The Guardian
Why Republicans disagree with Biden’s big plans and why he should ignore them
The new president can achieve huge and vital reform and relief without Trump’s party – and they know it. Joe Biden speaks to journalists before embarking on Marine One at the White House. Photo: Tom Brenner / Reuters If there ever was a time for bold government, it is now. Covid, unemployment, poverty, violent inequality and our last chance to preserve the planet are creating an existential inflection point together. Fortunately for America and the world, Donald Trump is gone, and Joe Biden has big plans to help Americans survive Covid and then restructure the economy, rebuilding the country’s infrastructure and creating millions of green jobs. But Republicans in Congress don’t want to agree. Why not? Mitch McConnell and others say that America cannot afford it. “We just approved a program with more than $ 900 billion,” complained Senator Mitt Romney, the most liberal in the group. Garbage. We can’t help doing this. Fighting Covid will require a lot more money. People are suffering. Furthermore, with the economy in crisis, it is not time to worry about the national debt. The best way to reduce debt as a share of the economy is to make the economy grow again. The real reason why Republicans want to block Biden is that they fear their plans will work. Repairing outdated infrastructure and building a new one with energy efficiency will make the economy grow even faster in the long run – further reducing the share of debt. Nobody in their right mind should be concerned that public spending will “hinder” private investment. If you didn’t notice, the loan is especially cheap now. Money is spreading around the world, looking for borrowers. It is difficult to take Republicans’ concerns about debt seriously when, just four years ago, they did not hesitate to enact one of the biggest tax cuts in history, especially for large corporations and the super-rich. If they really don’t want to increase debt, there is another alternative. They can finance a tax on super-rich Americans. The total wealth of America’s 660 billionaires has grown an astonishing $ 1.1 trillion since the pandemic began, an increase of 40%. Only they could finance almost the entire Covid de Biden aid package and still be as wealthy as they were before the pandemic. So, why not a temporary emergency income tax from Covid? The real reason why Republicans want to block Biden is that they fear their plans will work. It would be the Republican’s worst nightmare: all the anti-government nonsense they have been selling since Ronald Reagan will be revealed as nonsense. Government is not the problem and never has been. The problem is a bad government, and the Americans just did it four years ago. Biden’s success would highlight the absolute failures of Trump and the Republicans in Covid, jobs, poverty, inequality and climate change, and everything in between. Biden and the Democrats would reap the political rewards in 2022 and beyond. Democrats may even win the presidency and Congress for a generation. After FDR rescued America, the Republican Party went dark for two decades. Trumpian Republicans in Congress have an even more diabolical reason for blocking Biden. They think that if Americans remain in perpetual crises and with increasing fear, they will lose faith in democracy itself. That would pave the way for another strongman demagogue in 2024 – if not Trump, a Trump impersonator like Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley or Donald Trump Jr. The worst kept secret in Washington is that Biden doesn’t really need Republicans. , Americans’ faith in democracy may begin to recover – marking the end of the nation’s flirtation with fascism. If he helps build a new green job economy with good salaries, even Trump’s rabid white working class base could change. The worst-kept secret in Washington is that Biden doesn’t really need Republicans. With their thin majorities in both houses of Congress, Democrats can approve Biden’s plans without a single Republican vote. The concern is that Biden wants to demonstrate “bipartisan cooperation” and can work so hard to get some Republican votes that his plans are diluted to the point that Republicans get what they want: failure. Biden should forget about bipartisanship. Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans didn’t give a damn about bipartisanship when they and Trump were in power. If Republicans try to block Biden’s Covid relief plan, Biden and the Democrats should go it alone through a maneuver called “reconciliation”, allowing a simple majority to pass budget legislation. If Republicans try to block anything else, Biden must dismiss the obstruction – which now requires 60 senators to end the debate. The obstruction is not in the constitution. It is undemocratic, giving a minority of senators the power to block the majority. It has rarely been used in most of the country’s history. The obstruction can be ended by a simple majority of votes, which means that Democrats have the power to remove it. Biden will have to twist the arms of some recalcitrant Democrats, but that is what presidential leadership usually requires. The multiple crises that surround America are enormous. The window of opportunity to address them is small. If ever there was a time for daring, it is now. Robert Reich, a former United States Labor Secretary, is a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, has already been released. He is a columnist for the US Guardian