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We applaud Senate leadership for moving swiftly toward a vote on H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – a critical intelligence collection authority – before it expires on April 19.  This legislation, which passed the House with robust bipartisan support, ensures that the U.S. government has the tools to protect our national security, while dramatically enhancing protections for privacy and civil liberties. We call on the Senate to quickly send the bill to the President’s desk. 

As the Senate considers this legislation, we urge the Senate to reject mischaracterizations of an amendment to the definition of “electronic communications service provider” that was adopted by a bipartisan majority in the House. This amendment is a technical fix designed to account for changing technological realities – the definition of “electronic service providers” adopted when Section 702 was first enacted in 2008 does not account for the technologies of 2024. This provision is also directly responsive to encouragement from a federal appellate court to update the definition of the private-sector companies with which the U.S. Government can work, under supervision of federal judges and with extensive oversight by four congressional committees, to obtain the communications of non-Americans abroad. 

Furthermore, it is important to remember the limits on Section 702 collection.  Section 702 authorizes the targeting of foreigners outside the United States.  Americans, as well as foreigners in the United States, cannot be targets of such collection.  Adding yet additional protections, the amendment explicitly carves out a wide range of entities such as a “dwelling,” “community facility,” “public accommodation facility,” “food service establishment,” and more, from the revised definition of electronic communication service provider.

To be clear: nothing in this amendment changes the fundamentals of Section 702, which can be used to target for collection only the communications of non-Americans located outside the United States.  That will remain unchanged—period.  The Senate should pass immediately the Section 702 reauthorization and reform bill sent over by the House, before the current law lapses on April 19.

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The President is announcing his intent to nominate two individuals to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals—both of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.

These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.

The President has now announced five nominees to serve on the D.C. Court of Appeals.

The President is also announcing his intent to nominate one individual to serve as U.S. Marshal. This official will be indispensable to upholding the rule of law and was chosen for her devotion to enforcing the law, her professionalism, her experience and credentials, and her dedication to pursuing equal justice for all.

The President has now announced 29 nominees to serve as U.S. Marshals.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals Announcements

1. Carmen G. Iguina González: Nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Carmen G. Iguina González has been a counsel at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP in Washington, D.C., since 2022 and Director of the Howard University School of Law Civil Rights Clinic since 2024. She previously worked at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project as a Senior Staff Attorney from 2020 to 2022 and at the ACLU of Southern California as a Staff Attorney from 2014 to 2017 and an Equal Justice Works Fellow from 2012 to 2014. She also worked as an associate at Jones Day from 2018 to 2020. Ms. Iguina González served as a law clerk for Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court from 2017 to 2018, Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2011 to 2012, and Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2010 to 2011. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from New York University School of Law in 2010 and her A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 2005.

2. Joseph R. Palmore: Nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Joseph R. Palmore has been a partner at Morrison Foerster LLP in Washington, D.C. since 2014. He currently co-chairs the firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court practice. Previously, Mr. Palmore served at the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant to the Solicitor General from 2010 to 2014 and at the Federal Communications Commission as Deputy General Counsel from 2007 to 2009 and as special counsel from 2005 to 2006. Mr. Palmore worked as an associate at Sidley Austin LLP from 2002 to 2005. He served as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court from 2001 to 2002, Judge Dennis Jacobs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1998 to 1999, and Judge John Gleeson on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 1999 to 2000. Mr. Palmore received his J.D. and his M.A. from the University of Virginia in 1998 and his A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1991.

United States Marshal Announcement

1. Miranda Holloway-Baggett: Nominee for United States Marshal for the Southern District of Alabama

Miranda Holloway-Baggett served as a Deputy United States Marshal in the U.S. Marshals Service from 2001 to 2023 and has been Chief Inspector and Discipline Deciding Official for the Agency since 2023. During her 23-year career in the Marshals Service, Ms. Holloway-Baggett has held various leadership roles in Marshals Service offices in Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, and Alabama. These roles include Deputy U.S. Marshal, Supervisory Deputy, Assistant Chief Deputy and serving from 2019 through 2023 as Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Alabama. She received her Master’s Degree in Management from the University of Phoenix in 2009 and her B.S. in Criminal Justice and Corrective Services from Jackson State University in 2002.

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The post President Biden Announces Local D.C. Judicial Nominees and One New Nominee to Serve as U.S. Marshal appeared first on The White House.

The President is announcing his intent to nominate two individuals to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals—both of whom are extraordinarily qualified, experienced, and devoted to the rule of law and our Constitution.

These choices also continue to fulfill the President’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country—both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds.

The President has now announced five nominees to serve on the D.C. Court of Appeals.

The President is also announcing his intent to nominate one individual to serve as U.S. Marshal. This official will be indispensable to upholding the rule of law and was chosen for her devotion to enforcing the law, her professionalism, her experience and credentials, and her dedication to pursuing equal justice for all.

The President has now announced 29 nominees to serve as U.S. Marshals.

District of Columbia Court of Appeals Announcements

1. Carmen G. Iguina González: Nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Carmen G. Iguina González has been a counsel at Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP in Washington, D.C., since 2022 and Director of the Howard University School of Law Civil Rights Clinic since 2024. She previously worked at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project as a Senior Staff Attorney from 2020 to 2022 and at the ACLU of Southern California as a Staff Attorney from 2014 to 2017 and an Equal Justice Works Fellow from 2012 to 2014. She also worked as an associate at Jones Day from 2018 to 2020. Ms. Iguina González served as a law clerk for Justice Sonia Sotomayor on the U.S. Supreme Court from 2017 to 2018, Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2011 to 2012, and Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 2010 to 2011. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from New York University School of Law in 2010 and her A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 2005.

2. Joseph R. Palmore: Nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals

Joseph R. Palmore has been a partner at Morrison Foerster LLP in Washington, D.C. since 2014. He currently co-chairs the firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court practice. Previously, Mr. Palmore served at the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant to the Solicitor General from 2010 to 2014 and at the Federal Communications Commission as Deputy General Counsel from 2007 to 2009 and as special counsel from 2005 to 2006. Mr. Palmore worked as an associate at Sidley Austin LLP from 2002 to 2005. He served as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court from 2001 to 2002, Judge Dennis Jacobs on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1998 to 1999, and Judge John Gleeson on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York from 1999 to 2000. Mr. Palmore received his J.D. and his M.A. from the University of Virginia in 1998 and his A.B., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1991.

United States Marshal Announcement

1. Miranda Holloway-Baggett: Nominee for United States Marshal for the Southern District of Alabama

Miranda Holloway-Baggett served as a Deputy United States Marshal in the U.S. Marshals Service from 2001 to 2023 and has been Chief Inspector and Discipline Deciding Official for the Agency since 2023. During her 23-year career in the Marshals Service, Ms. Holloway-Baggett has held various leadership roles in Marshals Service offices in Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, and Alabama. These roles include Deputy U.S. Marshal, Supervisory Deputy, Assistant Chief Deputy and serving from 2019 through 2023 as Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Alabama. She received her Master’s Degree in Management from the University of Phoenix in 2009 and her B.S. in Criminal Justice and Corrective Services from Jackson State University in 2002.

