelton, a pioneer of Modern Monetary Theory and author of a forthcoming book on deficit hysteria.

Modern monetary theory, aka ...

Also on the climate change task force is Varshini Prakash, executive director and co-founder of the Sunrise Movement — the progressive group behind the Green New Deal that gave Biden’s presidential climate plan an “F” rating in 2019.

Sunrise Movement is completely out to lunch as the Brits would say. GND is completely unrealistic, too costly ($60 trillion, money printer go brr indeed!) and has a way too optimistic time frame. Furthermore, many of its demands have nothing to do with either climate or environment in general). Getting an F from them is a badge of honor!

Meanwhile, Heather Gautney, an activist-scholar and top Sanders adviser, is co-chair of the education task force.

Heather Gautney? Writer for the Marxist rag 'Jacobin'? Really?

But he is also, to quote Noam Chomsky, an “empty vessel.” “With a Biden presidency, the activism of a popular movement will make a big difference,” Chomsky told me last month. “Trump’s probably immune, but Biden will be open to it.”

So the far left wants to use the old, feeble Biden to push their extremist agenda. These "activists" fancy themselves as some kind of Gríma Wormtongue controlling hapless King Theoden.

Who will be our Gandalf?

Still, the cynics may be proven right. Perhaps Biden will ignore the recommendations from these task forces. Or perhaps he’ll embrace them — and then ignore them once he’s sworn in.

We can only hope!

 

[lpetrich]

The fight is on for progressives to push Biden to the left. They might just win | Joe Biden | The Guardian - "Progressives should know that Biden does not have a set ideology - which means his policies are still very much in flux and in play"

Joe Biden has had a hard time capturing the hearts of progressive Democrats. Like the media, progressive Democrats tend to see him as a centrist – a status quo candidate who just wants to return the US and the world to the pre-Trump era. Even Biden’s collaborations with Bernie Sanders, including the recently announced unity taskforces, are often dismissed as pure window-dressing. But this kind of blithe dismissal of the presumptive Democratic nominee misreads both the politician and the times.

It is true that Biden was never a very progressive Democrat, but neither was he a particularly conservative one. He has been a classic “centrist Democrat”. But it’s important to note that this places him not in the political center of the US electorate, but in the center of the Democratic party – a party that has shifted left significantly since 2016, as has Biden.

...
As Gabriel Debenedetti argues in his excellent New York magazine article on the Biden campaign, the Covid-19 pandemic has opened Biden’s eyes to the need for a more radical approach to policy and governance. As Biden told a group of donors: “The blinders have been taken off because of this Covid crisis.”

Later mentioning LBJ's successes. LBJ outdid by far his predecessor, JFK, on civil rights and other issues.

 

[lpetrich]

Seeking: Big Democratic Ideas That Make Everything Better - The New York Times - "By the end of primary season, the Democratic Party had all but settled on a conventional center-left agenda. But the pandemic is forcing the Biden campaign and other leaders to redraw plans for 2021."

Then the six policy task forces.

But in several areas there are already strong signs of consensus within Mr. Biden’s party, as once-cautious electoral and legislative tacticians shed their opposition to huge price tags and disruptive change amid a crisis that has melted traditional obstacles to government action.

Democratic leaders say that if they hold power next January, they must be prepared to move to pump trillions more into the economy; enact infrastructure and climate legislation far larger than they previously envisioned; pass a raft of aggressive worker-protection laws; expand government-backed health insurance and create enormous new investments in public-health jobs, health care facilities and child care programs.

Discussions are also underway, some of them involving Republicans, about policies that would ban stock buybacks and compel big corporations to share more of their profits with workers.

They are doing all this work now so they can act fast if they get into power.

The party’s moderates, Mr. Warner said, had begun to think “exponentially bigger” about a legislative vision for overhauling the economy.

...
“The coronavirus has pushed to the front the need for real change,” said Ms. Warren, a contender to be Mr. Biden’s running mate. “Families need more economic security and we need an economy over all that has more resilience and more protection built in for helping each other in a time of crisis.”

 

[lpetrich]

Varshini Prakash on Twitter: "We've had two meetings with the Biden-Sanders climate taskforce & as promised -- a quick update on how things are going and what my priorities are.
Let me know what you think below.
Keep an eye out for lengthier updates as we progress over the next few weeks. https://t.co/B8TQ3j6F8t" / Twitter
With a video update from her.

