Democrats are turning their focus to a social safety net and climate bill after Congress passed infrastructure legislation. Democrats Concerns are growing about whether the White House hurtling from a crisis can mount the sustained campaign necessary to reframe a sprawling bill that was gridlocked for months into a triumph that will help them hold Congress.
The president a used car salesman’s son who sees himself as a consummate political pitchman is stepping up efforts to promote his hard-won to the public in hopes of branding it as his apex achievement reversing his recent plunge in the polls and boosting Democrats chances in the 2022 midterm elections.
The challenges facing Mr. Biden who was President Barack Obama’s vice president a decade ago. Some success serving as a traveling salesman for the stimulus and health care bills are formidable. The infrastructure bill is intended as a long-term solution to decades of neglect. Many of the projects will not be selected much less completed for so many years. Americans might not immediately see the windfall.
Mr. Biden for all of his Amtrak gusto is not an especially consistent messenger. The package is already popular, with a solid majority of voters saying they support its funding increases for rail, roads, ports, water systems, broadband, and the power grid. But the president and his allies are under no illusion about what they are really selling.
Mr. Biden himself and his theory of the case for American politics that delivering on concrete campaign promises is the only way to transcend the rage and culture war messaging of Trump-era politics.
Mr. Biden’s team argues that both bills are a political boon and say they are intent on taking full advantage of his infrastructure win as quickly as possible.
The president has participated in strategy meetings impatiently instructing aides to simplify their descriptions of programs so voters can more easily understand them according to a Democratic official who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.
Mr. Biden scheduled a White House signing ceremony on Monday that will include legislators, mayors, and governors from both parties, followed by trips around the country over the next week to sell the plan.
The administration is also preparing a messaging blitz on television and media outlets targeted at Black and Hispanic communities, the Democratic official said. The White House digital team is developing social media explainers and videos to promote the benefits of the infrastructure plan to different constituencies. Mr. Biden does not have the luxury of focusing exclusively on selling the bill. It was intended to address growing concerns about the supply chain bottlenecks, in addition to publicizing the $17 billion allocated in the bill for improvement at ports.
