America Last: Biden Talks $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill Before Afghanistan Crisis

President Joe Biden delivered a statement to the nation on the crisis in Afghanistan on Tuesday evening — but not before talking about his “Build Back Better” agenda and the House of Representatives vote on $3.5 trillion in new spending.

“Before I update you on the meeting that I had with leaders of the G-7 earlier today, I want to say a word about the progress we’re making on the ‘Build Back Better’ agenda here at home,” Biden began, before praising the House vote on spending. He also congratulated Democrats on passing H.R. 4, the “John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021,” which would vastly expand federal authority over election, but which is considered extremely unlikely to pass in the Senate.

Biden spoke as Americans stranded in Kabul continued to struggle to reach the airport, and as the administration was unable to clarify when, exactly, an August 31 withdrawal deadline imposed by the Taliban would officially begin.

Earlier in the day, the Pentagon confirmed to Breitbart News that the U.S. had begun drawing down forces to meet the August 31 deadline. In a statement prior to his address, Biden said “we are currently on pace to finish” the “objectives” of the U.S. mission by August 31, and that “completion of the mission by August 31st depends on continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport.”

In his speech, he emphasized that he had “asked the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans to adjust the timetable should that become necessary.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.