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Updated: 1 hour 25 min ago

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at an Event to Celebrate Families of the 2024 Olympic Athletes

Thu, 07/25/2024 - 10:11

Paris, France

Ambassador Bauer—Denise, you always lead with care and thought, with hope and connection at the center. We are so lucky to have you as our ambassador to France.

I know from personal experience how Ambassador O’Donnell makes every room she walks into a little brighter and every project she’s a part of a little better. Courtney—I can’t wait to see all that you will do at UNESCO.

Ambassador Maloney, you bring so much experience and vision to this work. Joe and I are so grateful to have you as part of this tri-mission.

Gene, thank you and all the members of the USOPC here for everything you do to make sure our athletes can shine on the world stage.

And it’s my honor to be here as part of our presidential delegation supporting our incredible athletes.

There’s a moment that the cameras sometimes miss during the Olympics.

It happens before the whistle blows or the bell rings or the starting gun fires, when an athlete looks—just for a moment—to the stands, eyes searching for someone: all of you.

Your athletes’ journeys to Paris likely started many years ago—at a basketball hoop in the backyard, in a community pool, on a court at school. There, a little kid fell in love with sports and the world changed—though no one really knew it yet.

And no matter when you became a part of that adventure, you—parents, siblings, spouses, kids—have believed in them through the late nights and hard days; you’ve helped them get back up when they fell down; you’ve moved across the country, all so that our world can know their greatness. 

As they leap, and sprint, and turn, America’s athletes aren’t only propelled by the years of sweat and sacrifice they’ve poured into their training.

Your love is also there, pushing them further, helping them go faster, lifting them higher as they reach for gold.

You love some pretty incredible people. Thank you for sharing them with all of us.

When Team USA glides through the opening ceremony tomorrow night, they carry more than just our flag. They carry our nation’s heart and our hopes with them too.

They show the world who we are as Americans: determined, optimistic, resilient. That our strength is found not only in our strides and swings, but in our hearts and minds. That with all our precious differences and infinite similarities, we are always one team. It’s what I love about our country: that we are united, and together we can reach for every possibility.

President Biden has led our country with that hope always in his heart. As he says: there is nothing America can’t do when we do it together.

And we see that especially now, at the Olympics. In this moment, we are more than our cities or states or backgrounds. We are more than our jobs or our political parties. We are all, first and foremost, Team USA.

That’s the gift your families give us.

The President, Vice President, Second Gentleman, and I are grateful for everything you do. So is your country. And so are your athletes.

You’re their biggest supporters—the ones who cheer even when the world isn’t watching. But over the next couple of weeks, as you peer through parted fingers or whisper prayers with closed eyes, know that the nation is by your side, cheering just as hard, adding our belief and hope to yours.

God bless you all, and go Team USA.

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The post Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at an Event to Celebrate Families of the 2024 Olympic Athletes appeared first on The White House.

Statement from President Joe Biden on Second Quarter 2024 GDP

Thu, 07/25/2024 - 09:18

When I took office, we were in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Today’s GDP report makes clear we now have the strongest economy in the world. Thanks to my and Vice President Harris’s economic agenda, our economy grew a robust 2.8% over the last quarter, based on strong American consumers and business investment. We’ve created nearly 16 million jobs, wages are up, and inflation is coming down. We’re rebuilding the Nation and bringing manufacturing back to America.

But we have more to do. Over the next six months, I will continue doing my job as President: lowering costs for hardworking families and growing our economy. Congressional Republicans have a different plan—which would drag our country backward by putting special interest first. The Vice President and I will keep fighting for America’s future—a future of promise and possibilities, of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.

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The post Statement from President Joe Biden on Second Quarter 2024 GDP appeared first on The White House.

Background Press Call Previewing the Bilateral Engagement Between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 22:58

Via Teleconference

4:18 P.M. EDT

MODERATOR:  Hi, everyone.  Thanks for joining us today to discuss tomorrow’s meeting here at the White House between the President and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

As a reminder, today’s call is on background, attributable to a senior administration official, and is embargoed until the end of the call.

For your awareness, not for your reporting, the senior administration official on today’s call is [senior administration official].

So I’ll just turn over to [senior administration official], who has a few words here at the top, and then we’ll get through as many questions as we can at the end.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hey.  Thanks, everybody.  I’ll keep this pretty topline, and we’ll have more to say, obviously, tomorrow.

So tomorrow, of course, the President will welcome Prime Minister Netanyahu and his delegation here to the White House.  We will discuss, obviously, developments throughout the Middle East. 

The President will discuss his ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, the very serious threats from Iran and from Iranian proxy and terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis. 

We will talk about our ongoing efforts to ensure the defense of Israel, including through broader integration in the region as we saw play out in April with that unprecedented attack from Iran.

We’ll also talk, I’m sure in depth, about developments in Gaza and the negotiations on the ceasefire and hostage release deal, which we believe is in the closing stages and it’s reaching a point that we believe a deal is closable and it’s time to move to close that agreement.

We will discuss the humanitarian situation — Lebanon, West Bank — everything that the President and the Prime Minister often discuss when they have their many phone calls. 

And, of course, it’ll be the first time they saw each other since the President’s historic trip to Israel shortly after the October 7 attacks — the first visit to Israel by a president in wartime.

After the meeting — the meeting tomorrow will be about 1 o’clock.  And afterwards, the President and the Prime Minister will meet together with the families of Americans.  These are Americans held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.  And, of course, as you know, we meet regularly with this group of families, an extraordinary group of families, including we just met here yesterday with Jake Sullivan to discuss the state of things and our efforts to get their loved ones home.

This will be the President’s second in-person meeting with this particular group, although he’s met with other families, of course, throughout this just horrific ordeal, which has gone on since October 7.

Of course, the Vice President will have a meeting later in the afternoon, here at the White House.

So we’ll have the Israelis and their delegation here at the White House for a period of hours, and I think we have a lot of substantive issues to discuss.  We’ve done a lot of prep work, both here internally and together with the Israelis.  And we hope to have a very substantive, very detailed discussion on the sets of issues that I laid out in front.

This, of course, follows on the Strategic Consultative Group meeting we had here a couple weeks ago and just our ongoing, regular communication dialogue with Israelis at multiple levels across out interagency.

So that is what’s on tap for tomorrow, and I’m happy to answer any questions.

MODERATOR:  Awesome.  Thank you.  Our first question will go to Aamer with the AP.

Q    Hey.  Thank you.  I just wanted to ask you about the speech to Congress and the tone of it.  In it, in part, the Prime Minister vowed to press on with the war until “total victory.”  Does that undercut negotiations for a ceasefire and a hostage release?  Does this in any way sort of push back sort of the notion that you guys are still at the closing stages?  And could it be counterproductive?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  So, I was actually in the — we were in the Situation Room doing some other stuff, so I did not see the speech.  We were in consultation with the Israelis, and I think I had a sense of it. 

But I think from all indications, the framework of a deal is basically there.  We’re working out the implementation.  There are some very serious implementation issues that still have to be resolved, and I don’t want to discount the difficulty of those, but they are the, kind of, implementation arrangements of the deal.  There are some things we need from Hamas, and there are some things we need from the Israeli side.  And I think you’ll see that play out here over the course of the coming week.

But I’m not going to characterize or comment on the speech here on this call.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Steve with Reuters.

Q    When you say “the closing stages,” how did this come about?  I mean, it’s been a long road, and we’ve been close to a deal for months in the past.  What’s new here?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, what’s new is that Hamas have been very dug in on this position for a permanent ceasefire, for a withdrawal of Israeli forces.  And then they kind of vague promised to release some hostages after that happened.  That had been their position.  That, obviously, is completely unacceptable.

We worked out a pretty detailed text of the arrangements, of how a hostage exchange would actually work, including with significant benefits for Gazans and humanitarian provisions, everything else.

And then the sequencing, what was the breakthrough a few weeks ago — which I think I discussed with this group a few weeks ago — was the way the phasing of the deal works.  So you now have an initial phase, which is women, men over 50, and sick and wounded hostages will come out first over a period of 42 days.  You have to have a negotiation, starting about halfway through that period, on the conditions for the second phase, which does — (connection lost) — 

Q    I lost him.

MODERATOR:  Hey, Britny, it seems like we disconnected from [senior administration official], if you wouldn’t mind looping him back in.

One second, folks, while we get [senior administration official] back on the line.  Apologies for this.

Okay, folks, one more second.  We’re reconnecting.  We should be back online soon.  Appreciate everyone’s patience as we work through this.

Thanks, again, everyone, for your patience.  As you can see, we’re almost back.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hey, it’s [senior administration official].

MODERATOR:  Hey, we can hear you again.  Awesome.  Thank you so much.  I will bring Steve back in, and then we can move forward.  Thanks, again, everyone for your patience as we worked through that.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hey, am I back?

MODERATOR:  You are, yep.  We can hear you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Okay.  Hey, I’m really sorry.  I don’t know what happened.  And then I tried to dial back in from three different phones, and it finally worked.

So I think the question was: What changed?  And the key change, as I think I’ve discussed with this group before, is the phasing of the deal is now very clear: that there’s the phase one part; and then to move to phase two, you have a negotiation going on and you have to have conditions set for phase two, which is basically what the President laid out during his May speech, which Hamas has accepted that basic phasing.

So you now have that framework, exactly what the President laid out, what is in the Security Council resolution agreed, and you’re now in the implementation arrangements about how it will actually work day to day, leaving little to chance.

So that is a pretty intense negotiation that’s actually ongoing.  But, again, we think the pieces are coming together, and it’s time to kind of move to close this out.

Q    And do you have a timeframe in mind of when this might come to a conclusion?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I’m very hesitant, Steve, to put a timeframe on.  But given that we have lives of hostages on the line, there’s really no time to lose.

Q    Thanks.  Thank you.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Molly with ABC.

Q    Thanks.  The Prime Minister said during his address to Congress that Palestinians in Gaza who aren’t getting enough food is not because Israel is blocking it, it’s because Hamas is stealing it.  Is that the assessment of the U.S.?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I think we’ve spoken to this multiple times, including, I think, my colleague, Assistant Secretary Leaf, testified before Congress.  David Satterfield has spoken to this.  Again, we do not see the Israelis blocking the entry of provisions into Gaza.  We have some issues of distribution that our folks are working through all the time.  It’s a very difficult wartime environment.

So — but, again, I’m not going to chara- — I’m not going to speak to the Prime Minister’s speech, but I will say that we have a massive effort ongoing on the humanitarian side that we can get you a full briefing on, which we — again, my colleagues from State Department speak to this quite frequently.  So, I’ll leave it at that.

