Even With a Razor-Thin Majority, President Biden Has Delivered More Consequential Economic Legislation in Two Years Than Trump Did in Four

     Today, President Biden is giving a speech on preserving American democracy from the threats it is currently facing, threats at a level we haven't seen since the Civil War. One key way to save democracy, something Joe Biden has made and will continue to make clear, is by proving that it can still deliver tangible results for the American people, that this Great Experiment is still something worth defending and preserving with our very souls.

     It didn't seem, at first, like Democrats were in a good position to do it. The myth of Democratic disarray is an astounding one to me: sure, we are a big tent party, and, sure, that does have its pros and cons, but it is definitely far better than the alternative, the MAGA Republican Party that punishes anyone who disagrees with their Orange Julius Caesar of a cult leader. In fact, even with a 50-50 Senate and the narrowest House majority in modern history, President Biden has delivered more consequential economic legislation in two years than Trump did in four.

     This legislation is the fastest pace of landmark bills since the Great Society. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act has led to the creation of 10 million jobs in just 21 months. The PPP Extension Act extended the deadline to access hundreds of billions of dollars in benefits to small businesses. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a $1.2 trillion law serving as the largest investment in American infrastructure since the Eisenhower administration, delivering universal broadband, expanding clean water access, investing in clean energy, fixing roads and bridges, restoring ports and airports, and much more. The Ocean Shipping Reform Act represents the largest reform to American oceanic shipping industry in 25 years. The Postal Service Reform Act cut $55 billion from the deficit and preserved six-day-a-week delivery by removing onerous budget requirements. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the first major gun safety law in 30 years, provided $15 billion to fight gun violence. The CHIPS and Science Act, a $280 billion law to strengthen supply chains and restore American manufacturing and innovation, was followed swiftly by the $400 billion Honoring Our PACT Act, which provided healthcare to 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic pollutants. The Inflation Reduction Act, meanwhile, is a $750 billion bill that reduces the deficit, cuts carbon emission, lowers the cost of drugs and healthcare, and, as the name suggests, reduces inflation. 

     There is much more to come. President Biden recently used his executive authority to cancel student debt worth $300 billion, and Congress is preparing to pass legislation to overhaul Social security, cap the cost of insulin, make an unprecedented investment in wildlife conservation, and much more. All of this economic legislation is on top of the action taken passing the Emmett Till Antilynching Act and COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, combatting human rights abuses in China and Nicaragua, reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, confirming federal judges at an unprecedented rate, ratifying the accession of Sweden and Finland into NATO, and bills pending to bar members of Congress from trading stock, preserve marriage equality, and continue to wind down America's military activity in the Middle East. 

     All this economic legislation represents roughly $5 trillion, a number that will grow to as much as $7 trillion by the end of the year. Over his four years in office, Donald Trump passed only $5.3 trillion in economic legislation, most of which was COVID stimulus spending. His only real "accomplishment" was a tax cut for the wealthy and corporations. 

     This November, Americans face a choice between trillions of more dollars in economic legislation to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out or more of the dangerous nonsense that MAGA Republicans seek to use to bring America backward. This November, we need to make the right choice by voting left, by voting blue, by voting Democrat.