Joe Biden promotes youngster to ‘congressman’ and Jill reads ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ on festive visit to children’s hospital
- Joe and Jill Biden visited Children’s National Hospital for the third time.
- Biden told patients there will be ‘more and more drugs every year’
- Children’s National does a “special job” caring for babies, children, teens and young adults, the president said.
Joe Biden joked that he promoted the teenager to “congressman” when he visited patients at a children’s hospital in Washington.
The President listened as Jill Biden read “The Night Before Christmas” to a group of patients and their families at Children’s National Hospital.
This was the third holiday visit by the President and First Lady to the hospital.
Other patients also joined us virtually from their rooms.
Sumukh Arunkumar, 10, reacts to Joe Biden promoting him to “Congressman”
Sumukh Arunkumar, 10, and Joe Biden during a presidential holiday visit to patients and their families at Children’s National Hospital in Washington.
Sumukh Arunkumar jumps for joy
At the end of the first lady’s book reading, Biden told the children, “Yay, Santa!” and invited one of them, 10-year-old Sumukh Arunkumar, onto the stage.
“Come here, Mr. Mayor… I’m going to promote him. I’m going to make him a congressman,” he joked.
Biden thanked the staff, saying, “What you do is special, special.”
He added: “Jill and I spent time as you parents do with our children, under different circumstances.
“But you know, that old expression: where there is life, there is hope. I hope you kids come back when you get out of the hospital and hang out with other kids. And you’ll know what it’s like, right.
First Lady Jill Biden reads “Twas the Night Before Christmas” during a holiday visit with patients and their families at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Dec. 22, 2023.
Joe Biden addresses young patients and their families
Joe Biden greets patients and families at Children’s National Hospital
US President Joe Biden reacts to First Lady Jill Biden reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’
‘So thank you. Thank you. Thanks for everything you do. And I hope to see you before next Christmas. I’ll see you next Christmas, maybe I’ll see you at the White House.”
Biden continued: “Every year there are more and more drugs, every single year. So, as my father would say, keep the faith. We will overcome all this, I promise you.”
He added, “If any of you kids become president, you will remember us, okay?”
“When they say Joe and Jill Biden are in the waiting room, promise me you won’t tell who it is.”