Being President is hard.
| 'All I can do is make my pennies stretch'  Being president is hard.
Joe Biden is facing his most challenging moment yet as commander in chief. His approval rating, solid around 50% for months, has dipped into the low 40s with the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal and as the pandemic starts to look endless.
He spent months pleading with vaccine skeptics — many of them Republicans — to get immunized. Millions refused, and now that 150,000 are getting infected every day, and around 1,500 are dying, the blowback is hurting him politically. A demoralized nation is a disaster for any president's popularity, whether it's their fault or not. On Friday, the President also had to spin disappointing jobs data after the Delta coronavirus variant slowed the US economic engine. His hope for a summer vacation after years on the campaign trail and a relentless first half year in office evaporated in the crush of events.
Biden must balance inter-Democratic Party discord brewed by discontented progressives with his own desire to appease moderates who effectively hold his agenda hostage in the 50-50 Senate. His $3.5 trillion spending blueprint represents the most ambitious attempt to overhaul climate, health care and social policy in decades. Moving in tandem is a separate $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill. If Biden can pass both, he will have a claim to be a historically significant President. If they fail, his agenda will be in tatters and a weak domestic legacy will be largely set.
Getting the bills through will take every trick that Biden has learned in half a century in Washington, including in the Senate, plus House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's renowned mastery of the tectonic forces among her own Democratic troops. But maneuvering menacingly like a shark in the shallows is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican who's the shrewdest Senate tactician in decades and who aims to scupper Biden's hopes and advance his own ambition of winning back the Senate for Republicans.
It feels like every month so far has been dubbed the most critical of Biden's presidency. But it's also true. Every president faces a moment when they have to dig deep within to mobilize their nation. This is it for Biden. The world and America The son of an Afghan policewoman accused the Taliban of murdering her at eight months pregnant.
Belarusian protest leader Maria Kolesnikova was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
And actor Michael K. Williams, best known for playing Omar Little in "The Wire," was found dead.  Sponsor Content by Atlas Coffee Club  Love coffee? This startup takes you on a coffee world tour 50+ countries grow coffee, but you'll only find a handful on the shelves. Atlas Coffee Club sends you on a world tour of rare, sustainably grown coffees -- each month a new discovery. From Burundi to Brazil ... Get 50% off today.
 'All I can do is make my pennies stretch' Rebecca Ruiz used to do office work for a trucking company, but it shuttered at the start of the pandemic. Then her husband died of Covid-19. Ever since, she's been homeschooling her two young granddaughters, fearful that they could bring the virus home to her from the classroom. She'd like to find a new job that will allow her to work from home, writes CNN's Tami Luhby, but Ruiz says that "right now, all I can do is make my pennies stretch." Happy Labor Day? Labor Day is an early September celebration of the American worker. But this seems like a sick joke.
As of Monday, more than 8 million Americans were left without unemployment benefits even as the Covid-19 pandemic batters the economy yet again. No one expects Congress to renew federal weekly $300 payments, which were first introduced earlier in the pandemic to supplement state payments for workers caught in the worst slump in decades. Other support programs are expiring. The White House insists states have enough Covid-19 relief money to keep unemployed Americans afloat. But several Republican states had already cut off federal benefits in hopes of forcing workers back and so far no state has extended its pandemic unemployment programs.
The US economy is in an odd spot. Unemployment is still high, at 5.2%, but employers are crying out for workers. There are 10 million open positions: School buses need drivers. Trucking firms can't get the staff to move goods, worsening a supply chain crunch. Many schools lack nurses.
What is going on? Republicans often argue that workers are getting almost as much in extended unemployment benefits as they can at low-wage jobs, so they don't want to go back. (They haven't, however, translated that into an argument for raising the minimum wage.) But many manual laborers who can't work from home fear catching the coronavirus if they go back to work. And some businesses like restaurants have slowed hiring with the Delta variant hurting trade.
CNN's Luhby, an expert on the human stories behind economic data, has profiled April Stokes, an optician in Detroit who knows she could get a job, but can't take one because her options for after-school child care have dried up — a nationwide problem. Now she's losing the governmental financial support that helped keep her above water. "The government is not leaving us with any options," said Stokes. "There are a lot of single moms out here that are really panicking right now and don't know what to do."  A nurse in Colorado made Covid-19 vaccine vials into a sculpture in tribute to fellow health care workers. Thanks for reading. Tuesday is Independence Day in Brazil – expect protests for and against President Jair Bolsonaro. Former US President Barack Obama and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will appear together to discuss the latest vaccination efforts. And German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife plan to visit Sweden. View in browser | All CNN Newsletters
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