Statements and Releases

Today, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are pleased to announce the 2024 White House Easter Egg Roll will take place on the South Lawn on Easter Monday, April 1, 2024, continuing one of the oldest traditions in White House history.
 
Additional information on this year’s theme, activities, and media coverage opportunities will be released in the coming weeks. 

For members of the media interested in covering the event, you may RSVP HERE.
 
Online Ticket Lottery
White House Easter Egg Roll tickets are free to the public and may be requested through an online public lottery starting today, Monday, February 26, 2024. 

For those interested, you may enter the public lottery HERE.

The annual event is geared toward children 12 years of age and younger. The public lottery will close on Monday, March 4, 2024, at 12:00 PM ET and randomly selected winners will be notified via email on or after Monday, March 11, 2024. Entering the public lottery is free of charge and tickets are not for sale or resale. 
 
Volunteer Applications

As in past years, the White House will welcome volunteers interested in supporting the Easter Egg Roll through an online application. All volunteers must be 18 years of age or older. The deadline to submit a volunteer application is Monday, March 4, 2024, at 12:00 PM ET. Selected volunteers will be notified on or after Monday, March 11, 2024. 

For those interested, you may apply to be a volunteer HERE.

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Jill and I mourn the loss of two Mississippi National Guardsmen, whose aircraft crashed during a routine training mission near Booneville, Mississippi yesterday. 
 
Our prayers are with their families, units, and the entire Mississippi National Guard at this incredibly difficult time. These two Guardsmen embodied the very best of our nation—bound by honor, and committed to service. We will continue to keep our solemn promise to care for their families, just as they were faithful to our nation.
 
I am grateful to the local law enforcement and first responders, who quickly supported recovery efforts after this tragic accident. As the Department of Defense and National Guard continue to assess what occurred, we stand ready to provide any assistance needed. 

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We the Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) met today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine and salute once more the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people who have been fighting tirelessly for Ukraine’s freedom and democratic future.

They have resisted for two years Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked full-scale invasion which constitutes a blatant violation of the UN Charter. They have proven their will to defeat President Putin’s war machine, restore their nation’s territorial integrity, and defend Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence.

President Putin has failed to achieve his strategic objective of subjugating Ukraine. Instead, he is forcing his own people to pay a heavy price for his government’s reckless actions each day. He has drained Russia’s resources to fund an unnecessary war, torn Russian families apart, and claimed hundreds of thousands of Russian lives.

We remain convinced that we can ensure the people of Ukraine prevail in fighting for their future and help to forge a comprehensive, just and durable peace.

On this occasion, we also pay tribute to the extraordinary courage of Alexei Navalny and stand with his wife, children, and loved ones. He sacrificed his life fighting against the Kremlin’s corruption and for free and fair elections in Russia. We call on the Russian government to fully clarify the circumstances around his death. We equally call on the Russian government to free all unjustly detained prisoners and to stop the persecution of political opposition and the systematic repression of Russians’ rights and freedoms. We will hold those culpable for Navalny’s death accountable, including by continuing to impose restrictive measures in response to human rights violations and abuses in Russia and taking other actions.

1. We will continue to support Ukraine’s right to self-defence and reiterate our commitment to Ukraine’s long-term security, including by concluding and implementing bilateral security commitments and arrangements, based on the Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine we endorsed in Vilnius last July. We are stepping up our security assistance to Ukraine and are increasing our production and delivery capabilities, to assist the country.

Ten years after the Maidan protests, we stand with the Ukrainian government and people as they buttress the foundations of their democratic state through vital reforms, especially to reinforce their justice system and rule of law, and tackle corruption. These endeavours are part of Ukraine’s path to Euro-Atlantic integration. We praise Ukraine’s achievements to date and welcome the European Council’s decision last December to open accession negotiations with Ukraine. We welcome Ukraine’s progress towards meeting the IMF Extended Fund Facility programme’s conditionality.

Russia must not succeed in wrecking Ukraine’s economy to make up for its failures on the battlefield. We will help Ukraine meet its urgent financing needs, and assist other vulnerable countries severely affected by the impacts of Russia’s war. We strongly welcome the EU’s approval of the Ukraine Facility of EUR 50 billion. It will provide crucial financial support to Ukraine until 2027. We also welcome additional economic support others have approved as we seek to close Ukraine’s remaining financing gap, as well as Japan’s swift delivery of its budget support in the first quarter of 2024 and Canada’s new funding. We urge the approval of additional support to close Ukraine’s remaining budget gap for 2024.

Ukraine’s reconstruction, starting with early recovery measures, remains a key priority. We will continue to work, with the Ukrainian authorities and International Financial Institutions through the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine and by leveraging private investments. We welcome the Platform’s expansion to include the Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Further to the successful Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction, we look forward to the Ukraine Recovery Conferences, to be hosted in Berlin in 2024 and in Rome in 2025.

2. We call on Russia to immediately cease its war of aggression and completely and unconditionally withdraw its military forces from the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine. We call on all countries to uphold international law and in no way validate or condone Russia’s attempts to acquire territory by force. We will never recognise so-called “elections”, past and future, held by Russia in the territories of Ukraine, nor their results. Russia’s stated intention to hold votes for its Presidential elections in Ukrainian regions is an outrageous violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

We strongly condemn Russia’s continuous brutal attacks on civilians and critical civil infrastructure and war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, including sexual violence. We strongly condemn Russia’s human rights violations in the territories Russia occupies. We remain committed to holding those responsible accountable for their atrocities against the people of Ukraine, in line with international law. We support investigations by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the Prosecutor-General of Ukraine, and other national prosecutors within their jurisdictions. We welcome ongoing discussions in the Core Group, exploring the establishment of a tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. We call on Russia to release all persons it has unlawfully detained and to safely return all civilians it has illegally transferred or deported, starting with thousands of children. We welcome the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, launched by Ukraine and Canada. We also stress the importance of advancing towards an exchange of all prisoners of war and welcome efforts in this regard by other partner countries and actors. Finally, we will continue to support Ukrainian displaced persons and refugees and protect those in need. We reiterate our support for the Council of Europe Register of Damage for Ukraine.

As Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues to undermine global food security, we celebrate Ukraine’s success in significantly expanding food exports through the Black Sea, which will help feed the world. Thanks to Ukraine’s maritime corridor and the EU’s solidarity lanes, Ukraine is on track to export all grain from its 2023 harvest despite Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian ports and its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. We will continue to help Ukraine export its grain and agricultural products to the most vulnerable nations, including through the implementation of the Grain Verification Scheme that Ukraine will lead this year. We call on Russia to cease its efforts to weaponize food supply and support safe commercial navigation of the Black Sea.

Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, its posture of strategic intimidation and its undermining of arms control regimes are unacceptable. Threats by Russia of nuclear weapon use, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia, in the context of its war of aggression against Ukraine are inadmissible.

3. We will continue to raise the cost of Russia’s war, degrade Russia’s sources of revenue and impede its efforts to build its war machine, as demonstrated by our recently approved sanctions packages. We remain committed to fully implementing and enforcing our sanctions on Russia and adopting new measures as necessary. We continue to counter, in close cooperation with third countries, any attempts to evade and circumvent our sanctions and export control measures. We will impose additional sanctions on companies and individuals in third countries who help Russia acquire weapons or key inputs for weapons.  We will also impose sanctions on those who help Russia acquire tools and other equipment that aid Russian weapons production or military-industrial development.

We will continue to apply significant pressure on Russian revenues from energy and other commodities. We will continue to take steps to tighten compliance and enforcement of the oil price cap. While working to maintain supply stability, we will respond to price cap violations, including by imposing additional sanctions measures on those engaged in deceptive practices while transporting Russian oil and against the networks Russia has developed to extract additional revenue from price cap violations. We will continue taking steps to limit Russia’s future energy revenues. We will continue to impede Russia’s development of future energy projects and disrupt its development of alternatives for energy shipping and other services. We will continue efforts to reduce Russia’s revenues from metals.

We will continue to take action against third-country actors who materially support Russia’s war including by imposing additional measures on entities, where appropriate, in third countries. We call on financial institutions to refrain from supporting Russia’s war machine and we will take appropriate steps, consistent with our legal systems, to deter this behaviour. Financial institutions and other entities that facilitate Russia’s acquisition of items or equipment for its defence industrial base are supporting actions that undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine. We strongly condemn North Korea’s exports and Russia’s procurement of North Korea’s ballistic missiles in direct violation of relevant UNSCRs and call upon them to immediately cease such activities. We call upon Iran to stop assisting the Russian military and its war in Ukraine. We express our concern about transfers to Russia from businesses in the People’s Republic of China of dual-use materials and components for weapons and equipment for military production.

It is not right for Russia to decide if or when it will pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine. These damages now exceed USD486 billion, according to the World Bank.  Russia’s obligations under international law to pay for the damage it is causing are clear.  We are determined to dispel any false notion that time is on Russia’s side, that destroying infrastructure and livelihoods has no consequences for Russia, or that Russia could prevail by causing Ukraine to fail economically. Russia should not be able to indefinitely delay payment it owes. We recognize the urgency of disrupting Russia’s attempts to destroy the Ukrainian economy and Russia’s continued failure to abide by its international law obligations. We are determined to ensure full accountability and we support Ukraine in obtaining compensation for the loss, injury and damage resulting from Russia’s aggression.

We welcome the adoption of the EU legal acts concerning extraordinary revenues of central securities depositories gained from Russia’s immobilised sovereign assets and encourage further steps to enable their use, consistent with applicable contractual obligations and in accordance with applicable laws.  We ask our ministers to continue their work and update ahead of the Apulia Summit on all possible avenues by which immobilized Russian sovereign assets could be made use of to support Ukraine, consistent with our respective legal systems and international law.

4. As we move forward, we continue our support to Ukraine in further developing President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula and commit ourselves to supporting a comprehensive, just and lasting peace consistent with the principles of the UN Charter, international law and respectful of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. As Ukraine enters the third year of this relentless war, its government and its people can count on the G7’s support for as long as it takes.

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On Thursday night, for the first time in over 50 years, an American spacecraft landed on the Moon – a thrilling step forward in a new era of space exploration.
 
The robotic lunar lander, named Odysseus, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on February 15. On Thursday, it sent images from the Moon as it circled in low orbit, before touching down near the South Pole.
 
This mission marks a milestone: the first Moon landing by an American company. Odysseus is a public-private partnership between NASA and the American company Intuitive Machines. It was made possible by American ingenuity, innovation, and curiosity. And, through NASA’s Artemis program, it’s the first of more public- and private-sector space missions to come, bringing together our international and commercial partners to return humans to the Moon for the first time in decades. America is leading the world back to the Moon.
 
In 1962, when America’s first Moon landing was still years away, President Kennedy spoke to a group of students about why the United States sets such bold missions for ourselves. “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things,” he said, “not because they are easy but because they are hard.” And he continued, “That challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one that we intend to win.”
 
What was true then is true now. America does hard things. We rise to the great scientific challenges of our time. And there’s nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.
 
I congratulate the Intuitive Machines team who successfully landed Odysseus, as well as their partners at NASA who are shaping the future of human space exploration. 

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The United States, France and the United Kingdom released the following joint statement today following a trilateral meeting yesterday on nuclear threat reduction. The U.S. delegation was led by Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall.

The United States, France, and the United Kingdom (“P3”) held nuclear threat reduction consultations among senior Elysée, White House, and Cabinet Office officials. These exchanges are part of longstanding and ongoing trilateral cooperation to prevent the proliferation of nuclear materials to non-state actors and to advance collaborative capabilities to counter the threat of weapons of mass destruction terrorism worldwide.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke this afternoon with President Emmanuel Macron of France. The two leaders discussed a range of bilateral and global issues, including Russia’s destabilizing actions, support for Ukraine ahead of the two year anniversary of Russia’s invasion, and the need for Congress to pass funding for Ukraine. They also discussed developments in the Middle East.

