Biden’s ‘cradle to grave’ agenda - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

Biden’s ‘cradle to grave’ agenda - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

DRIVING THE DAY

A busy week to start a busy month: Unemployment benefits have ended for millions of Americans … Biden visits storm-damaged areas of New Jersey and Queens today … House committees continue to work on the Dems’ reconciliation bill in advance of a Sept. 15 deadline … The Producer Price Index , a key measure of inflation, is released Friday … The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is Saturday WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH: One challenge in covering the Dems’ $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill is conveying the sheer enormity of it. Nobody really even knows what to call it. Is it a jobs package? A human infrastructure bill? A climate bill? Social welfare legislation? Yes. Because Dems aim to pass into law every major domestic priority on which they can find agreement, it is all of those things and more. The NYT’s Jonathan Weisman today has one of the better distillations of the breadth of this legislation by looking at its “cradle to grave” qualities and how they would affect the relationship between Americans and the federal government: “[C]onsider a life, from conception to death. Democrats intend to fund paid family and medical leave” — see Tara’s take on this below — “to allow a parent to take some time off during pregnancy and after a child’s birth. “When that parent is ready to return to work, expanded funding for child care would kick in to help cover day care costs. When that child turns 3, another part of the bill, universal prekindergarten, would ensure public education can begin at an earlier age, regardless of where that child lives. “Most families with children would continue to receive federal income supplements each month in the form of an expanded child tax credit … “And at high school graduation, most students would be guaranteed two years of higher education through expanded federal financial aid, geared toward community colleges. “Even after that, income supplements and generous work force training programs — including specific efforts to train home health and elder-care workers — would keep the government present in many adult lives. In old age, people would be helped by tax credits to offset the cost of elder care and by an expansion of Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision services.” Even this description doesn’t capture the bill’s ambitions when it comes to policies on taxes, climate and immigration. While previous Democratic administrations shied away from emphasizing the “government” part of new government benefits, members of the White House staff are embracing it. “If we get this passed, a decade from now, people are going to see many more touch points of government supporting them and their families,” HEATHER BOUSHEY, one of President JOE BIDEN’s top economists, tells Weisman. Before Democrats pass any of this, they will need to deal with the September Scylla and Charybdis of keeping the government open after annual funding bills expire Oct. 1 and raising the debt limit. There will be an enormous amount of parliamentary intrigue about how they navigate around those two legislative monsters, and we’ll be watching it carefully for you. (Take a shot every time you read “high-stakes political gamesmanship.”) But we don’t believe a Democratic Congress and president will allow a government shutdown or a debt default. How Biden, Speaker NANCY PELOSI and Senate Majority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER find the votes will be interesting, but keep your eye on what’s more important: the substance of the reconciliation bill, which is what this Congress will be remembered for.