Biden agenda clashes with reality of divided Congress

President Joe Biden may not have the ideas on how to deliver on his economic promises. But he seems to have run out of time.

In his State of the Union address, the president urged lawmakers to “get the job done” — calling for a new tax on the super-rich, a crackdown on big-tech companies and other financial support for families, including family and sick leave.

For those following the issues, it was an indirect way of acknowledging that many of these proposals had already been tabled in the past two years and have not progressed, even though Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.

With Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, the chances of them happening have only diminished.

“A lot of them weren’t serious legislative proposals — they were campaign issues and politics,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a center-right think tank in Washington. On the tax increases, he added: “All of these things have no chance of being enacted into law.”

Mr Biden has some big victories to his name over the past two years – $550bn (£455bn) which the federal government will channel towards roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects; $280 billion for investment in high-tech manufacturing and other research and development; and another nearly $400 million for green energy technologies.

But despite those victories, a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Republicans and independents overwhelmingly viewed the president as having accomplished little during his tenure. Even 22% of Democrats shared this view.

Analysts said changing that perception will be difficult over the next two years.

Business groups are already pushing hard against some of Mr Biden’s proposed regulatory changes, such as the ability of employees to work for competing companies.

“Over-regulation will stall progress,” US Chamber of Commerce President Suzanne Clarke wrote on Twitter in response to the President’s speech.

Even on issues where both sides seem to need action, few expect results.

The president’s call for action on big tech, for example, was applauded by both Republicans and Democrats, but talks in Congress on new rules dating back to the Trump administration have yet to result in change.

Over the past year, Republicans and Democrats also tried to negotiate a deal that would grant business-favored tax changes in exchange for expanding the child tax break, a family tax break credited with lifting millions of children out of poverty when Congress increased them as part of its pandemic relief program.

These talks also failed.

“The president must not pass legislation alone,” said Elaine Maag, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, a Washington-based think tank that focuses on equity and equity issues.

“I’m confident there are more than 50 votes in the Senate to pass an expanded tax credit… I’m much less confident there are enough votes in the House of Representatives right now for a big bill like this.” “

Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Brookings Institution, says people shouldn’t be so quick to write off the president’s chances, noting that with such a tightly divided Congress it would take few votes to get some of his proposals through.

The Republicans have become a more populist party than they were a few years ago, she added.

“This isn’t your grandfather’s Republican Party, where they were all businessmen or Wall Streeters, so you can see a few votes being tapped,” she said.

But Mr Holtz-Eakin said the White House was reducing its economic message from the big ambitions Mr Biden was aiming for as president.

“I think there’s a realization that the Build Back Better agenda was too big. It never really worked, and the American people don’t support it,” Mr. Holtz-Eakin said, noting the president’s approval ratings remain hovering in the bottom 40%.

In fact, Mr. Biden made only passing mention of some of the biggest issues facing the progressive Democratic base — such as family and medical leave and student debt relief. Raising the minimum wage was not approved at all.

Dean Baker, senior economist at the Progressive Center for Economic and Political Research, said Mr Biden is taking a cautious approach to celebrating his achievements without drawing too much attention to defeats.

“He knows he’s not going to get much through this Congress, and there’s no point in throwing all these things out there that they’re just going to ignore,” he said. “I think he’s just being realistic.”