By Shannon Pettypiece -
NBC News
The president, Joe Biden, offers this Wednesday a press conference when he celebrates his first year in the White House and with his legislative agenda stalled, hospitals overwhelmed by patients with COVID-19, and the risk of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It is the first time that Biden has formally answered questions from the entire White House press team since the climate summit in Scotland on November 2.
Biden faces reporters with approval numbers that have fallen steadily since the summer, and as Democrats on Capitol Hill are struggling to find the votes to pass his entitlement spending bill and voting rights legislation, two measures that the president spent much of his first year in office trying to push through Congress.
[Biden celebrates one year of government, how many promises has he kept?]
Inflation, vaccination and migration: issues that people ask Biden to deal with one year into his government
Jan. 19, 202202:42
There are also record coronavirus cases, even among the vaccinated, and hospitals are overwhelmed with seriously ill patients who have not been immunized.
In the economy, unemployment figures have fallen, but inflation has reached the highest level in decades.
On the foreign policy front, the White House has said it expects Russia to invade Ukraine at any time, amid diplomatic talks and the threat of sanctions that have so far failed to lead to a de-escalation of tensions.
The White House has increasingly focused on promoting the two legislative packages that Biden managed to pass in Congress last year, the rescue plan that provided funds for COVID-19 relief in the spring and the infrastructure bill. of 500 billion dollars approved in the fall.
But the current climate is far from what the Biden Administration had when it began the summer with coronavirus cases falling, hiring rising.
In Congress, there were also expectations of passing both the infrastructure bill and the largest $1.7 billion social spending measure.
The Biden Administration will deliver 400 million N95 masks and free coronavirus tests
Jan. 19, 202200:42
Ahead of the press conference, scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday highlighted areas that the Biden Administration says represent the president's key accomplishments in his first anus. Psaki said the US economy had grown faster than other nations and fewer Americans are out of work, with jobless claims rising from 812,000 a year ago to 210,000. He also cited the Biden Administration's work to fully vaccinate 74% of adults and efforts to get the US to the point where it produces 375 million COVID-19 tests a month.
“This is progress that has been made.
Obviously, there is more work to be done, that needs to be done,” Psaki said.
“The job is not done yet.
But we have a plan to address the challenges we face,” he added.
Biden has been the president to hold the fewest number of conferences in the first year of office since Ronald Reagan.
Wednesday's event is only his seventh solo news conference, without officials, in addition to the three joint events he has held with other world leaders, according to a tally by the US Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
While Biden takes impromptu questions from reporters more often than he does at some of his post-event conferences or when leaving or arriving at the White House, he spends less time answering those questions than other presidents and provides shorter answers with little opportunity to comment. follow-up questions, according to an analysis by Martha Kumar, director of the White House Transition Project, a nonpartisan group.
The explosion of COVID-19 puts the Government on the run, which now promises to distribute more free rapid tests
Jan. 12, 202201:50
The White House press secretary said Biden has answered questions about 250 times, averaging three questions each time.
“I think the American people have seen him answering questions.
It will continue, that is an important part of its commitment to the press and the public, and it will be part of how we continue to conduct ourselves," Psaki said last week.