Joe Biden’s Rose Garden celebration to mark passage of the $1.9tr American Rescue Plan will feature NO Republicans – but Jen Psaki says ‘the door to the Oval Office remains open’
- President Joe Biden will celebrate the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the White House Rose Garden Friday afternoon
- The White House has invited 22 Democratic lawmakers, but no Republicans will be present because no GOP member of Congress voted for the bill
- Press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday morning that ‘the door to the Oval Office remains open’ to Republicans who want to work across the aisle
President Joe Biden will celebrate the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in the Rose Garden Friday afternoon.
The White House has invited 22 Democratic lawmakers – leadership and chairs of the relevant committees – to join the festivities, but no Republicans will be present, as no GOP member of Congress crossed the aisle to vote in favor of the massive COVID-19 relief package.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday morning on ‘Good Morning America’ that Biden will keep trying, telling George Stephanopoulos, ‘the door to the Oval Office remains open.’
President Joe Biden, seen delivering the first primetime speech of his presidency Thursday night, will celebrate the passage of the American Rescue Plan Friday afternoon in the White Hosue Rose Garden
Only Democrats will be present at Friday afternoon’s ceremony in the White House Rose Garden (pictured) after no Republicans crossed the aisle to vote for the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill
White House press secretary Jen Psaki appeared on ‘Good Morning America’ Friday morning and told George Stephanopoulos that ‘the door to the Oval Office remains open’ to Republicans who want to work with the Democratic president
Psaki said she believed Republicans might be willing to work with the Democratic White House on an infrastructure package and ‘modernizing our immigration system.’
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, GOP lawmakers are already setting their sights on taking back the House majority next year by using the influx of migrants at the southern border to hammer the White House on Biden’s immigration policy.
‘He’s hopeful Republicans will join him,’ Psaki said upon mentioning the two issue areas.
She also reacted to criticism of the legislation from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said that Democrats inherited a rising tide, and so the $1.9 trillion rescue plan didn’t need to be so big.
‘Sen. Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are really outliers on this as you noted the majority of the American people support this package, including the majority of Republicans,’ Psaki responded. ‘So hopefully there’ll be a moment of self-reflection for some of the members who voted against it.’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who appeared on ‘Morning Joe,’ echoed Psaki’s sentiment.
‘It’s not bipartisan in the Senate unfortunately, maybe the next bill will be because when Republicans see we can do it without them maybe they’ll want to join us and do it with us, but it’s bipartisan with the American people,’ Schumer said.
Public polling on the American Rescue Plan has shown that it’s popular with both Democratic and Republican voters.
A Morning Consult poll conducted between March 6-8 found that 59 per cent of Republicans strongly or somewhat supported the COVID-19 relief package.
That’s, of course, in comparison to 90 per cent of Democats who said the same thing.
The principles of the Biden administration: the president, vice president, first lady and second gentleman, will fan out throughout the country – mostly to swing states – starting next week to keep the legislative victory in the news.
Biden will kick off the American Rescue Plan Tour on Tuesday with a visit to Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the county tucked between his adopted hometown of Wilmington, Delaware and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he headquartered his 2020 campaign.
He’ll also travel to Atlanta, Georgia Friday to promote the package.
In December and early January, Biden campaigned along with Georgia Democratic Senate hopefuls Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, promising voters in the state that if they won – which would give Democrats control of the Senate – Americans would see those $2,000 relief checks.
The checks in the American Rescue Plan are $1,400 because $600 checks were included in the final COVID-19 stimulus package passed under former President Donald Trump.
Both Trump and Biden wanted the amount to be $2,000.