By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After a month in office, President Joe Biden is about to secure a bigger economic rescue package than during the 2009 financial crisis. He eliminated the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump, from climate change to the travel ban, while the daily distribution rate of the COVID-19 vaccine in the USA has grown 55%.
That may have been the easy part.
The White House’s broad strategy – avoiding invincible political struggles, focusing on policies with mass electoral appeal and mostly ignoring Republican attacks – will be increasingly difficult in the coming months, Democrats and Republicans say, even if millions more are vaccinated and the economy recover.
“They have some problems over there,” said Jim Manley, who was once an adviser to former Senate Democratic majority leader Harry Reid.
Biden has made many of the changes that he has clear authority to make through executive action. Landmines in the future include passing laws into which the Democratic Party is divided, such as reducing university debt, raising taxes and restricting the energy sector.
Then there are the intractable political struggles that have defined American politics for a generation, including who can become a citizen, how easy it must be to vote, whether the government should pay for health care and who should carry a gun.
In the meantime, many complicated issues, from trade tariffs to China’s policies and technology oversight, are still under review at the White House.
UNITED DEMOCRATS?
Democrats are working to approve their economic stimulus package with or without Republican support before the critical deadline of mid-March, when expanded unemployment insurance expires.
The bill only needs a majority vote, because it will be approved as part of a process called reconciliation, but that requires all Democrats to side with the White House. Doubts are growing that the bill will include a clause that will raise the federal minimum wage to $ 15, which would seriously disappoint liberal Democrats.
“I am shocked at how the left has been disciplined; I am not sure how long this will last,” said Manley. “I can see that there are some cracks developing.”
These cracks were on display when some Democrats, including Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, criticized Biden after he told CNN City Hall on February 16 that he disagrees with members of his party that want to forgive $ 50,000 in student debt.
A comprehensive White House-backed immigration bill, released on February 18, is not expected to pass the Senate; the second Democrat, Dick Durbin, is among those who suggest a less ambitious effort that focuses on immigrants brought to the United States as children.
Republicans are reorganizing after Trump’s years, said Paul Shumaker, the Republican strategist behind Senator Thom Tillis’s difficult re-election in North Carolina.
Biden may unite them by exaggerating taxes and spending, he noted, while doing too little on these issues will disappoint some of his Democratic base.
“He’s enjoying a honeymoon period, but everyone knows that this honeymoon is going to end,” said Shumaker.
ELUSIVE REPUBLICAN SUPPORT
White House advisers say the political agenda they plan to promote in the coming months has appeal from bipartisan voters, and they believe Republicans in Congress may be forced to support it by their voters.
“Is he going to focus on winning even the last Republican? No, of course not,” said White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, a longtime Biden confidant.
“But he will reach out and speak to people on both sides of the corridor – he will work to come up with plans that meet the needs of people on both sides – yes, he sure will.”
The first figures from Biden’s research suggest that it will be a challenge. About 56% of Americans approve of his performance as president, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll conducted in mid-February, but only 20% of Republicans.
The White House’s bipartisan hopes lie in an infrastructure plan, still in embryonic stages of development, which is expected to exceed the scale, scope and price of the $ 1.9 trillion stimulus account.
The measure will almost certainly expand the deficit and require some tax increases, measures that are likely to generate opposition. It is likely to be peppered with climate change measures and could also include Biden’s proposed college grants, according to several people informed in the first talks.
Putting the pieces together will be difficult without a full senior team, including Biden’s choice of budget director, Neera Tanden, whose confirmation met Democratic opposition from Senator Joe Manchin, who also opposed the inclusion of the minimum wage in the stimulus bill.
However, the left’s expectations for Biden remain high.
“The government came out bold and strong,” said Luis Hernandez, a young armed violence prevention activist who met with senior government officials last week. “There is much more to be done.”
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather Timmons and Daniel Wallis)