Young progressives say they don’t want ‘return to normalcy’ under Joe Biden

(UPI) — Several groups of young progressives said they’re not on board with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden‘s call for life to go back to what it was before the election of President Donald Trump. They wrote an open letter to the former vice president Wednesday, hours after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., suspended his campaign to be president. “While you are now the presumptive Democratic nominee, it is clear that you were unable to win the votes of the vast majority of voters under 45 years old during the primary,” the open letter begins. “Messaging around a ‘return to normalcy’ does not and has not earned the support and trust of voters from our generation. For so many young people, going back to the way things were ‘before Trump’ isn’t a motivating enough reason to cast a ballot in November.” The letter details a list of demands for Biden to earn the votes of the younger generation. It’s signed by Alliance for Youth Action, Justice Democrats, IfNotNow Movement, March for Our Lives Action Fund, NextGen America, Student Action, Sunrise Movement and United We Dream Action. Collectively, the group says it will spend more than $100 million in messaging aimed at younger voters during the 2020 election cycle. The groups called on Biden to support the Green New Deal on climate change, a plan to reduce gun deaths by 50 percent in 10 years, expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and a law to lower prescription drug costs. They also seek support for criminal justice reform to cut prison populations by 50 percent, free undergraduate tuition at public schools, canceling student loan debt, a wealth tax, the repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force, eliminating the filibuster and expanding the Supreme Court. In terms of his future administration, the letter calls on Biden to appoint progressive elected officials, establish a national director of gun violence prevention, and refrain from appointing zero current or former Wall Street executives or corporate lobbyists. “Exclusively anti-Trump messaging won’t be enough to lead any candidate to victory. We need you to champion the bold ideas that have galvanized our generation and given us hope in the political process,” the letter read. Reporting by Danielle Haynes