Biden Has Offered Less Financial Relief For Americans Than Trump.
How do Democrats think this is a winning strategy?
Facing pressure from not only Republicans, but right leaning Democrats as well, it’s been reported that Joe Biden has signed off on limiting the financial eligibility for receiving this next round of Coronavirus relief checks. In what I’m sure his administration views as a landmark, perfectly acceptable compromise, Biden’s team has signed off on phasing out any financial relief for anyone who was making $80,000 in 2019, lowered from $100,000 in previous relief packages. For couples, relief has been phased out at $150,000, lowered from $160,000. Unfortunately, whether loyal democratic voters would like to admit it or not, this means that more Americans have received more relief from Donald Trump’s administration than Joe Biden’s in the midst of the greatest public health and economic crisis’ the nation has faced in modern history.
Remember when Biden wanted to position himself as a “modern FDR”?
After forty years of this type of approach to governance and the implementation of policy, at what point are voters going to begin questioning why Democrats continuously feel the need to kneecap themselves? This decision had nothing to do with Mitch McConnell, as Democrats had already moved along with the covid relief bill through reconciliation ensuring that they did not need a single Republican vote. This had nothing do with the GOP, or compromise across party lines. This rests solely on the Democratic party, and Joe Biden’s calculation to allow the most conservative voices within the party, like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, to dictate policy that’s going to shape the legacy of his Presidency and most importantly of all, impact tens of millions of people. Meanwhile, not even six of the more progressive lawmakers in the House have decided to use their power within the slim majority to draw their line in the sand, and vow not to vote for a final bill unless the relief was not cut, allowing Joe Manchin to avoid having the ball thrown back in his court.
I’m sure I’m not alone in just being tired of the excuses.
I’m tired of continuously feeling the need to address the fact that the American people deserve better, but have been conditioned by these lawmakers and their media mouthpieces that they had no choice. It’s a brazen lie, and the Democratic party is almost certainly going to pay politically in the very near future for what was not just a complete, utter act of cowardice, but leadership failure.
Neither Joe Biden or Joe Manchin would kill the covid-19 relief bill in order to ensure that less people get direct payments based off of 2019 tax information that does not reflect their circumstances for 2020. And yet, these lawmakers are allowed to get away with it because no one calls their bluff. Funny, isn’t it, how Dixiecrats like Manchin understand how to wield their power when it means nickel and diming the American people, but fall short when they’re under pressure to stop Republicans?
With the pandemic continuing to ravage communities and millions still facing mountains of back rent, piling bills, and the inability to put food on the table for themselves and their family, the fact is politics is only getting more and more real for people all across the country as they grow increasingly desperate. Bank account balances are going to be there as proof that more Americans saw relief under Donald Trump than Joe Biden, and it will be interesting to see how Democrats answer for that in 2022 and 2024. Since before the pandemic even hit, many of us have observed that Joe Biden and the current Democratic party is fundamentally unequipped and unwilling to do what is necessary to meet this moment, and the theory that the American people will make them pay for it at the ballot box now seems all but inevitable.
If Democrats were at all serious about tackling this crisis, $2000 monthly checks for the duration of the pandemic and three months beyond at the very least would have been the top priority for the Democratic party. If I were in the shoes of Joe Biden I would have forced Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema into the uncomfortable position of having to be the ones to kill a piece of legislation with that desperately needed relief, held town halls, and campaigned in the states and districts of all the Democratic lawmakers who were opposed to it. To put it simply, Joe Biden hasn’t used those tactics to even prevent scaling back eligibility for relief because he has no real interest in bold, necessary action.
After all, he did promise nothing would fundamentally change.
Of course, when the point is made that Americans saw more relief from Trump than Biden, I’m sure there will be the all too familiar response that we must have wanted Trump all along, or that we shouldn’t address this because it only helps Republicans. Frankly, I and countless others no longer have the patience for these continuous talking points. In reality, what helps Republicans is that Democrats seem to consistently show us that they actually have no intention of doing anything meaningful to improve our material condition, even when they have unilateral control of the government. If it continues like this, Democrats deserve to lose.
