Joe Biden’s coronavirus recovery plan

Joe Biden plans to ask Congress to help overdue Americans in two steps: giving them the balance of their coveted $ 2,000 coronavirus payments, followed by a $ 3 trillion tax and infrastructure package.

Why is this important: Biden is confident he will be able to get multiple packages through Congress after Democrats win both Georgia Senate elections. The president-elect’s team also wants to get money into the hands of the Americans as quickly as possible, according to people familiar with the matter.

The big picture: In July, Biden rolled out his Build Back Better plan, which includes billions of dollars for caregivers, incentives for manufacturers and some $ 4 trillion for green jobs and infrastructure spending.

• He proposed to pay for this plan with a series of tax increases on the rich, including taxing capital gains as regular income and increasing the marginal tax rate for high incomes to almost 40%.

Democrats are worried that if they miss the first few opportunities to fight COVID and reverse its wider effect on the economy, the dual issue could cripple the rest of Biden’s presidency.

• The first bite would come in the form of payments of $ 1,400 on top of the $ 600 in cash approved by Congress last month. Money intended for public and local aid, as well as funding for vaccine distribution, are also included in this rapidly successful program.
• Biden’s push for a tax and infrastructure plan, which is part of his “Build Back Better” program, will continue later this spring and will be viewed under budget reconciliation rules.
• They allow the Senate to take action with a simple majority, instead of 60 more difficult to filibuster votes.

Return to plan A: Biden is essentially dusting off his pre-election plans, at a time when many of his economic and political advisers assumed that if he won the presidency, he would take the Senate with him.

• Those ambitions were called into question when Republicans came out strong in the Senate on election day and Democrats’ only hope of regaining a majority was to win the two uphill elections held on Tuesday.

Be smart: Biden’s blitz for a quick spending measure could allow him to build goodwill with Senate Republicans for a bigger package in the spring, especially if it includes liability protection the GOP wants for companies fearing downside. coronavirus lawsuits.

• It will also be a first test of the Senate Republicans’ cooperation as a minority party.