By Natasha Korecki, Christopher Cadelago
POLITICO
March 7, 2021
From the day Joe Biden stepped into the White House, his top priority was clear: Pass Covid relief. Ignore skirmishes elsewhere. Keep the message to Congress simple. And keep the message to the public even clearer: The current health and financial crisis would not go unanswered.
“Crisis creates urgency and they made the relief bill the singular focus of their agenda,” said Rahm Emanuel, who as President Obama’s chief of staff in 2009 ushered through a relief package after himself uttering his famous phrase about not letting a serious crisis “go to waste.” For the Biden team, Emanuel said, Covid relief was priorities “No. 1, 2 and 3 of their agenda.”