The Takeaway: President Biden and congressional Democrats should prioritize our economic recovery by focusing on helping workers and families get back to work and crushing the virus. The “stronger” than expected projections in CBO’s latest report show we can do both—otherwise those groups who are historically at an economic disadvantage will fall behind.

Key Facts:

• America was able to beat CBO’s dire predictions thanks to a Republican administration working with bipartisan support to quickly provide relief, including Paycheck Protection Programs and support for small businesses. CBO writes: “The downturn was not as severe as expected and because the first stage of the recovery took place sooner and was stronger than CBO expected.”
• President Biden should similarly focus on creating jobs, restoring the economy, and crushing COVID so that he too can beat CBO’s predictions about a “weak second half of the year,” and “as job growth is projected to be slow and uneven.”
• As CBO predicts that unemployment “for younger workers, workers without a bachelor’s degree, Black workers, and Hispanic workers are expected to improve more slowly than the overall unemployment rate,” we must push to reopen our economy in a way that leaves no worker behind.

The Details:
The Congressional Budget Office released its Additional Information on Economic Outlook that once again shows its predictions can be beaten with pro-growth policies that crush the virus with funding for vaccines and health care workers, while also supporting families and Main Street businesses. Democrats’ $1.9 trillion bill, however, does not do these things, and could even make the economy worse. Republicans offered amendments that would have targeted the bill towards greater funding for vaccines and support for workers and families that need it most—but Democrats chose not to include them in this bill.