Statements and Releases

Tonight, bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate voted to keep the government open, preventing an unnecessary crisis that would have inflicted needless pain on millions of hardworking Americans. This bill ensures that active-duty troops will continue to get paid, travelers will be spared airport delays, millions of women and children will continue to have access to vital nutrition assistance, and so much more. This is good news for the American people.
 
But I want to be clear: we should never have been in this position in the first place. Just a few months ago, Speaker McCarthy and I reached a budget agreement to avoid precisely this type of manufactured crisis. For weeks, extreme House Republicans tried to walk away from that deal by demanding drastic cuts that would have been devastating for millions of Americans. They failed.
 
While the Speaker and the overwhelming majority of Congress have been steadfast in their support for Ukraine, there is no new funding in this agreement to continue that support. We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted. I fully expect the Speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment.

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Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan spoke on the phone today with Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti.  Mr. Sullivan conveyed condolences for the loss of the Kosovo police officer slain in the line of duty during the violent attacks that took place on September 24.  He also expressed concern about Serbian military mobilizations near the Kosovo border.  He noted recent decisions by NATO to bolster the NATO Kosovo Force’s (KFOR) presence and activity, especially in northern Kosovo, and underscored the readiness of the United States to work with our Allies to ensure KFOR remained appropriately resourced to fulfill its mission.  In addition, Mr. Sullivan and Prime Minister Kurti discussed the EU-facilitated Dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, which Mr. Sullivan underscored was the only long-term solution to ensuring stability throughout Kosovo.

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For decades, Big Pharma blocked Medicare from negotiating lower drug prices for seniors, while drug companies made record profits. President Biden and Congressional Democrats finally changed that when they passed the Inflation Reduction Act – while every single Republican in Congress sided with Big Pharma to keep health care costs high for millions of families.

Today’s ruling from the Southern District of Ohio affirms that Medicare will move forward with negotiating lower prices for millions of seniors. And, the Biden-Harris Administration won’t stop fighting for what we know to be true: that nothing in the Constitution prohibits Medicare from negotiating drug prices.

Because of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and this program, millions of people with Medicare will continue to see prescription drug costs go down for some of the costliest drugs that treat common conditions like heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, and more.

There is no reason why Americans should be forced to pay two to three times more for their prescription drugs that any other developed nation. President Biden and his Administration will continue fighting to lower health care costs for American families, no matter how many challenges Republicans and Big Pharma put in our way.

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With one day before the end of the fiscal year, instead of following the bipartisan lead of the Senate to keep the government open, 90% of House Republicans just voted for a partisan bill to eviscerate programs millions of hardworking families count on—with a devastating 30% cut to law enforcement, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, and more. They are breaking their word, abandoning the bipartisan deal that two-thirds of them voted for just four months ago, and marching our country toward an Extreme Republican Shutdown that will damage our economy, our communities, and national security. Here’s what it would mean for the American people if extreme House Republicans’ 30% cuts were extended for the entire year.

IMPACTS OF EXTREME REPUBLICANS’ 30% CUTS:

• 12,500 fewer FBI personnel, including agents who investigate crimes and keep guns out of the hands of felons and domestic abusers
• Nearly 1,000 fewer agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). ATF agents are often some of the first federal law enforcement on the scene of a mass shooting to help local law enforcement identify at-large shooters
• 500 fewer members of local law enforcement
• 2,215 fewer prosecutors fighting to keep America safe
• 250,000 children would lose access to child care
• 290,000 children would lose access to Head Start slots
• 1 million seniors would be robbed of nutrition services like Meals on Wheels
• 3.2 million women, infants, and children would lose vital nutrition assistance through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
• 13,000 fewer National Institutes of Health research project grants, stalling research progress cancer and Alzheimer’s
• Up to 145,000 teachers and staff could be removed from classrooms and school
• 100,000 students would lose access to Pell Grants
• 10,000 fewer rail safety inspection days next year alone, and roughly 44,000 fewer miles of track inspected annually—enough track to cross the United States nearly 15 times
• 850,000 households could lose access to Housing Choice Vouchers
• 1 million American workers would be denied job training and employment services, with 135,000 fewer workers gaining the opportunity of a Registered Apprenticeship
• 180,000 workers would lose an average of $1,000 in back wages that they are owed
• 240 Social Security field offices could be forced to close or shorten the hours they are open to the public
• 37,000 fewer Americans would receive substance use treatment services

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Pregnant women must have access to the emergency medical care they are entitled to under federal law. However, last night, the Ninth Circuit blocked a federal judge’s order that protected women in need of emergency medical care from Idaho’s extreme and dangerous abortion ban. The Ninth Circuit’s decision puts women’s health at risk, threatening doctors with prosecution for providing emergency care.

The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply concerned by this decision. In Idaho and in states across the country, far too many women are suffering the devastating consequences of delayed care, which is threatening their health and lives. 

The President and I will never stop fighting for reproductive rights. Congress must pass a bill that restores the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law.

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From the Latino business owners and workers who help fuel our nation’s economy to the barrier-breaking Latino leaders the President has appointed throughout the federal government, the Latino community has embodied the truth that our diversity is our strength as a Nation. This Hispanic Heritage Month, the Biden-Harris Administration continues to celebrate the remarkable achievements and contributions of the Latino community. Through the major laws and executive orders, the President has signed — from the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, two executive orders on racial equity, and more — President Biden and Vice President Harris will continue to invest in the future of Latino communities.

Growing Economic Opportunity for Latino Families and Communities
President Biden’s economic plan — Bidenomics — is one that invests in the future of all communities, including Latino communities, by making smart public investments in America, empowering and educating workers to grow the middle class, and promoting competition to lower costs and help entrepreneurs and small businesses thrive. And this vision is already delivering results. Bidenomics has:

• Created 13.5 million jobs — including around 4 million for Latino workers — and achieved the lowest Latino unemployment rate on record.
  
• Achieved record low Latino child poverty rates in 2021, due in large part to the American Rescue Plan’s expansion of the Child Tax Credit.
  
• Tripled the Earned Income Tax Credit for 17 million workers without dependent children — an estimated 26% of all workers benefitting are Latino. 
  
• Began reversing decades of infrastructure disinvestment, including with $4 billion to reconnect communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities by transportation infrastructure and to help advance transportation projects in underserved communities, including Latino communities.
  
• Began closing the digital divide for Latino families, with funding and a commitment to connect every person in America to reliable, affordable high-speed internet by 2030. Over a third of Latino households report not having high-speed internet at home.
  
