US Politics

Biden’s Build Back Better plans receive a boost as Manchin drops veto

After a summer of losses, humiliations and setbacks, the US president may be facing a slightly easier autumn as petrol prices drop, inflation slows and parts of his ambitious spending package are passed into legislation

US president Joe Biden on reading that the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (Chips) for America Act had received enough yes votes in the House of Representatives to pass to legislation. Picture: Getty

After a dismal summer so far, it looks as though August may not be such a wicked month for Joe Biden, the beleaguered US president. With petrol prices dropping steadily, a pair of significant legislative victories within striking distance and other, lesser, wins on the horizon, a Democratic drubbing in the November mid-terms, while still more likely than not, is no longer a foregone conclusion.

Biden, who emerged from his Covid-mandated isolation on Wednesday, received ...