Facing high daily Covid cases, major legislative defeats in Washington and a souring U.S. electorate, President Joe Biden on Wednesday defended his course of action in his first year in office.
Biden blamed Republicans in Congress for their refusal to work with him. I will stay on this track.
The Build Back Better Act was passed by Congress before the elections, and Biden said he was confident that he could get some pieces.
Millions of American families were feeling the pinch of abruptly ending child tax credits, after more than six months of parents and guardians receiving monthly checks.
The monthly checks weren't supposed to end like they did. The Build Back Better Act was a key piece of it, but it fell apart over the holidays after conservative Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin said he wouldn't support it.
Biden said his best option was to break up the bill and pass what he could, even though Democrats still have a majority in both chambers.
He thinks we can get support for $500 billion for energy and the environment. Many of the things that are in there are supported by two people who have opposed the Democratic side. Biden said that Joe Manchin supports early education.
We can break the package up, get as much as we can, and come back and fight for the rest of it.
A major set of voting rights bills, which were a casualty of Biden's domestic agenda, was on the verge of dying in the Senate, where it was certain to fail.
Speaking from the White House, Biden defended his administration's handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic and promised not to return to early Pandemic-era shutdowns.
He said that they are not going back to closing schools.
While Covid deaths are down and vaccines are plentiful, it is difficult to see what the Biden administration has accomplished when it comes to the coronaviruses.
In a major Fourth of July speech, Biden declared independence from Covid. The average number of new cases per day was around 12,000.
Biden said he would not give up and accept things as they are now. The new normal may be called by some people. I call it a job that is not done.
Parents, students and businesses are wondering what a forever- Covid world might look like as Biden's own epidemiologists talk about how the country can learn to live with Covid permanently.
The White House seems to be disconnected from the general public.
Biden and his aides often point to the progress that has been made to rebuild the economy and recover from Covid.
The White House sent out two memos ahead of Biden's press conference, one listing all the "firsts" the administration accomplished this year, and the other describing what Biden and Harris had done for working families.
More than 75% of American adults have received at least one Covid vaccine dose. 6 million jobs were added to the U.S. economy in the last 12 months, which is more than any other one-year period in U.S. history.
Many Americans are aware of these things. People don't feel them in their daily lives.
The polls show that soaring inflation and product shortages are what Americans think about the economy.
When asked how Covid affects their daily lives, Americans think of high daily Covid case rates.
It is likely that more Americans disapprove of the job Biden is doing as president today than they did of either of his predecessors after their first year in office.
According to a Morning Consult poll, 54 percent of voters don't like how Biden is handling the presidency.
In January of 2010 the disapproval rating was 10 points higher than it is today.
This is not a finished story. You can check back for updates.
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