Statements and Releases

One of the last times I was with James Earl Jones was at Ford’s Theatre ten years ago in Washington.

He was being honored with the Lincoln Medal for his exemplary character and accomplishments on film and stage. I admired him for something else as well, something we both had in common—overcoming a childhood stutter to find our voice for something bigger than ourselves.

His legendary voice boomed wherever it was heard, an instrument and imprint that reverberated in the hearts of audiences worldwide.

And we’ve all heard it.

Through iconic characters, film, stage, commercials, radio, and more, his voice carried a sense of grace and dignity that commanded respect and demanded to be heard. His roles made us stop, stayed with us, and inspired us to reflect on everything from race and power, good and evil, to our place in the world.

For his remarkable talent, James has received numerous honors, including two Emmy awards, a Grammy award, an honorary Oscar, and two Tony awards—making him one of few Americans to earn an EGOT.

He was a proud Army veteran, and I will always remember him as someone who served this country, influenced generations, and became one of the greatest actors of our time.

Jill and I send our love and condolences to his son Flynn, his brother Matthew, and everyone he inspired and who he will continue to inspire as his voice echoes for the ages.

May God bless James Earl Jones.

###

The post Statement from President Joe Biden on the Passing of James Earl Jones appeared first on The White House.

Today, a new report shows that nearly 50 million people have had coverage in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace over the past decade. That’s 1 in 7 Americans who have benefited from the peace of mind that comes with knowing if an illness strikes or an accident occurs, they can get the care they need. It’s a really big deal – and yet Republicans in Congress remain committed to taking us backward by repealing the Affordable Care Act.

The Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever, and Affordable Care Act coverage is more affordable than ever. That’s because Vice President Harris and I have worked tirelessly to protect and build on the ACA. We lowered costs for ACA coverage by an average of $800 per year for millions of Americans, invested in outreach and in-person assistance to help people get the coverage that is right for them, and eliminated red tape. As a result, more Americans have signed up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace than ever before.

We are not stopping now. The Vice President and I will keep fighting to make health care more affordable for all Americans, and we will always stand up to attempts by Republicans in Congress to roll back access to health care. Congressional Republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would take health care away from tens of millions of Americans, threaten coverage for more than 100 million with pre-existing conditions, increase health care and prescription costs for families, and so much more. We know Republican officials will stop at nothing to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, ripping health coverage away from Americans in every part of our country. While they try to take us backward, we’ll keep fighting for the future.

###

The post Statement from President Biden on Report Showing Nearly 50 Million People Have Had Health Insurance through Affordable Care Act Marketplace appeared first on The White House.

Consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency previously declared on September 14, 2001, in Proclamation 7463, with respect to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.
Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, and the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2024.  Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency that was declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat. 
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 9, 2024.

The post Press Release: Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Certain Terrorist Attacks appeared first on The White House.

Ben Cardin, of Maryland, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

     Lanhee J. Chen, of California, to be a Director of the Amtrak Board of Directors for a term of five years, vice Jeffrey R. Moreland, term expired.

     Elizabeth C. Coombe, of New York, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of New York, vice Glenn T. Suddaby, retired.

     Sarah Morgan Davenport, of New Mexico, to be United States District Judge for the District of New Mexico, vice William P. Johnson, retiring.

     Sharad Harshad Desai, of Arizona, to be United States District Judge for the District of Arizona, vice G. Murray Snow, retiring.

     Tanya Leigh Flores, of California, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

     Adam Gamoran, of New York, to be Director of the Institute of Education Science, Department of Education for a term of six years, vice Mark Schneider, term expired.

     Gordon Hartogensis, of Connecticut, to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service for a term expiring December 8, 2031, vice Roman Martinez IV, term expiring.

     Dan Sullivan, of Alaska, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

     Michael Trager, of the District of Columbia, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

# # #

The post Nominations Sent to the Senate appeared first on The White House.

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

• Ben Cardin, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Dan Sullivan, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Tanya Leigh Flores, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Michael Trager, to be a Representative of the United States of America to the Seventy-ninth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
• Adam Gamoran, to be Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education

Additionally, President Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as Republican members of boards and commissions that are required, by statute, to include bipartisan membership.

• Lanhee J. Chen, to be a Member (Republican) of the Amtrak Board of Directors
• Gordon Hartogensis, to be a Governor (Republican) of the United States Postal Service Board of Governors

Ben Cardin, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Born and raised in Baltimore, Senator Ben Cardin has dedicated his life to public service. He is an outspoken champion for human rights and has been a national leader on foreign policy, tax policy and the environment while representing the people of Maryland in the U.S. Senate, and before that in the House of Representatives. He is a former Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates. Currently serving as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin has worked across party lines to further U.S. national security and to ensure that democracy, anti-corruption, transparency, good governance and respect for civil and human rights are integrated into American actions at home and abroad.

Senator Cardin is the lead author of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act, which gives the United States the power to deny travel and banking privileges to individuals worldwide who commit gross violations of human rights against rights defenders and dissidents, and leaders who commit acts of significant corruption. He also is the author of the recently reauthorized Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, which in 2018 codified into law the prevention of atrocities as a national security interest. 

Senator Cardin also serves on the Environment and Public Works, Finance and Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committees. He is a strident defender of the Chesapeake Bay and the environment. He has led multiple, bipartisan delegations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, dating back to the Paris Accords. He has taken the lead on reviving the Equal Rights Amendment, believes health care is a right of all Americans, and fights for resources to fix our crumbling water infrastructure.

Dan Sullivan, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations 

Dan Sullivan was sworn in as Alaska’s eighth United States Senator on January 6, 2015. Senator Sullivan serves on four Senate committees vital to Alaska: Armed Services, Environment and Public Works Committee, Veterans’ Affairs, and Commerce, Science and Transportation.  

Senator Sullivan has been able to pass numerous bills and amendments related to rebuilding and modernizing our country’s military, expanding responsible resource development, reining in federal overreach, spurring economic development, expanding benefits for veterans, and helping those who are most vulnerable, including survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.  

Prior to his election to the Senate, Sullivan served as Alaska’s Attorney General and Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources—where he focused on growing Alaska’s economy and pushing back against federal government overreach. Senator Sullivan served in the George W. Bush administration as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic, Energy, and Business under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and as a Director in the International Economics Directorate of the National Security Council staff at the White House.  

He served for 30 years in the United States Marine Corps, retiring on February 1, 2024 as a Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He also serves as Chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI).  

Senator Sullivan holds a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and a joint Law and Master of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He and his wife, Julie Fate Sullivan, were married in 1994 in Julie’s hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska. They have three daughters. 

Tanya Leigh Flores, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations

Tanya Leigh Flores is a communications and operations strategist who has worked with Fortune 50 corporations, federal, state, and local governments, and non-profit organizations. She has previously served in various roles in support of the Biden-Harris Administration, including spousal program operations for the Department of State for the 2022 Summit of Americas in Los Angeles as well as an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security on leadership planning for the 2023 North America Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City and the 2023 Munich Security Conference. 

Flores was Chief Operating Officer for the 59th Presidential Inaugural Committee, where she managed a diverse portfolio of divisions, including financial and event operations, security, credentialing, human resources, and COVID-19 safety. During the 2020 election cycle, she served as Director of Scheduling and Advance for the Biden-Harris campaign. In 2021, Flores was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as Deputy Director of the California Film Commission where she oversaw operations, outreach, and legislative efforts in support of filming in the State of California. Flores served in a senior role on the LA28 Bid Committee, helping to obtain the award of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are to be hosted by the city of Los Angeles in 2028. She has traveled as head of advance delegations for the Bidens since 2011. 

Flores holds MBA degrees from both Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a B.A. from the University of Maryland. A native Texan, she lives in Los Angeles with her partner, Michael Dundas.

Michael Trager, to be Representative of the United States to the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations 

Michael Trager has spent time in both government and the private sector. In 2022, Trager was appointed by President Biden to the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, where he continues to serve as Vice Chair and on the Executive Committee. The Board supervises the global Fulbright Program, which is led by the U.S. government in partnership with more than 160 countries to promote worldwide mutual understanding and provide for a more secure and peaceful world. The Program is a primary facilitator of international educational exchange, cultural diplomacy, and soft power.

Previously, Trager had been a Washington lawyer for 35 years and a U.S. government attorney prior to entering private practice. He was the founding Co-Chair of the Securities Enforcement and Litigation Practice at the international law firm of Arnold & Porter, and he held that position for approximately two decades as well as other firmwide leadership roles while a senior partner. In private practice, he represented clients in governmental and regulatory investigations and matters, and he was recognized and ranked nationally as a leading lawyer in his field.

At the beginning of his career, Trager served in the Division of Enforcement of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the Washington Headquarters. He earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Boston University School of Law. While at Wesleyan, he studied abroad at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He resides in Washington, D.C. and is married to Mariella Trager. They have two adult children. 

Adam Gamoran, to be Director of the Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education

Adam Gamoran is President of the William T. Grant Foundation, a charitable organization that supports research to improve the lives of young people. Previously, he held the John D. MacArthur Chair in Sociology and Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he spent three decades engaged in research on educational inequality and school reform. He has lectured at universities across the United States and worldwide, and his writing has appeared in books, journals, magazines, blog posts, and other media. In 2021-2022, he led a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that produced a report on The Future of Education Research at IES. For his research contributions, he has been honored by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, the American Educational Research Association, and the Sociology of Education Section of the American Sociological Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member and former vice president of the National Academy of Education, and he was twice appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Board for Education Sciences. 

Lanhee J. Chen, to be a Member (Republican) of the Amtrak Board of Directors

Lanhee J. Chen is the David and Diane Steffy Fellow in American Public Policy Studies at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University. Chen has spent his career in business, government, as well as academia, and was a candidate in 2022 for California State Controller, the state’s chief fiscal officer. Chen is a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Governance Committee at El Camino Health in Northern California, and previously served as Board Chair. He is also a Partner at the Brunswick Group, a global critical issues advisory firm, where he is co-lead of the U.S. Public Affairs, Policy and Regulatory practice. Chen is also an adviser to or serves on the boards of several private companies and nonprofit organizations. Previously, he was an operating partner at NewRoad Capital Partners, a private equity firm. 

From 2014 to 2018, Chen was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a member of the Social Security Advisory Board. He also served in the George W. Bush Administration as a senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Chen has been a policy adviser to four U.S. presidential campaigns, including as Policy Director to Senator Mitt Romney during his 2012 bid for the presidency.

Chen earned his PhD and A.M. in Political Science from Harvard University; his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School; and his A.B. magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College.

Gordon Hartogensis, to be a Governor (Republican) of the United States Postal Service Board of Governors

Gordon Hartogensis is an entrepreneur, investor, and government official who recently completed a five-year term as the Director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) from 2019-2024.

Hartogensis left an early career on Wall Street in 1993 to build a startup software company called Petrolsoft Corporation – a supply chain and logistics company that was later acquired by Aspen Technology. He served in a leadership role at Aspen until June 2002.

Shortly after his departure from Aspen Technology, he founded Auric Technology, a customer relationship management software company. In 2011, Auric was sold to Telnorm. Following his departure from Auric, he was an angel investor and advisor to several technology startups in cybersecurity, immunotherapy, streaming video, fintech, and artificial intelligence.

Hartogensis grew up in Maryland where he attended Montgomery County public schools. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University and an M.S. in Technology Management from Columbia University.

Hartogensis and his wife Grace reside in Connecticut.

# # #  

The post President Biden Announces Key Nominees appeared first on The White House.

Instead of working across the aisle to do their most basic job and deliver for the American people by keeping the government open and providing emergency funding for disasters, House Republicans are yet again wasting time with extreme policies and a potentially harmful long-term continuing resolution (CR).

The House Republicans’ long-term CR abdicates their responsibility to the American people. It would erode our national defense, impede our efforts to outcompete China, fail our veterans and seniors, abandon communities struck by disasters, and undermine programs that support small businesses while making wealthy tax cheats pay what they owe. Finally, it would move us closer to devastating across-the-board cuts to education and Head Start programs; our veterans, the military, and border agents; food assistance for mothers, babies, and low-income families; food and air safety; and more.

House Republicans’ long-term CR fails to provide necessary resources for our defense, our veterans, and our seniors. Both the Administration and bipartisan appropriators in the Senate have put forward FY25 proposals that address pressing needs for the Department of Defense (DoD), Veterans Affairs (VA), Social Security Administration (SSA), and other federal agencies that would have insufficient funds if kept at their current FY24 levels. For example:

• Operating under a six-month CR erodes the U.S. military advantage, undermines the United States in our competition with China, degrades readiness, and fails to support our troops. Under a CR for an extended period, DoD lacks the authority to undertake new start efforts or production rate increases for investment programs, which are critical to our innovation and modernization goals. It signals to our allies and adversaries that the United States is not committed to our National Security priorities.

