The Biden Agenda for 2023

For Joe Biden, 2022 was a turnaround year. He entered it bruised and stumbling as inflation soared, Covid-19 raged and Russia invaded. By the end, he and fellow Democrats had secured a series of victories in Congress, staved off the customary midterm election massacre and beat back skeptics within the party, helped by a resilient job market and receding inflation. It’s left Biden in a buoyant mood heading into 2023, emboldened and all but certain, at age 80, to announce a reelection bid soon.

- Cristina Lindblad

But this year’s path is thornier.

Republicans wrested control of the House, which means no more Democrat-only bills rammed through Congress. Biden also faces a spate of Republican investigations, some targeting him directly. And the US may be headed for a recession— courtesy of the Federal Reserve’s barrage of interest-rate hikes—which would increase dissatisfaction with his management of the economy.

Nevertheless, Biden aides are widely sanguine. Yes, there’s less room for bipartisan breakthroughs such as the 2021 infrastructure bill and last year’s semiconductor subsidies legislation, but don’t rule them out entirely. And if those don’t materialize, the president will busy himself drafting executive actions and implementing laws he’s already signed.

What’s going unsaid, yet is abundantly clear, is that Biden is seeking to turn the stones blocking his path this year into the foundations of his reelection bid. The thinking is that Republican partisanship and infighting could end up benefiting Democrats if it makes them look as if they’re the only ones focused on core issues.

“The president defied expectations once again—that’s a hallmark of his political career,” says Ben LaBolt, a Democratic strategist, referring to November’s midterms, which failed to deliver the much-presaged red wave. Here’s a look at Biden’s scope for action in the coming year.