constituencies. i was in quite burns district in south carolina and you open this news conference talking about h. i spoke to a number of black voters who fought to get you elected and now they feel as though you are not fighting hard enough for them. and they are priorities. and they told me they see this push on voting rights more as a last-minute p.r. push then it is a legitimate effort to get legislation passed. so what do you say to these black voters who say that you do not have their backs as you promised on the campaign trail? >> president biden: i've had their back and i've had their back my entire career. i've never not had their backs. i started on the voting rights issue long, long ago when i got involved in politics in the first place. and i think part of the problem is, look, there is significant disagreement in every community on whether or not the timing of assertions made by people has been the most timely way. so, i'm sure there are those who are saying that why didn't biden push john lewis bill as hard as he pushed last month? why didn't he push it six months ago as hard as he did now? no, the fact is that there is -- there is a timing that is one's own choice dictated by events happening in the country and around the world as to what focus is. but part of the problem is, i have not been out in the community nearly enough. i have been here a lot. i find myself in a situation where i don't get a chance to look people in the eye because of both covid and things that are happening in washington. to be able to go out and do the things i've always been able to do pretty well, connect with people. and take a measure of my sincerity and a measure of who i am. for example, i mean, as i pointed out in south carolina, you know, the last time when i was chairman district committee, got the rights act extended for 25 years. and i got strom thurmond to vote for it. that is what i've been doing my whole career. and so, the idea that -- that i didn't either anticipate or because i didn't speak to it as fervently as they want me to earlier. in the meantime, i was spending a lot of time, spent hours and hours and hours talking with my colleagues on the democratic side, trying to get them to agree to in fact come with this push continue, they would be there for john lewis -- anyway. but i think that is a problem that is my own making of not communicating as much as i should have. yet, you find that when you deal with members of the black caucus and others of the united states congress, i still have close working relations. so, it is like every community. i'm sure that there are those who the community and big labor, why haven't they done, b, c, or d? it's going to take a little bit of time. putter you put vice president harris in charge of voting rights but are you satisfied with her work on this issue? and can you guarantee and do you commit she will be your running mate in 2024 provided that you run again? >> president biden: yes and yes. pardon me? >> reporter: do you care to expand? >> president biden: there is no need to. she will be my running mate, number one and number two i did put charge and she's doing a good job. let me ask you big picture when you think about voting rights and the struggles you've had to unify your own party around voting rights, unit t was one of your key campaign promises. in fact, in your inaugural address, you said your whole soul is bringing america together, uniting our people. people heard this speech that you gave on voting rights in georgia recently in which you describe those who are opposed to you to george wallace and jefferson davis here and some people took exception to that. what do you say to those offended by your speech, and is this country more unified than it was when you first took office? >> president biden: number one, anybody who listens to the speech, i did not say that they were going to be george wallace or -- i said we would have a decision in history and it would be just like it was then. you either vote and decide -- i didn't make you george wallace or blue-collar but if you did not vote the voting rights act back then, you were voting with those who agreed with him. those who agree with -- and so, i think mitch did a really good job of making it sound like i was attacking them. notice, i have been anybody publicly. any senator, in a congressman in public. my disagreements with them have been made to them to communicate to them privately or in person with them. my desire still is, look -- i underestimated one very important thing. i never thought that the republicans, like for example, they get very upset. i said, there are 16 members of the president of the united states senate who voted to extend the voting rights act. now, they got very offended by that. it is not an accusation, just stating a fact. what has changed? what happened? what happened? i'd did not see a single republican but it's not the republican party. >> reporter: is the country more unified than when you first took office? >> president biden: the answer is based on some of the stuff we have gotten done, i would say yes, but it is not nearly as unified as it should be. look, i still contend and i know we will have a right to judge me by this, i still contend that unless you can reach consensus in a democracy, you cannot sustain the democracy. and so, this is a real test. whether or not i -- my counterpart right now is right when he says the talker sees are the only thing that will prevail because democracies take too long to make decisions and countries are too divided. i believe we are going to one of those inflection points in history. that occurs every several generations or more than that. where things are changing almost regardless of any particular policy. the world is changing in many ways. we are going to see and you've heard me say this before. we will see more exchange