Joe Biden’s Love of Austerity Cut the Stimulus Bill in Half
We're in the middle of a brutal pandemic during which millions are suffering. Yet according to the New York Times, Joe Biden actually moved to undercut progressives demanding greater economic aid in the stimulus negotiations, giving “Democrats confidence to pull back on their demands” — and surrender to Mitch McConnell.
Joe Biden in December 2020. (@jlhervàs / Flickr)
If there is any consistent through line in Joe Biden’s long career, it is his commitment to the ideology of austerity.
He has obsessively pushed for Social Security cuts for decades, and he is stocking his administration with deficit hawks — including today’s announcement that notorious Social Security cutter Bruce Reed will be White House deputy chief of staff. Biden has even threatened to veto Medicare for All legislation on the grounds that it costs too much (even though Congress says it would actually save a lot of money).
Now, in the whittling down of the stimulus legislation, we see the first concrete example of how Biden’s ideology can change policy in deeply destructive ways.
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