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Building and preserving over 2 million new homes to lower rents and the cost of buying a home

President Biden believes housing costs are too high, and significant investments are needed to address the large shortage of affordable homes inherited from his predecessor and that has been growing for more than a decade. During his State of the Union Address, President Biden will call on Congressional Republicans to end years of inaction and pass legislation to lower costs by providing a $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers and people who sell their starter homes; build and renovate more than 2 million homes; and lower rental costs.  President Biden also announced new steps to lower homebuying and refinancing closing costs and crack down on corporate actions that rip off renters.

We are starting to see some progress. More housing units are under construction right now than at any time in the last 50 years, rents have fallen over the last year in many places, and the homeownership rate is higher now than before the pandemic. But rent is still too high, and Americans who want to buy a home still have difficulty finding one they can afford. That is why President Biden has a landmark plan to build over 2 million homes, which will lower rents, make houses more affordable, and promote fair housing.

Lowering Costs of Homeownership

For many Americans, owning a home is the cornerstone of raising a family, building wealth, and joining the middle class. Too many working families feel locked out of homeownership and are unable to compete with investors for a limited supply of affordable for-sale homes. President Biden is calling on Congress to enact legislation to enable more Americans to purchase a home, including:

• Mortgage Relief Credit. President Biden is calling on Congress to pass a mortgage relief credit that would provide middle-class first-time homebuyers with an annual tax credit of $5,000 a year for two years. This is the equivalent of reducing the mortgage rate by more than 1.5 percentage points for two years on the median home, and will help more than 3.5 million middle-class families purchase their first home over the next two years. The President’s plan also calls for a new credit to unlock inventory of affordable starter homes, while helping middle-class families move up the housing ladder and empty nesters right size. Many homeowners have lower rates on their mortgages than current rates. This “lock-in” effect makes homeowners more reluctant to sell and give up that low rate, even in circumstances where their current homes no longer fit their household needs. The President is calling on Congress to provide a one-year tax credit of up to $10,000 to middle-class families who sell their starter home, defined as homes below the area median home price in the county, to another owner-occupant. This proposal is estimated to help nearly 3 million families.
• Down Payment Assistance for First-Generation Homeowners. The President continues to call on Congress to provide up to $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-generation homebuyers whose families haven’t benefited from the generational wealth building associated with homeownership. This proposal is estimated to help 400,000 families purchase their first home.

The President isn’t waiting for Congress to lower costs for homebuyers and homeowners. Last year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reduced the mortgage insurance premium for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages, saving an estimated 850,000 homebuyers and homeowners an estimated $800 per year. And today, the President is announcing new actions to lower the closing costs associated with buying a home or refinancing a mortgage.

• Lowering Closing Costs for Refinancing. The Federal Housing Finance Agency has approved policies and pilots to reduce closing costs for homeowners, including a pilot to waive the requirement for lender’s title insurance on certain refinances. This would save thousands of homeowners up to $1500, and an average of $750, and the lower upfront fees will unlock substantial savings for homeowners as mortgage rates continue to fall and more homeowners are able to refinance. According to independent analysis, across the market title insurance typically pays out only 3% to 5% of premiums in claims to consumers, compared to more than 70% in other types of insurance. Homeowners can still purchase their own title insurance policies if they choose to do so.
• Lowering Closing Costs for Home Mortgages. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will pursue rulemaking and guidance to address anticompetitive closing costs imposed by lenders on homebuyers and homeowners.  These charges—which benefit the lender but not the borrower—can add thousands to the upfront costs of a mortgage.  Those upfront costs cut into the amount of homebuyers’ down payments and reduce homeowners’ available equity.

In the coming months, the Department of Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office will convene a roundtable of relevant industry stakeholders, including consumer advocates and academics, in order to discuss the title insurance industry and analyze potential reforms. Building on today’s announcements, President Biden is calling on federal agencies to take all available actions to lower costs for consumers at the closing table and help more Americans access homeownership.

Lowering Costs by Building and Preserving 2 Million Homes

America needs to build more housing in order to lower rental costs and increase access to homeownership. That’s why the President is calling on Congress to pass legislation to build and renovate more than 2 million homes, which would close the housing supply gap and lower housing costs for renters and homeowners. This legislation would build on executive actions in the Biden-Harris Administration’s Housing Supply Action Plan that contributed to record housing construction last year.

• Tax Credits to Build More Housing. President Biden is calling for an expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to build or preserve 1.2 million more affordable rental units. Renters living in these properties save hundreds of dollars each month on their rent compared with renters with similar incomes who rent in the unsubsidized market. The President is also calling for a new Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit, the first tax provision to build or renovate affordable homes for homeownership, which would lead to the construction or preservation of over 400,000 starter homes in communities throughout the country.
• Innovation Fund for Housing Expansion. The President is unveiling a new $20 billion competitive grant fund as part of his Budget to support communities across the country to build more housing and lower rents and homebuying costs. This fund would support the construction of affordable multifamily rental units; incentivize local actions to remove unnecessary barriers to housing development; pilot innovative models to increase the production of affordable and workforce rental housing; and spur the construction of new starter homes for middle-class families. According to independent analysis, this will create hundreds of thousands of units which will help lower rents and housing costs.
• Increasing Banks’ Contributions Towards Building Affordable Housing. The President is proposing that each Federal Home Loan Bank double its annual contribution to the Affordable Housing Program – from 10 percent of prior year net income to 20 percent – which will raise an additional $3.79 billion for affordable housing over the next decade and assist nearly 380,0000 households. These funds will support the financing, acquisition, construction, and rehabilitation of affordable rental and for-sale homes, as well as help low- and moderate-income homeowners to purchase or rehabilitate homes.

Lowering Costs for Renters

President Biden is also taking actions to lower costs and promote housing stability for renters. The White House Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights lays out the key principles of a fair rental market and has already catalyzed new federal actions to make those principles a reality. Today, President Biden is announcing new steps to crack down on unfair practices that are driving up rental costs:

• Fighting Rent Gouging by Corporate Landlords. The Biden-Harris Administration is taking action to combat egregious rent increases and other unfair practices that are driving up rents. Corporate landlords and private equity firms across the country have been accused of illegal information sharing, price fixing, and inflating rents. As part of the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing announced by President Biden on Tuesday, the President is calling on federal agencies to root out and stop illegal corporate behavior that hikes prices on American families through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices. In a recent filing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) made clear its position that inflated rents caused by algorithmic use of sensitive nonpublic pricing and supply information violate antitrust laws. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission and DOJ filed a joint brief further arguing that it is illegal for landlords and property managers to collude on pricing to inflate rents – including when using algorithms to do so.
• Cracking Down on Rental Junk Fees. Millions of families incur burdensome costs in the rental application process and throughout the duration of their lease, from “convenience fees” simply to pay rent online to fees charged to sort mail or collect trash. These fees are often more than the actual cost of providing the service, or are added onto rents to cover services that renters assume are included—or that they don’t even want. Last fall, the FTC proposed a rule that if finalized as proposed would ban misleading and hidden fees across the economy, including in housing rental agreements. Last month, HUD released a summary of banned non-rent fees within their rental assistance programs. These actions build on voluntary commitments the President announced last summer from major rental housing platforms to provide customers with the total, upfront cost on rental properties on their platform.
• Expanding Housing Choice Vouchers. Over the last three years, the Administration has secured rental assistance for more than 100,000 additional households. The President is calling on Congress to further expand rental assistance to more than half of a million households, including by providing a voucher guarantee for low-income veterans and youth aging out of foster care – the first such voucher guarantees in history. Receiving a voucher would save these households hundreds of dollars in rent each month.

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Via Teleconference
(March 6, 2024)

6:08 P.M. EST

MODERATOR:  Hi, everyone.  Thank you for joining us this evening ahead of the President’s State of the Union tomorrow. 

Today, we will be holding a press call to preview the President’s State of the Union and his economic agenda, which is lowering costs and creating a fairer tax system.

We will begin with on-the-record opening remarks from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and then take questions on background.

The content of the call and the materials that you received are embargoed until tomorrow at 5:00 a.m.

Lael, with that, I’ll turn it over to you.

MS. BRAINARD:  Well, thank you, and thanks to everyone for joining us this evening. 

Tomorrow night, President Biden will discuss the historic achievements he has delivered for the American people and lay out his vision for the future.  The President will describe how far we’ve come since he took office three years ago and the work that lies ahead to build our economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.

It’s remarkable how far we have come.  When President Biden and Vice President Harris came to office, they faced an immediate economic crisis.  We were in the midst of a raging pandemic, tens of millions of Americans were unemployed, hundreds of thousands of small businesses were at risk of closing, and supply chains were badly broken. 

Since that time, President Biden’s economic plan has led to the strongest recovery in more than 50 years.  Since the President took office, the economy has added nearly 15 million jobs, the unemployment rate has been below 4 percent for two full years at a time when inflation has come down by two thirds, wages have risen by more than prices and are higher than before the pandemic, and we are seeing a small-business boom.

President Biden’s economic agenda is investing in America — in all of America, helping communities that had been left behind make a comeback.  We’ve seen 47,000 infrastructure projects in 4,500 communities all across the country, and businesses have made $650 billion investments in clean energy and manufacturing — $650 billion in investments.

The President will also lay out his plans to lower costs and create a fairer tax system.  President Biden will highlight that lowering costs for working families is his top economic priority. 

President Biden has taken on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs.  He’s lowering energy prices for American families by investing in clean, affordable energy.  He’s taking on junk fees and shrinkflation.  By cutting overdraft fees, credit card late fees, and other hidden fees, the President will save Americans more than $20 billion a year. 

Tomorrow, in his State of the Union, you’ll hear President Biden talk about his efforts to lower costs and crack down on junk fees.  And he’ll also talk about important new actions to lower housing costs for working families around the country.

The President will also lay out his vision to make our tax code fairer and to lower the deficit by making big corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.  President Biden is fighting to make our tax code reward work, not wealth, so billionaires do not pay less than school teachers or firefighters and to ensure the wealthy cannot get away with cheating on their taxes.

For example, in addition to reversing the corporate rate cut in the 2017 tax law, he’s proposing to raise the rate for the corporate minimum tax he signed into law to 21 percent.  He’s also calling for a new proposal that would deny corporate tax breaks for executive compensation above $1 million.  And he is fighting to cut taxes for working families and the middle class by restoring his full Child Tax Credit to cut taxes for tens of millions of families.

None of his policies will raise taxes by a single penny on anyone making under $400,000 a year.  While the President wants to cut taxes for working families, congressional Republicans want to cut taxes even more for the wealthy and big corporations, all while adding more than $3 trillion to the debt.

President Biden has made clear whose side he is on.  Every day, we see him fighting for working people and middle-class families like the ones he grew up with in Scranton.  The President will continue to put the middle class first as he lays out his plan for the American economy.

Thank you.

MODERATOR:  Thanks so much, Lael.  We’ll now take some questions on background.  

For your awareness on this call but not for reporting, taking questions will be [senior administration official] and [senior administration official].

If you have a question, please raise your hand. 

I’ll start with Josh Boak.

Q    Hi.  [Senior administration official], [senior administration official], thanks so much for doing this.  Quick question: Apples to apples, you say that the Republican plans would increase the debt by $3 trillion over 10 years.  What would the President — what would his plans — what would the impact be on the debt for him?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  This is [senior administration official].  The President will put out a budget next week that will reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years.

MODERATOR:  Great.  I’ll now turn it over to Akayla Gardner.

Q    Hey, guys.  I wanted to ask about the corporate tax minimum.  I know Brainard just said 21 percent, but I had thought that the President wanted or was proposing it to go to 28 percent.  And also, could you just say whether he’ll talk about the 25 percent tax on billionaires in his speech tomorrow.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  This is [senior administration official] again.  So, yes, the fir- — yes and yes are the answers to your questions.

So, the President’s proposal is to raise the corporate rate to 28 percent.  That’s reversing, in large part, the cut in the corporate rate from the 2017 tax law.  He has also signed into law a 15 percent minimum tax on large corporate — lar- — large profitable corporations to ensure that companies are, in fact, paying tax. 

He will, in this budget that he proposes next week, propose to raise that 15 percent rate to 21 percent for the corporate minimum tax.

And then, on your question of — of the billionaire minimum tax, I mean, I don’t have anything specific to preview about the speech.  But I will say that — you know, that the President is of the firm view that we cannot have a tax system where middle-class folks are paying a lower [higher] tax rate in some cases than billionaires.  And so, he has put forward a billionaire minimum tax proposal, and you can expect him to talk about that going forward.

MODERATOR:  Thanks.  We’ll now turn it over to David Lawder.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for doing this call.  Another — another question on the corporate minimum tax rate.  You know, there is the proposal — you know, the plan out there for a global corporate minimum tax of 15 percent, which would sort of match up with, you know, the U.S. corporate minimum. 

Is there any concern that this would put — you know, if he raised that to 21 percent, that this would sort of put the U.S. at a disadvantage to other — other countries when there was a lot of effort put in to trying to sort of get everybody on that — on that same — that same tax rate?  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, thanks for the question.  No, our — our proposal also on the international tax front — our global minimum tax proposal — would put in place a 21 percent rate there.  So, we’d have both the 21 percent global minimum tax.  We’d have 21 percent corporate minimum tax for the domestic corporate minimum tax as well.

Q    So, would you — I mean, would you be pushing other countries to raise theirs to 21 percent as well, or the U.S. is okay being above other countries in that rate?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I think, you know, we’re going to — we’re going to be in a place where we’ll put forward the 21 percent proposal.  We’ll call on other countries as well to continue to put forward measures like that.  And, you know, I think that that is kind of consistent with where our international negotiations have been.

MODERATOR:  We’ll now turn it over to Eric Levitz.

Q    Hey.  Yeah, just two fairly straightforward questions.  One, I was wondering what specific housing policies the administration is planning to highlight tomorrow and if tho- — any of those require congressional cooperation.  And then, also, I was just wondering if any of the unfulfilled aspects of “Build Back Better,” in terms of its social programs — not the tax side of it, but childcare, et cetera — the — is the President planning to spotlight.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, so — I’m sorry, what was the — the first part of your question was the — housing.  Sorry.

So, on housing, I don’t have anything specific to preview for you.  What I will say is that the President, you know, will be putting forward a series of proposals that both go to expanding the supply of housing, helping renters, helping homeowners also with — with assistance to lower costs for them.  We’ll have more on that tomorrow.

Some of them will require congressional action.  You know, similar to the second part of your question, you know, we really see lowering housing costs and boosting the supply of housing as a key unfinished component of the President’s economic agenda.

And then, he also, I think, you know, going forward, will continue to highlight administrative actions we’re taking to lower housing costs.

And then, on the second part of your — of your question, you know, we will continue — in the budget, in other contexts — to highlight a range of measures that would lower costs for American families: cos- — lower housing costs, lower childcare costs, to — proposals to lower education costs. 

And it really is a stark contrast with, you know, congressional Republicans who, instead of putting forward proposals that are fundamentally about lowering costs for working families, have instead prioritized tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, for large corporations.  And so, you can anticipate that the President will make that contrast very clear.

MODERATOR:  We have time for a couple more questions.  I’ll turn it over to Andrew Restuccia.

Q    Thanks.  On the — the denying companies tax breaks if they pay employees over a million dollars.  Can you lay out, like, which tax breaks would be denied?  And then, also, do you have an estimate of how many companies this would affect?  Presumably, there’s a lot of companies that pay people over a million dollars.  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, so — so, you know, we think this proposal would — would raise more than $250 billion.  And we can follow up with you with an exact.  And, you know, the structure of this proposal is that C corporations would not be able to deduct compensation above $1 million for any given employees. 

That’s an expansion in the current tax — in current law where deductions are not allowed for the CEO, the CFO, and a number of other officers.  But this would expand that to include anybody who is being paid over a million dollars.  And as I noted, you know, I think it would raise substantial revenue.

And, you know, I’d just lastly kind of point out: It’s not that, you know, the President has any problem at all with folks getting high salaries from — from their companies above a million dollars; it’s that, you know, we don’t think that — that companies should be able to take deductions for that compensation.

MODERATOR:  And for our final question, I’ll turn it over to Alexander Rifaat.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for doing this.  I have two questions.  First, a big part of the President’s economic agenda has centered around tax credits to — to entice clean energy production, development; also encourage consumers to purchase electric vehicles.  But the subsidies do come with certain domestic content requirements that has sort of put it at odds with allies in Europe. 

And I know that the White House created a task force on the — on the Inflation Reduction Act after it was passed.  Also, created, I believe, a task force, as well, with the UK in order to sort of come up with some sort of agreement on the subsidies.

I just wanted to know if there was sort of any — if the White House had any sort of update on that — on negotiations there, if there was a timeframe for those negotiations. 

And then, secondly, another aspect of the — of the President’s tax policy is sort of centered around this idea of sort of making it more equitable.  The Treasury Department created an Advisory Committee on Racial Equity.  But one of the members there, Dorothy Brown, sort of — they made recommendations to — to Secretary Yellen.  And, essentially, they have not heard back from the Secretary, and she sort of called on the White House as — to sort of get involved.

I just wanted to see if the — if there was, sort of, any reaction on that; if there was any sort of timeline for, sort of, the — the, sort of — the — implementing any of the recommendations that this committee is making to the Treasury Department as it pertains to, you know, sort of, the tax system.  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks for that.  On the second one, I’d refer you to Treasury.  I don’t have an update there.

And then, on the first, I mean, you know, broadly speaking, we are very focused on making sure we’re implementing the clean energy credits in a manner that’s deploying rapidly clean energy technologies, lowering clean energy costs for folks, while also making sure that the domestic content requirements that are — that are put in place are implemented effectively.  So, we’re very focused on that.

We’re also focused on working with international partners who are themselves adopting incentives for clean energy deployment and production throughout the world.  On the kind of specifics of those tasks forces, I’d — task force, I’d refer you to NSC. 

But just, you know, broadly, this is a key area of focus for us.

MODERATOR:  And with that, we will conclude our call.  It is embargoed until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. 

As mentioned at the top, the questions and answers were on background and are attributable to “senior administration officials.”

Thank you.  And tune in at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow — no, 9:00 p.m. 

Thank you.

6:24 P.M. EST

The post Press Call by National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and Senior Administration Officials Previewing President Biden’s State of the Union Address and Economic Agenda appeared first on The White House.

Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to choose, millions of Americans are living under extreme state abortion bans. These dangerous laws are putting women’s health and lives at risk and threatening doctors with jail time, including life in prison, for providing the health care they have been trained to provide. And Republicans’ extreme out-of-touch agenda has put access to fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant.

Tonight, Kate Cox and Latorya Beasley will join the First Lady as her guests at the State of the Union. Kate, a mother of two from Texas, has experienced the devastating consequences of state abortion bans and courageously spoke out about her experience seeking the care she needed to preserve her health—becoming one of the first women in 50 years to have to turn to the courts to ask permission to receive the abortion that her doctor recommended. She, like too many other women across the country, was ultimately forced to travel out of state for care that she would have been able to receive if Roe v. Wade were still the law of the land.

After a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court put access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) on pause in much of the state, Latorya and her husband, who had been preparing for another round of IVF, learned that their embryo transfer was abruptly canceled. This heartbreaking setback in her and her husband’s journey to have their second child through IVF is yet another example of how the overturning of Roe v. Wade has disrupted access to reproductive health care for women and families across the country.

President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that stories like Kate’s and Latorya’s should never happen in America. But Republican elected officials want to impose this reality on women nationwide. They are doubling down on their assault on fundamental freedoms by proposing ever-more extreme bans in states and three national abortion bans in Congress. And, just last week, Senate Republicans blocked a vote to safeguard nationwide access to IVF. Their ongoing disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.

Tonight, President Biden will again call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law so women in every state have the freedom to make deeply personal health care decisions. And the Biden-Harris Administration will continue to take executive action to protect access to reproductive health care, including through ongoing implementation of the President’s three Executive Orders and a Presidential Memorandum issued since the Court overturned Roe v. Wade. To date, the Administration has taken action to:

• Protect access to abortion, including FDA-approved medication abortion;
• Defend access to emergency medical care;
• Support the ability to travel for reproductive health care;
• Strengthen access to high-quality, affordable contraception;
• Safeguard the privacy of patients and health care providers; and
• Ensure access to accurate information and legal resources.

Protect Access to Abortion, Including FDA-Approved Medication Abortion

The Administration will continue fighting to protect a woman’s ability to access abortion care, including by defending access to FDA-approved, safe and effective medication abortion. The Administration will continue to:

• Protect Access to Safe and Legal Medication Abortion.  On what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Biden issued a Presidential Memorandum directing agencies to consider further efforts to support patients, providers, and pharmacies who wish to legally access, prescribe, or provide medication abortion. This Presidential Memorandum followed independent, evidence-based action taken by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to allow mifepristone to be prescribed by telehealth and sent by mail as well as to enable interested pharmacies to become certified to dispense the medication. As a result of the new pathway established by FDA, many pharmacies across the country—including major retail pharmacy chains—are now certified to dispense medication abortion. This new option gives many women the option to pick up their prescription for medication abortion at a local, certified pharmacy just as they would for any other medication.
  
• Defend FDA Approval of Medication Abortion in Court.  FDA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are defending access to mifepristone—a safe and effective drug used in medication abortion that FDA first approved more than twenty years ago—and FDA’s independent, expert judgment in court, including in a lawsuit before the Supreme Court that attempts to curtail access nationwide. The Administration will continue to stand by FDA’s decades-old approval and regulation of the medication as well as FDA’s ability to review, approve, and regulate a wide range of prescription medications. Efforts to impose outdated restrictions on mifepristone would limit access to this critical medication in every state in the country.
  
• Partner with State Leaders on the Frontlines of Abortion Access.  The White House continues to partner with leaders on the frontlines of protecting access to abortion—both those fighting extreme state legislation and those advancing proactive policies to protect access to reproductive health care, including for patients who are forced to travel out of state for care. The Vice President has led these efforts, traveling to 20 states and meeting with more than 250 state legislators, health care providers, and advocates in the past year. And, on what would have been the 51st anniversary of Roe, the Vice President launched her nationwide Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour to continue fighting back against extreme attacks throughout America.
  
• Provide Access to Reproductive Health Care for Veterans.  The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued a final rule to allow VA to provide abortion counseling and, in certain circumstances, abortion care to veterans and VA beneficiaries. Under this rule, VA provides abortion services when the health or life of the patient would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term or when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. When working within the scope of their federal employment, VA employees may provide abortion services as authorized by federal law regardless of state restrictions. 
  
• Support Access to Care for Service Members.  The Department of Defense (DoD) has taken action to ensure that Service members and their families can access reproductive health care and that DoD health care providers can operate effectively. DoD released policies to support Service members and their families’ ability to travel for lawful reproductive health care, including abortion care and assisted reproductive technology services, and to bolster Service members’ privacy and afford them the time and space needed to make personal health care decisions.

Defend Access to Emergency Medical Care

All patients, including women experiencing pregnancy loss and other pregnancy-related emergencies, must be able to access the emergency medical care required by federal law. The Administration will continue to:

• Defend Access to Emergency Abortion Care.  Republican elected officials have put women’s lives at risk by banning abortion even when a doctor determines that an abortion is necessary to prevent serious health consequences. The Administration is committed to ensuring that women who are experiencing pregnancy loss and other pregnancy-related emergencies have access to the full rights and protections for emergency medical care afforded under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)—including abortion care when that is the stabilizing treatment required. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance and Secretary Becerra sent letters to providers affirming the Administration’s view that EMTALA preempts conflicting state law restricting access to abortion in emergency situations. The DOJ has taken action defend and enforce that interpretation before the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule by June.
  
• Educate Patients and Health Care Providers on Their Rights and Obligations for Emergency Medical Care. To increase awareness of EMTALA and improve the procedures for ensuring that patients facing all types of medical emergencies receive the care to which they are entitled, HHS issued a comprehensive plan to educate all patients about their rights and to help ensure hospitals meet their obligations under federal law. This effort included the launch of new accessible and understandable resources about rights and protections for patients under EMTALA and the process for submitting a complaint. HHS will also disseminate training materials for health care providers and establish a dedicated team of experts who will increase the Department’s capacity to support hospitals and providers across the country in complying with federal requirements—to help ensure that every patient receives the emergency medical care required under federal law.

Support the Ability to Travel for Reproductive Health Care

Women must be able to cross state lines to access legal reproductive health care. In the face of threats to the constitutional right to travel, the Administration will continue to:

• Defend the Right to Travel.  On the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, President Biden reaffirmed the Attorney General’s statement that women must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek the care they need. In November 2023, DOJ filed a statement of interest in two lawsuits challenging the Alabama Attorney General’s threat to prosecute people who provide assistance to women seeking lawful out-of-state abortions. DOJ explained that the threatened Alabama prosecutions infringe the constitutional right to travel and made clear that states may not punish third parties for assisting women in exercising that right. DOJ continues to monitor states’ efforts to restrict the constitutional right to travel across state lines to receive lawful health care.  
  
• Support Patients Traveling Out of State for Medical Care.  HHS issued a letter to U.S. governors inviting them to apply for Section 1115 waivers to expand access to care under the Medicaid program for women traveling from a state where reproductive rights are under attack and women may be denied medical care. HHS continues to review pending waiver applications and encourage state leaders to develop new waiver proposals that would support access to reproductive health care services.