• Absent fully addressing a shortfall in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care, VA would be forced to make difficult tradeoffs in its efforts to preserve quality veteran care. VA would need to undertake reductions in overall staffing levels that may impact access to care for veterans across clinical programs. Veteran experience may be impacted across many different functional areas, including medical care scheduling and coordination, connecting homeless veterans to permanent housing, caregiver support, and other programs. VA may need to scale-back outreach efforts to veterans, which VA has been conducting at unprecedented levels to inform veterans of new benefits and health care enrollment opportunities under the bipartisan PACT Act.

• Agencies like the Social Security Administration would be required to operate at deeply insufficient levels. For example, SSA would be at its lowest staffing levels in more than 50 years, likely requiring it to reduce the hours field offices are open and extending wait times for seniors and people with disabilities.

House Republicans’ long-term CR would abandon communities impacted by disasters. A six-month CR would mean that communities waiting on much-needed disaster assistance would need to keep waiting, months after the President has requested supplemental funding to help them. It would hurt small businesses and families trying to recover from recent disasters.

For example:

• The Small Business Administration’s Disaster Loan Program is likely to exhaust available assistance funding early in the new fiscal year, crippling the agency’s ability to provide much-needed help to small businesses working to rebuild after recent disasters, including Hurricanes Beryl and Debby.

• A delay would also prevent numerous communities impacted by disasters in over 20 states and territories declared in calendar years 2023 and 2024 from receiving Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funding, which is urgently needed to address housing, economic development and other long-term recovery needs.

• The cost to fix highways and bridges that have been damaged by disasters in 38 States and three territories currently exceeds available Federal Highway Administration-Emergency Relief funds. A six-month appropriations delay would delay completion of many of these critical projects. Supplemental appropriations are necessary to address this backlog.

House Republicans’ long-term CR would undermine programs that support small businesses and make wealthy tax cheats pay what they owe. House Republicans’ CR would make it harder for the IRS to continue its efforts using Inflation Reduction Act funding to ensure that the wealthy pay the taxes they owe. It would also hurt small businesses by continuing cuts to the State Small Business Credit Initiative that would prevent states across the country from receiving funds that provide capital and technical assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurs nationwide.

House Republicans’ long-term CR puts us closer to across-the-board cuts to programs Americans count on. A six-month CR would last until the end of March—only 30 days before the sequester deadline from the Fiscal Responsibility Act that would trigger across-the-board cuts if full-year bills are not passed. That short window next year would create a much higher risk that those cuts go into effect, resulting in devastating cuts to education and Head Start programs; our veterans, the military, and border agents; food assistance for mothers, babies, and low-income families; food and air safety; and more.

# # #

The post FACT SHEET: Congressional Republicans are Wasting Time Instead of Delivering for the American People Yet Again appeared first on The White House.

President Biden and Vice President Harris announce historic final rule that will ensure mental health care coverage for 175 million Americans is on par with their physical health care coverage

President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and that mental health care is health care – period. But for millions of Americans, care for mental health and substance use conditions is still hard to find and hard to afford. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking a step toward changing that, by placing new requirements on health plans that will improve and strengthen access to mental health care for 175 million Americans with private health insurance.
 
Statement from the President: “Mental health care is health care. But for far too many Americans, critical care and treatments are out of reach. Today, my Administration is taking action to address our nation’s mental health crisis by ensuring mental health coverage will be covered at the same level as other health care for Americans. There is no reason that breaking your arm should be treated differently than having a mental health condition. The steps my Administration is taking today will dramatically expand access to mental health care in America.”
 
Statement from the Vice President: “President Biden and I are committed to ensuring that every person in our country has the mental health care they need to thrive. That is why we made the largest investment in youth mental health in history and are transforming how mental health is understood, perceived, and treated for all Americans. Today, we are building on this lifesaving and lifechanging work by announcing the finalization of a historic rule that will expand mental health care across our nation so more of our loved ones, neighbors, coworkers, and classmates receive the care they deserve. As someone who has spent my entire career fighting to improve the health and well-being of all Americans, I will never stop working to ensure that health care is a right – not just a privilege for those who can afford it.”
 
For over 15 years, robust access to mental health care has been a bipartisan priority. Thanks to the 2008 enactment of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), which was further strengthened in 2020 on a bipartisan basis, health plans that cover mental health and substance use care benefits must do so at the same level as physical health care benefits. But despite this landmark law, too many Americans still struggle to find and afford the care they need. In 2020, less than half of all adults with mental illness received treatment.  For children, the numbers are even worse: nearly 70 percent of our kids who seek care for mental health or substance use cannot get it. That’s in part because insurers too often make it difficult to access mental health treatment, causing millions of consumers to have high out-of-pocket costs because they go out-of-network, or defer care altogether. One study shows that insured people are nearly four times as likely go out-of-network and pay higher fees for mental health care than for physical health care. And the problem is getting worse: in recent years, the gap between usage of out-of-network care for mental health and substance use disorder benefits versus physical health benefits increased 85 percent. 
 
Today’s final rule strengthens consumer protections by reinforcing MHPAEA’s fundamental purpose that all Americans should have the same access to mental health and substance use benefits as they do physical health benefits. And it will help lower families’ health care costs by making it easier to access mental health and substance use care and getting rid of barriers that keep people from getting the care they need, when they need it, for a price they can afford.  Specifically, the final rule will:

• Require health plans to make changes when they are providing inadequate access to mental health and substance use care. In 2020, Congress made changes to MHPAEA that require health plans to conduct meaningful comparative analyses to make sure that they are not making it harder for individuals to access mental health and substance use benefits than it is to access medical benefits.  Today’s new requirements make it clear that health plans need to evaluate their provider networks, how much they pay out-of-network providers, and how often they require – and deny – prior authorizations. The outcomes of these evaluations will show plans where they are failing to meet the law’s requirements, and where they will need to make changes to come into compliance, like adding more mental health and substance use professionals to their networks or reducing red tape for providers to deliver care.
  
• Make it clear what health plans can and cannot do. Health plans cannot use more restrictive prior authorization, or other medical management techniques, or narrower networks to make it harder for people to access mental health and substance use disorder benefits than their medical benefits. Health plans also have to use similar factors in setting out-of-network payment rates for mental health and substance use disorder providers as they do for medical providers.
  
• Close existing loopholes. When MHPAEA was first enacted, it did not require non-federal governmental health plans, like those offered to state and local government employees, to comply with its requirements. Today’s final rule closes that loophole, and now requires more than 200 additional health plans to comply with MHPAEA, providing critical protections to 120,000 consumers. 

Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration, these new requirements will help more people get the mental health and substance use care they need while also making sure that mental health and substance use care professionals are paid fairly, likely incentivizing more people to join the mental health workforce.  In addition to today’s final rule, the Department of Health and Human Services is also releasing new tools for states to ensure compliance with MHPAEA’s critical protections for the millions of Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in private Medicaid health plans.

 
# # #

The post FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Lowers Mental Health Care Costs by Improving Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Care appeared first on The White House.

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to serve in key roles:

• Troy Coronado, to be a Member of the Board of Visitors to the U.S. Military Academy
• Manuel A. Chinea, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board
• Janie Simms Hipp, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board
• Mark Alan Kaufman, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board
• Susan Chapman Plumb, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board
• Damon Y. Smith, to be a Member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States
• Justin Driver, to be a Member of the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise
• Kamana‘opono M. Crabbe, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders
• Sameera Fazili, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders
• Krystal Ka‘ai, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders
• Vida Lin, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders
• Emmanuel Jenkins, to be a Member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
• Charles P. Riley, to be a Member of the Route 66 Centennial Commission

Additionally, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to serve as members of boards and commissions that, based on statute or longstanding practice, include candidates recommended by Congressional Republican leadership.

• Edgar Gluck, to be a Member of the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad
• Andrew G. Biggs, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
• Cameron McKenzie, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico
• John Earl Nixon, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

The Board of Visitors to the U.S. Military Academy

The Board of Visitors to the U.S. Military Academy provides independent advice and recommendations to the President on matters related to morale, discipline, curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs, academic methods, and any other matters relating to the Academy that the Board decides to consider. The Board consists of six members appointed by the President for terms of three years.

Troy Coronado, to be a Member of the Board of Visitors to the U.S. Military Academy

Troy Coronado, rising from the rank of private to colonel, has 30 years of distinguished military service in the U.S. Army. In 1987, he enlisted in the Infantry at Fort Benning, Georgia. While working as a drill corporal, he was selected to attend the Officer Candidate School, and upon graduation, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Armor Branch. His first assignment was platoon leader in Schweinfurt, Germany.

In 2006, Coronado completed a combat tour in Afghanistan, working as an embedded team trainer, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Following his return to the U.S., his assignments included the Pentagon, Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the National Guard Bureau Joint Staff. In 2014, he returned to Afghanistan as the Joint Command Inspector General. From there he was assigned to the Warrior Transition Brigade at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland until his retirement in 2017.

Coronado’s military awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation, Army Commendation, Army Achievement, Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, NATO Medal, and the Combat Action Badge. He is a member of the Army Infantry Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame and a recipient of the American Latino Veterans Association Valor Award. Coronado and his wife, Lisa, have been married for 35 years and have three daughters and two grandchildren. He now lives back in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas.

Community Development Advisory Board, Department of the Treasury 

The Community Development Advisory Board serves to advise the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund within the Department of the Treasury. The Community Development Advisory Board’s mission is to promote access to capital to underserved communities. The CDFI Fund, in partnership with the Board, partners with and invests in local lenders and financial service providers around the country. Since inception, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $5.2 billion dollars to its partners. 

Manuel A. Chinea, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board 

Manuel Chinea is the Chief Operating Officer of Popular Bank, a leading financial institution with operations in Puerto Rico, the mainland U.S. and the Virgin Islands. Prior to joining Popular Bank, Chinea served as Executive Vice President and Chief for Retail Operations at Certus Bank. For over two decades, Chinea has been an active member and officer of several marketing, credit, treasury management and nonprofit organizations. Chinea has been an active leader in the treasury management and nonprofit space, as he currently serves as a board member of Junior Achievement of New York and is a current Treasurer and former board Chair of the Hispanic Federation. Chinea holds a B.S. in finance from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business.  

Janie Simms Hipp, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board 

Janie Hipp is the President and CEO of Native Agriculture Financial Services, a lending institution focused on economic development for tribal communities. Prior to this, Hipp was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate to serve as the General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture. She is the first enrolled tribal citizen to hold that role, as a member of the Chickasaw Nation. Hipp has worked in agricultural law and economic development for nearly 40 years, including serving as the CEO of the Native American Agriculture Fund and as a senior advisor to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Director of the USDA Office of Tribal Relations. Hipp holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work from the University of Oklahoma, a J.D. from Oklahoma City University’s School of Law and a LLM in agricultural law from the University of Arkansas School of Law. 

Mark Alan Kaufman, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board 

Mark Kaufman is the President of the Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund, a community development financial institution dedicated to investing in inclusive growth for historically undercapitalized areas of Baltimore, MD. Kaufman has nearly 40 years of experience in government and the private sector working on community finance and development. His public service includes his tenure as Counselor to Treasury Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin in the Obama-Biden Administration and as Commissioner of the Maryland Division of Financial Regulation. In the private sector, he served as the President of City First Bank, a DC-based community development financial institution, and as Managing Director of Investment Banking at CIBC World Markets. Kaufman holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Brown University, as well as a MPA and MBA from Columbia University. 

Susan Chapman Plumb, to be a Member of the Community Development Advisory Board 

Susan Chapman Plumb is the CEO and board chair of Local Bank and is a board member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Local Bank, previously known as the Bank of Cherokee County, was one of the first Native-owned CDFIs certified by the Treasury Department. Plumb began her career as an attorney, and has since worked in banking in Cherokee County for the last 20 years. Plumb is active in her community, serving on the boards of the Tahlequah Hospital Foundation and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. She holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and a J.D. from the University of Tulsa.  

Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States

The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an independent federal agency charged with convening expert representatives from the public and private sectors to recommend improvements to administrative process and procedure. ACUS initiatives promote efficiency, participation, and fairness in the promulgation of federal regulations and in the administration of federal programs. The 10-member ACUS Council is composed of government officials and private citizens.