• Delivered the largest investment in tackling legacy pollution in American history, which disproportionately impacts communities of color: 29% of Latinos live within three miles of a Superfund site.

Helping Latino-Owned Small Businesses Grow and Thrive
Under this Administration, Latino entrepreneurs have started new businesses at the fastest rate in over 10 years — faster than any other demographic in the country. To continue this momentum, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

• Improved the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) flagship loan guarantee programs to expand the availability of small dollar loans to underserved communities. Since fiscal year 2020, the number of SBA-backed business loans to Latino entrepreneurs increased by more than 80%.
  
• Launched a whole-of-government effort to expand access to federal contracts and awarded a record $69.9 billion to small disadvantaged businesses last fiscal year.
  
• Through Treasury’s Emergency Capital Investment Program, invested $1.6 billion in Latino-owned and Latino-majority shareholder depository institutions.
  
• Through Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative, provided $2.5 billion in funding and incentive allocations to support the provision of capital to underserved businesses — with $1 billion of these funds to be awarded to the jurisdictions that are most successful in reaching underserved businesses.

Ensuring Equitable Educational Opportunity for Latino Students
To expand educational opportunity for the Latino community in K12 and beyond, Biden-Harris Administration has:

• Secured a 30% increase in child care assistance funding last year. 25% of families benefiting from federal child care assistance come from Latino families. Additionally, the President secured an additional $1 billion for Head Start, a program where more than a third of children and pregnant women who benefit identify as Latino.
  
• Through the American Rescue Plan, secured $130 billion — the largest investment in public education in history — to help students get back to school and recover academically in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
• Reestablished the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics.
  
• Approved more than $117 billion in student loan debt cancellation for 3.4 million Americans and launched a new student loan repayment plan — the Saving on a Valuable Education plan — to help many students and families cut in half their total lifetime payments per dollar borrowed.
  
• Championed the largest increase to Pell Grants in the last decade – a combined increase of $900 to the maximum award over the past two years to benefit low – and middle-income students.
  
• Invested nearly $15 billion in Hispanic-serving colleges and universities, the largest investment in the future of Hispanic students in our entire history. 
  
• Fixed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, so all qualified borrowers get the debt relief they are entitled to.  More than 662,000 public servants have received more than $42 billion in loan forgiveness since October 2021.

Empowering and Protecting Latino Workers
To empower and protect all workers, including Latino workers, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

• Provided $40 billion in American Rescue Plan funds to States, localities, community colleges, and local organizations to deliver training, expand career paths, encourage more Registered Apprenticeships, provide retention and hiring bonuses in critical industries, and power efforts to help underserved Americans and those who face barriers to employment secure good jobs.  Individuals who identify as Hispanic now represent 22% of all apprentices, higher than their 18% share of the overall workforce.
  
• Protected workers, including Latino workers, who are suffering from extraordinarily high temperatures when they work outside by directing the Department of Labor to issue the first-ever Hazard Alert for heat and ramp up enforcement to protect workers from extreme heat. 
  
• Updated Davis-Bacon prevailing wage standards for the first time in nearly 40 years, which will raise wages over time for one million construction workers, including Latino workers.
  
• Proposed a new rule to extend overtime pay to as many as 3.6 million workers — including 420,000 Latino workers — including by increasing the overtime salary threshold from about $36,000 per year to roughly $55,000 per year.

Improving Health Outcomes for Latino Communities
President Biden believes that we are stronger as a Nation when we work together to lift everyone’s well-being. To improve health outcomes for Latinos, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

• Increased Latino enrollment in health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act by 900,000, or 53%, from 2020 to 2022, helping more Latinos gain health insurance than ever before.
  
• Through the Inflation Reduction Act, locked in lower monthly premiums and helped close the gap in access to medication by improving prescription drug coverage and lowering drug costs in Medicare.  Over the next 4 years, Medicare will negotiate prices for up to 60 drugs covered under Medicare Part D and Part B, and up to an additional 20 drugs every year after that. 
  
• Allocated $7.6 billion through the American Rescue Plan to nearly 1400 community health centers, which predominately serve Latinos and communities of color, and provided 69% of Latino uninsured adults access to a zero-premium plan and 80% access to a health plan for less than $50 a month.
  
• Made a historic $1.5 billion investment to grow and diversify the nation’s health care workforce through programs such as the National Health Service Corps, where 13% of primary care physicians are Latino (compared to 6% in the national physician workforce).
  
• Through the Department of Health and Human Service’s Language Access Steering Committee, prioritized providing access to language services appropriate to health and behavioral health care services to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities for underserved communities, including Latinos.
  
• The Biden-Harris Administration is leading the most ambitious climate, conservation, and environmental justice agenda in history. This includes the Justice40 initiative, which is delivering 40% of certain Federal investments in clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, clean water, and other programs to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized and overburdened by pollution. The Administration is also working to replace every lead pipe in America, ensure millions of low-income households have access to affordable, clean solar energy through the Inflation Reduction Act, and more. In addition, just last week, President Biden launched the American Climate Corps – a workforce training initiative that will put more than 20,000 young people to work in the growing fields of clean energy, conservation and climate resilience, prioritizing equity and environmental justice in order to leverage the talents of all members of society.

Improving Our Immigration System
The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to pursuing immigration reform legislation, including a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and farm workers, , and will continue to call on Congress to make long overdue reforms to the U.S. immigration laws. To improve our immigration system, the Biden-Harris Administration:

• Issued a Day 1 Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Attorney General, to take actions to preserve and fortify the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, under which eligible undocumented immigrant youth are provided temporary protection from removal and work authorization. In October 2022, the Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule codifying the DACA policy. The Department of Justice continues to defend DACA against legal challenges.
  
• Stood up programs that allow noncitizens to request appointments at ports of entry or apply for lawful pathways at overseas processing centers, in addition to creating a parole program for noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.  
  
• Provided continued protection to Salvadorians, Hondurans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans through Temporary Protected Status.
  
• Directed the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of State to improve naturalization processing, identify and remove barriers to naturalization, and reduce backlogs for naturalization applications.  Earlier this year and consistent with the President’s directive, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services published guidance to simplify the naturalization process for individuals serving in the U.S. armed forces, and to clarify naturalization processes for adopted children.

Enhancing Public Trust and Strengthening Public Safety for Latino Communities
Our criminal justice system must protect the public and ensure fair and impartial justice for all. These are mutually reinforcing goals. To enhance equal justice and public safety all communities, including the Latino community, the President has:

• Signed into the law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the most significant gun violence reduction legislation enacted in nearly 30 years, taken more meaningful executive action than any other president to make our schools, churches, grocery stores, and communities safer, and launched the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Latinos are twice as likely to be a victim of gun violence and homicide.
  
