Democratic National Convention
Land Acknowledgement
The Democratic National Committee wishes to acknowledge that we gather together to
state our values on lands that have been stewarded through many centuries by the
ancestors and descendants of Tribal Nations who have been here since time immemorial.
We honor the communities native to this continent, and recognize that our country was built
on Indigenous homelands. We pay our respects to the millions of Indigenous people
throughout history who have protected our lands, waters, and animals.
While we meet in Chicago, we also recognize and honor the traditional homelands of the
Anishinaabe, also known as the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and
Potawatomi Nations.
We acknowledge the many other tribes who consider this area their traditional homeland,
including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea,
Kickapoo, and Mascouten.
Democrats continue to support tribes as they advocate for the United States to uphold
treaty and trust responsibilities. We applaud that in 2024, under the Biden-Harris
Administration, the Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation became the first federally recognized
Tribal Nation in Illinois in 175 years, when the U.S. Department of the Interior placed 130
acres of the Shab-eh-nay reservation in nearby DeKalb County into trust.
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Preamble
Our nation is at an inflection point. What kind of America will we be? A land of more
freedom, or less freedom? More rights or fewer? An economy rigged for the rich and
powerful, or where everyone has a fair shot at getting ahead? Will we lower the temperature
in our politics and come together, or treat each other as enemies instead?
The stakes in this election are enormously high.
President Biden and Vice President Harris took office during a time of global pandemic,
record job loss, and record crime. These past four years, Democrats proved once again that
democracy can deliver, and made tremendous progress turning the country around.
President Biden and Vice President Harris turned a setback into a great American
comeback for working families.
We’ve created nearly 16 million jobs, a record number of small businesses are being started,
and factories are coming home. We lowered families' health insurance premiums, and we
stood up to Big Pharma to lower prescription drug prices. We’re helping students catch up
on learning loss, and we’re forgiving millions of crushing student loans. We passed the first
significant gun safety law in decades and made record investments in public safety, putting
more police officers on the beat; today, violent crime is at its lowest in 50 years. We’re
fighting climate change, reducing pollution, and fueling a clean energy boom. We’re
rebuilding our nation’s roads, bridges, highways, ports, airports, water systems, and more.
We’re seizing record amounts of fentanyl and securing our border in the face of Republican
inaction. We’re closing the racial wealth gap and the gender pay gap. We’ve expanded
benefits and services for toxic-exposed veterans; and we’re strengthening NATO and
restoring American leadership in the world.
There is so much more to do. Democrats will fix the tax system so everyone has a fair shot.
We will restore the right to choose. We will continue to bring down costs for families. We will
continue to reject political violence of all forms and give hate no safe harbor.
Donald Trump has a very different vision – one focused not on opportunity and optimism,
but on revenge and retribution; not on the American people, but on himself. He and his
extreme MAGA allies are ripping away our bedrock personal freedoms, dictating what health
care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love.
They’re rigging our economy for their rich friends and big corporations, pushing more
trickle-down tax cuts for the wealthy and powerful, and a new national sales tax that will
cost every working family an average $2,500 a year. They’ll cut the Social Security benefits
that folks have paid into for their whole lives; and gut Medicare, Medicaid, health care, and
prescription drug coverage. They are eroding our democracy with lies and threats, have
refused to denounce political violence, and are making it harder to vote. And given the
chance, they’ll keep stacking our courts, locking in their extreme agenda for decades. We
cannot let that happen.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are running to finish the job. To grow
our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. To reward work, not
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wealth. To lower costs. To tackle the climate crisis, lower energy costs, and secure energy
independence. To protect communities and tackle the scourge of gun violence. To secure
the border and fix the broken immigration system. To advance the President’s Unity Agenda.
To strengthen American leadership worldwide.
History has shown that nothing about democracy is guaranteed. Every generation has to
protect it, preserve it, choose it. We must stand together to choose what we want America
to be.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Growing Our Economy from the Bottom Up & Middle Out 8
Economic Progress 8
Investing In America 9
Good Jobs 10
Small Businesses 12
Agriculture 13
Fighting Poverty 14
Ending Special Interest Giveaways 15
Chapter Two: Rewarding Work, Not Wealth 16
Cutting Taxes For Working Families 17
Making The Wealthy & Big Corporations Pay Their Fair Share 17
Chapter Three: Lowering Costs 19
Health Care & Prescription Drugs 19
Child Care, Home Care, & Paid Leave 22
Gas & Groceries 24
Corporate Greed 24
Housing 25
Education 28
Social Security, Pensions, & Medicare 30
Chapter Four: Tackling the Climate Crisis, Lowering Energy Costs, & Securing Energy
Independence 32
Producing Cleaner, More Affordable Energy 33
Lowering Energy Costs 33
Creating Clean Energy Jobs 34
Reducing Pollution & Making Polluters Pay 35
Environmental Justice 36
Building Climate Resilient Communities 38
Conservation 38
Global Climate Leadership 39
Chapter Five: Protecting Communities & Tackling the Scourge of Gun Violence 41
Gun Safety 41
Policing & Public Safety 42
Criminal Justice 43
Violence Against Women 45
Chapter Six: Strengthening Democracy, Protecting Freedoms, & Advancing Equity 47
Judges 48
Voting Rights 49
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Stopping The Influence Of Special Interests 50
Reproductive Freedom 50
Women’s Rights 52
Racial Equity 54
Lgbtqi+ 58
Disability 60
Tribal Nations 61
Combating Hate & Protecting Freedom Of Religion 62
Freedom Of The Press 64
Arts & Humanities 64
D.C., Puerto Rico, Territories 65
Chapter Seven: Securing our Border & Fixing the Broken Immigration System 67
Securing The Border 68
Expanding Legal Immigration & Deterring Illegal Immigration 70
Chapter Eight: Advancing the President’s Unity Agenda 73
Beating The Opioid Epidemic 73
Investing In Mental Health 74
Protecting Kids Online, Strengthening Americans’ Data Privacy, & Promoting
Competition 74
Ending Cancer As We Know It 76
Meeting Our Nation’s Sacred Obligation To Veterans And Military Families 77
Chapter Nine: Strengthening American Leadership Worldwide 79
Europe 79
Indo-Pacific 81
China 82
The Middle East & North Africa 84
Western Hemisphere 87
Africa 88
Strengthening The U.S. And Global Economy 89
Leading With Diplomacy And American Values 90
Strongest Military In The World 92
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Chapter One: Growing Our Economy from the
Bottom Up & Middle Out
This election is a choice between two very different economic visions for America: Donald
Trump, who sees the world from his country club at Mar-a-Lago; and Joe Biden, who sees it
from kitchen tables in Scranton like the one he grew up around. His economic agenda is
about Main Street, not Wall Street. It’s about ending the days of trickle-down economics and
investing in America – in all Americans – and delivering for communities too long left behind.
While Democrats keep fighting to lower costs for working families, Trump is rigging our
economy for his Mar-a-Lago friends and billionaire donors, who like him, are only in it for
themselves.
As president, Trump doubled down on the trickle-down policies of the past, cutting
investment in infrastructure and education, and rewarding big corporations that ship jobs
and profits overseas. He vowed to bring new factories to communities across America, but
left nothing behind but a string of broken promises.
Democrats have a different record. We’re delivering on President Biden’s pledge to rebuild
our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. We’re investing in
America – in our infrastructure, our industry, our people, and our future. While Trump left
office with historic budget deficits and the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover, since
President Biden took office, this country has come back from the brink, the deficit has fallen
by over $1 trillion, and we have the best jobs record since John F. Kennedy. We’re powering
the strongest economic recovery in the world.
ECONOMIC PROGRESS
At the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in
100 years, experts feared a stagnating recovery and even worried about a new recession.
But Democrats chose to put workers first, and instead of recession, America has seen
remarkable strength and resilience. Our economy grew by 3.1 percent last year – the fastest
rate of any major economy in the world.
We’ve added nearly 16 million jobs – not only recovering all the positions lost during Trump’s
botched handling of COVID, but also adding 6.3 million more than existed before the
pandemic – surpassing pre-pandemic projections for the labor market. During this
Administration, 30 states from Mississippi to Pennsylvania have seen record-low
unemployment; and the run of low unemployment nationwide hasn’t been this long in over
50 years. Wages are up across the board, and rising fastest for lower-income workers, Black
workers, Latinos, and women. Today’s recovery is the fairest on record; in just four years,
we’ve erased 40 percent of the wage inequality gap that took four decades to build. A
record 18 million small business applications have been filed since President Biden took
office, each one of them an act of hope.
While too many families still feel the pain of inflation at the grocery store, or around the
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kitchen table when they sit down to pay their bills, we’re making progress. Wages are rising
faster than prices, and inflation today is down nearly two-thirds from its peak. We have to
finish the job. Democrats will keep fighting to prevent the kind of supply chain shocks and
corporate greed that have done so much to raise prices. And we'll keep investing in
American workers, American jobs, and American families, bringing factories home to win
the race for the future. Democrats know the story of the middle class isn’t separate from the
state of the economy – it’s at its heart. And we’ll never quit fighting to make sure that
everyone is in on the deal.
INVESTING IN AMERICA
Infrastructure
We can’t have the best economy in the world if we don’t have the best infrastructure. And
for generations, American infrastructure was the envy of the world. But over the years, we
stopped investing in it, and we fell to thirteenth in infrastructure rankings. The Trump
Administration declared it “Infrastructure Week” every week for four years, and never built a
thing. But under President Biden, we’re finally rebuilding our roads, bridges, ports, airports,
water systems, electric grids, broadband, and more, paving the way for a great American
“Infrastructure Decade” that will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying union jobs.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is breaking ground on over 57,000 projects across 4,500
communities nationwide. We’re rebuilding major roadways, from the Blatnik Bridge, a vital
link between Wisconsin and Minnesota that carries more $4 billion in goods a year through
the largest Great Lakes port; to a key stretch of the I-10 outside Phoenix that sees 126,000
vehicles a day. We’re making the biggest investment in public transit in history, and at last
building America’s first true high-speed rail lines. We’re replacing every toxic lead pipe in the
country within a decade, so every child can turn on the faucet at home or at school and drink
clean water without risking cancer or brain damage. We’ve added over 80,000 megawatts
of new clean power capacity, the equivalent of building 40 Hoover Dams, to help shrink
energy costs and meet ambitious climate goals. And we’re bringing affordable, reliable,
high-speed internet to every American household. High-speed internet is as vital to our
economy today as electricity first was a century ago; Americans need it to do their jobs, to
do their homework, to access health care, and to stay connected. But a full 45 million of us
still live in areas where there is no high-speed internet. Democrats are closing that divide.
These projects don’t just build infrastructure, they create hundreds of thousands of good
jobs for American workers.
Manufacturing
Democrats are also taking historic steps to bring home critical supply chains, and to reaffirm
our nation’s leadership in cutting-edge industries that America in fact often pioneered. After
the pandemic exposed our reliance on foreign-made semiconductors, we passed the CHIPS
and Science Act, to restore America’s role producing the tiny computer chips needed to
make everything from cell phones to dishwashers to cars. And as the climate crisis makes
the shift to clean energy more urgent, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, making the
world’s biggest investment ever in building renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other
green technologies here at home.
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The President's Investing in America agenda has incentivized a historic $877 billion in
private funding across the United States to date. Companies are investing hundreds of
billions more than under Trump to build new factories. In fact, under President Biden, more
than a dozen states have seen the largest private sector investments in their history. We’ve
designated more than 30 tech hubs in communities from Reno, Nevada; to Charlotte, North
Carolina; to North Central Pennsylvania. And we’ve made sure that lower-income counties
see a larger share of investment. Today, instead of exporting American jobs for cheaper
labor, we’re creating American jobs and exporting products, leaving no one behind.
Under President Biden, we’ve also boosted funding for the kind of research and
development that can seed economy-transforming breakthroughs, like the internet. In
recent years, America became one of the world’s only major countries to pull back on R&D
investments; Democrats are changing that. President Biden for example launched the
Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in 2022, to find game-changing
medical cures and treatments and transform important areas of medicine. Under his
leadership, we’ll continue supporting NASA and America’s presence on the International
Space Station, and working to send Americans back to the moon and to Mars. Democrats
will keep America at the forefront of scientific discovery and innovation, responsibly leading
the way in the defining fields of the future, like AI, biotech, quantum computing, advanced
materials, and more.
GOOD JOBS
These generational investments are transforming our economy, creating new businesses,
new jobs, and new cycles of hope – in red states and blue states; in rural, urban, and Tribal
Nation communities too long left behind. In all, President Biden’s agenda has already
created nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs, and 880,000 more jobs in construction,
building the roads, factories, and dreams of our future. More Americans are employed in
these fields and clean energy today than ever were under Trump. President Biden’s agenda
requires that any federally-financed infrastructure job must include wage and labor
protections. And we’re making sure that these projects use American-made goods, by
strengthening “Buy American” procurement rules to their toughest level in seven decades.
That means every federally funded infrastructure project is being built with American-made
steel, lumber, drywall, concrete, and other products, by American workers. And the
Administration has taken historic steps to ensure that these workers are paid prevailing
wages, with the free and fair choice to join a union; and to incentivize project labor
agreements.
President Biden believes that you shouldn't have to go to a four-year college to live a good,
middle-class life. Democrats are working to make sure that every American can access
these quality new jobs, where many people can earn over $100,000 a year. The American
Rescue Plan supported more than 4,300 state- and local-government workforce
development programs; while our Investing in American agenda is expanding job-training
partnerships between high schools, community colleges, unions, and employers. We have a
million trainees enrolled in registered apprenticeships today. Apprenticeships have long
provided a reliable path to the middle class, empowering workers to earn while they learn,
not only in traditional trades, but also in new cutting-edge industries. Extreme Republicans
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have proposed gutting funding for registered apprenticeships in this year's budget. We’ll
keep making historic investments in them to keep expanding opportunity, including by
partnering directly with unions.
Democrats know that Wall Street didn’t build America. The middle class built America – and
unions built the middle class. President Biden and Vice President Harris are proud to lead
the most pro-union Administration in history. President Biden named staunch labor allies
and former union leaders to positions across the government, and empowered them to fight
for good jobs and workers’ rights. Biden is the first President to walk a picket line, joining
UAW workers on strike in Detroit before they won historic wage increases last year. He
knows that when unions win, all workers benefit; and as we rebuild our economy for the
future, every worker needs a voice and a fair shot.
Democrats will keep fighting to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, to give
everyone the right to organize for better pay, benefits, and working conditions, and to hold
abusive bosses accountable for violating workers’ rights. We oppose state right-to-work
laws, which drive down wages and leave workers unsafe; and we support penalizing
employers who engage in union busting. We’ll work to pass the Public Service Freedom to
Negotiate Act, guaranteeing public sector bargaining rights; and to codify a right to organize
for domestic workers, farm workers, and other unprotected laborers. Democrats will
continue to create strong labor standards for jobs created with taxpayer dollars through
legislation and with strong Buy American rules. Consistent with the law, we will ensure that
federal grants and other assistance to employers are contingent on recipients committing
to not interfering with workers’ efforts to form a union. By leveraging the benefits of federal
grants for infrastructure, manufacturing and services, we will seek to ensure that all
Americans have the opportunity to participate in the American Dream.
We’ll strengthen enforcement and penalties for safety, wage, and other labor and
employment violations. And, Democrats will continue to aggressively hold companies
accountable for violating child labor law. We’ve increased funding for the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration to protect workers on the job; and we’ll continue to
support workplace whistleblowers.
At the same time, we’re pushing to guarantee workers the pay, benefits, and protections
they deserve as well. We passed the Butch Lewis Act, keeping over 2 million people’s
hard-earned pensions solvent. We also raised the minimum wage for federal contractors to
$17.20 an hour, and will keep pushing Congress to increase it to at least $15 for all
Americans. We’re making millions more hourly workers eligible for overtime pay; and we’ve
cracked down on wage theft and exploitation, recovering over $750 million for low-wage
workers wrongly denied pay. We’re making it harder for employers to misclassify workers as
independent contractors to avoid paying them full pay and benefits. We’re banning most
non-compete agreements, freeing workers to move between jobs and negotiate. And we’ve
restricted mandatory arbitration, so fewer employers can silence wronged employees in a
workplace dispute.
We also recognize that the U.S. Postal Service is the world’s most efficient, and Democrats
are wholly committed to supporting a public U.S.P.S. We will fight all efforts to privatize it
and will work to ensure that it’s financially sustainable. We will protect its universal service
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obligation and on-time delivery. And we will support a Board of Governors and a Postal
Regulatory Commission that champion a strong public Postal Service.
Trump has a very different record. As President, he not only failed to bring manufacturing
jobs home, he pushed to cut funding for R&D and job training. He gave tax breaks to big
corporations, with no condition that they invest in workers or innovation in return. He
stacked his Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board with corporate lawyers
who made it harder to organize, not easier. His Administration ripped protections from
federal workers, slashed workplace safety inspections, and blocked increases in overtime
pay. Now, Trump and his allies are vowing to repeal key pieces of the Biden agenda – stalling
historic progress; undermining American manufacturing; and costing hundreds of
thousands of Americans the good paychecks and future prospects that they deserve.
Democrats won’t let that happen. We fought hard to pass the most significant investments
in America in generations. Now, we’ll continue the important work of implementing them, to
be sure that the benefits are shared in every corner of America and create good-paying jobs
that folks can raise a family on, with the chance to join a union, and that rely on materials
made here at home. We cannot go backwards. We have to own these industries and jobs of
the future.
SMALL BUSINESSES
Small businesses are the engine of America’s economy and the glue of our communities.
They employ nearly half of all private sector workers, and drive half of all economic activity.
They embody the vision and grit that literally built this country.
When President Biden took office, our economy was reeling and millions of small
businesses were hanging by a thread. Business owners faced the prospect of losing not just
their livelihoods, but their dreams, their life’s savings, and their hopes of leaving something
behind for their kids. So Democrats moved fast. Within weeks, we reformed the Paycheck
Protection Program, getting game-changing help to thousands of America’s smallest
businesses, which had been shut out by Trump. Then, we passed the American Rescue Plan
and helped 6 million small businesses pay their bills and workers and stay afloat. And thanks
to that legislation, we provided additional support to 100,000 restaurants and 220,000
child care centers serving millions of kids, which working parents rely on. Not a single
Republican voted for it.
Since then, Democrats have passed other historic laws, to build infrastructure,
semiconductors, clean energy, and the small-business supply chains that support those
cutting-edge industries, here at home. The Administration is expanding access to capital,
business opportunities, and training to help those small businesses; while working for a
fairer tax code, to level the playing field for small entrepreneurs who have to compete
against corporate giants. The Administration has invested a record $12 billion in Community
Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), to support small businesses and growth across
low-income communities. The Small Business Administration is nearly halfway to its goal of
providing $250 billion in financing to 500,000 small businesses by 2030. For example, to
get mom-and-pop businesses the small loans, under $150,000, that are often hard to
secure, the SBA has brought in additional non-traditional lenders that specialize in working
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with underserved small businesses. It’s now on track to double these loans by year’s end,
compared to 2020. The Administration is also directing billions of dollars to community
lenders and state-level small-business programs. Along with initiatives like Vice President
Harris’s Economic Opportunity Coalition, it is mobilizing hundreds of billions more in private
investment. At the same time, the federal government this year set a record for small
business contract spending, awarding them 28 percent of total procurement dollars, directly
supporting a million jobs. It is on track to meet its goal of increasing federal contracts
awarded to small disadvantaged businesses by 50 percent.
As a result, America is today in the midst of a historic small-business boom. A record 18
million new business applications have been filed since Joe Biden became president – the
three strongest years of new business growth in history, and over 90 percent faster than
pre-pandemic averages. Since the pandemic, the share of Black households owning a
business has more than doubled, Latino business ownership is up 40 percent, and women
own a record share of businesses. As President Biden often says, each new business formed
is an act of hope.
Thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Minority Business
Development Agency is now a permanent part of the Commerce Department, where it’s
training underserved entrepreneurs. The SBA’s innovative Community Navigators program
meanwhile helped 350,000 small businesses tap into resources that have helped them
grow. In a second Biden term, we’ll make that Navigator program permanent, and include
new lenders, new markets, and fairer taxes.
Trump still puts Wall Street before Main Street. As president, he slashed the tax rate for
giant corporations, but left small businesses behind. His disastrous response to COVID
funneled assistance to well-connected friends and companies, but left too many of our
smallest businesses without essential help. More than 300,000 closed. He’s now running on
a plan to double-down on his tax scam to benefit big corporations and billionaires. His
Congressional allies keep trying to slash SBA funding, and to repeal our investments in
infrastructure and manufacturing – the same ones that are lowering costs for small
businesses, boosting their revenue, and helping millions to thrive. Democrats won’t let that
happen.
AGRICULTURE
American farmers are the backbone of our country. They feed America, and help feed the
world. But over the years, trickle-down economics has hit rural America hard. Farming costs
have gone up and incomes have gone down. Big Agriculture moved in, telling too many small
farms that the surest path to success was to get big or get out. As a result, we lost over
400,000 farms in America in the last 40 years, and rural communities have paid a steep
price. Too many young people have had to leave their hometowns to find good-paying work
and a shot at their dreams.
The President believes that no one should have to leave the community where they grew up
just to find opportunity. His Investing in America agenda is investing in all of America,
including farms and rural areas. It’s creating new sources of income for farmers and
increasing competition among suppliers, to both lower the cost of farm inputs and to get
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small and mid-size farmers a larger share of profits. The Inflation Reduction Act is helping
farmers and ranchers adopt climate-smart practices, which make the land more resilient
and increase profitability, while connecting them to new markets and premiums for
sustainably produced commodities. The Administration recognizes the critical role that our
land stewards play in our food systems, economy, and environment, and is working hard to
drive both public and private funds to reward these champions for nature for their hard
work. The Administration has also supported independent meat and poultry processing,
reducing producers’ reliance on big companies to buy their product; and it’s working to make
livestock and poultry markets fairer and more transparent. Today, family farms have more
income from more varied sources, so their children have more opportunity to stay family
farmers.
At the same time, the Administration is helping family farmers service distressed loans in
order to keep their lands and ultimately pass them down to their kids. It has worked with
many farmers to boostthe production of expensive fertilizer, increasing supply and easing
costs for everyone else. The U.S.D.A. also expanded farm insurance to allow for more double
cropping, a practice that increases farm earnings, expands the food supply, and helps lower
average food prices for American families. Going forward, Democrats will also work to get
farmers the right to repair their own equipment, without having to pay big equipment
makers for diagnostic tools and repairs. And we will look to further limit foreign ownership of
U.S. farmland to protect our food supply and national security.
Throughout, Democrats have stood by farm workers. We are working to improve workers’
safety at meat processing facilities, and we will continue to enforce and advance labor and
environmental rules, for example promoting organizing rights and requiring overtime pay,
and boosting protections against harmful pesticides and extreme heat.
FIGHTING POVERTY
As Democrats, we believe in an America where people look out for one another and leave no
one behind. But we know we still have a long way to go to make America’s promise real for
everyone. Some 40 million Americans still live in poverty. The pandemic made things worse,
hitting the poor hardest, and pushing millions more families to the brink. The American
Rescue Plan drove poverty to record lows in 2021. It expanded the Child Tax Credit and
made it available to all low-income children for the first time, helping to slash child poverty
by nearly half. It tripled the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit for millions of low-income
workers, so their taxes wouldn’t push them deeper into poverty. It kept 8 million families in
their homes, child care centers open, and small businesses on their feet. It increased
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, helping tens of millions of
Americans keep food on the table. Not a single Republican voted for the bill.
And the Administration has done more. It reversed a Trump-era policy that would have
risked putting half-a-million children in poverty. It modernized SNAP benefits for the first
time since 1975, permanently increasing them and lifting more than 2 million people,
including over a million children, out of poverty as well. President Biden signed into law a
permanent special summer nutrition program that will help 21 million kids. And he
successfully blocked Congressional Republican proposals that would’ve increased poverty
by slashing health care, housing, food assistance, and more.
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Now, it’s time to finish the job. Democrats know that most folks fundamentally want the
same things – not a hand out, but a fair shot. That’s why we’ll keep pushing to restore the
expanded Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, which proved so effective at
reducing poverty before Republicans let them expire. We’ll work to finally raise the federal
minimum wage to at least $15-an-hour. We’ll fight for paid leave, better health care, and
more investment in public schools and affordable housing. We’ll reduce the need for foster
care, by supporting families and engaging kin. We’ll further expand public transit, connecting
communities that have been cut off for too long. We’ll keep working to get more low-income
families access to affordable banking as well, and to boost the supply of capital and loans by
investing more in CDFIs. We’ll also push to make the New Markets Tax Credit permanent,
drawing new investment to low-income communities nationwide. And we’ll continue to
reject Republican proposals to increase poverty by making devastating cuts to programs
that vulnerable Americans count on.
In the wealthiest nation on earth, we all benefit when we help one another. Democrats will
keep working to build an economy that rewards work, not wealth; where we care for the
most vulnerable, and unleash the potential that all our children have to grow and thrive. We
remain committed to fighting poverty and enabling all Americans to live up to their
God-given potential.
ENDING SPECIAL INTEREST GIVEAWAYS
To invest in the American people and reduce the deficit, Democrats are also ending
giveaways to big corporations and special interests that have benefitted at the expense of
American taxpayers for too long.
We’re seizing a tremendous opportunity for savings on prescription drugs and insurance.
The Administration has already cracked down on one of Big Pharma’s biggest scams, by
finally giving Medicare, the single biggest buyer of drugs in America, the ability to negotiate
lower prescription drug prices, as the VA and private insurers have done for years. The
Administration is also requiring drugmakers to reimburse Medicare if they hike prices faster
than inflation. That kind of markup pads Big Pharma profits, wasting taxpayer dollars.
