Statements and Releases

Today, President Biden announced new actions from his Investing in America agenda to connect Milwaukee, Wisconsin residents to good-paying jobs, including replacing lead pipes and upgrading infrastructure through the Milwaukee Workforce Hub. The city’s Hub is one of nine Investing in America Workforce Hubs launched by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure all Americans —including women, people of color, veterans, and other that have been historically left behind–have access to job opportunities, and the training needed to fill them. This announcement comes during President Biden’s visit to Milwaukee, where he announced EPA’s final rule to replace lead pipes within a decade and announced $2.6 billion in new funding to deliver clean drinking water nationwide.
 
Thanks to funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, infrastructure projects totaling nearly $100 million are in the works across the City of Milwaukee. As part of these investments, the city has begun replacing 100 percent of its lead service lines, reducing the timeline for replacement from 60 years to 10 years in alignment with the President’s goal. The Biden-Harris Administration will create thousands of jobs for Milwaukee residents through these investments, and will continue to collaborate with local organizations, ensuring the city is training the skilled workers needed to accomplish these projects. The City of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District are leading the charge in creating workforce opportunities for the community.
 
Today, collaborators in the Milwaukee Workforce Hub are announcing commitments that will expand pathways into these good-paying jobs to meet the President’s goal.
 
Scaling Up and Expanding Apprenticeships
 
Registered apprenticeships are the gold-standard model for training a new generation of workers in the skilled trades and provide pathways to high-quality jobs for women and other historically underrepresented groups. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has invested more than $730 million to expand Registered Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships nationwide, leading to the hiring of more than 1 million apprentices.
 
In Milwaukee, local organizations are taking steps to use more apprentices on public projects and prioritize graduates of local pre-apprenticeship programs which serve underrepresented populations. These steps build on the city’s existing program, which puts residents on a path to a journey-level position in a skilled trade.   
 
In total, these actions will create opportunities for hundreds of new apprentices and help to grow certified pre-apprenticeship programs serving underrepresented populations, including high school students from Milwaukee Public Schools. These opportunities include:

The City of Milwaukee’s Department of Public Works and Milwaukee Water Works will run a pilot from 2025 to 2027 and require that 10 percent of all labor hours within each craft go to apprentices—half of whom must come from certified pre-apprenticeship programs that serve residents of Milwaukee who are currently underrepresented in apprenticeships. The new requirement would apply to multiple major road construction bids totaling $102 million, including a $36 million Reconnecting Communities project to reconnect communities divided by a road that prioritizes vehicle traffic over bikers and pedestrians, and a $24.3 million RAISE project to make complete streets improvements along one and a half miles of Villard Ave, including raised bike lanes, signal improvements, and curb extensions. The pilot will apply to all contracts replacing at least 300 lead service lines, creating 175 apprentice jobs and covering an estimated $82 million of lead service line replacement funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

• Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) will also change their procurement policies to require apprenticeships for all crafts working on all their projects, helping to bring new workers into specialized crafts like pipefitting and operating engineers. For 2025, this policy would apply to construction bids totaling approximately $90 million for the reclamation facilities, the conveyance system, and flood management projects. This policy is estimated to create at least 80 apprentice jobs, 40 percent of whom will be required to come from certified pre-apprentice programs serving traditionally-underrepresented residents of Milwaukee.  
  
• The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) continues its efforts to develop a local workforce to build state highways. Currently, WisDOT has implemented a Federal Highway Administration pilot on a $65 million freeway project which sets incentives for local residency workforce and apprentice requirements as part of federally funded highway projects. The department will consider the use of the special provisions in future projects to grow this effort in the Milwaukee area.

• Milwaukee area unions and postsecondary providers have committed to increase their apprenticeship classes as demand for apprentices on public contracts increases—projecting to increase classes by at least 200 apprentices. Specific union level increases include 50 new apprentices from the Laborers’ International Union of North America, 70 from the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers, 75 from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and 20 from International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
  
• The City of Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office will also implement a Community Benefits Agreement as it builds a new public Electric Vehicle (EV) charging network in the city through a nearly $15 million federal grant from US Department of Transportation. This Community Benefits Agreement will require electrician apprentices on each EV charging installation and include local hire requirements consistent with the City of Milwaukee’s Resident Preference Program.  At least 40 percent of the chargers will be put in historically disadvantaged communities.

Expanding Pipelines into Apprenticeship

These expanded registered apprenticeship slots will create new opportunities for hundreds of workers in the Milwaukee area. The Milwaukee Workforce Hub will work to ensure every resident has access to these opportunities, by investing in pre-apprenticeship programs that offer disadvantaged communities a chance to develop the skills and work experience needed to succeed in these apprenticeships. As a result of the Milwaukee Workforce Hub, dedicated funding for pre-apprenticeships in the area will grow by at least $650,000.

The Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership/Building Industry Group & Skilled Trades Employment Program (WRTP | BIG STEP) currently serves 1,000 individuals every year and has been a leader in the Milwaukee construction sector for decades. In the coming months and years, WRTP | BIG STEP will lead the workforce hub’s construction sector coordination and job training, convening industry partners to develop workforce programs that provide Milwaukee residents access to good-paying and union job in the skilled trades. New investments include:

• MMSD will invest $350,000 in WRTP | BIG STEP for certified pre-apprenticeship programs, including transportation assistance, stipends while participants are in training, and on-going placement and retention for first-year apprentices.
  
• Employ Milwaukee and philanthropic organizations will invest up to $400,000 in additional funding for WRTP | BIG STEP, including capacity building to increase participation in apprenticeship-readiness initiatives. Employ Milwaukee, the workforce board for Milwaukee, will use formula funds from the U.S. Department of Labor to support innovative customized training cohorts in to meet the needs of the local construction industry with a goal of training 60-80 workers.
  
• Unions in the Milwaukee region will expand their investment in WRTP | BIG STEP. Unions have been investing about $625,000 per year in this pre-apprenticeship program, which trained over 1,000 people in 2023. Over the next two years, regional trades are striving to increase their investments in WRTP | BIG STEP to at least 3 cents per hour of member work on regional mega projects, including a $3.3 billion data center being built by Microsoft in Southeast Wisconsin. Unions will also partner with Milwaukee Public Schools to prepare students for pre-apprenticeship programs.

Providing Supportive Services

The Milwaukee Workforce Hub will also support residents as they begin working in these growing fields, by helping residents with supportive services, including career navigation services and stipends. These investments will help ensure that workers have the resources and skills they need for continued success in the industry.

• The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will invest $507,000 in workforce development through the Highway Construction Skills Training (HCST) program. WRTP | BIG STEP receives $143,800 in funding from WisDOT to run HCST. This year, WisDOT used grant funding from US DOT to lead a pilot to expand stipends and supportive services for job training participants in HCST. Lessons learned from the pilot, will be used to look at where stipends and higher supportive services help increase graduates in the program. 
  
• MMSD is partnering with Employ Milwaukee and Milwaukee Community Services Corps to provide career navigation services and paid work experience for 64 participants in water sector careers with $1 million from the U.S. Department of Labor. The funding also supports the development of water industry career pathways and competency maps in partnership with the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning.

Additional Federal Support for Workforce Development

In addition to commitments from partners, the Biden-Harris Administration is making millions in direct investments in Milwaukee to support job training and upskilling to meet the need for these historic investments.

• EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative will incorporate key workforce development and labor best practices into the estimated $320 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other funding to clean up the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern. EPA will, for the first time, incorporate Project Labor Agreements into contract task orders with an estimated $275 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. This initiative will support local and regional jobs cleaning up contaminated sediments in the Milwaukee Estuary Area of Concern. In addition, EPA is collaborating with local organizations to support local workforce development as part of the estimated $45 million in activities to restore important habitats across Milwaukee.
  
