Four Significant Social Policy Issues Facing the Incoming Government

Four Significant Social Policy Issues Facing the Incoming Government

Introduction: This post is a follow-up and derivative to a post-election post highlighting budget and fiscal policy issues facing the new president and Congress (regardless of Georgia's Senate runoffs). This post will be another discussion of policy issues facing the new government, with a focus on social policy-related issues. In particular, social policies meant to help Americans weather the ongoing pandemic's health-related and economic impacts will be significant issues come January, especially those under the CARES Act. 

The Four Issues:

• Expiration of CARES Act Unemployment Benefits: During the 2020 general election season, I twice covered the status of legislation negotiations on a potential second CARES Act (or "CARES Act II"). However, as of publication time (12/3/2020 at 8pm PST), a new CARES Act equivalent has not passed both houses of Congress ("Second Stimulus"). As the end of the year approaches, some of the social welfare benefits implemented by the CARES Act are expiring, most of which intertwine with the other policy issues covered below. Among the benefits ending this month include the halt on Federal student loan repayments (Stratford) (discussed further below), the eviction moratorium (discussed further below) and unemployment insurance covering freelancers and self-employed workers, which is the focus of this paragraph (Iacurci). With these deadlines in mind, Congressional negotiations have continued, with a bipartisan bill recently introduced that would extend the CARES Act's unemployment benefits for four more months, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) opposes this idea. Both him and Democratic Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have introduced their own proposals, with the former providing less assistance to unemployed workers, and the latter providing an extension of "enhanced unemployment" through next October. At the state-level, some states have extended their unemployment benefits to cover extra weeks of unemployment after the New Year begins (Dolcourt and Gonzalez). 
• The Costs of Child Care: Since pandemic-related measures were implemented, increased discussion has focused on the effects of rising costs of child care on working and low-income parents, especially those unable to work remotely (Fields and Heggeness; Jessen-Howard and Workman). As detailed on the first CARES Act post, the CARES Act did not include direct support to help parents pay for child care, but did provide support for child care providers to remain open and afford critical supplies, and a block grant to allow working parents to afford child care (Campbell and Smith). As detailed in the my previous post comparing and contrasting the different proposals, both the HEROES (House Democratic) and HEALS (Senate Republican) acts provide different policy ideas to address this issue. However, as neither have passed as of publication time ("Second Stimulus"), the issue of child care will almost certainly continue, especially with renewed stay-at-home measures and economic closures in many parts of the country. 
• Residential Evictions: While this specific issue was also discussed earlier because of CARES Act-related programs addressing it, the expiration of said benefits would create a significant policy issues for the new government. As a result of a massive in COVID-related unemployment, more Americans than ever are at risk of eviction due to lower incomes and the need to provide for other essentials. The CARES Act included a moratorium halting nonpayment-based evictions of residents in Federally-backed properties and programs. While some states and locales have passed similar measures going further than the Federal legislation, the CARES Act only covers about half of all renters, and only allows tenants to delay rent payments, resulting in increased debt owed by tenants to landowners (Acosta et al.). Eviction advocates have warned that when the CARES Act moratorium expires this month, 40 million tenants could be at risk of eviction is no further action is taken. While lawmakers in Washington have generally supported rental assistance, no action has been taken on the issue, either on its own or as part of a larger stimulus package (Demsas). If no Federal-level action is taken before the moratorium expires, the new government in January will face this critical issue and the effects it could have on working-class Americans.  
• Student Debt (Growth and Forgiveness Proposals): Aside from the expiration of student debt policies from the CARES Act, the state of aggregate and individual-level student debt in the U.S. remains a significant problem. Right now, it is estimated that almost $1.7 trillion of student debt exists within the United States, while individual borrowers owe an average of $36,000 (Rindlisbacher). During his general election campaign, Biden's student debt proposal focused on eliminating $10,000 of student debt per borrower (Murakami). After Biden's projected win as President-Elect, prominent Democrats began to suggest for him to go further than his campaign ideas, arguing that Biden could eliminate up to $50,000 of individual student debt with an Executive Order once in the White House (Berger). Furthermore, progressives have continued to discuss broader student loan forgiveness ideas, including wiping away all student debt, and making higher education free in the future (Fearnow). These ideas have been opposed by Republicans and some Democrats, who argue that such measures are unfair to those who have not attended college (Fearnow; Vesoulis) or went to college without taking on much or any debt (Fearnow; Vesoulis). The Trump administration's current student loan policy emphasizes initiating income-based repayment plans, temporarily suspending loan payments during the pandemic, and stopping collections of loans in default (Fearnow). Regardless, the constantly-increasing bubble of American higher education debt is a significant ongoing issue going into the new Congress, especially if no alternative or extension is implemented to offset the expiring CARES Act student loan policies.

