© Provided by Washington Examiner The White House on Friday walked back a projected timeline for President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress and now says it has no date in mind for the annual event.
Press secretary Jen Psaki insisted the delay is not a snub from Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill.
"We don't have a date for that or timeline at this point in time," she said. "We've been engaged closely with leaders in Congress about determining that."
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Psaki indicated Monday that Biden's speech, expected to outline his legislative agenda and address the COVID-19 pandemic, wouldn't be scheduled "until after we get the American Rescue Plan passed."
"And we're certainly hopeful that we do that in the coming weeks," she said.
The remarks are typically called the State of the Union, but they are referred to as an address to a joint session of Congress when they're delivered in a president's first year in office.
Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending package passed the House in the early hours of last Saturday. The Senate is expected to clear an amended measure this weekend before the bill returns to the House for a final vote. It then would be sent to Biden's desk for his signature.
The COVID-19 spending package is poised to be passed by Congress on partisan lines, despite Biden predicting it would receive some Republican support.
Psaki declined Friday to list any lessons the White House had learned from negotiating the package, given it only has one more opportunity this year to use the budget process known as reconciliation.
That fast-track procedure allows legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority and not a filibuster-proof 60 votes. It's been critical to Democrats because the party only controls the Senate because Vice President Kamala Harris can break the 50-50 seat tie.
"Bipartisanship is not determined by a single zip code in Washington, D.C. It's about where American people sit and stand, and a vast majority of American people support the Rescue Plan," Psaki said when asked about the lack of unity behind the bill.
Psaki previewed during her briefing that Biden would travel to Baltimore next Wednesday for an event promoting the partnership between Johnson & Johnson and Merck to produce the one-dose COVID-19 vaccine. Biden officials are expected to visit the U.S.-Mexico border as well, to better understand the recent influx of migrants, according to Psaki.
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The president also plans to talk to Turkish President Recep Erdogan after starting his calls with Middle East leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Psaki said.
Tags: News, Biden, Biden Administration, Joe Biden, White House
Original Author: Naomi Lim
Original Location: White House remains mum on Biden's first address to Congress