President Joe Biden said his achievements one year into office had outstripped expectations, blaming Republicans for the difficulties in moving his legislation forward — even as key Democratic senators stand in the way.
“I didn’t overpromise. But I have probably outperformed what anyone thought would happen,” Biden told reporters in a news conference Wednesday when asked if a course correction was appropriate. The president used the opportunity of his second White House news conference to tout his successes.
“It has to be acknowledged that we made enormous progress,“ Biden said.
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He said the delays were attributable to Democrats’ political opposition. “One thing I haven’t been able to do is get my Republican friends to get into the game of making things better in this country.
“I did not anticipate that there’d be such a stalwart effort to make sure that the most important thing was that President Biden didn’t get anything done.”
Biden’s characterization evoked a return to Obama-era messaging, painting Republicans as obstructing progress.
“Think about this. What are Republicans for? What are they for? Name me one thing they’re for,” the president said.
Biden, however, faces opposition from Democratic senators on his backing for filibuster reform to pass voting rights legislation, as well as on his spending bills.
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He conceded that his trillion-dollar social spending legislation might need to be broken down to pass.
“I’m confident we can get pieces, big chunks of the Build Back Better bill signed into law,” Biden said.
