When the ET arrives at 4pm, Biden will ask questions from reporters, whose administration is struggling to contain the recent rise of the Omigran variant and alleviate economic concerns about the nation.
A White House official said Biden would begin his press conference on “significant progress” in vaccines, reopening the economy, creating jobs and reducing unemployment, but acknowledged the challenges his administration will face as he enters his second year in office.
“The president knows there are still jobs,” an executive said. “So he’s going to balance with the American people about the challenges we still face – especially when it comes to Covit-19 and higher prices – and the steps he will take to deal with them.”
After a series of setbacks recently, the president is entering his second year in office – the year of the by-elections. The central part of his economic agenda has reached a roadblock in Congress, it is unclear whether the Democrats’ drive for suffrage will go anywhere, the Supreme Court rescinding Biden’s vaccination order for big business and recent key economic indicators show record inflation.
Even after making the remarks, the President continues to ask questions to reporters on his departure and arrival at the White House, but he has not held as many formal press conferences as his latest predecessors.
By comparison, President Donald Trump held 21 press conferences in his first year in office, but only one of them was private and the other was generally a joint venture with foreign leaders. (During his last year in office, Trump held 35 separate press conferences as the epidemic spread.)
President Barack Obama held 27 press conferences in his first year – 11 separate and 16 joint. President George W. Bush. Bush held 19 press conferences – five separate and 14 joint, according to UCSB data. The then President Bill Clinton held 12 separate press conferences and 26 joint press conferences.
Biden, who has vowed to restore US credibility on the world stage, will face questions on Wednesday about a number of looming and immediate foreign policy challenges.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border and appears poised to invade the country. U.S. officials are increasingly pessimistic about the possibility of retrieving the Iran nuclear deal and have warned that they will return to other options if diplomacy fails. China continues to be accused of forced labor and human rights abuses in western China’s Xinjiang, and the United States has said it will not send an official U.S. delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.