Biden is facing a Roosevelt moment
Progressives across the country joined President Joe Biden in celebrating the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP), hailed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as “the most significant piece of legislation passed [for working people] since the 1960s.” But now comes the hard test. As Mr. Sanders admitted, the rescue plan was “emergency” legislation, with most of its benefits expiring within a year. Will Mr. Biden and the razor-thin Democratic majorities in Congress be able to finally bury the conservative era of market fundamentalism that has so clearly failed?
It is no small surprise that Mr. Biden appears intent on making the effort. Before becoming president, the lifelong moderate typically eschewed boldness for compromise. But last week he rolled out an expanded budget and a bold public investment plan designed to produce millions of jobs by rebuilding decrepit infrastructure, beginning the transition to meet the threat of climate change, and addressing other domestic needs from child care to health care.
The media — and Republicans — will no doubt focus on the price tag estimated at $2.3 trillion. Far more important though is the vision — the assertion that public investment will create millions of good jobs, while addressing needs that have been starved through the conservative era.
Mr. Biden’s unexpected audacity comes from two places. First, he recognizes that the world has changed. What he calls the “cascading crises” facing America — the pandemic, economic collapse, accelerating climate catastrophe, longoverdue racial eruption — have created a “Roosevelt moment,” when democracy is put to the test. Second, more than ever, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is driving the policy debate. Mr. Sanders may have lost the nomination, but his ideas have never been more popular — not only among Democrats but the broader public as well. Led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the Congressional Progressive Caucus has transformed from a dissenting outlier in the House to a powerful force.
Not surprisingly, then, Mr. Biden’s plan will incorporate many progressive priorities. Progressives are working closely with the Biden administration and will also push more ideas independently in Congress. Some reforms are obvious: Addressing the country’s vast infrastructure needs makes far less sense if it doesn’t fuel the transformation to renewable energy, energy efficiency and resilience. Lower prescription drug prices and investments in housing and mass transit are no-brainers as well.
But progressives will also push to address human infrastructure needs — what Ai-jen Poo, the head of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, calls the “care economy.” This includes expanding homeand community-based services — a commitment Mr. Biden made in the campaign, making the ARP’s child tax credit permanent, and providing universal child care with trained and professional providers, paid family and medical leave, paid vacation days and more. Providing resources for child and senior care through Medicaid offers the opportunity to meet pressing human needs while lifting the wages of providers. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., champions “baby bonds,” providing every child with an investment account seeded with $1,000 with annual increases of up to $2,000 depending on income, all paid for by a marginal increase in the estate tax on the wealthiest fortunes. This would provide many with the means to pursue an education, start a business, buy a home.
With interest rates as low as they are, infrastructure investment essentially pays for itself. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has indicated that Mr. Biden plans to raise taxes on corporations and the very wealthy to help pay for the rest. While progressives rightly object to the double standard that Democratic programs have to be paid for while Republican tax cuts do not, these tax increases do begin to redress our dangerously extreme inequality. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is championing a small wealth tax on the super-rich. House progressives have backed higher tax rates for corporations that have extreme disparity between CEO and average worker wages.
With Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky already signaling reflexive Republican opposition to major investments and progressive tax hikes, the big challenge is whether Democrats can unify again to pass a major bill either under reconciliation rules or by suspending the filibuster. All this will be heavy lifting with truly historic implications. Democrats can’t allow the timid to block making a material difference in people’s lives. Will our beleaguered government finally be able to act to address pressing longterm needs? Or will partisan posturing, antiquated rules, constricted imaginations and structural impediments enable the minority to stand in the way? This isn’t just a test for Democrats; it is a test for our democracy.