Democrats will expand the number of drugs subject to price caps and negotiation under the
Inflation Reduction Act, saving taxpayers nearly $160 billion over the next 10 years, as
Medicare will no longer have to pay Big Pharma exorbitant prices.
At the same time, we’ll keep pushing to crack down on outsize insurance company profits,
for example by requiring health insurers to reimburse Medicaid if they bill more than they
actually spend on patient care. We also believe in saving taxpayers money by investing more
in preventative health care, vaccines, and other treatment for Medicaid and CHIP
beneficiaries, avoiding unnecessary medical costs by keeping folks healthy – investing in
America, and in the American people.
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Chapter Two: Rewarding Work, Not Wealth
To any American with the ingenuity and drive to make a million bucks, President Biden says,
great. Just pay your fair share in taxes. A hedge fund manager or CEO should never pay a
lower tax rate than a teacher or firefighter. A company with billions of dollars in profits
should not pay $0 in taxes.
A fair tax code is how we invest in the things that make our nation strong, like health care,
education, a clean environment, and the national defense. It’s how we protect programs that
Americans rely on, like Social Security and Medicare. It’s how we build a powerful economy,
reduce fiscal risks, and lead the world.
Donald Trump is focused on rigging the game for his billionaire donors instead. He always
puts himself and his rich friends first. In 2017, he enacted a reckless, unpaid-for tax cut that
overwhelmingly benefited the very wealthy and biggest corporations. It was full of
outrageous giveaways, including a massive tax break for the wealthiest 0.1 percent. It
slashed the corporate tax rate by nearly half, with executives plowing their windfalls into
stock buybacks for their own benefit, rather than investing in workers or better products, or
lowering prices. After weakening labor protections and complaining that wages are "too
high,” Trump is now telling donors behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago: “You’re rich as hell,
and we’re going to give you tax cuts.”
That trickle-down approach never worked. Trump’s allies predicted that his tax scam would
push economic growth as high as 6 percent, but America’s growth rate barely changed. The
law had no impact on the average American’s income – only boosting wages for those in the
top 10 percent. Trump’s allies claimed it would pay for itself, but it instead exploded the
federal deficit by $2 trillion. Trump’s policies added more to our national debt than has ever
been added in a presidential term.
Corporate profits have doubled since the pandemic, yet Trump wants to reward
corporations with another big tax cut. Republicans are doubling down on Trump’s failed
approach and have proposed $1 trillion in new corporate tax cuts. They’ll repeal the estate
tax, so the wealthiest 0.1 percent of Americans can pass wealth on to their heirs tax-free.
They’ll give American billionaires an average $3.5 million tax break – a giveaway nearly 50
times bigger than what the average family earns in a year. House Republicans have vowed to
pay for part of all that by cutting Social Security and Medicare for everyone else. Economists
say Trump’s billionaire giveaways and extreme tariffs will slow growth, cost jobs, and trigger
a recession his first year back in office, raising taxes on middle-class families by $2,500 a
year, and adding trillions to the deficit.
Democrats have a different view. We don’t believe we should add $5 trillion to the national
debt to give more tax breaks skewed to the wealthy and big corporations. We’re fighting to
reward work, not wealth – to cut costs and make the tax code fairer for the middle class,
while making the wealthy and big corporations finally pay their fair share. Under President
Biden’s plan, no American earning less than $400,000 a year will pay one single penny more
in federal taxes, period. We’re working to end special interest giveaways, and to make sure
all Americans play by the same rules. And instead of exploding the national deficit, our plan
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cuts it by $3 trillion over the next decade, delivering real results for the American people in a
fiscally responsible way.
CUTTING TAXES FOR WORKING FAMILIES
Democrats will protect everyone earning less than $400,000 a year from any tax increase;
and we will fight to protect and expand other tax benefits for working people and families
with children.
During the pandemic, Democrats expanded the Child Tax Credit, saving nearly 40 million
families with 65 million children up to $3,600 per child per year, and cutting child poverty
nearly in half to its lowest rate on record. We expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit as
well, saving over 17 million low-paid workers an average $700 a year. And, we expanded the
health insurance premium tax credit, saving millions of families who buy coverage on an
Affordable Care Act exchange about $800 a year.
Republicans are opposed to this tax relief for families that need it. They already blocked
renewal of our Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit expansions, pushing 3 million
children back into poverty. Republicans also keep trying to repeal our premium tax credit
expansions, which will raise health care costs for millions of families. Democrats will keep
fighting to restore and protect that tax relief, giving tens of millions of families some
breathing room again. And President Biden has also proposed a $10,000 tax credit for
first-time homebuyers and people selling their first homes, to help reduce housing costs for
working families.
The Treasury Department and the IRS are also making it easier and cheaper for Americans
to file their taxes and collect the refunds they’re owed. The IRS successfully piloted a free,
easy-to-use online tool, Direct File, which has already saved taxpayers millions of dollars in
filing fees. It has since announced that Direct File will be a permanent offering, saving users
an average $150 in filing costs – but Republicans keep trying to defund this free tool.
MAKING THE WEALTHY & BIG CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR
SHARE
President Biden’s plans will cut taxes for middle-class and low-income Americans – and we’ll
finance those cuts by making the ultra-wealthy and big corporations finally start paying their
fair share.
There are a thousand billionaires in America, and they pay an average 8 percent in taxes – a
far lower rate than a firefighter or teacher. Democrats will make billionaires pay a minimum
income tax rate of 25 percent, raising $500 billion in 10 years. We’ll end the preferential
treatment for capital gains for millionaires, so they pay the same rate on investment income
as on wages.
We’ll put an end to abusive life insurance tax shelters, and stop billionaires from exploiting
retirement tax incentives that are supposed to help middle-class families save. We’ll
eliminate the “stepped-up basis” loophole for the wealthiest Americans, so they can’t avoid
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paying taxes on their wealth by passing it down to heirs. Democrats will close the “carried
interest” loophole, which wealthy fund managers have long used to halve tax rates on their
own personal pay, so they pay a lower rate than some teachers or firefighters do. That’s
wrong. And, we’ll increase our new stock buyback tax to 4 percent to discourage stock
buybacks that benefit executives and wealthy shareholders, instead of workers and
consumers.
We will also keep upping the pressure on wealthy and corporate tax cheats that fail to pay
what they owe. The IRS was severely underfunded for years; but Democrats are improving
IRS services for everyday taxpayers and reviving enforcement against wealthy and
corporate tax cheats, raising more than an estimated $440 billion in additional revenue as a
result. The IRS has already collected over $500 million in unpaid taxes from less than 2,000
delinquent millionaires, and launched efforts aimed at thousands of other millionaires who
hadn’t filed a return in years. Democrats will protect this progress by continuing to invest in
modernizing the IRS. Republicans are working to reverse it, protecting wealthy tax cheats
and increasing the deficit instead.
Democrats will also make billion-dollar companies pay their fair share. In 2020, 55 of the
biggest companies in America made $40 billion in profit, but paid zero in federal income
taxes.
Corporations are seeing record margins, but their share of federal taxes has fallen below 10
percent, down from 30 percent in the 1950s. It’s wrong. Trump doesn’t care: he slashed the
corporate tax rate to 21 percent, down from 35 percent. President Biden will raise that rate
back to 28 percent. And for those billion-dollar tax dodgers, the President signed a historic
15 percent corporate minimum tax into law. He also reached a global minimum tax
agreement with 140 countries, so that big multinational companies will no longer be able to
pit nations against one another in a race to the bottom. And, Biden will double the tax rate
that American multinationals pay on foreign earnings to 21 percent; and end incentives,
introduced by Trump, that encourage companies to shift jobs and operations overseas and
book profits in low-tax countries.
Democrats oppose unfair loopholes and wasteful subsidies that benefit special interests at
everyone else’s expense. We will fight to get rid of them. That starts by eliminating tens of
billions of dollars in subsidies for oil and gas companies. It means ending special tax breaks
for corporate jets, and boosting fuel taxes on corporate and private jet travel, saving
taxpayers $4 billion over 10 years. And we’ll no longer permit companies to deduct the cost
of paying executives more than $1 million a year. Corporations shouldn’t get a tax break for
giving huge pay packages to CEOs.
We’ll also eliminate the so-called “like-kind exchange” loophole that allows wealthy real
estate investors to avoid paying taxes on real estate profits, as long as they keep investing in
real estate – a tax break that Trump protected for himself and other corporate landlords in
his 2017 tax scam. No other industry has that kind of sweetheart deal; it ends now.
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Chapter Three: Lowering Costs
Today, our economy is growing, wages are rising, and a record number of Americans have
good jobs. But for too many hard-working families, the cost of living is too high. Lowering
costs is Democrats’ number one economic priority. We’re using every tool to bring prices
down on health insurance and prescription drugs, including negotiating the price of
commonly used drugs for diabetes and heart failure; and on housing, child care, internet,
banking, credit cards, and more. We have more to do, but our actions are already putting
thousands of dollars a year back in people’s pockets. Those savings add up, and Democrats
will keep fighting until every American feels them.
When the pandemic disrupted supply chains, everyday items became hard to get, raising
prices. When Russia invaded Ukraine, food and gas prices spiked more. As companies’ costs
went up, they raised prices, too. President Biden worked across industries to ease supply
bottlenecks and get goods and energy flowing again. He delivered, and inflation has since
dropped two-thirds from its peak.
But some companies haven’t passed those new savings on to consumers. Their costs have
come down, but they’ve kept prices high anyway, boosting profits. Corporate profits have
more than doubled since 2017. Last year, after-tax profit ratios for corporations outside the
financial sector were their highest in 90 years.
President Biden’s lowering costs agenda is historic in scope, attacking the issue from every
angle to help cut costs for consumers, crack down on price gouging, and get companies to
use their record profits to reduce prices long-term. It’s also investing in making things in
America again to boost supply, push down prices, and bring jobs home.
Donald Trump hasn’t offered a single solution to lower families’ costs. He wants to drag
America backwards, with extreme import tariffs that will make life more expensive for folks
nationwide. And for corporations that hiked prices and doubled profits since the pandemic,
Trump wants to reward them with a massive tax cut. Independent analysts say his MAGA tax
and tariff plans will increase inflation, cost 3 million American jobs, and slow growth,
triggering a recession in his first year back in office. Trump’s plan will increase costs for
working families by $2,500 a year.
Today, America has built its way back into the strongest economic recovery in the world.
Democrats won’t let Trump throw that all away.
HEALTH CARE & PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Health Care
Health care should be a right in America, not a privilege. Every American deserves the peace
of mind that quality, affordable coverage brings. That’s why Democrats fought so hard to
pass the Affordable Care Act, providing 45 million Americans with insurance, guaranteeing
protections for 100 million people with preexisting conditions, and protecting nearly 180
million people from lifetime coverage limits. Yet even now, 14 years after we passed that
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landmark law, Trump and Republicans are still threatening to repeal it. Democrats will never
let that happen. We’ll never quit fighting to protect and expand the Affordable Care Act,
making quality care more accessible and affordable, as the Biden-Harris Administration has
done.
Today, more Americans have health insurance than ever in history. Coverage is up and costs
are down. A record 21 million people signed up through the Affordable Care Act this year,
helping to slash the uninsured rate from 16 percent in 2010 to under 8 percent now.
Democrats have expanded the health insurance premium tax credit twice, saving millions of
Americans an average of $800 a year on coverage; and helping an additional 1.7 million
Latinos, 830,000 Black Americans, and 110,000 Asian Americans buy more affordable
insurance. Republicans want to let those credits expire, increasing premiums. Democrats
will fight to make them permanent.
As Democrats, we support Medicaid expansion, encouraging states to provide health
coverage to low-income Americans on the federal government’s tab. The Administration has
helped over a million people in four states to enroll; and we’ll keep pushing Congress to
further expand Medicaid-like coverage to the 2.8 million uninsured low-income adults who
live in states where Republicans still refuse the help.
Democrats are working to protect kids’ health coverage as well, by removing financial
barriers for the Children's Health Insurance Program; and making it easier for families to
keep kids on Medicaid. President Biden’s plan will let families go three years without having
to resubmit Medicaid paperwork for children younger than six, reducing burdensome red
tape.
Democrats believe that quality, affordable health care should be available in every corner of
America. The Administration has invested in new mobile health clinics; and in keeping
community and rural health centers, lifelines for tens of millions of people, open,
well-staffed, and well-equipped. We want to double those investments now. And the
Administration is cracking down on federally funded health care providers that turn away or
otherwise discriminate against people on the basis of race, sex, age, national origin, or
disability.
Democrats will keep working to grow the health care workforce, so workplace and other
provider shortages no longer create barriers to quality care and inflate health care costs. We
are investing in programs that train primary care practitioners, registered nurses, mental
health specialists, and others to work across our health care system, including in rural and
low-income areas.
The Administration is also cracking down on surprise medical billing and junk health
insurance, so patients are no longer ambushed by unexpected bills or scammed into buying
low-quality health coverage. Democrats will expand “no-surprise billing” to include costly
ground ambulances; and we’ll keep using antitrust laws to stop hospital, insurance, and Big
Pharma mergers that undermine competition and increase health care prices for
consumers.
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At the same time, Democrats will keep fighting to ease the burden of medical debt, which
makes it harder for millions of Americans to get a mortgage or other loan for the future.
Democrats provided funding to forgive $7 billion in medical debt for nearly 3 million
Americans; and the Administration is urging states to use remaining funds to do more. It
already persuaded credit reporting agencies to exclude many medical debts from credit
reports, boosting people’s credit scores and prospects for the future. In all, these actions
have reduced the total number of Americans with listed medical debt from 46 million in
2020 to 15 million. Democrats will keep pushing to exclude medical debts from credit
scoring entirely.
Democrats also support the Administration’s historic work to close fundamental gaps in
women’s health care, including by protecting access to reproductive health care. This
includes its efforts to reduce maternal mortality, led by Vice President Harris. She called for
states to provide a full year of postpartum coverage for Medicaid beneficiaries, with 46
states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands now taking that step. The
Administration is also making transformative investments in women’s health research to
find better ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat health conditions in women, and to make
care more accessible and affordable. And it is leading game-changing work to end cancer as
we know it, including through the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for
Health (ARPA-H).
Trump has no plan to reduce health care costs for Americans. He and his MAGA allies have
spent years working to repeal the Affordable Care Act, trying and failing over 50 times. Now,
Trump is once again promising to “terminate” the landmark law, gutting coverage for the 45
million Americans who rely on it for care. Doing so will cost families $13,000 a year, and
threaten protections for 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. It will strip 150
million people of preventative care like cancer screenings, and reduce access to mental
health and substance use treatment. A Republican repeal will also deny life-changing home
care to millions of seniors and people with disabilities, and kick young adults up to age 26 off
their parents’ insurance plans. And, it’ll push more of the 500-plus rural hospitals that are
already at risk of closing to shut down.
Prescription Drugs
Big Pharma has ripped off Americans for years, charging two and three times more here
than in other countries for the exact same medications. Nearly three in ten Americans can’t
afford their prescriptions as a result. Instead of working to change that, Trump gave
drugmakers massive tax breaks that only incentivized them to shift production overseas.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats took on Big Pharma and won.
Democrats capped the price of insulin at $35 a month, down from as much as $400, for
nearly 4 million seniors on Medicare. And President Biden persuaded the nation’s top three
insulin makers to lower their prices for everyone. Now, we’ll fight to expand that $35 cap to
cover everyone, saving millions of Americans with diabetes nearly $1,000 a year. Starting
next year, the Inflation Reduction Act also caps total out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 a
year for millions of seniors and others on Medicare. Democrats will fight until that cap covers
every single American.
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For the first time, Medicare now also has the ability to negotiate lower drug prices, as private
insurers and the VA have done for decades. It started doing so this year, beginning with 10
commonly used medications for conditions such as diabetes and heart failure. Democrats
will push to add at least 50 drugs a year to that list, lowering prices for 500 drugs this
decade. Medicare Part-D is also working to cap cost-sharing for life-saving generics at $2 a
dose; Democrats will make this mandatory for all Medicare beneficiaries.
The Administration is also leading the charge against Big Pharma price gouging, by requiring
drugmakers that raise prices faster than inflation to pay the difference back to Medicare,
which will then pass savings on to consumers. This will protect over 750,000 seniors, who
could save as much as $4,500 per over-priced dose. Democrats will keep fighting to expand
these rebates, applying them when drugmakers overcharge not just Medicare, but private
insurers as well. We’re also cracking down on improper drug patent listings, which some
drugmakers use to shut out competition. Once companies drop their improper patent
listings, other companies will be free to make cheaper alternatives. The FTC’s work in this
area has already pushed three of the biggest makers of inhalers to lower prices to $35 a
month, saving people with asthma hundreds of dollars a year. The Administration also
enacted rules to finally make hearing aids available over-the-counter, saving millions of
Americans up to $3,000 a pair. And Democrats will continue the Administration’s work to
require that any drugs developed with taxpayer dollars be available to taxpayers, including at
reasonable prices. Democrats will keep working to lower drug prices by requiring more
transparency from the “pharmacy benefit manager” middlemen who generally decide which
drugs are covered by insurance and bought by doctors, and how much they cost.
All these actions will benefit family budgets. And they’ll boost the federal budget, too –
reducing the deficit by $160 billion over the next ten years, as Medicare no longer has to pay
Big Pharma exorbitant prices.
Every Democrat in Congress voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, the historic law behind
these savings. Every single Republican voted against it – against $35 insulin for seniors,
against Medicare negotiating lower prices, against saving millions of seniors’ money on
life-saving drugs. Now, Trump and his MAGA allies are promising to repeal it entirely, and to
funnel our savings back into Big Pharma’s pockets. We won’t let that happen.
CHILD CARE, HOME CARE, & PAID LEAVE
Child & Home Care
The United States can’t have the best economy in the world without strong support for
caregiving. But today, the cost of care is too high, pay for care workers is too low, and
families are caught in the middle of a broken system. Democrats understand that fixing the
caregiving crisis cannot wait.
During the pandemic, Democrats’ American Rescue Plan kept 220,000 child care centers
open, getting parents back to work and saving families an average $1,250 a year per child. It
preserved a million care workers’ jobs, and increased their pay by 10 percent. It expanded
support for home- and community-based services for seniors and people with disabilities.
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And not a single Republican voted for it.
Last year, President Biden issued a historic executive order directing agencies to further
expand access to affordable care. The Administration also capped child care costs for
100,000 low-income families at 7 percent of their income, saving each an average $2,400 a
year. Overall, the Administration increased federal child care funding by 50 percent.
Democrats will make investments like these permanent, and guarantee affordable, quality
child care to millions of working families for less than $10-a-day per child. And we’ll restore
the expanded Child Tax Credit and strengthen Head Start. For seniors and people with
disabilities, Democrats will improve and expand home- and community-based services,
working toward finally eliminating the 700,000-person Medicaid waiting list, so more
people can live and work with dignity in their own communities. We’ll also keep pushing to
improve pay and benefits for care workers, for example by fighting to get many of them a
bigger share of Medicaid home care payments. Democrats will overhaul the quality of care
and quality of life for our nation’s 1.3 million nursing home residents by defending
Administration regulations that require minimum staffing standards at nursing homes.
Democrats are the only party with a plan to expand access to care, and to make it more
affordable and accessible for all. Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress have voted
repeatedly to increase the cost of care, for example by slashing Head Start and child care
programs, eliminating slots for half a million kids. Trump has no plan to lower child care or
home care costs for American families. Instead, House Republicans have promised to slash
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, while
their continued efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act will strip millions of seniors and
people with disabilities of life-changing home support.
Paid Leave
America is the world’s only advanced economy not to guarantee paid leave. The vast
majority of employers don’t offer it – nearly three-quarters of private-sector employees
don’t have paid family leave through their jobs, including 94 percent of America’s
lowest-paid workers. The pandemic only made the economic consequences of this failure
more devastating. In the United States of America, no one should have to choose between
caring for a parent who raised them, a child who depends on them, and the paycheck that
they need to survive.
Trump and Republicans failed to guarantee any new paid leave to private sector workers.
Instead, their various proposals included unfunded mandates on states, tax credits that
failed to expand access but subsidized large businesses, and schemes to force new parents
seeking paid leave to borrow against their own future Social Security funds.
From Day One, President Biden has pushed to do more. He fought to include a
comprehensive paid leave program in legislation that ultimately became the Inflation
Reduction Act. He instructed federal agencies to expand access to paid and unpaid leave for
federal employees. He expanded the Military Parental Leave Program, so all active-duty,
new-parent servicemembers can take 12 weeks. And his budget includes the strongest paid
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leave proposals in history, permanently funding the national paid leave plan that America
needs.
That plan will create America’s first, full, national paid family and medical leave program,
guaranteeing every American worker up to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for a new child
or loved one to recover from an illness, in cases of domestic violence, or military
deployment. It will help families care for one another, and it will help businesses retain
valuable talent and small businesses to compete. Millions more parents will be able to work,
and it will add hundreds of billions to our economy. Democrats have pushed for this for
decades. It’s past time that America caught up with the rest of the world.
GAS & GROCERIES
When the pandemic crushed supply chains, prices for everyday items, from food to gas to
airfare, went up. But after supply bottlenecks eased, many companies didn’t lower prices in
line with their falling costs. President Biden will keep calling those companies out for price
gouging, and hold them accountable when they don’t pass savings on to consumers.
To lower prices, Democrats will also keep working to boost supply, fix supply chains and
promote competition, especially for essential items like gas and groceries that families
depend on.
Through record energy production of clean energy, oil, and gas, we’ve lowered prices at the
pump for American families. The Administration also released nearly 200 million barrels of
gasoline from the Strategic Petroleum and Northeast Gasoline Supply reserves; and it is
lowering gas prices by up to 25 cents per gallon more in certain markets, particularly in the
Midwest, by making cheaper, E15 ethanol-blended gasoline available each summer. And, the
Administration is cracking down to prevent collusion by oil companies that could raise prices
more.
The President also knows the frustration and fear that high grocery prices can cause, and he
has taken action to lower costs for hard-working families. He and his team have met
repeatedly with grocery CEOs and business leaders, who agreed this spring to lower prices.
The Administration is also cracking down on price gouging and promoting competition in
agriculture, making everything from fertilizer to poultry processing more affordable for
farmers. The President also signed into law the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act,
which lowers shipping prices and helps American farmers export their goods.
Trump and his MAGA allies fought these changes all the way, siding with Big Oil and special
interests over working families. Instead of standing up to them, Trump just wants to give
them another massive tax cut.
CORPORATE GREED
Today, corporate consolidation is allowing companies to keep raking in historic profits, while
continuing to raise prices for working families. In the two decades before President Biden
came to office, three-quarters of American industries grew more concentrated. As the
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President often says, capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism, it’s exploitation. And
the American people are tired of being played for suckers.
The Administration has taken historic steps to boost competition across our economy, in
fields from finance and farming to technology and transportation. We’re banning
non-compete agreements so that workers have the freedom to pursue a new job or start a
new business. We’re protecting consumers from unfair hidden “junk fees” and price
gouging, and shoring up our banking system to keep people’s hard-earned savings safe.
During his first months in office, the President launched a Competition Council tasked with
coordinating and advancing this work. Agencies have taken dozens of actions to increase
competition across markets and industries – from making hearing aids available over the
counter, to reducing cargo and rail shipping costs for goods, to support efforts to allow
farmers and other Americans to repair their own equipment. The Justice Department and
the FTC have increased antitrust enforcement, releasing updated merger guidelines, and
halting a slate of big mergers in the airline, food, and defense sectors that would’ve
increased consumer prices.
Democrats will keep working to make the American economy more competitive for
businesses and workers across sectors, from transportation to housing to food. And we will
reform hiring and procurement processes across the government, to boost competition
among our contractors and suppliers, too.
The Administration is also taking broad action to crack down on “junk fees,” the hidden
charges that companies add on to people’s bills without their knowledge, reducing
consumer choice. We’ve already taken action to crack down on a range of these junk fees
charged by airlines, internet providers, hotels, and apartment buildings. We’ve pushed banks
to slash unfair overdraft and bounced check charges and took action to cap credit card late
fees. We’re cracking down on junk health insurance plans that advertise one rate, but then
stick patients with a much bigger medical bill. Over time, these combined actions will save
American families hundreds and even thousands of dollars a year – adding up to more than
$20 billion a year across the economy – giving people a little more breathing room. And we’ll
keep pushing until we ban all junk fees across our economy.
Democrats are also working to shore up a safe, secure banking system that protects
consumer deposits and holds investors accountable. Democrats have pushed for legislation
to hold executives at all failed banks accountable, clawing back compensation and banning
them from the industry. We’re working to limit out-of-control Wall Street bonuses that
encourage risky bank practices that jeopardize our whole economy. And we’ll keep pushing
to pass an updated Glass-Steagall Act, more clearly separating commercial and investment
banking and expanding Volcker rule safeguards. We defeated Republican efforts to gut the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at the Supreme Court this year; we’ll continue to
protect and strengthen that agency and support its critical work.
HOUSING
A home is more than a roof over your head, it’s a place to raise your family, to build
community, and to grow the American Dream. It’s also the biggest investment, and the
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biggest monthly expense, that most people ever face. Some 15 years after the subprime
mortgage crisis devastated homeowners and froze construction nationwide, we’re still
seeing the effect of a severe housing shortage that’s pushing up prices and keeping homes
out of reach.
