Today, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) released a draft of the 2024 Democratic Party Platform, featuring both the historic accomplishments of the Biden-Harris administration and a bold, progressive agenda for the next four years for President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats to finish the job. The Platform focuses on priorities for Democrats up and down the ballot, from growing the economy to lowering costs for families; tackling the climate crisis and securing energy independence; closing the racial wealth gap and investing in small businesses; restoring Roe v. Wade as the law of the land; protecting communities from the scourge of gun violence and protecting freedoms for all Americans; and securing our border and strengthening American leadership worldwide. 

“This Platform highlights the progress that we’ve made since day one of the Biden-Harris Administration and recommits Democrats up and down the ballot to our mission to give every American a fair shot,” said DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. “While Donald Trump and the RNC crafted an extreme MAGA Platform behind closed doors, we know that their real blueprint for a second Trump term is their toxic and dangerous Project 2025 wishlist to rip away Americans’ freedoms, give handouts to billionaires on the backs of working people, and clear the path for Trump to be a dictator on ‘day one.’ The contrast couldn’t be clearer. Our Drafting Committee incorporated a diverse set of expertise and perspectives, inviting Democrats from across the nation to participate in our process and contribute to our Platform. The breadth and depth of this Platform is rooted in our collective experience and reflects a bold agenda that affirms Democrats’ commitment to protecting fundamental freedoms.”

The Democratic Party Platform was drafted with input from individuals and organizations from across the United States through the 2024 Platform Written Testimony Portal, listening sessions, and Drafting Committee hearing testimony.

The Democratic Party’s Platform and process stand in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s RNC Platform, which was created behind closed doors and closed off entirely to the public and the press. Donald Trump placed the architects of Project 2025 at the helm of the RNC Platform Committee to help him implement his extreme agenda to institute a national abortion ban, give handouts to his billionaire donors on the backs of middle-class Americans, make cuts to Medicare and Social Security, and ensure he can be a dictator on “day one.” 

Highlights of the DNC Platform 

In the past four years, Democrats have proven once again that democracy can deliver, and we have made tremendous progress. We’ve created nearly 16 million jobs, prescription drug prices are coming down, and we’re taking the most ambitious action in world history to fight climate change. We’re seizing record amounts of fentanyl and securing our border in the face of Republican inaction, and strengthening NATO and restoring American leadership in the world. We’ve worked to close the persistent racial wealth gap that has plagued our country for generations, with Black wealth climbing 60 percent since before the pandemic and Latino household wealth increasing by 19 percent in the last three years. We are still in a battle for the soul of our nation, and President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are running to finish the job.

Where the Democratic Platform fights to advance this bold agenda, Donald Trump and Project 2025 are planning to strip away Americans’ freedoms and dismantle our democracy. The contrast could not be more stark.

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Grow Our Economy from the Bottom Up & Middle Out

Democrats are delivering on President Biden’s pledge to rebuild our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. Since President Biden took office, this country has come back from the brink, the deficit has fallen by over $1 trillion, we have the best jobs record since John F. Kennedy, and we’ve powered the strongest economic recovery in the world. We are breaking ground on over 57,000 projects across 4,500 communities nationwide and incentivizing a historic $877 billion in private funding across the United States, with companies investing hundreds of billions more than what they did under Trump to build new factories. 

We’ll accelerate implementation of our historic Investing in America agenda to bring back manufacturing and rebuild our infrastructure. We’ll keep fighting to pass the PRO Act, to give everyone the right to organize for better pay, benefits, and working conditions and we’ll finally raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. And, we’ll keep expanding access to capital so that Americans can start and grow small businesses.

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Donald 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. Trump vowed to bring new factories to communities across America, but left nothing behind but a string of broken promises. Project 2025 will make permanent Trump’s MAGA tax scam of giving out massive tax handouts to America’s wealthiest and big corporations while letting the middle class suffer. 

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Reward Work, Not Wealth

Democrats are fighting to reward work, not wealth, 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 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 our plan cuts the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade.

President Biden and Democrats will cut working families’ taxes, including by restoring and making permanent the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. Democrats will make billionaires pay a minimum income tax so that they no longer pay an average tax rate lower than a firefighter or teacher. And, Democrats won’t let corporations get away with paying $0 in taxes, raising the corporate tax rate and closing loopholes that special interests take advantage of.  

