But Mr. Biden finally caught a series of breaks. Gas prices, which peaked above $5 a gallon, have been falling daily for more than six weeks and are now closer to $4. After a year-long debate, Democrats and Republicans in Congress passed legislation last week to invest $280 billion in areas such as semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research to boost competition with China. And in a surprise move, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, a Democrat who had single-handedly backed Mr. Biden’s bolder proposals, agreed to a deal that puts the president in a position to make good on promises to lower drug prices . tackle climate change and make corporations pay higher taxes. “The work of government can be slow and frustrating and sometimes even infuriating,” Mr. Biden said at the White House on Thursday, reflecting the impatience and anger of his allies and the fatigue of his staff. “That’s when hours, days and months of hard work by people who refuse to give up pays off. It’s becoming history. Lives are changing.” Even for a president accustomed to the highs and lows of governing, it was a moment to feel unmoved. Since taking office 18 months ago, Mr. Biden has celebrated successes such as the passage of a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill and weathered crises such as the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Gas prices soared. now they are coming down. Unemployment is at record lows, even as there are signs of an impending recession. The president’s political brand has its roots in a slower, pre-Twitter era, and it can sometimes pay off to have the patience to wait for a deal to finally emerge. But now, with congressional elections just months away, the challenge for Mr. Biden is to ensure that his latest successes resonate with Americans who remain deeply skeptical about the future. The size of the Senate deal was received like a splash of ice water across Washington, which had all but erased the possibility of Mr. Biden’s long-held ambitions being revived this year. Republicans moved quickly to attack the proposal, with Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, deriding what he described as “huge tax increases that will hit workers hard.” Inside the West Wing, aides were forced to try to find talking points for a deal that almost no one saw coming. If Democrats succeed in passing the compromise reached with Mr. Manchin, they argue, it will put the country at the forefront of tackling a changing global climate and lower drug prices, even as it raises money from companies to reduce the federal budget deficit. If the deal wins congressional approval, it would give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for millions of Americans, extend health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act for three years and require companies to pay a minimum tax – something many progressive Democrats have been demanding for years.
The Biden Presidency
With the midterm elections looming, here’s President Biden.
“For months, the environmental community, President Joe Biden and Leader Chuck Schumer and economists have pointed out that climate action will lower inflation and lower energy costs for Americans,” said Melinda Pierce, legislative director of Sierra Club, in a statement. hours after the agreement was announced. “We are pleased that the Senate recognizes the opportunity before them. Climate action cannot wait a day longer.” For Mr. Biden, that kind of success can’t come soon enough. This fall’s elections will determine which party controls the House and Senate, with many experts predicting a Democratic split. And doubts about the president’s own future are growing as fast as his popularity is sinking. A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted in early July found that 64 percent of Democrats wanted someone other than Mr. Biden to be the party’s nominee in 2024. A CNN poll later in the month reported that rate at 75 percent among Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters. And although Mr. Biden welcomed news of the Senate deal on Thursday, his own comments underscored the darker reality he and his administration still face — a series of promises that remain unfulfilled, with little sign that they will. more surprise wins are on the horizon. During his remarks, the president himself listed several of the parts of his 2020 campaign agenda that remain deadlocked: more affordable child care; help for the elderly and their caregivers; cheaper preschool; efforts to address housing costs; student debt relief and tuition-free community college. and money to cover health care for the poor in states that have refused to expand Medicaid. The president’s failure to deliver on those promises has left many people who were once his staunchest supporters frustrated, angry and—in some cases—even ready to abandon him for someone else. Alexis Steenberg, 19, a student in eastern Pennsylvania, helped convince her father to vote for Mr. Biden in 2020 because of his promise to eliminate thousands of dollars in student debt. Now, as one of those debt-ridden college students, she’s angry that Mr. Biden didn’t follow through on that promise. “It’s so frustrating because I tried, I tried everything to get my father to vote for someone I knew he wouldn’t do it himself,” she said in an interview. “And the reason I convinced him, he failed completely.” Ms. Steenberg is a Democrat and supports Mr. Biden’s priorities, she said, but wants to vote for a different candidate. “I’m one of the 75 percent who think someone else should run,” he said. “Not only because he breaks his promises, but also because he can’t seem to articulate his thoughts enough to the audience or to the people behind the scenes who help him.” Mr. Biden, he said, is “just floating around waiting for the term to end.” Going forward, aides believe Mr. Biden must find a way to better communicate the progress he has made to people like Ms. Steenberg. The stimulus plan he pushed at the start of his term distributed hundreds of billions of dollars to individuals and businesses amid the pandemic. His bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure law makes huge investments in clean energy, broadband and long-delayed projects to fix broken roads, pipes and bridges. David Axelrod, who was a top adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted Friday that Biden was “a victim of his own expansive expectations.” “It is quietly amassing a record of historic victories on infrastructure, weapons, manufacturing — and now perhaps Rx prices, climate and energy,” Mr. Axelrod wrote. “Not quite a New Deal, but impressive enough in a 50/50 Congress.” But Mr. Biden has so far struggled to ensure that his victories outweigh the often bleak reports that dominate news coverage. Critics, including some in his own party, say his speech fails to convey the sense of urgency felt by many Americans. “I think we’re trying to be inspired,” said Jamie L. Manson, the president of Catholics for Choice, who was disappointed after Mr. Biden spoke after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Dakota Hall, the executive director of the Youth Action Alliance, which advocates for young people and people of color, said Mr. Biden had failed to deliver on campaign promises for bold change in a number of areas. . Mr. Hall said he regularly saw Mr. Biden touting his administration’s progress in making small, incremental changes. “This is absolutely necessary,” he said. “But that’s not the change people came out and voted for.” “They want someone who will show their anger, bang their fist on the podium and say enough is enough,” Mr Hall added. “They don’t get that from Biden, do they?” White House officials are aware of the frustration, but say it is misplaced. They say the president is fighting for all his priorities but has been blocked by forces beyond his control: Republicans who refuse to compromise, a handful of conservative Democrats and global events like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic fallout from the pandemic. They argue that Mr. Biden’s accomplishments are sometimes underappreciated. They point to the crush of negative news coverage he received as gas prices rose rapidly and the comparatively smaller coverage as gas prices fell after his decision to release a record amount of oil from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, said Democrats should direct their anger at lawmakers — including Republicans and some Democrats — who have blocked the president from making more progress. He urged people to vote in November to elect more people who support Mr. Biden’s agenda. “We need a Senate that will do its job,” he said. On Twitter last week, former President Barack Obama, who has often been frustrated by Congress as he pushes his own agenda, said the change could stop. “I am grateful to President Biden and those in Congress – Democrat or Republican – who are working to deliver for the American people,” Mr Obama wrote. “Progress doesn’t always happen all at once, but it does — and it looks like it.”
