WASHINGTON — Who's in charge here?
On Friday, first lady Jill Biden did most of the speaking during the public portion of what will likely be President Biden's final Cabinet meeting, just hours after she hosted a large Rose Garden reception without Biden.
The 73-year-old first lady, widely regarded as the most powerful person in more than a century, sat at the head of an executive table in the Cabinet room and spoke for four and a half minutes reading from a binder on maternal and child health initiatives, after her husband had spoken for just two minutes at the start of the meeting.
“Before we begin the Cabinet meeting, I would like to briefly discuss the need for Parliament to pass a continuing resolution. This is crucial. Parliament has only 10 days to pass a short-term budget bill that will give more time for implementation,” the 81-year-old president said.
“This Cabinet meeting is taking place with four months left in this administration, and the Vice President and I intend to play the tape over and over again. [are] Decided [to] “I want to continue to ensure that our democracy delivers what the American people want,” added Biden, who is taking an extended leave of absence in the final stages of his term.
“I appreciate Jill being here today. You heard the applause, but that's not me,” he continued. “Here and in previous administrations, first ladies have attended these meetings for specific reasons. This is the first time that Jill has been there, and it shows how important the issues she's going to talk about are.”
“It's all yours, my boy,” the 46th president concluded.
Wearing clear-rimmed glasses and reading from a binder of notes, the first lady touted a list of recent women's health-related funding allocations and administration initiatives.
Attendees were given notepads with the signatures of Jill and her husband on the cover, which drew criticism online.
“When did we elect her for president?” Tweeted Popular X-account Comfortably Smug.
Jill Biden's office has maintained a strong influence in the West Wing of the White House, especially before other national Democrats urged the president to abandon his party's nomination on July 21 out of concern for his mental health, resulting in the sudden emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate at the top of the ticket.
“ARPA-H, the agency Joe created to pursue groundbreaking health research at lightning speed, launched its first-ever sprint for women's health in February,” Jill Biden said during her presentation.
“The $100 million investment will fund life-changing innovations for women. And one month later, NIH committed an additional $200 million to fund multidisciplinary research on women's health, including studies looking at how menopause affects heart health, brain health and the health of the foods we eat.”
“In May, the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs launched a new collaborative effort to improve research for female service members and female veterans. On Monday, I will provide more details in a new announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative. And in June, the Department of Health and Human Services announced new funding to address the unique mental health and substance use treatment needs of women. Agencies are strengthening their standards to ensure that when the government funds research, it includes women.”
Aides believe Jill Biden is the most influential first lady since Edith Wilson, who severely limited contact with her husband, President Woodrow Wilson, after he suffered a severe stroke in October 1919.
Her tenure was not without controversy, drawing outrage from White House aides for tolerating bullying and sexual harassment by a top adviser, Anthony Bernal, whom she called her “work husband.”
“We must continue to work across government and the private sector to encourage innovative health research for women,” the First Lady instructed her Cabinet members.
“Now is the time to write a new story for health care in this country — one in which women get the answers they need, America remains a world-leading research hub, and everyone can live healthier lives,” she concluded.
Later in the day, Jill Biden will host actors from the TV series “The West Wing” to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show's debut in 1999. The series aired on NBC until 2006 and is a firm favorite among Biden's current advisers.
The president will leave the White House in the early afternoon to return to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, for a weekend summit with the leaders of the “Quad” of Australia, India and Japan, sparking an outcry from the White House press corps over the lack of public events at the international gathering.
