President-elect Joe Biden plans to address a joint session of Congress in February to press for his aggressive $1.9 trillion pandemic relief proposal. But in the meantime, the course of the pandemic and its economic fallout continue to make the argument for him.

His aggression probably stems from his experience, as vice president, as the point man for President Barack Obama’s $900 billion-plus plan in 2009 to provide economic relief from the global financial crisis. Obama wanted to keep the amount under $1 trillion, which even now is a cringe-inducing threshold. But it’s clear now that the slow pace of that recovery was due partially to the federal relief package being too small.

Biden wants to jump-start a more rapid recovery, beginning with $400 billion to defeat the coronavirus, including more effective vaccine distribution and development of more vaccines. That is fundamental to recovery.

Meanwhile, Americans filed more than 1 million new unemployment claims over the last week and the coronavirus death toll approached 400,000.

Other parts of the proposal include more than $1 trillion in direct relief to families, including increased unemployment insurance benefits; and $440 billion for aid to communities and businesses, including $350 billion in emergency funding to state and local governments to avoid major local and state tax increase and ensure the continued delivery of important services.

Congressional Republicans, who oversaw a $1.7 trillion deficit increase through top-weighted tax reductions before the pandemic, might rediscover their aversion to deficits now that they are not in the majority.

But the case for Biden’s proposal is even more obvious than that political maneuvering. Congress should ensure that the stimulus is sufficient to get the economy back up to speed as quickly as possible.

— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre/TNS