Vacation interrupted: Biden's getaway plans shift by the day

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wilmington? No, the beach. Make that Camp David, actually. Or maybe just the White House after all?

President Joe Biden’s vacation plans, like those of so many Americans during this national summer of uncertainty, keep changing. But while concerns about the resurgence of the coronavirus have caused Biden’s plans to shift, the biggest complicating factor was the world’s greatest deliberating body’s commitment to, well, deliberation.

The president had hoped to begin his two-week summer vacation this week but, at the same time, wanted to be in Washington to tout the Senate’s passage of his bipartisan infrastructure bill, a foundational piece of Biden’s agenda. As negotiations dragged on last week, Biden decamped for his Wilmington, Delaware, home for the weekend, with officials planning a Sunday night return to mark the bill’s passage.

But the talks in the Senate continued. And continued some more. And therefore, Biden’s return was delayed until Monday, and then once more until Tuesday, when he did travel back to the White House to take a victory lap on the passage of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

The shifting schedule, which changed by the day, upended the plans of aides and reporters alike, many of whom were forced to hurriedly extend hotel stays and purchase an extra set of clothes. But the fate of the bill, and Biden’s own penchant to change his mind, have not been the only wrenches in the summer vacation plans.

Mindful of the pandemic, as well as the resulting economic hardship suffered by many Americans, Biden aides have long planned for the president’s vacation to be modest. They also stressed that while a president is never truly off duty, most commanders-in-chief tend to change their surroundings when the August heat and humidity rise...