President Joe Biden caused confusion when he mixed up two pandemic-era policies, telling reporters that the Justice Department would challenge his administration’s plan to end a controversial border rule.
Asked whether he was considering delaying the repeal of a rule that allows border officials to expel migrants immediately who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, Biden responded as if he were answering a question about a judge’s decision this week to strike down a federal mask requirement.
“There’s going to be an appeal by the Justice Department because, as a matter of principle, we want to be able to be in a position where if, in fact, it is strongly concluded by the scientists that we need Title 42, that we be able to do that,” Biden said Thursday. “But there has been no decision on extending Title 42.”
Shortly after, the White House issued a note clarifying that Biden was speaking about mask mandates. A federal judge this week struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask requirement on public transportation, a decision that the DOJ said it would be appealing.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS EXPERTS SHOULD GUIDE COVID-19 RESPONSE, NOT COURTS
“I was referring to the CDC’s mask mandate and there is no Department of Justice action on Title 42,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden’s principal deputy press secretary said Thursday that keeping the border rule in place isn’t up to the White House.
“Extending Title 42 is not our decision,” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One. “We’ve been saying that is Congress’s decision to make.”
Jean-Pierre also insisted the CDC “must have the essential public health authority now and in the future.”
“The principle that public health decisions should be made by public health authorities, that is what is at stake right now,” she said.
Both decisions have drawn media attention and public criticism, including from some Democrats.
Vulnerable Democratic incumbents and candidates have asked the president to delay the CDC’s decision to lift Title 42 until the administration has a plan in place to process the anticipated surge in border crossings.
Others have questioned why the administration is repealing the pandemic-era border rule on the grounds that COVID-19’s risks are waning while arguing that mask-wearing remains necessary to stop the virus from spreading.
Biden’s mix-up is the latest in a string of comments that have drawn confusion over important policy moves.
Earlier in the week, Biden said he believed that mask-wearing should be an individual choice, appearing to contradict the administration’s position that the CDC mask rule should hold.
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When Biden said in Warsaw last month that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” his aides quickly rowed back his remarks, arguing that his words were not a call for “regime change.”
