随着直接支付最早在本周末进入银行账户,新通过的美国救助计划迅速生效,乔·拜登总统正在教育公众了解1.9万亿美元的庞大法律所包含的好处。
下周,拜登将在副总统贺锦丽、第一夫人吉尔·拜登、第二绅士道格·埃姆霍夫和他的内阁成员的支持下,作为“帮助在这里”之旅的一部分,开始推销他的产品,他们都在努力获得信贷,并继续为大规模支出计划争取支持。
“在接下来的几周里,吉尔和我,卡玛拉和道格,还有我们的内阁,还有你们所有人,国会议员,我们将走遍全国,直接向美国人民讲述这部法律将如何给他们的生活带来真正的改变,以及如何为他们提供帮助。几乎每个方面都很重要...拜登在周五下午庆祝该法案通过的玫瑰园活动中说。
在美国广播公司新闻部(ABC News)获得的一份给白宫高级工作人员的备忘录中,副幕僚长珍·欧玛利·狄龙(Jen Dillon)概述了此次访问中包括的外联努力,重点是“该法案的10个关键方面”,包括帮助退伍军人、将儿童贫困减半、加强农村医疗保健和支持小企业。
“我们将在美国各地市场的地方电视上播放代理人和高级行政官员。我们将动员我们由400多名支持我们的市长和州长组成的联盟——民主党人和共和党人都一样——来谈论这个计划对他们和他们的社区意味着什么。我们将继续与有组织的劳工、商业团体和其他团体合作,以强调为什么救援计划对于让美国人重返工作岗位至关重要,”欧玛利·迪里昂写道。
虽然白宫正准备就这项政策向法院全面施压,但高级官员辩称,此次访问是为了教育公众,而不是获得支持。
白宫高级顾问安妮塔·邓恩说:“这不是一个出售它以使它更受欢迎的问题。”。
“这是一个更大的挑战,要确保美国人民确切知道他们将获得什么样的帮助,如果他们是小企业主,如果他们是农民,如果他们是一名试图让学校系统重新开放的教师,他们将获得什么样的援助,”她补充说。
亚历克斯·布兰登/美联社
乔·拜登总统谈到了美国救援计划,这是一个冠状病毒救援计划
根据皮尤本周的一项民意调查,70%的美国成年人支持救援计划,其中41%的人认为自己是共和党人或倾向于这一方向。但随着该法案从理论转向现实,数字可能会发生变化,特别是考虑到大规模支出立法的深远影响和COVID的长期影响。
“这对总统个人很重要。白宫新闻秘书珍·普萨基(Jen Psaki)周三对记者表示:“与人们直接对话,讨论他们如何从中受益,解决他们的问题,甚至听取他们对实施情况的反馈,以及如何使其明确。”
白宫也热衷于应用拜登领导的2009年复苏计划的经验教训,拜登本人承认,应该做更多的工作,继续向公众宣传刺激协议的重要性。
“巴拉克非常谦虚,正如他所说的那样,他不想取得胜利。我一直在说,‘告诉人们我们做了什么。’他说,‘我们没有时间。我不会跑胜利圈的。具有讽刺意味的是,我们为这种谦逊付出了代价,”拜登本月早些时候告诉众议院民主党人。
仅在下周,拜登和哈里斯,以及吉尔·拜登和埃姆霍夫,将在全国各地展开他们的活动,在宾夕法尼亚州、内华达州、科罗拉多州、新泽西州、新墨西哥州和佐治亚州停留,这些州允许民主党人在没有共和党人支持的情况下通过党内投票通过该法案。
“对总统来说,重要的是不仅要访问蓝色州,还要访问红色州、紫色州,随着我们继续宣布他将在未来几周进行的旅行和旅行,你会看到这一点,”Psaki周四在预演这次旅行时说。
该团队正在访问的五个州明年将举行参议院竞选。
在五个州中的四个州——内华达州、科罗拉多州、新罕布什尔州和佐治亚州——民主党处于守势。在宾夕法尼亚州,民主党人正在争夺即将离任的共和党参议员帕特·图梅(Pat Toomey)目前拥有的一个空缺席位。
白宫方面辩称,尽管该法案最终没有在国会赢得任何共和党选票,但这些议员将不得不为他们对广受欢迎的两党法案的反对票负责。但当拜登吹捧民主党的工作时,这也引发了人们对他在竞选期间承诺的两党合作能力的质疑。
一名高级政府官员辩称,决定权在共和党手中。
”他会继续伸出手。这位官员说:“如果他们选择基本上拿着球回家,除了继续努力和其他共和党人接触,他无能为力。”
白宫尚未宣布白宫将采取的下一项立法措施,尽管人们普遍猜测这可能是总统先前提出的移民法案或基础设施——这是华盛顿两党合作的长期希望之源。
但救助计划和COVID将继续是一个主要焦点。这个问题曾推动拜登与前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的竞选活动,并占据了拜登政府的前几周。
“我们将继续沟通,即使我们也开始着手其他部分,因为这不像是一个已经完成的部分。这将是白宫正在进行的努力,”邓恩说。
Biden embarking on 'Help is Here' tour to tout COVID relief bill's benefits
With direct payments hitting bank accounts as soon as this weekend, the newly passed American Rescue Plan is quickly going into effect, and President Joe Biden is headed on the road to educate the public on the benefits included in the massive $1.9 trillion law.