Q    Just a follow-up on that.  When they’ve spoken to it and they’ve testified, they have suggested that some of the policies at checkpoints from the IDF have made it harder to get resources and food in.  So the administration is still standing by that assessment that — from U.S. officials — that that’s part of the problem?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  It’s a difficult wartime environment.  So, yeah, there are checkpoints.  There are issues with so-called armed gangs taking over convoys, whether that’s Hamas, or whether you want to call them an armed gang, you know, it depends.  Sometimes it’s hard to know.  So, it’s difficult.

But the quantity and amount of provisions getting into Gaza has increased significantly, largely, I must say, because of the efforts of the United States of America.  It’s something we focus on every single day.

And when there’s a barrier or a hurdle, we break them down.  And the President has gotten on the phone multiple times, whether to Prime Minister Netanyahu or to President Sisi, or working with King Abdullah for the route directly from Jordan into northern Gaza, which is now running almost every two days, 40 to 50 trucks coming directly from Jordan across Israel and into northern Gaza.  That has worked quite effectively.

So, you know, this is all — this is something we work on every single day.

But the problem — most of the problems we have right now are not primarily on the Israeli side.  It’s just the difficulty of the operational environment inside Gaza, which is one reason why to get a ceasefire in place there are provisions in the deal for significant relief for the civilian population in Gaza.

And of course, again, just a reminder: Hamas leaders are living underground.  They do not allow civilians to use those underground facilities.  You’re talking hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, multiple stories.  They live under there as the civilians suffer inside Gaza.

So, anyway, we’re working towards a ceasefire.  Until we get the ceasefire, our folks work every day to do all they can to address the humanitarian situation.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Nick with PBS.

Q    Hey, Sam.  Hey, [senior administration official].  Couple of specific questions on the ceasefire negotiations that you may or may not be willing to engage with, but let me try.

I know you didn’t watch the speech, but Bibi did not publicly endorse the deal that’s on the table or really even engage with it.  Is that a disappointment?  Has he recently focused on any topics that could prolong the negotiations?  And as I understand it, you still don’t have an agreement on the transition from the temporary to permanent ceasefire.  So how does that square with the fact that you say you’re in the closing stages?  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  In the closing stages for phase one.  So just in terms of Israeli — this is — met with the Israelis just yesterday.  This is their deal.  Ready to move ahead on phase one, if we can get the arrangements worked out.  And we need some things from Hamas, including the hostages who are going to come out.  And we’re not going to do a deal until we know exactly the hostages that are coming out and on the schedule they’re coming out.  This is something that has to happen.

On phase one to phase two, it’s written into the deal, as I think the President actually laid this out in his speech in May: You begin the negotiations for phase two about a third of the way through phase one.  And that’s the negotiation that might go on beyond the 42 days of the first phase to set the conditions for phase two.  See, it’s very true, there’s not — there are not the conditions set or negotiated yet for a permanent ceasefire.  That is what you would negotiate during the phase one and getting out the initial contingent of about 33 hostages.  So we’re working hard now to get into phase one.

And then, during phase one, you work out — try to work out getting into phase two.  But there’s no kind of automaticity from phase one to phase two.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Barak with Axios.

Q    Hi.  Thank you for doing this.  And I think I asked you this several times, and you sort of dodged it before, but I’ll ask again.  What makes you think that Prime Minister Netanyahu really wants a deal and is not just playing for time, trying to wait you out until November?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  If we draw that conclusion, we’ll say it very clearly.  I mean, right now, there has been progress in this process.  The issues that are being negotiated, the implementation issues, are real.  You can’t do a deal until they’re kind of worked out.  But we also think they are resolvable.  These are not, kind of, unbridgeable problems.  So we’re not ready to draw that conclusion.

And again, I think as I said, we’ll have the important meetings here tomorrow.  And then, I think you’ll see more activity over the coming week in terms of the work to try to get this done from Bill, myself, and others. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to MJ with CNN. 

Q    Hey.  Thank you for doing this.  If you are in the final stages of closing this deal, can you clarify whether it is your view that this deal is the Prime Minister’s to accept at this point?

And also, just to clarify your response to Barak’s question: Are you saying that you do not think the Prime Minister is deploying, you know, delaying tactics right now?  I know that on some of these previous calls, you’ve at times sort of gingerly suggested that Israeli politics may be a factor.  So, I just wanted to clarify that. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I’m not going to draw that conclusion here.  I mean, literally, what we have is a framework that is agreed, and you have part of it.  There are two columns in which there’s disagreement between the two sides.  So, you have to work that out.  And there are things in those columns that you need from Hamas, and there are some things you need from Israel.  And that’s what the mediators are working to bridge.  

If I’m talking to you a month from now, and we’re still kind of where we are now, I might draw a different conclusion.  But that’s certainly not the case now.  These are real issues.  I would not want to get into a deal until you know exactly how it’s going to go and who’s coming out and when, and that’s what we’re working out. 

There’s a — as you know, similar to the November deal, there is an exchange provision in this deal in which Palestinian prisoners are released in exchange for hostages, and that is an equation that has to be worked out — the who and when and where.  And so that is all being — that’s kind of what is being discussed now.  And there are some other issues that are in the implementation. 

It’s a very different negotiation now than it was, say, a month ago, in which we had just some fundamental — fundamental, potentially unbridgeable issues.  I think those have basically been resolved.  You’re now in the implementation.

But I would not — I’m not making a final prediction.  As I think I’ve said on these calls before, we’re still dealing with Hamas.  And their leaders are — some of them are in Doha, some of them are in Turkey, some are in Cairo, and their key leader lives in a tunnel in Gaza. 

So it’s — this is anything but a normal negotiation.  But there has been progress; there has been progress because the Israelis have put an awful lot on the table, and that’s kind of brought us to this point.  

So, yeah, so I’m not going to draw that conclusion here on this call.  Again, if I’m talking to you guys a month from now, might have a different conclusion, but we are looking to move forward and try to get this done and get the hostages home. 

Q    Did you have a response to my first question?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  What was the first question?  Was that the follow-up on Barak’s?

Q    Whether — no, whether it’s your view that at this moment, this deal is for the Prime Minister to accept?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Oh.  Well, in fairness, it’s not — I mean, it’s not at the point where it’s ready to be signed and implemented.  I think it — but we do believe that with some effort and work by the mediators, that what is left is bridgeable and is not something that’s going to take an indefinite period to actually bridge. 

So we think the time here over the coming week or so — again, we think we will see a lot of activity over the coming week.  And we think it’s not only possible, it’s essential and necessary, because we have to get these hostages out.  And what has been ironed out in this agreement is basically what the Israelis have wanted to see.  And now we need some things from Hamas to allow us to move forward, and we also need some things from the Israeli side, and all of which is being worked.  

So the Qataris are doing some things and the Egyptians are doing some things on the Hamas side.  Obviously, we’re working with the Israelis on the other side to try to bridge some of these final implementation issues.  And that’s what we’ll be focused on.

And, again, the President — as we saw the President today, you know, he’s ready for a pretty — he knows, kind of, every chapter of this deal, because we’ve been at it for some time, and is ready for that discussion with the Prime Minister tomorrow. 

Q    And just on the meeting with the families of the American hostages: Is the President planning to make any specific commitments to the families tomorrow?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I think as he said to them before, he is committed to doing everything possible to bring their loved ones home.  Of course, we have a group of families, including Americans that we believe are alive, and we also have a couple, unfortunately, that we know are deceased.  And the deal also envisions the return of remains. 

So we want to bring hostages out, and we want to bring closure to the families whose loved ones are unfortunately deceased. 

It’s just — the whole thing is tragic, horrific.  And we’re determined to do all we can here to get this done. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Danny with AFP. 

Q    Thanks very much for doing this.  Just wondered if you can give us an idea of what President Biden is going to say personally to Prime Minister Netanyahu to try and get him on board with this.  Thanks. 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, again, I think the premise of your question is that the Israelis are not on board.  I think what I expect the conversation to be tomorrow is about these remaining gaps and, kind of, how we close them, and what the parameters are. 

And then, we as a mediator will work with the Egyptians and Qataris to try to bring that forward.  And I assume there will be some in-person meetings here over the next week to try our best to wrap this up.  I’m not putting a timeframe on it, but I think we have already been coordinating about a couple meetings here over the coming week that will be pretty important.

So I don’t expect the meeting to be a yes or no.  It’s kind of like how do we close these final gaps.  And there are some things we need from the Israeli side, no question.  But there’s also some key things that are only in the hands of Hamas because the hostages are in the hands of Hamas.  And at the end of the day, this is a negotiation for the release of hostages with a terrorist group.  So we got to keep that in mind. 

And we’re also mindful of ensuring this agreement — as the President said when he spoke to the agreement in his address in May — fully protects the security and national security interests of Israel.  So we’re not going to support a deal that endangers Israel in any way.  We think what is on the table now meets those interests.  But we want to ensure that that is played out in the implementation as well. 

So we’re taking this extremely seriously because it’s an extremely serious matter and also quite difficult. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our final question will go to Asma with NPR. 

Q    Hey there.  Thanks for doing this.  I have a question about the Vice President’s meeting.  I was wondering if you could characterize what you see as the role for the Vice President in this moment in time, and if you will be present yourself for that meeting.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, the Vice President has been a full participant in almost everything we’ve been doing here for the last 10 months.  I think every call with the with the Prime Minister and multiple engagements, meetings.  Met with the families; I was there for that.  

So, again, we look forward to the meeting.  I think we’ve talked about the role she’s played in terms of her engagements with the Israelis throughout, and I think that’ll be an important engagement I know she’s looking forward to. 

And we were just talking about it here with Phil and others about kind of the two meetings — because we have the team here at the White House for a number of hours, which is an opportunity to get an awful lot done.  And then, of course, it’s capped by when the Vice President returns from her domestic travel.  I think we’ll go into the meeting with the Prime Minister I think around 4:30 or so.

So, yeah, I think it’s a pretty good sequence of engagements from the President, to the families, to the Vice President.  And we’re looking forward to the day tomorrow. 

Q    Can I just ask one quick follow-up there?  Do you see her role to reiterate the President’s message?  Or do you see any unique role for her in these meetings, in diplomacy?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  There will obviously be no daylight between the President and the Vice President.  I think they talk all the time.  We know very much exactly what we want to try to get done tomorrow. 

And I think the message they’re sending to the Prime Minister tomorrow is that we’re completely aligned; it’s time to do all we can to close the hostage deal, get the hostages home.  And also, we as an administration will continue to do all we possibly can to continue to support Israel’s self-defense against Iran, Hezbollah, all the threats I just mentioned, and the Houthis and everything else. 