Damon Y. Smith, to be a Member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States

Damon Y. Smith serves as the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As General Counsel, Smith is responsible for leading the agency’s litigation and enforcement efforts, serving as the Designated Agency Ethics Official, and assisting the Secretary in the development of HUD programs and policies. Smith joined the Biden-Harris Administration as Principal Deputy General Counsel. Prior to that, he was Senior Director of Advocacy and Counsel at the Credit Union National Association and a Partner at Jenner and Block LLP in Washington, D.C. where he provided counsel to companies facing complex compliance, government regulation, and enforcement matters.

Smith previously served as Principal Deputy and Acting General Counsel at HUD during the Obama-Biden Administration. Before his government service, he taught property and local government law as an Associate Professor at Rutgers-Camden Law School and a Visiting Professor at the American University Washington College of Law. He began his legal career as a real estate Associate at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. and worked prior to law school as an urban planner in East St. Louis, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri. Smith is a graduate of Harvard Law School and holds a B.A. in English and a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise

The Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise was established by Congress in 1955 after the late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. bequeathed a portion of his estate to the United States in 1935. Congress used the gift to establish the Committee, which is charged with documenting and disseminating the history of the United States Supreme Court. The Committee’s principal purpose is to continue to publish the multi-volume work documenting the history of the Court. The Committee is composed of the Librarian of Congress and four additional members appointed by the President.

Justin Driver, to be a Member of the Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise

Justin Driver is the Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he primarily teaches and writes in the fields of constitutional law, constitutional theory, and education law. He is the author of The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind, which was selected as a Washington Post Notable Book of the Year and an Editors’ Choice of The New York Times Book Review. The Schoolhouse Gate also received the Steven S. Goldberg Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Education Law, and was a finalist for the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award and Phi Beta Kappa’s Ralph Waldo Emerson Book Award. A recipient of the American Society for Legal History’s William Nelson Cromwell Article Prize, Driver is an elected member of the American Law Institute and of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2021, President Biden appointed Driver to serve on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a graduate of Brown, Oxford, Duke, and Harvard Law School. After graduating from Harvard, Driver clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Ret.) and Justice Stephen Breyer (Ret.).

President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

The President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders advises the President on ways the public, private, and non-profit sectors can work together to advance equity and opportunity for every Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community. The Commission is also charged with advising the President on policies to address anti-Asian xenophobia and violence, ways to build capacity in AANHPI communities through federal grantmaking, and policies to address the intersectional barriers that AANHPI women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities face. The Commission includes civic leaders from across the country and reflects the rich diversity of AANHPI communities across the United States. The Commission consists of 25 members appointed by the President.

Kamana‘opono M. Crabbe, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

Dr. Kamana‘opono M. Crabbe serves as a seasoned spokesperson and representative for the Native Hawaiian community on Native Hawaiian rights, social inequities, community health and resilience, and current social, cultural, educational, economic, and political issues affecting Native Hawaiians, Hawai‘i, and the Pacific. He sits on several high-level policy and governing boards, including the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative Leadership Committee and the Asian American Foundation Advisory Council.

In 2010, he joined the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) as its Research Director, and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in March 2012. As OHA’s Ka Pouhana, the main post of the hale, he grounded the organization in Kūkulu Hou – his vision to reestablish and rebuild the mana of kānaka maoli, Native Hawaiians. He later served as the Ka Pouhana-CEO for the Kohala Institute at ‘Iole, where he led the organization on a new vision to “be a world leader in sustainable thinking through a model 21st century ahupua‘a, where land is chief, and man is steward.”

Currently, Crabbe serves as the Executive Counselor for the Asian Pacific Islander Health Forum, a national health policy advocacy organization based out of Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, California. He also serves as a Senior Executive for the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative and is the Project Lead-Executive for the Rediscovering Hawai‘i’s Soul initiative.

Crabbe has received numerous cultural distinctions and formal awards recognizing his executive leadership and accomplishments. He serves his community as a ho‘oponopono practitioner, skilled chanter and orator, and ‘aha ‘awa ceremony and protocol expert. In 2006, he established the non-profit organization, ‘Aha Kāne: Foundation for the Advancement of Native Hawaiian Males. He earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and served countless families, youth, and communities as a licensed clinical psychologist for over 12 years.

Sameera Fazili, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

Sameera Fazili is an economic policy expert with over 20 years of leadership experience across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. She previously served as Deputy Assistant to President Biden and Deputy Director of the White House’s National Economic Council. In that role, she led the Administration’s work on industrial policy, supply chains, and regional economic development, including the response to numerous supply chain crises. She currently runs her own advisory business, focused on clean energy transition, global supply chain resilience, and economic equity issues, and is a senior fellow in industrial policy and trade at the Roosevelt Institute. She serves on the boards of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta, the Paideia School, and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, and was previously a board member with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, helping launch their Atlanta, Georgia office. Her career has included work at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Yale Law School, where she helped launch Connecticut’s first community development bank. A graduate of Yale Law School and Harvard College, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Krystal Ka‘ai, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

Krystal Ka‘ai is a dedicated public servant with over 14 years of experience working to advance equity for underserved communities. In 2021, she was appointed by President Biden as the first Native Hawaiian in history to serve as the Executive Director of the White House Initiative and the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. In this role, she oversees the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government strategy to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities, including coordinating interagency policy development and external outreach to local, state, and federal stakeholders across the country. Prior to joining the Administration, she served as the Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), a bicameral caucus comprised of over 80 Members of Congress who advocate for the needs and concerns of AA and NHPI communities at the federal level. Her public service career also includes prior roles with the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the State of Hawai‘i Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation.

Vida Lin, to be a Commissioner of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders

Vida Lin has dedicated 30 years to empowering Nevada’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community by taking decisive action where she saw the greatest need. As the Founder and President of the Asian Community Development Council, Lin transformed her vision into reality by establishing Nevada’s first Asian food pantry, hosting vaccination clinics, offering free citizenship assistance, and opening the Healthy Asians and Pacific Islanders (HAPI) Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lin’s journey began in San Francisco, California where she ran a small family business and later transitioned to the insurance industry to protect families after a personal tragedy. During her successful 20-year career as an insurance broker, Lin’s passion for helping the underserved drove her to advise and serve as a board member for numerous charities and causes. Her unwavering commitment to civic engagement and advocacy was recognized with the Bank of America “Neighborhood Builders: Racial Equality Award” in 2022, and the City of Las Vegas honored her with “Vida Lin Day” on January 18, 2023. Lin’s legacy is defined by her relentless pursuit of uplifting and empowering the next generation of leaders.

President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

The President’s Committee on People with Intellectual Disabilities serves as a federal advisor to the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on matters relating to persons with intellectual disabilities. The Committee has 21 members who serve two-year terms. Individuals appointed to this Committee reflect the diversity of America and include people with intellectual disabilities and their family members, researchers, service providers and other professionals, community and business representatives, and systems advocates.

Emmanuel Jenkins, to be a Member of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Emmanuel Jenkins, the driving force behind the non-profit We Stand 4 Something, is a beacon of support for individuals with disabilities and their families, spreading positivity and hope. In Delaware, he serves as the Community Relations Officer for the Delaware Developmental Disabilities Council and serves as the Chair of the Delaware Employment First Oversight Commission and Vice Chair of the Delaware Developmental Disabilities Services Advisory Committee. An alumnus of the Partners in Policymaking program since 2014, Jenkins’ unwavering dedication to advocacy is further evidenced by his recent roles on the Advisory Committee for the Self-Advocacy Resource and Technical Assistance Center and as Chair of the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) Self-Advocacy Committee. He also serves on the NACDD Board and chairs its communications working group. In academia, Jenkins is a distinguished Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Faculty Member at the University of Delaware. Jenkins has been married since 2009 and is father to an 18-year-old. With over two decades as a motivational speaker, Emmanuel envisions a future where his tireless advocacy can reach new heights, embodying resilience, determination, and the belief in standing for something greater.

Route 66 Centennial Commission

The Route 66 Centennial Commission was established by Congress in 2020 to study and make recommendations on activities that would be fitting and proper to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Mother Road of the United States, Route 66, in 2026. The Commission studies activities including potential ceremonies and celebrations, the production and publication of media or other materials, and the issuance of commemorative items.

Charles P. Riley, to be a Member of the Route 66 Centennial Commission

Charles P. Riley is a citizen of the Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico and has a made public service his career. He served the Pueblo as a Tribal Council member for 13 years and as a Tribal Sheriff for one year. Riley holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Mexico and worked for private engineering and surveying firms for 10 years, before joining the Bureau of Indian Affairs. At the Bureau of Indian Affairs, he held the positions of Regional Road Engineer, Designated Engineer, and Mescalero Agency Superintendent. Riley ended his government career working for the Bureau of Indian Education. He retired from public service after 25 years and is currently working for the Pueblo as the Director of Community Development.

As the Director of Community Development, Riley oversees the planning, design, and construction of roads on Pueblo of Acoma lands. His office has been awarded grants to plan and design 13 miles of roads and three bridges. His office is currently helping other departments with the development of a new Education Resource Center and Senior Center complex. The Pueblo’s future projects include a reservation-wide pedestrian/bike trail system, and the designation of a Tribal Scenic Byway that will lead to the historic Acoma village known as “Sky City,” that will begin and end on historic Route 66.

Riley has been married for 39 years, and has three daughters and four grandchildren

Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad

The Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad was established in 1985 to ensure that sites important to populations impacted by Nazism, communism, and the Cold War would be preserved for future generations. The Commission’s mission is to identify, protect, and preserve cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings in Eastern and Central Europe that are associated with U.S. heritage. The work recognizes that the population of the United States is mostly comprised of immigrants and their descendants, and that the United States has an interest in the preservation of sites in other countries related to the heritage of these Americans.

Edgar Gluck, to be a Member of the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad

Rabbi Edgar Gluck was born in Hamburg, Germany on June 14th, 1936. A Holocaust survivor, he immigrated to the U.S. at the age of two. He attended the Chasan Sofer Rabbinical Academy and Beth Medrash Elyon Academy of higher studies and research where he earned an Advanced Rabbinical Degree of “Rabbi and Judge.” One of his areas of post-rabbinical specialization has been the identity and dignity of the dead, and he has worked tirelessly to identify and restore grave sites and reclaim cemeteries and areas of mass graves worldwide for the last six decades. Gluck has also been active with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the city of New York, where he currently holds the position of Chaplain to the Chief Medical Examiner.

In 1971, he co-founded Hatzoloh, the largest volunteer ambulance corps in the country. Gluck is Chairman of the in-patient Board of Maimonides Medical Center, one of the largest metropolitan hospitals in New York City, and has been appointed as Chief Rabbi of Galicia, Poland. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan awarded him with a Commendation for his Exemplary Community Service and he continues to serve the needs of the community, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico was created under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016. The Board consists of seven members appointed by the President and one ex officio member designated by the Governor of Puerto Rico. The Board is tasked with working with the people and Government of Puerto Rico to create the necessary foundation for economic growth and to restore opportunity to the people of Puerto Rico.

Andrew G. Biggs, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

Andrew G. Biggs is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Biggs previously was the Principal Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration and in 2005 served as an Associate Director of the White House National Economic Council. In 2013, the Society of Actuaries appointed Biggs Co-Vice Chair of its Blue Ribbon Panel on Public Pension Funding. In 2016, Biggs was appointed by President Obama to the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, to which he was reappointed by President Trump in 2020. Biggs holds a B.A. from Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, an MSc from Cambridge University and the University of London, and a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Cameron McKenzie, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

Cameron McKenzie is an accomplished investment banker, investor, and entrepreneur with a strong background in mergers and acquisitions, capital raises, business valuation, management consulting, restructuring, and corporate financial advisory services. Over his career, he has worked on numerous transactions across industries such as energy, healthcare, and real estate.

After working for the consulting firm of former U.S. Ambassador Hans H. Hertell, McKenzie founded McKenzie & Associates in 2015. His firm provides investment banking and corporate advisory services to small and middle-market companies throughout the Americas. In addition, he is an investor in several small businesses that collectively employ over 200 people.

McKenzie’s impact extends beyond business; he served as President and Chairman of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce from 2022 to 2023 and was appointed Honorary Consul of Japan in Puerto Rico that same year. In 2023, McKenzie became the first Puerto Rican to join the International Chamber of Commerce executive board in Paris, France. Additionally, he serves on the board of the Baldwin School of Puerto Rico and as an executive board member of Grupo 21.

McKenzie holds an MBA and a B.S. from Babson College and numerous financial certifications and regulatory licenses. Recognized as a leader in the financial sector, McKenzie has received several accolades, including being named among the “40 under 40” by the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts in 2019. McKenzie and his wife, Stephania Gonzalez, are blessed with three children: Annabel, Leonardo, and Nicholas.

