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NEWS | page 6 BIDEN’S POTENTIAL IMPACT

What are Joe Biden’s policies, and how (if at all) will they affect the city of Sandpoint?

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Above: Philadelphia, PA / USA - May 18th, 2019: Joe Biden kicks off his 2020 campaign for the US presidential election at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

By Connor Bird

Editor-in-Chief

The election this year was unlike any other. A record number of votes, runoffs and recounts, and a canceled debate--all the while suffering from a global pandemic. The incumbent, Donald Trump, and the challenger, Joe Biden, ran very different races on very different policies with very different personalities. One thing that is often portrayed today is the “divisiveness of Washington”, but this is not necessarily a new concept. The United States government has faced a “divided government” quite often-where Congress and the President are of different political parties. Since 1968, the President and Congress have often been separate parties, creating dispute and a lack of political action in Washington. And if Georgia elects one or both of its Republican incumbent Senators back into office during the runoff in January, Joe Biden could face a divided government taking office--something a president hasn’t faced since George H. W. Bush did with a Democratic Senate and House in 1988. This could affect his cabinet nominees, as he can’t rely on his party for congressional approval. Joe Biden ran his campaign on traditional liberal values, fighting with the slogan: “Unite for a Better America”. What would this mean for Sandpoint? Here is a rundown of Biden’s policies:

Minimum Wage:

Wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. Idaho’s current minimum wage is the Federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr.

College:

Wants to make 2 years of community college or technical school free.

The Environment:

Wants to stop all new leases for drilling on Federal lands and plans to tax carbon emissions of big corporations.

Gun Rights:

Supports a buyback of previously owned assault weapons, universal background checks, and supports a gun registry. He said that he would not confiscate previously owned firearms, however.

Abortion:

Supports pro-choice, although he is against late term abortions--in line with the Roe vs. Wade decision.

Infrastructure:

Proposes a $1.3 trillion dollar investment in infrastructure over the next 10 years. This includes bridges and bridges, as well as billions more going towards transit. He plans to pay for it by rolling back tax cuts and taxing the wealthy and large corporations more heavily.

Taxes:

Wants a minimum tax of 15% tax on corporations making a net profit of over $100 million a year. This would eliminate any tax loopholes past 15%. He also plans to raise taxes on the wealthiest bracket of individuals to 39.6%, and just like with the corporate tax, set a cap of 28% for tax breaks. The Tax Foundation found that Biden’s plan would collect about $2.8 trillion in tax revenue over the next decade. His plan is projected to decrease the GDP by 1.62% over the “long term” and decrease after tax income for all taxpayers by 1.9% over the next decade, however. While a lot of these policies and plans seem like a large change, some of them will either be turned down, or never even proposed in Congress. If Biden does start his term with a divided government, many of these policies will be impossible to push through, and will likely have very little impact on the average American. Presidents often run on lofty campaign promises, only to let some of them slip by while they are in office. Idaho is a Republican state, with a Republican House, Senate, and Governor. This means that unless Biden’s policies become a Federal law, not much is likely to change for the people of Sandpoint. Senior Baxter Pollard thinks that change might come to bigger cities, but in Sandpoint people are likely to be unaffected. “Because I live in a small town there is a chance that I won’t be as affected as other people” said Pollard.