• The City of Milwaukee Water Works is partnering with Employ Milwaukee to upskill at least 60 city of Milwaukee workers in occupations to support the replacement of lead service lines. Employ Milwaukee is using $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Labor Community Project Funding to fund this partnership.
  
• Employ Milwaukee also received a $5 million Building Pathways to Infrastructure Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor that will prepare more than 480 unemployed and underemployed individuals for high-demand infrastructure jobs, including advanced manufacturing, information technology, and professional, scientific, and technical service occupations that support the growing sectors of renewable energy, transportation, and broadband infrastructure. Over $900,000 from this grant is going to the Milwaukee Area Technical College to assist underrepresented populations in accessing academic and non-academic support to enter civil engineering and drafting occupations that will support transportation and water investments from the Biden-Harris Administration. Other partners in the grant include Waukesha Area Technical College, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards, WOW Workforce Board, MKE Tech Hub, City of Milwaukee, and a variety of employers.
  
• The City of Milwaukee is investing more than $25 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to remediate lead paint. To help meet that demand, the City provided $3 million for Employ Milwaukee’s Healthy Homes Construction Careers Program, which is designed to connect trained workers with lead abatement certifications to contractors who are paid by the City of Milwaukee Health Department to remediate high lead risk homes. The training is free to the student, including the cost of training, certification, exam fees, stipends, incentives, and wages during work experience. To date, 344 workers had been enrolled in training so far.
  
• The Wisconsin Biohealth Tech Hub received nearly $50 million through President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act to establish the region as a leader in personalized medicine. Biden-Harris Administration funding for the Wisconsin Tech Hub will create inclusive talent pipelines that can help develop and deploy cutting edge medical technologies; addressing workforce challenges that often face new industries.

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Since President Biden Took Office, Over 367,000 Lead Pipes Have Been Replaced Nationwide, Benefitting 918,000 People

President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting to ensure a future where every community has access to clean, safe water. Since Day One, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to ensure that every American can turn on their tap and drink clean water without fear of lead and other toxic chemicals. As part of this historic commitment to clean water and environmental justice, President Biden committed to replace every lead pipe in the country within 10 years, issuing a comprehensive Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan to achieve that goal.

Today, to deliver on this promise, President Biden is traveling to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency is issuing a final rule that will require drinking water systems nationwide to replace lead service lines within 10 years. EPA is also investing an additional $2.6 billion for drinking water upgrades and lead pipe replacements, funded by President Biden’s landmark Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.  This announcement comes as part of the President’s commitment to spend his remaining months in office “sprinting to the finish” and delivering on his historic Investing in America agenda, which is improving the lives of Americans and planting the seeds for a better, more prosperous future for decades to come.

In its first year, the Biden-Harris Administration announced that it would develop this new rule, known as the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, to establish the first-ever national requirement to replace all lead service lines. Since then, President Biden secured a historic $15 billion in dedicated funding for lead pipe replacement, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have already had their lead pipes replaced. Because of the President’s actions today, millions more will benefit from lead-free infrastructure in the years to come.

Lead poisoning can cause serious health effects, especially in children. It can cause irreversible damage to cognitive development, damage the kidneys, slow learning, and cause cardiovascular disease. Lead exposure can also impact pregnancies, increasing the risk of low birthweights or even miscarriage. No level of lead exposure is safe. Yet, due to decades of inequitable infrastructure development and underinvestment, lead poisoning disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color.

Today’s announcement will help protect Americans in communities across the country from these harms – the EPA estimates that every year, this final rule will prevent up to 900,000 infants from being born with low birthweight, stop up to 200,000 IQ points lost in children, and reduce up to 1,500 cases of premature death from heart disease.

To build on these commitments, today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is investing over $416 million in new grants, prioritizing lead hazard reduction to protect children, alongside efforts to improve home health, energy efficiency, and community safety. HUD will provide funding to address lead-based paints in homes, develop training and partnerships to identify and control lead-based paint hazards, coordinate home inspections and more.

Replacing Lead Pipes in Milwaukee

Lead pipe replacement is actively underway in Milwaukee through a $30 million investment provided by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding has accelerated Milwaukee’s lead replacement timeline from 60 years down to 10 years. Milwaukee is replacing lead pipes using union labor and prioritizing replacements in disadvantaged communities with the most need. The city is now a leader in the region, partnering with cities like Detroit in the Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership to accelerate lead pipe replacement across the Midwest.

Progress Replacing Lead Pipes Across America

Beyond Milwaukee, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking action to accelerate lead pipe replacement nationwide. President Biden secured a historic $15 billion in dedicated funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for lead pipe replacement, and an additional $11.7 billion that can be used for both drinking water projects and lead pipe replacement. Nearly half of this funding is required to flow to disadvantaged communities, including in neighborhoods and communities that shoulder most of the burden of lead poisoning. In addition to providing clean drinking water for millions, this effort is also creating good-paying jobs, many of them union jobs, in replacing lead pipes and delivering clean water to households. This effort also advances the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

These actions from the Administration have already put cities across the country on track to meet the President’s goal of replacing every lead pipe within a decade:

• Detroit, Michigan, has received $90 million from this Administration for lead pipe replacement, which has allowed the city to accelerate from replacing 700 lead pipes per year to replacing over 8,000 this year. Detroit is now on track to replace all 80,000 lead pipes within 10 years.
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has received $98 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and American Rescue Plan to replace lead pipes, and is on track to replace every lead pipe by 2026. The city is already over halfway done with this work.
• St. Paul, Minnesota, received $16 million from the American Rescue Plan to enable the city’s Lead-Free St. Paul program to target the replacement of all lead pipes by 2032.
• Denver, Colorado has accelerated its efforts through $76 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, allowing the city to be on track to replace all lead pipes within a decade.
• Akron, Ohio is now on track to replace all lead service lines by 2027 thanks to $9 million in funding through the American Rescue Plan.
• And some communities have already finished replacing lead pipes. Following a lead-in-water crisis, Benton Harbor, Michigan, successfully replaced all its lead pipes within just two years, fueled by $18 million in funding from the President’s American Rescue Plan. And Edgerton, WI has replaced 100% of its known lead pipes after receiving funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Delivering Clean Water

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes more than $50 billion to help ensure every community has access to clean water – the largest investment in clean water in American history. Combined with new protections against toxic chemicals and over 42 million acres of lands and waters protected under President Biden, the Biden-Harris Administration has embarked on the most ambitious conservation and clean water agenda in the nation’s history, making historic progress to secure clean water for all. Highlights of this ambitious agenda include:

• Combatting toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water and wastewater. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $10 billion to address harmful PFAS pollution in drinking water and wastewater. The EPA has also finalized the first-ever national standard to address these “forever chemicals” in drinking water, which will protect 100 million Americans from PFAS exposure, safeguarding public health and advancing environmental justice.
• Protecting freshwater at the source. Our rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands are the sources of clean drinking water that flows into our homes and economic drivers for many communities. Through the America the Beautiful Freshwater Challenge, the Administration has launched a nationwide initiative to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of our nation’s rivers and streams by 2030. Over 200 states, Tribes, local governments, and businesses have joined the effort to meet these goals.
• Investing in clean water for Tribes. The Biden-Harris Administration has announced historic Tribal water infrastructure investments totaling over $5 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This funding will help bring clean water to Tribal Nations, where half of Tribal households lack access to basic clean drinking water or adequate sanitation. The Administration has launched 900 Tribal clean water infrastructure projects to date through these investments.

Investing in Wisconsin

Today’s announcement builds on a record of investment in the state of Wisconsin over the course of the President’s term in office. In addition to the President delivering on lead pipe replacement, the President’s Investing in America agenda has deployed $7.2 billion in public sector clean energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure investments, which have catalyzed an additional $8 billion from the private sector.

