In January, Democrats campaigned hard for Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Georgia Senate run-off election. One of the key promises Democrats and surrogates made during that race was Democrats taking control of the Senate would result in a direct pandemic relief payment of $2,000 to many Americans. On January 4, during a campaign rally in Georgia, then President-elect Joe Biden said, “If you send John and the Reverend to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope, and decency, and honor for so many people who are struggling right now.”
Warnock and Ossoff won, but those $2,000 checks haven’t left the door.
On the day of the inauguration, the White House announced the American Rescue Plan, stating the package would “give working families a $1,400 per-person check to help pay their bills, bringing their total relief payment from this and the December down payment to $2,000.” On their very first day of holding unified control of the government, the Democrats were already displaying the kind of dishonesty that makes people skeptical of politicians. When campaigning in Georgia, Biden didn’t say $1,400 checks will be out the door because the $600 from December was your down payment — no, he said “$2,000 checks.”
Adding to the frustration, Biden was willing to further means-test checks for individuals who made below $50,000 in 2019, instead of the previous mark of $75,000. In Los Angeles, where I live, the median income is $54,501, but according to Yahoo Finance, you need $136,208 to afford rent and live comfortably in this city. Few residents have that level of comfort. Even prior to the pandemic, 1 out of 5 Los Angeles County residents already dealt with food scarcity, and according to a report from University of Southern California, 1 out of 4 residents in Los Angeles County from April to July 2020 experienced some form of food insecurity. The pandemic has only worsened the economic strife already wrought by capitalism.
The government’s economic relief plan is not even close to being enough. One direct payment for those who qualify is not in any way a proportional response to one of the greatest economic crises in U.S. history.
To understand what a real American Rescue Plan would look like, it’s imperative to recognize the scope of the tragedy that we are all experiencing right now. Nearly 500,000 people have died from COVID-19. That’s not even counting people who have possibly died indirectly from the pandemic by overdoses, suicide, or pre-existing illnesses that were exacerbated by the isolation and stress. The people who died are not just numbers or statistics; they are grandmothers, uncles, lovers, friends, cousins, teachers, co-workers, and so much more. They had a network of loved ones who cared about them and who aren’t fully able to mourn their loss. Millions of people have lost their source of income and are at risk of losing their homes, if they haven’t already. The level of trauma we are all experiencing isn’t even fathomable at this point. Yet we’re expected to continue to work, go to school, pay our bills, and continue in the capitalist rat race, pretending like the world around us isn’t burning.
It’s wrong.
Both political parties have failed us. Former president Trump failed in his response to the pandemic, which led to America being one of the hardest-hit countries in the world, and Biden is failing to provide substantial relief in his recovery package. We’re nearing the one-year anniversary of the national lockdown and still debating who qualifies for a $1,400 check.
The world around us is forever changed. The Congressional Budget Office report says we won’t see jobs back to pre-pandemic level until 2024. Millions of households are in debt and face eviction once moratoriums are lifted. They’ll need help.
In the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed like we might actually get some much-needed support in the form of universal basic income (UBI) and rent assistance. Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced a bill that would have provided $2,000 in UBI, $10,000 in student loan forgiveness, and rent assistance. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and current Vice President Kamala Harris also introduced legislation that would pay anyone making up to $100,000 a monthly UBI in the sum of $2,000. So why aren’t these kinds of bold proposals included in Biden’s rescue plan? Why have Democrats proposed just a one-time direct payment instead of monthly payments and other quick fixes when they have control of the House, and when the person who decides the tie-breaker in the Senate supported UBI when she was a senator? What is the excuse now?
Every four years, those of us who are critical of the Democratic Party are berated by liberals about why we must vote for the lesser of the two evils. We’re told that they’ll be held accountable while in office and be pushed to the left. But then the Democrats obtain power and it’s a lot of the same excuses or rhetoric on why they can’t follow through on key progressive policy goals. They either can’t unify the party to get the votes because of their conservative members or they are afraid to push anything through because they want bipartisanship. But it’s not that they don’t have mechanisms for real change at their disposal. They can nuke the filibuster. Biden can use an executive order to cancel some student loan debt. This is a moment of crisis, and we all know the Republicans would wield their power to the full extent possible if they were in control.
Biden has said repeatedly that American’s aren’t looking for a “handout,” keeping in line with the neoliberal narrative that people don’t want “handouts” or government welfare — as if it’s somehow demeaning for an individual to want their tax dollars to be used to help them in times of need. Providing financial security is exactly what a government should be doing. If not, then why does it even exist?
As I wrote previously in “We Shouldn’t Go Back to the Way Things Were,” the nationwide shutdown showed us that we don’t have to live the way we were living before. Not only do we not have to, but we shouldn’t. With the climate crisis well underway, we simply can’t.
There is no going back to normal, and the government needs to stop pretending that there will be. People living in this country need relief. For all of those who claimed that this administration could be pushed to the left, now is the time to do it.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Student Debt Relief and Joe Biden: What to Expect From His Administration
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