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Donald Trump is focused on rigging the game for his billionaire donors. In 2017, he enacted a reckless, unpaid-for tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the very wealthy and biggest corporations. Republicans are now doubling down on Trump’s failed approach, vowing to make his tax scam permanent. They’ll add $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, and House Republicans have vowed to cut Social Security and Medicare for everyone else to help foot the bill. 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 as much as $2,500, and adding trillions to the deficit. Project 2025 plans would further raise barriers for workers to unionize, question the need for public-sector unions, and impose greater reporting burdens on unions. 

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Lower 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 can still feel too high. Lowering costs is Democrats’ number one economic priority. We have more to do, but our actions are already putting thousands of dollars a year back in people’s pockets. We are saving millions of Americans an average of $800 a year on their health care premiums. We capped the price of insulin at $35 a month for nearly 4 million seniors on Medicare and are lowering the price of commonly used drugs for diabetes and heart failure. We capped rent hikes in 2 million apartments and are going after unfair rental “junk fees.” Through record energy production of clean energy, oil, and gas, we’ve lowered prices at the pump for American families. We approved the cancellation of $167 billion in loans for nearly 5 million borrowers, including a million public servants such as teachers, nurses, and police, and are expanding registered apprenticeships and job training opportunities.

President Biden and Democrats will continue to lower the cost of health care, building on President Biden’s historic action allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices by growing the list by at least 50 drugs a year. And he will stand firm to protect Social Security and expand benefits, and make Medicare permanently solvent by making the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes. Democrats will guarantee affordable, quality child care to millions of working families for less than $10 a day per child. And, we’ll lower housing costs by building or renovating 2 million homes nationwide. We will take on corporate greed by banning “junk fees” and holding companies accountable for price gouging.

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Donald Trump hasn’t offered a single solution to lower families’ costs. He wants to drag America backward with extreme import tariffs that will make life more expensive for folks nationwide. And for those corporations that are raising prices and making historic profits, Trump wants to give them a massive tax cut. Independent analysts say his MAGA tax and tariff plans will in fact 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 as much as $2,500 a year.

House Republicans have also 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. Project 2025 would effectively dismantle the Department of Education entirely and eliminate important programs like Head Start, and would bring a return to the gold standard, effectively abolishing the Federal Reserve, which researchers, economists, and history tell us could lead to economic downturns, inflation, and currency instability. 

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Tackle the Climate Crisis, Lower Energy Costs, and Secure Energy Independence 

President Biden is delivering the most aggressive climate agenda in history. His landmark legislation has unleashed a clean energy boom that’s reducing pollution, lowering energy costs, and has already created over 300,000 good-paying American jobs. 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.

Democrats will scale up solar, wind, and geothermal projects made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act and invest in clean energy R&D to build America’s legacy as a nation of new frontiers and possibilities. President Biden will expand the clean energy workforce, with a goal of tripling the size of the American Climate Corps by the end of this decade and making 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. We’ll  also eliminate tens of billions of dollars in unfair oil and gas subsidies and hold oil and gas executives accountable for potential collusion or price gouging. We will continue to implement the president’s Executive Order on Environmental Justice for all.

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Donald Trump is still trying to deny what we all see happening right before our eyes. 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. 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. Project 2025 calls to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden’s signature legislation that is the largest investment in climate in history, questions the existence of the climate crisis altogether, empowers Trump to reject climate science and gut the federal government’s ability to research climate solutions and eliminate NOAA, and repeals federal protections of national parks. 

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Protect Communities & Tackle Gun Violence 

All Americans deserve freedom from fear, women deserve a president who has committed his life to ending violence against women, and families deserve a president who has delivered safer neighborhoods. Under President Biden and Vice President Harris, 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. Democrats made the largest-ever federal investment in public safety and violence prevention, putting more police officers on beat for accountable community policing. We need to fund the police, not defund the police. President Biden and Vice President Harris and Democrats in Congress defeated the gun lobby and passed the first significant federal gun safety law in nearly 30 years. President Biden took historic action by pardoning people convicted federally for using or possessing marijuana.

Democrats will take on common sense solutions to gun violence, including universal background checks, safe storage requirements, and a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. President Biden will advance his Safer America Plan, which calls on Congress to invest $37 billion to support law enforcement and crime prevention – including funding for 100,000 additional police officers for accountable community policing and investing $5 billion in community violence interventions, building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Democrats will also take action to expunge federal marijuana-only convictions.