Strengthen Access to High-Quality, Affordable Contraception

Contraception is an essential component of reproductive health care and has only become more important in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In addition to FDA’s approval of the first daily oral contraceptive for over-the-counter use, the Administration will continue to:

• Strengthen Access to Affordable, High-Quality Contraception.  Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the President issued an Executive Order directing agencies to consider actions to improve access and affordability for women with private health insurance; bolster access across Federal health programs; promote access to over-the-counter contraception; and further support access for Service members, veterans, Federal employees, and college students. Recent actions taken to implement this Executive Order include:
  
  • The Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS issued new guidance to clarify standards and support expanded coverage of a broader range of FDA-approved contraceptives at no cost under the Affordable Care Act. This action builds on guidance issued in July 2022 to clarify protections for contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
  • The Office of Personnel Management strengthened access to contraception for federal workers, retirees, and family members by issuing guidance to insurers participating in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program that incorporates the Departments’ guidance. OPM has also newly required insurers that participate in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program to take additional steps to educate enrollees about their contraception benefits.
  • The Secretary of HHS issued a letter to private health insurers, state Medicaid programs and state Children’s Health Insurance Programs, and Medicare plans about their obligations to cover contraception for those they serve. The letter targets a wide range of payers to advance compliance with existing standards and underscore the Administration’s commitment to ensuring that women across the country can access affordable contraception.
  • The Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS issued a Request for Information to solicit public input on how to best ensure coverage and access to over-the-counter preventive services, including contraception, at no cost and without a prescription from a health care provider.
  • Vice President Harris and the Department of Education convened representatives from 68 college and university leaders in 32 states to hear promising strategies from leaders of postsecondary institutions for protecting and expanding access to contraception for their students and on campus.
  • The Gender Policy Council, Domestic Policy Council, and leaders from the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS called on private sector leaders to take robust additional actions to further expand access to contraception.
  • The Gender Policy Council and the Department of Health and Human Services joined a convening focused on strategies to expand the role of pharmacies and pharmacists in promoting access to contraception and breaking down barriers for consumers.
    
• Expand Access to More Women Under the Affordable Care Act.  The Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS proposed a rule to help ensure that all women with private health coverage who need and want contraception can obtain it without cost sharing as guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act. Millions of women have already benefited from this coverage, which has helped them save billions of dollars on contraception.
  
• Support Access to Family Planning Services Through Title X Clinics.  HHS has strengthened access to care through Title X clinics, which have played a critical role in ensuring access to a broad range of high-quality family planning and preventive health services for more than 50 years. HHS provided funds to help these safety net clinics deliver equitable, affordable, client-centered, and high-quality family planning services and provide training and technical assistance for Title X clinics. Last year, HHS provided $263 million to over 4,000 Title X clinics across the country to provide a wide range of voluntary, client-centered family planning and related preventive services. The Title X Family Planning Program remains a critical part of the nation’s safety net, providing free or low-cost services for 2.6 million clients in 2022.
  
• Promote Access to Contraception for Service Members and Their Families and Certain Dependents of Veterans.  To improve access to contraception at military hospitals and clinics, DoD expanded walk-in contraceptive care services for active-duty Service members and other Military Health System beneficiaries, and eliminated TRICARE copays for certain contraceptive services. And VA proposed a rule to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for certain types of contraception through the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Safeguard the Privacy of Patients and Health Care Providers

The Administration is committed to safeguarding sensitive health information and strengthening privacy protections for women and health care providers. The Administration will continue to:

• Strengthen Reproductive Health Privacy under HIPAA.  HHS issued a proposed rule to strengthen privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). As proposed, this rule would prevent an individual’s information from being disclosed to investigate, sue, or prosecute an individual, a health care provider, or a loved one simply because that person sought, obtained, provided, or facilitated legal reproductive health care, including abortion. By safeguarding sensitive information related to reproductive health care, the rule will strengthen patient-provider confidentiality and help health care providers give complete and accurate information to patients. Prior to the proposed rule, HHS issued guidance reaffirming HIPAA’s existing protections for the privacy of individuals’ protected health information.
  
• Take Action Against Illegal Use and Sharing of Sensitive Health Information.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has committed to enforcing the law against illegal use and sharing of highly sensitive data, including information related to reproductive health care. Consistent with this commitment, the FTC has taken several enforcement actions against companies for disclosing consumers’ personal health information, including highly sensitive reproductive health data, without permission.
  
• Help Consumers Protect Their Personal Data.  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched a guide for consumers on best practices for protecting their personal data, including geolocation data, on mobile phones. The guide follows a proposed rule that would strengthen data breach rules to provide greater protections to personal data. Separately, HHS issued a how-to guide for consumers on steps they can take to better protect their data on personal cell phones or tablets and when using mobile health apps, like period trackers, which are generally not protected by HIPAA.
  
• Protect Students’ Health Information.  The Department of Education (ED) issued guidance to over 20,000 school officials to remind them of their obligations to protect student privacy under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The guidance helps ensure that school officials—at federally funded school districts, colleges, and universities—know that, with certain exceptions, they must obtain written consent from eligible students or parents before disclosing personally identifiable information from students’ educational records, which may include student health information. The guidance encourages school officials to consider the importance of student privacy, including health privacy, with respect to disclosing student records. ED also issued a know-your-rights resource to help students understand their privacy rights for health records at school. 
  
• Safeguard Patients’ Electronic Health Information.  HHS issued guidance and a final rule affirming that doctors and other medical providers can take steps to protect patients’ electronic health information, including their information related to reproductive health care. HHS makes clear that patients have the right to ask that their electronic health information generally not be disclosed by a physician, hospital, or other health care provider. The guidance also reminds health care providers that HIPAA’s privacy protections apply to patients’ electronic health information.

Ensure Access to Accurate Information and Legal Resources

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has led to chaos and confusion. To help ensure that Americans have access to accurate information about their rights, the Administration will continue to:

• Ensure Easy Access to Reliable Information.  HHS launched and maintains ReproductiveRights.gov, which provides timely and accurate information on people’s right to access reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion services, and health insurance coverage, as well as how to file a patient privacy or nondiscrimination complaint. DOJ also launched justice.gov/reproductive-rights, a webpage that provides a centralized online resource on the Department’s ongoing work to protect access to reproductive health care services under federal law.
  
• Hosted a Convening of Lawyers in Defense of Reproductive Rights.  DOJ and the Office of White House Counsel convened more than 200 lawyers and advocates from private firms, bar associations, legal aid organizations, reproductive rights groups, and law schools across the country for a convening of pro-bono attorneys, as directed in the first Executive Order. Following this convening, reproductive rights organizations launched the Abortion Defense Network to offer abortion-related legal defense services, including legal advice and representation.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – First Lady Jill Biden will welcome guests to join her in the viewing box for President Biden’s State of the Union Address on Thursday, March 7, 2024. Each of these individuals were invited by the White House because they personify issues or themes to be addressed by the President in his speech, or they embody the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies at work for the American people. The Second Gentleman, Mr. Douglas Emhoff, will also join the First Lady in the viewing box.
 
The following individuals, listed in alphabetical order, will be seated in the box with the First Lady and Second Gentleman:
 
Latorya Beasley (Birmingham, Alabama)
Beasley and her husband had their first child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 2022 and were in the process of expanding their family through another round of IVF when her embryo transfer was abruptly canceled as a result of the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision. Her recent experience is yet another example of how the overturning of Roe v. Wade has disrupted access to reproductive health care for women and families across the country.
 
Kris Blackley (Fort Mill, South Carolina)
Blackley is an oncology nurse and the Director of Patient Navigation for the Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute, part of Advocate Health. She has published research related to patient navigation showing improved outcomes, including decreased readmissions, increased treatment compliance, and equity in care. In 2023, the Biden Cancer Moonshot announced new actions to expand access to patient navigation services — services that help guide individuals, caregivers, and families through cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. In February 2023, the First Lady visited Atrium Health, where Blackley shared how the health system plans to bring patient navigation services to more cancer patients and their loved ones as a result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions.
 
Jazmin Cazares (Uvalde, Texas)
Cazares is a leading advocate for gun violence prevention at the state and national level. After her sister Jackie was killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, Cazares spent her senior year of high school traveling across the country and sharing Jackie’s story. She spoke alongside March for Our Lives leaders at the Texas State Capitol and testified before lawmakers to advocate for tighter background checks and extreme risk protection order laws. In 2023, Cazares was honored by the First Lady during the first-ever “Girls Leading Change” celebration at the White House.
 
Kate Cox (Dallas, Texas)
Cox is a mother of two from Texas who has experienced the devastating consequences of state abortion bans and courageously spoke out about her experience seeking the care she needed to preserve her health. Cox is one of the first women in 50 years to have to turn to the courts to ask permission to receive the abortion that her doctor recommended. She was ultimately forced to travel out of state for care that she would have been able to receive if the protections of Roe v. Wade were still in effect. 
 
Samantha Ervin-Upsher (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Ervin-Upsher is an apprentice with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 432 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is 23 years old and a mother of two. In 2023, Ervin-Upsher met the First Lady during a visit to Pennsylvania to highlight the Investing in America Workforce Hub in Pittsburgh, an initiative that seeks to build career pathways through high schools, community colleges, and unions to job opportunities fueled by President’s Biden’s investments.
 
Shawn Fain (Metro Detroit, Michigan) 
Fain is a 29-year member and the current President of the United Auto Workers (UAW). Hailing from a family of UAW members, Fain got his start with UAW Local Union 1166 as an electrician for Chrysler at the Kokomo Casting Plant in his hometown of Kokomo, Indiana. In September 2023, President Biden joined Fain and UAW workers on the picket line in Belleville, Michigan, making history as the first sitting President to join a picket line. After hard-fought negotiations and a “Stand-Up” strike that inspired workers across the country, the UAW won historic pay increases, greater retirement security, more paid leave, and more dignity and respect. Their efforts also yielded job security commitments from General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, including a commitment from Stellantis to bring thousands of good-paying UAW jobs back to Belvidere, Illinois. The UAW’s historic contract immediately led non-union automakers to announce double digit pay raises for their U.S. workers – adding further evidence that when unions do well, all workers do well.
 
Bettie Mae Fikes (Selma, Alabama)
Fikes is an American singer and civil rights advocate who was a Bloody Sunday Foot Soldier in Selma, Alabama in 1965. Known as “The Voice of Selma,” Fikes served as a member of Selma’s Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom Singers. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Newport Jazz Festival, the Library of Congress, and was featured in the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of Tolerance exhibition honoring women of the Civil Rights Movement. In 2023, Fikes joined President Biden to commemorate the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. This year’s State of the Union Address falls on the 59th anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
 
Steven Hadfield (Matthews, North Carolina)
Hadfield has a rare blood cancer and is diabetic—two conditions that require very expensive drugs, including a drug that was selected for the first round of Medicare drug price negotiation. He held several part-time positions because he feared that, if he retired, he would not have sufficient income to pay for the drugs he needs to stay alive. The drug that treats his rare blood cancer costs about $15,000 a month. On top of that, his insulin costs him up to $400 every month. Now, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare covers his insulin prescriptions with a $35 copay cap per month. And for his blood cancer medications, this year, his Part D out-of-pocket drug costs are capped at about $3,500 and in 2025, he will benefit even more from the $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs.
 
Mayor Garnett L. Johnson (Augusta, Georgia)
Johnson is the Mayor of the City of Augusta, Georgia. In 2023, Augusta was designated by the White House as one of five Investing in America Workforce Hubs, where President Biden’s agenda — including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act — is driving historic investments and creating good-paying jobs. The Augusta Workforce Hub is led by a partnership between Mayor Johnson and three Augusta regional education institutions focused on training students in growing sectors, such as advanced manufacturing and construction skilled trades, to prepare the next generation for technical jobs in the region. The First Lady was last in Augusta in July and November 2023, to meet with Mayor Johnson and highlight how the local community is working together to expand pathways to careers. 
 
Keenan Jones (Plymouth, Minnesota)
Jones is a public middle school educator in Minnesota’s Twin Cities and a member of Education Minnesota. In April 2023, Jones wrote an email to President Biden to thank him for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which eliminated his remaining student loan debt after 10 years of public service and allowed him to continue his teaching career. Jones is one of the nearly 800,000 teachers, nurses, social workers, servicemembers, and other public servants who have received student loan debt forgiveness since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.
 
Natalie King (Detroit, Michigan)
King is the founder and CEO of Dunamis Charge, the first-ever African American women-owned electric vehicle charger manufacturing company in the United States. Her company employs over 135 workers and is on track to manufacture 400,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2025. In March 2023, King introduced President Biden at the Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Summit, where she shared that the Administration’s investments in clean energy and small business owners helped her business thrive throughout the pandemic.
 
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden
Kristersson is the Prime Minister of Sweden. Sweden is formally joining the NATO Alliance on March 7, 2024, becoming the 32nd Ally. Sweden is a strong democracy with a highly capable military that shares our values and vision for the world. Having Sweden as a NATO Ally will make the United States and our Allies even safer. NATO is the most powerful defensive alliance in the history of the world, and it is as critical today to ensuring the security of our citizens as it was 75 years ago when our Alliance was founded out of the wreckage of World War II.
 
Governor Stephen Roe Lewis (Gu-u-Ki, Sacaton, Arizona)
Lewis is serving in his fourth term as governor of the Gila River Indian Community. Under his leadership, he has prioritized bringing innovative solutions to long-term issues confronted by the Community and Indian Country. In partnership with the Biden-Harris Administration, Governor Lewis has revolutionized how Tribal governmental infrastructure is constructed, which led to the completion of the first new schools on the Reservation in over 100 years and the first solar-over-canal project in the Western Hemisphere.
 
Commander Shelby Nikitin (Wakefield, Massachusetts)
Commander Nikitin is an officer in the U.S. Navy and recently completed her command tour onboard the USS THOMAS HUDNER. Under her leadership, the ship deployed to protect maritime shipping from illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels transiting the Red Sea. For her ship’s actions in this combat zone, Commander Nikitin was awarded the Bronze Star for her extraordinary leadership and bravery in defending lives and protecting the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways.
 
Justin Phillips (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Phillips is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Overdose Lifeline, a non-profit dedicated to reducing the stigma of substance use disorder and preventing deaths resulting from opioid and fentanyl overdose. Since starting Overdose Lifeline, Phillips has led the organization through program expansion to meet the growing needs of the population. Phillips worked to pass “Aaron’s Law” in Indiana and focuses her advocacy on expanding access to overdose prevention medications. Aaron’s Law allows individuals access to Narcan without a prescription, thus eliminating barriers to receiving the drug and using it to save lives. The Second Gentleman met Phillips and her daughter, Audrey, in 2023 at an event commemorating International Overdose Awareness Day, where the Administration announced additional federal funds to combat accidental overdoses. Phillips is a special guest of Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff.
 
Kameryn Pupunu (Lahaina, Hawaii)
Pupunu is a police officer for the county of Maui where he has served for the last five years. In August 2023, his hometown of Lahaina was engulfed in flames during one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S history. Pupunu was one of the many local police officers who performed heroic acts, including saving 15 individuals, from this deadly wildfire. Tragically, Pupunu lost four of his immediate family members to these fires.
 
Maria Shriver (Los Angeles, California)
Shriver is an author, journalist, and founder of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and Strategic Advisor on Women’s Health and Alzheimer’s at Cleveland Clinic. Shriver works to use her voice and platforms to advance some of our nation’s most pressing issues affecting women and women’s health. In November 2023, Shriver joined the President and the First Lady to announce the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, an effort led by Dr. Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council, to galvanize the federal government and the private and philanthropic sectors to spur innovation, unleash transformative investment to close research gaps, and improve women’s health. Shriver’s advocacy has been integral to the initiative and she continues to advise and collaborate with Dr. Biden.
 
Dawn Simms (Davis Junction, Illinois)
Simms is a member of United Auto Workers Local 126 and third-generation autoworker on the Belvidere, Illinois assembly line. When Stellantis shuttered their local auto plant in February 2023, her son had just started his junior year in high school and she feared she may need to relocate her family. The historic UAW-Big Three contract secured with Stellantis reopened the plant in Belvidere and saved jobs, stabilizing her family. Today, she is gainfully employed at Belvidere’s auto distribution center, waiting to return to the new auto plant once it is finished. In November 2023, Simms joined President Biden in Belvidere to mark the reopening of the assembly plant and the return of 1,200 jobs and higher wages. 
 
Rashawn Spivey (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Spivey is the founder and owner of Hero Plumbing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His decision to become a plumber was inspired by his mother, who worked for one of the first Black-owned plumbing businesses in Wisconsin. After graduating from a plumbing program at Milwaukee Area Technical College and completing an apprenticeship with Plumbers Local 75, support from his local union enabled Spivey to launch his own plumbing business. Spurred by investments from the Biden-Harris Administration, Spivey expanded his plumbing business to focus on lead pipe replacements. Spivey and his team have replaced more than 825 toxic lead pipes, primarily at local daycare centers, to ensure safer drinking water for his community and protect children from lead poisoning. Through historic levels of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the American Rescue Plan, the Biden-Harris Administration is working to replace every lead pipe in America in the next decade.
 
Tiffany Zoeller (Fayetteville, North Carolina)
Zoeller is a military spouse and works as a medical coder at Fort Liberty’s Womack Army Medical Center. In June 2023, Zoeller introduced the President at Fort Liberty to announce the Presidential Executive Order on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors. This Executive Order is the most comprehensive set of administrative actions any President has ever taken to support military spouses, and included nearly 20 new actions aimed at enhancing military spouse career stability, employment resources, and career transition assistance. The First Lady, through her Joining Forces initiative, has worked to eliminate barriers to employment and increase economic opportunity for military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors.

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President Biden is fighting to make the tax system fairer while Republicans continue to push tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations. The President’s plan delivers tax cuts for families with children and working Americans, invests in America, and reduces deficits by trillions of dollars by enacting a new billionaire minimum tax and cracking down on multinational companies shifting jobs and profits overseas.

Since taking office, President Biden has fought to build a fairer tax system that rewards work, not wealth; asks big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share; and requires all Americans to play by the same rules and pay the taxes they owe. Despite Republican opposition, President Biden secured historic legislation to make our tax code fairer—from enacting a 15% corporate minimum tax so that billion-dollar companies can’t get away with paying $0 in federal income taxes to giving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) the tools it needs to make wealthy tax cheats pay the taxes they owe.

President Biden will fight to stop Republican plans to add trillions to the deficit with tax cuts skewed to big corporations and the wealthy—doubling down on their failed trickle-down tax cuts that already increased the nation’s debt by trillions of dollars. Republicans have proposed making all of President Trump’s tax cuts permanent, while refusing to pay for them by increasing taxes on big corporations or the wealthy. Instead, they would rather add trillions to the national debt than take back even one dollar of the $150 billion annual rate cut corporations received under President Trump. Their plan would add more than $3 trillion to deficits over 10 years, while providing tax cuts worth $175,000 per year to the top 0.1 percent of Americans that have incomes over $4.5 million. President Biden supports continuing tax cuts for families making less than $400,000, but opposes extending tax cuts or restoring tax breaks for those making more than $400,000 per year. And he believes that any extensions should be paid for by asking big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share.

While big corporations and the wealthy will pay more in taxes under President Biden’s policies, President Biden opposes tax increases on middle-class families. He has pledged that under his Administration, no one earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes—not one penny.

Making Big Corporations Pay Their Fair Share

President Biden has secured major reforms to crack down on big corporations paying little or nothing in taxes and on stock buybacks that provide large, low-tax payouts to wealthy investors and CEOs. President Biden’s tax plan would build on this progress by finally making big corporations pay their fair share in taxes:

• Raising the corporate tax rate to 28% and the corporate minimum tax to 21%. President Biden believes large corporations should pay their fair share, and is committed to reversing the massive tax giveaway to big corporations that Republicans enacted in 2017. President Biden would raise the corporate tax rate to 28%. He would also ensure that billion-dollar corporations pay at least 21% of their income in taxes, building on the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) corporate minimum tax.
  
• Cracking down on tax avoidance by large multinationals and Big Pharma. For too long, big multinationals have moved jobs overseas and stashed their profits in tax havens. The 2017 Republican tax giveaway failed to fix these problems, instead giving windfalls to Big Pharma. President Biden negotiated a historic agreement with over 130 countries that would enable the U.S. and its partners to ensure Big Pharma and other multinationals pay at least a minimum tax rate. He is calling on Congress to implement the agreement with a 21% rate on multinationals, with almost one-fifth of the revenue coming from Big Pharma, according to analysis it funded.
  
• Denying corporate tax breaks for multi-million-dollar executive compensation. Executive pay has skyrocketed in recent decades, with CEO pay averaging more than 300 times that of a typical worker in 2022. The corporate tax cuts in the 2017 Republican tax law only made this problem worse, giving executives huge raises while doing nothing for low- and middle-income workers. When corporations give huge pay packages to their executives, President Biden believes they don’t deserve a tax break. That’s why he’s proposing to deny corporations a tax deduction when they pay over $1 million to any employee.
  
• Quadrupling the stock buyback tax. In response to the surge in corporate stock buybacks after the Trump tax cuts, President Biden signed into law a surcharge on stock buybacks that encourages businesses to invest in their growth and productivity as opposed to funneling tax-preferred profits to wealthy and foreign shareholders. President Biden would quadruple the stock buyback tax from one percent to four percent to address the continued tax advantage for buybacks and encourage corporations to invest in productivity and the broader economy rather than windfalls for investors.
  
• Cracking down on corporate jet loopholes. President Biden believes corporations and wealthy people who use corporate and private jets should pay their fair share. That’s why he would eliminate a tax break that gives preferential treatment to corporate jets, compared to commercial aircraft. He would also increase the fuel tax on corporate and private jet travel, so that corporate executives and other wealthy Americans pay their fair share for the use of airspace and other public services related to air travel.

Making the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share

President Biden has already secured funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that is enabling it to crack down on wealthy and big business tax cheats. The IRS has used this funding to collect more than $500 million in unpaid taxes from fewer than 2,000 delinquent millionaires, launch enforcement action against 25,000 millionaires who have not filed a tax return since 2017, and crack down on high-end tax evasion like deducting personal use of corporate jets as a business expense. In total, the IRS is projected to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in additional revenue over the next decade thanks to this investment. President Biden’s tax plan would build on this progress with reforms that will finally make the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share:

• Requiring billionaires to pay at least 25 percent of income in taxes. Billionaires make their money in ways that are often taxed at lower rates than ordinary wage income, or sometimes not taxed at all, thanks to giant loopholes and tax preferences that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest taxpayers. As a result, many of these wealthy Americans are able to pay an average income tax rate of just 8 percent on their full incomes—a lower rate than many firefighters or teachers. To finally address this glaring inequity, the President is proposing to levy a 25 percent minimum tax on the wealthiest 0.01 percent, those with wealth of more than $100 million.
  
• Requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share toward Medicare to extend Medicare solvency. President Biden has a plan to protect Medicare for future generations by making the wealthy pay their fair share instead of cutting benefits or raising costs for beneficiaries. He would modestly increase the Medicare tax rate on income above $400,000, close loopholes in existing Medicare taxes that allow some high-paid professionals and wealthy business owners to avoid the tax, and direct all Medicare tax revenue into the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund as was originally intended. These reforms would help extend the life of the Medicare HI Trust Fund.
  
• Ensuring that the IRS can continue to collect taxes owed by wealthy tax cheats. After years of chronic underfunding, President Biden’s IRA provided the IRS with the resources it needs to finally crack down on wealthy tax cheats and corporations who too often avoided paying their lawfully owed taxes. The IRS is already using these resources to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes from delinquent millionaires, recoup taxes from thousands of millionaires who did not fulfill their basic civic duty by filing a tax return, and crack down on high-end tax evasion like deducting personal use of corporate jets as a business expense. At the same time, the IRS is improving customer service, modernizing IT, and protecting small businesses and taxpayers earning less than $400,000 from increased audit risk. President Biden would raise hundreds of billions of dollars by protecting IRA funding from Republican cuts and extending it after it is exhausted so that the IRS can continue to build on this progress and crack down on wealthy tax cheats.

Cutting Taxes for Working Families and the Middle Class

President Biden’s tax cuts cut child poverty in half in 2021 and are saving millions of people an average of about $800 per year in health insurance premiums today. Going forward, in addition to honoring his pledge not to raise taxes on families earning less than $400,000 annually, President Biden’s tax plan would cut taxes for middle- and low-income Americans by $765 billion over 10 years, including by:

• Increasing the Child Tax Credit for 66 million children. President Biden’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit cut child poverty nearly in half to a historic low and narrowed racial disparities in access to the credit in 2021, but Congressional Republicans insisted on raising taxes on families with children by letting it expire. The President would restore the expanded Child Tax Credit, lifting 3 million children out of poverty and cutting taxes by an average of $2,600 for 39 million low- and middle-income families that include 66 million children. President Biden would also permanently ensure that the kids of parents earning low wages receive the full Child Tax Credit, making 18 million children newly eligible for the full credit. The Child Tax Credit expansion would support 2 million children living with a caregiver who is at least 60 years old. It would also provide breathing room for day-to-day expenses by allowing families to receive their tax credit through monthly payments.
  
• Cutting taxes for 19 million working-class Americans. By strengthening the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-paid workers who aren’t raising a child in their home, the President’s plan would cut taxes by an average of $800 per year for 19 million working individuals or couples. That includes 2 million older workers age 65 and older and 5 million young adults age 18 to 24 who would be newly eligible for the credit.
  
• Making lower health insurance premiums permanent. With enrollment in affordable health coverage at an all-time high, the President is committed to building on the remarkable success of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and IRA by making permanent his expansion of the premium tax credit, which is saving millions of people an average of about $800 per year in health insurance premiums this year.

In addition, President Biden’s plan will extend all middle-class tax cuts; as the President has repeatedly promised, he will not raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 per year. He will fully pay for these extensions with additional reforms to make the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, so that they do not add to the debt. And he opposes extending tax cuts or restoring tax breaks for those making more than $400,000 per year.

The Congressional Republican Plan: Adding Trillions to Deficits With Tax Cuts Skewed to the Wealthy and Big Corporations

Republicans are working to make all of former President Trump’s tax cuts permanent, adding more than $3 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years with unpaid-for tax cuts that are skewed to the wealthy and large corporations. On top of extending the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and protecting tax cuts for big corporations, the Congressional Republican tax plan would:

• Allow the wealthy and big corporations to avoid paying their fair share. Congressional Republicans have consistently tried to repeal President Biden’s policies that are making big corporations pay at least 15 percent of income in tax and ensuring wealthy tax cheats pay the taxes they owe. By repealing President Biden’s corporate minimum tax, Congressional Republicans would enable some billion-dollar corporations to go back to paying no federal income tax at all. And by gutting President Biden’s investment in enforcing our tax laws, Congressional Republicans would take us back to a two-tiered tax system where hard-working Americans pay the taxes they owe, and wealthy tax cheats are able to evade their tax obligations under the law.
  
