5 highlights from DNC night 1: Biden can ‘restore the soul of America,’ Cuomo and Sanders declare

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Bernie says Biden will lower the age for Medicare to 60

Left-leaning Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and 2016 and is a self-described democratic socialist, was given a primetime speaking slot Monday night.

Sanders offered his support for Biden, who over his career has embraced more moderate policy positions but has shifted further left on some Democrat agenda issues in his 2020 campaign.

“As you know, we are the only industrialized nation not to guarantee health care for all people,” Sanders said. “While Joe and I disagree on the best path to get to universal coverage, he has a plan that will greatly expand health care and cut the cost of prescription drugs.”

Sanders noted that Biden plans to lower the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 60.

“In 2016, Trump promised he would stand with working families. He said that he would ‘drain the swamp,’ take on Wall Street and powerful special interests. He would protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and, by the way, he would provide health care to ‘everybody.’ Well, none of it was true,” Sanders argued.

“Instead, he filled his administration with billionaires and gave trillions to the top 1 percent and large corporations. He tried to throw 32 million people off of their health insurance, eliminate protections for preexisting conditions, and submitted budgets that proposed slashing Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.”

Sanders also claimed that Biden will “fight the threat of climate change by transitioning us to 100 percent clean electricity over the next 15 years.”

Sanders also praised Biden for his support for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, creating 12 weeks of paid family leave, funding universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as instituting initiatives to make childcare more affordable for families.

Sanders also assured that Biden plans to end America’s private prison system.

“And to heal the soul of our nation, Joe Biden will end the hate and division Trump has created,” Sanders boldly said. “He will stop the demonization of immigrants, the coddling of white nationalists, the racist dog-whistling, the religious bigotry, and the ugly attacks on women.”