The Biden Administration

[Parasaurolophus]

There would be quite a public outcry if, let's say, the policy experts decided that only rich people were worth saving so vaccines were allocated on the basis of one's bank account. Line up by numbers of zeros...

That's the point: If they decide differently, it's still politics.

There are politics no matter what the decision is. Someone made a value decision and tries to influence policy, through use of influence and power, to get their way.

• Prioritize people with compromised health? Or cull the herd by letting the sick get sicker and die, while making sure the healthy remain hale and hearty?
• Prioritize the elderly? Or hey, they have lived long enough, prioritize anyone under 35.
• Prioritize parents because they have children to care for, and let the childless (or those whose kinds are adults) go because nobody relies on them for care?

Yes, that's the point. These are not decisions for experts. There is no scientific truth to any of these decisions.

So, we have 331 million people and, what, 8 million initial doses of the vaccine.

So who should get them first? And how should this be decided? By whom?

The original point is being forgotten: None of this is scientific.

Doesn't mean there aren't relevant experts.

[dismalist]

Oh, pshaw! Here's how the system works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOvEwtDycs

:-)

[Parasaurolophus]

If you think the current COVID relief package is stingy, the NYT reports that you have Biden The Austerity Hawk to thank for cutting it in half:

With Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate far apart on how much they were willing to accept in new pandemic spending, Mr. Biden on Dec. 2 threw his support behind the $900 billion plan being pushed by the centrist group. The total was less than half of the $2 trillion that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, had been insisting on.

Mr. Biden's move was not without risks. If it had failed to affect the discussions, the president-elect risked looking powerless to move Congress before he had taken the oath of office. But members of both parties said his intervention was constructive and gave Democrats confidence to pull back on their demands.

[Hegemony]

Do you think if Biden had held out for a larger payment, he could have gotten it past Congress?  Or would it just be a stalemate with the Republicans who insist on a small payout, as it has been since the summer? 

[mamselle]

Do you think if Biden had held out for a larger payment, he could have gotten it past Congress?  Or would it just be a stalemate with the Republicans who insist on a small payout, as it has been since the summer?

+1

He's a veteran of dealing with McConnell.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Do you think if Biden had held out for a larger payment, he could have gotten it past Congress?  Or would it just be a stalemate with the Republicans who insist on a small payout, as it has been since the summer?

Republicans want relief cheques. In fact, Coronavirus relief--by the end of the year!--is overwhelmingly popular among the population (like, 85%+), and Republicans are well aware of it. They have a number of squishy senators (e.g. Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley, among others) and two senators who probably need to support it to buoy their electoral fortures in the Georgia runoffs. They also have a president who keeps saying, very loudly, that he's in favour--in fact, just yesterday he threatened to veto the bill unless the relief cheques went from $600 to $2000! Sure, he's an idiot who probably thinks that will win him Democratic votes on Jan. 6. So what? Exploit it to meaningfully help people! They want to do it now, so push 'em. This is a rare opportunity to use pressure from Trump and some Republican senators to box out McConnell. It'll only get harder to do come January, because Republicans will be out of government and will revert to their obstructionist type (and they may well still hold on to the Senate).

Let's not lose sight of what happened here. The bill covers $1.4 trillion in spending. Of that, $286 billion goes to the one-time, means-tested $600 survival cheques and unemployment benefits, plus another $51 billion in food aid and rental assistance (note, however, that Moody's estimates there will be up to $70 billion in unpaid rental and utility debt by January). So: just $337B in real coronavirus relief money. (Economists everywhere agree it's nowhere near enough, by the way.) And none of it is state aid, either (which is desperately needed because, unlike the federal government, states don't have access to unlimited money).

Where does the rest go? $200 billion goes to tax breaks for the rich (compared to $166B for the relief cheques!) There's a tax break for corporate meal expenses, along with tax breaks for the Paycheck Protection Program, but no tax exemptions for jobless benefits. And the paid sick leave mandate is being terminated. There's a $3B tax break for landlords. And there's around $700B in military spending, plus $1.5B or so for the border wall. Oh, and it doubles the amount of money available for Congressional health care (it's a piddly $5mil, but the message couldn't be clearer: they've got theirs).

Sure, all that's better than nothing. But it's not enough, they should have tried for more, and it's certainly not a big victory which we need to hail as a standard-bearer for future politics. Biden's main job, as President-elect and as President, is to be the party's head cheerleader and visionary. Pelosi and Schumer wanted to do a bit more; Biden gave them cover to do less. I know he's the Anointed Saviour and all, but he let the side down. It's a Pyrrhic victory, at best.

[mamselle]

He may be thinking--as I thought last night, drifting off to sleep--that perhaps the orange-tufted gooney-bird is planning to hold the country hostage to its relief and military spending bills by refusing to sign them unless he's allowed to remain in the White House.

Biden may not want to become a president-in-exile, is all.

You saw it first here.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Senate Democrats just punted another chance to try to force McConnell to hold a vote on the $2000 extension. Forty one Democrats voted against requiring him to hold a vote on it before the new military spending bill. Six Democrats and five Republicans voted in favor (in other words, they had a real chance if they could muster only a little spine).

The forty one who voted against includes Kamala Harris, who was a co-sponsor of earlier $2000 stimulus cheque legislation. She's been entirely absent from te conversation for weeks now, and now this.

Well done! 4D chess!

[ciao_yall]

Senate Democrats just punted another chance to try to force McConnell to hold a vote on the $2000 extension. Forty one Democrats voted against requiring him to hold a vote on it before the new military spending bill. Six Democrats and five Republicans voted in favor (in other words, they had a real chance if they could muster only a little spine).

The forty one who voted against includes Kamala Harris, who was a co-sponsor of earlier $2000 stimulus cheque legislation. She's been entirely absent from te conversation for weeks now, and now this.

Well done! 4D chess!

To be fair, my understanding is that DJT threw a bunch of other stuff into the $2,000 payment legislation that was a non-starter for a lot of folks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/30/stimulus-checks-senate/

[Cheerful]

Biden set to nominate Merrick Garland for Attorney General.  As you know, Garland was nominated by Obama for Supreme Court in 2016.

[Parasaurolophus]

Sounds like the promised $2000 cheques have been downgraded to $1400 to make room for tax cuts, and Biden has started going around saying that it was always a promise of $2000 total aid, so $2000 - Trump's recent $600 = $1400.

=/

[spork]

One of the first tasks of the Biden Administration will be getting the policy gears of federal government turning, after four years of incompetence and deliberate sabotage by members of the outgoing administration. It's going to take a while to get the EPA, CDC, Department of State, etc. functioning again.

[Hibush]

For those of us in science, the revival of OSTP is good news. Having Eric Lander as head, end elevating that position to a Cabinet position is excellent news.

[dismalist]

For those of us in science, the revival of OSTP is good news. Having Eric Lander as head, end elevating that position to a Cabinet position is excellent news.

Anything the OSTP doesn't opine one? :-)

[Economizer]

I think his Covid plan and other funding ideas are a self dilution by THE PRESIDENT ELECT. I see him wanting to bring out the BLUE DOG DEMOCRATS,, fiscal conservatives, to moderate stances of the liberals that he must APPEASE. Just you wait and see!!!