Citizen Cartwright

Biden’s legacy: Credit where credit is due

As Joe Biden leaves political life, his record shows once again that every leader, like every human, makes mistakes. But I want to take a minute to celebrate his skill in enacting laws that will benefit Americans into the future.

During the last Trump administration, it was noted that the U.S. government was being run by people who didn’t value government or governing. Lawmakers who didn’t value lawmaking had no motivation to become skilled at it.

In an earlier time, during my 14 years as a congressional staffer, I saw close-up the value of lawmaking. I saw lawmakers of both parties — including then-Sen. Biden and future House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — who modeled the skills of crafting and enacting legislation.

 
And during the first two years of the Biden administration, with Biden in the White House and Pelosi the House speaker, I was heartened to see those skills again being used skillfully.

Biden talked about his economic legacy in a speech last month at the Brookings Institution. He said his administration had embraced a different approach after trickle-down economics that benefited wealthy Americans first. He focused on growing the economy from "the middle out and the bottom up," to the advantage of the middle class.

Biden was able to enact, despite narrow majorities in the House and Senate, major legislation including:

— The $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to repair America's roads, bridges and railways; bring high-speed internet to rural communities; increase the resilience of the electric grid; and upgrade drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure 

— The most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years
— The $53 billion CHIPS and Science Act to bring back manufacture of semiconductor chips to the United States from China
— The Inflation Reduction Act, which included the most significant climate change legislation in U.S. history, as well as a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for people on Medicare

A more complete list of Biden’s accomplishments in those first two years is here.

But despite headlines such as The Wall Street Journal’s on Oct. 22 that the "U.S. economy again leads the world, IMF says," and inflation of 2.4 percent, voters put Republicans in control of the White House and both the Senate and House.

In his speech at Brookings, Biden highlighted the creation of 16 million jobs, the most in any single presidential term and the lowest average unemployment in 50 years.

 

In a CBS News article published this morning, Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, says: "He should have a strong legacy when it comes to the economy. He inherited an economy that was flat on its back because of the COVID pandemic, and he's leaving an economy that's flying high, at least in the aggregate."

"How much he can take credit for that, it's a reasonable debate, but I think he deserves a lot of credit," Zandi says.

Biden has noted that most of the positive effects of his policies will be felt over the next 10 years.

Biden aides have privately told The Associated Press that they expect President Trump to continue Biden's planned projects and take credit for Biden’s accomplishments, just like the Republicans in Congress who’ve celebrated plant openings and infrastructure developments in their districts after having voted against them.

Biden on leaving presidential race: Country above personal ambition

In his Oval Office address to the nation Wednesday night, the president said, "I revere this office, but I love my country more. It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president. But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it’s more important than any title."

"I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term, but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, and that includes personal ambition. So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation."

 

On his endorsement of Vice President Harris, Biden said she’s "experienced, she's tough, she's capable," and he said she’s been an "incredible partner" during their three-and-a-half years together.

 

The president cited his achievements, including the economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, his work lowering health care costs, the passage of landmark infrastructure and climate legislation, and his leadership providing assistance to Ukraine and working to strengthen NATO.

 

Biden also outlined his agenda for his final six months in office, including gun violence, climate change, continuing to improve the economy, and reforming the Supreme Court.

 

Here is the transcript of Biden’s speech, from The Associated Press.

Biden administration seeks to speed transition to electric vehicles

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed "the nation’s most ambitious climate regulations to date," two plans designed to ensure two-thirds of new passenger cars and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold in the United States are all-electric by 2032, says The New York Times.

"The new rules would require nothing short of a revolution in the U.S. auto industry, a moment in some ways as significant as the June morning in 1896 when Henry Ford took his 'horseless carriage' for a test run and changed American life and industry,” the Times says.

If the two rules are finalized as proposed, "they would put the world’s largest economy on track to slash its planet-warming emissions at the pace that scientists say is required of all nations in order to avert the most devastating impacts of climate change,” the Times says.

"The government’s challenge to automakers is monumental,” says the Times. "Last year, all-electric vehicles accounted for just 5.8 percent of new cars sold in the United States. All-electric trucks were even more rare, making up fewer than 2 percent of new heavy trucks sold.”

 

EPA’s proposal follows even more aggressive moves by California regulators, who last year banned new gasoline-powered car sales by 2035, and Japan, which has said it plans to stop the sale of such vehicles in the middle of next decade, says The Wall Street Journal. The European Union also is debating a measure to effectively prohibit sales of vehicles with internal combustion engines at about that time.