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Call to triple the tariff rate on steel and aluminum imports from China

United States Trade Representative to investigate China’s unfair shipbuilding practices

President Biden knows that steel is the backbone of the American economy, and a bedrock of our national security. American steel fueled the country’s industrialization and helped build the middle class. American-made steel remains critical for our economic and national security. American companies must lead the future of more sustainable steel. This green steel will fortify the infrastructure that supports our communities, form the ocean vessels that transport American goods, power the electric vehicles of our clean-energy future, and support thousands of hardworking American families.
 
President Biden is making historic investments in American steel and manufacturing that are a sharp contrast with the previous Administration. While the previous Administration failed to deliver an infrastructure bill, President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act are spurring hundreds of billions of dollars in private-sector manufacturing and clean energy investments. Under President Biden, investments in construction of new factories have more than doubled—after falling under the previous Administration even before the pandemic—while nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created and construction employment is at a record high. Our trade deficit with China is the lowest it’s been in over a decade—lower than any year under the previous Administration. President Biden’s strategic trade and investment agenda protects workers, consumers, and businesses from unfair competition.
 
At the same time, American workers in the steel and aluminum industries face a significant challenge from Chinese exports of steel and aluminum which are among the most emissions-intensive products in the world. China’s overcapacity and non-market investments in the steel and aluminum industries mean high-quality U.S. products have to compete with artificially low-priced alternatives produced with higher carbon emissions.
 
Steel is a critical input for our domestic shipbuilding industry—from the commercial shipping vessels that carry American products, to the U.S. naval vessels that keep global seas safe. Commercial shipyards provide industrial capacity for maintaining the U.S. Navy’s dominance and support thousands of suppliers and jobs.
 
The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes growing concerns that unfair Chinese trade practices, including flooding the market with below-market-cost steel, are distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition. These concerns were outlined in a petition to the U.S. Trade Representative from five labor unions requesting an investigation into Chinese acts, policies, and practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.
 
In response to China’s unfair practices, today the Biden-Harris Administration is taking new, historic actions to support American steel manufacturing and shipbuilding.

• President Biden is calling on the USTR to consider tripling the existing 301 tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum. The current average tariff on certain steel and aluminum products is 7.5% under Section 301. American workers continue to face unfair competition from Chinese imports of steel and aluminum products, which are among the world’s most emissions-intensive. Chinese policies and subsidies for their domestic steel and aluminum industries means high-quality U.S. products are undercut by artificially low-priced Chinese alternatives produced with higher emissions. To the extent consistent with the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) review of Section 301 tariffs and findings of her investigation, President Biden is calling for USTR to consider enhancing the effectiveness of tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products by tripling them.

• President Biden’s Department of Commerce is taking action against countries and importers that do not play by the rules and flood the market with cheap products. Since President Biden took office, the Department of Commerce has imposed over 30 anti-dumping and countervailing duties on steel-related products. These are tariffs on steel imports that are priced below the fair and competitive value. The Department of Commerce has also conducted nearly 27 investigations into anti-competitive actions by Chinese exporters and efforts by countries like China to evade trade rules.

• President Biden is directing his senior team to work with Mexico to jointly prevent China’s and other countries’ evasion of tariffs on steel and aluminum that is imported from Mexico into the United States. This is a growing challenge that must be addressed to prevent Chinese and others’ steel exports from gaining access to the U.S. market and evading Section 232 or Section 301 tariffs. President Biden recently sent senior members of his administration to Mexico to address this issue.

• The United States Trade Representative is initiating an investigation into China’s unfair trade practices in shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors. This investigation follows a petition filed by the United Steelworkers (USW) and four other unions who claim the Government of China’s drive to dominate the global shipbuilding, maritime, and logistics sector is built on non-market policies that are far more aggressive and interventionist than any other country. President Biden believes it is critical to understand China’s uniquely aggressive set of interventions in these sectors, and to take actions that address distortions to the global market for commercial vessels, maritime shipping, and logistics that harm American workers and shipbuilders.

• President Biden is committed to maintaining strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers. In light of the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, President Biden will continue to make clear that U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and that it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.

• President Biden is investing in clean American-made steel. Today’s announcements build on the Administration’s commitments to green steel production. The Biden-Harris Administration, through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, recently announced up to $1.5 billion for six clean iron and steel projects as part of a historic broader investment to lower emissions from energy-intensive industries. These projects are set to demonstrate innovative technologies that can eliminate the vast majority of emissions from steelmaking, and enable the industry to phase out more traditional carbon-intensive production methods. They will support the economic comeback of steel communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the South and Midwest, so the U.S. steel industry can remain competitive as the global leader in low-carbon iron and steel products.
  
  These investments include up to $75 million for the only high-silicon grain oriented electrical steel plant in the U.S. in Lyndora, Pennsylvania that is sustaining more than 1,000 United Autoworker jobs at the Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works plant and up to $500 million for the Cleveland-Cliffs plant in Middletown, Ohio to produce clean steel for the auto supply chain.

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The post FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Protect U.S. Steel and Shipbuilding Industry from China’s Unfair Practices appeared first on The White House.

April 17, 2024

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing a permanent memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Department of Defense (DoD) and State Department to strengthen the Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas (DETO) program for military spouses who work for the federal government. As directed by President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors, this MOA will help military spouses who are Federal employees maintain their careers and keep their families together when their servicemembers are stationed overseas. Later today, First Lady Jill Biden will be joined by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma to sign the MOA during a ceremony at the White House.

With this Agreement:

• DoD and the State Department will work together to facilitate approval of DETO arrangements for federal employees who are spouses of military and DoD civilian employee sponsors, and who plan to work remotely from their military-managed residences while overseas;
• DoD will provide a range of security services normally carried out by Regional Security Officers at U.S. embassies and consulates, such as emergency planning, evacuation assistance, and initial incident response for serious incidents—streamlining residential safety and security screening requirements by eliminating State Department inspections of military housing, significantly shortening the DETO approval process; and,
• The State Department will now accept DoD safety and security standards where DoD has approved accompanied assignments and Military Housing Offices (MHOs) serving the military installation community, easing the burden on military families by ensuring that all required security or safety upgrades are covered by existing housing allowances.

The President and First Lady, as a military family, recognize the commitment and resilience of military families as essential to the recruitment, retention, and readiness of our Armed Forces. Since Day One of the Biden Administration, Dr. Biden, through her Joining Forces initiative, has worked to eliminate barriers to employment and increase economic opportunity for military families. Meeting the economic, social, and emotional needs of our military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors is a national security imperative.

