President Biden is pushing for Congress to ram through a $1.9 trillion spending package in the name of dealing with COVID-19 and its economic effects. But this mammoth package is only the beginning of his coming spending spree.
To start, it is worth reiterating how excessive and unnecessary the legislation being pushed by Biden is at this point.
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To date, the federal government has already enacted $4.1 trillion in spending in response to the coronavirus. And with infections plummeting and the vaccine supply exploding in the coming months, the economy is ready for a comeback.
The $1.9 trillion that Biden wants to pass vastly exceeds the projected output gap, or the difference between projected economic activity without policy changes and potential activity if the economy were functioning normally. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the output gap is $300 billion in 2021 and $700 billion through 2023, when most of the money in Biden’s bill will be spent. That means he is proposing spending more than double the expected gap. Doing so increases the possibility of inflation, not to mention exacerbating the debt burden.
What’s especially strange about the Biden plan is that it isn’t even focused on the crisis at hand. As we noted in a previous editorial, just about 1% of the spending bill is going toward the vaccination effort, and only 5% is directly related to fighting the pandemic. Far more is being spent on long-standing liberal priorities, such as rewarding teachers unions and bailing out pension funds.
As reckless as the Biden plan is, the reality is that it’s just the warm-up act. You may have noticed that as February comes to an end, Biden has yet to address a joint session of Congress.
The reason is that he is planning to wait until after Congress has passed his $1.9 trillion bill to use the speech to unveil his actual economic recovery plan.
“As President Biden pushes for passage of his coronavirus relief plan, he has begun working on a wide-ranging economic recovery package,” the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Yup, you read that right. After Biden signs the package that is currently making its way through Congress, the federal government will have shelled out $6 trillion responding to COVID-19.
While the details of the plan are not yet known, during the campaign, Biden proposed a “Build Back Better” plan and a raft of other spending proposals. Together, his campaign proposals would include infrastructure, climate, healthcare, housing, child care, and more.
This spending binge would be irresponsible at any time, but it is especially so during a time when the United States is facing the largest federal debt since World War II — a burden that now exceeds the size of the economy.
Biden pledged to be a unifying force who would attempt to work with Republicans and bridge differences. In reality, he is aiming to jam through the most far-Left agenda in American history, even if he has to do it without a single Republican vote.
