Biden celebrates one of the best weeks of his presidency

President Biden, who has been struggling with his approval polling for months amid a declining economy and international crises, started this weekend with one of the best weeks of his presidency. Let’s run through the week:

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in a drone strike. President Joe Biden said Monday in a speech from the White House. "I authorized a precision strike that would remove him from the battlefield, once and for all," Biden said.

Zawahiri, who just turned 71 years old, had remained a visible international symbol of the group, 11 years after the US killed Osama bin Laden. At one point, he acted as bin Laden's personal physician.

Zawahiri was killed in "a precise tailored airstrike" using two Hellfire missiles. The drone strike conducted on last Saturday was authorized by Biden following weeks of meetings with his Cabinet and key advisers, the official said on Monday, adding that no American personnel were on the ground in Kabul at the time of the strike.

Kansas voters turned out in droves to protect abortion access by a nearly 20-point margin. Keep in mind: The red state was the first to vote on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Voters in Kansas rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment Tuesday that would have said there was no right to an abortion in the state, according to The Associated Press.

Kansas was the first state to vote on abortion rights since the US Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health Organization.

President Joe Biden hailed Tuesday's vote and called on Congress to pass a law to restore nationwide abortion rights that were provided by Roe.

"This vote makes clear what we know the majority of Americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions," Biden said in a statement.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema agreed to support the reconciliation bill, giving Democrats enough votes to pass a major component of Biden’s agenda. There had been significant doubt for the entirety of Biden’s presidency that this deal would be made.

Sinema announced Thursday evening that she had reached a deal with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer that could pave the way for Democrats to pass their budget reconciliation package.

The announcement paves the way for Sinema to vote Saturday for a motion to proceed to a budget reconciliation package that would reform the tax code, tackle climate change, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and shrink the federal deficit.    

A robust July jobs report calmed fears that the US was headed into a recession. An aggregate 528,000 jobs were added and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in July, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department, a stunning gain that defied predictions of a slowdown.

Economists expected the US to have added roughly 250,000 jobs in July and keep the jobless rate at 3.6 percent, according to consensus estimates released before the report.

The stunning July jobs gain will raise questions about how close the US economy actually is to a recession after months of growing concern over a sharp slowdown. The resilience of the labor market also means the Federal Reserve may have more room — or at least feel more pressure — to rapidly raise interest rates and fight inflation without fears of triggering steep job losses.

Last but not the least, gasoline prices have continued to decline for more than 50 consecutive days.