How the two Democratic rivals stack up on major issues

WASHINGTON • Here is where United States presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders stand on some of the issues each might raise during their debate.

One of the biggest distinctions between the candidates is that Mr Biden does not support a universal government-run health insurance programme like Medicare For All. Instead, he supports maintaining the private insurance system but adding a Medicare-like public option that anyone could sign up for - a proposal that still goes well beyond the Affordable Care Act. He estimates his plan would cost US$750 billion (S$1.06 trillion) over a decade.

Mr Biden would also increase tax credits for people to buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. His plan does not specifically address medical debt.

One of the bedrock principles of Mr Sanders' campaign is that healthcare is a human right, and he is the torchbearer for Medicare For All. He estimates his plan would cost US$30 trillion over 10 years and would be paid for by new revenue of about US$17.5 trillion, along with "current federal, state and local government spending".

The pandemic has quickly become the most urgent problem facing the country, and Mr Biden released a plan last Thursday calling for free testing, "the elimination of all cost barriers to preventive care and treatment for Covid-19", and emergency paid leave for affected workers.

He also wants to restore a White House office that oversaw responses to global health crises - an office that the Obama administration created and the Trump administration eliminated - and direct the Justice Department to combat price gouging for medical supplies.

Mr Sanders has called for emergency funding for paid sick leave, an expansion of community health centres and a mandate that all medications related to the coronavirus be sold at cost.

Mr Biden wants to make two-year community colleges and "other high-quality training programmes" debt-free but would not cancel existing student debt the way Mr Sanders is proposing. His plan would, however, forgive the remaining balance for people who paid 5 per cent of their discretionary income (with the first US$25,000 exempt) towards their loans for 20 years.

Mr Sanders wants to make all public colleges and universities free, cancel all student loan debt - about US$1.6 trillion is owed by about 45 million Americans - and cap student loan interest rates at 1.88 per cent. He said he would pay for the student debt cancellation with a tax on financial transactions like stock trades.

Mr Biden's US$1.7 trillion climate plan calls for 100 per cent carbon-free energy and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It would end fossil fuel subsidies and subsidise clean energy but envisions a continued role for fossil fuels for some time: It would not ban fracking, for instance.

Mr Sanders is a proponent of the Green New Deal, a sweeping resolution that calls for aggressive action to combat climate change, and has modelled his US$16.3 trillion proposal on that plan. He calls for an immediate ban on fracking, for the electricity and transportation sectors to be carbon-free by 2030 and for the country to end the use of fossil fuels no later than 2050.

Mr Biden wants to undo the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies, reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) programme and create a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

In contrast to Mr Sanders, he would not decriminalise unauthorised border crossings, but he is calling for a 100-day moratorium on deportations and said he would deport only people who have committed a serious crime.

Mr Sanders has called for a moratorium on deportations pending a review of the current immigration system. He also supports the reinstatement and expansion of the Daca programme, which protected from deportation people who were brought into the US as children.

Mr Biden supports an assault weapons ban, a voluntary buyback programme and a ban on online gun sales as well as background checks and red-flag laws. He is also calling for incentives for states to enact gun licensing programmes.

Mr Sanders, like Mr Biden, supports an assault weapons ban, a voluntary buyback programme and many other gun restrictions. But much like criminal justice for Mr Biden, gun control is a difficult area for Mr Sanders, politically speaking: Earlier in his career, he voted against federal background checks and legal liability for gun manufacturers.

Mr Biden is calling for a US$15 minimum wage and for higher taxes on corporations and wealthy investors.

Mr Sanders has suggested taxing the rich with a wealth tax and progressive estate tax while also enacting a federal jobs guarantee, doubling union membership and taking other steps to bolster the working and middle class. He also wants to break up big banks.

NYTIMES