After recently unveiling his proposed American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden held his first socially distanced — but in-person — Cabinet meeting in the East Room of the White House Thursday afternoon.
The meeting included 23 Cabinet-level officials and Vice President Kamala Harris and lasted for about two hours.
During the meeting, only Biden spoke, and the media were permitted only a few minutes of access.
This meeting marks a sharp contrast between former President Trump’s cabinet meetings in which Trump would provide all meeting participants with an opportunity to speak, reported dailymail.com.
Biden stated during the beginning of the meeting that five of the Cabinet members would be tasked with selling the plan to the American people and Congress, according to ABC News. They are: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Biden said the five Cabinet officials will ”represent me in dealing with Congress, engage the public in selling the plan, and help work out the details.” Biden also directed the entire Cabinet to make sure their agencies follow his requirement to buy American, according to ABC News.
”I mean sincerely, everyone, take a hard look at their agency spending and make sure it follows my buy American standard,” the president said. ”The plan we’re putting forward to make sure that when the government is spending taxpayers’ money, that they’re spending it on American-made goods of American corporations and American employees.”
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, further explained the role of the five during her press conference. ”They will be in charge of communicating with the public, communicating with Congress, communicating with mayors and governors, having discussions about different components of the bill, whether it’s broadband or different infrastructure components,” she said.
Without discussing specifics as to how Democrats expect to pass the legislation, she stated that Biden hopes the legislation will be passed before the summer.
Republicans are already set to strongly oppose it, not only because of the legislation’s cost to taxpayers, but also for the requirement that increased corporate taxes must pay the bill, reported The New York Times.
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., proclaimed Wednesday that Biden’s $2 trillion American Jobs Plan is nothing more than fodder for a major tax increase, as reported in Fox Business. ”It’s like a Trojan horse,” McConnell told reporters. ”It’s called infrastructure, but inside the Trojan horse it’s going to be more borrowed money, and massive tax increases on all the productive parts of our economy.”
McConnell also raised concerns that the legislation would cause the national debt to rise and that the American Jobs Plan would work to not-so-subtly reverse the Republican tax cuts passed in 2017. McConnell also signaled he is unlikely to support Biden’s plan given the tax increases and additional spending.
Source: Newmax
