President Joe Biden’s Thursday primetime address will mark a shift into the second phase of the administration’s coronavirus pandemic response, White House officials familiar with his remarks say.
Senior administration officials tell the Daily Caller that Biden’s speech, his first in primetime since his January inauguration, will run approximately 20 minutes and seek to achieve three core goals. (RELATED: Biden To Announce Purchase Of Additional 100 Million Doses Of Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine)
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 10: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event with the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck at the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building March 10, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden announced that the government will purchase 100 million more doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
First, he will commemorate the sacrifices made by the American people over the past year, including the more than 500,000 lives lost due to the pandemic.
Second, the president will explain how scaling up and maintaining vaccines, vaccinators and vaccination sites has been the “greatest operational challenge the country has faced.”
Finally, Biden will outline the next steps in his pandemic response and “level with the American people about what is still required to defeat the virus and provide a hopeful vision of what is possible if we all come together.”
The president’s speech comes the night before he is expected to sign the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan stimulus package into law and will mark one year since former President Donald Trump delivered his “15 days to slow the spread” speech in the White House Rose Garden.
Thursday also marks Biden’s 50th day in office. He has yet to hold a solo press conference or deliver his first-year joint session address to Congress. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters earlier in March to expect both to occur by the end of the month.
You can watch Biden’s entire address, scheduled to start at 8:00pm ET, below via the White House.
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This is a developing story and will be updated with more information as it becomes available.