[ad_1]
Washington
CNN
—
Janet Yellen is not a political operator, but she is one of President Joe Biden’s strongest and most trusted economic messengers.
And in an election year when Biden needs all the help he can get to drive his economic message, a majority of voters, 55%, say Biden’s policies have made the economy worse, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. However, the Treasury Secretary said: You get that message on the street.
Yellen has recently gone on the offensive, launching rare attacks on former President Donald Trump on infrastructure and taxes and offering specific examples of how the White House is using Cabinet members to promote a general election.
“In the Trump administration, the prevailing mindset is to do whatever it takes to solve the problem.” [infrastructure] was a punchline, but this administration has delivered,” she said at the Chicago Economic Club about middle-class investing, while also criticizing President Trump’s tax policies.
The next day, Yellen traveled to the battleground state of Wisconsin to advocate for funding for manufacturing training facilities. And Treasury officials say she plans to visit several Midwestern states next week.
Her ability to stay largely apolitical and her wealth of experience make her a reliable asset to the White House as Biden seeks to use his aides as a key part of his re-election drive. He has become a capable special envoy. The presidential cabinet is made up of people whom administration officials consider to be the president’s most capable and politically astute messengers, allowing the president, struggling with stubbornly low approval ratings, to use the leverage of his incumbency to sway the president. It represents one of the means of conveying a message to the people. American.
The administration hopes to overcome the president’s lack of enthusiasm for running for a second term by relying on a young, diverse Cabinet familiar with the provisions of Biden’s biggest legislative accomplishment. These young voices are even more important in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report, which did not indict the president but raised concerns about the president’s age and memory, sparking outrage in the White House. there is a possibility.
Other Cabinet members, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, have also been sent to communities in key locations around the country to learn about their bosses’ legislative accomplishments and It aims to flesh out this issue by promoting other priorities. The outline of the president’s agenda. They also leverage their diverse personal backgrounds to connect and engage with key coalitions.
Many of them have experience as former governors, candidates, legislators, and local officials. It also provides a more intimate, on-the-ground perspective that differs from the vast footprint that accompanies the president’s travels.
“They’ve done this themselves and they’ve worked with mayors. They’re looking at jobs and what that investment will bring to the state and how it can really reshape and rebuild communities. “We understand that,” said a senior government official who works closely with ministers.
“They can listen a little bit to the community in an authentic way,” officials said, adding that they have their own independent team that “does the real work” of following up and escalating questions and specific concerns between agencies. He added that he has the ability to
Biden’s built-in special envoys will spend the next nine months visiting politically strategic states on taxpayer-funded trips that will help them build a coalition government in 2024. You will also be traveling to areas where sex is limited. The goal is to participate in groundbreaking ceremonies and ribbon cuttings, attend listening sessions that highlight job creation and other direct impacts of the president’s policies, and authoritatively communicate the benefits of Biden’s congressional victories. .
“The Cabinet is the first line of defense and offense in ensuring that the President’s policies are carried out,” White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said in a statement to CNN. “They are the perfect voice to talk about what we have accomplished and what we are going to do next.”
Government officials say official business trips continue to increase, with several ministers expected to soon head out on tours highlighting economic investment and other measures of economic development.
Cabinet travel has increased significantly in recent months, with trips to 37 states starting Nov. 1 as the White House works with local communities to implement legislation such as the bipartisan Infrastructure Act. It is continuing. Climate, healthcare, taxation. And CHIPS and the Science Act coincided with Biden’s own efforts to pick up the pace of his campaign trip in the lead-up to the general election.
“Biden can’t be in 13 places at once,” said Caitlin Legacchi, a Democratic strategist and former senior aide to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “It was clear from the beginning of this administration that the White House wanted to use the Cabinet as a force multiplier to tell this story.”
The three popular secretaries recently made separate visits to New Hampshire ahead of the state’s Republican primary. Mr. Granholm highlighted efforts to reduce energy costs and improve energy efficiency, Mr. Buttigieg visited the site of improvements funded by the highway exit infrastructure bill, and Mr. Raimondo touted new investments. It was advertised. in semiconductor chips.
