President Joe Biden continues pressing for his multitrillion-dollar domestic agenda, which has stalled in Congress, but has failed to personally address crises growing in the United States.
The president has not addressed rising gas prices, currently at a seven-year high, food shortages and costs, and snarled supply chains leading to a major backlog of cargo ships outside American seaports.
The supply chain and food issues threaten to disrupt Americans preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, as retailers are preparing customers for a difficult holiday season.
Biden appears unwilling to personally address current problems, focusing instead on his domestic spending agenda that would empower government to have more control of aspects of American life.
During the daily press briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki demonstrated the Biden team’s inability to address major issues, punting most questions to respective agencies of the administration.
On questions about food shortages, Psaki pointed to the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice.
The failures in Afghanistan continue to ripple, as reports revealed the suicide bomber who killed 13 American troops outside of the Kabul airport had been released from the military base in Bagram just days before.
Psaki punted questions about the report to the intelligence community, claiming she was unable to speak about the specifics.
She was also unable to say how many Americans were still in Afghanistan, diverting questions about the month-long crisis to the State Department.
Asked about rising gas prices, Psaki blamed Hurricane Ida, which hit more than a month ago, crippling energy production.
“We’re continuously monitoring. We’ll look to take additional steps as needed,” she said.
Biden also appears unwilling to personally address 148 Chinese Air Force planes making incursions into Taiwan airspace.
When asked about the rising tensions, Biden only said he spoke to Chinese communist party leader Xi Jinping a month ago and repeated that America would abide by the Taiwan agreement.
“I’ve spoken with Xi about Taiwan. We agree … we’ll abide by the Taiwan agreement. That’s where we are,” he said.
Psaki redirected to the State Department questions about China’s unchecked aggressions in Taiwan.
Chaos on the southern border continues to reign as more than a hundred thousand migrants prepare to make the trip to the United States. The White House routinely reroutes questions about the ongoing migrant crisis to the secretary of Homeland Security.
The president also faces criticism for his failure to control the coronavirus pandemic as public approval for his efforts continues to fade.
Biden’s focus on Thursday is to promote businesses mandating the coronavirus vaccine for employees while the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) drafts his edict to require all businesses with more than 100 employees to enact vaccination mandates.
“The President’s message will be clear: Vaccination requirements work,” Psaki told reporters on Thursday.
But the White House still has not set a timeline for when OSHA will release the rule, despite Biden’s announcing it over four weeks ago.
“I can’t give you a timeline. OSHA’s working on them, but obviously, hopefully, we’ll know more in the coming weeks,” Psaki said in September.