- Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote an opinion column this week urging Democrats to implement a bold economic agenda.
- Now that the Democratic Party has full control over Congress, Sanders argues that they can use a tool called reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority in the Senate to approve the bills.
- Among the main measures Sanders urges the Senate to pass are $ 2,000 in direct payments to Americans and raising the minimum wage to $ 15.
- However, the process may not be as simple as Sanders has indicated.
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Senator Bernie Sanders pleaded this week for Democrats to flex their power and implement a “bold and aggressive economic agenda” now that the party has full control over Congress and the White House.
In a CNN opinion column published on Tuesday, the Vermont senator argued that Democrats should use the budget reconciliation process to approve a wave of “big” policies under the new Biden government.
“The Senate’s 60-vote limit on passing important legislation has become an excuse for inaction,” Sanders wrote. “But let’s be clear: we have the tools to overcome these procedural obstacles.”
Reconciliation allows the Senate to pass bills quickly and with a simple majority, as they are not subject to obstruction. The maneuver, used for the first time by Congress in 1980, has as its main objective the budget and spending legislation that need quick consideration.
“When Republicans controlled the Senate during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Trump, they used reconciliation to spend trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest people and the most profitable companies. They also used reconciliation to try to revoke the Affordable Care Act 2017, “wrote Sanders. “Today, Democrats must use this same process to lift Americans out of poverty, raise wages and create well-paid jobs.”
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“If Republicans want to work with us, we should welcome them,” he added. “But their support is not necessary.”
Sanders, an independent senator who agrees with the Democrats, emphasized that the party must move urgently, as millions of Americans are still struggling financially over the COVID-19 pandemic. Without action, he warned, Democrats could end up in the minority in the 2022 mid-term elections.
Democrats occupied the House in the 2020 elections, albeit by a smaller margin at 222-212, after losing 11 seats. The inauguration of three new Democratic senators and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday granted Democrats the Senate, now 50% split with Harris as a tiebreaker vote. Sanders is expected to become chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, which handles reconciliation projects.
“Failure to respond adequately to economic despair in America today will undermine the Biden administration and likely lead Democrats to lose their thin majorities,” wrote Sanders, warning that the party “must not repeat the mistakes” of the Obama and Clinton years, when Democrats lost a majority during presidents’ first terms.
Among the main measures that Sanders proposed to deal with the economic crisis is sending US $ 2,000 in direct payments to Americans, raising the minimum wage to US $ 15, canceling student debts, and providing universal pre-K and family and medical holidays guaranteed for 12 weeks.
Sanders also called for a coronavirus relief package that offers additional funding for the vaccine and COVID-19 tests, help for state and local governments, hazard pay for essential workers and expanded weekly unemployment benefits.
President Joe Biden supported some of Sanders’ progressive ideas and presented important items in his $ 1.9 trillion stimulus plan, including $ 1,400 checks to increase the $ 600 distributed in December to $ 2,000. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled on Thursday that her caucus is preparing to approve the relief in early February.
However, the trajectory of the stimulus bill in the Senate, like any other spending legislation, may not be as quick and easy as Sanders suggested.
Some moderate Democrats, like Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have already refused to accept Sanders’ proposals. Considering the razor-thin Democratic majority, any reconciliation process will collapse if even a single Democrat fails to support it.
Biden may also be reluctant to pass bills with Democratic support alone. He has repeatedly expressed his intentions to work across the corridor and reach bipartisan agreements as president in order to fulfill his campaign and promises of “unity”.
Some Republicans have also signaled that they are ready to fight big spending.
“I have a fight on my hands,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who serves on the Senate Budget Committee, told Fox News this week.