In a press briefing Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki claimed that President Joe Biden believes “we can still do something historic that will fundamentally change the economy for the American people.”
She was responding to a question about the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill still being debated in Congress.
“The President wants to make fundamental change in our economy and he feels coming out of the pandemic is exactly the time to do that,” she said.
” And if we don’t do it now, if we don’t address the cost of childcare . . . if we don’t address the climate crisis; if we don’t ensure that universal pre-K is a reality now, we’re not going to have the same opportunity to do it for some time.”
Psaki’s language is clearly inspired by former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel‘s notorious line, uttered in the context of the 2008 financial meltdown, that “You never want to let a serious crisis go to waste.”
But it might also be worth recalling author Naomi Klein’s use of the term “shock doctrine” to “describe the brutal tactic of using the public’s disorientation following a collective shock.”
The president is up against members of his own party as he attempts to administer trillion-dollar “shock therapy” to the economy.
According to Politico, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., continues to obstruct passage of the bill because “there are tens of thousands of coal jobs in West Virginia that are going to disappear as the economy transitions to clean energy.”
And though her ultimate rationale remains a “mystery,” according to Democrats, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., remains another holdout, largely due to her stance on prescription drug-pricing reform.
