In Long-Delayed Press Conference, Biden Blames Trump for Border Crisis, Pushes to Rewrite Filibuster

Eric Philips
03-25-2021

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President Biden lobbied Thursday for new action to bypass Republican input and advance the Democrats' left-wing agenda in Congress.

It was his first official press conference, 64 days in the making, and it's the latest presidential press event in modern history. Reporters questioned him about a variety of issues from the Senate filibuster to China to immigration. 

Biden appeared to offer a special policy for migrant children, saying, "The idea that I'm going to say which I would never do that if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border we're just going to let them starve to death on the other side.  No previous administration did that either except Trump."

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The President said the problems at the southern border aren't new.  And he argued that migrants aren't coming just because they think he's such a nice guy.

"The reason they're coming is it's the time they can come without dying in the desert. Number two, they're coming 'cause of circumstances in the country," he said.

He said 5,000 more beds are being made available at the border at Ft. Bliss.  And that the U.S. would be better prepared to deal with the situation at the border if it had not been for the previous administration.

"What he did was he dismantled all the elements that exist to deal with what had been a problem and continues to be a problem for a long time, he shut down the number of beds available," Biden said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) vehemently disagreed, saying the border crisis has been caused by Biden, not Trump. He said Biden made the problem even worse today by publicly offering more beds that will draw more migrants to the border.

On the practice known as the filibuster in the Senate, the President said he's for reforming it, but not necessarily abolishing it.
 
"It's being abused in a gigantic way," he claimed. But Democrats have been pushing far-left legislation through the House, like the so-called "Equality Act", and now they want to eliminate Republican opposition to that legislation in the narrowly divided 50-50 Senate.

CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins offered Biden the chance to publicly reject the filibuster, saying, "If it's a relic of Jim Crow, why not get rid of the filibuster?"

Biden replied, "Successful electoral politics is the art of the possible."

On the subject of China, the President said the U.S. has to be in competition with China without being in confrontation with them.

"They have an overall goal of becoming the leader of the world, the wealthiest country in the world, and the most powerful county in the world. And it's not going to happen on my watch," he said.

And what about the political future of the president? Reporters pressed him about whether he plans to run again in 2024. 

Biden tried to dodge the question before finally conceding. 

"My answer is yes, I plan to run for reelection that's my expectation," he said. 

The president's response about running again comes just one day after the White House rebranded the Biden administration to the Biden-Harris administration, seeming to raise the profile of the Vice President, and placing her in charge of the border crisis.

READ  A New Border Czar: Biden Asks Vice President Harris to Take Charge of the Surge

Biden's advanced age and questions about his mental status have many expecting that he won't run again. On Thursday he had a few more stumbles and awkward moments like the ones that have plagued him during recent public events. Here's a couple of them:

 

 

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About The Author

Eric
Philips

Eric Philips is the White House Correspondent for CBN News and is based in the network’s Washington DC bureau. There he keeps close tabs on the Pentagon, Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice, breaking down any international or domestic threats to the United States. Prior to his tenure at CBN, Eric was an Anchor and Consumer Investigative Reporter for the NBC affiliate in Richmond, Virginia. While there, he won an Emmy for best morning newscast. In addition, Eric has covered news for local stations in Atlanta, Charlotte, Norfolk, and Salisbury, MD. He also served for five years as a
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