President Joe Biden touted a “federal plan” to beat the coronavirus just one day after admitting there is no “federal solution” to solve the pandemic.
“My Administration has the back of every governor fighting COVID-19 in their state. Last week, I rolled out a federal plan to tackle Omicron by adding vaccination and booster capacity, hospital equipment, staff, and more,” Biden tweeted. “We’re going to get through this by working together.”
My Administration has the back of every governor fighting COVID-19 in their state. Last week, I rolled out a federal plan to tackle Omicron by adding vaccination and booster capacity, hospital equipment, staff, and more.
We’re going to get through this by working together.
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 28, 2021
During a virtual meeting Monday with governors and his COVID-19 response team, Biden said “there is no federal solution” to the pandemic after Republican Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson stressed the need for more tests and expressed concerns that federal solutions could impede state solutions as supply chains dry up.
“This gets solved at the state level. My message to the governor is simple: If you need something, say something and we’re going to have your back in any way we can,” Biden said. (RELATED: Former Biden COVID Advisor Zeke Emanuel Opposes Helping Workers Fired Over Vaccine Mandate)
Hutchinson later expressed gratitude to Biden for his efforts to “depoliticize our COVID response.”
The president also admitted the administration’s efforts to make COVID-19 tests available to Americans is “clearly not enough.”
“We went from no over-the-counter tests in January to 36 million in October, 100 million in November and almost 200 million in December. But it’s not enough. It’s clearly not enough.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki later said “context and the full clip is important” and that Biden’s comments were meant to reflect the need for a strong federal-state partnership.