From President Joe Biden’s town hall meeting in Milwaukee Tuesday night.
To start with levity, Anderson Cooper asked Biden what’s it like to live in the White House. Biden joked, “Well, I get up in the morning and look at Jill and say, ‘Where the hell am I?'”
https://youtu.be/eQOuaOqr_ME
Other highlights:
On opening schools: Biden said his goal is to have grades K-8 attending full-time by April 1st, his 100th day in office. He said that state should prioritize immunizing teachers, school staff and administrators. He suggested that some schools may want to include a summer semester to make up for educational gaps.
On coronavirus measures: Biden noted that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may be approved shortly. He said they expect to have 600 million doses distributed and dispensed by the end of July. He was hesitant to give a date when he thought the nation would be “back to normal” due to potential unexpected issues that pop up, but said a big step would be getting everyone vaccinated and having people continue to wear masks and practice social distancing.
Asked about white supremacy and conspiracy-laden groups, Biden said that these groups cause problems that are “complex… wide-ranging, and real.” He said he wants his Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to focus on those white nationalists groups that will be the most dangerous to the public.
Biden said that one way to bridge our divides as a nation is to go out and “talk to people. Treat people with dignity.” He noted that most people are supporting what his Administration is doing–citing more than 65% of people who support his COVID relief program–and he said it would be a task of getting the “fringes” to listen.
On higher education: Biden said that his COVID relief program provides for forgiveness of up to $10,000 in loan forgiveness for college debt, as well as eliminate interest payments on that debt. He supports free community college education for those who qualify.
COVID relief: Biden said that he was making sure that small-business relief monies were going to small “mom-and-pop” businesses. He address the proposal for $15 per hour minimum wage by noting that it would be phased in and which would come back to their business through spending and increased economic activity, and stated that history has shown that increasing minimum wage does not increase unemployment.
Societal unrest: Biden said that there are issues that need to be addressed in the sentencing of crimes regarding racial inequity. Biden said that systemic racism is real. He said that police recruits need to go through a more strident screening process to find their motives and biases, and police departments need to recruit more people of color and more people from their communities.
Tradition: Cooper asked if Biden called any former presidents. Biden responded simply, “Yes,” without divulging who he spoke with. He did slip that all the former presidents have called him since he took office–all “except one.” Laughter rose from the crowd and he was silent in naming who didn’t call.
FACT CHECK: There was only really one. At one point, Biden said about the challenges of distributing the vaccine, “It’s one thing to have the vaccine, which we didn’t have when we came into office, but to have a vaccinator (a person who can administer the dose)–how do you get the vaccine into someone’s arm?”
It was clearly a misstatement given that Biden said earlier that they had 5 million vaccines when he came in office.