Posted on 09/20/2022 8:16:35 AM PDT by lightman
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci attempted to walk back a statement made by President Joe Biden during a recent interview that the COVID-19 pandemic “is over.”
“What [Biden] really meant is that the very severe stage of the pandemic of having … 3,000 deaths a day—that stage is no longer present,” Fauci told Politico. “People should not be cavalier that we’re out of the woods,” he added.
In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday night, Biden was asked about the trajectory of COVID-19 in the United States.
“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID, we’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over,” Biden declared.
Earlier this month, the White House asked Congress for an additional $47 billion in emergency funding to deal with COVID-19, monkeypox, and the Ukraine conflict. Of that figure, the largest request is about $22.4 billion in COVID-19 funding, which would support research on vaccines, testing, preparations, and treatment.
Democrats Scramble
But his comment to the CBS show prompted Democrats to scramble on Monday to shape the narrative around Biden’s messaging.
“I think what the president was trying to say is that the worst of the pandemic is over,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told Fox News, saying that some still suffer from so-called “long COVID.” “The way I would phrase it is the worst of the pandemic is over,” Khanna said.
“COVID is not over,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told reporters on Monday when asked about Biden’s remarks. “I don’t know what he meant … some people use ‘pandemic’ or ‘epidemic’ or other phrases. And he said that COVID isn’t over, the pandemic is over. But the way I look at it, COVID isn’t over.”
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) agreed with Kaine’s assessment.
“The variants are still out there. We are all hoping that it’s over [but] nobody is going to predict with certainty that it is. I’m not,” Durbin told ABC News.
Republicans used Biden’s comment in the interview to argue that additional COVID-19 relief funding is not needed. Previously, GOP lawmakers have signaled they aren’t willing to back the White House’s latest request.
“Despite Americans having largely returned to normal life, which you acknowledged when you noted that attendees at the Detroit Auto Show were not wearing masks, your Administration continues to request un-offset emergency funding from Congress, enforce vaccine mandates, and maintain federal emergency declarations that cost taxpayers billions of dollars,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) wrote in a letter to the Biden administration this week
Dr. Jha speaks for the Whitehouse.
NO, Joey Crappy Pants “Speaks” for the Whitehouse.
Those little TURDS Fauci and Jha are advisors. I for one don’t need or want their advice. They can ALL go to Hell as far as I’m concerned.
I agree with Biden for once. The pandemic is over and its time to remove the so called “emergency.”
Every time biden speaks, people have to rush out and say he didn’t know what he was talking about, this is the official party line. What a disgrace.
Covid 4 Evah!
They don’t want to give up on the scam because then the fear and the money and the power are gone.
And the repercussions for what they did will begin.
it’s gonna be epic
Biden could not have been clearer, he said the pandemic is over.
biden has moved on. He’s found other not so creative ways to screw up America.
Not to worry. The gang is hard at work on gain-of-function for other microbes, so a new pandemic is probably just around the corner.
2024 could be very interesting if Trump runs and is nominated. I don’t put anything past these people.
Fauci humiliated Slow Joe here. This can only be settled one way: a duel between the two men.
My money is on Biden. If he can handle Corn Pop, he can handle Fauci.
Fauci’s ego will not allow him to shut up.
schrodinger’s pandemic. It’s over in time for the midterms, but still ongoing for all of the deranged blue haired gender goblins who want to WFH, virtue signal and hide behind masks forever.
What he meant was “mail in voting isn’t over” and “Barack Obama and I have built the greatest voting fraud infrastructure in history”
It’s hard to stomach this endless parade of clowns
Would be interesting is somebody did an article on which governor’s are holding onto covid emergency power and which have ended them. But I think we know that answer.
Next, Fauci will predict another great pandemic if DeSantis or Trump or Governor of Texas Ted Cruz win the White House in 2024.
Biden is not in charge nor has any authority to set policy.
...and the gaslighting continues from Fauci.
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