National Democratic Party Platform Planks
Nutley Democratic Action is a Democratic party-affiliated group. As such, we support the full National Democratic Party Platform, which can be found in its entirety at
Party Platform - Democrats.
NDA will focus primarily (but not exclusively) on the issues contained within four of the ten party planks, which are salient to New Jersey voters, and which can be effectively impacted by grassroots activism.
Strengthening Our Democracy
Democrats will fight to restore and protect Americans’ fundamental right to vote, including by aggressively pushing back against Republican governors, legislatures, and state officials who have disenfranchised people of color, young people, low-income people, and people with disabilities. And we will strictly enforce ethics laws and improve transparency across the federal government in order to rebuild trust with the American people, and will protect civil servants and whistleblowers from political retribution.
Protect and Enforce Voting Rights
Unite against disenfranchisement of voters through onerous voter ID laws, unconstitutional and excessive purges of the voter rolls, and closures of polling places in low-income neighborhoods, on college campuses, and in communities of color.
Prioritize passing legislation that restores and strengthens the Voting Rights Act, and ensure the Department of Justice challenges state laws that make it harder for Americans to vote.
Facilitate voting ease and accessibility for all Americans by supporting automatic voter registration, same-day voter registration, early voting, and universal vote-from-home and vote-by-mail options.
Bolster voter confidence that their ballot was counted as cast by supporting mandatory, statistically meaningful post-election audits and full transparency of all election results and data.
Education
Democrats believe that education is a critical public good—not a commodity—and that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that every child, everywhere, is able to receive a world-class education that enables them to lead meaningful lives, no matter their race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability status, language status, immigration or citizenship status, household income or ZIP code…. We are committed to making the investments our students and teachers need to build equity and safeguard humanity in our educational system and guarantee every child can receive a great education.
High-Quality K-12 Schools
Expand Universal PreK, STEM, Title 1.
Ensure safe and supportive school environments for students and educators - No guns in schools.
Support students’ mental health needs, address trauma, and promote social and emotional development by expanding school-based health services.
Appropriately address discrimination, bullying and harassment related to sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity; race; national origin; immigration or citizenship status; religion; disability; and language status.
Provide equal educational opportunities for students with disabilities.
Affordable, Quality Healthcare
Democrats are the party of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. We are dedicated to building a healthcare system that finally provides universal healthcare coverage; reduces prescription drug prices, premiums, and out-of-pocket costs; reins in overall healthcare expenses; and tackles the deep-seated inequities in our healthcare system.
Securing Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
Democrats believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every individual should be able to access high-quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion.
Restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides vital preventive and reproductive health care for millions of people, especially low-income people, and people of color, and LGBTQ+ people.
Fight to overturn federal and state laws that create barriers to reproductive health and rights.
Recognize that quality, affordable comprehensive health care; medically accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive, age-appropriate sex education; and the full range of family planning services are all essential to ensuring that people can decide if, when, and how to start a family.
Building a Stronger, Fairer Economy
Democrats commit to forging a new social and economic contract with the American people—a contract that invests in the people and promotes shared prosperity, not one that benefits only big corporations and the wealthiest few. One that affirms housing is a right and not a privilege, and which makes a commitment that no one will be homeless or go hungry in the richest country on earth.
Putting Homeownership in Reach and Guaranteeing Safe Housing
Homeownership has long been central to building generational wealth, and expanding access to homeownership to those who have been unfairly excluded and discriminated against. Democrats believe the government should take aggressive steps to increase the supply of housing, especially affordable housing, and address long-standing economic and racial inequities in our housing markets.
Democrats will supercharge investment in the Housing Trust Fund to greatly expand the number of affordable, accessible housing units on the market; expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to incentivize private-sector construction of affordable housing, and make sure urban, suburban, and rural areas all benefit.
Democrats commit to providing Section 8 housing support for every eligible family, and will enact protections to keep landlords from discriminating against voucher recipients. We will increase investments in public housing to expand availability for the first time since the 1990s, and improve and upgrade existing public housing to ensure safe living conditions for residents.
Democrats will vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, and the disparate impact standard, and hold lenders accountable for discriminatory practices.