Next week, Biden will set off to give his sales pitch as part of the "Help is Here" tour, backed up by Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Doug Emhoff and members of his Cabinet -- all taking part in the effort to secure credit and continue to build support for the massive spending plan.
"In the coming weeks, Jill and I, and Kamala on Doug, and our Cabinet, with all of you, members of Congress, we’re gonna be traveling the country to speak directly to the American people about how this law is going to make a real difference in their lives and how help is here for them. Almost every single aspect would be significant ... every one of those pieces standing alone would be viewed as a significant accomplishment," Biden said at a Friday afternoon Rose Garden event to celebrate the bill's passage.
In a memo to White House senior staff obtained by ABC News, deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon outlined the outreach efforts included in the tour, which will focus on "10 key aspects of the bill," including helping veterans, halving child poverty, bolstering rural health care and supporting small businesses.
"We’ll be putting surrogates and senior administration officials on local TV in markets around America. We’ll mobilize our coalition of over 400 supportive mayors and governors – Democrats and Republicans alike – to talk about what the plan means for them and their communities. We’ll continue to engage organized labor, the business community, and other groups, to reinforce why the Rescue Plan is vital in getting Americans back to work," O’Malley Dillion wrote.
While the White House is preparing for a full court press on the policy, senior officials argue the tour is about educating the public rather than building support.
"This isn't a question of, of trying to sell it to make it more popular," White House Senior Adviser Anita Dunn said.
"This is much more a challenge of making sure the American people know exactly what kind of help, what kind of assistance they're going to get if they're a small business owner, if they are a farmer, if they are a teacher running a school system trying to get it reopened," she added.
According to a Pew Poll this week, 70% of American adults support the rescue plan, including 41% who identify as Republicans or lean in that direction. But as the bill shifts from theory to reality, the numbers could change, particularly given the far-reaching impacts of the massive spending legislation and long-lasting impacts of COVID.
"This is important to the president personally. Having a conversation directly with people about how they could benefit, addressing questions they have, even taking their feedback on implementation and how to make it clear," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday.
The White House is also keen on applying the lessons learned from the 2009 recovery plan that Biden led the charge on, with Biden himself acknowledging more should have been done to continue to tout the significance of that stimulus deal to the public.
"Barack was so modest he didn't want to take, as he said, a victory lap. I kept saying, 'Tell people what we did.' He said, 'We don't have time. I’m not going to take a victory lap.' And we paid a price for it, ironically, for that humility," Biden told House Democrats earlier this month.
Next week alone, Biden and Harris, along with Jill Biden and Emhoff, will fan out across the country as they make their case, stopping in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Colorado, New Jersey, New Mexico and Georgia -- a state that allowed Democrats to pass the bill on a party-line vote without support from Republicans.
"It was important to the president to visit not just blue states but also red states, purple states, you will see that reflected as we continue to announce travel and trips that he will take in the coming weeks," Psaki said Thursday, previewing the tour.
Five states of the state's the team is visiting have Senate races next year.
In four of the five -- Nevada, Colorado, New Hampshire and Georgia -- Democrats are on the defensive. In Pennsylvania, Democrats are competing for an open seat held currently by outgoing Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.
The White House has contended that while the bill ultimately did not earn any Republican votes in Congress, those members will have to answer for their no vote for the popular bipartisan bill. But as Biden touts the Democrats' work, it also raises questions about his ability to deliver the bipartisanship he pledged during the campaign.
One senior administration official argued the ball is in Republicans' court.
"He will continue to reach out. If they choose to basically take their ball and go home, there is not a lot he can do about it except to continue to try and to reach out to other Republicans," the official said.
The White House has yet to announce the next legislative effort the White House will undertake, though there has been rampant speculation it could be the president’s previously introduced Immigration bill or infrastructure -- a perennial source of hope for bipartisan cooperation in Washington.
But the relief package and COVID, the issue that animated much of Biden’s campaign against former President Donald Trump and has consumed the early weeks of Biden's administration, will continue to be a major focus.
"We will continue to communicate even as we start moving on with other pieces as well because this is not like a one and done. This is going to be an ongoing effort from this White House," Dunn said.