AOC and Catherine Flowers are "fantastic", while some Biden-side people also are good: Rep. McEachin with ideas on how to do bottom-up policymaking -- listening to communities -- Gina McCarthy has been stressing timelines and urgency. Can use the mass unemployment to build stronger than before. Equity and justice necessary. Worker protections. Next meetings: more specific -- 1st 100 days of a Biden Admin, what collective goals.

VP was wearing a green dress with small white leaf-flower side views on it, and also a lace-edged white bra. I point this out because this is much more "femme" than what I've often seen her wearing - plain shirt and pants.

Her birthday was on an Earth Day, April 22
Varshini Prakash (@VarshPrakash) / Twitter
Varshini Prakash (@varshiniprakash) • Instagram photos and videos - "With Sunrise, building an army of young people to stop climate change. Here for the movement and all the curly hair inspiration I can get."

 

[lpetrich]

Varshini Prakash Interview: Sunrise Movement Co-Founder & Member Of Joe Biden's Climate Task Force - YouTube

Julianna sits down with leading voice from the climate movement Varshini Prakash. Varshini is a Co-Founder of The Sunrise Movement and as of this month, a Member of Joe Biden's Climate Task Force. She is here to talk about how she plans to push forward with the fight for bold, far-reaching climate policies to secure our future on this planet.

Varshini is the Executive Director and co-founder of Sunrise, a movement of young people working to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process through the Green New Deal. Varshini has been a leading voice for young Americans, including when she helped lead a mass demonstration for the Green New Deal with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that went viral and put the climate crisis at the top of the political agenda for the 2020 elections. In 2019, she was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list for law and policy, and TIME 100 Next, a new list of rising stars who are shaping politics, popular culture, science, and more.

VP was dressed as she was in that Twitter clip I'd mentioned.

She said that JB's climate task force contains 3 BS people and 5 JB people:
BS: AOC, VP, Catherine Flowers
JB: John Kerry, Gina McCarthy, Kathy Castor, Donald McEachin, Kerry Duggan

No "coal company guy" on the JB side, happy to say. When asked about supporting JB, VP said that he wasn't her first choice or second choice, but that she will be supporting him anyway. She then talked a lot about being involved in a movement that is much larger than any one politician's career -- it's not a politician personality cult.

VP worries that JB might endorse the task forces' recommendations, then ignore them after he gets elected. VP says that it's "a great, great question", and it's "one that I think about every day". But she's "cautiously optimistic", because of climate activists having "raised the bar" on the conversation on climate-change remedies. But it's not just activists, I think. It's also the emergence of wind energy and solar energy as economically viable, thus making solutions more in sight. Storage still has a way to go, but there's a lot of work on that, and synfuels are starting to get attention, at least hydrogen.

VP also talked about a "just transition" for fossil-fuel workers, putting them to work in renewable-energy building. She also proposes a solution in the next 5 - 10 years, with a big national mobilization. She also says that it will be important to keep activism going, even after JB's election. That was a big problem in the Obama years, not keeping active enough.

Then on how JB is taking BS's followers seriously, while Hillary Clinton didn't.

As to how to get to middle-aged and older people, a good way is through their children. Daughters are particularly effective on fathers. She also says that it's important to remember why she's in her activism, like a recent cyclone / hurricane that hit eastern India.

Imposter syndrome. A 5' brown woman, often the youngest one around. Though I'd say that she's part Caucasoid (regional phenotype that agrees with genetic-clustering results).

 

[Derec]

Imposter syndrome. A 5' brown woman, often the youngest one around. Though I'd say that she's part Caucasoid (regional phenotype that agrees with genetic-clustering results).

Indians ARE Caucasoid, albeit mostly darker than Europeans. Although many Indians can easily pass for white Europeans.

Should not matter as to her politics one way or another. It is a really bad trend in leftist and "woke" politics that "brown" is seen as somehow a sign of greater authenticity than being white.

 

[lpetrich]

Ed Markey on Twitter: "It is the honor of a lifetime to work alongside brilliant leaders and activists like @AOC and the @sunrisemvmt. The grassroots movement to save our future is stronger than ever because of their hard work, leadership, and commitment to a just and equitable future for all. https://t.co/NyYtjh3zPP" / Twitter
quoting AOC in an inlined image:

Markey used the privilege of his stature to center and legitimize our coalition work without ever trying to co-opt it.

