Former Vice President Joe Biden called for a much bigger and greener stimulus bill out of the Democratic House for the next round. That includes layering more and stricter oversight on the Trump administration and making business more accountable for the money they're getting. In an interview with Politico, he also said this is the opportunity for big investments in infrastructure and the green economy.
It also requires a massive cash infusion to local government, he said, to prevent "laying off a hell of a lot of teachers and cops and firefighters." Talking about his role in helping craft the too-small $800 billion stimulus after the great recession, Biden said "I wanted to bring in the toughest son-of-a-bitch in the country—I really mean it, I'm not joking—because we wanted to make sure we did it by the numbers with genuine oversight," Biden said. "Right now, there's no oversight. [Trump] made it real clear he doesn't have any damn interest in being checked. The last thing he wants is anyone watching that $500 billion going to corporate America, for God's sake." That's true, although there is some oversight built into the measures passed so far which Trump has worked to undermine.
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Biden saved some of his harshest criticisms for an unlikely target, given his past history clashing with the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the banking industry. He "unloaded," Politico says, on Wall Street and big business, saying "this is the second time we've bailed their asses out." Banks like Wells Fargo, he said, "only alive because of the American taxpayer." That too is very true. He seems livid at the diversion of Paycheck Protection Program small business loans in the CARES Act from small business to big, publicly traded and well-financed businesses. He laid that at the feet of the banks. "We knew from the beginning that the big banks don’t like lending to small businesses," Biden said. "I'm telling you, though, if Main Street businesses don't get help, they're gone."
He says he wants to come out the other side of this crisis with Americans recognizing that workers like grocery clerks "and all the other folks out there saving our rear ends and risking their lives for eight bucks an hour," and that those are the people we're investing in. "I think there's going to be a willingness to fix some of the institutional inequities that have existed for a long time," Biden said. "Milton Friedman isn't running the show anymore."
He says he's "in constant conversation" with Democratic leadership. Let's hope they're taking these words from him and using them. His backing on going big, on trying to save Main Street, on using this to invest in long-term green-new-deal styled initiatives is important. A united Democratic front, with Biden banging the drum to back up Democratic efforts means House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer have more room to go very, very big.
