Joe Biden has plenty to worry about in Washington – even with global matters on his mind

With two important bills still needing to make their way through Congress, the president may find himself distracted at Cop26, writes Chris Stevenson

President Biden at the G20 summit in Rome on Saturday (PA)

Joe Biden has a big role to play in how the US – and the world – deals with the climate crisis, hence why there is such a focus on him as he moves from attending the G20 summit in Rome to the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.

Those global hopes are very much intertwined with issues on the domestic front for the president. Biden is having trouble keeping his Democratic Party united when it comes to two economic bills.

The largest, a $1.75 trillion economic plan, involves a significant amount of Biden's plans for fighting the climate crisis. The president wants a 50 to 52 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by the end of the decade, while the bill will also pump billions of dollars into dealing with extreme weather and helping with clean energy projects. It is supposed to be a statement about where the US stands as Cop26 begins.

The second is a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which progressives in his party have wanted more detail on and a vote on the larger economic plan on the same day. The rows over the timing of the bill and wrangling with moderate senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema over the contents have left Biden in a difficult spot. Calls from Biden to unite over the infrastructure bill before he headed to Europe appear to have made little headway in ending the ideological struggle.

Democrat leaders in the House of Representatives are said to be pushing for votes on the two bills – essentially the centrepieces of Biden’s legislative plans – on Tuesday. House majority whip Jim Clyburn told a crowd in Portsmouth, Virgina, on Saturday: “We’re gonna pass those two bills you’ve been hearing about. We’re gonna pass them. The vote’s been called for Tuesday. We’re gonna take this vote, and we’re gonna pass them.”

It is a trying time for Biden, with house speaker Nancy Pelosi having already told house Democrats not to “embarrass” the president by voting down the infrastructure bill during his trip overseas. This in-party squabbling also comes at a time when disappointing economic growth – which has its roots in the Covid-19 pandemic and global supply chain issues – is also causing worry. Biden said during the G20 summit on Sunday that every country had to take action to reduce the problems and prevent them from happening in the future.

There was at least one note of positivity for Biden yesterday – an end to a long-festering trade war with the European Union over steel and aluminium tariffs. Speaking alongside the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Rome, Biden called the end of the spat – a hangover from the administration of former president Donald Trump – a “testament to the power of our strong partnership and to what the US can accomplish by working together with our friends”.

Biden may also wish to direct those words about partnership towards his own party.