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WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals as members of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations:

• Mitchell W. Berger
• J. Michael Bowman
• Amy Bircher Bruyn
• Paige Gebhardt Cognetti
• Chris James
• Omar Khan
• Rob Larew
• Nimish Patel
• Mark A. Turner

Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations

The Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations is an advisory committee established to provide overall policy advice to the United States Trade Representative on matters arising in connection with the development, implementation, and administration of the trade policy of the United States including: negotiating objectives and bargaining positions before entering into trade agreements, the impact of the implementation of trade agreements, matters concerning the operation of any trade agreement once entered into, and other matters arising in connection with the development, implementation, and administration of the trade policy of the United States. The Committee includes up to 45 members recommended by the U.S. Trade Representative who are appointed by the President and have expertise in general trade, investment, and development issues, including representatives of non-federal governments, labor, industry, agriculture, small business, service industries, retailers, nongovernmental environmental and conservation organizations, and consumer interests.

Mitchell W. Berger

Mitchell W. Berger founded Berger Singerman LLP, a business law firm in Florida, in 1985, and has over 40 years of successful representation in commercial disputes for small businesses, medium-sized businesses, and Fortune 500 companies. Berger has received numerous industry accolades, including being named Co-Lawyer of the Year by the National Law Journal and being recognized by Chambers & Partners USA for 14 consecutive years.

Committed to furthering innovation in the legal industry, Berger established the Sharon and Mitchell W. Berger Entrepreneur Law Clinic at Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Shepard Broad College of Law. The clinic enables NSU to provide direct legal service to nonprofit organizations, students, and researchers associated with the NSU Center for Collaborative Research and innovators in the technology and life sciences communities. Berger currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of NSU.

Berger previously represented then-Vice President Al Gore and then-Senator Joe Lieberman in lawsuits following the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. He also served as Chair of the Student Loan Marketing Association Sallie Mae, Commissioner on the Florida Environmental Regulation Commission, a member of the United States Small Business Administration Advisory Board, and a member of the Environmental Financial Advisory Board to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Berger currently serves on the Independent Audit Committee for the Alliance for Climate Protection. He received his B.A., magna cum laude, from Lafayette College and his J.D. from Temple University.

J. Michael Bowman

J. Michael Bowman is the Associate Director of the Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships at the University of Delaware. He holds two additional leadership roles, serving as Founder and CEO/President of the Delaware Technology Park and as the State Director of the Small Business Development Center. Over the past 25 years, Bowman has led the growth of a robust technology-based ecosystem and assisted a variety of small businesses to thrive throughout Delaware.

Amy Bircher Bruyn

As CEO and Founder of MMI Textiles, Inc. Amy Bircher Bruyn leads her team in sales and product development. She is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Advanced Textiles Association. In 2016, Bircher Bruyn invented and filed a design and utility patent for the creation of CTEdge, a concealed edge technology used in webbing and tape within the military and law enforcement markets. She recently opened her own narrow weaving facility in Lenoir, North Carolina to produce her patented webbing product and other military spec webbing to support the needs of our military and tactical markets. Bircher Bruyn has over 40 years of experience in the U.S. textile industry and supplies her products all over the world. She has successfully acquired three other textile businesses since founding MMI Textiles.

Bircher Bruyn received a B.S. in Textiles and Clothing from West Virginia University (WVU). While advancing her career and the industry she loves, Bircher Bruyn has stayed connected to her roots, sharing what she knows with others as a part of the Visiting Committee at WVU. Most recently, she pledged $200,000 to her alma mater for the development of a new textile lab, which opened on April 17, 2021, and is named the Amy A. Bircher Textile Laboratory.

Paige Gebhardt Cognetti

Paige Gebhardt Cognetti was sworn in as Mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania in January 2020, and was re-elected to a full term in November 2021. Cognetti’s background is rooted in government oversight, investment management, international relations, and political campaigns. She serves on the Advisory Board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and chairs the Conference’s Metro Economies Standing Committee. She serves on the boards of numerous other local leadership organizations, supporting fellow elected officials nationwide in promoting economic mobility, environmental sustainability, and efficient, transparent government.

Prior to becoming Mayor, she advised the Pennsylvania Auditor General, served as a Director on the Scranton School Board, and worked in wealth management at Goldman Sachs. Cognetti served in the U.S. Treasury Department during the Obama-Biden Administration as a Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs and as Managing Director for China Operations.

Cognetti graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oregon Clark Honors College with a B.A. in English Literature and holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She lives in Scranton with her husband and their two daughters.

Chris James

Chris James is the President and CEO of The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, the premier organization focused on American Indian and Alaska Native economic development. James is an expert in the Indigenous economy, Native American policy, supply chains, and rural economic development. His expertise is enriched by his personal experience, having grown up with his family’s businesses on the Qualla Boundary, the home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Under his leadership, The National Center has flourished, tripling its revenue and expanding its reach significantly. James spearheads both the Reservation Economic Summit, the world’s largest conference focused on Native American economic development, and the Native Edge Institute series, which equips entrepreneurs with essential skills for success. His tenure has seen a heightened emphasis on international Indigenous trade and connecting Native businesses with corporate America.

James’ professional background is marked by senior roles in the U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Small Business Administration. In these capacities, he led initiatives like Supplier Pay and Startup in a Day, both designed to enhance business efficiency and entrepreneurship. Supplier Pay focused on accelerating payments to small business suppliers, while Startup in a Day aimed to streamline the process for entrepreneurs to start a business in just one day. James is known as an expert and versatile leader in rural America. His engagements span delivering keynote addresses to hosting discussions with notable experts. Additionally, he is a skilled panel leader at both large and small global conferences.

Omar Khan

Omar Khan is a senior government and public affairs executive with more than 20 years of experience across the public and private sector and political campaigns. With a proven track record managing budgets exceeding $48 million and teams of over 200, Khan excels in building coalitions and implementing effective engagement strategies across a diverse range of policy issues and campaigns.