He amplified the voices of BIPOC and refused tp cut out social justice provisions in the Green New Deal...

He put his reputation on the line to advance racial justice provisions in the Green New Deal without ever making a fuss about it.

-- Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

BIPOC = Blacks, Indigenous, People of Color = Non-Honkies

 

[Elixir]

View attachment 27745

Works for Trump. Just think... if he had given trillions to consumers instead of his donors... what an economy!

 

[lpetrich]

Sanders-Biden climate task force calls for carbon-free power by 2035 | TheHill

A unity task force made up of supporters of both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden has come up with a series of broad environmental recommendations for Biden as he prepares to become the official Democratic presidential nominee.

The task force’s broad plan includes a goal of eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035, achieving net-zero emissions for all new buildings by 2030, and making energy-saving upgrades to as many as 4 million buildings and 2 million households within five years.

A sort of Green New Deal. Also discussed in Biden’s Big Climate Decision: Will He Embrace His Task Force’s Goals? - The New York Times -- some of the participants seem cautiously optimistic.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Today the 6 Biden-Sanders Unity Task Forces are unveiling final language.
The Climate Task Force accomplished a great deal. It was an honor to serve as co-chair w/ Sec. [MENTION=2]Jo[/MENTION]hnKerry.
Among the notable gains: we shaved *15 years* off Biden’s previous target for 100% clean energy." / Twitter
From 2050 to 2035.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "The Climate Task Force has agreed to elevate Biden’s climate standards across the board & adopt a whole-of-gov mobilization, incl:
- Ambitious construction, mass transit, & transport, & ag standards+investment
- Creating millions of good jobs
- Centering climate justice standards" / Twitter

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Of course, like in any collaborative effort, there are areas of negotiation and compromise.
But I do believe that the Climate Task Force effort meaningfully & substantively improved Biden’s positions.
I encourage you to engage the document critically and offer feedback or Qs." / Twitter

Justin Gerdes on Twitter: "Here are the recommendations from the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force on "Combating the Climate Crisis and Pursuing Environmental Justice," co-chaired by @AOC and @ JohnKerry: (link) (PDF)" / Twitter
noting
Microsoft Word - Press Release -- Unity Task Force Recommendations 7_8_2020.docx - UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf -- contains the recommendations from all six task forces.

 

[lpetrich]

Biden-Bernie Sanders Unity Task Forces release DNC platform recommendations - ABC News

From the environmental task force led by Kerry and Ocasio-Cortez, popular proposals such as rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement on day one of the Biden administration made it into the recommendations to the DNC. However the New York congresswoman’s bid for a Green New Deal didn’t make the cut. The task force did recommend “Democrats commit to eliminating carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 through technology-neutral standards for clean energy and energy efficiency.”

Also installing 500 million made-in-US solar panels over the next 5 years, and allowing the workers to join labor unions. Also an "environmental justice fund" for resolving racial and ethnic inequities.

For criminal-justice policy,

“It is unacceptable that Black parents must have “the talk” with their children, to try to protect them from the very police officers who are supposed to be sworn to protect and serve them. It is unacceptable that more than 1,000 people, a quarter of them Black, are killed by police every year,” the policy states.

Much of the policy tracks with Biden’s previously announced criminal justice plan, pledging to invest in community policing and having a police force representative of the communities they serve; increasing Department of Justice Pattern-or-Practice investigations of police misconduct; and instituting national use of force standard, which would permit deadly force only as a last resort.

...
The policy does not include a call to legalize marijuana, but mirrors Biden’s previous policy of decriminalizing the drug, and expunging the records of those previously charged with cannabis use, among other recommendations.

The task force's plan on education calls for the desegregation of schools through the funding of magnet schools and busing. ...

Desegregation busing was horribly controversial in the early 1970's, and I don't think that that's worth reviving.

The plan bans for-profit private charter schools, opposes private school vouchers and any policies that would take taxpayer-funded resources away from the public school system. The platform aims to put an end to the school-to-prison pipeline and pledges “adequate resources” for hiring guidance counselors, social workers and school psychologists. ...

... The document pledges to authorize up to $10,000 in student relief per borrower, a far cry from Sanders’ plan to forgive all student loan debt. It also places a cap on monthly student loan payments for borrowers with incomes under $25,000. The plan revamps the public service loan forgiveness program and makes enrollment automatic. It recommends the forgiveness of $10,000 in student debt per year for up to five years.

