Sanders Campaign’s Priority Amendments to Democratic Platform

[Donkees]

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JULY 7, 2016

Please find below, on background, a series of amendments to the Democratic platform that Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign will officially support at the meeting in Orlando, Florida, Friday and Saturday.



AMENDMENTS TO PLATFORM[/font]

1. TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AMENDMENT – By Jim Hightower

Purpose: This amendment puts the Democratic Party on record opposing a vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the lame duck session of Congress and beyond.

On Page 10, Line 30, strike: “On the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), there are a diversity of views in the party. Many Democrats are on record stating that the agreement does not meet the standards set out in this platform; other Democrats have expressed support for the agreement. But all Democrats believe that any trade agreement must protect workers and the environment and not undermine access to critically-needed prescription drugs.”

Insert in its place: “It is the policy of the Democratic Party that the Trans-Pacific Partnership must not get a vote in this Congress or in future sessions of Congress. Democrats believe that any trade agreement must protect workers and the environment and not undermine access to critically-needed prescription drugs.”

2. $15 MINIMUM WAGE AMENDMENT – By Sen. Nina Turner

Purpose: This amendment will make it the policy of the Democratic Party to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

On Page 3, Line 33 after “We should raise” add “the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour” On page 3, Line 33, after “index” add “it”

On Page 3, Line 34 delete “the minimum wage”

Here is the revised language:

“Democrats believe that the current minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be increased to a living wage. No one who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty. We believe that Americans should earn at least $15 an hour and have the right to form or join a union. We applaud the approaches taken by states like New York and California. We should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and index it, give all Americans the ability to join a union regardless of where they work, and create new ways for workers to have power in the economy. We also support creating one fair wage for all workers by ending the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and people with disabilities.

3. FRACKING BAN AMENDMENT – By Josh Fox

On Page 19, Line 3, after “waters.” insert “We will fight for a full national moratorium on fracking.”

4. PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE/PAID SICK DAYS AMENDMENT – By Mary Bottari

Purpose: This amendment will make it the policy of the Democratic Party to guarantee workers at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave through an insurance fund. This amendment will also guarantee workers 7 paid sick days.

On Page 4, Line 29, delete “act” and add “insurance fund”

On Page 4, Line 31, delete “allow” and insert “guarantee”

On Page 4, Line 31, after “leave” insert “annually”

Here is the revised language:

“Democrats will make sure that the United States finally enacts national paid family and medical leave by passing a family and medical leave insurance fund that would provide at least 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a new child or address a personal or family member’s serious health issue, and we will fight to guarantee workers the right to earn at least seven days of paid sick leave annually.”

5. STOP PENSION CUTS AMENDMENT- by Clem Balanoff

Purpose: This amendment makes it the policy of the Democratic Party to fight to enact legislation to ensure that the earned pension benefits of Americans will not be cut.

On Page 5, Line 41, strike “Democrats will also fight to protect the earned pension benefits of Americans in multi-employer pension plans” and insert “Democrats will also fight to enact legislation to make sure that the earned pension benefits of Americans will not be cut. This legislation would be paid for by closing tax loopholes that benefit millionaires and billionaires.”

6. CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM – By Ben Jealous

On Page 5, Line 41, strike “Democrats will also fight to protect the earned pension benefits of Americans in multi-employer pension plans” and insert “Democrats will also fight to enact legislation to make sure that the earned pension benefits of Americans will not be cut. This legislation would be paid for by closing tax loopholes that benefit millionaires and billionaires.” Criminal Justice, page 11

Strike: “We will invest in training for officers on issues such as de-escalation and the appropriate use of force, and encourage better police-community relations and the use of smart strategies like police body cameras. We will end racial profiling that targets individuals, based solely on race, religion, ethnicity, and national origin, which is un-American and counterproductive. We support states and localities that choose to make the investigations and prosecutions of police-involved shootings more independent and transparent, including through reforming the grand jury process.”

Replace: “We will invest in training for officers on issues such as de-escalation and the appropriate use of force. We will encourage better police-community relations, require the use of body cameras, and demilitarize our police forces so they do not act and look like invading armies. We will end racial profiling that targets individuals solely on race, religion, ethnicity, and national origin. We will require the Department of Justice to investigate all police-involved shootings, and we will support states and localities who help make those investigations and prosecutions more transparent, including through reforming the grand jury process.”

7. IMMIGRATION AMENDMENT – By Cesar Vargas

On Page 12, at the end of Line 44, insert: “We will fight to end deportation programs that promote racial profiling, such as 287g and the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP); build on the DACA and DAPA programs to cover those who would have qualified for the 2013 Senate Immigration Reform bill; establish an affirmative process for workers reporting labor violations to request deferred action; expand the Affordable Care Act to those with deferred action (including DACA and DAPA) and work towards a universal healthcare system that includes aspiring Americans; and make sure that DREAMers are eligible to serve in the uniformed services through executive action and legislation so that they can receive financial aid and become eligible for in-state tuition if they meet a state’s residency requirements.”

8. FRACKING/CLEAN POWER PLAN AMENDMENT – By Josh Fox

On Page 19, Line 23, after “production.” insert “We will fight to revise the Clean Power Plan to incentivize renewable energy development, wind and solar power, to replace old dirty coal plants, and not to encourage the development of fracked natural gas power plants.

9. CARBON TAX AMENDMENT – By Russell Greene

On Page 19, at the end of Line 18 add: “Carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases should be taxed at a rate high enough to reflect their negative externalities and spur the transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy and energy efficiency, consistent with the temperature goals agreed to in Paris in 2015. The proceeds of such taxes should be applied to keep low-and middle-income families whole against increases in the prices of fuels, help them afford low-cost, zero emission and low-pollution energy technologies that will reduce their bills, and reduce pollution in the most affected communities now.”

10. KEYSTONE PIPELINE AMENDMENT – By Deborah Parker

On Page 19, Line 26, after “We support President Obama’s decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline” add: “, and we support the test he used to arrive at that decision: whether or not a policy would ‘significantly exacerbate’ global warming. A similar test should be applied across all relevant federal agencies and decisions.

11. KEEP IT IN THE GROUND AMENDMENT – By Richard Kusaba

On Page 20, Line 13, strike “can” and insert “will” and strike “down” and insert “out” so that the following sentence reads:

“We will phase out extraction of fossil fuels from our public lands, starting with the most polluting sources, while making our public lands and waters engines of the clean energy economy and creating jobs across the country.”

12. REDUCE NUCLEAR WEAPONS SPENDING – By Heather Gautney

On page 30, line 11, after “national security obligation.” add “To this end, we will work to reduce excessive spending on nuclear weapons-related programs that are projected to cost $1 trillion over the next 30 years, including by finding at least $100 billion in savings over the next decade by reducing nuclear weapons upgrades and scaling back new delivery systems as proposed in the SANE Act.”

https://berniesanders.com/sanders-campaigns-priority-amendments-democratic-platform/

[senz]

1. These are all good ones. Hope the DNC will do the right thing.

[KPN]

2. Wow!

Just wow ... and this is great.

[Segami]

3. kick