DEMS DEBATE | Dems say climate change an existential threat

MIAMI (AP)

10:35 p.m.

Several Democratic presidential candidates are declaring the climate crisis an existential threat and promising sweeping government action to combat dangers of a warming planet.

But they’re offering few specifics at Thursday’s debate, and only former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper named climate change as the first issue he’d tackle on Day One of his presidency.

Former Vice President Joe Biden says he’d prioritize rebuilding world alliances committed to reducing emissions.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says taking on the fossil fuel industry is the key to reducing carbon pollution.

California Sen. Kamala Harris says she supports a Green New Deal, a reference to proposals some Democrats are pushing on Capitol Hill. But Harris isn’t detailing any specific measures she’d take to reduce carbon pollution.

———

10:30 p.m.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says if the Supreme Court overturns the ruling legalizing abortion, women would have access to the procedure when he’s president through his health care plan, “Medicare For All.”

Several states have passed restrictions on abortion in recent months. Conservatives are hoping the laws will make their way to the Supreme Court, where a new conservative majority could reverse Roe v. Wade.

Sanders said during Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate that Medicare For All “guarantees every woman in this country the right to have an abortion if she wants it.”

He also said he would only nominate justices who support Roe v. Wade, and he believes justices could be rotated to other courts to “bring in new blood” to the Supreme Court.