Although military spouses are talented, diverse, and resilient, they find themselves facing a 21 percent unemployment rate, a rate that has not significantly changed over the past decade. With more than 16,000 military, veteran, and surviving spouses working for Federal departments and agencies, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking comprehensive steps to enable the Federal government to be the model employer for military spouses. Since President Biden signed the EO last June, the First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative, together with the National Security Council staff and federal departments and agencies, have made significant progress implementing the nearly twenty new actions aimed at enhancing career stability, expanding employment resources, and improving transition assistance support for military-connected spouses. Key actions to-date include:

• Increased Federal Agencies’ Promotion of Military Spouse Hiring Authorities on USAJobs. As of April 2024, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reports that 84% of federal agencies are advertising jobs with the military spouse hiring authority, up from 70% in December 2023. Under the EO, OPM is developing a data-driven approach to increase transparency and accountability in hiring and retention — including by encouraging agencies to: set goals for hiring under the Military Spouse Noncompetitive Appointment Authority established by 5 U.S.C. 3330d and for hiring individuals eligible for derivative preference, to use data internally to improve performance, and to use data to publicly report on progress.

• Launched the Fast-Track Action Committee on Data about Military-Connected Federal Employees, Led by Military Spouses. In March 2024, the National Science and Technology Council established a Fast-Track Action Committee to identify ways for agencies to expand Federal datasets to track outcomes for military and veteran spouses, military caregivers, and survivors employed by the Federal government. This committee is led by military spouses with deep expertise in data, including the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Tech Capacity, a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and a Program Director in OPM. Its membership includes data practitioners from ten Federal agencies, most of whom are themselves military-connected. The Committee’s work will enable Federal agencies to better use data to expand opportunities for military-connected Federal employees. 

• Released the First-ever Government-Wide Military-Connected Strategic Plan. In February 2024, OPM published the Government-Wide Military-Connected Strategic Plan, the first whole-of-government hiring and retention strategy focused on leveraging the talent of military and veteran spouses, military caregivers, and survivors. This plan includes guidance to help federal departments and agencies: set standard metrics of success for the recruitment and retention of military-connected families; leverage existing tools to retain military-connected employees in federal careers; eliminate barriers to hiring military-connected employees; increase understanding of the talent, experience, and diversity of military-connected employees; and track specific data on hiring and retention of military-connected employees.

• Published the Guide to Recruiting and Hiring Military Spouses. In February 2024, Joining Forces released a Guide to Recruiting and Hiring Military Spouses to: equip federal hiring managers and their staff with the knowledge, tools and resources to strengthen their recruitment of military spouses; build their understanding of the diverse skillsets and strengths of military spouses; and, share leading hiring and retention practices from successful teams across the Federal government. OPM has published this new guide on the FedsHireVets website and is providing the resource as part of annual training for agency human resources personnel and hiring managers.

• Established Tax-Free Dependent Care Spending Accounts for Service members. In January 2024, DoD began implementing Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts to allow servicemembers and their families to use their pretax dollars to help cover the cost of child care and adult dependent care.

• Reduced Child Care Costs for Military Families. In January 2024, DoD reduced the amounts that lower-earning servicemembers pay out of pocket for child care, lowering child care costs for the families of more than 32,000 children aged 0-12 enrolled in installation Child Development Programs. Military families earning $45,000 would see a 34% decrease in the amount they pay for child care.

• Released Chief Human Capital Officer Guidance Memo. In November 2023, the Office of Personnel Management issued a Chief Human Capital Officer Guidance Memo encouraging federal agencies to improve work-place policies to help strengthen the recruitment and retention of military-connected federal employees.

• Expanded the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. In October 2023, DoD inducted 130 new businesses as partners in the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), a recruitment and employment initiative that directly connects companies looking to grow their workforce with military spouses looking for work. Since MSEP launched in 2011, it has grown to include members from more than 700 businesses, nonprofits and federal agencies, which have collectively hired more than 275,000 military spouses.  

• Launched Entrepreneurship Training Course for Military Spouses. In July 2023, the Small Business Administration launched the Military Spouse Pathways to Business Program, which provides a tailored curriculum through online and in-person courses to assist military spouses in starting and maintaining their small businesses as they transition duty-stations or relocate due to their spouses’ military service.

These actions represent the Biden-Harris Administration’s holistic commitment to ensuring that the Federal government is a leader among employers, modeling approaches to recruit, hire, and retain military spouse talent—but our work is not done. The First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative, in partnership with the National Security Council, will continue to lead federal departments and agencies in implementing the Executive Order on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors. President Biden and Dr. Biden recognize that the commitment and resilience of military spouses and their families are essential to the recruitment, retention, and readiness of our Armed Forces. As Commander-in-Chief, the President will keep fighting for the economic, social, and emotional needs of our military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors. 

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White House Hosts Event and Issues Call to Action to Government Leaders, Employers, and Others to Build on These Efforts

During Care Workers Recognition Month and the Month of Action on Care, the Biden-Harris Administration will mark progress toward expanding access to care and other supportive services workers need to train for and stay in good-paying jobs. Today, Senior Biden-Harris Administration officials—including White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden, Director of the Gender Policy Council Jennifer Klein, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Shailen Bhatt—will be joined by Governor Tina Kotek of Oregon, Governor Kathy Hochul of New York, and Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts along with tradeswomen, care advocates, and business community representatives for a Making Care Work event. Participants will announce new actions that advance President Biden’s call to strengthen the nation’s Care Economy and discuss the importance of supportive services, including child care and long-term care, for building a skilled, diverse workforce.

Workers cannot train for or stay in good jobs if they cannot meet basic needs, such as access to child care and transportation. That is why supportive services are critical to building the workforce necessary to carry out President Biden’s Investing in America (IIA) agenda. Building on the Department of Commerce’s historic requirement that companies receiving major CHIPS and Science Act grants provide child care for their workers, the President’s Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers (Care EO) directed every cabinet-level agency to determine how they can require, preference, or encourage their own federal funding applicants to provide supportive services, including care, for workers.
 
Today’s event will highlight how agencies are implementing the President’s Care EO, including by making funds available for supportive services in their grants and loans where allowable, strengthening language in their funding opportunities, producing key resources for applicants, and more. The event will also showcase examples of how grantees—from states to employers, unions, community colleges, and more—are leading the way on care and other supports for workers. Administration officials will announce the first National Child Care Innovation Summit, and issue calls to action to employers, governors, and others to further expand care and other supports for workers.
 
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration will make new announcements, including:

• Secretary Raimondo will announce that the Department of Commerce (DOC) will cohost, in collaboration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the first National Child Care Innovation Summit this summer. The Summit will bring together key public- and private-sector stakeholders to discuss the vital role of child care as economic infrastructure and will encourage action by the private sector as an ally and force multiplier to the public sector.
  
• The Department of Transportation (DOT) will release a new $4.2 million funding opportunity authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, providing grants for educational institutions and State Departments of Transportation to develop or scale workforce development programs for highway construction. Projects will be evaluated on how closely they align to the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to include supportive services as part of high-quality workforce development programs to train, place, and retain people in good-paying jobs and Registered Apprenticeships. State DOTs that are applying are encouraged to show how they will also use FHWA formula funds and other sustainable funding sources for workforce development projects.
  
