WASHINGTON (AP) – New First Lady Jill Biden made an unannounced detour to the US Capitol on Friday to deliver baskets of chocolate chip cookies to members of the National Guard, thanking them “for keeping me and my family insurance “during the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
“I just want to thank President Biden and the entire Biden family,” she told a group of members of the Guard on Capitol Hill. “The White House baked chocolate chip cookies for you,” she said, before joking that she couldn’t say she had made them herself.
Joe Biden was sworn in on Wednesday, exactly two weeks after supporters of Donald Trump revolted on Capitol Hill in a futile attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden as the winner of the November presidential election. Then, extensive security measures were taken for the inauguration, which went without major incidents.
Jill Biden told the group that her late son, Beau, was a member of the Delaware Army National Guard who spent an outstanding year in Iraq in 2008-09. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.
“So, I’m a mother of the National Guard,” she said, adding that the baskets were a “small thank you” for leaving their home states and coming to the country’s capital. President Biden thanked the head of the National Guard Cabinet in a phone call on Friday.
“I really appreciate everything you do,” said the first lady. “The National Guard will always have a special place in the heart of all Bidens.”
The unannounced visit to Jill Biden’s troop came after his first public departure as first lady.
She highlighted services for cancer patients at Whitman-Walker Health, a Washington institution with a history of caring for patients with HIV / AIDS and the LGBTQ community. The clinic receives federal money to help provide primary care services in underserved areas.
The team told the first lady that cancer tests have declined since March because patients did not want to attend because of the coronavirus pandemic. More and more patients are taking advantage of the options to see a doctor online.
When the issue of universal access to broadband internet was raised, Jill Biden, who is a teacher, said she heard about teachers from all over the country who are unable to contact their students because of irregular access in some areas.
“We just have to work together and do some of those things,” she said. “The first thing we have to do is to resolve this pandemic and get everyone vaccinated and back to work and back to their schools and get things back to normal.”