Khan serves as the Senior Vice President for State and Local Government Affairs at WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering and infrastructure firms, where he heads strategy, government relations, and political and civic engagement for the East Region of the U.S. Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Public Engagement Unit of New York City, where he led the unit, overseeing a $25 million budget and managing a team of more than 200 people. In this role, Khan served as senior advisor to City Hall, led the unit’s COVID-19 response, and developed a nationally replicable model for data-driven outreach, increasing accessibility to government services.

Khan held several senior roles in the Obama-Biden Administration working on complex issues at the intersection of policy and politics, including serving as the Assistant United States Trade Representative for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement at the White House, Director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations for the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, and Director of Public Engagement at the Environmental Protection Agency. Khan is also a nationally recognized campaign operative who has held senior and advisory roles in major presidential, gubernatorial, and mayoral campaigns including President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.

Rob Larew

Rob Larew is President of National Farmers Union (NFU), the nation’s foremost grassroots agriculture organization dedicated to supporting and empowering family farmers, ranchers, and their communities. Elected to lead the organization in 2020, Larew previously served as NFU Vice President of Public Policy and Communications.

Larew’s career includes more than two decades working in Congress and at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he played a pivotal role in shaping and implementing agriculture policy. As Staff Director of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, he coordinated and oversaw key initiatives during the formulation of the 2008 and 2014 Farm Bills.

Larew’s lifelong connection to agriculture began, and continues, in Greenville, West Virginia, where he actively participates in the management of a diversified family farm that has been in continuous operation since 1798. He received his B.S. in dairy science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and pursued graduate studies in agronomy at Pennsylvania State University. Larew also serves as an active board member of the Cultivating Change Foundation and Consumer Federation of America.

Nimish Patel

Nimish Patel is the Chair of the Corporate and Securities Department at Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, LLP, a law firm based in Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C. Patel’s experience includes mergers and acquisitions for private and public companies, angel and venture capital financing, IPOs, and other financing and corporate restructurings. Patel currently advises private businesses and publicly traded exchange listed companies on governance and regulatory filing requirements. Patel’s clients are from across a broad range of industries and sectors including artificial intelligence, life sciences, technology, ecommerce, new media, and entertainment.

Previously, Patel was a CPA and a senior auditor in the Orange County, California office of Deloitte working on private and public company audits and other attestations services. Patel’s clients ranged from private closely held businesses to Fortune 500 publicly traded corporations and was involved in many complex transactions including restructurings and cross border transactions.

Patel was elected and previously served on the School Board of Education for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. During his tenure, Patel was involved in making education policy decisions affecting the 11,000 school district students, overseeing a $100 million operating budget and a $300 million capital expenditure budget. He is the Past President and Trustee of the American India Foundation in Los Angeles and the Past President and member of the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California. Patel received his J.D./M.B.A. degrees from University of San Diego and undergraduate degree from University of Southern California.

Mark A. Turner

Mark Turner is a member of the Boards of Trustees of Christiana Care Health System (Delaware) and LaSalle University (Pennsylvania). He is also a member of the Wharton Leadership Advisory Board and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Leadership and Change Management at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Turner is a frequent guest speaker at universities and executive forums on banking, leadership, governance, and innovation.

Turner helped lead WSFS Financial Corporation’s growth in size, profitability, and market value of near 20 times each, and was CFO, COO, CEO, and Executive Chair during his tenure. During his career, Turner has also been a leader on numerous community, industry, and business boards, including serving as Chair of the Delaware Bankers’ Association, Chair of the Delaware Business Roundtable, and on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Advisory Council.

Turner was born and raised in North Philadelphia and received his B.S. from LaSalle University, M.B.A. from University of Pennsylvania, and M.A. from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has homes in Pennsylvania and Delaware with his wife, Regina, and their two daughters.

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President Biden will welcome Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy to the White House on March 1 to reaffirm the strong relationship between the United States and Italy.  They will discuss shared approaches to address global challenges, including their commitment to continue supporting Ukraine as it confronts Russia’s aggression, preventing regional escalation in the Middle East, delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, developments in North Africa, and close transatlantic coordination regarding the People’s Republic of China. They will also discuss Italy’s G7 presidency and coordinate in advance of the NATO Summit in Washington.

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Two years ago tomorrow, shortly before dawn, Russian missiles began exploding near the capital city of Kyiv. Russian troops marched across the border into Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s vicious onslaught against Ukraine had begun. 

He believed that he could easily bend the will and break the resolve of a free people. That he could roll into a sovereign nation, and the world would roll over. That he could shake the foundations of security in Europe and beyond. 

Two years later, we see even more vividly what we’ve known since day one: Putin miscalculated badly.

The brave people of Ukraine fight on, unbowed in their determination to defend their freedom and future. NATO is stronger, larger, and more united than ever. And the unprecedented 50-nation global coalition in support of Ukraine, led by the United States, remains committed to providing critical assistance to Ukraine and holding Russia accountable for its aggression.

The American people and people around the world understand that the stakes of this fight extend far beyond Ukraine. Ten years ago, Putin occupied Crimea, and created puppet regimes in Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions.  Two years ago, he tried to wipe Ukraine off the map.  If Putin does not pay the price for his death and destruction, he will keep going. And the costs to the United States—along with our NATO Allies and partners in Europe and around the world—will rise.

Today, I am announcing more than 500 new sanctions against Russia for its ongoing war of conquest on Ukraine and for the death of Aleksey Navalny, who was a courageous anti-corruption activist and Putin’s fiercest opposition leader. These sanctions will target individuals connected to Navalny’s imprisonment as well as Russia’s financial sector, defense industrial base, procurement networks and sanctions evaders across multiple continents. They will ensure Putin pays an even steeper price for his aggression abroad and repression at home.

We are also imposing new export restrictions on nearly 100 entities for providing backdoor support for Russia’s war machine. We are taking action to further reduce Russia’s energy revenues. And I’ve directed my team to strengthen support for civil society, independent media, and those who fight for democracy around the world.