• The Department of Treasury will publish a fact sheet highlighting that employer-provided “work-life referral services”—such as services that help an employee identify a child care provider or other services aimed at assisting an employee or negotiating on an employee’s behalf—are generally considered a de minimis fringe benefit and therefore excluded from an employee’s taxable income. 
• The Biden-Harris Administration will release new resources:

• The White House Council of Economic Advisers will publish Seven Facts About the Economics of Child Care, laying out the research-based imperative for investing in child care—including how access to affordable, high-quality care can encourage U.S. labor force participation, particularly among women.
  
• The White House will release a new guide, Advancing Care as a Supportive Service, to help care and workforce development stakeholders leverage federal funds to support care and other supportive services for workers, including on federally funded and federally supported projects.
  
• The Department of Labor (DOL) will release new guidance to help agencies, federal funding recipients, employers, and care community stakeholders make thoughtful investments in child care and long-term care to support workers. The guidance provides best practices as well as example strategies for designing care solutions for workers.

States will expand commitments to care and other supportive services for workers, including:

• Oregon is announcing it will expand its investments to support construction workers across the state—building on its successful Highway Construction Partnership program. For over a decade, the program has leveraged FHWA formula funds to support construction apprentices with supportive services, including covering child care costs of up to 7 percent of household income (or up to $2,500 per child each month).
  • The state will invest $7.5 million in the new Oregon CHIPS Childcare Infrastructure Fund, expanding the Highway Construction Partnership model to fund supportive services and child care for workers in the semiconductor supply chain.
  • Oregon Department of Transportation will double its workforce investments from FHWA formula funds using new flexibilities from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, creating a new $1 million program to enable women returning from incarceration to directly transition into highway apprenticeships upon release.
    
• New York’s state Department of Transportation and Department of Labor are collaborating closely to ensure that workforce development and supportive services are available for transportation projects in Syracuse and Buffalo. The state is leveraging a $5 million Quality Jobs, Equity, Strategy and Training (QUEST) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to expand child care access, legal services for drivers’ licenses, and other necessary supportive services for workers looking to join the I-81 project workforce. The project includes a first-in-the-nation local hire initiative of 15 percent, which aims to give opportunity to Syracuse’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, including the same communities that have been divided by this highway for decades.
  
• Massachusetts will seek to invest $20 million in a Workforce Training System (WTS) that will help align child care, education, job training, and employment opportunities in Western Massachusetts’ Springfield and Holyoke—two communities with predominately residents of color—through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Recompete Pilot Program, authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act.
  
• Maryland’s state Department of Transportation, in support of the Baltimore Workforce Hub and the state’s workforce development efforts, is allocating an unprecedented $24 million of federal funds over six years to support transportation infrastructure workforce in the state. This initiative, developed in partnership with Maryland Department of Labor, will help Marylanders enter good jobs in the transportation sector through increasing access to resources, occupational training, and critical wraparound services including quality affordable child care. This will complement and leverage the state’s historic investment of over $300 million in fiscal year 2025 for child care scholarships to make high-quality child care more affordable.
  
• Washington tripled investment in its Pre-Apprenticeship and Supportive Services (PASS) grant program, providing $6 million in the 2021-2023 period to colleges, labor unions, and workforce organizations that are helping individuals get into Registered Apprenticeship programs, including by providing care and other supportive services to participants. Since 2015, the program has served nearly 2,800 participants, of whom 20 percent are women, 13 percent are Black, 32 percent are Hispanic, and 9 percent are Native American. The state is now expanding this successful model to maritime workforce training.

Today’s announcements build on the robust action that agencies have already taken to implement the President’s Care EO. Recent actions include:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made supportive services, including care, an allowable use of funds in the major Investing in America (IIA) investments it will soon be awarding, including its Solar for All (Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund) program, Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, and Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant program.
  • Selected applicant spotlight: Nonprofit coalition Power Forward Communities will use its $2 billion award through EPA’s National Clean Investment Fund to decarbonize and transform American housing—saving families money, reinvesting in communities, and tackling the climate crisis. The coalition will invest in new and existing pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, including, when possible, investments in supportive services to increase participation from individuals in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
    
• The Department of Labor (DOL)announced on April 10 it will award a total of $65 million in Strengthening Community Colleges grants to 16 community colleges and their partners nationwide, helping expand access to high-quality, equitable training for in-demand industries.
  • Grantee spotlight: Columbus State Community College (CSCC) will partner with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1105 and two other community colleges to expand engineering training—particularly among women—to help fill good semiconductor manufacturing jobs spurred by the President’s CHIPS Act. CSCC has budgeted project funds for supportive services, emphasizing provision of accessible child care for students who are parents.
    
• The Department of Energy (DOE) has made supportive services, including caregiving assistance that enables students to participate in DOE-supported training and technical assistance, an allowable use of funds in its open $24 million funding opportunity to establish new centers as part of the Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) network. The IAC program supports inclusive access to high-quality training programs in clean energy, energy efficiency, and advanced manufacturing, and helps small and midsized manufacturers save money, reduce energy waste, and improve productivity.  Additionally, DOE requires applicants for nearly all of its competitive BIL and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs to develop a Community Benefits Plan (CBP) detailing how the project will invest in good-quality jobs and support inclusive access to those jobs, among other objectives geared towards increasing the success of the project. To help applicants develop strong CBPs, DOE released a comprehensive FAQ that provides effective strategies for applicants to consider, including related to supporting workers’ access to high-quality, affordable child care and other forms of caregiving assistance.
  • Grantee spotlight: Ascend Elements, which will receive a total of $480 million in BIL Battery Manufacturing grants to build its new Apex facilities—the first commercial-scale, integrated metal extraction, pCAM (precursor Cathode Active Material), and CAM (Cathode Active Material) facilities in the United States—plans to offer community benefits such as affordable child care, workforce training and education, and affordable transportation initiatives in Hopkinsville, a disadvantaged community in southwestern Kentucky.
  • Grantee spotlight: The Midwest Hydrogen Hub will enable decarbonization through strategic hydrogen uses, including steel and glass production, power generation, refining, and heavy-duty transportation. The Midwest Hub will work with local businesses and community-based organizations to support transportation and child care, as well as provide services such as low-cost internet and workforce training programs, to make job opportunities more equitable.
    
• Yesterday, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new funding opportunity for the NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program, with a key focus on technology development and creating pathways to good-paying jobs, including by enabling wraparound supports for learners and students. The inaugural 10 NSF Engines, announced in January, are receiving more than $530 million in federal and matched investments over the next two years to catalyze place-based innovation and boost economic growth. In addition, NSF’s Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) program—which invested $18.8 million in September to provide for experiential learning opportunities in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other technologies. ExLENT allows for some funding to support child care, transportation, and stipend costs to enable learners to participate in these opportunities.
  • Grantee spotlight: The Central Florida Innovation Engine, which will build a next-generation semiconductor technology innovation ecosystem, has budgeted $600,000 to support students and trainees. This will include child care, to be provided in partnership with CareerSource and the Osceola County Early Learning Coalition for Childcare, as well as other wraparound services like transportation and utility and rental assistance.
    
