Day 64: Biden Doubles Down on US
In his first press conference since taking office, United States president Joe Biden expounded on his new mantra, “it’s never a good idea to bet against the American people.”
He maintained his diplomatic stance on foreign and domestic policies, accelerated his vaccine goal by 100 percent and announced that the economy is on a stronger trajectory than expected.
“On December 8th, I indicated that I hoped to get 100 million shots in people’s arms in my first 100 days. We met that goal last week by day 58 — 42 days ahead of schedule,” Biden said.
“Now, today, I’m setting a second goal, and that is: We will, by my 100th day in office, have administered 200 million shots… And today, we’ve made a historic investment in reaching the hardest-hit and the most vulnerable communities, the highest-risk communities — as a consequence of the virus — by investing an addition[al] $10 billion in being able to reach them.”
Biden’s also looking forward to meeting his 100-day goal of getting a majority of K-8 schools reopened — all in part of his focus to get Americans back to work and back to pre-pandemic normalcy. He’s said he’s issued more than 100 million stimulus payments, too, and has received word that economy is already responding more quickly than planned.
“Since we passed the American Rescue Plan, we’re starting to see new signs of hope in our economy,” he said. “Since it was passed, a majority — a majority of economic forecasters have significantly increased their projections on the economic growth that’s going to take place this year. They’re now projecting it will exceed 6 percent — a 6 percent growth in GDP.
“And just this morning, we learned that the number of people filing for weekly unemployment insurance fell by nearly 100,000 persons. That’s the first time in a year the number has fallen below the pre-pandemic high.”
He noted, however, “there are still too many Americans out of work, too many families hurting, and we still have a lot of work to do.”
Of the criticism he’s received for an influx at the border, he said much of it has to do with what time of year it is (due to ease of desert travel in the colder months) and what’s occurring in those countries from which folks are fleeing.
Biden added, he’s working with the president of Mexico to send singles and families back, to create a temporary safe haven for children who arrived unaccompanied and to verify that children sent with a point of contact in the U.S. are not being directed to human traffickers.
Vice President Kamala Harris is to head up the administration’s immigration initiatives, he said.
Of North Korea and China, Biden said he’s similarly looking to take a diplomatic route in response to their missile testing and alleged human rights violations, respectively. He said he knows China’s president Xi Jinping well, and looks forward to focusing domestically.
“We’ll have strong competition but we’ll insist that China play by the international rules: fair competition, fair practices, fair trade,” Biden said, acknowledging that the U.S. is ever-working on perfecting its adherence to its own “values system.”
“We’ve got to prove democracy works,” he said.
To compete, Biden added, “… we’re going to invest in American workers and American science” — namely infrastructure with climate change policies in mind. “… It’s the place where we will be able to significantly increase American productivity, at the same time providing really good jobs for people.”
One Biden-Harris Administration goal that may not be met is the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan by May 1st, a step in ending “forever wars.”
“Just in terms of tactical reasons, it’s hard to get those troops out,” he said without signaling a new timeline. His approach domestically — to gun reform and the filibuster rule was similar, in that he held his strategy close to his chest.
Biden also fielded questions about the recent voting restriction laws passed in Georgia and whether he’s “worried” it may affect Democrats’ current majority.
“What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick. It’s sick. Deciding in some states that you cannot bring water to people standing in line, waiting to vote; deciding that you’re going to end voting at five o’clock when working people are just getting off work; deciding that there will be no absentee ballots under the most rigid circumstances.
“The Republican voters I know find this despicable… This makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle,” Biden said. “I mean, this is gigantic what they’re trying to do, and it cannot be sustained.”
“…I’ve not been able to unite the Congress, but I’ve been uniting the country, based on the polling data,” Biden noted. “We have to come together. We have to.”