• Signed a historic Executive Order to put federal policing on the path to becoming the gold standard of effectiveness and accountability by requiring federal law enforcement agencies to ban chokeholds; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate the use of body-worn cameras; implement stronger use-of-force policies; provide de-escalation training; submit use-of-force data; submit officer misconduct records into a new national accountability database; and restrict the sale or transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, among other things. 
  
• Taken decisive and historic action to make America’s communities safer, including calling on Congress to invest roughly $25 billion in federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement to prevent and reduce crime through evidence-based strategies; protect civil rights; and fund additional officers for safe, effective, community-oriented policing consistent with the standards in the President’s Executive Order to enhance public trust and safety.
  
• Secured the first-ever dedicated funding stream for community violence intervention programs that have reduced violence by as much as 60%.

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The President and First Lady will continue the annual tradition of opening the White House gardens and South Grounds to members of the public for Fall Garden Tours. This season’s tour weekend is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 14 and Sunday, October 15.  In the event that the federal government is shut down on these dates, the Fall Garden Tours will be postponed or canceled. 

These tours are free and open to members of the public; however, a timed ticket is required for all attendees, regardless of age. The National Park Service (NPS) will distribute free, timed tickets outside the White House Visitor Center, located at 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, each day beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Timed tickets will be distributed, one ticket per person, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Once attendees have received their tickets, the South Lawn entry point for everyone will be located on 15th St NW between E Street NW and Constitution Avenue NW near the Boy Scout Memorial. The ADA entrance will be located at 15th Street NW and Alexander Hamilton Place NW.

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Senator Dianne Feinstein was one of the greatest public servants that California and our nation has ever known.
 
As the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco, and the longest-tenured woman to serve in the United States Senate, Dianne Feinstein broke barriers, inspired generations of women to run for office, and improved the lives of millions of Americans through her vision, courage, and leadership.
 
From her work to help pass the Assault Weapons Ban in 1994, to her work to safeguard California’s public lands, and her longstanding advocacy for reproductive rights, marriage equality, and LGBTQ+ rights, Senator Feinstein helped build a better America.
 
For years, I witnessed Senator Feinstein’s leadership, when the cameras were on and when they were off. In 2008, when I was re-elected District Attorney of San Francisco, it was Senator Feinstein who swore me in. As a United States Senator, it was my honor to serve the people of California alongside Senator Feinstein.

On the Senate Intelligence Committee, we spent a great deal of time together—in classified, bipartisan briefings and hearings—working on issues critical to America’s national security and the stability of the world. Senator Feinstein and I shared a fundamental belief in the importance of strong American leadership. And I saw firsthand how she worked courageously to ensure that our leadership was guided by our nation’s values.
 
In the tradition of so many great Senators from California, she was not only a leader for our state, but for our nation and our world. Through her long career, Senator Feinstein worked across the aisle to help our nation live up to its promise.
 
Doug and I send our prayers to Senator Feinstein’s family.

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Extreme House Republicans are now tripling down on their demands to eviscerate programs millions of hardworking families count on—proposing a devastating 30% cut to law enforcement, Meals on Wheels, Head Start, and more. They are breaking their word, abandoning the bipartisan deal that two-thirds of them voted for just four months ago, and marching our country toward an Extreme Republican Shutdown that will damage our economy and national security. The path forward to fund the government has been laid out by the Senate with bipartisan support—House Republicans just need to take it.

 
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Senator Dianne Feinstein was a pioneering American. A true trailblazer. And for Jill and me, a cherished friend.

In San Francisco, she showed enormous poise and courage in the wake of tragedy, and became a powerful voice for American values. Serving in the Senate together for more than 15 years, I had a front row seat to what Dianne was able to accomplish. It’s why I recruited her to serve on the Judiciary Committee when I was Chairman – I knew what she was made of, and I wanted her on our team. There’s no better example of her skillful legislating and sheer force of will than when she turned passion into purpose, and led the fight to ban assault weapons. Dianne made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties. She’s made history in so many ways, and our country will benefit from her legacy for generations.

Often the only woman in the room, Dianne was a role model for so many Americans – a job she took seriously by mentoring countless public servants, many of whom now serve in my Administration. She had an immense impact on younger female leaders for whom she generously opened doors. Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared, and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that’s what Jill and I will miss the most.

As we mourn with her daughter Katherine and the Feinstein family, her team in the Senate, and the people of California, we take comfort that Dianne is reunited again with her beloved Richard. May God Bless Dianne Feinstein.

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With just one day before the end of the fiscal year, extreme House Republicans are playing partisan games with peoples’ lives and livelihoods and marching our country toward a government shutdown that would have devastating consequences for small businesses and needlessly undermine America’s economic progress. Their partisan approach stands in stark contrast to the Senate’s bipartisan action toward keeping the government open and abiding by the bipartisan budget deal two-thirds of House Republicans voted for just four months ago.
 
An Extreme Republican Shutdown would force the Small Business Administration (SBA) to stop processing new business loans for small businesses. Each weekday the government is shut down, hundreds of small businesses would see their 7(a) and 504 loan applications fail to move forward. That means extreme House Republicans would deny more than $100 million in critical financing to American small businesses every day. These delays can have devastating consequences for small business owners and the communities they support, including losing the ability to purchase critical real estate or equipment, losing out on business deals and opportunities, and being forced into high-interest, price-gouging loans. A shutdown would also make it harder for small businesses to access federal contracting opportunities by halting the processing of applications for nearly all government contracting programs—only months after the SBA announced that the Biden-Harris Administration had awarded a record $163 billion in contracts to small businesses in Fiscal Year 2022. And an Extreme Republican Shutdown would close SBA’s district offices, preventing more than 2,000 Americans every day from receiving assistance.
 
During the first two years of the Biden-Harris Administration, Americans filed more than 10.5 million applications to start new small businesses, the two strongest years on record—part of the President’s Bidenomics agenda to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up.
 
The reason this critical support for small businesses is now at risk: extreme House Republicans’ relentless efforts to slash funding for vital programs—including those that help small businesses—rather than work in a bipartisan manner to keep the government open and address emergency needs for the American people. House Republicans have turned their backs on the bipartisan budget deal that two-thirds of them voted for just a few months ago and instead proposed a continuing resolution (CR) that would make devastating cuts to programs that millions of hardworking Americans count on—including to the Small Business Administration.
 
