President Biden 3/25 press conference

[dc2london]

Nft

[dc2london]

New goal: 200 million shots in 100 days

[lemondrop]

Remember right when Biden took office and the media was like, "isn't 100M shots in 100 days a little low!?!" and we over here were like, "for jeebus sake, don't you know to always underpromise and over deliver?"

YOU'RE WELCOME, MEDIA.

[dc2london]

They're sticking by the goal of most K-8 schools being open 5 days/week for in-person instruction in 100 days. Right now it's about half.

[dc2london]

First time in a year unemployment claims dropped below pre-pandemic levels

[blurnette989]

Mar 25, 2021 11:27:53 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Nft

Non-fungible token

[dc2london]

Zeke Milker: what are you going to do about Republicans being obstructionist knobs?

Biden: I had to act swiftly and first on Covid and the economy, and now we're hoping to be able to focus on other things. But the fundamental problem is giving people some peace of mind. Nobody can get any damn sleep! So we had to rescue the economy and fight the virus first. Now we do lots of other things. If Republicans want to continue the politics of division, that's their choice, but I'm not doing it.

[Wtfshouldmynamebe]

My gosh - people are suggesting immigrants are coming because "Biden is a nice guy"

[dc2london]

Yamiche!!!!

Immigrants won't stop coming bc you're so nice. What are you going to do about it?

Biden: I guess it's flattering to be called such a decent guy. But the levels right now aren't extraordinary-- there's always a Q1 surge. There was a 30% surge under Trump. Was that bc he was a nice guy?!

They aren't coming bc of me, they're coming bc of the conditions in their countries of origin. And 45 made it more difficult to address those conditions. God, what an ass.

[dc2london]

Mar 25, 2021 11:37:14 GMT -6 Wtfshouldmynamebe said:

My gosh - people are suggesting immigrants are coming because "Biden is a nice guy"

I'm actually glad she asked that bc that's been the media narrative but it's only about 5% of the picture

[dc2london]

POTUS dispatched DOD to open a base (Ft Bragg? I missed it) which provides 5,000 extra beds for CBP/ORR

Eta: Ft Bliss

[dc2london]

Yamiche: why are some families not getting sent back?

Biden: Mexico won't take them back. We're letting all the kids in. Basically everyone's is getting sent back.

Unaccompanied minors typically come with a phone number for a relative in the US. We're seeing that the number is called within 24 hours to establish whether that's actually a relative or if it could be a trafficker. That's also helping us clear the facilities.

[dc2london]

Yamiche: nuke the filibuster for civil rights and voting rights?

Biden: "when I came to the Senate 120 years ago" LOL...the filibuster is "being abused in a gigantic way." "I strongly support moving in [the direction of a talking filibuster." We've amended the filibuster in the past. I want to get things done. "I'm going 5o say something outrageous: I've never been particularly poor at calculating how to get things done in the United States Senate." We've got to get things done, and if there's total gridlock, we'll have to make changes.

[dc2london]

Seung Min Kim: should filibuster rule be 60 votes or 51?

Biden: well if it was 51 we wouldn't have any problem

[dc2london]

Cecelia Vega: ok but people ARE sending unaccompanied minors bc they believe you'll let them in and apply for asylum.

Biden: ok, well, I'm absolutely not going to leave minors in the desert to starve. When I was Veep I was able to work w/ heads of state in the northern triangle to improve conditions there which slowed the flow of unaccompanied minors. I've put MVP on it and she's awesome and she'll work to address the root causes of migration. No parent makes the decision to send a 9 year old across the desert 'because Joe Biden's a nice guy'

[dc2london]

Cecelia: should the unaccompanied minors eventually be deported?

Biden : that's really case by case and up to the immigration judges

Cecelia: what's your reaction to the terrible conditions at overcrowded facilities?

Biden: "is that a serious question? Come on. It's totally unacceptable. " that's why I'm busting my tookus to fix it.

[lemondrop]

Cecilia Vega: "Is it acceptable to leave the kids in the containment areas, some of them not being able seeing daylight in days?"

Biden: LOL u srs? No, it's obviously not fucking acceptable.*

*I may have used some of my own words.

[dc2london]

Ken Walsh: will we be out of Afghanistan by May 1?

Biden: that's going to be tough. We have to meet the agreement 45 made but we have to do so under the right conditions, and the UN has begun a troop drawdown process.

Ken: will we still be there next year?

Biden: I can't imagine we would

[dc2london]

Kristen Welker: will you commit to giving journalists access to these facilities and to transparency?

Biden: yes. I haven't gone to the border bc my presence adds additional burden but we definitely want to be transparent and to give reporters access.

Kristen: did you roll back Trump's dickbag policies too quickly and create the problem at the border?

Biden: absolutely not. That was trash and had to be stopped immediately.

[lemondrop]

The policies that the Biden admin rolled back didn't affect anything at the border, bc those policies weren't working. People were still coming.

Transparency is coming, slow your roll - we're working on getting a plan together. There were other things we needed to focus on.

[dc2london]

Kristen: DPRK fired zee missiles. Do you have a red line on DPRK?

Biden: that was against the law and we'll respond how appropriate. I'm open to diplomacy but it has to end in deproliferation. No presidentphoto ops with Kim like the other dingbat.

(Hat tip to KW for not mixing the metaphor. Red line in the sand drives me batty )

[dc2london]

Cathy from CBS: Are you worried about losing seats in the midterms?

Biden: I'm appalled by the restrictive voting laws being pushed in some states and so is literally everyone else except elected Republicans

[dc2london]

Biden: yes I'm running for reelection

[starbuck]

Did he just say he will run for re-election? Cuz that wasn't the premise when he jumped into the race.

[dc2london]

Cathy: y ur not frens with Mitch?

Biden: well I've had House and Senate Republicans to the WH half a dozen times. If Mitch thinks the ARP was too far left, his party is out of touch with the voters.

[dc2london]

Kaitlan Collins: do you agree that the filibuster is a Jim Crow reluctant?

Biden: yes

Kaitlan: then why not abolish it?

Biden: we should start by ending the abuse of the filibuster

[Wtfshouldmynamebe]

He is being non-committal about the re-election

[lemondrop]

omfg about the reelection shit. IT'S BEEN 63 DAYS.

[dc2london]

So you are running for reelection?

Biden: huh? I said "I EXPECT to be running.

KC: will Kamala be Veep?

Biden: obviously, she's doing an amazing job

KC: will you be running against Trump?

Biden: dude, idk. "Do you even know if there will still be a Republican party" And don't @ me about the Federal budget when the federal budget isn't getting any contributions from the top 1% and we're out here trying to save lives. What a collection of butts.

[dc2london]

"I've not been able to unite the Congress but I'm uniting the country, based on the polling data"