Joe Biden is considering asking Congress to help suffering Americans in two steps: give them the balance of their coveted $ 2,000 coronavirus payments, followed by a $ 3 trillion infrastructure and tax package.
Why it matters: Biden is confident that he will be able to obtain several packages in Congress after Democrats win the two Georgia Senate elections. The president-elect team also wants to get money into the hands of Americans as soon as possible, according to people familiar with the matter.
The big picture: In July, Biden launched his Build Back Better plan, which includes billions of dollars for caregivers, incentives for manufacturers and about $ 4 trillion for green jobs and infrastructure spending.
- He proposed paying for this plan a series of tax increases on the rich, including taxing capital gains as regular income and raising the marginal tax rate for the biggest earners to almost 40%.
Democrats are worried that if they miss the first opportunities to fight COVID and reverse its broader effect on the economy, both problems could paralyze the rest of Biden’s presidency.
- The first bite would come in the form of $ 1,400 payments that would be added to the $ 600 cash approved by Congress last month. Also included in this quick action package would be money for state and local aid, as well as funding for vaccine distribution.
- Biden’s push for a tax and infrastructure plan, which is part of his “Build Back Better” program, will be adopted in late spring and will be considered in accordance with budget reconciliation rules.
- They allow the Senate to approve measures with a simple majority, rather than 60 more challenging obstruction-proof votes.
Reverting to Plan A: Biden is essentially dusting off his pre-election plans, at a time when many of his economic and political advisers assumed that if he won the presidency, he would take the Senate with him.
- These ambitions were doubted when Republicans ran hard in the Senate on election day and the Democrats’ only hope of winning back the majority was to win the two run-off elections held on Tuesday.
Be smart: Biden’s attempt at a quick spending measure could allow him to build goodwill with Senate Republicans for a bigger package in the spring, especially if it includes liability protection the Republican Party wants for companies that fear coronavirus lawsuits.
- It will also be an initial test of how Senate Republicans will be cooperative as a minority party.