President Joe Biden conceded that pro-Palestinian protesters who disrupted his healthcare speech in North Carolina have a point with their appeals about the lack of medical care in the Gaza Strip amid the Israel–Hamas war.
After encouraging his supporters to be patient with the protesters as security removed them from Raleigh’s Chavis Community Center, Biden repeated that everybody deserves healthcare.
“What about healthcare in Gaza?” one woman shouted.
“They have a point,” the president responded. “We need to get a lot more care into Gaza.”
Biden was also welcomed at the community center by another group of protesters yelling, “Genocide Joe!” and, “Ceasefire now!”
Biden’s comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed aides not to attend a meeting with the Biden administration in Washington about the war and hostage situation after the United States abstained from a U.N. Security Council nonbinding resolution calling for a ceasefire.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris‘s trip to North Carolina, his last stop in a battleground state since his State of the Union address, underscored their healthcare record and proposals, should they win the November general election, by coinciding with the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments for a case disputing the Food and Drug Administration‘s approval of abortion drug mifepristone.
“Just this morning, the Supreme Court heard a case to gut access to medication that was approved by the FDA 20 years ago to give women a choice,” Biden said. “Folks, if America sends me a Congress that are Democrats, I promise you, Kamala and I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again.”
Biden also mocked his own age, mentioning that he is “only 40 years old — times two plus one,” while imploring Capitol Hill to extend his expanded Affordable Care Act tax credits and provide Medicare with the power to negotiate prices for more prescription drugs.
Harris opened her remarks with a reference to the Baltimore bridge collapse before introducing Biden and thanking Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who won the state’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination on Super Tuesday, for having them. She also emphasized her policy portfolio matter of maternal healthcare, including postpartum care.
“Black women are three times more likely to die in connection with pregnancy, native women twice as likely to die in connection with pregnancy, rural women 1 1/2 more times likely to die,” the vice president said. “It is also the case that one of the most significant factors that contributes to this crisis of maternal mortality is that millions of women in America do not have access to adequate postpartum care.
“We came in and I said, ‘OK, let’s issue a challenge,’ which I did to every state in our nation, to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage from a measly two months to 12 months,” she added. “I am proud, North Carolina, to report so far a total of 45 completed that challenge, including North Carolina.”
The pair, who do not regularly appear together, are expected at a campaign fundraiser later Tuesday before returning to the White House.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
North Carolina could be a critical state this election cycle, with former President Donald Trump securing its 15 votes in 2020.
“In 2020, Georgia was the closest state in the country won by President Biden, and North Carolina was the closest state in the country won by Donald Trump, making them both extremely competitive states where early investment makes a difference,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo Tuesday.