The New York Times - USA (2020-12-01)

THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONALTUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2020 N A

Transition in WashingtonThe Incoming Administration

WASHINGTON — The stage
being built on the West Front of
the Capitol can hold 1,600 specta-
tors for a close-up view of Presi-
dent-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as
he takes the oath of office. The re-
viewing stand under construction
in front of the White House will be
ready for the inaugural parade
and thousands of cheering onlook-
ers as the marchers pass by. And
the National Mall is prepared to
accommodate many more.
But the traditional pomp and
circumstance of America’s quad-
rennial version of a coronation is
colliding with the grim reality of a
pandemic that is likely to still be
raging on Jan. 20. For that reason,
Mr. Biden’s team is signaling that
he wants a very different kind of
inauguration.
If he had won re-election, Presi-
dent Trump was expected to
shrug off the health threats in fa-
vor of huge crowds for his inaugu-
ration. But Mr. Biden has already
indicated that his will not be busi-
ness as usual. In a statement on
Monday, the newly appointed
chief executive of Mr. Biden’s in-
augural committee hinted at the
looming balancing act between
health and politics.
“We will honor the American in-
augural traditions and engage
Americans across the country
while keeping everybody healthy
and safe,” said Tony Allen, the
president of Delaware State Uni-
versity and the committee’s chief
executive.
What could that look like?
Aides to the president-elect are
being coy. But Mr. Biden’s ap-
proach to campaigning during the
pandemic — which included
drive-in rallies, socially distanced
news conferences and a largely
virtual national convention — pro-
vides a blueprint for how events
might be reshaped for the Covid
era.
On Capitol Hill, where the offi-
cial inaugural ceremonies are ar-
ranged by a bipartisan congres-
sional committee, lawmakers and
aides have quietly been at work
since long before the election try-
ing to reimagine what a transfer of
power during a pandemic might
look like.
The short answer is: quite a bit
less crowded.
The organizers are determined
that Mr. Biden take the oath of of-
fice and deliver an address to the

nation outside the West Front of

the Capitol, preserving a tableau

that has often set the tone for a

new presidency. But to make it

happen, they are likely to slash the

number of officials flanking Mr.

Biden. Those who do make the cut

— Supreme Court justices, former

presidents, top House and Senate

leaders and the Joint Chiefs of

Staff among them — will be re-

quired to socially distance and

wear masks. Some may be asked

to take coronavirus tests.

The most difficult challenge

may be keeping away crowds.

Congress typically distributes

200,000 tickets for seats near the

platform. Senator Roy Blunt, Re-

publican of Missouri, who is over-

seeing the planning on Capitol

Hill, has indicated that number

could be cut drastically.

Inaugural planners are still de-

bating whether they can salvage a

luncheon in National Statuary

Hall at the Capitol, where more

than 200 dignitaries and guests

have feted the new president

since the 1950s. They may also al-

ter or cancel a smaller signing cer-

emony in the ornate President’s

Room off the Senate floor. A tradi-

tional military review on the East

Front of the Capitol, on the other

hand, may still go on in some form.

The planning has been over-

shadowed by congressional Re-

publicans, including Mr. Blunt,

who have not refuted the presi-

dent’s baseless claims that he de-

feated Mr. Biden. Mr. Blunt turned

heads during a television appear-

ance over the weekend, when he

refused to unequivocally congrat-

ulate Mr. Biden as the victor. But

Paige Waltz, a spokeswoman for

the congressional inaugural com-

mittee, said on Monday that while

“the electoral process is still play-

ing out,” Mr. Blunt’s team would

begin coordinating with Mr. Bi-

den’s.

One uncertainty for lawmak-

ers: Whether Mr. Trump will at-

tend given his complaints about

what he calls a rigged election. If

he declines, he will be only the

fourth president to deliver such a

snub, after John Adams, John

Quincy Adams and Andrew John-

son.

But Democrats have signaled

that they have seen no partisan in-

terference in the planning

process.

“While the pandemic will make

this inauguration look different

than previous years, we are com-

mitted to creating a safe ceremo-

ny that reflects the significance of

the occasion,” Senator Amy

Klobuchar of Minnesota, Mr.

Blunt’s Democratic counterpart,

said in a statement.

Given the worsening pandemic,

it is unclear whether Mr. Biden

might seek to discourage Ameri-

cans from traveling to to witness

the inauguration in person by

gathering on the Mall in the shad-

ow of the Washington Monument

and the Lincoln Memorial. Those

spaces are usually open to the

public without restrictions during

the inauguration ceremony.

