Lessons learned as vice president shape Biden decisions on covid relief package

[DonViejo]

Dan Balz 24 mins ago

President Biden devoted much of his inaugural address to the need for unity and political healing, but he has long understood he would be judged at the outset of his administration by how effectively he deals with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Which is why he is pushing ahead with his covid recovery plan, despite the absence of Republican support.

If there were questions about how Biden would resolve the tension between his pledges to seek bipartisan cooperation versus his commitment to a $1.9 trillion package, he answered them Friday. Continuing an administration-wide communications offensive, the president drew clear lines he would not cross and offered unequivocal language that what Republicans are proposing as a counter is not big enough to deal with the problems he sees.

Biden has absorbed lessons from his time as vice president to Barack Obama. The first, applied to the recovery package approved early in Obama’s administration, is to get as much money for economic relief and recovery right away, rather than assuming there will be political will later if the initial effort proves inadequate. The second, the result of the long battle over the Affordable Care Act, is that negotiations even with sympathetic members of the opposition party can drag on without producing compromise or political consensus.

a person standing in front of a building talking on a cell phone: President Biden walks to board Marine One and depart from the South Lawn at the White House on Friday in Washington.© Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post President Biden walks to board Marine One and depart from the South Lawn at the White House on Friday in Washington.

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