On health care, the task force calls for the establishment of a “high-quality public option plan” that is administered by the government and not private companies, but steered clear of mentioning Medicare for All, a hot-button issue during the primaries and a policy Biden has firmly said he does not support.

...
The task force also calls for COVID-19 testing and treatment to be “widely available, convenient, and free to everyone.”

...
‘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 and for the pandemic-induced recession that has followed,’ the group writes.

The plan includes calls for a $15 dollar minimum wage, at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers and families, repealing “right to work” laws, and supporting the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights and the POWER Act to “enforce wage, hour, health, and safety rules across the economy.”

...
Following Biden’s lead in calling for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the United States, the task force says they would “work with Congress to reform our immigration system to provide a roadmap to citizenship.”

...
Also among the immigration-related recommendations, the enactment of a “100-day moratorium on deportations of people already in the United States while conducting a full-scale study on current practices to develop recommendations for transforming enforcement policies and practices,” at both the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

An awfully big wish list. Let's see if Congress is willing to hold Biden's feet to the fire about this and not let him "triangulate" as Bill Clinton did.

 

[lpetrich]

Democratic task forces send Biden a progressive policy roadmap - "The recommendations reflect areas of consensus reached after weeks of deliberations between allies of the presumptive Democratic nominee and Bernie Sanders."

The health care task force, for instance, focused on ways to expand coverage through Biden’s firmly held position of building on the Affordable Care Act, rather than pursuing a single-payer system like Medicare for All. But the climate task force, co-chaired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., recommended more aggressive timelines for achieving net-zero carbon emissions than Biden had called for in the campaign.

Both sides highlighted the final work product as reflecting unprecedented — and to many unexpected — party unity.

...
Even Biden, who campaigned throughout the primaries as a pragmatic Democrat and argued that Americans were more interested in “results” than a “revolution,” has increasingly spoken of a New Deal-style agenda to start his administration, nodding to the robust federal response to the Great Depression promised by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Good to see that. More and more evident that Gilded Age II must be brought to an end.

 

[lpetrich]

Sunrise Movement leader Varshini Prakash:
Varshini Prakash on Twitter: "I spent the last six weeks in policy discussions with the Bernie-Biden Unity Task Force fighting for the vision that young people need for the future we deserve, free from climate chaos. ..." / Twitter

I spent the last six weeks in policy discussions with the Bernie-Biden Unity Task Force fighting for the vision that young people need for the future we deserve, free from climate chaos.

The results are here.

Read on for my take on how it all went.

Here’s the topline: we’ve moved the needle a lot, especially on environmental justice and upping Biden's ambition. But there’s still more work to do to push Democrats to act at the scale of the climate crisis and towards the promise of a just society. We are leaving these discussions with policies that, if implemented, will make Joe Biden’s climate agenda far more powerful, equitable, and urgent than where his plans were just weeks ago.

Entering the meetings, I had two main goals:

1) push Biden to increase his ambition considerably (timelines, benchmarks etc.) and

2) insist environmental and climate justice be at the heart of everything we do when combating the climate crisis.

B/c of our advocacy the Unity position is now to champion policies that will:

- Achieve 100% clean electricity by 2035
- Achieve 100% clean new buildings by 2030
- Set standards for 100% clean new vehicles as soon as possible

Previous policies centered around a 2050 date

Good that it's doing that. It will be important to get other industrialized nations to do similar things, but there are plenty of climate activists elsewhere in the world, and it will be politically easier if they see the US doing it. I've looked at the nations with massive climate demonstrations last year, and they cover most of the more affluent and more open societies. China is a climate-activism desert, and Russia isn't much friendlier. But India and several African and Latin American nations have plenty of climate activists.

The VP committed to ensuring environmental justice is at the heart of our climate policy agenda, directing federal funds to disadvantaged communities, ending pollution & toxic waste sites, and creating mitigation strategies and rebuilding from disaster in just and equitable ways. Though imperfect, Joe Biden’s administration will work to ensure that the rights of Indigenous communities are protected, and pipelines like DAPL and KXL that are a threat to Indigenous sovereignty, land, and water never happen again.

While these are certainly victories, we’ll need to keep up the pressure to secure these wins, and push further. We couldn't achieve consensus around jobs or investment numbers. We’ll need to ensure the plans enacted in a Biden Admin () meet the scale and urgency of the moment. The Biden campaign could and should go further on fossil fuels and specifically how we phase out all fossil fuels, with the knowledge that we had to stop burning oil and gas yesterday if staying below 1.5 or 2 degrees C of warming will be more than a pipe dream

For a full list of the policies check out this document - the first few pages are the DNC platform draft, and the list of policies is on page 42.