Two years into this war, the people of Ukraine continue to fight with tremendous courage. But they are running out of ammunition. Ukraine needs more supplies from the United States to hold the line against Russia’s relentless attacks, which are enabled by arms and ammunition from Iran and North Korea. That’s why the House of Representatives must pass the bipartisan national security supplemental bill, before it’s too late.

This bill provides urgent funding for Ukraine. It also invests in America’s own defense industrial base. It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, and there is no question that, if the Speaker called a vote, it would pass quickly in the House. Congress knows that by supporting this bill, we can strengthen security in Europe, strengthen our security at home, and stand up to Putin. Opposing this bill only plays into his hands.

History is watching. The failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will not be forgotten. Now is the time for us to stand strong with Ukraine and stand united with our Allies and partners. Now is the time to prove that the United States stands up for freedom and bows down to no one.

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President Biden met with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya today in San Francisco to express his heartfelt condolences for their terrible loss following the death of Aleksey Navalny in a Russian prison.  The President expressed his admiration for Aleksey Navalny’s extraordinary courage and his legacy of fighting against corruption and for a free and democratic Russia in which the rule of law applies equally to everyone. The President emphasized that Aleksey’s legacy will carry on through people across Russia and around the world mourning his loss and fighting for freedom, democracy, and human rights. He affirmed that his Administration will announce major new sanctions against Russia tomorrow in response to Aleksey’s death, Russia’s repression and aggression, and its brutal and illegal war in Ukraine. 

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Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion. And now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant. The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.
 
Make no mistake: this is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
 
I know that folks are worried about what they’re seeing happening to women all across America. I am too. I hear about it everywhere I go. My message is: The Vice President and I are fighting for your rights. We’re fighting for the freedom of women, for families, and for doctors who care for these women. And we won’t stop until we restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state.

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Today, White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack are traveling to Tarboro, North Carolina to launch the Investing in Rural America Regional Event Series to highlight investments from the Biden-Harris Administration in rural America. The Regional Event Series will continue throughout this year, building on the Administration’s Investing in Rural America Event Series in late 2023, and kicks off as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s fourth Investing in America tour this month, where Cabinet and Administration officials are fanning out across the country highlighting the impact of the President’s agenda. 

During today’s visit, White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden and Secretary Vilsack will visit Edgecombe Community College and announce over $770 million in new investments that will benefit more than 1 million people living in rural communities. This investment will support 216 projects in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands to bring high-speed internet; clean, safe water; other critical infrastructure; and economic growth to rural communities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. This investment includes:

• $51.7 million to expand access to high-speed internet for people in rural areas through the Reconnect Program and the Broadband Technical Assistance Program. USDA will begin accepting applications on March 22, 2024 for its fifth round of funding for the ReConnect Program to connect millions of people in rural America to affordable high-speed internet.
• $644.2 million to help 158 rural cooperatives and utilities provide clean drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems for 578,000 people in rural areas.
• $76.6 million for projects in underserved communities participating in the Rural Partners Network, which is transforming the way the federal government partners with rural communities by putting federal employees on the ground to help rural communities access federal resources. This investment will support 32 projects that expand access to jobs, business opportunities, quality health care, clean water and renewable energy. Tarboro, NC is part of the Rural Partners Network.

As a part of the Regional Event Series, Senior Administration Officials will travel to rural communities across the country throughout this year to highlight how the President’s Investing in America agenda is ensuring rural Americans do not have to leave their hometowns to find opportunity. Next month, White House Senior Advisor and Director of the Office of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin will travel to New Mexico to participate in a Rural Partners Network Forum and highlight how the President is investing in rural America.

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Today, the Biden-Harris Administration will issue an Executive Order to bolster the security of the nation’s ports, alongside a series of additional actions that will strengthen maritime cybersecurity, fortify our supply chains and strengthen the United States industrial base. The Administration will also announce its intent to bring domestic onshore manufacturing capacity back to America to provide safe, secure cranes to U.S. ports – thanks to an over $20 billion investment in U.S. port infrastructure under President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda. Today’s actions are clear examples of the President’s work to invest in America, secure the country’s supply chains, and strengthen the cybersecurity of our nation’s critical infrastructure against 21st century threats – priorities his Administration has focused on relentlessly since taking office.

America’s prosperity is directly linked to maritime trade and the integrated network of ports, terminals, vessels, waterways, and land-side connections that constitute the Nation’s Marine Transportation System (MTS). This complex system supports $5.4 trillion worth of economic activity each year, contributes to the employment of more than 31 million Americans, and supports nearly 95% of cargo entering the U.S. 
The security of our critical infrastructure remains a national imperative in an increasingly complex threat environment. MTS owners and operators rely on digital systems to enable their operations, to include ship navigation, the movement of cargo, engineering, safety, and security monitoring. These systems have revolutionized the maritime shipping industry and American supply chains by enhancing the speed and efficiency of moving goods to market, but the increasing digital interconnectedness of our economy and supply chains have also introduced vulnerabilities that, if exploited, could have cascading impacts on America’s ports, the economy, and everyday hard-working Americans.

Today’s actions include:

President Biden will sign an Executive Order to bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to directly address maritime cyber threats, including through cybersecurity standards to ensure that American ports’ networks and systems are secure. Now, the U.S. Coast Guard will have the express authority to respond to malicious cyber activity in the nation’s MTS by requiring vessels and waterfront facilities to mitigate cyber conditions that may endanger the safety of a vessel, facility, or harbor. The Executive Order will also institute mandatory reporting of cyber incidents – or active cyber threats – endangering any vessel, harbor, port, or waterfront facility. Additionally, the Coast Guard will now have the authority to control the movement of vessels that present a known or suspected cyber threat to U.S. maritime infrastructure, and be able to inspect those vessels and facilities that pose a threat to our cybersecurity. 

The U.S. Coast Guard will issue a Maritime Security Directive on cyber risk management actions for ship-to-shore cranes manufactured by the People’s Republic of China located at U.S. Commercial Strategic Seaports. Owners and operators of these cranes must acknowledge the directive and take a series of actions on these cranes and associated Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) systems. This action is a vital step to securing our maritime infrastructure’s digital ecosystem and addresses several vulnerabilities that have been identified in the updated U.S. Maritime Advisory, 2024-00X – Worldwide Foreign Adversarial Technological, Physical, and Cyber Influence, that was released today.

