After an unrelenting month of crises – including the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, a surge in COVID-19 cases fueled by the delta variant and multiple severe weather events – President Joe Biden is hoping the turn the page from a rigorous summer and refocus on getting his economic plan through Congress.
The recent avalanche of troubles is a sobering reminder of the unpredictable weight of the office and fresh evidence that presidents rarely have the luxury of focusing on just one crisis at a time. Biden’s unyielding summer knocked his White House onto emergency footing and sent his own poll numbers tumbling.
The Biden administration’s first summer in the Oval Office began with the president declaring independence from the coronavirus ahead of the July 4 holiday, amid a strong vaccination rate and falling COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and continued with an unprecedented bipartisan agreement on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill in the Senate, which would devote millions in new spending to fixing roads, bridges, airports and public transit, expanding broadband infrastructure and upgrading water and energy infrastructure.
But with his poll numbers dipping in the aftermath of the COVID surge, driven by the highly contagious delta variant, and 20 years of U.S. presence in Afghanistan coming to a frenzied, bloody end, Biden will turn his attention to getting the bipartisan infrastructure bill through the House, in addition to its $3.5 trillion companion that contains key Democratic priorities and would expand the social safety net.
The passage of legislation expanding the social safety net couldn’t come at a better time for the millions of Americans set to lose federal pandemic relief unemployment benefits Monday, but faces universal opposition from Republicans, and even has some moderate Democrats balking at the price tag.
Last week, key moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., called for a “strategic pause” on the $3.5 trillion bill. But in the aftermath of the release of August’s jobs numbers, which, while still showing jobs gains and a falling unemployment rate, fell short of expectations, Biden said passing both bills is essential to ensure “long-term prosperity” for the economy.
“Our country needs these investments,” Biden said. “Now we need Congress to finish the job, to come through for the American people and ensure that the economy continues to get strength and stability as we move forward.”
On Friday, Biden tried to return to the role of public salesman for his domestic agenda and claim the mantle of warrior for the middle class.
“For those big corporations that don’t want things to change, my message is this: It’s time for working families — the folks who built this country — to have their taxes cut,” Biden said. He renewed his calls for raising corporate rates to pay for free community college, paid family leave and an expansion of the child tax credit.
“I’m going to take them on,” Biden said of corporate interests.
While Biden may want to turn the page, though, aides are mindful that the crises are not done with him.
Biden is planning to speak this week on new efforts to contain the delta variant and protect kids in schools from COVID-19.
“I think you can expect the president to be communicating over the coming weeks on a range of issues that are front and center on the minds of the American people,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “Certainly you can expect to hear from him more on his Build Back Better agenda, on COVID and his commitment to getting the virus under control, to speak to parents and those who have kids going back to school.”
But his administration continues to face criticism for his decision to pull American troops from Afghanistan before all U.S. citizens and allies could get out.
“President Biden desperately wants to talk about anything but Afghanistan, but Americans who are hiding from the Taliban, ISIS, and the Haqqani network don’t give a damn about news cycles, long weekends, and polling — they want out,” Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska said, calling on the Biden White House on Friday to provide a public accounting of the number of Americans and their allies still stuck inside Afghanistan.
The end of the withdrawal coincides with the 20-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, which sparked the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites – the World Trade Center site in New York, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Penn., where United Flight 93 crashed after passengers and crew attempyed to retake control of the plane – on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of the deadly attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
Biden will also visit some of the damage from Hurricane Ida in New York and New Jersey on Tuesday, after visiting storm damage in Gulf states last week.
Already, the president is trying to turn the destruction wrought by the hurricane into a fresh argument for the infrastructure spending he’s been pushing all along. Biden told local officials in Louisiana, “it seems to me we can save a whole lot of money and a whole lot of pain for our constituents — if when we build back, we build it back in a better way.”
According to White House officials, even as other issues dominated headlines, Biden and his team have maintained regular conversations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about the president’s legislative agenda. His legislative team held more than 130 calls and meetings with members of Congress, their chiefs of staff and aides on the infrastructure bill and spending package, and his administration has held over 90 meetings with legislative staff on crafting the reconciliation bill.
And responding to concerns raised by Sen. Manchin, D-W.Va., over the price tag of the $3.5 trillion package, White House chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN on Sunday that he was convinced that the Democrat was “very persuadable” on the legislation.
Cabinet officials have also been engaged with lawmakers, officials said, and traveled to 80 congressional districts to promote the agenda across the country while Biden was kept in Washington.
Presidential historian Michael Beschloss told The Associated Press that Biden may have a leg up on some of his predecessors at moving beyond the crises to keep his legislative agenda on track, given his 50 years of experience in national politics.
“If there’s anyone who has a sense of proportion and distance and perspective at a time like this, he does,” Beschloss said.
“For someone who’s been in national life much more briefly and was new to the presidency, you’re being stunned by things all the time,” he added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