in the next ten years then we have saul in the last 15 years because of technology. because of fundamental polar rations that are occurring not because of any one individual. so i think you were going to see an awful lot of transitioning here the question is, can we keep up with that? can we maintain a democratic institutions that we have, not just here, but around the world to be able to generate democratic consensus of how it is perceived? it is going to be hard. it is going to be hard. but it requires leadership to do it, and i'm not giving up the prospect of being able to do that. thank you. [overlapping voices] >> reporter: mr. president, thank you, sir. >> they are deep questions among americans about the competence of government and the messy rollout of 5g this week to the afghanistan withdrawal to testing on covid. what have you done to restore americans face and the competence of government? are you satisfied by the view of the competence of your government? >> president biden: look, let's take afghanistan. i know you like to focus on that, which is legitimate. we are spending $1 trillion a week -- i mean $1 billion a week in afghanistan for 20 years. raise your hand if you think anyone was going to be able to unify afghanistan under one single government? it has been the graveyard of empires for solid reason. it is not so acceptable to to unity, number one. so, the question was, do i continue to spend that which muh money per week in the state of afghanistan knowing that the idea that being able to succeed other than sending more body bags is highly, highly unusual. my dad used to have an expression. he would say, "on if everything is important that nothing is equally important to you." there is no way to get out of afghanistan after 20 years easily, not possible, no matter when you did it. and i make no apologies. i have great concern for men and women who were blown up on the line at the airport by a terrorist attack against them. but the military would acknowledge that i think you will who know a lot about foreign policy, that had to be stayed, and i had not pulled those troops out, we would be asked somewhere between 20,050,000 troops back in because the only reason americans were not being killed and others is because the last president signed an agreement to get out by may 1st. and had we not gotten out and acknowledgment is we would be putting in a lot more forces then. now, do i feel badly what is happening as a consequence in the competence of the taliban? yes, i do. but i feel badly also about what is taking place in eastern congo. i feel bad about a whole range of things around the world that we can't solve every problem. so, i don't view that as a competence issue. the issue of whether or not there was competence in terms of whether or not we are dealing with 5g or not, we are not dealing with 5g. the fact is that you had two enterprises, two private enterprises that had one promoting 5g and the other airlines. private enterprises. they had government regulation. and so what i have done is twist as hard as i can to have 5g folks hold up and abide by what was being requested by the airline so that they can more modernize. so that 5g would not interfere with mandates. so in a tower or 5g tower within certain number of miles from the airport should not be operated. and that -- and so i understand, but in the think that happens is consequential is viewed as the government's responsibility. i get that. am i satisfied in the way in which we have dealt with covid and all of the things that go along with that? yeah, i am upset. i think we have done remarkably well. the idea that the testing we have done we should have done it quicker but we've done it remarkably since them. what we have is more testing going on anywhere around the world. and we will continue to increase that. did we have it at the moment exactly when we should have pushed more could we have moved a month earlier? yeah, we could have. with everything else going on, i don't view that as somehow marketing incompetence. look, think about what we did on covid when we were pushing on astrazeneca to provide more vaccines. guess what? they didn't have the machine reader to be able to do it. so i physically went to michigan, stood there in a factory with the head of the astrazeneca and said, we will provide the machinery for you. this is what we will do. we will help you do it so that you can produce this vaccine more rapidly. i think that is pretty heavy-handed stuff. we also said right now when people with hospitalizations are overrunning hospitals, and you have doctors and nurses out because of covid, they have covid, we put thousands of people back in those hospitals. look at all of the military personnel that we have there. first responders. nobody is ever organized, nobody is ever organized. a strategic operation to get as many shots and arms by opening clinics and keeping and being able to get so many people vaccinated. but i'm doing now, not just getting significant amounts of vaccines to the rest of the world muppet they now need a mechanical way of how to get shs in arms. so we are providing them to know how to do that. everybody in america, should they know that? no, they don't know that. they are trying to put three squares on the table and stay safe. so, i do think we are at a place where i was a little disappointed. i wish we could have written it differently is when we did legislation to provide the funding for covid. and the money we provided for the states to be able to deal with keeping schools open. someone didn't do a very good job. some are still holding the money. i don't have the authority to do anything about that. i think that is not particularly competent. there are things that could and should have been done to move faster. so, i understand the frustration. you know, i remember -- i think it was -- i forget it