How a 'red line' for Republicans sunk a working class policy Dems could have run on: journalist

07 November 2024

After Donald Trump's victory over Kamala Harris Wednesday, Senator Bernie Sanders hammered the Democratic Party in statement, writing, "It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working-class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well."

In response to the criticism from lawmakers like Sanders and others, Vox journalist Rachel Cohen explained a President Joe Biden policy that could have been benefited the working class near the beginning of his term in 2021 — if not for Republican pushback.

The social policy reporter wrote via X: "I’m seeing a lot of lefties talking about a failure to appeal to the working class but I think we should be more specific about some of the tensions embedded in this conversation, and I’m going to start with one of Biden’s signature policies - the expanded child tax credit," Cohen began.

She continued, "The expanded CTC passed was part of the pandemic relief program, and delivered hundreds of dollars into parents’ bank accounts every month in 2021, ultimately helping 65 million children and keeping 3.7 million of them out of poverty. Renewing and extending it was something progressive organizations, the Biden admin, and the Democratic Party invested a lot of political capital in. There were also dozens of articles in elite publications about how the policy was effective and powerful. I wrote about the research showing its benefit to families."

Cohen then pointed out, "One of the key components of this policy, which made it significantly more beneficial for poorer families, was its elimination of a work requirement, meaning parents had to have some sort of connection to the labor market."

The Vox journalist added that Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) "was against renewing the CTC without a work requirement, and this was a red line for virtually all Republicans. ([Senator] Mitt Romeny (R-UT) had been open to a version without a work requirement, but then he backtracked ~a year later joining the rest of his party."

Cohen also emphasized that "the perspective of Democrats and progressive allies had been three-fold," noting they believed:

1) That it's the right and moral policy to do

2) That it will help families and that will redound politically later for the party in elections

3) That it will be popular and parents will rally to save it when its one-year expiration comes up, like how people fight against proposed ACA or Social Security cuts

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