In between investigations into the Trump Administration, the Democrat-controlled House plans to pursue huge government expansions, Fox News reports, including a proposal to make Medicare available to all Americans.
Presumptive Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Progressive Caucus, and other Democratic leaders released a series of draft agendas last week, outlining their competing plans for the first few key months of the half-Democratic Congress. The “Better Deal” and the “Green New Deal” — the two most popular legislative platforms at the moment — both represent billion-dollar expansions that would put the government in control of everything from health care to higher education.
“Expect to hear the words ‘free,’ ‘guaranteed’ and ‘for all’ a whole lot more in the new year as Democrats prepare an arsenal of big-government bills that could actually see a floor vote once they take control of the House,” Fox News reports.
Pelosi’s “Better Deal” includes everything from “universal high speed Internet” to protections for unions, free universal child care, government-sponsored prescription drug markets, a rollback of the Citizens United decision that allows corporations to make political contributions, expanded federal public housing, and an effort to overturn the Republicans’ 2017 tax reform bill.
The proposal also alludes to “jobs for all,” and “education for all,” likely putting national service and free college on the agenda.
The “Better Deal” is estimated to cost taxpayers nearly a trillion dollars.
But if the “Better Deal” sounds unachievable and costly, it’s downright bare bones and cheap compared to the “Green New Deal,” an even more progressive agenda backed by legislators like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
The Daily Caller reports that that plan could represent the single largest expansion of government in decades, and more than 40 Democrats have already signed on.
“Th[e bill’s] goals include moving the U.S. to 100 percent green energy, federal job guarantees for workers forced out of their fossil fuel jobs, guaranteed minimum income and universal health care,” says the Caller.
A one trillion dollar price tag is also just the starting point for the Green New Deal, which involves moving the United States to an alternative energy grid over the next 20 years at a cost of more than $5 trillion. The Medicare for All provision that Democrats seem to desperately want included in any “deal” inked after the first of the year, is estimated to cost more than $32 trillion — and that’s just to start.
Fortunately for terrified taxpayers, even if the Democrats pass these bills in their entirety, they’re unlikely to make it through the Senate, and even less likely to make it off the president’s desk with a signature. The half-Democrat Congress is the perfect opportunity for 2020 candidates, particularly those looking to position themselves to run for president, to make big promises without any danger that they’ll have to eventually deliver.
There is one danger: infrastructure spending. Both Democratic “deals” propose major increases in infrastructure spending, something President Donald Trump has routinely said he supports, and Democrats seem poised to take advantage of his support with a proposal to increase funds for roads, bridges, and schools, by more than a trillion dollars.