Biden Press Conference At White House : NPR

President Biden on Thursday will hold his first formal White House press conference since taking office, facing questions on his response to recent mass shootings, an influx of migrants at the southern border and the continued coronavirus crisis.

Biden is expected to tout his early successes, including work to expand the coronavirus vaccination program and the $1.9 trillion relief package enacted by Congress. He also will lay out ongoing legislative priorities on infrastructure and climate — and is expected to press for stricter gun laws after two high-profile mass shootings in the past week.

His remarks come a little over halfway through his first 100 days in office — a typical benchmark used to measure a president’s early progress. Biden so far has taken few questions from reporters directly.

The president likely will face questions on how he will address the increased flow of migrants at the southern border. He has said his administration is working to address the challenge, and he has named Vice President Harris as his point person on working with Mexico and Central America on the root causes.

The president also is expected to be asked about the Atlanta shootings and the increase in anti-Asian violence, which have prompted calls for tighter gun safety laws and increased Asian American and Pacific Islander representation within his Cabinet.

The event could be a signal of the type of relationship Biden wants to have with the media. The previous administration took a decidedly combative stance toward the press, an approach Biden rejected during his campaign. Biden reinstituted daily White House press briefings, which had dropped off during Trump’s tenure, but trails his immediate predecessors in the number of presidential news conferences at this point in his tenure.