was a cabinet member saying to barack obama when it's something that was going on and he said, "well, you can be assured mr. president the millions of employees out there, somebody is going up right now." somebody is screwing up. so, it is just -- i think you have to look at things that we used to look at and on balance it. what is the trajectory of the country? is it moving in the right direction now? i don't know how we can say it is not. i understand the overwhelming frustration, fear, and concern with regard to inflation and covid. i get it. but the idea if i told you the first year i would create 6 billion jobs, i would get employment down to 3.9% and i will generate -- and you are nuts, maybe you are wrong. >> with as much washington experience as you enter this office with, but it yet after we sit here more than an hour, i'm not sure i've heard you say if you would do anything differently in the second year of your term. do you plan to do anything differently? to be satisfied with your team at the white house? >> president biden: i'm satisfied with the team here there are three things that i will do differently now that i's out of the way into sense of knowing exactly where we are going. number one, i will be out in this place more often. i will go out and talk to the public. i'm going to do public forum. i'm going to interface with them. i'm going to make the cases of what we have already done, why it is important, and what we will do and what will happen if they support what else i want to do. number two, and bringing in more now that i have literally, like you, i'm not complaining. 12, 14 hours a day, no complaints and i really mean it sincerely, but now certain big chunks have been put in place and we know the direction, also going to be out there seeking more advice of experts outside from academia to editorial writers to think tanks. and i'm bringing them in just like i did early on bringing in presidents and historians to get their perspective of what we should be doing, seeking more input, more information, more constructive criticism about what i should and shouldn't be doing. and a certain thing i will be doing a lot more of his being in a situation where i'm able to bring -- i'm going to be deeply involved in these off year elections. we are going to be raising an amount of money and we will be out there making sure we help all of those candidates. and some have asked me to commit and campaign with them and to go out and make the case in plain simple language as to what it is we have done, what we want to do and what we don't make the we think it is important. >> how many more hours in my doing this? i am happy to stick around. you always ask me the nicest questions. i know you do. none of them make a lot of sense to me. fire away, come on. >> reporter: why are you trying so hard in your first year to pull the country so far to the left? >> president biden: will come i'm not. i don't know what you consider to be too far to the left if, in fact, we are talking about making sure we have the money for covid and making sure we have the money to put together a bipartisan infrastructure, making sure we are able to provide for those things and significantly reduce the burden on middle-class people. we have to continue to work hard. i don't know how that is pulling to the left. you may recall, you guys have been trying to convince me that i am bernie sanders. i'm not. i like him. but i'm not bernie sanders. i'm not a socialist. i'm a mainstream democrat, and i have been. mainstream democrats are overwhelmed. and if you notice, the 48 of the 50 republican -- democrats supported me in the senate on virtually everything that i have asked. yes, sir. >> reporter: a moment ago you were asked whether or not you believed that we would have free and fair elections in 2022. some of the legislatures reformed their voting protocols. you said that it depends. do you -- do you think that in any way it would be illegitimate? >> president biden: oh, yeah i think easily it could be illegitimate. imagine, imagine if, in fact trump succeeded in convincing mike pence to not count the votes. imagine -- >> reporter: in regards to 2022. >> president biden: imagine if those attempts to say that the count is not legit. you have to recount it and we will discard the following votes. sure, but i'm not saying it is going to be legit. the increase and prospect of being illegitimate is a direct proportion of not been able to get these reforms passed. but i don't think you are going to see -- you are not going to see me. you will see the democratic party give up on coming back and assuming that it fails today. >> reporter: one more, sir. you campaigned and you ran on a return to civility. and i know that you dispute the characterization that you called folks who oppose those voting bills as being of o'connor or george wallace, but you said there would be sort of in the same camp. let >> president biden: know i didn't say that, go back and read what i said and tell me if you think i called anyone who voted on the side of the position taken like from bull connor. that is an interesting read. in the journal i know you have it in the journals because you like to write. >> reporter: do you expect that to work with senators manchin and sinema? >> president biden: here is the thing, there are some things that are so consequential that you have to speak from your heart as well as your head. i was speaking out forcefully from what i think to be a mistake. that is what it is. by the way, no one, no one forgets who was on the side of king or on the side of bull connor. no one come at the history books will noted. don't think this is a freebie. you don't get to vote this way and somehow, it goes away. this will be and stick with you the rest of your career long after you are gone. >> reporter: mr. president -- >> president biden: hang