John Earl Nixon, to be a Member of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico

John Earl Nixon serves as a Senior Vice President at Acentra Health, an innovative healthcare technology company. In his role, he is focused on government relations, corporate strategy, and client management.

Nixon was Chief Administrative and Financial Officer of the University of Utah from 2014 to 2019. He served as Michigan’s Budget Director from 2011 to 2014 in Governor Rick Snyder’s Administration, where he led a department of 2,700 employees overseeing the state’s $52 billion budget, and statewide government technology and administrative functions. During his tenure, Michigan eliminated a perpetual $1.5 billion deficit, reduced the state’s long-term liabilities by $20 billion, and received a credit rating upgrade. Nixon is also the former state budget director for Utah, having served for Governors Jon Huntsman and Gary Herbert. 

He is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in Corporate Finance from Brigham Young University and an MBA with an emphasis in Information Technology from the University of Utah. Nixon was named Public Official of the Year in 2012 by Governing magazine, which cited his role in Michigan’s economic turnaround. He was also one of Government Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers in 2012. In 2010, he served as President of the National Association of State Budget Officers. In 2008, he was named Chief Financial Officer of the Year for the public sector by Utah Business Magazine. He lives in Bountiful, Utah with his wife, DeAnn. They have six children, two of whom are married.

# # #

The post President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions appeared first on The White House.

On September 13, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will host Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom for a bilateral meeting at the White House. This will be their second meeting at the White House since Prime Minister Starmer’s election this summer.  The leaders will have an in-depth discussion on a range of global issues of mutual interest, including continuing robust support to Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression, securing a hostage release and ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, protecting international shipping in the Red Sea from Iranian-backed Houthi threats, and advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific.  They will also discuss opportunities to strengthen U.S.-UK cooperation to secure supply chains and increase climate resilience. President Biden will underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

###

The post Statement from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on the Visit of Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom appeared first on The White House.

Since their first day in office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have delivered on the most ambitious climate and conservation agenda in history – including taking action to conserve our ocean and marine ecosystems for future generations. This agenda is driven by the President’s America the Beautiful initiative, which is supporting locally led conservation efforts with a goal to protect, conserve, and restore at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

Today, as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s unprecedented commitment to protect America’s natural wonders for future generations, honor areas of national importance and of cultural significance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples, and expand access to nature, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The preferred alternative outlined by NOAA in the FEIS would designate 4,543 square miles of ocean waters off the coast of Central California as a National Marine Sanctuary. If designated, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary will be the third largest in the National Marine Sanctuary System.

The release of the FEIS for the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary follows nearly a decade of work by Tribes, Indigenous Peoples, community leaders, organizations, businesses, state and local officials, and members of Congress – including then-Senator and now Vice President Kamala Harris – to develop and advance this National Marine Sanctuary proposal. The sanctuary, as described in the preferred alternative of the FEIS, would recognize and celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ connections to the region, and be managed with the active involvement of Tribes and Indigenous communities, inclusive of Indigenous values, knowledge, and traditions. The sanctuary is anticipated to bring comprehensive community- and ecosystem-based management to nationally significant natural, historical, archeological, and cultural resources – including kelp forests, rocky reefs, sandy beaches, underwater mountains, and more than 200 shipwrecks.

The boundaries for the National Marine Sanctuary, as outlined in the preferred alternative in the FEIS, would not include areas where offshore wind turbines are currently planned to be built or where wind energy transmission cables are expected to be authorized. The proposed boundaries reflect extensive input from Tribes, conservation stakeholders, and offshore wind developers on how to simultaneously pursue conservation and clean energy goals. NOAA would consider a potential expansion of the proposed sanctuary in the coming years, however, after transmission cables have been laid.  

Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary

The boundary of the preferred alternative for the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary stretches along 116 miles of coastline and would encompass 4,543 square miles of ocean, protecting important ecological habitats such as kelp forests, rocky reefs, and sandy beaches, a seabird hotspot, and significant offshore features, including the Rodriguez Seamount, Arguello Canyon, and a portion of Santa Lucia Bank offshore of central California. This area contains abundant, nationally significant natural resources, including many threatened or endangered species, such as blue whales, snowy plovers, black abalone, and leatherback sea turtles, that rely on habitats, physical features, or prey found in the sanctuary. NOAA has documented more than 200 shipwrecks in the sanctuary, two of which (Yankee Blade and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter McCulloch) are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This region and its abundant resources have been home to coastal, ocean-going Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples for tens of thousands of years or more. The proposed sanctuary is anticipated to highlight Chumash and other Indigenous cultures and create opportunities to better understand and protect ancient village sites that may exist along the now-submerged paleo-shoreline. The sanctuary was nominated for designation by the Northern Chumash Tribal Council. NOAA has engaged, consulted, and worked directly with Tribes and Indigenous Peoples throughout the entire review process, including engagement with local Chumash and Salinan Tribes, Indigenous Peoples, and communities and government-to-government consultation with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. NOAA, under the preferred alternative, would manage the sanctuary through a co-stewardship framework.  Earlier this week, the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation announced the establishment of the Sanctuary Community Fund, through which an initial $2 million in funding from the President’s Inflation Reduction Act will be delivered to support the capacity of local communities to engage in sanctuaries like this one.

The sanctuary, as described in NOAA’s preferred alternative in the FEIS, would include protections that are similar to those in existing regulations for the adjacent Monterey Bay and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries. The new sanctuary would guard against ecologically detrimental activities, including new offshore oil and gas development, seabed disturbance, discharges, disturbance to submerged maritime heritage resources, attracting a white shark, and introducing an introduced species, while allowing for enjoyment and use of the sanctuary for other recreational and commercial activities. The rules proposed for the sanctuary do not include any new fishing or boating regulations.

The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, as discussed in the FEIS, is expected to balance compatible ocean uses and cultural heritage considerations. Through a two-phased approach to the designation of the National Marine Sanctuary, the preferred approach to the sanctuary would protect the natural and cultural resources of the area and maintain opportunities for offshore wind development. This effort demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to combating the climate crisis by advancing both conservation and responsible clean energy development. Yesterday, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the 10th approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind project. With that approval, the Administration has now approved more than 15 gigawatts of permitted offshore wind projects – enough to power 5.25 million homes, and capacity equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve the 30 gigawatt goal.  This progress shows our nation is more than capable of meeting both our conservation and climate goals while building a clean energy economy that lowers energy costs, reduces emissions, and protects and conserves our lands and waters. 

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Ocean Achievements

Ocean protection

Since the launch of the America the Beautiful initiative in early 2021, the U.S. has experienced one of the most rapid accelerations of conservation progress in the nation’s history, with more than 42 million acres of land and water conserved in just over three years. President Biden understands that the ocean is central to our fight against the climate crisis and to creating a cleaner, safer, and healthier future. Ocean protection highlights by the Biden-Harris Administration include:

• Created two new National Marine Sanctuaries and a new national estuarine research reserve. Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary – whose designation ceremony is taking place today – celebrates the region’s maritime cultural history and provides new opportunities for research, education, recreation, and maritime heritage-related tourism in local coastal communities and the broader Great Lakes region. The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary provides stewardship for our nation’s maritime heritage in Lake Michigan. The Connecticut National Estuarine Research Reserve protects part of Long Island Sound and the Thames and Connecticut Rivers.
• Protected the U.S. Arctic Ocean from future oil and gas leasing. Using his authority under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, President Biden designated approximately 2.8 million acres of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean as indefinitely off limits for future oil and gas leasing, completing protections for the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean.

• Taken steps to create one of the largest marine protected areas on the planet in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaiˋi. The President started the process to consider designating approximately 700,000 square miles of the area as a new National Marine Sanctuary.  If the sanctuary is completed, it would conserve more than 700,000 square miles of significant natural and cultural resources and honor the traditional practices and ancestral pathways of Pacific Island voyagers.
• Preserved Bristol Bay salmon fisheries: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency acted to help protect Bristol Bay, the most productive wild salmon ecosystem in the world. This step protects certain waters that are important to sustaining Southwest Alaska’s salmon resources from contamination associated with developing the Pebble Project.
• Advanced designations for three additional sanctuaries in the Hudson Canyon, Lake Erie, and within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
• Restored protections to the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, to safeguard the unique biodiversity of the deep canyons and the surrounding waters that teem with life, and finalized this monument’s management plan.
• Finalized long-term collaborative management and community stewardship of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument by releasing the final management plan in collaboration with the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Combating climate change

To advance the President’s commitment to ocean climate action, in March 2023, the White House released the first-ever Ocean Climate Action Plan (OCAP), a groundbreaking roadmap to harness the power and capacity of the ocean to address the climate crisis. The plan outlined new actions on the Biden-Harris Administration’s ocean climate priorities. One year later, the bold goals and ambitious actions set forth in the OCAP are well underway, complemented by other strategies including the National Ocean Biodiversity Strategy, the National Aquatic Environmental DNA Strategy, and the National Strategy for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. 

As the first comprehensive U.S. strategy to use the power of the ocean and coasts to address and respond to a changing climate, the OCAP has furthered Administration priorities on tackling climate change, advancing equity and environmental justice, and bolstering the U.S. economy. Highlights from the past year of accomplishments include:

• Advancing environmental justice through the release of the first ever Ocean Justice Strategy, which provides a framework for achieving equitable access to the benefits of a healthy ocean and coastal ecosystem in order to address the historic inequities for many communities that are dependent on our ocean and Great Lakes.
• Scaling up the offshore wind energy industry to create a clean energy future, including working with Tribes, states and ocean users to undertake thoughtful processes that have facilitated the approval of ten commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters along the nation’s coasts that combined have the potential to add 15 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy to the nation’s grid – enough to power 5.25 million homes each year, and equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve the 30 gigawatt goal. The Administration is collaborating with local, state, and Tribal governments, fishing and wind industries, and other ocean users to ensure that our offshore wind progress meets the needs of all users of coasts and ocean waters.
• Advancing the decarbonization of the U.S. marine transportation system through a $3 billion investment in clean U.S. ports.
• Enhancing community resilience to ocean change through a historic $2.6 billion framework being implemented by NOAA and the Department of Commerce that seeks to protect coastal communities and restore marine resources, including nearly $400 million for Tribal priorities. This work advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Climate Resilience Framework, which helps to align climate resilience investments across the public and private sector through common principles and opportunities for action to build a climate-resilient nation. These efforts are backed by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, through which more than $50 billion is being delivered to advance climate adaptation and resilience across the nation, including in communities that are the most vulnerable to climate impacts.
• Addressing and mitigating the impacts of a changing climate through the establishment of a Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal Fast Track Action Committee and the release of the U.S. Ocean Acidification Action Plan.
• Coordinating and accelerating measurements of greenhouse gases to track progress in achieving the Administration’s historically ambitious goals and enable faster progress where feasible, through establishment of a National Strategy to Enhance the Nation’s Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Monitoring Capabilities.

###

The post FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Advances Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, Reinforces Ocean Conservation Legacy appeared first on The White House.

Today’s report showed unemployment fell to 4.2% and another 142,000 jobs were created last month. Thanks to our work to rescue the economy, nearly 16 million new jobs have been created, wages and incomes are rising faster than prices, businesses are investing in America, and millions of entrepreneurs are opening small businesses—acts of hope and confidence in our economy. With inflation back down close to normal levels, it is important to focus on sustaining the historic gains we have made for American workers.

The Vice President and I are fighting to expand opportunity and grow the middle class. We will keep working to support American workers and businesses, and to lower housing and health care costs for hardworking Americans. The last thing we should do is turn back to the failed trickle-down economics pushed by Congressional Republicans, like cutting taxes for the wealthy and large corporations, raising taxes on middle class families by nearly $4,000 per year, or cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.

###

The post Statement from President Joe Biden on the August Jobs Report appeared first on The White House.

“Wall Street did not build America; the middle class built America, and unions built the middle class.” – President Biden on Labor Day, 2024

Today, President Biden will travel to Michigan to sign a landmark Executive Order on Investing in America and Investing in American Workers (“Good Jobs EO”), which will help ensure that the Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda continues to promote good, high-quality jobs with paths to the middle class. The Good Jobs EO promotes strong labor standards such as family-sustaining wages, workplace safety, and the free and fair opportunity to join a union, and encourages agencies to implement these standards through their Investing in America programs. President Biden will sign the Good Jobs EO during a visit to UA Local 190’s Job Training Center, where he will meet with union workers and apprentices who have benefitted from the President’s agenda. The event is part of a broader tour to profile the workers and communities across America who are reaping the rewards of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda.
 
