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US President Joe Biden made no bones in his first address to
joint session of the US Congress about embracing the federal
government's role and higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans to
help the nation deal with a looming climate crisis as it emerges
from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the
worst pandemic in decades.
In doing so, Biden openly rejected the notion of a limited
government spending that President Ronald Reagan championed and
other Republican presidents have since adopted as their governing
mandate. Instead, political analysts say Biden is following the
playbook of Franklin D. Roosevelt who rushed emergency legislation
through Congress to stave off the Great Depression in 1933.
Flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, an historic sight in its own right, Biden reminded the
socially distanced Democrat and Republican lawmakers of public
investment's role in linking the country with a network of
highways, developing the internet, discovering vaccines, scientific
breakthroughs "that took us to the moon," among others.
"These are the investments we make together, as one country, and
that only government can make. Time and again, they propel us into
the future," Biden said, as he exhorted the lawmakers to support
the $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan, which is
intended to boost the country's manufacturing base and outcompete
China, and to rebuild the nation's infrastructure as it transitions
to a low-carbon, clean energy economy.
Climate crisis as an opportunity
Biden reminded lawmakers as well as the American public that the
climate crisis should be viewed for the opportunities it presents
to create jobs for people belonging to all walks of life, and for
achieving parity with China in clean energy technology.
"For too long, we have failed to use the most important word
when it comes to meeting the climate crisis: jobs, jobs, jobs,"
Biden said, drawing a standing ovation from Democrats while all but
one Republican lawmaker sat quietly. That was Senator Mitt Romney
of Utah, who was seen enthusiastically clapping.
Calling the jobs plan "a blue-collar job blueprint," Biden said
it would fund research & development to build better and
cheaper clean energy technologies while employing people with all
levels of educational qualifications. For instance, the plan would
require electrical workers to modernize the grid to handle extreme
weathers, such as the polar vortex Texas experienced in February;
farmers to plant cover crops to absorb more CO2; and construction
workers to build energy-efficient buildings.
"There's no reason the blades for wind turbines can't be built
in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing. No reason why American workers
can't lead the world in the production of electric vehicles and
batteries," Biden said.
Who will pay?
The question on the minds of most political pundits, though, was
how Biden would pay for this plan that promises so much
opportunity.
The $14 billion that the White House has requested to fund
climate-related programs at federal agencies in fiscal year 2022 is
one option, while another option is to secure additional funds
through the budget reconciliation process for the upcoming budget
cycle. The latter approach was used by Democrats to push through a
$1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in late January, much to the
chagrin of Republicans who could be seen smarting about it during
the speech.
At the end of the day though, it may all come down to Senator
Joe Manchin, Democrat-West Virginia, who is seen as the swing vote,
if Republicans continue to oppose Biden's jobs plan as a block.
Democrats and Republicans have a 50-50 tie in the Senate.
But these two approaches may still not be enough to raise the
billions of dollars needed for the jobs plan to be successful.
For that Biden had an answer: He said he would raise taxes on
corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans, who he said
should "pay their fair share."
And then Biden delivered his coup de grace to the idea that
Republican presidents and lawmakers have held dear since the
1980s.
"My fellow Americans, trickle-down economics is not working, and
it is time we grow the economy from the bottom and the middle," he
said, drawing a standing ovation from Democrats, but silence from
the Republicans, who after the speech were quick to call his plans
socialist.
'True counter' to GOP agenda
This is the first time a Democratic president has presented "a
true counter" to the Republican agenda that Reagan articulated 40
years ago, Jennifer Victor, an associate political science
professor with George Mason University Schar School of Policy and
Government, told IHS Markit after Biden's speech.
Democrats -- President Bill Clinton, and even President Barack
Obama -- did not fully oppose the limited government idea that
Reagan championed, she said. Biden might be able to do it, she
said, because he comes across as "a folksy, old, white man who is
not afraid to use his white privilege to fully embrace political
liberalism compared to his predecessors."
"Tonight, Biden did, laying out an argument about the good
things that we can do as a country, from child care, to clean
water, to healthcare, to assessing gun violence," Victor said. "He
directly called out the myth of 'trickle down' economics, which
Reagan promoted. In that moment, Biden fully embraced the opposite
position that Reagan used to build a powerful political
coalition."
From a political angle, Victor said, "making traditional
conservatism and Reagan's ideals the foil instead of Donald Trump,
is a clever reset of US politics."
'Big government waste'
In contrast, GOP's lone Black Senator, Tim Scott of South
Carolina, who was brought in to rebut the president's speech,
launched right into accusing Biden of dividing the country with its
"big government waste."
Scott didn't even acknowledge the climate crisis, let alone the
impacts of climate change that have begun to affect his state:
Hurricane Dorian struck that South Carolina in 2019, costing $40
billion in damages; or the fact that sea-level has risen 10 inches
in Charleston due to ice melts since 1950, leading to more frequent
flooding.
Scott said Biden is pushing a "liberal wish list" through his
American Jobs Plan for infrastructure that includes less than 6% in
funding for roads and bridges.
"Republicans support everything you think of when you think of
'infrastructure.' Roads, bridges, ports, airports, waterways,
high-speed broadband — we're all in!" Scott said.
"But again, Democrats want a partisan wish list. They won't even
build bridges... [we want] to build bridges!"
GOP counterproposal
Scott was alluding to the $568 billion infrastructure
plan that four Republican Senators — Shelley Moore Capito
of West Virginia, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Pat Toomey of
Pennsylvania Roger Wicker of Mississippi — introduced on 22
April as their counterproposal to Biden's jobs plan.
These senators pointed out that the lion's share of the American
Jobs Plan would be spent on unrelated climate initiatives that they
said they do not consider infrastructure initiatives, according to
a 26 April release from Wicker's office.
As examples they pointed to the $213 billion to convert homes
and buildings to being "climate friendly," $174 billion to
subsidize electric cars, $35 billion to support green innovation
(which is already doing well), and $10 billion to launch a Civilian
Climate Corps.
Prior to Biden's speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell,
Republican-Kentucky, said Biden's plans engaged in false
advertising and were "catnip for the liberal left."
GMU's Victor said Scott was couching infrastructure in purely
"red meat" terms for the GOP base.
Posted 29 April 2021 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst
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