Of all U.S. presidents in recent memory, Joe Biden comes closest to representing working class Americans.
That’s because those are his roots.
Biden is the first president since Ronald Reagan, 1981-1989, to not have an Ivy League pedigree.
To date, his first seven months in office have been spent primarily passing laws that either create jobs for the middle class or see to their needs.
Biden’s coronavirus relief law signed in March is now sending direct payments of up to $1,400 to a majority of Americans and extends $300 a week in unemployment benefits up through September.
The bill also is giving $30 billion to restaurants and $120 billion to K-12 schools.
The legislation passed with no support from Republicans, who, in February, said the pandemic was in the rear view mirror.
On Friday, Biden once again extended a moratorium on student loan debts to Jan. 31, 2022.
Former President Donald Trump initiated the freeze with a deadline of January 2021.
The measure affects some 36 million Americans saddled with $1.3 trillion in student loans now held by the federal government.
Republicans criticized the extension, saying the economy has rebounded enough for debt-holders to start paying back.
“There is no rational excuse for continued extensions of non-payment on student loans,” said North Carolina’s Sen. Richard Burr, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
On the other side of the coin, some Democrats are urging the president to cancel $50,000 in student debt for all those hit hard by the pandemic.
But Biden, as we are learning, has limits.
During his campaign he said he’d be comfortable canceling up to $10,000 in individual student loan debts, but even then he argued that Congress should pass the legislation.