These investments include:

• $1.7 billion in funding to provide affordable, reliable high-speed internet to everyone in Wisconsin, with 72,000 homes and small businesses already connected.
• $4.1 billion for transportation – to rebuild our roads and bridges, expand our transit and rail, modernize our ports and airports, and more. This includes $1 billion in funding that the Biden-Harris Administration announced earlier this year to replace the Blatnik Bridge, an important route for people and freight in the Twin Ports area.
• 1.3 million seniors and Medicare beneficiaries who can receive free vaccines, $35 insulin, and, starting in January, a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket costs.
• $3.3 billion from Microsoft to bring a new data center that will create over 4,000 jobs to Racine, Wisconsin on the site of a proposed investment from Foxconn in the prior Administration that never materialized.

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Hurricane Milton is forecasted to impact the Western coast of the Florida peninsula this week. As communities across the Southeast – including in Florida – continue their road to recovery and rebuilding after Hurricane Helene, the Biden-Harris Administration is mobilizing additional resources and personnel to prepare for the impacts of this new major storm.

The Federal government is preparing to support affected communities wherever and whenever needed. Preparedness efforts are underway in conjunction with state and local partners. Together we stand ready to respond to any potential impacts on communities.

FEMA has sufficient funding to both support the response to Hurricane Milton and continue to support the response to Hurricane Helene– including funding to support first responders and provide immediate assistance to disaster survivors.

Today, President Biden quickly approved the Governor of Florida’s request for an emergency declaration. Under an emergency declaration, FEMA provides direct Federal support to states for life-saving activities and other emergency protective measures, such as evacuation, sheltering, and search and rescue.

President Biden was first briefed yesterday on Hurricane Milton’s potential impacts to the Florida Gulf Coast and the work FEMA is doing to preposition life-saving resources in advance of the storm. He is also receiving another briefing today from Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall.

The Administration has been in touch with officials from the State of Florida, as well as more than 15 local officials in cities and counties along the likely path of impact, to ensure needs are met in advance of the storm. FEMA has been coordinating closely with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor’s team ahead of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell’s visit to Tampa today. The Administration has also reached out to state officials in South Carolina and Georgia and will continue outreach efforts based on Hurricane Milton’s latest trajectory.

Florida residents are urged to stay alert, listen to local officials, and make additional preparations as needed.

Pre-landfall actions taken thus far include:

Pre-Positioning Resources and Personnel

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is flying Hurricane Hunters into the current storm to gather data to models and help hone prediction of the storm’s track and timing.

FEMA has pre-staged personnel and resources in Florida and the region, including six FEMA Incident Management Assistance Teams, five FEMA Urban Search & Rescue teams, three U.S. Coast Guard Swift Water Rescue teams, four HealthCare System Assessment Teams, two U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) temporary power teams, USACE debris experts, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and wastewater experts, 300 ambulances and 30 High Water Vehicles with ladders from the Department of Defense.

Additionally, FEMA has two incident staging bases with commodities including food and water. Right now, FEMA currently has 20 million meals and 40 million liters of water in the pipeline to deploy as needed used to address ongoing Helene and Milton response efforts with capacity to expand as needed.

Currently, a total of nearly 900 staff are already supporting recovery efforts based out of the Joint Field Office in Tallahassee and operating across the designated counties for hurricanes Helene, Debby and Idalia. This includes over 440 supporting Hurricane Helene recovery, over 300 supporting Hurricane Debby recovery, and over 100 supporting Hurricane Idalia recovery.

Expediting Debris Removal in Florida

Debris remaining from the impacts of Hurricane Helene poses additional threats to lives and livelihoods if another storm occurs. FEMA is supporting the State of Florida to expedite the removal of debris from Hurricane Helene in the Tampa region in advance of Hurricane Milton’s landfall.

FEMA is providing all flexibility available for reimbursement for debris removal activities, to help the State take whatever action is required to speed debris removal before Milton’s landfall. To that end, FEMA is supporting Florida in surging additional resources to the Tampa area to get as much debris picked up as possible. State-run debris management sites are open 24 hours a day, and contracted trucks can deliver debris to those sites around the clock.   
The Governor of Florida has additionally activated 4,000 State active-duty National Guard, many of whom will help with debris removal.

Pre-Landfall Preparations Supplement Ongoing Helene Response

The Administration continues to mobilize a whole-of-government response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene. Yesterday, President Biden ordered another 500 active-duty troops with advanced technological assets to move into Western North Carolina and assist with the response and recovery efforts. With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guards and more than 7,000 Federal personnel – the Administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding.

The Administration has already helped thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors jumpstart their recoveries with more than $210 million in Federal assistance – and there is more to come. Over the last several days, the Administration has contacted nearly 450 state, city, and county officials in impacted States to ensure they have the support and resources they need. To date, FEMA has shipped over 15.6 million meals, more than 13.9 million liters of water, more than 505,000 tarps to the region, and installed 157 generators at critical facilities such as hospitals and water treatment plants.

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The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to preventing, detecting and responding to health emergencies globally. On September 27, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health announced an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) and the Biden-Harris Administration is working closely with the Government of Rwanda to end the MVD outbreak as quickly as possible. As we have all experienced in recent years, health emergencies are a global issue we must address together. CDC assesses that the risk of infection with this virus in the United States is low, and there are currently no confirmed MVD cases outside of Rwanda.

Since learning of this outbreak, the United States has committed to making nearly $11 million available to address urgent health needs in Rwanda and surrounding countries, including support for surveillance and contact tracing, infection prevention and control guidance, and exit screening at Rwanda’s airport and neighboring border crossings. And within days of learning of the MVD outbreak, CDC deployed three senior scientists to Rwanda to support its response. Although there are currently no FDA-approved vaccines or drugs against MVD, the United States contributed hundreds of investigational vaccine doses and a small number of investigational therapeutics doses, which arrived in Rwanda this weekend. The United States has also contributed more than 500 MVD tests and 500 units of personal protective equipment, which have arrived in Rwanda to support response efforts and protect health workers.

In times of crisis, we must work together to quickly save lives. The Government of Rwanda has taken action to contain this outbreak and protect the health and wellbeing of the Rwandan people, and the United States will continue supporting those efforts. We must also continue to build preparedness between crises, which is why the United States has supported global health security work for more than two decades to help build capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats across the world.

Even as we respond to crises abroad, the top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration is protecting the American people. To keep Americans safe, we are implementing additional precautions for a small, select group of travelers arriving in the United States from Rwanda, including additional public health entry screenings. To facilitate these precautions, the United States will finalize plans in the coming week to redirect passengers who were recently in Rwanda to certain U.S. airports for public health entry screening and follow up measures. These measures will advance ongoing efforts to protect public health and reduce the risk of MVD coming into the United States.

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This morning President Biden spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on the solemn occasion of the one-year anniversary of the horrific Hamas October 7 terrorist attacks. 

President Biden expressed his deepest condolences to the people of Israel and to the families of the 1,200 innocent people – including 46 Americans – massacred by the terrorist group Hamas on a day of unspeakable brutality. He stressed that the United States will never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely.

President Biden conveyed his commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist, and reaffirmed his support for Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Iran and all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.

The President also expressed deep sadness for the loss of innocent life in Gaza and the ongoing suffering of Palestinian civilians as a result of the war that Hamas unleashed. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to achieving a deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, secures Israel, alleviates the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and paves the way for a lasting peace with Hamas never again able to control Gaza or reconstitute its military capabilities. 

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I will never forget the horror of October 7, 2023.  1,200 innocent people, including 46 Americans, were massacred by Hamas terrorists. Women raped on the side of the road. 250 people kidnapped. It was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. What Hamas did that day was pure evil – it was brutal and sickening. And it has rekindled a deep fear among the Jewish people not just in Israel, but in the United States and around the world.
 
