According to people familiar with the president, the Biden White House is appointing top officials to get a wide ideological spectrum of lawmakers, governors and mayors on board.
Why it matters: The broad, choreographed effort shows how important Biden considers the stimulus for the country’s recovery and its own political success.
Send the news: Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, and Jeff Zients, Biden’s COVID tsar, have a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with the centrist New Democratic Coalition.
- The weekend focused Deese’s meeting with 16 senators, but in reality there are dozens of calls every day while the White House works to build the first coalition of Biden’s presidency.
How it works: Overall outreach to members of Congress and staff is coordinated by Steve Ricchetti, advisor to Biden, and director Louisa Terrell, legislative affairs.
- President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and Senior Adviser Anita Dunn made individual calls to lawmakers this week.
- Zients spoke to governors of both parties and other officials on Tuesday about tribal leaders and mayors.
- Cedric Richmond, who heads the White House Public Involvement Office, on Tuesday reached out to civil rights groups, 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 starting a press conference in the Supreme Court to involve leaders and stakeholders in Washington,” said Mike Gwin, a White House deputy press secretary.
The whole picture: Biden said he prefers a two-pronged approach rather than getting his plan through Congress. But he did not rule out relying on Democratic votes alone to carry out his proposal through the budget reconciliation process, which requires a mere majority in the Senate.
- Some progressive people, such as the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Argue that Biden should now go to the conciliation track and not waste time seeking 60 votes.
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said yesterday that “we keep all our options on the table, including budget reconciliation.”