Below is a state-by-state estimate of the more than $100 million in financing that small businesses would lose out on every day during an Extreme Republican Shutdown:

StateAverage Small Business Financing Delayed Each Business Day[1]Alabama$985,300Alaska$334,000Arizona$3,175,300Arkansas$666,700California$22,465,000Colorado$3,796,100Connecticut$1,175,000Delaware$219,100District of Columbia$245,100Florida$10,331,700Georgia$5,494,100Hawaii$147,600Idaho$1,136,800Illinois$5,246,700Indiana$2,495,600Iowa$933,100Kansas$791,400Kentucky$766,600Louisiana$1,163,300Maine$498,600Maryland$1,480,300Massachusetts$2,198,500Michigan$3,772,900Minnesota$3,677,600Mississippi$526,900Missouri$2,054,600Montana$513,200Nebraska$764,200Nevada$1,465,200New Hampshire$715,200New Jersey$3,433,800New Mexico$616,100New York$5,589,200North Carolina$3,353,800North Dakota$382,100Ohio$4,627,400Oklahoma$1,304,300Oregon$1,985,400Pennsylvania$3,963,500Rhode Island$392,500South Carolina$1,631,000South Dakota$449,100Tennessee$1,484,100Texas$12,658,400Utah$3,069,000Vermont$200,400Virginia$2,122,200Washington$3,780,600West Virginia$246,300Wisconsin$3,027,800Wyoming$268,800

[1] Data reflects Small Business Administration 7(a) and 504 loans in FY 2022, which can be accessed at https://careports.sba.gov/views/7a504Summary/Report?%3Aembed=yes&%3Atoolbar=no

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Today, White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden and U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona hosted a livestreamed event with higher education leaders from across the nation to unveil a new Department of Education report, “Strategies for Increasing Diversity and Opportunity in Higher Education.” The report calls on states and higher education leaders to prioritize efforts in the areas of outreach, admissions, financial aid, and college completion that advance diversity on college campuses. And it answers President Biden’s charge to the Department to elevate promising practices to build inclusive, diverse student bodies in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina, which upended decades of precedent on affirmative action that had enabled America’s colleges and universities to build vibrant diverse environments.

During the event, Director Tanden and Secretary Cardona reiterated President Biden and Vice President Harris’ unyielding commitment to expanding access to educational opportunity for all. They underscored how this moment demands leadership, innovation, and collaboration from leaders at every level to break down barriers for underserved students and reimagine pathways into higher education. And they expressed their gratitude to participants who represented a range of higher education institutions – including Ivy Leagues, HBCUs, MSIs, and community colleges – for their leadership in adopting key practices promoting diversity in higher education consistent with the law.

Participants in today’s event included:

• Gene Block, Chancellor, University of California, Los Angeles
• Christopher Eisgruber, President, Princeton University
• Anne Kress, President, Northern Virginia Community College
• Patricia McGuire, President, Trinity Washington University
• Javier Reyes, Chancellor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• David Wilson, President, Morgan State University

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

• Aprille Joy Ericsson to be Assistant Secretary of Defense (Science and Technology), Department of Defense
• John N. Nkengasong, Nominee to be Ambassador-At-Large for Global Health Security and Diplomacy, Department of State

 
Aprille Joy Ericsson to be Assistant Secretary of Defense (Science and Technology), Department of Defense
Aprille Joy Ericsson is the New Business Lead, Instrument Systems and Technology Division, for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, home to the nation’s largest concentration of scientists, engineers and technologists dedicated to Earth and space science. Ericsson has served at NASA for more than 30 years in a variety of leadership positions to include chief technologist, program executive for Earth Science, business executive for Space Science as well as leading new business strategy for the center. Ericsson has a depth and breadth of experience in Astrophysics, Heliophysics, Planetary and Earth Science with a portfolio including missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, ICESat-1 and 2, and lunar orbiters.

Ericsson has held multiple adjunct faculty appointments at universities and serves on several boards. She is also co-founder and advisor to the nonprofit STEM youth Dynamic Mathematical Visionaries National Society of Black Engineers Jr. Chapter in Washington, D.C. In these roles, Ericsson has been a tireless champion for the advancement of women and people of color in the STEM fields.
Ericsson is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and honors including being named one of the top 50 minority women working in science and engineering by the National Technical Association and recognized among the top 20 “Most Powerful Women Engineers” by Business Insider. Her awards include the Washington Award from the Western Society of Engineers, Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society) Alumni of Distinction Award and the 2022 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Ralph Coates Roe Medal awardee, the highest award bestowed by ASME.

Ericsson earned a B.S. in Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering from MIT. In addition, she earned a Master of Engineering, as well as a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University. Ericsson has also received honorary degrees from Medgar Evers College, Rutgers, and Saint Peter’s Universities.

John N. Nkengasong, Nominee to be Ambassador-At-Large for Global Health Security and Diplomacy, Department of State
John N. Nkengasong is currently the Ambassador-At-Large and Coordinator of U.S Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy at the Department of State. If confirmed, Nkengasong would lead the new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, which provides a single voice of leadership on global health security and diplomacy and advances the State Department’s longstanding focus on HIV/AIDS through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Previously, he was Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which is a specialized technical institution of the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to that, Nkengasong was Acting Deputy Director, Center for Global Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and before that the Chief of the International Laboratory Branch, Division of Global HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis at the CDC. Nkengasong also served as the Associate Director for Laboratory Science, Division of Global AIDS/HIV and Tuberculosis, Center for Global Health, CDC, and Co-Chair of the PEPFAR’s Laboratory Technical Working Group. He has also served as a board member for the International Vaccine Initiative in New York, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, in Norway.

Nkengasong received his B.Sc. from the Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, his M.Sc. from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium and his Ph.D from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Brussels, Belgium. He also received a Diploma in Leadership and Management from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the first laurate of the Virchow Prize for Global Health and served as one of the WHO Director General’s Special Envoys for COVID-19 since 2020. He is a member of the U.S National Academy of Medicine. He has authored or co-authored over 250 peer-review papers and book chapters in professional journals.

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On September 27, 2023, German State Secretary Joerg Kukies, G7/G20 Sherpa and Economic Advisor of the Federal Chancellor, met with U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Mike Pyle, alongside their delegations, to discuss German-U.S. cooperation on a range of bilateral, regional, and global economic issues.

The talks took place under the aegis of the U.S.-Germany Economic Dialogue announced in the 2021 Washington Declaration.

