White House's Ben LaBolt sketches Biden strategy for final four months

Zoom in: Biden will speak on climate in Manhattan on Tuesday at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, after he addresses the UN General Assembly.

• On Thursday, Biden and Vice President Harris will appear together for remarks on gun violence. Axios is told he'll announce new steps to implement the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun safety bill he signed in 2022.

Zoom out: "Every day the President meets with his team, he is pushing to lay it all out on the field for the remainder of the term," Ben LaBolt, White House senior adviser and communications director, writes in a new memo framing Biden's strategy for the next 119½ days.

• Biden plans to make the case for Biden-Harris policies, travel to swing states and wrap up his foreign-policy agenda.

LaBolt writes that at a Cabinet meeting on Friday, Biden gave three directives:

1. Get as much work done as possible.
2. Bring to him directly any hurdles or obstacles they are facing to get things done.
3. Ramp up efforts to communicate to the American people what we are getting done.

Here's the full text of LaBolt's memo:

President Biden's record is clear: Beating a once-in-a-century pandemic, while protecting American families. Transforming an economy that was flat on its back when he came into office to the strongest in the world, with high employment, strong growth and falling inflation and interest rates. Strengthening our alliances around the world. And restoring decency and dignity to the White House.

• When the President decided to step back from the campaign and endorse the Vice President, he called his senior team together that day and said we need a plan for the next 180 days, to finish as strong as we started.

Every day the President meets with his team, he is pushing to lay it all out on the field for the remainder of the term. His directives are:

• Aggressively execute on the rest of his agenda.
• Look for new opportunities to put a stake in the ground for the future.
• Hit the road to highlight the Biden-Harris record.
• Show up as a President for all Americans and communicate directly with them on how the Biden-Harris Agenda will pay dividends now and 10, 20, 30 years into the future.

The last 2 weeks — and the coming weeks — have and will reflect this strategic direction from the President. In the last 2 weeks:

• The President delivered a speech on the important economic milestone we've reached with inflation and interest rates down, and employment, wages, and GDP rising. He also outlined the work ahead to keep lowering costs, invest in America to create good jobs, and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up — not the top down.

The President traveled to WI, MI and PA, touting the enormous progress of the Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda:

• He told his team he wanted to go to Wisconsin to announce $7.3 billion for affordable electricity — the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal. The investment will support ~5 million rural co-op members.
• He rolled out a new EO [executive order] in Michigan to promote good-paying jobs with strong labor standards and met with union workers.
• He traveled to Pittsburgh with the Vice President to discuss how together they have led the most pro-union Administration in history and Philadelphia to announce $1.3 billion for HBCUs.
• He launched the first digital conversation in a series that will run through this fall to highlight Americans and communities that will benefit from the legislation he passed and programs he enacted. This first one-on-one conversation was between the President and Camille and Emile Smith from Wisconsin, who were able to get high-speed internet as a result of the American Rescue Plan.

The President made new announcements to deliver for the American people:

• Over $3 billion across 25 projects through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to manufacture key battery components & support next-generation battery manufacturing.
• $236 million from his Investing in America agenda to reduce the risk of wildfire and $300 million to help Americans become more resilient to flooding.
• Placed new requirements on health plans that will improve and strengthen access to mental health care for 175 million Americans with private health insurance.
• Tightened tariff loopholes that Chinese exporters exploited.

The President gathered with many core constituencies:

• He hosted the first-ever White House brunch celebration of Black excellence with more than 1000 in attendance.
• He spoke at the Phoenix Awards Dinner, and went to Philadelphia to speak at the National HBCU Week Conference, where there were chants of: "Thank you, Joe!"
• He announced $1.3 billion in funding for HBCUs, building on his record investment of over $17 billion for HBCUs.

• He hosted leaders and members of the Latino community at a reception and attended the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala.
• He gathered more than 1,000 survivors, and advocates on the South Lawn to mark the 30th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act — which he wrote and shepherded into law 30 years ago. At the event, he announced more than $690 million to support survivors.

The President advanced our national security agenda and entered an intense period of diplomacy:

• He welcomed the UK Prime Minister to the White House, where they focused on securing a hostage deal and immediate cease-fire in the Middle East.
• He provided additional security assistance to meet Ukraine's critical security and defense needs, including air defense missiles and armored vehicles.
• He marked the 3rd anniversary of AUKUS with an update from the 3 leaders - United States, United Kingdom, and Australia - on progress made and next steps to deepen this unprecedented partnership and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.
• He hosted foreign leaders in Wilmington for the first time ever for the Quad Summit to make progress on key issues from climate to cancer to technology.
• He will address UNGA as President for the last time and meet with many world leaders.
• He will welcome President Zelenskyy to the White House, and host UAE's Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

And the President wrapped up these 2 weeks setting the stage for the next 4 months:

• He gathered his Cabinet to discuss how we are prioritizing moving funding out the door, announcing new programs or policies - or delivering on programs and policies we have already announced. In the meeting – he gave his Cabinet 3 directives:

1. Get as much work done as possible.
2. Bring to him directly any hurdles or obstacles they are facing to get things done.
3. Ramp up efforts to communicate to the American people what we are getting done.

In the coming weeks, the President will continue to get as much done as possible:

• [On Thursday], the President will roll out new policy to combat gun violence. This is a President who has taken dozens of executive actions to counter the scourge of gun violence, established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention – overseen by the Vice President, and signed the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years.
• [On Tuesday], the President will give a speech on the historic work he has done to tackle the climate crisis and the Biden-Harris Administration will make new policy announcements to keep building on this progress.
• The President will keep traveling the country — highlighting the Biden-Harris record.
• The President will travel internationally as he continues to strengthen our alliances and partnerships on the world stage, which has been a top priority for him as President, having restored American leadership on the world stage.