Biden Presses Congress for Billions More in Covid Fight

By Yuval Rosenberg

Happy Wednesday! President Biden got another booster shot and turned up the pressure on Congress to provide a booster for the country’s pandemic efforts. Here’s the latest.

Biden Presses Congress to Provide Billions More for Covid Fight

President Biden on Wednesday again called on Congress to approve billions of dollars in additional Covid-19 funding, warning that lawmakers’ inaction could reverse progress made against the pandemic.

Biden noted that there are sufficient supplies at the moment for a limited round of additional booster shots, which the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved this week for anyone 50 and older. But he warned that the country could face shortages before long.

"If Congress fails to act, we won’t have the supply we need this fall to ensure that shots are available, free, easily accessible for all Americans," Biden said before getting his own second booster shot. "Even worse, if we need a different vaccine for the future to combat a new variant, we’re not going to have enough money to purchase it. We cannot allow that to happen. Congress, we need to secure additional supply now. Now. We can’t wait until we find ourselves in the midst of another surge to act. It’ll be too late."

A program to pay for tests and treatments for the uninsured is already out of funding and the government has had to cancel planned orders of monoclonal antibodies and cut the supply of those treatments being sent to states. It has also scaled back plans to buy preventive therapies for the immunocompromised. Biden and other officials have warned that the U.S. could face shortages of tests and vaccines within months.

A new Covid website: Biden also announced a new federal website, Covid.gov, that he said will serve as "a one-stop shop where anyone in America can find what they need to navigate the virus: free vaccines and boosters, free at-home tests, high-quality masks." The site, which went live Wednesday morning, also provides information about community spread by county.

What’s next: Key lawmakers have expressed optimism that they can reach a deal to provide more than $15 billion in new Covid funding and potentially do it before Congress leaves for a recess at the end of next week.

But while Biden on Wednesday said his request for more funding "isn’t partisan; it’s medicine," partisan differences remain an obstacle. Some Republicans have questioned whether the additional money is as critical as the White House says it is, and they have demanded that any further Covid spending come from reprogramming existing funds. That leaves it unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who are leading negotiations, can get the necessary 10 GOP senators to sign on to a deal.

Romney reported that Democrats offered a new list of offsets Wednesday. "Their list and our list are different. So we’re going to work through the differences and see if we can reach a meeting of the minds," Romney said. "We may or may not."

Don’t look now, but … In related news, Bloomberg reported Wednesday that "New York City Covid-19 cases are rising again, particularly among people 25 to 34 years old ... The surge appears to be concentrated in Manhattan, the most vaccinated borough."

The bottom line: "Here’s a scary thought," Politico’s Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine write. "America’s ability to face the pandemic’s next phase may depend on a handful of senators."

US to Send Another $500 Million to Ukraine

President Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Wednesday that the U.S. will send another $500 million in "direct budgetary aid" to the war-torn country.

In a 55-minute phone call, the leaders discussed "the ongoing work by the United States and its allies and partners to deliver military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine," the White House said in a readout of the conversation. Zelensky also updated Biden on the status of talks with Russia, which invaded Ukraine last month.

The $500 million can be used as Ukraine sees fit, with potential uses including humanitarian aid, government services and military efforts. The money comes on top of roughly $2 billion in humanitarian aid the U.S. has pledged for Ukraine since the invasion. Earlier this month, Congress provided a total of $13.6 billion in aid in its 2022 spending package as part of its response to the war in Ukraine.

Manchin Shoots Down Biden’s Billionaire Minimum Tax

In the budget request he released this week, President Biden proposed a new 20% minimum tax on the unrealized capital gains of households worth at least $100 million. It didn’t take long for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to shoot down the idea.

"You can’t tax something that’s not earned. Earned income is what we’re based on," Manchin told reporters, adding, "Everybody has to pay their fair share, that’s for sure. But unrealized gains is not the way to do it, as far as I’m concerned."

Manchin has said that he backs the idea of tax reform that would roll back some of the 2017 Republican tax cuts. Democrats would need his vote in an evenly divided Senate if they seek to change the tax code using the reconciliation process to bypass the threat of a Republican filibuster.

The bottom line: The White House estimates that the minimum tax would raise $360 billion over a decade from the top 0.01% of American households (those worth over $100 million). But as with some previous Biden proposals to raise taxes, getting enough Democrats on board could prove difficult — and, and we noted earlier this week, the new minimum tax proposal would face a host of questions, likely including whether it violates the Constitution. "Manchin’s opposition means Biden’s proposal is likely dead only a day after the White House unveiled it," The Hill’s Alexander Bolton wrote Tuesday evening.

Column of the Day: Doubting the Need for an $800 Billion Defense Budget

Paul Waldman, a liberal columnist for The Washington Post, questions President Biden’s proposed $813 billion in defense spending for fiscal year 2023, a $31 billion increase over this year.

"What precisely is the question the Ukraine war raises for which the answer is, ‘We have to spend more money’? What would we like to do that we don’t currently have the budget for? … [T]he United States accounts for almost 40 percent of the entire world’s military spending. China spends only a third of what we do. Russia’s military budget is around 8 percent of what ours is — yes, 8 percent. So how would spending $900 billion or $1 trillion a year thwart Putin’s imperial dreams in a way that $800 billion a year won’t? …
"And of course, unlike almost every other part of the federal budget, no one (especially Republicans) ever asks ‘How are we going to pay for this?’ when military spending is being discussed. No one demands it be offset by raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere. No one laments the amount being added to the deficit. No one repeats the 10-year cost of the proposal — in this case, $8.6 trillion — as a terrifyingly huge number that will rob our children and grandchildren of any hope for a prosperous future."

Read the full piece at The Washington Post. And for a counterpoint argument that Biden’s proposed increase isn’t nearly enough, see this piece by conservative columnist Henry Olsen, also at The Washington Post.

Bipartisan Bill Would Boost 401(k)s

A bill passed by the House Tuesday would allow Americans to put more money into their 401(k) retirement savings accounts and wait longer to start taking it out.

The Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 would raise the contribution limit for workers over the age of 50 and allow workers to wait until age 72 to start withdrawing funds, up from the current 70 and a half. Over the next decade, that age would rise to 75.

"For aging people with healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts, the plan would provide significant advantages," The Wall Street Journal’s Anne Tergesen and Richard Rubin say.

The bill includes other provisions that would affect the retirement landscape. For example, all but the smallest employers would be required to offer auto-enrollment in their retirement plans, and small businesses would be eligible for tax credits to help defray the cost of providing matching funds for employees. The bill would also allow employees to use Roth retirement accounts for their employer matching funds.

The bill is expected to be taken up in the Senate later this year.

Send your feedback to yrosenberg@thefiscaltimes.com. And please encourage your friends to sign up here for their own copy of this newsletter.

News

Views and Analysis