on, guys. we've only gone one hour and 20 minutes. i will keep going. let me get something straight here. how long are you guys ready to go? do you want to go another hour or two? okay, i will tell you what, folks. i'm going to go another 20 minutes, okay? yes, sir. >> reporter: president biden, president biden -- >> president biden: i want to thank my communication staff. they are a great help here. >> reporter: president biden on the coronavirus we are tragically approaching 1 million americans who died. i would like to ask you why it is during your three and a half hour virtual summit in november with the chinese president you didn't press for transparency. and also come if that has anything to do with your son's involvement with the chinese statement on entities? >> president biden: the answer is that i did raise the question of transparency. i spent a lot of time with him. and the fact is, they are just not being transparent. >> reporter: transparency on the coronavirus origins? >> president biden: yes. >> reporter: you did? is there any reason why your press staff was unaware of that? what did you say to the chinese president? >> president biden: they were not with me the entire time. look, i made it clear that i thought china had an obligation to be more forthcoming on exactly what the source of the virus was and where it came from. yes. >> reporter: mr. president, i would like to ask you about foreign policy. when was the first priority that you declared when you came to office was to end the war in yemen? you appointed a special envoy but today one of your allies is asking the administration to put back the rebels or militia that her militarily. are you going to do that? how will you end the war in yemen, sir? >> president biden: the answer is it is under consideration. and the war in yemen, there were two parties and both to do it. it will be very difficult. yes. >> reporter: thank you very much with this honor, james with newsmax. i would like to raise a delicate subject but with utmost respect for your life accomplishments and the high office you hold. a poll released this morning by political morning consult found 49% of registered voters disagreeing with the statement, "joe biden is mentally fit." even a majority of democrats who responded strongly affirmed that statement. >> president biden: i will let you make the judgment. >> reporter: the question i have if you would let me finish, why do you suppose such large segments of the american electorate have come to harbor such profound concerns about your cognitive fitness? thank you. >> president biden: i have no idea. yes, sir. >> reporter: thanks, mr. president, i appreciate it. i want to sort of address or ask about attention in this press conference on unifying the country because you campaigned on two things, one of them is being able to accomplish big things. and the other is the ability to unify the country. and even today, you talked about sort of a different posture with republicans. i wonder if you still think it is possible to do both of those things? >> president biden: we have to move we have to. as long as i hold public office, i will attempt to do both things. >> reporter: more follow-up come around this time last year when you were campaigning in georgia, one of the things that you told is the powers literally in your hands. if voters give democrats the house and the senate and the presidency, that all these big things can get accomplished. and you know, we have seen stalemate, things stymied. why should folks believe you this time around? >> president biden: and you think of any president has done as much in one year? name one. >> reporter: i'm asking you. >> president biden: i'm serious. you talk about -- i don't think there has been much on any incoming president's plate that has been a bigger menu than the plate i have. i'm not complaining. i knew that. and the fact of the matter is, we got an awful lot done. an awful lot done. and there is more to get done. but look, let me ask a rhetorical question. no, i won't -- anyway. thank you. yes. be careful, don't get hurt. >> reporter: mr. president, thank you. sebastian smith from abc. another question for ukraine. ukraine ordered four nato countries. how concerned are you or are you concerned that a real congregation in ukraine, the russians are going they are that it could suck in nato countries that are on the border and you end up with an actual competition of some kind? and secondly, are you entertaining the fault of a summit with vladimir putin as a way to perhaps try to put this whole thing to bed and address their concerns and negotiate a way out of this? >> president biden: the last question, yes. we talk about whether or not three meetings we talked about and we talked about we would go from there if there was a reason two to go to a summit. we talked about the summit as before, ukraine. in terms of strategic doctrine and with the strategic relationship would be. so i still think that is a possibility, number one. number two, i'm very concerned. i'm very concerned that this could end up being -- look, the only one that is worse than intended is the one unintended. and what i am concerned about is this could get out of hand. very easily get out of hand because of what you said, the borders of ukraine and what russia may or may not do. i am hoping that vladimir putin understands that he is short of a full-blown nuclear war. he is not in a very good position to dominate the world. so, i don't think he thinks that. but it is a concern. and that is why we have to be very careful about how we move forward. and make it clear to him that there are prices to pay that could, in fact, cost his country an awful lot. but of course, you have to be concerned. we have, you know, nuclear power. and if he invades, it hasn't happened since world war ii. so there are consequential things that will