• Raise taxes on millions of middle-class and working families. Republican efforts to repeal President Biden’s improvements to the ACA premium tax credits would increase taxes by an average of about $800 for millions of Americans, especially older people and self-employed people. The Republican plan would also repeal the IRA’s clean energy tax credits, which would raise taxes by thousands of dollars for families installing a heat pump or solar panels.
  
• Give windfall tax cuts to billionaires. Congressional Republicans have proposed legislation to give a new tax cut skewed to billionaires by allowing the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans—those with assets worth more than $13.6 million per person ($27.2 million per couple)—to pass on wealth to their heirs entirely tax free. Congressional Republicans are fighting to repeal the estate tax—even though it does not apply to middle-class families—in order to give more tax relief to billionaire families.

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President Biden is fighting to lower costs for American consumers—and he is taking action to address corporate price gouging. Congressional Republicans have no plan to lower costs for Americans and have instead proposed giveaways to the wealthy, big corporations, and Big Pharma that will increase the cost of prescription drugs, utility bills, health insurance premiums, and student loan payments for millions.

American families went through a lot as prices surged due to supply chain disruptions during the pandemic and Putin’s energy and food price shock. The Administration took action to get supply chains back to normal and inflation has declined by two-thirds from its peak. Wage growth since pre-pandemic has outpaced inflation, and prices have fallen over the past year for key household purchases like a gas, milk, eggs, toys, appliances, car rentals, and airfares over the last year.

But some companies are keeping prices high even though input costs are falling and supply chains are back to normal. President Biden is calling on corporations to pass along savings to consumers by bringing prices down. He is cracking down on corporate rip-offs, including junk fees, price gouging and shrinking packages to hide price increases—“shrinkflation.” The Administration has taken on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs and cap insulin at $35 a month, Big Banks to bring down overdraft fees from $35 to $4, and major airlines to eliminate family seating fees.

Lowering Costs for Working Families

President Biden is taking on corporate price gouging by banning hidden junk fees and calling on corporations to pass the savings from their reduced costs onto consumers. Instead of supporting efforts to lower costs for consumers, Republicans are defending junk fees and seeking to eliminate and defund federal consumer watchdogs and the antitrust enforcement agencies.

The Biden-Harris Administration is protecting consumers by:

• Cracking down on unfair pricing. President Biden is tired of seeing corporations rip off consumers, especially when they break the law while at the same time keeping prices high. It’s wrong, and that’s why the President announced this week the launch of a new Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing co-chaired by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This Strike Force, which will also include other agencies, will strengthen work to root out and end illegal corporate behavior that raises prices for Americans through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices. The members of the Strike Force will focus their collaborative efforts on critical sectors including housing, prescription drugs and health care, food and grocery, transportation, financial services, and more.
  
• Saving Americans more than $20 billion annually in junk fees. Americans pay $90 billion each year in junk fees. These hidden fees are everywhere, making it harder to comparison shop and leading consumers to pay up to twenty percent more. The President is using every tool available to combat these fees. The Administration has banned bait-and-switch marketing tactics in the car buying process and cut credit card late fees from the current average of $32 down to $8. And, the Administration is on track to finalize rules to reduce bank overdraft fees; require airlines to provide automatic refunds and disclose up-front fees for checked bags and changing flights; and ban hidden and misleading fees and require up front pricing across the economy. The President has secured enforceable commitments by the biggest airlines to compensate travelers for preventable delays and cancellations. According to the Council of Economic Advisers, the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions to date and going forward will save consumers more than $20 billion annually.
  
• Reducing the biggest junk fees in the banking industry by two-thirds. In 2019, the banking industry collected nearly $30 billion annually in overdraft, bounced check, and credit card late fees. Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced increased scrutiny of banks that are heavily dependent on junk fees in late 2021, many banks have eliminated these kinds of fees, resulting in a decline of $5.5 billion in these rip-offs annually—that’s $170 in annual savings for the tens of millions of households that pay them each year. The agency’s recently proposed rule on overdraft fees would save consumers another $3.5 billion, and its final rule on credit card late fees will slash fees to $8, reducing overall late fees by more than $10 billion, translating into $220 in annual savings for the more than 45 million Americans who pay these fees each year. Together, these actions will cut these banking junk fees by nearly $20 billion annually—a two-thirds reduction from pre-pandemic levels. Congressional Republicans have sided with the big banks every step of the way, defending these junk fees while working to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
  
• Taking on exploitative practices with branded credit cards, points, and miles. Branded retailer and airline credit cards too often rely on late fee revenue and adopt other questionable practices, like devaluing points and miles and luring in consumers with misleading deferred interest products that cause charges later. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the CFPB is protecting consumers by slashing credit card late fees, making it easier to shop for cards free from self-dealing, and taking additional actions to crack down on other exploitative practices with branded credit cards, points, and miles.
  
• Standing up for consumers against shrinkflation. Shrinkflation occurs when companies hide increases in unit prices from consumers by reducing the amount of the product in a package while maintaining or increasing its price. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this sneaky practice is common in consumer goods, including potato chips, paper towels, cereal, cleaning supplies, diapers, and candy. For some products, it is responsible for over 25% of price increases compared to 2019. Even as inflation comes down, companies continue to shrink product sizes to hide price inflation while padding profits. President Biden supports the Shrinkflation Prevention Act of 2024, which would direct the FTC to act against companies that engage in shrinkflation.
  
• Countering middlemen who raise prescription drug prices. The Administration will work to lower drug prices by addressing the practices of middlemen who influence which drugs are covered by insurance plans and purchased by healthcare providers and how much they cost. Although middlemen can play a role in keeping costs down, a few dominant firms have the power to collect big payouts, sometimes going so far as to drive patients away from generic or biosimilar drugs and toward more expensive options at the pharmacy. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Trade Commission are seeking information on how pharmaceutical drug middlemen may affect generic drug shortages, innovation, and prices. HHS will also work to increase access to lower-cost generic drugs, including in the Medicare Part D program.
  
• Promoting competition in healthcare. Lack of competition in healthcare can leave patients with fewer choices and higher costs, while also limiting medical professionals’ employment options. This week, the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Health and Human Services released a new request seeking information and recommendations with respect to growing trend of anti-competitive acquisitions that raise drug and healthcare costs. This will inform the Administration’s ongoing work to make healthcare markets more competitive across the board—improving opportunities for patients, doctor, and nurses.
  
• Working with companies to provide millions of consumers with the full price up front. Following the President’s calls to action, a number of private sector companies have taken voluntary actions to address junk fees in their sectors. Private sector companies in the live event ticketing, short-term rentals, and hotel and lodging sectors have changed how they display prices so that the all-in price is more readily available to consumers. DOT published a dashboard of airline policies when flights are delayed or cancelled due to issues under the airlines’ control, leading 9 airlines to change policies to guarantee coverage of hotels and 10 airlines to guarantee coverage of meals, none of which was guaranteed before. And, since the President called out family seating fees, four airlines now guarantee fee-free family seating. In addition, major rental housing platforms have launched tools to help providers with the total upfront cost information on rental properties.
  

Reducing the Cost of College and Eliminating Student Debt

As Congressional Republicans oppose student debt relief, President Biden is working to fix the student loan system and make sure higher education is a pathway to the middle class, and not a barrier to opportunity, by:

• Cracking down on junk fees in higher education. Each year, college students incur millions in fees or additional unseen costs for unused meal account funds and using a college-sponsored credit card or banking account. These fees and unnecessary practices cost real money and are a source of major frustration for millions of students and borrowers. The Department of Education is developing proposed regulations that would put an end to harmful fees, including nonsufficient funds, maintenance, and closure fees for college banking products, and stop colleges from pocketing students’ unused meal plan dollars at the end of the school year.
  
• Launching the most affordable loan repayment program ever. Last year, President Biden launched the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan—the most affordable repayment plan ever. Under the SAVE plan, monthly payments are based on a borrower’s income and family size, not their loan balance. The SAVE plan ensures that if borrowers are making their monthly payments, their balances cannot grow because of interest. Starting in July, undergraduate loan payments will be cut in half, capping a borrower’s loan payment at 5% of their discretionary income. Already, 7.5 million borrowers are enrolled in the SAVE Plan, and 4.3 million borrowers have a $0 monthly payment. Congressional Republicans are working to repeal the SAVE program, which would raise monthly debt payments for 7.5 million borrowers.
  
• Forgiving nearly $138 billion in student debt for nearly 3.9 million Americans. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved debt cancellation for nearly 3.9 million Americans, totaling nearly $138 billion in debt relief through various actions. These actions including fixing administrative errors and flaws in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Driven Repayment programs that prevent millions from receiving the relief that they had earned. This also includes relief to borrowers whose schools suddenly closed or who were defrauded by an institution. This relief has given borrowers critical breathing room in their daily lives, allowing them to afford other expenses, buy homes, start businesses, or pursue dreams they had to put on hold because of the burden of student loan debt. President Biden remains committed to providing debt relief to as many borrowers as possible, and won’t stop fighting to deliver relief to more Americans.
  
• Pursuing a path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible. Following the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the President’s original student debt plan, the President directed the Department of Education to launch new efforts to provide debt relief to as many borrowers as possible. Last month, the Department of Education released proposed regulatory text to cancel student debt for borrowers who are experiencing hardship paying back their student loans. And last year, the Department also put forward proposals to provide student debt relief for borrowers whose balances have grown because of runaway interest; borrowers who first entered repayment 20 or 25 years ago; borrowers who attended low quality programs; and borrowers who would be eligible for loan forgiveness through income-driven repayment programs like SAVE but have not applied.

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The White House

Thank you, Susan. In your words and in your career, it’s clear how much of your mom’s humor, strength, and love for this country lives on in you.
 
And I’m also grateful to have many other members of the Ford family with us today.
 
I know we have several of First Lady Ford’s friends here as well. Thank you all so much for joining.
 
Postmaster General DeJoy ─ the stamp is beautiful and spectacular.
 
Dr. Lee and the rest of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, I’m grateful that you’re helping carry on Betty’s work.
 
I’m excited to welcome all of you to the White House for this special moment.
 
There is no roadmap for becoming a First Lady, let alone becoming one overnight. But as she did with everything in her life, Betty Ford threw herself into the new role.
 
“If we have to go to the White House, OK, I will go,” Mrs. Ford told her husband. “But I’m going as myself…And if they don’t like it, they’ll just have to throw me out.”
 
It turned out that Betty as herself, with her trademark candor, wit, and lack of pretense, was exactly what the country needed. A warm, charming First Lady who would help restore a weary nation’s faith in government.
 
Betty’s time in the White House may have been brief, but her mark was lasting.
 
She was unafraid to speak her mind. She supported legalized abortion and was a vocal advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment.
 
When her husband’s senior advisors complained about Betty placing calls from the White House to lobby for the ERA, she installed her own personal phone line.
 
And in a remarkable display of courage and vulnerability, she went public about her breast cancer and mastectomy, at a time when such things were only whispered about.
 
As she lay in a hospital bed in Bethesda, she watched news programs beaming footage of women lining up at hospitals to get their screenings, too.
 
She didn’t think what she did was revolutionary. She was simply being Betty – forthright, honest, and relatable. Countless women would owe their lives to following her example.
 
After Mrs. Ford left the White House, she bared her soul once more, revealing her battle with addiction. Just as she had done so many times before, she brought light into a place of darkness. Sharing her own demons, she gave countless others the strength to confront their own.
 
“You have to give it away to keep it.”  That mantra would become one of the guiding lights behind the creation of the Betty Ford Center.
 
Mrs. Ford’s extraordinary story is a lesson in the beautiful and sometimes cruel unpredictability of life, and our capacity for redemption.
 
Her journey reminds us that we are not defined by our worst moments, but rather by our ability to turn life’s inevitable pain and struggle into purpose and salvation.
 
Heroism is not perfection. It’s resilience.
 
Ultimately, Betty gave us hope.
 
Hope that tomorrow is a brighter day. Hope that this too will pass. Hope that even in the depths of despair, the human will is limitless.
 
As many at the Betty Ford Center would say: if Betty can do it, I can do it.
 
Mrs. Ford once wrote that to be remembered with joy is a kind of immortality. I’m sure if she were with us today, she would offer a witty quip about being immortalized with her own forever stamp.
 
Susan, it’s an honor to celebrate your mom today. She inspired a nation, and captured our hearts for an eternity.
 
Thank you.

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2:13 P.M. EST

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right, everybody.  Good afternoon.

Q    Good afternoon.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I have, I think, one thing for you at the top, and then we’ll get started.

So, before we get started, I wanted to preview what to expect tomorrow night with — when President Biden delivers his third State of the Union.

You will hear the President lay out the historic achievements he has delivered on — on for the American people and his vision for the future.

Looking at what President Biden faced when he came into office and where we are now, it is clear he has gotten more done in the first three years than most presidents have accomplished in two terms. 

He will talk about the success in implementing his agenda, from infrastructure to CHIPS to lowering drug prices and getting rid of junk fees, as you heard him speak to yesterday with his Competition Council.

He will talk about whose side he is on and his plan to improve the lives of all Americans.  That includes lowering costs for Americans and giving people more breathing room, lowering healthcare premiums and taking on Big Pharma to lower the cost of prescription drugs, making the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share in taxes, saving our democracy and protecting our democratic institutions, protecting women’s reproductive health in the face of relentless attacks from Republican elected officials, making progress on his Unity Agenda, ending cancer as we know it, delivering on the sacred obligation to veterans, tackling the mental health crisis, and beating the opioid and overdose pandemic. 

We will have more to share tomorrow but, fundamentally, the President will outline an agenda that is about continuing to build on the progress that we’ve made over the last three years.

 The President has always been an optimistic person, as you all know.  And even in the face of challenges that we have in front of us, he will share why he is hopeful about this country’s future and why it is a mistake — it is a mistake to bet against the American people.   

With that, Seung Min.

Q    Sure.  I have a couple on Haiti, if I may.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Sure.

Q    So, earlier today, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the U.S. has asked the Prime Minister to, quote, “move forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council that will lead to elections.”

So, I just want to clarify: Does that mean a resignation?  Did the U.S. government ask him to resign directly?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, a couple of things.  We are not — we are definitely not pushing Prime — the Prime Minister to resign.  That is not what we’re doing.

But we have underscored that now is the time to finalize a political accord to help set Haiti on a path to a better future, and that is something that we’ve been working on for some time.  We’ve been working that — on that with the CARICOM — so that is nothing new; we’ve had those conversations — and also the Haitian partners on the path to restoring democratic order in Haiti through free and fair elections, inclusive governance, and power-sharing.

This will give the people the opp- — an opportunity to democratically elect their prime minister.

Again, this has been a conversation that we’ve had with Haitian partners, CARICOM with some — for some time now.  So, that is not new, and we certainly are not pushing him to resign.

Q    Even — even though you’re not directly calling on him to resign, can you just discuss the timing of why you’re encouraging of this transitional government now?    And also — because, obviously, the White House has long resisted specifically pushing for his resignation, even if you aren’t doing it now.

So, can you just talk about the timing of this encouragement or what — why you’re doing everything the way you are right now?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, again, we’re not pushing, as you just stated in your question, for the Prime Minister to resign.  This has been a long-time conversation that we have had with our Haitian partners, with CARICOM on making sure that there was a path to restoring democratic order.

So, that has been consistent with what we’ve been trying to do for some time now.  And we believe, you know, it is the Haitian people — they need to have an opp- — opportunity to democratically elect their prime minister. 

And so, there needs to be a plan in place, obviously, to do that.  And so, that’s what we’re encouraging.  But we’ve been having these conversations for some time.

Q    And one domestic matter.  Back in February of 2021, President Biden said Donald Trump should not be given the traditional intelligence briefings that were given to former presidents because, quote, “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing?  What impact does he have at all, other than the fact that he might slip and say something?”

Does the President still feel that way now — now that Donald Trump is on the way to becoming the party’s — the Republican Party’s nominee and would be entitled to the briefings that a president — a party candidate would get?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I think the President’s words stand today as he stated them however long ago.  I don’t think his mind has changed on that.  I just don’t have anything to add.

Q    Would he do anything to block him from getting these briefings later this year?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t have anything to add.  But the President was very clear about how he felt about that, and I would say those — those comments certainly do stand today.

Go ahead.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  Can you confirm that the White House invited the Ukraine’s First Lady to the State of the Union but that she declined to attend?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, the White House did invite Mrs. Zelenska to the State of the Union.  She was unable to attend.  I would refer you to Ukraine as to her reasoning why, but she did indeed — she did indeed receive an invitation from us.

Q    And there was also an invite that went out to Navalny’s wife.  Can you talk a bit about how the President may address foreign policy issues?  Of course, he’s going to be speaking to Republicans, many of them who, you know, he wants to convince to back more funding to Ukraine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, I’m going to be really mindful and not get ahead of the President on his State of the Union remarks.  So, not going to lay that out and how he’s going to address Republicans, as you mentioned, who will be in front of him.

But, you know, the President — as it relates to, certainly, Ukraine, the President is going to continue to make his case that House Republicans need to move forward, the Speaker needs to put the national security supplemental on the — on the floor.  We know that it would get overwhelming support.

And also, it’s also about our national security — our own national security.  And so, we can’t let politics get in the way of our national security.  So, the President is going to make that clear, and I’ll just leave it to the President.

As he would say, stay tuned.  Stay tuned for tomorrow.

Q    Just to be clear, he’d make that — those points clear at the State of the Union?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  He’s going to continue to make that case clear.  You asked me how he’s going to do that or lay that out tomorrow in the State of the Union.  I just don’t want to get into — get ahead of the President. 

But our message continues — right? — as it relates to national security supplemental.  Obviously, the Ukraine aid is included in that supplemental.

Q    And just —

Q    And was Mrs. Navalnaya also invited and couldn’t attend?  Can you clarify? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So — so, I talked about this yesterday.  Mrs. — Mrs. Navalny [Navalnaya] was indeed invited personally by the President.  She was not able to attend.  I would refer you, obviously, to her to — to explain why.  But yes, she was invited.

Yes.

Q    And just lastly, on the Russian missile strike.  It hit — it was only about 200 feet away from President Zelenskyy.  That’s according to one of our sources.  And a source close to Zelenskyy tells us that they believe Zelenskyy was the intended target.  Is the U.S. looking into that strike?  Do they believe that Zelenskyy was, in fact, the intended target?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I can’t speak to what they were targeting.  That’s not something that I can speak to. 

But it appears that it landed near, as you just said, the convoy.  And I think Russia’s actions speak for themselves here, but I just can’t — I can’t speak for their — their exact target. 

Go ahead.

Q    Karine, do you have any reaction to the sailors that were reportedly killed in a Houthi attack?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, let me say a couple of things about that.  That happened earlier today.  So, today, the Houthis have killed innocent civilians by continuing their reckless attacks against international commercial shipping, which impacts countries throughout the world. 

The ship they attacked was a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned bulk carrier.  It was not a U.S. ship, contrary to what the Houthis claimed.  These reckless attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis have not only disrupted global trade and commerce but also taken the lives of international sea- — seafarers simply doing their jobs. 

We offer our condolences, obviously, to the families of those who lost their lives and, again, condemn the Houthis for these attacks.  And we will call on governments around the world to do the same and join us in bringing to a halt these appalling attacks. 

Q    Thanks.  And — and then, one more on Haiti.  We understand that the Prime Minister Henry is located in the United States right now in Puerto Rico.  Could you talk a little bit about what his status is there and what the United States is — is doing as far as his travel logistics right now?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I cannot speak to the — the Prime Minister’s travel.  He would have to speak to it himself.  I just cannot speak to that. 

Q    Okay.  And then, should we expect any policy — like, detailed policy rollout associated with the State of the Union tomorrow?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t have anything to share at this time.  The President — I’m not going to get ahead of the President, certainly.  As he would say: Stay tuned.  Stay tuned. 

Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  Did the President have any reaction to Dean Phillips suspending his presidential campaign?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t have any reaction.  I would have to refer you to the campaign on that specifically. 

Q    Can you tell us generally whether you know if the President thinks there’s, you know, legitimacy behind some of the main reasons that Phillips decided to run for president: concerns about the President’s age, concerns that he is a vulnerable general election candidate?  Is that something you’ve ever spoke- — spoken to him about? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I’m going to be really careful when talking about an upcoming election and — obviously, in — in November.  So, I’m going to be really mindful.

Look, this is why I think the State of the Union is going to be really important.  The President is going to lay out what he has done the last three years — the successes that he’s had — historic successes that he’s had.  He’s going to speak to how he sees the future — the future for — for this country on behalf of the American people, and I think that’s going to be important. 

And I would say this, as it relates to part of your question: The President has been very clear.  He’s been very honest about his age.  He knows that.  He makes jokes about it.  Right?  He makes jokes about his friend, Jim- — Jimmy Madison.  Right?  He gets that. 

But this is also a president that has gotten done more in the last three years than most presidents have in their two terms of presidency.  And that is what we’ve seen from the data.  And a lot of that is because of his experience.  His experience matter.  His experience as — 36 years as a senator, 8 years as vice president, and now into his — into his first term as president — it has shown that he can get things done.

We see that with the economy.  We see that — what he’s trying to do with lowering costs.  We see what he’s trying to do with lowering healthcare costs.  And a lot of historic pieces of legislation, that was done — that are now law, obviously — that was done in a bipartisan way.  And that’s because of the President’s experience.  And I think that matters. 

And I’m just going to let the President speak more to his future, his vision, what he sees for this country tomorrow night. 

Q    And just a quick question on State of the Union.  You know, there was obviously a universe where a ceasefire and hostages deal was reached before the State of the Union.  It seems increasingly clear that that’s not going to happen in the next 36 hours. 

So, given that, can you give us a little bit of insight into how the President has been working to draft a speech that addresses and speaks to just the anger and frustration that a lot of people are feeling about the fact that he is not willing, so far, to call for a permanent ceasefire? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, as you’ve heard the President call for a cease- — a ceasefire, a period of time — a pause where there’s a period of time where obviously the fighting stops.  Right?  And with that is a hostage deal where we can get these hostages back home to their family and their loved ones. 

Let’s not forget: The hostages include about six Americans.  And so, that’s incredibly important. 

At the same time, let’s not forget getting that all-important humanitarian aid into Gaza to the Palestinian people.  And so, that is important.  That is a first step that we need to get to.  The President is going to continue to — continue to work on this, as he has been for the past several weeks, for the past several months, along with his team. 

So, we are steadfast, focused on that.  That is not going to change just because there’s a State of the Union tomorrow.  And so, the President is going to be optimistic.  He is.

As it relates to his speech, look, these speeches, all of them — you know, they — they take massive undertaking.  Right?  They take a lot of work and — to actually meet the moment of where we are as a country and also lay out the future for this country. 

So, not going to get into specifics as to how he’s working through that.  You’ll hear it from him directly.  But the President certainly is going to meet the moment where we are as a country, lay out his — the progress that we’ve seen in the last three years, and not just that — how do we build on the — on that progress?

Q    Do you happen to know what about the speechwriting process this time around the President has found most challenging?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, this is his third State of the Union Address, as you know.  This is going to be, as — as you can imagine, a very important — important, as he sees it, conversation that he’ll have with the American people.  Millions of people are going to be watching. 

And so, it’s not just about the people who are — the elected officials who are in front of him.  And so, you know, I would say this: I would say this is certainly a continuation of those conversations that he has with Ameri- — with the American people when he goes out — when he goes out and travels on the road, right?  He hears directly from them.  He hears what they are dealing with.  He heals — he deals with what their family is dealing with. 

And so, it’s built on that.  It’s built on those conversations, tho- — that experience that he has and knowing and having his finger on the pulse of — certainly, about what the American people have been going through these past three years. 

Going to be — again, going to be really mindful.  I’m not going to dive into his thought process.  I think, when he delivers his speech tomorrow night, you’ll get a good sense of where the President is and how he sees where we are — this country, the state of the Union, obviously — hence the opportunity that he has tomorrow.

And so, I would just leave it at that.

Go ahead, Joe-Joe.

Q    Yeah, thanks.  After Nikki Haley withdrew this morning from the Republican presidential primary, President Biden issued a statement and a direct appeal to her voters.  Does President Biden plan to reach out to Nikki Haley at some point?  And has he yet or hasn’t he? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  That’s for the campaign to speak to.  I don’t have anything on that for you. 

Yeah.  Go ahead, Michael.

Q    Yesterday, I believe, Jake Sullivan announced that the administration backs a bipartisan bill that would lead to the banning of TikTok.  Does — does that — does — does Jake’s views represent the views of the rest of the White House?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, just a couple of things.  And I — I’ll get to your comment about the banning.  But I do want to say a couple things at the top. 

The administration has worked with members of Congress from both parties to pursue a durable legislative solution that would address the threat posed by certain technology services operating in the United States that put at risk Americans’ personal information and broader national security. 

And so, what we see is this bill is important.  We welcome the step on ongoing efforts to deal with that, to address that.  And we appreciate the bipartisan work.  I think that’s important that this was done in a bipartisan way.  And so, we look forward to working with Congress. 

Obviously, we provided technical assistance, as we normally do, when pieces of legislations are — like this are being put together. 

But I would have to say, you know, we don’t see this as banning these apps — that’s not what this is — but by ensuring that their ownership isn’t in the hands of those who may do us ar- — harm.  This is about our national security, obviously, and this is what we’re focused on here.

Q    Great.  And the President would sign the bill, though?  I mean, the bill explicitly gives the administration the authority to ban the apps if those ownership questions aren’t resolved.  And the President would sign it, right?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, we welcome the bill.  We obviously are working with them.  And we think —

Q    Jake’s — Jake’s words were to quickly act — urging Congress to quick — “act quickly” —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — “to send it to the President’s desk.”

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And that’s — and that’s what I was going to say.  We welcome it.  Obviously, we’ve been working with them on it.  And we would want to see this bill get done so it can get to the President’s desk.

Q    Okay.  And then just final question.  Is the President planning on talking to TikTok influencers on Friday after the State of the Union about his speech?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — that’s a good question.  I don’t have anything for you on that — on his schedule for tomorrow.  Once we do, we certainly will share that.

