WASHINGTON – President Biden will use the bipartisan deal on the debt ceiling to pivot to his shadow reelection campaigns, pointing out the achievement to burnish the image of a consensus –builder, who is making progress in his promise to unify the country, according to NBC News.
Biden made this clear in his first Oval Office speech on Friday. He began his address by recalling that even his own party skeptics doubted his ability to work with Republicans. He noted that the budget agreement was only one of 350 bipartisan bills he had signed.
He said, “I know that bipartisanship and unity are difficult, but in times like these — when the American economy, and the global economy, is on the verge of collapse — there’s no other option.”
Biden’s early 2024 campaign is designed to show him as a leader who can work across political lines and has surpassed expectations. The White House announced that Biden and Jill Biden would be traveling to North Carolina on Friday to discuss worker-training programs in the “Investing in America’ agenda.
A senior Biden advisor said that it was part of Biden’s “returning to his previously planned programming.” Biden’s plan is to shift from a month consumed by the debt crisis in Washington to talking directly to Americans about his economic agenda. This includes legislation he signed to fund infrastructure and to revive domestic manufacturing. He will also outline how he plans to build on these efforts.
The Bipartisan Deal Biden signed at the weekend increases the debt limit while reducing federal spending.
Aides said that the weeks to come will not be a victory celebration for the debt ceiling deal. Some Democrats are against the bill, citing it as a tactic of “hostage taking” that Biden had promised not to participate in.
Biden, according to the White House, was able in negotiations to limit spending cuts and protect important legislative initiatives. The White House’s biggest win may not have been in the text of this bill.
A Biden advisor said, “It is clear that his ability to bring together bipartisan solutions to problems in the country is an enormous strength for him. We do discuss it and we will continue to discuss it.” The adviser also cautioned that “this is a bill with bipartisan support.” “Campaigns are all about contrasts.”
Biden’s advisers think that he can make a contrast between a president who is focused on his job, and the growing Republican presidential field, which continues to be dominated by Donald Trump, as it grows and fights within itself.
In a talking points memo Biden’s campaign distributed Friday to key surrogates, it argued that Biden was providing “strong and steady leadership” after four years chaos and dysfunction. It also claimed that his wisdom and experience were the reason he had been able to negotiate an agreement that protected his administration’s key priorities as well as its historic accomplishments.
Biden’s reelection campaign had barely begun when his Treasury Secretary warned that the U.S. would soon run out of money for paying its bills. This triggered a series of economic warnings, and a reminder of the deep divisions in Washington. Biden had himself admitted that this year was harder than he had hoped to heal.
The agreement Biden made with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), which was swiftly and unanimously passed in both the House and Senate by bipartisan votes, sent the Biden team, who had been harshly criticized for ceding control of the messaging battle to the GOP, into overdrive in order to claim credit for a victory it portrayed as major.
A Biden advisor said that despite some prominent Democrats being against the deal, the overwhelming number of House and Senate Democrats backed it, making sure it reached his desk.
Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH), chair of the center left New Democratic Coalition, said that part of the call she had with Biden was a “pat of the back” for the way the process worked. She also stated that a pragmatic solution prevailed.
She also said that Biden had shown he was willing to fight for his own priorities and credited him for ensuring no changes were made to Social Security or Medicare.
Biden, despite the fact that his advisers are praising the bipartisanship of the campaign in 2024, will continue to emphasize the differences between the two parties. In his Oval Office speech on Friday, Biden said that he would push for new taxes, such as those on the wealthiest Americans.
He said, “Republicans might not like it but I will make sure that the wealthy pay their fair shares.”
Biden may be able leave Washington more frequently in the weeks to come than he could during the debt standoff. However, these events will still be considered official and not campaign events.
Biden’s organization for his campaign is still forming. They are also looking for other issues that will drive voters to the polls this summer. For example, they want to focus on the June 24th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned Roe.
Advisors have predicted that abortion will be a bigger issue in 2022 than in the midterm elections of 2022, when Democrats surprised everyone by winning a Senate seat and limiting their losses in the House. Biden is visiting North Carolina, where he was within 75,000 of winning the state in 2020. This visit comes just weeks after the GOP legislature overrode Democratic Governor’s veto on a law that banned most abortions beyond 12 weeks.
Biden’s campaign team expects him also to host more fundraisers until the end the quarter-end fundraising reporting period, June 30. This deadline will give the first glimpse of his campaign’s war chest.
Biden’s advisers still believe that Americans, or at least key voting groups they claim powered his victory in the 2020 election, still dread a long campaign for president. This is especially true if a rematch against former President Donald Trump were to occur. The plans for traditional campaign events will not be announced until months from now, as they follow the example of the reelection campaign of former president Barack Obama, who didn’t hold his inaugural rally until May 2012
