It’s only three plus months into President Joe Biden’s term in office and by most standards, he is moving faster than any of his friends or foes could anticipate.
Millions of Americans will have received a record number of vaccinations by the time the president will have served his first 100 days in office. And to add to this achievement, Congress has passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package. But now comes the hard part.
In the next four plus months, Congress will be asked to pass a major infrastructure bill, now estimated at $2 trillion. This first package will be followed by another trillion plus proposal, which raises the issue of how big do we have to go to revitalize the economy and get the country on a strong fiscal track?
A look back at history provides some answers. Under President Obama, a bi-partisan Congress passed a $787 billion rescue plan, which lowered taxes and provided some new jobs, but in retrospect didn’t have much of an impact.
In 2017, a divided Congress under President Trump adopted an $875 billion tax package. Republicans claimed that their plan would not cost any money, as their theory was that the tax cuts would stimulate investment and job growth and after five years, the country would gain more than it spent. In the case of the Trump plan, it cost an estimated $5 trillion, and its benefits favored mostly the wealthy.
Under that plan, we New Yorkers lost our state and local tax deductibility.
When President Biden took office, there was initial uncertainty as to how far he would go with any stimulus proposal.
To the surprise of many, he has chosen to go really big, believing that only by pushing for massive far-reaching programs, can we have any chance of America catching up with China and recovering fully from the Covid-19 fallout. While both the Obama and Trump tax plans provided some funds for infrastructure, they were miniscule compared to what is needed.
It is still too early to determine whether the $1.9 trillion stimulus program has succeeded, but on the face of it, many more groups have been helped than under either of the previous two plans.
There is no doubt that there are many diverse groups that need economic assistance and their voices have never been strong enough to get recognition. The new infrastructure proposal by President Biden is an attempt to deal with a broad range of problems, many of which have not been addressed since the Great Depression.
At this moment, Congressional Republicans are claiming that the entire nation needs is some dollars to fix up the roads, highways and bridges. That may have been the case 50 years ago but the country’s problems go much deeper. We have numerous cities whose water systems are making their residents sick due to aging lead pipes.
It is estimated that 35 percent of rural America is without access to broadband. Hurricanes have decimated major portions of the South and tornadoes have savaged the mid-West. Little has been done to help those states.
Our mass transit systems are old and many people have no affordable way to get to work. Airports around the country are archaic and major airlines have no desire to serve them. The Amtrak system that serves millions of people needs a major infusion of cash. Each year another transit company makes major cuts in bus service for lack of federal funds.
Under President Franklin Roosevelt, there were numerous new programs to attack the nation’s decline. Millions of new jobs were created.
In 1936, the Rural Electrification Act provided electricity for the nation. Under President Eisenhower, the national highway system was built. But since those glory days, no president has attempted to attack the headaches of the times.
President Biden will face many hurdles in his effort to make us a more modern country. But if his proposals become law, there is a good chance that history will reward his efforts for having gone big.
