Joe Biden has been widely described as a “moderate” by media covering the 2020 Democratic race, but this is a misnomer. The image is totally built on the fact that Biden has been running within a party whose left flank has been defined by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. In reality, Biden is proposing a sweeping domestic policy agenda that, if adopted, would make him one of the most liberal presidents in American history.
Sure, Biden may not be calling for wiping away all student debt and providing free college. But he does want to spend an additional $1.5 trillion subsidizing education from preschool through college, including increased student aid, free community college, and some debt forgiveness. He may not be going the full AOC on the Green New Deal, but he does cite it as a “crucial framework” in his $1.7 trillion climate plan.
Throughout the primary, Biden has argued against the $34 trillion Sanders healthcare plan aimed at replacing all private insurance with a single government-run plan. However, Biden wants to spend $750 billion expanding Obamacare so that it includes more subsidies and a government-run plan that would erode private insurance over time. The provision was championed by the Left during the Obamacare debate, but it was deemed too extreme to pass muster with more centrist Democrats in the Senate.
Additionally, Biden wants to spend $1.3 trillion on a massive infrastructure bill, $640 billion to subsidize housing, and an additional $125 billion on fighting the opioid epidemic. All told, Biden’s big-ticket items alone would increase federal spending by more than $6 trillion.
To pay for part of his agenda, Biden has proposed $3.2 trillion in tax increases, including doubling the capital gains tax by taxing investments as ordinary income. He has also vowed to repeal the Trump tax cuts, which would increase taxes on the middle class.
Beyond purely tax and spending matters, Biden has promised that “we are going to get rid of fossil fuels” and told miners to “learn to program.” He has promised to double the minimum wage to $15 per hour and wants to go beyond the already abusive Obama administration policies when it comes to supporting organized labor. Among other things, he has vowed to resurrect the push to allow unions to intimidate workers into becoming members by denying them secret ballot votes on unionization through a scheme known as “card check.”
Biden’s subservience to unions also raises another important point. When somebody runs for president, it isn’t just he or she who is being elected. Were Biden elected president, he would be accountable to the various coalitions that put him in power and influenced by those whom he appoints to advise him and carry out his agenda. There’s a reason, for instance, why Donald Trump, once pro-abortion rights, ended up championing the pro-life cause as president and dedicating himself to appointing conservative judges.
Likewise, Biden is being pulled leftward by coalitions within his party. Very early in his candidacy, Biden was forced by pro-abortion extremists to abandon his decadeslong support for the Hyde Amendment and come out in favor of putting taxpayer funds toward abortions.
Were he to be elected president, confidants have floated the idea that Biden could make Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of the leading figures of the far Left, secretary of the Treasury. Biden himself has said he wanted to put Beto O’Rourke in charge of gun policy. That would be the same O’Rourke who, just before he ended his disastrous candidacy, came out in favor of outright gun confiscation.
None of this speaks to the actual merits of Biden’s proposals, something that we expect to be writing about in the coming months now that he’s on track to be the Democratic nominee. But it’s pretty clear which ideological school his vision belongs to. Simply put, Joe Biden is a liberal.