happen in the world in terms of peace since world war ii. yes. >> reporter: nearly two years have passed since the beginning of the global coronavirus outbreak and you come again acknowledge that americans are frustrated and tired appeared based on your conversations with your health advisors, what type of restrictions do you imagine being on americans this time next year? what does the new normal look like for social gatherings and travel to you? >> president biden: the answer is i hope the new normal will be that we don't have or still have 30 some million people not vaccinated. i hope the new normal is that people have seen with their own interest is and have taken advantage of what we have available to us. number two, with the pill that appears to be as efficacious as it seems to be, that they will be able to deal with this virus in a way that after the fact, you have the ability to make sure you don't get very sick. number three, i would hope that what happens is, the rest of the world does what i'm doing and provide significant amounts of the vaccine to the rest of the world. because it's not sufficient that we just have this country not have the virus or be able to control the virus, but that we pull the wall high enough to keep the variant out. so it requires one of the things that i want to do and we were contemplating figuring out how to do it, and we were contemplating how to get it done, and that is how do we move in a direction where the world itself is vaccinated? it is not enough to just vaccinate 340 million people in the united states. that is not enough. that is not enough. we have to do it we have to do a lot more than we are doing now that is why we have continued to keep the commitment to provide vaccines and available for the rest of the world as well. >> reporter: i should've said this before, jessica chambers, how do you plan to win moderates who pass the ballot for you in 2020 but polls indicate are not happy with the way you are doing your job now? >> president biden: i don't believe the polls. why don't you just go down over there? >> reporter: follow-up the vaccination program, you have given dozens of speeches urging americans to get vaccinated. you have talked to republicans and set up the up the patriotic duty but very few mentions of the fact that young children under the age of five still in the third tier of this pandemic in the country don't have acces. can you speak to frustrated parents a little bit about why that continues to be the case and when that might change? >> president biden: because the science has not reached a point to convince that it is a peer that is what they are doing now. i got asked that question about three months ago about people between the ages of seven and 12. well, finally, they got to the point where they feel secure in a number of tests that they have done the test that they have run tended to say. so it will come. it will come. i'm not a scientist. i can't tell you when. but it is very important that we get the next piece. >> reporter: one more follow-up on build back better, it will be broken up into chunks. you mentioned the claimant pieces seem to have broad support. you tension senator manchin with support of early child care. you left out the child tax credit. i wonder if it is fair to read between the lines and assume that is a piece given senator manchin's opposition to it that the extension of that is likely one of those components that may have to wait until some time longer. >> president biden: there are two components i feel strongly about which i'm not sure i can get into the package. one is the child care tax credit, and the other is help for cost of community colleges. they are a mess of things that i run on and i care a great deal about. and i want to get chunks or all of it done. yes, sir, next man. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. i'm with the national news. this is actually my first press conference so it is good to meet you in person. >> president biden: we always have one person. >> reporter: awesome, awesome a couple of questions, number one you want to convey your message by getting out there in the country. i wonder if you are planning on traveling also to south america and other countries in the western hemisphere, given the fact that china has gained a lot of influence in the region? the second question is, what will be your message for residents in this country struggling every time they go to the gas station or every time they go to the grocery store and see the prices going and i in the pharmacy? i happen to come from south texas and i saw a lot of people struggling financially. so i wonder what is the message when it is spread to them? >> president biden: i have tried seven different ways to date to do inflation. but let me answer the first question. i spend a lot of time in south america and latin america when i was vice president. i spent a bulk of my eight years basically in europe and latin america. i am in contact with the leaders of the country in south america. we have been working closely with making sure that we do everything, for example, to deal with helping the country and particularly those in central america to be able to help them with their ability to deal with -- people don't sit around in guatemala and say "i have a great idea." giving money away to a coyote or take us across a dangerous trip through central america and up through mexico and drop us and stick us across the border and drop us in the desert. won't that be fun. people have real problems. and one of the things that i have done when i was vice president, i don't have much public support anymore, is provide billions of dollars to be able to say to those countries, "why are people leaving, and how would you reform the system?" and that has been done a long time. and it still needs a lot more work. and we are focusing