 

The proposed tailpipe pollution limits don’t require that a specific number of electric vehicles be sold every year but instead mandate limits on greenhouse gas emissions, says The Associated Press. Depending on how automakers comply, EPA projects that at least 60 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the United States would be electric by 2030 and up to 67 percent by 2032.

 

For slightly larger, medium-duty trucks, EPA projects that 46 percent of new vehicle sales would be EVs in 2032.

 

EPA Administrator Michael Regan says the proposal has “the strongest-ever federal pollution standards for both cars and trucks.″ 

 

The proposed standards for light-duty cars and trucks are projected to result in a 56 percent reduction in projected greenhouse gas emissions compared with existing standards for model year 2026, EPA says. The proposals would improve air quality for communities across the country, avoiding nearly 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2055, more than twice the total U.S. CO2 emissions last year, EPA says.

 

Transportation is the biggest source of carbon emissions in the United States, accounting for about 27 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, according to EPA. Electric power generates the second biggest share of greenhouse gas emissions, at 25 percent.

 

Automakers and environmentalists say the administration is moving quickly to finalize new rules by early 2024 to make it much harder for a future Congress or president to reverse them, Reuters reports. President Trump rolled back tough emissions limits through 2025 set under President Obama, but the Biden administration reversed the rollback.

 

To help spur the transition, the federal government is planning to spend $7.5 billion to expand the EV charging network as part of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed in 2021. And next week, it plans to issue criteria for tax credits of up to $7,500 for consumers who buy qualified EVs, funded by last year’s Inflation Reduction Act.

 

EPA estimates that net benefits through 2055 from the proposal range from $850 billion to $1.6 trillion. By 2032, the proposal would cost about $1,200 per vehicle per manufacturer but save an owner more than $9,000 on average on fuel, maintenance, and repair costs over an eight-year period.

 

John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation representing General Motors, Volkswagen, Toyota and others, says, "Factors outside the vehicle, like charging infrastructure, supply chains, grid resiliency, the availability of low carbon fuels and critical minerals will determine whether EPA standards at these levels are achievable.”

 

Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign, says EPA's proposal should have been tougher.

 

The proposed regulations surely will face legal challenges from those who see them as government overreach, says the Times.

More global good news

Among the items in Saturday’s newsletter from the Australian group Future Crunch:

— Since the turn of this century, 25 countries, home to more than a billion people, have eradicated malaria. 

— One hundred seven countries (though not the United States) now provide paid parental leave for fathers, up from 46 in the 1990s.

— Construction work has become much safer in the United States, with the occupational death rate dropping nearly 80 percent between 1970 and 2023.

Racial equity in infrastructure spending

The $1 trillion law signed by the president on Monday has a built-in promise, says The New York Times: Roads, bridges and railways no longer will be instruments of bias or racism. Communities that ended up being divided along racial lines will be made whole.

But the decision about how to spend the money falls largely to the states, not all of which are likely to put as high a priority on that promise as Biden does, raising questions about whether the legislation will deliver on his goal, the Times says.

 

In the 1950s and 1960s, highway projects often were steered through African American neighborhoods, destroying cultural and economic centers and bringing decades of environmental harm, The Times says.

 

About $660 billion of the infrastructure funding will be provided to the Transportation Department. Most of it will be directly distributed to states, which will have broad latitude in how to spend it. The package also includes about $211 billion in “discretionary grants” that require Transportation Department approval.

 

The Biden administration says it already has made an effort to use new criteria in approving grants. In June, the Transportation Department awarded $905 million for two dozen state projects that considered climate change, environmental justice and racial equity in the criteria. For the first time, the Times says.

 

Biden also signed on Monday an executive order to create an Infrastructure Implementation Task Force with Mitch Landrieu, who will serve as White House infrastructure implementation coordinator, as co-chair. Landrieu, a former mayor of New Orleans, founded E Pluribus Unum, which describes itself as "an initiative in the South created to fulfill America’s promise of justice and opportunity for all by breaking down the barriers that divide us by race and class.”

 

“Broadly speaking, the increase in competitive grants [in the infrastructure law] is what gives the Biden administration the ability to functionally deliver on the promises of Build Back Better,” Adie Tomer, a senior metropolitan policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, tells Vox.