The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemakingon Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System.  Every day malicious cyber actors attempt to gain unauthorized access to MTS control systems and networks throughout the nation. The Proposed Rule will strengthen these digital systems by establishing minimum cybersecurity requirements that meet international and industry-recognized standards to best manage cyber threats. These actions build on prior actions by DHS including those taken by the Transportation Security Administration, and reflect the Administration’s commitment to leverage regulatory requirements in pursuit of safeguarding critical infrastructure.

The Administration continues to deliver for the American people by rebuilding the U.S.’s industrial capacity to produce port cranes with trusted partners. The Administration will invest over $20 billion, including through grants, into U.S. port infrastructure over the next 5 years through the President’s Investing in America Agenda, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. As a result, PACECO Corp., a U.S.-based subsidiary of Mitsui E&S Co., Ltd (Japan), is planning to onshore U.S. manufacturing capacity for its crane production. PACECO has a deep history in the container shipping industry, manufacturing the first dedicated ship-to-shore container crane in 1958 as PACECO Inc., and it continued U.S.-based crane manufacturing until the late 1980s. PACECO intends to partner with other trusted manufacturing companies to bring port crane manufacturing capabilities back to the U.S. for the first time in 30 years, pending final site and partner selection. 
The announcement is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s fourth Investing in America tour, where White House and Administration officials are traveling across the country to highlight the impacts of the President’s Investing in America agenda on communities, families, small businesses and the United States’ economic and national security. It also follows-up on the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience’s efforts to strengthen America’s supply chains, particularly by addressing supply chain risks resulting from threats and vulnerabilities inside U.S. ports. 

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Today, President Biden announced the approval of $1.2 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 153,000 borrowers currently enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) repayment plan. The Biden-Harris Administration has now approved nearly $138 billion in student debt cancellation for almost 3.9 million borrowers through more than two dozen executive actions. The borrowers receiving relief are the first to benefit from a SAVE plan policy that provides debt forgiveness to borrowers who have been in repayment after as little as 10 years and took out $12,000 or less in student loans. Originally planned for July, the Biden-Harris Administration implemented this provision of SAVE and is providing relief to borrowers nearly six months ahead of schedule.

From Day One of his Administration, President Biden vowed to fix the student loan system and make sure higher education is a pathway to the middle class – not a barrier to opportunity. Already, the President has cancelled more student debt than any President in history – delivering lifechanging relief to students and families – and has created the most affordable student loan repayment plan ever: the SAVE plan. While Republicans in Congress and their allies try to block President Biden every step of the way, the Biden-Harris Administration continues to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers, and is leaving no stone unturned in the fight to give more borrowers breathing room on their student loans.

Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s SAVE plan, starting today, the Administration will be cancelling debt for borrowers who are enrolled in the SAVE plan, have been in repayment for at least 10 years and took out $12,000 or less in loans for college. For every additional $1,000 a borrower initially borrowed, they will receive relief after an additional year of payments. For example, a borrower enrolled in SAVE who took out $14,000 or less in federal loans to earn an associate’s degree in biotechnology would receive full debt relief starting this week if they have been in repayment for 12 years. The U.S. Department of Education (Department) identified nearly 153,000 borrowers who are enrolled in SAVE plan who will have their debt cancelled starting this week, and those borrowers will receive an email today from President Biden informing them of their imminent relief. Next week, the Department of Education will also be reaching out directly to borrowers who are eligible for early relief but not currently enrolled in the SAVE Plan to encourage them to enroll as soon as possible.

This shortened time to forgiveness will particularly help community college and other borrowers with smaller loans and put many on track to being free of student debt faster than ever before. Under the Biden-Harris Administration’s SAVE plan, 85 percent of future community college borrowers will be debt free within 10 years. The Department will continue to regularly identify and discharge other borrowers eligible for relief under this provision on SAVE.

Over four million borrowers have a $0 monthly payment under the SAVE Plan

Last year, President Biden launched the SAVE plan – the most affordable repayment plan ever. Under the SAVE plan, monthly payments are based on a borrower’s income and family size, not their loan balance. The SAVE plan ensures that if borrowers are making their monthly payments, their balances cannot grow because of unpaid interest. And, starting in July, undergraduate loan payments will be cut in half, capping a borrower’s loan payment at 5% of their discretionary income. Already, 7.5 million borrowers are enrolled in the SAVE Plan, and 4.3 million borrowers have a $0 monthly payment.  

Today, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released an issue brief highlighting how low and middle-income borrowers enrolled in SAVE could see significant saving in terms of interest saved over time and principal forgiven as a result of SAVE’s early forgiveness provisions.

President Biden’s Administration has approved student debt relief for nearly 3.9 million Americans through various actions

Today’s announcement builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s track record of taking historic action to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved debt cancellation for nearly 3.9 million Americans, totaling almost $138 billion in debt relief through various actions. This relief has given borrowers critical breathing room in their daily lives, allowing them to afford other expenses, buy homes, start businesses, or pursue dreams they had to put on hold because of the burden of student loan debt. President Biden remains committed to providing debt relief to as many borrowers as possible, and won’t stop fighting to deliver relief to more Americans.

The Biden-Harris Administration has also taken historic steps to improve the student loan program and make higher education more affordable for more Americans, including:

• Achieving the largest increases in Pell Grants in over a decade to help families who earn less than $60,000 a year achieve their higher-education goals.
  
• Fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program so that borrowers who go into public service get the debt relief they’re entitled to under the law. Before President Biden took office, only 7,000 people ever received debt relief through PSLF. After fixing the program, the Biden-Harris Administration has now cancelled student loan debt for nearly 800,000 public service workers.
  
• Cancelling student loan debt for more than 930,000 borrowers who have been in repayment for over 20 years but never got the relief they earned because of administrative failures with Income-Driven Repayment Plans.
  
