"With the stimulus bill, Biden built momentum for profound and lasting change. Faced with obdurate opposition from the GOP, he forged the compromises among Democrats necessary to enact a plan far more ambitious than that which followed the Great Recession.
It grants immediate relief to millions of middle- and low-income Americans, including $1,400 payments, a weekly unemployment subsidy, and cheaper health insurance. But its heart is more ambitious—the most sweeping anti-poverty program in fifty years.
One linchpin is an expanded child tax credit, payable monthly, which resembles a universal basic income program. “President Biden has often talked about the need to invest in our kids as a matter of moral importance,” says communications director Kate Bedingfield. “But it’s also a matter of economic importance, and it’s an investment in our competitiveness as a country.”
This credit is projected to cut child poverty in half. Overall, experts predict, Biden’s program will reduce American poverty by more than one-third.
Politically, its passage could mark a sea change in how Americans perceive government. The bill does not establish new bureaucracies; instead, voters will feel its impact directly—not only in their pocketbooks, but in fortifying local institutions like schools, hospitals, health centers, and transportation systems. Notably, polling shows widespread support among lower-income Republicans who, astonishingly, seem more concerned with the fate of their children than the gender of Mr. Potato Head."
http://thebulwark.com/bidens-opportunity-to-reinvigorate-america/
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