On Monday, despite his earlier promises to “shut down the virus,” President Joe Biden informed governors that there was “no federal solution” to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After his reversal of one of his key campaign promises sparked a huge backlash, the White House quickly moved to walk back his acknowledgment that COVID-19 policy should be handled by states.
On Twitter, the White House attempted to laud the support provided to state governments by the Biden administration, listing various resources such as medical experts, equipment, and vaccines.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is making sure states have what they need to tackle COVID including: – 1,000 additional doctors and nurses – stockpiling millions of gowns, gloves, masks, and ventilators – adding vaccine and booster capacity,” the White House tweeted. “And more.”
The Biden-Harris Administration is making sure states have what they need to tackle COVID including:
– 1,000 additional doctors and nurses
– stockpiling millions of gowns, gloves, masks, and ventilators
– adding vaccine and booster capacityAnd more.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 28, 2021
“[White House Chief of Staff Ron] Klain hit the [T]witter emergency button,” Stephen L. Miller responded.
Klain hit the twitter emergency button. https://t.co/fUaU5wmHcz
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 28, 2021
As previously reported by The Daily Wire, Biden said that there was “no federal solution” to the COVID-19 pandemic after Governor Asa Hutchinson (AR-R), chairman of the National Governors Association, spoke about challenges his state is experiencing in responding to the pandemic.
“And so one word of concern or encouragement for your team is that as you look towards federal solutions that will help alleviate the challenge, make sure that we do not let federal solution stand in the way of state solutions,” Hutchinson said. “And the production of 500 million rapid tests that will be distributed by the federal government is great. But obviously that dries up the supply chain for the solutions that we might offer as governor.”
A few moments later, Biden responded, “Look, there is no federal solution. This gets solved at the state level.”
BIDEN, TODAY: “There is no federal solution” to COVID.
BIDEN, 2020: “I’m going to shut down the virus.” pic.twitter.com/3d1RaHRcyX
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 27, 2021
“My message to the governor is simple. If you need something, say something and we were going to have your back and anyway we can,” Biden added.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden criticized the Trump administration’s handling of COVID-19, promising to “shut down the virus” if he won the election.
“I’m not going to shut down the country. I’m not going to shut down the economy. I’m going to shut down the virus,” Biden tweeted in October 2020.
I'm not going to shut down the country.
I'm not going to shut down the economy.
I'm going to shut down the virus.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 30, 2020
In early December, Biden started to walk back this promise, pledging instead to beat back the virus.
“We are going to fight COVID-19 not with shutdowns or lockdowns – but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing and more,” Biden wrote in an op-ed for USA Today. “We will beat it back with science and speed, not chaos and confusion — just as we did in the spring and again with the more powerful delta variant in the summer and fall.”
“We’ve been doing everything we can to beat this virus. And, that’s what we have to keep doing. We can and we must come together as a nation to fight this virus, to protect one another, to protect our economic recovery. We moved forward in the face of COVID-19 and the delta variant. And, we will move forward now at the start of winter and in the face of the omicron variant — together,” Biden concluded.
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.