Should that initiative succeed, it could become a model for future state and federal funding programs, Vox says. 

Biden: ‘Finally, infrastructure week’

The American people “want us to deliver,” President Biden said on Saturday morning, and the House's passage the night before of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill “proved we can.” 

 

He called the bill a "blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America."

 

Biden’s joke about "infrastructure week" referred to the Trump White House's declaration several times that “infrastructure week” had arrived, only for nothing to happen, says The Associated Press.

 

Thirteen Republicans, mostly moderates, voted Friday for the infrastructure bill. Six of Democrats’ farthest left members opposed it because its passage wasn't linked to the larger social spending and climate package.

 

Democrats postponed a planned Friday vote on that 10-year, $1.85 trillion bill to bolster health, family and climate change programs after moderates insisted on a cost estimate of it from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Five moderates agreed to back that bill later this month if the budget office’s estimates are consistent with preliminary numbers the White House and congressional tax analysts have provided.

 

The Senate passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill in August, on a 69-30 vote. Biden will be signing the bill when lawmakers return to Washington after a week-long recess. 

 

What the bipartisan infrastructure bill would do:

 

Sen. Susan Collins, Maine, a negotiator of the bill, says it will "make the most significant investment in American infrastructure since the establishment of the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s.” 

 

And the $47 billion in the bill to prepare the nation to withstand the impacts of climate change is the most ever spent by the United States on climate resilience, says The New York Times.

 

Funding breakdown:

 

Roads and bridges — $110 billion for repairs, expansion, accessibility

 

Public transit — $39 billion to expand transportation systems, purchase zero-emission and low-emission buses

 

Passenger and freight rail — $66 billion — the biggest federal investment in passenger rail since Amtrak was founded 50 years ago, according to AP.

 

Electric vehicles — $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations and $5 billion for electric school buses and hybrids

 

Internet access — $65 billion to improve services to rural areas, low-income families, tribal communities

 

Electric grid — $65 billion for reliability and resilience

 

Airports — $25 billion to improve runways, terminals, control towers 

 

Water and wastewater — $55 billion, including $15 billion to replace lead pipes and $10 billion to address water contamination from PFAS chemicals

 

The five-year spending package will be paid for by using $210 billion in unspent coronavirus relief aid and $53 billion in unemployment insurance aid some states have halted, along with smaller pots of money, such as petroleum reserve sales and spectrum auctions for 5G services, according to AP.

House passes $3.5 trillion budget resolution

The vote Tuesday is a major step in Democrats’ effort to enact their top priorities — including huge investments in education, child care, health care, paid leave, and tax increases on wealthy people and corporations — over united Republican opposition, says The New York Times. 

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., negotiated a compromise with moderates, agreeing to hold a vote on separate bipartisan infrastructure legislation no later than Sept. 27 — before surface transportation authorizations are to expire Oct. 1.

 

Pelosi had been saying for months that the House wouldn't vote on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill until the Senate passed the $3.5 trillion package. But the House is expected to vote on the $3.5 trillion package before the Senate, and the Senate may not have time to vote on on it before the Sept. 27 deadline for the House infrastructure vote.

 

The House now has recessed until Sept. 20. When it returns, it also will need to pass appropriations legislation to keep the government funded before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, as well as a measure to raise or suspend the debt limit, Roll Call notes.

Senate passes infrastructure bill, budget resolution

Nineteen Republicans joined all the Senate’s Democrats in voting on Tuesday to pass the infrastructure bill. 

 

Here is how the senators voted, from Reuters.

 

President Biden said, "On this bill, we proved that we can still come together to do big things, important things for the American people."

 

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., called the agreement “a little balm to the psychic soul of the country.”

 

The bill would be the biggest infusion of federal investment into infrastructure in more than a decade. It would provide funding for roads and bridges, public transit, passenger and freight rail, electric vehicles, internet access, the electric grid, airports, and water and wastewater.

 

Here is a summary of the provisions of the bill from The Associated Press.

 

The House is to return early from its summer recess to take up the bill the week of Aug. 23.

 

After passage of the bill, Democrats turned immediately to the $3.5 trillion social policy budget resolution. It passed on a party-line 50-49 vote at a little before 4 a.m. Wednesday, after a vote-a-rama, where an unlimited number of amendments could be offered by both parties.

