Joe Biden has picked the perfect time to meet the press. He has comfortably exceeded his campaign goal on vaccines and that deserves the pomp and circumstance of a full White House press conference
The first official presidency press conference of President Joe Biden will take place Thursday afternoon — a long-standing tradition later than in previous presidencies, which will look different due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past 100 years, Biden has been holding a press conference longer than his 15 predecessors — waiting until the 64th day of his term in office to take questions from reporters devoted to his actions.
In her Tuesday briefing, Jen Psaki, Secretary of the White House, said that Biden is “thinking about what he wants to say, what he wants to convey, where he can provide updates and look forward to a free press conversation.”
The event was highly anticipated and in recent weeks, Psaki faced several questions about the time and date. In an Op-ed for CNN, Joe Lockhart, President Bill Clinton’s White House Press Secretary, said the timing could not be better for Biden.
“Biden has chosen the perfect press conference time. He has comfortably exceeded his vaccine campaign goal and this is deserving of pomp and truth in a White House press conference, “said Lockhart, after the Biden administration committed 100 million doses of coronavirus vaccine in its first 100 days.
This announcement was made in Biden’s footsteps and each state decided to open its vaccination eligibility for all American adults by May 1, when the country would be expected to have the necessary vaccines by the end of the same month.
However, while Biden will receive his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill and vaccine advances for the country, he will also have to deal with the increasing challenges he has faced as he attempted to sell his parliamentary victory.
The immigration problem is probably at the centre of the event, since Pskai has been focusing on a growing rise on the southern border for weeks and could be a major political challenge for the administration.
The US Customs and Border Protection has struggled to cope with the flood of unaccompanied children across the border, which is expected to only increase in the coming months, and there has been extremely limited and tight media access to child housing facilities.
The politically fragile issue of gun control is likely to be on the docket after a mass shooting left eight people dead last week and 10 killed in a food-store shooting on Monday in Boulder, Colorado.
But he has not yet put forward his own legislation on guns — despite a campaign commitment to send a bill to Congress on his first day of office to repeal liability protections for weapons producers and close background inspection loopholes.
Another subject that is expected to arise is external policy. Biden experienced increased tensions with Russia and China, renewed North-Korean missile testing, and a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan during his first two months in office.
The event’s late date is not the only change compared to previous administrations. The event will look different as the country continues to confront the coronavirus pandemic.
BIDEN Thursday will have 30 reporters in the East Room of the White House, while previous press conferences have seen rooms packed with the White House press corps.
While this will be Biden’s first official press conference as president, it’s not his first press conference.
Since his tenure,
Joe Biden has participated in interviews with ABC News and CBS News and participated on his fourth full day at work in a comprehensive question/answer exchange with the press. At various events, he also took shouted questions from the press.
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