President Joe Biden held his first Press Conference today and defended his Administrations’s policy focus and positions on issues like his Reelection, COVID Vaccinations and Relief, Immigration, the Filibuster, working with Republicans, Voting Rights, Afghanistan, North Korea, China, and Infrastructure.
During the question and answer session, the President:
- Declared that he believes he would run for reelection in 2024 and Vice President Harris would be on the ticket.
- Set a goal for 200 million vaccines administered in 100 days.
- Defended the approach to passing the American Rescue Plan through budget reconciliation without any Republican votes.
- Blamed the Trump Administration for decimating the immigration system that has caused the slow reaction to moving migrant children to Department of Health and Human Services facilities. He also said that Trump had a larger surge in migrant traffic last year.
- Reminded the American People that the only change at the border is that his Administration is humanely accepting unaccompanied children. Most of everyone else is being sent back. On a follow-up question, he said that he, unlike Trump, will not let unaccompanied children starve and live on their own. He also said that he and the Vice President will work to help those nations where many of the migrants live. He rebuked a reporter who asked if he thought it was acceptable to have children crammed into Customs and Border facilities, saying “are you serious.” The President could not commit to a time when the press could visit those border facilities. Mr. Biden says “he makes no apologies” for rescinding Trump’s immigration policies that were not legal or did not conform with promoting human dignity. He also said that they were working very hard to reunite families that were separated during the Trump Administration. Biden said, “I can’t guarantee that we can solve anything but I can guarantee we are going to try and make better.”
- Supports filibuster reform by making people having to speak to maintain their filibuster. He did say that if there was a complete lockdown on issues like voting rights legislation, then more may be necessary to reform the filibuster. On a follow-up question, Mr. Biden acknowledged the filibuster is a remnant of the Jim Crow Era and the system needs to be reformed.
- Said it will be hard to meet the May 1, 2021 deadline to pull troops out of Afghanistan.
- Said that the North Koreans firing two ballistic missiles was illegal and that they would be following the situation closely.
- Called Republican attempts in State Legislature to suppress the vote “UnAmerican” and “sick.” He said Republican voters he knows find this situation “despicable” and “can not be sustained.”
- Disagreed with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s assertion that the President’s agenda is too far left and he is not being bipartisan enough. He said that McConnell should look at the people in his party that supported the American Rescue Plan. He also mocked the Republicans for playing the debt game when legislation is “saving lives” rather than measures that “feather the nest” of the wealthy with tax cuts.
- Said that while he may not bringing elected Republicans to support his agenda, he is doing fine with Republicans in the country, saying he is working to help all the American People.
- Declared “that we are not looking for confrontation with China” but “stiff competition.” Recognizing that China’s leaders are autocrats, he also called for China to follow the rules with regard to Taiwan and the South China Seas. He also said the United States must reclaim the lead in technology advances in all scientific areas like biotech and artificial intelligence. Biden also said he would work to restore relations with his Allies and the world’s democracies. He told the journalist that his children and grandchildren would be writing dissertations on what succeeded “Autocracy or Democracy.”
- Announced that he will hold an event in Pittsburgh outlining his infrastructure/jobs proposals. He said that Mayors across the country are clamoring for legislation in this area where the United States, according to Mr. Biden, is ranked 85th around the world. He said it is the place where we can improve American Productivity and provide many good-paying jobs, especially on rebuilding roads, bridges, airlines, and schools.
(UPDATE) Please click here to read CNN’s fact check of the press conference.
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It seems to me most of the questions were either about Donald Trump or about immigrants seeking asylum on the border (a ginned up GQP talking point), disputing the so-called “liberal bias” of the media. I half expected a reporter to cry out “I wish I knew how to quit you!” The White House press corps has been criticizing Biden for taking so long to do a press conference, and for THIS? The White House press corps is pathetic. They need to take a moment to reflect and reexamine their career choice.
Jennifer Rubin writes, “Biden excels at his first news conference. The media embarrass themselves.”, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/25/biden-excels-his-first-news-conference-media-embarrass-themselves/
After weeks of whining, the White House press corps got its first official Biden presidential news conference on Thursday.
The repeated questions on the same topic were tiresome and a poor use of precious time.