President Biden has taken historic steps to help Americans rent, buy, and build. In the depth
of the pandemic, the American Rescue Plan kept 8 million families in their homes
nationwide by preventing foreclosures and evictions. Since then, the Administration has
eased rising rents by capping rent hikes in 2 million federally-funded apartments. It led the
biggest expansion of rental assistance for low-income families in 20 years. It’s cracking
down on slumlords who don’t play by the rules. The Administration has reduced
mortgage-insurance premiums on federally-backed loans for 700,000 homeowners; and
waived the requirement for title insurance, saving families up to $1,500 to refinance.
The relief is helping. More people own homes today than did before the pandemic, and we’re
seeing fewer foreclosures than at any time in decades. But Democrats know the surest way
to bring housing costs down long-term is to build to boost supply. So the Administration is
cutting red tape to help more builders get federal financing. A record 1.7 million new housing
units are under construction today nationwide.
Going forward, the President has laid out one of America’s most ambitious housing plans in
over 50 years. It expands rental assistance to a half-million new households, including to
low-income veterans and young people aging out of foster care. It offers corporate landlords
a basic choice for the next two years: either cap rent increases at 5 percent, or lose a
valuable federal tax break. It offers a $10,000 mortgage-relief tax credit to first-time
homebuyers, and $25,000 in down-payment assistance to buyers from families where no
one has ever before owned a home. At the same time, the Administration is going after
unfair rental “junk fees,” like fees people are charged just to pay rent online or to receive
sorted mail. And, we will crack down on corporate landlords who are gouging tenants, for
example by capping the amount they can raise the rent each year; and we will go after
negligent landlords who don’t maintain basic habitability standards. We will also crack down
on those who violate the Fair Housing Act, and on landlords who discriminate against
low-income and minority renters and people with housing vouchers. We are rooting bias out
of the home appraisal process, which perpetuates the racial wealth gap by unjustly
undervaluing millions of Black- and Latino-owned homes.
The President’s plan also calls for funding to help build or renovate 2 million homes
nationwide – by expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit for developers to build
affordable rental housing; and by introducing a new Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, the
first ever to focus on creating affordable housing not for renters, but for homeowners. It also
creates a Housing Innovation Fund, to help state and local governments find new ways to
increase supply, like by converting empty office or hotel space into apartments.The plan also
encourages state and local efforts to take on barriers to building new housing.
Democrats are dedicated to increasing the supply of an array of housing options like
duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes that bridge the gap between single-family homes and
large apartment buildings. By reducing barriers to building housing and providing federal tax
incentives for the development of housing for people of all incomes, we can foster vibrant,
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inclusive communities where people from all walks of life can find affordable, diverse living
options. Workforce housing must also be prioritized to ensure that our nation’s teachers,
nurses, firefighters, and other essential workers can afford to live in the communities they
serve. We recognize that these workers are the backbone of our society, but they are left to
struggle with housing costs that outpace their incomes, leaving them unable to live near
their workplaces. Democrats will meet this challenge head-on by increasing funding for
programs that support the creation and preservation of affordable housing options for
essential workers, as well as collaborating with state and local governments to accelerate
the development of workforce housing, ensuring that our communities remain accessible
and affordable for all.
Democrats are working to help Americans cover other housing-related costs, like utilities.
Families are already saving thousands of dollars with clean energy tax credits; and 23 million
households received free or monthly discounts, saving $30 to $75 per month on high-speed
broadband through the largest internet affordability program in history. It expired in May,
because Republicans refused to act; but Democrats will keep fighting to reinstate it. We’ll
keep working to expand other programs that reduce home heating, cooling, and water bills
as well, especially in rural areas; and to speed the transition to cheaper renewable energy,
like solar, that will lower people’s bills long-term.
The Administration is also leading one of America’s most ambitious efforts to prevent
homelessness. Based on a “housing first” principle, it’s helping states and cities prioritize
housing as the foundational step in delivering support, services, and jobs to rebuild lives. The
Administration will work with Congress and local jurisdictions to increase supportive and
interim housing options, and the services necessary to help unhoused individuals stay
permanently housed.
Instead of trying to solve the problem, Trump has made it worse. Trump has never done
anything to ease America’s long-standing housing shortage. In fact, he and his allies benefit
directly from the housing shortage. The higher the rent, the more that he and his rich
real-estate friends earn. For decades, he made a career of inflating rents and putting
homeownership out of folks’ reach. As a landlord, he was sued for race-based housing
discrimination; and he was accused of cutting off tenants’ water and heat, to push them out
and charge new tenants more. As President, he tried every year to triple rent for low-income
Americans in subsidized housing, including the elderly and people with disabilities; and to
gut policies that help Black and Latino families access fair housing.
Now, Trump and his MAGA allies are vowing to gut President Biden’s historic work. Senate
Republicans this spring blocked a bipartisan bill that would’ve provided tax credits to build
200,000 affordable homes; and they’ve repeatedly tried to cut affordable housing and
rental assistance programs, preferring to protect tax breaks for corporate landlords like
Trump instead. They will weaken the independent agencies that protect consumers from
rent gouging, and they will make it harder for working families to buy a home, by reinstating
higher mortgage insurance premiums, and by privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a
windfall to hedge funds.
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EDUCATION
Democrats fundamentally believe that every student deserves a quality education,
regardless of their parents’ zip code or income.
We know that education starts well before kids go to kindergarten. Studies show that
children who attend preschool are nearly 50 percent more likely to finish high school and go
on to earn a two- or four-year degree, no matter their background. That’s why Democrats
will provide free, universal preschool for four-year olds, saving the families of 5 million
children $13,000 a year.
In the wake of the pandemic, that’s especially urgent. The American Rescue Plan made the
biggest investment in public education in history, providing $130 billion to help 15,000
districts reopen, rebuild, and catch kids up; funding that has worked to help our children
learn. The historic investment spurred long overdue improvements in school facilities and
indoor air quality, creating safe and healthy learning environments for students and school
staff. Since then, we’ve also provided an additional $2 billion to high-need, Title I schools.
We’ve helped districts nationwide train and hire 14,000 more counselors and social workers,
so kids can heal from the disruptions of COVID, and cope with the fear of gun violence in
order to focus on learning. We increased investments in full-service community schools
five-fold, providing health care, nutrition, job training, and other wraparound services for
kids at school, investing in their futures and making families’ lives easier.
The Administration supports a multitude of approaches that have been proven to help
students learn: reducing chronic absenteeism by building social and emotional supports at
schools, offering literacy programs, and setting high expectations for student attendance;
providing intensive tutoring; extending the school day and school year; expanding
community schools; and helping schools to lift student achievement, rather than punishing
them based on state standardized tests. We support fully funding IDEA to prioritize students
with disabilities and the special educator workforce. We support efforts to provide more
timely, well-rounded, actionable feedback on student learning and progress to educators
and to families that will support instruction and student success, while upholding rigorous
academic standards. We oppose the use of private-school vouchers, tuition tax credits,
opportunity scholarships, and other schemes that divert taxpayer-funded resources away
from public education. Public tax dollars should never be used to discriminate. And we’ll
continue working to increase accountability at charters, holding them to the same
transparency standards as public schools. We’ll prioritize education in cutting-edge STEAM
fields as well, especially for students from underrepresented communities, preparing every
child to compete and thrive. And we’re working to provide every student with a pathway to
multilingual education, while ensuring equitable access to a high-quality education for
English learners, who’ve historically been underserved.
A quality, postsecondary education used to be a ticket to the middle class, but the cost that
many folks face for higher education today is crippling families, futures, and our entire
economy. It has become a barrier to opportunity. Democrats will make quality, affordable,
postsecondary education a path forward again.
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Four year college is not the only pathway to a good career, so Democrats are investing in
other forms of education as well, including career and technical education. The
Administration is expanding job training partnerships that connect high schools, local
businesses, and labor unions to prepare students for good jobs in high-skill, high-wage, and
in-demand industries. It’ll make trade school and community college free for every
American. And it’s making record investments in registered apprenticeships – which already
train more than one million Americans a year across industries, including cutting-edge
industries. Some 90 percent of them stay on as full hires, earning an average starting salary
of $80,000 a year. That’s a path to the middle class that families can count on.
A majority of college students graduate with student debt. It can be an overwhelming stress,
as snowballing interest follows folks for decades, defining the choices they make and the
jobs they take, and holding back our entire economy. Although Republican appointees on
the Supreme Court blocked the President's initial student debt relief plan for 40 million
borrowers, he has not stopped using every available tool to provide relief. His Administration
already approved the cancellation of $167 billion in loans for nearly 5 million borrowers,
including nearly a million public servants like teachers, nurses, and police; and it has outlined
plans to deliver relief to 30 million borrowers in all. Meanwhile, its new SAVE plan is the most
affordable student-loan repayment plan in history, helping 8 million Americans – including
more than 4.5 million who now have a $0 monthly payment. These savings will transform
lives, freeing people to buy a house, to start a family, or to launch a business with new hope.
For young people just heading to college now, we’ve already secured the largest increase in
Pell Grants in a decade, and we’ll further expand these grants to 7 million more students, and
double the maximum award by 2029. We’ve invested a record $16 billion in Historically Black
Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); and we’re working to subsidize tuition at all Minority
Serving Institutions for anyone whose family earns less than $125,000 a year.
While Democrats work to make the promise of education available to everyone, Trump just
sees school as another opportunity for a scam. Trump University not only conned thousands
of people into buying worthless degrees, it saddled them with thousands in debt. And, not
only are Republicans trying to block our student debt relief, they are slashing funding for job
training that ensures workers can access good paying jobs without a four-year degree.
At the same time, Democrats have educators’ backs. Teachers, education support
professionals, paraprofessional and school-related personnel, and specialized instructional
support personnel are the heart and soul of our communities; they give so much of
themselves, and inspire our children to dream. The Administration has canceled student
loan debts for more than 942,000 public servants, including educators. Public school
educators also deserve a raise. We’ll recruit more new teachers, paraprofessionals and
school related personnel, and education support professionals, with the option for some to
even start training in high school; and we’ll help school-support staff to advance in their own
careers with a living wage. We will improve working conditions and support to help make
teaching a sustainable and affordable profession. We’ll keep investing in partnerships with
HBCUs, MSIs, and Tribal Colleges and Universities to strengthen and diversify the teacher
pipeline, so students of every background can see themselves at the head of the classroom
and in charge of their schools.
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SOCIAL SECURITY, PENSIONS, & MEDICARE
The right to a secure and dignified retirement is one of the bedrock principles of American
life. Before Social Security, almost half of American seniors lived in poverty. Even those
who’d spent a lifetime working didn't always have enough to put food on the table or health
care they could count on. Democrats changed that: in 1935, we passed Social Security; in
1965, we signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. These are more than government
programs – they’re a promise that we’ve made as a country, that after a lifetime of hard
work, people deserve to retire with dignity and security. They’ve made tens of millions of
lives better.
Trump and his MAGA allies are shredding that sacred trust, and saying they’ll cut Social
Security to give billionaires another tax cut. Trump has called Social Security a “Ponzi
Scheme” and warned “there’s a lot you can do in terms of cutting.” As President, he tried to
slash both Social Security and Medicare programs in every budget, and to gut Medicaid,
which provides home care to over seven million seniors and people with disabilities. House
Republicans have vowed to cut Social Security by over $1.5 trillion, to raise the retirement
age, and to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, threatening the program. Trump
will also eliminate protections for private retirement savings, by undermining the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau and making it easier for banks to rip off seniors with expensive,
hidden fees.
Democrats won’t let that happen. Generations of Americans have paid into these programs,
with every paycheck of their lives. We’ll never back down from our ironclad commitment to
protecting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. We reject any effort to privatize Social
Security or to cut any of the benefits that the American people have earned. Middle-class
Americans pay 6.2 percent of their income to support Social Security, and the self-employed
pay twice that. But people with multi-million dollar incomes pay a fraction of 1 percent. We’ll
strengthen the program and expand benefits by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay
their fair share. We also oppose any actions to cut Medicare benefits. We’ll look to expand
traditional Medicare coverage to include dental, vision, and hearing services, which are so
key to health and quality of life, by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair
share.
The fact is that both Social Security and Medicare are in a stronger fiscal position today than
when President Biden took office. Our strong economic recovery has helped to extend
Medicare solvency by a decade. And the President’s prescription drug reforms will save it
hundreds of billions of dollars, by finally empowering Medicare to directly negotiate lower
prices with drug companies, and to collect rebates if Big Pharma hikes prices faster than
inflation. If Republicans repeal our reforms, they’ll erase those savings and put Medicare
itself at risk. Democrats will make Medicare permanently solvent, by making the wealthy pay
their fair share in Medicare taxes.
Democrats will stand firm to protect retirement security across the board. In 2021, we
passed the Butch-Lewis Act, preserving the pensions of 3 million union workers and retirees
who would’ve seen deep cuts, and reversing pension cuts for over 100,000 workers. Going
forward, we’ll amend federal bankruptcy laws to make sure no other retirees ever run that
same risk. The Administration is also cracking down on junk fees in retirement savings, and
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reversed a Trump-era rule that had allowed financial advisors to put their own interests
before their clients’. Democrats want to make it easier for everyone to save for retirement
and retire with dignity.
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Chapter Four: Tackling the Climate Crisis, Lowering
Energy Costs, & Securing Energy Independence
Every year, the devastation caused by climate change grows more urgent. Across the
country, Americans experience the dire impacts of climate change: Floods and storms wipe
more homes off the map. Wildfire smoke spreads thousands of miles, forcing millions to
shelter indoors. We’ve had the worst droughts in a thousand years, and the fastest sea-level
rise in over a century. Last year was Earth’s hottest on record. Natural disasters and extreme
weather have cost America over one trillion dollars in damages in just the last seven years.
And they hit the most vulnerable among us hardest – seniors, people with disabilities,
people in neighborhoods without resources to blunt the impact.
The climate crisis is decades in the making, an existential threat to future generations who
deserve better. It’s a consequence of delay and destruction by people like Donald Trump and
his friends in Big Oil, who still deny what we all see happening right before our eyes.
President Biden is delivering on the most aggressive climate agenda in history. His landmark
legislation has unleashed a clean energy boom that’s slashing pollution, lowering energy
costs, and has already created over 300,000 good-paying American clean energy jobs.
America is now producing more energy than ever in its history. He has taken more
environmental actions than any president before him – providing cleaner air and water,
making communities more resilient, and forcing polluters to pay for the damage they’ve
done. He is on track to protect more of America’s lands and waters than any president
before him, and he has restored our global climate leadership. He is positioning America to
lead the future – energy independent, resilient, innovative, and strong.
Trump is only interested in himself and his wealthy donors, who got rich polluting our
country. As president, he gutted more than 125 environmental policies that had protected
the American people from toxic pollution, everywhere from sewage plants, to oil and gas
fields, to our own homes. He pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement at Big Oil’s urging,
weakening America’s role in the world. He fired scientists from federal agencies, replacing
them with oil and gas lobbyists who rewrote our nation’s environmental rules. And he
handed oil companies $25 billion in tax breaks.
Now, Trump is set to do Big Oil’s and polluters’ bidding again. He told oil executives he’d
reverse our climate progress and slash their taxes once more – if they’d give him $1 billion
for his campaign. Oil and gas lobbyists are already drafting executive orders for him to sign
on day one. He wants to roll back the clean energy progress that President Biden has made,
gut the Environmental Protection Agency, and let polluters dump dangerous PFAS
chemicals in our water. His MAGA allies have tried 42 times to repeal our landmark climate
law. If they succeed, they’ll eliminate tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, drive up home
energy costs, sicken thousands of Americans with toxic pollution, and cede the race for the
future to China.
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PRODUCING CLEANER, MORE AFFORDABLE ENERGY
Across the world, we’re seeing massive new clean energy production and uptake. We’re at
the dawn of a new era that will redefine the global economy, and that America must lead.
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda makes the largest clean-energy investment
in history; and it has already attracted over $400 billion in private sector commitments, to
develop and manufacture solar, wind, battery, and other clean technologies here at home.
Today, 585 new clean energy manufacturing projects are underway – not just on the coasts,
but in 47 states, including in places too often left behind. Some 81 percent of the
investments made since our landmark climate law passed are going to counties with
below-average weekly wages.
America is making leaps forward in energy generation and storage, while modernizing our
electricity grid and upgrading transmission lines to deliver reliable, clean power. Private
sector companies have announced investment in solar modules that will power 18 million
homes; and the Biden-Harris Administration has approved the first nine commercial
offshore wind projects in federal waters, set to power nearly 5 million homes. Large-scale
energy storage capacity has increased twelve-fold since the President took office, and is
expected to double again by year’s end.
This clean energy boom has already created over 300,000 jobs and lowered energy costs
for millions of families. It puts us on track to triple clean-energy generation by 2030,
reducing Big Oil’s hold on our economy, protecting families from wild price swings, and
bringing America closer to energy independence than we’ve been in over 70 years.
Going forward, Democrats will keep working to incentivize investment in transmission
upgrades and new lines, and in the grid-component manufacturing that’s needed to support
that growth. We will improve and speed up the processes of environmental review and
clean-energy permitting; and further scale up development of clean energy on public lands.
We’ll also continue to invest in clean energy research and development, building on
America’s legacy as a nation of new frontiers and possibilities. To help find new ways of
generating and storing energy, reducing emissions, and boosting climate resilience, we’ll
launch an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Climate (ARPA-C), modeled on the
defense research agency that’s behind breakthrough technologies like the internet and
GPS, and the new ARPA-H that the Administration created to transform medicine. We’ll also
establish a new national lab for climate research and innovation, affiliated with an HBCU,
Hispanic-, or other Minority-Serving Institution, to ensure the opportunities of the future are
available to everyone, and built by everyone. And we will continue to invest in climate
research across NASA, NOAA, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies, to
make sure that America leads the world in clean energy innovation.
LOWERING ENERGY COSTS
Democrats’ historic climate and clean energy agenda is lowering energy costs for families
and small businesses long-term and today – with cheaper, cleaner energy and with tax
credits to make home energy use more efficient and affordable. America’s clean energy
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boom is giving everyone more energy choices than ever, and more choices mean lower
prices. According to the Department of Energy, our policies are expected to slash overall
electricity rates by 9 percent and gas prices by as much as 13 percent by 2030, saving
Americans tens of billions of dollars.
At the same time, the Inflation Reduction Act is providing tax credits and rebates to make
Americans’ homes more efficient, so families can immediately start saving on their energy
costs, now and for years to come. Families can reduce their bills up to $2,000 a year by
making their homes more energy efficient with new insulation, windows, and doors; and by
installing rooftop solar panels, home battery storage, and electric pumps for heating and
cooling. Democrats are also offering rebates on new, energy-efficient appliances; and
people can save up to $7,500 when they buy a new plug-in hybrid or fully electric car, or
$4,000 if they buy a used one.
The Administration has toughened efficiency standards on new appliances and cars as well,
which will further reduce emissions and energy bills. New fuel economy and tailpipe
standards alone are expected to save drivers some $6,000 per car by reducing fuel and
maintenance costs.
The Administration has also taken historic action to lower gas prices at the pump, by
standing up to Big Oil’s price gouging, releasing strategic reserves to blunt profiteering, and
promoting competition with cleaner, cheaper, renewable fuel.
CREATING CLEAN ENERGY JOBS
President Biden has long said that when he thinks about climate change, he thinks about
jobs. Good-paying union jobs that people can raise a family on. As President, he’s delivering.
The clean energy manufacturing and deployment boom ignited by his landmark climate law
has so far directly created over 300,000 jobs in communities nationwide; and we’re making
sure those jobs meet rigorous worker and environmental safety standards. The legislation is
helping to push American factory construction to an all-time high as well, as we build new
plants to make things like batteries and electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines, and
bring the supply chains needed to power a clean energy future home.
The President’s agenda also includes extended Buy Clean and Buy America standards,
requiring federal projects to use low-carbon, American-made cement, steel, and other
materials; and providing credits for private companies to do the same, creating more
American jobs. It also provides extra incentives for private companies to hire registered
apprentices and pay prevailing wages. Through executive action and with Congress,
Democrats will continue to work to create strong labor standards for jobs created with
taxpayer dollars.
To help prepare people for these jobs, Democrats launched the American Climate Corps, a
new workforce training and service initiative that will put more than 20,000 young
Americans to work on clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience projects
nationwide. President Biden has set a goal to triple the size of the American Climate Corps
by the end of this decade, ensuring that young people are given the skills and tools they
need to succeed in careers in our new clean energy and climate resilience economies. The
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Administration is also making record investments in registered apprenticeships, including in
clean energy industries. Registered apprenticeships train more than a million Americans a
year across industries, 90 percent of whom stay on in those jobs as full hires. We’re also
boosting investment in STEM education and workforce training programs for women and at
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and other Minority Serving Institutions, to make
sure the clean energy and manufacturing jobs of tomorrow are open and accessible to
communities that have been too often left out in the past.
The Administration is also investing in new sources of income for America’s farmers, and
working to make our farm sector the world’s first to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Under President Biden’s landmark climate law, the Agriculture Department is paying
farmers to adopt climate-smart practices, which sequester carbon from the atmosphere,
improve soil health and biodiversity, and restore water cycles, all while opening new revenue
streams from ecosystem services markets. Already, over 80,000 farms covering 75 million
acres have adopted these practices.
Above all, Democrats will unite against the Republican war on clean energy, blocking their
obsessive attempts to repeal President Biden’s clean energy investments. Republicans will
not be allowed to pull the rug out from American clean energy businesses, send hundreds of
thousands of jobs overseas, and strip all Americans of cheaper, cleaner energy choices, all to
please their special interest backers.
REDUCING POLLUTION & MAKING POLLUTERS PAY
These transformative investments in American energy are lowering energy costs, creating
good-paying jobs, revitalizing local economies, and reducing pollution.
Transportation is America’s biggest emitter, responsible for a third of emissions. The
Administration has put us on track to eliminate all carbon from the sector by 2050. It’s
making generational investments in transportation infrastructure, including in cleaner
shipping, trucking, transit, rail, and aviation. It issued the toughest-ever fuel economy and
tailpipe standards, so new cars both get better mileage, and reduce emissions per mile by as
much as 50 percent.
With tax credits, Democrats helped quadruple sales of electric vehicles, with the goal that
50 percent of all new passenger cars sold in the U.S. by 2030 be electric. We’re protecting
American children from asthma-related diesel pollution by giving school districts rebates to
buy thousands of electric school buses so kids don’t have to breathe polluted air. We’ll keep
working to electrify the nation’s fleet of school buses, transit buses, and federal vehicles,
including the U.S. Postal Service fleet. We’ll double funding to repair and expand active
transportation and public transit, reducing pollution and traffic, and connecting people to
jobs and opportunity. And we’ll work to electrify our ports and waterways, prioritizing
progress towards a goal of zero-emissions freight.
We’ll keep pushing to reduce emissions from America's buildings and heavy industry. We
support local and state efforts to adopt energy-efficient building codes. We’ll require that
low-carbon materials and clean power be used in all new federal buildings by 2030, and
invest in upgrading VA hospitals, federal offices, and K-12 public school and community
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college buildings, making them innovative, energy efficient, and safe places to learn. And
we’ll support investments in heavy industry, to make America the leader in clean steel,
cement, aluminum, and other products.
We’ll also keep stepping up action to crack down on other forms of air and water pollution,
repairing damage done by Trump’s failed oversight, and making polluters pay. The
Administration has strengthened dozens of environmental and safety standards to reduce
smog, soot, carbon, methane, mercury, and other toxic pollutants in our communities. After
30 years of inadequate protections, we finally banned all cancer-causing asbestos, including
from homes, cars, and water filtration sites. And we prohibited the use of chlorpyrifos, a
pesticide that can sicken farmworkers and children.
We also set America’s first national drinking water standard to finally protect local water
supplies from pollution with PFAS, toxic “forever chemicals” linked to cancer. Through the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re upgrading wastewater systems. And we’re replacing
every toxic lead pipe in America – long-overdue work that will finally guarantee that every
person in the country can turn on the faucet and drink clean water.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also includes important work to speed the cleanup of
toxic Superfund and brownfield sites that have leached poisonous waste into nearby
neighborhoods for decades. To cover those costs, the law finally restored a vital “polluter
pays” tax that had lapsed 26 years before, once again collecting revenue on any chemical
sold in the United States, and directing it to the Superfund Trust Fund to pay for cleanup.
At the same time, the Administration has greatly increased civil and criminal enforcement of
our nation’s environmental laws, boosting funding for the Justice Department and
Environmental Protection Agency, resulting in faster cleanups and tougher compliance. We
support increased monitoring, transparency, and community engagement in this work.
Throughout, we’ll keep standing up to Big Oil, as our clean energy boom breaks the
industry’s monopoly hold on energy markets. For the first time in 100 years, we’ve increased
the royalties that oil and gas companies have to pay to drill or mine on public lands; and
we’re charging at least 10 times more for the bonds that are required to hold companies
accountable for cleaning up drilling sites or capping their abandoned wells, which have been
left to spew methane. States and private landowners have for years charged more than the
federal government does to lease their lands; it’s time the taxpayers got a similar return.
Going forward, we’ll also eliminate tens of billions of dollars in other unfair oil and gas
subsidies. When windfall profiteering causes prices to spike at the pump, we’ll release our
own supplies to keep costs down for American families. And, when we hear of potential
collusion or price-gouging, we’ll hold oil and gas executives accountable.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
For too long in this country, too many communities have been denied the basic security and
dignity that comes from having clean air, clean water, and functioning infrastructure. Too
many parents still lay awake at night worrying what the rain or soil or water or air is doing to
their kids. That kind of inequity goes against everything that we stand for as a nation. To
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finally change that, President Biden’s climate agenda includes the most ambitious
environmental justice actions in history, making sure that the people who’ve suffered most
from legacy pollution can now share in the benefits.