So it’s a — I mean, I just want to — I know there’s a lot of focus here on the hostages, a massive agenda when it comes to Israel.  The relationship is so multifaceted.  The threats to Israel are real.  And so, there’s an awful lot to discuss, including, again, I mentioned the Houthis; we just had the attack in Tel Aviv last week and the Israeli response.  Of course, it’s a problem; that’s a challenge we deal with day to day.

So it’s a big agenda.  And between the President and Vice President, the Israelis will hear full alignment.  But, again, I think we have a very good sequence of meetings here set tomorrow. 

Obviously, we were going to do this earlier in the week, but because of the President’s COVID, as we discussed with you, we had to do it here towards the end of the week.  But I think as the week has played out, it’s actually pretty — the way it kind of has come together for tomorrow, I think we’re looking forward to it.  It’s a unique opportunity to have their whole team here for a period of hours to see the hostage families and the President and the Vice President, all in a period of an afternoon. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  And thank you again, everyone, for joining and for dealing with us during our little tech glitch, but we made it through.

And thank you, [senior administration official], for your time today.  

The embargo for this call has now lifted.  And as a reminder, it was held on background, attributable to a senior administration official.

As always, if we weren’t able to get to your question, feel free to reach out to the press distro and we’ll try to get back to you as soon as we can.  Enjoy the rest of your evening. 

4:50 P.M. EDT

The post Background Press Call Previewing the Bilateral Engagement Between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu appeared first on The White House.

Remarks by President Biden in Statement to the American People

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 22:51

8:01 P.M. EDT
 
THE PRESIDENT:  My fellow Americans, I’m speaking to you tonight from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. 
 
In this sacred space, I’m surrounded by portraits of extraordinary American presidents.  Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the immortal words that guide this nation.  George Washington, who showed us presidents are not kings.  Abraham Lincoln, who implored us to reject malice.  Franklin Roosevelt, who inspired us to reject fear.
 
I revere this office, but I love my country more.
 
It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president.  But in the defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it’s more important than any title.
 
I draw strength and I find joy in working for the American people.  But this sacred task of perfecting our Union — it’s not about me.  It’s about you, your families, your futures.  It’s about “We the People.”  We can never forget that, and I never have.
 
I’ve made it clear that I believe America is at an inflection point, one of those rare moments in history when the decisions we make now will determine our fate of our nation and the world for decades to come.  America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward, between hope and hate, between unity and division.
 
We have to decide: Do we still believe in honesty, decency, and respect; freedom, justice, and democracy?
 
In this moment, we can see those we disagree with not as enemies or — but as frien- — as fellow Americans.  Can we do that?  Does character in public life still matter?
 
I believe I know the answer to these questions, because I know you, the American people. 
 
And I know this: We are a great nation because we are a good people.
 
When you elected me to this office, I promised to always level with you, to tell you the truth.  And the truth, the sacred cause of this country is larger than any one of us.
 
And those of us who cheri[sh] that cause — cherish it so much — the cause of American democracy itself — must unite to protect it.
 
You know, in recent weeks, it’s become clear to me that I needed to unite my party in this critical endeavor.  I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future all merited a second term, but nothing — nothing — can come in the way of saving our democracy.  That includes personal ambition.
 
So, I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation.  That’s the best way to unite our nation.
 
I know there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life.  But there is also a time and place for new voices, fresh voices — yes, younger voices.  And that time and place is now.
 
Over the next six months, I’ll be focused on doing my job as president.  That means I will continue to lower costs for hardworking families, grow our economy.  I’ll keep defending our personal freedoms and our civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose.  And I’ll keep calling out hate and extremism and make it clear there is no place — no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period. 
 
I’m going to keep — keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence, our planet from the climate crisis.  It is the existential threat. 
 
And I will keep fighting my — for my Cancer Moonshot so we can end cancer as we know it, because we can do it. 
 
And I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy — Supreme Court reform. 
 
You know, I will keep working to ensure America remains strong and secure and the leader of the free world.
 
I’m the first president in this century to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world.  
 
I will keep rallying a coalition of proud nations to stop Putin from taking over Ukraine and doing more damage.
 
I will keep NATO stronger, and I’ll make it more powerful and more united than any time in all of our history.  And I’ll keep doing the same for our allies in the Pacific.
 
You know, when I came to office, the conventional wisdom was that China would inevitably — would inevitably pass the United — surpass the United States.  That’s not the case anymore.
 
And I’m going to keep working to end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages, and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war. 
 
We’re also working around the clock to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.
 
You know, we have come so far since my inauguration.  On that day, I told you as I stood in that winter — we stood in a winter of peril and a winter of possibilities — peril and possibilities.
 
We’re in the grip of the wor- — we were in the grip of the worst pandemic in a century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.  But we came together as Americans and we got through it.
 
We emerged stronger, more prosperous, and more secure.
 
And today, we have the strongest economy in the world, creating nearly 16 million new jobs — a record.  Wages are up.  Inflation continues to come down.  The racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years.
 
We’re literally rebuilding our entire nation — urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities.
 
Manufacturing has come back to America.  We’re leading the world again in chips and science and innovation.
 
And we finally beat Big Pharma after all these years to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.  And I’m going to keep fighting to make sure we lower the costs for everyone, not just seniors.
 
More people have health care today in America than ever before.  And I signed one of the most significant laws helping millions of veterans and their families who were exposed to toxic materials. 
 
You know, the most significant climate law ever — ever in the history of the world.  The first major gun safety law in 30 years.  And today, violent — the violent crime rate is at a 50-year low.
 
We’re also securing our border.  Border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office.
 
And I kept my commitment to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  I also kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America and to be a president for all Americans.  That’s what I’ve done.
 
I ran for president four years ago because I believed and still do that the soul of America was at stake.  The very nature of who we are was at stake.  And that’s still the case.
 
America is an idea — an idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant.  It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world.
 
That idea is that we hold these truths to be self-evident.  We’re all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.
 
We’ve never fully lived up to it — to this sacred idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either.  And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.
 
In just a few months, the American people will choose the course of America’s future.
 
I made my choice.  I have made my views known.
 
I would like to thank our great vice president, Kamala Harris.  She’s experienced.  She’s tough.  She’s capable.  She has been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country.
 
Now the choice is up to you, the American people.
 
When you make that choice, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin, who’s hanging on my wall here in the Oval Office alongside the busts of Dr. King and Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez.
 
When Ben Franklin was asked as he emerged from the — the con- — the — the convention going on whether the Founders had given America a monarchy or a republic, Franklin’s response was, “A republic, if you can keep it.”  “A republic, if you can keep it.”  Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands.
 
My fellow Americans, it’s been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years.  Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as president of the United States.  But here I am.
 
That’s what’s so special about America.  We are a nation of promise and possibilities, of dreamers and doers, of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things.
 
I have given my heart and my soul to our nation, like so many others.  And I have been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people.
 
I hope you have some idea how grateful I am to all of you.  The great thing about America is here kings and dictators do not rule.  The people do.
 
History is in your hands.  The power is in your hands.  The idea of America lies in your hands.
 
We just have to keep faith — keep the faith and remember who we are.  We are the United States of America, and there is simply nothing — nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.  So, let’s act together, preserve our democracy.
 
God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops. 
 
Thank you.
 
8:13 P.M. EDT

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Memorandum on the Delegation of Authority Under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 16:59

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

SUBJECT:       Delegation of Authority Under the Protecting
Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled
  Applications Act

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby order as follows:

     Section 1.  (a)  I hereby delegate to the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, all authorities vested in the President by the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (Division H of Public Law 118-50).

     (b)  In exercising the authorities delegated in subsection (a) of this section, the Attorney General may, as appropriate, consult with the Director of National Intelligence and the heads of other relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies).

     Sec. 2.  (a)  There is established a Committee for the Review of Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications (Committee), composed of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence.  Not later than 180 days after the date of this memorandum, the members of the Committee, through a process convened by National Security Council staff consistent with National Security Memorandum 2 of February 4, 2021 (Renewing the National Security Council System), shall determine rules and procedures sufficient for the Committee to exercise the authorities delegated to the Attorney General under section 1 of this memorandum.  Upon conclusion of the 180-day period, the Committee shall exercise those authorities in accordance with such rules and procedures.

     (b)  The Director of National Intelligence and the heads of other relevant agencies, as the Attorney General under section 1 of this memorandum or the Committee under section 2 of this memorandum determines appropriate, shall provide assessments of the threat to national security posed by foreign adversary controlled applications in connection with the discharge of the responsibilities, respectively, of the Attorney General or the Committee.  In providing such assessments, the Director of National Intelligence shall solicit and incorporate the views of the Intelligence Community, as appropriate.

     Sec. 3.  The Attorney General is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Executive Order on Establishing an Emergency Board to Investigate a Dispute Between New Jersey Transit Rail Operations and Its Locomotive Engineers Represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 16:48

     A dispute exists between the New Jersey Transit Rail Operations and its Locomotive Engineers represented by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

     The dispute has not heretofore been adjusted under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 151-188 (RLA).

     A party empowered by the RLA has requested that the President establish an emergency board pursuant to section 9A of the RLA (45 U.S.C. 159a).

     Section 9A(c) of the RLA provides that the President, upon such request, shall appoint an emergency board to investigate and report on the dispute.

     NOW, THEREFORE, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including section 9A of the RLA, it is hereby ordered as follows:

     Section 1.  Establishment of Emergency Board (Board).  There is established, effective 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on July 25, 2024, a Board composed of a chair and two other members, all of whom shall be appointed by the President to investigate and report on the dispute.  No member shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of railroad employees or any carrier.  The Board shall perform its functions subject to the availability of funds.

      Sec. 2.  Report.  The Board shall report to the President with respect to the dispute within 30 days of its creation.

     Sec. 3.  Maintaining Conditions.  As provided by section 9A(c) of the RLA, for 120 days from the date of the creation of the Board, no change in the conditions out of which the dispute arose shall be made by the parties to the controversy, except by agreement of the parties.

     Sec. 4.  Records Maintenance.  The records and files of the Board are records of the Office of the President and upon the Board’s termination shall be maintained in the physical custody of the National Mediation Board.

     Sec. 5.  Expiration.  The Board shall terminate upon the submission of the report provided for in section 2 of this order.



                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.



THE WHITE HOUSE,
    July 24, 2024.