The long, extraordinary arc of Jewish history is full of pogroms and prejudice, slaughter and separation. And now, in our own generation, there is another moment that the world must never forget.
 
I am devastated by the loss and pain of the Israeli people as a result of the heinous October 7 attack. Doug and I pray for the families of the victims and hope they find solace in remembering the lives their loved ones lived.
 
We also pray for the safety of Jewish people all around the world. We all must ensure nothing like the horrors of October 7 ever happen again. I will do everything in my power to ensure that the threat Hamas poses is eliminated, that it is never again able to govern Gaza, that it fails in its mission to annihilate Israel, and that the people of Gaza are free from the grip of Hamas. I will never stop fighting for the release of all the hostages, including the seven American citizens, living and deceased, still held: Omer, Edan, Sagui, Keith, Judy, Gad, and Itay. I will never stop fighting for justice for those who murdered Hersh Goldberg-Polin and other Americans. And I will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists like Hamas. My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering.
 
Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7 launched a war in Gaza. I am heartbroken over the scale of death and destruction in Gaza over the past year—tens of thousands of lives lost, children fleeing for safety over and over again, mothers and fathers struggling to obtain food, water, and medicine. It is far past time for a hostage and ceasefire deal to end the suffering of innocent people. And I will always fight for the Palestinian people to be able to realize their right to dignity, freedom, security, and self-determination. We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes.
 
Today, as we mourn the lives lost on October 7, I know many Jews will be reciting and reflecting on the Jewish prayer for mourning – the Kaddish. The words of the Kaddish, however, are not about death. The prayer is about still believing in God and still having faith. I know that is difficult amidst so much trauma and pain. But it is with that spirit that I commemorate this solemn day. We will not forget, and we will not lose faith. And in honor of all those souls we lost on October 7, we must never lose sight of the dream of peace, dignity, and security for all.
 

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On this day last year, the sun rose on what was supposed to be a joyous Jewish holiday. By sunset, October 7 had become the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Today marks one year of mourning for the more than 1,200 innocent people of all ages, including 46 Americans, massacred in southern Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. One year since Hamas committed horrific acts of sexual violence.  One year since more than 250 innocents were taken hostage, including 12 Americans. One year for the survivors carrying wounds, seen and unseen, who will never be the same. And one year of a devastating war. On this solemn anniversary, let us bear witness to the unspeakable brutality of the October 7th attacks but also to the beauty of the lives that were stolen that day.  

The October 7th attack brought to the surface painful memories left by millennia of hatred and violence against the Jewish people. That is why, soon after the attack, I became the first American President to visit Israel in a time of war. I made clear then to the people of Israel: you are not alone. One year later, Vice President Harris and I remain fully committed to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist. We support Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and Iran. Last week, at my direction, the United States military once again actively assisted in the successful defense of Israel, helping to defeat an Iranian ballistic missile attack.   

Today and every day, I think of the hostages and their families.  I have met the families of the hostages and grieved with them. They have been through hell. My Administration has negotiated for the safe release of more than 100 hostages, including Americans. We will never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely.  

I also strongly condemn the vicious surge in antisemitism in America and around the world. It is unacceptable. All of us must stand united against antisemitism and against hate in all its forms.  

I believe that history will also remember October 7th as a dark day for the Palestinian people because of the conflict that Hamas unleashed that day. Far too many civilians have suffered far too much during this year of conflict — and tens of thousands have been killed, a human toll made far worse by terrorists hiding and  operating among innocent people. We will not stop working to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, allows for a surge in humanitarian aid to ease the suffering on the ground, assures Israel’s security, and ends this war. Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live in security, dignity, and peace. We also continue to believe that a diplomatic solution across the Israel-Lebanon border region is the only path to restore lasting calm and allow residents on both sides to return safely to their homes. 

On this day of remembrance, which also falls during the holiest days of the Jewish calendar, we honor the indomitable spirit of the Jewish people and mourn the victims of October 7th. May their memory be a blessing.

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President Biden ordered 500 additional active-duty troops to support on-the-ground efforts; 1,500 troops now mobilized to assist National Guard and Federal personnel

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s direction, the Administration continues to mobilize a robust, intensive, and whole-of-government response to the impacts of Hurricane Helene. As life-saving response efforts continue in heavily impacted areas, the Administration is also working to ensure communities across the Southeast have prompt access to Federal resources that will enable them to both purchase essential items and begin their road to recovery and rebuilding.

Today, in response to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s request for additional support, President Biden ordered that another 500 active-duty troops move into Western North Carolina. With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and more than 7,000 Federal personnel – the Biden-Harris Administration is mobilizing all relevant resources to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding.

The Administration has already helped thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors jumpstart their recoveries with more than $137 million in Federal assistance – with more to come. Over the last several days, the Administration has contacted nearly 450 state, city, and county officials in impacted states to ensure they have the support and resources they need. 

The Administration is committed to ensuring that all communities receive accurate information that is essential to their recovery. The Administration, including FEMA, has been tracking and combatting the significant amount of false information circulating online related to the Federal response – which can discourage people from seeking critical and life-saving assistance. The Administration is actively working to identify and combat this misinformation and disinformation and support survivors in every possible way. 

President Biden and Vice President Harris have traveled throughout the Southeast this week to meet with impacted communities and, during their travels, have reaffirmed that the Administration will be with impacted communities every step of the way, no matter how long it takes, to ensure they have the support and resources they need to recover and rebuild. While there is a long way to go on the road to full recovery and rebuilding, Republican and Democratic leaders from across the country have praised the Administration’s well-coordinated response and surge of resources in the aftermath of Helene’s landfall – including South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, and Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer.

Additionally, the Federal government is closely monitoring Tropical Storm Milton in the Gulf of Mexico, which has the potential to have significant impacts along the West coast of the Florida Peninsula by mid-next week. Residents in Florida should remain alert, listen to local officials, and make additional preparations as needed.

Additional updates on the Federal response include: 

Active-Duty Service Members Delivering Life-Saving Supplies to North Carolinians

In response to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s request for additional support, today President Biden directed another 500 troops move into Western North Carolina. These troops have advanced technological assets to provide greater situational awareness on the ground and will assist with future resource planning across the region. These additional 500 troops supplement the nearly 1,000 soldiers from Fort Liberty, North Carolina, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky, who have already been mobilized through the Department of Defense and in coordination with FEMA to support the residents and affected counties in Western North Carolina.

In support of the state and North Carolina National Guard, these active-duty troops are focusing their efforts on moving valuable commodities—like food and water—to distribution sites, getting those commodities to survivors in areas that are hard to reach. They are also working on road stabilization and route clearance activities. 

In addition, the Department of Defense is providing rotary wing assets from the Army and Navy for personnel movement and commodity distribution across the affected region. Fixed and rotary wing assets from the Air Force are conducting search and rescue activities.  

The US Army Corps of Engineers has established 12 Emergency Operations Centers across the southeast, with three in North Carolina. The Army Corps of Engineers also has emergency power teams conducting assessments in North Carolina and Georgia as well as water/wastewater assessments, bridge and road inspections, and debris removal efforts in North Carolina and Florida.

Over 6,000 National Guard personnel from 18 States are spearheading the response effort across the impacted region, providing critical life-saving and life-sustaining support to the victims of this unprecedented natural disaster.  

Supporting On-The-Ground Response Efforts

The Biden-Harris Administration is actively working alongside state, local and Tribal partners to assess damage and support those affected by the disaster. 

The Federal government has already helped thousands of Hurricane Helene survivors jumpstart their recoveries with more than $137 million in federal assistance. More than 7,000 personnel from across the Federal workforce are deployed, including U.S. Forest Service Saw Teams to help clear debris in remote areas. To date, FEMA has shipped over 14.9 million meals, more than 13.9 million liters of water, more than 505,000 tarps to the region, and installed 157 generators at critical facilities such as hospitals and water treatment plants.

