Biden’s withdrawal could put Democrats’ economic platform in flux

President Biden’s announcement Sunday that he will withdraw as the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee could reignite a debate between progressives and more centrist liberals over the party’s economic platform.

In the statement announcing his withdrawal, Biden boasted that “America has the strongest economy in the world” and touted his administration’s “historic investments in rebuilding our nation, in lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and in expanding affordable health care to a record number of Americans.”

Four years ago, Biden secured the Democratic Party’s nomination by campaigning on relatively mainstream liberal policies in comparison to the more ambitious spending plans favored by progressive candidates like Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. 

While in office, Biden enacted several major spending bills, including the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act that Democrats passed along party lines, while also pursuing policies like his student loan debt handout through executive orders. He also signed into law several bipartisan spending bills and the Fiscal Responsibility Act – a modest deficit reduction law that temporarily suspended the debt limit.

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In his withdrawal announcement, Biden endorsed Vice President Harris to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. 

Harris has been a staunch advocate for the administration’s economic policies despite having past positions that were further left than Biden on issues such as raising taxes and favoring sweeping Medicare for All-style reforms to the health care system.

Harris, who ran a short-lived 2020 presidential campaign but bowed out before voters went to the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, called for increasing the corporate income tax rate from 21% to 35%, whereas Biden favored 28% when they were rivals in the primary four years ago.

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Vice President Harris has been a forceful advocate for the Biden administration’s policies. (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

During her four years in the Senate, Harris introduced a bill known as the LIFT the Middle Class Act that would have reversed most of the Trump tax cuts and replaced them with a $3,000 refundable tax credit per person for most middle- and working-class Americans. The plan was projected to cost $3 trillion over a decade, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Harris, or another Democrat presidential nominee, will have the opportunity to outline a new economic blueprint at the Democratic National Convention next month, which will be held in Chicago on Aug. 19-22. 

In the meantime, the Biden administration and Democrats plan to highlight the outgoing president’s economic record while preparing for a new leader at the top of the ticket this November.

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President Biden said he thinks it’s in the best interest of the party and the country for him to withdraw as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee and endorsed Vice President Harris. (KENT NISHIMURA/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“President Biden inherited an economy in freefall (sic), a skyrocketing violent crime rate, and alliances in tatters from his predecessor,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. “He turned that around to deliver the strongest economic growth in the world and the lowest violent crime rate in nearly 50 years, while making NATO bigger than ever. He looks forward to finishing his term and delivering more historic results for the American people.”

Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Democrats will “undertake a transparent and orderly process” to select the new nominee and signaled much of the party’s focus will be unchanged.

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“Democrats are prepared and united in our resolve to win in November. As we move forward to formally select our Party’s nominee, our values as Democrats remain the same – lowering costs, restoring freedom, protecting the rights of all people, and saving our democracy from the threat of dictatorship,” Harrison wrote on X.