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FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Delivers Environmental Justice with Cleaner Air, Clean Water, and Healthier Communities

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 16:39

President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that every person has a right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in a healthy community – now and into the future. During his first week in office, President Biden launched the most ambitious environmental justice agenda in our nation’s history. Today, at the first-ever White House Summit on Environmental Justice in Action, the Biden-Harris Administration released detailed progress reports from 24 federal agencies showcasing how the President is delivering for communities that have faced longstanding environmental injustices and inequities.

The second annual Environmental Justice Scorecard describes the impacts and benefits of more than $600 billion in federal investments that President Biden has secured over Fiscal Years 2022-2027, including through his Investing in America agenda, for programs that are part of the Justice40 Initiative. The goal of the President’s Justice40 Initiative is to deliver 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

The federal agency updates released today outline how these investments – along with new regulatory protections, stronger enforcement of environmental laws, and environmental justice reforms across government – are resulting in cleaner air and water, more affordable clean energy, good-paying jobs, and other real-world benefits that people are experiencing today and will continue to experience for decades to come.

In addition to highlighting the unprecedented progress on environmental justice that has been made over three and a half years under President Biden’s leadership, the Administration has in recent days – as part of its fifth Investing in America tour – announced nearly $5 billion in funding awards from programs covered by the Justice40 Initiative. These include the following:

  • The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $19 million in new grant and loan awards under its Green and Resilient Retrofit Program after announcing more than $142 million last month, bringing the total funding awarded under this program to more than $773 million. This funding supports significant energy efficiency and climate resilience renovations in more than 4,200 homes at properties housing low-income individuals, families, and seniors bringing the total number of homes supported under this program to over 20,000.
  • The Department of the Interior (DOI) awarded $20 million in funding to Alabama to address dangerous and polluting abandoned mine lands, create good-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and catalyze economic opportunity across the state. With this announcement, DOI has now awarded over $1.4 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to states to remediate abandoned mine lands.
  • Tomorrow, EPA will announce the first round of Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program selections, the single largest investment in environmental justice ever to go directly to communities. These selections will advance collaborative efforts to achieve a healthier, safer, and more prosperous future for all. EPA has made $2 billion available and organizations are encouraged to apply for awards by November 21, 2024. EPA will make selections on a rolling basis.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced additional new steps to further the President’s historic commitment to environmental justice, including new actions to advance Executive Order 14096 on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All:

  • The Office of Management and Budget, in coordination with the Council on Environmental Quality, published the second annual Environmental Justice Scorecard, a government-wide assessment of what 24 federal agencies did to advance environmental justice in Fiscal Year 2023. The Environmental Justice Scorecard incorporates recommendations from the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and feedback from the public, environmental justice stakeholders, and experts.
  • The White House Office of Environmental Justice, within the Council on Environmental Quality, launched EnvironmentalJustice.gov, a new website that highlights the Administration’s actions on environmental justice, features stories of progress across America, and shares tools, resources, and funding opportunities to empower communities to navigate federal programs and advance environmental justice in their neighborhoods.
  • The Office of Science and Technology Policy, in coordination with the Council on Environmental Quality, announced the release of the inaugural Environmental Justice Science, Data, and Research Plan. Directed by President Biden, this plan provides actionable recommendations for federal agencies to identify and address longstanding barriers and data gaps that relate to environmental justice. The plan was developed by 11 agencies and three components of the Executive Office of the President that participate in the National Science and Technology Council’s Environmental Justice Subcommittee and was informed by public input.

These announcements build on three and a half years of progress to advance environmental justice under President Biden’s leadership. Other recent highlights include:

  • Finalizing ambitious regulatory protections for clean air, clean water, and fenceline communities. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken broad regulatory action to protect public health and secure environmental justice. The EPA established the first-ever national drinking water standard for PFAS, banned ongoing uses of asbestos, and strengthened lead protections andMercury and Air Toxics Standards. To address elevated cancer risk and other harms to fenceline communities, the EPA finalized new health protections to reduce exposure to ethylene oxide, issued strong standards to reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants, finalized stronger clean air standards for chemical plants, and improved safety standards to protect at-risk communities from chemical accidents. The EPA also took action to adopt stronger standards for harmful soot pollution, which will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and yield up to $46 billion in net health benefits, and finalized national pollution standards for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles as well as heavy-duty vehicles that will deliver $13 billion of annual public health benefits due to improved air quality.
  • Prioritizing resilience, jobs, and workers with historic climate action. President Biden has led and delivered on the most ambitious climate and environmental justice agenda in history, including securing the biggest climate protection bill ever. The President launched the American Climate Corps, a workforce training and service initiative that will ensure more young people have access to the skills-based training they need for good-paying careers in the clean energy and climate resilience economy. The Climate Corps focuses on creating good-paying jobs and advancing environmental justice, prioritizing communities traditionally left behind. To protect all communities in harm’s way due to extreme weather and climate disasters, the Biden-Harris Administration has placed environmental and economic justice at the center of its climate resilience agenda. For example, the President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget invests $23 billion in climate adaptation and resilience across the federal government to help protect the most vulnerable Americans from the economic and physical impacts of climate change. Further, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed a new rule that, if finalized, would establish the nation’s first-ever federal safety standard to protect workers from extreme heat in the workplace.
  • Expanding the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that the voices, perspectives, and lived realities of communities with environmental justice concerns are heard in the White House and reflected in federal policies, investments, and decisions. President Biden appointed 12 additional members to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), a federal advisory committee that President Biden established under Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. The establishment of the WHEJAC marked the first time that a Presidential advisory body has been tasked with providing recommendations to the federal government on environmental justice. The WHEJAC held its first joint public meeting with the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council in June 2024.
  • Increasing public engagement in environmental reviews and the regulatory process. The Biden-Harris Administration finalized a rule to advance environmental justice and promote meaningful public input in the federal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act. The rule helps ensure projects are built smart from the start by promoting early and meaningful engagement with communities, fostering community buy-in, reducing or avoiding conflict, and improving project design.  In addition, the rule directs agencies – consistent with current best practices – to consider environmental justice in environmental reviews and to encourage measures to avoid or reduce disproportionate effects on communities, including the cumulative impacts of environmental and other burdens. The Office of Management and Budget also issued updated guidance to broaden public engagement in the regulatory process. The Administration will continue to seek public input as it develops a federal framework, guidelines, and leading practices for public participation and community engagement activities.
  • Solidifying a whole-of-government commitment to environmental justice. President Biden’s Executive Order 14096 on Revitalizing Our Nation’s Commitment to Environmental Justice for All makes clear that the pursuit of environmental justice is a duty of all executive branch agencies and should be incorporated into their missions. To support agencies in their work to further embed environmental justice into the federal DNA and deliver real, measurable progress, the Council on Environmental Quality released a template for agencies to help develop their Environmental Justice Strategic Plans. Agencies also incorporated environmental justice into updated versions of their Climate Adaptation Plans. Additionally, the Administration is taking ambitious action to tackle plastic pollution and released the first comprehensive, government-wide strategy to reduce the impact of plastic pollution throughout the plastics lifecycle, calling for sustained and coordinated work with communities with environmental justice concerns.
  • Rapidly accelerating locally led efforts to conserve, protect, and expand access to lands and waters across America. From protecting Bristol Bay in Alaska, working to restore healthy and abundant salmon in the Columbia River Basin, and safeguarding the Grand Canyon to investing $1.5 billion in local parks and tree cover, President Biden is protecting and restoring lands and waters that are important to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples and creating more equitable access to nature. The Biden-Harris Administration has also undertaken an all-of-government approach to engage more effectively in supporting local leaders’ efforts to improve access to and create, expand, steward, and conserve parks and green and blue spaces for communities that currently lack access to nature. The Administration released the first-ever U.S. Ocean Justice Strategy to advance environmental justice for communities that rely on the ocean and Great Lakes, and is in the process of evaluating the potential Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, the first Indigenous-led nomination for a National Marine Sanctuary.
  • Strengthening enforcement of environmental and civil rights laws. The Justice Department’s (DOJ) Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) is engaging DOJ bureaus, components, and offices to ensure that DOJ utilizes the full set of legal tools at its disposal to secure environmental justice. OEJ is the central hub as DOJ implements a comprehensive environmental justice enforcement strategy to enhance civil and criminal enforcement of environmental violations in communities overburdened by pollution. For example, following an interim resolution agreement, DOJ and the Department of Health and Human Services announced that the Alabama Department of Public Health has made progress in providing access to basic sanitation services, abating exposure to raw sewage from inadequate onsite wastewater systems, and improving health outcomes for the predominantly Black communities of Lowndes County, Alabama. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency has strengthened its environmental justice enforcement, such as by increasing the percentage of on-site inspections in communities with potential environmental justice concerns and finalizing Superfund settlement agreements for cleanup work near communities with potential environmental justice concerns.
  • Increasing technical assistance and capacity building. The Environmental Protection Agency established a network of 16 environmental justice assistance centers with over 160 partners to support communities and their partners as they work to access federal resources. The program is part of the Federal Interagency Thriving Communities Network, which is developing a holistic government-wide framework for technical assistance and capacity building. The Department of Energy also launched the Regional Energy Democracy Initiative, or REDI, to help direct capacity building and technical assistance for community-based organizations and local stakeholders who are engaged in the coordination, development, and delivery of community benefits associated with Department-funded projects in the Gulf South region. Additionally, the White House published a Technical Assistance Guide to make it easier for communities across the country to navigate, access, and deploy infrastructure, climate resilience, and clean energy funding. The Environmental Protection Agency also launched the Environmental Justice Clearinghouse, a first-of-its-kind online collection of resources related to environmental justice.
  • Reforming federal funding and support for Tribal Nations. To help ensure that the benefits of the Investing in America agenda reach Tribal Nations and Tribal communities, President Biden signed Executive Order 14112 on Reforming Federal Funding and Support for Tribal Nations To Better Embrace Our Trust Responsibilities and Promote the Next Era of Tribal Self-Determination. Among other agency investments, the Department of the Interior recently made available $120 million in new funding to help Tribal communities prepare for the most severe climate-related environmental threats to their homelands. Overall, the Investing in America agenda provides for nearly $560 million in new investments to support climate resilience in Tribal communities.

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President Biden Announces a Presidential Emergency Board, Names Members

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 16:30

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order creating a Presidential Emergency Board to help resolve an ongoing dispute between the New Jersey Transit Rail and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET). The appointment of the Board is required under the Railway Labor Act because a party to the dispute has requested a Board.

The Presidential Emergency Board will provide a structure that allows the two sides to attempt to resolve their disagreements. Within 30 days following its establishment, the Presidential Emergency Board will produce a report to the President with its recommendations for settling the dispute.

