President Biden is initiating a unique program of policies meant to better the lives of working people. He is the most pro-union American president in many decades. He is progressive on climate change and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, determined to make the economy work for all Americans and adamant that racial and social justice be established as the new norm.
ULSTD President Rich Kline
Yet, the Republicans in Congress are pledged to thwart the Biden initiatives. The Republican leadership seeks to delay and deny the progress that President Biden wants. Acting in opposition, working to stymie the Biden agenda, the Republicans are only a few votes away from achieving this end. President Biden has the slimmest of margins in the Senate and the House.
At the state level too, Republicans who control many governorships and legislatures are determined to gain or keep power by underhanded methods: hundreds of voter suppression bills are the key to their plan. Denying the right to vote for political ends is morally wrong. But the Republicans are moving to do so.
President Biden has the power of executive orders to push through his agenda. Yet, executive orders are not the best way to push an agenda because another administration with different views can easily rescind them. Laws passed by Congress are better and more likely to stand the test of time.
In this Label Letter, we describe some of the Biden Administration’s positive actions, especially as they affect workers. If we want to keep these advances and see more in the years ahead, the programmatic opposition of Republicans must end. They won’t end it voluntarily. Only the ballot box will change Congress.
Voter registration efforts cannot be lessened; the Georgia Senate 2020 election proved that. Legal fights to prevent voter suppression must increase. Openly biased laws meant to restrict voting threaten the basis of our democracy.
Workers’ right, civil rights and human rights are in danger if we don’t continue to assert ourselves politically. The right to vote is the key to social and economic progress. ■
