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New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) on Monday said the election platform of presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden should include specific policies to encourage higher voter turnout among disengaged millennials and people of color.
"What I'd like to see at a bare minimum is a health care plan that helps extend health care to young people," Ocasio-Cortez told The Associated Press.
"This is not just about Donald Trump," she continued. "It's about a systemic structure in this country that is set up to fail working-class people, the young and people of color. We need a real plan and not just gestures."
Ocasio-Cortez conducted the interview just two hours before former-presidential candidate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (D), officially endorsed Biden in a joint video.
While Ocasio-Cortez didn't endorse Biden in her interview, she said she probably would in the future and also stayed open to possibly campaigning for him at some point. The congresswoman said she wanted to see Biden work to gain support from progressive-left voters and those who felt more aligned with Sanders.
Biden's campaign website says the former Vice President seeks to "protect and build upon Obamacare," the Affordable Care Act that was then-President Barack Obama's signature healthcare plan.
Biden has proposed a public health insurance option like Medicare, a tax credit to reduce how much individuals have to pay for health insurance, and a way to expand health care coverage to low-income Americans.
His other proposals include ending expensive "surprise billing" by insurers, breaking up profiteering by pharmaceutical corporations, investing in community health centers, increasing pay for low-income health workers (like home health aides) and restoring anti-discrimination protections and protections for women's reproductive rights.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ocasio-Cortez said she had never spoken to Biden. She also called the balance between defeating Trump and uniting the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic party "a tightrope."
After Sanders dropped out of the presidential race, Ocasio-Cortez said, Biden's campaign "floated this olive branch to the progressive left of lowering the Medicare age to 60." The congresswoman called the proposal "almost insulting," adding "I think Hillary was looking at policies that lowered it to 50. So we're talking about a 'progressive concession' that is 10 years worse than what the nominee had in 2016."
She also said Biden's promise to "go back to the way things were" before the Trump administration isn't going to "work for the people for who the way things were was really bad," including Latinos targeted by aggressive deportation measures.
"Beating Donald Trump is a matter of life or death for our communities," she said. "It's hard to do that if there's no plan for us."
"The whole process of coming together should be uncomfortable for everyone involved—that's how you know it's working," Ocasio-Cortez added. "And if Biden is only doing things he's comfortable with, then it's not enough."
