President Joe Biden laughed off a question during his first press conference of 2022 when pushed on whether or not his legislative agenda is failing.
ABC’s Mary Bruce asked Biden if his legislative agenda was too ambitious and if that is why he was having trouble getting Congress to pass his major agenda items. Biden interjected, noting, “I got two real big ones done. Bigger than any president has ever gotten in the first year.” Biden chuckled as Bruce finished off here question.
The exchange began with Bruce asking:
Your top two legislative priorities, the social spending package and voting rights legislation are stalled, blocked by your own party after months of negotiation. You are only guaranteed control of Washington for one more year before the midterms. Do you need to be more realistic and scale down these priorities in order to get something passed?
Biden responded, saying, “No. I don’t think so.”
“When you say more realistic, I think it’s extremely realistic,” he continued, adding, “The American people overwhelmingly agree with me on prescription drugs. They overwhelmingly agree with me on the cost of education. They overwhelmingly agree with me on early education. They overwhelming — I can go on the list, on child care. And so we just have to make the case of what we’re for and what the other team is not for.”
Biden continued:
Look, we knew all along that a lot of this was going to be
an uphill fight and one of the ways to do this is to make sure we make the contrast as clear as we can. And one of the things that I think is — we’re going to have to do is just make the case — I don’t think there’s anything unrealistic about what we’re asking for. I’m not asking for castles in the sky. I’m asking for practical things the American people have been asking for for a long time. A long time. And I think we can get it done.
Bruce followed up, saying, “You’re not going to scale down any of these priorities, but so far that strategy isn’t working. You haven’t been able to get some of these big legislative.”
Biden then jumped in, saying, “I got two real big ones done. Bigger than any president has ever gotten in the first year.” Biden was apparently referring to his bipartisan infrastructure bill and the American Rescue Plan – the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill passed in March.
“But currently, Mr. President, your spending package, voting rights legislation, they’re not going anywhere,” Bruce shot back.
“That’s true,” Biden acknowledged.
“Is there anything that you are confident you can get signed into law before the midterm elections?” Bruce asked.
Biden responded:
Yes, I’m confident we can get pieces, big chunks of the build back better
law signed into law and I’m confident that we can take the case to the American people that the people they should be voting for who are going to oversee whether your elections are in fact legit or not should not be those who are being put up by the Republicans to determine that they’re going to be able to change the outcome of the election.
Watch above via CNN