US: Biden faced political paralysis and COVID-19 outbreak

Joe Biden saw hope fade on Monday for an agreement on his gigantic plan that seeks to prepare the United States for the challenges of the 21st century, in a nightmarish end of the year also marked by the increase in COVID-19 cases.

On his way back to the White House after a family weekend in Wilmington, Delaware, the US president, wearing a black mask, walked into the Oval Office without a word or a glance at the journalists who were waiting for him as he alighted from his helicopter. . His agenda does not foresee, at the moment, any public appearance.

The 79-year-old Democrat, who took office nearly a year ago, has yet to publicly react to the perhaps fatal blow to his Build Back Better plan this weekend: $ 1.75 trillion in spending social and environmental issues for the United States to prosper in the face of climate change and competition from China.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer was trying to boost morale Monday by promising in a statement, “We will vote on a revised version” of the BBB bill already “passed by the House of Representatives, and will continue to vote until we have something”.

But what can be left of President Biden’s most important legislative initiative since Democratic Senator Joe Manchin made it known Sunday on Fox Nows, the conservative channel that loved former President Donald Trump, that he would not vote in favor of these reforms aimed at lower the cost of childcare or medication, and accelerate the energy transition?

Without your vote, Democrats would not achieve the majority necessary to pass the BBB in the Senate. And it is impossible to count, as Biden recently did to pass his gigantic infrastructure spending plan, with the support of the opposition: Republicans believe that “Rebuilding Better” would tilt the United States towards “socialism”, a controversial concept in the United States. .

Biden remained silent, but his spokesperson, Jen Psaki, reacted with a statement of utterly unprecedented virulence, criticizing “a sudden and inexplicable twist” and a “violation” of commitments by Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who made a fortune. with fossil fuels.

The blow for Biden, whose popularity rating is already very low, is extremely serious: not only are his reforms in jeopardy, but not much of his political credit remains, with a year to go until the midterm legislative elections that could prove a disaster for the Democrats.

The president, a former senator who prides himself on having dominated the parliamentary game like no other, took up the issue personally, speaking with Manchin on several occasions, much to the chagrin of progressives in his party, who feel ripped off.

“It’s time to take off your gloves and rule,” Democratic Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, one of the best-known faces of the progressive wing, tweeted Monday.

Omicron

Powerless before the senator of a small rural state of 1.7 million inhabitants, Biden also seems to be facing the new wave of COVID-19 in the country, the one that accumulates more deaths since the start of the pandemic two years ago, with more than 800,000 deceased so far.

“This virus is extraordinary,” top White House adviser on the health crisis, Anthony Fauci, said of the omicron variant on Sunday. “We are going to have difficult weeks or months as we approach winter.”

“It’s spreading very fast, literally around the world and definitely in our own country,” he added, concerned that nearly 50 million Americans eligible for vaccines have yet to be inoculated.

Across the country, lines are growing in front of diagnostic testing centers, while sports competitions and shows are canceled.

A disaster for Biden, who, after the chaos of the Trump presidency, was elected on the promise of ending the pandemic and protecting Americans.

Of course, how can this promise be kept in a deeply divided country and where the power of the federal state is, in any case, limited, and any measure, be it the use of a mask or the mandate to be vaccinated, generates controversy and legal actions?

Biden, who is already fighting to impose the COVID vaccine on public and private companies, has been content for several weeks with calling people to be immunized, without announcing any really strong measures.

So far, the Biden administration has not imposed any sanitary restrictions on internal flights, for example.

Asked recently about the complexity and shortcomings of the detection system, the White House spokeswoman merely quipped: “We should send a free test to all Americans, right?”