Reviews | What Biden and Harris owe the poor

Before being elected in November, Joe Biden promised that his “theory of change” because to reform the economy would be “to put an end to poverty”. He pledged to defend a minimum wage of $ 15, affordable health care for all and federal action to fight systemic racism. Amid an economic crisis, pandemic and uprising for racial justice, low-income Americans – blacks, whites, browns, Asians and natives – vote to overwhelm a reactionary base that President Trump had fueled with lies and fear.

While Democrats have argued for losses in congressional districts that saw Mr. Trump’s base grow, some have suggested that the Biden administration’s mandate was to compromise with Republicans’ demands. But Mr. Biden and Kamala Harris’ victory depended on the participation of a diverse coalition that wants economic and racial justice and deserves bold political solutions.

At least six million more low-income people voted in this election only in 2016. According to the first polls, the household income of less than $ 50,000 voted for Mr Biden by a margin of 11.5 points, an increase of over 30%. This wave of poor, low-income voters of all races joined black, brown and native voters as well as anti-Trump white voters in the suburbs to meet and exceed Mr. Trump’s base turnout.

Voters also supported at least 14 voting initiatives across the country that raise taxes on the rich, protect workers, tackle housing and homelessness, close the digital divide, fund transportation, fight the criminalization of poverty and limit contributions to the countryside. Voters across the country demanded health care, living wage, the decriminalization of their communities and a system that taxes those who can most afford it. Sixty-three percent of Americans now say the government has a responsibility to provide health care for all. About two-thirds of Biden voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada say systemic racism is a significant problem, and the same proportion of Americans interviewed last year favored a minimum wage of $ 15.

Part of the support given to Mr Biden and Ms Harris is due to the deep suffering and desperate need that exists in a nation with 140 million poor and low-income citizens. Since May, at least eight million people fell below the poverty line, tens of millions of Americans face eviction in the coming months, and families with the lowest incomes have lost their jobs disproportionately. It’s no wonder so many people used their votes to challenge decades of neoliberal fallout policies that didn’t work for so many.

To fulfill the mandate the 2020 electorate has given them, Mr Biden and Ms Harris must reject the politics of austerity and live up to their commitment to policies that meet human needs and cultivate human capabilities. While Georgia’s run-off will determine whether Democrats have a majority in the Senate, the new administration can now take a bold stand and engage in policies that would uplift Americans regardless of their party affiliation. We must have immediate relief targeted at the black, indigenous, poor and low-income communities who have suffered the most from Covid-19, as well as universal action to address the root causes of inequality by ensuring that every American l ” access to quality health care, a minimum of $ 15 salary, the right to form and join a union and access to affordable housing.

To address the political obstruction that has made so many other policy changes impossible, the Biden administration must push to expand voting rights to include early universal voting, online registration and the same day, the re-emancipation of citizens affected by mass incarceration, State for Washington, DC, and full reinstatement of protections in the Voting Rights Act. Real change can only be sustained if the level of voter turnout we have seen this year is sustained.

This administration must modernize the way government measures poverty so it explains the increases in the costs of education, housing and transportation. It should launch a federal employment program, forgive student loans, honor claims to sovereignty by indigenous tribes, ensure quality public education for all, and enact meaningful immigration reform.

The economy Mr Biden and Ms Harris inherit will have been weakened by the coronavirus pandemic, leading many right and left to warn that we cannot afford to be too ambitious. But the truth is, we can’t afford not to. From the Trump administration’s tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to government relief spending to support American businesses this year, we’ve seen what huge federal investments can do to lift the stock market. It is high time to see what the same level of investment can do to uplift the American people.

We are both preachers, and our faith tells us that the well-being of the soul of any nation is tied to the well-being of its most vulnerable people. “If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourself to the poor,” says the prophet Isaiah, “you will be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable. again. It is the nation that millions of poor and low income people voted for this year. This is the America we pray to that Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris will have the courage to come forward.

William Barber II (@RevDrBarber) is the president of Repairers of the Breach, co-president of the Poor People’s Campaign and the author of “We are called to be a movement. Liz Theoharis is co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.

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