WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise on Wednesday criticized President Joe Biden for an “entire year of crises” and mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic in advance of Biden’s afternoon White House news conference where he is expected to defend his first-year record.
“Hardworking families are suffering from an economic crisis, an energy crisis, a border crisis, an education crisis, a national security crisis and now a worsening COVID crisis,” said Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, who chairs the House Republican Conference. “President Biden failed to deliver on his promise to shut down the virus.”
After her opening statement, Stefanik did not take questions or make any further remarks.
The criticism came as Biden is scheduled to address reporters later Wednesday afternoon on the eve of the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. He is expected field questions about his vaccine mandate, the economy, the U.S. military’s exit from Afghanistan and his stalled Build Back Better social spending package.
The news conference is the president’s 10th since he took office, fewer than any of his five immediate predecessors for the same time period, according to data from the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Former President Donald Trump held 21 news conferences during his first year in office.
The two House GOP leaders targeted the administration’s approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, referring to the virus as “Biden’s COVID crisis” and condemning the vaccine mandate for imposing government authority on what they said should be a personal medical decision.
“I’ve gotten the vaccine, and I encourage others to get it, but clearly not everybody,” Scalise said. “It is a medical decision. But this idea that you should fire people because they don’t get vaccinated; you should shut down businesses because every person walking in the door isn’t vaccinated, is lunacy.”
He also criticized the president for his lack of urgency in appointing a U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner. The FDA, currently headed by acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock, has been without a permanent commissioner since Biden took office a year ago.
“The FDA has been called a rudderless ship in the middle of a pandemic,” Scalise said. “[Biden] ran on shutting down the virus, and you wonder why it’s not shut down.”
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