The Biden-Harris Administration is the most pro-union administration in American history. The President and Vice President’s Investing in America agenda—including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act—have already created hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the President and Vice President have been clear that their Administration will use every tool at their disposal to ensure these jobs are good-paying jobs with the free and fair chance to join a union.
 
The President’s Good Jobs EO calls on agencies to adopt a series of high-road labor standards that have long been recognized to lead to both better jobs and on-time, high-quality delivery of federally funded projects. With this Executive Order, the Biden-Harris Administration is the first in history to specify a clear list of labor standards that all Federal agencies should look to prioritize.
 
By mobilizing once-in-a-generation public- and private-sector investments, the Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda is transforming our economy—onshoring manufacturing, modernizing our nation’s infrastructure, and building a clean energy economy. The United States has created nearly 16 million jobs since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, with the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years. Already, their Investing in America agenda has catalyzed over $900 billion in private-sector investment in clean energy and manufacturing. Last year, clean energy jobs grew at double the rate of job growth in the rest of the economy and clean energy unionization rates reached the highest level in history. The Good Jobs EO builds on that momentum and will ensure that these investments continue to improve opportunities for millions of Americans.
 
The Good Jobs EO calls on agencies to adopt the following labor standards:

• Promoting worker voice, through Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), Community Benefits Agreements, voluntary union recognition, and neutrality with respect to union organizing. These instruments, which agencies are encouraged to prioritize where appropriate and consistent with law, mark the strongest package of priorities that any Administration has taken to help promote the free and fair choice to join a union through federally funded and federally supported projects.
• Providing tools to promote high-wage jobs, through prevailing wage standards and other equitable compensation practices, such as prioritizing equal pay and pay transparency. This Administration is taking ground-breaking steps to raise wages by directing agencies to consider incentivizing specific high-wage standards for manufacturing grants—going beyond long-standing Davis-Bacon requirements that only apply to construction jobs.
• Promoting worker economic security, by directing agencies to consider prioritizing projects that supply the benefits that workers need—including child and dependent care to health insurance, paid leave, and retirement benefits.
• Supporting workforce development through registered apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, labor-management partnerships, and partnerships with training organizations including community colleges, public workforce boards, and the American Climate Corps.
• Leveling the playing field, by encouraging grantees to develop equitable workforce plans and offering project supports that promote fair hiring and management practices as the projects develop.
• Supporting workplace safety by encouraging agencies to prioritize reporting structures that help ensure compliance with all workplace health and safety laws.

To oversee agencies in their implementation of these labor standards, the Good Jobs EO creates a new Investing in Good Jobs Task Force (Task Force) in the Executive Office of the President. The Task Force will coordinate policy development that drives the creation of high-quality jobs and ensures project delivery. The Task Force will be co-chaired by the Secretary of Labor and the Director of the National Economic Council and include Seniors Advisors to the President and members of the President’s Cabinet.

In addition, the Good Jobs EO outlines strategies for agencies to enact these standards across their grant programs, consistent with applicable law:

• Incentivize these strong labor standards to the greatest extent possible by including application evaluation criteria related to strong labor standards. This includes, consistent with relevant statutes, prioritizing applicants who employ Project Labor Agreements and Community Benefit Agreements in funding opportunities.
• Issue guidance or best practices to promote and implement these priorities.
• Collect data on job quality to further encourage best practices and increase accountability. This includes embedding checkboxes on high-road labor standards into grant applications—a proven strategy that has yielded 22 PLA commitments and 34 new registered apprenticeship programs during a pilot study at the Department of Transportation.
• Conduct pre-award negotiations for key programs and projects as appropriate, and include ensuing commitments in grant agreements.
• Develop staff expertise to ensure every agency has in-house knowledge of strong labor standards and how their investments can promote and support good jobs.

Today’s actions build on many previous Biden-Harris Administration actions to support good jobs, including union jobs, such as:

• Launched the first-ever White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, chaired by Vice President Harris, which resulted in over 70 actions to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining for federal employees and workers employed by public- and private-sector employers.
• Created the Made in America office, to ensure that American-made construction materials are used on infrastructure projects.
• Published a final rule from the Department of Treasury implementing prevailing wage and apprenticeship bonus credits for clean energy projects funded by the President’s Inflation Reduction Act to ensure clean energy workers are paid good wages and that these projects create equitable pipelines to these good jobs.
• Implemented a new rule to require Project Labor Agreements on nearly all major federal construction projects of over $35 million, so federal construction projects will be delivered on time and on budget with good wages and well-trained workers.
• Signed the Butch Lewis Act as part of the American Rescue Plan to save the pensions of more than one million hard-working union workers and retirees.
• Designated nine Workforce Hubs across the country to ensure we have the skilled, diverse workforce needed to carry out this Administration’s historic investments.
• Published a new rule restoring and extending overtime pay protections to millions of workers.
• Published the first update to Davis-Bacon prevailing wages in nearly 40 years, which will increase pay for one million construction workers over time.
• Proposed a new rule from the Department of Labor that would protect 36 million indoor and outdoor workers from extreme heat on the job.
• Signed a Registered Apprenticeship Executive Order to bolster apprenticeships in the federal workforce. Since then, federal agencies including the Departments Agriculture, Defense, Education Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, and Treasury, and the Architect of the Capitol and U.S. Agency for Global Media have identified potential opportunities for developing new and scaling existing registered apprenticeships to create pathways to good jobs, including in mission-critical occupations.
• Through the CHIPS Act, provided $200 million in dedicated CHIPS funding for training and workforce development to ensure local communities have access to the jobs of the future in upcoming projects and introduced a requirement that companies receiving grants under the CHIPS Act over $150 million create a plan to ensure access to quality, affordable child care for their employees.
• Invested nearly $730 million in Registered Apprenticeships, leading to more than 1 million registered apprentices receiving earn-as-you-learn training for in-demand jobs.
• Vocally supported unions, including becoming the first sitting President to walk a picket line.
• The NLRB expanded remedies available to workers when their employers engage in unionbusting, to now include all direct and foreseeable pecuniary harm, such as financial loss from credit card debt, medical bills, or missed rent payments.
• The NLRB overhauled the process for union representation elections by requiring an employer to bargain if it commits an unfair labor practice during the election process, and by reducing unnecessary delays before workers can vote.

###

The post FACT SHEET: Days After Labor Day, Biden-Harris Administration Issues Executive Order to Promote Good Jobs Through Investing in America Agenda appeared first on The White House.

Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer traveled to Kyiv on September 4 and 5 to coordinate on U.S. plans to support Ukraine over the remainder of President Biden’s term in office. 

Finer met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss U.S. support for Ukraine’s military, energy system, and economy, among other areas, and to consult on Ukraine’s strategy in its fight against Russian aggression. Finer expressed condolences on behalf of the United States for the casualties caused by Russia’s recent missile attacks and emphasized the President’s steadfast commitment to stand with Ukraine until they prevail in this war. 

Finer met with Andriy Yermak, the head of the Presidential Office, and Ukrainian military officials to discuss the state of Ukraine’s operations across the front lines. Finer briefed the Ukrainian officials on the ongoing provision of U.S. security assistance to help Ukraine defend itself.

Finer joined Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and senior officials from across the Ukrainian government, including regional representatives from Kharkiv and other regions in Ukraine in a conversation to review Ukraine’s energy security. Finer received updates on Ukraine’s recovery efforts following recent Russian strikes and discussed U.S. assistance to help Ukraine repair its energy system. Additionally, Finer visited a critical energy site in Ukraine to see first-hand the efforts underway to harden these sites ahead of the winter. 

Finer participated in-person in Ukraine’s conference on food security as part of the peace formula process, which representatives from more than 75 countries attended virtually. In his remarks at the conference, Finer emphasized U.S. support for Ukraine’s pursuit of a just and lasting peace to end this war. 

Finer also met with First Deputy Prime Minisyer Yuliia Svyrydenko to discuss U.S. sanctions against Russia and with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to review Ukraine’s efforts to rally global opposition to Russia’s war of aggression. 

###

The post Readout of Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s Trip to Ukraine appeared first on The White House.

Administration approves 10th offshore wind project; previous Administration approved none

With this approval, Nation has permitted 15 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity, as progress continues toward President Biden’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts by 2030

President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership has catalyzed the nation’s offshore wind industry which is creating good-paying and union jobs, establishing and growing new industries in the United States, providing reliable clean power for homes and businesses, strengthening Made in America supply chains, tackling the climate crisis, and helping lower costs for families.

The Biden-Harris Administration has built the offshore wind industry from the ground up. Right now, American workers across manufacturing, shipbuilding, construction, and other sectors are building this new industry. The Administration continues to use every tool available —including leveraging historic resources from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda — to seize near- and long-term offshore wind opportunities across America that will create new jobs for our communities.  

At the beginning of this Administration, there were no approved commercial-scale offshore wind projects in federal waters in the United States. Recognizing the urgency of catalyzing this industry to generate clean energy and combat climate change, President Biden set an ambitious goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind in the United States by 2030, while protecting biodiversity and promoting ocean co-use. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing the 10th approval of a commercial-scale offshore wind project. With this approval, the nation has now approved more than 15 gigawatts of offshore wind projects – enough to power 5.25 million homes, and equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve the 30 gigawatt goal.  

US Wind’s project offshore Maryland – approved today by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) – will provide up to 2,200 megawatts of clean, reliable renewable energy for the Delmarva Peninsula and power up to 770,000 homes. The development and construction phases of the project are estimated to support up to an estimated 2,679 jobs annually over seven years.

Overall, successfully deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind will help power 10 million homes with clean energy, support 77,000 jobs, avoid 78 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, and spur $12 billion per year in private investment in offshore wind projects.

Today’s announcement builds on significant progress that the Biden-Harris Administration has made to accelerate project reviews while protecting communities and our environment. Recent data demonstrates that the Biden-Harris Administration is delivering more projects, more quickly than the previous Administration.

Today’s milestones build on the Administration’s progress to grow our nation’s offshore wind industry, including:

Advancing Offshore Wind off Every Coast

Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, the Department of the Interior has held five offshore wind lease auctions providing more than 1.3 million new acres for development – including a record-breaking sale offshore New York and New Jersey that generated more than $4 billion in winning bids. The Department of the Interior also held first-ever sales offshore the Pacific and Gulf Coasts; held the first sale in the Central Atlantic region in a decade; and announced the first-ever sales offshore Oregon and in the Gulf of Maine. Earlier this year, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a new five-year offshore wind leasing schedule that aims to hold up to 12 potential offshore wind sales through 2028, including potential first-ever sales in HawaiˋI and a U.S. Territory. Because of the Administration’s progress on permitting the nation’s first offshore wind projects and leasing new areas, the total U.S. offshore wind project pipeline now exceeds 80 gigawatts, enough to power more than 26 million homes if fully developed.

Investing in Workers and Communities 

The Administration is advancing offshore wind development in a way that will maximize benefits for local communities and create good-paying jobs for American workers, including by harnessing a range of clean energy tax credits from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda and federal financing programs across the Departments of Energy, the Interior, Commerce, and Transportation. The Department of the Interior has also introduced innovative provisions in lease sales supporting workforce training and union-built projects, domestic supply chain development, and community benefit agreements —including with Tribes and stakeholder groups. The Energy Department has charted a path to grow and train an American workforce to fill tens of thousands of jobs across the offshore wind industry. The Administration’s Federal-State Offshore Wind Implementation Partnership is working to strengthen regional collaboration on offshore wind supply chain development, to unlock more American job opportunities. With these efforts driving progress, offshore wind investments announced during the Biden-Harris Administration now include more than $6.9 billion across 19 manufacturing facilities and 15 ports, as well as 25 new offshore wind vessels being built in 8 different states, totaling thousands of new jobs.

Accelerating Offshore Wind Permitting

Today’s tenth offshore wind project approval, reflecting collaboration across federal agencies, is part of comprehensive Administration efforts to improve the federal permitting process, including: investing over $1 billion through Inflation Reduction Act funds to hire experts and invest in new technologies to expedite reviews; passing the first reforms to modernize the National Environmental Policy Act for the first time in 50 years; and using executive authorities, wherever possible, to improve permitting and environmental review processes. Earlier this year, the Department of the Interior finalized a rule that is expected to save offshore wind developers about $1.9 billion over 20 years by modernizing regulations for offshore renewable energy development. The Department of the Interior is also developing programmatic environmental impact statements for the New York Bight and California offshore wind lease areas to create efficiencies for individual project reviews. Additionally, BOEM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a joint strategy to protect and promote the recovery of endangered North Atlantic right whales while responsibly developing offshore wind energy. These agencies are also deploying Inflation Reduction Act funding and working with industry and environmental stakeholders to advance whale detection and monitoring technologies.

