Joe Biden Wants A New Deal (Washington Examiner) September 24, 2021

Posted by daviddavenport in Op/Eds.
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President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was launched nearly 90 years ago, but it is the government model that we live under today.

The New Deal dramatically expanded the size and the role of the federal government. Besides enormous growth in federal agencies, government spending, and regulation, the New Deal used the government to create and guarantee economic security, from making up jobs to establishing social security and beyond.

In the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson added to the New Deal’s promise of economic security by launching a war on poverty, which continues to be fought today, and Medicare for seniors. President Barack Obama further expanded the New Deal by including healthcare as a basic right available to all.

President Joe Biden’s plans, however, go well beyond this. What Biden seeks can only be called a new New Deal. Two important questions need to be asked:

1. Does the United States need a new New Deal?
2. Will America remain the same if we allow Biden to create a new deal? Put another way, do we want a system of much greater government intervention?

The government’s size, measured by its spending or employees, has grown under both Republican and Democratic administrations. These days, the real measure of bigger or smaller government is to look at the extent of its activity in our individual lives. Measured in that way, Biden’s proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill clearly constitutes a new New Deal.

Biden seeks changes to everything from education to social welfare, from climate change to the economy. All this would be paid for by a Roosevelt-sized increase in federal spending, plus a major overhaul of the tax code. In other words, Biden is shooting for the moon, seeking to undo any limitations on government imposed during the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s.

The details of the $3.5 trillion plan are being negotiated, but note how sweeping the proposals are. In education, for example, it won’t just expand Head Start or support for preschool, but the bill would create universal preschool for 5 million children ages 3-4. The proposals include huge allocations for family and child care support. Not only will there be significant growth in aid for college education, but the first two years of community college would be tuition-free. Free universal preschool and two years of free college: That’s a new education deal.

Same with Medicare. Not just more assistance but a whole new deal, including dental, vision, and hearing coverage. The possibility of lowering the eligibility age is on the table. A new deal for seniors.

Unlike the original New Deal, Biden’s new deal could be passed by votes from just one political party. It’s difficult to accept that a president elected by 51% of the people would launch a whole new deal on a narrow party-line basis.

We have many challenges during this pandemic. But are we prepared to change our education, healthcare, tax code, and economic system just because of the virus?

To read the column at the Washington Examiner:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/joe-biden-wants-a-new-deal