The discussions focused on how to promote the clean energy transition and enhance energy security, strengthen and protect multilateralism, support technology development and preserve economic security, and address key challenges for the global economy.

In addition, participants met with representatives from German and U.S. companies to discuss strengthening trade and investment.

The German delegation also included Director General for Economic, Financial and Climate Policy in the Federal Chancellery Steffen Meyer; State Secretary Udo Philipp, Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action; State Secretary Heiko Thoms, Federal Ministry of Finance; and State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The U.S. delegation also included Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann; Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo; Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Jose W. Fernandez; National Security Council Senior Directors Tarun Chhabra and Sarah Ladislaw; National Security Council Director Brendan Kelly; Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Finance Brent Neiman; and Deputy Chief of Mission Woodward C. Price.

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Today, as part of President Biden’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, eight federal agencies clarified—for the first time in writing—that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits certain forms of antisemitic, Islamophobic, and related forms of discrimination in federally funded programs and activities. These wide-ranging protections provide important tools to curb discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics and to better protect the civil rights of all Americans.

The Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Treasury, and Transportation will also ensure that agency staff understand and are ready to respond to this kind of discrimination, engage with entities that are prohibited from discriminating in these ways to explain their legal responsibilities, and inform communities of their rights to be free from such discrimination and how to file complaints. In addition, the agencies will continue to investigate complaints under Title VI and other civil rights authorities and vigorously enforce protections within federally funded programs and activities they administer. Examples include shielding people from harassment or discrimination on transit systems funded by the Department of Transportation (DOT); in housing funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); or in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-funded food programs.

Each agency today is clarifying the ways in which Title VI covers discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, including certain forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination. These actions were developed with support from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and provide details about how these protections may cover individuals of many different faith traditions, such as people who are Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Hindu, or Buddhist. Agency fact sheets are being translated into Yiddish, Hebrew, Arabic, Punjabi, and other languages to ensure that a diverse array of populations can access this vital civil rights information, and additional languages will be available upon request.

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to all programs and activities supported by federal financial assistance. Thus, these protections are wide-ranging and provide important tools to prevent and curb discrimination.
Today’s announcement is a deliverable of President Biden’s National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released in May 2023. This strategy represents the most comprehensive and ambitious U.S. government effort to counter antisemitism in American history. It includes over 100 actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to address the rise of antisemitism in the U.S. Since the release of the strategy, agencies have taken dozens of actions. Highlights include:

• The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) published a resource guide for houses of worship and other faith-based institutions to increase security while sustaining an open and welcoming environment.

• DHS has held listening sessions nationwide with communities impacted by targeted violence to better understand evolving threats and address their safety and security needs, with an emphasis on underserved communities. These sessions are ongoing and will help improve accessibility and information-sharing of DHS’ resources to meet the needs of those impacted by hate-motivated violence.

• The Department of Education (ED) launched an Antisemitism Awareness Campaign to ensure all students are able to attend schools free of discrimination. To open this campaign, in May, ED issued a Dear Colleague Letter specifically on antisemitism to schools, reminding them of their legal obligation under Title VI. The Department of Education has long detailed how Title VI applies to shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics in the educational setting. To further these crucial efforts to counter antisemitism, today, ED will launch the first of several Fall site visits to address and learn about antisemitism at schools and colleges. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten will visit the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco to engage with students, educators, school administrators, and community leaders around countering antisemitism. Then, the ED team will join San Francisco Hillel for a closed-door conversation with Jewish students from Bay Area colleges around their experiences of antisemitism on college campuses.

• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at DHS is expanding security capacity-building services to historically targeted communities, including Jewish communities. This includes sessions on active shooter preparedness; an introduction to bomb threat management; tabletop exercise packages for places of worship, such as synagogues; a training on responding to suspicious behaviors and items; and a workshop held at the White House, in cooperation with the White House and DHS Offices of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, on Sept. 28.

• DOJ released updated informational materials about the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), which provide an overview of the law and DOJ’s enforcement efforts, as well as information about how to identify and report violations. DOJ also announced that it will host a series of outreach events on RLUIPA in 2023 and 2024.

• By the end of September, DOJ will launch the United Against Hate program in all 94 of its U.S. Attorneys’ Offices to strengthen trust between law enforcement and communities that are often the targets of hate, including Jewish communities, teach community members how to identify and report hate crimes and hate incidents. DOJ has already held more than 200 events nationwide.

• DOT, through the Federal Transit Administration, has initiated research to identify the data available at the transit-agency level to better understand the extent to which race, ethnicity, and religion or religious appearance impact assaults on, harassment of, and discrimination against transit riders, including antisemitism. DOT completed interviews at the nine largest transit agencies in the United States and plans to share its findings in a future report.

• The Small Business Administration (SBA) is providing training and resources for small business owners and employees on preventing and responding to antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of hate. For example, SBA is working with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to encourage small businesses and employees to report antisemitic and other hate incidents to the proper authorities. SBA will host a webinar to share these resources broadly.

• The EEOC has disseminated materials on nondiscrimination and religious accommodations in the workplace, including a fact sheet to inform employees of their rights when they face antisemitism at work. Since last October, it has held more than 40 outreach and training events at its field offices around the country.

• HUD issued a letter to 200 federally-funded fair housing partners on how to identify and counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination in housing.

• The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) will extend its national tour of the Americans and the Holocaust exhibition at public and academic libraries in partnership with the American Library Association. To date, it has reached more than 300,000 visitors at 50 host sites across the country. The tour will continue to an additional 50 libraries in 2024.

• AmeriCorps circulated resources to its grantees and sponsors, who support about 200,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in nearly 40,000 locations across the country, on ways to help counter antisemitism and hate, and enhance the physical security of religious communities.

• The Department of the Interior (DOI) is distributing new resources on Jewish American heritage through the National Park Service (NPS). Additionally, starting in October, NPS will integrate guidance on stopping or preventing antisemitic behavior in parks into staff trainings. NPS will also add tools on countering antisemitism to bystander intervention and conflict de-escalation trainings that are available to all DOI staff.

• In November, USDA will host a summit in Omaha, Nebraska that will include a diverse group of more than 100 religious leaders from across the country to assess the state of antisemitism, highlight effective strategies to counter antisemitism, and build solidarity across faiths.

• The Department of State and the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism produced a report documenting existing overseas programs, policies, and actions that counter antisemitism to help inform domestic efforts to counter antisemitism.

