The American Rescue plan, the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill, has been the current US President Joe Biden’s biggest political push, but as the specifics are revealed, it is pushing the United States to the brink of division and also bankruptcy.
The rescue plan contains a $120 billion stimulus which is separate from the general stimulus. It is intended to alleviate kids out of poverty. The problem is poverty alleviation cannot be achieved in the time frame that the rescue plan intends to work for and Joe Biden cannot make it a permanent scheme. Thus people, especially children who start getting these welfare cheques, would not receive them after a certain time. This will create a huge social uproar and this would be Biden’s doing. Joe Biden’s disapproval rating had already seen a spike due to the Texas crisis and his pseudo-Covid dole-outs. White farmers have already risen in protests across America due to the racial clauses in the ‘rescue plan’ and it was revealed that many of the families may not even receive their $1400 cheques as they are not protected from debt collectors as was the case with the previous cheque for $600 sent by the Trump administration.
In the final weekend before the American Rescue Plan, an unlikely group of Democrats from across the ideological spectrum mounted an 11th-hour campaign for President Joe Biden to go big on child poverty. They beat back the “cost police” in Biden’s inner circles, who were worried about the stimulus package’s ballooning costs, according to one person involved in the operation.
The rapid and unforeseen advent of a $120 billion social program has thrown the political landscape into disarray. In the forthcoming midterm elections, some Democrats are concerned about being branded as big-government spenders. On the other hand, some progressives support the concept as a family-friendly initiative. Joe Biden’s plan has the potential to divide the party.
The child poverty measure poses a central question: Is big government politics back? With the programme set to expire in a year, it’s almost certain to be a major problem in the midterm elections.
According to a congressional aide active in the talks, Democrats are already calling for a continuation of the initiative to be included in the president’s next budget package. Democrats also hope that American families will become used to getting their cheques, citing the Washington axiom that it is difficult to take anything away from the voters once they have begun receiving it.
This will create another nightmare for the Biden administration whether it receives continuation in the next budget or not. How so? The American Rescue plan has already put a strain on government resources. The Biden administration has also planned a massive tax hike, the likes of one which had not been seen since 1994. This would increase the strain on the American taxpayer and people who do not even pay taxes will get tax free benefits.
Biden’s task now is to make the concept permanent; Democrats refused to do so this year in order to keep the relief bill from being much more expensive.
Republicans have largely avoided criticising the bill, instead portraying the larger coronavirus relief plan as a waste of money that contains billions in expenditures unrelated to the pandemic. “Democrats decided their top priority wasn’t pandemic relief — it was their Washington wish list. It was jamming through unrelated policy changes they couldn’t pass honestly,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a floor speech.
As the midterm elections approach, Republicans will make this point regularly, particularly if the relief package loses traction or runs into logistical issues. Cecilia Muñoz, a senior transition aide admitted that distributing millions of cheques as part of the child poverty initiative could be difficult.
A year of $600/month for a family of four does not have the capability to alleviate families and children out of poverty in the span of time the American Rescue plan is panned out to act in. But what it would do, would make the families receiving the cheque expecting for more, and if the bill gets discontinued, Biden will have a revolt in his hands not just from the citizens but also from the Democrats who favour the bill in defiance of those who oppose it. It has the power to tear the Democratic party apart.
