Milwaukee, WI: In his first Town Hall as President on Tuesday, Joe Biden chose Middle America to start laying down markers and clarifying his policies.
People who want a vaccine will be able to get one by the end of July, he promised.
Within 100 days, close to every schoolchild in America will be able to go back five days a week.
A pathway to citizenship would be essential to any immigration reform bill.
But often, during his CNN town hall, the pledges came with caveats.
That end of July deadline? It was about vaccine availability.
Those school reopenings? Five days a week was aspirational.
Immigration reform? Even a piecemeal bill dealing with refugees would be an accomplishment.
Biden’s town hall on Tuesday night went like that: a dash of news, a nuance to boot, and a general attempt to not get bogged down too much on any one thing, only to fixate on it.
But the country is fixated on Covid vaccine right now. So, Biden promised that “by the end of July, we’ll have over 600 million doses, enough to vaccinate every single American.” He expects there to be 400 million doses by the end of May. And he set another goal: That things would be largely back to normal in the United States by next Christmas.) It’s worth noting that this is a change from Biden’s previous pledge from last month that everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one by the “spring.” Biden laid the blame for the need to push that timeline at the feet of the Trump administration, insisting that his predecessor “wasted so much time” in dealing with the virus.
He was careful to pick the spots where he tacked left. He defended a $15 minimum wage hike, but not executive action to wipe away $50,000 in student debt relief. He insisted that people shouldn’t be locked up for drug use offenses, but took great pains to emphasize that he had no plans to defund the police.
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