President Biden has approved 100 percent Federal cost share for Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. This means that the Federal government will cover 100 percent of the costs associated with things like debris removal, first responders, search and rescue, shelters, and mass feeding.

Disaster survivors in certain areas of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia can begin their recovery process by applying for federal assistance through FEMA. People with damage to their homes or personal property who live in the designated areas should apply for assistance, which may include upfront funds to help with essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies and other emergency supplies. Funds may also be available to repair storm-related damage to homes and personal property, as well as assistance to find a temporary place to stay. Homeowners and renters with damage to their home or personal property from previous disasters, whether they received FEMA funds or not, are still eligible to apply for and receive assistance for Hurricane Helene.   

Repairing Roads and Re-Establishing Critical Routes 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced the immediate availability of $100 million in Emergency Relief funds for the North Carolina Department of Transportation to help pay for the costs of immediate emergency work resulting from Hurricane Helene flood damage. The Department also announced $32 million for the Tennessee Department of Transportation. This is in addition to the $2 million announced for use by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

These funds will allow the states to act more quickly to fund eligible repairs to their damaged facilities. FHWA’s Emergency Relief program provides funding to states, territories, Tribes, and Federal Land Management Agencies for highways and bridges damaged by natural disasters or catastrophic events. These Emergency Relief funds, provided through the “quick release” process, are an initial installment of funds toward restoring this essential transportation link. Additional funds needed to repair damage will be supported by the Emergency Relief program through nationwide funding allocations.

Restoring Power and Critical Communications 

As of this morning, approximately 384,000 customers are without power, down more than 91 percent from the region-wide peak of 4.6 million on September 27. At least 50,000 personnel from 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada are responding to power outages in the Southeast and Appalachia.

Additionally, FirstNet, an independent agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, has been instrumental in providing critical communication support during Hurricane Helene. The FirstNet Response Operations Group deployed 19 SatCOLTs (light trucks with mounted cellular towers) and numerous portable cellular sites to the hardest-hit areas, including North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. So far, FirstNet has provided cell service and internet access to over 75,000 first responders and survivors affected by the storm, while power and connectivity is being restored.

Calling on Congress to Provide More Disaster Assistance to Communities 

President Biden wrote a letter to Congressional leaders calling on them to provide more funding for disaster relief efforts. President Biden warned that most urgently, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) disaster loan program will run out of funding in a matter of weeks and well before the Congress is planning to reconvene. Small businesses and individuals in affected areas depend on disaster loans as a critical lifeline during difficult times. In fact, for individual disaster survivors, SBA loans are often the largest source of Federal disaster recovery funds. Renters and homeowners use these loans to repair and rebuild their homes as well as replace or repair damaged property including their personal vehicles, while businesses use them to cover basic operating expenses. President Biden urged the Congress to restore this funding immediately. SBA is already receiving over 3,000 loan applications a day from people affected by Hurricane Helene.

The President also warned that, while FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year. Without additional funding, FEMA would be required to forego longer-term recovery activities in favor of meeting urgent needs. He called on the Congress to provide FEMA additional resources to avoid forcing that kind of unnecessary trade-off and to give the communities we serve the certainty of knowing that help will be ongoing, both for the short- and long-term.

Administration’s Ongoing Response Efforts Supplement Significant Pre-Landfall Preparations

The Biden-Harris Administration took significant steps and made extensive preparations prior to Helene making landfall. Two days in advance of Helene making landfall on September 26, the Administration began preparations in coordination with State and local partners. 

On September 24, FEMA stood up their National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., charged with monitoring the storm’s track and coordinating national-level emergency response teams. FEMA Region V also activated its Regional Response Coordination Center in Atlanta on September 24, gathering personnel to monitor the storm on the ground close to the anticipated impact and begin planning a response and deployed Incident Management Teams to state Emergency Operations Centers in the storm’s path to coordinate and speed Federal support to response operations.

At the President’s direction, 1,500 Federal personnel were deployed to the region, including 14 Urban Search and Rescue teams (940 personnel) to potentially affected states, including eight teams to Florida; two teams to Georgia; and four teams to North Carolina and FEMA setup up an incident support base in coordination with the 42d Air Base Wing at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. 

The Federal government pre-staged in the region:

• More than 2.7 million meals, 1.6 million liters of water, 50,000 tarps, 10,000 cots, and 20,000 blankets to support sheltering needs in impacted communities;
• Tanker trucks with 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 40,000 gallons of gasoline to surge to impacted communities once the storm passed to help alleviate any fuel shortages; and;
• Hundreds of ambulances to assist with the movement of any patients out of impacted hospitals or other facilities.

In advance of landfall, President Biden approved five Governors’ Emergency Declaration requests for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina prior to Helene’s landfall. He also immediately approved Emergency Declaration requests that the Governors of Tennessee and Virginia submitted shortly after landfall. These declarations authorized FEMA to reimburse State and local jurisdictions for costs incurred for pre-storm emergency measures including: evacuating and sheltering residents, search and rescue operations, sandbagging, covering costs associated with Emergency Operation Centers, and first responder activation.

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Since before Hurricane Helene made landfall, my Administration has mobilized an intensive Federal response to ensure impacted communities have the resources and support they need. As part of that ongoing commitment, and in response to Governor Cooper’s request for additional support, today I ordered another 500 active-duty troops with advanced technological assets to move into Western North Carolina and assist with the response and recovery efforts. With a total of 1,500 troops now supplementing a robust on-the-ground effort – including more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and more than 7,000 Federal personnel – my Administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding.
 
Additionally, I have been briefed on Tropical Storm Milton as it strengthens across the Gulf of Mexico and the work my Administration is doing to preposition life-saving resources in advance of the storm. I urge all residents in Florida to listen to local officials and make preparations as needed.
 
As these communities brace for potentially yet another catastrophic storm, and as part of my Administration’s solemn obligation to stand with impacted communities as they rebuild their lives, we will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders – regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.

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Senior Advisor to the President and Communications Director Ben LaBolt, and Director of Digital Strategy Christian Tom

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s direction, the Administration has mobilized a robust, intensive, and whole-of-government effort to respond to the impacts of Hurricane Helene. This includes extensive pre-landfall preparations, as well as an immediate surge of additional resources and personnel to impacted communities. More than 6,400 Federal personnel are on the ground, and more than $110 million in Federal assistance has been given to survivors, with more to come. We are sparing no resource as we work to ensure communities across the Southeast have prompt access to Federal resources that will enable them to both purchase essential items and begin their road to recovery and rebuilding.

Unfortunately, as our response and recovery efforts continue, we have seen a large increase in false information circulating online related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene. A number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort, including ways to access critical and live-saving resources. This is wrong, dangerous, and it must stop immediately.

Combatting misinformation and disinformation is always important – but it is especially important when responding to disasters like Hurricane Helene. In fact, disinformation after a hurricane or other natural disaster can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most. It is imperative that we encourage impacted residents to register for FEMA assistance, not discourage it, by allowing falsehoods to spread.

Leaders from across the country, including local, state, and federal elected officials in both parties, are pleading with people to stop sharing “this junk.”

1. CNN: With misinformation swirling in Hurricane Helene’s wake, officials urge residents to ‘stop this conspiracy theory junk’
2. HuffPost: North Carolina Republican Pleads To End Right-Wing Conspiracy Theories About Helene Disaster Recovery
3. The Hill: Tennessee mayor on FEMA attacks post-Helene: ‘Quit spreading those rumors’
4. WVLT: ‘A lot of misinformation’ | Gov. Lee, FEMA address donation rumors

Here are some of the falsehoods being spread online – and the facts we are fighting back with:

FALSEHOOD: Disaster relief funds were used on immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

FACT: No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. None. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts.

