It’s never too late to get your degree.
In his first trip to South Carolina as president, Joe Biden is taking a trip down south to speak to December graduates at South Carolina State University, an HBCU in Orangeburg, South Carolina. US Representative Jim Clyburn, an alumnus of South Carolina State University who was a December graduate in 1961, never got to walk the stage and received his diploma by mail according to the Associated Press.
As a result, Rep. Clyburn will be crossing the stage with 2021 graduates to receive his diploma from President Biden.
From the Associated Press:
The president’s visit comes at a fraught time for his agenda, with the future of his $2 trillion social and environmental spending package in doubt. While Democrats had hoped to make progress on the bill before Christmas, continued disagreements among lawmakers have all but halted negotiations, and Biden himself has signaled Democrats should shift their focus to passing a voting rights bill — another heavy lift in the evenly divided Senate.
Biden has spent much of the week engaged in those legislative negotiations, but he has said he’s eager to help his longtime friend out.
“I’d almost walk to South Carolina to be able to do that for Jim,” Biden said this week in an interview with WLTX-TV in Columbia. “Jim has been a champion for all the things that matter.”
Now Joe, we know your legs can’t take that.
In his commencement speech to South Carolina State students he will address Congress protecting voting rights and his support of HBCUs. Although the original plan was to have a separate gathering, the two politicians came to an agreement that this graduation would work.
Jim Clyburn is South Carolina politics and because of that, helped Biden get the Democratic nomination with Clyburn’s public support.
Maybe this is just a show of support in return and a way to honor and thank Rep. Clyburn.