As the United States announced its second quarter of negative GDP growth, the nation is now likely considered in a recession pending any major revision to that number. The decline of 0.9 percent is less steep than the 1.6 percent decline last quarter, but it is still noteworthy. According to CNBC, the National Bureau of Economic Research is the one that makes the official call on using the term “recession,” but this fits the technical definition.

When President Joe Biden was on the campaign trail amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he touted his skills to combat a recession in a tweet that aged like milk on a hot summer day.

“I helped pull this country out of a recession before — and, as president, I’ll do it again,” Biden tweeted on Oct. 11, 2020.

I helped pull this country out of a recession before — and, as president, I’ll do it again.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 11, 2020

So what’s the protocol for when the president’s high government spending policies help get the U.S. into a recession?

He’s even made remarks similar to the sentiment in the tweet, such as when he was discussing his economic plan in Sept. 2021, according to the White House:

When I was sworn in as President, the nation was struggling to pull out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Job growth was anemic, with just over 60,000 new jobs per month in the three months before I was sworn in.

Then we went to work and passed the American Rescue Plan back in March.  And it worked.  It’s still working.

Over the last three months, we’ve been creating, on average, 750,000 new jobs per month.  Our economy is growing at the fastest rate we’ve seen in nearly 40 years.

Our recovery is unique in the world.  We’re the only developed country in the world whose economy is now bigger than it was before the pandemic.

While this is all good news, I know many Americans are still struggling to make it through each and every day.

He touted economic recovery during the Obama years and again as president. Now, the country is technically in a recession, and Americans do not need an economist to tell them they’re financially struggling. This is both practical bad news for the American people and political bad news for Democrats, too. As the midterm elections are in November, many people are going to be voting with their wallets on their minds.

If Biden wants to salvage what’s left of his presidency, he needs a plan, and fast.