Comment President Biden sat poolside at the White House on Saturday, braving the Washington heat and making calls to senators as his long-delayed economic agenda was on the verge of passing the Senate. It was a heady but fragile moment, and Biden — who has until now carefully kept his distance from the talks — was leaving nothing to chance. He called Democratic Sens. Mark R. Warner (Va.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Tina Smith (Minn.), among others, urging them to press on and praising their work on the final details of the health care bill, the climate and taxation at the center of his domestic agenda. In the end, the Senate’s passage of the bill on Sunday capped a remarkable three-week stretch for Biden, much of which coincided with his isolation from the coronavirus, including passage of major bills to help ailing veterans and bolster computer chip manufacturers. historic job growth; steady decline in natural gas prices; a once-in-a-generation NATO expansion. and the long-awaited assassination of the leader of al-Qaeda. The House is scheduled to vote on the economic package on Friday, with Democratic leaders confident they have the votes. But such winning streaks have not been the norm for Biden, who has faced low approval ratings and back-to-back crises. His challenge now, supporters say, is to turn that hot streak into a focal point that will reorient his presidency and energize Democrats, rather than a brief surge in an otherwise rocky term. That means convincing voters that these wins matter not just to Biden but to them. The recent successes “have probably turned what would have been a Category 5 storm into a Category 3 storm for the Democrats,” said David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama. “And that’s a big difference.” But it will only matter if Democrats hit the GOP’s vulnerabilities, he added. “They’ve made some really important strides in the last few weeks, but they also have to contrast that with the growing portrait of Republicans as a party in the throes of extremists,” Axelrod said. Republicans have faced backlash for actions such as opposing caps on insulin costs and initially blocking a veterans health care bill. The turnaround on the budget bill, Biden’s most surprising victory, was the result of a decision to back down and let senators negotiate among themselves, rather than take the lead themselves — a move not easy for a self-styled master of the Senate. After previous negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-Va.) blew up in December, Biden asked his staff not to disclose the details of any interactions with members of Congress in order to step out of the public eye. “One of the lessons — a big lesson — was that letting negotiations with senators dominate the public debate was a mistake, because it made it so that disagreements over minutiae became what the public consumed, instead of how legislation was going to affect people’s lives,” said Jen Psaki, Biden’s former White House press secretary. “Sometimes the best things happen in the dark, out of sight.” Biden is gearing up for big wins in Congress This story is based on interviews with 14 White House officials, members of Congress, Democratic strategists and others close to the White House, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. In addition, Democrats hope to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision Roe v. Wade will energize voters alarmed by what they call GOP extremism — a hope bolstered by the recent decisive rejection of an anti-abortion measure by Kansas voters. And they argue that the budget bill — which provides incentives for clean energy and allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices — will ease the daily struggles of many Americans. “This is the most important action a Congress and the president can take to address inflation and provide meaningful relief to American families,” said White House National Economic Council Director Brian Dice. “In terms of dealing with inflation, dealing with prescription drug issues, dealing with climate change and energy security issues — I think the legislation will speak to all of those.” Republicans, however, said the bill would do nothing to lower consumer prices anytime soon and that, if anything, its minimal corporate tax would hurt the economy. “I don’t think anything in the last few weeks has changed the dynamics on the ground,” said Chris Hartline, a spokesman for the National Republican Senate Committee. Hartline said the economy remains the top concern for most voters and that between high inflation and still-high gas prices, the political environment will favor the GOP in November. “Biden is still historically unpopular and his agenda is still historically unpopular,” Hartline said. “I think they’re just putting the nail in the coffin.” The seeds of Biden’s biggest victory were planted just a few weeks ago. On July 14, after months of grueling negotiations, Manchin told Democratic leaders he would not support an economic package that included tax increases or new climate change spending. Instead, Manchin voiced support for the proposed care provisions, which would allow Medicare to negotiate the price of some drugs and cap seniors’ prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year — a wildly popular measure that Democrats have passed for decades. It seemed to spell a clear end to the Democrats’ broader plans. But that night, Manchin called White House adviser Steve Ricchetti, one of Biden’s closest aides, according to a person familiar with the call. Manchin said he was still interested in securing a deal and that he and Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) were much closer to a compromise than people realized. That Monday—four days after negotiations appeared to be breaking down—Manchin called Ricchetti and Diess. Emotions had cooled over the weekend, and Manchin said he and Schumer were finalizing the deal. Diss met with senators’ aides at Manchin’s little hideout in the US Capitol to get a sense of what disagreements remained. White House officials have been careful not to aggressively enter the discussion, people familiar with the process said, focusing on keeping the talks alive. But the budget bill was just one of many balls in the air. Democrats and Republicans were also nearing a $280 billion bill to boost domestic manufacturing of computer chips and limit China’s influence, a bill years in the making that Biden has been pushing for months. In early July, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had threatened to kill the bipartisan Chips and Science Act because he was frustrated by Democrats’ efforts to reach their Democrats-only budget deal. But the White House saw cracks in McConnell’s position as key Republican senators issued statements indicating they were open to a limited deal, a White House official said. Then, days after Manchin signaled that the budget deal had collapsed again, the Senate passed the Chip Act, providing $52 billion to US semiconductor makers to build or improve their factories. But later that day, in a stunning U-turn that caught most of Washington by surprise, Manchin and Schumer announced their startling discovery: Manchin would support about $433 billion in new spending, most of it focused on climate change. change in clean energy production as well, revitalizing the House bill signed by Democrats. Two weeks that saved the Democrats’ climate agenda That’s down significantly from the $2 trillion bill sought by Biden and Democrats last year, but still marks the largest climate investment in U.S. history, along with prescription drug and tax changes that would raise $739 billion a year. next decade, enough to offset the cost of the bill while securing more than $300 billion in deficit reduction, a priority for Manchin. Senate Republicans, who hours earlier had helped Democrats pass the massive stamp bill, were elated and felt Manchin had misled them by saying he was done negotiating with his fellow Democrats. The next day, angry Senate Republicans blocked a bill to help veterans exposed to toxic burns during their service, sparking a wave of criticism. White House officials felt that the Republicans had made a mistake. “It showed the true colors of the Republicans, that they’re not only trying to obstruct us, they’re showing that they would do active harm,” a White House official said. “Trying to destroy popular accounts like toxin-exposed veterans fighting for their country? These are very strong arguments that have been handed down to us.” On July 28, fresh out of Covid-19 isolation, Biden held a White House fundraiser as the House was set to vote on the chip bill. The margin could be narrow, Democrats worried — House GOP leaders were urging their members to vote against it in an effort to deny Biden a legislative victory. In the green room before the White House event, Biden told his personal assistant, Steven Goepfert, to update him minute by minute on the vote. At about 3 p.m., as the business executive roundtable was underway, Goepfert emerged from behind the scenes and handed Biden a note: The House was well on its way to passing the bill. “The House passed it,” Biden announced to applause. In the end, 24 Republicans defied leadership and supported the measure. Two days later, on July 30, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, called him with triumphant news. On a secure phone, he informed Biden that a “precision strike” to kill al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri appeared to be successful. National security officials believed they had succeeded in eliminating Zawahiri without civilians…
