Joe Biden says Democrats can get ‘pieces’ of climate-social spending bill signed into law, warns of Russia sanctions

Joe Biden warns Russia is ready to invade Ukraine, says he’s optimistic Congress will pass his climate, health plans.

In his first press conference of 2022, Joe Biden said he is optimistic that Congress will pass large chunks of his climate, education and healthcare proposal, and he warned of harsh sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.

“I’m confident we can get pieces, big chunks of Build Back Better signed into law,” Mr. Biden said. Negotiations among Democrats over the broad legislative package stalled late last year.

Mr. Biden said it would be “a disaster” for Russia to invade Ukraine and he asserted the U.S. has leverage over Russian Vladimir Putin.

“He’s never seen sanctions like the one I’ve promised will be imposed if he moves,” the president said of Mr. Putin. He said he thinks the Russian leader doesn’t want “full-blown war.”

US servicemen take part in a military drill in western Ukraine in 2015. Picture: AFP.

The president highlighted what he viewed as accomplishments in his first year in office during the news conference, including millions of Americans vaccinated against Covid-19 and job gains. But he acknowledged many people remain frustrated with the country’s progress against the virus.

The news conference came as Mr. Biden’s legislative agenda has stalled, a surge in Covid-19 cases pressures hospitals and the U.S. and its allies face a standoff with Russia over Ukraine.

Mr. Biden is also contending with decades-high inflation as he completes his first year in office and as the midterm election season begins with Democrats concerned about their chances of retaining control of Congress.

Mr. Biden touted more than 200 million people getting fully vaccinated and his signing into law last year a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure package.

“It’s been a year of challenges but it’s also been a year of enormous progress,” he said. “Still for all this progress, I know there’s a lot of frustration and fatigue in this country. We know why — Covid 19.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken give a press conference following their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kieve on Wednesday. Picture: AFP.

The president faces ongoing scrutiny of his handling of the virus, including difficulty obtaining Covid-19 tests for many people. “Should we have done more testing earlier? Yes,” he said.

“Some people may call what’s happening now the new normal. I call it a job not yet finished,” Mr. Biden said of his pandemic response. “We’re not there yet, but we will get there.” He said the U.S. wouldn’t go back to the lockdowns and closed schools that were common in earlier stages of the pandemic.

Democrats had hoped to pass in 2021 a nearly $2 trillion healthcare, education and climate-change plan known as Build Back Better, but it has been sidetracked by objections from Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Last week, he and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) handed the president another setback by reiterating their opposition to changing Senate filibuster rules to allow passage of voting legislation opposed by Senate Republicans.

The administration’s challenges have frustrated many Democrats and contributed to Mr. Biden’s low public approval rating, which stood at 42% Tuesday, according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregation of public polls, down from 53% when he took office.

As parts of his legislative agenda have faltered, Mr. Biden and his team have emphasised the roughly $1 trillion infrastructure funding bill he signed into law in November. Mr. Biden also has cited strong U.S. job gains over the past year. Democrats hope voters will give them credit for those developments in this year’s midterm elections.

The Senate is now split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris providing tiebreaking votes, and Democrats have a small majority in the House. Should the party lose either chamber, Mr. Biden will face even tougher odds enacting his plans.

The administration also is dealing with a surge in Covid-19 cases due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant. A new government website allows Americans to order test kits via the mail at no charge. The government is also making 400 million N95 masks available free at pharmacies and community health centres across the country.

“The job is not done. And we’re certainly not conveying it is,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday of the president’s agenda. The goal, she added, is to build on achievements from the first year, which include getting more than 200 million Americans fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

In response to the increasing challenge of inflation, stemming from strong consumer demand, the government’s Covid-19 relief aid and global supply-chain problems, Mr. Biden has talked up steps the administration has taken, including to free up snarls at ports. But most experts say that short-term solutions are limited and taming inflation will fall to the Federal Reserve.

Foreign-policy challenges also have dogged Mr. Biden’s administration. He launched a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and has sought to maintain a tough stance on China. Now, his most pressing concern is with Russia, which has amassed troops on the border with Ukraine.

Negotiations last week failed to narrow the gap between Moscow and Western nations, and the U.S. is bracing for the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The White House has ruled out direct military engagement, and officials say Mr. Biden would seek to rally allies around sanctions if that happened.

“We believe we’re now at a stage where Russia could at any point launch an attack on Ukraine,” Ms. Psaki said Tuesday. “I would say that’s more stark than we have been.”

Mr. Biden has held nine formal news conferences since taking office, three of those alongside visiting foreign leaders, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara. That is fewer than his recent predecessors held in their first years, according to the project’s data. The president has also done few formal interviews with news organisations.

The White House says Mr. Biden often takes questions from reporters at the end of events. His approach, which sometimes involves brief exchanges, has led to criticism from the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Wall St Journal