President Joe Biden and his White House were “largely absent” from the government funding negotiations in Congress this week, according to the Hill, which cited statements from political strategists and lawmakers.
As President-elect Donald Trump and his camp grappled with congressional Republicans over a resolution while the threat of a government shutdown increased as the year comes to a close, Biden and his administration officials have mostly been silent.
“We’re just not seeing them. And he’s completely disappeared,” Republican strategist Doug Heye told the Hill of the outgoing president. “Biden is AWOL and it’s reasonable to question whether some of that is because he’s just not up to the task.”
When asked about why the president has refrained from publicly speaking on the ongoing funding fight in Congress, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “This is for Republicans in the House to fix.”
One unnamed Democrat strategist told the publication that Democrats do not even want Biden to get involved.
“The bigger story is that no one is asking him to be involved. Democrats in Washington just want the Bidens and their people to get the hell out of town so we can move on from them,” the strategist said.
Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) agreed that Democrats would not want to listen to Biden at this point anyway.
“President Biden has been in lame duck status for most of this year. Even if he had something to say, it doesn’t seem there would be anyone listening,” Curbelo said. “His only strategy is to let President Trump, Elon Musk, and the Speaker own the chaos, since it was their decision to torpedo that bipartisan agreement [Speaker Mike] Johnson had built.”