President Biden responds to questions ranging from COVID-19 to police reform during town hall
Trip to Milwaukee was Biden's first official trip since taking office
Trip to Milwaukee was Biden's first official trip since taking office
Trip to Milwaukee was Biden's first official trip since taking office
President Joe Biden was in Milwaukee for several hours Tuesday night to take part in a CNN town hall at the Pabst Theater.
This was Biden's first official trip since taking office last month.
During the town hall with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Biden took questions from the audience of about 50 people on a range of topics- from policing to the COVID-19 vaccine to reopening schools.
He promised a majority of elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating his original goal after his administration came under fire when aides said schools would be considered open if they held in-person learning just one day a week.
“I said open a majority of schools in K through eighth grade, because they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home," Biden said.
The town hall touched on a range of issues related to the coronavirus, from protections for small businesses to the administration's vaccination plans. Biden said that by the end of July there would be 600 million doses of the vaccine available, enough to vaccinate every American.
But with many of his answers, he sought to emphasize the need for funding to achieve his goals. The town hall was aimed at selling his $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package directly to the American people, part of an effort designed in part to put pressure on Republican lawmakers and refocus Congress on speedy passage of the bill now that his predecessor's impeachment trial is behind him.
Biden underscored how much he wants to move beyond Donald Trump on Tuesday night, repeatedly refusing to talk about the former president and saying at one point, "I'm tired of talking about Donald Trump."
"For four years, all that's been in the news is Trump. For the next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people,'' he said, to applause from the audience.
During the town hall, Biden also offered a flavor of the moderate stance that helped win him purple states like Wisconsin in 2020. He resisted a questioner's request for his administration to embrace the progressive goal of forgiving $50,000 in student loan debt, reiterating his commitment to forgiving just $10,000.
He suggested one of the ways to improve policing was to provide more funding to police departments, running counter to calls from some progressives to defund the police. He also said he was optimistic about passing legislation to study police reforms.
He also weighed in on the immigration bill his administration is expected to unveil this week. Biden affirmed that a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants is essential for any bill he'll support, but also suggested he'd be open to a piecemeal approach to immigration reform rather than a comprehensive bill, if necessary.
In choosing Wisconsin for his first trip, Biden picked one of the most politically divided states to test his pitch that he has the ability to bring the country together after one of the most divided periods in recent American history.
Biden plans to visit Michigan later in the week.