WASHINGTON – Elected President Joe Biden said Friday that he prefers to put aside the federal deficit concern to spend more money to boost the sick U.S. economy.
“Every major economist thinks we need to invest in deficit spending to generate economic growth,” Biden told reporters on Friday, citing low interest rates and limited powers of the Federal Reserve to rectify the Covid-19 crisis.
As this city degenerates into the chaos of a deadly riot at the Capitol that spurred President Donald Trump, Biden said he would draft an economic relief package this year that would “cost in the billions of dollars.” He said it would include emergency relief for those affected by the pandemic, as well as investments in infrastructure, healthcare and a whole range of things that will yield well-paid jobs. ‘
“If we don’t act now, it’s going to get worse and harder to get out of the hole later. So we have to invest now,” Biden said. “There is a serious, serious need to act now.”
Biden’s remarks come two days after Democrats were expected to seize control of the Senate, which gave them the power to set the agenda in both chambers. The comments suggest that he and his party will be less likely than during the Obama administration to meet Republican demands to curb new spending due to national debt.
The president-elect has suggested that he believes the $ 900 billion package approved by Congress last month will not be enough. His remarks were well received by progressive people who were skeptical of his moderate and deficient instincts.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., The runner-up in the Democratic primary 2020 and likely incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, praised Biden’s comments in a Saturday interview.
“The president-elect is exactly right that this is not the time for sobriety politics,” Sanders told NBC News. “We can not maintain the austerity economy that enables the rich to do phenomenal in this country while working people suffer from it.”
Sanders is ready to oversee the budget reconciliation process, which is not subject to a filibuster. Democrats, who will take control in the Senate 50-50 with the break-even vote of elected Vice President Kamala Harris, will be able to approve the policy of taxation and spending by a simple majority.
Democrats will have a narrow majority in both chambers, which will limit their ambitions even in reconciliation. And on most items, Senate Republicans will retain the ability to filter and enforce a 60-vote threshold, meaning the biggest ambitions of progressive people are unlikely to go far.
Sanders said he was looking at a “daring” agenda that includes $ 2,000 stimulus payments, improved unemployment insurance, access to child care, action on climate change, student debt mitigation and a very important investment in expanding health care, including lowering health care age of Medicare. from 65 to 60.
The Vermont senator urged his colleagues to aim big or suffer a repeat of Obama’s first midterm elections, when Republicans won big victories in congressional games, because as Sanders puts it, voters judged that Democrats are nowhere near have not done enough “to improve their lives.
“We must act with confidence that we have not seen in this country since FDR,” Sanders said. “If we do not do that, I suspect we will not be in the majority for two years.”
In addition, House Democrats have amended the House’s rules to make it easier to enact legislation that increases the deficit when it comes to the consequences of economic or public health as a result of the pandemic; and measures to address economic, environmental, or public health consequences of climate change, “according to an official summary.
In the short term, some fiscally conscious Democrats say they are willing to put aside fiscal problems to address the economic crisis caused by pandemics. One said he was prepared to set aside the pay-as-you-go system, known in Congress as PAYGO, a cost-saving measure that requires new expenses to be paid for with available funds rather than with borrowed money.
“I believe in PAYGO. I think you have forgiveness for PAYGO in crises, which is why those of us who believe in balanced budget changes believe that you always have exceptions to crisis, ‘said Josh Gottheimer, DN.J., co-chair of the bipartisan issue. Solvers Caucus. A pandemic is a crisis. We’ll have to go through it. If you do not invest in helping the country through it, you will pay a much higher price in the end. ‘
