Team Biden’s move reflects a campaign that is looking to go on offense.
- With real household income having declined by 2.6% in 2022 and polls showing voter dissatisfaction with Biden’s economic record, Democrats want to make the 2024 campaign into more of a choice between competing economic visions than just a referendum on Bidenomics.
Driving the news: The president is taking a short trip to Maryland today for the second major speech on his economic agenda, offering an update on remarks he gave in Chicago in June.
- Biden is seizing on proposals from the House Republican Study Committee’s budget, unveiled in June, to accuse all Republicans of wanting to raise the retirement age for Social Security benefits while cutting taxes for the wealthy.
- “House Republicans have understandably been reluctant to tout the MAGAnomics budget — but the White House is going to spend much of this fall doing it for them,” senior adviser Anita Dunn said in a White House memo to congressional Democrats.
The big picture: The economy under Biden — and under interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve — has defied expectations. Now a “soft-landing” — in which inflation moderates without a meaningful increase in unemployment — seems possible, Wall Street analysts say.