One Year In, Biden’s Health Agenda Hampered By Covid, Divided Congress
Ahead of the anniversary of his inauguration, news outlets review President Joe Biden's first year in office (Spoiler alert: covid, covid, covid. And Congress.) and look ahead to year two that will include critical midterm elections. Biden will mark the occasion with a press conference.
CBS News:
How To Watch President Joe Biden's First 2022 Press Conference
President Biden is holding his first press conference of 2022 on Wednesday, January 19, the eve of the first anniversary of when he took office. The press conference comes as his presidency — and the country — is struggling amid the Omicron COVID-19 surge and rising inflation, and as his signature legislation, Build Back Better, is stalled in Congress. CBSN will carry Mr. Biden's press conference live. (Linton and Watson, 1/19)
NPR:
How Effective Has Biden's COVID Response Been In His First Year?
Last January, 2021, the day after he was inaugurated, President Biden released a national strategy for beating COVID-19. The 200-page document was hailed as "encouraging" and "well-constructed" — a pandemic exit blueprint that had not been articulated by the Trump administration before it." The plan itself is well-articulated, clear and ambitious — appropriate given the challenge," says Michelle Williams, an epidemiologist and dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. But, she adds, "execution is always challenging." (Simmons-Duffin and Huang, 1/18)
The Washington Post:
Assessing Biden’s Covid Response After One Year
President Biden entered office a year ago this week, staking his presidency on defeating the coronavirus pandemic with a battle plan hailed for its scope and specificity. “Our nation continues to experience the darkest days of the pandemic,” the White House declared in its national pandemic strategy, released Jan. 21, 2021, Biden’s first full day as president. “Businesses are closing, hospitals are full, and families are saying goodbye to their loved ones remotely.” (Diamond, 1/18)
AP:
Tracking Biden's 1st-Year Progress Delivering On Promises
During his first year in office, President Joe Biden took action on a number of his key campaign promises, from rebuilding U.S. alliances globally to distributing vaccines across America and the world. But others remain works in progress or dependent on Congress to address. That’s particular true of his promises to reform the nation’s immigration system, where Biden is caught between the demands of his Democratic base and Latino voters and the realities of a steep influx of migrants to the U.S. Here's a look at where Biden stands on some of his key promises as he rounds out his first year. (Jaffe and Madhani, 1/19)
AP:
After Biden's First Year, The Virus And Disunity Rage On
From the inaugural platform, President Joe Biden saw American sickness on two fronts — a disease of the national spirit and the one from the rampaging coronavirus — and he saw hope, because leaders always must see that. “End this uncivil war,” he implored Americans on Jan. 20, 2021. Of the pathogen, he said: “We can overcome this deadly virus.” Neither malady has abated. (Miller and Woodward, 1/16)
CNN:
Joe Biden Enters The Second Year Of His Presidency Looking For A Reset After A Tumultuous First 12 Months
As his second year begins, advisers tell CNN that Covid-19 and its messy fallout is the biggest weight on Biden -- the one challenge he believes could reverse his fortunes or forever damage his presidency. Biden has made significant strides, particularly in getting hundreds of millions of Americans vaccinated. But millions still refuse to get shots, a persistent source of frustration for the President. "This virus has fooled us multiple times," one senior health official told CNN. "Nobody expected Delta to just blow us away. And then to have Omicron come out of nowhere, it's a big, big surprise." (Zeleny, Liptak and Collins, 1/19)
PolitiFact:
Tracking Biden's Campaign Promises, One Year In
the Biden Promise Tracker does show some victories for the 46th president, along with a somewhat larger number of agenda items that have stalled. Meanwhile, almost half of his promises are in limbo, with some progress being made but nothing final yet. For Biden, we chose 99 promises to evaluate, and we’ll continue rating them until he leaves the Oval Office. (Jacobson, 1/18)