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Trump oversaw the largest one-year increase in murders ever recorded, including a 35% increase in murders committed with guns. While President Biden has stood up to the gun lobby, Trump is proud of doing their bidding. 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 tells families to “get over it.” On January 6, he encouraged the rioters who attacked the police officers protecting our Capitol — and since then, he has promised to pardon these convicted criminals. As president, he repeatedly proposed cutting funding to state and local law enforcement programs; he proposed cutting the COPS program that funds local police officers for three years in a row, including a $244 million cut in FY2021. He’s 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. If enacted, Project 2025 would weaken racial discrimination standards and endanger communities of color. 

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Strengthen Democracy, Protect Freedoms, & Advance 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. When President Biden took office, the nation was reeling from what it had just witnessed on January 6: a violent mob that stormed 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 Donald Trump’s lies, repeated over and over again for months, to overturn the will of the people.

In his second term in office, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats will continue to work every day to ensure that our democracy endures. President Biden will appoint more justices and judges across the federal bench like Justice Jackson: brilliant jurists who are committed to defending American rights and freedoms. Democrats in Congress 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. President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are committed to restoring the reproductive rights Trump ripped away and will pass a law codifying the protections of Roe, strengthen access to contraception, protect a woman’s right to access IVF, and support access to FDA-approved medication abortion. Democrats will also keep fighting to address racial inequities, from health care to education to housing.

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Donald Trump is a greater danger than ever. He still doesn’t accept that he lost in 2020, and he has never agreed to accept the results of this year’s election. He has spent years undermining public faith and confidence in our elections, and warned of a “bloodbath” if he loses now. He lionizes the convicted criminals who perpetrated the January 6 attack on our Capitol and on our brave police, calling the insurrectionists “patriots” and “hostages,” and promises to pardon them. He’s promised to be a dictator on “Day One” — and we’ve already seen how he fawns over other dictators. He’s vowed to weaponize the 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 to silence his critics, he suggested the “termination” of our Constitution. 

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Secure our Border & Fix the Broken Immigration System

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, it would have funded new technology and personnel to catch fentanyl and go after drug traffickers, 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. President Biden hasn’t waited to act – and his actions have led to border encounters going down by over 50 percent. The current level is lower today than when Trump left office.

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 long-term undocumented individuals, including Dreamers. President Biden has taken action to advance each of these goals, but lasting, comprehensive reforms require congressional action. 

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Trump’s plans for a second term will devastate our economy, tear families apart, and do nothing to strengthen our immigration system. 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, 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 – under Trump’s orders – Congressional Republicans are currently blocking President Biden’s bipartisan border security proposals because they lack the courage to stand up to Trump. Project 2025 plans would discredit asylum seekers’ fear of persecution and allow for immigration raids in “sensitive” zones, including schools, churches, hospitals, playgrounds, and more. 

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Unity Agenda

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.

Democrats will continue critical investments to curb opioid overdoses, including expanding access to life-saving medication and care for Americans struggling with addiction. Democrats will increase access to mental health care, and push to expand 988 — the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline launched by the Biden-Harris Administration — to serve more Americans. Democrats are determined to strengthen data privacy, protect kids online, and hold companies accountable for the harm they cause.

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: Donald Trump divides us for his own political game. He refuses to reach across the aisle to deliver results for working families, and Project 2025 plans would endanger veterans’ benefits, cut Medicaid benefits for those who need it most, and end health care protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Strengthen American Leadership Worldwide

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. President Biden and Democrats believe 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. President Biden understands 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. 

President Biden will never turn his back on our allies. In his second term, he will continue to strengthen NATO and stand with Ukraine to stop Putin’s atrocities and constrain Russia’s threat to allied nations and America’s vital interests. President Biden will remain focused on actions at home and abroad to outcompete China, while responsibly managing the relationship with the PRC to avoid a costly spiral to conflict. President Biden remains committed to a durable peace in the Middle East bolstered by regional integration 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. 

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Plans: 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, attempted to weaken the NATO alliance, and pledged to allow Putin to do “whatever they hell he wants” to our NATO allies. And, he repeatedly disrespected the brave men and women in the U.S. military calling them “suckers” and “losers.”