Biden’s Big ‘But’
Right now a lot of the news from the Biden administration is promising. Especially after 4 years of Trump and the fact that leading Democrats are often too feckless (a word Ana Kasparian likes to use) and/or too corrupt, probably both.
But there’s always a but. 🍑There’s always a “come on, man!” moment when you read the details.
It seems like they’re doing just enough to get positive headlines 🗞️ and keep people from grabbing their torches and storming Washington (we’ve had enough of that recently), but not enough to bring the transformative change we needed before the pandemic hit, much less the substantive relief we need to get out of it alive, often times literally.
Just a few examples where the headline has important and often infuriating fine print:
🙌Yay! Biden issues an executive order raising the minimum wage for some federal contractors to $15.
✋But… In reality, it “directs agencies to review their workforce and lay out steps to increase pay to anyone earning under $15 an hour.” So they’re going to look into it. Not to mention (although I will mention it) that other federal employees will have to wait until sometime later in Biden’s first 100 days. It could be a long time even for federal employees to see the benefits of a $15 minimum wage. A first step, but not enough.🙌Yay! The Keystone XL pipeline has been canceled! This is big news and hopefully at least a small good sign from someone who’s been very conservative about climate issues.
✋But… The move is largely symbolic looking at the overall picture. There are already enough pipelines built between the US and Canada to carry all the oil and more for the foreseeable future, and as far as I can tell, there’s been no word on curbing all that oil, which will keep flowing, destroying land, causing tons of pollution, and risking a major environmental disaster. A first step, but not enough.🙌Yay! The pause on student loan payments, as well as evictions and foreclosures, has been extended! This is a huge, immediate action that will help millions of recent graduates, homeowners, and renters.
✋But… These are “pauses” and “moratoria” (I checked that plural to be sure!). They’re NOT loan or rent forgiveness, not even for the brief period they’re in place.
Come March 31, renters and homeowners will have to pay every cent they would have paid during the moratorium. On Sept. 31, the student loans payments that accrued during the “pause” will have to be paid.
So unless something major changes (which cutting the $2000 one-time covid relief payment down to a $1200 one-time payment, with no sign of monthly aid like nearly the rest of the industrialized world), it’s delaying the inevitable. It’s basically saying “We will delay you getting kicked out of your house or going bankrupt by a few months”. Yay?
📣We need to let Biden and his team know this is NOT enough. We need the dynamic to be like it is between Democrat and Republican negotiations on legislation.
The feckless Democrats’ 😱game plan:
✅ Democrats start with a weak position and say they can compromise
✅ Republican start with a strong position and say they won’t compromise.
✅The final product is basically Democrats folding, giving Republicans almost exactly what they wanted.
These executive orders are Biden’s starting, weak position. 😩Progressives need to start with a strong position 💪and say we will not compromise. I’m not saying Democrats will fold like a pack of cards this time; part of it is pageantry: the donors want Democrats to give in.
But would we have gotten even these weak measures on the first day if they weren’t afraid of the growing power 💪of progressives? The polls show we’re in the majority on a number of issues (Medicare For All, $2000 relief check, etc.) and getting closer on others.
We need to be the progressive equivalent of McConnell. With the difference being we actually have the American people, and not a corporate-trained turtle, on our side. 💪
Links where I got info on the specifics of some of Biden’s executive orders: Reuters, France24, Mother Jones, CNN.
