Americans Say They’re Primed to Spend More This Year: Live Updates
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President Biden touted Friday’s strong jobs report as proof that his focus on the pandemic and passage of a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package is working, and he called on Congress to quickly pass a new infrastructure bill he says will create 19 million new jobs.
“The first two months of our administration has seen more new jobs created than the first two months of any administration in history. But we still have a long way to go,” said Mr. Biden in a brief statement at the White House before a planned trip to Camp David for the Easter holiday.
Mr. Biden said he was willing to compromise with Republicans on the details of his $2.3 trillion proposal, but warned that “inaction is not an option.”
Employers added 916,000 jobs in March, up from 416,000 in February and the most since August, the Labor Department said Friday, led by a robust rebound in the hard-hit restaurant, resort and construction sectors.
The heartening numbers, while not unexpected, come at a critical political moment for Mr. Biden and his allies as they make their case for the infrastructure proposal titled “The American Jobs Plan” — one which Republicans deride as a “job killer” because it hikes taxes on corporations and high earners.
Mr. Biden’s team is packed with veterans from the Obama White House intent on leveraging the good news for maximum gain. They are also determined to learn from the messaging missteps during President Barack Obama’s first term, when they were wary of trumpeting economic news for fear of prompting a political backlash, according to administration officials. Mr. Obama’s advisers struggled to take credit for a sluggish, stop-and-start recovery that began much later in his presidency.
While Mr. Biden went out of his way to credit “the American people” for the gains, Ron Klain, his chief of staff, wrote on Twitter earlier Friday that “Help is here,” employing the cavalry-has-arrived slogan that Mr. Biden has often used.
“It puts the wind in their sails, the spring in their step — now they’ve got the momentum,” said Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s first chief of staff.
With the pandemic, Mr. Emanuel argued, the president has “a different permission slip” than Mr. Obama.
“The virus has been around for a year, and the meltdown associated with the virus seems to be coming to an end. Today people have empathy for 500,000 lost lives and their families. Back then people wanted to kill 500,000 bankers,” said Mr. Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago.
But the Biden administration is also trying to strike the right balance between sobriety and self-congratulation, mindful of not appearing insensitive to the millions of Americans still suffering hardship from the devastation and dislocation caused by the pandemic.
Cecilia E. Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, speaking on MSNBC after the numbers were announced, cautioned that while the report “suggests confidence is building” in the recovery, “we’re still 8.4 million jobs fewer than we were at this time last year.”
When a reporter asked Mr. Biden how he planned to woo Republicans for his infrastructure plan, the president questioned how his congressional opponents could oppose some of the proposal’s provisions, especially funding to eliminate lead pipes.
It would be quickly passed, he said, if lead was found in water fountains on Capitol Hill.
Mr. Biden also mocked his predecessor, former President Donald J. Trump, for promising but not delivering on pledges to pass his own infrastructure bill.
“Every second week was infrastructure week, but no infrastructure was ever built,” he said.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/02/business/stock-market-today/