Biden in D.C., bids Delaware many thanks
In farewell video, Trump states ‘best wishes,’ ‘luck’
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden arrived in the nation’s capital Tuesday, ready to assume power as America reels from the coronavirus pandemic, soaring unemployment and concerns about more violence as he prepares to take the oath of office.
Biden, an avid fan of Amtrak, had planned to take a train into Washington ahead of today’s Inauguration Day, but scratched that plan in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
He instead flew into a military air base just outside the capital Tuesday afternoon and then motorcaded into D.C. — a city that’s been flooded by some 25,000 National Guard troops guarding a Capitol, White House and National Mall that are wrapped in a maze of barricades and tall fencing.
Shortly before Biden left for Washington, the U.S. reached another grim milestone in the pandemic, surpassing 400,000 deaths from the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.
“These are dark times,” Biden told dozens of supporters in a send-off in Delaware before leaving for Washington. “But there’s always light.”
Biden plans to issue a series of executive orders on his first day in office — including reversing President Donald Trump’s effort to leave the Paris climate accord, canceling Trump’s trav
el ban on visitors from several predominantly Muslim countries, and extending pandemic-era limits on evictions and student loan payments.
Trump won’t attend Biden’s inauguration, the first outgoing president to skip the ceremony since Andrew Johnson more than a century and a half ago. The White House released a farewell video from Trump just as Biden landed at Joint Base Andrews.
“This week we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,” Trump said in the video. “We extend our best wishes. And we also want them to have luck. A very important word.”
Trump, who spent months trying to delegitimize Biden’s win with allegations of mass voter fraud, referred to the “next administration,” but declined to say Biden’s name.
Trump spent much of the address trumpeting what he sees as his top achievements, including efforts to normalize relations in the Middle East, the development of coronavirus vaccinations and the creation of a new Space Force.
“We did what we came here to do — and so much more,” he said in the nearly 20-minute address.
Trump also spent some of his final time in the White House huddled with advisers weighing final-hour pardons and grants of clemency.
Trump plans to leave Washington early today in an airbase ceremony that he helped plan.
Biden at his Delaware farewell event, held at the National Guard/Reserve Center that’s named after his late son Beau Biden, paid tribute to his home state.
“You’ve been there for us in the good and the bad and never walked away,” Biden said, after calling out to several friends in the audience. “And I am proud, proud, proud, proud to be a son of Delaware.”
Paraphrasing an adage from Irish writer James Joyce, Biden said: “Excuse the emotion. But when I die, Delaware will be written on my heart.”
Biden recalled how his parents moved to the state from Pennsylvania under economic duress. He re
counted standing on a train platform 12 years earlier, awaiting then-President-elect Barack Obama and speaking to his sons about the changes that had prompted the nation to elect the first Black president.
And now, he said, he was headed to Washington to
meet up with Kamala Harris, who will be the first female, first Black and first Asian-American vice president.
“I said, ‘Don’t tell me things can’t change. They can,’” Biden said. “And they do. That’s America. That’s Delaware. A place of hope,
life and limitless possibilities.”
After landing in Washington, Biden went directly to an evening ceremony at the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial to honor American lives lost to covid-19.
Inaugural organizers this week finished installing some
200,000 U.S., state and territorial flags on the National Mall, a display to represent the American people who couldn’t attend the inauguration, which is restricted under the tight security and covid restrictions.
Biden also plans to unveil a sweeping immigration bill on the first day of his administration, hoping to provide an eight-year path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal status. That would be a major reversal from the Trump administration’s tight immigration policies.
Some leading Republican have already balked at Biden’s immigration plan. “There are many issues I think we can work cooperatively with President-elect Biden, but a blanket amnesty for people who are here unlawfully isn’t going to be one of them,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is often a central player in Senate immigration battles.
But Biden’s legislative ambitions could be tempered by the hard truth he faces on Capitol Hill, where Democrats hold narrow majorities in the Senate and House. His hopes to press forward with an avalanche of legislation in his first 100 days could also be slowed by an impeachment trial of Trump.
Aides say Biden will use today’s inaugural address — one that will be delivered in front of an unusually small in-person group because of virus protocols and security concerns and is expected to run 20 to 30 minutes — to call for American unity and offer an optimistic message that Americans can get past the dark moment by working together.
To that end, he extended invitations to Congress’ top four Republican and Democratic leaders to attend Mass with him at St. Matthew’s Cathedral ahead of the inauguration ceremony.
As Biden presses bipartisanship, he’s also facing pressure from his left to go big right away, with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party calling on Senate Democrats to help by doing away with the chamber’s filibuster.
“We are glad President-elect Biden is ready to start addressing the desperate needs of the American people and put forth a covid aid proposal which begins to address the many issues we face,” the progressive groups Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement and New Deal Strategies wrote in a memo Monday.
“We hope ten Senate Republicans will support it, but are not holding our breath. The big question is, what happens when Republicans block Biden?”