All in all, I feel genuinely hopeful. Not because of a task force, or because of what I expect Biden to do or not do, but because of what our movement has already shifted and made possible. And THAT is thanks to all of you. I'm grateful to have worked with progressive minds like @CathFlowers, @AOC, @ginanrdc, and others. I have learned so much from you and know our work has just begun together. Let’s keep calling out for the world we deserve. Let’s defeat Trump and his white nationalist fossil fuel buddies this November.

Then, let’s take the first steps towards a Green New Deal for America.

She seems rather confident.

 

[lpetrich]

Brianna Westbrook on Twitter: "Kudos to the climate task force co-chaired by @AOC for creating this plan. It’s not perfect, but it’s 10x better than Joe’s previous policy. To the moderates that said fall in line regardless of demands, this wouldn’t have happened if progressives committed early to Biden." / Twitter

Sunrise Movement on Twitter: "Today, [MENTION=2]Jo[/MENTION]eBiden released a new plan to tackle the climate crisis & our current economic crisis.
No doubt: the #GreenNewDeal movement made this possible, but there’s more to do. The urgency & scale of these crises demand we keep pushing.
Statement & on what's in the plan: https://t.co/g6ziPEL5v7" / Twitter

Statement from Sunrise Movement co-founder Varshini Prakash on Vice President Biden's new plans for Environmental Justice, Sustainable Infrastructure, and an Equitable Clean Energy Future:

Throughout this election cycle, our generation has relentlessly pressured the Democratic establishment to grasp the existential urgency of the climate crisis. We pushed every single Presidential candidate to show us their plan, and we weren't afraid to say when they fell far from what was needed to provide a livable future for our generation. We've also been clear: the climate crisis is not just an existential threat, but our greatest opportunity - we have to transform everything, let's build a better future. It's secret that we've been critical of Vice President's Biden's plans and commitments in the past. Today, he's responded many of those criticisms: dramatically increasing the scale and urgency of investments, filling in details on how he'd achieve environmental justice and create good union jobs, and promising immediate action on day 1, in his first 100 days, in his first term, in the next decade not just some far off goals.

Our movement made this possible, but there's more work to do, and the urgency of the crisis demands that we keep pushing. Vice President Biden must build on these commitments and make these actions an immediate and urgent priority on day 1. Our movement, alongside environmental justice communities and frontline workers, has taught Joe Biden to talk the talk. Now, let's defeat Trump and mobilize in mass after the election to get Biden to walk the walk.

Two things are clear: Movements matter, and there's more work to do. What we've shown is that when we organize, we can change the terrain of possible, and the common sense of society. But millions are without jobs. Storms are battering our coasts as we speak. The summer is getting hot. Babies are being born into an increasingly uncertain world. Folks can't breathe. So roll up your sleeves, and let's keep pushing.

Noting another Twitter thread:
Stef Feldman on Twitter: "Big news: Biden's big, new climate and infrastructure plan
Designed to tackle 2 crises: 1) the economic crisis created by Trump’s failed response to the coronavirus, 2) the persistent climate crisis that Trump denies
THREAD 1/ https://t.co/ziv996HH22" / Twitter

THE BIDEN PLAN TO BUILD A MODERN, SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE AND AN EQUITABLE CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE – Joe Biden for President
I've condensed the proposals in it:

• Infrastructure
• Auto Industry
• Transit
• Power Sector
• Buildings
• Housing
• Innovation
• Agriculture and Conservation
• Environmental Justice

A Green New Deal in all but name.

THE BIDEN PLAN TO SECURE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND EQUITABLE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY IN A CLEAN ENERGY FUTURE – Joe Biden for President

• Establish an Environmental and Climate Justice Division within the U.S. Department of Justice.
• Elevate environmental justice in the federal government and modernize the all-of-government approach.
• Overhaul the EPA External Civil Rights Compliance Office.
• Mandate new monitoring in frontline and fenceline communities.
• Require community notification.
• Establish interagency teams to address targeted issues and partner directly with communities.
• Tackle water pollution in a science-based manner.
• Prioritize strategies and technologies that reduce traditional air pollution in disadvantaged communities.

More Green New Deal.