Biden to focus on economic plans, inequality in weeks ahead

Joe Biden is pledging to unveil a series of proposals in coming weeks aimed at reversing ecomic devastation wrought by pandemic and dressing inequalities that have contributed to protests sweeping country.

presumptive Democratic presidential minee and his aides see some parallels to last time his party wrested White House from Republicans. ecomic collapse during final sts of 2008 presidential campaign gave Barack Obama, with Biden as his running mate, an opportunity to present clear contrasts with GOP policies and make case for sweeping overhauls.

dynamics are far more complicated today. current crisis was prompted t by poor bank lending practices but by a dramatic freeze in American life that began in March to prevent spre of vel coronavirus. Joblessness is at levels t seen since Great Depression. And as some states and cities reopen, protests responding to police killing of George Floyd have spurred calls to dress inequalities rooted in systemic racism.

“To have true justice in America, we need ecomic justice,” Biden said this week in Philelphia. “ moment has come for our nation to deal with systemic racism, to deal with growing ecomic inequality in our nation and to deal with denial of promise of this nation.”

Unemployment numbers from May will be released on Friday, providing an updated picture of just how challenging Biden’s job maybe if he wins presidency.

former vice president says plans to be unveiled later this month will focus on housing, education and access to capital. In meantime, he’s held daily ecomic briefings, including from chief ecomists from Obama ministration, Jared Bernstein and Ben Harris, and Hear Boushey, a progressive ecomist who vised Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s senior policy viser, said re’s been more of an emphasis on job creation and issues holding back labour market since coronavirus outbreak began.

“We really accelerated our work in that area, both in terms of how policy team reaches out to experts, and in terms of how vice president spends his time and structures his ecomic briefings,” he said.

Biden’s campaign has hinted that it would like to pursue an even more expansive set of reforms than those proposed by Obama in wake of financial crisis. That includes aid to middle-class families rar than corporations, bolstering workers’ rights and removing some of barriers to expansion in labour force, like boosting access and government support for child and eldercare. It has also discussed returning supply chain to U.S. and investments in green infrastructure to create jobs.

“y are realities about underlying structure of American ecomy that has just been laid bare by this pandemic,” Bernstein said.

Biden, who ran a centrist campaign to win primary, was moving to left on some ecomic issues before virus hit. That’s part of an effort to woo progressives who have shunned him. He supported a minimum w increase, opted some of Bernie Sanders’ free college tuition plan and embraced Elizabeth Warren’s bankruptcy reform plan.

His campaign is also w working with Sanders’ visers to find more common ground on top issues.

But as Biden and or alumni of Obama ministration can attest, grand ambitions sometimes meet more challenging realities. A new ministration generally has about one year to usher its biggest proposals through Congress before attention turns to midterm elections and president’s own reelection.

Even in best of times, that can be challenging. Initially benefiting from strong Democratic majorities in Congress, Obama muscled through an $800 billion ecomic stimulus and major health care and financial services reforms before Republicans took control of House and blocked most of his nda.

“When tea party got re in 2010, it’s t that Obama team didn’t go far eugh, it’s that Congress blocked us,” Bernstein said.

While Democrats are increasingly bullish about ir odds of taking control of Senate, re’s little chance that y would gain filibuster-proof majorities y h at points during Obama years, forcing a Biden ministration to work with some Republicans.

That, along with urgency of preventing ditional waves of virus, could make it hard for Biden to deliver on his biggest priorities.

Austan Goolsbee, Obama’s chief ecomic viser during 2008 campaign who later served on Council of Ecomic visers, ted re was a similar concern during those years that simply reacting to ecomic crisis could take focus off progressive priorities. re’s a risk of that happening w, he said.

focus on bleak ecomy “means climate change and criminal justice reform, and some of or issues — t that y aren’t important, just y’re t going to be first thing on people’s minds,” Goolsbee said.

Still, Sara Nelson, president of Association of Flight Attendants and a leer of joint Biden-Sanders policy task force on ecomy, said that making sweeping changes to ecomy should be more urgent w — t less.

“ coronavirus is laying bare all of holes in our ecomic platform,” Nelson said.

Of course, Biden must win election before he can accomplish anything. And President Donald Trump argues that he presided over an ecomic boom and can do it again if voters give him ar term in office.

“Americans kw ecomy reached unprecedented heights under President Trump’s leership before it was artificially interrupted by coronavirus and y kw he will build it back up a second time,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Sarah Matws.

Bernstein said even if re is a recovery, “we’re going to be pointing to devastating levels.”

“We’re t going to let him wiggle out of his horrifically irresponsible response to crisis,” he said. “ idea that Trump built a great ecomy and n virus came along and w he’s rebuilding it again just simply doesn’t correspond to facts.”