During his first week in office, the President established the Justice40 initiative, with the
goal of directing 40 percent of the benefits of our historic climate and clean energy
investments to fenceline communities hit hardest by past pollution. Last year, he gave the
program new teeth, with an executive order requiring every federal agency to designate its
own Environmental Justice Officer to consider and improve the health impacts of its work on
all communities.
Every major plank of our Investing in America agenda shares that commitment to
environmental justice. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests a record $21 billion in
tackling legacy pollution, the biggest effort to right such wrongs in American history. We’re
also investing in capping orphaned oil and gas wells, which leak deadly methane into
surrounding communities well after Big Oil is gone.
And to help ensure new climate and clean energy projects can get financed across America,
particularly in communities historically left behind and overburdened by pollution, President
Biden and Vice President Harris launched a first-of-its-kind $27 billion national financing
network as part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction fund. This program will ensure
communities across the country have access to the capital they need to participate in and
benefit from a cleaner, more sustainable economy as we slash harmful climate pollution,
improve air quality, lower energy costs, and create good-paying jobs.
Our climate law makes major investments in long-overdue clean water and sanitation as
well. It launched a Clean Ports program to help ease the impact of air pollution around ports
and airports, where thousands of trucks move goods in and out, often through
neighborhoods experiencing distress as a result of historic disinvestment. It invests in clean
public transit, connecting communities that have been isolated or disconnected by
infrastructure and development to jobs, healthcare, education and opportunities. And under
this climate law, millions of trees will be planted, deploying a nature-based solution to
combat the urban heat island effect by cooling our streets and easing the deadly impact of
extreme heat on people living and working in these areas. We will continue to implement the
President’s Executive Order on Environmental Justice for All, and will seek legislative
options to further advance environmental justice.
Democrats also know we have a moral obligation to make sure that fenceline communities
benefit from the clean energy revolution. Programs like Solar for All are helping to lower
energy costs, by installing nearly a million solar rooftops in low-income areas by 2029. At the
same time, we’re providing bonus tax credits to draw clean energy and clean manufacturing
to former fossil fuel and legacy power plant communities. They powered our nation for
generations and deserve a just transition away from fossil fuels. Today, they’re seeing rapid
growth.
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BUILDING CLIMATE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES
We have an urgent obligation to make every community in America more resilient to climate
change and extreme weather. A record more than 2,300 Americans died after extreme heat
exposure last year, making it the top weather-related killer; while as a country, we had to
build back from 28 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters. It’s not sustainable.
The President’s infrastructure and climate laws are improving our climate resilience by
boosting readiness and response, including by recruiting and retaining more wildland
firefighters, and increasing budgets at FEMA. And, they’re preparing us to better mitigate
the impact of each extreme weather event as well. We’ve taken unprecedented steps to
reinforce our nation’s infrastructure, building new roads, bridges, and ports that are less
vulnerable to flooding. We’re putting power lines underground, so winds can’t bring them
down where they catch fire. We’re making our electric grids more reliable and more energy
efficient, so families and businesses don’t lose power in critical moments. We’re restoring
wetlands to help protect communities from sea-level rise and storm surge. We’ve stabilized
the Colorado River System, which provides water for more than 40 million Americans, after
the worst drought in over a thousand years. We’ll continue investing in public safety
measures, like resiliency and cooling centers, so everyone, including our most vulnerable
residents, can find refuge during extreme weather events. And we’re looking out for
workers, who often risk their lives on the job in extreme weather, with President Biden for
example introducing the first national heat standards to protect workers from dangerous
heat last year.
Going forward, Democrats will work to pass the bipartisan Disaster Resilience Tax Credit, to
help low- and middle-income families and small businesses invest in preparing for and
easing the impact of storms, heat, floods, and other natural disasters.
Trump refuses to admit that climate change, and any of the devastating impacts that
communities nationwide, are real. His allies have promised to privatize the National Weather
Service, downsize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and stop the
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research from conducting climate research, making it
much harder to predict when extreme weather is coming, respond or help communities
recover.
CONSERVATION
America’s natural wonders are our nation’s heart and soul. They unite and inspire us, and
connect us to something bigger than ourselves. From his first day in office, President Biden
has taken historic steps to protect, conserve, and restore them. He set our nation’s first-ever
national conservation goal to protect at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030,
including by supporting locally-led, voluntary efforts. Today, he is on track to conserve more
American lands and waters than any President in history – over 41 million acres so far,
including dozens of new national monuments, wildlife refuges, and other protected areas,
from the Grand Canyon to the Great Lakes.
Trump is the only president in history to have stripped more public lands of protection than
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he designated, opening tens of millions of acres of our most pristine national monuments to
mining and drilling. The Administration has reversed that, canceling leases in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge and prohibiting new leasing in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters;
restoring important protections for places like Grand Staircase-Escalante National
Monument and Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and expanding the San Gabriel
Mountains National Monument in California; and protecting places that are too special to
develop, like Alaska’s Bristol Bay.
Going forward, Democrats will increase protections for America’s Arctic, and ensure clean
water for all Americans by protecting rivers and wetlands. We’ll protect our oceans by
working to designate new marine sanctuaries, and protect coastal communities from
climate impacts. We’ll keep pushing to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund,
partnering with state and local governments; and work to reduce threats to iconic old
growth forests. We’ll reward Americans across the country who engage in voluntary
conservation on private lands, and we’ll work with landowners to protect endangered
species and our economy by restoring habitats and enhancing biodiversity, and continuing
to protect lands and waters as National Monuments.
GLOBAL CLIMATE LEADERSHIP
With these historic actions and sustained engagement, President Biden has restored
America’s global climate leadership, once again making our nation the world’s pivotal force
against climate change. The United States rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement on day one
of his presidency, and President Biden set an ambitious goal to reach net-zero emissions by
2050, in line with climate science. He used the restored power of America’s example to
press other nations to do more, persuading 155 countries to agree to slash methane
emissions, a potent greenhouse gas, by at least 30 percent by the end of this decade. The
United States is increasing the resilience, diversity, and security of our clean energy supply
chains, while making sure they reflect our values, including by creating good-paying, safe
jobs for workers. The Administration has rallied the world to commit for the first time to
transitioning away from fossil fuels. It set a bold new goal for nations to triple renewable
energy worldwide and to double energy efficiency by 2030; and it helped to launch a new
global clean-energy supply chain partnership to make that happen.
As Democrats, we believe the United States has an indispensable role to play in solving the
climate crisis, and we have an obligation to help other nations carry out this work. America’s
leadership in domestic clean energy development is driving a global cycle of innovation and
investment that will help lower the cost of clean energy technologies in a fair and
transparent way for all nations. We believe that international climate finance is an important
tool in this fight. That’s why the Administration committed to achieve $11 billion dollars of
climate financing a year by 2024, to help develop the international clean energy market. And
it worked with other nations to achieve a landmark global goal of mobilizing $100 billion in
collective climate financing by 2022, fulfilling a promise of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Going forward, we’ll continue to support efforts to boost funding for initiatives like
PREPARE, our program to build out better early warning systems for climate impacts in
critical regions of the globe. We will use America’s leadership to drive global innovation and
build out clean energy supply chains. We’ll work through the Multilateral Development Bank
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to elevate climate and clean energy priorities within the global development finance system.
And we’ll build on our leadership in innovative debt-for-nature swaps, which have helped
countries from Barbados to Gabon to restructure over $2 billion in debt so far, unlocking
hundreds of millions of dollars for nature and climate investments.
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Chapter Five: Protecting Communities & Tackling
the Scourge of Gun Violence
All Americans deserve freedom from fear: to be confident that their children will come home
safely from the store or the playground, and to know that their loved one will come home
safely from their shift policing the streets. Young Americans deserve a president who’s
fighting to keep guns out of school. Women deserve a president who has worked his whole
life to end violence against women. Families deserve a president who has delivered safer
neighborhoods.
Under President Biden, in 2023 the murder rate saw the sharpest decrease in history and
violent crime fell to one of the lowest levels in more than 50 years. He defeated the gun
lobby and passed the first significant federal gun safety law in nearly 30 years. And,
Democrats provided funding for communities to hire more police.
During Donald Trump’s last year in office, murders surged by nearly 30 percent, the highest
increase recorded in modern history. Trump tells families traumatized by gun violence to
“get over it” and brags that he did nothing about guns. His budgets repeatedly cut law
enforcement funding.
Americans deserve the freedom to be safe, and America is safer today than when President
Biden first took office.
GUN SAFETY
The gun violence epidemic is a scourge ripping apart our communities; it is the leading
cause of death for children and teens. Mass shootings at schools, grocery stores, houses of
worship, dancehalls, and nightclubs, as well as daily gun violence at home and on streets,
devastate American families.
President Biden has been fighting and beating the gun lobby for decades, and he’s
continued to do so as president. With his leadership, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer
Communities Act (BSCA), the first significant federal gun safety law in nearly 30 years. It
includes the first-ever federal gun trafficking and straw purchasing law, enhanced
background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21, funding to implement red flag
laws, a narrowing of the “boyfriend loophole” to keep guns out of the hands of domestic
abusers, and new requirements so all gun dealers now must conduct background checks no
matter where or how they sell their merchandise. And, the law helps schools hire and train
an estimated 14,000 school-based mental health professionals, including counselors,
psychologists, and social workers.
President Biden also established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Safety
Prevention - led by Vice President Harris - and took nearly 40 gun safety executive actions,
including going after dangerous “ghost guns.” He launched new law enforcement strike
forces within the Department of Justice to crack down on gun trafficking.
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While President Biden has stood up to the gun lobby, Trump is proud of doing their bidding.
He stood before the NRA convention this year and said, “During my four years nothing
happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We
didn’t yield.” While he “did nothing,” gun violence spiked: Trump oversaw the largest
single-year increase in murders in history, including a 35 percent increase in gun murders.
He refused to limit the use of high-capacity magazines after a Las Vegas shooter used a
dozen 100-round magazines to kill 58 people. And, when confronted with horrific gun
violence, he told families to “get over it.”
Democrats will establish universal background checks, a step supported by the vast majority
of Americans, including gun owners. We will once again ban assault weapons and
high-capacity magazines. We will require safe storage for guns. Democrats will end the gun
industry’s immunity from liability, so gunmakers can no longer escape accountability. We will
pass a national red flag law to prevent tragedies by keeping weapons out of dangerous
hands. We will increase funding to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) for
enforcement and prosecution, and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for firearm
background checks. And, because the gun violence epidemic is a public health crisis, we will
fund gun violence research across the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National
Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as community violence interventions.
POLICING & PUBLIC SAFETY
President Biden recognizes the sacrifices police officers and their families make to keep our
communities safe. Every day, officers risk their lives for the safety of people they do not
know. And since Day One, President Biden has been working to make sure police officers
have the tools they need to protect their communities, including more police officers on the
street. We need to fund the police, not defund the police.
Democrats passed and President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, with the
largest-ever federal investment in fighting and preventing crime, reducing violence, and
investing in public safety. That funding enabled cities and states to invest more than $15
billion in public safety and violence prevention, putting more police officers on the beat for
accountable community policing, as well as interrupting and preventing crime. In 2023, the
Justice Department provided $5.8 billion tostate, local, Tribal, and territorial law
enforcement agencies, research institutions, and nonprofits to advance public safety –
including funding for 1,730 new police officers in nearly 400 communities. Because police
officers should be able to focus on fighting crime, President Biden secured the first-ever
federal funding solely dedicated to community violence intervention programs; and he
increased funding for crisis interventions, mobile crisis teams, and training for first
responders and law enforcement. President Biden also signed legislation replenishing the
Crime Victims Fund, which supports programs that assist survivors. Democrats also secured
funding for extra security at places of worship and community institutions; and we are
investing in Tribal public safety.
Public trust, as any police officer will tell you, is the foundation of public safety. Police cannot
fulfill their role to keep communities safe without public trust and confidence in law
enforcement and in the criminal justice system. Yet, there are places in America today where
the bonds of trust are frayed or broken. President Biden took action to enhance public trust
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by signing a historic executive order on police reform alongside George Floyd’s family. He
launched the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database with information on
misconduct by federal law enforcement officers, and sharply restricted chokeholds and
no-knock warrants for federal law enforcement. And, the Administration is publishing data
on the use of force and is also preventing certain militarized equipment from being sold or
transferred to local police agencies.
Trump oversaw the largest one-year increase in murders ever recorded. On January 6, he
encouraged the rioters who attacked the police officers protecting our Capitol; since then,
he has promised to pardon these convicted criminals. He is the candidate who wants to
defund the police: As president, he repeatedly proposed cutting funding to state and local
law enforcement programs, including the COPS program that funds local police officers, for
three years in a row. He has called to defund the Department of Justice and the FBI. And, he
says he will withhold federal funding from local police departments that don’t adopt policies
like stop-and-frisk or assist in mass deportations.
Trump has been equally disastrous for accountable policing. As president, he reversed
restrictions that limited the transfer of surplus military equipment to local police
departments and effectively abandoned pattern-or-practice investigations into police
misconduct. When protests followed George Floyd’s murder, he tweeted, “when the looting
starts, the shooting starts” and referred to protesters as “THUGS,” and tear-gassed
nonviolent protesters outside the White House. If he gets another term, he will resume
stop-and-frisk practices and withhold federal funding from local police departments that do
not adopt this discriminatory policy. He’s promising to sign legislation to broaden qualified
immunity to prevent legal accountability for police misconduct.
President Biden is committed to making our country safer for every American, civilians and
law enforcement alike. Democrats will pass his Safer America Plan, which calls on Congress
to invest $37 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention. That includes funding
100,000 additional police officers for accountable community policing and $5 billion in
community violence intervention, which will help prevent crime, keep communities safe, and
build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. We will create a new
Violent Crime Reduction and Prevention Fund to give federal, state, local, and Tribal law
enforcement the resources they need to fight crime, including to hire more agents,
prosecutors, and forensic specialists. We will give communities the tools to crack down on
gun crime, retail crime, and carjacking. Democrats will build on the progress in President
Biden’s executive order on effective, accountable policing by passing the George Floyd
Justice in Policing Act. And, we will end racial profiling and religious discrimination in law
enforcement.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
President Biden is committed to rehabilitation and reentry for people returning to their
communities after incarceration, and to building a criminal justice system that lives up to
those ideals and ensures that everyone receives equal justice under law. That’s why he’s
taken historic steps to make this promise a reality.
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No one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana. Sending people to prison for
possession has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many
states no longer prohibit. Those criminal records impose needless barriers to employment,
housing, and educational opportunities, disproportionately affecting Black and brown
people. President Biden took historic action to end this failed approach by pardoning people
convicted federally for using or possessing marijuana. He has called on governors to use
their pardon power to do the same for state-level offenses. And his Administration is taking
a major step to reschedule cannabis so it's no longer classified as more dangerous than
fentanyl or methamphetamine.
President Biden has released a comprehensive strategic plan to improve the criminal justice
system and strengthen public safety, including more than 100 concrete actions. The
Administration is improving rehabilitation in jails and prisons and helping people rebuild their
lives, an important step in reducing recidivism. It has invested nearly $1 billion in job training,
addiction recovery, and reentry services across the country; and expanded access to Pell
Grants, so people can earn a college degree while they are incarcerated, starting over with
new skills. The Administration will keep investing in housing, mentorship, job training, and
apprenticeship programs as well. It is working to end the school-to-prison pipeline by
reissuing guidance from the Departments of Education and Justice to prevent disparate
discipline of children of color and with disabilities and incentivizing states to develop
community-based alternatives to prison for young people. And, President Biden
reestablished the Justice Department’s standalone Office for Access to Justice to ensure
that everyone can get legal assistance.
President Biden has used his pardon power to right historical wrongs. In addition to
pardoning simple possession and use of marijuana, he’s pardoned or shortened the
sentences of people convicted of other nonviolent drug offenses and pardoned
approximately 2,000 gay, lesbian, and bisexual veterans who were convicted years ago just
for being themselves.
Democrats will take action to expunge federal marijuana-only convictions. We will combat
drug trafficking and expand the use of drug courts, interventions, and diversion for people
with substance use disorders. We will fund a new Accelerating Justice System Reform grant
program to provide jurisdictions with critical resources to foster community trust and safety,
reduce inequity and justice system involvement, and alleviate burdens on police. We will
expand access to public defenders and step up civil rights enforcement, including by
boosting funding for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and hiring 50 new
Assistant U.S. Attorneys. And, we will remove barriers to legal access, combat hate crimes,
and counter cyber threats. To keep children and teens safe and out of the justice system, we
will invest in after-school programs, community centers, and summer jobs. And, to ensure
young people get a second chance after leaving the justice system, we will automatically
seal and expunge juvenile records.
Democrats will end state-level use of private prisons and detention centers, and we will
restrict state and local practices like solitary confinement, chokeholds, and restraints on
pregnant inmates. We will guarantee access to medical care in prison and will eliminate
profiteering from diversion, bail, electronic monitoring, commissaries, and reentry programs.
We will support rehabilitation and education, including college programs, for inmates in
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prison and after their release. To help returning citizens succeed upon their release, we will
boost access to transitional housing, affordable housing, mental health and substance use
treatment. We will limit reincarcerating people federally to only serious violations of
supervised release. And, we will work to expand “ban the box” so returning citizens can more
easily find work, protect their right to vote, and protect their right to public services like Pell
Grants and nutrition assistance.
Trump’s approach to criminal justice could not be more different. His Administration
threatened federal prosecution for marijuana cases in states where marijuana was legal. As
president, Trump granted fewer clemency requests than nearly every president since the
start of the 20th century; and many of his grants were reserved for well-connected
offenders and close friends and associates like Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort,
Michael Flynn, and Charles Kushner. HisAdministration cut support for halfway houses and
decreased the number of federal prisoners sent to transitional housing. And, it reinstated
contracts with private prisons.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Ending violence against women has been the cause of President Biden’s life. In the U.S.
Senate, with the help of courageous and committed advocates, he wrote the original
Violence Against Women Act and spent the following decades working to expand and
improve it with each reauthorization. As president, he was proud not only to reauthorize this
landmark law but also to strengthen it. Democrats secured the highest-ever funding level
for VAWA implementation, and are distributing record funding for local prosecutors, law
enforcement, and survivor advocates. Crucially, the Administration has also expanded
support for Native survivors and strengthened protections for Tribal communities; improved
prevention and services for survivors of sexual assault, including through the Fairness for
Rape Kit Backlog Survivors Act; expanded housing protections for domestic violence
survivors; and increased services and support for survivors, including survivors of
technology-facilitated abuse.
President Biden launched the first-ever National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, and
the American Rescue Plan provided immediate crisis intervention, health supports, and
emergency services for survivors. He expanded funding for campus sexual assault
prevention and is keeping students safe on campus by restoring and strengthening
protections under Title IX, including explicit protections for LGBTQI+ students. He signed
legislation that narrowed the “boyfriend loophole” to keep guns out of the hands of
domestic abusers. He signed into law new protections to support survivors and address
sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. And, he signed a historic executive
order on sexual assault and domestic violence in the military, transferring key
decision-making authority from commanders to independent military prosecutors – the
most significant transformation of the military justice system since the Uniform Code of
Military Justice was established in 1950.
Trump has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t care about ending violence against
women. As president, he failed to reauthorize VAWA. And, his Administration rolled back
campus sexual assault protections, making it even harder for survivors to get the justice
they deserve.
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Democrats will work to end sexual assault, domestic violence, online abuse, and all violence
against women. We continue to strengthen VAWA; keep guns out of the hands of domestic
abusers; and expand housing and legal services for survivors. To keep students safe on
campus, we will work with schools to implement and enforce Title IX and end sexual
harassment and assault in our nation’s schools. We will eliminate the rape kit backlog. And,
we will strengthen legal protections for and support survivors of deepfake image-based
sexual abuse building on the federal civil cause of action established under the president’s
reauthorization of VAWA in 2022.
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Chapter Six: Strengthening Democracy, Protecting
Freedoms, & Advancing Equity
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats know that democracy has always
been America’s sacred cause. Whether that’s still true is the most urgent question of our
time, and it’s what the 2024 election is all about.
America is the only country on earth built on an idea: that all people are created equal. We’ve
never fully lived up to that, but we’ve never walked away from it, either. And we won’t let
Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans walk away from it now.
The President, Vice President, and all Democrats will continue to work every day to ensure
that our democracy endures.
President Biden has put protecting American democracy at the heart of his presidency.
When he took office, the nation was reeling from what it had just witnessed on January 6: a
violent mob storming the Capitol, smashing windows, kicking in doors, attacking scores of
police officers, and roaming the corridors hunting for elected officials – all whipped into a
frenzy by Trump’s lies, repeated over and over for months, to overturn the will of the people.
President Biden spent his first term working to restore trust in our institutions, protect our
freedoms, and preserve our democracy for the future. President Biden, Vice President
Harris, and Democrats have consistently made it clear that political violence has no place in
America.
Trump refuses to defend core tenets of our democracy: the Constitution, the rule of law, our
system of checks and balances. He still doesn’t accept the plain truth, upheld by scores of
courts, that he lost in 2020, even describing himself as a “very proud election denier” – and
he has never agreed to accept this year’s results. After years undermining public faith and
confidence in our elections, he has warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses now. He lionizes the
convicted criminals who perpetrated the January 6 attack on our Capitol and brave police,
calling those insurrectionists “patriots” and “hostages” while promising to pardon them.
We know how Trump will weaken our democracy if he gets another term. He has promised
to be a dictator on “Day One” – and we’ve already seen how he fawns over other dictators.
He has vowed to weaponize our government to go after his enemies and benefit his allies.
He has plans to fire dedicated, nonpolitical civil servants and replace them with loyalists who
will do his bidding; and he has promised to exert presidential authority over what have long
been independent agencies. And to silence his critics, he suggested the “termination” of our
Constitution. The stakes in this election for the soul of our nation are profound.
This election will decide whether the next generation of Americans has more rights and
freedoms than past generations, or fewer. Trump and Republicans are already ripping away
Americans’ hard-won freedoms. Reproductive freedom, freedom from hate, freedom from
fear, the freedom to control our own destinies and more are all on the line in this election.
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Democrats will not let that happen. Together, we will continue uniting and rallying Americans
across the political spectrum in defense of our democracy, and making it clear that political
violence has no place in America. We will defend our freedoms, restore essential trust in our
institutions, and preserve America’s vital role as a beacon of democracy across the world.
JUDGES
One of a president’s most important duties is appointing the judges who shape our country’s
laws. Judges matter. They have the power to uphold basic rights or to roll them back. They
hear cases that decide whether women have the freedom to make their own reproductive
health care decisions; whether Americans have the freedom to cast their ballots; whether
workers have the freedom to unionize and make a living wage for their families; whether
children have the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water; and whether a
president is above the law.
Judicial appointments are crucial at every level of the federal bench, but nowhere more so
than on the Supreme Court. The next president could appoint one, two, or more new
Supreme Court justices. Those justices will determine what freedoms Americans have – or
lose – for the next 30, 40, or even 50 years.
The choice is clear. President Biden appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black
woman ever named to the Supreme Court, who has stood up for Americans’ rights and
freedoms throughout her career on the bench. Trump handpicked three justices who have
pushed a far-right agenda with devastating consequences. The Court’s attack on a wide
range of long-established American legal principles – from overturning Roe and eliminating
the right to choose, to weakening voting rights and civil rights, to granting immunity for
presidential crimes – in fact undermines the rule of law.
If he’s elected again, Trump will appoint more justices in the same mold; his past Supreme
Court short lists have always been stocked with far-right ideologues. Trump made clear in
his first term that his goal was to appoint as many far-right judges as he could, regardless of
their qualifications – even appointing to lifetime seats a series of candidates deemed “not
qualified” by the American Bar Association. While President Biden has sought to appoint
judges who look like America, three-quarters of Trump’s judicial appointees were men and
84 percent were white. If Trump keeps stacking the Court with extreme conservatives, the
far right will have final say over our laws for decades to come, wreaking even more havoc on
our system of checks and balances and the consequences for our country will be
devastating.
President Biden will continue to appoint justices and judges across the federal bench who
are like Justice Jackson: brilliant jurists committed to defending American rights and
freedoms.
Judges should reflect the diverse population whose laws they shape, and President Biden
has appointed more than 200 highly qualified federal judges who look like America. Nearly
two-thirds of the judges he’s appointed have been women, and nearly two-thirds have been
people of color. President Biden has appointed more Black women to federal circuit courts
than every other president combined; more Latino judges have been confirmed to circuit
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courts than under any other president; more AANHPI judges have been confirmed than in
any other Administration; and after only one term, he is already tied for the most openly
LGBTQI+ judges appointed. President Biden has also chosen judges from diverse
professional backgrounds, ensuring a range of perspectives and experiences are
represented on the federal bench: at least 40 of his judicial appointees are former public
defenders, at least 25 have served as civil rights lawyers, and at least nine have represented
workers.
In President Biden’s second term, he will continue selecting judges who will protect
fundamental rights and who represent the diversity of the American experience. We will
push for a Supreme Court that follows the rule of law, protects people's freedoms, and
abides by the highest ethical standards.
VOTING RIGHTS
The right to vote and to have your vote counted is the threshold of American democracy and
liberty. Without it, nothing is possible; with it, anything is. Decades after a generation of civil
rights leaders faced fire hoses and batons, were brutally beaten and even died to secure this
fundamental right, it remains under assault.