Q    It would be the schedule for Friday, you mean?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  For Friday.  Pardon me.  For Friday.

As you know, he’s going to be on the road on Friday.

Q    And if —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t have any —

Q    And if he does, you wouldn’t see any contradiction between the fact that the President would be using a technology that —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I —

Q    — he’s urging Congress to —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, here’s the thing — and I’ve been asked this question multiple times about TikTok and our — our use of TikTok. 

As it relates to the campaign, I know camp- — the campaign has created a TikTok account.  I would let them speak to that.  That is their strategy.  I would let them speak to that.

And we’ve said this before: We are going to try to meet the American people where they are.  We are.  I mean, we are trying to reach everyone.  The President is Amer- — is a — is a President for all Americans.  And so, that’s what we’re trying to do there.

Doesn’t —

Q    Even if — even if it’s a dangerous platform?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  But doesn’t — it doesn’t mean that we’re not going to try to figure out how to protect our national security.  Right?  That’s what we’re doing here.  That’s what you see in this bipartisan legislation that’s being moved forward that you heard from Jake about, that you heard — that you’re hearing from me about.

Doesn’t mean that we don’t do the work to make sure that we protect Americans.  And that’s what we’re going to do here.

Go ahead, Tyler.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  My colleague reported that U.S. officials told members of Congress in a recent classified briefing that the U.S. has quietly approved and delivered more than a hundred separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began on October 7th.  I’m wondering if the administration has — has any comment on just the — the scale of the amount of — or the White House has any comment on the scale of the amount that’s been transferred —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m just not going to comment on that.

Q    — and whether the — the White House thinks that there should be more transparency here.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — I’m just not — I’m not going to comment on a reporting and what you heard.  I’m just not going to comment on that.

Go ahead, Jordan.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  Just one more point of clarification on the TikTok stance.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    Are you saying that President Biden would sign the bill in its current form?  Because the NSC statement said that you want to work with members of Congress to put it on stronger legal footing.  So, it sounds like he would not sign it in its current form.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  We would need it to be worked on.  Right?  We — as we have stated, we welcome the — we welcome the steps that they’ve taken.  Obviously, it still needs some work.  Obviously, we’re providing technical support. 

And once it gets to a place where we think, to your point, it’s on legal standing and it’s in a place where it can get out of Congress, then the President would sign it.  But it needs — we need to continue to work on it, obviously.

Q    And then one more on the Houthi attack.  Can you say if the U.S. is readjusting its military strategy against the Houthis in response to this deadly incident?  Is the U.S. going to step up attacks on Houthi positions in Yemen in response?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, the U.S. obviously is going to continue to take action.  And we believe that — and I’m not going to get into national security here.  We believe that we have seen — we have been able to degrade their capabilities in the actions that we’ve taken over the past several weeks, several months.  And so, that’s — that’s been very clear in our assessment. 

But this is not just our problem.  Obviously, this is an international one.  So, we are working in a multi- — multinational coalition to deal with what we’re seeing currently by the Houthis. 

And so, look, this is something that we’re going to continue to do.  We’re going to continue to take action.  And that’s what you have seen this administration do over the past several weeks.

Go ahead.

Q    Continuing on the Houthis.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    Why is the U.S. Navy having so little effect on stopping these kinds of attacks from happening?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, as I was answering the question to Jordan a second ago, I’m not going to get into specific intelligence here.  But broadly speaking — broadly, we know that the strikes have indeed impacted on degrading their capabilities.  And that’s important.

We have taken out significant amount of Houthi weapons, and our military is regularly destroying Houthi missiles and — and — when they’re being loaded and prepared to launch but before they can actually be fired at commercial ships.  So, that’s what we’ve been able to do.

So, we will continue to act as needed to degrade the Houthis’ capabilities.  And this is a process.  This is a process here.

Q    Does the U.S. still hold Iran responsible for these attacks? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  It hasn’t changed.  Our — our stance on that has not changed.

Q    And what would happen if the Houthis hit a U.S. naval ship?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You’ve seen us — you’ve seen us respond.  When you saw three military members were killed not too long ago, you saw our response. 

So, we are — the President is also the Commander-in-Chief, as you know, and he — he understands that responsibility.

Q    And just to button up one thing on Haiti —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — about the Prime Minister being in Puerto Rico.  Just to clarify —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — he is there on his own volition, or is the United States providing aid and comfort?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, le- — we are — we are not providing any assistance to help the Prime Minister, certainly, return to Haiti.  We’re not going to speak to his travel.  That is something for him to speak to.

Q    So, as far as you know, he’s just enjoying the sights?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — (laughter) — that’s for him — (laughs) — that’s one way to put it.  That’s for him to speak to.

Q    Got it.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right. 

Go ahead, Gabe.

Q    Karine, is the President preparing for hecklers during the State of the Union?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, you saw the President last year when — when some Republican members behaved in a way that was, I would say, disrespectful, and he handled that.  And that — he did that on his own.  And he held them to account as it related to important programs that matter to the American people — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.  He called them out on it as they were, obviously, heckling at him.

And so, the President is ready for anything.  He’s ready for anything, as you saw him, literally, do that last — last year and, you know, it was — it was something to watch. 

Q    But during —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You all reported on that.

Q    — during speech preparations, is he, you know, prepping for that, drilling any different (inaudible)?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, the Presi- — I mean, the President knows how to — how to handle this stuff.  I mean, again, he did it, literally, last February of 2023, and nobody was expecting that.  Nobody was expecting that.  And he took them on and laid out and fought for the American people on programs that matter to them.  And so —

Q    (Inaudible.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — he — you know, he got this. 

Q    Given that —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  The President has got this.

Q    Given that House Speaker Mike Johnson has invited and is hosting the parents of Evan Gershkovich, what is the White House’s reaction that given his role in stalling the national security bill?  Do you think — what does the White House think about his invitation to Gershkovich’s parents?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  As it relates to the national security supplemental and the —

Q    Give — given —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — Speaker refusing to put it on the floor so that it can get overwhelming support —

Q    Given that —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — as we know it’s going to get, and it was — it will work towards our national security, right?  It’ll protect the American people national security; that’s how we feel. 

The Speaker should actually put the bill on the floor that we know Republicans are going vote for it.  Obviously, Democrats are going to vote for it.  Overwhelming support. 

If he cares about our national security and put politics aside, he should do that.

Q    I — I ask because the White House has said before that the Speaker — by stalling the national security bill, he’s giving aid to Russia.  And now he’s invited —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, that’s — that still stands.  I mean, you know, I was just asked by one of your colleagues about the convoy — right? — where — where President Zelenskyy was and the attack that happened near his convoy.  We know what Russia is up to.  We’ve seen what has been happening on the battle- — on the battlefield over the past several weeks because of Congress’s inaction.

And so, we’ve been really clear.  When the four — the Big Four were here just last week, the CIA Director was in the room, and he laid out the dire consequences for Ukraine.

Look, we have to stand up for de- — just like Ukrai- — the brave Ukrainians are standing up for democracy, we have to do the same.  It also speaks to our own national security.  So, the Speaker needs to put that national security supplemental on the floor and let it get that overwhelming support — bipartisan support that we know that it’s going to get.

Q    And finally, just to button this up — to sum things up on Haiti.  Yesterday, Admiral Kirby said that it was a simplistic explanation that — there was, you know, money being held up when it comes to this multinational security force, that Republicans were holding up some of this money.  He said that there were other reasons for it. 

But I’ll ask the question more bluntly: Do you blame Republicans for holding up critical money for Haiti?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, let’s not forget, what we’re providing to Haiti is emergency — really important emergency needs, right?  When we think about food, healthcare, clean water, and other forms of critical assistance through U.N. and NGO partners to help people in need across Haiti. 

And so, what we are seeing and what everyone is actually realizing is that the deteriorating situation in Haiti has required organizations to adjust their posture and, at times, prevented aid from reaching people in need.  And that is just because of what we’re seeing, obviously, on the ground. 

And so, we’re going to — humanitarian partners are going to continue to provide the assistance amidst the current security breakdown, obviously, the best way that they can.

But, as we know, there’s a dire situation on the ground.  It has made it very difficult to get that aid.  And — and we have said this before: The U.S. government has le- — has been leading in providing aid to the Haitian people.

Go ahead.

 Q    Thanks.  On the State of the Union tomorrow.  How much of it can we expect to be forward-looking — potentially presenting a vision for the — a second term — versus going over, kind of, the accomplishments of the first term?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I don’t have a formula to read out to you right now.  What I can say is he is going to take a look back, as I st- — I said at the top, look at the achievements and the successes that we have had the last three years, and also speak to how we’re going to continue to build on those successes and fight for the CHIPS Act, fight for the Infructure [sic] — In- — sorry, Inflation Reduction Act, which is — as we know, at least as it relates to the Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans have tried to claw back.  And these are important pieces of legislation that we need to continue to implement and protect.  So, you’re going to hear him talk about that. 

I’ve talked about other — other things that the President wants to focus on: lowering costs, fighting for our democracy, fighting for reproductive rights.  So, he’s going to talk about that, talk about the future, talk about his vision for the American people.

He’s an optimistic guy, as we know.  But I don’t have a formulation on percentages or how — how that’s going to be divvied up.  But that’s what you can expect to hear from the President.

Q    And is the administration still debating taking executive action on — on immigration?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, we’ve been clear about this.  The — the bottom line is the best way to have — move forward on dealing with immigration, dealing with the border challenges that we’re seeing was for Republicans to have gotten out of the way, not let the former President tell them what to do, and actually move forward with a bipartisan proposal that came out of the Senate.  That would have been the toughest, the fairest way to have — move forward with dealing with our immigration.

As it relates to — as it relates to an executive action, that — we believe that’s the best way to do that.  No executive action would have been able to have the impact that a bipartisan proposal would have had.  We’re always going to look at and evaluate everything, but we just have not made a decision on that.

Q    Is there a timeline for when that decision would be made?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t have a timeline for you.  Again, the best way to move forward to deal with this broken immigration system that has been broken for decades, the best way to move forward with the challenges at the border is to get this bipartisan — bipartisan proposal moved forward.

Go ahead, Nadia.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  Since you don’t have a comment on the Washington Post story, I hope you have an answer for my question.  A group of House Democrats sent a letter to the President saying, basically, that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would be in violation of U.S. law and international law when it comes to weapons sales to Israel.  So, do you think that Israel has been abiding by the U.S. law despite the fact that 70 percent of the people being killed are women and children?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I’ve — I’ve heard about the reporting of the letter.  So, I don’t want to — I haven’t seen the letter, so I can’t speak — speak specifically to it. 

Q    I’m happy to forward it to you.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, no.  Let me — but I’ll — I’ll give you an answer that I think will address your question. 

So, look, as you all know, our support — we have supported Israel as they defend themselves against Hamas, a terrorist organization.  As you know, that has been the policy here.

We also continue to urge Israel to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties.  And even as Hamas has embedded — let’s not forget — they’ve embedded — and I know you know this — itself among civilian population.  That is something that they have done.

As we have said, there have been far too many civilians who have been killed in this conflict.  Far too many.  And the President understands that, the Vice President understands that, this entire administration understands that.

And — and there’s not enough humanitarian aid getting in.  We need to increase humanitarian aid.  And you’ve heard that, again, from the President.  You’ve heard that from the Vice President. 

And so, that’s why we’re working so hard to get that hostage deal.  As we know, that would lead to a ceasefire, where the fighting would stop; we can get those hostages home to their families; we can get that all-needed humanitarian aid to the — the people of — the people in Gaza, which need it — obviously need that critical aid. 

 And we’re continuing to do what we can — right? — the air — the air drops that were successful.  We announced that yesterday.  There’s more coming from the Department of Defense.  You’ve — the USAID is in the — in the region providing humanitarian aid.  We’re working with our regional partners to get more humanitarian aid in. 

And so, we have to up cre- — up that, obviously — the humanitarian aid.  But this deal is so important.  We have to get this deal so we can — we can get more aid in — but not just that, put a — put a pause, put a ce- — have a ceasefire in place so that we can actually move forward here.

Q    And I have a question for a colleague.  Would the President meet with the Prime Minister of Sweden tomorrow?  He’s on his way here.  Will he be a guest at the State of the Union?  And will the President — I know you don’t want to —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — speak ahead of the speech, but will he talk about Ukraine and the success of the administration bringing Finland and Sweden into NATO?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, going to be really mindful.  You know, not going to speak to the President’s speech here in detail.  And so, going to be really mindful.

I don’t have anything to read out on a meeting there with the President.  I believe this — the Secretary of State is having a meeting with the Sweden Prime Minister.  So, obviously, you can — you can reach out to them.  Just don’t have anything else to share beyond that. 

Go ahead, Danny.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  On Haiti, given the dire situation there, is there any consideration of sending U.S. forces in any way to stabilize things there?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No.  No.  As you know, there is the — the — Kenya has agreed to send about 2,000 forces there.  So, that was recently signed, and that’s going to move forward.  But there is no — no plan to bring U.S. forces into Haiti. 

Go ahead.

Q    Also on Haiti.  Earlier you said that the administration is not pushing Henry to resign.  Are you denying that yesterday the administration asked Henry to stand aside for traditional — a transitional government and an interim prime minister? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  What I can say is we’re not pushing the Prime Minister to resign.  We’re just not.  Now, have we been working with CARICOM, have we been working with our Haitian partners to put forth a — you know, a plan to — to figure out how do we move forward in restoring — restoring democratic order in Haiti through free and fair elections?  That is a conversation that we have had.  But we are not pushing the Prime Minister out to resign.

Q    But has the administration asked him to stand aside? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  We are not pushing — I think I just answered that question.  We are not pushing him to resign. 

Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  (Laughter.)  New topic. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I wonder what it is.  (Laughter.)

Q    Has President Biden called to congratulate Jason Palmer?  (Laughter.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  We congratulate Jason Palmer on his win last night. 

Q    Okay.  Now that the field is down to two, is President Biden going to commit to a debate with Donald Trump? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  That’s something for the campaign to speak to. 

Q    Well, we know when the debates are going to be.  We know where —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Or do —

Q    — they’re going to be.  Is he going to go?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You should speak to the campaign.

Q    In 2020, once it got down to one on one, Joe Biden said, “I can hardly wait to debate him.”  How about now?

 MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m going to sound like a broken record.  You should reach out to the campaign. 

Q    Why is this a campaign thing?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Because it’s an election.  It’s a debate for the 2024 presidential election. 

Q    I’m not asking what argument he is going to make —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well —

Q    — at a debate.  I’m just as- —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  It’s not a —

Q    Okay.  Do you —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  It’s not an arg- — we’re not talking —

Q    Do you —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — about arguments here.  We’re talking about his attendance.

Q    You get a lot of —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You need to talk to the campaign.

Q    — questions in here about these polls concerning the President’s age and his acuity.  Do you think that it is going to quiet concerns about the President’s age and acuity if he decides not to debate?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  What I can say about that is: I’m not talking about the debate.  That’s something for the campaign to speak to.  I’m not going to speak about that. 

To your — to your question about age, I think I sort of answered that.  I mean, you know, you’re going to see the State of the Union tomorrow.  You’re going to hear the President lay out his plans.  You’re going to hear the President — a president who has had a successful three years of progress — still a lot more work to be done but a progress nonetheless — and how he’s going to build on that. 

(A reporter sneezes.)  Bless you.  Did you cu- — did you say something while he —

Q    No.  (Laughter.)  That was a sneeze.  That was a sneeze.

Q    Is it that loud on (inaudible).

Q    It’s called multitasking. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m like — (laughter).

Q    Continue, please.  Sorry.

Q    Super spreader.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Some fun here on Wednesday afternoon.

But he — he wouldn’t have been able to get — all seriousness, you know, you saw the — you saw the graphics behind me.  You saw what the President has been able to do.  14.8 million jobs, unemployment under 4 percent, continuing to find ways to lower costs.  We saw that when he made the announcement on junk fees. 

You saw what he’s been able to do for the American people internationally as well: protecting our national security, being a leader as we’re trying to fight a dictator — as Ukraine is fighting a dictator — that is, Mr. Putin.  And this is because of the President’s leadership.  It really is. 

I mean, 36 years in the Senate, 8 years as Vice President, that counts for something.  That counts for experience.  That counts for having these relationships.  That counts for knowing how to get things done.  And the President wants to build on that.  He does. 

And not only that, when people were saying he couldn’t get things done in a bipartisan way, he was able to do that.  Infrastructure — it was a punchline in the last administration.  It was a joke.  Now we actually have In- — Infrastructure Decade.

You think about what we have been able to do for our veterans in the PACT Act — really help our veterans.  You think about the CHIPS and Science Act, which is bringing home manufacturers — 800,000 jobs have been created. 

This is what the President has been able to do.  And guess what?  That’s because of his experience.

Q    And so, just for clarity, it’s possible that there will be no Joe Biden-Donald Trump debates this fall?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Is that what you — is that — is that what you’re excited about?  Is that what you want to see?

Q    I would love to see Joe Biden —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Because you keep asking me.  You’ve asked me about three —

Q    — and Donald Trump debate.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — four or five different times in different ways.  And I have an- —

Q    How would he do?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And I have said —

Q    How would President Biden do in a debate?  I’m not asking a question about a specific debate. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Can I —

Q    I’m just asking, how would he do in a debate?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.  Can I just say something?

Q    I know it’s been four years since he’s done one.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You literally saw just last year, back in January [February] 2023, at the last State of the Union, take on Republicans during giving a major speech.  He took them on as they were heckling him.  He took them on and said he was going to fight for programs — essentially said he was fighting for programs that the American people needed — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.  He stood there and fought for the American people.

I mean, that was pretty impressive.  Some of you all reported on that. 

Okay.  I’m going to keep going.  Go ahead, Phil, in the back.

Q    Thank you.  Victoria Nuland, the third-high- — third-highest-ranking U.S. diplomat, who’s had a hand in the future of Ukraine for some time, announced that she plans to step down.  How did the President react to news of that resignation?  And does he believe, you know, that she was successful during her tenure there?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I have not spoken to the President about this, so I can’t give you an answer directly from the President.  And so, I’m just going to leave that there. 

Obviously, it’s an important position.  We — we appreciate her service.  It is not easy to serve, as you know, and we appreciate her service.  I just don’t want to get into any specifics on that.  I don’t have anything to share.

Q    Different question, then.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Sure.

Q    What’s the President’s reaction to France codifying abortion rights into their constitution?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, we appreciate countries taking a step forward to protect the right for wome- — a woman — women to make a very difficult decisions on their healthcare.  We appreciate that.  And I think that’s a good thing to see.

And as it relates to here in this country, the President is going to talk about reproductive rights and fighting for that and what we’re seeing across the country — more than 300 bills that were introduced recently on finding ways to prevent women from making these really important decisions on their bodies. 

And that should not be.  And that’s because Roe v. Wade was overturned, which is a law — a law that was constitution for — that was part of the Constitution for almost 50 years — almost 50 years.  And that was taken away.

We see Republicans putting forth three national — national bans against abortion.  That’s — you know, that’s not — that’s not what the President is fighting for.  He’s fighting for the right for a woman to make a decision on their — on her — on her own body.

Q    And does he think that the French prohibition on abortion after 14 weeks is reasonable?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, I’m not going to get into the specifics of that particular bill.  What I could say: It’s — it’s always important to see other — other countries actually take steps to protecting — protecting rights — fundamental rights that women should have.  But I’m not going to get into the specifics of the bill.

Q    Thank you, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Karen.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  Can you give us an insight into the President’s State of the Union prep sessions at Camp David?  Who was he working with on the speech, and what does he do?  I mean, is he writing lines, or is he editing what’s given to him?  What’s that process like for him?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, you know, as it relates to Camp David, obviously, the Camp — the President was at Camp David over the weekend.  He worked on his speech — on the State of Union speech with his senior staff, which included Bruce Reed, Anita Dunn, Steve Ricchetti, and Vinay — Vinay Reddy. 

This is fairly standard.  He was there last year for the February State of the Union.  And I think, you know, even throughout today and tomorrow, he’s going to continue to fine-tune the speech.  This is something that he is personally involved in.  This is something that comes straight from having conversations with the American people, as he’s had over the past year leading to this — certainly leading to the process.

And so, look, these are — these — they are massive undertakings — right? — massive undertakings in — in having a — having a State of the Union that speaks to where we are as a country and how we’re moving forward.  And so, that’s what I’ll say.

Q    And does he have any State of the Union traditions? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  (Laughs.)

Q    Like, is there something he does tomorrow to prepare for a speech like that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I — I don’t have anything to share.  He’s going to be — I can say that he’s going to be working — working on the speech throughout the day, fine-tuning the speech.  He’ll be doing that with his senior staff. 

And just — you know, it’s a major address.  It’s an important speech.  He’s going to be delivering it to millions of Americans who are going to be tuning in — and we appreciate that — in front of, obviously, Congress and guests of — of Congress, guests of the President. 

And it’s going to be an incredibly important moment.  And the President takes that very, very seriously.

Go ahead, Gerren.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  A federal judge in Texas ruled that the — the Minority Business Development Agency’s presumption that Black and brown communities are disadvantaged is unconstitutional and enjoined the agency from distributing its services based on race.  Is the White House concerned that this ruling could undo some of the efforts that — that you’ve been — you’ve been making to bolster Black businesses?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, I’m going to refer you to the DOJ for specific questions about this particular ruling.  But what I can say, that the President is very proud of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that made the M- — MBDA a permanent part of the federal government.  He’s very proud of that.  It’s important. 

Small businesses, as you know, are the backbone of our economy.  And — and so, it’s — it’s vital.  It’s vital for our entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to start a business.  We’ve seen a — 16 million applications that were started under this administration over the past three years, which is important. 

There was a — certainly a boost in what we saw with — with minority businesses starting their small businesses, obviously, filing those application.  And we think that’s really important.

As it relates to specifics and the way forward or anything like that, as it relates to the ruling, I would have def- — refer you to Department of Justice.

Q    Just one more question on State of the Union.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Sure.  Sure.

Q    In 2020, when the President won, in his victory speech, he thanked Black voters for their outsized role in his historic win.  He said that he would have their backs. 

Obviously, polling and anecdotal reporting shows that a significant number of Black voters still feel that the President hasn’t completely had their backs or have not felt the impacts of this administration’s policies.

How much of this speech does the President see as an opportunity to lay out what he believes he has done to have the backs of Black Americans?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, we understand that it’s — it’s complicated — right? — in the sense of what the American people have gone through the last three years.  We came in, there was a pandemic and there was an economy that was in a tailspin.  So, we get it.  We get that Americans — some Americans are trying to still figure out where we are and what’s going on and what this administration has done. 

This is why the State of the Union is going to be so critical, so important, because the President gets to lay that out.  It gives the President an opportunity to speak to that.  And so, that’s important. 

But to your — to the beginning of your question about 2020 and the promise that the President has made, he did make a promise.  And he has done everything that he can to keep that promise. 

If you think about voting rights, the first couple of days of this administration, he put forward an executive action to do everything that he could on the federal level to deal with — to deal with that issue.  So, he did that. 

He took executive action when Congress could not move on the George Floyd Justice in Pol- — in Policing Act.  You know that.  You covered that.  He took actions from — where he could from here, from the federal government. 

And so, look, there are other ways that he has taken action, obviously, to make sure that communities that have felt that they’ve been — that felt left behind are not left behind.  And you see that in every — for example, every economic policy that he’s moved forward with, whether it’s the bipartisan infrastructure legislation, whether it’s the Inflation Reduction Act that really deals with making sure that we’re — that Medicare has the ability to — to fight Big Pharma — right? — so that many people in the community who’ve been paying hundreds of dollars for insulin — for example, now seniors are capped by 35 bucks.

These things matter.  These things add up.  These things are important.  And so, he takes that very seriously.

When he walked into the administration, unemployment for the Black community, for example, was over 9 percent.  Now it’s at 5 percent.  That’s because of the work that this administration has taken. 

Think about the American Resc- — Rescue Plan — the — the Child Tax Credit really cut child poverty in the community by half.  That’s because, obviously, the work that this President has done.

That piece of legislation, only Democrats voted for it.  So, the President has taken action.  We understand that it’s complicated.  It’s — it’s going to take some time for everyone to see what we — what this President has been able to do.  The State of the Union is a perfect opportunity — perfect opportunity to lay that out. 

Go ahead, Janne.  Go ahead.

Q    (Inaudible.)

Q    Thank you.  Thank you very much.  I have a question about China.  The President Biden signed an order of action which prohibits enemies from stealing American personal or government information, and that there is a list of six countries, including China and North Korea. 

My question is: How is it the investigation into the Confucius Institute, which is acting as China’s intelligence agency, processing in the United States?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Got to — so, say that one — so, the President signed — say that one more time.

Q    The President signed an order of action for the enemy — steal the enemies — U.S. informations, but that there’s a list of six countries, including China and North Korea, Iran — there’s six countries. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah. 

Q    So, how is the investigation into the Confucius Institute, which is acting as China’s intelligence agency, processing in the United States and all of the world?  And Korea, also, too.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah, that’s something — as it relates to any investigation, that’s something that Department of Justice could go into.  I’m not going to go into it from here.

Okay.

Q    Thank you.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  No problem. 

Go ahead.  Go ahead, Andrew.

Q    Thank you.  When the President speaks tomorrow night, you said he’s going to talk about his efforts to — to bolster democracy.  Is he going to have a message for viewer- — people viewing this in other countries and — and U.S. allies? 

Because I’m looking at some polling data from the UK.  It says that 48 percent of British adults see the West response to Putin and Russia getting worse if the President loses reelection.  Over half, 52 percent, say that if the President loses reelection, the West approach to climate change would worsen.

Is he going to try and reassure people around the world that democracy is strong and project strength that he can win the election?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, going to be careful because you’re asking me this question as it relates to the election and upcoming elections. 

Going to be super — no, wait.  Every time I say that, everyone gets a little — a little upset that I say that.  But I’m going to try and answer your question.  But I just have to be super mindful here.  I mean, that’s just how it works here.  I’m a federal employee.  There’s something called the Hatch Act.  Got to be mindful.  (Laughter.)

