Sanders pushes for more concessions in platform draft

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said in an op-ed Sunday that there’s still more work to be done on the party’s platform, though he scored a few victories in a draft passed last week.

{mosads}The platform draft adopts support for a $15 minimum wage and an expansion of Social Security. But Sanders reiterated the need for change ahead of the full platform committee’s meeting in Orlando, Fla., next weekend.

“But, unfortunately, there were a number of vitally important proposals brought forth by the delegates from our campaign that were not adopted,” Sanders said in an op-ed published in The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

He said there needs to be “very clear” language that raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour as well as a tax on carbon and a ban on fracking. 

He also wants to see the Democratic Party oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. 

“In my view, the Democratic Party must go on record in opposition to holding a vote on this disastrous, unfettered free-trade agreement during the lame-duck session of Congress and beyond,” he said. 

“Frankly, I do not understand why the amendment our delegates offered on this issue in St. Louis was defeated with all of [presumptive Democratic presidential nominee] Hillary Clinton’s committee members voting against it. I don’t understand that because Clinton, during the campaign, made it very clear that she did not want to see the TPP appear on the floor during the lame-duck session.”