Biden intent on selling benefits of virus aid plan to public

WASHINGTON (AP) — Final congressional approval of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill Wednesday represents an undeniable victory for President Joe Biden -- and one the White House knows it needs to sell to the public.

The White House is poised to begin an ambitious campaign that will showcase the bill’s contents to people while looking to build momentum for the next, perhaps thornier, parts of the president's ambitious agenda.

Animating the public relations outreach is a determination to avoid repeating the mistakes from more than a decade earlier, when President Barack Obama’s administration did not fully educate the public about the benefits of its own economic recovery plan.

“We didn’t adequately explain what we had done. Barack was so modest, he didn’t want to take, as he said, a ‘victory lap,’” Biden, who was Obama’s vice president, said earlier this week. “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 will make the first prime-time address of his presidency on Thursday to mark the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdowns. He also will use the moment to pitch toward the future and how prospects will be improved by the nearly $2 trillion aid package, which he will sign into law on Friday at the White House.

“Help is here — and brighter days lie ahead,” Biden tweeted shortly after the House vote. In a statement, he added, “This legislation is about giving the backbone of this nation – the essential workers, the working people who built this country, the people who keep this country going – a fighting chance.”

Expect an uptick in travel by the president, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug...