‘My guess is he will move in’: Biden predicts Russia will invade Ukraine in two-hour news conference
‘My guess is he will move in’: Biden predicts Russia will invade Ukraine in two-hour news conference
January 20, 2022
Hawaii
Biden says of Putin, on Ukraine: ‘I think the last thing he wants now is a Cold War.’
Biden is satisfied with his White House team but says he’ll do 3 things differently in the next year.
Biden is open to a summit with Putin, but is concerned Ukraine situation ‘could get out of hand’
Voting rights legislation needs approved to prevent ‘illegitimate’ elections, Biden says.
Corrections Clarifications: Corrects to make clear that Biden said he believes that Putin will “move in” on Ukraine.
President Joe Biden predicted Russia would invade Ukraine but warned it would pay a steep price during a two-hour news conference where he also acknowledged challenges in his domestic agenda.
Biden used his first news conference in months to describe “a year of challenges, but also a year of progress” while also laying out his vision for the months ahead.
Asked about the specter of a new Cold War with Russia, the president said he expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine, but U.S. and NATO allies would respond with “severe costs and significant harm on Russia and the Russian economy.”
“My guess is he will move in,” Biden said of Putin.
Biden also acknowledged his sweeping social and climate bill, which remains stalled in the Senate, would likely have to be broken up in “big chunks” in order to pass, losing key priorities like child care and prescription drugs in order to satisfy moderate Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin, W-Va.
The president also admitted he could’ve been faster to boost testing as new COVID-19 variants emerged, but defended his administration’s response by saying he felt “we’ve done remarkably well.” And while he acknowledged the frustration and fatigue felt by millions of Americans, Biden insisted the country is moving toward a period where COVID-19 won’t disrupt daily life.
The news conference, which started at 4 p.m. in the East Room of the White House, was his ninth such event, according to a tally by the Associated Press.
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I like him but I’m not Bernie Sanders. I’m not a socialist. I’m a mainstream Democrat and I have been,” Biden said. And if you notice, 48 of the 50 Democrats supported me in the Senate on virtually everything I’ve asked.”
“You always ask me the nicest questions. None of them make a lot of sense to me but fire away,” Biden said before Doocy asked the question.
— Matt Brown
in the off-year elections as Democrats prepare for a bruising midterm election in November.
“We’re going to be raising a lot of money. We’re going to be out there making sure that we’re helping all those candidates,” he said.
— Courtney Subramanian
More:Biden, Democrats head into 2022 midterms with feistier message and slightly better polls. Is it enough?
Biden’s agenda threatened by Sen. Sinema
As voting rights push fizzles, Biden’s failure to unite his own party looms again
Biden says Harris has done good work on voting rights, will be running mate in 2024
Biden said he is satisfied with Vice President Kamala Harris’ work on advancing voting rights and that she would again be his running mate for reelection in 2024 when asked directly of her performance in office.
“She’s going to be my running mate,” Biden said when asked to elaborate about his reelection campaign in 2024. “And I did put her in charge and I think she’s doing a good job,” he continued, speaking to Harris’s work on voting rights.
— Matthew Brown
Biden pushes back on McConnell criticisms
Biden pushed back against comments from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that the midterm election will be a “report card” on the Biden administration’s response to “inflation, border security and standing up to Russia.”
“My report card is going to look pretty good,” the president said.
He added that McConnell’s main goal is to make sure Biden and his agenda does not “look good.”
“I actually like Mitch McConnell. We like one another,” he said. “But he has one straightforward objective: Make sure that there’s nothing I do that makes me look good — in his mind — with the public at large. And that’s okay. I’m a big boy. I’ve been here before.”
— Rebecca Morin
Biden: Build Back Better will probably be broken into smaller bills
Biden said he thinks Congress will pass parts of his Build Back Better bill if the mammoth legislation is broken into smaller, separate bills.
“It’s clear to me that that we’re gonna have to probably break it up,” he said in response to a question from USA TODAY.
Biden said he has talked to a number of lawmakers and believes there would be support for his plan to invest $500 billion into energy and environmental issues. He also said there is support for his plans to fortify early childhood education.
“I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now, and come back and fight for the rest later,” he said.
— Michael Collins and Maureen Groppe
Supreme Court COVID-19 decision was ‘a mistake’
In a response to a question from USA TODAY, Biden said he thought the Supreme Court decision to strike down his vaccine-or-testing requirements on most employers was a “mistake” but insisted that thousands of corporations have implemented the policy anyway.
“I think we’ve seen an increase, not a decrease,” he said.
Biden declined to say whether he is considering requiring vaccinations for domestic air travel that some experts say could boost the country’s vaccination rate.
The Supreme Court decision struck down the federal rule last week, undercutting a critical component of Biden’s COVID-19 strategy to move the nationwide vaccination rate, which has been stuck around 60% of the U.S. population for months.
— Courtney Subramanian and Maureen Groppe
In case you missed it:Supreme Court blocks Biden COVID mandate requiring vaccine, testing at work. Here’s what we know.
Is a Russian invasion of Ukraine imminent? Here’s what we know
Biden: We’re not going back to closing schools
Biden reiterated the administration’s promise that schools would not close despite a record surge in infections that caused some to return to digital learning and frustrated parents left without childcare options.
“We’re not going back to lockdowns. We’re not going back to closing schools,” Biden said, adding the country was better off in combatting COVID-19 than a year ago.
He emphasized that 95% of schools remain open despite media coverage and insisted the administration has made funding available to keep up with sanitizing classrooms, implementing testing programs and investing in new ventilation systems. The administration recently announced an additional $10 billion to help schools address testing shortages.
Not every school district has used the funding “as well as it should be used,” he added, but he predicted the small percentage of schools that are closed would soon open.
— Courtney Subramanian
Biden says Build Back Better could be passed in ‘chunks’
Biden vowed he would not scale-down his social-spending legislation, known as Build Back Better, despite it being stalled in the Senate, but said passage could come in “pieces” or “big chunks.”
“I’m confident we can get pieces, big chunks of the Build Back Better plan, signed into law,” Biden said.
Some Democrats have pushed for Biden to break up the $1.85 trillion social-spending bill to get some items passed before the midterm elections. Biden singled out lowering prescription drug prices and childcare as items that are popular among Americans but that Republicans oppose.
“We just have to make the case, what we’re for and what the other team’s not,” Biden said.
— Joey Garrison
Biden: ‘I didn’t over promise’ on agenda
Biden said he does not believe he overpromised on his agenda as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and his signature domestic legislation stalled in Congress.
“I didn’t overpromise. I have probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen,” Biden said, responding to a question on whether he over promised what he could get done in the first year of his presidency. He said that he made “enormous progress” on the pandemic, saying that deaths are going down.
The president added that he “did not anticipate such a stalwart effort” to obstruct his agenda from Republicans.
“I don’t think I’ve overpromised at all, and I’m going to stay on this track,” he said.
— Rebecca Morin
Fact check:Omicron coronavirus variant is not the common cold
rapidly rising prices have caused for American families but argued that his Build Back Better bill could help curtail growing inflation.
“If price increases are what you’re worried about, the best answer is my Build Back Better plan,” he said.
Inflation hit a 39-year high in December as prices jumped for everything from food to rent to cars. Biden said the way to tackle high prices is a more productive economy, where more small businesses are able to compete and goods can get to the market faster and cheaper.
Biden pointed out that he signed an executive order to tackle unfair competition, “and we’re going to continue to enforce it,” he said.
Despite the economic challenges, there has been progress on the economy, Biden said.
Biden said his administration has created 6 million new jobs, more in one year than any other time. Unemployment dropped to 3.9%, child poverty fell by nearly 40%, and new businesses applications grew by 30%, he said.
— Michael Collins
where Americans can request free at-home tests.
While some people have suggested Biden should recalibrate his COVID-19 strategy to live with the virus, the president insisted he’s “not going to give up and accept things as they are now.”
— Courtney Subramanian
More than half of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of key issues
on his opposition to a filibuster carve-out to pass voting rights legislation.
The Senate is holding votes Wednesday on the doomed filibuster carveout proposal backed by Biden to change Senate rules to pass voting rights bills with a simple majority. Opposition from Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., is expected to prevent passage.
It will mark the second time in a week one of Biden’s fellow Democrats has undercut the president’s message. Sinema delivered a speech on the Senate Floor last Thursday reaffirming her opposition to filibuster changes less than an hour before Biden arrived at the Capitol to meet with Democrats to push voting rights.
— Joey Garrison
Is a Russian invasion of Ukraine imminent? Here’s what we know
— Matt Brown
COVID dominates much of Biden’s term
President Joe Biden did not get a single question about the coronavirus pandemic at his first solo press conference, held at the White House last March.
That’s unlikely to be the case Wednesday.
Infections have been on the rise since the highly contagious omicron variant began sweeping the country last month, causing workforce disruptions and once again overburdening hospitals.
Biden has faced criticism from public health experts and even members of his own party over the shortage of at-home tests and other matters. The president is likely to tout recent actions, including Tuesday’s launch of a website to distribute free, at-home COVID-19 tests. The White House announced Wednesday it will also distribute 400 million free, high-quality masks through pharmacies and community health centers.
Still, Biden could be pressed on whether those actions are too little, too late and what more the administration can do as the pandemic approaches its third year.
Biden began his presidency saying his top priorities were addressing the pandemic its economic fallout.
— Maureen Groppe
How to order free testing kits from the government
While COVIDTests.gov was expected to start accepting orders on Wednesday, an “Order free at-home tests” button was added Tuesday, which brings users to usps.com/covidtests to order four at-home free tests.
USA TODAY tested the site and got a message that “COVID-19 tests will start shipping in late January.” The Postal Service will only send one set of four free at-home coronavirus tests to valid residential addresses, the site said.
More info:At-home COVID test website launches early. How to order free testing kits from the government
— Kelly Tyko and Maureen Groppe
What is the filibuster? A look at the Senate’s consequential quirk and debate on its future
— Matt Brown
a Muslim woman for a federal judgeship for the first time in U.S. history Wednesday as part of his administration’s push to reshape the federal judiciary with diversity.
Nusrat Jahan Choudhury, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, is Biden’s nominee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. If confirmed by the Senate, Choudhury would become the first Muslim woman to serve as a federal judge and the first Bangladeshi American.
The latest round of eight nominations – the 13th since Biden took office one year ago – brings Biden’s total judicial nominees to 83 and continues his administration’s efforts to put more women and judges of color on the federal bench.
Get the whole story:Biden nominates Muslim woman to the federal bench, a first in US history as he diversifies the judiciary
— Joey Garrison
Biden administration to ship free 400 million N95 masks across the US starting this week
— Joey Garrison
A Quinnipiac University poll last week found only 33% of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance – his lowest mark so far of his presidency – while 53% disapprove.
The results prompted White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O’Malley Dillon to issue an internal memo calling the poll an “outlier.” She noted that Biden’s approval rating remains significantly higher, 43%, in the FiveThirtyEight average of polls and questioned the Quinnipiac poll’s methodology.
Despite the poll finding less than 40% of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the economy and coronavirus, the White House is touting these areas as Biden completes his first year in office.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed a pair of charts at Tuesday’s press briefing that highlighted 6.4 million jobs created since Biden took office, 74% of Americans fully vaccinated and a fall in the unemployment from 6.4% to 3.9%, among other metrics.
