After the first day of the Democratic National Convention, we have a party platform — a plan for what a Harris-Walz administration and Democratic lawmakers will work toward starting in 2025. We’ve read the platform cover to cover, and we’re glad to see important policy priorities across food, water, and climate represented. We also see opportunities to push Democrats toward even more progress. 

This comes in stark contrast to the Republican Party platform, which doesn’t acknowledge many threats to our communities, local economies, and our livable future. Instead, the platform emphasizes deregulation and makes huge promises to the fossil fuel industry. 

In the Democrats’ platform and the Republicans’, we see two competing visions of our country’s future. The future Republicans imagine will serve corporate interests intent on screwing us over for profit. Meanwhile, Democrats are working toward a future where corporations are held accountable for their wrongs. They’ve presented a vision of a government that will serve the people, ensure a good living for everyone, and defend our shared food, water, and climate. 

Let’s break it down:

Supporting Workers, Farmers, and Families Over Big Ag

We can trace many of the problems in our food system — from unaffordable groceries to dangerous pollution — to Big Ag’s power. 

Over the past few years, though, the Biden-Harris administration has tackled this power and fought for farmers, food workers, and families. Along with confronting corporate price gouging, it has promoted more competition across the food sector. This will mean corporations will have to compete to earn our business, rather than racking up the benefits of being the only option in town.

This is good news for farmers, too. Democrats have pledged to advance Biden-Harris policies that are supporting independent meat and processors as counterweights to the meat giants and making markets fairer and more transparent. They’re promising to tackle corporations’ unfair business practices that have even taken away farmers’ right to repair their own equipment.

The party is also focused on improving conditions for workers. It will advance labor rights, like the right to organize a union, and pass new protections against hazards like extreme heat and toxic pesticides.

We will work to push a Harris-Walz administration to defend the Biden-Harris regulations reining in Big Ag. We’ll also push them to stop more mega-mergers and break up the companies that dominate our food system. This will help lower food prices for families and raise incomes for farmers.

The Democrats have laid out a vision of a food system that is more sustainable, resilient, and fair; one that will help Rural America thrive. Meanwhile, the Republican Party platform doesn’t mention rural communities once, completely ignoring the needs of large swaths of the country. Its plans for deregulation will threaten food and worker safety. It also fails to acknowledge Big Ag’s power, signaling little hope for progress on holding the industry accountable. 

Working Toward Clean Water for Everyone

Our access to clean water faces threats on multiple fronts. Notably, corporate polluters are poisoning our shared resources and aging infrastructure is endangering our access to affordable water. Responding to these problems requires massive public investment to ensure the costs don’t fall on families.

Luckily, the Biden-Harris administration has made significant progress on addressing these issues. It has finalized the first national drinking water standards for PFAS “forever chemicals” and has taken the first steps to replace every lead pipe in the country. It has also made some of the biggest investments in our water infrastructure in decades. 

We know the work is far from over, and the Democratic Party knows it, too. It’s committed to advancing these policies, as well as ones that force polluters to pay to clean up their messes. It will also protect our rivers and wetlands, which are both important ecosystems and essential sources of drinking water. 

We will also need to push a Harris-Walz administration to go further. We need to ban all PFAS, push for more funding to replace lead pipes, and increase funding for our municipal water systems, which are still woefully underfunded.

Still, the Republican Party platform includes no mention water. It ignores threats like PFAS, lead, and other toxic chemicals — in fact, it doesn’t even bring up cancer. It also offers no plan for funding badly needed infrastructure or ensuring water affordability. Its deregulatory agenda will pave the way for more corporate pollution and put public health at greater risk.

Defending Our Planet and Our Pocketbooks from the Oil and Gas Industry

The Democrats know that the fossil fuel industry isn’t just a threat to a livable climate; it’s also a threat to affordable energy. Big Oil and Gas’s chokehold on the economy has allowed it to price gouge consumers. The industry is also siphoning billions of public dollars, while its executives are making eye-watering profits. 

The Democratic Party platform seeks to address these issues by cutting tens of billions of dollars in oil and gas subsidies. It also pledges to hold fossil fuel corporations accountable for price gouging and other unfair practices. 

At the same time, Democrats are committing to continued support for holding polluters accountable. The Biden administration boosted enforcement of U.S. environmental laws, pouring more funding into the agencies that take polluters to task. The platform promises more “monitoring, transparency, and community engagement in this work.”

To be clear — the platform doesn’t go nearly far enough. There is no call to ban fracking, stop drilling, or halt the expansion of dirty infrastructure. It also doesn’t reject the industry’s false solutions like carbon capture, hydrogen, and factory farm gas. We’ll have to push a future Harris administration hard on these issues. 

Still, the contrast with the Republican platform is massive. The Republican Party platform promises a drilling bonanza and deregulation for the fossil fuel industry. The party’s presidential candidate has offered a slate of industry-friendly policies in exchange for campaign donations, and he gutted more than 125 environmental laws during his time in office. With Republicans at the helm, we’re facing policies that will have terrible impacts on our planet and our pocketbooks.

Fighting for a Hopeful Vision of Our Shared Future

Comparing the Democratic and Republican Party platforms makes it crystal clear what’s at stake this November. It also shows that this election isn’t just about who’s at the top of the ticket. It’s about the leaders, from the White House to the State House, who will help make this platform a reality and allow us to push for even more progress. And most importantly, it’s about a vision of the future that we will fight for together. 

The Democrats’ platform doesn’t go nearly far enough, but it points toward a future where every family can afford essential food, water, and energy; where our shared resources are defended from corporate abuses; where workers and farmers can make a good living and be safe on the job; where the one Earth we have is protected for generations to come.

That’s why Food & Water Action is putting our all into this election. Our organizers and volunteers are calling voters and knocking on doors to elect food, water, and climate champions. We’re working tirelessly to ensure that come January 2025, our progress is preserved and we have the best possible starting line to continue fighting for a livable future.

All Gifts Matched!

Let\'s move forward to protect our ~food and water! Your gift will be ~matched $1-to-$1!

MATCH MY GIFT