More recently, Cabinet members have made official visits to battleground states that the Biden campaign is trying to put on the 2024 map, including Michigan, Georgia and Florida. But they also visited politically inconvenient places, including Tennessee, Louisiana, California, Delaware, and New York.
Decisions on travel destinations will be made by each government agency in cooperation with the White House. The White House may ask members of the Cabinet to attend important events that the president, vice president, first lady, and second gentleman cannot attend. In some cases, the Cabinet Secretariat may call upon members to travel to a particular state. And in some cases, it depends on the agency itself and where the funds are spent.
But every appearance has one goal. It’s about continuing to explain and remind Americans of what Biden has done to improve their lives.
“It’s our responsibility to tell stories that aren’t publicity,” Buttigieg told CNN in a recent appearance from Florida, where he had just addressed the Engineers Union.
“We still deliver billions of dollars of value and we need everyone to understand that. We know it’s our job to get that message across,” he said in 2020. the presidential candidate said.
The Hatch Act of 1939, a federal law that requires all federal employees except the president and vice president to separate political and official duties, places strict limits on how cabinet members can exercise their professional qualifications.
It has limited legal effect, and it falls to the president to determine the punishment for violating the Hatch Act by Cabinet-level officials. Nevertheless, the Biden White House and legal team have struggled to ensure compliance, an effort that emphasizes a commitment to ethics and draws a sharp contrast to President Trump, who casually sidestepped the rules.
A White House official said agency lawyers are “involved in planning travel and events to ensure compliance with the Hatch Act,” and that lawyers are handling campaign event invitations, remarks and other public materials. It was pointed out that it was being examined. And President Biden is “providing extensive guidance and training to agencies” on the Hatch Act and how to avoid potential failures, the official said.
This is a far cry from Trump’s use of top administration officials to routinely and blatantly violate the law in the final weeks of the 2020 campaign. For example, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the Republican National Convention during his official trip to Jerusalem.
President Biden’s strategy is to follow the rules and avoid the risk of distraction by breaking them. This means that while other surrogates are focused on recruiting more talent in the campaign, his ministers are primarily focused on their public appearance. political distinction.
“Instead of removing chess pieces from the board, they increase the number of pieces. They continue to do their jobs and continue to talk about what the administration is working on and what it has achieved,” said Regacchi, a former Raimondo official. . said the aide.
Ministers can attend campaign events in their personal capacity, and campaigns are leveraging their firepower in coordination with several key coalition governments. Biden has regularly declared his Cabinet, which includes 13 women and members of Congress who are Black, Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native American, and LGBTQ+, as “all-American.”
The president needs to win back support from traditionally Democratic voters, including young people and people of color, whose support for Biden has waned since 2020, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. Voters under 35 are split almost evenly, with 49% supporting Biden and 46% supporting Trump, while among voters of color, 57% support Biden and 35% support Trump.
Ministers are among those leading efforts to leverage their networks and expertise to strengthen support for these groups.
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su spoke to AAPI Democrats at a breakfast in Nevada last month. Small Business Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzmán visited with Latino small business owners. And Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge, one of the Cabinet members who actually violated the Hatch Act in 2021, recently attended the Pink Ice Gala sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and as a campaign He spoke at a party dinner in South Carolina. She sought to energize Black voters in the Palmetto State.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was sent to highlight efforts to prevent gun violence. He recently visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and toured the site of the 2018 mass shooting.
“It’s my responsibility as an educator to go the extra mile and work that extra mile to make sure we spread awareness of this issue across the country,” he said in an interview with CNN.
Gevin Reynolds, a former speechwriter for Vice President Kamala Harris, said the administration has been very intentional about how it uses the Cabinet.
“Voters of color can identify with leaders like Secretary Cardona, Secretary Fudge, and (EPA) Administrator (Michael) Regan. Younger voters and LGBTQ+ voters can identify with leaders like Secretary Buttigieg. We can identify with our leaders. President Biden intends to assemble a Cabinet that reflects America’s diversity, and we will see how that diversity translates into real political power. “We continue to monitor it,” he told CNN.
There are also Cabinet members with demographic ties that could help shape Biden’s electoral map. Granholm is a former governor of battleground state Michigan, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is a former governor of Iowa and has deep ties to rural communities.
[ad_2]
Source link
