The NPR Politics Podcast - How Successful Was The Biden Administration In Addressing Racial Equity So Far?

Episode Date: January 17, 2022

The Biden administration laid out his main priorities as the president took office: tackling the pandemic, responding to the climate crisis, addressing racial inequality, and rejuvenating the economy. Over the past few weeks, the NPR Politics Podcast checked in on whether those goals being met.Today we look at racial equity. The Biden administration pledged to center people of color in their hiring and policy decisions. But over the past year other crises took centerstage. How successful were they in delivering for people of color?This episode: White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, White House correspondent Scott Detrow, and climate correspondent Jeff Brady.Connect:Email the show at [e-mail] the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.Find and support your local public radio station.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the White House. I'm Ayesha Roscoe. I also cover the White House. And I'm Juana Summers, and I cover politics. And first off, I just want to say that I love when it is the three of us together on the podcast. It has been a long time. It has. Three women of color talking through politics.

So I love this for us. I love this for all you listeners. I hope you enjoy this show. They will. They will enjoy it. We're glad to be here. At the end of 2021, we spent some time on the show talking through the president's four pillars. You know, these are the key four priorities that he had when he took office. And we discussed his report card on addressing climate change, COVID, and the economy. Today, we're going to round out that conversation by focusing on how the president has and has not addressed racial equity in his first year in office. So Ayesha, why don't you begin by taking us back to the early days of the Biden presidency

and remind folks what the president and his team pledged to do. Well, they pledged to make racial equity a part of the fabric of everything they do, all of their policies. In the opening days of the administration, they signed an executive order focused on this, directing agencies to look at how they can address racial inequities. And they are supposed to be making sure that when they take action, that they are addressing systemic racism and things that have festered in American society for a long time. So this was not a small promise, right? Like this was this was a big ask. And this was a big thing that they promised to deliver on. So let's start with what the administration has accomplished. You know, the president did make a point to recruit a diverse cabinet. And in the early days, he signed executive orders around Asian-American hate crimes for housing and ending the privatization of federal prisons. But it did feel like there was always supposed to be more to come. You know, some supporters expected to see a big

push in Congress for police reform and voting rights, and we have not seen any of that legislation. Yeah, so I think there's been sort of some sequencing here that has frustrated some people. I mean, you guys cover the White House. I spend a lot of time talking to activists and organizers across a broad swath of communities. And I think a lot of them feel like the administration spent much of its first year focusing on the coronavirus pandemic and reasonably so given the way that it shaped every part of all of our lives, quite frankly. And as we all know far too well, personally, quite personally. And the other things they've been doing is focusing on the infrastructure bill and Build Back Better. And many folks that I talked to feel like that has led to a de-emphasis on matters of racial equity,

and a feeling that the administration perhaps did not play as heavy hand in negotiations over things like the police reform bill that attempted to make its way through Congress, perhaps, did not play as heavy hand in negotiations over things like the police reform bill that attempted to make its way through Congress, perhaps, or voting rights or other things that they had hoped to see they feel like just haven't had the White House's attention to the degree that they'd hoped. You know, I will say, Juana, the White House does insist, and you know this too, that they often will say that racial equity is infused in every sort of policy decision that they think about, that it's not just these particular policies of, you know, say voting rights. They think about racial equity,

they'll say, in infrastructure. And you saw that with the focus on removing dangerous lead pipes in the infrastructure bill. And you see this in other pieces of legislation as well. Yeah, you do see this in a lot of legislation. I know that when I talk to administration officials, they talk about, you know, racial equity and federal health programs and education, and that they say that this has to be a full government mission. Ambassador Susan Rice, who heads up the Domestic Policy Council, has talked about that that is the charge of her mission and her role. So I don't think that's just cute language, right? I think this is something that the administration actually believes. But Aisha, I know you've been reporting on what the administration has actually done. Well, yeah. And the one thing that they did that really, that they point to, that was pivotal last

year, was the child tax credit, the expanded child tax credit and those monthly payments, which did cut down dramatically on child poverty. And that was something that affected, you know, people of color, people in marginalized community the most. So they point to that was a concrete thing that was money in people's pockets that helped. I mean, there are studies that show that families who had been saying they were dealing with hunger were less likely to say that they were, you know, dealing with hunger after having these payments. But those payments expired now, Aisha, right? And the administration hasn't been able to

get them renewed or to get Congress on board to extend them now. Like everything with the Biden administration, there is the thing that went well and the thing that didn't go that well. So, yes, they got it for that year. They had it for six months. Now it is expired. Secretary Jen Psaki about this today. What she would say is that they are committed to making sure that children get those payments, that parents get those payments, and that they're not giving up. That's what they would say, that they are still working on this. What does that mean, right? I mean, it feels like so many of these priorities, whether we're talking about

the child tax credit or voting rights, keep running into the same hurdle every time, which is Congress. The administration just doesn't have the votes to do what it wants to do. So what does it mean to say that it's a priority or that the administration wants to do something on this? I don't fully understand what it is that they want to do, beyond maybe using the bully pulpit. Asma, you are asking some tough questions here. You are getting to the heart of the matter.