• DOTpublished guidance clarifying that Federal-aid highway program funds may be used for supportive services—with no cap—in connection with workforce development, education, and training activities. Subsequently, in February, DOT released its Investing in America best practices report with recommendations to state and local transportation agencies to enhance construction workforce diversity. Providing child care, including at nonstandard hours, is a key recommendation to increase the number of women in the construction workforce.
  • Grantee spotlight: The City of Philadelphia will use its $25 million award from DOT’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant to implement vital transportation safety improvements along seven neighborhood streets in historically disadvantaged communities—including investing $500,000 to deliver equitable workforce development. Workers participating in Registered Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs will receive supportive services such as child care, transportation assistance, and training stipends.
    
• DOC signed non-binding preliminary memoranda of terms (PMTs) with multiple applicants for its CHIPS Incentives Program, several of which include workforce development commitments to provide affordable, accessible, high-quality child care for workers across proposed facilities. DOC has also published resources to help applicants for its CHIPS and Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) programs implement high-quality, affordable, child care.
  

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Call to triple the tariff rate on steel and aluminum imports from China

United States Trade Representative to investigate China’s unfair shipbuilding practices

President Biden knows that steel is the backbone of the American economy, and a bedrock of our national security. American steel fueled the country’s industrialization and helped build the middle class. American-made steel remains critical for our economic and national security. American companies must lead the future of more sustainable steel. This green steel will fortify the infrastructure that supports our communities, form the ocean vessels that transport American goods, power the electric vehicles of our clean-energy future, and support thousands of hardworking American families.
 
President Biden is making historic investments in American steel and manufacturing that are a sharp contrast with the previous Administration. While the previous Administration failed to deliver an infrastructure bill, President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act are spurring hundreds of billions of dollars in private-sector manufacturing and clean energy investments. Under President Biden, investments in construction of new factories have more than doubled—after falling under the previous Administration even before the pandemic—while nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created and construction employment is at a record high. Our trade deficit with China is the lowest it’s been in over a decade—lower than any year under the previous Administration. President Biden’s strategic trade and investment agenda protects workers, consumers, and businesses from unfair competition.
 
At the same time, American workers in the steel and aluminum industries face a significant challenge from Chinese exports of steel and aluminum which are among the most emissions-intensive products in the world. China’s overcapacity and non-market investments in the steel and aluminum industries mean high-quality U.S. products have to compete with artificially low-priced alternatives produced with higher carbon emissions.
 
Steel is a critical input for our domestic shipbuilding industry—from the commercial shipping vessels that carry American products, to the U.S. naval vessels that keep global seas safe. Commercial shipyards provide industrial capacity for maintaining the U.S. Navy’s dominance and support thousands of suppliers and jobs.
 
The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes growing concerns that unfair Chinese trade practices, including flooding the market with below-market-cost steel, are distorting the global shipbuilding market and eroding competition. These concerns were outlined in a petition to the U.S. Trade Representative from five labor unions requesting an investigation into Chinese acts, policies, and practices in the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors.
 
In response to China’s unfair practices, today the Biden-Harris Administration is taking new, historic actions to support American steel manufacturing and shipbuilding.

• President Biden is calling on the USTR to consider tripling the existing 301 tariff rate on Chinese steel and aluminum. The current average tariff on certain steel and aluminum products is 7.5% under Section 301. American workers continue to face unfair competition from Chinese imports of steel and aluminum products, which are among the world’s most emissions-intensive. Chinese policies and subsidies for their domestic steel and aluminum industries means high-quality U.S. products are undercut by artificially low-priced Chinese alternatives produced with higher emissions. To the extent consistent with the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) review of Section 301 tariffs and findings of her investigation, President Biden is calling for USTR to consider enhancing the effectiveness of tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products by tripling them.

• President Biden’s Department of Commerce is taking action against countries and importers that do not play by the rules and flood the market with cheap products. Since President Biden took office, the Department of Commerce has imposed over 30 anti-dumping and countervailing duties on steel-related products. These are tariffs on steel imports that are priced below the fair and competitive value. The Department of Commerce has also conducted nearly 27 investigations into anti-competitive actions by Chinese exporters and efforts by countries like China to evade trade rules.

• President Biden is directing his senior team to work with Mexico to jointly prevent China’s and other countries’ evasion of tariffs on steel and aluminum that is imported from Mexico into the United States. This is a growing challenge that must be addressed to prevent Chinese and others’ steel exports from gaining access to the U.S. market and evading Section 232 or Section 301 tariffs. President Biden recently sent senior members of his administration to Mexico to address this issue.

• The United States Trade Representative is initiating an investigation into China’s unfair trade practices in shipbuilding, maritime and logistics sectors. This investigation follows a petition filed by the United Steelworkers (USW) and four other unions who claim the Government of China’s drive to dominate the global shipbuilding, maritime, and logistics sector is built on non-market policies that are far more aggressive and interventionist than any other country. President Biden believes it is critical to understand China’s uniquely aggressive set of interventions in these sectors, and to take actions that address distortions to the global market for commercial vessels, maritime shipping, and logistics that harm American workers and shipbuilders.

• President Biden is committed to maintaining strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers. In light of the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel, President Biden will continue to make clear that U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and that it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.

• President Biden is investing in clean American-made steel. Today’s announcements build on the Administration’s commitments to green steel production. The Biden-Harris Administration, through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, recently announced up to $1.5 billion for six clean iron and steel projects as part of a historic broader investment to lower emissions from energy-intensive industries. These projects are set to demonstrate innovative technologies that can eliminate the vast majority of emissions from steelmaking, and enable the industry to phase out more traditional carbon-intensive production methods. They will support the economic comeback of steel communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the South and Midwest, so the U.S. steel industry can remain competitive as the global leader in low-carbon iron and steel products.
  
  These investments include up to $75 million for the only high-silicon grain oriented electrical steel plant in the U.S. in Lyndora, Pennsylvania that is sustaining more than 1,000 United Autoworker jobs at the Cleveland-Cliffs Butler Works plant and up to $500 million for the Cleveland-Cliffs plant in Middletown, Ohio to produce clean steel for the auto supply chain.

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April 17, 2024

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing a permanent memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the Department of Defense (DoD) and State Department to strengthen the Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas (DETO) program for military spouses who work for the federal government. As directed by President Biden’s Executive Order (EO) on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors, this MOA will help military spouses who are Federal employees maintain their careers and keep their families together when their servicemembers are stationed overseas. Later today, First Lady Jill Biden will be joined by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma to sign the MOA during a ceremony at the White House.

