My timeline

[BushKerry04]

February 17, 2041:Oval Office & White House Tour
On February 17, two college friends of mine and their families visited Rachel and I for the first time. Paul O'Rourke and I met in an economics class we were in together during our freshman year, and had interesting debates about the topic. Like me, Paul commuted to college. In his case, he is originally from York, Pennsylvania. Upon graduation, he went back to York and joined his father's law firm. He's now a prominent real estate attorney in the community and is married with three children. Paul and his wife, Tricia, have been married about as long as Rachel and I. Rebecca Hoffman and I were both active in the Franklin & Marshall Democratic Club, and we struck up a friendship due to our similar politics. Originally from Highland Park, New Jersey, she relocated to Lancaster for college and still lives there to this day, where she owns a financial advisory practice along with her wife, Marla. Marla was Rachel's college roommate, and they met through Rachel and I. Paul and Rebecca have both been involved in my campaigns; Paul hosted phone banks for my state legislative campaigns and Rebecca helped raise money for all of my campaigns for State Senate, U.S. Senate, and President. Additionally, both hosted phone banks at their businesses during my U.S. Senate races and served on the Pennsylvania Finance Committee for the presidential campaign.

Rachel and I had the chance to show them our respective office's. I use the Resolute Desk, and the photos on the thin table behind me consist of a photo of my parents and I from my Bar Mitzvah, Rachel's and my wedding photo, Vice President Susan Rice swearing me in to the United States Senate in January 2031 with Rachel and my parents looking on, a photo of my dog and two cats, a photo of me with four of my Grandparents at my college graduation, and a photo with Paul, Rebecca, and I from our 10th college reunion. My oval office also consists of several portraits; on the walls aside from my desk include a portrait of George Washington at Valley Forge on the left, and a portrait of Rosa Parks with Martin Luther King Jr. on the right. Above the fireplace are five portraits; directly ahead of where I sit when at the Resolute desk is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, on the top left is Thomas Jefferson, on the top right is Susan B. Anthony, on the bottom left is Jeannette Rankin, and on the bottom right is John Dickinson. I also have four busts in the oval office; Frederick Douglas, Theodore Roosevelt, Margaret Chase Smith, and Alice Paul.

[BushKerry04]

February 20-25, 2041: Dealing with recession
My team and I didn’t take a victory lap following the passage of our economic agenda. The economy remains in recession, with unemployment and inflation both at 6% for the month of January. The unemployment rate was unchanged from December, while inflation fell slightly from 6.1% to 6%. Treasury Secretary Kulger, Commerce Secretary Polis, OMB Director MacGuineas, Gina Raimondo, Nicole Giordano, and my economic advisor Liz Ann Sonders had been meeting on a daily basis to discuss the path forward for the economy. My Council of Economic Advisors blamed three things in particular for the recession. Declining business investment due to the trade policy of the prior administration, a slowdown in immigration which caused a slowdown in productivity, and the Federal Reserve sharply raising interest rates after the return of deficits. Officially, the recession began in November 2039. There was some good news at this point. My economic team believed unemployment had peaked at 6.3% in July 2040. Similarly, inflation likely peaked in December at 6.7%. The challenge would be getting both to come down. There were three things I could do immediately, through executive orders, to help the situation. First, lift the cap the Vance administration had placed on legal immigration. Secondly, order the Small Business Administration to issue more loans for capital equipment to increase productivity. And third, roll back Vance administration tariffs. The first two steps were easy, rolling back tariffs takes time. The economic program we passed in January would help with encouraging the creation of jobs and putting money back into people’s pockets. Our concern was the speed at which this would be implemented; the first checks will likely go out in June, at the earliest. We needed something immediately. On February 23rd, I signed these executive orders.

On February 25th, my team and I met with Speaker Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Klobuchar, and others to discuss the situation and offer our proposal. What we came up with was legislation to boost infrastructure spending and capital spending in both the private and public sectors. When we extended infrastructure funding during the Whitmer administration, revenue was up and we were able to spend money without going into debt. Times were different now. Additionally, gas tax revenues have become outdated; in 2030, 65% of vehicles on the road were powered by gasoline compared to 35% EV. Today, it’s 50/50. We needed to tax electric vehicles. Speaker Jeffries, Senator Klobuchar, Senators John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Todd Young (R-IN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Representatives Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Shontel Brown (D-OH), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR), Mike Lawler (R-NY), and Nicole Malliotakis (D-NY) spent an entire week working on details for bipartisan legislation.