Then, the following Thursday, the president tested positive for the coronavirus. His health, which was already a sensitive issue, came to dominate the news. Biden begrudgingly tried to deal with his cold-like symptoms, only to face additional criticism that he should be resting. However, after several unexpected developments, the president ended this week with his political fortunes seemingly revived. He is about to sign a $52 billion bill, the CHIPS Act, to jumpstart the nation’s semiconductor industry. Early next month, Congress is likely to pass what is being hailed as a transformative $700 billion spending package known as the Deflation Act, more than half of which is dedicated to reorienting the economy toward renewable energy. There are also provisions to reduce health care costs, including prescription drug costs, and to reduce the federal deficit. President Biden addresses a meeting of CEOs in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Biden, meanwhile, had fully recovered from COVID-19 by midweek, his symptoms cleared by the powerful treatment Paxlovid. At a meeting on Thursday with the administration’s top economic advisers, he removed his face mask, defying instructions to follow. Minutes later, a staffer handed him a note saying the CHIPS bill had passed the House, and a broad smile spread across the president’s bare face as the room erupted in applause. “It’s been a triumphant week,” says Celinda Lake, a top Biden adviser who polled the 2020 campaign. Centrists, in particular, saw Biden’s efforts as a vindication of his patient, stealthy approach honed over three decades in the Senate. They’ve also pointed to the first gun control legislation passed by Congress in nearly three decades and the confirmation of Steven Dettlebach to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The landmark agency, which enforces existing gun laws, has not had a Senate-confirmed head since 2015. The story continues “If you add it all up, it’s a big deal,” Jon Cowan of the centrist think tank Third Way told Yahoo News, citing Biden’s famous description of the Affordable Care Act, passed when he was vice chairman in the president’s administration Barack. Obama. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer shows off his cellphone as he talks to reporters Thursday about the deal they reached with Sen. Joe Manchin. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Sure, recent triumphs could easily turn into defeats. Although the IRA appears headed for passage, Senator Kyrsten Sinema could overturn the tenuous deal. And while the $52 billion for semiconductors is significant, even Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a supporter of the measure, acknowledged that it would amount to a “drop in the bucket” when it comes to competing with China and especially Taiwan. Meanwhile, the government continues to struggle with violent crime, rising prices and new waves of the coronavirus that could disrupt business and trade. This week’s news that the economy had shrunk by 0.9% in the second quarter of the fiscal year was a reminder that, even as inflation persists, recession looms. Republicans, meanwhile, have discovered their own headwinds. Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, saw 24 GOP colleagues vote in favor of the CHIPS Act, a stark rebuke to a Congress where partisan votes have become the norm. After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., announced a deal on the climate change and health care package, Senate Republicans blocked toxic burn pit legislation that would they were used to incinerate garbage in Iraq and Afghanistan by the US military. Service members suffered serious illnesses as a result of inhaling the chemicals released by the pits. Biden believes his son Beau, who served in Iraq, may have been exposed to burns. He died of brain cancer in 2015. Biden receives a memo Thursday informing him that the House had passed the CHIPS Act. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images) The apparent burnout maneuver by Republicans appeared to backfire after comedian Jon Stewart, a supporter of the measure, blasted the GOP in a blistering speech on Capitol Hill Wednesday that went instantly viral. “If this is America First, then America is doomed,” Stewart said at one point, criticizing what he described as Republican cruelty and hypocrisy. This week also brought news that the Republicans’ famous fundraising machine is slowing down. Several GOP US Senate candidates, including Herschel Walker in Georgia and JD Vance in Ohio, could lose in close races that Republicans had assumed would go their way. Former President Donald Trump returned to Washington this week for the first time since leaving office, but his standing with conservatives has eroded and the Jan. 6 hearings starkly reminded Americans of his apparent involvement in the Capitol invasion of USA by his supporters. The speech he delivered did little to re-enchant the Republican base. Biden is being briefed on the economy by his advisers on Thursday. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters) Another potential candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, was criticized this week for refusing to condemn neo-Nazis who appeared before a conservative convention he pioneered in Tampa. “DeSantis Country,” read a flag held by one of the protesters. It all amounted to what one Democratic Party official told Yahoo News was “probably the worst week for Republicans in a long time.” For Democrats, however, the good news was like an oasis in the middle of the Sahara. The coronavirus is still here, the war continues to rage in Ukraine, and many families cannot afford household necessities because prices have risen so much. But it appeared, this week, that Washington should not accept deadlock and counterclaims as a perpetual mood. “The rumors of our demise,” a Democratic staffer who works on Capitol Hill told Yahoo News, “are greatly exaggerated.”