Strengthening Transmission and Port Infrastructure for Offshore Wind

The Departments of the Interior and Energy released An Action Plan for Offshore Wind Transmission Development in the U.S. Atlantic Region, a set of bold actions that will catalyze grid upgrades to boost offshore wind energy, strengthen the domestic supply chain, and create good-paying, union jobs. Similar efforts are underway along the West and Gulf coasts. These efforts are funded from the Inflation Reduction Act for offshore wind and interregional transmission analyses and convenings. This summer, the Department of Energy announced federal transmission investments that will help connect 4,800 megawatts of offshore wind to the New England grid and provide economic development grants to several communities that will host offshore wind transmission infrastructure. To help build out the port capacity needed for offshore wind manufacturing and project construction, the Department of Transportation has awarded more than $675 million in grants for East Coast and West Coast ports to support offshore wind activities.

Advancing Floating Offshore Wind Innovation and Deployment

Deep-water areas that require floating platforms are home to two-thirds of America’s offshore wind energy potential, including along the West Coast and in the Gulf of Maine. To seize these opportunities, the Department of the Interior set a goal to deploy 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by 2035—enough to power over five million American homes. And the Administration launched an interagency Floating Offshore Wind Shot, which seeks to reduce the cost of floating offshore wind energy by more than 70 percent by 2035. The Departments of Energy, the Interior, Commerce, and Transportation have already achieved over 50 milestones and dedicated over $950 million to advance the Floating Offshore Wind Shot and American competitiveness on floating offshore wind turbine design, development, and manufacturing. Last month, the Department of the Interior announced the execution of the nation’s first floating offshore wind energy research lease offshore Maine.

###

The post FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Hits Offshore Wind Milestone, Continues to Advance Clean Energy Opportunities appeared first on The White House.

When I came into office, the United States had zero approved offshore wind projects in federal waters, and the industry was struggling to gain a foothold. But now, following my Administration’s investments in our clean energy future, the private sector has mobilized and the federal government has approved ten offshore wind projects – enough to power more than five million homes and equivalent to half of the capacity needed to achieve our goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. From manufacturing and shipbuilding to port operations and construction, this industry will support tens of thousands of good-paying and union jobs, provide reliable clean power to homes and businesses, strengthen our power grid against outages, and help reduce pollution – all while protecting biodiversity and marine ecosystems. We will continue to partner with industry, Tribes, ocean users, and other stakeholders to support supply chains that are Made in America, incentivize union-built projects, and continue seizing opportunities for additional clean energy technologies.

###

The post Statement from President Biden on Offshore Wind Progress appeared first on The White House.

The Biden-Harris Administration today secured the release of 135 unjustly detained political prisoners in Nicaragua, on humanitarian grounds.  No one should be put in jail for peacefully exercising their fundamental rights of free expression, association, and practicing their religion.  The 135 Nicaraguan citizens released today included 13 members of the Texas-based Mountain Gateway organization, along with Catholic laypeople, students, and others who Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo consider a threat to their authoritarian rule.  
 
The United States welcomes the leadership and generosity of the Government of Guatemala for graciously agreeing to accept these Nicaraguan citizens.  Once in Guatemala, these individuals will be offered the opportunity to apply for lawful ways to rebuild their lives in the United States or other countries through President Biden’s Safe Mobility Office initiative.  President Biden and Vice President Harris are grateful to President Arévalo for his continued leadership across the region in addressing humanitarian issues and championing democratic freedom. 
 
The United States again calls on the Government of Nicaragua to immediately cease the arbitrary arrest and detention of its citizens for merely exercising their fundamental freedoms.

###

The post Statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on the Release of Political Prisoners in Nicaragua appeared first on The White House.

Via Teleconference

12:04 P.M. EDT

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining today’s press call ahead of President Biden’s trip to Wisconsin to discuss investments in rural electrification from his Investing in America agenda.

This call will begin with on-the-record remarks from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Afterwards, there will be a question-and-answer period.  It will be on background and attributable to “senior administration officials.”

As a reminder, the contents of the call and related materials that you will receive after the call will be embargoed until tomorrow, September 5th, at 5:00 a.m. Eastern.

With that, I will turn it over to Natalie.

MS. QUILLIAN:  Thanks, Angelo.  Hi, everybody, and thanks for joining us today to talk about President Biden’s visit to Wisconsin tomorrow to discuss how his Investing in America agenda continues to benefit communities across the country.

Taking a step back, President Biden and Vice President Harris came to office inheriting a series of cascading challenges — from a once-in-a-generation pandemic and isolation on the world stage, crime being up, and the s- — middle class being sidelined.

But the president and the vice president rejected conventional wisdom that trickle-down economics was the best path for America.  Instead, President Biden built the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, and made sure that instead of providing tax breaks for companies that shipped jobs overseas, he invested here in America and in Americans.

The president has promised to be a president for all Americans — from small towns to big cities; blue, red, purple states; and places that, for too long, have been overlooked and left out. 

And over the last three and a half years, he’s followed through on that promise.

Today, because of the president’s historic Investing in America agenda — which includes the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act — opportunity is growing in communities across this country.

Wages are up, inflation is down, this administration has had the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years, and manufacturing is making a comeback in communities across the country.

His agenda has spurred over $910 billion in private-sector manufacturing and clean energy investments.  We’re building a clean energy economy that is lowering costs for millions of families and businesses.  And we are making the most inv- –ambitious investments in our infrastructure — including high-speed Internet, clean water, and clean electricity — in a generation.

Because of the president’s actions and his vision, Americans all across the country are seeing and feeling a better, more prosperous future on the horizon and a future of possibilities.

When the president travels to Wisconsin tomorrow, he will visit a community near La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he visited about three years ago.  And when he was there in 2021, he laid out his plans for a better future.  And when he returns tomorrow, he will have delivered on so many of those promises.

For example, in 2021 when he visited, he talked about repairing roads and bridges and other infrastructure.  And he’s returning with having passed the infrastructure law and launching 350 projects across Wisconsin.

In 2021, he talked about eradicating lead pipes.  He’s returning after announcing $9 billion to do just that, including $200 million in Wisconsin.

And in 2021, he talked about dangerous chemicals — PFAS. And he’s returning after having created the first-ever national PFAS standard.

And importantly, in 2021, he talked about the need for good-paying jobs and opportunities in rural America and the need to address our climate crisis.  And tomorrow, he will announce $7.3 billion from his Inflation Reduction Act for clean, affordable, reliable electricity. 

It’s the largest investment in rural electrification since FDR’s administration and will spur economic development and lower costs for millions of American, and it will create 4,500 permanent jobs and 16,000 construction jobs.

He will hear from people on the ground about how these and other investments from his agenda are changing their lives for the better.  And it’s part of a broader effort that we’ve launched to hear directly from different communities across the country who are benefitting from the president’s Investing in America agenda and, as a result, have peace of mind and more hope for the future.

The president kicked off this push yesterday when he spoke directly to four local, community, and Tribal leaders and other Americans who are seeing the tangible benefits of his agenda.  And his trips to Wisconsin and Michigan this week will continue to highlight those stories.

And now I’d like to turn it over to Secretary Vilsack to talk more about this historic investment in rural America. 

Secretary?

SECRETARY VILSACK:  Natalie, thank you very much.  I appreciate the opportunity to be with all of you today. 

Looking very much forward to the announcement tomorrow.  It’s an exciting announcement with a massive impact across 23 states to bring the promise of clean energy and lower costs to approximately 5 million rural households, representing 20 percent of the nation’s entire rural household, as well as farms and businesses that are located in those 23 states. 

As Natalie indicated, as part of the president’s Investing in America agenda, and as a result of the passage of the president’s Inflation Reduction Act, USDA will be committing $7.3 billion to 16 awardees, rural electric cooperatives, in those 23 states. 

This resource will leverage an additional $29 billion of private investment, which, as Natalie indicated, is the largest investment in rural electrification since 1936 and the New Deal. 

The impact of — of this investment cannot be overstated. 

Natalie referenced the 4,500 permanent jobs and the 16,000 construction jobs, all of which will have good middle-class wages associated with them.  But it’s also about clean energy: ten gigawatts of clean energy, 37- — over 3,700 megawatts of wind power, over 4,700 megawatts of solar power, nearly 800 and — over 800 megawatts of nuclear power, and 357 watts of hydropower. 

All of this is designed not only to provide more reliant elec- — electricity for those rural communities but will also result in a 43.7-million-ton annual reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the clean energy future the president envisioned. 

In addition to all of the — the clean energy, there will also be nearly 1,900 megawatts of battery storage, which means greater resiliency within the system. 

The president w- — specifically will have the opportunity to talk about the New ERA funding of the Dairyland Power Cooperative in Wisconsin.  This is a $573 million commitment that the USDA is making with the Inflation Reduction Act resources in the form of a grant of nearly $471 million and a loan of nearly $102 million. 

This is going to establish an opportunity for this particular cooperative to purchase — to — to finance eight power purchase agreements, four solar installations, four wind power installations across their service territory in Wisconsin.  This is an opportunity, over the next 10 years, to lower the costs of electricity for the customers of the Dairyland Cooperative by nearly 42 percent.

What is really interesting about this opportunity, in addition to the investment USDA is making, is that the — the cooperative will also put its own resources into this.  The total cost of the project will be a little over $2 billion.

In addition, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the — the cooperative will enter into a community benefit plan.  These benefit plans are designed to provide direct assistance and — and help to farmers who will benefit from this clean energy as well as connecting to employment opportunities.  You’ll see the opportunity for apprenticeships and training programs in order to build the workforce of the future.

The New ERA program, which is the program that USDA is providing these resources, has a companion program.  The New ERA program is available only to the RECs, rural electric cooperatives.  But the Powering Affordable Clean Energy program, the PACE program, is available to municipal utilities as well as RECs. 

And the USDA has already made 19 awards of $665 million in that program as well.  In addition, the USDA is also, as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Investing in America effort of the Biden-Harris administration, we’ve invested in over 7,200 REAP grants.  About 4,500 of those REAP grants are being financed directly from Inflation Reduction Act resources.  This is allowing farmers and ranchers and producers and small-business owners to have an individual benefit of clean renewable energy. 

I think it’s important that — to — to point out that this is all a result of the funding that is being provided in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

There are some in Congress who are suggesting that we need to condense the timeframe in which these projects need to be completed and to — and to essentially take some resources away from the Inflation Reduction Act in order to reinvest in — in other farm bill programs.  Really deeply concerned about that, because you can see the power of the New ERA program and the PACE program and the opportunity for us to — over the course of the next several years, to make investments in rural job growth and in rural economic opportunity.

Excited about this opportunity, looking forward to the president’s visit, and I think it’s an opportunity, as well, to talk about the extraordinary investment that’s been made in rural America by the Biden-Harris administration as part of the president’s Investing in America initiative.

So, really, really important day.  I’m looking forward to it and excited about the opportunity that this presents for — for rural places.

With that, I’ll turn it back to Angelo for any questions.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Thank you, Secretary.  And thank you, Natalie. 

Now we will move to the question-and-answer portion of the call.  As a reminder, this will be on background and attributable to “senior administration officials.”  Please use the “raise hand” function on Zoom so that we may call on you.  When you are called on, please identify yourself and your outlet. 

Okay.  We will start with Rachel.  You should be unmuted now.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for taking my question.  I was wondering, do you guys know whether, you know, this power — this clean power would have otherwise been generated without this award?  And can you detail more about that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, I’ll take a first stab at that but maybe ask [senior administration official], who’s on the call, to amplify. 

I think it’s fair to say that the extent and nature of the investment that’s being made is — would be unlikely to have occurred but for the significant investment that the USDA and the Biden-Harris administration is making in these projects. 

The fact that the Dairyland project, for example, is receiving a significant grant — a grant that basically funds $471 million of the project — would suggest that this is a — the impetus and this is the opportunity that we’ve created for a large — large-scale investment. 

There may very well have been other investments made by the Dairyland Power Cooperative, but I don’t think to the extent that they — that they are currently now prepared to do so with the help and assistance that USDA is providing.

[Senior administration official], you want to add anything to that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  [Senior administration official] is exactly right.  What I’ve heard directly from Cooperative executives is that New ERA is transforming their business.  Dairyland CEO, for example, said they’re going to be a different organization after Thursday than they were before because of the transformative effect of New ERA.