And so, look, I talked about how the President is going to mention the national security supplemental and how important it is as — certainly because we’ve seen what’s going on in Ukraine.  Right? 

And one of the things that we know and we believe — and this is something that I had mentioned that the CI- — CIA Director shared with the Big Four — is that we see that Ukraine is losing ground on the ba- — in the battlefield right now.  And we believe it’s because of Congress’s inaction, right? 

And so it does matter.  It does matter if we take action or not.  It does matter that — if we get this national security supplemental done or not.  It does.  Other countries look at what we’re doing. 

The President has led the way in bringing NATO together, led the way in bringing other countries — 50 m- — 50 countries plus together on making sure that the brave people of Ukraine have what they need, the security assistance that they need to fight against Russia’s aggression. 

So, yeah, it does matter.  It does matter how — how we move forward.  I’m not going to get specifics into the President’s — President’s speech.  I think that’s important.  I got to let the President speak to that. 

You heard me at the top talk about the importance of democracy, talk about unifying the American people.  The President thinks that’s really important.  Protecting our fundamental freedoms and our democracy itself is incredibly important. 

So, look — and let’s not forget here what many Americans have been going through — right? — the attacks that they have seen, the threats that they have seen.  So, there is an important — important message that the President wants to send to the American people about that as well. 

And so — but to your broader point of your question: Does our actions and how we, for example, deal with Ukraine and make sure they have the assistance that they have, the inaction of Congress — does that matter?  Yes, it matters. 

I mean, Putin continues to move forward.  Right?  And we have seen what the battle — the battlefield has looked like for Ukraine.  They have lost ground because Congress has had inaction. 

So, it does matter.  It does matter.  I’m not going to get into specifics as to what the President is going to say.

Q    One — one more on — on Haiti. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    The Haitian Prime Minister is in Puerto Rico, obviously.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah. 

Q    Yesterday, the Vice President’s Office said that she will be in Puerto Rico later this — later this month.  Any chance that she could be asked to meet with the Prime Minister and perhaps pass a message?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, you would have to, certainly, speak to her office about her travel and where she’s going to be. 

We’ve been very clear — we’ve been very clear dealing with our — what our message has been, essentially — right? — dealing with — for — for some time now with CARICOM, our Haitian partners, how we see the path forward — and that is restoring democratic order in Haiti through free and fair elections.  That’s been our message: inclusive governance and power-sharing.  That’s what we want to see. 

And we want to give the people in Haiti — we want to make sure that they have an opportunity to democratically elect their prime minister.  That’s what we want to see. 

And I will leave it there.  Thanks, everybody. 

3:05 P.M. EST

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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke on the phone yesterday with South African National Security Advisor Dr. Sydney Mufamadi. The two National Security Advisors reaffirmed the strong partnership between South Africa and the United States, and discussed a wide range of topics, including a shared commitment to providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza; upcoming opportunities for effective multilateral cooperation, such as through our respective G20 presidencies in 2025 and 2026; and our support for a just and durable peace in Ukraine. The two leaders confirmed the need for continued bilateral dialogue on issues of interest and concern; and noted their appreciation for the important work our two countries are doing together.

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Yesterday, President Biden convened the sixth meeting of the White House Competition Council to discuss new actions his Administration is taking to lower costs, promote innovation, and support workers by ending corporate rip-offs and other unfair practices that keep prices high. The President thanked Competition Council members for their work to date and called on them to continue to do more to lower costs for the American people.

The President also announced the launch of a new Strike Force to crack down on unfair and illegal pricing. This Strike Force will strengthen interagency efforts to root out and stop illegal corporate behavior that hikes prices on American families through anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices. The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will co-chair the Strike Force and, along with other agencies on the Strike Force, will focus their collaborative efforts on key sectors where corporations may be violating the law and keeping prices high, including prescription drugs and health care, food and groceries, housing, financial services, and more.

In addition to the co-chairs, initial members of the Strike Force include the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Transportation. The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be invited to join. Other agencies will be invited to consult with the Strike Force as needed. Strike Force members will work together to share information and data, explore ways to cooperate with state and local governments and other third-party actors, identify new resources in partnership with other federal agencies, and produce a biannual report highlighting the Strike Force’s priority areas.

At the meeting, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Rohit Chopra spoke about the CFPB’s efforts to crack down on banking junk fees, including a new final rule that will cut credit card late fees from an average of $32 to $8, saving Americans $10 billion—an average of $220 per year for the more than 45 million people who are charged these fees. A new blog from the Council of Economic Advisers finds that actions by the Biden-Harris Administration will save Americans more than $20 billion in hidden junk fees every year.

Members also discussed new actions to promote competition among internet providers and in agriculture markets. The Department of Agriculture finalized a rule to protect farmers and ranchers by cracking down on processing companies’ deceptive contracts, banning retaliatory practices that hurt small producers, and protecting producers from discrimination. The Federal Communications Commission circulated a proposed rule that would ban bulk billing arrangements by internet, cable, or satellite service providers.

The Council members used the rest of the meeting to discuss recent accomplishments and their priorities for the coming months.

Participants in yesterday’s meeting included:

Lael Brainard, National Economic Advisor & Chair of the White House Competition Council
Secretary Lloyd Austin, Department of Defense
Secretary Tom Vilsack, Department of Agriculture
Secretary Xavier Becerra, Department of Health and Human Services
Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative
Chair Jared Bernstein, Council of Economic Advisers
Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg, Department of Transportation
Director Rohit Chopra, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer, Department of Justice
Chair Lina Khan, Federal Trade Commission
Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission
Chair Gary Gensler, Securities and Exchange Commission
Chair Daniel Maffei, Federal Maritime Commission
Chair Rostin Behnam, Commodity Future and Trading Commission
Chair Martin Oberman, Surface Transportation Board
Assistant Secretary for Policy Raj Nayak, Department of Labor
Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, Antitrust Division, Department of Justice
Acting Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Eric van Nostrand, Department of Treasury
Administrator Richard Revesz, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget
Director Nellie Abernathy, Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, Department of Commerce

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The President believes that health care is a right, not a privilege, and since day one, he has delivered health care to millions more Americans while also lowering health care costs. The President continues to build on, strengthen, and protect Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, signing laws such as the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act to lower prescription drug costs and health insurance premiums. Thanks to the President’s efforts, more Americans have health insurance than under any other President, and are better protected against surprise medical bills and junk fees. Seniors are already seeing lower prescription drug prices with insulin capped at $35, free vaccines, and out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs capped at $2,000 starting in 2025.  And the Administration is well on its way to lower the cost of range of drugs as Medicare negotiates over the prices of prescription drugs for the first time ever. The Biden-Harris Administration has also taken steps to make sure consumers aren’t scammed by junk insurance and have better access to mental health care.

However, the President is not just resting on these accomplishments.  He’s fighting to deliver even lower costs and better health care to Americans. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration is acting to lower prescription drug costs, keep health insurance premiums low, expand access to health care, especially mental health care coverage, and continue to protect Americans from getting ripped off.

Taking on Big Pharma to Deliver Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Seniors and Families

After decades of opposition, President Biden enacted a law that finally takes on Big Pharma and gives Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will save millions of seniors money on some of the costliest prescription drugs on the market. Meanwhile, Big Pharma also executed over $135 billion in mergers and acquisitions in 2023 alone, while passing the cost to consumers. And eight of the 10 drugs selected for this year’s negotiation program raised their prices in 2024 – after all 10 drugs were already priced three to eight times higher in the United States than in other countries. President Biden knows how the Inflation Reduction Act is delivering for American families, and his Administration will continue the fight to lower health care costs for more Americans.

• Announcing that Manufacturers of 10 Drugs Remain at the Negotiating Table. Last month, for the first time in history, Medicare has made offers on the fair price for 10 of the most widely used and expensive drugs. Medicare is no longer taking whatever price for these drugs that the pharmaceutical companies demand. This week CMS announced that manufacturers for all 10 selected drugs are participating in drug price negotiation, with all manufacturers having submitted counteroffers and negotiations continuing.  Later this year, new, negotiated prices for the first 10 prescription drugs selected for the negotiation program will be announced.
  
• Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices for at least 50 Drugs Every Year. Medicare should not be limited to negotiating just 20 drugs per year. Instead, the President is proposing that Medicare be able to negotiate prices for the major drugs that seniors rely on, like those used for treating heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. The Budget cuts federal spending by $200 billion increasing the number of drugs Medicare can select for negotiation and bringing more drugs into the negotiation process sooner, and other reforms.
  
• Expand Cap on Out-of-Pocket Prescription Drug Costs. When the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs applies in Medicare in 2025, nearly 19 million seniors and other beneficiaries are projected to save $400 per year on prescription drugs. The President is calling on Congress to expand the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap to all private insurance so that all Americans have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that they won’t have to choose between filling their prescription or putting food on the table.
  
• Capping Medicare Cost-Sharing at $2 for Common Generic Drugs. Medicare will be launching a new model to limit Medicare Part D cost-sharing for certain generic drugs to $2. As Medicare prepares to launch the model, today HHS published a list of dozens of generic drugs for the model, including drugs like statins to treat high cholesterol, beta-blockers for high blood pressure, and platelet inhibitors to prevent blood clots. In his budget, the President is calling on Congress to limit Medicare cost-sharing to $2 for high-value generic drugs for all Medicare plans.
  
• Access to Cell & Gene Therapies. In January, HHS announced that sickle cell disease will be the first focus of the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Access Model. Under this model, CMS will negotiate with manufacturers on behalf of state Medicaid programs to increase affordable access to potentially lifesaving and life-changing treatment, and lower health care costs for some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations. Today, CMS is releasing the Request for Applications for drug manufacturers of cell and gene therapies to participate in the model.
  
• Expand the IRA’s Requirement that Drug Companies Pay Rebates When They Increase Prices Faster than Inflation. Thanks to the IRA, drug manufacturers must now pay rebates to Medicare if their price increases for certain drugs exceed inflation. The President is calling on Congress to require those rebates for commercial drug sales, as well as sales to Medicare. That will save the federal government billions of dollars, further curb prescription drug price inflation, and reduce health insurance premiums for people with private health insurance coverage.

Putting High-Quality Health Care Within Reach

Today, more Americans have health insurance than under any President. The President’s efforts to lower health insurance premiums have led to record-breaking enrollment in the Affordable Care Act’s Marketplaces, with over 21 million people signing up for coverage – 9 million more than when the President took office. The Biden-Harris Administration isn’t stopping there and is building on this incredible success by:

• Keeping Health Insurance Premiums Low. Thanks to the President’s American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, millions of Americans are saving on average $800 a year on premiums. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to keeping health insurance premiums low, giving families more breathing room and the peace of mind that health insurance brings. To do that, the President is calling on Congress to make the expanded premium tax credits that the Inflation Reduction Act extended permanent. Without Congressional action, millions of Americans will see their health insurance premiums spike by hundreds or thousands of dollars starting in the fall of 2025.
  
• Closing the Medicaid Coverage Gap. The President continues to call on Congress to provide Medicaid-like coverage to people in the 10 states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion as well as keeping Medicaid expansion enrollees covered.
  
• Keeping Kids Covered. Investing in our nation’s children is a top priority for the President. Research shows that when children have health insurance, they thrive: they’re healthier, they do better in school, and are more likely to succeed in adulthood. Keeping children covered is the right thing to do, which is why the President wants to make sure that children can never lose coverage due to red tape from birth until they turn age 6, and that families only have to submit Medicaid paperwork once every three years.
  
• Closing Research Gaps in Women’s Health Research. In November 2023, the President and the First Lady launched the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research to fundamentally change how our nation approaches and funds women’s health research. Women make up more than half the population but have been understudied and underrepresented in health research for far too long. As part of the initiative, the President during the State of the Union will call on Congress to make bold, transformational investments in women’s health research. 
  
• Making Home Care More Available. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, President Biden delivered $37 billion to all states to expand access to home care and improve the quality of caregiving jobs. The Biden-Harris Administration is taking steps to improve the quality of Medicaid home care services and to make sure home care workers get a bigger share of Medicaid payments for these critical services.  The President remains committed to further improving and expanding Medicaid home care services, and is calling on Congress to do their part to allow the hundreds of thousands of older adults and individuals with disabilities on Medicaid home care waiting list to remain in their homes and stay active in their communities while continuing to improve the quality of jobs for caregivers.
  
• Ensuring Access to Mental Health Care. Ensuring robust access to mental health care has been a bipartisan priority for almost 15 years, including the enactment of mental health parity requirements which require health plans to cover mental health care benefits at the same levels as physical health care benefits. Yet today, too many Americans still struggle to find and afford the care they need. The President is committed to tackling the mental health crisis in this country, which means making health plans do their part and providing agencies with the needed support to make sure they’re doing so. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to finalize the mental health parity rule, which would close existing loopholes as well as ensure health plans evaluate access to mental health care in their networks, and make changes if it’s found to be inadequate. In addition, the President is calling on Congress to further increase access to mental health care by expanding coverage in Medicare and private insurance, applying the mental health parity requirements to Medicare beneficiaries, and extending Medicare incentive programs to address mental health provider shortages.

Cracking Down on Junk Insurance, Surprise Bills and Fees, and Confusing Health Care Pricing

Nothing infuriates the President more than seeing Americans get ripped off. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized implementing surprise billing protections, preventing 1 million Americans from receiving surprise medical bills every single month. The President has also taken steps to prevent Americans from being ripped off by junk insurance that preys on vulnerable citizens by closing loopholes to ensure consumers know what they’re buying and can get the health coverage that best meets their needs. But more can be done to protect consumers, which is why the President intends to:

• Prevent More Surprise Medical Bills. Today, Americans are protected from receiving medical bills for most emergency care and air ambulance services as well as when consumers didn’t know they were getting care from an out-of-network provider despite doing their homework and going to an in-network facility for treatment.  The President wants to further protect consumers by applying surprise billing protections to ground ambulance providers. The last thing people should worry about during an emergency is an unexpected bill for their ambulance ride.
  
• Crack Down on Junk Insurance. Last year, the Biden-Harris Administration proposed a monumental rule to help millions of Americans access high-quality, affordable health insurance and protect consumers from being discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions. Making sure Americans aren’t scammed into low-quality coverage, and charged more or denied life-saving care is a key priority for the Administration, which is why we are working to finalize proposed rules that limit the availability of junk insurance.

Honoring America’s Commitment to Seniors
The President has always believed that Medicare and Social Security are a promise—a rock-solid guarantee generations of Americans have counted on to be able to retire with dignity and security. The President will reject any efforts to cut the Medicare or Social Security benefits that seniors and people with disabilities have earned and paid into their entire working lives. The Budget honors that ironclad commitment—not only by rejecting benefit cuts, but by embracing reforms and investments that will protect and strengthen both programs. The President is committed to working with Congress to ensure Medicare and Social Security remain strong for their beneficiaries, now and in the future.

• Securing Medicare. In his budget, the President is calling on Congress to ensure that high-income individuals contribute their fair share to Medicare and directs revenue from the Net Investment Income Tax into the HI trust fund as was originally intended. In addition, the President has proposed to direct savings from further lowering drug costs into the Medicare trust fund.  If Congress were to heed the President’s call and enact these reforms, it would substantially extend solvency for the Medicare HI Trust Fund, guaranteeing seniors the benefits they have been promised.
  
• Protects Seniors’ Health and Dignity. As President Biden pledged to do two years ago in the State of the Union, the Biden-Harris Administration is “set[ting] higher standards for nursing homes and make sure your loved ones get the care they deserve and that they expect.” The nursing home industry receives billions of dollars of taxpayer funding each year, but for too long, many facilities have not had the staff required to give residents safe, high-quality care. That is changing. HHS has proposed a new rule establishing a federal floor for nursing home staffing, so that owners cannot cut staffing to unsafe levels simply to turn a profit. This includes a proposal for every facility to have a Registered Nurse on site 24/7, in addition to minimum number of registered nurses and nurse aides to assist with care. Earlier this year, HHS also finalized a rule to increase transparency in nursing home ownership, making it easier for residents and their loved ones to hold facilities accountable. The final rule was just submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review

Strong Record on Expanding and Strengthening Health Care Nationwide

The President’s new actions are all in addition to an already impressive track record on fighting for the health care of Americans across the nation. Over the last three years, the President has:

• Expanded health insurance through the ACA Marketplaces to an additional nine million Americans and helped over one million people in Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and South Dakota gain Medicaid coverage.
• Extended postpartum Medicaid coverage to nearly 700,000 women across 44 states and the District of Columbia.
• Kept children covered continuously in Medicaid and CHIP for a full year.
• Made it easier for people to enroll in the ACA Marketplaces and Medicaid, including for older adults that are covered by both Medicaid and Medicare.
• Made critical vaccines free for all Medicare beneficiaries as well as adults enrolled in Medicaid, with seniors on Medicare saving on average $70 in out-of-pockets for vaccines.
• Lowered maximum out of pocket costs for Americans with employer and ACA coverage by an average of $400.
• Capped out-of-pocket costs at $35 for a month’s supply of insulin for seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare.
• Lowered coinsurance for seniors that took the 47 drugs covered by Medicare Part B that hiked prices faster than inflation in 2023, with some enrollees saving as much as $618 per dose.
  

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Metro Transit Satellite Bus Facility
Madison, Wisconsin

12:03 P.M. CST

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.  And to our Labor Secretary, thank you so very much for your work.

So, it’s great to be back in Madison. 

Mayor, I want to thank you for your leadership.  And thanks for greeting me on the tarmac and riding over with me.

The work that is happening here really is a wonderful example of so many of our administration’s priorities, including the important collaboration between us at the federal level and leaders at the local level, like the mayor of Madison, because this work that we see behind us is a function of that partnership around how we can get federal dollars out to local governments and local communities in a way that they, then, invest in the talent of the community.  And so, it is an example, then, of partnership.

It is also an example of the fact that when we invest in the American people, including the American worker, everyone benefits. 

So, the apprentices that we have been talking with today, they are highly skilled.  They’re involved in — in very hardcore education that is about understanding technology, understanding math, understanding what we need to do to integrate technology with traditional work that is about building infrastructure.  They are doing these programs around the clock.

Apprenticeship programs for labor and — and union apprenticeship programs also pay their apprentices while they’re in the program, which means that people don’t have to worry about whether they have to borrow money in order to receive an education that is for the benefit of the community and its productivity.

These apprentices are — some of them — right out of high school.  One young gentleman that I spoke with, he decided to join the apprentice because he had a new baby — a son — and wanted to make sure that he was on a path that was about not only a job but a career.

So, I say all that to say that this is another example of also the partnership between our administration and unions, around the apprenticeship programs that they create for young people to enter a profession, enter a career that means a very high quality of life for themselves and their families.

All of that to say, today, one of the announcements that we are making and the President has made in Washington is that we have now issued — and the President has issued — an executive order, an EO, that will direct federal agencies to explore what federal jobs we have that can be filled by the highly skilled folks who work — who have been trained in apprenticeship programs and not just giving these jobs only to people with a four-year college degree.

This is very important because what we have demonstrated with so much of the apprenticeship work that is happening as we invest in America and rebuild America’s infrastructure — again, I will repeat — is that they are learning skills that are about engineering and technology.  They are learning skills that is about complex math and science.

And these are the kinds of skills that we need in a variety of jobs that are not only in — and are in addition to the work that we’re doing to rebuild America’s infrastructure.

So, I am very proud to be here with these leaders and with these incredible, skilled — highly skilled people who are part of a profession that is about building up our communities.

And, Mayor, I’m going to let you talk a little bit more about what’s happening at this facility.  But I want to applaud your work, because she has made it as part of her agenda of leadership to invest in public transit. 

And she — the work she is doing here in Madison is really an example of what can happen in local communities around the country, which is to invest in the infrastructure, do the public-private partnership, do the partnership with the federal government, and expand public transit in a way that will be to the benefit of all working people in her city but everywhere in terms of the model that you are providing.

So, with that, I would like to introduce the mayor of Madison.

Thank you.

END                 12:06 P.M. CST

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Washington, D.C.

Thank you, Mr. Kirby. With your leadership, United has given so many young people the opportunity to soar. Through programs like your partnership with Houston High Schools, you’ve opened up a world of possibility to students across the city. 
 
I’m grateful to Chuck Robbins and the Business Roundtable for inviting me to join this event.
 
When this group puts its mind to something, it’s powerful. That’s why today, I want to talk to you about an issue that’s important to our economic success, an innovation that will help your companies grow: career-connected learning that starts in high school.
 
Last year, I met a young woman named Lilly in Arizona.
 
When she graduated high school, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to pursue. And, as one of six siblings, she didn’t want her parents to go into debt for her to go to college. She got a job, but it didn’t pay well and she couldn’t see a future for herself.
 
Looking for a way to unstick her life, she reached out to the Vice Principal at her old high school. That administrator helped Lilly apply to a free community college program.
 
And there, after a little exploring, she found a career in construction management.
 
In her area of Arizona, with the help of President Biden’s investments, construction is booming. Semiconductor factories are expanding, biomanufacturing facilities are being built, battery plants are going up, and businesses are looking to hire tens of thousands of skilled workers.
 
Lilly graduated from community college a few weeks ago, and is ready to continue in construction.
 
But Lilly almost didn’t get on this path. And a growing industry almost missed out on her talent. There are countless high school students like her across the country – who are smart, ambitious, and hardworking, but who just need guidance, who just need a program to show them the career paths available.
 
We want to help your businesses connect with those students by building career pathways earlier, starting in high school.
 
I teach at a community college not too far from here and I see first-hand how students out of high school have no idea what they’re doing next.
 
A lot of high school students don’t necessarily know how to get from earning their diplomas to earning a living. They may not even know what roles are out there.
 
That’s why we need to transform education, so that it does a better job of preparing students for careers.
 
Nearly 60 percent of graduating high school students don’t go directly to a four-year college.
 
Six out of every 10 students.
 
Are high schools designed to meet the needs of those students – the majority – who won’t go directly to a four-year university?
 
Too many schools aren’t.
 
That’s why the Biden Administration is transforming our education system – reimagining the four walls of a high school and turning them into spaces where students can try out different careers, explore their interests, and discover how to turn those interests into good-paying jobs.
 
And we need you to be a part of that vision.
 
I believe in evidence-based models, not just theories.
 
We know this works.
 
An Oregon study found that students who concentrated in a particular career area graduated high school at higher rates and went on to earn higher wages as adults.
 
So, why does high school matter to your business?
 
Not because it will change lives like Lilly’s – though it will. But because it will help your bottom line.
 
My husband has created nearly 15 million new jobs since he took office.
 
We have to make sure we’re training workers to fill them. I know you’re focused on this too – we’ve heard from many of you that with low unemployment, it can be a challenge to find the workers you need.
 
That’s why we need you to be a part of our efforts to reimagine the high school experience.
 
Work with high schools and community colleges to build a career-related curriculum that prepares students for working in your fields; create apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs across the country; and invest seriously in these programs.
 
Because ultimately, these efforts will help you find workers like Lilly, and help you grow your businesses.
 
Some of you are already doing this work.
 
IBM helped build a model for New York high schools to provide college credits and work experience.
 
Aon’s registered apprenticeship program in Chicago combines in-class learning at a local community college with on-the-job training. I saw the power of that when I visited its headquarters two years ago.
 
And last month, when I was in Wisconsin, I met leaders from one of the state’s largest health care providers, Bellin Health, who are partnering with high schools to train the next generation of workers.
 
But we need more of you to follow this example.
 
You know better than I do that to thrive, businesses have to innovate – have to be ready for every curve, ready to capture every opportunity. And there are certain moments that ask you to take a leap toward the future – to look ahead with vision. To make a change today that will open up all the possibilities of tomorrow. 
 
This is one of those moments. Career-connected learning is that change.
 
Don’t look back in 20 years and wonder why other companies left you behind – why you can’t fill the roles you need.
 
Now is the time to change how you hire – invest in the next generation that will keep growing your companies. Invest in students like Lilly.
 
Thank you.

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Vice President Harris to travel to Wisconsin to highlight Biden-Harris Administration’s investments in Registered Apprenticeships and pipelines to good jobs

Today, Vice President Harris will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, to announce the Biden-Harris Administration’s Executive Order to Expand Registered Apprenticeships, which will help create more Registered Apprenticeship programs in the federal workforce, encourage agencies to provide preferences on projects to recipients that hire individuals who have participated in Registered Apprenticeship programs, and increase worker voice for federal programs and contracts.

The Executive Order implements a key recommendation of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, which is chaired by the Vice President.

Registered Apprenticeships are a proven strategy to expand equitable training pathways to good-paying jobs, including union jobs. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has invested more than $440 million to expand the capacity of the Registered Apprenticeship system, supporting the education and training needs of more than 1 million apprentices across the country. The new efforts announced today will help ensure Americans have the skills and training they need for the good jobs created by the President’s Investing in America agenda, which includes the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. Vice President Harris will highlight the announcements in the Executive Order while meeting with registered apprentices at the construction site of the future Madison Metro Transit facility.

The Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums Executive Order would:

• Expand Registered Apprenticeships (RAs) in the Federal Workforce: The EO directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Department of Labor, and other Federal agencies to explore opportunities to reduce barriers and create pathways into and up through Federal employment using Registered Apprenticeships. The EO directs OPM and DOL to issue a report within 180 days detailing potential occupations for expanding Federal RAs and further authorities that OPM should consider to expand Federal RAs.
   
• Promote and Expand the Use of Registered Apprenticeships through Grants and Contracts: The EO directs Federal agencies to identify where they could include requirements or incentives for grant recipients or contractors to employ workers who are or were participating in RA programs, and, in appropriate cases, directs those agencies to require, incentivize, or encourage those requirements or incentives.
   
• Re-Establish Labor Management Forums (LMFs): LMFs are a tool used by union members and management, acting together, to jointly improve their workplaces. This Executive Order will re-establish labor management forums within the federal government to ensure workers have a voice.

