Facing a series of setbacks for President Joe Biden and his agenda over the course of the past month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is facing questions about whether it is time for the administration to make some changes.
During a press briefing on Thursday, Bloomberg reporter Justin Sink said that “things seem like they’re going pretty poorly right now for the White House.”
He noted that the president’s Build Back Better Act was stymied late last year, inflation hit a 40-year high, diplomatic talks with Russian do not “seem to have brought us back from the brink,” and the coronavirus continues to break records for the number of new infections recorded.
“I’m wondering at what point do you take stock and say that things need to change internally, whether it’s your outreach with the Hill, whether it’s the leadership within the White House. You seem to be stymied on an incredible number of fronts right now,” he said.
Psaki pushed back by pointing out the success in vaccinating millions of Americans against COVID-19, the record low unemployment rate, and arguing that Biden “rebuilt our alliances and relationships around the world.”
“We also recognize when you have a small margin and threshold in the Senate, it’s very difficult to get things done and to get legislation passed,” she said.
Watch the video below:
Reporter: "So the sense is things are going well [at the White House], there's no need for change right now?"
— The Hill (@thehill) January 14, 2022
Jen Psaki: "We could certainly propose legislation to see if people support bunny rabbits and ice cream, but that wouldn't be very rewarding for the American people." pic.twitter.com/LXO5s2duPM
Psaki continued, “And the fact that the president, under his leadership, got the American Rescue plan passed, a bipartisan infrastructure bill with 19 votes in the Senate, six votes in the House, the fact that we are still continuing to work with members to determine the path forward on Build Back Better, that we have the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate supporting voting rights, that’s a path forward for us.”
“We just don’t see it through the same prism,” the White House press secretary added.
Sink asked, “So the sense is things are going well, there’s no need for change right now?”
“You do hard things in the White House. You have every challenge laid at your feet whether it’s global or domestically,” Psaki replied.
She added, “We could certainly propose legislation to see if people support bunny rabbits and ice cream, but that wouldn’t be very rewarding to the American people. So the president’s view is we’re going to keep pushing for hard things.”
The exchange came the same day Biden was dealt a blow to his efforts to pass voting rights legislation and that the Supreme Court blocked his vaccine requirement for larger businesses.