President Biden also announced that he intends to appoint the following members to Presidential Emergency Board No. 251:

  • Elizabeth C. Wesman, Chair, Presidential Emergency Board No. 251
  • Barbara C. Deinhardt, Member, Presidential Emergency Board No. 251
  • Lisa SalkovitzKohn, Member, Presidential Emergency Board No. 251

Elizabeth C. Wesman, Chair, Presidential Emergency Board No. 251

Elizabeth Wesman is a full-time labor arbitrator and a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA). She is listed on several labor arbitration panels, including the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the American Arbitration Association, the National Mediation Board, the Oregon Employment Relations Board, and the Washington Public Employment Relations Commission. Wesman is also an Emeritus Professor from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, where she taught Labor Relations, Arbitration, and Human Resource Strategy courses for 20 years. Wesman is past President of the NAA Research and Education Fund and past President of the National Association of Railroad Referees. She holds a Ph.D. from the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. Her academic research and published works have been primarily in the areas of conflict resolution, employment discrimination, and arbitration of Title VII disputes. President Obama appointed her to serve on three Presidential Emergency Boards which studied commuter rail negotiations at New Jersey Transit and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority.

Barbara C. Deinhardt, Member, Presidential Emergency Board No. 251

Barbara Deinhardt is a labor and employment arbitrator and mediator. In 2022, President Biden appointed her to serve on Presidential Emergency Board 250 to resolve a dispute between railroads represented by the National Railway Labor Conference and the Coordinated Bargaining Coalition representing freight railroad unions. In 2014, President Obama appointed her to Presidential Emergency Boards 247 and 248. She has experience in federal and state government, serving as Chair of the New York State Employment Relations Board, as well as Chair of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board.

Lisa Salkovitz Kohn, Member, Presidential Emergency Board No. 251

Lisa Salkovitz Kohn has been a full-time labor and employment arbitrator and mediator for over 30 years. A member of the Board of Governors for the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA), she is a past President of the NAA Research and Education Fund, and a past member of the boards of the Chicago Chapters of the Labor and Employment Research Association and the Association for Conflict Resolution and as a program co-chair for the National Association of Railroad Referees. She is listed on the arbitration panels of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the American Arbitration Association, the National Mediation Board, and has served on the panels of the Illinois Labor Relations Board, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board, and many other labor-management arbitration panels in the public and private sectors. Kohn served for many years as a Hearing Officer and Conciliator for the Chicago Commission on Human Relations and the Cook County (Illinois) Commission on Human Rights. Prior to becoming an arbitrator and mediator, Kohn practiced as a labor attorney for several law firms and served as in-house labor attorney for a large telecommunications company. A native of the District of Columbia, Kohn is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a J.D. from the University of California Berkeley School of Law.

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Remarks by National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard on Bolstering Placed-Based Economic Development

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 16:14

The Roosevelt Institute
As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you to the Roosevelt Institute and particularly Felicia Wong for hosting this important discussion on how we can work together to lift up communities across the country.

The Biden-Harris Administration’s placed-based investment strategy, alongside our efforts to invest in workforce development, are catalyzing economic opportunity in communities across the country that had been left behind.

Our placed-based approach is intentional, and it marks a sharp break from the trickle-down policies that cut taxes for those at the top and pulled back on public investment. Towns lost anchor employers while businesses chased low taxes, low wages, and non-union labor, pushing out good manufacturing jobs and lowering tax revenue that was needed for local investment. These trends were exacerbated by artificially cheap imports from China that wiped out thousands of manufacturing jobs in manufacturing communities. Too many of these communities saw a downward spiral of disinvestment.  And the previous Administration doubled down on the same failed approach by cutting taxes and public investment and promising a resurgence of manufacturing and infrastructure that never materialized.  Instead, these factory towns and other communities around the country fell further behind.

Investing in Communities

The Biden-Harris Administration took a different approach by prioritizing place-based economic development to bring back investments in communities that had been left behind and give them the tools and support to move from setback to comeback.

This approach starts with correcting for decades of disinvestment in infrastructure. By investing in high-speed internet and transportation networks, the Administration is reconnecting neighborhoods to opportunity, revitalizing small businesses, and rebuilding communities’ foundations to unlock new private investment.

This place based strategy is also focused on increasing the capacity of distressed communities. For example, the Administration has launched the Rural Partners Network sending federal staff across the country to help rural communities access a variety of federal resources, and special tax incentives are supporting the Energy Communities that have powered our nation for centuries.

Placed-based economic development means investing in innovation engines that will sustain economic development for years to come in every region of the country.  In previous decades, the majority of innovation investment was concentrated in just a few major metros.  The Department of Commerce’s Tech Hubs and the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines are seeding innovation across the country in a range of sectors where economic opportunity is immense – from clean energy to semiconductors and biotechnology.

Because of this Administration’s approach, communities are shaping development strategies from the bottom-up; effectively putting communities back in the driver seat after being left out for too long.

And when faced with unfair practices from abroad, this Administration is taking necessary actions on behalf of American workers, businesses, and factory towns. China is flooding the market with artificially underpriced exports in areas like vehicles and solar cells, and they’re breaking the rules when it comes to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. That’s why the President has increased tariffs on imports from China in a targeted set of strategic sectors. A 100% tariff on Chinese electrified vehicles, for instance, is enabling auto communities to continue powering our car industry.

Investments in the Workforce

Investing in communities also means investing in people and strong workforce programs. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is putting hundreds of thousands of Americans to work rebuilding our highways and bridges. And more jobs are on the way with nearly $900 billion in announced private sector investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing across. Factory construction is at its highest level on record– more than double the previous Administration.  We’ve heard from unions that they have never seen so much demand for their training programs.

We are working to ensure that communities are prepared for the manufacturing renaissance that is underway. And that these new investments create high-quality, good-paying jobs and pathways to careers in these communities.


That’s why the Administration has established nine Workforce Hubs in areas where clean energy, infrastructure, and semiconductor investments are creating new job opportunities. These Workforce Hubs are bringing state, local, and regional partners together to coordinate and amplify workforce training efforts.

For example, in Michigan, a coalition of government, unions, automakers, nonprofits, and community colleges are preparing workers and businesses who have led the iconic auto industry to lead the way on electric vehicles. This includes aligning on skill needs across the EV supply chain and expanding access to a new curriculum for battery manufacturing.

In the state of New York, companies have announced billions of investments in chip manufacturing catalyzed by the CHIPS and Science Act. The Administration’s Workforce Hub in Syracuse is now focused on meeting the training needs of this emerging industry, starting with an innovative partnership between Micron, AFT, and local high schools.

Supporting Communities

When we meet with the Americans that are opening small businesses in record numbers on Main Streets around the country, we often hear that it is not only the large investments that are helping unlock opportunity but also the child supports and the health insurance tax credits that enable parents to rejoin the workforce and entrepreneurs to take the leap of faith to start businesses.

These place-based investments are more effective when the tax system rewards work and promotes economic opportunity. That means enabling many more Americans to participate in the workforce by restoring the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit and the expanded Child Tax Credit and supporting access to childcare. It also means extending the Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credit expansions that are lifting health insurance coverage rates to record highs and narrowing geographic disparities.

Republicans in Congress and the previous administration instead prioritize tax cuts at the top and deep cuts to crucial programs that advance opportunity in communities that had been left behind.

Place-Based Growth is Working

According to a recent report by the Economic Innovation Group which looked at 1,000 counties that were hit hard by economic shocks over the past two decades, “left-behind counties…experienced their strongest three-year period of job creation and business growth since the turn of the 21st century.” Since President Biden took office, jobs in those previously “left-behind” counties grew more than four times faster per year than under the previous Administration.

This Administration is proud to be working with communities all over the country who are turning setbacks into comebacks. I am dialing in today from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – home to a once-booming steel industry that began to decline in the 1980s, exacerbated by Chinese dumping of steel into the global market. Plants shuttered and job opportunities declined.

But the President and Vice President see opportunity in a city like Pittsburgh investing millions of dollars to support businesses and jobs in grid and electric vehicle manufacturing and advanced robotics. This spring, Pittsburgh’s unemployment rate hit a record low of 3.2%, and Pittsburgh has added more than 80,000 local jobs under the Biden-Harris Administration, recovering all those lost during the prior administration.

This comeback story is not just happening here in Pittsburgh – it is happening in cities and towns across the country from Milwaukee to Scranton to Dayton.

Conclusion

Last fall, I spent time in western Kentucky, part of the Illinois Basin—a region where Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky meet. Across state borders, what unites this region is a shared history of powering the industrial revolution and economic growth, a shared reality of declining demand for coal, and a shared opportunity to create a stronger and more resilient future.

At the start of this Administration, President Biden launched an all-of-government effort dedicated to energy communities like this one—an effort that put federal staff on the ground to understand the communities’ needs and strengths first, and then to identify the resources across the federal government and private sector to make the region’s vision—from infrastructure to entrepreneurship—become a reality.

During my trip to the Illinois Basin, I spoke to local leaders and workers who were coming together to re-envision the region’s economic future. The community is in the driver’s seat, and this Administration is proud to be helping the community get to where they want to go.

Since my visit, Webster and Union counties received $800,000 in federal support to develop a Regional Training Center. In collaboration with Madisonville Community College, the center will train students as utility linemen and diesel mechanics and help them obtain a Commercial Driver’s License. The administrative offices at the former Dotiki Mine will house the training center. And former mine land will be used to train new skills for new jobs.

It’s a small investment with outsized outcomes across a region. It’s a community turning setback into comeback—one of many now underway across the country.

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Remarks by Vice President Harris at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated’s Grand Boulé

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 14:02

Indiana Convention Center

Indianapolis, Indiana

12:50 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  (Applause.)  Good afternoon, everyone.  Good afternoon.  Please have a seat.  Good afternoon.

I was just saying to your most glorious president, Stacie NC Grant, she and I talked about this visit months ago, sitting together, having a meeting in the Oval Office.  And we were tal- — and she invited me then to attend today.  And — and I just want to — I — if I can, I just want to thank you in front of all of the sisters who are here.  (Applause.) 

She has provided years of support and friendship.  And she always — like everyone here knows, she always shows up.  And I’m so, so deeply grateful.  Thank you.

And to everyone here, it is so good to be with you.

To the former presidents who are in attendance; to the International Board of Directors; and to all of the fine members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated — (laughs) — (applause) — it is my great, great honor to be with you today.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And I love you back.  (Laughs.)

And also, I — I — on Air Force Two, joining me, is Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove.  (Applause.)  And I know here is also our dearest Mrs. Opal Lee, the grandmother of Juneteenth.  (Applause.) 

