WASHINGTON – In 2009, then-Vice President Joe Biden was "Sheriff Joe,” the enforcer making sure federal dollars from a massive economic aid package were getting to the right places and quickly.
This time, President Joe Biden’s role is different: He's lead salesman for the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package, eager to score political points as Americans begin to reap benefits from the massive government relief effort.
Biden signed the bill into law on Thursday and then extolled it in a prime-time address to the nation that night. On Friday, he was to celebrate the package again, this time with Democratic lawmakers in his first Rose Garden event as president.