President doubles vaccination goal
Biden says bid to limit voting rights is ‘un-American’
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden opened his first formal news conference Thursday with a nod toward the improving picture on battling the coronavirus, but he was immediately pressed on thorny issues, like immigration and voting rights, now testing his administration.
Biden doubled his original goal on COVID-19 vaccines by pledging that the nation will administer 200 million doses by the end of his first 100 days in office. The administration had met Biden’s initial goal of 100 million doses earlier this month before even his 60th day in office as the president pushes to defeat a pandemic that has killed more than 545,000 Americans and devastated the nation’s economy.
The president left the door open to backing fundamental changes in Senate procedure to muscle key parts of his agenda like immigration and voting rights past Republican opposition “if there’s complete lockdown and chaos.”
At one point, Biden described Republican efforts to limit voting rights as “sick” and “un-American.” He argued that even GOP voters believe actions that make it harder for people to cast ballots are “despicable” attempts to undermine democracy.
The 78-year-old president also for the first time said his “plan is to run for reelection, that is my expectation.”
Even as his administration navigates the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic damage, Biden is grappling with a host of pressing issues, including a recent pair of mass shootings, rising international tensions, early signs of divisions within his party and increasing numbers of migrants crossing the southern border.
The president preached the political expedience of caution in the face of mounting impatience among progressive voters eager for action on his ambitious legislative agenda. He teased changes to the congressional filibuster if necessary to achieve some of those goals.
Biden at first backed a modification — but not elimination — of the arcane procedural tactic, which stands in the way of getting the president’s agenda through the deadlocked Senate. But he then suggested, at least on certain issues, he would go further, saying the filibuster — which requires 60 votes to pass legislation in the Senate — was being “abused in a gigantic way” by Republicans.
“If there’s complete lockdown and chaos, as a consequence of the filibuster, then we’re going to have to go beyond what I’m talking about,” he said.
“I want to get things done. I want to get them done consistent with what we promised the American people,” said Biden, who spent decades in the Senate. “I am going to say something outrageous: I have never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States Senate.
“I am going to deal with all of those problems,” he pledged.
The president was repeatedly pressed about the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, where increasing numbers of young migrants have overwhelmed the government’s holding facilities. Biden promised better media access to the camps — once his administration has a better handle on things — as well as improvements to the nation’s immigration system and U.S. help to improve conditions in the migrants’ home countries.
“I can’t guarantee that we’re going to solve everything, but I can guarantee that we’re going to make it better,” he said.
And in the aftermath of two mass shootings in a week, Biden was pressed on his plans for new gun violence laws. He responded that legislating is “a matter of timing” and then gave a long-winded answer about his infrastructure plan, which he said will be his administration’s next legislative priority.
Despite opening the event with remarks about his administration’s plans for the next steps in confronting the pandemic, the president didn’t get a single query about the virus that has rewritten the rules of society for more than a year.
Biden was the first chief executive in four decades to reach this point in his term without holding a formal news conference, where reporters have the opportunity for extended back-andforth with the president on the issues of the day. That delay produced a surprising level of anticipation for a chief executive who has deliberately tried to turn down the temperature in a city overheated by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Biden, who once proclaimed himself a “gaffe machine,” avoided any major stumbles even as he rambled at times and cut himself off at one point, suddenly proclaiming “am I giving too long an answer?”
The scene was different from what Americans are used to seeing at such events. The president still stood behind a lectern in the East Room against a backdrop of flags.
But due to the pandemic, the White House limited attendance and only 30 socially distanced chairs for journalists were spread out in the expansive room.
There were none of the personal attacks on members of the media like those made by his predecessor, yet at one point he noted that the session had run more than an hour and it was time to wrap up.
“Folks, I’m going,” Biden said as he walked away.