“There are many people who use the term ‘victory lap’ disparagingly. I’ve heard that Biden is about to take the win back. Well, that’s a lot of nonsense, ”said Jim Clyburn (DS.C.) of the majority of the House, a close ally of Biden. “One of – if not the biggest – mistakes that Obama made, in my opinion, was making the Recovery Act and not explaining to people what he had done.”
Biden and senior officials acknowledged that they will have to do more to ensure that the benefits of their package reach the public. And they spent weeks carefully planning how best to start their efforts, while much of the country remains consumed by the pandemic. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that once the American Rescue Plan is signed, “We need to work and use our best voices.”
Part of the White House strategy before the Covid package was approved was to avoid the kinds of plot distractions that Biden can sometimes create in less cautious moments. That is one reason why the White House has so far avoided putting Biden in front of reporters for further questioning.
The next sales job will require Biden to take a new stance: fewer planned events and private negotiations with lawmakers, more interactions with the press and appearances before the public. This will give the president the opportunity to make more emotional pleas, such as pointing out that older members of the family will finally be able to reunite with their grandchildren.
BIden enters this new phase in an enviable position. Support for coronavirus legislation is high, as is confidence in the way the president is dealing with the pandemic.
“I think they start from a very popular place,” said Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary when the 44th president approved his own recovery act. “This research legislation seems more popular than the 2009 project. The real issue now is to conduct this. They must remind people whenever possible, what is there for them. This is the basis of what they will do in four years. “
While government officials have carefully avoided discussing the bill in the context of future elections, leading Democrats say the two are intertwined. Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior Obama official, defined the challenge for the Biden White House as the start of the battle for the 2022 election.
In a post over the weekend, Pfeiffer argued that the Democrats’ struggles in mid-2010 were not due to Obama’s lack of effort. His former boss, he said, gave speech after speech at the factories that had reopened, but it was almost impossible for the then president to break the avalanche of bad economic news at the time.
While the benefits of Biden’s bailout plan are more specific and easily understood than Obama’s recovery act – and the whole package weighs better – Pfeiffer told POLITICO that the challenges facing the current White House are the same as those they faced in 2009. “How do you balance selling what you have achieved by pushing what you still want to accomplish in a media environment with little or no attention? ” he asked.
One suggestion made by Pfeiffer was to “flood the zone” with videos, graphics and graphics about “good news” around the legislation.
White House officials said they plan to develop the approaches they have taken in recent weeks to increase support for the plan’s approval. This includes presenting the case directly to Americans through interviews with local media and leveraging the coalition of groups and leaders who endorsed the rescue plan. So far, they said, more than 400 bipartisan mayors and governors; organized labor and business community employees; economists and other experts spoke favorably about the package.
Among external organizers, the effort will involve highlighting the bill’s provisions that received less attention than checks, school funding and vaccine money. Union leaders and their Democratic allies pointed to a $ 86 billion aid provision in the package that would prevent the collapse of multi-sponsored pension plans. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who pushed for their inclusion, said that “not only will it protect these pensions, but it will stimulate our local economies and avoid a major bailout that would have cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars if we did nothing. . “
Phil Smith, the head of government affairs for United Mine Workers of America, said that while his workers had their pensions boosted in 2019, the rescue plan provides a “barrier” to protect their retirement accounts and relates it along with other items from the wish list that the union plans to disclose internally, as well as through its social media channels.
“This is such an outstanding achievement that it has been worked on for over a decade,” said Smith. “It is huge.”
They also welcomed the expanded benefits that will soon begin to flow to thousands of unemployed miners. Other union leaders said that unemployed members whose families are suffering from the pandemic will alert them to their eligibility for COBRA grants to help them pay for health care.
“Unions often have to explain to our members that after we fight and after we mobilize, the negotiators come back and it is not all that we wanted,” said Damon Silvers, director of policies for the AFL-CIO. “President Biden’s American rescue plan is one of those extraordinary times when that is not true.”
“That’s what we are fighting for – deep down.”
The most popular aspect of the plan, however, is the money that will go directly into people’s pockets. And, as Biden and his substitutes spread across the states to announce the $ 1.9 trillion bill, they hammer into the potential for a family of four to receive $ 8,200 in direct benefits.
Unite the Country, a pro-Biden super PAC, is planning to launch its own effort to expand the rescue plan through digital ad and TV purchases in 2022 battlefield states, a committee official told POLITICO.
And more allied political groups are right behind in the preparation of their public relations campaigns.
But, as Psaki confirmed to reporters on Tuesday, there are limits to the amount of promotion the White House will do. The authorities, notably, will not put Biden’s name on the checks. This is a break with former President Donald Trump, whose payments approved by Congress last year were named after him. It was the first time for any president, but Psaki argued that it is unnecessary when the financial result is providing relief.
“I don’t think you need to do that,” said Gibbs. “If that were the big winner, we would still have President Trump. I think Americans just want cashed checks. ”
Sam Stein contributed to this report.