While some of the 20 candidates for the nomination have stayed away from specifics so far, a handful have shared some dramatic and detailed proposals on bread-and-butter topics such as health care and immigration.
Some of the candidates have been more aggressive in developing specific policies, while others say they are waiting to get into details until later in the primary.
Here’s a quick guide to some of the biggest proposals so far.
Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan
Scott Eisen—Getty Images 2020 Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during his first New Hampshire campaign event on March 10, 2019 in Concord, New Hampshire.
Who proposed it? Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont
What is the issue? Some 27 million Americans were uninsured in 2017. The major reasons are that the costs of private insurance are too high, people aren’t covered through their jobs and/or they are ineligible for government assistance.
What’s Sanders’ plan? He has proposed a single-payer health care system where a government-run plan provides insurance coverage to all Americans. Employers would be barred from offering private coverage, and recipients of Medicare and Medicaid would be transitioned onto the new plan. The plan would cover everything from maternity care to vision and dental benefits. There would be no co-pays.
How would he pay for it? He doesn’t say exactly. The plan includes a list of options such as payroll taxes, expanding the estate tax, increasing taxes on capital gains and dividends, taxing big banks and repealing deductions that benefit the wealthy.
What’s Trump’s position? Trump has long called for repealing the Affordable Care Act and his Administration has sought to undermine it in court. But efforts to replace it with Republican alternatives failed in Congress. He has pledged to offer a “truly great HealthCare” bill after the 2020 elections but not given specifics.
Charlie Neibergall—AP 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to local residents during an organizing event Mar. 1, 2019, in Dubuque, Iowa.
Who proposed it? Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts
What’s the issue? The number of students taking out college loans has dramatically increased in recent years, leaving about four-in-10 adults under the age of 30 with debt. The median outstanding student loan was $17,000 in 2016, and all Americans combined now owe more than $1.5 trillion in student loans.
What’s Warren’s plan? Warren would allow people making less than $100,000 a year to get $50,000 in student debt forgiven, with a sliding scale for those making up to $250,000. She would also eliminate tuition and fees at every public two- and four-year college in partnership with states; and give historically black colleges $50 billion in aid. Her plan would cost $1.25 trillion over 10 years.
How would she pay for it? By levying what she calls the “ultra-millionaire tax,” which would affect only the richest 0.1% of Americans. Households with more than $50 million in wealth would pay a 2% tax on every dollar they own above $50 million, and a 3% tax on every dollar above $1 billion. She also argues that erasing student loan debt would boost the economy, offsetting the total cost of her plan.
Marcio Jose Sanchez—AP Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, left, talks with Anne Kelly, center, Director of the Sierra Nevada Research Stations and environmental advocate Leslie Martinez center, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Yosemite National Park, Calif.
Who proposed it? Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas
What’s the issue? Scientists say that the world’s countries have about a decade to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from things like coal power plants, gas-powered cars and agriculture in order to avoid the most severe consequences of climate change.
What’s O’Rourke’s plan? He has proposed rejoining the Paris climate deal; ending oil and gas leases on federal lands; creating some kind of tax, cap or “price signal to the market” on carbon; spending $5 trillion on clean energy research and extreme weather preparations over 10 years; and directing federal agencies to buy materials made in more environmentally friendly ways.
How would he pay for it? By cutting tax breaks for oil companies and increasing taxes on corporations and the rich.
Anadolu Agency—Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand speaks during a rally in front of Trump International Hotel in New York, United States on March 22, 2019.
Who proposed it? Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
What’s the issue? Although some employers provide it voluntarily, the U.S. is the only developed nation without a national paid maternity leave requirement. Studies show paid leave improves worker retention and lowers the number of new parents on public assistance.
What is Gillibrand’s plan? Her FAMILY Act, modeled after programs in states like California and New Jersey, would guarantee new parents and caregivers of family members who are ill and people with serious illnesses up to 12 weeks of paid leave. Workers on qualifying leave would receive 66% of their salaries.
How would she pay for it? With a 0.2 percent payroll tax, split between workers and their employers. Gillibrand says that would amount to just under $4 a week for the average worker.
What is Trump’s position? In his campaign and a State of the Union address, Trump called for paid parental leave. A Republican bill drafted in part with ideas from his daughter Ivanka would allow parents to borrow from their future Social Security benefits to pay for their own paid leave, but the bill has not yet moved forward in Congress.
Boston Globe—Boston Globe via Getty Images Senator and presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar speaks during a town hall event in Rye, NH on March 23, 2019.
