Biden faces the limits of his executive power

Biden “can’t step on the accelerator on his own,” Zandi said. “He desperately needs Congress to get going here.”

Biden’s team is clear that executive orders alone will do little to stem the crisis or reverse the damage. But they see them as a step in the right direction while pressuring lawmakers to do more.

“We act where we can, but 30 million of our neighbors are hungry,” Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, written on twitter. “Congress must act decisively to stem this crisis.”

And so far, at least, it’s still unclear how much lawmakers are willing to spend and how quickly they can act.

Biden urged lawmakers to implement his US bailout which includes hundreds of billions of dollars for the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, $ 1,400 stimulus checks to American workers, and expanded unemployment benefits, among others policies. But members of both parties criticized the package as being too expensive and, especially for Republicans, too close to the $ 900 billion relief bill passed in December.

A group of 10 Senate Republicans, led by Senator Susan Collins of Maine, worked on a less expensive relief bill focused on spending $ 160 billion on vaccines, tests, treatment and personal protective equipment. On Sunday, Biden agreed to the group going to the White House earlier this week for a “full exchange of views,” although press secretary Jen Psaki said the president’s focus on a program large-scale relief had not changed.

It will likely be weeks, if not months, before a new invoice finally reaches Biden’s office for signature. And the delay has sparked further discussions about what the president could do on his own to help the economy.

One of the main purposes of Biden’s executive orders has been to bring together federal agencies to ensure that aid already allocated flows as smoothly as possible through the programs that already exist. This includes asking the Ministry of Agriculture to recalculate the way it distributes food stamps; ask the Department of Labor to resolve issues that may block unemployment benefits; and call on the Treasury Department to ensure that more Americans eligible for stimulus checks can get them.

“Stretch the envelope, get programs to reach as many eligible people as possible, and remove bureaucratic hurdles – that’s a big part of what they can do through management action,” said Andrew Stettner, senior researcher at the Century Foundation a progressive think tank.

Yet, he says, “to accelerate the recovery, they need investments from Congress. They need changes in the law.

To be certain, given the nature of the recession and its link to the pandemic, any action to tackle the coronavirus will in turn stimulate the economy, as it could lead more Americans to leave their homes, to return to the country. work and spend more money.

“The biggest impact the administration can have on the economy is the vaccination rate,” said Constance Hunter, chief economist at KPMG.

Much of this effort also depends on whether Congress spends more money to fund vaccine distribution. But Biden also signed an executive order to invoke the Defense Production Act to increase the supply of all the materials needed to carry the vaccines in weapons, which could also ease the process.

He could also work with the Treasury to extend the income tax filing deadline beyond April 15, as President Donald Trump did at the start of the pandemic last year, or to ” cancel or modify or modify certain tax obligations, ”Stettner said.

“People are looking at this as an example of ways you could stimulate the economy even if you don’t have congressional action,” he added.

While he can’t spend new money without help from Congress, Biden could play with funding that has already been allocated for other purposes. Trump signed an executive order late last year to use a combination of disaster relief funds and state dollars to increase payments for the unemployed. While it worked for a few weeks, the money quickly ran out – a problem Biden would also run into if he tried to divert funds from elsewhere to use them for economic aid.

“It was more symbolic than real,” Swonk said of Trump’s decision. “And over time – because you’re also running around trying to get around Congress, which ultimately controls the purse strings – you’re going to make more enemies as well.

All of this means that beyond urging Congress to act quickly and decisively, Biden has few options for dealing with the economic crisis head-on. And perhaps the most powerful step he can unilaterally take is as much messaging as it is money.

“The decrees are meant to signal that the administration is fully engaged and will do what it needs to do to ensure the economy gets back on track,” Zandi said. “He signals that help is on the way.”