Biden Says Jobs Report Is ‘Grim,’ Warns of ‘Dark Winter’ as COVID-19 Rages

President-elect 👤Joe Biden said Friday’s “grim” jobs report shows the economic recovery is stalling and warned the “dark winter” ahead would exacerbate the pain unless the U.S. Congress passes a coronavirus relief bill immediately.

“The situation requires urgent action,” Biden said in a statement. “Americans need help and they need it now.”

A government report earlier in the day showed the labor market slowing in November amid a surge of COVID-19 cases.

Biden, the Democratic former vice president, offered support for an emerging bipartisan package of around $908 billion that has drawn tentative support from members of both parties in Congress.

But he said the bill would be “just the start” and vowed to press for additional relief once he takes office in January.

The president-elect has focused heavily on the pandemic and economy during the transition, after a campaign in which he made President Donald Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus a central theme.

He is expected to name Jeff Zients, a co-chair of his transition and a former Obama administration economic aide, as his coronavirus “czar” to coordinate the government’s pandemic response and oversee an ambitious vaccine distribution effort, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Earlier this week, he unveiled his economic team, led by his nominee for Treasury secretary, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

But he faces intensifying pressure from congressional allies and rights groups to make ethnically diverse picks for the remaining slots in his administration.

Biden was set to meet the board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a long-running Black civil rights organization, on Tuesday to discuss criticisms that his cabinet picks lacked the representation he promised during a campaign that was propelled by Black voters.