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is providing ongoing trainings on antidiscrimination laws to medical students nationwide. HHS is also holding listening sessions with Jewish and Muslim chaplains on religious discrimination in healthcare settings. These sessions will inform future HHS departmental priorities.

• The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will launch its Artists for Understanding and Connecting initiative in October. Through this work, the NEA will raise awareness of the power of the arts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia and others forms of hate.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities has placed a special call for applications within existing funding opportunities to encourage research and projects on antisemitism and Islamophobia. Additionally, last week, NEH announced $2.8 million in funding in every state and jurisdiction through its United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture initiative for humanities-based programming that counters hate-motivated violence as well as antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination in the United States.

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In conjunction with White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities, Administration announces more than $500 million in additional investment for resilience

Across the country, Americans are experiencing the devastating impacts of climate change. In just the first eight months of the year, there have been 23 separate billion-dollar weather and climate disasters – more than any other year on record. And the longer-term effects of climate change – including sea-level rise, hotter average temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and more – are affecting every corner of society and every community in America.

That’s why President Biden is leading the most ambitious climate, conservation, and environmental justice agenda in history. Today President Biden is fulfilling a commitment he made in June to host the first-ever White House Summit on Building Climate Resilient Communities. This Summit, which will include representatives from more than 25 states, territories, and Tribal Nations, underscores the Administration’s commitment to solutions that will both dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and better manage climate threats, and recognizes the importance of locally tailored, community-driven strategies.

The Summit will amplify the leadership of climate resilience practitioners nationwide – the construction workers, educators, resource managers, city and state resilience officers, emergency managers, local and Tribal leaders, and many others who are striving to help their communities adapt to today’s climate impacts and prepare for future climate risks. It also provides an opportunity for practitioners and senior Administration officials from more than 15 federal departments and agencies to jointly discuss needs and opportunities for future climate resilience efforts, including maximizing the impact of the more than $50 billion for climate resilience in President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, as well as President Biden’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE), which builds climate resilience in developing countries.

In conjunction with the Summit, the Administration is releasing the National Climate Resilience Framework, a vision for a climate resilient Nation designed to guide and align climate resilience investments and activities by the federal government and its partners. The Framework identifies common principles and specific actions to expand and accelerate progress towards six objectives:

Additionally, the Administration is announcing today more than a dozen new actions – including the awarding or availability of more than $500 million in dedicated funding – to help build a climate resilient Nation, and commitments from major philanthropies to expand financial support for climate resilience and align investments with national climate resilience priorities.

Today’s announcements come on the heels of a historic stretch of actions and investments through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to bolster climate resilience nationwide. Just last week, President Biden took executive action to launch the American Climate Corps – a workforce training and service initiative that will mobilize more than 20,000 young Americans to help build a more sustainable, resilient nation. And in the past two months, the Administration has also invested billions to combat extreme heat and storm-induced flooding by expanding urban forests, build community resilience to extreme weather, and strengthen the security and sustainability of the electrical grid in rural communities and Puerto Rico, and Hawaiʻi.

Today’s actions include:

Boosting Climate Resilience in Buildings

• Transitioning the Building Sector to Zero Emissions. The Department of the Treasury issued guidance this week on the 45L new energy efficient home tax credit that offers up to $5,000 to eligible contractors who construct, reconstruct, or rehabilitate an energy efficient home to meet EPA Energy Star Certification and DOE’s Zero Energy Ready Homes Certification. This comes on the heels of the Department of Energy opening applications for $400 million for states and territories to adopt and implement building energy codes that reduce utility bills, increase efficiency, lower greenhouse gas emissions that fuel the climate crisis, and make buildings more resilient to climate disaster.
• Strengthening the Power Grid for States and Tribes. The Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing the eighth cohort of its Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants. This cohort includes $167.7 million in awards from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law across 11 states, 2 territories, and 20 Tribes. With this cohort, DOE has now awarded more than $748 million to modernize the electric grid to reduce impacts of climate-driven extreme weather and natural disasters, while also ensuring power sector reliability.
• Promoting Climate Resilient Building and Energy Codes and Standards. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Mitigation Framework Leadership Group, which works with federal agencies to advance hazard risk reduction across the nation, is issuing a set of Federal best practices for incorporating latest consensus-based codes and above-code standards to achieve climate resilience and greenhouse gas reduction in physical assets that are funded with federal dollars. This publication is a product of the National Initiative to Advance Building Codes.
• Advancing Federal Agency Leadership in Climate Adaptation Planning. Federal agencies are taking action to build a resilient government through the implementation of their Climate Adaptation Plans, which are roadmaps that agencies developed to adapt physical assets and operations to climate risk. The White House Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Management and Budget are directing agencies to use a data-driven, climate science-based approach to evaluate their climate risk and develop resilience and adaptation strategies that will ensure more resilient federal operations and a resilient workforce.  

Strengthening Local Engagement and Partnerships

• Establishing New Community Climate Resilience Centers. The Department of Energy is announcing the recipients – in Arizona, California, Maryland, Michigan, and North Carolina – of a combined $5 million to establish Climate Resilience Centers. These centers will improve the use and utility of DOE climate science and engagement with local communities to address local climate resilience challenges while also supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions.
• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Climate Adaptation Partnerships program (CAP/RISA) is announcing eight new awards totaling approximately $3.9 million. Funded projects will work cross-regionally – in flood-impacted communities everywhere from Hawai’i and the U.S. Caribbean to the East Coast and in wildfire-impacted communities in Colorado and New Mexico – over the next three to four years to test, scale, and transfer knowledge that builds national adaptation capacity. Projects will also generate locally relevant knowledge and strategies to reduce risks from flooding and wildfires in frontline communities.

• NOAA will grow support for equitable adaptation by extending the reach of the CAP/RISA network to the Central Midwest (Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska). This is the first time there has been a CAP/RISA program in this region. This new CAP/RISA will focus on engaging Tribal Nations and women farmland owners in a community of learning about inland climate adaptation and community resilience.
• In alignment with the Administration’s policy goals, philanthropic organizations are leveraging new federal funding from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and committing resources to advance actions that help communities plan for and adapt to a changing climate. A dozen philanthropic organizations have invested more than a combined $800 million in complementary climate resilience priorities – and are committed to continuing to work with the federal government, communities, and local leaders on opportunities to further advance shared policy priorities and climate resilience goals.

