Biden tries to sell his agenda while Republicans go after their own

President Joe Biden met Republican criticisms of his economic proposals head-on Friday, citing disappointing jobs data as a call to action for more government spending and brushing aside concerns that generous expanded unemployment benefits have kept Americans from returning to work.

It was an example of the President, who's already shown he's getting down to work on substantive issues, using current headlines to amplify his efforts to sell that work. In the face of far-worse-than-expected economic data, which critics were eager to pin on his administration, Biden stayed relentlessly on message -- turning the poor numbers into a messaging tool. Headlines about the GOP, meanwhile, continued to be dominated by former President Donald Trump's looming influence, which congressional Republicans did little to quell as they moved closer to ousting a Trump critic from leadership. While Biden has hit the road to make his case to voters, he's not exactly ignoring Republicans down Pennsylvania Avenue. Facing resistance to the size and scope of his plans from Republicans (and even some Democrats), he'll soon meet with congressional leadership from both parties at the White House, followed by GOP senators whom he hopes will work with him to find an infrastructure compromise.