1. Washington Post: No, Biden didn’t take FEMA relief money to use on migrants — but Trump did
2. NBC News: False claims about FEMA disaster funds and migrants pushed by Trump
3. CNN: ‘This is FALSE’: White House responds to Trump’s FEMA disaster relief claims

FALSEHOOD: FEMA is in the process of confiscating Helene survivor property. If I apply for disaster assistance and my land is deemed unlivable, my property will be seized.

FACT: FEMA cannot seize your property or land. Applying for disaster assistance does not grant FEMA or the federal government authority or ownership of your property or land.

1. Verify: No, the government isn’t seizing land in Chimney Rock, N.C., and bulldozing the town

FALSEHOOD: FEMA will only provide $750 to disaster survivors to support their recovery.

FACT: This is a type of assistance that you may be approved for soon after you apply, called Serious Needs Assistance. It is an upfront, flexible payment to help cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, breastfeeding supplies, medication and other emergency supplies. There are other forms of assistance that you may qualify for to receive, and Serious Needs Assistance is an initial payment you may receive while FEMA assesses your eligibility for additional funds. $750 is what is immediately available to eligible survivors. In addition, survivors may qualify for more FEMA financial assistance, including to repair storm-related damage to homes and property, find a temporary place to stay, and receive compensation for lost crops and livestock.

• Verify: No, FEMA isn’t giving people impacted by Hurricane Helene just $750

FALSEHOOD: FEMA and the FAA are restricting air space in North Carolina, preventing private citizens from delivery relief.

FACT: There are no airspace restrictions in place in North Carolina as rescue efforts continue because of Hurricane Helene. Pilots looking to come into Asheville or Rutherford airports need to reach out to the airport for permission to land. The FAA is working with local authorities to ensure rescue efforts happen safely.

• Secretary Buttigieg: No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights.
• NC Aviation: With a 300% increase in traffic over Western NC, Prior Permission Required is now in place at select airports to ensure safe skies and sustainable operations.

The Biden-Harris Administration continues to work via the official White House digital channels to inform the public of the response and recovery efforts to dispel the misinformation being shared, with higher volume on X than other platforms. Updates will continue to be shared about the volume and scope of federal aid being delivered.

The Biden- Harris Administration is also engaging trusted online publishers and influencers to connect with FEMA as a way to meet people where they are and provide them with accurate information. One example of this partnership includes MeidasTouch: Trump lies instantly debunked by FEMA spokesperson. This digital video resulted in reach across both digital and traditional media, including a local Alabama newspaper combatting misinformation.

In addition, the White House will leverage our opt-in SMS messaging platform to share messages to those in affected areas. SMS is a more resilient form of communication where data connectivity might still be recovering, and this is a further example of using all parts of digital communications to reach people who need information and assistance. 

More information on Hurricane Helene falsehoods and facts can be found here: https://www.fema.gov/disaster/current/hurricane-helene/rumor-response

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Dear Speaker Johnson and Leaders Schumer, McConnell, and Jeffries,

I write to you regarding the needs of the Nation.  As communities across the Southeast devastated by Hurricane Helene assess the extent of the damage, they are expecting their Federal Government to stand behind them in their most urgent time of need.  I have seen firsthand the devastation that Hurricane Helene brought to communities across the Southeast.  During my travels this week to North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, I met with families, business owners, farmers, local and state officials, and first responders, all of whom shared with me their stories of survival—and resilience.  As leaders, we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone in communities ravaged by natural disasters will have the Federal resources they need and deserve to respond to and recover from deadly storms and other natural disasters.  

My Administration will be with those affected until the job is done, and we have a solemn obligation to provide confidence that the Federal Government will stand with them as they rebuild their lives and their communities.  Furthermore, this responsibility extends to the many communities around the Nation that are still rebuilding from previous disasters.

Over the past 10 days, including in the lead up to Hurricane Helene making landfall, my Administration has provided robust and well-coordinated Federal support for the ongoing response and recovery efforts.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Defense, and other Federal partners have quickly mobilized to support impacted citizens and communities in the six States where major disasters have been declared due to Hurricane Helene:  Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.  They are performing critical life-saving and life-sustaining missions and will continue to do so within present funding levels.  As with other catastrophic disasters, it will take some time to assess the full requirements for response and recovery efforts, and I fully expect that the Congress will do its part to provide the funding needed.

While FEMA has the resources needed for the immediate emergency response phase, at least one other agency does not.  Most urgently, the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) disaster loan program will run out of funding in a matter of weeks and well before the Congress is planning to reconvene.  I warned the Congress of this potential shortfall even before Hurricane Helene landed on America’s shores.  I requested more funding for SBA multiple times over the past several months, and most recently, my Administration underscored that request as you prepared a continuing resolution to fund the Government.  Now the need is even more urgent.  Small businesses and individuals in affected areas depend on disaster loans as a critical lifeline during difficult times.  In fact, for individual disaster survivors, SBA loans are often the largest source of Federal disaster recovery funds.  Renters and homeowners use these loans to repair and rebuild their homes as well as replace or repair damaged property including their personal vehicles, while businesses use them to cover basic operating expenses.  The Congress must act to restore this funding.

In addition, while FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund has the resources it requires right now to meet immediate needs, the fund does face a shortfall at the end of the year.  Without additional funding, FEMA would be required to forego longer-term recovery activities in favor of meeting urgent needs.  The Congress should provide FEMA additional resources to avoid forcing that kind of unnecessary trade-off and to give the communities we serve the certainty of knowing that help will be ongoing, both for the short- and long-term.

As the Congress heeds the call to assist the communities across the Nation recovering from Hurricane Helene, it must remember that many other communities are also in urgent need of disaster assistance.  As recently as this summer, my Administration requested that the Congress provide additional disaster assistance to many communities across America.  Many of the programs we requested to receive additional funding would also help response and recovery efforts related to Hurricane Helene.  This includes funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to respond to devastating fires in Maui and tornados in Mississippi, Iowa, and Oklahoma as well as funding for the Department of Transportation to support rebuilding roads and bridges across the Nation, including the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland.

I urge you to keep faith with those communities and provide the requested additional funding to rebuild housing infrastructure, to support farmers and ranchers with crop losses, to address impacted schools, and to repair damaged Federal highways.  In addition to FEMA’s ongoing support, these are the resources that communities need and deserve to fully respond to and recover from devastating events.

It is critical that Congress ensures that no critical disaster programs, such as the SBA disaster loan program, run out of funding during the Congressional Recess period.  I also urge that after the Congress comes back into session on November 12th, you will act with all appropriate speed and provide comprehensive disaster relief so that the people, families, businesses, and communities affected by Hurricane Helene—as well as those still recovering from past disasters—are not only made whole, but can proceed in a way to make them more resilient in the face of future extreme weather events and other disasters.

My Administration will keep the Congress apprised of efforts to assess the full resource requirements associated with Hurricane Helene, including for long-term rebuilding and resilience efforts, as those estimates become available.  I urge you to assist those impacted by this hurricane and every other disaster since the Congress last passed a comprehensive disaster package in 2022.  We must stand with these communities on their long road to recovery.

Sincerely,

                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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The President and First Lady will continue the tradition of welcoming members of the public to tour the White House Gardens and South Grounds. This fall, tours of the White House Gardens will be available to the public from 10:00 a.m. ET to 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13.
 
These tours are free and open to members of the public; however, a timed ticket is required for all attendees, regardless of age. The National Park Service (NPS) will distribute free, timed tickets outside the White House Visitor Center, located at 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, each day of the tour beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Timed tickets will be distributed, one ticket per person, on a first-come, first-served basis.
 
Once attendees have received their tickets, the South Lawn entry point for everyone will be located on 15th St, NW between E Street, NW and Constitution Avenue, NW, near the Boy Scout Memorial. The ADA entrance will be located at 15th Street, NW and Alexander Hamilton Place, NW.