Bolstering Workforce and Community Benefits

• The Department of Labor is awarding $16 million to support organizations in 12 states as they pilot strategies to improve job quality and increase the availability of good jobs in the critical sectors of climate resilience, care, and hospitality. The Critical Sectors Job Quality grants being announced today will enable recipients to design and deploy programs that align with the Good Jobs Principles developed by the Departments of Labor and Commerce, leveraging workforce strategies, such as sector partnerships with workers and employers, to create good climate resilience jobs to benefit workers and employers. Programs will expand career awareness, provide training, and improve access to quality jobs within the climate resilience sector for historically underrepresented and underserved communities.
• NOAA will award $12.7 million through its Climate Smart Communities Initiative (CSCI) to help communities protect people, property, infrastructure, economies and natural resources from climate-related hazards. CSCI will work to support communities by helping them to identify and use climate science data and tools needed to understand their exposure to climate-related hazards, and to use that information to create and implement climate resilience plans.
• . The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is announcing the Pacific Islands Cultural Initiative, a $1.3 million investment to fortify cultural heritage and resilience in the U.S. Pacific Islands. In August 2023, NEH awarded $2 million to cultural and educational organizations, Tribal Nations, and municipalities through its new Cultural and Community Resilience and Climate Smart Humanities Organizations programs, which support community-based and strategic planning efforts to safeguard cultural resources and foster cultural resilience against the impacts of climate change.
• The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity and Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a new Climate and Health Outlook Portal. Built on the data underlying the HHS Climate and Health Outlook, the Portal features interactive county-level maps with heat, wildfire, and drought forecasts for the current month, along with individual-level climate health risk factors. This tool, being released in initial beta form, is designed for emergency response and health care professionals to support planning and preparation for the potential impacts of these climate hazards and assist the public with learning more about the climate-related health risks they may face in their county.

Ensuring Resilient Lands and Waters

• . The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation is announcing up to $328 million in funding available through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and annual appropriations to help make Western communities more resilient to drought and climate change, including in the Colorado River Basin. Funding will support grants for water desalination, water recycling and reuse, and small water storage projects. In addition, earlier this week, NOAA announced availability of $2 million in funds through the National Integrated Drought Information System to support Tribal Nations in addressing current and future drought risk on Tribal lands across the western United States.
• Earlier this week, the Wildland Fire Management and Mitigation Commission, established by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, released a report recommending improvements to Federal policies related to preventing, mitigating, suppressing, and managing wildland fires, as well as rehabilitating affected lands.
• . Earlier this week, the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service and the nonprofit American Forests signed a five-year agreement to help return the threatened whitebark pine to its range in the northern Rockies. At least half of all whitebark pines have died in recent decades due to threats including climate change, negatively affecting the long-term outlook for this critical keystone plant species. The new partnership, made possible through funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, will support restoration activities in national parks where whitebark pine grow – making whitebark pine ecosystems more resilient to climate impacts – and advance the Interior Department’s National Seed Strategy.

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President Biden looks forward to welcoming President Charles Michel of the European Council and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission to the White House on Friday, October 20, 2023 for the second U.S.- EU Summit since President Biden took office.  

The leaders will review the strong cooperation between the United States and the European Union, including our shared commitment to support Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty and to impose costs on Russia for its aggression.  

They will advance U.S.- EU efforts to accelerate the global clean energy economy based on secure, resilient supply chains, and will continue cooperation in critical and emerging technologies, including digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence. 

They will also review joint activities to strengthen economic resilience and to address related challenges.

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With just days left before the end of the fiscal year, extreme House Republicans are playing partisan games with peoples’ lives and marching our country toward a government shutdown that would have damaging impacts across the country—including delaying long-term disaster recovery and undermining preparedness in communities across the country. Their partisan approach stands in stark contrast to the Senate’s bipartisan progress towards keeping the government open and making a down payment on disaster relief funding.

As the Administration has continued to call on Congress to provide disaster relief funding, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) continues to dwindle and is now forced to prioritize only immediate lifesaving and life sustaining operations. An Extreme Republican Shutdown would leave the DRF underfunded—delaying nearly 2,000 long-term recovery projects in communities across the country. For example, Wilson County School in Tennessee would continue being unable to push forward with rebuilding due to a deadly tornado that left 100 teachers and 1,000 students without classrooms. In New Jersey, millions of dollars meant to help rebuild a senior citizen building following Hurricane Ida would remain frozen. And in Florida, hundreds of millions of dollars of Hurricane Ian recovery obligations would continue to be delayed. 

An Extreme Republican Shutdown would also undermine communities’ preparedness by preventing fire departments from accessing funding necessary to retain firefighters and purchase equipment, halting first responder training, and jeopardizing access to grants for disaster and terrorism preparedness.

The reason these disaster recovery and preparedness priorities are now at risk: extreme House Republicans’ relentless efforts to slash funding for vital programs rather than work in a bipartisan manner to keep the government open and address emergency needs for the American people. House Republicans have turned their backs on the bipartisan budget deal that two-thirds of them voted for just a few months ago and instead proposed a continuing resolution (CR) that proposes devastating cuts to programs that millions of hardworking Americans count on—including to FEMA. Their extreme CR also fails to provide the urgent funding President Biden requested for FEMA’s DRF.

Below is a breakdown of the nearly 2,000 recovery projects across all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico that would be further delayed during an Extreme Republican Shutdown:

StateTotal Projects DelayedAlabama35Alaska14Arizona8Arkansas17California78Colorado8Connecticut14Delaware2District of Columbia12Florida272Georgia10Hawaii12Idaho1Illinois19Indiana25Iowa23Kansas7Kentucky122Louisiana222Maine26Maryland11Massachusetts58Michigan8Minnesota11Mississippi27Missouri15Montana7Nebraska4Nevada3New Hampshire17New Jersey35New Mexico6New York214North Carolina48North Dakota17Ohio13Oklahoma13Oregon80Pennsylvania30Puerto Rico188Rhode Island3South Carolina11South Dakota17Tennessee34Texas60Utah2Vermont12Virginia7Washington47West Virginia8Wisconsin3WyomingN/A

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In honor of National Kinship Care Month, Administration releases a historic package of regulations to ensure children in the child welfare system thrive

The more than 391,000 American children and youth living in foster care deserve to grow up in safe and loving homes devoted to their health, happiness, and success. These are often our most vulnerable children, and we have a solemn responsibility as a country to ensure they grow up healthy, supported and with as much opportunity as all other children.

From day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken action to protect children and youth in the child welfare system, support the thousands of dedicated kinship and foster families who are a critical resource to children and families in times of need, and invest in community-based child abuse and neglect prevention programs that help to prevent the conditions that lead to kids entering foster care in the first place.

