President Joe Biden is facing a formidable to-do list now that he’s back from his summit-filled trip to Europe, with pressing legislative challenges, foreign policy follow-up and a need to steer the country’s reopening as the coronavirus threat recedes.
His overseas tour was meant to showcase the U.S. return to global leadership — a central pledge of Biden’s 2020 campaign for the White House – but he now faces a critical juncture for securing other planks of his agenda. From voting rights and immigration to his massive legislation on jobs and infrastructure, Biden is trying to get as much done as possible in Congress before the start of its August recess.
“I think we — the country, has put a different face on where we’ve been and where we’re going,” Biden told reporters on the tarmac in Geneva late Wednesday as he headed back to Washington. “And I feel good about it.”
It has been a start-and-stop process on many of Biden’s priorities on Capitol Hill where Democrats hold the majority but only by the narrowest margins. He is reaching for bipartisan deals with Republicans while also moving along with his own party’s go-it-alone strategy, a two-pronged approach that is particularly coming into focus on his big infrastructure investment plan.
Other legislation, on voting rights, policing reforms and immigration, will need support from Republicans in the Senate, and talks are teetering on those and other issues as bipartisan groups of lawmakers strain to find agreements while the days tick off on the legislative calendar.
Talks over immigration have all but come to a standstill, and Democrats are now eying putting some immigration law changes into the infrastructure overhaul, relying on budget rules that would allow majority passage without the need for Republican votes. Talks on policing reform are still going, but even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi noted Thursday, “It’s challenging.”
Still, Biden enters the legislative struggle from a position of strength. A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted while he was abroad, found 55% of Americans approve of his handling of his job as president.
The White House believes that Biden’s proposals are broadly popular in the country, if not on Capitol Hill, and is wagering that lawmakers can be brought along with a combination of cajoling and the presidential bully pulpit.
Biden is expected to resume regular domestic travel to promote the infrastructure legislation, and continue his behind-the-scenes engagement with lawmakers on other issues where his public involvement might not be as productive.
The AP-NORC poll, conducted prior to Biden’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin found about half approving of his handling of foreign policy as well as his handling of the U.S. relationship with Russia. Sixty-eight percent…
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