The Fiscal Times
Biden urges Congress to act quickly on Covid Relief, but will not rule out acting without the Republican Party
Saying the economy is in dire need of more support, President Biden on Friday urged lawmakers to move quickly to approve his $ 1.9 trillion aid project for Covid. “We need to act now,” Biden told reporters as he met the newly confirmed Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, in the Oval Office. “There is an overwhelming consensus among economists, left, right and center, that this is a unique moment in this crisis. The cost of inaction is high and growing every day. ”Biden said that spending more now will help the economy return to full employment at a faster rate. “We need to make these investments so that the economy can grow the rest of this year and the next,” he said. “Investments will now help the economy to grow. It will not, in fact, put a brake on this economy … it will do the exact opposite. Yellen, citing “huge pain in the economy now,” said the need for more support was clear. “Economists agree that if there is no more help, many more people will lose their small businesses, roofs over their heads and the ability to feed their families. And we need to help these people before the virus is controlled, “she said.” I want to emphasize that the president is absolutely right, “added Yellen.” The price of doing nothing is much higher than the price of doing something, and doing something big. We need to act now, and the benefits of acting now and acting big will far outweigh the costs in the long run. “A generational threat: failure to provide aid quickly can make it difficult for schools to reopen,” said Biden, putting the potential for future earning of young people at risk. “You could see a whole cohort of children with lower incomes throughout their lives because they are deprived of another semester of school,” said Biden. ” The choice could not be clearer. We learned from previous crises: the risk is not doing too much, the risk is not doing enough. “Psaki invites Republicans to embark: dealing with Republican Party complaints that Democrats were acting too quickly and threatening to proceed without bipartisan support, White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated that Biden is seeking support from both sides from the corridor, even if the bill passes reconciliation, which would allow Democrats to approve it with only 51 votes. “This bill must be bipartisan,” said Psaki at a news conference. “A fair question you can ask our Republican or Republican colleagues is why they oppose proposals that are supported by 74% of the American public. If this bill moves forward in the reconciliation process, it does not mean that they cannot vote in favor. ”Biden will put pressure on the relief bill: in his early days in office, Biden signed a notable number of executive actions – 42 at the last count – that touch on a wide variety of issues, but he plans to divert his attention the next week to pass legislation in Congress, reported NBC News on Friday. His primary focus will be Covid’s aid package, and he has already started calling top Republicans to lobby for the bill, including Sens. Susan Collins from Maine and Rob Portman from Ohio. Biden may invite lawmakers to the White House to press his case. “I support the approval of relief for Covid with the support of Republicans, if we can,” Biden said on Friday. “But Covid’s relief has to be approved, there is no if and no but.” Do you like what you’re reading? Sign up for our free newsletter.