Since their first days in office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken action
to protect the sacred right to vote in free, fair, and secure elections, especially for
communities of color who have been historically disenfranchised.
Within the first 100 days of his presidency, President Biden signed an executive order
directing an all-of-government effort to promote access to voting. Agencies have taken
historic action to help veterans, college students, Native Americans, and other underserved
communities register to vote.
Because laws are only as effective as their enforcement, the Department of Justice has
more than doubled its staff dedicated to enforcing voting rights laws. And because the
American people deserve to have faith in their elections, President Biden signed the
Electoral Count Reform Act to preserve the will of the people and to protect against the type
of attempts to overturn our elections that led to the January 6 insurrection.
Trump has a dark and different view, with a long history of supporting rollbacks to voting
rights. He has spent years undermining the electoral process and confidence in elections,
and continues to spread blatant lies about the election he lost. Trump’s allies in state
legislatures across the country have enacted and continue to introduce laws that make it
harder to vote and undermine the will of the people. Trump supported Georgia’s voter
suppression law, which makes it illegal to hand out water to voters waiting in line. If he
returns to the White House, he will seek to eliminate early voting and mail ballots to make it
harder for Americans to exercise their right to vote.
Key to the right to vote is ensuring that voters pick their elected officials – not the other way
around. President Biden has spoken out against extreme gerrymandering and harmful court
decisions that perpetuate it, and he has consistently advocated for legislation that would
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end it and create fair congressional maps. Meanwhile, Trump opposes efforts to draw fairer
maps.
Congress must restore the protections of the Voting Rights Act and take additional steps to
ensure access to the ballot box. Democrats will pass and President Biden will sign the John
R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act to fully secure the
right to vote in every state, ensure fair congressional maps for every American, modernize
and secure our elections, and curtail the corrupting influence of money in politics.
STOPPING THE INFLUENCE OF SPECIAL INTERESTS
Too much money flows in the shadows to influence our elections. Advocacy groups can run
ads on issues attacking or supporting a candidate right until Election Day without disclosing
who’s paying for that ad. Too often, powerful special interests use front groups to run these
ads to win at any cost. Even foreign entities that aren’t allowed to contribute to political
campaigns use dark money loopholes to try to influence our elections.
To fight back, President Biden has called for immediate passage of the DISCLOSE Act, which
will require advocacy groups that run ads to influence elections to disclose donors who
contribute more than $10,000, and ban foreign entities from contributing to them. Under
President Biden’s leadership, the FEC has also finalized a rule expanding political advertising
disclaimer requirements for online public communications.
Democrats will also fight to strengthen public financing with small-dollar matching for all
federal candidates and crack down on foreign nationals who try to influence elections. We
will keep super PACs wholly independent of campaigns and parties and pass a constitutional
amendment that will ban all private financing from federal elections. Democrats will end
“dark money” by requiring full disclosure of contributors and ban 501(c)(4) organizations
from spending on elections. And, to curb the influence of special interests in our elections,
Democrats will prohibit corporate PACs and lobbyists from donating to anyone they lobby.
Trust in democracy is critical to protecting democracy. Democrats will adopt ethics reforms
to ensure every American can feel confident that their government is working for them, not
for special interests. Democrats will enact legislation to apply similar standards to Members
of Congress. Democrats will create a federal ethics commission to strengthen good
governance laws, like those requiring financial and lobbying disclosure. Democrats will
require all federal candidates to disclose at least 10 years of tax returns. To ensure tax
dollars go to work for the American people, not for special interests, Democrats will
reestablish merit-based federal contracting and ban political appointees from interfering in
grantmaking. And to ensure that policy decisions are guided by what’s best for the American
people, not by special interests, Democrats will strengthen laws that regulate lobbying by
foreign governments and lower the threshold for registering as a federal lobbyist.
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
Trump’s Supreme Court appointees overturned Roe v Wade, eliminating a fundamental
constitutional right and denying women across the nation the right to choose. The extreme
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act of overturning Roe , which had been the law of the land for nearly half a century, has
already had devastating consequences nationwide.
Over the past two years, more than 20 states have imposed extreme and dangerous
abortion bans – many of which include no exception even for rape or incest – that put the
health and lives of women in jeopardy, force women to travel hundreds of miles for care, and
threaten to criminalize doctors for providing the health care that their patients need and that
they are trained to provide. Laws that limit access to contraception and to fertility
treatments like IVF. Laws that were first adopted in the 1800s.
More than one in three women of reproductive age, and more than half of Black women and
40 percent of Latinas, now live under an abortion ban. Today, our daughters have fewer
rights than their grandmothers.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are fighting back to restore
reproductive freedom for every woman in every state. President Biden signed three
executive orders and a presidential memorandum to stand up for reproductive rights. The
Administration is protecting access to abortion, including by creating a new path for
pharmacies to dispense FDA-approved medication abortion and defending access in court.
It is expanding reproductive health care for service members, veterans, and their family
members. The Administration is defending access to emergency medical care, including
clarifying that federal law on emergency care preempts state abortion bans, educating
patients on their rights, making it easier for patients who have been denied emergency care
to file a complaint, and ensuring hospitals meet their legal obligations to offer care. It is
challenging threats from Republicans to prosecute people who help women travel to a
different state for abortion care, and helping states expand access under Medicaid for
women who travel from states with bans. We are safeguarding patients’ and providers’
privacy, including by strengthening HIPAA protections, cracking down on the illegal sharing
of personal information, strengthening consumer data protections, and issuing guidance to
protect student privacy in this area. And we are ensuring access to accurate information and
legal resources, including by launching ReproductiveRights.gov and convening more than
200 lawyers and advocates to support abortion-related legal defense services.
The contrast between President Biden and Trump is stark. Trump handpicked Supreme
Court justices he knew would overturn Roe, saying it would be overturned “automatically.”
He’s said that he’s “proudly the person responsible” for overturning Roe, and he continues to
brag about it. Trump is responsible for the more than twenty state bans that are now in
effect as a result. He has said women should be punished for getting an abortion, and that
states should be able to punish doctors who provide them. If he returns to the White House,
Trump will ban abortion nationwide. And his allies plan to ban medication abortion
nationwide, without Congress or the courts, by enforcing a law from the 1800s, including
prosecuting women and doctors for sending or receiving medication abortion in the mail.
Nine in 10 women have used contraception, and Democrats are also working to expand
access to birth control. Under President Biden’s leadership, the FDA approved the first
over-the-counter daily oral contraceptive, making birth control easier than ever to access.
President Biden has also built on the Affordable Care Act to make a broader range of
contraceptives available to women at no cost through their health insurance. The
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Administration has boosted access to free and low-cost services through the Title X family
planning program, and expanded access to birth control for service members and through
the VA.
Trump’s record on contraception could not be more different. Trump undermined access to
contraception as president, decreasing access for millions by sabotaging the Title X family
planning grant program and weakening the ACA’s coverage mandate. His allies have
published plans to further attack access to contraception through executive action,
including by further undermining women’s insurance coverage for birth control and reducing
access to condoms and emergency contraception.
The Supreme Court’s elimination of the protections of Roe has also had devastating
consequences for families who have suffered the heartbreak of infertility. Each year, tens of
thousands of Americans start or grow their families with the help of in vitro fertilization. IVF
is enormously popular, enjoying the support of the vast majority of Americans. Yet Trump’s
overturning Roe opened the door to laws that rip away access to this vital care – as we saw
when Alabama families had treatments halted earlier this year. President Biden has
responded to attacks on reproductive care by expanding IVF access for service members,
veterans, and federal employees. Meanwhile, Trump has refused to commit to vetoing the
Life at Conception Act, a national abortion ban that threatens IVF access nationwide, and his
allies are openly attacking IVF.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are committed to restoring the
reproductive rights Trump ripped away. With a Democratic Congress, we will pass national
legislation to make Roe the law of the land again. We will strengthen access to
contraception so every woman who needs it is able to get and afford it. We will protect a
woman’s right to access IVF. We will repeal the Hyde Amendment. And in his second term,
President Biden will continue to support access to FDA-approved medication abortion,
appoint leaders at the FDA who respect science, and appoint judges who uphold
fundamental freedoms.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Despite the progress we’ve made since our nation’s founding, there is more work ahead to
knock down the barriers that stand in the way of women and girls realizing their full
potential. In a country founded on freedom and equality, nothing is more fundamental.
No one should be discriminated against based on their sex; and we, as a nation, must affirm
and protect women’s full equality. Democrats will fight to make the Equal Rights
Amendment the law of the land.
When women thrive in the workplace, our economy is strong. Under President Biden’s
leadership, more women are in the workforce than ever, matching the lowest annual
women’s unemployment rate since 1953, with the narrowest gender pay gap on record.
Democrats passed and President Biden signed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to
protect women’s rights on the job, ensuring that pregnant and postpartum workers have the
basic, long overdue protections they need to stay in the workforce while pregnant and as
new mothers. Democrats also passed the PUMP Act, so more nursing mothers have access
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to break time and a private place to pump. To promote pay equity and curb pay
discrimination, the Administration ended the use of salary history in pay-setting decisions
for federal workers and will expand this protection to most contractors. As the President’s
economic agenda creates millions of jobs, he is making sure that women benefit, including
through his Million Women in Construction Initiative, registered apprenticeship programs,
and the Good Jobs Initiative. He has also expanded opportunities for women entrepreneurs,
increasing SBA loans to women-owned businesses by 70 percent, and awarding more
federal contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses than ever. And because
affordable child care is critical to expanding opportunities for parents, especially women,
President Biden helped hundreds of thousands of child care providers keep their doors
open to millions of children and saved families thousands of dollars on child care costs. The
President also signed into law new protections to support survivors and address sexual
assault and sexual harassment in the workplace.
While President Biden has worked to support women in the workplace, Trump weakened
protections for them. He moved to block an Obama-era rule that required companies to
report pay by race and gender, an important tool in the fight for pay equity. He also limited
the salary threshold increase under which salaried workers were eligible for overtime,
leaving behind millions of workers who would have benefited under the original rule.
There is more work to do. Democrats will work to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and end
pay inequity not just in the federal workforce, but throughout the economy with penalties
for companies that discriminate against women. And, we will guarantee affordable,
high-quality child care from birth until kindergarten, with most families paying just $10 a day
— and make it free for low-income families. We will protect the health and dignity of older
adults and people with disabilities by improving long-term care and supporting family
caregivers, and we will invest in care infrastructure by raising wages and the quality of care
worker jobs. We will establish a national, comprehensive paid family and medical leave
program to ensure that all workers, including women, can take the time they need to bond
with a new child, care for a loved one, or recover from an illness.
We are also closing fundamental gaps in women’s health care and addressing the maternal
health crisis. Women in America are dying at a higher rate from pregnancy-related causes
than women in any other wealthy nation, especially Black and Native women. Vice President
Harris came into office as a key leader on maternal health and continues to lead the fight for
improved maternal health outcomes, elevating the issue nationally and convening experts
and activists to find solutions. The American Rescue Plan gave States the option to provide
a full year of postpartum coverage to women on Medicaid, increasing it from just 60 days.
Vice President Harris challenged all states to provide a full year of coverage; and 46 states,
the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands now do. The Administration also
expanded access to maternity care coordinators for U.S. military veterans, from eight weeks
to 12 months postpartum. And, it established the first-ever national maternal health and
safety standards for hospitals across the country, which include requirements that hospitals
have resuscitation equipment in labor and delivery rooms and proper protocols and supplies
for emergency deliveries. The Administration released a blueprint outlining other federal
actions to combat maternal mortality and improve maternal health. And it launched the
National Maternal Mental Health Hotline which has helped tens of thousands of women.
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For too long, women haven’t been able to get the answers they need when it comes to their
health—from cardiovascular disease to autoimmune diseases to menopause-related
conditions. To pioneer the next generation of medical discoveries, the President and the
First Lady launched the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research,
which aims to fundamentally change how we approach and fund women’s health research in
the United States. It includes a $100 million commitment to fund the ARPA-H Sprint for
Women’s Health, a $200 million National Institutes of Health-wide effort to catalyze
interdisciplinary research, and more than 20 other new actions and commitments to
advance women’s health research and especially research on menopause-related
conditions and women’s midlife health. And President Biden signed an executive order to
direct the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken to expand and improve
research on women’s health.
Democrats will continue working to address the maternal health crisis and ensure every
American has access to high-quality, culturally competent care before, during, and after
pregnancy. And we will continue to invest in women’s health research to galvanize new
research and breakthroughs on a wide range of topics.
Trump will reverse our progress. He will repeal the Affordable Care Act, putting coverage of
prenatal, pregnancy, and postpartum care at risk. And he has attacked Medicaid, which
covers 65 percent of births to Black mothers and 58 percent of births to Latino mothers.
RACIAL EQUITY
Since Day One, the Administration has championed an ambitious equity and racial justice
agenda to ensure the full and fair participation of all communities in our economy and
democracy, and to ensure the promise of America for everyone, including Black, Latino, and
Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Americans.
Democrats are building a strong economy from the bottom up and the middle out. Black and
Latino unemployment has hit record lows under President Biden, and the AANHPI
employment rate is at its highest since 2008. Wages are rising faster than prices, and the
greatest gains have gone to the low-paid workers.
The ideal of equal opportunity is the bedrock of American democracy, but our laws, public
policies, and institutions too often exacerbate disparities or deny equal opportunity to
individuals and communities. President Biden signed two Executive Orders to change that,
including by increasing access to federal contracting dollars, capital, and lending programs
for small disadvantaged businesses; reducing discrimination in the housing market;
protecting overburdened communities from environmental harms; addressing historic
disinvestment and infrastructure neglect; addressing health and health care disparities;
rooting out educational inequities and preserving pathways to equal opportunity; tackling
persistent poverty and building economic prosperity in rural communities; promoting equity
and fairness in the justice system; combating bias, discrimination and hate-based violence;
and bolstering proactive enforcement that protects the civil rights of all Americans.
Democrats expanded the Child Tax Credit to millions more families, slashing the child
poverty rate in half to record lows, including for Black, Latino, and AANHPI children. We’ll
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keep fighting to make that expansion permanent. The Administration has also expanded
food assistance to those in need, providing the typical low-income family of four about
$2,000 more for groceries each year by improving SNAP; and it launched a summer food
benefits program that serves nearly 21 million children. Democrats will keep working to
increase food security, including through WIC and Summer EBT, and by bringing back the
enhanced Child Tax Credit.
Starting a business is part of the American Dream, and Democrats are working to make that
possible for everyone, boosting access to capital and loans, and to business through
government contracting work. Today, Black Americans are starting new businesses at the
fastest rate in 30 years; and Latinos at the fastest rate in over a decade. Since the pandemic,
the share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled, Latino business
ownership is up 40 percent, and women own a record share of businesses. The
Administration set a goal that 15 percent of federal contracts go to small disadvantaged
businesses (SDBs)and will continue expanding these opportunities for SDBs in a second
term. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has doubled the number and dollar value of
loans awarded to Black-owned businesses, and doubled the rate of SBA-backed loans to
Latino-owned small businesses. We eliminated the ban on SBA lending to people on
probation or parole, and banned “the box” on SBA loan forms, so that people are no longer
asked about their past records when applying for a loan. And, the Minority Business
Development Agency, now a permanent part of the Commerce Department, is opening new
offices and building partnerships with HBCUs, in its work to help minority-owned businesses
across the country to overcome barriers and grow.
The Administration has also increased investment in Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), and issued new licenses for
nonbank lenders, helping more people in underserved communities to get capital and start
businesses. As part of this work, Vice President Harris launched the Economic Opportunity
Coalition bringing together major corporations and foundations to align public and private
sector investments with a particular focus on driving private investment in CDFIs and MDIs.
By investing in community lenders, we’re driving an estimated $130 billion more in loans to
Black and Latino communities over the next decade. Going forward, we’ll double that
funding for CDFIs, and expand and make permanent a New Markets Tax Credit, to
encourage development in places too long left behind.
The American Rescue Plan also provided $4 billion of debt forgiveness for Black and other
“socially disadvantaged” farmers, a group that has endured decades of discrimination from
banks and the federal government. Trump’s MAGA allies brought lawsuits, and his judicial
appointees blocked that funding, but Democrats kept pushing. They secured over $5 billion
in the Inflation Reduction Act to provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest
landowners who've faced discrimination; and to cover loan payments for farmers in financial
distress. Over $2 billion has already been distributed to more than 40,000 people. The
Agriculture Department estimates that Black and underserved farmers have benefited
most.
The robust economic recovery that President Biden is leading is also working to close the
persistent racial wealth gap that has plagued our country for generations. Today, Black
wealth has climbed 60 percent since before the pandemic; Latino homeownership is higher
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than before the pandemic, and median Latino household wealth is up 19 percent in the last
three years.
Homeownership is one of the most important ways that families can build wealth. The
Administration launched a first-of-its-kind task force to end pernicious bias in the home
appraisal process, which has for too long undervalued Black- and Latino-owned homes.
Since then, the likelihood that a home in a Black community is undervalued compared to a
home in a white community has been cut by more than 40 percent.
Democrats are working to bring down housing costs across the board. The American
Rescue Plan kept 8 million families in their homes throughout the pandemic; and the
President has since introduced the most ambitious housing agenda in 50 years, with plans
to boost supply, lower rent, and make homeownership more affordable. It includes down
payment assistance for first-generation homeowners and a mortgage relief tax credit for
first-time homebuyers, which will disproportionately benefit communities of color.
We are also working to connect communities that have been isolated from opportunity for
too long. Highways and rail lines have disproportionately torn through Black, Latino,and
low-income areas; displacing and segregating residents and businesses; stifling economic
growth and investment; and cutting people off from groceries, jobs, and health care.
Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are righting those historic wrongs by
investing in new roads, bridges, railways, and public transit and more,
We know that no child’s future should be determined by their parents’ income or ZIP code.
We’ve made historic investments in education in the last four years, boosting funding for
Title I and community schools, investing in thousands of new school counselors and mental
health providers, and supporting efforts to boost attendance and expand tutoring and
summer programs. We passed the most significant gun safety law in 30 years, an important
first step toward protecting all our children from the scourge of gun violence. We’re
supporting students with disabilities, and working to end physical restraint and prevent
discrimination, bullying, and harassment. And, where MAGA extremists are politicizing our
classrooms, banning books, and trying to erase history, we are fighting back, including by
appointing a federal coordinator to address the threat these bans pose to students’ civil
rights. We’re also investing in recruiting and training teachers from all communities,
including in partnership with HBCUs, MSIs, and TCUs; and helping them to get the pay that
they deserve. It matters to children when they see someone who looks like them at the front
of a classroom.
Democrats are also working to make college more affordable, and to relieve the crippling
burden of student debt, which disproportionately falls on students of color. Black students
take on 85 percent more debt than white peers, and both Black and Latino borrowers are
more likely to hold debt many years longer after graduation, deferring their dreams to buy a
home, build a family, or start a business. That’s why the President’s action to cancel $167
billion in student loans for nearly five million Americans, and to ease repayment for millions
of others is such an important step in leveling the playing field for everyone.
To help more low-income students afford college in the first place, the Administration has
also increased the maximum Pell Grant by $900, and will double it in the future. We’re
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expanding access to free community college; providing subsidized tuition for children from
families earning less than $125,000 a year who attend HBCUs, TCUs, Hispanic- and Minority
Serving Institutions. The Administration has made historic investments in those schools, as
well as in registered apprenticeships, to train Americans everywhere for the careers of the
future.
Democrats are also committed to ending generations of environmental injustices that have
left communities of color bearing the brunt of toxic pollution and climate change, decaying
infrastructure, and inadequate services. The Administration is delivering on its Justice40
Initiative to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of our investments in infrastructure,
clean energy and manufacturing investments to disadvantaged communities. Today, we’re
replacing every toxic lead pipe in the country, accelerating Superfund cleanups, cracking
down on polluters that have poisoned their neighborhoods air, water, and soil for too long.
We’re making sure that every community benefits from home energy tax credits, low-cost
solar panels, and other programs that can save families money while reducing emissions.
And we’re investing in climate-resilient infrastructure that will protect every part of this
country from extreme weather and other consequences of climate change.
Democrats will also keep fighting to address disparities in health care and make sure every
American has access to quality, affordable health care. We’ve continued to protect and
expand the Affordable Care Act, expanding coverage to more Americans ever in history; and
we’re taking historic steps to lower the cost of prescription drugs — like capping insulin at
$35 a month and prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year for seniors — and we’ll keep
fighting to expand those caps for every American. We will keep pushing to provide
Medicaid-like coverage to people in states that have not expanded Medicaid, and to make it
easier for parents to keep children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. We’ll defend all women’s
right to reproductive health care. As highlighted above, we’re tackling the crisis of maternal
mortality, expanding Medicaid to cover women for a full year postpartum and investing in a
diverse workforce to support pregnant and postpartum women. And, we will address the
disproportionate impact of infectious diseases, including HIV and Hepatitis C, and expand
access to PrEP to end the HIV epidemic.
We have a long way to go to realize the full promise of America, but we are committed as a
party to continuing the work to build a nation where all people are not only created equal,
but treated equally throughout their lives. To determine how best to right historical wrongs,
Democrats support Congress executing a study of reparations and the continuing impacts
of slavery.
Trump’s vision for America is very different. As President, he shortchanged Black-owned
businesses when it was time to hand out COVID relief funds. His tax law benefitted wealthy
white Americans over everyone else. Unemployment rates soared during his presidency for
people of color, while he tried to cut health care, affordable housing, and Social Security.As a
real estate developer, he was sued for race-based housing discrimination and systemic
violations of the Fair Housing Act, engaging in long standing racial segregation and
discrimination in properties they owned and operated.
Now, he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, ripping health care away from millions. He
will gut President Biden’s landmark jobs, prescription drug, and climate bills, and put a
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crippling import tax on the everyday things people need to get by, raising costs for Black and
Latino families on everything from insulin to internet to school supplies. He will increase the
racial wealth gap, by cutting taxes for billionaires and big corporations while sticking
working families with the bill. He will make our communities less safe: the murder rate
spiked by a record during his presidency; crime is near a 50 year low under President Biden.
Trump and his hand-picked courts will continue their attacks on our rights and freedoms,
eroding voting rights, the freedom to protest, and freedom to make one’s own healthcare
decisions. America cannot afford to go back.
LGBTQI+
For generations, LGBTQI+ Americans have summoned the courage to live authentically and
proudly, even when it meant putting their lives and livelihoods at risk. LGBTQI+ Americans
continue to inspire and bring hope to all people seeking a life true to who they are, and to
enrich every aspect of American life. But the fight for equality is far from over, as the
LGBTQI+ community continues to face attacks and bigotry in states across the country.
Democrats are committed to defending LGBTQI+ rights.
President Biden is committed to leading the most pro-equality Administration in history.
Democrats passed and President Biden signed the historic Respect for Marriage Act,
enshrining marriage equality in federal law. He reversed Trump’s un-American ban on
transgender servicemembers and ended the disgraceful and discriminatory ban on blood
donation by gay and bisexual men. On Day One of his presidency, he signed a historic
executive order extending federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQI+ people, and he
signed executive orders strengthening civil rights protections in housing, employment,
health care, education, and the justice system. He pardoned service members who had been
discharged for being themselves.
As president, Trump rolled back the LGBTQI+ community’s hard-fought progress. Trump
gutted Obama–Biden anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQI+ Americans and banned
transgender service members from serving, overruling the recommendations of military
leaders and public health professionals. And, he appointed judges who oppose same-sex
marriage, have sided with businesses to reject LGBTQI+ customers, and helped implement
the military’s transgender ban.
When a person can be married in the morning and thrown out of a restaurant for being gay
in the afternoon, something is still wrong. That’s why Democrats will pass the Equality Act to
codify protections for LGBTQI+ Americans and their families. We will prohibit employment
discrimination in the federal government, including contractors, and make federally-funded
seniors programs LGBTQI+ inclusive. And we have and will continue to make great strides in
protecting LGBTQI+ children and prospective parents in the adoption and foster care
systems.
President Biden has delivered on his promise to ban discrimination in health care on the
basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. He has protected transgender Americans’
access to health care and coverage, including medically necessary gender-affirming care;
and implemented a national strategy to end the HIV epidemic in this country. Democrats will
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build on this progress to expand mental health and suicide prevention services for LGBTQI+
people.
Trump wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which will increase costs and rip away
protections for LGBTQI+ Americans. That landmark law ensures LGBTQI+ people nationwide
can access health care free from discrimination; helped reduce the uninsured rate among
LGBTQI+ Americans and their family members; and banned insurance companies from
denying care or charging more for people with pre-existing conditions. Trump’s MAGA
Republican allies are also looking to target surrogacy for LGBTQI+ Americans next.
As President Biden has said, LGBTQI+ youth are some of the bravest people he knows, and
he has made it a priority to fight for them. The Administration is combating the dangerous
and cruel practice of so-called “conversion therapy.” Democrats have invested in supporting
LGBTQI+ youth mental health, including through the historic Bipartisan Safer Communities
Act. President Biden has also taken action to support LGBTQI+ youth in foster care; and is
fighting book bans that censor LGBTQI+ content. He signed an executive order
recommitting the federal government to guarantee educational environments free from sex
discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. He signed a
historic executive order to address discriminatory legislative attacks against LGBTQI+
children and families, directing key agencies to protect families and children; safeguard
health care and programs designed to prevent youth suicide; and support LGBTQI+ children
and families by launching a new initiative to protect foster youth, prevent homelessness, and
improve access to federal programs. And, he established the White House Task Force to
Address Online Harassment and Abuse to help fight online hate that disproportionately
targets LGBTQI+ people, including youth.
