Lawmakers assess first year of Biden Administration

Title: In VOA interviews, lawmakers assess the Biden-Harris administration’s year at the helm of the White House.
SLUG: Congressmen evaluate Biden’s tenure.
DATE: January, 20, 2022
AUTHOR: Jaime Moreno
LOCATION: Washington DC
VIDEO SOURCE: Own and AFP – REUTERS- SKYPE – ZOOM
FORMAT: PKG 2.10

INTRO
Democratic and Republican lawmakers’ assessment of the first year of the Biden Administration is as opposite as the partisan divisions on Capitol Hill. What none of them expected is that, even with Democratic majorities, the President’s agenda remains stuck on crucial issues for the country.

TEXT
The x-ray of the first year of the Biden-Harris Administration at the helm of the White House has unobjectionable triumphs, from the point of view of the Democratic legislator for Texas, Joaquín Castro, as he told Carolina Valladares. Two of them are mass vaccination and economic recovery:

SOT Joaquín Castro – Democratic Rep.
“So he was very successful in reducing the unemployment rate, bringing it down to 3.9%, creating 6 million jobs.”

TEXT
For the Republican party, however, the list of critics is long, conservative Senator Neal Dunn told Voice of America:

SOT Neal Dunn – Republican Rep.
“…There are a lot of missteps right now where we’re suffering with our economy, which is not working. We had a great economy a year ago. It was a strong, fantastic economy.

Español
“There are a lot of missteps there right now where we’re suffering with our economy. We had a great economy one year ago. This economy was on fire to a terrific.

TEXT
Despite their differences, it is difficult to explain how crucial items on President JoeBiden’s agenda are held up in the Senate, even though they hold the majority in both legislative chambers.

SOT Joaquín Castro- Democratic Rep.
“Here’s a caveat: 98% of people, elected officials within a party, might agree on something. But when their margins are so minimal, 98% may not be enough.”

TEXT
The immigration issue, remains one of the main headaches of the Biden Administration:

SOT NealDunn – Republican Rep.
“It’s a terrible thing for us to be incentivizing drug cartels in Latin America to try to extort those people for money and literally traffic them across our border.”
Español It’s a terrible thing for us to be incentivizing the drug cartels in Latin America to try to extort all this money from those people and literally traffic them across our border.

TEXT
On the need for immigration reform, both lawmakers agree, but the president’s party knows that the opportunity to fulfill President Biden’s campaign promise before the midterm elections is slipping through his fingers:

SOT Joaquin Castro- Democratic Rep.
“We still have time until the end of 2022. Democrats will control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. So we should take every opportunity we can to consider this legislation.”

TEXT
Faced with a crisis like the one in Venezuela, they seem to agree on the objective of seeing Nicolás Maduro out of power.

SOT Joaquín Castro- Democrat Representative
“we have had very deep problems with the human rights record of Maduro and his administration.”

SOT – Neal Dunn- Republican Rep.
“A Socialist Hell.
TEXT
Jaime Moreno, Voice of America, Washington DC.