With this Agreement:

• DoD and the State Department will work together to facilitate approval of DETO arrangements for federal employees who are spouses of military and DoD civilian employee sponsors, and who plan to work remotely from their military-managed residences while overseas;
• DoD will provide a range of security services normally carried out by Regional Security Officers at U.S. embassies and consulates, such as emergency planning, evacuation assistance, and initial incident response for serious incidents—streamlining residential safety and security screening requirements by eliminating State Department inspections of military housing, significantly shortening the DETO approval process; and,
• The State Department will now accept DoD safety and security standards where DoD has approved accompanied assignments and Military Housing Offices (MHOs) serving the military installation community, easing the burden on military families by ensuring that all required security or safety upgrades are covered by existing housing allowances.

The President and First Lady, as a military family, recognize the commitment and resilience of military families as essential to the recruitment, retention, and readiness of our Armed Forces. Since Day One of the Biden Administration, Dr. Biden, through her Joining Forces initiative, has worked to eliminate barriers to employment and increase economic opportunity for military families. Meeting the economic, social, and emotional needs of our military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors is a national security imperative.

Although military spouses are talented, diverse, and resilient, they find themselves facing a 21 percent unemployment rate, a rate that has not significantly changed over the past decade. With more than 16,000 military, veteran, and surviving spouses working for Federal departments and agencies, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking comprehensive steps to enable the Federal government to be the model employer for military spouses. Since President Biden signed the EO last June, the First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative, together with the National Security Council staff and federal departments and agencies, have made significant progress implementing the nearly twenty new actions aimed at enhancing career stability, expanding employment resources, and improving transition assistance support for military-connected spouses. Key actions to-date include:

• Increased Federal Agencies’ Promotion of Military Spouse Hiring Authorities on USAJobs. As of April 2024, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reports that 84% of federal agencies are advertising jobs with the military spouse hiring authority, up from 70% in December 2023. Under the EO, OPM is developing a data-driven approach to increase transparency and accountability in hiring and retention — including by encouraging agencies to: set goals for hiring under the Military Spouse Noncompetitive Appointment Authority established by 5 U.S.C. 3330d and for hiring individuals eligible for derivative preference, to use data internally to improve performance, and to use data to publicly report on progress.

• Launched the Fast-Track Action Committee on Data about Military-Connected Federal Employees, Led by Military Spouses. In March 2024, the National Science and Technology Council established a Fast-Track Action Committee to identify ways for agencies to expand Federal datasets to track outcomes for military and veteran spouses, military caregivers, and survivors employed by the Federal government. This committee is led by military spouses with deep expertise in data, including the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer for Tech Capacity, a Presidential Innovation Fellow, and a Program Director in OPM. Its membership includes data practitioners from ten Federal agencies, most of whom are themselves military-connected. The Committee’s work will enable Federal agencies to better use data to expand opportunities for military-connected Federal employees. 

• Released the First-ever Government-Wide Military-Connected Strategic Plan. In February 2024, OPM published the Government-Wide Military-Connected Strategic Plan, the first whole-of-government hiring and retention strategy focused on leveraging the talent of military and veteran spouses, military caregivers, and survivors. This plan includes guidance to help federal departments and agencies: set standard metrics of success for the recruitment and retention of military-connected families; leverage existing tools to retain military-connected employees in federal careers; eliminate barriers to hiring military-connected employees; increase understanding of the talent, experience, and diversity of military-connected employees; and track specific data on hiring and retention of military-connected employees.

• Published the Guide to Recruiting and Hiring Military Spouses. In February 2024, Joining Forces released a Guide to Recruiting and Hiring Military Spouses to: equip federal hiring managers and their staff with the knowledge, tools and resources to strengthen their recruitment of military spouses; build their understanding of the diverse skillsets and strengths of military spouses; and, share leading hiring and retention practices from successful teams across the Federal government. OPM has published this new guide on the FedsHireVets website and is providing the resource as part of annual training for agency human resources personnel and hiring managers.

• Established Tax-Free Dependent Care Spending Accounts for Service members. In January 2024, DoD began implementing Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts to allow servicemembers and their families to use their pretax dollars to help cover the cost of child care and adult dependent care.

• Reduced Child Care Costs for Military Families. In January 2024, DoD reduced the amounts that lower-earning servicemembers pay out of pocket for child care, lowering child care costs for the families of more than 32,000 children aged 0-12 enrolled in installation Child Development Programs. Military families earning $45,000 would see a 34% decrease in the amount they pay for child care.

• Released Chief Human Capital Officer Guidance Memo. In November 2023, the Office of Personnel Management issued a Chief Human Capital Officer Guidance Memo encouraging federal agencies to improve work-place policies to help strengthen the recruitment and retention of military-connected federal employees.

• Expanded the Military Spouse Employment Partnership. In October 2023, DoD inducted 130 new businesses as partners in the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), a recruitment and employment initiative that directly connects companies looking to grow their workforce with military spouses looking for work. Since MSEP launched in 2011, it has grown to include members from more than 700 businesses, nonprofits and federal agencies, which have collectively hired more than 275,000 military spouses.  

• Launched Entrepreneurship Training Course for Military Spouses. In July 2023, the Small Business Administration launched the Military Spouse Pathways to Business Program, which provides a tailored curriculum through online and in-person courses to assist military spouses in starting and maintaining their small businesses as they transition duty-stations or relocate due to their spouses’ military service.

These actions represent the Biden-Harris Administration’s holistic commitment to ensuring that the Federal government is a leader among employers, modeling approaches to recruit, hire, and retain military spouse talent—but our work is not done. The First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative, in partnership with the National Security Council, will continue to lead federal departments and agencies in implementing the Executive Order on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors. President Biden and Dr. Biden recognize that the commitment and resilience of military spouses and their families are essential to the recruitment, retention, and readiness of our Armed Forces. As Commander-in-Chief, the President will keep fighting for the economic, social, and emotional needs of our military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors. 

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White House Hosts Event and Issues Call to Action to Government Leaders, Employers, and Others to Build on These Efforts

During Care Workers Recognition Month and the Month of Action on Care, the Biden-Harris Administration will mark progress toward expanding access to care and other supportive services workers need to train for and stay in good-paying jobs. Today, Senior Biden-Harris Administration officials—including White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden, Director of the Gender Policy Council Jennifer Klein, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Shailen Bhatt—will be joined by Governor Tina Kotek of Oregon, Governor Kathy Hochul of New York, and Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts along with tradeswomen, care advocates, and business community representatives for a Making Care Work event. Participants will announce new actions that advance President Biden’s call to strengthen the nation’s Care Economy and discuss the importance of supportive services, including child care and long-term care, for building a skilled, diverse workforce.

Workers cannot train for or stay in good jobs if they cannot meet basic needs, such as access to child care and transportation. That is why supportive services are critical to building the workforce necessary to carry out President Biden’s Investing in America (IIA) agenda. Building on the Department of Commerce’s historic requirement that companies receiving major CHIPS and Science Act grants provide child care for their workers, the President’s Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers (Care EO) directed every cabinet-level agency to determine how they can require, preference, or encourage their own federal funding applicants to provide supportive services, including care, for workers.
 