There’s no doubt that while some of this might have occurred and there — these co-ops were making investments in clean energy, this is making sure that it’s of a different scale, and, importantly, it’s being done at a cost that is affordable for rural Americans.

Q    And so, when you talked about some of these being, you know, power purchase agreements, that’s not just purchasing power that already exists; that’s creating — that’s new wind turbines in the ground and new solar panels?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  To qualify for our funding, it has to be power that either was not built before or was not purchased by the particular co-op before.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Thank you.  We will go to Erik now.  You should be unmuted. 

Erik?

Q    Yeah, what’s full total timeframe for all of this to be built out fully to fully recognize the entire investment that’s being made here? 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  [Senior administration official], is it 2031?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yes, sir.  Under the Inflation Reduction Act, everything has to be built and validated and dispersed by September 30th, 2031.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Thank you.  We will go to Fatima next.  You should be unmuted now.

Q    Hi.  Thank you for taking this call.  How is the White House balancing these electrification and other projects with the IRA with the protests and lawsuits to mining the materials needed for this infrastructure, especially as projects encroach on culturally significant lands, especially for Tribes?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICAL:  So, I can — I can start there, Fatima, and our USDA colleagues may want to speak a bit more about the — the design of this particular program. 

I’m not sure which — what kinds of mining or other facilities that you have in mind.  But here, as elsewhere across the Investing in America agenda, USDA has built community benefits agreements into the design of this program, and so the co-ops that are being selected for these awards have done and will continue to do extensive community consultations in their service areas and in the project areas to ensure that these projects are being built according to high labor standards, that they are delivering benefits directly to communities, and, consistent with all federal projects that fall under NEPA permitting processes, that those public consultations and any Tribal consultations that are — that are required by the project service area are fully — fully pursued.

But, [senior administration official], I don’t know if there’s anything else you want to add about the community benefits agreement approach here.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  [Senior administration official] is right on.  We are making sure that each of these co-ops does extensive community engagement with the areas that are — that will be affected by the — by New ERA funding.  We expect that this funding will result in tremendous benefits beyond just the clean power.  That particularly applies to farmers seeing benefits and the job growth that Natalie mentioned earlier.  And part of that is a robust engagement of the people who are there. 

The last piece I’ll just say about this is that co-ops are owned by the members, so the people who live and work in rural America are the people who own the co-ops.  There’s no utility that’s more sensitive to what the people who live in its service territory are thinking about and worried about than co-ops, and that puts them a step ahead when it comes to this community engagement.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Thank you.  We will to Sean next.  You should be unmuted now.

Q    Thank you.  Thank you for hosting this.  My two questions really are a little bit more about logistics.  First one is, will Secretary Vilsack be joining the president?  Will there be people available to comment tomorrow from the co-op? 

And when the president visited here two years ago, we were allowed to walk with him as he inspected some of the EV equipment that the city was investing in.  Is that part of the plan for tomorrow?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, I can assure you — this is Tom Vilsack. I can assure you that I’ll be there in Wisconsin with the President.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  And, Sean, on some of your logistical questions, we’re happy to follow up with you on those.

Okay.  We will go to Larry next.  You should be unmuted now.

Larry?

Q    There we go.  I think it’s working now.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Yep.  There you go.

Q    Larry Lee at Brownfield Ag News. 

First of all, are all the grants going to cooperatives.  And secondly, the $471 million to Dairyland Power Co-Op, does that include bringing the Genoa nuclear plant back online or perhaps building a new reactor?  I believe [senior administration official] mentioned that might not be able to use it on stuff built before this, but there may be something else in the works.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  [Senior administration official], I’m going to let you answer the last part of Larry’s question, but it’s my understanding that the New ERA program is specifically designed and only available to rural electric cooperatives.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yes, sir.  And then I just want to be clear about the total amount.  So, the $471 million that you mentioned, Larry, that’s just for the grants.  There’s another $101-plus million that is going for loan refinancing. 

The co-ops will see significant savings from these financings that they can then plow back into new clean energy.  Again, that makes the end result more affordable for these co-ops.  So, there is a tremendous advantage in both products.  And the total is $573 million just for Dairyland.

As for the nuclear plant, Dairyland is building — is buying power from four new solar projects and four new wind projects.  Their particular plan does not involve any new nuclear.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Thank you.  We will go to Kelsey next.  You should be unmuted now.

Q    Can you hear me?

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Yes.

Q    Hi.  This is Kelsey Reichmann from Courthouse News.

A lot of the administration’s efforts with clean energy have been challenged at the Supreme Court, and, in particular, there’s a challenge to the power plant rules for lowering emissions.  And some of the industry groups claim that adopting these new emission standards would impact the energy grid because they would have to close down plants and they wouldn’t be able to adjust to the rules.  So, I guess I’m wondering how these investments address those problems and if they do.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I can — I can take that, or at least start, and if [senior administration official] wants to add.

This is an entirely voluntary initiative.  The co-ops were invited to submit letters of interest that detailed what they wanted their future to look like with regard to clean energy.  So, there’s — there was no regulatory piece to this whatsoever. 

These are co-ops who understand that the clean energy is going to make their systems more reliable and more resilient to extreme weather.  The — by ensuring that we are helping with upfront costs, that keeps the entire — all the projects more affordable.  And we know that each of the 16 selectees are excited for wh- — for this opportunity.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  That’s right, [senior administration official]. 

And all I’ll just add there is that, you know, this is part — you know, a major program under the president’s Inflation Reduction Act, under the Investing in America agenda, which is putting money directly into communities to help build the clean energy projects that they want to build to achieve all of those goals that [senior administration official] has in mind.

This is a — you know, this is a program that was authorized and appropriated by Congress as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, and we’re very excited about tomorrow’s milestone. 

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Thank you.  We have time for one more question.  And we will go to Hope.  You should be unmuted now. 

Q    Thank you.  Hope Kirwan with Wisconsin Public Radio.  I’m wondering if there is something about this project in Westby that, you know, caused the president to want to highlight this project out of all the 16.  You know, is there — there something about this project in Wisconsin that represents, you know, kind of the goals of the Investing in America agenda? 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, I’m happy to take a initial stab on this. 

You know, I think this is a project that in which all aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act are sort of underscored.  The notion that not only are you going to essentially leverage private investment, not only are you going to create clean energy that will make the systems providing energy to rural Wisconsin more reliable and more resilient, but you’re also providing an opportunity where it’s expected that costs will be lower over time than they would have otherwise been because of the source of this energy.  And you also have the benefit of the community benefit agreements and arrangements. 

This project, I think, is exemplary of the 16 projects that are being awarded.  And this is just the beginning.  There will be additional awards in the New ERA program.  And, of course, we — I mentioned that — the PACE program as well. 

And this is also, I think, an opportunity to point out that when you combine this investment with the REAP investments to farmers and ranchers and producers who are capable of producing their own electricity, reducing their costs, but also potentially producing some excess that there opens up the opportunity in the future for farmers to work collaboratively together with their RECs, which could (audio drops) another revenue stream for farmers, which is extremely important. 

So, this particular project sort of brings everything to a head, and the good relationship that the Dairyland has with the unions that will probably be responsible for some of the jobs that will be created in this project. 

I just recently visited the pipefitters training s- — school in Wisconsin.  They’re excited about the opportunities that the Inflation Reduction Act is providing for new jobs.  They’re seeing an increase in apprenticeships.  They’re seeing an increased interest on the part of folks to be pipefitters and steamfitters.  And so, this is a project that will also create really good-paying jobs in Wisconsin and in rural places.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  If I can just add to what [senior administration official] just said, he’s exactly right.  This is representative of what New ERA is going to do all around the country. 

It — the baseline for Dairyland is that they now emit about 4.6 million tons of greenhouse gasses.  By the time that these programs have come to fruition and they’ve completed these projects, that number is going to be down to about 1.4 million tons.  What that is is about a 70 percent decrease in their carbon emissions, an incredible amount.  And New ERA funding will be responsible for about 85 percent of that.

On top of that, as you all know from the press release, Dairyland is — expects that about — their rates will be about 42 percent lower than they otherwise would have been as a result of the New ERA funding once this is complete, and that is representative of what we are seeing all around the country when it comes to the recipients of these New ERA funds.

The Inflation Reduction Act is transforming this entire industry.  It’s an industry that is purely owned by and for rural America.  When we invest in that, we are literally putting equity into rural America.  And as [senior administration official] notes, these projects are indicative of what’s going to happen in the other 15 awardees and then eventually to the other funding that we will be announcing as the time goes on.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  And if I could just add — this is [senior administration official] — just to pick up on what [senior administration official] said — you know, the president will go to — this week, he will have gone to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. 

And this is, as I mentioned earlier, part of the big push we’re doing to make sure the president is in communities, meeting with folks who are benefiting from his Investing in America agenda — that’s urban communities, that’s rural communities, and otherwise — to just demonstrate the tangible impacts that this agenda is already having across the country.  And I think Wisconsin and Dairyland is a great example of that.

MR. FERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ:  Thank you, [senior administration official], and thank you, everyone.  Thank you for joining us.  This will end our press call. 

As a reminder, the contents of this call and the materials that you will receive over email will be embargoed until 5:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.

Thank you for joining us.

12:32 P.M. EDT

The post Background Press Call by Deputy Chief of Staff Natalie Quillian and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack Previewing President Biden’s Trip to Wisconsin appeared first on The White House.

Today, President Biden will travel to Westby, Wisconsin to announce $7.3 billion for clean, affordable, reliable electricity for rural America, funded by his Inflation Reduction Act – this is part of his series designed to demonstrate how the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda is improving the lives of Americans across the country and planting the seeds of a better future for decades to come. The investment announced today is the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal and is part of the President’s Investing in America agenda, which is lowering costs, creating jobs and bringing new opportunity to communities and families across the country.

The President will announce the first round of rural electric cooperatives selected and the first award for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. This program helps rural electric cooperatives transition to clean, affordable, and reliable energy and distribute that power to communities, businesses, farms, and families across Rural America. These investments will lower energy costs by up to hundreds of dollars per year for millions of homes and businesses, tackle the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and create thousands of jobs and new economic opportunities in rural America.

President Biden to Announce $7.3 Billion from the New ERA Program

Today, USDA announced that 16 rural electric cooperatives are being selected to receive up to $7.3 billion in clean energy financing that will deliver clean, more affordable and more resilient electricity to approximately 5 million rural co-op members representing 20 percent of rural households, farms, businesses and schools. These 16 cooperatives will benefit rural residents across 23 states, serving farmers, small businesses, and rural communities in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

These first 16 co-ops will leverage $7.3 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act into a total investment of more than $29 billion in rural communities across the nation. Thanks to the New ERA program, co-ops will build or purchase over 10 gigawatts of clean energy and make enabling investments in areas including transmission, substation upgrades, and distributed energy resource management software that will lower energy costs for rural Americans and enhance grid performance, resiliency, and reliability.

This financing will reduce electricity bills for rural families and businesses, who for too long have faced higher energy costs than the rest of the country due to the challenges of providing electricity in rural and remote areas. The New ERA program is helping rural cooperatives overcome barriers to upgrading infrastructure and investing in newer, lower cost electricity projects.

These New ERA investments will support more than 4,500 permanent jobs and over 16,000 construction jobs. They will also prevent at least 43.7 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually, equivalent to removing pollution from more than 10 million gas-powered cars every year.

In Wisconsin, Dairyland Power Cooperative is receiving the first New ERA award of nearly $573 million, which they will leverage for a total project investment of $2.1 billion. Dairyland plans to procure 1,080 megawatts of renewable energy through eight wind and solar power purchase agreements, four solar installations, and four wind power installations across rural portions of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. Dairyland estimates that electric rates for their members will be 42% lower over 10 years than they would have been without New ERA funding.

President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is Lowering Costs, Making the Largest Investment in Rural Electrification Since the New Deal

The Inflation Reduction Act invests nearly $13 billion in rural electrification across multiple programs—the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal. In addition to today’s New ERA announcement:

• The Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act, funds new clean energy projects and energy storage in rural America. The program provides low-interest loans with up to 60% loan forgiveness to renewable energy developers, rural electric cooperatives and other rural energy providers for renewable energy storage and projects that use wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass. By using renewable energy, PACE projects will make it more affordable for people to heat their homes, run their businesses and power cars, schools, hospitals and more. To date, USDA has announced more than $665 million of investments selected to proceed under the PACE program.

• The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which was expanded through the Inflation Reduction Act, provides grant and loan financing to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems – like solar panels – or to make energy efficiency improvements. During the Biden Administration, REAP has invested $2.2 billion across over 7,600 projects across the country. 