Today, and in recognition of National Kinship Month, the Biden-Harris Administration is building on this progress and releasing three landmark regulations to strengthen services and supports for children and families in the child welfare system. Specifically, the regulations will:

• Support kinship caregivers – family members and loved ones who step forward to care for a child in foster care – by making it easier for them to access resources and financial assistance.
• Protect LGBTQI+ youth in foster care from abuse and mistreatment and ensure they have the services they need to thrive.
• Expand access to legal services for children and families at risk of entering or in the child welfare system.

Taken together, this landmark package of new rules, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration for Children and Families, will advance equity in the child welfare system and have a profound impact on the safety and wellbeing of families across the country.

Support kinship caregivers. When parents are having a difficult time safely caring for their own children, it is often grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives who step forward to provide a loving home for those children, either temporarily or permanently. These kinship caregivers help children stay connected to their families and cultural identity, and research shows that children in foster care who are able to live with their kin experience less trauma. But for too long, federal regulations imposed significant burdens on these kinship caregivers by making it harder for them to become foster families. Today, HHS has issued a final regulation that will allow states to simplify the process for kinship caregivers to become foster care providers, and require that states provide these family members with the same financial support that any other foster home would receive. This regulation will help families across the country care for children in their extended family, and receive the resources and financial supports they need and deserve. These changes will advance the Administration’s priority of equity for families who have been underserved and adversely affected by persistent poverty. 

Protect LGBTQI+ youth. LGBTQI+ youth face profound disparities in the foster care system. Because of family rejection and abuse, LGBTQI+ children are overrepresented in foster care where they face poor outcomes, including mistreatment and discrimination because of who they are. To address these disparities, President Biden signed an Executive Order directing HHS to protect LGBTQI+ youth in the foster care system. Today, HHS is delivering on that promise by releasing a proposed regulation to protect LGBTQI+ youth in foster care. The proposed rule would require that every state’s child welfare agency ensure that LGBTQI+ children in their care are placed in foster homes where they will be protected from mistreatment related to their sexual orientation or gender identity, where their caregivers have received special training on how to meet their needs, and where they can access the services they need to thrive.

Expand access to legal services. Many families that come to the attention of a child welfare agency are in the midst of or recovering from familial, health, housing, or economic challenges. Children and families in the child welfare system must navigate complex legal proceedings related to these challenges, but are often forced to do so without access to a lawyer. This makes it harder for families to achieve stability and get the resources they need. Oftentimes access to legal representation could avoid placing children in foster care. For example, under this rule if a parent was seeking a restraining order from an abusive spouse in order to keep their children safe and prevent their removal from the home, a state could use federal funds to help that parent access a lawyer to file a restraining order. Today, HHS is releasing a proposed rule that will allow child welfare agencies to use federal funds to expand access to legal services for families who need access to a lawyer to achieve stability. In addition, the rule would allow Tribes to be reimbursed for the legal costs of intervening in a state foster care court proceeding over the parental rights of an Indian child, which Tribes have the authority to do under the Indian Child Welfare Act, but which can be costly for Tribes.

These new regulations build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s track record of strengthening services for children and families in the child welfare system, including:

• Investing hundreds of millions of dollars in community-based child abuse and neglect prevention programs.
• Proposing a $5 billion expansion of evidence-based foster care prevention services to allow more children to remain safely in their own homes with their own families.
• Proposing a $9 billion expansion to provide housing vouchers to all 20,000 youth exiting foster care annually — a key step in helping them secure stable housing during this difficult transition.
• Working to help states place more children with relatives and other trusted adults instead of in group homes, and calling on Congress for an additional $1 billion to help youth aging out of foster care find a job, enroll in and afford higher education, obtain basic necessities, and access preventative health care
• Calling on Congress to make the Adoption Tax Credit fully refundable and proposing extending it to legal guardians — including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives.
• Working with states to help youth aging out of the foster care system to stay in school, participate in job training programs, pay their bills, and transition to adulthood.
• Expanding the Military Parental Leave Program, which enables service members to spend needed time with their families following a child’s adoption or placement in long-term foster care.
• Bringing the child poverty rate to a historic low during the expanded Child Tax Credit, preventing children from being unnecessarily removed from their families because of poverty.

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With less than one week before the end of the fiscal year, extreme House Republicans are playing partisan games with peoples’ lives and marching our country toward a government shutdown that would have damaging impacts across the country—including risking significant delays for travelers and forcing air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Officers to work without pay.

During an Extreme Republican Shutdown, more than 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Officers—in addition to thousands of other Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel—would have to show up to do their critical jobs without getting paid until funding becomes available. In previous shutdowns, this led to significant delays and longer wait times for travelers at airports across the country. Additionally, an Extreme Republican Shutdown would halt air traffic controller training—potentially leading to long-term disruptions to the industry at a moment when we’ve seen critical progress filling a backlog of controllers.

The reason these transportation priorities are now at risk: extreme House Republicans’ relentless efforts to slash funding for vital programs rather than work in a bipartisan manner to keep the government open and address emergency needs for the American people. House Republicans have turned their backs on the bipartisan budget deal that two-third of them voted for just a few months ago and instead proposed a continuing resolution (CR) that proposes devastating cuts to programs that millions of hardworking Americans count on—including rail safety inspections and the Transportation Security Administration. Their extreme CR also fails to provide the urgent funding President Biden requested to avoid disruptions to FAA air traffic operations.

Below is a state-by-state breakdown of the more than 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 TSA Officers who would be forced to work without pay during an Extreme Republican Shutdown:

StateTSA OfficersAir Traffic ControllersAlabama30993Alaska532201Arizona1,389184Arkansas21256California5,4691,418Colorado1,338451Connecticut27139Delaware113Florida6,1081,157Georgia1,727577Hawaii1,199113Idaho26839Illinois2,144679Indiana481439Iowa21968Kansas157279Kentucky519123Louisiana563143Maine18645Maryland68334Massachusetts1,18264Michigan1,142245Minnesota783445Mississippi21433Missouri554159Montana15350Nebraska27746Nevada1,504104New Hampshire120303New Jersey1,457104New Mexico216254New York3,444766North Carolina1,391221North Dakota16651Ohio768498Oklahoma30078Oregon61289Pennsylvania1,487271Rhode Island16232South Carolina51597South Dakota6717Tennessee931445Texas4,7201,264Utah550221Vermont8622Virginia1,913633Washington1,326327West Virginia12254Wisconsin50874Wyoming10312

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