Today’s event will highlight how agencies are implementing the President’s Care EO, including by making funds available for supportive services in their grants and loans where allowable, strengthening language in their funding opportunities, producing key resources for applicants, and more. The event will also showcase examples of how grantees—from states to employers, unions, community colleges, and more—are leading the way on care and other supports for workers. Administration officials will announce the first National Child Care Innovation Summit, and issue calls to action to employers, governors, and others to further expand care and other supports for workers.
 
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration will make new announcements, including:

• Secretary Raimondo will announce that the Department of Commerce (DOC) will cohost, in collaboration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the first National Child Care Innovation Summit this summer. The Summit will bring together key public- and private-sector stakeholders to discuss the vital role of child care as economic infrastructure and will encourage action by the private sector as an ally and force multiplier to the public sector.
  
• The Department of Transportation (DOT) will release a new $4.2 million funding opportunity authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, providing grants for educational institutions and State Departments of Transportation to develop or scale workforce development programs for highway construction. Projects will be evaluated on how closely they align to the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to include supportive services as part of high-quality workforce development programs to train, place, and retain people in good-paying jobs and Registered Apprenticeships. State DOTs that are applying are encouraged to show how they will also use FHWA formula funds and other sustainable funding sources for workforce development projects.
  
• The Department of Treasury will publish a fact sheet highlighting that employer-provided “work-life referral services”—such as services that help an employee identify a child care provider or other services aimed at assisting an employee or negotiating on an employee’s behalf—are generally considered a de minimis fringe benefit and therefore excluded from an employee’s taxable income. 
• The Biden-Harris Administration will release new resources:

• The White House Council of Economic Advisers will publish Seven Facts About the Economics of Child Care, laying out the research-based imperative for investing in child care—including how access to affordable, high-quality care can encourage U.S. labor force participation, particularly among women.
  
• The White House will release a new guide, Advancing Care as a Supportive Service, to help care and workforce development stakeholders leverage federal funds to support care and other supportive services for workers, including on federally funded and federally supported projects.
  
• The Department of Labor (DOL) will release new guidance to help agencies, federal funding recipients, employers, and care community stakeholders make thoughtful investments in child care and long-term care to support workers. The guidance provides best practices as well as example strategies for designing care solutions for workers.

States will expand commitments to care and other supportive services for workers, including:

• Oregon is announcing it will expand its investments to support construction workers across the state—building on its successful Highway Construction Partnership program. For over a decade, the program has leveraged FHWA formula funds to support construction apprentices with supportive services, including covering child care costs of up to 7 percent of household income (or up to $2,500 per child each month).
  • The state will invest $7.5 million in the new Oregon CHIPS Childcare Infrastructure Fund, expanding the Highway Construction Partnership model to fund supportive services and child care for workers in the semiconductor supply chain.
  • Oregon Department of Transportation will double its workforce investments from FHWA formula funds using new flexibilities from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, creating a new $1 million program to enable women returning from incarceration to directly transition into highway apprenticeships upon release.
    
• New York’s state Department of Transportation and Department of Labor are collaborating closely to ensure that workforce development and supportive services are available for transportation projects in Syracuse and Buffalo. The state is leveraging a $5 million Quality Jobs, Equity, Strategy and Training (QUEST) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to expand child care access, legal services for drivers’ licenses, and other necessary supportive services for workers looking to join the I-81 project workforce. The project includes a first-in-the-nation local hire initiative of 15 percent, which aims to give opportunity to Syracuse’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods, including the same communities that have been divided by this highway for decades.
  
• Massachusetts will seek to invest $20 million in a Workforce Training System (WTS) that will help align child care, education, job training, and employment opportunities in Western Massachusetts’ Springfield and Holyoke—two communities with predominately residents of color—through the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Recompete Pilot Program, authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act.
  
• Maryland’s state Department of Transportation, in support of the Baltimore Workforce Hub and the state’s workforce development efforts, is allocating an unprecedented $24 million of federal funds over six years to support transportation infrastructure workforce in the state. This initiative, developed in partnership with Maryland Department of Labor, will help Marylanders enter good jobs in the transportation sector through increasing access to resources, occupational training, and critical wraparound services including quality affordable child care. This will complement and leverage the state’s historic investment of over $300 million in fiscal year 2025 for child care scholarships to make high-quality child care more affordable.
  
• Washington tripled investment in its Pre-Apprenticeship and Supportive Services (PASS) grant program, providing $6 million in the 2021-2023 period to colleges, labor unions, and workforce organizations that are helping individuals get into Registered Apprenticeship programs, including by providing care and other supportive services to participants. Since 2015, the program has served nearly 2,800 participants, of whom 20 percent are women, 13 percent are Black, 32 percent are Hispanic, and 9 percent are Native American. The state is now expanding this successful model to maritime workforce training.

Today’s announcements build on the robust action that agencies have already taken to implement the President’s Care EO. Recent actions include:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made supportive services, including care, an allowable use of funds in the major Investing in America (IIA) investments it will soon be awarding, including its Solar for All (Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund) program, Climate Pollution Reduction Grants, and Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant program.
  • Selected applicant spotlight: Nonprofit coalition Power Forward Communities will use its $2 billion award through EPA’s National Clean Investment Fund to decarbonize and transform American housing—saving families money, reinvesting in communities, and tackling the climate crisis. The coalition will invest in new and existing pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, including, when possible, investments in supportive services to increase participation from individuals in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
    
• The Department of Labor (DOL)announced on April 10 it will award a total of $65 million in Strengthening Community Colleges grants to 16 community colleges and their partners nationwide, helping expand access to high-quality, equitable training for in-demand industries.
  • Grantee spotlight: Columbus State Community College (CSCC) will partner with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1105 and two other community colleges to expand engineering training—particularly among women—to help fill good semiconductor manufacturing jobs spurred by the President’s CHIPS Act. CSCC has budgeted project funds for supportive services, emphasizing provision of accessible child care for students who are parents.
    
• The Department of Energy (DOE) has made supportive services, including caregiving assistance that enables students to participate in DOE-supported training and technical assistance, an allowable use of funds in its open $24 million funding opportunity to establish new centers as part of the Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) network. The IAC program supports inclusive access to high-quality training programs in clean energy, energy efficiency, and advanced manufacturing, and helps small and midsized manufacturers save money, reduce energy waste, and improve productivity.  Additionally, DOE requires applicants for nearly all of its competitive BIL and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs to develop a Community Benefits Plan (CBP) detailing how the project will invest in good-quality jobs and support inclusive access to those jobs, among other objectives geared towards increasing the success of the project. To help applicants develop strong CBPs, DOE released a comprehensive FAQ that provides effective strategies for applicants to consider, including related to supporting workers’ access to high-quality, affordable child care and other forms of caregiving assistance.
  • Grantee spotlight: Ascend Elements, which will receive a total of $480 million in BIL Battery Manufacturing grants to build its new Apex facilities—the first commercial-scale, integrated metal extraction, pCAM (precursor Cathode Active Material), and CAM (Cathode Active Material) facilities in the United States—plans to offer community benefits such as affordable child care, workforce training and education, and affordable transportation initiatives in Hopkinsville, a disadvantaged community in southwestern Kentucky.
  • Grantee spotlight: The Midwest Hydrogen Hub will enable decarbonization through strategic hydrogen uses, including steel and glass production, power generation, refining, and heavy-duty transportation. The Midwest Hub will work with local businesses and community-based organizations to support transportation and child care, as well as provide services such as low-cost internet and workforce training programs, to make job opportunities more equitable.
    