Try as they might to seem “tough,” the media did not succeed in knocking Biden off message. Biden spoke in great detail and length to show not only his mastery of the issues but also to suck tension and conflict out of the room. He simply would not be lured into accepting a false premise devised by Republicans (i.e., that his nice demeanor prompts parents to send kids thousands of miles under deadly conditions).
The media did not distinguish themselves. By asking about immigration multiple times and echoing the false narrative that Biden had created a “surge,” they showed they were more interested in sound bites than actual news. Their failure to ask [even one question] about the pandemic, the recession, anti-Asian violence, climate change or even infrastructure (Biden had to bring it up himself) was nothing short of irresponsible. They pleaded for a news conference and then showed themselves to be unserious. They never laid a glove on Biden; they did, however, make the case for why these events are an utter waste of the president’s time.
Dan Froomkin from Press Watch is even harsher on the White House press corps, “At Biden’s first news conference, it wasn’t the president who was out of touch”, https://presswatchers.org/2021/03/at-bidens-first-news-conference-it-wasnt-the-president-who-was-out-of-touch/
The White House press corps’ abysmal failure to ask important questions about pressing issues during President Biden’s first news conference on Thursday was the clearest demonstration yet of the contrast between what the political media cares about and what is real.
There were no questions about any element of the Covid crisis – not the vaccine, the prognosis, the economy, nothing! – although it’s by far the most important issue on any normal person’s mind right now. There were no questions about the substance of Biden’s ambitious plans related to infrastructure and climate change, immigration and voting rights.
Instead, the questions reflected the insider, horse-racy obsessions of the political press corps. There were repeated questions about the filibuster, and about the 2024 election(!).
There were several contentious questions about the situation at the border, which the right-wing is intent on turning into a cause for hysteria — with the mainstream media’s collaboration. The first border question, from PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor, contained such a false and loaded assumption – direct from far-right talking points – that Biden actually fact-checked it.
That’s right, after four years of the media desperately needing to fact-check the president (and often failing), now the president has to fact-check the media.
And NBC’s Kristin Welker suggested that Biden’s decision to roll back Trump executive orders “too quickly” worsened the situation at the border — leading Biden to correct her, as well.
ABC’s Cecilia Vega, for instance, seemed outraged that by letting young people in Biden is “encouraging” more to come. [A GQP talking point.]
After four years of the media desperately needing to reality-check the president (and often failing), now the president was the one talking about things that mattered and marveling at not one but two reporters asking about the 2024 election. “Look, I don’t know where you guys come from,” he told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins.
What sounded at first like an important question about voting rights turned into a pathetic example of false equivalence, when CBS’s Nancy Cordes raised the issue of how “Republican legislatures across the country are working to pass bills that would restrict voting” — but ended up asking if Biden was “worried that if you don’t manage to pass voting rights legislation, that your party is going to lose seats and possibly lose control of the House and the Senate in 2022?”
Biden essentially corrected her, too. “What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick. It’s sick.”
If reporters were trying to show they could be tough against a Democrat, their attempt backfired terribly. Far from knocking Biden off message, the vapidity of the questions actually strengthened Biden’s central theme: That regardless of what others are up to, he’s just trying to get stuff done.
White House reporters should be tough on the president – on every president. But that doesn’t mean asking questions based on their own obsessions or right-wing talking points. It means coming at the president with tough questions on behalf of the American public. It means pushing him to govern better, more humanely, and more transparently.
As I’ve argued a million times before, they should all be replaced with people who care about governing, not politics – by people who care about what’s real.
Collins had the worst questions, asking if VP Harris would still be on the ticket. Was she searching for something to ask. There were a lot more worthy and pertinent topics to choose from. I thought Biden responded well to the Welker and Vega questions. Rubin’s editorial was on point.
Biden didn’t get mad when someone asked a tough question and call them fake news or insult them.
Biden didn’t brag about his ratings.
Biden didn’t brag about the size of his electoral college win.
Biden was prepared and didn’t just make stuff up on the fly.
He gave thoughtful, knowledgeable answers, and discussed humane treatment for people coming here.
82 million people made the right choice.
Oh, yeah, and he didn’t tell anyone to drink bleach.