The Democrats approved a platform setting out the party’s agenda.

Democrats officially approved a new party platform on Tuesday night, outlining a sweeping set of policies on key issues including health care, climate change and the economy.

But the platform also reinforced divisions among the party’s moderates and its liberal wing, which has expressed disappointment that the official Democratic agenda does not support “Medicare for all,” the universal, single-payer health care proposal championed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont that has become a pillar of the progressive movement. Some Democrats refused to vote for the platform as a form of protest.

A largely symbolic document, the party platform does not contain specific legislation or binding commitments. Taken as a whole, however, it provides a broad look at the party’s agenda and the principles and values that Democrats, including former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., embrace.

By:

Sydney Ember

Matt Stevens