The White House is finalizing plans to spend Joe Biden’s last months in office putting the finishing touches on his legacy — even as it welcomes a successor determined to tear it all down.
Senior Biden aides mapping out the remaining 65 days are prioritizing efforts to cement key pillars of the president’s agenda by accelerating manufacturing and infrastructure investments. They’re placing fresh emphasis on the major health and energy policies most at risk of repeal, while coordinating a Senate sprint to fill judicial vacancies. And in a move that could mark the last gasp of tangible American support for Ukraine, officials are rushing out $6 billion of remaining aid and preparing a final round of sanctions against Russia.
New measures targeting the nation's lucrative energy industry are among the sanctions under consideration, a White House official granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations said, now that the administration is freed from pre-election anxieties over the potential impact on domestic gas prices.
The final flurry of work has provided a renewed sense of purpose within a White House unmoored by Donald Trump’s pending return to power, according to interviews with more than a half-dozen administration officials and outside advisers. Yet there’s also open acknowledgment that for all the activity, little they do in the next two months may matter after Inauguration Day.
Trump is poised to take a sledgehammer to much of what the administration leaves behind — and no amount of tending to Biden’s own reputation can stop it.
“The bottom line,” said Ivo Daalder, a foreign policy expert close to senior Biden officials, “is there just isn’t anything Biden can do today that isn’t reversible in 10 weeks.”
The administration’s emerging lame duck strategy comes as aides simultaneously lay the groundwork for a presidential transition that Biden views as critical to reinforcing Americans’ faith in elections — and that he’s stressed must go smoothly.
Biden met with Trump at the White House for two hours on Wednesday, reviving a courtesy that Trump denied him four years ago amid the then-president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Rather than resistance, White House aides granted anonymity to discuss private conversations described a sense of resignation that voters had roundly rejected the principles of Biden’s presidency in favor of a return to the freewheeling, transactional politics that Trump represents. Biden won't shrink from the chance to make a final case for his worldview, aides said. But he's also hardly the one Democrats are looking toward to lead the fights of the next four years.
“To be frank, we’re spending a lot of time thinking about his legacy and those kinds of things,” said one of the administration officials, who was granted anonymity to describe internal discussions.
In that vein, White House aides are seeking more opportunities for Biden to publicly tout his accomplishments — including sitting for more interviews or potentially delivering another major address. It remains unclear how intensive those interviews would be. Biden and his team have shied away from extended-format discussions with journalists throughout his term, preferring more tightly controlled sessions with friendly interviewers.
Biden officials harbor deep worries in particular about the fate of their work abroad, where Trump is expected to abruptly shift the U.S.' priorities. The administration is racing to ship a last batch of aid to Ukraine before Jan. 20, for fear Trump will immediately cut off support for the country’s defense against Russia.
The U.S. and its G7 allies also finalized a deal struck earlier this year to loan Ukraine funds backed by profits from seized Russian assets, with the first $50 billion set to go out next month. Crucially, aides said, that arrangement is not solely subject to Trump’s whims — though he could still disrupt the plan by pulling the U.S.’ participation.
The White House will also layer on new sanctions against Russia that could target its oil and gas industry, though the specifics are still under discussion, the White House official said. The move, which could garner some support from Republicans, would force Trump into a decision over whether to lift them.
Biden is planning to devote a significant part of his final weeks to personally meeting with foreign leaders preparing for the repercussions of Trump's presidency. He's also likely to join the next virtual gathering of the 50-plus nations allied behind Ukraine, an administration official said, to encourage them to hold together even after he's left office.
Aides in the meantime are trying to clinch a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, though hopes are waning they can do much more to ease tensions in the Middle East — or improve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — before Trump takes over.
"Anything farther than that on Gaza or Iran, they've got no shot," said Ian Bremmer, president of risk assessment firm Eurasia Group.
On Capitol Hill, the Senate's Democratic majority is expected to spend its final weeks speeding through judicial confirmations, in a final bid to shape the courts before Republicans take full control of Congress.
And after cutting back on his appearances during the closing stages of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, Biden is now likely to show up more frequently at White House events. Aides are also planning a final push to highlight the administration’s investments across the country.
“He wants to just be out there getting things done and traveling,” another administration official said of Biden’s post-election focus.
White House officials have focused in particular on accelerating a raft of grants to chipmakers authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act, in an effort to cement investments that Biden credits for helping revive American manufacturing on his watch.
The Commerce Department has allocated more than 90 percent of the $39 billion tied to the law, but is still in negotiations with the vast majority of the companies slated to receive the awards, which need to be finalized before money can start flowing.
On Friday, the administration clinched what officials hope will be the first in a series of deals before the end of the year, coming to terms on a $6.6 billion injection for an Arizona chipmaking project launched by manufacturing giant Taiwan Semiconductor.
The White House is also privately recruiting allies to amplify public support for components of the chips law and Inflation Reduction Act that are at risk of repeal in a Republican-controlled Congress. Biden’s team has circulated examples of GOP support for certain elements, including Trump’s own attempt to take credit for provisions like a cap on the price of insulin.
“I fully expect that a Trump administration will try to reverse a lot of the regulatory changes that Biden put in place,” said Tobin Marcus, a former Biden aide who is now head of U.S. Policy and Politics at Wolfe Research. “But that stuff doesn’t turn on a dime.”
Those efforts will preserve at least some of Biden's domestic footprint, even if it means giving Trump the opportunity to reap the rewards of programs the current White House put in place.
But even as Biden swallowed his pride and devoted two hours on Wednesday to providing counsel to his nemesis about the myriad challenges to come, there was little hope that any of it would stick once Trump takes office.
"Biden and Trump don't see the world in the same way," Daalder said. "Trump will say, thank you very much but I don’t need your advice. I’m in charge."
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