But from now on, his focus will be on the new emergency kit, which the president announced as “a landmark law that will halve child poverty.”
The law has been passed almost silently, Biden has tried to stir up as little debate as possible about it. But last night’s speech is seen as the start of a lap of honor. The president will be traveling across the country in the coming weeks to recommend the emergency kit. Once its effects start showing, Democrats want Americans to know who the sender is: their new president Joe Biden.
Social safety net
As of this weekend, Americans can expect the first checks of $ 1400. Emergency aid that, even more than in previous aid packages under President Trump, is aimed at low incomes. In addition, unemployment benefits will be expanded and health insurance premiums will be reduced.
So this law does much more than just relieve corona distress. Similarly, $ 350 billion will go to ailing states and municipalities so that they can recruit people into government service. And the social security system will be drastically expanded, with perhaps the most far-reaching change: the advent of a form of child benefit.
Americans with children will soon receive a monthly allowance of between $ 250 and $ 300 per child. This will replace a much more limited annual tax deduction, which means that poor Americans who pay little or no income tax will now also benefit from it. This measure will last for a year, but Democrats want to make the expansion of Social Security permanent.
Revolution
Biden’s support package is therefore seen as revolutionary in the US. In recent decades, since President Reagan in the 1980s, the guiding idea in Washington has been that the government should interfere with the economy as little as possible. Keeping taxes for the wealthy and businesses as low as possible, growth will follow automatically. Successive Republican and Democratic presidents ruled along that line.
Biden is now breaking with that tradition of giving up his own pants. The emergency package focuses on long-term social support for low incomes, the poor and families with children. A government that actively stimulates the economy by giving the underclass more room to spend. And so tries to fight poverty and create jobs. From the principle of trickle down to bottom up; a historic step for America.
Trojan horse
Republicans are therefore not enthusiastic about this law. Leader Mitch McConnell calls the emergency kit “a Trojan horse full of bad, old, progressive ideas.” Not a single Republican in the House of Representatives or in the Senate voted for the law. According to McConnell, this breaks Biden’s promise of unity; he was going to try to make laws that both sides could support.
The president himself is not very concerned about this. When the law was signed, he emphasized that there is a lot of popular support for this emergency package, including among – especially poorer – Republican voters. According to polls, about 70 percent of Americans are in favor of this law.
Still, it is surprising that the Democrats push through such a sweeping bill without Republican backing. It shows a new attitude after the elections: the party now holds the presidency and majority in Congress. It seems that the Democrats are going to use that power to deliver on election promises, and have no intention of waiting for Republican approval.
Biden did not address the division in Congress in his speech. As with the vaccination campaign, he was confident about his bailout package: “If it fails, I’ll admit it failed. But it won’t fail.”
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