Even though President Trump is currently fighting against the results of the November 3rd election, President-elect Joe Biden has stated clear his own plans to bring the economy back to its feet as he country suffer devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which has sent off millions out of their jobs in the United States.
The general sentiment among some economists is that it might be hard for Biden to hand off his policies to the Republican-led Senate even though there is prediction he could still get some of them out to make progress with his administration without interference from the oppositions.
The President-elect had a virtual meeting with some big tech CEOs such as General Motors, Microsoft, Target as well as a number of labor union leaders on Monday about cooperating and ensuring the economy can continue to make progress. Tis is one of the good thing which Observers think is a good news as big business and big labor union don’t usually see eye to eye.
According to a professor of law and economics at Rutgers University School of Law Philip Harvey, he stated that could indicate the way by which Biden will approach challenges of unifying the already partisan country in order to get out important things such as the stimulus bill or other priorities.
“What it’s going to take is a lot of outside pressure. That’s where the references to the meeting they had with industrial and labor leaders come in,” he said. “What’s really going to help is if large-business leaders start making calls to Republican Congress members and put pressure on them. It remains to be seen whether that will work, but I think it’s the strategy he’s going to have to pursue.”
Biden also stated the development of a centralized testing and tracing strategy which was never done during Trump’s administration. With that said, its worth noting that even some Republican governors who resisted the implementation are now embracing it. There will also be the mandatory usage of face masks as well as the preparation of vaccine distribution system when one or more of the vaccines being tested becomes available.
“I was encouraged to hear President-elect Biden stress getting the transmission of the virus under control,” said Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.
In order to further enhance the state of the economy, the President-elect urged the Congress to work on its efforts of agreeing on a stimulus package. “Right now, Congress should come together and pass a Covid-19 relief package like the HEROES Act that the House passed,” he said.
Edelberg said it was notable that he used the phrase “like the HEROES Act,” indicating that Biden acknowledged the need to negotiate — and, likely, to compromise — further. “I’m not sure that every provision in it is exactly what the economy needs, but it’s an excellent starting point for a negotiation,” she said.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said: “If the economy looks like it might be going back into recession, I think political pressure will be very intense to pass a more fulsome package. The size of the package and what’s in it will depend critically on two things — the state of the economy on the other side of the inauguration and the pandemic.”
Biden further stressed the need for his administration to help the unemployed workers as well as families facing serious financial difficulties especially those with health care crises as well as those facing dual child care.
He also laid out his post-crisis plan which also includes his plans on how to get the economy back to its feet while also focusing on eliminating socioeconomic barriers in order to train and educate students and workers, growing renewable energy, manufacturing and technology while also investing in infrastructure and technological research nd development in the country.
More jobs is also important and despite the concerns over bipartisan situations during his administration which is one of the tough situations Trump’s administration was subjected to while the latter doesn’t seems to want to cooperate with the opposition party which caused a serious division in the country.
“We have a lot of people who now say that their previous jobs are permanently gone, and history tells us that it will take a long time for those people to get re-employed,” Edelberg said. “I think the big risk is that even once the pandemic is behind us, if we have a lot less business activity, which means a lot less labor demand, we now have millions of people who are long-term unemployed and are increasingly detached from the labor market. That is a slow ship to turn.”
Tom Guevara, director of the Indiana University Public Policy Institute, said there are bipartisan concerns and that the Biden’s administration still will face an uphill battle getting some pieces of his agenda through Congress. “Things that involve transition to greener, cleaner, newer technology for energy production may face some resistance,” he said. Biden might have more luck making inroads with a pitch to get Congress to appropriate funds to strengthen the manufacturing sector, particularly in areas with implications for national security, he said.
“The pandemic revealed our dependence on foreign sources of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and supplies,” Guevara said. “Congress is going to have to appropriate money to build that capacity to manufacture. … We’ve outsourced a lot of know-how in the last couple of decades, [and] we need to re-shore it.”
Political observers said Biden’s long history in Washington and his personal relationships with key lawmakers give him a unique opportunity to break the partisan logjam that has characterized recent attempts at pandemic relief.
“Hopefully, given his long relationship with Senate Republican leadership, that might help him [and] put him in a better spot to negotiate and cut some kind of deal,” Zandi said.
Harvey said: “What was good about the speech in particular was the theme of cooperation that he struck. It’s going to be a nightmare in the Senate, but Biden is the kind of guy who has a better chance than probably any of the other candidates would have to thread that needle.”