 

The budget resolution will enable Democrats to use the fast-track budget reconciliation process to protect the legislation from a Republican filibuster. The package would expand Medicare to include dental, health and vision benefits; fund climate change programs; provide free prekindergarten and community college; and increase taxes on wealthy businesses and corporations.

Despite the odds, bipartisan Senate infrastructure bill is ready for debate

Lawmakers and staff working over the weekend finished cranking out the 2,700-page bill on Sunday night.

 

“We haven’t done a large, bipartisan bill of this nature in a long time,” says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who predicts a final vote could come “in a matter of days.”

 

The spending is widely popular among lawmakers, since it would provide long-delayed capital for big-ticket items that cites and states rarely can afford on their own, says The Associated Press.

 

And lawmakers would like to be able to show they’ve gotten something done when they face their constituents over the August recess.

 

But while the bipartisan group of centrist senators has been able to come together on infrastructure, the continuing struggle to advance the legislation exposes the lack of trust that's hindered lawmakers in recent years, says longtime congressional reporter Carl Hulse of The New York Times.

 

Senators don’t trust other senators, House members don’t trust House members, the House doesn't trust the Senate, says Hulse. 

 

“Trust is key, and there is almost none now,” says Tom Daschle, a former Democratic Senate leader from South Dakota who was able to work with his Republican counterpart, Trent Lott, despite their fundamental ideological differences. “Trust comes from personal relationships built over time.”

 

“There are Democrats who are saying Republicans are slow-walking the infrastructure deal, and there are Republicans who say Democrats are slow-walking this infrastructure deal,” says Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

 

Sen. Susan Collins, R- Maine, points to the breakdown of the committee system, in which the leader of a panel would typically work closely with the senior member of the other party to develop legislation. Now significant measures often emerge not from committee rooms but from leadership suites or “gangs” of negotiating lawmakers, as is the case with the infrastructure bill, notes Hulse.

 

"The infrastructure bill is a sweeping public works and jobs bill with something for everyone, the type of pork barrel measure that used to be the bread and butter of Congress,” says Hulse. "Yet to get what should be very popular legislation to a debate on the Senate floor has taken the concerted backing of the White House, the cooperation of the Senate leadership and weeks and weeks of intense talks. The measure could still collapse at  any moment — and that is before the House gets its hands on it.”

 

Coons says: “There are relationships here that cross party lines, that are real and are positive and are meaningful and that are helping contribute to holding this place together. There are more than you think, but not as many as there should be.”

Senate votes to start debate on infrastructure bill

The rare bipartisan 67-32 vote to start formal Senate consideration shows the high interest among senators in the infrastructure package, but it’s unclear whether enough Republicans eventually will join Democrats to support final passage, says The Associated Press.

Senate rules require 60 votes in the evenly split 50-50 chamber to proceed to consideration and ultimately pass the bill.

 

The bipartisan deal "signals to the world that our democracy can function, deliver, and do big things,” President Biden said. "As we did with the transcontinental railroad and the interstate highway, we will once again transform America and propel us into the future.”

 

"Of course, neither side got everything they wanted in this deal,” Biden said. "But that’s what it means to compromise and forge consensus — the heart of democracy. As the deal goes to the entire Senate, there is still plenty of work ahead to bring this home. There will be disagreements to resolve and more compromise to forge along the way.”

 

Personally, I find this bipartisanship heartening, after media reports in recent years that there are few lawmakers left who actually know how to compromise and work together in a bipartisan way.

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who’s said he’s “100 percent” focusing on stifling Biden’s agenda, was among those voting to proceed to consideration of the bill. Here is his strategy, according to Politico.

 

Here is a list of the 17 Republicans who joined Democrats voting to proceed, from The Hill. 

 

And here are key details of the bipartisan infrastructure plan, from AP.

 

The deal still faces obstacles to becoming law, including being turned into formal legislative text and clearing final votes in the closely divided Senate and House, says The New York Times.

 

Paying for the package has been a slog throughout the negotiations on the bill, after Democrats rejected a plan to bring in funds by hiking the gas tax that’s paid by drivers at the pump and Republicans rejected an effort to boost the ability of the IRS to go after tax scofflaws.

Along with repurposing the coronavirus relief and unemployment aid, other revenue would come from the sale of broadcast spectrum, reinstating fees that chemical companies used to pay for cleaning up the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites and drawing $49 billion from reversing a Trump-era pharmaceutical rebate, among other sources, says AP.