on that. i also believe i spent a lot of time talking about and doing the policy having to do with drew, a little more than a dictator right now. chile and not to say anything but with chile as well as argentina. so look, i made a speech a while ago when i was vice president, saying that if we are smart, we have an opportunity to make the western hemisphere a united, not united to come democratic hemisphere. and we were moving in the right direction under the last administration, obama/biden administration. but so much damage was done as a consequence of foreign policy decisions the last president made in latin america, central america, south america, that we now have when i call for some of the democracies. i call a number of nations screwed up for this, some of action. what is it that it is going to allow us to generate -- we have actually had a reduction in the number of democracies in the world. and it seems to me, there is nothing more important. we used to talk about when i was a kid, college come about america's backyard. it's not america's backyard. everything south of the mexican border is america's front yard. and we are equal people. we don't dictate what happens in any other part of this country or south american continent. we have to work very hard on it. but the trouble is we are having great difficulty making up for the mistakes made over the last four years. it will take some time. ps, and the back and then i will go to the side. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president i am from yahoo! news and thank you for holding this press conference. i hope there is more of them. >> president biden: you have an extra three hours and we can do it. >> reporter: we can stay for a couple more. you said you were surprised by republican destruction of the agenda. but didn't the g.o.p. take exactly the same tactic when vice president to barack obama? so, why do you think they would treat you any differently than they treated him? >> president biden: first of all, they were not nearly as obstructive as they are now, number one. they stated that. but a number of republicans we work with closely. from john mccain -- i mean, number of republicans we work closely with. back in those days, even lindsey graham. and so, the difference here is, there seems to be a desire to work and not my agenda but what are they poor? what is their agenda? they had an agenda back in the administration when president /vice president, but i don't know what their agenda is now. what is it? the american republic is outraged about the tax structure we have in america. what are they proposing to do about it, anything? have you heard anything? anything? i haven't heard anything. the american republic is outraged about the fact that the state of the environment, the vast majority of the public. what have they done? the climate changes occurring in the united states. so what i'm saying is the difference between then and now is not only the announcement that was made anything to stop barack obama. i get that part. but eventually what happened, we were able to get some things done. we were able to work through some things. on the stuff that was really consequential in terms of them logically, was a fight. but i don't think there is a time -- i mean, i wonder what would be the republican platform right now? what do you think? what do you think the position on taxes are? what do you think their position on human rights are? what do you think their position is on whether or not we should look at the cost of prescription drugs. what do you think -- i mean, i just honest to god don't know what they are for. yet my know a lot of these sentiments, the congressman, and i know they do have things they want to support. whether they are things i want or not. but you don't hear much about it. and every once in a while, when you hear something where there is a consensus, it is important but a small item. and it doesn't get much coverage at all when it occurs. not much discussion about its appearance so i just think it is a different -- i don't know thao matter how strongly one supports the republican and/or supports president, the former president of the united states, i don't know how we can't look at what happened on january 6th and think, that is a problem. that is a real problem. >> reporter: one more question, mr. president. >> president biden: i'm going to do this, if you asked me easy questions i will give you quick answers. >> reporter: there is increasing concern among democrats even if schools continue to open and i guess most of them are now open, republicans will weaponize this narrative of you and other leading democrats, allowing them to stay closed and the midterms next year. and obviously, that issue has a lot of traction with suburban parents. >> president biden: i'm confused by the question, i'm sorry. >> reporter: could who will be openings or closures become a potent midterm issue for republicans to win back back the suburbs? >> president biden: i think it could be, but i am hoping to god that -- look, maybe i'm kidding myself. as time goes on, the voter who is just trying to figure out, as i said, how to take care of their family, put three squares on the table, be safe, be able to pay the mortgage, et cetera, is becoming much more informed on the -- the motives of some of the political players and some of the political parties. and i think that they are not going to be as acceptable to believing some of the outlandish things that have been said and continued to be said. you know, every, every president, not necessarily in the first 12 months but the first couple of years, most every president, excuse me, the last president, at least four of them have had polling numbers that are 44%. so this idea that -- but you will, not you all, but one poll showed biden at 33%. 