President Joe Biden, eager to get credit from voters for federal aid funded by Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending package, is resorting to sending letters to recipients even after his party slammed former President Donald Trump for previous checks.
The letters, dispatched roughly a month after Congress passed the American Rescue Act, contradict Democrats’ rebukes of Trump, who insisted that his signature appear on checks disbursed during his term.
Politicians cannot resist putting their names on “good things” for taxpayers, according to Brookings Institution governance studies Vice President Darrell West.
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“They want the credit for sending out checks and want to make sure voters know who was responsible for the stimulus checks,” West said. “Those who are out of power always criticize leaders for doing this, but they do the same thing when they are in charge.”
Republican strategist John Feehery predicted rising inflation would slow Biden’s “spending train” as the White House prepares to host congressional Republicans this week to discuss the possibility of a compromise between the president’s $2.25 trillion infrastructure-plus proposal and the GOP’s $568 billion counteroffer.
“Of course, Biden is being a hypocrite. But if he didn’t have hypocrisy, he wouldn’t have any definable philosophy,” Feehery quipped.
In the note printed on White House letterhead, Biden wrote that the coronavirus package’s provision of $1,400 checks to eligible individuals and households fulfilled a campaign promise to supplement the $600 payments from December for a total of $2,000 in financial assistance. Biden has repeated how that pledge was pivotal to Democrats winning two Georgia Senate runoffs in January to gain control of the chamber.
“When I took office, I promised the American people that help was on the way. The American Rescue plan makes good on that promise. This bill was passed to provide emergency relief to millions of Americans. I want to be sure you receive all the benefits that you are entitled to,” Biden wrote in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
The letter also touts the package’s “aid for small businesses, an expanded child tax credit for families, and resources to reopen our schools safely,” as well as economic relief through unemployment insurance and healthcare insurance premiums.
The spending package is popular. The White House and congressional Democrats have shared favorable polling, including a Gallup survey in March that found almost two-thirds of respondents supported the measure. Of those people, almost 6 in 10 were independents and almost 20% were Republicans.
But Biden encountered setbacks in his efforts to take credit for the package. The itinerary for Biden’s first trip to Georgia in March had to be reorganized after a spate of shootings in and around Atlanta targeting Asian women. And an Atlanta car rally scheduled during a second trip last month to coincide with his 100th day of his presidency was derailed by protesters.
And on Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report finding an estimated 266,000 jobs were added to the economy in April and the country’s unemployment rate rose to 6.1%. Economic forecasters had expected almost 1 million non-farm payroll jobs and that the unemployment rate would drop from March’s 6% down to 5.8%.
“I never said and no serious analyst ever suggested that climbing out of the deep hole our economy was in would be simple, easy, immediate, or perfectly studied,” Biden said of the numbers Monday.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended the letters last week during a press briefing as being “pretty standard” when the Internal Revenue Service distributes physical checks to taxpayers.
“It was just a letter that went out with them but not intended to make it about him,” she said. “It’s about the American people. And we didn’t have him sign the checks because we were concerned about any impact that would have on delaying them going out to the public.”
When Psaki announced in March that a Bureau of the Fiscal Service career official’s signature would appear on the checks, she debuted her response that the payments were “not about him.”
“He didn’t think that was a priority or a necessary step. His focus was on getting them out as quickly as possible,” she said.
The White House turns its attention this week to its infrastructure, jobs, and social welfare spending proposals, hosting multiple meetings with congressional Republicans, including Biden’s first bipartisan, bicameral talks with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy.
Biden has signaled he would like to see progress regarding negotiations on his infrastructure-plus plan by Memorial Day. His $2.25 trillion pitch has been mocked for its broad definition of infrastructure to incorporate $400 billion for caregivers and senior and disabilities services.
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Biden’s infrastructure proposal encompasses $621 billion for transportation and resilience projects and another $111 billion for water and $100 billion for broadband improvements. In contrast, Republicans have counteroffered that $299 billion be spent on roads and bridges, $61 billion on public transit, $20 billion on rail, $35 billion on water, and $65 billion on broadband.
