Biden visits Connecticut to promote his childcare proposals: ‘We … have to invest in our people’

By Maegan Vazquez and Kaitlan Collins, CNN

President Joe Biden is visiting Connecticut on Friday, where he delivered a speech touting his administration’s childcare proposals and will attend the dedication of the Dodd Center for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut.

“We cannot be competitive in the 21st century in this global economy if we fail to invest,” Biden said during the first stop of his trip, at a child care center in Hartford. “I wanted to come here today because too many folks in Washington still don’t realize it isn’t enough to just invest in our physical infrastructure. We also have to invest in our people.”

“Seeing children and educators here at this center is a perfect reminder about what our families need, and our economy needs so badly to be able to thrive,” he said.

During his speech, Biden also recalled the challenges of becoming a single father after his first wife and daughter died in a car crash.

“It made me realize how difficult it is for a vast majority of people who need help,” Biden said. “I am lucky. I had a mother who was nearby, a sister — who’s my best friend, who quit her job temporarily … most people don’t have that option.”

The President is also expected to travel to Storrs, Connecticut, for the dedication ceremony of the Dodd Center, named after Nuremberg prosecutor and former US Sen. Thomas Dodd and his son, former US Sen. Chris Dodd — Biden’s longtime friend and peer in the Senate.

Biden will see every member of the Connecticut congressional delegation during the trip, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and US Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, according to the White House.

Ahead of his departure to Connecticut, Biden again refrained from speaking with reporters. A senior administration official indicated that the President’s mum behavior is to avoid saying something that could jeopardize negotiations with Congress to secure a deal for his legislative priorities.

While it’s ultimately up to the President if he wants to take questions, the senior administration official says there is a reason behind Biden’s silence.

“He doesn’t want to add to the conversation,” the official told CNN regarding negotiations over the fate of his domestic agenda. “He doesn’t want to shift anything” by commenting publicly.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Connecticut, White House principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether the trip, focused in part on childcare, is indicative of concern from the White House that the childcare provisions in the social safety net expansion package could be slimmed down during negotiations.

Jean-Pierre also would not answer whether Biden would sign a bill that did not include a part of his child care components.

The President, who often interacts with the press corps, also didn’t take questions following remarks on the global supply chain while in the Oval Office with the Kenyan President on Thursday or as he addressed the disappointing jobs report last week.

White House officials have started signaling that they are ready to see movement on the reconciliation package soon, though CNN has reported that a deal on the party’s sweeping economic package “is far from secured.”

Biden has spoken privately to the two leading Democratic moderates who are at the center of his stalled agenda in Congress, but aides have declined to detail his latest talks with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin or Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

“I’m just not going to give you a lay-down of every call,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday, noting both Biden and senior staff have been in touch with the lawmakers.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Jasmine Wright contributed to this report.