President Joe Biden has tasked his team with coming up with an agenda for his final six months in office, defining key priorities for the administration as he looks to secure a one-term legacy – including a robust schedule on the world stage.
On a call with political appointees across agencies Wednesday afternoon, White House chief of staff Jeff Zients laid out four main pillars for Biden’s team to execute in a lame duck period: the continued implementation of key legislation; lowering costs and growing the economy through additional moves on student debt relief and efforts to bring down prescription drug prices; defending personal freedoms and civil rights by calling out hate and extremism; and ensuring US strength, security and leadership in the world, according to audio of the call obtained by CNN.
On the fourth point, national security adviser Jake Sullivan suggested Biden would keep a busy schedule in international matters: “You can expect to see very busy months of activity, of summits and trips to ensure that we do everything we can to leave it on the field,” Sullivan said, adding that there would be “high-level summits both here and abroad.”
But before that, Sullivan said Biden’s most urgent priority “is to avoid escalation into a larger war in the Middle East and to deliver the ceasefire and hostage deal that he’s worked so hard to deliver.”
Those comments come as the US is working through diplomatic channels – including Biden calls with the Egyptian president and the emir of Qatar this week – amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. Hezbollah has vowed retaliation for Israel’s assassination of a top commander.
Sullivan also defined Biden’s hopes and expectations for the war in Ukraine as the clock ticks on his time in office with no immediate resolution in view: “President Biden is determined to put Ukraine in a position to prevail and ensure that Russia fails in its effort to conquer Ukraine. And he wants them in the best possible position on the battlefield so they’re in the best possible position at the negotiating table. And you can expect a flurry of work, along with our partners, with President Zelensky to achieve that result before he passes the baton.”
He also noted that the Biden administration will be rolling out a “major national security memorandum on artificial intelligence” in the coming weeks.
Zients told the team that Biden encouraged his top lieutenants to form a plan “to finish as strong as we started” when he announced last month that he would not seek a second term and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden, Zients said, “asked us to continue to push the envelope and look for opportunities for new policy in addition to the implementation of legislation and current policy,” but he conceded that some efforts that require new legislation could be “challenging” given time constraints and a divided Congress.
“Even if we can’t get the legislation passed, it’s really important to put a stake in the ground,” Zients said, pointing to last week’s rollout of Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reforms.
He encouraged the team to spend the next month recharging before the final stretch. “August, this month is a good period to get a little rest and recharge. … I encourage you to do that, and I encourage your teams to do it too because we all want to run through that tape together through January 21,” Zients said.
Political appointees typically turn over from administration to administration. With Biden no longer running for reelection, it is unclear whether a potential Harris administration would keep Biden’s political appointees in place, though there would likely be some turnover. And while there is sometimes overlap for continuity, along with career officials, most of Biden’s political appointees would be unlikely to stay in a potential second Trump term.
