On the night before the 88th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt giving his first “fireside chat” about the banking crisis, President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. made a case to the nation Thursday night that it could soon put the worst of the pandemic behind it and promised that all adults would be eligible for the vaccine by May 1st. During a 24-minute speech from the East Room, Mr. Biden laced his somber script with references to Hemingway and personal ruminations on loss as he reflected on a “collective suffering, a collective sacrifice, a year filled with the loss of life, and the loss of living, for all of us.”
President Biden on Friday will mark the passage of his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill which he signed on Thursday with remarks in the Rose Garden. Seventeen members of Congress have been invited to the event — all Democrats, since the bill received no GOP support in the House and Senate even though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) was quick to try to take credit. According to a list released by the White House, attendees at the Rose Garden event will include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California), Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (New York), House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Maryland) and House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (South Carolina) Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Democratic Senators Patty Murray (Washington), Debbie Stabenow (Michigan), Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota), Patrick J. Leahy (Vermont), Gary Peters (Michigan), Ben Cardin (Maryland) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio) have also been invited. On the House side, Democratic Reps. John Yarmuth (Kentucky), Bobby Scott (Virginia), Frank Pallone Jr. (New Jersey), Maxine Waters (California), Carolyn B. Maloney (New York), Nydia M. Velázquez (New York), Mark Takano (California), Richard E. Neal (Massachusetts), Rosa L. DeLauro (Connecticut) and Gregory W. Meeks (New York) are expected to attend.
Earlier today The President and The Vice President met virtually with their counterparts in the Quad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan.
For today the Senate is out, and the House will convene for a brief proforma session. The Senate will return at 3:00pm on Monday, March 15th and the House will return for votes on Tuesday, March 16th.