• Pursuing an alternative path to deliver student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision striking down the Administration’s original debt relief plan. Last week, the Department of Education released proposed regulatory text to cancel student debt for borrowers who are experiencing hardship paying back their student loans, and late last year released proposals to cancel student debt for borrowers who: owe more than they borrowed, first entered repayment 20 or 25 years ago, attended low quality programs, and who would be eligible for loan forgiveness through income-driven repayment programs like SAVE but have not applied.
  
• Holding colleges accountable for leaving students with unaffordable debts.

It’s easy to enroll in SAVE. Borrowers should go to studentaid.gov/save to start saving.  

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Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, Every U.S. State and Territory Will Receive Funding for Clean Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan will travel to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as part of the Administration’s Investing in America Tour to announce $5.8 billion in funding for clean water infrastructure from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to ensuring a future where every child and family has access to clean, safe water, and today’s announcement brings the total amount of clean water funding announced by EPA from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to $22 billion. The Infrastructure Law invests a total of over $50 billion to upgrade America’s water infrastructure, the largest investment in clean water in American history.

Over two million people in America live without running water, tens of millions more lack access to safe and reliable drinking water and sanitation, and over nine million homes, daycares, and businesses receive their water through a toxic lead pipe. Due to decades of inequitable infrastructure development and underinvestment, lack of access to clean water disproportionately affects low-income and underserved communities. President Biden and Vice President Harris believe this is unacceptable and must change. No child, no family, no teacher, and no American should lack access to clean water.

Today’s announcement delivers funding to every single state and territory in the country to expand access to clean drinking water, replace lead pipes, improve wastewater and sanitation infrastructure, and remove PFAS contamination in water. Additionally, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, nearly half of this funding will be provided as grants or forgivable loans to disadvantaged communities, advancing President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative and ensuring that no community is left behind. Today’s announcement will build upon the progress President Biden and Vice President Harris have already made to ensure every American can access clean water. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Administration has launched over 1,300 drinking water and wastewater projects across the country, including projects that will replace hundreds of thousands of lead service lines. To tell the story of how these transformative projects are impacting communities across the country, EPA is launching a new Investing in America’s Water Infrastructure Storymap today.

See below for details on key progress the Administration has made delivering clean water across America:

Delivering Clean Drinking Water

• Today, EPA is announcing over $3.2 billion through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to expand access to clean drinking water across the country, bringing the total amount of funding announced under this category to $8.9 billion. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests nearly $31 billion in funding for a wide range of drinking water projects, including upgrades to water treatment plants, water distribution and piping systems, PFAS treatment, and lead pipe replacement.
  
• One community benefitting from this funding is Ridgway, Colorado, where over 50,000 people rely on a single water treatment plant that is vulnerable to failure, putting their drinking water supply at risk. Through a $50 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the community will be able to build an additional treatment plant and extend service to additional communities, helping to ensure safe, reliable drinking water for the region.
  
• The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation is investing $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to construct seven major Rural Water Projects to deliver new supplies of clean drinking water to rural communities. In addition, the Department of the Interior has awarded $160 million for the Arkansas Valley Conduit, a planned 230-mile water pipeline that will deliver clean water to 50,000 people in southeastern Colorado whose groundwater supplies may be contaminated with radionuclides. The project was initially authorized by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 and has now finally accelerated construction under the Biden-Harris Administration, with the first pipeline breaking ground and construction contracts awarded for multiple new segments in the past year.
  
• The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative – the largest investment in the Great Lakes in two decades – received $1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help provide healthy ecosystems and safe drinking water for the 20 million Americans who rely on the Great Lakes. The program will completely restore eleven highly contaminated sites in the Great Lakes, three of which have already broken ground. Projects include the Milwaukee Estuary in Wisconsin and Cuyahoga River in Ohio, which have received a combined $415 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to clean up millions of cubic yards of contaminated sediment.

Replacing Lead Pipes

• The general-purpose drinking water funding announced today can also be used to replace toxic lead pipes, accelerating progress towards the President’s goal of replacing every lead service line in the country.
  
• The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also includes a historic $15 billion in dedicated funding for lead pipe replacement. To date, EPA has announced $6 billion of this funding, which will help replace hundreds of thousands of lead pipes. EPA will announce additional lead pipe replacement funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure for 2024 in the coming months.
  
• Since Vice President Harris last visited Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in June 2022 to highlight the importance of replacing lead pipes and securing clean water access, the city has received $42 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for lead pipe replacement, helping Pittsburgh towards its goal of replacing 100% of its lead pipes by 2026.

• In November 2023, EPA proposed updates to the Lead and Copper Rule that require water systems to replace lead service lines within 10 years. EPA is also financing major lead pipe replacement projects through its WIFIA (Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) loan program. EPA announced low-interest loans of $340 million to the City of Philadelphia and $336 million to the City of Chicago to replace tens of thousands of lead pipes while creating thousands of jobs.
  
• The Administration’s Get the Lead Out (GLO) Initiative – launched in November 2023 as a part of the President’s goal of replacing all lead service lines within a decade – establishes a partnership with 200 underserved communities nationwide to provide the technical assistance they need to access federal funding and remove lead service lines from their communities. This initiative builds on EPA and the Department of Labor’s partnership with 40 underserved communities to support lead pipe replacement.

Improving Wastewater and Sanitation Infrastructure

• Today, EPA is announcing over $2.6 billion through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund for a range of projects to improve wastewater, sanitation, and stormwater infrastructure, bringing the total funding announced for this purpose to $7 billion. Inadequate wastewater or sanitation systems put communities’ health at risk, and in total, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests nearly $13 billion in wastewater funding to expand and upgrade these critical systems across the country.
  
• Last week, EPA announced an expansion of its successful Closing America’s Wastewater Access Gap Community Initiative to help an additional 150 underserved communities plan wastewater projects and access funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Through the pilot of this initiative, EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been assisting 11 communities since 2022.
  
