Listen to this article

US President Joe Biden offered words in support of a California woman who lost her job in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. He delivered his words during his economic relief plans in his inaugural weekly conversation with Americans. On Sunday, the White House also posted a video to its social media platforms about the story of a woman named Michele Voelkert in California. She said she was laid off after her company reorganized due to the pandemic. Voelkert said in the video that she wrote to President Biden about her financial hardships and later received a call from him, as he spoke to her from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Biden said, “I’ve been saying a long time, the idea that we think we can keep businesses open and moving and thriving without dealing with this pandemic is just a nonstarter”.

Point to be noted that Voelkert can be seen listening from her home during the call. Biden also said, “We’re putting together a plan that provides for emergency relief to people who are desperate now”. President Biden is reinstating a presidential tradition dating back to 1933 with a Weekly Conversation. It was the time when former President Franklin D Roosevelt started hosting his evening ‘fireside chats’, which ended under the previous administration. Biden also described how his sweeping $1.9 trillion economic relief plan provides everything from mortgage payments, to unemployment insurance, to rental subsidies, to food security for children, while speaking to Voelkert. The new weekly conversation came just after Senate Democrats voted to advance the relief proposal through budget reconciliation.

It is noteworthy that the move could allow the majority to pass the plan without any Republican votes. Biden has met with both Republicans and Democrats at the White House in recent weeks. His advisers have suggested the Republicans’ counter $600bn proposal doesn’t adequately address the crisis. The former president Barack Obama delivered near-weekly addresses that were aired on YouTube, and his predecessors held theirs on various other platforms. The press secretary of White House Jen Psaki previously announced the president was planning on re-launching the weekly addresses. She said, “This is a time-honored tradition in the country of hearing from the president in this way. President Biden will continue that tradition, and we expect it to take on a variety of forms”.