The White House is aware of growing frustration with the pandemic as President Joe Biden faces a trust deficit regarding his COVID-19 response for the first time of his presidency.
While White House press secretary Jen Psaki apportioned some of the blame to unvaccinated people, she conceded that “the buck” stops with Biden.
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“There was an assumption several months ago before the rise in delta that we would be over and through and back to normal at this point in that time, and we’re not,” she said. “And that’s frustrating, and that’s impacting people.”
But Psaki repeated that the “way to solve” the problem and move on from these “emotionally exhausting” and “difficult times” was to “continue to get more people vaccinated.”
“And that’s what we’re working on every day,” she said, later mentioning vaccine mandates.
The Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index found this week that 45% of people surveyed told pollsters they trust Biden “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to provide them “with accurate information about the virus and pandemic,” while 53% of people said they have “little or “no trust” in him. In January, those numbers were 58% and 42%, respectively.
Biden’s COVID-19 response troubles are bubbling up while he is struggling to pass his sprawling domestic agenda through Congress, the federal government is on the verge of shutting down, and the country may default on its debts if lawmakers do not agree to extend its borrowing limit by Oct. 18.
The White House and congressional Democrats were working on a stopgap funding measure that needs to clear Congress before Sept. 30 to keep the government open from Oct. 1, according to Psaki.
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“Our intention is to get a [continuing resolution] passed so that we do not shut the government plan. [The Office of Management and Budget] has been preparing for any contingency and to update contingency plans as needed,” Psaki said.