Works Cited:

Acosta, Sonya, Anna Bailey, and Peggy Bailey. "Extend CARES Act Eviction Moratorium, Combine With Rental Assistance to Promote Housing Stability." Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 27 Jul. 2020, www.cbpp.org/research/housing/extend-cares-act-eviction-moratorium-combine-with-rental-assistance-to-promote. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Berger, Rob. "Will Biden Cancel Your Student Loans In January?." Forbes, 30 Nov. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/robertberger/2020/11/30/will-biden-cancel-your-student-loans-in-january/?sh=1b1473fac7b1. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Campbell, Megan, and Linda Smith. "CCDBG Funds in the CARES Act." Bipartisan Policy Center, 2 Apr. 2020, bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/ccdbg-funds-in-the-cares-act/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Demsas, Jerusalem. "We know how to prevent up to 40 million people from being evicted. It’s up to Congress to do it.." Vox, 27 Nov. 2020, www.vox.com/21569601/eviction-moratorium-cdc-covid-19-congress-rental-assistance-rent-crisis. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Dolcourt, Jessica, and Oscar Gonzalez. "Stimulus deal: Time is running out on these 5 benefits." CNET, 2 Dec. 2020, www.cnet.com/personal-finance/stimulus-deal-time-is-running-out-on-these-5-benefits/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Fearnow, Benjamin. "Student Loan Debt 'Your Own Fault': Conservatives Blast Biden Forgiveness Proposals." Newsweek, 21 Nov. 2020, www.newsweek.com/student-loan-debt-your-own-fault-conservatives-blast-biden-forgiveness-proposals-1549279. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Fields, Jason, and Misty Heggeness. "Working Moms Bear Brunt of Home Schooling While Working During COVID-19." United States Census Bureau, 18 Aug. 2020, www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/08/parents-juggle-work-and-child-care-during-pandemic.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Jessen-Howard, Steven, and Simon Workman. "The True Cost of Providing Safe Child Care During the Coronavirus Pandemic." Center for American Progress, 3 Sept. 2020, www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2020/09/03/489900/true-cost-providing-safe-child-care-coronavirus-pandemic/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Johnson, Marty. "Inequality of student loan debt underscores possible Biden policy shift." The Hill, 28 Nov. 2020, thehill.com/policy/finance/527646-inequality-of-student-loan-debt-underscores-possible-biden-policy-shift. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Iacurci, Greg. "14 million workers face losing unemployment benefits at the end of December." CNBC, 25 Nov. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/11/25/14-million-workers-face-losing-unemployment-benefits-at-the-end-december.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Keith, Katie. "Supreme Court Arguments: Even If Mandate Falls, Rest Of Affordable Care Act Looks Likely To Be Upheld." HealthAffairs, 11 Nov. 2020, www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20201111.916623/full/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Murakami, Kery. "Groups Call on Biden to Cancel Student Debt." InsideHigherEd, 19 Nov. 2020, www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/11/19/biden-urged-cancel-student-debt. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Rindlisbacher, Christof. "Joe Biden Should Absolutely Erase Student Debt via Executive Order." Jacobin Magazine, 17 Nov. 2020, www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-student-debt-forgiveness-executive-order. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

"Second stimulus check: latest on US coronavirus relief bill." Diario AS US, 29 Nov. 2020, en.as.com/en/2020/11/29/latest_news/1606650512_181016.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Stratford, Michael. "Education Department pauses student loan bills, awaiting Congress or Trump to act." Politico, 1 Dec. 2020, www.politico.com/news/2020/12/01/education-department-student-loans-442053. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

Vesoulis, Abby. "'This Feels Like the Closest We’ve Ever Been.' Why Growing Demands for Student Debt Forgiveness Could Be Joe Biden's First Presidential Test." Time, 1 Dec. 2020, time.com/5915441/biden-student-debt-relief/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2020. 

     Nathan Parmeter

     Author and Host, The Parmeter Politics and Policy Record