OPINION:
Millions of people recently watched the end of a real-life fairy tale as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex took on a more than 1,000-year-old British institution.
Meanwhile, across the pond another fairy tale was ongoing. Like our monarchist friends, the American one is poised to have an unhappy ending — unless action is taken to prevent it from continuing.
This month, Democratic knights in shining armor delivered the biggest spending bill in the country’s history. At a price tag of $1.9 trillion, the inaptly named American Rescue Plan insinuates that it will save people by alleviating poverty, preventing states from financial ruin and providing schools with funds to reopen, among other assertions.
The media were more than happy to write this fairy tale for their liberal allies and commander in chief. “Biden stimulus showers money on Americans, sharply cutting poverty and favoring individuals over business,” proclaimed The Washington Post. “With relief plan, Biden takes on a new role: crusader for the poor,” praised The New York Times.
But the reality reveals something far different. Cleverly cloaked as a COVID-19 relief bill, the actual provisions of it have very little to do with responding to the pandemic.
Only $50 billion of it goes toward testing and contact tracing, while a mere $16 billion is set aside for vaccine distribution. The rest reads like a liberal wish list authorized by the Fairy Godmother herself.
Among the items are $360 billion to state, local, territorial and tribal governments. Unlike the CARES Act, the amount states will receive is based on unemployment rather than population. Governors who imposed the strictest lockdowns, such as California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Andrew Cuomo, will have their states’ coffers more generously rewarded than red states, whose governors like Tennessee’s Bill Lee and Florida’s Ron DeSantis responsibly re-opened.
The Rescue Plan also purports to help public schools reopen with an additional $123 billion in funding. Yet, a recent study shows that a lack of money wasn’t the biggest driver in school shutdowns, rather it was the influence of teachers’ unions. This analysis makes sense, considering that Catholic schools around the country have been open since last fall — many with limited resources. Further, the rescue plan funding comes without a requirement that schools actually do what they’re supposed to — reopen.
One of the biggest giveaways of the rescue plan that will have broader implications is the direct “stimulus” to families and individuals. Families in upper income brackets who remained employed throughout the pandemic will receive checks, even though their income wasn’t disrupted. Over half of workers will earn more staying home under the plan’s enhanced unemployment benefits, offering little incentive to work. Liberals will find it tough to resist offering more direct payments in the future and making these benefits permanent.
This massive spending package came to fruition even though half of the $900 billion in COVID-19 relief money approved last year hasn’t even been spent. Further, as the pandemic comes to an end, all signs point to a more robust economy as businesses reopen, people get back to work, and demand soars for concerts, sporting events and travel.
Finally, conspicuously missing in this fairy tale is a chapter on how to pay for it. One Democratic congressman said, “now is not the time to determine how we’re going to have to pay for that.” Tell that to America’s 25-year-olds who, along with their future spouses, will be staring at a jaw dropping $150,000 in federal debt in 10 years.
If the talk around the Democrats’ next big spending package — on infrastructure — is any indication of how they propose to pay for it, it will be in the form of tax increases on corporations and the wealthy. Yet, taking money from job creators not only slows economic growth, it also won’t solve America’s overall debt problem. After spending more than $4 trillion in COVID-19 relief in only one year, the nation’s debt stands at nearly $28 trillion and is rising.
The Biden administration’s campaign this week to sell the American Rescue Plan to the public is an attempt to get Americans to buy into it. Unfortunately, this tale doesn’t end well for taxpayers, the people it supposedly helps, and future generations who will be saddled with mountains of federal debt.
Americans don’t need more government to “rescue” them. What they need is for businesses and schools to reopen, and to be able to unleash their potential. For that is not a fairy tale story, that is the American story.
• Christine Czernejewski is the communications director for a philanthropic foundation based in the Midwest. Views reflected are her own.
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