Trump is running on an extreme plan to punish doctors who treat transgender youth and to
ban gender-affirming care, and his MAGA Republican allies have pushed a tidal wave of
extreme anti-LGBTQI+ bills in statehouses across the country. Democrats will vigorously
oppose state and federal bans on gender-affirming health care and respect the role of
parents, families, and doctors – not politicians – in making health care decisions.
Democrats will continue to fight for LGBTQI+ youth by building on President Biden’s historic
actions to ban so-called “conversion therapy”; protecting LGBTQI+ children from bullying
and discrimination; guaranteeing that transgender students are treated fairly and with
respect at school; and ending the homeless crisis among LGBTQI+ youth.
LGBTQI+ Americans have long faced threats to their safety just for being who they are.
President Biden launched the LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership to provide
community safety trainings, support health care providers who serve the LGBTQI+
community, and support LGBTQI+ communities to report hate crimes, and build
cross-community partnerships to address hate-fueled violence. The Justice Department is
taking an all-of-department approach to protecting LGBTQI+ rights. Democrats will end
violence against transgender Americans, especially Black and brown transgender women,
and prioritize the investigation of hate crimes against trans and non-binary people.
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DISABILITY
People with disabilities have long strengthened our economy and expanded our nation’s
possibilities. And, groundbreaking legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act and the
Rehabilitation Act have made significant strides toward equal opportunity for people with
disabilities. But there is more work to do. People with disabilities are three times less likely
to have a job, and when they do, they are often paid less money for doing the same work.
Democrats are taking action to fix that. President Biden signed an executive order
establishing a government-wide commitment to advancing equality and equity in federal
employment, including for people with disabilities. The Labor Department is protecting
workers with disabilities and fighting to end unjust employment practices. The
Administration is helping state and local governments, businesses, and nonprofits access
federal funds to hire more disabled Americans. And President Biden is making sure his
Administration looks like America, appointing people with disabilities to positions all across
our government. He is making the federal government a model employer when it comes to
wages, accommodations, and opportunities to advance for people with disabilities. And he’s
helping young people with disabilities transition from education to employment through the
Disability Innovation Fund.
President Biden is also working to improve health care for people with disabilities. The
Administration released a rule barring providers from denying medical treatments related to
organ donations or lifesaving care for disabled Americans based on their disability alone. It
launched long COVID clinical trials and created the Office of Long COVID Research and
Practice. The National Institutes of Health designated people with disabilities a “health
disparity population,” unlocking new resources for research. President Biden also signed an
executive order increasing access to quality care and supporting caregivers; as well as
historic legislation that expands home- and community-based services under Medicaid.
Accessible public spaces are essential to ensuring equal opportunity for people with
disabilities. Democrats have invested in accessible infrastructure, including rail station
accessibility and actions to make airports and airplanes more accessible. And Democrats
passed and President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which expanded
access to affordable broadband, an especially important step for people with disabilities.
Trump has a long record of discrimination against people with disabilities, including publicly
mocking them. His business has faced a series of lawsuits for failing to comply with the ADA.
Discrimination complaints from federal workers with disabilities employed at Cabinet-level
agencies increased 20 percent while he was president, and in his first year in office, the
number of people with disabilities fired by the government increased 24 percent, with
workers with disabilities fired at almost two times the rate of workers without disabilities.
Trump repeatedly proposed billions in cuts to Social Security Disability Insurance and called
for restrictions on eligibility and benefit cutbacks. He called to cut funding for special
education grants and eliminate federal funding for the Special Olympics. He has promised to
close the Department of Education, threatening enforcement of IDEA protections for
students with disabilities. And he rescinded guidance protecting students with disabilities,
including guidance aimed at ensuring students with disabilities were not unfairly disciplined.
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Democrats will enforce laws that ensure equal opportunity for people with disabilities: the
ADA, IDEA, the Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Mental Health Parity Act, and the Help America Vote Act.
We oppose efforts to weaken the ADA and build on the ACA to prevent health care
discrimination. Democrats will enforce the Olmstead integration mandate and enforce
non-discrimination protections in health care, employment, education, housing, voting. We
will promote equitable treatment of students with disabilities so every child with disabilities
can thrive. And to support people with disabilities and their families, we will support home
and community-based care and end the subminimum wage.
TRIBAL NATIONS
President Biden’s relationship with Tribal Nations and their citizens is built on respect for
Tribal sovereignty and self-governance, honoring federal trust and treaty responsibilities,
protecting Tribal homelands, and conducting regular, meaningful, and robust consultation
with Tribal Nations.
Native communities pass down rich cultures, knowledge, traditions, and ways of life. But
throughout our history, Native peoples’ cultures, identities, and governments were not
always seen as a part of this Nation but as a threat to it, and they faced violence and
devastation that cost countless lives, tore families apart, and caused lasting damage to
Tribal communities and institutions. Despite centuries of violence and oppression, Native
peoples remain resilient and proud. Today, Native Americans are essential to the fabric of
the United States.
Since President Biden took office, he has helped champion a new and better chapter in the
story of our nation-to-nation relationships. He appointed the first Native American Secretary
of the Interior, Deb Haaland, and more than 80 Native Americans hold senior Administration
roles. He also relaunched Tribal Nations Summit and reestablished the White House Council
on Native American Affairs. He is protecting sacred and Tribal lands, including by restoring
protections for Berryessa Snow Mountain, Avi Kwa Ame, and Bears Ears and Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. To further tribal self-governance and usher in a
new era of self-determination, he signed a historic executive order that ensures the federal
government respects the nation-to-nation relationship with tribes by ensuring maximal
autonomy in funding and other steps.
He has invested in supporting Native families and communities: Democrats passed and
President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan, which made the largest direct federal
investment in Tribal Nations in history, along with additional historic funds in the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats expanded the Child Tax
Credit, pushing Native child poverty to a record low in 2021. We secured the first-ever
advance appropriations for the Indian Health Service. And President Biden also defended
the Indian Child Welfare Act and will continue doing so.
For decades, Native communities have been devastated by an epidemic of disappearances
and killings, too often without resolution, justice, or accountability. President Biden is taking
action to address the missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis; the Departments of
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Justice and the Interior working together to accelerate investigations, DOI creating a unit to
work on this issue, and FBI hiring personnel to focus on these cases. After Trump failed to
reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, Democrats finally did and included new
protections and programs to support Tribal survivors through the expansion of special
criminal jurisdiction of Tribal courts. The Administration awarded $68 million in grants to
support Native communities to provide services and promote justice for survivors of
domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking, and trafficking. His
Administration has continued to implement the Not Invisible Act Commission
recommendations to address violent crime and the high rates of people reported missing in
Native communities and relaunched the North American Trilateral Working Group on
Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls. And the Administration has issued final
fee-to-trust land acquisitions rules and changes to Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act regulations.
Trump’s presidency was a disaster for Native communities. Tribal communities were
disproportionately harmed by Trump’s disastrous response to the COVID pandemic, seeing
higher hospitalization rates than other demographics. He worked to sabotage the ACA and
will repeal it if he gets back to the White House. He tried to cut agencies and programs
important to Tribal communities, like job training and business development funding and
from Tribal scholarship and education programs.
Democrats will continue promoting nation-to-nation partnerships with Tribal Nations. We
will continue strengthening and respect for Tribal sovereignty, the federal trust
responsibility, Tribal treaty rights, and Native history, including educating the federal
workforce, providing best practices for sacred sites, and ensuring Native American history is
recognized. Democrats will keep working to make federal resources for Tribal Nations more
accessible and protect health, education, safety, and welfare in Indian Country, particularly
for Native women, children, and families. We will make IHS funding mandatory. We will invest
in housing in Tribal communities, and support Tribal conservation through co-stewardship of
public lands and waters. We will continue to usher in the next era of Tribal
self-determination. And Democrats will invest in public safety and justice, including by
increasing the number of officers and investigators on the ground; address the crisis of
missing and murdered Indigenous persons; and supporting VAWA programs, including a new
grant program to address the missing and murdered Indigenous persons crisis.
COMBATING HATE & PROTECTING FREEDOM OF RELIGION
As President Biden often says, certain core values bring us together as Americans — and
one of them is standing together against the hate, racism, bigotry, and violence that have
long haunted our nation. We can and must come together regardless of our backgrounds.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken historic action to stand up to hate.
President Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act to finally make lynching a federal
crime. He hosted the United We Stand Summit, elevating the fight against hate to the
highest levels of our government. He signed COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act after AANHPI
Americans faced a wave of hate during the pandemic. He has sought increased funding to
improve the prevention, reporting and prosecution of hate crimes. And Democrats secured
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the greatest funding increase in history for bolstering the security of nonprofits, including
houses of worship.
President Biden has been a strong and unequivocal voice speaking out against rising
antisemitism in America. The Administration released the first-ever National Strategy to
Counter Antisemitism, outlining a whole-of-society effort, including unprecedented,
coordinated, and bold actions across government agencies, and calls to action for Congress,
state and local governments, companies, technology platforms, and others. As part of that
strategy, the Administration clarified, for the first time in writing, that Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 prohibits certain forms of antisemitic, Islamophobic, and related
discrimination, including discrimination by national origin, in federally funded programs and
activities. President Biden continues to take bold action to combat antisemitism on college
campuses. And he has prioritized fighting antisemitism abroad by appointing Deborah
Lipstadt as U.S. Special Envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, an ambassador-level
position.
President Biden knows that Islamophobia has no place in our society. Across his
Administration, agencies are taking action to fight Islamophobia and support Muslim
Americans. His Administration is developing the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter
Islamophobia and Related Forms of Bias and Discrimination, including hate against Arab,
Sikh and South Asian Americans. He is the first president in history to recognize the
International Day to Combat Islamophobia, and his Administration released a Dear
Colleague Letter reminding schools, including institutions of higher learning, of their legal
obligation under Title VI to address discrimination, including harassment, based on race,
color or national origin, including discrimination against students who are or are perceived to
be Muslim, Arab, Sikh, South Asian, Hindu or Palestinian based on shared ancestry or ethnic
characteristics.
Again and again, Trump has shown us who he is on the issue of hate. He rubs shoulders with
and encourages white supremacists, even launching his 2024 campaign with a meeting with
white supremacist, antisemite, and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. He called white
supremacist and openly-antisemitic Charlottesville protesters “very fine people.” He
reportedly thinks Hitler “did some good things” and echoes his hateful rhetoric about
immigrants, including that they’re “poisoning the blood of our country.” He will reinstate his
disgraceful Muslim ban if he’s elected, continuing his long history of Islamophobia. And he
fueled anti-Asian hate as the AANHPI community faced a spike in hate crimes surrounding
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats condemn the decades-long campaign to demonize the Muslim community and
will end policies that target American Muslims as security threats. We will combat hate
crimes and white nationalist terrorism. We will prioritize the investigation of hate crimes
against trans and non-binary people. And we will continue to increase security at houses of
worship. President Biden deeply believes everyone must be able to practice their faith
without fear.
That’s why Democrats will protect the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion for
everyone, and we will maintain the separation of church and state. In contrast, the Trump
Administration attacked religious freedom by demonizing some faiths and preferring others.
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We will advocate for religious freedom across the world. And, we will continue to honor both
religious freedom and other civil rights, not put them at war with one another. This critical
work is led by Ambassador Rashad Hussain, the first Muslim to serve as Ambassador at
Large for International Religious Freedom.
And we will continue to recognize faith communities’ acts of service, which are critical pillars
of their communities. That’s one reason why President Biden reestablished the White
House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships — so that the government can
work better with faith and community groups to serve people in need.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
Freedom of the press is foundational to our nation, and President Biden is committed to
safeguarding it. That’s why he has called for the immediate and unconditional release of
journalists who have been locked up abroad for doing their jobs. He is taking action to
combat crimes against journalists, strengthen security for independent media outlets, and
provide legal support for investigative journalists around the world. And his Administration
brought together a coalition to counter proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware.
Democrats reject Trump’s denigration of the free press and recognize its importance to our
society. We will strengthen media ownership rules and direct federal antitrust agencies to
investigate media mergers, pushing back on the potentially harmful effects of corporate
consolidation. And we will appoint an independent media professional to head the U.S.
Agency for Global Media.
ARTS & HUMANITIES
America is a great nation in large part because of the power of the arts and humanities that’s
embedded in the DNA of America. The Administration has taken historic action to support
the arts, helping libraries, theaters, concert halls, and other venues stay afloat during the
pandemic. The Administration has strengthened the National Endowment for the Arts,
Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
President Biden also reestablished the President’s Committee on the Arts and the
Humanities and signed an Executive Order to make art more accessible to people from
underserved communities, elevate new voices through the arts and humanities, and expand
opportunities for artists and scholars. He has celebrated and elevated the arts by hosting
performances and screenings, and has awarded National Humanities Medals, National
Medals of Arts, and hosted Kennedy Center honorees at the White House.
Democrats value the humanities, arts and art education for developing imagination,
creativity, innovation, and critical thinking, and for building bridges within and between our
communities. We will promote arts funding and education — and we will invest in the arts
and humanities accordingly. Democrats will fund the National Endowment for the Arts, the
National Endowment for the Humanities, and art and music education in public schools.
Democrats know that federal grants for cultural organizations, artists, scholars, library
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systems, museums, and state and local governments only strengthen our communities and
our cultural heritage.
D.C., PUERTO RICO, TERRITORIES
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats have made historic investments in
Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa – delivering billions for infrastructure,
semiconductor, clean energy, and transportation projects, and creating thousands of good
jobs.
Democrats reject the unequal treatment of residents of D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S.
territories. We unequivocally support statehood for D.C., which its residents overwhelmingly
support but Republicans blocked from even getting a vote in the Senate.
Democrats recognize that the people of Puerto Rico have earned and deserve to resolve the
political status questions. For this reason, Democrats support the enactment of the Puerto
Rico Status Act/H.R. 2757, and promote full civic and political representation for Puerto
Ricans. We will work to end its unequal treatment by the federal government, and fight to
provide equal access to federal programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and the CTC. Democrats
reject Trump’s failed response to Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, and will
ensure that the federal government’s response to disasters in Puerto Rico is as urgent as it
would be anywhere else in the country. When disaster does strike, we will speed access to
recovery funds to help rebuild. We will build on the Administration’s investments to invest
further in energy, infrastructure, economic development, education, health care, housing,
energy, and climate resilience. We will help restructure Puerto Rico’s debt to relieve its debt
burden, and we will work to dissolve the Financial Oversight and Management Board.
Democrats also support self-determination for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. We will create a
Congressional task force to study equal voting rights and House representation; and we will
work to ensure equal access to federal programs like veterans’ benefits, the Affordable Care
Act, Medicaid, and SNAP food assistance for all those eligible. Democrats support funding
to improve critical health care facilities in the territories, including construction of a
state-of-the-art medical complex in Guam that co-locates health agencies on a single
campus for a more integrated healthcare system that will benefit the region. We will also
invest in ending disparities in agriculture, economic development, education, employment,
energy, health care, housing, and infrastructure, and help the U.S. territories diversify their
economies. We will help them recover from natural disasters, and we will invest in expanding
clean energy and water systems to be more resilient. Democrats support reimbursing U.S.
territories for more migration costs, including restoring Medicaid eligibility for legal migrants
under the Compacts of Free Association. And Democrats will continue to recognize the
sacrifices and honor the contributions of residents who suffered because of their U.S.
nationality during the Japanese occupation during World War II.
Democrats also recognize that millions of U.S. citizens live abroad, and we will consider their
unique circumstances and challenges when shaping policy. We will work to protect their
voting rights and ensure they’re able to participate in the democratic process here at home.
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Chapter Seven: Securing our Border & Fixing the
Broken Immigration System
Since our founding, immigrants have traveled to America to pursue freedom and
opportunity, to flee oppression, and to reunite with family members, and in turn have made
our country stronger. President Biden has led with the conviction that we must secure our
border and fix a broken immigration system decades in the making. Through it all, the United
States must continue to be a beacon of hope and opportunity.
On his first day in office, President Biden sent Congress legislation to secure our border, fix
our immigration system, and provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and others. This
past year, the President worked across the aisle and negotiated a bipartisan deal that
included the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border in decades. It would
have made our country safer and made our border more secure, while treating people fairly
and humanely and expanding legal immigration, consistent with our values as a nation.
Congress failed to act because Republicans, led by Donald Trump, would rather play politics
than solve problems. Trump’s plans for a second term will devastate our economy and tear
families apart. Trump has said that if he’s elected, he’ll move to immediately deport millions
of undocumented immigrants, including those who have lived in and contributed to this
country for years. He and his allies have also promised to end birthright citizenship for the
children of undocumented individuals, ignore the Constitution and Supreme Court
precedent and bar undocumented children from public schools, and once again separate
children from their families. Trump’s plans are out of line with American values, and
Congressional Republicans are currently blocking President Biden’s bipartisan border
security proposals because they lack the courage to stand up to Trump.
President Biden has led a hemispheric response to the challenge of irregular migration,
launching and leading the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection with 20
countries to increase enforcement, expand legal pathways to citizenship, and stabilize and
integrate migrants in neighboring countries. President Biden has taken decisive action to
secure our border through executive actions that have significantly restricted eligibility for
asylum at the border and created innovative legal pathways to the U.S. that, when coupled
with strong enforcement, have decreased illegal border crossings. Since President Biden
announced new border restrictions in June 2024, the number of unlawful crossings has
fallen by 40 percent, demonstrating that the policy works. He has also implemented policies
that have stopped record amounts of fentanyl from crossing our border.
President Biden has done all of this while ensuring that people are treated humanely and
with dignity. As one of his first actions, President Biden established the Interagency Task
Force on the Reunification of Families, which as of March 2024 has reunited nearly 800
children with their parents in the United States that were separated in Trump’s presidency.
In President Biden’s second term, he will push Congress to pass legislation that is consistent
with our values as a nation. Legislation must secure the border, reform the asylum system,
expand legal immigration; and keep families together by supporting a pathway for long-term
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undocumented individuals, improving the work authorization process, and securing the
future of the DACA program.
President Biden has taken action to advance each of these goals, but lasting,
comprehensive reforms require congressional action.
SECURING THE BORDER
The President has already taken steps to increase border resources, working within the
limits imposed by Congress. He has increased the number of agents and officers on the
southwest border to over 24,000, added thousands of additional support personnel, surged
thousands of law enforcement and other personnel from across the Department of
Homeland Security, and secured the first significant increase of Border Patrol agents in
more than a decade. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law modernized border stations and land
border ports of entry. The Administration is providing support to cities and states, on the
border and across the country, that are sheltering migrants. He has also taken executive
actions, including launching expedited immigration court dockets, to more quickly resolve
immigration cases for those crossing the Southern border and remove those who do not
establish a legal basis to remain.
President Biden has repeatedly asked Congress for additional resources to secure our
border, including increases for personnel that are critically needed to quickly deliver
consequences at the border to those who cross unlawfully. The Department of Homeland
Security requested funds to hire 1,300 Border Patrol agents and 1,600 asylum officers.
Meanwhile, the bipartisan Senate bill would have provided an additional 1,500 Customs and
Border Protection personnel and 4,300 asylum officers. Congressional Republicans
continue to play partisan politics with the security of our border instead of working with
Democrats to fund these critically needed resources for DHS and border communities.
In President Biden's second term, he will push Congress to provide the resources and
authorities that we need to secure the border. This includes additional border patrol agents,
immigration judges, asylum officers, cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and
stop the flow of fentanyl, and funding for cities and states that are sheltering migrants.
Reform the Asylum System
Congress must pass legislation to reform our asylum system modeled after the bipartisan
Senate deal so that we can quickly identify and provide protection to those who are fleeing
persecution and ensure it is not used as an alternative to legal immigration by others.
Democrats believe that asylum processing should be efficient and fair, and that those who
are determined not to have a legal basis to remain should be quickly removed. In order to
achieve this, we need Congress to strengthen requirements for valid asylum claims.
Congress must also finally fund a sufficient number of asylum officers and immigration
judges to facilitate timely decisions. In addition, asylum seekers, especially the most
vulnerable, including unaccompanied children, should have access to legal counsel.
Individuals who pass this strengthened initial screening and are determined to be likely to
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qualify for asylum should be given quick access to work authorization while they go through
a streamlined court process.
After Congress repeatedly failed to act, President Biden announced executive action that
significantly curtailed asylum eligibility at the border when crossings reach a certain
threshold and strengthened our ability to impose timely consequences for crossing the
border illegally. Those who attempt to cross into the United States unlawfully are being
quickly returned to their home countries, as well as Mexico. Since the President took this
action, unlawful entries between ports of entry declined by more than half. And, President
Biden is changing the asylum process to more quickly screen and identify individuals who
pose a threat to national security or public safety so that they can be swiftly removed.
Temporary Emergency Authority to Shut Down the Border
When the system is overwhelmed, the President should have emergency authority to expel
migrants who are crossing unlawfully and stop processing asylum claims except for those
using a safe and orderly process at Ports of Entry. The authority should be accompanied by
humanitarian exceptions for vulnerable populations including unaccompanied children and
victims of trafficking.
Congress should also dedicate resources to detain and remove individuals quickly, and
rapidly process those who cannot be detained in a non-custodial setting under government
supervision. Those who pose a threat to public safety or national security must be identified
and removed as quickly as possible.
Fighting Human Trafficking
We need more resources and Congressional authorization to increase penalties to
prosecute and punish human smugglers and traffickers who prey upon families and
migrants. President Biden has already taken numerous steps to go after these bad actors
including by revoking the visas of private sector CEOs and sanctioning government officials
who profit from migrants coming to the U.S. unlawfully, and by expanding efforts to
dismantle human smuggling and prosecute offenders.
President Biden also established Joint Task Force Alpha, a law enforcement task force that
marshals the investigative and prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice, in
partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to enhance U.S. enforcement
efforts against the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups
operating in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and
Honduras. Joint Task Force Alpha has delivered significant results, including: over 240 U.S.
convictions against leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of human trafficking and
substantial seizures and forfeitures of assets including cash, property, and firearms.
Cracking Down on Trafficking Illicit Fentanyl
President Biden has made fighting the trafficking of fentanyl a top priority. He has seized
record amounts of fentanyl at our border— and arrested more individuals for
fentanyl-related crimes in the last two years than in the previous five years combined—and
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secured funding for more cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect fentanyl at our
southwest border. He also issued an Executive Order to go after the global illicit fentanyl
trade, which led to the imposition of sanctions on some 300 persons and entities. President
Biden has also continued working with Mexico to extradite and prosecute key fentanyl
traffickers, and negotiated the resumption of bilateral cooperation on counternarcotics with
China, which had been stalled since 2019. As a result of these efforts, the number of
fentanyl-related deaths has started to decline for the first time in five years.
In his second term, President Biden will work with Congress to deploy more cutting-edge
inspection machines to help detect fentanyl at our ports of entry. He will also leverage all
resources of the federal government to stop tech platforms from being used for criminal
conduct, including sales of dangerous drugs like fentanyl.
EXPANDING LEGAL IMMIGRATION & DETERRING ILLEGAL
IMMIGRATION
America is a nation of immigrants. The legal immigration framework was last updated in
1990 and does not reflect the needs of our country in the 21
st
century. Many immigrants
today are forced to wait years, and often decades, to immigrate lawfully to the United States.
A robust immigration system with accessible lawful pathways and penalties for illegal
immigration alleviates pressure at the border and upholds our values. The U.S. Citizenship
Act would permanently increase family-sponsored and employment-based immigration.
The bipartisan border legislation would increase the number of immigrant visas that are
available by 250,000 over 5 years.
Legal Immigration Pathways
While we wait for Congress to act, President Biden has used his authority to provide orderly,
legal immigration pathways for those fleeing violence, and decrease the number of illegal
border crossings. The Biden-Harris Administration established a humanitarian parole
process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans (CHNV), which allows people
from these four countries who have a sponsor in the U.S. and who pass a background check
to come to the U.S. for a period of two years to live and work lawfully. Border encounters
from these nationalities decreased by 89 percent in the first six months after CHNV was put
in place—incentivizing migrants to stay in place, rather than make the dangerous journey to
our southwest border.
He also established New Family Reunification Parole Processes to allow eligible individuals
from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Cuba and Haiti to be reunited with family
in the United States while they wait to complete the process for securing lawful permanent
residence.
The United States has long been a leader in refugee resettlement, providing a beacon of
hope for persecuted people around the world, facilitating international efforts to address
record displacement, and demonstrating the generosity and core values of the American
people. After Trump decimated the program, President Biden rebuilt the U.S. Refugee
Admissions Program, which is now on track to admit more than 100,000 refugees this fiscal
year, the most in three decades. The Administration also established Safe Mobility Offices in
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countries throughout the Western hemisphere, where migrants can be processed for
refugee admission or referred to resettlement programs elsewhere - rather than making
their way to our border. And, the Administration expanded opportunities for communities
and individual Americans to sponsor and welcome refugees to the United States.
President Biden has worked closely with partners throughout the region – including, most
importantly, the government of Mexico – to undertake coordinated actions to stop the flow
of migrants before they reach our border. And he has supported our regional partners
through the LA Declaration process – working together on coordinated enforcement,
development of lawful pathways, and efforts to address the root causes of migration.
As outlined in the U.S. Citizenship Act, Congress must act to increase the number of
family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visas that are available each fiscal year
so that people aren’t forced to wait decades for a visa. Legislation should also include
provisions to ensure that children who came as dependents on their parents’ temporary
visas can remain in the United States with their families, even after turning 21, provisions to
streamline applications of at-risk Afghan allies to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and
a process for Afghan evacuees to have their status adjusted to lawful permanent resident.