One thing is definite: Mr. Bi-

den’s inauguration will not be the

kind of over-the-top celebration

that Mr. Trump has often talked

about wanting, with Army tanks

and fighter jets flying overhead.

Instead, people close to Mr. Biden

suggest that he will use the model

of his campaign, which sought to

preserve some of the excitement

of big political events while engi-

neering them to minimize the

spread of the virus.

At the Democratic National

Convention, Mr. Biden delivered

his acceptance speech between

recorded video segments high-

lighting the diversity of the nation.

At rallies, the former vice presi-

dent often spoke in front of people

gathered in their cars, honking

their horns. And when he declared

victory in Wilmington, Del., his

campaign launched fireworks.

Could there be a drive-in inau-

gural celebration? Might a parade

of cars with Delaware license

plates — Mr. Biden’s home state —

be a safe way to ring in his presi-

dency? The Biden inaugural com-

mittee is not saying.

Addisu Demissie, who helped

design and run the Democratic

National Convention this summer,

said the trick would be to combine

in-person elements from a tradi-

tional inauguration with virtual,

Internet-based moments that

bring in voices of people who can-

not travel to attend the celebra-

tion.

“To me, that’s the core chal-

lenge,” Mr. Demissie said. “You

have to include the traditional ele-

ments. But you can’t just take the

model that existed four, eight or 12

years ago and put it on Zoom. You

have to create some new tradi-

tions.”

After spending months warning

about the dangers of hosting large

gatherings indoors — and criticiz-

ing Mr. Trump for doing so — Mr.

Biden is unlikely to host fancy in-

augural balls where hundreds of

supporters are crammed into ball-

rooms.

That would be a sharp depar-

ture from the past three inaugura-

tions. President Barack Obama

hosted elaborate galas attended

by A-list Hollywood celebrities for

both of his inaugurations, includ-

ing a late-night concert at the Lin-

coln Memorial that hundreds of

thousands of people attended. Mr.

Trump held three official balls.

A parade is also in question.

Newly inaugurated presidents

have often participated in a slow

drive along Pennsylvania Avenue

and then watched local marching

bands and other floats from the re-

viewing stand near Lafayette

Park. The reviewing stand for

January is ready. But hosting a pa-

rade would invite large crowds to

gather along the route, something

that Mr. Biden is likely to want to

avoid.

A scaled-back celebration could

also be cheaper to put on, though

Mr. Demissie said that producing

video and broadcasting from re-

mote locations for a more virtual

inauguration would be costly.

There were signs on Monday

that though Mr. Biden may not be

gunning to top his predecessor,

who raised a record $107 million

for his 2017 festivities, he would

welcome six- and seven-figure do-

nations from wealthy individuals

and corporations.

Mr. Biden’s team indicated that

it would accept donations of up to

$500,000 from individuals and up

to $1 million from corporations,

according to an official involved in

the planning. The cap is set by

each president and has fluctuated

over the years, as incoming exec-

utives have used the inauguration

to set the tone for their presiden-

cies. Mr. Obama, for instance,

banned corporate gifts altogether

in 2009 and capped individual

gifts at $50,000 before easing re-

strictions in 2013. Mr. Trump, on

the other hand, accepted $5 mil-

lion from Sheldon Adelson, the

conservative casino mogul.

Mr. Biden’s team has sent some-

thing of a mixed message. His in-

auguration will not accept dona-

tions from fossil fuel companies or

their executives — a group that

gave Mr. Trump about $10 million.

Nor will Mr. Biden accept funds

from registered lobbyists.

But that is a relatively small

subset of Washington’s lucrative

influence industry, and Mr. Bi-

den’s team indicated that it would

still accept some gifts from corpo-

rations and trade associations,

which typically shower incoming

presidents’ inaugurations with

cash to promote good will with of-

ficials. It remained to be seen

whether Mr. Biden would put to-

gether the kind of exclusive, V.I.P.

packages that typically woo big

donors.

He also tapped Katie Petrelius,

the national finance director who

oversaw an effort that raised

record sums for his campaign, to

serve in a similar role as the top

fund-raiser for his inauguration,

according to a person familiar

with the appointment.

Biden Team Re-envisions

A Covid-Era Inauguration

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

and NICHOLAS FANDOS

A reviewing stand has been set up in Washington between the White House and Lafayette Square, but a parade is still in question.

DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Eric Lipton and Kenneth P. Vogel
contributed reporting.

tary; Cecilia Rouse, of Princeton
University, to head the White
House Council of Economic Advis-
ers; and Neera Tanden, of the
Center for American Progress
think tank, to run the Office of
Management and Budget. All
three have focused on efforts to in-
crease worker earnings and re-
duce racial and gender discrimi-
nation in the economy.
Ms. Tanden said in February
that rising income inequality was
the consequence of “decades of
conservative attacks on workers’
right to organize” and that labor
unions “are a powerful vehicle to
move workers into the middle
class and keep them there.”
The two other nominees to Mr.
Biden’s Council of Economic Ad-
visers, Jared Bernstein and
Heather Boushey, are economists
who have pushed for policies to
advance workers and labor rights,
and who advised Mr. Biden in his
campaign as he built an agenda
that featured several longstand-
ing goals of organized labor, like
raising the federal minimum wage
and strengthening “Buy America”
requirements in federal contract-
ing.
Ms. Boushey has also been a vo-
cal advocate of policies to help
working families, including pro-
viding up to 12 weeks of paid fam-
ily and medical leave. In an inter-
view last week, Ms. Boushey said
such a policy was especially criti-
cal during the pandemic, “when
lives are at stake.”
William E. Spriggs, the chief
economist for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. la-
bor union, hailed the selections,
saying in an email on Monday that
“we have not had a C.E.A. as fo-
cused on the role of fiscal policy
and full employment since Presi-
dent Johnson.”
The team has embraced in-
creased federal spending to help
households and businesses dur-
ing the pandemic, a position that
was highlighted in an op-ed article
that Ms. Tanden and Ms. Boushey
wrote with two co-authors in
March, urging policymakers to
spend big even though it would re-
quire borrowing large sums of
money.

“Given the magnitude of the cri-

sis,” they wrote, “now is not the

time for policymakers to worry

about raising deficits and debt as

they consider what steps to take.”

Mr. Biden also named Adewale

Adeyemo, a senior international

economic adviser in the Obama

administration, as deputy Treas-

ury secretary.

The nominees, who require

Senate confirmation, will be intro-

duced on Tuesday. Another of Mr.

Biden’s picks, the former Obama

adviser Brian Deese, has been

tapped to lead the National Eco-

nomic Council but was not includ-

ed in Monday’s announcement.

Mr. Biden’s team includes sev-

eral labor economists, including

Ms. Yellen, who has been a long-

time champion of workers and has

at times suggested allowing the

unemployment rate to run low for

a longer period of time without

worrying about inflation — an

idea some economists thought im-

prudent but which has since be-

come more widely accepted.

While at the Fed, she balanced her

preference for a strong labor mar-

ket with inflation concerns and po-

litical constraints.

In the early 2000s, Ms. Yellen

was instrumental in persuading

the Fed’s policy-setting commit-

tee to coalesce around targeting a

2 percent inflation rate instead of

the zero inflation rate that Alan

Greenspan, the Fed chair at the

time, originally favored. The Fed

raises rates to slow the economy

and offset inflationary pressures,

so targeting slightly higher infla-

tion opened the door to longer pe-

riods of cheap borrowing that can

lead to stronger economic de-

mand and lower unemployment.

As Fed chair from 2014 to 2018,

Ms. Yellen favored a patient ap-

proach to policy-setting that

weighed concerns that prices

might heat up as joblessness

dropped against a preference for

pulling more workers into the la-

bor market.

In one wonky 2016 speech, she

suggested that allowing the labor

market to expand without raising

interest rates might help to re-

verse damage by pulling people in

from the sidelines and prompting

others to look for better jobs. She

was criticized for the remarks,

and later backed away from such

an approach in word if not in deed.

She and her colleagues lifted in-

terest rates to fend off inflation

pressures, but did so at a very

slow pace, prompting criticism.

Those rate increases have since

been viewed as too aggressive

and faulted for prematurely snuff-

ing out a more robust labor mar-

ket expansion.

Ms. Yellen also walked a careful

line on issues like inequality. In

one 2014 speech, she suggested

that widening income and wealth

inequality might be incompatible

with American values — “among

them the high value Americans

have traditionally placed on

equality of opportunity” — a re-

mark Republicans criticized.

Much has changed since Ms.

Yellen was at the Fed — in ways

that could allow her to embrace

some of her more labor-friendly

instincts if she is confirmed to the

Treasury. While the Treasury sec-

retary’s direct economic power is

somewhat limited, the position

holds significant sway as a fiscal

policy adviser to Congress and the

president, as well as oversight of

tax policy through the Internal

Revenue Service.

