Biden spoke a day after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates a half-point, an important marker that suggested a shift from fighting inflation to helping economic stability. And the president seized upon the cut — bigger than many economists predicted — as a sign the economy was moving in the right direction.

The White House chief of staff recalled how Biden came into office with what he described as “a once-in-a-generation pandemic and an unprecedented shutdown in the economy” for which the outgoing administration had left “no plan or path forward.”