These investments in rural electrification will help build new electricity generation projects and meet growing demand, which will help power the manufacturing renaissance driven by the Investing in America agenda.

President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda is Ensuring a Brighter Future for Wisconsin Communities and Families

Today’s announcement builds on historic progress all around Wisconsin thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda. Since the President and Vice President took office, the Administration has announced $7.2 billion in federal funding, which has catalyzed an additional $5.1 billion in private sector commitments to invest in manufacturing and clean energy across the state. The Investing in America agenda is rebuilding roads and bridges using Made in America materials and American workers. It is bringing back jobs in industries that spent decades outsourcing. And it’s reaching communities in every corner of the state, including those that have too often been left behind.

At the beginning of his term, President Biden traveled to La Crosse, Wisconsin – just down the road from Westby – to sell Americans on his plans for a better future. Now, three years later, the President has delivered on the vision he outlined laying the groundwork for a better future for all Wisconsinites for decades into the future:

• The President talked about the need to repair roads and bridges to enhance safety and to save time and money for Americans. Since then, the Administration has announced over $4 billion for transportation investments for over 350 specific projects, including the construction of three new roundabouts on US 14 and South Avenue, and the County Highway M bridge over the La Crosse River being replaced right now in West Salem.
• The President talked about the need to eradicate lead pipes. Since then, we’ve announced $9 billion nationwide, including over $200 million in Wisconsin, to replace lead pipes. That funding is already accelerating efforts in cities like Milwaukee, which is now on track to replace all lead pipes within 10 years instead of 60 years thanks to funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We also issued a proposed rulemaking to achieve 100% Lead Pipe Replacement nationwide within a decade.
• The President talked about the need to expand high-speed internet so that kids can do their homework from home, and farmers can grow their business with easy access to internet. Since then, 72,000 additional homes and small businesses have been connected (nearly 30% of the total unserved in the state) and the state has been awarded $1.6 billion for high-speed internet to finish the job and connect all remaining unserved homes and small businesses by 2030.
• The President talked about the need to address dangerous chemicals, known as PFAS or “forever chemicals”—that plagued communities like La Crosse’s French Island. Since then, President Biden created the first-ever National Standard to Address PFAS in Drinking Water and through his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has made $9 billion available nationwide to address PFAS and other emerging contaminants.
• The President talked about the need to bring good paying jobs to rural communities so that families can build wealth and opportunity in rural hometowns and their children don’t have to leave to get a job. Since then, we’ve expanded the Rural Partners Network to better deliver federal resources to five community networks in rural Wisconsin. By hiring federal staff from within the communities to work with local leaders, over $320 million of federal investments are now helping to build strong and vibrant rural economies.
• The President talked about the need for investments to propel America into the future and bringing economic opportunity to every region of the country. Since then, the Biden-Harris Administration has designated 31 Tech Hubs across the country, including the Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub, which received $49 million to position Wisconsin as a global leader in personalized medicine while expanding support to workers and entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities.

The progress in Wisconsin is just one example of the progress being made across every state in the nation. For more information about the progress of the President’s Investing in America Agenda, please visit invest.gov. 

###

The post FACT SHEET: President Biden Visits Westby, Wisconsin, Announces $7.3 Billion for Clean, Affordable, Reliable Electricity for Rural America; The Largest Investment in Rural Electrification Since the New Deal appeared first on The White House.

Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed. What should have been a joyous back-to-school season in Winder, Georgia, has now turned into another horrific reminder of how gun violence continues to tear our communities apart. Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal. 

We are closely coordinating with officials at the federal, state and local level, and are grateful for the first responders who brought the suspect into custody and prevented further loss of life.

Ending this gun violence epidemic is personal to me. It’s why I signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act – the most meaningful gun safety bill in decades – and have announced dozens of gun safety executive actions. I also established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, overseen by Vice President Harris. We’ve made significant progress, but this crisis requires even more.

After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation. We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers. These measures will not bring those who were tragically killed today back, but it will help prevent more tragic gun violence from ripping more families apart.

###

The post Statement from President Joe Biden on Shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia appeared first on The White House.

The Biden-Harris Administration believes that public education is the bedrock of our democracy and the foundation of opportunity in our country—and that every young person should have the chance to learn, grow, and pursue their dreams. Since Day One, the Biden-Harris Administration has focused on improving academic achievement, increasing student attendance and engagement, and building communities where all students feel they belong and can thrive. That’s why the Biden-Harris Administration made the single-largest investment in K-12 education in history—and it is delivering results, including student achievement gains. A Harvard and Stanford study, for example, for example, examined outcomes in districts that received large amounts of federal COVID-19 relief funding, which ranged from approximately $4,000 to more than $13,000 per student, and found that these investments will pay for itself in increased earnings for students who benefit, with particularly large impacts for students in schools with high rates of poverty. These investments not only improve academic achievement, but other student outcomes. Another economic study shows that a 10% increase in per student spending each year for all 12 years of public school leads to about 7% higher wages in adulthood, with more pronounced effects for students from low-income backgrounds.
 
As students across the country head back to school, the Biden-Harris Administration is working to make sure America’s schools have the resources and supports they need to continue their important progress. Working together, at the federal, state, and local level, we must all double-down on strengthening reading and math skills; increasing student attendance and engagement; providing afterschool and expanded learning programs; and increasing access to intensive tutoring. We must also provide teachers and school leaders with evidence-based preparation, development, coaching, and resources to support student academic success and literacy and math and their overall well-being, which is foundational to that success.
 
As part of our ongoing commitment to support student success, today we are announcing the following Administration actions:

• Awarding $149 million to support states in implementing evidence-based reading interventions, including efforts to ensure every child is reading fluently by third grade. The U.S. Department of Education’s Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant program supports states in creating comprehensive literacy programs and providing professional development to advance literacy skills, including pre-literacy skills, reading, and writing, for children and youth, focusing on underserved students, including students from low-income backgrounds, English learners, and children with disabilities. For example, Ohio will partner with state colleges and universities to better prepare educators to deliver evidence-based literacy instruction, and Montana will use funds to expand reading instructional skills for educators in rural communities.
  
• Awarding $30 million to support comprehensive assessment systems that inform teaching and support learning. The U.S. Department of Education’s Competitive Grants for State Assessments program supports high-quality state assessment systems that measure student achievement and progress using multiple measures and gives insight into student learning, helping to inform instruction and support student achievement. For example, Nebraska will use funds to support English Learners by making assessment data more usable and actionable for educators as they design instruction.
  
• Issuing new school improvement guidance focused on evidence-based practices to support students and educators and accelerate academic achievement. To further support states and districts in their efforts to increase student success, the U.S. Department of Education is issuing school improvement guidance to support effective implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The guidance provides examples of evidence-based approaches to support teaching and learning and drive student achievement. This includes addressing chronic absenteeism (for example, through early warning systems and improved family engagement, like home visits and effective parent communication such as texting), and providing high-quality tutoring (in small groups, 2-3 times per week by a well-prepared tutor, during the school day, and aligned with classroom instruction), and afterschool, expanded, and summer learning programs. This draft guidance is open for public comment until October 4, 2024. The Department will consider this community input and issue updated guidance by the end of the year.
  
• Releasing a new resource for educators on evidence-based strategies for increasing student literacy and math achievement. The Institute of Education Sciences is releasing a resource for educators on instructional strategies for increasing student success in literacy and math. Each resource includes concrete practices that can be used by teachers from early grades to high school, and provides links to additional resources that can support learning at home. 
  
• To support states, districts, schools, and families in addressing chronic absenteeism and increase student engagement, the Administration is:
  
• Calling on Governors and state education leaders to create statewide student data systems that provide chronic absenteeism-related data for all schools that are actionable, help target interventions, and drive improvement. The Administration encourages all state leaders to ensure that every school district in their state has the real-time data they need to identify and reduce chronic absenteeism and improve student success. States including Alabama, Connecticut, Indiana, and Rhode Island have developed innovative statewide student information systems to help increase student attendance. At a minimum, state systems are encouraged to provide:
  • to the public, up-to-date rates of chronic absenteeism and whether rates are declining or increasing;
  • to educators, real-time, school-level data that enables them to identify the root causes of chronic absenteeism, select the appropriate interventions, target resources, and measure effectiveness; and
  • to parents and families, real-time information on their child’s attendance.
    
• Calling on industry vendors that provide student information systems to improve the availability and utility of student attendance data. This includes making attendance data available to states and districts at no additional cost; not charging districts to access, securely export, or display their own data; and adopting industry aligned data standards or practices for student attendance data that allows for interoperability between the modules that states and districts use, between vendors, and between districts that may use different data systems.
  
• To support these efforts, this year, the Department of Education will issue a resource for state leaders highlighting different state approaches to creating and implementing data systems to address chronic absenteeism along with recommendations for states and local leaders. The guide will also include information on how federal funding can be used to support these efforts. 
  
• Founding the Student Attendance and Engagement Solutions Network, part of the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS), a partnership among the U.S. Department of Education, AmeriCorps, and the Johns Hopkins University Everyone Graduates Center. The Network supports school districts and states in their efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism, increase student engagement, and enhance prevention strategies for the 2024-25 academic year and beyond. To date, almost 200 school districts across 43 states and eight state education agencies, in total representing more than 11,000 schools and 7.2 million students, have joined the network to learn from each other about how to improve attendance and engagement. The Network is open for districts and states to join. More information on the network and how to join can be found here.
  
• Releasing a joint resource by the U.S. Departments of Education and Transportation highlighting ways to provide safe, reliable transit options to get young people to and from school and support everyday student attendance. Many students miss school because of transportation issues, especially in vulnerable communities. To address this issue, transit agencies, school districts, and local and state government leaders can work together to improve transit options for families, including through offering free or reduced transit fares, expanding safe routes to school, and creating a “walking or bike bus”. This resource includes strategies to support students and families in getting to and from school at low or no cost, and federal funding available to support these efforts through the Departments of Education and Transportation.
  
• Releasing, this month, a joint resource for parents by the U.S. Departments of Education and Agriculture on how healthy school meals support regular attendance. This resource provides information that schools can use in engaging parents and caregivers on how school meals bolster everyday student attendance and support healthy growth and development and how to access programs.
  
• Launching the “Attendance Champions Challenge” to hear directly from young people on creative solutions to address chronic absenteeism. The Challenge, hosted on challenge.gov, will encourage state and local leaders to directly engage young people (ages 13-19) in sharing barriers to regular school attendance and proposing viable, creative solutions to support their attendance and engagement. The Challenge is open until November 29th and more information can be found at this website.
  
• Providing parents with resources on navigating whether to send kids to school when they are experiencing health symptoms. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and external organizations are releasing resources on how to support consistent school attendance, while also preventing spread of illness.

In addition to these actions by the Administration, a number of organizations have taken action to tackle absenteeism, as previewed during the White House Every Day Counts Summit. These actions include a messaging toolkit for states, districts, and educators based on new research around effectively communicating with parents to increase student attendance, developed by the Ad Council Research Institute (ACRI), with support from Overdeck Family Foundation, available on September 10th. Information on additional actions by organizations is available here.

These resources build on the previous Administration actions to promote academic achievement and student success, including:

• Securing $130 billion for the largest-ever investment in public education through state and district funding in the American Rescue Plan (ARP). ARP has been used to help schools safely reopen, and address the academic, mental health, and other needs of students. ARP funding has put more teachers in our classrooms and more support staff in our schools; expanded high-dosage tutoring; led to record expansion of summer and after-school programs; improved HVAC systems; and increased access to a wide range of student supports. The most recent data shows that states and districts have allocated more than $70 billion to activities that address students’ academic, social, and emotional needs, including tutoring, afterschool, and summer learning, and research is showing that these investments are working. 
  
• Enabling states to continue investing pandemic relief funds into academic achievement efforts in the 2024-25 school year and focus remaining resources on improving outcomes. The Department issued a letter, Frequently Asked Questions, and a template to support States and provide a critical pathway to continue to use ARP dollars in the 2024-2025 school year, including on evidence-based academic and other student supports. 
  
• Fully enforcing the ARP maintenance of equity provisions to ensure that States maintain their own levels of education spending, especially for communities with high rates of poverty. Under the Department’s robust implementation of these fiscal equity provisions, 48 States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia safeguarded funding in communities with high rates of poverty and drove almost $800 million to under-resourced schools.

[i] The White House does not endorse any nonfederal entity, product, service, or publication. Links to websites and resources outside the U.S. Federal Government are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by the White House of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. The White House bears no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

The post FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Additional Actions to Drive Academic Success for all Students appeared first on The White House.