What Is to Be Done? Prospects for the Biden presidency
By Peter Olney and Rand Wilson, originally published in Italian labor journal Sinistra Sindacale, January 21, 2021
On January 20, Joseph Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. Fourteen days earlier, on the heels of the Democratic Party’s victory in the Georgia Senate run-off election, Americans and the world watched in shock as armed right-wing extremists overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol. Carrying confederate flags, the insurrectionists pranced in its hallowed halls and reveled in defiling statues, and other symbols of constitutional democracy. The scene might have reminded people around the world of previous U.S. support for armed coups and their resulting dictatorships; Chile in 1973 being one of the most dramatic examples.
Trump incited the incursion with his inflammatory speech to his base on January 6 and his vehement denial of the election results after November 3. He repeatedly refused to accept a peaceful transition. If it had not been for decisive victories in both the popular vote (plus 8 million) and the Electoral College (306–232), Trump might have successfully bullied enough state officials to derail the will of the American people. The heroes of this moment are the thousands of young and old socialist comrades, political activists, union members, and especially people of color, who braved the Covid Virus and knocked on the doors of voters in battleground states — and finally in Georgia.
On January 13, Trump became the first President in U.S. history to be “impeached” twice. With Biden in the White House, and the Democrats controlling the Senate, it is possible that he will be tried and convicted “of high crimes and misdemeanors” which would prohibit him from holding public office again. A conviction of Trump by the Senate, and the jailing of his accomplices for this insurrection are essential to defending the U.S. electoral system. Trump himself will likely face massive debt as his sources of capital, like Deutsch Bank, dry up. He may also face jail time for crimes in his home state of New York.
In the age of the Internet and social media, the political narrative will move quickly from the crimes of Donald Trump to the challenges facing the newly elected Joe Biden . There is a broad consensus that first on the agenda must be a massive federal intervention to deal with the Covid-19 virus and do a better job delivering the vaccine.
Many on the left are hoping for enactment of progressive legislation that Senator Bernie Sanders’ championed: Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and the Promote the Right to Organize (PRO) Act.[1]
However even if Biden supported these proposals, the Democratic Party’s margins in both the House and Senate are so slim that most of the progressive agenda is probably completely out of reach.
Labor and the left must take a longer view. Rather than seeing these progressive reforms happen in the first 100 days or even in the first two years, the movement must aim for gains in the 2022 midterm elections. That’s when Democrats have the potential to strengthen their slim majorities in both the House and the Senate and then realistically hope to pass the signature measures advocated by Senator Sanders and Representative Alexandra Occasio Cortez.
Given his political limitations, what can Biden hope to accomplish in his first two years? If labor and the left continue to push hard, there are two fruitful avenues for the newly elected President. Using his power of executive order, he can forgive most of the student debt for 49 million Americans and mandate that government contractors pay a minimum of $15 per hour and not resist unionization. These two measures will have an immediate impact on millions of working-class Americans and help build a broader progressive base for the 2022 midterm elections.
On the lawmaking front, with slim margins in the bi-cameral legislature, Biden should still be able to find majority support for two pieces of important legislation. First there is the $2,000 per person stimulus check, which languished in the Senate in 2020 because then Majority leader Senator Mitch McConnell sabotaged it. However, the most important legislation to fight for is passage of a $1.4 trillion “infrastructure bill” to build roads, bridges, railroads, schools, and hospitals. Trump promised something similar with great fanfare during his first campaign, winning much support from construction workers. But he subsequently betrayed those promises — except for the construction of his 400-mile wall on the Mexican border.
The U.S. is long overdue for upgrades to its transportation, education, and public health infrastructure. Massive public works projects similar to Roosevelt’s New Deal could create millions of new, good paying, union jobs. Doing so would peel away a big share of the economically distressed working class that voted for Trump in 2016 and again in 2020.
New infrastructure, economic stimulus, student loan forgiveness and a $15 an hour minimum wage would be good for broad masses of people and the labor movement. That’s what must be done to strengthen the electoral prospects for Democrats going into 2022. As we say: “We dodged a bullet” in 2020, now the real work begins.
[1] Medicare for All would be a government financed, universal health insurance system. The Green New Deal would hasten the transition away from fossil fuels and provide for worker retraining and subsidies for those who lose their jobs in dirty industries. The PRO Act would make it easier for workers to organize, and help unions rebuild their membership from its current 6.7% of the private sector workforce.