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President Joe Biden called President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico today to congratulate her on her historic inauguration as the first woman to serve as President of Mexico.  The President thanked President Sheinbaum for warmly welcoming First Lady Jill Biden and the Presidential Delegation to her inauguration.  The two leaders reaffirmed the deep ties between the United States and Mexico and emphasized their commitment to continuing the strong and collaborative partnership that will advance prosperity and security in both countries. 

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Today, we received good news for American workers and families with more than 250,000 new jobs in September and unemployment back down at 4.1%.  With today’s report, we’ve created 16 million jobs, unemployment remains low, and wages are growing faster than prices. Under my Administration, unemployment has been the lowest in 50 years, a record 19 million new businesses have been created, and inflation and interest rates are falling. And we’re seeing the power of collective bargaining to lift up workers’ wages—including the progress made by dockworkers on record wages with carriers, and port operators and the reopening of East Coast and Gulf ports.

Make no mistake: We have more to do to lower costs and expand opportunity. Congress should pass our plan to build millions of new homes, expand prescription drug price caps, empower workers and protect the right to organize, and cut taxes for hardworking families. Congressional Republicans have a different plan—more giant tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, ending the Affordable Care Act, undermining workers by cutting overtime and making it harder to organize, and imposing a national sales tax that would raise costs by nearly $4,000 per year. While they put billionaires first, we’ll keep fighting to grow the middle class.

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Tonight the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance came together to reach a tentative agreement that reopens the East Coast and Gulf ports, and I want to applaud all involved for their efforts. This step indicates progress toward a strong contract and represents the power of collective bargaining. As I have said, this is about fairness – and our economy works best when workers share in record profits. Dockworkers deserve a fair share for their hard work getting essential goods out to communities across America.

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I want to applaud the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance for coming together to reopen the East Coast and Gulf ports. Today’s tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract. I congratulate the dockworkers from the ILA, who deserve a strong contract after sacrificing so much to keep our ports open during the pandemic. And I applaud the port operators and carriers who are members of the US Maritime Alliance for working hard and putting a strong offer on the table.

I want to thank the union workers, the carriers, and the port operators for acting patriotically to reopen our ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding. Collective bargaining works, and it is critical to building a stronger economy from the middle out and the bottom up.

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On October 2, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke with His Highness President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates.  They discussed follow-up from President Sheikh Mohamed’s historic visit to Washington and welcomed the UAE’s designation as a Major Defense Partner of the United States.  Mr. Sullivan and President Sheikh Mohamed reaffirmed the shared commitment to advance cooperation in artificial intelligence and related technologies based on the important understandings concluded during President Sheikh Mohamed’s visit.  They also consulted on regional matters.  Mr. Sullivan welcomed the UAE’s extraordinary commitment to supporting the humanitarian response in Gaza.  They further discussed the situation in Lebanon and the importance of a diplomatic settlement that enables civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes in safety.  On Sudan, Mr. Sullivan expressed concern about the continued escalation of fighting that is destroying civilian lives and infrastructure and impeding humanitarian efforts.  Mr. Sullivan also expressed concern about violence affecting diplomatic facilities throughout the conflict, including the UAE Ambassador’s residence in Khartoum this week.  They agreed to be in close touch over the coming days and weeks.

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The President’s Commission on White House Fellows is pleased to announce the appointment of the 2024-2025 class of White House Fellows. Founded in 1964, the White House Fellows program offers exceptional young leaders first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the Federal government. Fellows spend a year working with senior White House Staff, Cabinet Secretaries, and other top-ranking Administration officials, and leave the Administration equipped to serve as better leaders in their communities. Fellowships are awarded on a non-partisan basis.

This year’s Fellows advanced through a highly competitive selection process, and they are a remarkably gifted, passionate, and accomplished group. These Fellows bring experience from across the country and from a broad cross-section of professions, including from the private sector, state government, academia, non-profits, medicine, and the armed forces.

Applications for the 2025-2026 Fellowship year will be accepted starting November 1, 2024. The application link and additional information is available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/fellows/.

Class of 2024-2025 White House Fellows

Patrick Branco is from Kailua, Hawai‘i, and is placed at the Department of the Navy. He has been the Director of External Affairs with Hawai‘i Green Growth, a United Nations (UN) hub catalyzing action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the Asia-Pacific region. Branco is the first from Hawai‘i to receive the Congressman Rangel International Affairs Fellowship, funding his master’s degree at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He served at the State Department in Colombia, Pakistan, Venezuela and the Secretary of State’s Operations Center. In 2020, he was elected to the Hawai‘i State House of Representatives. Branco currently serves as a U.S. Navy officer reservist and is proficient in Spanish, Korean, and Hawaiian.

Nicholas Dockery is from Indianapolis, Indiana, and is placed at the Office of the First Lady: Joining Forces Initiative. With a distinguished career in the Infantry and Special Operations Community, Nick has deployed to numerous combat zones and operational areas worldwide. For bravery and wounds in combat, Nick was awarded two Silver Stars and two Purple Hearts. His military experience is complemented by his academic and advisory roles; he served as a research fellow at the Modern War Institute and as an advisor to the Military Times Charitable Foundation. Nick has received the West Point Nininger Award for Valor at Arms, the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award, and the title of 2022 Soldier of the Year. An advocate for equine therapy, Nick passionately supports its use in helping veterans cope with PTSD. Nick holds a Master of Public Policy from Yale University and a Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Tawny Holmes Hlibok, Esq. is from West Palm Beach, Florida, and is placed at the Domestic Policy Council. As a third-generation Deaf person and attorney, she is a dedicated advocate for deaf children’s education rights and language equity including access to sign languages. Tawny is a tenured associate professor in Deaf Studies at the world’s only university for the Deaf, Gallaudet University, where she recently won $3.75 million funding to lead a national implementation and change center for early intervention with deaf babies and their families in partnership with HRSA and NICHQ. She also serves as the executive director of the Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf.

DeAnna Hoskins is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and is placed at the Department of the Army. She has served as President/CEO of JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), a national nonprofit that empowers people directly impacted by the criminal justice system. DeAnna is a nationally- recognized advocate and policy expert who has shifted the national narrative on the disparities and limitations of having a criminal background. She has served as Senior Policy Advisor and as Deputy Director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council at the U.S. Department of Justice. DeAnna was also the founding Director of Reentry for Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners in Ohio.

Michael Kennedy is from Morehead City, North Carolina, and is placed at the United States Coast Guard. As a nurse practitioner, her career involves direct patient care while leading process improvement in rural and underserved settings. Michael attended Lenoir Community College to become a Registered Nurse and later earned a B.S. Nursing from Barton College. Witnessing disparities in practice led Michael to East Carolina University for an M.S. Adult Nurse Practitioner, Post-M.S. Nursing Leadership, Doctorate of Nursing Practice, and Post-DNP Nursing Education. To better serve her community, Michael completed a Post-M.S. Adult-Gerontological Acute Care NP and Post-DNP Psychiatric-Mental Health NP at Duke University. Michael is a Great 100 Nurse and Bonnie Jones Friedman Humanitarian Award recipient.

Hoa Nguyen is from Silver Spring, Maryland, and is placed at the National Economic Council and the United States Coast Guard. At Montgomery College, she is an associate professor and chair of the business department, where she helped implement a zero-textbook-cost Business degree, saving students thousands of dollars in education costs. Under her leadership, faculty and students have won multiple local, state and national awards and recognitions. Hoa also co-led numerous initiatives that led to the launch of the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Taskforce at the college. Hoa received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arizona.

Amnahir Peña-Alcántara is from Bronx, New York, and is placed at the Department of Commerce: National Institute of Standards and Technology. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University funded by the NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the Knight-Hennessy Scholarship. Her research focuses on polymer blends for stretchable electronics. She graduated from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering, and was a researcher at Northwestern University, Oxford University, and MIT. She has interned in wearable technology and textile fabrication companies in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and India.

