WASHINGTON — A defiant President Joe Biden defended his record on Wednesday, arguing he had not overpromised what he could accomplish in the White House, even as his first year in office came to a close with his party having made little progress on many of his key priorities.
Biden, conducting only his second solo press conference at the White House since taking office, admitted that he would have to break up his stalled social spending and climate bill to get it passed — but he largely chalked up frustration with his leadership to Americans being unaware of what Democrats had accomplished.
The president said he would be seeking input from outside experts more often and spending more time traveling the country in the lead-up to the midterm elections explaining to the public what lawmakers in his party sought to accomplish in the face of stiff opposition from elected Republicans.
“I did not anticipate that there’d be such a stalwart effort to make sure that most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done,” the president said.
The press conference comes after Biden’s support has taken a steep dive over the past six months, especially among moderates and independents. His approval rating is at its lowest level since he took office, at 42% on average, as his party attempts to defy historical precedent and survive Republican efforts to retake the congressional majority.
Even some members of his own party have started to sour on the president: A Gallup poll released this week found that 82% of Democrats approved of his performance, down 10 percentage points from the 92% who backed him in October.
But the president rebutted critics who argue his policy agenda has caused the decline, saying that he doesn’t believe the polls and that his proposals remain popular.
“Look, I didn’t overpromise,” Biden said. “But I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen. The fact of the matter is that we’re in a situation where we have made enormous progress.”
Biden throughout his press conference sought to press Republicans to state their own policy positions, on issues ranging from Russia to immigration, rather than just criticize his administration. He even referenced former President Donald Trump — though not explicitly by name — and the influence he still wields within the GOP, arguing it prevents Republican lawmakers from coming to bipartisan agreements.
“Did you ever think that one man out of office could intimidate an entire party where they’re unwilling to take any vote contrary to what he thinks should be taken for fear of being defeated in a primary?” Biden said.
The president said that five Republican senators have told him that they are unable to negotiate with the White House in the way they’d like because of Trump, though Biden declined to name who those senators were.
Biden has shown a greater willingness to acknowledge his predecessor recently after ignoring him for most of his first year, as he seeks to use Trump’s unpopularity with many moderate voters against the GOP.
Biden touted the bipartisan infrastructure law and COVID-19 relief funding as evidence that his administration was tackling the nation’s top challenges.
The president acknowledged Americans’ “frustration” and “fatigue” over the coronavirus pandemic but argued that the country is in a “very different place now” than it was when the outbreak began nearly two years ago.
“We’re not going back to lockdowns. We’re not going back to closing schools,” Biden said.
He said his administration would stick with its vaccination effort and continue to expand testing options for Americans.
Biden rejected characterizations of current health guidelines and restrictions as the new normal.
“I call it a job not yet finished,” the president said, adding that one day COVID-19 would not disrupt peoples’ daily lives.
Democrats had hoped to pass into law Biden’s social spending and climate change proposals last year, but their efforts were stymied by two senators from their own party. A futile attempt to pass voting rights legislation also failed this week after Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema said they would join a Republican blockade of an attempted change to Senate rules that would have allowed Democratic voting legislation to pass with a simple majority.
Allies of the White House told McClatchy prior to the news conference that they were concerned Biden had lost control of his party. Manchin delivered a major blow to Biden’s agenda when he said he would not support his Build Back Better legislation in a television interview. Sinema later declared in a Senate floor speech that she would not support the party’s filibuster reform push.
The president also defended his handling of the economy, underscoring his administration’s efforts to keep shelves stocked over the holidays and prevent another wave of COVID-19 infections. Biden said that his administration was doing all it could to reduce inflation.
“We have faced some of the biggest challenges that we’ve ever faced in this country these past few years, challenges to our public health, challenges to our economy,” Biden said. “But we’re getting through it, and not only are we getting through it, we’re laying the foundation for the future.”
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