As covered in Thursday’s Open Thread, President Biden plans to address the nation in prime-time. The speech will focus on the sacrifices American’s have made over the past year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
During the daily press briefing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked how President Biden plans to strike a balance between offering hope of a return to normal and the fact that 1500 American’s on average are still dying due to the coronavirus everyday.
This afternoon a day earlier than expected President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan. He offered these remarks during the signing.
Thank you for coming in. In the weeks that this bill has been discussed and debated, it’s clear that an overwhelming percentage of the American people — Democrats, independents, our Republican friends — have made it clear — the people out there have made it clear they strongly support the American Rescue Plan.
Yesterday, with the final passage of the plan in the House of Representatives, their voices were heard and reflect- — reflected in everything we have in this bill. And I believe this is — and most people, I think, do as well — this historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation — working people and middle-class folks, the people who built the country — a fighting chance. That’s what the essence of it is.
And I’m going to have a lot more to say about that tonight and in the next couple of days, and be able to take your questions.
But in the meantime, what I’m going to do is sign this bill, and make the presentation tonight. And then there’s going to be plenty of opportunities where we’re going to be on the road, not only talking about — what I’m talking about tonight is the impact on the virus and how we’re going to end this pandemic. And we’re going to talk all the elements of the bill, beginning Friday, Saturday, and through the week.
White House.gov.
CNN White House Correspondent Phil Mattingly is reporting that during tonight’s address President Biden will direct the states to make “all adult Americans eligible for the vaccine no later than May 1st, according to senior Administration Officials.
The address is scheduled to start at 8:02 D.C., time and last just under 20 minutes.
Live Feeds:
TIME.
PBS NewsHour.
White House.
