President Joe Biden, his domestic agenda on the brink of a full-out implosion, decided to head out Wednesday and travel across town to the annual congressional exhibition baseball game at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
The impromptu POTUS drop-in did not go over well with at least one critic.
“The fact that Joe Biden has time to go to the Congressional baseball game but not time to take questions on Afghanistan or see the humanitarian crisis at the border is a disgrace. #DoYourJob #StrikingOut,” Nikki Haley, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on Twitter.
The fact that Joe Biden has time to go to the Congressional baseball game but not time to take questions on Afghanistan or see the humanitarian crisis at the border is a disgrace. #DoYourJob #StrikingOut
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) September 30, 2021
Biden made the surprise appearance as he tried to save two bills stuck in Congress, glad-handing lawmakers as members of his own party who threaten to derail his agenda. Moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are openly opposing his $3.5 trillion federal spending bill, while progressive members could shut down a separate $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package in a key vote on Thursday.
Manchin on Wednesday called the spending bill “fiscal insanity,” as progressive members of the so-called ‘Squad’ in the House have been threatening to kill infrastructure.
“Respectfully, as I have said for months, I can’t support $3.5 trillion more in spending when we have already spent $5.4 trillion since last March,” Manchin said. “At some point, all of us, regardless of party must ask the simple question — how much is enough?”
Then Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a leader of the House progressive bloc, vowed that the infrastructure bill would go down in flames if it came up for a vote Thursday. “After that statement [from Manchin], we probably have even more people willing to vote no,” Jayapal told reporters.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had scheduled a vote on the legislation for Thursday, but reports are swirling inside the Beltway that she’ll pull the vote because she doesn’t have enough support.
When he arrived, there were cheers, but also “a few boos,” according to a pool report from a White House correspondent attending the game.
But one social media post showed otherwise.
Biden gets booed at the Congressional baseball game pic.twitter.com/6lxKNXovWO
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 30, 2021
“The game was briefly delayed as he acknowledged the crowd, though the cheers soon gave way to boos from Republicans sitting in the first base stands,” The New York Post reported. “‘Let’s play ball!’ chanted some GOP fans, who may have suspected the president of trying to ice their starting pitcher, Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.).”
“Some activists displayed banners urging the passage of the larger spending bill. One read, ‘Our lives are not a game. Pass 3.5T.’ Another warned, more bluntly: ‘Democrats don’t f— this up,’” said the Post.
Biden eventually headed over to the third base dugout, where he chatted with members of the Democratic team. “Before the bottom of the third, the president crossed the field and greeted Republican lawmakers in the first base dugout. Biden left the park about an hour after he arrived,” the Post said.