WORLD NEWS | Biden’s 2024 speech highlights pragmatism over Trump’s boxing

WASHINGTON, June 4 (AP) — President Joe Biden is promising voters in 2020 that he knows how to get the job done in Washington and can bring stability to the capital. That seems out of step with the more combative era brought about by Donald Trump.

But Biden won, and as he seeks re-election, he again sought to frame the race as a referendum on capacity and governance, pointing to the bipartisan debt limit and budget legislation he signed Saturday as another indicator of the success of his approach. one example.

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The deal the Democratic president negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans averted the catastrophe of a U.S. government default — and deterred another threat ahead of the 2024 election — while largely protecting the components of his hopes. pillars of the domestic agenda legacy.

His preference for pragmatism over Trump’s boxing will be tested like never before in the upcoming campaign, which has seen his approval ratings low even among Democrats, despite some gains. Largely because of concerns that he is the oldest person ever to seek the presidency.

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“The results speak for themselves,” said Jeff Zienz, 80, Biden’s chief of staff. “This level of support demonstrates that we have a bipartisan agreement that, most importantly, protects the President’s priorities. Now we have a runway to execute on the President’s priorities.”

Biden’s allies say his strategy reflects his broader view of the presidency: to cut out the day-to-day chatter and focus on making long-term impact.

“This is typical Joe Biden,” said longtime Biden confidant and former Delaware Sen. Ted Kaufman. “He really understands these agencies, how they work, how they interact, and what their limitations are. That’s an incredible strength that he has had with 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president.”

That clear advantage — longevity — may also be the steepest hill for Biden seeking another four years.

Aides said Biden laid out a strategy shortly after the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in November and stuck to it in the talks, despite second-guessing by members of his own party. He urged Republicans to enter negotiations as hard as possible by identifying their budget priorities and then hammering out their proposed unpopular cuts in public.

“He believes in the institutions of governance in America. He looks at making the presidency and Congress work and the way they’re designed to work to address this,” said Mike Donilon, a senior adviser to the president.

As the talks progressed, Biden stepped out of the spotlight, allowing Republican leaders to declare victory — needed to sell it to the caucus — and quietly reassuring Democrats the more they learned about the deal , the more they like it.

The result was a deal that White House aides said exceeded their expectations for a budget deal in the Republican-controlled House. It essentially freezes spending for next year, rather than the deep cuts proposed by Republicans, and protects Biden’s infrastructure and climate laws, as well as spending on Social Security and Medicare.

It’s also far better, in the eyes of the Biden team, than the outcome of the 2011 debt-ceiling showdown, when Biden was negotiator for then-President Barack Obama, and House Republicans forced them to accept tougher budget cuts they said held back the contributed to the country’s recovery from the Great Depression.

Biden is still under fire from some in his party for agreeing to impose stricter job requirements on some federal food aid recipients and to expedite environmental reviews of infrastructure projects.

But the White House sees a benefit: Permitting changes will speed up the implementation of Biden’s infrastructure and climate laws, and Biden aides have highlighted Congressional Budget Office projections that show less impact on veterans, the homeless and those who left the country. The work requirement waiver for foster care would actually expand the number of people eligible for federal food assistance.

“While the rest of us are busy with micro-news cycles and who’s up and who’s down on Twitter, the president is fighting the long game,” said Obama spokesman and Democratic strategist Eric Schultz.

“He ran for president on a promise to restore Washington to function after his predecessors, and his record of doing so is hard to argue with,” Schultz added. One side cooperates sincerely.”

Biden drew a red line in the negotiations that the debt ceiling must be extended beyond the 2024 presidential election, worrying both in substance and in form that another showdown could occur in a more heated political environment.

He may be right, but voters are increasingly concerned about his age and the toll it has taken, a message constantly reinforced by potential Republican challengers and a conservative media ecosystem.

Presidential historian Lindsey Chervinsky said: “Biden has built an impressive list of accomplishments on a bipartisan basis and has shown he can do it without being the center of attention. “That’s what American voters said they wanted at the time. But the context in 2024 will be completely different.”

She said Biden needs to argue that the stability he brings is being threatened by his opponents and hopes voters’ memories will last long enough.

White House aides said the deal gives them “wiring room” to focus on making the impact of the legislation Biden signs into law through the 2024 election and begin to build for another term and Congress. More Democrats.

On Friday, Biden himself highlighted the contrast between the combative nature of the Republican race and his adult posture in the room. He called on both parties to “join forces like Americans to stop the yelling and lower the temperature,” even as he emphasized Republican opposition to his efforts to raise taxes and cut tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations.

“Republicans have defended each of these special interest loopholes,” Biden said, testing a campaign line he expects to hone in the coming months. “Each one. But I’ll be back. With your help, I’ll win.”

Despite Biden’s protests and his goal to ease the burden of possible future “hostage-taking” on himself and future public officials, Biden has proven unable to break the cycle in which the debt ceiling is used as leverage in negotiations . Princeton University historian Julian Zelizer said it made the agreement a “mixed bag” that averted a crisis for now but could come back to haunt him and subsequent presidents.

“The Republicans have done it again. It happened when he was vice president, it happened when he was president, and it will happen again,” he said. “A lot of Republicans always wanted tactics more than results — and he didn’t hold back.”

Zelizer acknowledged that Biden may not have any other options — a proposal to use the 14th Amendment to pay the obligation without Congressional consent is untested and has its own flaws.

“When you have threats like this, you have to negotiate,” he admitted.

But for Biden’s team, the outcome is what matters.

“His eyes were on the prize, which was, how will this deal be done? How will my approach drive this deal?’” Donilon said. “We need to get our politics together when we have to. So I think it’s actually reassuring the country.” (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the body of content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)