US faces recovery cost
WASHINGTON: Even as President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats work to pass their $1.9 trillion (about R27.6 trillion) coronavirus relief bill, they’re bracing for the next big legislative scramble over another massive spending bill that’s already drawing intense lobbying and threatening Democratic unity.
Biden’s next package could be far pricier than the coronavirus bill. Although plans remain fluid, it’s expected to centre on a major infrastructure investment, while also tackling other priorities such as clean energy, domestic manufacturing and child and elder care. However, as the next must-pass bill in a divided congress, where legislative opportunities will be scarce, it has unleashed a torrent of other demands, as advocates for issues from climate change to immigration push to get included.
The cacophony of competing demands is already threatening to divide Democrats who have largely united behind the coronavirus relief bill, which is expected to advance in the house next week despite simmering disagreements over a handful of issues, including a $15 minimum-wage hike. Moderate-leaning Democrats could baulk at spending trillions more on issues that range far afield from emergency economic relief, and fights are already brewing over how far to go in raising taxes to pay for what comes next.
The next bill will also prove to be a daunting test for Biden himself as he moves on from addressing the immediate crisis of the pandemic to enacting larger initiatives that could begin to form his legacy – if he’s able to navigate the thicket of interest groups and get his priorities through congress with razor-thin Democratic majorities.
Senior Democratic officials have discussed proposing as much as $3 trillion in new spending as part of what they envision as a wide-ranging jobs and infrastructure package that would be the foundation of Biden’s “Build Back Better” programme, according to three people granted anonymity to share details of private deliberations. That would come on top of Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief plan, as well as the $4 trillion in stimulus measures under former president Donald Trump. Aides cautioned that the spending figures were highly preliminary and subject to change.
But unlike under Trump, when multiple efforts to address infrastructure faltered before getting off the ground, Biden is expected to take a big swing at the issue and package together funding for expanded broadband networks, bridge and road repairs as well as technology that reduces greenhouse gasses in a sprawling bill that threatens to enlarge to encompass multiple other issues as well.
On Wednesday, Biden met senior leadership of the AFL-CIO and other labour unions at the White House and discussed both the current relief package and the second recovery bill. The labour leaders have asked Biden to approve as much as $4 trillion in new infrastructure spending, citing estimates of need produced by the American Society of Civil Engineers, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.
“We are so far behind the curve. We rank like 38th in the world in terms of infrastructure, everything from canals to highways to airports, to everything we can do and we need to do to make ourselves competitive in the 21st century,” Biden said as the Oval Office meeting got under way.
House Democratic leadership also extensively discussed the infrastructure package on Wednesday.
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that Biden’s next plan “will make historic investments in infrastructure – in the auto industry, in transit, in the power sector – creating millions of good union jobs, and in the process, also addressing the climate crisis head-on.” It’s unclear when the package will be officially unveiled.