Legislation should also extend work authorization to those who utilize lawful visa pathways
so that families can more quickly get on the path to economic self-sufficiency. This includes
K-1, K-2, and K-3 nonimmigrant visa holders (fiancés, spouses, children of U.S. citizens), and
the spouses and children of high-skilled temporary visa holders. And, Democrats will explore
opportunities to identify or create work permits for immigrants, long-term undocumented
residents, and legally processed asylum seekers in our country.
Congress should also increase the number of visas for the Special Immigrant Juvenile
Status program for abused, abandoned, or neglected youth, building on actions that the
Administration has already taken to provide deferred action and work authorization for
juveniles in this program.
Keeping Families Together and Supporting Long-Term Undocumented Individuals,
including Dreamers
In 2012, then-Vice President Biden worked alongside President Obama to establish the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Since then, President Biden has
taken steps to support undocumented people and families, including Dreamers and DACA
recipients. President Biden has vigorously defended DACA against legal challenges in the
courts, and has extended Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA recipients for the first time.
In addition, President Biden is taking action to make it easier for Dreamers, including DACA
recipients, who have earned a higher education degree in the United States and have a job
offer to more quickly receive work visas. And, the Administration allowed undocumented
workers in labor disputes to apply for deferred action so that they are not afraid to report
violations of labor law. Trump tried to end the DACA program in his first term and will do so
again if re-elected.
President Biden also announced new actions to keep an estimated 500,000 American
families together by allowing certain noncitizen spouses and children of U.S. citizens who
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have been in the country for 10 years or more to apply for lawful permanent residence—a
status they’re already eligible for—without leaving the country first. The average beneficiary
has been in the United States for more than 20 years, and will finally be able to come out of
the shadows and fully contribute to our communities.
President Biden has also taken steps to preserve and expand Temporary Protected Status
(TPS) for individuals from countries experiencing armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other
crises, giving thousands authorization to live and work in the United States without fear of
deportation for a temporary period. Since 2021, DHS – which oversees the program – has
added Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Ukraine and Venezuela to the list of
TPS-eligible countries. DHS has also extended TPS for immigrants from most countries that
were already covered by TPS, including the countries that Trump attempted to terminate.
Congress must pass legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers,
farmworkers, careworkers, and other long-term undocumented individuals who contribute
to this country, by paying taxes and contributing to their local economies, and in his second
term, President Biden will continue pressing them to do so.
Fast, Efficient Immigration Decisions
Immigration officers have to make the right decisions, and they also have to make them
quickly and efficiently. Under the Administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) has cut processing times significantly for those awaiting work authorization and
ensured that immigration decisions – including naturalization and work permit applications –
are made fairly and as quickly as possible. As of April 2024, the Administration achieved the
lowest wait time for naturalization since 2016 and the lowest wait time for work
authorization documents from certain categories of applicants since 2017. In FY 2023,
USCIS administered the oath of allegiance to more than 878,500 new U.S. citizens,
including 12,000 members of the military, effectively eliminating the backlog of
naturalization applications. It also reduced the median processing time for naturalization
from 10.5 months to 6.1 months.
The Administration has also partnered with state governments and non-profit groups to
host Work Authorization Clinics, which have eased the burden on American communities by
helping migrants support their families and move out of emergency shelter into more stable
housing options. It will also help to fund community-based organizations that host clinics to
assist with immigration cases.
To make scheduling appointments at U.S. ports of entry safer and more orderly, the
Administration launched CBPOne, a free online tool available to migrants in parts of Mexico.
Scheduling appointments makes the process at our border safer and more orderly, and the
advance information that is submitted to CBP creates a more efficient and streamlined
process for CBP and for individuals. CBPOne has increased administrative processing
capacity fivefold since its introduction.
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Chapter Eight: Advancing the President’s Unity
Agenda
Since the day he took office, President Biden promised to be a president for all Americans.
He knows that we agree on a lot more than we disagree on.
During his first State of the Union, President Biden outlined a unity agenda to make progress
solving big challenges that Americans have in common: beating the opioid epidemic,
tackling the mental health crisis, holding Big Tech accountable, ending cancer as we know it,
and meeting our nation’s sacred obligation to veterans.
Under President Biden’s leadership, Democrats worked across the aisle to make real
progress on these critical issues. We’re providing life-saving treatment for opioid use
disorder to end the epidemic, making historic investments in mental health care to help
struggling Americans, establishing new high standards for AI safety and protecting
American privacy, bringing together providers, insurers, and researchers to work toward
ending cancer, and passed the PACT Act to expand health care benefits to veterans.
Donald Trump divides us for his own political gain. He refuses to reach across the aisle to
deliver results for working families, and he will cut veterans’ benefits, mental health care for
kids, opioid treatment, and cancer research.
BEATING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC
For too long, the scourge of opioids has torn through our communities, ripping apart families
and shattering lives. Our nation’s opioid epidemic impacts Americans in every corner of the
country, from small towns to large cities to Tribal lands. Far too many Americans have lost
loved ones to addiction and overdose.
The Biden-Harris Administration is strengthening prevention, investing in treatment, and
expanding recovery support services.
The Administration has increased the number of medical providers who can initiate
treatment from 129,000 to 2 million and made historic investments in the State Opioid
Response program to help states deliver free treatment services to over 1.2 million people
and enabled States to reverse more than 500,000 overdoses. To curb opioid overdoses, the
Administration is making naloxone, an overdose-prevention drug, available over-the-counter
at grocery stores and pharmacies. They also took steps to increase access to naloxone at
federal facilities, and ended a requirement for length of addiction before entering treatment.
Democrats will continue these critical investments in life-saving medication and care for
Americans struggling with addiction and most at risk of overdose.
As president, Trump failed to mount an effective and coherent strategy to prevent
overdoses. Under his watch, opioid-related deaths spiked, and now, he’s promising once
again to repeal the Affordable Care Act. If he’s allowed back in the White House, many
Americans who struggle with addiction will lose critical, live-saving health care.
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INVESTING IN MENTAL HEALTH
The pandemic exacerbated feelings of sadness, isolation, and loneliness across the country
and strained our health care system, including mental health services. President Biden, Vice
President Harris, and Democrats know mental health care is health care.
For millions of Americans, that essential mental health care is out of reach. In 2020, less
than half of all adults with a mental illness diagnosis received care for it and it’s worse for
kids – nearly 70 percent of children who need mental health care cannot get it. That’s why
Democrats are taking steps to dramatically expand access to mental health care in America.
The Administration launched 988,the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which has
connected nearly 10 million Americans in crisis to immediate, confidential, and free support
from trained counselors. And, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline has received
more than 30,000 calls and texts, to help mothers and their loved ones navigate mental
health issues. Democrats will push to expand 988 to handle increased capacity and serve
more Americans.
At the same time, we must make it easier for all Americans to access high-quality mental
health and substance use treatment by recruiting and training more professionals to deliver
culturally and linguistically competent, high-quality behavioral health care; and by
strengthening coverage across all health plans. And we must extend workforce
development and incentive programs. The Administration is delivering $1 billion to hire or
train 14,000 school-based mental health counselors – the largest investment in
school-based mental health in history – thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
And, it is delivering additional resources to support students who need mental health care.
As mental health care becomes increasingly expensive, Democrats are pushing for
permanent funding for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, which provide 24/7
crisis care and treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, regardless of
individuals’ ability to pay. And, the President is calling for additional resources to connect
more Americans to affordable care at work and at school.
President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are working to ensure full mental
health parity so that mental health care is covered the same as physical health care. We’re
strengthening mental health parity requirements and closing insurance loopholes for the
more than 150 million Americans with private health insurance. And, the President is calling
on Congress to expand Medicare’s coverage for mental health care, applying the same
parity protections to Medicare beneficiaries.
Trump has a different vision. When he was president, he proposed cuts to Medicare,
Medicaid, and rollbacks of mental health funding.
PROTECTING KIDS ONLINE, STRENGTHENING AMERICANS’ DATA
PRIVACY, & PROMOTING COMPETITION
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Tech platforms and companies help keep us connected, inspire ideas and innovation, and
create a global marketplace. At the same time, they collect, share, and exploit data; risk our
children’s mental health; and deepen extremism and polarization. There is growing scientific
evidence for what so many Americans already know: Social media and other online
platforms can affect our mental health and well-being – particularly for our kids. In addition,
a handful of dominant tech platforms and companies increasingly control much of the
market, allowing them to exercise enormous power over Americans’ daily lives – and, too
often, use that power to exclude competitors and undermine consumers and innovation.
President Biden believes that all companies, including technology companies, should be
held accountable for the harm they cause. The president has raised the alarm that social
media and other platforms have allowed abusive and even criminal conduct like
cyberstalking, child sexual exploitation, and non-consensual intimate images to proliferate
on their sites – and called on Democrats and Republicans to unite on legislation to address
these issues. The Surgeon General issued an advisory warning about the impacts of social
media on youth mental health, noting that he cannot conclude social media is safe for
children and adolescents. Democrats will pass bipartisan legislation to protect kids' privacy
and to stop Big Tech from collecting personal data on kids and teenagers online, ban
targeted advertising to children, and put stricter limits on the personal data these
companies collect on all of us. And, the Administration has strengthened legal protections
for survivors and victims of non-consensual intimate imagery, including those generated by
AI, building on the federal civil cause of action established under the Violence Against
Women Act Reauthorization of 2022.
President Biden has also called on Democrats and Republicans to pass bipartisan legislation
to promote competition and privacy in the tech industry. Important policies include
promoting interoperability between tech services and platforms, allowing users to control
and transfer their data, and preventing large platforms from giving their own products and
services an unfair advantage in the marketplace. We must also fundamentally reform
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields tech platforms from liability
even when they host or disseminate violent or illegal content, to ensure that platforms take
responsibility for the content they share.
Democrats are determined to strengthen data privacy. The President issued an Executive
Order to protect America’s sensitive personal data from commercial data brokers, identity
thieves, and foreign intelligence actors. And, the Federal Trade Commission is cracking
down on commercial surveillance and taking on technology companies for illegally retaining
children’s data. We must do more and update and pass the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,
protect student data privacy by ensuring what is collected in schools is only used for
education, and update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to protect personal
electronic information and safeguard location information.
Seizing the Promise and Managing the Risks of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril. While AI is
helping to cure diseases, predict the weather, and transform education, it’s also being used
to clone voices, commit fraud, institutionalize bias, and undermine democracy.
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We need to act now and act fast to realize the promise of AI and manage its risks to ensure
that AI serves the public interest. Democrats are finding solutions to make sure that as AI’s
capabilities grow, we can manage the implications for Americans’ rights, safety and security.
President Biden issued a landmark Executive Order directing federal agencies to establish
new high standards for AI safety and security, protect Americans’ privacy, advance equity
and civil rights, stand up for workers and consumers, promote competitive markets for AI
development and use, and more. Democrats are committed to ensuring that workers get a
voice in how AI is used in their workplace and that they share fairly in any economic gains AI
produces.
We know that AI can deepen discrimination, bias, and other abuses in justice, health care,
education, and housing. That’s why the Administration has already taken action by
publishing the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and issuing new guidance from federal
agencies on combating algorithmic discrimination across the economy.
As AI becomes more prevalent, it’s critical we have the brightest minds working to
understand new technologies. The Administration launched an AI Talent Surge to accelerate
hiring AI professionals across the federal government, launched a pilot program to enhance
successful initiatives for training additional scientists in AI, and created the AI Safety
Institute at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to set rigorous
standards for extensive testing of powerful AI models to ensure safety before public
release.
During President Biden’s second term, Democrats will continue to advocate for the safe and
secure development of AI. We will invest in the AI Safety Institute to create guidelines, tools,
benchmarks, and best practices for evaluating dangerous capabilities and mitigating AI risk.
We will also prioritize funding for critical AI research and development that advances AI
safety.
We will also ban voice impersonations, and President Biden will take action to provide
heightened protections in critical sectors such as health care, financial services, education,
housing, and transportation. Finally, we will make sure that we responsibly develop, test,
procure, integrate transformative AI across the federal government.
ENDING CANCER AS WE KNOW IT
Cancer has touched nearly every single American family. As we honor the enormous
courage and strength of the millions of Americans facing the disease, we're working to end
cancer as we know it and get patients and families the quality care and support that they
deserve. The president and first lady re-launched the Cancer Moonshot in 2022 to reduce
the nation’s cancer death rate by at least half and improve the experience of people who are
touched by cancer.
The Cancer Moonshot has already announced more than 95 new programs, policies, and
resources, including commitments from seven leading insurance companies to reimburse
for navigation services, new actions from 40 comprehensive cancer centers and community
oncology practices to bring effective navigation support to underserved communities, and
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established insurance codes so practices, including Medicare providers, have a way to bill for
patient navigation services.
The Administration launched the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H),
which is supercharging high-impact research and development to improve American health
outcomes and deliver breakthroughs on cancer. President Biden is calling on the private
sector to develop and test new treatments, make drugs more affordable, and share more
data and knowledge that can inform the public and benefit every company’s research.
We’re supporting these initiatives by providing funds to essential programs for cancer
research and health care like the National Cancer Institute (NCI), FDA, Center of Disease
Control (CDC), Veterans Affairs (VA), Indian Health Service (IHS), and ARPA-H.
Trump will set back our progress finding treatments for cancer and other diseases - he
proposed cutting funding for critical scientific research at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). And, he and Republicans loosened regulations to get rid of toxic chemicals that cause
cancer and made it easier for chemical companies to poison our air, water, and land.
With a second term in office, President Biden will continue to work to prevent cancer, detect
it early, deliver innovation, care for families facing cancer, and, ultimately, end cancer as we
know it.
MEETING OUR NATION’S SACRED OBLIGATION TO VETERANS AND
MILITARY FAMILIES
President Biden believes that our nation has no more sacred obligation than providing for
our military service members when they’re sent into harm’s way and caring for them and
their families after they come home.
Trump called members of the military who died in war “suckers” and “losers.” He disparages
the brave men and women who wear our uniform and protect our democracy and national
security. And, as president, he pushed to cut funding for veterans’ benefits.
President Biden signed into law more than 30 bipartisan bills addressing critical issues
facing veterans, service members, and families today. He signed the PACT Act – the most
significant expansion of health care benefits and services for veterans in more than 30
years – which expands VA eligibility and services to veterans who were exposed to toxic
substances. Thanks to the PACT Act, more than 888,000 veterans and survivors are now
receiving new service-connected disability benefits, making care and benefits available to
veterans battling over 300 medical conditions.
Democrats are also taking steps to support veterans’ mental health and decrease the
scourge of veteran suicides by expanding mental health screenings, increasing access to
legal and financial support, and hiring more mental health professionals at the VA. President
Biden took historic action to end sexual assault and domestic violence in the military by
calling for the establishment of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault and
then implementing the Commission’s recommendations to better protect survivors. The
Administration will prioritize the effective implementation of the Military Justice
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Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act, including by successfully operating the Offices
of Special Trial Counsel within the military services branches, and the Office of the Chief
Prosecutor of the U.S. Coast Guard.
We’re also taking steps to boost access to affordable and stable housing for all veterans,
who often face a high risk of homelessness, with a focus on women veterans. Last year
alone, the VA helped more than 145,000 veterans and their families stay in their homes and
permanently housed more than 46,000 veterans. The Administration awarded more than $1
billion in grant funding to help homeless veterans and house their families and launched a
first-of-its-kind funding for legal services for veterans experiencing or at risk of
homelessness to support accessing government benefits, navigating family law, ensuring
access to safe housing, and assisting with debt.
The Veteran Scam and Fraud Evasion (VSAFE) Task Force has cracked down on scams
targeting veterans, and the new National Veterans Financial Resource Center has promoted
financial stability, literacy, and debt management for veterans. The VA is making it easier and
faster for veterans to get their VA medical debt forgiven.
Our commitment to our veterans and military members extends to those who care for and
support them. That’s why President Biden signed an Executive Order to help military
spouses obtain and maintain careers in the federal government. The Department of Defense
and the Department of State also took action to ensure military spouses can keep their
federal jobs when their loved ones are stationed overseas. President Biden has made child
care more affordable and accessible for military families, and signed an executive order
providing financial support for military-connected caregivers.
Going forward, we will continue to implement the PACT Act; and we will strengthen VA care
by fully funding inpatient and outpatient care and long-term care, and by upgrading medical
facility infrastructure. We will also improve and increase access to mental health care,
expand suicide prevention, and invest in opioid overdose prevention and treatment.
Democrats are also determined to expand women veterans’ health care and access to
benefits, and to continue implementing key Independent Review Commission on Sexual
Assault recommendations. With a second term in office and a majority in Congress, we will
fulfill our promise to end veteran homelessness and support military students with
disabilities.
Democrats will strengthen their support for military families by making child care more
affordable and accessible, expanding job opportunities for spouses, and investing in a
stipend for caregivers. We will also continue implementing the military spouse Executive
Order and ensure the federal government is an employer of choice for military families.
In recognition of our nation’s greatest heroes, we will expand memorial benefits to honor
their years of service and lasting memories.
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Chapter Nine: Strengthening American Leadership
Worldwide
We live in a period of significant global change. The world is at an inflection point between
those who argue that autocracy – rule by dictators or single leaders – is the answer to facing
today’s challenges and those who understand that democracy – rule by the people – is
essential to moving our world forward and uplifting people everywhere. President Biden
believes at this decisive moment we must demonstrate that democracy can still deliver for
our people. We must rally the world to address the challenges that impact all of us, from
climate change and global health to human rights, technology, food security, and inclusive
economic growth.
The challenges of the current moment require us to revisit old assumptions and invest in
new sources of American power. We have seen aggression from authoritarian powers, the
destabilizing impact of a global pandemic, the growing existential danger of the climate
crisis, the awesome power of emerging technologies, and the shared vulnerabilities that
underlie the 21st century global economy. Most importantly, these challenges underscore
how lives and livelihoods across the world are increasingly interdependent.
For too long, American foreign policy was conducted as if our domestic challenges were
disconnected from global ones. President Biden understands that the two go hand-in-hand,
and that leading abroad means being strong and resilient at home. He also knows that the
United States is strongest when our partners are strong too. That’s why he has met the
challenges of his first term – including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the existential threat
of climate change, and intense strategic competition with China – by leading coalitions of
nations who share our values to stand together.
Donald Trump made America less safe by significantly straining U.S. alliances and
emboldening autocratic regimes, while weakening global democratic norms. He insulted our
allies and withdrew from international agreements and organizations that were in the
national security interest. Trump praises dictators, including Vladimir Putin, and attempted
to weaken the NATO alliance. And, he repeatedly disrespected the brave men and women in
the U.S. military.
When he entered office, President Biden moved to quickly and decisively repair the damage
that Trump had done to America’s relationships with our allies and our reputation around the
world. Trump’s America first strategy meant America was alone, less secure, less
prosperous, and with American leadership and values falling behind worldwide. By
reinvesting in America’s manufacturing base, leveling the playing field for American workers,
and standing alongside our allies to support democracies and push back against autocracy,
President Biden has bolstered our national security and is investing in a future where
America will continue to lead on the world stage.
EUROPE
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During President Biden’s first term, no region of the world has better illustrated the
importance of our alliances than Europe. When Vladimir Putin launched his reckless war of
aggression against Ukraine, he sought to shake the very foundations of the free world. He
thought he could roll into Ukraine and that Ukraine and the world would roll over. He was
wrong. Instead, he met the determination of the Ukrainian people. He also enhanced the
resolve of NATO, the greatest military alliance in the history of the world, led by the United
States. Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has been steadfast in standing
alongside our European allies to defend principles of sovereignty, deter further Russian
aggression, protect our shared values, and make critical investments to ensure the security
of the United States and our transatlantic allies in the years to come.
President Biden has pursued three core objectives in Ukraine: help Ukraine defend its
sovereignty, maintain unity in our transatlantic alliances, and prevent escalation into direct
conflict with Russia. On all three fronts, the United States has succeeded. Under President
Biden’s leadership, America has provided Ukraine with the weapons as well as the
diplomatic and economic support needed to defend its sovereignty from Russian
aggression. That work has created good paying American jobs as we build the arsenal to
defend ourselves at home and help protect democracy abroad. Alongside our allies, the
United States has rallied a coalition of approximately 50 nations to provide much needed
security assistance to Ukraine and coordinated unprecedented international actions to
impose tough sanctions on Russia and hold Putin accountable on the world stage. The
Biden-Harris Administration has also helped protect Ukraine’s civilian population and energy
infrastructure from unprovoked Russian attacks and worked to resume trade of Ukrainian
agricultural products to support global food security.
Under President Biden’s leadership, NATO is stronger and more united than ever and has
bolstered its ranks by adding two highly capable allies: Sweden and Finland. NATO nations
are meeting their financial commitments as well, with 23 NATO countries on track to meet a
spending target of 2 percent of GDP on defense in 2024 – up from 9 countries in 2020.
President Biden has also made clear that he considers the 2 percent goal to be a floor not a
ceiling, and he continues to press the alliance to do even more to bolster collective
defenses.
More broadly, the Administration has deepened cooperation with Europe to confront a
range of shared challenges. President Biden has worked with our European allies to manage
competition with China, resolve disputes between America and the European Union, and
address long-standing conflicts in the Balkans and Caucasus and persistent trade issues
across the continent. The US-EU Trade and Technology Council has established rules of the
road on global economic and technology issues. The United States and United Kingdom AI
Safety Institutes have agreed on a common approach to developing artificial intelligence
safely. And President Biden has led the development of the US-EU Energy Council to
counter the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Biden has also been willing to lead where other Presidents have not, becoming
the first President to recognize the Armenian genocide.
The threat posed by Russia transcends its war of aggression in Ukraine. Russia is enlisting
North Korea, Iran and China in its efforts to attack freedom across the world through
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military equipment sales and economic partnerships. By strengthening our alliances in
Europe and Indo-Pacific, and strengthening the connections among our allies, including by
inviting our Indo-Pacific allies to participate in the NATO Summits in Madrid, Vilnius, and
Washington, DC, the United States is countering Russia’s disruptive actions no matter where
they occur.
Where President Biden has made strengthening and reassuring our allies a priority, Trump
has repeatedly threatened to withdraw America from the world’s most powerful military
alliance and has invited Vladimir Putin to “do whatever the hell he wants” to any NATO
country. While President Biden has always stood by Ukraine, Trump attempted to help his
own political prospects by extorting President Zelenskyy – including by withholding much
needed security assistance. And, now behind closed doors, Trump is supporting a policy of
pushing Ukraine to surrender sovereign territory to Putin.
President Biden will never turn his back on our allies. In his second term, he will continue to
stand with Ukraine to stop Putin’s atrocities and constrain Russia’s threat to allied nations
and America’s vital interests. In addition to continuing to strengthen NATO, he will help
Ukraine recover economically and support ongoing efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s
democracy and deepen its political and economic relationship with European and
transatlantic institutions. President Biden will continue to work closely with the EU on
emerging political and economic challenges and work with our European and Indo-Pacific
allies to disrupt Russia’s emerging military and economic alliances with Iran and North
Korea.
INDO-PACIFIC
The United States is an Indo-Pacific power. The region, stretching from our Pacific coastline
to the Indian Ocean, is home to more than half of the world’s people, nearly two-thirds of the
world’s economy, and seven of the world’s largest militaries. In the years ahead, as the region
drives as much as two-thirds of global economic growth, its influence will only grow – as will
its importance to the United States.
President Biden understands that standing up for the rules of the road in the Indo-Pacific,
and standing by our allies, makes us safer. That is why he has maintained a commitment to
freedom of navigation across the Indo-Pacific, standing with the Philippines and other allies
and partners to push back against hostile actions and coercion by China. He also worked to
expand our military presence in Japan and secure access to strategic sites in the Philippines
through a new defense cooperation agreement – steps that will help deter future regional
aggression.
Across the Indo-Pacific, President Biden has prioritized strengthening key multilateral
partnerships. He elevated the Quad – which brings together the democratic strength of the
United States, Australia, India, and Japan – to unleash new forms of regional cooperation on
technology, climate, health, and maritime security. He founded AUKUS – a partnership
among the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia – to better integrate the defense
industrial bases of two of our closest allies and to produce conventionally armed,
nuclear-powered submarines and increase cooperation on advanced capabilities such as
artificial intelligence, autonomous platforms, and electronic warfare. Under President
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Biden’s leadership, the United States hosted a historic trilateral Camp David Summit with
Japan and South Korea, enshrined the Washington Declaration with South Korea, and
extended trilateral deterrence discussions with Japan. The Administration has elevated our
relationships with Vietnam, Indonesia, and ASEAN to Comprehensive Strategic
Partnerships. It has intensified our engagement with vital regional fora in the Indo-Pacific,
including hosting the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum and ASEAN nations for
face-to-face summits in Washington, DC, and hosting the 2023 APEC Summit in San
Francisco. President Biden is also investing in a twenty-first-century partnership between
the United States and India that builds technology into the fabric of our cooperation through
programs such as the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology.
President Biden has also worked alongside our allies to counter the threat posed by North
Korea’s destabilizing development of nuclear and missile programs, in violation of multiple
UN Security Council resolutions. By bolstering our trilateral cooperation with South Korea
and Japan, we are maintaining peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
Trump took a different approach in the region, embarrassing the United States on the world
stage including by flattering and legitimizing Kim Jong Un, exchanging “love letters” with the
North Korean dictator. Trump directly threatened our valued ally South Korea with the
withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed there over a trade dispute. President Biden has and will
stand by our allies, especially South Korea, against North Korea’s provocations, including its
illegal build-up of missile capabilities.
