President Joe Biden has his work cut out for him.
As vaccines move forward and the pandemic winds down, the Biden administration faces a long summer of jumping through hurdles in Congress.
The country is at a crossroads on a variety of fronts, explained both Bill Whalen—a Hoover Institute journalism fellow at Stanford—and Sonoma State Political Science Professor Dr. David McCuan on Wednesday’s “The State of California.”
“In the last five or six weeks, since the President gave his address during the joint session of Congress, much has changed,” said McCuan. The issues range from immigration to cybersecurity, he added.
Domestically, there is a lot to unpack, said McCuan. Especially regarding infrastructure, police and criminal justice reform.
“There’s just a lot happening this summer that is going to take a heavy lift by the Biden administration,” he explained.
And opposition in Washington could slow these efforts. Just this week, efforts to enact voting and filibuster reform were squelched by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, said Whalen.
“The question is whether the two parties can come together on much,” he said.
There has been talk, Whalen added, that a small contingent wants a bipartisan approach to infrastructure.
And at least things might go easier for the state of California.
“The deck is very stacked in California’s favor,” said Whalen. “You have a Vice President who hails from California and the speaker of the House.”
According to Whalen, it will take a multi-pronged approach to move things along by proposing smaller, more attractive numbers to Republicans, and also by pushing back publicly against the left contingent and appearing more middle-of-the-road.
Internationally, while Biden jets off to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, it sets an opportunity to prove that he is not former President Donald Trump.
But Whalen believes the bigger picture is China and said Biden meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is a huge next step, and could determine how he is going to handle tariffs and China’s military aggression, among other things.
“That’s going to be the challenge for Biden,” said Whalen. “He’s also got to show that he believes in carrots and he believes in sticks.”
It’s sure to be an eventful summer, Whalen surmised. “In some regards, I think the 2022 election is already underway.”
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