And the heart of the matter is they don't have the votes yeah and as much and we talk and and there's all this talk about voting rights there's all this talk about democracy well democracy um the people who are in office who are democratically elected um there is not enough support among those democratically elected representatives to get some of this stuff done. And so what the White House has to do now is they do have to do speeches. They're trying to up the pressure. They also have to figure out, Biden is a creature of the Senate, was in there for decades. He has to figure out, is there a legislative way, maneuvering, arm twisting, whatever, to get this done? That's what he has to figure out. That's the fact. You can't strong

arm this. There has to be some type of maneuvering and strategy. I should say, Asma, that's one thing I hear a lot from allies of the president when I ask them about his record on some of these issues. They point out the fact that passing legislation takes a while. Democrats have very slim majorities in both chambers of Congress. And they say that is why early on in the administration, you saw President Biden seize the opportunity to repair some of the historic damage that he's spoken so passionately about using executive orders. But they also note that the most far reaching actions that the president may want to take will require working with Congress. That may mean the president may need to get more personally involved. Last week, for example,

we saw him head to Capitol Hill to speak to members of the Senate Democratic Caucus about the upcoming votes on voting rights. And even if he does make some trips like that, there may be some things that are simply out of reach for now, despite the fact that they are priorities of the administration, as you and Ayesha have reported. All right, we are going to take a quick break. And when we get back, we'll talk more about the president's record on addressing racial equity.

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And I think we need to add some context to this conversation because, you know, we talk about racial equity. It's not solely a policy focus for Biden. This is also a political calculation. You know, I think it is undoubtedly clear and fair to say that Biden would not be president today if it was not for the support of black voters. His candidacy was waning until black voters came out in droves to support him in South Carolina. That really reignited his campaign. And if black voters do not feel represented or maybe don't feel satisfied by the steps that his administration has taken to date, you know, I do wonder if there are questions about whether or not folks will turn out in the

upcoming midterms. if people feel seen or heard or represented by President Biden and what his administration has done to date. And honestly, I don't know the answer to that. I mean, I know you talk a lot more to voters and activists to get a pulse of what they're thinking on how this president's been doing. What have you been hearing? Yeah. So Asma, when you say all of that, it makes me think back to a conversation I had a little while ago with LaTosha Brown, who's a co-founder of Black Voters Matter and a prominent activist who has been in touch with the administration. And we were talking about all of these promises that the administration had made on voting rights, on criminal justice, all of these issues that we're talking about. And she is someone who literally at times is driving a bus around the country, rallying Black folks to come out and support

Democratic candidates. And she was telling me that if the Democrats in Capitol Hill and the administration can't make good on some of the promises that they all campaigned on together, she doesn't know how she can go out and rally people to go stand in lines, often in times in spite of onerous voting restrictions, particularly in the South, and to come out and support Democratic candidates. And I have to tell you, she is not the only activist I have had a conversation like that with. So I think there is a question here about motivation. And the other thing we should talk about, as specifically as we've been talking about voting rights so much, it's about timing. Right now, states are starting to work through their redistricting processes. Maps are coming out. Those are things that are going to lock in changes for a decade. And so activists tell me that there is a sense

of urgency, not just on that issue, but on so many others that because of the sequencing of how things have happened in this administration, they feel like priorities for their communities. And it's not just the Black community. There was a multiracial coalition that elected President Biden. But many of those people are saying that their priorities are falling by the wayside. Yeah. And and Juana, as you, you know, say all the time, and as you were just talking about, this isn't just about black voters. Right. And we know that the administration, they were focused heavily on anti-Asian hate, trying to address that earlier on in the administration. And then there's also, you know, they had some issues in the last election with the Latino vote, right? Like it's, they, there, there were some issues. There is a lot of work to be done.

You know, one question I have for you all is how the vice president, Kamala Harris, fits into this entire conversation. I hear from some of her supporters at times of frustration that they feel like she has not been utilized to her fullest potential in the job that she's been doing. That maybe there are ways that she could, you know, reach a base of supporters or address some of these issues in a way just because of who she is that perhaps the president cannot. And I'm curious what you all make of that. Harris is the first Black vice president, the first Asian vice president. And she has the world on her shoulders in many ways. Like people have expectations of her that they did not have of Pence or Biden or Cheney or any other vice

president, right? People want her to deliver and they also want her to be very present and very in the front, kind of. Not ahead of Biden, but that's the issue, right? Like they, they want to see her more. They want to feel her. They want to hear her and they want to see action. And with a vice president, I'm not, I think part of the argument that people would make in her defense is that a vice president is a role where you really don't have a role. Like your role is whatever the president gives you and then you can't outshine him and you're just, you're around and you don't have a particular thing.

Like it's a very tricky role that she is in and having to maneuver. That said, there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the way that she has maneuvered. People want more. That's just the bottom line. They want more from her. That's right. And I think a lot of that, as Aisha, you point out quite clearly, is because of who she is and how different she is from every single other person who has had that job. And when we were talking before the podcast, you made a point, and I think it's right, that sure, the White House could send her out to do a bunch more speeches in different

parts of the country, particularly more diverse parts of the country. But the fact of the matter is, those are still speeches. And what the base seems to be clamoring for, at least in my reporting, is more action. So I'm not sure what that would change or what to what impact that would have. All right. Well, that is a wrap for today. We will be back in your feeds again tomorrow. I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the White House. I'm Aisha Roscoe. I also cover the White House. And I'm Juana Summers, and I cover politics. And thank you all, as always, for listening to the NPR Politics Podcast.