Inflation, once seen as a real

and looming threat, has been low

for more than a decade. Inequal-

ity, once labeled a political and lib-

eral issue, is increasingly recog-

nized as a real economic con-

straint by Democrats and Repub-

licans alike.

Yet some progressive groups

have raised concerns that Mr. Bi-

den’s team could pivot too quickly

to try to reduce the federal budget

deficit once the pandemic sub-

sides, citing past comments by

Ms. Yellen and Ms. Tanden.

Economists on the left have be-

come increasingly comfortable

with deficit spending, and Ms.

Yellen has long favored govern-

ment intervention as a way to get

the economy going during times

of trouble. But she has also said

America’s debt load is unsustain-

able, and has generally favored

taxation as an offset to increased

spending.

Mr. Biden, too, has expressed

support for borrowing money to

aid the current recovery, but

sought to offset the cost of other

economic proposals — like an in-

frastructure bill and actions to

mitigate climate change — with

tax increases on high earners and

corporations.

In a 2018 interview at the

Charles Schwab Impact confer-

ence in Washington, Ms. Yellen

said the U.S. debt path was “un-

sustainable” and offered a reme-

dy: “If I had a magic wand, I

would raise taxes and cut retire-

ment spending.” Last year, she de-

scribed the need to overhaul the

nation’s social safety net pro-

grams as “root canal economics.”

But Ms. Yellen has made clear

that she doesn’t see deficit reduc-

tion as a priority amid the current

crisis and that the federal govern-

ment should spend what is neces-

sary to weather the pandemic. In

July, she testified before Congress

with Ben S. Bernanke, another

former Fed chair, and called for

substantial federal support.

“With interest rates extremely

low and likely to remain so for

some time, we do not believe that

concerns about the deficit and

debt should prevent the Congress

from responding robustly to this

emergency,” she said. “The top

priorities at this time should be

protecting our citizens from the

pandemic and pursuing a strong-

er and equitable economic recov-

ery.”

Many Republicans, however,

have once again begun warning

about the deficit and citing mount-

ing debt levels as a reason to avoid

another large spending package.

Bridging those concerns will

fall to both Ms. Yellen and Ms.

Tanden, whose role as the White

House budget director will put her

in the center of fiscal fights with

Congress.

Some liberal groups have raised

concerns over Ms. Tanden’s 2012

remarks to C-SPAN about poten-

tial cuts to safety-net programs as

part of a long-term deal to reduce

federal debt.

In that interview with the net-

work, Ms. Tanden said that the re-

structuring of Social Security,

Medicare and Medicaid must be

“on the table” in conversations

about long-term deficit reduction

and noted that the Center for

American Progress had made

such proposals.

But in 2017, as Republicans pre-

pared to approve a $1.5 trillion tax

cut, Ms. Tanden showed no desire

to return to deficit reduction in a

future administration. “The rule

seems to be deficits only matter

for Democratic presidents,” she

wrote on Twitter. “And that rule

needs to die now. We should not

have to clean up their mess.”

Liberal senators, including Eliz-

abeth Warren of Massachusetts

and Sherrod Brown of Ohio,

cheered Mr. Biden’s selections, in-

cluding Ms. Yellen and Ms.

Tanden. Mr. Brown said on Twitter

that Ms. Tanden was “smart, ex-

perienced, and qualified” and de-

manded that Senate Republicans

confirm Mr. Biden’s team.

Republicans did not unite in op-

position, though when asked

about Ms. Yellen, Senator Josh

Hawley, Republican of Missouri,

criticized her as being a “good ex-

ample of the corporate liberals.”

“She’s somebody who clearly

has done the bidding of the big

multinational corporations,” he

said. “Her record on trade is as-

toundingly terrible.”

Liberal economists welcomed

the picks. “There are reasons to be

hopeful,” said Stephanie Kelton, a

professor at Stony Brook Univer-

sity and the author of the book

“The Deficit Myth,” which makes

a case that budget deficits are not

inherently bad.

Ms. Kelton helped with eco-

nomic agenda-setting during the

Biden campaign as a task force

member, and said the fact that

people like Mr. Bernstein and Ms.

Boushey were included among

the economic thinkers was a rea-

son to hope that progressive

ideals would have a voice at the ta-

ble. That said, Ms. Kelton said she

remained wary that there would

be continued attention to deficits

and deficit reduction.

Janet L. Yellen, the former

Federal Reserve chair who

has been tapped for Treasury

secretary, has openly worried

about the wealth gap.

ERIC THAYER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Economic Team Suggests

Focus on Working People

From Page A