The EO builds upon nearly $200 million in funding opportunities the Administration recently made available to expand, diversify and strengthen Registered Apprenticeships nationwide. In February, the Department of Labor announced availability of $95 million in competitive grants through the Apprenticeship Building America, as well as $100 million for the State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula Grants.
The new EO also complements existing White House Investing in America workforce initiatives, including:

• Workforce Hubs. In May, the White House designated five Workforce Hubs—Augusta, Baltimore, Columbus, Phoenix, and Pittsburgh— where the Investing in America agenda is catalyzing historic private and public investments and creating good-paying jobs. In these regions, the Administration partnered with state and local officials, employers, unions, community colleges, and other stakeholders to ensure a skilled and diverse workforce to meet the demand for labor driven by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. The Workforce Hubs catalyzed thousands of new union construction jobs and hundreds of new Registered Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship spots, and are providing a replicable model for other areas around the country.
   
• Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Sprint. The President’s Investing in America agenda creating strong demand for skilled advanced manufacturing workers in clean energy, biotechnology, semiconductors, and more. To help meet this demand, the Administration led the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Sprint, an intensive drive to build a diverse, skilled pipeline of workers for good advanced manufacturing jobs, including union jobs, many of which do not require a four-year college degree. In January, the White House announced new commitments to the Sprint, including 150 new advanced manufacturing-related Registered Apprenticeship programs and occupations have been created or are newly under development, and more than 4,700 new apprentices hired in advanced manufacturing occupations.

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 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:  

     Section 1.  Policy.  My Administration’s Investing in America agenda includes a once-in-a-generation investment in our Nation’s infrastructure.  This agenda is also driving the creation of well-paying jobs and growing the economy sustainably and equitably, and it will continue to do so for decades to come.  To fully realize the benefits of these investments, students and workers at all stages of life need equitable access to education and training for the good jobs in their communities.

     Critical to achieving these goals is promoting Registered Apprenticeships, as described in title 29, parts 29 and 30, of the Code of Federal Regulations, which provide substantial benefits to both workers and employers.  As the Nation’s largest employer and procurer of goods and services, the Federal Government can be a model for the use and promotion of skills-based hiring, such as the use of Registered Apprenticeships, which reduces barriers to employment and attracts a diverse workforce to meet our Nation’s critical needs.  My Administration has made strengthening and empowering the Federal workforce a management priority.  As a part of its overall strategy to hire, retain, and develop the people needed to accomplish executive department and agency (agency) missions and to create equitable, transparent, and transferable career-development pathways, the Federal Government can scale and expand Registered Apprenticeship programs to modernize and broaden avenues to Federal jobs, thereby improving access to opportunities for underserved workers.  

     Additionally, Labor-Management Forums provide an opportunity for managers, employees, and employees’ union representatives to discuss how Federal Government operations can promote satisfactory labor relations and improve the productivity and effectiveness of the Federal Government.  Labor-Management Forums, as complements to the existing collective bargaining process, allow managers and employees to collaborate in order to continue to deliver the highest quality goods and services to the American people.  

     It is the policy of my Administration to promote Registered Apprenticeships to meet employer needs while investing in workers’ skills; reducing employment barriers; and promoting job quality, equity, inclusion, and accessibility for the benefit of the Federal Government and the Nation.  Further, it is the policy of my Administration to establish cooperative and productive labor-management relations throughout the executive branch.

     Sec. 2.  Definitions.  For purposes of this order:

     (a)  The term “Registered Apprenticeship” means an industry-driven career pathway through which employers can develop and prepare their future workforces and individuals can obtain paid training, work experience, progressive wage increases, classroom instruction, and a portable, nationally recognized credential.  A Registered Apprenticeship must meet the requirements for registration as set forth in 29 C.F.R. parts 29 and 30.

     (b)  The term “Pre-Apprenticeship” has the meaning set forth in 29 C.F.R. 30.2.

     (c)  The term “Labor-Management Forum” means a nonadversarial forum for managers, employees, and employees’ union representatives to discuss how Federal Government operations can promote satisfactory labor relations and improve the productivity and effectiveness of the Federal Government.

     (d)  The term “agencies” means the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Office of the National Cyber Director, the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the General Services Administration, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.  

     (e)  The term “participating agencies” means agencies led by the heads of agencies listed in section 3(b) of this order.

     (f)  The term “interested agencies” means agencies as defined in subsection (d) of this section, the heads of which are not listed in section 3(b) of this order but that are interested in expanding the use of Registered Apprenticeships by either adding Registered Apprenticeship criteria to grants or contracts or including Registered Apprenticeship career opportunities within their agency.

     (g)  The term “Labor-Management Forum agencies” means all agencies subject to chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code.

     Sec. 3.  Registered Apprenticeship Interagency Working Group. 

(a)  There is established within the Executive Office of the President the Registered Apprenticeship Interagency Working Group (Working Group).  The function of the Working Group is to coordinate policy development with regard to Registered Apprenticeships and the effective implementation of this order.  The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council, and the Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council shall serve as Co-Chairs of the Working Group.  The Secretary of Labor and the Director of OPM shall serve as Vice Chairs of the Working Group.

     (b)  In addition to the Co-Chairs and Vice Chairs, the Working Group shall consist of the following members:

          (i)      the Secretary of the Treasury;

          (ii)     the Secretary of Defense;

          (iii)    the Secretary of the Interior;

          (iv)     the Secretary of Agriculture;

          (v)      the Secretary of Commerce;

          (vi)     the Secretary of Health and Human Services;

          (vii)    the Secretary of Transportation;

          (viii)   the Secretary of Energy;

          (ix)     the Secretary of Education;

          (x)      the Secretary of Veterans Affairs;

          (xi)     the Secretary of Homeland Security;

          (xii)    the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;

          (xiii)   the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy;

          (xiv)    the Assistant to the President and Director of the Gender Policy Council;

          (xv)     the National Cyber Director;

          (xvi)    the Director of the National Science Foundation;

          (xvii)   the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration;

          (xviii)  the Administrator of General Services; and

          (xix)    the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The Co-Chairs may from time to time invite heads of interested agencies to participate in the Working Group.

     (c)  The Working Group shall support the implementation of this order by providing guidance and technical assistance to agencies.

     (d)  The Working Group shall submit an initial report to the President within 180 days of the date of this order.  This report shall contain:

          (i)    initial findings and recommendations on potential opportunities for Registered Apprenticeship programs at participating and interested agencies, including an assessment of the need for new hiring and promotion authorities;

          (ii)   initial findings and recommendations on the promotion of hiring and career advancement in the Federal Government for individuals who have completed a Registered Apprenticeship;

          (iii)  an assessment of how Registered Apprenticeships may enable agencies to address hiring needs and improve employee retention for roles that are important to the mission of participating agencies and the operations of the Federal Government; and

          (iv)   an assessment of how Registered Apprenticeships may expand equity and accessibility and provide pathways into and up through Federal employment for individuals in underserved communities.

     (e)  The Working Group shall assist agencies, consistent with applicable law, in promoting and utilizing Registered Apprenticeships in Federal grant programs and procurement as described in section 4 of this order.  To do so, the Working Group:

          (i)    may consult with stakeholders from industry, education, labor, and other areas of society to assess demand for Registered Apprenticeships in specific occupations and sectors identified by the Working Group;

          (ii)   shall review available data provided by the Department of Labor and other relevant agencies on a periodic basis to evaluate the prevalence and growth of Registered Apprenticeships in specific occupations and sectors identified by the Working Group;

          (iii)  shall encourage the use of common reporting criteria to support agency data collection and measurement of the utilization of Registered Apprenticeships in grants and procurement, including, where permissible, data on demographics and occupation;

          (iv)   shall collect information from participating agencies on best practices for the utilization of Registered Apprenticeships in grants and contracts, including for expanding job quality, equity, and access to employment for all individuals in underserved communities, and, consistent with applicable law, shall report this information publicly to assist agencies in fulfilling their responsibilities under this order;

         (v)    shall identify agency programs for which workforce development, including use of Registered Apprenticeships, is an allowable use of funds; and

          (vi)   shall identify agency programs for which grantees and contractors could be provided incentives, consistent with agency authorities, to adopt or expand Registered Apprenticeship programs for their workforces.

     Sec. 4.  Procurement and Grants.  (a)  Agencies shall review their Federal financial assistance programs and procurement plans and identify where, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, they could include requirements, application evaluation factors, or incentives in appropriate program documents or solicitations for grantees or contractors to employ workers on projects receiving Federal funding who are participating in, or who have completed, either a Registered Apprenticeship or Pre-Apprenticeship.

  (b)  Agencies shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, apply the requirements, application evaluation factors, or incentives that they have identified pursuant to the review conducted in subsection (a) of this section in appropriate program documents or solicitations for grantees or contractors.  Agencies may consult the Working Group for technical assistance and other appropriate support in these efforts.

  (c)  Agencies shall annually report to the Working Group on the programs and solicitations that included the terms described in subsection (a) of this section and the awards and contracts that promoted the use of Registered Apprenticeships and Pre-Apprenticeships pursuant to a requirement, application evaluation factor, or incentive.

Sec. 5.  Expanded Use of Registered Apprenticeships at Agencies.  Based on recommendations from the initial report described in section 3(d) of this order and in consultation with the Working Group, agencies, as part of their strategic workforce planning, shall take steps to develop and expand the use of Registered Apprenticeship programs, where practicable, to train and develop incumbent workers and candidates for employment to obtain the skills necessary to meet the current and emerging needs of the agency workforce.  With respect to those programs: 

     (a)  Agencies shall identify, in consultation with OPM, existing authorities that can support both the hiring of new employees for Registered Apprenticeships and the training of incumbent workers through Registered Apprenticeship programs.

     (b)  Based on recommendations from the initial report described in section 3(d) of this order and in consultation with the Working Group, agencies shall identify top occupations, including those occupations for which the agency faces challenges in recruitment and training, for which the agency may benefit from the use of Registered Apprenticeship programs.  Any such actions shall be consistent with section 6 of Executive Order 14035 of June 25, 2021 (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce).

     (c)  Agencies shall develop outreach and recruitment strategies to attract individuals who may not otherwise have considered a Registered Apprenticeship program for Federal employment or advancement.

     (d)  In consultation with Federal unions through Labor-Management Forums, agencies shall identify opportunities for current Federal employees to access and benefit from a Registered Apprenticeship program.

     (e)  Agencies shall establish training, mentorship, and career-development services within Registered Apprenticeship programs to support employee development and retention.

     Sec. 6.  Implementation of Labor-Management Forums Throughout the Executive Branch. (a)  Executive Order 13812 of September 29, 2017 (Revocation of Executive Order Creating Labor-Management Forums), is hereby revoked. 

     (b)  Each Labor-Management Forum agency, consistent with any guidance issued by OPM, shall:

          (i)    establish Labor-Management Forums by creating joint labor-management committees or councils at the levels of recognition and other appropriate levels agreed to by the employee union and management, or by adapting existing councils or committees if such groups exist, to help identify problems and propose solutions to better serve the public and agency mission;

          (ii)   allow employees and their union representatives to have pre-decisional involvement in workplace matters, including consultation on Registered Apprenticeship recommendations and discussions with management for the development of joint solutions to workplace challenges; and

         (iii)  evaluate and document, in consultation with union representatives and any further guidance provided by OPM, changes in employee satisfaction, manager satisfaction, and organizational performance resulting from the Labor-Management Forums.

     (c)  Each head of a Labor-Management Forum agency for which there exists one or more exclusive representatives, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 7103(a)(16), shall, in consultation with union representatives, prepare and submit to OPM, within 180 days of the date of this order, a written implementation plan that addresses the requirements of subsection (b) of this section.  The Office of Personnel Management shall review each plan within 60 days of receipt and shall determine whether to certify that the plan satisfies the requirements of this order and any further guidance issued by OPM.  Upon certification, the head of each Labor-Management Forum agency shall ensure that the certified plan is faithfully executed.  Any plan that is determined by OPM to be insufficient shall be returned to the Labor-Management Forum agency with guidance for improvement, and the agency shall resubmit its revised plan to OPM within 30 days of receipt of the original plan from OPM.

Sec. 7.  General Provisions.  (a)  This order supersedes Executive Order 13522 of December 9, 2009 (Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services).

     (b)  Nothing in this order shall abrogate any collective bargaining agreements in effect as of the date of this order.

     (c)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to limit, preclude, or prohibit the head of any executive department or agency from electing to negotiate over any or all of the subjects set forth in 5 U.S.C. 7106(b)(1) in any negotiation.

     (d)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

          (i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

          (ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

     (e)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

     (f)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.



                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.



THE WHITE HOUSE,
    March 6, 2024.

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President Biden believes that every American deserves access to affordable, high-quality health care.   It’s unacceptable that Americans pay two to three times more than people in other countries for the same prescription drugs. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration has made it a priority to bring down prices across the pharmaceutical drug supply chain.

Yesterday, senior officials from across the Administration including National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard, Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden, Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, and Chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan convened a listening session with leaders from across state government, the private sector, and community pharmacies to discuss President Biden’s work to lower health care costs and hear ideas for bringing  transparency to prescription drug middlemen. The participants highlighted reforms that could promote transparency and competition in pharmaceutical markets, support independent pharmacies, and lower drug costs. 

Participants discussed a range of approaches that have been used to bring down costs across states and private employers. Governor Beshear of Kentucky described his work to bring down prescription drug costs in Kentucky, saving Kentucky $300 million in pharmaceutical expenditures. Participants also highlighted how PBM transparency can provide tangible benefits for communities. For example, Dr. Dared Price, who runs a transparent PBM in Kansas, explained that transparency enabled one local employer to save $450,000 annually.
 
Participants also discussed flaws in the current marketplace. Mark Cuban and Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, co-founders of Cost-Plus Drugs, discussed the importance of transparency and described ways in which some middlemen may markup drug prices and distort market competition. Sandra Clarke of Blue Shield California explained why more transparency is needed in the market and how some dominant middlemen block lower-priced drugs, including generics and biosimilars, from reaching patients.
 
Several participants also highlighted how middlemen can affect independent pharmacies. Dr. Chichi Ilonzo Momah explained how she and many other community pharmacists get squeezed, putting businesses that many folks depend on at risk of closing. Drs. Price and Momah also explained the personal toll this takes on the patients they serve.
 
President Biden has taken a number of steps to lower health care costs. As a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare now for the first time has the authority to negotiate drug prices which could save millions of seniors and people with disabilities money on some of the most expensive prescription drugs on the market. New, negotiated prices for the first set of prescription drugs selected for the negotiation program are scheduled to be announced in September, and all companies are participating in negotiation. Additionally, millions of Medicare recipients with diabetes are already benefitting from the $35 cap for a month’s supply of insulin. Meanwhile, millions of Americans are saving about $800 annually on their health insurance premiums. And seniors that took the 47 drugs covered by Medicare Part B that hiked prices faster than inflation in 2023 had lower coinsurance, with some enrollees saving as much as $618 per dose. As part of its ongoing work, the Administration will continue to move quickly to lower drug prices; increase transparency in drug pricing, including around middlemen; and promote competition in healthcare markets. 
 
The White House Roundtable can be viewed here.  
 
Participants at yesterday’s roundtable included:

• Lael Brainard, Assistant to the President & National Economic Advisor
• Neera Tanden, Assistant to the President & Domestic Policy Advisor
• Lina Khan, Chair, Federal Trade Commission
• Xavier Becerra, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services
• Andy Beshear, Governor, Kentucky
• Sandra Clarke, Chief Operating Officer, Blue Shield of California
• Mark Cuban, Co-Founder, Cost-Plus Drugs
• Dr. Chichi Ilonzo Momah, CEO and Founder of Springfield Pharmacy
• Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, Co-Founder, Cost-Plus Drugs
• Dr. Dared Price, President, Price Pharmacies; Co-Owner, Oread Rx

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Alexandria, VA

Thank you, President Johnson. PTAs help raise up the voices of families and educators – giving us a place where we can stand together on the common ground we share: our love for the children we teach and raise.
 
Your work helps kids access the education they need – the one that will set them forward on a path of success. Thank you – and all the PTA leaders here – for all you do.
 
Ava Olsen, from Townville, South Carolina, is 14.
 
But her friend, Jacob, will always be six.
 
Ava will try out different clothing trends and learn to drive. She’ll have crushes and graduate from high school.
 
But Jacob, now forever dressed in his favorite Batman costume, will always be six.
 
Ava is a survivor.
 
After years of debilitating PTSD, unable to leave her home for fear of reliving those moments on the playground when she ran for her life, she returned to school. But the heaviness of that small coffin will always weigh on her heart.
 
Because Jacob will always be six.
 
Daniel Barden of Newtown, Connecticut, will always be seven.
 
Kamaiyah Perdue of East Point, Georgia, will always be four.
 
Makiyah Wilson of Washington, D.C., will always be 10.
 
The number of children we’ve lost to gun violence is unfathomable. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story.
 
They don’t tell us of the loved ones who must live with a black hole of grief inside them, forever trapped in that gravity.
 
They don’t tell us of the classmates and coworkers who saw the blood, who heard the shots ring out, who wake each night in a sweat, dreaming of running and running.
 
Behind those the numbers are the students who know how to hide before they can spell. The parents whose hearts are paralyzed by panic at every school “shelter in place” alert. And the pain in places where gun violence is too common to make the nightly news.
 
As a teacher, I’ve imagined the scene in my own classroom more times that I can count. At the start of each semester, I explain to my students what they should do if the worst happens.
 
We all feel the ripple effects. We’ve all lost a piece of ourselves – our security, our hope, our trust in each other.
 
We can’t let this keep happening. President Biden knows that.
 
That’s why he’s taken more executive actions on gun violence than any president in history. It’s why he’s created the first ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention – and we have leaders from that office with us today.
 
Joe worked with Congress to pass the first major gun safety law in almost 30 years.
 
Now, we’re stopping more domestic abusers from buying guns. We strengthened background checks for young people. We made historic investments in mental health programs, community violence intervention, and school security, so we can stop shootings before they begin.
 
These changes will save lives. But they’re not enough.
 
We need to pass universal background checks. We need laws that make sure guns are stored safely – so children can’t just pick them up off a night stand or take them out of a drawer.
 
And we have to ban assault weapons nationally, now.
 
That’s why it’s so important that you are stepping forward. That you’re working with Everytown to carry your message even further.
 
Because we have the power to demand more for our kids and our educators. And the Biden-Harris Administration is proud to work beside you.
 
You are the voices that can change this conversation. You are the people who will hold our leaders accountable. You are the movement that will end these ripples of gun violence.
 
Remember that progress always seems impossible until it isn’t.
 
We need our legislators and leaders to hear us – here, in Washington, and back in your home states and cities and schools.
 
Inaction is complicity.
 
We can never bring back the lives that have been taken from us. But we can stand up. Demand change. Reshape this world to be safer, more peaceful, less full of hurt and heartbreak.
 
How can we accept a world where active shooter drills are part of growing up in America? Where our children hear loud noises and duck for cover?
 
Enough is enough – enough pain, enough death. Enough funerals. I don’t want to have to put my hand on another cross with an eight-year-old’s name.
 
We have to change this. 
 
We must protect our children from gun violence.
 
Thank you.

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State Dining Room

2:50 P.M. EST
 
MR. CHOPRA:  Good afternoon. 
 
Whether it’s a credit card bill, Internet bill, grocery bill, or anything else in a monthly budget, President Biden has been focused on promoting competition, lowering costs, and stopping profiteering.
 
Today, we’re taking action to stop excessive fees in the banking industry.  We’re closing a loophole abused by the credit card industry for years to harvest billions of dollars in junk fees, reducing the typical late fee from $32 down to $8, saving Americans an estimated $10 billion each year.
 
And this is in addition to so many other actions the President is announcing today to crack down on junk fees and help consumers save real money.
 
You know, over the last decade, credit card giants have been hiking late fees every year almost in lockstep.  Even as technology has brought many of their costs down, they’ve raised interest rates, squeezing American families out of an extra $25 billion in interest charges last year alone.
 
That’s why we’re working across government to get you a better deal to make it easier to switch from your high-rate credit card, stopping bait-and-switch tactics on some credit card rewards, and going after the online tricks that drive consumers to bigger credit card issuers with worse service and terms.
 
This work is critical, especially as some of the biggest players in so many industries are looking to get even bigger and gain more power to corner the market.
 
Thank you, President Biden, for your leadership of putting a stop to this profiteering, greedflation, and other unfair practices that keep costs high for so many families.
 
It’s my pleasure to turn it over to the President of the United States.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, pal.  (Applause.)
 
It’s good to see you all and nice to see you all in one spot.
 
Look, Director, thank you for that introduction.  And thank you all for the work of the Competition Council.  It’s reducing costs and delivering results for the American people.
 
I’ve said before, capitalism without competition is — is not capitalism; it’s exploitation.  And that’s what we’ve been seeing.  Although it’s in small scale in the minds of many people, when you add up those numbers, they’re gigantic.  And we’re taking it on.
 
Here’s what’s happening: The pandemic disrupted the supply chains.  We all know that.  I — I remember — I didn’t think as many people had any idea what a supply chain was, and we all learned really quickly.
 
It drove up costs on everything from smartphones to automobiles.  But it also — now those costs are making things — have come down, but the prices haven’t come down.  They’ve stayed up.  They’ve stayed high, and the profits have soared.  And it’s time for those prices to come back down.
 
Look, the good news is inflation is the lowest it’s been in three years.  In the last — in last year alone, inflation came down by two thirds.  We have one of the lowest inflation rates in the world.
 
Many companies have done the right thing: They’ve helped lower costs for Americans.  But even as supply chains are back to normal, some companies are still not passing along the savings to their consumers.  Many corporations are raising their prices to pad their profits, charging folks more and more for less and less.
 
In fact, some of the small snack companies you won’t and — think you won’t even notice what they’re doing when they charge you just as much for the same size bag of potato chips, only it has a hell of a lot fewer chips in it.
 
I’ll tell you what — I’ll tell you who did notice: the Cookie Monster.  (Laughter.)  He pointed out cookies are — his cookies are getting smaller.  He’s paying the same price.  (Laughs.)  I was stunned when I found out that’s what actually happened.  (Laughter.)
 
But some companies are also adding junk fees — you know, the hidden costs that are added to the — your bill without your knowledge.  And some companies have been even caught breaking the law while overcharging consumers.
 
The American people are tired of being played for suckers.  I mean, it’s one thing — no matter how much money you make, no matter how rich or poor or middle class you are, you don’t like being taken advantage of.
 
That’s why today I’m launching a new Strike Force to — on Unfair and Illegal Pricing to crack down on companies who break the law while keeping prices high for American consumers.
 
The new strike force will be led by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
 
If you keep prices high while engaging in illegal practices that are fraudulent or unfair or deceptive or anti-competitive, you — we will enforce the law.  We will enforce the law.
 
Today, we’re also announcing that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is finalizing a rule that will help stop some credit card companies from ripping you off with late fees.  Under the law, banks are not supposed to charge late fees that are higher than the cost the banks have to engage to collect the late payment.
 
But we estimate banks were generating five times more in late fees than it costs to collect late payments.  They’re padding their profit margins and charging hardworking Americans more than — a cumulative effort — a number — $14 billion in 2022. 
 
With the announcement of thi- — of this new rule, late fees are now going to be down to $8 — $8 instead of the current average of $32 late-fee payments.

This action will collectively save families $10 billion in credit card late fees every year.  That’s the average of $220 in savings annually for more than 45 million Americans who typically have to pay late fees.  That’s a lot of money.
 
And let me close with this.  Fair competition is the key to my economic vision to build an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.  And it’s working.
 
Wages are up more than prices.  Unemployment has reached historic lows.  Families are finally getting a little breathing room. 
 
Prices are still too high, and they shouldn’t be this high.  That’s why we’re going to do everything we can to keep lowering costs for working — hardworking families.
 
With that, I’m going to turn this over to Lael, the Director of National Economic Council.  But I’m supposed to leave for a meeting with — meeting with the Business Roundtable on the telephone.  But I’m going to hang around and listen a little bit. 
 
So, with your permission, I’d like to stay a few — and my staff will tell — tell me when the drop-dead hour occurs.  (Laughter.)  They’ll pass me a note.

But thank you all for all the work you’re doing.  I really mean it.  It makes a big difference. 

When I raised this issue a year or so ago with some of my team, they thought, “No one is going to care much about it.”  Well, they didn’t sit at my kitchen table when I was growing up.  You care a whole lot when you’re being played for a sucker, no matter how much money you have. 

So, thank you for what you’re doing. 
 
Lael, I’ll turn it over to you.

MS. BRAINARD:  Well, Mr. President, I think the members of your Competition Council have been very busy since you last met with them about six months ago.  We’ve also got a new member.  Ambassador Tai has joined the Competition Council as well. 
    
 And I thought what we might do is just start by hearing from several of your Cabinet members about the efforts they’ve been undertaking over the last few months and the announcements they’re making. 
 
So, I thought we would start with Secretary Vilsack to hear about the Department of Agriculture and then perhaps go to Secretary Austin to hear about the Department of Defense.

SECRETARY VILSACK:  Well, thank you very much, Madam Director.  Mr. President, I’m very pleased to be here today to report on the progress that USDA has made under the competition executive order you signed to deliver benefits for farmers, ranchers, workers, and American families. 

First, we finished the final rule on the inclusive competition and market integrity, which bans discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, disability, and more, including being a cooperative in the livestock and poultry markets. 

It’s going to prohibit retaliation against livestock producers and poultry growers for engaging in very basic activities — reporting to the government, forming an association of producers, or more. 

For example, it protects livestock producers and poultry growers’ ability to communicate with each other and other packers and poultry dealers in search of new opportunities to compete or engage in price discovery. 

The rule also stops deception, including false or misleading statements and material omissions in contracting, contract appl- — operations, and contract termination. 

As you can see from — there’s a — there will be a slide in the slide deck — we’re also working hard at two more proposed rules.  One tackles fa- — unfair and deceptive practices in poultry tournaments.  The second reaffirms the longstanding position of USDA that harm to competition along the lines of the Sherman and Clayton Acts should not be applied to Packers and Stockyard cases.

We’re very close to publishing a final rule that aligns the product of the USA label with consumer understanding of what that claim means.  We’re working on label standards and verification guidance for claims, such as animal-raised practices, so that consumers can trust those labels.
 
