Biden’s ‘Made in America’ Policies Anger Key Allies
The vice president’s “Made in America” policies anger key allies who say they will be unable to share in the benefits if his term lasts.
Vice President Joe Biden in North Dakota.
Emmily Renda for TIME on July 11, 2014
By Emmelia Schreiber
WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden’s vision for a “reimagined and renewed” future for this country isn’t likely to be met with much optimism from his biggest supporters.
“He’s a great guy, but I don’t think he cares about working class people,” said Donna Schoefeldt, 67, of the state of Michigan. “I think he’s more interested in Wall Street and campaign donors.”
On the other side of the aisle, even some of Biden’s most loyal allies complain about his proposals, which could be the death of the industrial middle class in this country if they become law.
In Michigan, a state where manufacturing makes up almost 40 percent of jobs, “the big concern is what kind of jobs that he will get,” said Tim Hurd, the governor candidate. “We’ve lost so many good, American jobs.”
And in Missouri, which contains some of the country’s most important steel plants, Hurd said, “What I see on the horizon is a lot of manufacturing jobs going away. The jobs are going to be moved to Mexico, Canada, and other parts of America.”
The debate over Biden’s policies has a national character — and it’s unfolding in parallel across the country: in the factories, schools and local government offices at the front lines in the battle to defend the middle class, and at the ballot box.
Biden’s proposed job-killing measures include a $9 trillion health care budget — with no guarantee of covering all the uninsured — and a $15 billion a year Medicare and Medicaid for every American that could, in effect, kill the private health insurance market and drive millions of middle class families out of the health insurance