Padmini Pillai is from Newton, Massachusetts, and is placed at the Social Security Administration. Padmini is an immunoengineer bridging the gap between discoveries in immunology and advances in biomaterial design to treat human disease. She has led a team at MIT developing a tumor-selective nanotherapy to eliminate hard-to-treat cancers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Padmini was featured in several media outlets including CNBC, The Atlantic, and The New York Times to discuss vaccination, immunity, and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on vulnerable communities. Padmini received her Ph.D. in immunobiology from Yale University and a B.A. in biochemistry from Regis College.

Maddy Sharp is from San Diego, California, and is placed at the Office of the Second Gentleman. She is a physician leader committed to securing a healthier and more equitable future for all Americans. She has served as a health policy fellow for Senator Amy Klobuchar and a policy research fellow for Secretary John Kerry. Madison has performed clinical work and research in Nicaragua, Jordan, and the Navajo Nation to reduce health disparities and championed policies to enhance healthcare delivery. She completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Madison holds an M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine and B.A. from Yale University, where she captained the NCAA Division I field hockey team.

Jason Spencer is from Medford, New York, and is placed at the Department of Commerce. Jason is a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy serving as an Information Warfare and Intelligence Officer. At sea, he was assigned to aircraft carriers and destroyers deployed to the Middle East and Europe. Ashore, Jason served as Targeting Officer and Aide-de-Camp to the Commander of U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and later as Aide-de-Camp to the Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. At the Pentagon, he served as Senior Intelligence Briefer for the Chief of Naval Operations – Intelligence Plot and as an Executive Officer to the Joint Staff’s Director for Intelligence. Jason earned a B.A. in international studies and political science from Virginia Military Institute, an M.A. from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and an M.P.A. from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Nalini Tata is from New York City, New York, and is placed at the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs. She is a neurosurgery resident at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center/Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where she helps treat the spectrum of emergency and elective neurosurgical conditions between a level I trauma center and a world-renowned cancer institute. Her published work spans clinical and non-scientific journals with a focus on advancing equity in access to care. Her career in neurosurgery and long-standing interest in public policy are closely bound by a deep-rooted dedication to public service. She received her BSc in neurobiology from Brown University, MPhil from the University of Cambridge, M.D. from Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, and MPP in Democracy, Politics, and Institutions from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Alexander Tenorio is from Los Angeles, California, and is placed at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a neurological surgery resident at the University of California, San Diego. He is the proud son of Mexican immigrants and dedicated to improving health disparities. He has led a research team investigating neurological traumatic injuries at the U.S.-Mexico border with his published work featured in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. In his commitment for health equity, he partnered with Hospital General de Tijuana in Mexico to improve their neurosurgical care. He earned an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco and B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Zachary White II is from Birmingham, Alabama, and is placed at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a Radiation Oncology resident physician and cancer researcher at Stanford University. Passionate about health equity, Zach co-chairs Stanford Medicine’s GME Diversity Committee, promoting diverse medical trainees’ recruitment and development, and provides health education to communities to improve health literacy. Zach graduated summa cum laude from Tuskegee University with a B.S. in biology and earned an M.S. in biomedical and health sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He received his M.D. from the University of South Alabama, where he served as class president.

Ryan Wisz is from Aiken, South Carolina, and is placed at the Central Intelligence Agency. He is a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy serving as a Submarine Warfare officer. At sea, he has served aboard Attack and Ballistic Missile submarines and has deployed seven times, including missions vital to national security. Ashore, he has served as aide-de-camp to the Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, and as the Submarine Squadron Engineer in San Diego, California. Prior to military service, he was a Page in the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate. He received his B.S. in economics from the University of South Carolina and is a Distinguished Graduate from the Naval Postgraduate School with his MBA and published master’s thesis. He has received numerous personal and unit awards during his Navy service, is active in local tutoring, and passionate about financial education and physical fitness.

Mark York is a seventh-generation farmer from Lake Wilson, Minnesota, and is placed at the Department of Defense Office of Strategic Capital. He is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Harvard, where he researches crowdsourcing and reinforcement learning algorithms in collaboration with MIT. He is the co-founder and President of Farm Yield Africa, a non-profit providing tractor services and microcredit to 1,500 farmers in Ghana since 2016. Mark has worked as a consultant, and before that he led a data science team at a startup building agricultural risk models. He began his career at Cargill as a commodity trader and data scientist. Mark studied agronomy and mathematics at South Dakota State University, where as Student Body President he introduced legislation at the state and local level.

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We, the Leaders of the G7, express deep concern over the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and condemn in the strongest terms Iran’s direct military attack against Israel, which constitutes a serious threat to regional stability.

We unequivocally reiterate our commitment to the security of Israel. Iran’s seriously destabilizing actions throughout the Middle East through terrorist proxies and armed groups—including the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas— as well as Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq, must stop. Yesterday we discussed coordinated efforts and actions to avoid escalation in the area.

A dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation risks fueling uncontrollable escalation in the Middle East, which is in no one’s interest. Therefore, we call on all regional players to act responsibly and with restraint. We encourage all parties to engage constructively to de-escalate the current tensions. International humanitarian law must be respected.

On the eve of the tragic anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on October 7, 2023, we condemn once again in the strongest possible terms such unjustified acts of deliberate violence and stand with the families of the victims and the hostages taken by Hamas.

We also reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the unconditional release of all hostages, a significant and sustained increase in the flow of humanitarian assistance, and an end to the conflict. We fully endorse the efforts by the US, Qatar and Egypt to reach such a comprehensive deal, in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2735. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic, and tens of  thousands of innocent lives have been lost. We reiterate the absolute need for the civilian population to be protected and that there must be full, rapid, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, as a matter of absolute priority. We will continue working to set the conditions for a durable peace, leading to a two State solution, where Israel and Palestine coexist side-by-side in peace, with security for both.

We are also deeply concerned about the situation in Lebanon. We recall the need for a cessation of hostilities as soon as possible to create space for a diplomatic solution along the Blue Line, consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. This is the only path to durably de-escalate tensions, stabilize the Israel-Lebanon border, fully restore the sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability of Lebanon, and return displaced citizens to their homes with safety and security on both sides. We urge all actors to protect civilian populations. We are committed to providing humanitarian assistance to address the urgent needs of civilians in Lebanon.

We also express our deep condolences to the families of the civilian victims in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.  

We underscore the importance of the United Nations in resolving armed conflict and mitigating the humanitarian impact in the Middle East. In this regard, we acknowledge the role of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to restore peace and security. We are committed to reinforce our support to the mission, pursuant to applicable UN resolutions.

We will continue to be in close contact with all actors to this end.

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From September 30 – October 2, First Lady Jill Biden traveled to Mexico City, Mexico as the Head of the U.S. Presidential Delegation to the inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. The First Lady was joined by United States Ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar; U.S. Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra; U.S. Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Isabel Casillas Guzman; U.S. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware; U.S. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut; U.S. Representative of the 44th District of California and Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Nanette Barragán; Deputy Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary, Carlos Elizondo; and Mayor of Tucson, Arizona, Regina Romero.

During the visit, the First Lady delivered remarks at a reception hosted by Ambassador Salazar, where she highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to strengthening the partnership between the United States and Mexico. The First Lady and Ambassador Salazar also attended a dinner hosted by President Sheinbaum the evening before the inauguration, where she met with and congratulated President Sheinbaum. In addition to attending the President’s inauguration, the First Lady and the Delegation attended a luncheon in honor of President Sheinbaum. Concluding their travel, the First Lady and members of the Delegation visited the Museo Frida Kahlo to celebrate the shared cultural connections between the United States and Mexico. 

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