WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden promised voters in 2020 that he knows how to get things done in Washington and can bring stability to the capital. It seems a message out of step with the increasingly combative era that Donald Trump has ushered in.
But Biden wonand as he seeks a second term, he has again tried to frame the race as a referendum on competence and governance, focusing on bipartisan debt limit and budget legislation he signed on Saturday as another example of the success of his method.
The agreement that the Democratic president negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans have avoided the risk of a US government default — and staved off another threat until after the 2024 election — while largely protecting the domestic agenda that forms the backbone of what he hopes will shape the his legacy.
His approach, which favors pragmatism over Trumpian pugilism, will be tested like never before in the upcoming campaign, with his approval rating even among Democrats low despite the results he has delivered, largely due to the concern about his age as the oldest person ever. seek the presidency.
“The results speak for themselves,” said Jeff Zients, Biden’s 80-year-old chief of staff. “This level of support shows that we got a bipartisan deal that, most importantly, protects the president’s priorities. And now we have a runway to implement the president’s priorities.
Biden’s allies say his strategy reflects his broader view of the presidency: tuning out the day-to-day chatter and focusing on making a long-term impact.
“This is quintessential Joe Biden,” said the longtime Biden confidant and former Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman. “He really understands the institutions, how they work, how they interact, and what their limits are. This is the unique advantage he has from 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president. “
That perceived advantage — longevity — may also be Biden’s steepest hill as he seeks four more years.
Biden, aides said, came up with a strategy shortly after Republicans took over the House in November and continued it through talks, despite the reluctance of members of his own party. He forced Republicans to explain their budget priorities, then publicly hammered them for unpopular proposed cuts once they did, in order to enter negotiations with the strongest possible hand.
“He believes in the institutions of American governance. He approaches it with an eye to making the presidency and Congress work and the way they are designed to work,” said Mike Donilon, a senior adviser to the president. .
As the talks progressed, Biden stepped out of the limelight to allow Republican leaders to claim victory — needed to sell it to their caucus — and quietly reassured Democrats that they would grow to like the deal better. -an about it.
The result was a deal that White House aides said exceeded their estimates of what a budget deal would look like with Republicans in charge of the House. It essentially freezes spending for next year, instead of the drastic cuts proposed by the GOP, and protects infrastructure and climate laws and Biden’s spending on Social Security and Medicare.
From the perspective of Biden’s team, it was also a better outcome than the debt limit implosion in 2011, when Biden was a negotiator for then-President Barack Obama and House Republicans forced them to accept the more severe budget cuts that they believe are hindering the country’s recovery. from the Great Recession.
Biden is still criticized by some in his own party for agreeing to tougher work requirements for some federal food aid recipients and speeding up environmental reviews for infrastructure projects.
But the White House sees progress: Authorizing the changes would speed up implementation of Biden’s infrastructure and climate laws, and Biden aides have stressed that Congressional Budget Office projections show that the cuts from work requirements for veterans, homeless people and those who leave. Foster care will increase the number of people eligible for federal food assistance.
“While the rest of us are sweating micro-news cycles and who’s up and who’s down on Twitter, the president is playing the long game,” said Obama spokesman and Democratic strategist Eric Schultz.
“He ran for president promising to restore functionality in Washington after his predecessor, and it’s hard to argue with his record of doing so,” Schultz added. “He’s proven that he can get important Democratic wins while also working in good faith with the other side.”
Biden has drawn a red line in negotiations that the debt limit should be extended until after the 2024 presidential election, worried in substance and style about the potential for another showdown in an increasingly heated political environment .
His sentiments may be correct, but voters are increasingly concerned about his age and numbers, a message relentlessly reinforced by incoming Republican challengers and the conservative media ecosystem.
“Biden has made a series of impressive achievements on a bipartisan basis and has shown that he can do that without being the center of attention,” said presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky. “That’s what the American voters said they wanted back then. But 2024 has a different context. “
Biden, he said, should argue that the stability he brings is at risk to his opponents and hope that the voters’ memories are enough.
White House aides said the deal gives them “running room” until the 2024 election to focus on making people feel the effects of the law Biden signed into law, as well as starting to lay out their priorities for what he will do in another term and many Democrats in Congress.
Biden himself on Friday emphasized the contrast between the Republicans’ race-fighting nature and his mature posture in the room. He called on both parties to “come together as Americans to stop screaming, lower the temperature,” even as he highlighted the GOP’s opposition to his efforts to raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations and cut taxes.
“Republicans are defending each of these special interest loopholes,” Biden said, testing a campaign line he expects to develop in the coming months. “Everybody. But I’ll be back. And with your help, I can win.”
Despite Biden’s protests, and his intent to remove himself and future office holders from the potential of future “hostages,” Biden has still proven unable to break the cycle. on the debt ceiling used as leverage in negotiations. Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer said the deal was a “mixed bag,” one that averted the current crisis, but one that could come back to haunt him and future presidents.
“Republicans are doing it again. It happened when he was vice president, it happened when he was president, and it’s going to happen again,” he said. he didn’t stop it.”
Zelizer acknowledged that Biden may have no other option — a proposal to use the 14th Amendment to pay off obligations that Congress says is untested and has its own pitfalls. .
“When you have a threat like that, you have to negotiate,” he acknowledged.
But for Biden’s team, results matter.
“He’s got his eyes on the prize, which is, ‘How is this deal going to get done? And how is my doing that advancing this deal?'” Donilon said. politics when it needs to be done. And so I think this is an exciting moment for the country. “