, Columnist
How 2021 Could Have Been Different for Biden
If the president and congressional leaders hadn’t rejected a Republican bill last winter, they might’ve gotten a Democratic bill this winter.
‘Tis the season for second-guessing.
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images North AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
With inflation running at more than 6 percent and President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda in peril, ’tis the season for second-guessing.
So I’d like to focus on what may well have been the original sin of the Biden administration and the narrow Democratic majority in Congress: last February’s decision to reject Senate Republicans’ offer of a $600 billion Covid relief bill and instead proceed with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which Biden signed into law last March.