44%, 45% and one poll 49%. i mean, the idea that -- american public are trying to sift their way through what is real and what's fake. and i don't think as i've ever seen a time when the political coverage and choice of what political coverage the voter looks to has much impact on what they believe. they go to get reinforced in their views, whether it is msnbc or fox news. and one thing i find fascinating is happening and you will deal with it every day. it will impact on how things move is that a lot of speculation with polling data shows that the cables are heading south. they are losing viewership. fox is okay for a while, and a lot are protected to be in the mix in the next four to five years. but i do know that we have sort of a -- it's like everybody put themselves in certain alleys. and they have decided that, you know, how many people who watch msnbc also watch fox and politicians trying to figure out what's going on in both places. how many people, again, i'm no expert in any of these, but the fact is, i think you have to acknowledge that what gets covered now is necessarily a little bit different than what could dominic got covered in the past. i had a couple -- i shouldn't say this, but the nature -- not, the nature of the way things get covered is my observation over the years have changed. and it has changed because of everything from a thing called the internet. it has changed because of the way in which we have self identified perspectives based on what channel you turn on, what network you look at, what network or cable you look at. and it is never quite been like that. anyway. >> reporter: mr. president on behalf of the correspondent association, thank you very much, sir, for standing for a questions. we hope the public has found it as enlightening as us in the room have. i want to ask you -- go >> president biden: your still standing. >> reporter: we appreciate it, we do. the question i want to ask is accountability on the top concerns, the coronavirus and the government response to it whether confusion over what style of mask to wear. when to test, how to test, where to test? the public is confused, sir, and you see that in the drop off and the pulling out this question. why did you tell jeff you were satisfied with your team? why are you not willing or interested in making changes either the cdc or other agencies given the message has been so confusing? >> president biden: first of all, the message is confusing because the scientists are learning more. learning more about what is needed and not needed. and so, the fact is that the one piece that has gotten a lot of attention is the communications capacity of the cdc. well, look, i'm a scientist. and i'm learning. i'm learning how to deal with stating what is the case that we have concerned. will commit is a little bit like saying through the whole issue w to deal with polling polio shots, we said in the beginninga little bit we move this way or that way. if we deal with anything else. i mean, this was a brand, new virus. a brand, new phenomena. some of it was deadly. other was more communicable. this is an unfolding story. it is the nature of the way disease to spread. we are going to learn about it and a lot of other areas, not just covid-19. and so my think, you know my look at it this way. think about how astounding it was within the time frame that it took to be able to come up with a vaccine. you use to write about that. pretty amazing how rapidly they came up with a vaccine. it saved hundreds of thousands of lives. it ever think it right? no. by the way, the idea whether we -- anyway i'm talking too much. >> thank you, mr. president. i have two simple questions. i promise. you campaigned on canceling $10,000 in student loans. do you still plan to do so and when? my second question is you clarified those bull connor comments, do you plan to reach out to republicans like mitt romney to the reform? >> president biden: i'm happy to speak out. i talked to met romney on other occasions and by the way, i reached out to the majority leaders as well. at the time they made a speech. and so i have no reluctance to reach out to any republicans and anyone -- and i made it clear. look, now i've had the opportunity to travel because of funerals and eulogies that i have made and congressmen and senators that have come along with me. i don't want to give a number but somewhere between 20 and 25 senators and congress persons have traveled with me. and i find that we ask two, three, four hours we fly together and we sit back and at talk to them. we have some questions and they asked me questions and we learned a heck of a lot. but as president, you don't quite have that ability to do that as often as i would like to be able to do. in one of the things that i do think has been made clear to me, speaking of polling is the public doesn't want me to be the president senator appear they want me to be the president. and let senators be senators. so if i have made any mistakes, i'm sure, if i've made mistakes, i'm used to negotiating to get things done. in the past, i have been relatively successful at it in the united states senate and vice president. but i think that role as president is a different role. folks, it is now almost 6:00. with all do respect, i'm going to see you at the next conference. thank you. >> dana: president biden speaking for almost two hours actually, just short of that pure of the press taking tons of questions. we don't have much time on "the five." but i want to get to everybody quickly, greg gutfeld, you have been watching and i think all of us watching from the beginning. there you are. >> greg: yes, that was amazing. the best press conference i have ever seen in my favorite part is when he said the vote is being suppressed by republicans. then he shows no evidence. then he says 2020 at the most votes in history in which he offers evidence that there is no suppression. so be