Oh, there she is.  (Laughs.)  Right there.

And to all of the distinguished ladies, I thank you so very much for this warm welcome.

And I will begin by saying a few words about our president, Joe Biden.  So, tonight — (applause).  Yes, thank you.  Yes.

So, tonight, our president will address the nation about his decision to step down as a candidate, and he will talk about not only the work — the extraordinary work that he has accomplished but about his work in the next six months.

And so, before he does and while I am here with you, I want to just share with you a little bit about him based on what I know, based on personal experience. 

Joe Biden is a leader with bold vision.  He cares about the future.  He thinks about the future.  He has extraordinary determination and profound compassion for the people of our country.  And I say that because I know that we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation.  (Applause.)

And to the sisters of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, I thank you — (applause) — for your incredible service to our nation as well.

You know, I — I know who we all are.  I know who is here.  And I know, therefore, that we share a vision for the future of our nation — a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead; a future of social justice, health justice, economic justice — just as you have laid out in this year’s theme.

Ours is a vision of a future in which we realize the promise of America.  And I deeply believe in the promise of America: a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice not for some but for all.

And for generations, the Finer Women of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, have fought to build that brighter future. 

During the Civil Rights Movement, you marched for voting rights, economic justice, and an end to segregation.  For more than 50 years, you have worked with the March of Dimes to lift up the urgent issue of maternal health.  (Applause.)  And from the 1980s, you inaugurated Zeta Days.

And I will tell you, when I was a United States senator, I would see this group of powerful leaders walking through the halls of Congress in white and blue — (laughter) — and I always knew I was looking at some of the most powerful advocates for justice in America.  (Applause.)  Truly.

And, of course, your leadership continued in 2020, when, during the height of a pandemic, you helped elect Joe Biden president of the United States — (applause) — and me as the first woman vice president of the United States.  (Applause.)  And I thank you. 

And now, in this moment, our nation needs your leadership once again.

In this moment, I believe we face a choice between two different visions for our nation: one focused on the future, the other focused on the past.

And with your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.

And let us be clear about what that future looks like.  I know the leaders in this room, and I know the future we believe in and we fight for.

We here believe in a future where, for example, everyone has affordable health care — (applause) — which is why our administration capped the cost of insulin for our seniors at $35 a month.  (Applause.)

We believe in a future where no child has to grow up in poverty, which is why I helped pass the Child Tax Credit, which cut child poverty in half — (applause) — and cut Black child poverty even more.  (Applause.)

We believe in a future where the economy works for working people.  That is why we forgave student loan debt for more than 5 million Americans.  (Applause.)  And if you or anyone you know benefitted from that, please testify.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

And we are finally making it so that medical debt can no longer be used against your credit score.  (Applause.) 

And it is because of our collective vision for the future that we continue to fight for affordable childcare, affordable elder care, and paid family leave.  (Applause.)

We here believe in a future where all women and all mothers are safe.  That is why, as vice president, I have elevated and took on the crisis of maternal mortality, knowing that women in America die at a higher rate in connection with childbirth than women in any other wealthy nation in the world and Black women are three times more likely to die in connection with childbirth.  And for too long, this has been a crisis in our country.  And it is time that we recognize the crisis it is.

In fact, when I took office, I challenged every state in our nation on this issue.  Because, you see, I said, “Look, we need to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from a measly two months to a full year.” 

And I am proud to report, whereas when I issued the challenge only three states offered a full year of coverage, now 46 states do.  (Applause.)

So, I say, as we work to build a brighter future and to move our nation forward, we must also recognize there are those who are trying to take us backward.

You may have seen their agenda.  Part of it is called Project 2025. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Now, can you believe they put it in writing?  Nine hundred pages of it.

Project 2025: a plan to return America to a dark past.

They intend to cut Medicare; to repeal our $35 cap on insulin; to eliminate the Department of Education; to end programs like Head Start, which would take away pre-school for hundreds of thousands of children in our communities.

Let’s be clear: This represents an outright attack on our children, our families, and our future.

These extremists want to take us back.  But we are not going back.  We are not going back.  (Applause.)

Ours is a fight for the future.  And ours is a fight for freedom.

Across our nation, we are witnessing a full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights: the freedom to vote, the freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to live without fear of bigotry and hate, the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride, the freedom to learn and acknowledge our true and full history, and the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government telling her what to do.  (Applause.)

And in the face of these attacks, we must continue to stand together in defense of freedom.

We who believe in the sacred freedom to vote will make sure, then, that every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted.

We who believe that every person in our nation should be free from gun violence will finally pass universal background checks, red flag laws, and an assault weapons ban.  (Applause.)

We who believe that every person in our nation should be free from bigotry, discrimination, and hate will continue to fight for equality and justice for all.

And we who believe in reproductive freedom will fight for a woman’s right to choose, because one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.  (Applause.)

You know, when he was president, Donald Trump, the former president, hand-picked three members of the United States Supreme Court because he intended for them to overturn Roe v. Wade — the United States Supreme Court — previously the court of Thurgood and RBG.  And as he intended, they did.

Well, let me tell you something.  When I am president of the United States — (applause) — and when Congress passes a law to restore those freedoms, I will sign it into law.  (Applause.)

We are not playing around.  (Laughter and applause.) 

So, in conclusion, to the incredible members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, I say: There is so much at stake in this moment.  There’s so much at stake.

And again, then, in this moment, our nation, as it always has, is counting on you to energize, to organize, and to mobilize; to register folks to vote, to get them to the polls; and to continue to fight for the future our nation and her people deserve. 

And we know when we organize, mountains move.  (Applause.)  When we mobilize, nations change.  (Applause.)  And when we vote, we make history.  (Applause.)

So let continue to fight with optimism, with faith, and with hope.  Because when we fight, we win.

God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)  God bless you.

Thank you.

                             END                1:05 P.M. EDT

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FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration’s Progress Creating a Future Made in America

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 09:00

Since day one, President Biden and Vice President Harris have worked to make “Made in America” a reality. In his first week in office, President Biden signed his Executive Order on Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers, which established the first ever Made in America Office at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and launched a whole-of-government initiative to support American manufacturing. The President and Vice President secured historic legislation to make “Made in America” a reality — including enacting legislation the last administration failed to pass — and implemented the most robust change to the Buy American Act in almost 70 years to ensure that taxpayer money is supporting workers and manufacturing across America.

The Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda is a Made in America agenda. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law put Americans to work rebuilding our nation with American-made materials, and included the Build America, Buy America Act to require that all iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in Federally funded infrastructure projects are produced in the America. The CHIPS and Science Act is making the United States once again a world leader in manufacturing semiconductors that power our lives. And the Inflation Reduction Act is powering a manufacturing revolution in clean energy industries of the future.

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris, businesses are building factories that will power our economy for years to come. The private sector has committed nearly $900 billion in investments in American manufacturing and our power sector, including sectors central to our industrial strength. Construction of factories has doubled — to a record high — after falling under the previous administration. And the United States has created nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs, after the last administration lost manufacturing jobs.

These are the largest investments in American manufacturing in generations, and they build on historic actions by the Biden-Harris Administration that are making “Made in America” a reality.

The Biden-Harris Made in America Agenda

  • Closing Loopholes: In his 2024 State of the Union address, the President announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is taking a historic step to boost domestic manufacturing in transportation. The Department of Transportation published a proposal to discontinue a sweeping Reagan-era Buy America waiver for manufactured products in federal-aid highway projects. This proposal would close a giant loophole and further advance the President and Vice President’s commitment to support American manufacturers and good-paying jobs across the United States. This proposal will bolster our nation’s manufacturing and help create good-paying, American jobs that support the growth of domestic manufacturing.
  • CHIPS: The CHIPS and Science Act has spurred a reshoring of high-tech semiconductor manufacturing capacity back to the United States. Semiconductors are the lifeblood of the future economy and are vital to our economic and national security. Since the President and Vice President took office, dozens of companies have committed to invest nearly $400 billion in total semiconductor investments across this country. These investments have been enabled by the Department of Commerce CHIPS incentive program, which has reached preliminary terms with 13 semiconductor manufacturers across the supply chain to provide nearly $30 billion in direct funding and $25 billion in loans. The Department of Commerce has also launched the National Semiconductor Technology Center and announced billions in research and development funding opportunities; the National Science Foundation has catalyzed hundreds of millions in funding for workforce initiatives; and the Department of Defense has funded research hubs throughout the country to ensure America continues to lead industries of the future. America invented the semiconductor, and once again we are on track to revitalizing our domestic semiconductor industry through over a hundred thousand jobs all across the nation – helping ensure more chips are made in America by American workers.
  • Buy American: In 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the most robust updates to the implementation of the Buy American Act in nearly 70 years to ensure taxpayer dollars create good-paying jobs here at home, and strengthen critical supply chains. This rule increased the domestic content requirements for Made in America for federal procurement from 55 percent of the value of their component parts that are manufactured here to a threshold of 60 percent in 2022, 65 percent in 2024, and 75 percent in 2029. This action also closed loopholes in the current regulation while allowing businesses time to onshore manufacturing and adjust their supply chains to increase the use of American-made components.
  • Broadband: The Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda includes historic funding for high-speed internet access, spurring hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in broadband manufacturing as numerous companies onshore and expand domestic manufacturing capacity.As a result of these policies, close to 90% of the funding spent on equipment for the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program will be spent on equipment manufactured in the United States. Implementation of the BEAD Program is creating thousands of good-paying manufacturing jobs across the country — from Kenosha, Wisconsin to Hickory, North Carolina and Gilbert, Arizona. Workers in these communities are now producing broadband equipment, like fiber optic cable and key electronics, necessary to bring affordable, reliable high-speed internet to everyone in America.
  • Port Infrastructure: The Administration continues to deliver for the American people by rebuilding the U.S.’s industrial capacity to produce port cranes with trusted partners. The Administration will invest over $20 billion, including through grants, into U.S. port infrastructure over the next 5 years through the Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. As a result, PACECO Corp., a U.S.-based subsidiary of Mitsui E&S Co., Ltd (Japan), is planning to onshore U.S. manufacturing capacity for its crane production. Leveraging over $20 billion in funding for America’s ports infrastructure over the next 5 years, alongside the recent Executive Order on Amending Regulations Relating to the Safeguarding of Vessels, Harbors, Ports, and Waterfront Facilities of the United States to bolster the security of the nation’s ports, and tariffs to protect American workers and businesses from China’s unfair trade practices, these investments will support and better secure America’s critical infrastructure.
  • High Speed Rail: The Brightline West High Speed Rail project is made possible by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The Department of Transportation plans to provide $3 billion in federal funding to Brightline West for the rail project, which will create 35,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent positions when completed in 2028. The railroad is projected to carry 8 million passengers a year between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Because of the work of the Biden-Harris Administration, it is estimated that more than 95 percent of the total direct dollar expenditures for the Project will be spent on domestically sourced products and labor. The project sponsors also established a commitment with several craft rail unions for the use of highly skilled union labor in critical operations and maintenance jobs. The memorandum of understanding with the High-Speed Rail Labor Coalition is comprised of 13 rail unions representing more than 160,000 freight, regional, commuter, and passenger railroad workers in the United States.
  • Clean Energy Manufacturing: The Biden-Harris climate and infrastructure laws have spurred a boom in American clean energy manufacturing as factories break ground nationwide to make electric vehicle batteries, solar and wind components, and other nuts and bolts of the growing clean energy economy. Since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, companies have announced more than $250 billion in investments in American clean energy and electric vehicle manufacturing, creating new U.S. manufacturing jobs and helping communities that have been left behind make a comeback. While federal agencies deploy unprecedented investments to support American manufacturing, the Biden-Harris Administration has also taken bold action to protect America’s growing clean energy manufacturing workforce from unfair trade practices in China by increasing tariffs on imports from China in strategic sectors such as electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, and steel and aluminum.
  • Electric Vehicle Chargers: Under the Biden-Harris Administration, at least 40 Electric Vehicle (EV) charger factories in the United States have been announced or opened, representing at least half a billion dollars of investment in the American EV charging network. These investments are spurred by the successful implementation of the American manufacturing plan for EV chargers. This new policy for EV chargers restored Buy America standards for these products, while also giving time for supply chains to adjust — allowing newly announced manufacturing capacity for EV charger components the necessary time to ramp up production. This increased EV charger manufacturing helps enable the $7.5 billion that is going toward building the nation’s EV charging network.

