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President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden team up on Sunday evening at the White House for a Fourth of July barbeque with essential workers and military families that marks America\u2019s independence as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
The event caps a weekend of trips the White House touted as the “America\u2019s Back Together” tour, which saw the president, the first lady, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, fan out across the country to spotlight the administration\u2019s efforts to help the nation rebound from the COVID crisis – the worst pandemic to sweep the globe in a century \u2013 and the severe economic recession that it triggered.<\/p>\n
The president traveled to northern Michigan on Saturday, talking with workers and a crowd that had gathered at an orchard, on the eve of the country\u2019s 245 birthday. He was joined Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, as well as the state\u2019s two Democratic senators \u2013 Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters. The president and his entourage later stopped at an ice cream shop.<\/p>\n
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\n President Joe Biden holds an ice cream cone as he visits Moomers Homemade Ice Cream, Saturday, July 3, 2021, in Traverse City, Mich. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)\n <\/p>\n
“The senators told me, this is the best place in the world,” Biden said.<\/p>\n
While the president was in Michigan, his wife was in New England, making stops in New Hampshire and Maine. The first lady was joined by New Hampshire\u2019s two Democratic senators \u2013 Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan \u2013 at a barbeque at the Portsmouth home of Shaheen\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
“Who would have thought that we would be here on the 4th of July together again,” the first lady emphasized as she discussed how far the nation\u2019s come since the pandemic shut down the country in March and April of last year.<\/p>\n
Stopping at a union training center in Las Vegas, the vice president met with volunteers packing emergency food boxes for families who\u2019ve lost their jobs amid the pandemic.<\/p>\n
“This year not only will we celebrate our independence,” Harris said. “We will celebrate our nation\u2019s resilience, because this year America is coming back together, because this year America is getting back to work.”<\/p>\n
But as Harris was in Nevada, the Republican National Committee took to Twitter to spotlight that “there are still 9.5 million unemployed workers. At the current pace under Biden, the economy WILL NOT recover all the lost jobs until JUNE 2022!”<\/p>\n
A day earlier, the vice president\u2019s husband met with staff, volunteers, and onlookers as he visited Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah.<\/p>\n
“I want to tell you and all Americans to make sure if you\u2019re not vaccinated, to please get vaccinated,” Emhoff said.<\/p>\n
But the White House recently acknowledged that the nation would fall short of the president\u2019s COVID vaccination goal. Biden aimed to have at least one COVID shot in the arms of 70% of the nation\u2019s adult population, but health officials said that 67% of American adults had received at least one shot as of Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Bidens separated again on Sunday, with the first lady traveling to Philadelphia\u2019s Independence Hall in Pennsylvania to deliver remarks as part of the “America\u2019s Back Together” tour.<\/p>\n
Biden, who grew up in suburban Philadelphia, told the crowd “there\u2019s no place this Philly girl would rather be than here with you.”<\/p>\n
While the tour is not considered overtly political in nature, it\u2019s worth noting that four of the states being visited \u2013 Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania \u2013 are key presidential battlegrounds that will also hold crucial contests in the 2022 midterm elections.<\/p>\n
While the first lady traveled to Independence Hall, the president visited church and later played a round of golf near their home their Wilmington, Delaware home with former Sen. Ted Kaufman, a longtime Biden friend, aide and adviser.<\/p>\n
Later on Sunday, the president and first lady will host roughly 1,000 people on the South Lawn of the White House, which marks the first large-scale event hosted by the Biden since the start of his presidency in late January.<\/p>\n
The celebrations come as the contagious delta variant is on the rise. It\u2019s currently responsible for more than quarter of all COVID infections, largely among those who are not fully vaccinated. And that\u2019s sparked some allies of the president to warn that it\u2019s still too early to declare victory in the battle against the pandemic.<\/p>\n