Biden’s White House is deploying top officials to get a broad ideological spectrum of lawmakers, governors and mayors on board with the president’s $ 1.9 trillion COVID aid proposal, according to people familiar with the matter.
Why it matters: The broad, choreographed effort shows how crucial Biden sees the impetus for the nation’s recovery and his own political success.
Driving the news: Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, and Jeff Zients, Biden’s COVID Tsar, scheduled a meeting with the centrist New Democrat Coalition later Wednesday.
- Over the weekend, Deese’s meeting with 16 senators drew attention, but in reality there are dozens of calls every day as the White House works to build the first coalition of Biden’s presidency.
How it works: General outreach to Congress members and staff is coordinated by Biden adviser Steve Ricchetti and director of legislative affairs Louisa Terrell.
- President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and senior adviser Anita Dunn made individual phone calls to lawmakers this week.
- Zients spoke with governors of both parties and other officials on Tuesday who informed tribal leaders and mayors.
- Cedric Richmond, who heads the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, reached out to civil rights organizations on Tuesday, including the NAACP, Urban League, Coalition of Black Civic Participation, and Black Women’s Roundtable.
What they say: “President Biden and the White House are establishing a full-fledged press to engage leaders and stakeholders in Washington,” said Mike Gwin, deputy press secretary of the White House.
The big picture: Biden has said he prefers a two-pronged approach to getting his plan through Congress. But he hasn’t ruled out relying solely on democratic votes to get his proposal through the budget reconciliation process, which requires a bare majority in the senate.
- Some progressives, such as Bernie Sanders, chair of the Senate Committee on Budgets (I-Vt.), Feel that Biden should now go down the path of reconciliation and not waste time looking for 60 votes.
- Senate leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said yesterday that “we keep all our options open, on the table, including budget reconciliation.”