Publicly available EV charging infrastructure has grown by over 93% since the President and Vice President took office. There are now over 185,000 public EV chargers across the country. The United Steelworkers said the approach to Buy America for EV chargers “creates demand signals for companies to make investments in the United States knowing they will benefit from the Buy America preference.”

  • Tech Hubs: The Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration recently awarded $504 million to 12 Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs to accelerate the growth of manufacturing and innovative industries, such as clean energy, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors, in communities across the country. These Tech Hubs will ensure that the benefits of innovation and technology development, which for too long have been concentrated in a few coastal cities, reach rural, industrial, and disadvantaged communities, growing regional economies from the bottom-up and the middle-out.
  • Industrial Mobilization: The Office of Management and Budget issued guidance to agencies to better leverage federal procurement dollars to strengthen domestic sourcing for critical products and supply chains. This action is in furtherance of the President’s directive to develop enhanced price preferences and better leverage industrial mobilization authority to support American manufacturing. These actions will allow agencies to manage and mitigate supply chain risks as well as take a targeted approach to support competition and combat harm to domestic industries as a result of subsidies from non-market economies.
  • Invent it Here Make it Here: The President’s Executive Order on Federal Research and Development in Support of Domestic Manufacturing and United States Jobs furthers America’s policy of “invent it here, make it here”— benefitting American workers, communities, and global supply chain resilience. The EO will boost the incentive to manufacture new inventions in the United States when those inventions are developed using Federal funds and encourages the expansion of domestic production for critical industries. That means as we bring new inventions to market that were developed through taxpayer dollars, we’re prioritizing American workers, manufacturing, and American ingenuity.
  • Construction Materials: The President announced in the 2023 State of the Union that the Federal government would take steps to ensure construction materials that are used in projects that it funds, from copper and aluminum to fiber optic cable, lumber, and drywall, are made in America. The Biden-Harris Administration has since delivered on that commitment, and these standards now apply to virtually all infrastructure spending supported by Federal financial assistance. Meanwhile, thanks to the historic investments in the Biden-Harris climate law, the Department of Energy recently announced more than $6 billion in industrial decarbonization grants to deploy game-changing technologies for steel, aluminum, cement, and other foundational materials. The Biden-Harris Administration also launched the Federal Buy Clean Initiative, to leverage the U.S. government’s purchasing power to spur demand for clean construction materials, like concrete, asphalt, steel and glass. Federal agencies are currently deploying more than $4 billion under Buy Clean.
  • Personal Protective Equipment: The Make PPE in America Act, which was signed into law as part of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, requires the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs, to purchase American-made personal protected equipment (PPE). The COVID-19 pandemic made clear the need to reduce U.S. reliance on essential foreign goods like PPE. To minimize this vulnerability, this law seeks to ensure that PPE will be made here in America, support domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs, and build resilient supply chains.

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Statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the Visit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House

Wed, 07/24/2024 - 08:55

President Biden will welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 25 to the White House. The leaders will discuss developments in Gaza and progress towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal and the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, including countering Iran’s threats to Israel and the broader region. Following the leaders’ meeting, they will meet together with the families of Americans held hostage by Hamas. The Vice President will also meet separately with Prime Minister Netanyahu on July 25.

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Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Political Event

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 22:42

West Allis Central High School

West Allis, Wisconsin

1:33 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  (Applause.)  Good after- — hi, Wisconsin.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you all.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Tha- — (laughs) — thank you.  Thank you, thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you all.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you, everyone.  Thank you.  Tha- — good afternoon, Wisconsin!  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

Good afternoon, everyone.  Thank you.  It is good to be back.  Thank you all very much.  (Applause.) 

Can we please hear it for Leia and her extraordinary story and leadership?  (Applause.)  Thank you.

And I do believe our teachers do God’s work.  They teach other people’s children, and God knows we don’t pay them enough.  Let’s thank her.  (Applause.)

And it is so good to be here and be back with so many extraordinary leaders, including my friend, the great governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers.  (Applause.)  He’s here somewhere. 

My dear friend, Senator Tammy Baldwin.  (Applause.)  And, you know, I had the privilege of serving with Tammy when I was in the United States Senate, and she is always fighting for the people of this state.  And I know that the folks that are here are going to make sure you return her to Washington, D.C., in November.  (Applause.)  Yes, we are going to elect her back to Washington, D.C.

It is so good to be here also with Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez — (applause); Attorney General Josh Kaul — (applause); Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski — (applause); County Executive David — David Crowley — (applause); Mayor Cavalier Johnson — (applause); and the great state party chair, Ben Wikler — (applause) — who I have worked with — Ben, you and I have been working together for years.  And I can attest, he knows how to build the infrastructure that delivers wins up and down the ballot.  Thank you, Ben.  (Applause.)

So, it is good to be back in Wisconsin, and it is great to be in Milwaukee.  (Applause.) 

As many of you know, our state campaign headquarters are in this city.  (Applause.)  Yes.  And th- — there’s a reason for that: The path to the White House goes through Wisconsin.  (Applause.)  Yes, it does.  And to win in Wisconsin, we are counting on you, right here in Milwaukee.  (Applause.)

And you all helped us win in 2020.  (Applause.)  And in 2024, we will win again.  (Applause.)  Yes, we will.

So, Milwaukee, I want to start by saying a few words — and I could really speak at length — but a few words about our incredible president, Joe Biden.  (Applause.)

It has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as vice president to our president, Joe Biden.  (Applause.)
    
Joe’s legacy of accomplishment over his entire career and over the past three and a half years is unmatched in modern history.  (Applause.)

In one term — think about it.  In one term as president, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office.  (Applause.)

And I know we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his continuing service to our nation.  (Applause.)  And it is my great honor to have Joe Biden’s endorsement in this race.  (Applause.) 

So — so, Wisconsin, I am told, as of this morning, that we have earned the support of enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination.  (Applause.)  And I am so very honored.  And I pledge to you I will spend the coming weeks continuing to unite our party so that we are ready to win in November.  (Applause.)

So, friends, we have 105 days until Election Day.  And in that time, we’ve got some work to do.  But we’re not afraid of hard work.  We like hard work, don’t we?  (Applause.)  And we will win this election.  (Applause.)  Yes, we will.

So, as Leia told you, before I was elected vice president,  before I was elected a United States senator, I was elected attorney general of the state of California.  And I was a courtroom prosecutor before then.  (Applause.) 

And in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds — (laughter) — predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.  So, hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.  (Applause.)  (Laughs.)

AUDIENCE:  Kamala!  Kamala!  Kamala!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And in this campaign, I promise you I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week.  (Applause.) 

As attorney general of California, I took on one of our country’s largest for-profit colleges that was scamming students.  Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  As a prosecutor, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse.  Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  As attorney general of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud.  (Applause.)  Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Lock him up!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  But let’s also make no mistake: This campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump.  This campaign is about who we fight for.  (Applause.)  This is about who we fight for.

Just look at how we are running our campaigns.  So, Donald Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations, and he is trading access in exchange for campaign contributions. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  A couple of months ago — y’all saw that? — a couple months ago at Mar-a-Lago, he literally promised Big Oil companies — Big Oil lobbyists he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign donations.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  On the other hand, we are running a people-powered campaign.  (Applause.)  And we just had — some breaking news: We just had the best 24 hours — (applause) — of grassroot fundraising in presidential campaign history.  (Applause.)  All right?

And because we are a people-powered campaign, that is how you know we will be a people-first presidency.  (Applause.) 

And, Wisconsin, this campaign is also about two different visions for our nation: one where we are focused on the future, the other focused on the past. 

We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead — (applause); a future where no child has to grow up in poverty — (applause); where every worker has the freedom to join a union — (applause); where every person has affordable health care — (applause) — affordable childcare — (applause) — and paid family leave.  (Applause.)  We believe in a future where every senior can retire with dignity.  (Applause.)

So, all of this is to say: Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.  (Applause.)  Because here’s the thing we all here, Wisconsin, know: When our middle class is strong, American is strong.  (Applause.)

But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward. He and his extreme Project 2025 agenda —

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — will weaken the middle class. 

Like, we know we got to take this seriously.  And can you believe they put that thing in writing?  (Laughter.)  Read it.  It’s 900 pages.

But here’s the thing: You — when you read it, you will see Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations and make working families foot the bill.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  They intend to end the Affordable Care Act —

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — and take us back, then, to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Remember what that was like?

AUDIENCE:  Yes!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Children with asthma, women who survived breast cancer, grandparents with diabetes.

America has tried these failed economic policies before, but we are not going back.  (Applause.)  We are not going back.  We’re not going back. 

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back! 

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’re not going back.

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back! 

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We are not going back.

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back! 

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’re not going back.

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’re not going back. 

