National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said on Sunday that President Biden’s new spending plan is still sorely needed, despite a strong March employment report and a variety of other positive economic signs in recent months.
Deese, the architect of Biden’s “American Employment Plan”, told Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace that compared to before the pandemic, the United States is still behind. He said the president’s more than $ 2 trillion spending plan could help bring the U.S. economy back to where it was in early 2020.
“The job numbers in March were certainly a welcome sign. It is good to see the economy starting to improve and we certainly think it is a sign that the economic and vaccination strategy that this government has implemented since day one is starting to have an impact, “said Deese.
“But we have a long way to go,” he added. “We still lost 8.4 million jobs compared to the previous year. We have millions of unemployed people. More than 2 million women left the workforce because they had to choose between taking care of their families and their jobs, which is why we have A long way to go. “
The Director of the National Economic Council, Brian Deese, speaks during a press conference at the White House on Friday, January 22, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
JOE BIDEN’S SPENDING PLAN, CHARGED AS AN INFRASTRUCTURE ACCOUNT, EXPENSES LESS THAN HALF ON INFRASTRUCTURE
“What our plan says is: we are going to keep the economy going. We are going to see more job creation – this is really good for the economy,” said Deese. “But we are also going to think about the long term about where these investments [are] that we can do that will really boost not only more job growth, but better job growth. Not only employment growth in the short term, but employment growth in the long term, investing in our infrastructure. Investing in our research and development in a way that we haven’t done since the 1960s. “
Deese, a former senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, played an important role in trying to get the president’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package to the finish line. He said in January that he intended to help Republicans adhere to the plan, but no member of the Republican Party Congress voted in favor.
Now Biden is pushing a spending package of more than $ 2 trillion, which is charged in large part as an infrastructure bill, but addresses many problems in addition to crumbling roads and bridges. This drew harsh criticism from Senate Republicans, many of whom lined up to oppose the president’s plan.
“This plan is not about rebuilding America’s backbone. Less than 6% of this massive proposal goes to roads and bridges,” said Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Last week. “It would spend more money just on electric cars than on America’s roads, bridges, ports, airports and waterways combined.”
In fact, the White House summary of the American Employment Plan says it will spend “$ 115 billion to modernize bridges, highways and major streets in need of repair” out of a total of $ 2.2 trillion.
President Biden talks about the March job report in the White House State Dining Room, April 2, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik)
REPUBLICAN SENATORS ALIGN AGAINST THE MASSIVE BIDEN $ 2T SPENDING ACCOUNT: INFRASTRUCTURE ‘FAR CRY’
McConnell’s definition ignores other elements of the plan that deal with infrastructure, including broadband, pipes and schools. But in all, Biden’s plan still directs far less than half of its funding to non-infrastructure priorities, an analysis by Fox News found.
Wallace questioned Deese about whether most of Biden’s spending plan, which the White House is selling as an infrastructure bill, is really for infrastructure. Deese argued that there needs to be a broader definition of infrastructure for the modern world.
“I think we really need to update what we mean by infrastructure for the 21st century,” he said. “If you look at that number of houses, we are talking about construction, housing construction across the country to help ensure that there are more affordable housing units for people to have access to jobs and economic opportunities.”
Deese added, “We are talking about construction to build things like VA [Veterans Administration] facilities, our schools and community colleges – putting people to work, works that really need to be done to fulfill the commitments we have to our veterans and others.
“We believe that the infrastructure of our care economy is something to be taken very seriously,” said Dees also, referring to Biden’s $ 400 billion spending plan for home care for the elderly and the disabled. “For anyone out there … who are parents who are caring for an elderly parent or adult child with a disability, they know that if you don’t have a care infrastructure to support your loved ones, you can’t effectively work, you cannot effectively interact in the 21st century economy. “
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Wallace also asked Deese how much the president is willing to cut from his initial proposal of more than $ 2 trillion, in light of Biden and other government officials suggesting that they would be open to working with Republicans to approve an infrastructure project. But Biden and his employees made a similar suggestion about coronavirus relief, just to get around Republicans and avoid substantive negotiations.
“Some people said it was too much, some people said it was too little,” said Deese of the spending package. “We want to have this conversation. We are already starting this evangelism.”
But Deese added that “we are not going to negotiate this on this program”, as he refused to provide any reference to how much the president is really willing to commit.
Biden is expected later this month to draft a second massive spending bill, this time focused mainly on the social safety net.