Top Democrat Defends Outrageous Spending, Says America 'Cannot Go Back to Pre-Pandemic Normal'
If there was any remaining doubt that Democrats intend to use the COVID-19 pandemic to advocate for more government intervention, it was put to rest on Wednesday.
According to the Washington Examiner, House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries said the only logical way for America to proceed from this pandemic is to shell out massive amounts of money.
“The House Democratic Caucus, the speaker and others have been clear that we believe a meaningful investment in the caring economy in long-term care and home care and child care and caring for our seniors in health care is important for the American people emerging from a deadly pandemic,” the New York Democrat said.
Jeffries was referring to President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure package, which delegates large amounts of money to child care and free community college.
Congressional Republicans have balked at Biden’s $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan” due to its unnecessarily high spending. As a result, Democrats have raised the possibility of using budget reconciliation to pass their infrastructure priorities without any Republican support.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats have two potential tracks for their infrastructure proposals, Fox News reported.
“One track is bipartisan and the second track pulls in other elements of Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, which will be considered even if it doesn’t have bipartisan support,” Schumer said. “Both are moving forward.”
This is not a “bipartisan” agreement. Instead, it is Democrats saving face by passing a so-called compromise, then turning right around and passing all the radical components on their own.
Even so, Jeffries attempted to defend the decision by pretending that pre-pandemic America was a terrible place that can only be fixed by today’s Democrats.
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“The president has been very clear that we cannot go back to pre-pandemic normal because pre-pandemic normal was a problem for so many everyday Americans,” he said. “Which is why investing in the caring economy is going to be an incredibly important part of what we attempt to accomplish.”
The Examiner reported a bipartisan Senate group’s $1 trillion infrastructure proposal does not include measures demanded by Democrats, including funding for caregivers and universal preschool. Instead, Democrats will use their backup “track” to pass those progressive priorities.
The central problem with Jeffries’ argument is the fact that pre-pandemic America was not some terrible place. In fact, the economy immediately before the pandemic was historically successful.
According to Bloomberg, unemployment in December 2019 was just 3.5 percent, a number considered extremely unlikely by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve in 2016.
The median family income was $68,703, significantly up from $62,898 in 2016. For the first time in 30 years, there was a “sustained rise” in the percentage of Americans between the ages of 25 and 54 who were employed or actively seeking employment.
“Trump proved that an aggressive growth strategy can improve the fortunes of the average American family,” a Bloomberg opinion columnist wrote. “That strategy should continue.”
Unfortunately, the Biden administration has not continued that strategy. Instead of tax and interest rate cuts, Biden has proposed increases in those areas to pay for his delusional spending programs.
Given the success of Trump’s economy, there is no way to justify this complete change in strategy. The only way to defend it is to lie, which is exactly what Jeffries is doing.
Democrats cannot admit that the pre-pandemic economy was historically successful because that would derail their entire agenda. Instead, they must engage in revisionist history to paint the America of January 2020 as a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad place.
Everyday Americans do not even agree with this picture of America. In October, a Gallup poll found 56 percent of Americans felt they were “better off now than they were four years ago,” even during the middle of the pandemic. That was due in large part to economic success resulting from Trump’s policies.
Nonetheless, COVID-19 allowed the government to seize unprecedented power, and that is not something Democrats are likely to relinquish.
Even if Americans want to return to pre-pandemic America, the left wishes to stop that from happening.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
