Biden's infrastructure win overshadowed by new virus surge

Joe Biden wagered his campaign and now his presidency on the premise that government itself could still work, even at a time of fractious political division.

When the Senate voted this week, with bipartisan support, to begin work on an infrastructure bill that Biden supported, he seemed to have proof of the concept. But the triumph was overshadowed by the surging delta variant of the coronavirus that has forced the restoration of mask guidelines, imperiled the nation's economic recovery and threatened Biden's central promise that he would lead the United States out of the pandemic.

"Democrats have to put wins on the board going into 2022, and COVID clouds on the horizon make getting infrastructure and reconciliation done all that much more important," said Robert Gibbs, former press secretary to President Barack Obama. He added that it's "imperative for the Biden administration to communicate on this regularly and prepare for us for the ups and downs of this pandemic." The president's first six months in office, for which he has received strong marks in most public polls, featured the full vaccination of more than 60 per cent of Americans, the creation of more than 3 million new jobs and the passage of a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill. And in recent days, he has made progress along the massive, two-pronged infrastructure track that could pour $4.5 trillion into the United States economy while he also eyed future moves on voting rights and immigration.

But the virulence of the delta strain coupled with stubborn vaccine hesitancy among a significant portion of the American population has raised alarms about another punishing wave of the pandemic, a prospect that has rattled financial markets already nervously eyeing the possibility of long-term inflation. And now Biden has entered a more challenging phase of his presidency as the virus has once more proved to be an intractable foe that now endangers the nation's fragile return to normalcy.

"I know this is hard to hear. I know it's frustrating. I know it's exhausting to think we're still in this fight," Biden said to reporters at the White House on Thursday. "And I know we hoped this would be a simple, straightforward line, without problems or new challenges. But that isn't real life." At the same time, the administration response has hardly been seamless. It has been criticized about its messaging on the virus, including confusing guidance this week as to when and why vaccinated people would need to resume wearing masks indoors.