Washington: US President Joe Biden commemorated his first year in office and said “it’s been a year “of challenges” but also of considerable strides.” He talked about issues like inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and voting rights. Talking about vaccinations, he said that millions of Americans have been vaccinated against COVID-19. “Tomorrow will mark one year since I took office. It’s been a year of challenges, but it’s also been a year of enormous progress,” Biden said at the formal news conference held in the White House.
Biden discussed the challenges his administration and the country has faced because of the coronavirus pandemic during his first year in office. “Omicron has now been challenging us in a way that it’s the new enemy,” Biden said. Biden also highlighted how the country is now better positioned to tackle the pandemic, citing vaccination efforts, testing tools and new medications now available. Talking about inflation, Biden said one of the keys to facing down inflation in the US is to promote healthy competition within various industries. “A handful of giant companies dominate the market in sectors like meat processing, railroads, shipping, and other areas. Over time, it has reduced competition, squeezed out small businesses and farmers, ranchers and increased the price for consumers,” said Biden.
President Biden acknowledged Americans are struggling with the high cost of living and threw his weight behind the Federal Reserve’s efforts to fight inflation “We need to get inflation under control,” Biden said during his opening remarks Wednesday. Biden pointed out that price stability is the responsibility of the Fed. “The critical job of making sure elevated prices don’t become entrenched rests with the Federal Reserve, which has a dual mandate- full employment and stable prices,” Biden said. Biden noted that Americans are seeing rapid price increases at grocery stores, at the gas pumps and elsewhere.
Biden also used his opening remarks to highlight the number of jobs created under his watch. “We created 6 million new jobs. More jobs in one year than any time before. Unemployment dropped. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 per cent. Child poverty dropped by nearly 40 per cent,” the President added. Regarding voting rights legislation Biden said that the party faces an uphill battle to pass the bills in Congress. Asked if he thinks the upcoming elections will be fairly conducted and legitimate if voting rights legislation doesn’t pass, Biden said “it all depends on whether or not we’re able to make a case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election.”