Top Biden adviser: White House heads into new year with ‘strong jolt of momentum’

A top adviser to President Biden says the White House believes it is heading into the new year with the wind at its back thanks to several legislative successes and a strong midterm elections showing for Democrats.

“As we come to the end of the Biden-Harris Administration’s second year in office, we see the President’s approval rating on the upswing, a resilient economic climate, and strong support for the President’s agenda,” Mike Donilon, a senior adviser to Biden, wrote in a memo obtained by The Hill in which he outlined several successes for the president during his first two years.

Donilon, a longtime Biden aide, wrote that the president deserves significant credit for helping Democrats add another seat to their Senate majority and stave off significant House losses, despite historic trends that favor the party not in the White House.

“There has been a lot of commentary about how and why this happened. Some have focused on fears about Republican extremism. Others have pointed to the role that the issue of choice played after the Dobbs decision,” Donilon wrote, referencing the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended abortion protections guaranteed by Roe v. Wade. 

“And others have noted how much stronger the concern for our democracy was among the voters than the press, the pundits, and the insiders understood. That is all true,” Donilon added. “But what hasn’t been fully reported on — or fully understood — is how important a role the achievements and the agenda of the President and the Democrats played in the midterms.”

The outcome, Donilon wrote, “has been a strong jolt of momentum for the President as we move into the New Year.”

Donilon’s memo, which was first reported by CNN, pointed both to Biden’s rebounding approval rating in recent polls, as well as a slew of legislative achievements that are broadly popular with the public.

He noted that some recent polls have pegged Biden’s approval rating at around 45 percent, up from July, when it was below 40 percent when Biden was taking arrows over high gas prices, broader inflation and uncertainty over his agenda.

Donilon also argued that Biden’s agenda has delivered for the public. He cited the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act that provided funding for semiconductor manufacturing that will boost jobs and make the U.S. less reliant on foreign supply chains for the key computer chip parts.

He also noted other bipartisan wins, such as the PACT Act that expanded care for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, and the Respect for Marriage Act signed into law last week that protects recognition of same-sex marriages.

Donilon cited a poll that showed specific pieces of the Inflation Reduction Act — specifically provisions allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and raising the minimum tax rate on large corporations — are popular with a majority of the public. The bill passed in August with Democratic votes and included major pillars of Biden’s climate and health care agenda.

And Donilon pointed to falling gas prices and strong economic data that shows the U.S. may be able to stave off a recession in the coming months.

Taken together, Donilon painted an optimistic outlook for the year ahead even as the White House prepares for two years of divided Congress, including a Republican-controlled House that is likely to focus on investigating Biden and will offer limited support in the president’s legislative agenda.

“Over the past two years, the Biden-Harris Administration has had historic economic legislative accomplishments. … He has created a record number of jobs, revitalized American manufacturing, made a record reduction in the deficit, and put the country on the path to lower inflation,” Donilon wrote. “It is an agenda and a record of achievement that the country supports at very high levels. And it forms the foundation for even stronger achievements as the nation heads into the New Year.”