totally negated the need for the bill. he just blew his own line. so did he just admit that the 2020 election was corrupted and you need the bill or did he admit the voting bill is necessary? then he refuses to say whether the midterms will be fair or if the voting bill fails, so where's the outrage when the president supports our faith and the precious republic election? i wanted to be fast. >> dana: i will have a chance to have jen psaki on "america's newsroom." i can't wait to ask her precise heart rate when joe biden says, let's go another 20 minutes. >> jesse: yeah, i don't think i've ever heard him talk that long before. wow, that was like the media giving him a political field sobriety test. that he failed. he started off fine. was disciplined, obviously reading from a lot of notes. he was over coached. the message that the team wanted him to say was that, "things are great. here are the metrics and i will go out and make a big contrast between myself and the american party." then an avalanche of negative questions he started relaxing and said things are not that great. and americans will expanse a lot of pain going forward with inflation. maybe vladimir putin will invade. he apologized to black americans. i might have to break up build back america. that was the best part because he was being honest. then something set him off. one of the reporters asked him why he was so incompetent. that change the entire dynamic. and then he got extremely defensive and pointed to afghanistan as a barometer of competence. he said 5g rollout was competent and everything was going great. then he said, these are the things he would do differently. he will keep kamala harris, he is going to listen to more academics. and then he would get deeply involved in midterm elections, which i think the republicans will be very happy about. then he said, he will get out there and talk to more people. he still thinks it's a marketing situation. he >> greg: can i add one more thing and i promise i will shut up. the person in america doesn't care about the voting bill or russia. those are the desires of ivy league reporter in that room pushing the myth of voter suppression there was nothing about crime. nothing about safer streets, good schools, good teachers, cheaper gas. it was all about voting rights and russia. it showed a huge disconnect between the press and the american public. >> jesse: i would agree with that. he kept going and started arguing and then he started yelling at reporters. he lost his cool and temper. the last 15 minutes or so was surreal because he was kind of wavering undisciplined from kind of philosophical i remember when the internet changed media consumption to like getting in the weeds about little microthings that no one really wants a president to say. and then we finally got the big answer at the end which was, you know what? i forgot. i wasn't a senator. i'm actually a president and i'm going to start acting more like a president. wild. >> dana: harold, everyone said they wanted him to take more questions from the press. did he that today. >> harold: he did. i think some of the criticism here is understandable and fair in some ways. but i think you have to give him credit for saying that for two hours. i give him credit for laying out early on i thought jesse's take on how the rhythm went about right. the over this the case and narrative he wanted to advance for the next nine months, which i thought he wanted to set here, i'm not sure he did that. what i do think he did a good job of was asking republicans what do you sand for? what are you for so we can find ways to work together. he said that he and senator mcconnell are friends, that they have worked together in the past and that he anticipates and looks forward to working with him going forward. i would remind everyone that turbulence is not to be unexpected in the first term of a presidency. ronald reagan was in the mid 30's in '82. he went on to win we election. bill clinton was in the high 30's in '93. the democrats lost the majority in the house but he was reelected. obama was at 42% in '09 during obamacare, he went on to be reelected but democrats lost the majority. the question becomes, you know, where do you go from here? i hope this is not the last one he does. and i hope they go back, look at the tapes and figure out what they need to do better. >> dana: a little less than a minute here for excellent thoughts from you. >> kennedy: he needs to stop tying inflation to the supply chain. because it's not only disingenuous, it's dishonest and shows this administration is very unserious about doing what they can to be curb inflation which is hurting americans most. what has hurt the world most is this virus and saying that he pressed president xi. i don't believe him. i don't think he pressed hard enough. and when the reporter got a follow-up, his answer sort of crumbles. this is a crime against humanity. we deserve more than a soft question about transparency and jesse is right about the tenure of the press conference changing when he was finally pressed by peter doocy. >> dana: i don't know. i might have faked a heart attack if i was jen psaki. we will ask her tomorrow. that is it for us. thank you, everybody. "special report" starts now. ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. breaking tonight, you just heard it hear on fox. president biden insists he did not over promise and that he has made enormous progress during his first year in office. in fact, president biden saying today he has accomplished more in his first year than any other president in history, asking reporters during that press conference to name one who has done more. americans seem to disagree, sending the president's approval ratings plummeting in recent weeks. the president, in this, his first conference, news conference of the new year, says he doesn't belve