Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Biden hits out at Republicans for blocking his agenda in rare Twitter outburst

No mention of Manchin, Sinema in Biden’s rant against Washington inaction

John Bowden
Monday 11 July 2022 17:28 BST
Comments
‘Now’s the time to galvanise this movement’: Biden speaks to gun safety advocates

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

President Joe Biden lashed out at his Republican foes in a pair of uncharacteristically frustrated and angry statements released via Twitter on Sunday.

In a move that would have echoed his predecessor former president Donald Trump (were it not for the lack of mispellings and random capitalisation of words), the president scorched Republicans for voting against legislation to deal with a whole host of issues that he argued required bipartisan solutions.

While not out of place for a Democratic politician, the remarks revealed a Joe Biden who has largely given up on any effort to get Republicans to work with his party in good faith to address America’s greatest issues — even as he signs bipartisan legislation into law to address gun violence.

“We’ve seen the risk millions of workers face as they watch their pensions turn into broken promises. Now that we are implementing the Special Financial Assistance program, millions of workers will have the retirement they earned. Zero Republicans voted for this legislation,” wrote Mr Biden.

“Republicans are doing nothing but obstructing our efforts to crack down on gas-price gouging, lower food prices, lower healthcare costs, and hopefully, soon, lower your prescription drug costs. This is not right. And that’s why this election is going to be so darn important,” the president insisted.

The remarks come as Democrats are trying to rally a disillusioned and angry base to return to the polls in November in the hopes of expanding the party’s majority in the Senate and allowing for the codification of abortion rights into law. But the party also needs to hold on to its House majority for that to be possible. In many cases, that means Democratic politicians are making the tough choice to run aligned with or against an unpopular White House.

A new poll out on Monday from Siena College indicates that nearly two-thirds of Mr Biden’s own party doesn’t want him to run again in 2024, preferring instead that he bow out and letting a younger leader take charge.

That poll indicated that inflation and the economy remain voters’ main concern, hence the president’s remarks and Democrats continued woes about November even given the unpopularity of the Supreme Court’s ruling throwing out the protections for abortion rights at the federal level.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in