And lastly, we’re wrapping up the more than $1 billion of investments that you challenged us to make in meat and poultry processing infrastructure this spring and summer, focused on small, independently owned, local facilities. 
 
I’d like to highlight the steps we continue to take to promote transparency, the farmers’ voice, and research access.  With a partnership with the United States Patent and Trade Office, we’re also helping farmers and plant breeders voice their expertise in support of robust patent examination process.
 
Next, in partnership with the Patent Office, we’re working on steps to promote research access to seed germplasm.
 
All of this, Mr. President, is going to provide additional competition, more choice, and lower costs for consumers. 
 
And that’s just a few of the many ways we’re promoting competition at USDA.  From domestic and sustainable fertilizer capacity, which you ordered, to food system transformations and more, USDA is using our expertise and balance sheet to bring down prices for consumers, promote fairness for farmers and workers with the Department of Justice, and shoring up the resiliency in our food and agriculture supply chain, all of which you directed and challenged us to do.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Can I ask a question?  What kind of a response are you getting from farmers and, particularly, livestock producers?
 
SECRETARY VILSACK:  Mr. President, they welcome these changes.  For far too long, they’ve felt that they were at the mercy of a relatively small number of integrators and processors. 
 
So, to the extent that they now have more options to be able to process their — their cattle at a local and independently owned processing facilities, some of which are farmer owned; to the extent that they know they have a balanced playing field, that they understand better who they’re doing business with, they understand that they have certain rights, that they can, in fact, seek a better deal — all of that, I think, is something that’s been very much desired in the marketplace across all farm groups and across all associations.
 
So, this is very, very popular with farmers.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  I remember you — you raised this with me almost four years ago on the trail in Io- — in Iowa.  And it’s good to see it’s underway.  It seems —
 
What’s the most — next most important step?  I’m not going to ask everybody these questions, but I’m just curious.  (Laughter.)
 
SECRETARY VILSACK:  I think, Mr. President, it’s basically providing an opportunity for small and mid-sized farming operations to stay in business.  Previous administrations have taken the attitude, “You’ve got to get it big or get out.”  That’s really helping the large-scale farming operations.
 
Your administration, for the first time, is creating an option so that people can stay in business and pass their farms on to their families.  This — I can’t emphasize how important this is. 
 
We’ve lost 554,000 farms since 1981.  That’s all the farmers today in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and Oklahoma.  Gone.  Your administration is trying to put a stop to that. 
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you.
 
MS. BRAINARD:  Yeah, I think that’s a great example of the many ways that by giving small farmers, small ranchers a fair shot, we’re also helping to bring prices down for American consumers on things like poultry and meat. 
 
One of the unique at — facets of the Competition Council is that we’ve really seen every Cabinet agency increasing competition. 
 
And I think Secretary Austin has undertaken a number of really important initiatives at the Department of Defense.  So, Mr. Secretary, perhaps you’d like to talk about those next.
 
SECRETARY AUSTIN:  Thanks, Lael.  Mr. President, as you know well, competition is vital to our defense industrial base.  And to keep America secure, we need to make our defense in- — industrial base even stronger. 
 
In January, the department released our first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy.  That’s our blueprint for building a more resilient defense industrial base that’s postured to deliver capabilities to our warfighters at speed and scale.  And that means expediting — or expanding our relationships with small and non-traditional companies and industries to diversify our supplier base and lowering barriers to enter in the defense marketplace. 
 
And so, over the next six months, Mr. President, we’ll keep pushing to implement that strategy and foster a more resilient, modern, and competitive defense industrial base. 
 
Now, Putin’s ongoing assault on Ukraine has underscored how important this is.  Our security assistance has kept — kept the Ukrainians in the fight and saved lives, and it’s also strengthened our economy.  And these investments have expanded facilities and created jobs for American workers. 
 
And the weapons that we’ve sent to Ukraine to help defend itself are made in America by American workers nationwide — from Texas, to Ohio, to Arizona. 
 
Now, Ukraine’s fight — Ukraine’s fight also shows that we urgently need to expand our own production capabilities and coordinate even more closely with our partners and allies.  And we need Congress to pass a national security supplemental and the full-year appropriations so that we can keep investing in our industrial base. 
 
And I appreciate everyone here and your support to make the President’s executive order a reality.  These initiatives will promote competition and revitalize our defense industrial base to keep America safe in the 21st century. 
 
Thanks.
 
THE PRESIDENT:  I have a lot of questions.  I better not start the questions.  I’ll get in trouble.  (Laughter.)
 
3:06 P.M. EST

The post Remarks by President Biden and Members of the Competition Council Announcing New Actions to Lower Costs for Hardworking Families by Fighting Corporate Rip-offs appeared first on The White House.

1:54 P.M. EST
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Good afternoon, everybody.  So, I want to begin by sharing some news on how President Biden is fighting for working families and lowering costs by taking on corporate rip-offs.
 
Ahead of his State of the Union Address, the President is convening his Competition Council this afternoon to announce new actions to crack down on hidden junk fees and promote competition.  President Biden is establishing a new strike force, co-chaired by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission, to crack down on illegal pricing.
 
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is slashing credit card late fees from an average of $32 down to $8. This will save consumers $10 billion a year, an average savings of $220 for the 45 million people who are charged late fees each year.
 
The Department of Agriculture is finalizing a rule to protect small farmers and ranchers.  The Federal Communications Commission is circulating a proposed rule that would ban “bulk billing,” helping lower Internet costs and increase choices.
 
Our administration’s actions to ban hidden junk fees will save Americans more than $20 billion a year.  The President will make clear in his State of the Union that he will continue fighting to lower costs for families.
 
I have some news we’d like to share with you all.  On March 15th, President Joe Biden will host Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of Ireland for a bilateral meeting, followed by St. — by a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the White House on March 17th, continuing a longstanding St. Patrick’s Day tradition.
 
The leaders will reaffirm the close and enduring partnership between the United States and Ireland and the extraordinary bonds between our people.  They will discuss our countries’ shared commitment to continue supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s brutal aggression, as well as our cooperation on a range of other global issues.
 
They will reaffirm their steadfast support for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement as we welcome the recent restoration of Northern Ireland’s Executive and Assembly.
 
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff will also host the Taoiseach and Mr. Matthew Barrett for a breakfast at the Naval Observatory on March 15th.
 
And as you can see when I walked out, three of our amazing wranglers came out with me.  And so, before we get started with the briefing, I have a couple things that I want to say.
 
So, you know, they’re moving up in the world.  They’re going to stay in the family but still moving up — and it’s so well deserved of all three — into new roles, obviously.
 
Allyson Bayless has been by my side since day one and a rockstar wrangler — I’m going to get emotional — for the last two years, is — is moving over to the campaign.  There is no one who worked harder or more hours than — on our team than Allyson, as you can — as you can all attest by the hours of the day that she responds to your emails.  She accomplishes everything with diligence and composure.  And she always has a bright, bright sunshine spirit, even when we — even I’m in — when in my dark spaces, as we tend to joke around.  And she has a — an incredible sense of humor and a wit that is unmatched.
 
Silas Woods has — has the biggest heart of everyone that I know.  And sometimes I worry about him because he has such a big heart.  And every single day, I see him go above and beyond to coordinate movements, get you all what you need and make accommodations for everyone as he — as he can.  And some of you don’t know he’s often the reason you’re able to get that shot, right?  Silas is really good at getting that shot — shot, get in the room, or hear what the President has to say, obviously.
 
There isn’t a single person here who doesn’t have a kind word to say about Silas, and there’s no better teammate, which is why the Second Gentleman is stealing him from us.  He came from OVP, so now he’s going back, essentially, to that world.  The Press team won’t be the same without Silas, but we’re glad we’ll still get to work with him every day.  I’m going to miss you very much, Silas.  Literally, the biggest heart of anyone that I know.
 
And finally, Davis.  Davis Conger came to us from the State Department, having traveled the world with Secretary Blinken.  He’s brought skill and professionalism to our team, and he’s — and he is someone you always know you can rely on.  Every day, he has brought competence, kindness, and coolness under pressure to his job.  He’s always so even cool — even-keeled and cool, which is why Annie Tomasini has hired him as an advisor in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff.
 
Three — three incredible new roles for three incredible young people.  We are extraordinarily proud of all of you — the work you’ve done and the work you will now continue to do at a higher level, obviously, on behalf of this President.  And so, I’m super, super proud of you.  You guys are like — like my kids who are flying out — flying off.  So, I’m glad you will still be part of the broader team, obviously.  And I’m really, really sad to see all of you go, but I am so personally, personally proud of all of you.
 
And now, they’re going to get up and they’re going to walk out — (laughter) — because there’s so much work to do, as you know, as wranglers.  But thank you, guys.  Love you all. 
 
MS. BAYLESS:  Thank you, Karine. 
 
MR. WOODS:  Thank you, Karine. 
 
MR. CONGER:  Thank you, Karine.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)
 
All right.  With that, Admiral John Kirby is here to give an update on the Middle East.  And, Admiral, the floor is yours.
 
MR. KIRBY:  Thank you, Karine. 
 
Good afternoon, everyone.
 
Q    Good afternoon.
 
MR. KIRBY:  This morning, I think you all are tracking, the Department of Defense conducted another airdrop of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.  Three U.S. C-130s dropped 60 bundles with a total of over 36,000 Meals, Ready-to-Eat.  We were joined in this endeavor by several Jordanian aircraft as well.
 
As President Biden has said, this will be a part of a sustained effort while our — with our international partners to scale up the amount of lifesaving aid that we’re getting into Gaza. 
 
And as I said last week, we’re exploring other channels to get aid into Gaza, including a maritime route.  To that end, we are looking at both military and commercial options to move assistance by sea.  There’s still an awful lot of work that’s being done on this to flesh it out.
 
Of course, we’re also going to continue to urge Israel to facilitate more trucks and more routes, opening up more crossings so that more aid can get in to people in need and increase that flow.
 
And, with that, I’ll take some questions.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Zeke.
 
Q    Thanks, John.  That number on the — the 36,000 meals.  Was that just the U.S. contri- — contribution to that?  Or was that also the Jordanian contribution to that airdrop?
 
MR. KIRBY:  That was just the U.S.  The Jordanians flew — I believe it was four aircraft.  And I can get you the exact number of how much they dropped.  But it was — it was food that they dropped too.
 
Q    And then in terms of the scale of that, I mean, that’s a drop in the bucket of what the need is in Gaz- —
 
MR. KIRBY:  Oh, certainly.
 
Q    — in Gaza right now.  And you talked about the maritime corridor planning as well.  I mean, this war has been going on for, you know — for, you know, five months now. 
 
MR. KIRBY:  Yeah.
 
Q    Why isn’t the U.S. and its allies further along in the planning stages for a maritime corridor or other operations like an air drop with more equip- — with more equipment, more resources, more personnel on standby?  Should — you know, from the moment the President gave the go-ahead, shouldn’t there have been more contingency planning to get more aid in much faster?
 
MR. KIRBY:  We’ve been working on the humanitarian assistance from — since the beginning, as you said, many months ago.  And quite frankly, the best and most efficient way to get aid in to people in a confined space like that in a very urban environment is on the ground.
 
I mean, yes, you can move more volume in — in ships, whether they’re military or commercial ships, but eventually that stuff has to get ashore, then it has to get loaded onto vehicles and then trucked in.  Right?
 
So, the trucks are the best way to do that.  And that’s why we’ve been working so hard to — to try to increase the flow.  And during the week-long pause that we had before, we were able to get it up to 200 trucks a day.
 
It was through President Biden’s urging that we got the Rafah Cros- — Crossing open to aid.  It was at his urging that we got Kerem Shalom open.  But it just hasn’t — the flow just hasn’t been enough to meet the need.  And as the war has progressed, the need has gotten obviously much more dire.
 
So, it’s not like we — even though we’re just now talking about airdrops, it’s not like the idea of airdrops just — just happened, just dropped out of the sky.  It’s been something we’ve been talking about for quite some time.  And the maritime route as well.
 
The maritime route, yes, it can move more volume at sea, but it also is going to require a heavier logistics lift and some infrastructure ashore and very much going to need the support of allies and partners.  And so, those discussions are ongoing.
 
Q    And then does the President have any plans to meet with Benny Gantz before he leaves Washington this evening?
 
MR. KIRBY:  No.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Ed.
 
Q    Thank you for answering that one. 
 
MR. KIRBY:  So, we can go and move on from Ed now.
 
Q    Nope.  A few others here.  (Laughter.)
 
The President this morning signaled that he’s concerned about violence in Jerusalem and in the region in the coming days.  Is there something specific he’s been told to anticipate?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I — I won’t speak to specific intelligence one way or the other, Ed.  I mean, obviously, this is something we’re — we’re always mindful of, particularly given what’s going on between Israel and Hamas.  But I don’t think I’m going to elaborate on that.
 
Q    There — just to backtrack on something from last week.  I don’t think you’ve been asked about this, at least on camera.  But when he was in New York and suggested he had reason to believe there would be a ceasefire by Monday, and that hasn’t happened, why did he think that at the time?
 
MR. KIRBY:  He was referring to updates and briefings that he’d been getting from the national security team about the progress of negotiations.  Obviously, we all wish that that had happened.  We wish that it would happen today.  But we’re still — we’re still negotiating.  We’re still trying to get there.
 
Q    And on Haiti.  Is the U.S. continuing to monitor that situation?  And does it have any sense of the whereabouts of the Prime Minister?
 
MR. KIRBY:  Yes.  As far as I understand, no.  I will let the Prime Minister speak to his travel.  But I’m not aware that we have any keen sense of what his whereabouts are. 
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Mike.
 
Q    Thanks.  Just following up on Haiti.  You’ve called on Americans to evacuate.  How should they do that when the airport is under attack?
 
MR. KIRBY:  We — again, I’d refer you to the State Department to — they’re the ones that issued that — that advisory.  Not a safe time for Americans to be in Haiti right now.  There are other ways to leave.  Again, I’ll let the State Department do that. 
 
They’re — they’re in touch with — or are making themselves available to Americans who are there and want to — want to get that information.
 
Q    You said yesterday that you’re working to expedite this multinational force led by Kenya to deploy to Haiti as soon as possible.  They’ve said that they’re ready to deploy within 72 hours.  The holdup is funding — in part, U.S. funding — that was pledged by the administration that’s being held up, as we understand it, by Republicans in Congress. 
 
How urgent are those conversations?  And how are you going to expedite it if you’ve got this — this key holdup?
 
MR. KIRBY:  Yeah, I’m not sure that that simplistic explanation is exactly accurate, that the — that that is the only thing holding this up.  But let’s put that — but let’s put that aside.
 
You’re right, we’re going to need some — we’re going to need some support.  And we are working actively with members of Congress.  I mean, we — I think — I think we can all recognize that this is in our interest as well as the region’s interest and certainly the interests of the Haitian people to get a more stable, calm, secure environment there.
 
Q    So, just one last follow-up.  If — if that’s a simplistic explanation, then what — what is the holdup?
 
MR. KIRBY:  Again, we — there’s — they’ve al- — Kenya has already agreed to do this.  That’s a big first step.  And we’re working with Kenya, we’re working with other partners to see if we can get this multinational security mission up and running as soon as possible.
 
I just don’t have any more updates for you other than that.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Selina.
 
Q    Thanks, Admiral. Thanks, Karine.  You had said yesterday that part of the reason why it’s so hard to get aid into Gaza is, in some cases, because of the Israeli War Cabinet.  Is that acceptable? 
 
MR. KIRBY:  There’s nothing acceptable about the dire situation on the ground in — in Gaza in terms of the lack of food; lack of water; lack of medicine; in some cases, a lack of fuel.  That shouldn’t be acceptable to anybody.  So, short answer to your question is: No, it’s not acceptable.  And that’s why we continue to work with our Israeli counterparts. 
 
As I said in my opening statement, and you’ve heard the President say as well and the Vice President, that it’s time for Israel to open up more crossings and allow more aid in.
 
Q    And on the Vice President.  There were reports that the National Security Council had asked her to, quote, “tone down” her speech on Sunday.  What can you say about that?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I would point you to what the Vice President’s spokesperson already said about that story, in — in calling it inaccurate.
 
Q    Does the administration still believe it’s more effective to withhold public criticism of Netanyahu in order to have more sway in private?  And is that private sway waning?
 
MR. KIRBY:  Well, I’m just — I don’t think I’m going to accept the premise of that question.  I mean, we have been nothing but candid and forthright in private with our Israeli counterparts and, certainly, in public in the comments that we have made. 
 
And you’ve heard, again, from the President and the Vice President in just recent days expressing very clearly what our concerns are with the humanitarian situation in there and how it is unacceptable and how we need the Israelis to step up and do more.
 
Q    And just lastly, Hamas said today they won’t accept a deal that does not include a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.  Is that realistic?  And if not, where do negotiations go from here?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I ain’t going to negotiate in public.  We — we’ve been working this real hard.  As — you heard from President Biden just today that we’re still hopeful we can get there.  But nothing is done until everything is done, and not everything is done in terms of this negotiation. 

So, what we’re looking for and what we want: a temporary ceasefire for about six weeks that will allow us to get more aid in and, more importantly, get all those hostages back with their families where they belong and reduce the violence.  That’s the deal on the table. 
 
And as the President also said today, it’s a rational deal, and the Israelis have been cooperating.  They have been negotiating in good faith on this.  It’s time for Hamas to step up to the plate, take a swing, and let’s get this thing done.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Jeff.
 
Q    The — Hamas is saying that they have now extended a deal that Israel has not responded to.  Israel is saying that Hamas has to accept the deal that you’ve been referencing with regard to hostages.  What’s — can you sort out what’s true in both of those things?  And can you also comment on — has it been more difficult to have these talks in Cairo without an Israeli representative at the table?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I, kind of, sort of, already did it, Jeff, but I’ll — I’ll — maybe I’ll take it a different way.  There has been, throughout the process of these many weeks, back and forth between the sides — proposals, counterproposals, and — and haggling over the details and all the modalities of how this is going to work in terms of the phasing of the hostages and how many and the release of Palestinian prisoners and how many and how that’s all going to take place. 
 
There is now a framework.  There is a deal, as the President said today, that has been the result of all this back and forth.  So, the back and forth has happened.  There’s a deal now, and the onus is on Hamas to accept it. 
 
And you had a second question. 
 
Q    Israel hasn’t been at the table —
 
MR. KIRBY:  Oh, in Cairo.
 
Q    — since — since Sunday.
 
MR. KIRBY:  Again, I won’t speak to Israel and the presence or — of their negotiators one w- — they get to speak to that. 
 
But as I said earlier, the Israelis have negotiated in good faith.  They have agreed to this framework.  Th- — they have taken it right up to the end, and now it’s up to Hamas.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Kevin.
 
Q    Given that Hamas has now responded to the — to the deal, and that they have not agreed to it as written, is it still practically possible to come up with an agreement by the start of Ramadan?
 
MR. KIRBY:  That — look, the negotiators are working hard on this, Kevin.  That’s what we — we hope will happen, but we’ll have to see. 
 
Q    So, you — there’s — there is still a belief that that is a possibility?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I didn’t say a belief.  I said we hope that we can get this done as soon as possible. 
 
We would have liked to have this done two, three weeks ago, if not before then.  We are where we are.  And we’re working on this really, really hard. 
 
Q    And given what the President said about the potential dangerous situation should an agreement not be reached, what conversations is the White House having with Israel about, for example, the situation around the Al-Aqsa Mosque?  What — what are, sort of, the conversations in advance to try and curb some of the violence that the President is —
 
MR. KIRBY:  I don’t think the Israelis need —
 
Q    — worried about?
 
MR. KIRBY:  — need to be reminded by the United States that they live in a tough neighborhood.  And I don’t think they need to be reminded about the prospect of violence, particularly in a sensitive time like Ramadan.  They don’t need us to remind them of that.  They’re — they’re well aware of it. 
 
Again, we’re — we’re going to continue to work with them, as we have, to help sure — make sure that they can defend themselves against Hamas, make sure that the Israelis — the Israeli citizens are safe and secure as much as possible, and that we can try to get this hostage deal in place. 
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead.
 
Q    Yeah, thank you.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Oh.  Go ahead, Joe-Joe.
 
Q    Hey, thanks, Karine.  John, why isn’t President Biden meeting with Benny Ga- — Gantz whi- — while he’s in Washington? 
 
MR. KIRBY:  Mr. Gantz asked to come to Washington and asked for a series of meetings with administration officials, and he’s getting those.  He met with Jake Sullivan yesterday.  He met with the Vice President yesterday.  Today, he’s met with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State.  All of these conversations have been constructive and productive. 
 
And we hope that Mr. Gantz goes home informed by the conversations that we had and the concerns that we expressed.
 
Q    I mean, was it a scheduling issue with the President being in Camp David or was it —
 
MR. KIRBY:  Mr. Gantz had a chance to meet with senior levels all the way up to the Vice President of the United States.  And — and, you know, again, we think these — these conversations were constructive and productive and — and hope that he goes home informed by them.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Andrew.
 
Q    Thanks.  John, the President and the Vice President — and you, for that matter — have both said that the situation with getting aid into Gaza is too difficult.  The Vice President said that Israel needs to allow more aid in.  “No excuses.”
 
What is preventing the President from communicating to the Israeli government that if they don’t allow aid, we will not continue supplying weapons?  Why is that not a fair trade — no aid, no bombs?
 
MR. KIRBY:  Because the President still believes that it’s important for Israel to have what it needs to defend itself against a still viable Hamas threat.  And maybe some people have forgotten what happened on the 7th of October, but President Biden has not. 
 
Q    John, how does keeping aid out of Gaza contribute to Israel’s right to defend itself?
 
MR. KIRBY:  Keeping aid out of Gaza is not the right thing for any purpose.  It’s not about — it’s just — it’s just not acceptable on the face of it, as I told Selina, and that’s why we’re working — more than any other country, by the way — to increase the flow.  I mean, it is U.S. aircraft that are dropping these — this food out of the sky in the last couple of days. 
 
Q    Yes, but you — you keep saying — and you said yesterday — the holdup — that the problem is the lack of capacity being delivered on the ground.  And that’s — that’s the Israelis and, to some extent, the Egyptians, but mostly the Israelis.  How is that — and you said it’s not acceptable earlier —
 
MR. KIRBY:  You guys — you’re looking at this as a zero-sum game.
 
Q    No, I’m not.
 
MR. KIRBY:  Yes, you are, sir.  It’s, “Well, if they’re not doing what you want, then cut off the aid so they can’t defend themselves.”  That’s not the way we’re going to do this.  It’s not the way we have done this.  They have a right to defend themselves.  They need the capa- — wait, wait, let me finish.
 
Q    Okay.
 
MR. KIRBY:  They need the capabilities to do that.  There’s — there’s aid that’s desperately in need.  And you know what?  We can do that too.  We can do both.  Both are important.  And both are going —

Q    Not if the Israelis —

MR. KIRBY:  — to be pursued by this administration. 
 
Q    — don’t let it in, sir.
 
MR. KIRBY:  I know — I know you don’t approve of necessarily the policy choices that we’ve made, but —
 
Q    I don’t — I have no opinion on the —
 
MR. KIRBY:  But —
 
Q    — policies.  I’m just asking questions, sir.
 
MR. KIRBY:  But we — and I’m answering them.
 
We can do both.  We can influence our Israeli counterparts to do more, to be more careful, to let more aid in, and we can continue to work to get that aid in ourselves. 
 
Q    And one more follow-up, then.  Israel — according to Israeli media, the Israeli Defense Forces and industrial base are ramping up or preparing to ramp up domestic production of weapons that are currently U.S. supplied — including dumb bombs, firearms, that sort of thing — to be — to be commenced next year, 2025. 
 
Is the President concerned that this would lower U.S. leverage?  And is th- — is there a window that’s closing during which the U.S. has the leverage and influence to get the Israeli government to do certain things with respect to human rights, for instance, allowing more aid into Gaza?
 
MR. KIRBY:  The President’s concerned, as I’ve said, about Israel being able to defend itself against a still-viable threat.  We’ll let the Israelis speak to their defense industrial base plans and intentions. 
 
They’re a sovereign country.  They get to make those decisions, and we respect that.  They’re also a key ally and a partner, and we respect that alliance and that partnership as well.
 
The other thing that’s keeping the President up at night is the humanitarian assistance and the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza.  And that’s why he has ordered these air drops.  That’s why we continue to urge — very, very stridently — the Israelis to open up more crossings on the ground to supplement the — to supplement the aid that’s already getting in and to try to improve what’s not getting in. 
 
And that’s why, as I said in my opening statement, the President also has the team looking at maritime options.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Aurelia. 
 
Q    Thank you so much.  I want to ask you about some remarks the French President, Emmanuel Macron, made today.  So, he urged Ukraine’s allies not to be cowards, and he also added that he —
 
MR. KIRBY:  Not — not to be what?
 
Q    Not to be cowards.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Cowards.
 
Q    Cowards.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Cowards.
 
MR. KIRBY:  Oh, cowards.
 
Q    Cowards.  Cowards.
 
MR. KIRBY:  Sorry.
 
Q    Sorry, my accent.  And he added that he fully stood behind those controversial remarks he made last week about sending troops to Ukraine.  So, what do you make of this rhetoric?  Do you think the time has come for stronger language on Ukraine?  Or is this not helpful?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I’m not going to parse President Macron’s words.  I mean, he certainly has every right and ability to — to speak for himself and his views.  All I can do is speak for President Biden, the Commander-in-Chief.  And the President has been clear: We have been extraordinarily strong in leading international efforts to support Ukraine for the last few years.
 
We need Congress to help right now — pass that supplemental — so we can continue that strong leadership and support more — a coalition of more than 50 nations that the United States put together to support Ukraine.
 
He’s also been very clear since the very beginning of this war: There’s not going to be U.S. troops on the ground fighting inside Ukraine.  And you know what?  President Zelenskyy isn’t asking for that.  He’s just asking for the tools and capabilities.  He’s never asked for foreign troops to fight for his country.  He — he and his troops want to do that.  But they need the tools, and that’s what we need to help with.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.  We’re bumping up against the President’s schedule.  Go ahead.
 