And I’ll tell you why we’re not going back: because ours is a fight for the future.  (Applause.)  And it is a fight for freedom.  (Applause.)

Generations of Americas b- — generations — and we have to remember this: the shoulders on which we stand.  Generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom.  And now, Wisconsin, the baton is in our hands.  (Applause.)

We who believe in the sacred freedom to vote — (applause) — will make sure every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted.  (Applause.)

We who believe that every person in our nation sh- — who should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence — (applause) — will finally pass red flag laws, universal background checks, and an assault weapons ban.  (Applause.)

And we who believe in reproductive freedom — (applause) — will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans because we trust women to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.  (Applause.)

And when Congress passes a law to restore reproductive freedoms, as president of the United States, I will sign it into law.  (Applause.)

So, Wisconsin, ultimately, in this election, we each face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in? 

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  A country — (laughter and applause).  And to your point — (laughter) — do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law — (applause) — or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?

AUDIENCE:  No!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And here’s the beauty of this moment: We each have the power to answer that question.  The power is with the people.  (Applause.)  We each have the power to answer that question.

And in the next 105 days, then, we have work to do.  (Applause.)  We have doors to knock on, we have phone calls to make, we have voters to register, and we have an election to win.  (Applause.)

So, Wisconsin, today I ask you: Are you ready to get to work?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in freedom?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in opportunity?  (Applause.)

Do we believe in the promise of America?  (Applause.)

And are we ready to fight for it?  (Applause.)

And when we fight —

AUDIENCE:  We win!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win.

God bless you.  And God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.)

END                 1:52 P.M. CDT

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Nominations Sent to the Senate

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 21:31

     Lisa T. Ballance, of Oregon, to be a Member of the Marine Mammal Commission for a term expiring May 13, 2027, vice Frances M.D. Gulland, term expired.

     Gabriel Escobar, of Texas, a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Paraguay.

     David Samuel Johnson, of Virginia, to be Inspector General for Tax Administration, Department of the Treasury, vice J. Russell George, deceased.

     Patrice H. Kunesh, of Minnesota, to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission for the term of three years, vice E. Sequoyah Simermeyer, term expired.

     Matthew James Marzano, of Illinois, to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the term of five years expiring June 30, 2028, vice Jeffery Martin Baran, term expired.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Puerto Rico Disaster Declaration

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 20:46

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and ordered Federal aid to supplement Commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides from April 29 to May 10, 2024.

Federal funding is available to Commonwealth and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides in the municipalities of Adjuntas, Guánica, Lajas, Las Marías, Luquillo, Maricao, Naranjito, Orocovis, Sábana Grande, San Sebastián, Toa Alta, Utuado, and Yauco.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for the entire Commonwealth.

Mr. Robert Little III of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Damage assessments are continuing in other areas, and more counties and additional forms of assistance may be designated after the assessments are fully completed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Missouri Disaster Declaration

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 18:20

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Missouri and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding from May 19 to May 27, 2024.

The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Barry, Butler, Carter, Howell, New Madrid, Ripley, Scott, Shannon, Stoddard, and Texas.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding is also available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding in the counties of Barry, Bollinger, Butler, Carter, Howell, Madison, McDonald, New Madrid, Oregon, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Shannon, Stoddard, and Texas.

Lastly, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

Mr. David R. Gervino of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362), or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, can give FEMA the number for that service. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Kentucky Disaster Declaration

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 18:13

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and ordered Federal assistance to supplement Commonwealth and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, landslides, and mudslides from May 21 to May 27, 2024.

The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Christian, Clay, Greenup, Hopkins, Knox, Logan, Muhlenberg, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren, and Whitley.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding is also available to Commonwealth and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, landslides, and mudslides in the counties of Adair, Allen, Ballard, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Clay, Clinton, Crittenden, Cumberland, Edmonson, Estill, Fulton, Garrard, Graves, Grayson, Green, Hart, Hickman, Hopkins, Jackson, Knox, Larue, Laurel, Lee, Leslie, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, McCreary, McLean, Meade, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Owsley, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Whitley, and Woodford.

Lastly, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for the entire Commonwealth.

Mr. E. Craig Levy Sr. of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the Commonwealth and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362), or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, can give FEMA the number for that service. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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Statement from President Joe Biden on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum in Washington, DC

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 18:01

As stakeholders gather tomorrow for the African Growth and Opportunity Act Forum in Washington, I call on Congress to quickly reauthorize and modernize this landmark Act—which is set to expire in 2025. 

For more than two decades, the bipartisan African Growth and Opportunity Act has formed the bedrock of America’s economic partnership with African nations.  In sub-Saharan Africa, it has increased the competitiveness of African products, led to the creation of tens of thousands of quality jobs, and helped advance human rights. Here at home, AGOA has created investment opportunities and new markets for American businesses.  And on both sides of the Atlantic, AGOA has promoted sustainable economic growth and resilient supply chains.  

As I’ve said before, America is all in on Africa.  This week—and in the weeks to come—let’s prove it.  And together, let’s ensure future generations of Americans and Africans can meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the decades ahead.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Disaster Declaration for the Chickasaw Nation

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 15:32

Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists for the Chickasaw Nation and ordered federal aid to supplement the Tribal Nation’s efforts in the areas affected by severe storms from March 14 to March 15, 2024.

Federal funding is available to the Chickasaw Nation and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for the Chickasaw Nation.

Mr. Maona N. Ngwira of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the Tribal Nation and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

###

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President Biden Announces Key Nominees

Tue, 07/23/2024 - 15:15

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as key leaders in his administration:

  • David Samuel Johnson, Nominee to be Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Department of the Treasury
  • Gabriel Escobar, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Paraguay
  • Patrice H. Kunesh, Nominee to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission
  • Lisa T. Ballance, Nominee to be Chair and Member of the Marine Mammal Commission
  • Matthew James Marzano, Nominee to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

David Samuel Johnson, Nominee to be Inspector General for Tax Administration, U.S. Department of the Treasury

David Samuel Johnson is a career member of the Senior Executive Service and the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, where he oversees a law enforcement directorate responsible for conducting investigative oversight of the second-largest federal agency. He previously served for more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, both as an Assistant Chief in the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as well as an Assistant United States Attorney and Health Care Fraud Coordinator at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Johnson also served as an Assistant Chief Litigation Counsel at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He began his legal career as an associate at an international law firm and a law clerk for the Honorable Rosemary M. Collyer on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. From 2008 to 2010, Johnson was a board member and secretary of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund.

Johnson received his B.A. in Government from the University of Virginia and J.D. from William & Mary Law School. He previously served as an adjunct law professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Johnson resides in Virginia with his wife and daughter.

Gabriel Escobar, Nominee to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Paraguay

Gabriel Escobar, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, most recently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Washington, D.C. Prior to that, Escobar served as the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, as Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and as the Coordinator for Cuban Affairs, in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department. Escobar was also Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, and Consul General of the U.S. Consulate General in Peshawar, Pakistan. Escobar’s earlier assignments include service as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal and as a team leader for the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kirkuk, Iraq. Escobar also served in the U.S. Naval Reserve for 17 years and was honorably discharged in 2003. Escobar earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University. He speaks Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Italian, Serbian, Croatian, and Czech.

Lisa T. Ballance, Nominee to be Chair and Member of the Marine Mammal Commission

Lisa T. Ballance is the Director of Oregon State University’s (OSU) Marine Mammal Institute, Endowed Chair of Marine Mammal Research, and Professor of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences. In this role she oversees the vision and implementation of research, education, and outreach for the Institute’s professors, post-doctorates, students, and staff. Prior to joining OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute, Ballance directed the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Fisheries’ Marine Mammal and Turtle Research Division in La Jolla, California, providing scientific leadership and oversight for scientists conducting applied research in the context of Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Act directives. She was also Chief Scientist of NOAA’s Eastern Tropical Pacific Dolphin Research Program, which provided the scientific basis for the “Dolphin Safe” label found on tuna cans in supermarkets all over the country. Ballance holds a PhD in Marine Ecology, an M.S. in Marine Science, and a B.S. in Biology. She has studied the ecology and conservation biology of cetaceans and seabirds for over 35 years around the world. She has published more than 150 scientific papers, book chapters, and technical reports; regularly gives invited presentations at professional conferences, universities, public lectures, and policy-related briefings; and mentored post-doctorate, doctorate, masters, and undergraduate honors students. Ballance is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recipient of the U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze and Silver Medals, NOAA Fisheries’ Supervisor of the Year, and cover feature of the Association for Women in Science.

Patrice H. Kunesh, Nominee to be Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission

Patrice H. Kunesh, of Standing Rock Lakota descent, has committed her career to public service, including several positions at the tribal, state, and federal level. Kunesh currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Native American Affairs and the Commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Prior to joining HHS, Kunesh worked at the Native American Rights Fund, where she began her legal career, and served as in-house Counsel to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and on the faculty at the University of South Dakota School of Law. Kunesh also held appointments as the Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as the Deputy Solicitor for Indian Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Interior, and as a member of the U.S. Treasury Community Development Advisory Board (CDFI Fund) as the representative for Native communities. Additionally, she established the Center for Indian Country Development, an economic policy research initiative at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Kunesh also founded Peȟíŋ Haha Consulting, a social enterprise committed to fostering culturally centered Native economic development. 

Kunesh holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Matthew James Marzano, Nominee to be a Member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Matthew James Marzano currently serves as an Idaho National Laboratory Detailee on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), where he advises the committee on policy matters relating to clean air, climate, and energy. Most recently, he advised the Chairman on the ADVANCE Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to prepare the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to handle an expected surge in new nuclear reactor models. Prior to this role, Marzano was selected as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Congressional Fellow, representing the American Nuclear Society and serving on the U.S. Senate EPW Committee.

Marzano combines his policy background with more than a decade of experience in the nuclear industry, during which he focused on nuclear energy systems for both defense and commercial applications. Prior to his service in the U.S. Senate, Marzano earned his Senior Reactor Operator license at Braidwood Nuclear Power Station, located in Illinois, where he led installation testing of a modernized control system to improve plant performance and safety. He began his career as a civilian instructor for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program at the U.S. Department of Energy. In that capacity, he oversaw the training of U.S. Navy personnel preparing for assignment as nuclear plant operators on submarines and aircraft carriers. Following this role, Marzano transitioned to the commercial nuclear power industry at the V.C. Summer new nuclear construction project in South Carolina, where Marzano supported construction activities while pursuing a Senior Reactor Operator license.

Marzano earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Florida, where his research focused on the modeling of nuclear energy systems. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and 1-year old son.

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