Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden congratulate US Olympians and extend White House invite

The Tokyo Olympics has come to a close, with the US team returning to the country with medals in the various competitions. US President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden extended their congratulations to the athletes who competed in the national team and also extended an invitation to visit the White House.

The Bidens extended their congratulations to the Olympians through a live-streamed virtual reception. The Bidens also extended an invitation for the athletes to come to the White House in the fall. The US leader also gave special shoutouts to Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles, and Isaiah Jewett during their meeting done over Zoom during the weekend.

“I just can’t tell you how, you know, you remind us of what an amazing country we are, and you make us look so good as a country,” said Biden during the virtual meeting. “These are the things that people look at around the world -- more than anything that I do as your President, or other people do in public life, they get the impression of who we are as Americans, who we are… Thank you, thank you for the joy, the pride, the hope, the hope you gave us. That’s what you did -- you gave people so much hope.”

Biden praised Biles, who withdrew from the team competitions, citing her mental health. Biden said that Biles set an example for everyone in the competitions. “You’re setting an example, I really mean that. You had the courage -- no, I really mean it, I’m not, I’m not playing -- you had the courage to say, ‘I need some help. I need some help, I need some time’ And you gave an example to everybody…”

Another thing that also occurred over the weekend was that the Senate has taken another step towards a final vote on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. The proposal passed through another procedural hurdle on Saturday, making way for the chamber to make a final vote. Just as the proposal was bipartisan, it also received bipartisan backing from 18 Republican Senators and 49 Democrats to end the debate.

Having surpassed the number of votes needed to pass the proposal, the chances of the package getting passed through the evenly divided Senate have improved. Amendments to the proposal, however, continue.