In his second term, President Biden will continue to promote a free, open, connected,
prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific. He will deepen economic engagement to
drive inclusive growth. He will champion human rights. And he will continue to strengthen
our traditional alliances and broaden regional partnerships to bolster deterrence and resist
coercion.
CHINA
President Biden recognizes that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is America’s most
consequential strategic competitor. The PRC is the only global actor that combines the
intention to fundamentally reshape the U.S.-led international order with an increasing
military, economic, diplomatic, and technological capacity to do so. President Biden
understands the imperative of rising to this challenge while managing the competition
between our countries responsibly.
President Biden has invested in our strengths at home and our alliances abroad to compete
vigorously with China, but we do not seek conflict. He has maintained a steadfast
commitment to being tough but smart towards the PRC, relentlessly advancing U.S.
interests and values while ensuring a floor of stability in the relationship with China. We will
make no apology in pushing back on unfair trade practices that harm American workers.
And we will guard against China taking advantage of America’s openness to use U.S.
technologies against America, our allies, and our interests. Against this backdrop, we seek to
“de-risk” and diversify the economic relationship between our countries, not decouple. We
will protect a targeted number of sensitive technologies with focused restrictions, creating a
“small yard and a high fence” that preserves our national security.
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President Biden has taken decisive action to counter unfair economic practices by the PRC
and level the playing field for American workers, strategically increasing tariffs on a variety
of products such as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical
minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.
President Biden also knows that for America to succeed in future competition with China,
we must continue to invest in our workers and industrial base now. That is why he issued an
executive order on outbound investment, preserving and protecting American and allied
national security interests by denying China access to most advanced technologies that
allow them to develop their military and surveillance capacities. He also tightened
restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips and manufacturing equipment, as
well as semiconductor, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing technologies to China,
stifling their military use of these technologies.
And in areas where it is in the interests of the United States and the world for our two
nations to work together – like addressing climate change and countering fentanyl
trafficking – the United States will do so. President Biden pushed China to take action to
curb the flow of fentanyl into the Americas, as well as to commit to climate change
mitigation efforts as part of a global coalition.
For all of this tough talk on China, Trump failed to deliver results for the American people.
His reckless proposal to raise tariffs by 10 percent – not just on goods from China, but
across the board on any imported goods from any country in the world – will cost American
families an estimated $1,500 a year. His threat of a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods will
add another $1,000 annually. Trump’s temper tantrums have harmed our alliances, and if he
is elected, will hurt the American people. Trump talks. President Biden delivers.
In his second term, President Biden will remain focused on actions at home and abroad to
outcompete China. He will continue to stand up to unfair economic practices, restrict the
PRC’s access to advanced technologies that could be used to harm American interests, and
reshore supply chains for materials and technologies critical for the 21st century.
The Administration will continue to invest in our alliances and partnerships to ensure China
cannot coerce its neighbors or overturn the international rules that keep America secure
and prosperous. President Biden will also remain steadfast in America’s commitment to
peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait consistent with the U.S. One China policy –
guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques, and the Six Assurances –
in order to continue to ensure that there are no unilateral changes to the status quo from
either side.
Even as we compete with China, the Administration will continue to responsibly manage the
relationship with the PRC to avoid a costly spiral to conflict and seek to identify new areas
where the United States and China may be able to work together, such as setting guardrails
on the safe usage of artificial intelligence.
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THE MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA
President Biden is working to build a durable peace in the Middle East bolstered by regional
integration, a strong coalition to counter and deter Iran and prevent it and its terrorist
proxies from threatening the security of the region, and a negotiated two-state solution that
ensures Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders and
upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own.
The terrorist group Hamas sought to destroy the promise of that vision on October 7, 2023,
but they will not succeed. The United States strongly supports Israel in the fight against
Hamas. And the hard work of diplomacy under the President's leadership has made real
progress on a way forward that will free the hostages, establish a durable ceasefire, ease
humanitarian suffering in Gaza, and make possible normalization between Israel and key
Arab states, together with meaningful progress and a political horizon for the Palestinian
people.
President Biden has spent decades working to advance U.S. interests and values in the
Middle East. As President, he has met with and worked alongside every key leader in the
region to de-escalate conflicts, deter aggression and forge new ways to promote stability,
prosperity, human security, and peace. President Biden has long believed that partners and
allies should be able to deter conflict and defend themselves in ways that safeguard human
rights and prevent civilian harm.
The Administration has worked tirelessly to deepen and widen regional integration. In
September 2023, President Biden announced a new economic corridor to connect India to
Europe through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel. He also directed his Administration
to build on the Abraham Accords and work on a historic normalization deal between Israel
and Saudi Arabia, As a tangible sign of this normalization process, President Biden helped
negotiate the first-ever civilian aviation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia,
allowing for overflight of Israeli civilian aircraft in Saudi airspace and leading to a more
integrated and economically connected Middle East.
Through aggressive diplomacy backed by U.S. military power, the Administration has worked
alongside our allies and partners to deter and defend against Iran and its terrorist
surrogates. President Biden has postured U.S. military forces in the region and authorized
precision airstrikes on key Iranian-linked targets tied to attacks against U.S. troops to deter
further aggression by Iran. President Biden has also continued to protect the American
people from terrorism, authorizing military strikes that took out ISIS emirs and the leader of
Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In response to brazen attacks by Iranian-linked Houthi forces against international
commercial shipping, U.S. naval vessels in the Red Sea, and Israel, President Biden ordered
military strikes, alongside key allies, against Houthi targets and organized Operation
Prosperity Guardian, a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending
international shipping and deterring Houthi attacks.
When Iran launched more than 300 missiles and drones against Israel in April 2024,
President Biden led an unprecedented defensive coalition – together with partners from
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Europe and across the Middle East – to defeat the attack, protect Israel, and stop the spread
of a wider war. Through direct defensive action by the U.S. military and its partners, Iranian
munitions did not cause significant damage, demonstrating both America’s ironclad
commitment to the security of Israel and our unrivaled ability to leverage growing regional
integration among U.S. partners to counter Iranian aggression.
All of this stands in sharp contrast to Trump's fecklessness and weakness in the face of
Iranian aggression during his presidency. In 2018, when Iranian-backed militias repeatedly
attacked the U.S. consulate in Basra, Iraq Trump’s only response was to close our diplomatic
facility. In June 2019, when Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance aircraft operating in
international airspace above the Straits of Hormuz, Trump responded by tweet and then
abruptly called off any actual retaliation, causing confusion and concern among his own
national security team. In September 2019, when Iranian-backed groups threatened global
energy markets by attacking Saudi oil infrastructure, Trump failed to respond against Iran or
its proxies. In January 2020, when Iran, for the first and only time in its history, directly
launched ballistic missiles against U.S. troops in western Iraq, Trump mocked the resulting
Traumatic Brain Injuries suffered by dozens of American servicemembers as mere
“headaches” – and again, took no action.
The Administration continues to manage the fallout from Trump’s reckless and
short-sighted decision to pull the United States out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action to constrain Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions. Iran was abiding by the agreement not
to expand its nuclear capacity until Trump’s costly mistake. Since then, as a result, Iran has
gone from being more than a year away from being able to produce enough weapons grade
material for a bomb to a matter of weeks, should it choose to do so. Iran has continued to
advance its nuclear program, increase the size and enrichment level of its uranium stockpile,
and develop, manufacture, and operate advanced centrifuges. President Biden remains
committed to a diplomatic solution while standing resolute that Iran will never be allowed to
develop nuclear weapons.
Response to the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Next Steps to a Lasting Peace for
Israelis and Palestinians
President Biden and Vice President Harris believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is
vital to the interests of the United States. Their commitment to Israel’s security, its
qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself, and the 2016 Memorandum of
Understanding is ironclad. President Biden and Vice President Harris recognize the worth of
every innocent life, whether Israeli or Palestinian.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have unequivocally denounced Hamas’s brutal
attack on Israel on October 7, condemned the gruesome violence – including
conflict-related sexual violence – demonstrated by Hamas and made clear that the United
States wants to see Hamas defeated.
President Biden traveled to Israel – the first U.S. president to do so at a time of war – in the
days after October 7 to demonstrate that the United States stands with Israel in its quest for
peace and security. He has also defended Israel at the U.N. against one-sided efforts to
condemn Israel. The Administration worked with Congressional leaders to pass a historic aid
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package worth $14 billion to help Israel defend itself and to provide more than $1 billion for
additional humanitarian aid to Gaza.
President Biden has also been determined to broker an immediate and lasting ceasefire deal
that once finalized secures the return of all hostages, including the remaining Americans
held in Gaza; addresses the immense civilian pain and extreme suffering being caused by
the conflict, including the displacement and death of so many innocent people in Gaza;
results in a durable end to the war in Gaza; and sets the stage for a lasting regional peace.
The President has made clear to the world the importance of this ceasefire and he and his
team are working at the highest levels to finalize this deal.
President Biden has also worked tirelessly – including through the appointment of a senior
civilian coordinator for humanitarian relief – to surge and ensure the unimpeded delivery of
humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. Many vulnerable civilians are suffering
deadly consequences of the Israel-Hamas war. Residents of Gaza have been displaced, and
food insecurity has been severe. The Administration has worked relentlessly to deliver food,
medicine, and other aid to the people of Gaza and to set the conditions for the
reconstruction of communities in Gaza that have been devastated by the war.
As President Biden has made clear, a ceasefire deal will lead to a more secure Israel and
unlock the possibility of greater regional integration and historic normalization with its Arab
neighbors. It will allow Israelis to safely return to their homes without fear of being attacked.
A deal will also allow for Arab nations and the international community to help rebuild Gaza
in a manner that does not allow Hamas to re-arm. It will allow the United States to work with
partners to rebuild homes, schools, and hospitals in Gaza and repair destroyed communities.
It would create the conditions for a better future for the Palestinian people, one of
self-determination, dignity, security, and freedom, and ultimately a state of their own – a
contrast to Trump, who refuses to endorse the political aspirations of the Palestinian people.
President Biden and Vice President Harris oppose any unilateral steps by either side,
including annexation, that undermine prospects for two states. We will continue to stand
against incitement and terror. The Administration opposes settlement expansion. President
Biden has spoken out against extremist settler violence, and in February, the President
issued an executive order establishing U.S. authority to impose financial sanctions against
foreign persons engaged in actions that threaten the peace, security, or stability of the West
Bank. The Administration believes that while Jerusalem is a matter for final status
negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of
all faiths. We support critical assistance to the Palestinian people in the West Bank and
Gaza, consistent with U.S. law. The Administration opposes any effort to unfairly single out
and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions Movement, while protecting the Constitutional right of our citizens to free
speech.
The Lebanese people deserve to live in an independent and sovereign Lebanon that is free
from the grip of Iran-backed Hezbollah, and a corruption-free, competent, reform-minded
government focused on addressing the needs of its people. In this regard, the
Administration is also committed to facilitating a diplomatic resolution to the ongoing
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hostilities along the Israel-Lebanon border that would ensure the return of both Israeli and
Lebanese families to their homes.
WESTERN HEMISPHERE
No region impacts the United States more directly than the Western Hemisphere. With $1.9
trillion in annual trade, shared values and democratic traditions and family bonds, our
partners in Latin America and the Caribbean are key contributors to U.S. prosperity and
resiliency. The President is building coalitions across the region that make America safer
and more prosperous. He knows that we must work in lockstep with our neighbors to ensure
democracies deliver on the issues that matter most to all of us.
In the last four years, President Biden has strengthened ties with key allies across the
Hemisphere. He designated Colombia as a major non-NATO ally, a recognition of the close
and unique relationship between the countries that will strengthen our military and
economic ties. Understanding that irregular migration affects every country in the
hemisphere, President Biden led the development of the Los Angeles Declaration on
Migration and Protection, a landmark agreement that strengthens cooperation on migration
among 22 countries and promotes responsibility-sharing and a more orderly and humane
management of migration across the region. He and the Vice President have created over
250,000 new jobs in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala under the Administration’s
ambitious Root Causes strategy for Central America. President Biden also hosted the
inaugural Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity Leaders’ Summit to establish an
enduring forum to mobilize economic investment for the region. And he has strengthened
bonds with our closest neighbors, Canada and Mexico, on issues ranging from border
security to trade.
President Biden is committed to countering corruption, authoritarianism, democratic
backsliding, and violence in the region. He has continued to lay the groundwork for progress
on U.S.-Cuba relations in a manner that benefits Americans, resuming flights between the
two nations, reuniting separated families, and restoring diplomatic engagement on discrete
issues like migration. And his Administration has also played a critical role in supporting
Haiti’s stabilization efforts, becoming the largest financial sponsor to the Kenyan
Multinational Security Support mission that is countering gang violence in the country and
providing humanitarian aid.
President Biden is also supporting human rights and fundamental freedoms as people
across the region pursue a more just and prosperous future. Under President Biden, the
United States negotiated the release of ten American hostages from Venezuela, reinstated
sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas sector in response to President Nicolás Maduro failing
to commit to free and fair elections, and cracked down on Nicaragua for repression of their
population and abuse of migrants.
In sharp contrast, the chaos of Trump’s presidency threw our critical partnerships in the
region into turmoil. He normalized autocratic leadership and failed to stand up for shared
American values. In his second term, President Biden will continue the work to ensure a
secure border, protect U.S. jobs, and maintain stability in neighboring countries in order to
keep Americans safe and prosperous.
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AFRICA
By the end of the century, an estimated 40 percent of the world’s population will live in
Africa. President Biden has strengthened partnerships in the region and recognizes African
nations’ critical role in global stability and economic development. In a historic move, the
Administration successfully advocated for the African Union to become a permanent
member of the G20, ensuring Africa's voice in global economic discussions. And President
Biden's hosting of Kenyan President Ruto for a state visit, the first by an African Head of
State since 2008, underscored the importance of the U.S.-Kenya partnership, reflecting a
broader strategy of strengthening bilateral ties across the continent grounded in mutual
respect.
The Administration’s work with the continent is focused on advancing democratic
governance, fostering sustainable economic growth, improving health outcomes, and
addressing the urgent challenges of climate change. The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in
2022 underscored how the United States and African nations are expanding partnerships to
meet shared challenges. The President is committed to continuing work that will support
American and African institutions and citizens as they respond to emerging opportunities
and challenges in an increasingly urban and connected world. His pledge to invest $55 billion
over three years across Africa is a reflection of that commitment. Through initiatives like the
African Growth and Opportunity Act and Prosper Africa, the Administration is deepening
economic ties between African countries and the United States, advancing regional
integration, and helping realize Africa’s immense economic potential for our mutual benefit.
President Biden is committed to addressing development challenges and urgent
humanitarian needs across the continent. The Administration has invested and committed
to provide nearly $20 billion in health programs across Africa. It has delivered over $13
billion in emergency aid and food security assistance for resilient African food systems and
supply markets. President Biden has also launched a new strategic partnership on food
security between the United States and the African Union that will leverage the public and
private sectors, along with multilateral development banks and international financial
institutions to accelerate transformational investments in sustainable and resilient food
systems to prevent food shocks before they happen.
Strengthening the capacity of African nations to address security threats, including
terrorism and violent extremism, remains a top priority. The Administration is expanding
support for African-led peacekeeping operations and conflict resolution initiatives, ensuring
that interventions align with the aspirations of local communities. President Biden also
places significant emphasis on human rights and the rule of law, leveraging diplomatic
channels and development assistance to promote these values. He will continue to push for
a return to democracy in cooperation with the African Union in areas experiencing violence
and instability, including Sudan, where he named a Special Envoy to work towards ending
the conflict. .
Trump routinely ignored and disrespected the African continent, denigrating some nations
as “shithole countries.” By giving up America’s moral authority in the region, he damaged
America’s ability to collaboratively shape Africa and the world’s future.
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In his second term, President Biden will continue to build 21st century U.S.-African
partnerships. He will also work to ensure that Africa has a seat at the table in major global
decisions by lobbying for United States Security Council reform that will secure permanent
representation for Africa.
STRENGTHENING THE U.S. AND GLOBAL ECONOMY
President Biden’s international economic policies promote growth, resilient supply chains,
and clean energy adoption, while empowering American workers and workers everywhere.
For too long, America’s trade policies and approach to the global economy let middle-class
jobs move offshore, hollowed out our supply chains, rewarded corporate CEOs instead of
valuing workers, and failed to generate inclusive economic growth. In response to the
previous status quo, President Biden is committed to building a fairer, more durable global
economic order, for the benefit of the American people and for people everywhere.
Under President Biden, the United States is championing a modern industrial and innovation
strategy, both domestically and with international partners. That strategy is focused on
bolstering our economic and technological strengths, promoting diverse and resilient global
supply chains, and setting high standards for labor, environmental practices, trusted
technology, and good governance. It also aims to channel capital towards delivering public
goods such as climate solutions and healthcare advancements.
America’s prosperity and the prosperity of our allies and partners are mutually reinforcing.
Under President Biden’s leadership, companies from American allies are building
cutting-edge factories in the United States, employing hundreds of thousands of Americans.
U.S. partners provide critical materials, expertise, and products the world needs to achieve
global climate goals, and are important markets for U.S. goods. Trade with allies and partners
on fair terms promotes growth and reinforces alliances.
With the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the Partnership for Global Infrastructure
and Investment, the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, and bilateral initiatives
such as the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership, the United States will
mobilize tens of billions of dollars to invest in clean energy development and critical
infrastructure with high labor standards around the world. These investments will result in
high-quality growth, increased supply chain resilience, and progress toward global climate
goals.
American strength at home and leadership in the world depends on America remaining at
the forefront of technological innovation. President Biden will work with governments,
experts, and members of the private sector to ensure that artificial intelligence and other
innovative technologies lead to progress without creating new national security risks and
societal divisions. Building on joint technology initiatives with the European Union, India,
Singapore, South Korea, and other partners, President Biden will promote innovation and
shared rules for global technologies.
Trump was the first President of the United States to leave office having fewer jobs in his
Administration than when he became President. Unlike Biden, whose targeted tariffs on
China will promote U.S. growth, Trump’s plan to increase taxes on imports from allies, like
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European cancer drugs and foods from Mexico and Latin America, will fall hard on American
families. Trump has consistently failed to help American workers because he has always put
himself first. President Biden has and always will put American workers first.
In his second term, President Biden will continue to invest in America and our allies and
partners to grow the middle class globally. He will pursue modern industrial policies, make
strategic public investments to fill in where markets cannot, work to secure our supply
chains on critical technologies, and fight for a global minimum tax that ensures corporations
pay their fair share. President Biden will also continue to work with our allies and partners to
protect labor and climate standards while helping America compete and win on the world
stage. He will leverage economic tools and diplomatic partnerships and he will rally the world
against economic coercion, utilizing mechanisms like the G7, World Bank, and other
multilateral institutions.
LEADING WITH DIPLOMACY AND AMERICAN VALUES
President Biden has often said that the United States is strongest when we lead not only
with the example of our power but with the power of our example. Military force should be a
tool of last resort, not the first. Commitment to our values at home and abroad requires
working alongside our allies and using every diplomatic tool available to advance American
interests. It means investing in members of our Civil and Foreign Service, who lead
America’s engagement with the world and work in support of our shared prosperity and
security in rapidly changing and increasingly complex environments.
President Biden ended America’s longest war, bringing our troops home from Afghanistan
and facilitating the resettlement of over 120,000 Afghan partners and their families in the
United States, the largest resettlement effort since the Vietnam War. And in the wake of
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States rallied the world to address a global food
crisis and provided $2 billion in global humanitarian assistance.
President Biden's leadership globally was clear in his response to the COVID-19 pandemic
among other global health challenges. Between May 2021 and February 2024 the United
States donated more than 693 million vaccine doses to 117 countries and economies. And
the Administration led the largest-ever replenishment of the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS,
TB, and Malaria, with donors pledging $15.7 billion.
Understanding that there is nothing more important than addressing the climate crisis,
President Biden has kept his word and ensured that the United States leads the world to
combat climate change. The record-breaking heat, floods, storms, drought, and wildfires
devastating communities around the world underscore the grave risks we already face and
the urgency needed to reduce emissions and to help the most vulnerable countries cope
with devastating climate impacts. The United States rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement
on day one of his presidency, and President Biden set an ambitious goal to reach net-zero
emissions by 2050, in line with climate science. And the Administration is supporting
investments in climate infrastructure that make tangible progress on climate mitigation and
adaptation while also helping developing countries unlock economic growth in key areas.
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In response to the rise of authoritarianism across the globe, President Biden convened two
Summits for Democracy, bringing allies and partners together to strengthen democratic
resilience, combat corruption, and promote human rights globally, including for LGBTQI+
persons. The third Summit occurred this year under South Korea’s leadership, and President
Biden is proud to have catalyzed this new global forum to support and coordinate
democracies around the world, and which will continue in his second term.
President Biden believes the United States must continue to be a strong advocate for the
rights and opportunities of women and girls around the world. Under his leadership, the
United States issued its first-ever National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality, which
recognizes that elevating the status of women and girls is not just the right thing to do – it is
a strategic imperative that advances American interests in prosperity and stability. When
women and girls are healthy, educated, and able to participate economically, their families
and communities prosper, poverty decreases, and economies grow. And when women
participate in conflict resolution and post-conflict processes, it improves the likelihood of
securing sustainable peace.
President Biden will continue to support the United States Strategy and National Action Plan
on Women, Peace, and Security and will continue to work to end the epidemic of
gender-based violence around the world, including efforts to increase accountability for
conflict-related sexual violence. His Administration will continue prioritizing ratification of
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. President
Biden understands that advancing the rights of women and girls includes sexual and
reproductive health and rights. His Administration has prioritized women’s health by
rescinding the global gag rule (Mexico City Policy), and supporting funding for the UN
Population Fund.
Trump's undermining of democratic institutions, attacks on the free press, and refusal to
accept the results of the 2020 election weakened the global perception of American
democracy, giving autocracies a pretext to dismiss democratic values and practices. These
actions collectively eroded the United States' standing on the world stage.
President Biden will never turn our back on our alliances or fail to stand up for human rights
and democracy around the world and at home. In his second term, he will support the critical
work of our diplomats and continue to fight to bring Americans detained abroad home.
President Biden will continue work to strengthen global health systems, bolster pandemic
preparedness programs, and alleviate global food insecurity. He will expand on America’s
track record of providing humanitarian assistance to those most in need including by
resettling 100,000 refugees in 2024, the most in three decades after Trump nearly
destroyed the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. President Biden will also ensure the
United States continues to drive multilateral efforts to reduce poverty, address
unsustainable debt burdens and build a more inclusive and more fair global economy. He will
continue to lead on efforts to combat the existential threat of climate change and support
adaptation efforts in developing nations. And he will keep fighting corruption, supporting
good governance, and countering terrorist threats around the world.
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STRONGEST MILITARY IN THE WORLD
The United States has the finest fighting force in the history of the world. And while our
soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and guardians remain the envy of the
globe, President Biden understands that maintaining our military advantages in the future
means making strategic investments now. That is why the Administration has invested in
cutting-edge capabilities across all services and domains and maintained a commitment to
modernize and recapitalize the nuclear triad as the bedrock of deterrence. That is also why
President Biden has made historic investments in America’s military industrial base, putting
billions of dollars to work in America to increase production capacity of critical munitions
and other capabilities to support U.S. and allied forces in combat zones such as Ukraine. And
as the Administration does the work to plan against dramatic changes in geopolitics,
technology, economics, and the environment, our military has maintained its ability to
address terrorist threats, evidenced by successful strikes against leaders of al-Qa’ida and
ISIS.
Properly investing in our military also means first and foremost investing in those who are
the bedrock of it: our service members. President Biden has secured pay raises for military
personnel in recognition of their invaluable service. His Administration has allocated over
$10 billion to enhance health care services for veterans and active-duty personnel, including
expanded mental health resources and programs to support those suffering from PTSD and
other service-related conditions. President Biden’s consistent efforts to address military
housing issues resulted in a $1.4 billion investment in military housing improvements,
leading to better living conditions and increased oversight of housing contracts. The
Administration's policies have also supported military spouses, with over $200 million in
funds dedicated to bolstering education and employment opportunities, underscoring the
critical role that families play in the strength and resilience of the armed forces.
Aware of exacerbated nuclear proliferation challenges that the world is facing as Russia, the
PRC and North Korea expand and diversify their nuclear arsenals, and in the context of Iran
continuing to enrich uranium at dangerous levels, the Administration is showing what it
means to act responsibly as a nuclear power. Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be
fought. The United States is developing and fielding only what is required to deter while
signaling openness to future arms control negotiations if competitors are interested. The
Administration is modernizing each leg of our nuclear triad, updating our command, control,
and communication systems, and investing in our nuclear enterprise – to ensure that we can
sustain and enhance if necessary capabilities and posture. President Biden has reaffirmed in
U.S. doctrine that U.S. nuclear weapons are reserved for deterring strategic attack by those
that threaten us and our allies and partners with nuclear weapons.
Trump has never understood the values that our military swears to uphold. Instead, he calls
our service members “suckers” and “losers.” He can never make America great, because he
does not understand the values represented by our military that already make us great.
President Biden has never and will never turn his back on our military. In his second term, he
will continue to invest in upgrading to next-generation weapon systems, cutting-edge
training opportunities, and deterrence capabilities such as our submarine force and the
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nuclear triad. He will continue to address cyber threats by bolstering the capacity of our
intelligence communities and leading the development of rules of the road for technologies
like artificial intelligence. And he will continue to always put our veterans and military
families first by securing additional pay raises for service members, accessible and
affordable childcare for our military families, good-paying job opportunities for military
spouses, effective suicide and sexual assault prevention programs, and benefits for our
veterans and their families.
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