What will Biden’s economic legacy be?
President Joe Biden’s decision this weekend to end his re-election bid effectively means he will be a one-term president. That gives him less time to complete his agenda. So, when it comes to the U.S. economy under Biden, what legacy does he leave behind?
“Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio spoke with Marketplace senior Washington correspondent Kimberly Adams to reflect. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: President Biden stays president for just about another six months. But let’s talk about what kind of economic policies might eventually be associated with Biden.
Kimberly Adams: Of course, that’s one for the historians, but it looks like Biden will likely be remembered for safely bringing the economy out of the COVID pandemic. Like most presidents, he’ll probably get both credit and blame for things that may or may not have been completely under his control. But I asked Jennifer Victor, who teaches political science at George Mason University, how she thinks history is going to remember the Biden economy.
Jennifer Victor: I suspect historians are going to be very kind to Joe Biden. Most of his policy legacy is on the domestic politics front, dealing with with COVID, the economic calamities that COVID produced, and other things that happened in terms of investing in green energies.
Adams: Some of the big wins include the American Rescue Plan early in his administration, the Inflation Reduction Act, which was a big win for him on climate policy. And then, of course, finally getting an infrastructure law passed.
Brancaccio: Yet the state of the U.S. economy has hurt Biden with many voters.
Adams: Right. Ironically, despite the fact that we avoided the post-COVID recession that a lot of people predicted, Biden is still struggling with the economy. It’s been a weak point for his entire campaign. Of course, the big reason for that has been inflation — which the White House blamed on supply chains and corporate greed. But many Americans — and, of course, Republicans — blamed on the administration. Felicia Wong is president and CEO of the progressive advocacy group Roosevelt Forward.
Felicia Wong: I do think that now that prices are not just stabilizing, but we’re actually seeing the drop in prices, including housing prices — I think some of the legacy of price increases will start to taper off. But that’s been really tough for the president.
Brancaccio: Now some of the president’s work were investments — getting big projects going that will take time will take years to actually vest.
Adams: A good example of this is the CHIPS Act, which was a record investment in the future of the semiconductor industry here in the U.S. But we’re going to need some time and distance before we really see it play out.
Brancaccio: So from the emerging legacy to — I’ve got a practical question, and maybe the question of the morning: What happens, Kimberly, to the campaign cash that Biden has been raising all this time, now that he’s stepping out?
Adams: This has been a big question, and I asked Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel for campaign finance at the Campaign Legal Center, about this just yesterday. And here’s what she said.
Shanna Ports: Vice President Harris gets to keep access to the money that is in the campaign committee, so long as she is designated as the presidential candidate or the vice presidential candidate. And, in the last few hours [Sunday], the campaign has gone ahead and filed the paperwork with the FEC to put her on the line as the presidential candidate and keep her on that committee.
Adams: Now Ports says if Harris is not the eventual Democratic nominee, there’s also a way for the formerly Biden campaign to give cash to the party as well as some super PACs, and then route the money back to other candidates that way. But it’s a bit more complicated.