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Ronald Brownstein Profile picture
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16 Nov, 6 tweets, 2 min read
The infrastructure bill & the broader economic plan encapsulate Biden's focus on creating and enhancing jobs that do not require a college education. Economists have estimated that at least 4/5 of the jobs the twin proposals create would not require college degrees.
That's a subtle but clear shift from the economic strategies of Obama & especially Bill Clinton; each believed many jobs considered "low-skill" were doomed to globalization or automation. Each stressed equipping more workers w/advanced education to compete for high-skill jobs
While strongly supporting efforts to increase educational opportunity Biden & his team believe that more education alone, absent other targeted policies, won't create broadly shared prosperity. He focuses more directly on improving conditions for workers in non-college jobs
Biden isn't just betting that creating so many non-college jobs (maybe 2.5 million a year) will tighten labor markets allowing those workers to bargain for more $. W/little attention, each bill includes multiple provisions to directly bolster wages & benefits for non-col workers.
The infrastructure plan requires projects to pay "prevailing wages" and "buy American' for materials" The reconciliation plan offers bigger tax credits for the manufacture of clean energy products w/prevailing wages and mandates higher pay for home health care & eldercare.
Multiple provisions in the reconciliation bill would drive higher wages for child care & early childhood workers, mostly women of color who are among the economy's most poorly paid. The median wages for those workers
now "do not meet a living wage in any state" for single parent

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More from @RonBrownstein

Ronald Brownstein Profile picture
5 Nov
From me in LAT 8/7/94: "on each of these issues, individual Democrats are trying to avoid positions that could prove controversial at home or are defending interests they consider critical to their political survival. But party strategists are increasingly concerned that (1/4)
"the cumulative effect of these decisions is to reinforce disenchantment with Congress and weaken the party's mid-term prospects as a whole. To students of game theory, it is a classic dilemma: by seeking to fortify their positions as individuals, Democrats may be cutting the"
"ground from beneath themselves as a group...To Republicans...the self-imposed Democratic gridlock is a windblown bounty. 'It's so nuts, you can't believe it will continue all the way through October. If it does- wow! Then they will face monumental losses," said @pollsterguy."
Read 4 tweets
Ronald Brownstein Profile picture
8 Jul
Next legal showdown if Ds end filibuster to pass HR 1: GOP AGs have signaled they would argue that even if "elections" clause in Constitution gives Congress authority to set the rules for House/Senate elections, "electors" clause denies them that authority for presidential races
!n precedents back to 1934, #SCOTUS has repeatedly ruled that Congress’s authority extends to all federal elections. Hugo Black in 1970: “It cannot be seriously contended that Congress has less power over... presidential elections than it has over congressional elections.”
Given those precedents, "I think the Court would have to be really overreaching to find that the authority of Congress to … put in place these important standards … did not apply to federal elections broadly, meaning congressional and presidential elections,” says @RepSarbanes
Read 4 tweets
Ronald Brownstein Profile picture
22 Jun
There's no guarantee of success, but Senate Ds do have a plan of what comes after GOP blocks #s1 debate, @SenJeffMerkley tells me. They'll quickly negotiate a new voting rights bill, centered on Manchin's plan, that all 50 Ds back, then see if any, much less 10, Rs will sign on
The eventual Dem bill, Merkley says, will include the "four core principles" of S1: "the right to vote, end gerrymandering, stop billionaires from buying elections, and stop the corruption that extends from conflicts of interest. The bill we come out w/will address all of those."
"We will provide the oppty for Sen. Manchin & Sen. Sinema, w/all of us engaged, to get R support for it." Their instinct “that it is far better to have a bipartisan bill is absolutely right so we need to do everything we can to see if we can get a bipartisan group," Merkley says
Read 5 tweets
Ronald Brownstein Profile picture
2 Apr
Some elements of "accessible" & "fair" per @nytimes: "Georgia has cut by more than 1/2 the period during which voters may request an absentee ballot, from nearly six months before an election to less than three. This will almost certainly reduce the # who seek absentee ballots"
Voters "will have to provide the number from a driver’s license or an equivalent state-issued identification. This is virtually certain to limit access to absentee voting.If they fail to follow all the new steps, like printing a date of birth, their ballots could be tossed out."
"It’s now illegal for election officials to mail out absentee ballot applications to all voters."
Read 12 tweets
Ronald Brownstein Profile picture
2 Feb
Electric vehicle advances could allow Biden to demand much bigger reductions in greenhouse emissions from cars/trucks than Obama sought-if he can convince auto workers/suppliers/companies they will thrive in an electrified future.
Environmentalists want Biden to set EPA standards that would end new sales of internal combustion engine vehicles after 2035 (as CA has done and GM says it aspires to). His admin won't commit to that yet, but clearly see opportunity for a path to zero emissions.
Gina McCarthy, the top WH climate adviser tells me: "People in our discussions understand that the future is about electric vehicles. ... How do we make sure that we do this in a way that the labor community is engaged, that we advance the manufacture of these vehicles in the US
Read 4 tweets
Ronald Brownstein Profile picture
21 Jan
Per Rubio, it's not that Trump base includes many racists-it's that the left is oppressing them: "The overwhelming majority of Americans reject racism, bigotry & discrimination. But they also reject identity politics, which constantly divides us by race, ethnicity, and gender"
Xenophobia & nativism? Not a problem. Problem is Ds are weak on the border. "They are proud we are a nation of immigrants. But they want to have immigration laws that are followed and immigration laws that are enforced."
How about hostility to LGBTQ community & other manifestations of social change? "Most Americans... understand that some have different views or lifestyles. But they resent the effort to demonize, punish, and persecute the traditional values of our Judeo-Christian heritage."
Read 4 tweets

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