• One member of the Wastewater Access Gap initiative is Lowndes County, Alabama, where roughly 90% of households have failing wastewater systems and many children and families are exposed to raw sewage in their own backyards. Through the program, EPA and USDA have worked with the Lowndes County community of White Hall to secure over $500,000 in federal funding for wastewater projects to date. In the Lowndes County community of Hayneville, EPA has awarded a 100% forgivable $8.7 million loan to address failing or non-existent wastewater systems in 650 homes.
  
• Since President Biden took office, the Indian Health Service in the Department of Health and Human Services has allocated $1.4 billion in funding from the Infrastructure Law to over 650 projects to build sanitation infrastructure in Tribal communities.

 Cleaning Up PFAS Pollution in Water

• The funding announced today includes over $1 billion dedicated to addressing emerging contaminants like PFAS, bringing the total funding announced for emerging contaminants to nearly $5 billion. PFAS “forever chemicals” can be present in drinking water or wastewater and contribute to a variety of harmful health impacts, including developmental challenges in children and increased risk of cancer. In total, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $10 billion to help communities build new treatment systems to remove PFAS pollution. Additionally, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 100% of funding to remove emerging contaminants like PFAS will be provided as grants or forgivable loans, greatly reducing barriers for all communities with PFAS contamination.
  
• One community benefitting from this funding is the city of Tucson, Arizona, where drinking water supplies have been stressed by both drought and the pollution of drinking water wells by harmful PFAS and other chemicals. Through a $33.5 million forgivable loan, the city will build a new drinking water treatment facility to eliminate these contaminants and restore clean drinking water for the community.
• In March 2023, EPA proposed the first-ever national drinking water standard for PFAS under President Biden’s plan to combat PFAS pollution and EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap. Expected to be finalized in 2024, these drinking water standards will establish legally enforceable levels for six PFAS chemicals, a major step to protect public health from PFAS pollution.

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On this day in 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to the forcible incarceration of over 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent – half of whom were children. It was shameful. Families were separated. Communities were torn apart. People were stripped of their dignity. And the unconstitutional and unconscionable policy was even upheld by the Supreme Court. 
 
In the face of injustice, 33,000 Japanese Americans stepped up and courageously served in the U.S. military during World War II. They demonstrated loyalty and patriotism. We honor those service men and women, as well as the legacy of civil rights leaders like Fred Korematsu, Minoru Yasui, Gordon Hirabayashi, and Mitsuye Endo, along with every Japanese American who organized and worked to right a wrong. Their sacrifice, their resilience and their belief that civil liberties and freedom must be vigorously defended inspire us today. 
 
I decided to run for President to restore the Soul of America. To confront racism, xenophobia, and hate in all its forms. To strengthen and preserve our democracy. We remember the tragic legacy of Executive Order 9066 – and the trauma it inflicted – by reaffirming the Federal Government’s formal apology to Japanese Americans. And by stating unequivocally: Nidoto Nai Yoni – to “Let It Not Happen Again.”

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Semiconductors are the brain of modern technology. While they are no larger than a fingernail and no thicker than a piece of paper, they are essential to every electronic device that we currently use – from computers and televisions to cars and washing machines. Thanks to our Administration’s CHIPS and Science Act, we are announcing the Department of Commerce’s preliminary agreement with GlobalFoundries, which will award approximately $1.5 billion to expand domestic production of semiconductors, strengthen U.S. supply chains, and create thousands of good paying jobs right here in America.
 
While in Singapore in August 2021, I convened CEOs and government leaders to make progress on global supply chain challenges. As part of that convening, I met with an executive from GlobalFoundries, and they committed to working with our administration to secure domestic supply chains. The preliminary agreement announced today will allow GlobalFoundries to create a new state of the art semiconductor production facility in Malta, NY, and will allow the company to expand existing operations in both New York and Vermont. The chips made by GlobalFoundries are critical for the development and manufacturing of vehicles and smartphones, and are used for satellite and space communications that are essential to our national defense and national security.
 
This investment will also create more than 10,000 good jobs over the next decade, including many union construction jobs that pay fair wages and offer benefits like child care services. Additionally, the domestic production of these chips will provide more supply chain stability to the auto and aerospace industries across the United States that currently rely on the shipment of these chips from overseas. And of course, these types of investments can have a multiplier effect in communities – driving small business growth, strengthening workforce pipelines, and helping more people access good jobs without having to leave their hometowns.
 
President Biden and I continue to be fully committed to growing our economy and creating opportunity in every part of America. Today’s announcement is another way in which we are delivering on that commitment in New York, Vermont, and communities throughout the country.

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President Biden called President Zelenskyy today to underscore the United States’ commitment to continue supporting Ukraine ahead of the two year anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion. This morning, Ukraine’s military was forced to withdraw from Avdiivka after Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction, resulting in Russia’s first notable gains in months. President Biden emphasized the need for Congress to urgently pass the national security supplemental funding bill to resupply Ukrainian forces. President Biden reaffirmed the strong bipartisan support in the U.S. government and among the American people for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to imposing costs on the Russian government to hold it accountable for its actions. 

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Vice President Kamala Harris met today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine in Munich, Germany to discuss Ukraine’s ongoing fight against Russian aggression.  The Vice President emphasized the Administration’s continued efforts to ensure passage of the President’s national security supplemental funding bill, and reaffirmed the strong bipartisan support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the U.S. government and among the American people.  The Vice President welcomed Ukraine’s progress on its path of Euro-Atlantic integration, and encouraged continued work to counter corruption and strengthen Ukraine’s democratic institutions, which will give confidence to investors and enable Ukraine’s rapid recovery and reconstruction when Russia ceases its unlawful aggression. 

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Vice President Kamala Harris met today with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany in Munich, underscoring the strength of the transatlantic relationship in addressing global challenges. The Vice President expressed appreciation for Germany’s exemplary contributions to Ukraine’s self-defense and for the Chancellor’s personal leadership to advance robust European and international support for Ukraine’s economic stability. The leaders noted reports of the death of Alexey Navalny, which underscores Russia’s brutality and the need to continue aiding Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. The leaders also reiterated their commitment to close coordination on both countries’ approaches to managing competition with the People’s Republic of China. 

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