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US Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stand and applaud as President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress in the House Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington. (AP/Yonhap News)

Two women were seated behind US President Joe Biden: Kamala Harris, who presides over the Senate as US vice president, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Attendance was restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but included in first lady Jill Biden’s guest list were a transgender youth, gun control activist and a “dreamer” protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — all of whom had been extended online invitations.

This was the scene at Biden’s speech before Congress on April 28, as he prepared to mark his 100th day in office. It was the first time in history that both leading positions in the Senate and House of Representatives were held by women. The invitations extended to LGBTQ and undocumented immigrant attendees were also striking for a congressional speech by the president.

It was an exceptional scene to match the exceptional first 100 days of the Biden administration and the exceptional speech that Biden delivered that day.

The centerpiece of the speech that day was the American Families Plan, which involves US$1.8 trillion in spending. It was symbolic of the large-scale expenditures by the administration since taking office, which is seen as signifying a major readjustment to the US government’s role.

“We have to prove democracy still works, that our government still works, and we can deliver for our people,” Biden said.

In an article titled “Biden Seeks Shift in How the Nation Serves Its People,” the New York Times wrote that Biden’s plan “represent[s] a fundamental reorientation of the role of government not seen since the days of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society and [Franklin] Roosevelt’s New Deal.”

In a lengthy editorial titled “Biden’s Cradle-to-Grave Government,” the conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal criticized the US$1.8 trillion plan for “reject[ing] the old social contract of work for benefits” — but even this take showed how extensively Biden has been recalibrating the government’s role.

Consisting of US$1 trillion in expenditures and US$800 billion in tax benefits, the American Families Plan includes elements such as universal preschool for children aged three to four, free community college education, up to 12 weeks of paid family medical leave, and extension and expansion of tax cuts for families with children.

The child tax credits, in particular, would provide child care subsidies amounting to US$3,600 per year for children six and under and US$3,000 per year for children aged seven to 17 in families earning US$150,000 a year or less. This amounts to roughly US$300 per month per child.

Similar tax credits for middle and lower class families were also included in a previously announced COVID-19 relief plan, but the latest plan would expand their scope and extend them through 2025.

While the measures would be temporary, experts predicted they would usher in revolutionary changes to the US social service system once implemented. They would reduce the burden on working parents in the middle and lower classes since the state would be responsible for caring for children from the age of three.

Other measures presented since the Biden administration came to office include the American Rescue Plan, a US$1.9 trillion package of COVID-19 relief and economic stimulus measures that Congress has already approved, and the American Jobs Plan, a proposed US$2.3 trillion package for social infrastructure improvement and job creation. With the American Families Plan now added into the mix, it represents the largest expansion of the government’s role since the New Deal program adopted during the Great Depression in the 1930s by the Franklin Roosevelt administration.

The administration is also pushing hard to increase taxes on the wealthy to fund the plans, which together amount to US$6 trillion in expenditures. This includes plans to increase the maximum income tax rate for the top-earning 1% from 37% to 39.6%; the maximum capital gains tax rate for capital gains of US$1 million or more from 20% to 39.6%; and the maximum corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.

Four decades ago, in the 1980s, the Ronald Reagan administration slashed taxes and reduced the government’s role, claiming government to be “the problem.” Now Biden is attempting a dramatic about-face, proclaiming government to be the solution as he pushes to raise taxes and expand the government’s role.

Having historically led the way in emphasizing small government and balancing the budget with the governing philosophies of the neoliberal era, the US is now at the forefront in bringing the same edifice down. A preview of this larger government role came when Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, a proponent of tax cuts, spearheaded a US$2.3 trillion relief plan and relief payments to all Americans when faced with the COVID-19 crisis.

This could be seen as the US response to the series of challenges it has faced, continuing from the global financial crisis of 2008 to the pandemic, the rise of China and resulting confrontations, and global warming. It aims to reduce income inequalities exacerbated by the financial crisis and pandemic, increase US competitiveness to keep China in check and transform the economic paradigm to respond to climate change.

On this basis, the Financial Times concluded that Biden is trying to match the historical achievements of three of his predecessors: Roosevelt and his creation of the New Deal as a way of stimulating the economy and creating a welfare system to overcome the Depression; Dwight Eisenhower and his efforts to promote improvements in US competitiveness through interstate highway construction and basic scientific research when faced with a rising Soviet Union and its success in launching the world’s first artificial satellite; and Lyndon Johnson, who expanded civil rights and social services with his Great Society plan.

Do Biden’s first 100 days represent the start of a historic shift that will transform the US and capitalism? The true test will come when we see whether his spending plans are passed and what effects they have if they are.

By Jung E-gil, senior staff writer

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