MR. KIRBY:  Sorry.
 
Q    Thank you, Karine.  I have questions on the Indonesian election, but just to finish up on Gaza.  Is the Gantz meeting with the VP and also with Jake a signal that the administration is looking forward to a future Israeli government without Netanyahu?
 
MR. KIRBY:  No.
 
Q    And maybe this one is for Karine.  Will the President use any part of his State of the Union Address to acknowledge the anger of American Arabs and Muslims and progressive Democrats and explain to them why he’s not imposing conditionalities on Israel?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m going to go around, and I’ll get to that question.  Let me just get to a couple more people before we lose the Admiral.
 
Q    Okay.  Great. 
 
And so, just on the Indo- — on the Indonesian election.  China, the United Kingdom, Australia, and several other countries have congratulated Indonesia’s President-elect, Prabowo Subianto, on his apparent victory.  Is there a reason why the administration is waiting?
 
MR. KIRBY:  We congratulate the Indonesian people on a successful election.  The President looks forward to early engagement with the new administration and to strengthening our cooperation under what is already a strategic partnership.
 
We’re obviously closely following the ongoing vote count, and we understand that Minister Subianto has a significant lead.  We’ve had excellent cooperation with him since the time he was Defense Minister.  And, you know, if he is, in fact, finally elected, then we look forward to continuing that relationship.
 
Q    And just to clarify.  The President-elect does have a long track record of allegations of human rights violations.  He was at one point the son-in-law of former President Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for 32 years, and his Vice President-elect is the son of the outgoing President, Joko Widodo.  Is the administration concerned at all about democratic backsliding in Indonesia? 
 
MR. KIRBY:  We’re never ba- — we never back away from our concerns about the need for human rights, civil rights, and all the values of democratic institutions.  And the President absolutely will not shy away about expressing our concerns.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  Go ahead, Gabe.
 
Q    Admiral, to ask that question more directly, or one of the other questions that was just asked: In Israel, the Vice President’s meeting with Gantz was seen as a snuff to the Netanyahu government.  Was it?
 
MR. KIRBY:  The meeting with Minister Gantz, again, was at his request.  He is a member of the War Cabinet.  There is a war going on.  And we believed it would — it was a good opportunity to have a discussion with the War Cabinet about the way in which we’re supporting Israel and the things that we want to see Israel do.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.
 
Q    The President was asked this morning how his relationship was with Netanyahu these days, and he responded, “Like it’s always been,” and then he smiled.
 
MR. KIRBY:  Yep.  (Laughter.) 
 
Q    What was — what do you — what do you make of that?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I don’t know if I can improve upon that.
 
Q    What would you add to that?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I wouldn’t.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.  (Laughter.)  All right.  Let’s —
 
Q    One question — one question on Haiti.
 
MR. KIRBY:  I still like my job.  (Laughter.)
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  We got — we’ve got to —
 
Q    One question on Haiti.  The administration has provided more than $126 million in humanitarian aid to Haiti in 2023.  Where has that money gone?  And is it — has it been affective?
 
MR. KIRBY:  I can get you a — Gabe, I’ll get you — we can get you a rundown of exactly how that — those funds were allocated.  But we are — we’re proud of the humanitarian assistance that we have and will continue to provide Haiti.
 
But the — right now — man, right now, the focus has got to be on getting that multinational security element in there to help create the conditions where the people of Haiti can live free and in security so that humanitarian assistance can get there more freely and get to the people that need it.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Last question to the foreign pooler.  Go ahead.
 
Q    Thanks, Karine.  Thanks, Admiral.  Following up on Aurelia’s question.  There’s been some pushback on Macron’s comments from the Germans and also from the Swedes as well.  Is the U.S. worried that Ukraine’s allies are starting to splinter?
 
MR. KIRBY:  No.  There has been tremendous international support and unity for Ukraine.  The Pres- — as you know, we met with the Prime Minister of Italy just last week.  They’ve been strong.  There’s — there’s incredible unity.  Everybody shares the same concerns that we do about just letting Putin take Ukraine and what that means for their safety and security and for the security of — of the NATO Alliance.
 
No.  No, we’re not concerned about that.
 
Q    And are you worried about the stalling of this U.S. aid — that it’s putting more pressure on European Allies and causing fractures on — at all, in that sense?
 
MR. KIRBY:  We’re worried that the delay on the national security supplemental and the assistance coming from the United States is going to have a detriment- — actually, already is having a detrimental effect for Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield.  That’s the main concern.  And the time is way past now to get them the tools that they need to defend themselves. 
 
Their defensive lines are starting to shift now, going in the wrong direction, because the Russians continue to push west out of the Donbas. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Thanks.  Thanks, Admiral. 
 
All right.  As you know, the President’s event is going to start shortly.  Zeke, you have anything?

Q    Yeah.  Do you have a, sort of, broad rundown of how the President spent the last few days at Camp David preparing for the State of the Union?  Who was with him?  Does he have the final speech text at this point?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah, so, as you know, the President has been working on, as you just stated in your — in your question to me, the State of the Union Address for the past several days.  I’m not going to get into any specifics as to who was with him. 

It’s — you know, it’s — it’s some- — it’s going to be a moment that’s incredibly important to him.  Obviously, he’s going to be not just addressing Congress but also millions of Americans who will — going to be tuning in.  And he’s looking forward to that, to talking about the accomplish- –accomplishments that he’s made the last three years and also the vision — the vision that he has for this country, obviously, for the American people. 

I’m just not going to get into any specifics or details.  We’ll have, certainly, more to share with you all tomorrow as we get closer.

You know, the State of the Union Address is incredibly important.  He’s going to be working on it, I believe, until the very last minute so he gets it just right.  Because it’s going to be an important moment.  But don’t have anything beyond that. 
 
You heard me talk about the Competition Council, how that is part of the President talking about wanting to focusing on lowering costs for the American people. 
 
Obviously, he’s going to talk about our democracy; our freedoms — right? — fighting — continuing to fight for that; reproductive freedom, how that’s an issue that the American people truly care about.  You’re going to hear him talk about that. 

And so, there’s a lot of issues in front — obviously, in front of the American people that they care and they want to hear directly from the President about.  And so, that’s what he’s going to focus on. 
 
We’ll certainly have more to share as we get closer to Thursday.

Q    And then, on a different topic.  A bit of a kerfuffle this morning across Lafayette Park at the Department of Veterans Affairs, running an effort to ban the display of that i- — that iconic Time Square kiss photo on — on V-J Day at the end of World War Two. 

Was anyone at the White House consulted in that — in the drafting of the initial memorandum?  And then, did anyone at the White House call up the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and say, “Rescind that memo”? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, just — I want to be really, really clear.  The VA is not going to be banning this photo from VA facilities.  So, I just want to be super, super clear about that.  I know, as you just said — you described it as a “kerfuffle.”  There was, obviously, some reporting on that.

I can say that — I can definitely say that the memo was not sanctioned.  And so, it’s not something that we were even aware of until you all started reporting on it.  But we are not banning that photo.  And I’m just going to be super clear about that. 

Any specifics about the memo and the process over there, certainly, I would prefer to the VA.

Q    But once you were made aware of it and after that — after the memo, sort of, spread on social media, did the White House direct the Veterans Affairs Secretary to rescind it?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — I believe the VA Secretary made a statement on this, so I’d refer you to the statement —

Q    But did he say it under his  own — of his own volition?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes, he did that on his own volition.  But he — I would refer you to his statement.  And just re- — I’m really reiterating what the VA said.  The VA Secretary said that it will not be — that particular photo will not be banned from any facility — VA facility.  So, I want to be very, very clear about that. 

Okay.  Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  President Biden has said a possible endorsement by Taylor Swift —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  (Laughs.)

Q    — is “classified.”  How disappointed is he that she is telling people to vote but not for him?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Going to very careful.  We’re talking about 2024.  And so, I can’t comment on what Taylor Swift is saying or not saying.  I have no idea.  I’m not seen those statements. 

And I’ll just — I’ll just leave it there —

Q    Okay.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — and be mindful.

Q    Different topic.  How is President Biden going to fix the border if he can go years without talking to the head of Border Patrol?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  He was literally just with the head — the Chief of the Border Patrol just this past Thursday in Brownsville, Texas.  You all reported it.  You all saw it.  He was with — he was with the Chief — Chief Owens, I believe.

Q    The Chief who was in charge for two years before that said, “I’ve never had one conversation with the President or the Vice President.”  How is that possible?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, one thing I will say about Chief — you’re talking about Chief Ortiz?

Q    This is Chief Ortiz.  Yeah. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, he was invited, I believe, to participate in the President’s first trip — visit to El Paso, which was back in January of 2023, and he did not attend.  He was invited.  He was invited.  He is — he did not attend. 

What I can say is that you saw — you saw the President with the present chief, which I think is important, because we are dealing with challenges at the border, because the President has take- — made that a priority, worked with the Senate in a bipartisan way to come up with a way to move forward on the border, on immigration.  Republicans rejected it because of what the former President, Donald Trump, told them to do.  He told them to reject that proposal. 

So, the President is going to continue to be steadfast, focus on an issue that a majority of the American people care about, which is the border. 

Let’s not forget, if that policy had went into law, it would have been the toughest and the fairest bipartisan border security agreement in decades — in decades. 

Q    And last one.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    Will President Biden publicly address Laken Riley’s murder, allegedly at the hands of an illegal immigrant who was released by law enforcement multiple times, on Thursday night?  I know he’s put out a statement.  But what about at the State of the Union?
    
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You — look, let me — I do want — this is such a tragic story and, obviously, situation.  This is someone’s life that was lost, so I do want to always acknowledge and extend our deepest condolences to — to her family and to her friends and the people who — who loved her.  And so, want to always be sure to say that and — because it’s so tragic.

Look, I don’t have anything to share about the President’s speech as it relates to that particular question that you have.  But we — you know, we want to always — always be sure that we li- — lift up the families who have lost their loved ones in that way. 

And I would reiterate — you just asked me about the Border Patrol chief.  The President was just there with the current chief, Owens.  The President went to the border — obviously, Brownsville, Texas — to lift up the importance of doing something — of doing something at the border. 

And I would be remiss if I did not continue to say that Republicans rejected a bipartisan proposal that came out of the Senate.  And so, if they truly, truly cared about what was going on at the border; if they truly cared about this immigration policies and trying to fix that, trying to move forward in a step, in a way where we have a tough and fair law, they would work with us on it.  They wouldn’t listen to the former President, who is clearly telling them to reject — telling Republicans to reject it for their — for his own political gain.  And that’s shameful.  That’s truly shameful.
 
Go ahead, Selina. 
 
Q    Thanks, Karine.  Will the President be watching the election results come in tonight?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, as you know, the President is going to be talking about the Competition Council today.  He is continuing to work, obviously, on his State of the Union Address, because it’s important to him, and he knows how important it is for the American people to hear directly from him.  I don’t have a — I don’t have anything to share.  I’ve not spoken to him about his plans tonight. 
 
Obviously, he will be kept updated.  And he’ll — he’ll be aware of what’s going on tonight as — as we see elections happening across the country.  I just don’t have anything specific on that. 
 
Q    And the Consumer Bankers Association has been very critical of the Biden administration’s rule to cut the credit card late fees.  They called it “anything but” a win for consumers and “knowingly putting consumers’ financial health at risk.”  What’s the administration’s response to that criticism?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I totally disa- — we totally disagree, obviously.  The President has always been very, very clear: He’s going to do everything that he can to make sure that we lower costs for the American people.  And what we are seeing is that — we’re seeing, you know, corporations, obviously, not passing along their gains to Americans — to American consumers.  And we’ve always been very clear about that.  And so, we want to make sure that we protect — we protect Americans.  We want to make sure that we, obviously, protect American consumers. 
 
So, we disagree with that sentiment.  We disagree with that statement.  And the President is always going to put the American people first.
 
Go ahead, Jeff.
 
Q    Karine, does the White House have a position or comment on latest bill in Congress to crack down on Tik Tok — just introduced today, I believe?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I have not seen the text or had an opportunity to speak to our Office of Leg Affairs or any — anyone else in — in the — in the White House Office, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself and speak to that.
 
Obviously, we’ll take a look, as we normally do on any legislation, that believe will — will be beneficial to the American people.  I just can’t speak to that at this time. 
 
Go ahead, Kevin.
 
Q    Robert Hur is supposed to testify a week from today.  Has the White House made a decision on releasing the transcripts of the President’s interview with him?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I would refer you to the — my colleagues at the White House Counsel’s Office.
 
Q    Okay.  And the Dartmouth basketball team has become the first college sports team to vote to form a union.  Does the White House think that that’s a good idea?  Is that a smart move for college athletes?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, I’m going to, obviously, let — let teams make their decisions for themselves.  We’re not going to weigh in on that.  As you know, the President is a union guy.  We say that all the time, but I’m not going to comment on any particular team or actions that they’re taking.  That’s for them to decide.
 
Q    To the back?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead.
 
Q    Karine, Senator Sinema just announced that she’s not running for reelection.  She’s going to retire at the end of this term.  I’m wondering if the White House has any comment.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, I have not seen that.  Obviously, that is news — news to me.  Look, we have had opportunities to work closely with the senator on some really key, important bills.  She was leading — one of the leading negotiators on the border security bill that came out of the Senate in a bipartisan way.  We appreciated her efforts on that.  And there are some other, obviously, ways that we’ve worked closely with her.
 
Outside of that, I don’t want to get too far ahead.  I — this is the first time I’m hearing the news.  But she’s been a partner with us on many critical issues that matter to the American people.  And I think that’s important.
 
Q    Is there any — anything you can tell us about the President’s travel after the State of the Union this weekend and — (a reporter sneezes) — and into next week?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I think the — the —
 
Q    Excuse me.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Bless you.
 
I believe the campaign has made some announcements on some travel that the President will be doing after the State of the Union, so I would refer you to them.  It is common that after a State of the Union, the President goes around and — goes around the country to speak directly to the American people.  You’re going to see the President do the same.  But I would refer you to the campaign on specific stops that he has coming up.
 
Go ahead.
 
Q    Karine, I just wanted to ask about the Meta — the breakdown this morning — hundreds of thousands of users.  Do you have any more information on that and whether it’s connected to a cyberattack?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, obviously, we all are aware of what happened from — for the last couple of hours — the incident.  And so — so, don’t have anything at this time.  We are — we are not aware of any specific malicious cyber activity — so, I can say that — or any specific nexus as it relates to today’s election.  But we would have to refer you to the individual social — social platforms, obviously, for any more information on that. 
 
Q    Okay.  Thank you.  A quick separate one on the minibus spending agreement in Congress right now.  It would divert about $45 million in fees from the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  So, I’m just wondering, given the administration’s take on antitrust, is this a concern that that money would be going away?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, as it relates more broadly, you know — well, I’ll say this: You know, the President obviously strongly supports funding for antitrust enforcement, which is critical to promoting competition and lowering cost for consumers.  It’s a — this is a bit more complicated, so I just want to break this down a little bit. 
 
The antitrust funding proposed in the funding bill is — is a 4 percent increase over the last year and a 26 percent increase since 2021.  Because of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, every agency is subject to budget caps, so preventing us from fully funding programs the way we want to. 
 
These full-year bills represent a compromise.  Obviously, this is what has come together with these — with these six different bills.  So, no — no one got everything they wanted, obviously.  That’s what a compromise is.  But they fund the government, prevent a damaging shutdown, and protect our progress.  And that’s what happens when you come with a — when you come forward with a compromise — a bipartisan compromise.
 
Go ahead.
 
Q    Karine, is the President aware or have any concern about the number of Super Tuesday states that have campaigns for uncommitted votes, ceasefire write-ins — essentially, a vote against the President — because of his stance on the war in Gaza?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, I’m going to be super, super mindful.  These are — obviously, people are — are voting right now, and I cannot speak to any upcoming election or — as voting — as voting is happening.  So, I’m going to be super, super careful about that. 
 
But what I will say is what I said last time when I was asked about Michigan specifically: The President thinks it’s important for people — for Americans to voice their opinions, to have their voices heard.  He thinks that’s incredibly important.  We understand how painful this moment is for many Americans, for many communities — obviously, the Arab and — the Arab community, the Muslim community, more specifically.  And so, we get that. 
 
But I just want to be super careful and not speak to upcoming — upcoming election — upcoming voting that — voting that’s happening right now, to be more specific. 
 
Q    Karine, can I just follow up?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I know you had a — I know you had a similar question.
 
Q    Is that — is that also the message that the President will be saying during the State of the Union?  And then I think you mentioned to my colleague that he will be taking this message around the country after the address.  Is Michigan one of those destinations?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, not going to get into the states.  I know that the campaign announced a couple of states already that he’s going to be going to right after Thursday.  So, you can expect the President to be visiting multiple states across the country the next, obviously, couple of months. 
 
I’m not going to get into that.  I would refer you to the campaign specifically on the most upcoming states, the announcements that they’ve made. 
 
And I just kind of laid out, you know, what the President has been very clear about, the understanding of how people should have the right to voice their opinion, to voice their concern, to voice their pain.  And that’s what the President is going to consistently do.  He’s a president for all Americans, obviously.
 
As it relates to the State of the Union, I’m not — I’m just not going to get ahead of any specifics on what he’s going to say as it relates to that question.
 
Go ahead, Ed.
 
Q    Thanks, Karine.  So, Cookie Monster posted on X that shrinkflation is making his cookie smaller.  The White House official Twit- — Twitter, or X, responded that — blaming shrinkflation, basically, on companies.  So, does the President, again, believe that shrinkflation and inflation are solely a company problem?  Or do his policies play any role in that?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, also, from my tweet, I believe we said, “C is for consumers getting ripped off.”  Right?  And — and the President — the President has called on — on companies to stop — to stop, you know, taking advantage of Americans.  He’s been very clear about that. 
 
He’s repeatedly called on large corporations, more specifically, to pass along their savings on to their customers.  We’ve said that.  We’ve been very consistent about that.  And that includes rip-offs such as shrinkflation.  We see that.  And — where the size of a product, for those who don’t know, gets smaller, even as the price stays the same or increases.  That’s what we’ve been seeing.
 
And so, it’s giving families less bang for their buck.  And the President has said — and I’ll quote him — “Tired of being” — the President said, “Americans are tired of being played for suckers.” 
 
And so, the President is going to have the Amer- — the American people’s back.  That’s what he’s going to continue to do.  He’s going to talk about this — not just shrinkflation but other ways that he sees corporations are ripping off Americans.  You’re going to hear from him shortly about the — about the — what he’s doing next to — to deal with junk fees.  And I think that’s really important.
 
That’s what Americans want to see.  They want to see their president fighting on their behalf.
 
Q    And out of that Competition Council, the President is announcing that strike force.  Why did it take the Cookie Monster to speak up or an election year for this strike force to go?  Why not do it year- — a couple years ago when inflation was 9 percent?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t — I disagree with the premise of your question there.  It did not take the Cookie Monster.  If anything, it feels like the Cookie Monster is responding to us and what we’ve been saying about shrinkflation.  (Laughs.)
 
I can’t believe I’m having a conversation about the Cookie Monster at the podium.  (Laughter.)  But that is where —
 
Q    Does the President have full confidence —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  But that is — but that is —
 
Q    — in the Cookie Monster?  (Laughter.)
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  That’s a good one.  I’m glad you’re awake.  I’m glad you woke up for me.  I know you were nodding off in the back earlier.  But —
 
Q    But why did it take — why did it take so long to announce a strike force —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, look —
 
Q    — when inflation was 9 percent?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — here’s — we’ll — here’s the thing.  The President’s Competition Council has been going — going on for some time now.  Right?  He has taken this very seriously in finding ways to lower costs for the American people as we are obviously dealing with inflation — right? — obviously dealing with that because of what we are coming out of with the — with the pandemic.
 
So, the President has taken action.  He’s going to continue to do that.  I would say the strike force is just another way — along of many other announcement that this President has made — in dealing with large corporations ripping off Americans — right? — and dealing with how do we get rid of junk fees.
 
And so, that’s what you’re going to hear from the Amer- — from the President.  So, to say that, you know, now, all of the sudden, he cares about this is not true.  It is a false premise.  It’s a false question, because the President has been dealing with this for some time now. 
 
And now he’s making a new announcement on — on the strike force, and I think it’s important.  And so, you’ll hear more from him momentarily.
 
Q    Yeah.  And one more, if I may.  The President, I noticed, had — had notecards la- — at the border when he was doing his briefing there.  He also had notecards last Friday with the Italian Prime Minister.  Why does the President rely so heavily on notecards?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You’re upset because the President has notecards?  You’re —
 
Q    I’m not upset.  I’m asking you why. 
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You’re asking me a question about the President having notecards?
 
Q    I’m asking why does he rely so heavily?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  The President, who has had a — probably one of the most successful first three years of an adm- –administration than any modern-day president — he’s done more in the first three years than most presidents who had two terms.  You’re asking me about notecards?  I don’t think that’s —
 
Q    Can you answer —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t think —
 
Q    — his question?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Wait.  I’m —
 
Q    I’m asking you why he — why he relies so heavily.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m not speaking to you right now, James.  I’m talking to — I’m talking to your friend over here, Ed.  So, thank you so much — but thank you so much for interjecting.
 
Go ahead, Ed.
 
Q    I was just asking why he relies so heavily on notecards.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I think what’s important here and what the American people care about is how this President is delivering for — for them.  And that’s what he’s doing.  And that’s what’s the most important thing here.
 
All right.  I’m going to take —
 
Q    In the back.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m going to take — go ahead.  Did I call on you already?
 
Q    You did.  So, if you want to go to the back and then —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.  Wait.  No, no, no.  I can’t do that.
 
     Go ahead, Karen.
 
Q    — come up here —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, no, no.  Go ahead, Karen.  Go ahead, Karen.  Go ahead, Karen.
 
Q    Aleksey Navalny’s widow, Yulia, was invited to the State of the Union by the White House, but she’s unable to make it.  Did the President extend that invite personally when he met with her last month?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, yes, I can — I can confirm that she was indeed invited to the State of the Union.  She is no longer able to attend.  I would have to refer you to her and her people as to specifically why.  But I can confirm that, yes, she was invited.
 
Q    Did the President extend that invitation —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes, the President did.
 
Q    — when they met?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes, the President did.
 
Q    Karine, first it was Elmo —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  (Laughs.)  All right.  Go ahead.
 
Q    — now it’s Cookie Monster.  Are there — are there — 
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Jon.  Go ahead, Jon. 
 
Q    — any other “Sesame Street” characters the President would consult?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead, Jon.  Jon, go ahead.
 
Q    Thanks a lot, Karine.  The President recently said that he’d be open to meeting with the House Speaker in regards to that Ukraine funding bill.  Is there anything to report?  Is the President reaching out to the House Speaker in terms of a one-on-one conversation?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, they just met — the Big Four just met last week.  They talked about the importance of, obviously, the national security supplemental, which includes the Ukraine funding.  They talked about, obviously, avoiding a shutdown, which we are glad to see that Congress is doing that. 
 
And, as you know, they had a pull-aside, they had a brief meeting afterwards.  Not going to get into what was discussed.  It was a private meeting.  But the President has spent some time with the Speaker over — I mean, just — just last week — literally, they were together just last week.
 
I don’t have anything else to share. 
 
All right, guys.  We’re going to wrap it up.
 
Go ahead.
 
Q    Thanks, Karine.  Is the White House concerned about another —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  (Inaudible.)  (Laughs.)
 
Q    Oh, I’m so sorry.
 
Q    No, no.  No — 
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, no.  I’m more so teasing.  I’m giving Ed a hard time.  Go ahead.
 
Q    Is the White House concerned about another bank failure after New York Community Bank showed signs of trouble?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, obviously I want to be super careful, right?  This is something that is monitored by — by regulators.  And this is something that we take very — that they take very seriously and are always monitoring. 
 
I don’t want to get ahead of that.  And we’re always going to keep an eye on — on that — or they will, more — more specifically, regula- — regulator- — regulators.  I just don’t have anything else to share beyond that. 
 
All right. 
 
Q    In the vein of that question about the Speaker —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes.  Yes.  Yes, yes.
 
Q    — one of mine was: He did, last week, extend a bipartisan olive branch to the former President to work with him on border security.  Beyond saying that rhetorically, has there been any other attempt to reach him to talk about possibly working together?  Have you heard from the Trump camp about it?
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, it — as it relates to the Trump camp or campaign, that’s something that I would refer you to the campaign on. 
 
Look, the President has been very clear, and I think you’ve seen it in his action.  The fact that we worked with Republicans to try and get to a border security proposal — we did that because we believe it needed to be dealt with in a bipartisan way. 
 
And I would add that when — when we are able to work in a bipartisan way, in a bi- — in a — on behalf of the American people, we get things done.  Right? 
 
We see that with the CHIPS and Science Act.  We saw that with the prevent — gun violence legislation — right? — anti-gun violence legislation.  You saw that with the infrastructure legislation. 

Remember las- — last time around, during the last four years, of the — of the last administration, it was a punchline.  Infrastructure, you know, Week was a punchline.
 
Q    But beyond saying it last week, there’s been no active attempt to get the former President —
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t have —
 
Q    — on board?
 
 MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m — I am saying to you I don’t have anything to read out. 
 
But I do want to say, when we work in a bipartisan way, we are able to get things done on — for the American people.  We just are.  And we see that.  We see that with historic pieces of legislation that will change the lives of Americans for generations, which are incredibly important — issues that a majority of Americans care about.  And I think that’s important. 
 
I don’t have anything to read out on any outreach. 
 
I would certainly refer you to the campaign on anything specific as it relates to the Donald Trump campaign.
 
Q    Thanks, Karine.
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right, guys.  I’ll see you tomorrow.  Thanks, everybody.
 
2:42 P.M. EST

The post Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby appeared first on The White House.

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:


     Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.  In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13692 of March 8, 2015, with respect to the situation in Venezuela is to continue in effect beyond March 8, 2024.

     The situation in Venezuela continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.  For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13692 with respect to the situation in Venezuela.



                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.



THE WHITE HOUSE,
    March 5, 2024.

The post Message to the Congress on the Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Venezuela. appeared first on The White House.