Who proposed it? Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
What’s the issue? The U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration per 100,000 people in the world, with 2.2 million people in prisons and jails, according to the Sentencing Project. This has largely been driven by tough-on-crime laws and policy changes over the last four decades.
What’s Klobuchar’s plan? Klobuchar would streamline the process for federal inmates asking the president for a pardon or commutation, setting up a diverse, bipartisan advisory board to vet requests. The board would primarily review the cases of inmates serving long sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, especially those who have shown rehabilitation while in prison.
How would she pay for it? The plan’s costs are unclear, but there would likely be minimal administrative expenses.
What is Trump’s position? As president, Trump signed a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that shortened sentences for some federal inmates and expanded job training and other programs aimed at reducing recidivism in federal prisons. He’s issued only a handful of commutations and pardons as president, mostly for high-profile people such as controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Noah Berger—AFP/Getty Images California Senator Kamala Harris speaks during a rally launching her presidential campaign on Jan. 27, 2019 in Oakland, California.
Who proposed it? Sen. Kamala Harris of California
What is the issue? Teachers earn 18.7% less than comparable college-educated professionals, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. (Including benefits, like time off, the so-called teacher wage gap is closer to 11%.)
What’s Harris’ plan? She proposes giving the average teacher a $13,500 raise, equivalent to a 23% boost in pay. The federal government would provide some money upfront, then match every $1 that states contribute with $3 in federal money. Teachers in high-need schools that disproportionately serve students of color would get more of a raise. Her campaign estimates the plan would cost $315 billion over 10 years.
How would she pay for it? By expanding the estate tax and ending certain tax advantages enjoyed by the wealthy.
What is Trump’s position? As president, Trump has proposed cutting the Department of Education budget, including federal grants for teacher training, and shifting spending to more grants for charter schools.
What is the issue? Experts say the U.S. has a growing racial wealth gap on everything from retirement savings to student loan debt. One study found the average white family has $919,000 in wealth, compared to $140,000 for black families and $192,000 for Hispanic families.
What’s Booker’s plan? He proposes giving all newborns savings accounts seeded with $1,000. Each year, children up to age 18 in low-income households would receive up to $2,000. The money would be kept in a low-risk savings account managed by the Treasury Department with a roughly 3% annual rate of return. Children could only withdraw the money after turning 18 for things like going to college or buying a home.
How would he pay for it? By lowering the threshold for the estate tax and taxes on capital gains from inherited stocks and property.
What is Trump’s position? Trump has argued that his economic policies have helped reduce the black unemployment rate. Fact checkers say his frequent claims that it’s the lowest in history are inaccurate, the rate was decreasing before he came into office and it remains higher than for other ethnic groups.
Mario Tama—Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro speaks at a campaign appearance at Bell Gardens High School, in Los Angeles county, on March 4, 2019 in Bell Gardens, California.
Who proposed it? Former San Antonio mayor and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro
What is the issue? There were 10.7 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2016. While overall apprehensions of border crossers have dropped, a record number of families, many fleeing violence and economic problems in Central America, are now seeking asylum.
What’s Castro’s plan? He would reverse Trump’s travel ban, provide a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally, and make illegal border crossings civil, rather than criminal, offenses. He would also end agreements that allow local police to perform immigration duties, overhaul Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and create a “Marshall Plan” to aid Central American countries, among other things.
How would he pay for it? He does not address costs in the plan.
What is Trump’s position? As president, Trump enacted a travel ban on eight countries, nearly all of which are majority Muslim; reduced refugee admissions; attempted to cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for people brought to the U.S. illegally as children; and ended Temporary Protected Status for Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan, among other things.
JOSHUA LOTT—AFP/Getty Images Entrepreneur and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks during a campaign stop at the train depot on February 1, 2019 in Jefferson, Iowa.
Who proposed it? Silicon Valley entrepreneur Andrew Yang
What’s Yang’s plan? He proposes a “Freedom Dividend” that would allocate $1,000 a month to every American adult from ages 18 to 64, a form of universal basic income that has been floated periodically over the years by Americans such as Martin Luther King and Richard Nixon and has been tried in countries such as Finland. There would be no restrictions, conditions or work requirements.
How would he pay for it? With a value-added tax, a consumption tax levied on goods at each stage of their production and eventually passed onto the consumer.
What is Trump’s position? Trump has said he will bring back American manufacturing jobs by cutting regulations, lowering taxes and levying tariffs on foreign-made goods. As president, he has proposed budgets that would cut safety net programs like housing assistance, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and giving states block grants instead of targeted entitlements.
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