Joe Biden is considering asking Congress to help suffering Americans in two steps: giving them the balance of their coveted $ 2,000 coronavirus payments, followed by an $ 3 trillion infrastructure package and taxes.
Why it’s important: Biden is confident he can get several packages through Congress after Democrats win both elections to the Georgia Senate. The president-elect’s team also wants to get money into the hands of Americans as quickly as possible, according to people who know the subject.
The big picture: In July, Biden launched its Build Back Better plan, which includes billions of dollars for caregivers, incentives for manufacturers, and about $ 4 trillion for green and infrastructure spending.
- He proposed paying this plan with a series of tax increases to the rich, including taxing capital gains as regular income and raising the marginal tax rate for the main winners by up to almost 40%.
Democrats are worried that if they squander the first opportunities to fight COVID and reverse its broader effect on the economy, twin problems could paralyze the rest of Biden’s presidency.
- The first bite would come in the form of $ 1,400 payments that would add to the $ 600 cash approved by Congress last month. Also included in this rapid success package would be money for state and local aid, as well as funding for vaccine distribution.
- Biden’s push for a fiscal and infrastructure plan, which is part of its “Build Back Better” program, will slide until spring and will be considered according to the rules of budget conciliation.
- They allow the Senate to pass measures by a simple majority, instead of 60 harder filibuster-proof votes.
Returning to plan A: Biden is essentially dusting off his pre-election plans, 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 called into question when Republicans came out strongly in the Senate on election day and the only hope for Democrats to regain a majority was if they won the two upcoming elections held on Tuesday.
Be smart: Biden’s storm for a quick spending measure could allow him to build goodwill with Senate Republicans to get a bigger package in the spring, especially if it includes liability protection the Republican Party wants for companies that fear lawsuits of coronavirus.
- It will also be an early test of what the Senate’s Republican co-ops will look like as a minority party.