David Brooks:
Yes, I was stunned, actually, that he was so open about it, because they’re still in the middle of negotiations. And, presumably, every source on the Hill says a lot can change.
But he went ahead and said what’s in, what’s out, maybe as a way to prepare people who are going to be disappointed. What happened in this bill when they first drafted it is, everybody got everything. It was Christmas, and it was Christmas in rich people’s homes. Like, everybody got everything. And now they have to make some choices.
And so they have made some choices. Some choices, I think, are quite unfortunate. They have put at risk the size of the child tax credit, which I think is the single best thing in the whole bill, which really does reduce childhood poverty to a great degree.
Some choices they could wander into could be very good choices. They have lost the core of the climate change. But senators like Ron Wyden, Democrat from Oregon, is talking about a carbon tax. And that would solve a lot of things at once. It would help reduce carbon emissions, but also raise revenue to pay for this stuff.
And so I still think a lot of it under negotiation. And what I’m looking for is, is there a theme to what they leave in and what they take out? Do they have an overall theory of the case?
In my view, we have spent the last 40 years funneling money to rich people with college degrees. We should have a big spending bill that funnels money to people without college degrees who are in the working class. And that would be my theme, decide what comes and goes.
Right now, I’m not quite sure I see it.
