Biden unveils his ambitious stimulus to rescue economy hampered by impeachment

Biden unveils his ambitious stimulus to rescue economy hampered by impeachment

Biden: President-elect Democrat Joe Biden will unveil his ambitious stimulus plan on Thursday to rescue America's economic recovery from fatigue. The proposal that according to expectations will exceed a billion dollars will also show the influences of its economic team.

 

However, after the vote in favour of impeachment in the House of Representatives, where ten Republican congressmen backed the Democratic initiative, the sights now turn to the Senate. The outgoing leader of the Upper House, Mitch McConnell, said that he will not convene any immediate session until next week when the transfer of powers is completed. Biden will be sworn in on January 20 at noon local time in Washington and the Democrats will have relative hegemony on Capitol Hill.

 

This situation is a decisive factor since delaying an impeachment trial in the Senate threatens to hinder the confirmation of the president-elect's cabinet, whose lavish economic plan ventures stimuli of up to 3.4% of GDP. At a meeting late last week between the incoming Senate leader, Democrat Chuck Schumer, and Biden's transition team a $ 1.3 trillion plan was floated. Biden News - If this materializes, it would amount to half of the $ 3.4 trillion Democrats proposed in the HEROES bill, passed by the House of Representatives last summer.

 

Of course, the immediacy of approval of any initiative will depend both on the agility of the Democrat's economic team in taking control of their respective agencies as well as on the bipartisan support that his spending proposal may generate. Earlier this week, Joe Biden announced that he had already felt his goals with some Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill, implying an explicit desire by the Democrat to find support from the opposition.

 

Checks from $ 600 to $ 2,000

In fact, on Wednesday, a Republican senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, asked in a letter to the president-elect that he asked to pressure Congress to endorse a $ 2,000 stimulus check to taxpayers on his first day in office, citing the need to heal a "deeply divided nation.”

 

Increasing direct payments from $ 600, as authorized by the latest stimulus package signed by Trump in late December, to $ 2,000 will cost the US government $ 363.8 billion, according to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxes. This could be approved in the first weeks of Biden's presidency if the threshold of 60 votes is passed in the Senate.

 

The amount and timing of approval are difficult to predict and will depend on whether Joe Biden and the Democrats try to pass fiscal measures with bipartisan support.

 

This will require the support of some Republicans but also keep all the senators on the Democratic caucus in line. Among them, Joe Manchin already warned last week about his preference for more specific financial support for a fixed increase in stimulus "checks." In addition to increasing direct payments by $ 1,400, Biden's project is expected to include money for vaccine distribution, small businesses, schools, as well as state and local governments.

 

Cecilia Rouse, the president-elect's nominee to head the Council of Economic Advisers, last week called direct payments to families a "lifeline," which will simply keep the economy afloat, while investments in areas like infrastructure would help. The US to begin to recover the economic levels before the pandemic!

 

Child aid up to $ 300

According to the Washington Post and Biden News, Biden could push a proposal similar to his campaign promise to provide $ 300 a month to American households for each child less than 6 years of age, as well as $ 250 a month for each child between the ages of 6 and 17. That would come to $ 3,600 per annum for families with a small kid and m$ 3,000 a year for families with grown children. The Democrat could try to extend the existing child benefit to millions of poor families currently excluded from the program.

 

The possible inclusion of the child benefit comes just as Democratic lawmakers begin to debate the priorities of the financial aid package, which will be Biden's first legislative effort as president. Brian Deese, incoming director of the White House National Economic Council, told an event organized by Reuters on Wednesday that Biden will offer a "robust package. "

 

Alec Phillips, an economist at Goldman Sachs, estimates that the amount and timing of approval "are difficult to predict and will depend in part on whether the Biden Administration and the Democrats try to pass fiscal measures with bipartisan support." "If this strategy fails, it is likely that the stimulus will have to be addressed through the budget reconciliation process, which would take more time, but could lead to greater fiscal support," he explains in a report to his clients.

 

An ambitious two-way plan with a trusted economic team

 

Deese announced that the next tenant of the Oval Office will present a two-way plan, starting with a recovery package focused on the coronavirus pandemic, to later advance in a greater effort of economic significance. In this way, after the stimulus, it is likely that by the end of this year, Joe Biden will advance in a legislative effort focused on longer-term economic reforms, such as a bill for investment in infrastructure or health.

 

Biden News - For this, it will also have the support of its economic team led by Janet Yellen, as Secretary of the Treasury. The former president of the Federal Reserve must ensure the maximum fiscal outlay to underpin the recovery and coordinate with Congress as well as the central bank.

 

For his part, Marty Walsh, the next Secretary of Labour, who until now has been Mayor of Boston, will be the first union leader in this Department in half a century. Walsh must close the gap that caused in 2020, the largest job loss in the country since 1939. Last December, the United States destroyed 140,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained at 6.7%.