Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:29 pm
While speaking to reporters, President Biden said that unity is not the same as bipartisanship, and he won’t be delayed by Republicans.
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President Biden makes a great point. Unity is not the same thing as a bipartisan vote on legislation. pic.twitter.com/Nm8O05jXMz
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— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) January 25, 2021
The President said:
Unity is trying to reflect what the majority of the American people, Democrat, Republican and independent, think is within the fulcrum of what needs to be done to make their lives and the lives of the Americans better. If you look at the data — and you may correct me if I get the number wrong. 57, 58 of American people including Republicans, Democrats and independents think we have to do something about the covid-19, we have to do something about making sure that people that are hurting badly can’t eat, don’t have food, are in a position where they’re about to be thrown out of their apartments, being able to have an opportunity to get a job. That they always think we should be acting, we should be doing more.
Unity also is trying to get at a minimum, if you pass a piece of legislation that breaks down on party lines, but gets passed, doesn’t mean there wasn’t unity. It means it wasn’t bipartisan.
President Biden explained a very important point. If Republicans refuse to support legislation, it doesn’t mean that there is no unity. For example, over 90% of Americans support expanded gun background checks. Republicans in Congress do not. If Democrats pass and sign expanded background checks into law, it will be unified because almost all Americans support it.
Republicans tried to weaponize Biden’s unity message against him, but they failed.
Unity is doing what the majority of Americans want, not catering to few Republicans in Congress.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