• Yesterday, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new funding opportunity for the NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program, with a key focus on technology development and creating pathways to good-paying jobs, including by enabling wraparound supports for learners and students. The inaugural 10 NSF Engines, announced in January, are receiving more than $530 million in federal and matched investments over the next two years to catalyze place-based innovation and boost economic growth. In addition, NSF’s Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) program—which invested $18.8 million in September to provide for experiential learning opportunities in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other technologies. ExLENT allows for some funding to support child care, transportation, and stipend costs to enable learners to participate in these opportunities.
  • Grantee spotlight: The Central Florida Innovation Engine, which will build a next-generation semiconductor technology innovation ecosystem, has budgeted $600,000 to support students and trainees. This will include child care, to be provided in partnership with CareerSource and the Osceola County Early Learning Coalition for Childcare, as well as other wraparound services like transportation and utility and rental assistance.
    
• DOTpublished guidance clarifying that Federal-aid highway program funds may be used for supportive services—with no cap—in connection with workforce development, education, and training activities. Subsequently, in February, DOT released its Investing in America best practices report with recommendations to state and local transportation agencies to enhance construction workforce diversity. Providing child care, including at nonstandard hours, is a key recommendation to increase the number of women in the construction workforce.
  • Grantee spotlight: The City of Philadelphia will use its $25 million award from DOT’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant to implement vital transportation safety improvements along seven neighborhood streets in historically disadvantaged communities—including investing $500,000 to deliver equitable workforce development. Workers participating in Registered Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs will receive supportive services such as child care, transportation assistance, and training stipends.
    
• DOC signed non-binding preliminary memoranda of terms (PMTs) with multiple applicants for its CHIPS Incentives Program, several of which include workforce development commitments to provide affordable, accessible, high-quality child care for workers across proposed facilities. DOC has also published resources to help applicants for its CHIPS and Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) programs implement high-quality, affordable, child care.
  

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Following Iran’s unprecedented air attack against Israel, President Biden is coordinating with allies and partners, including the G7, and with bipartisan leaders in Congress, on a comprehensive response. In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program as well as new sanctions against entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Defense Ministry. We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions. In addition, we continue to work through the Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command to further strengthen and expand the successful integration of air and missile defense and early warning systems across the Middle East to further erode the effectiveness of Iran’s missile and UAV capabilities. 

These new sanctions and other measures will continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors. Over the last three years, in addition to missile and drone-related sanctions, the United States has sanctioned over 600 individuals and entities connected to terrorism, terrorist financing and other forms of illicit trade, horrific human rights abuses, and support for proxy terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Kataib Hezbollah. The pressure will continue. We will not hesitate to continue to take action, in coordination with allies and partners around the world, and with Congress, to hold the Iranian government accountable for its malicious and destabilizing actions.

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Following Iran’s unprecedented air attack against Israel, President Biden is coordinating with allies and partners, including the G7, and with bipartisan leaders in Congress, on a comprehensive response. In the coming days, the United States will impose new sanctions targeting Iran, including its missile and drone program as well as new sanctions against entities supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Defense Ministry. We anticipate that our allies and partners will soon be following with their own sanctions. In addition, we continue to work through the Department of Defense and U.S. Central Command to further strengthen and expand the successful integration of air and missile defense and early warning systems across the Middle East to further erode the effectiveness of Iran’s missile and UAV capabilities. 

These new sanctions and other measures will continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness and confront the full range of its problematic behaviors. Over the last three years, in addition to missile and drone-related sanctions, the United States has sanctioned over 600 individuals and entities connected to terrorism, terrorist financing and other forms of illicit trade, horrific human rights abuses, and support for proxy terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Kataib Hezbollah. The pressure will continue. We will not hesitate to continue to take action, in coordination with allies and partners around the world, and with Congress, to hold the Iranian government accountable for its malicious and destabilizing actions.

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Via Teleconference

5:06 P.M. EDT

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Good afternoon, everyone.  And thank you for joining our call previewing President Biden’s remarks tomorrow at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

This ca- — call will feature on-the-record remarks from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and background questions and answers with senior administration officials. 

For your awareness and not for reporting, those administration officials are [senior administration official], [senior administration official], and [senior administration official].

The content of this call and accompanying materials are embargoed until tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. Eastern time.  If you did not receive the materials, please email me.

With that, I’ll turn it over to Lael to kick us off.

MS. BRAINARD:  Well, thank you, and thanks to everyone for joining us this afternoon. 

As you know, President Biden grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  President Biden understands that American steel built our nation and steel mills helped to build the American middle class with good-paying union jobs in communities in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The President is committed to ensuring that American infrastructure and industies — industries of the future, like clean energy and electric vehicles, will be made here in America using American steel made by American workers.  The President understands we must invest in American manufacturing, but we also have to protect those investments and those workers from unfair exports associated with China’s industrial overcapacity.

Our Investing in America Agenda is working.  Spending on manufacturing facility construction has more than doubled since President Biden took office.  Manufacturing employment is up almost 800,000 on his watch, higher than at any point under the previous administration. 

While the previous administration failed to secure an infrastructure law, President Biden delivered more than 50,000 infrastructure projects so far: roads, bridges, rail, and ports.  And he committed that those projects would be made with American steel by — made by American steelworkers.

However, China’s policy-driven overcapacity poses a serious risk to the future of the American steel and aluminum industry.  China cannot export its way to recovery.  China is simply too big to play by its own rules.

In manufacturing sectors like steel, China is already producing more than China or the world can easily absorb.  China’s subsidies and other forms of support lead to exports flooding global markets at artificially low prices, undercutting American steel that is cleaner.

Tomorrow, the President will travel to Pittsburgh, to the United Steelworkers headquarters, to talk about actions that he will take to help protect American steel and American steelworkers. 

The President’s approach is strategic, balanced, and targeted, and it has been developed in close partnership with industry stakeholders and unions who have directly lived through the impacts of China’s unfair trade practices for years.

It is also an approach where we are working with our partners and allies who also are feeling the effects of China’s overcapacity and artificially low-priced exports.

President Biden has made it clear that his vision for the future is one that doesn’t leave American workers and communities behind.  And today he continues to deliver on that promise. 

And with that, I’m going to turn it over to my colleagues to talk in greater detail about the actions he will discuss.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thanks so much, Lael.  We’ll now take some questions.  If you have a question, please raise your hand using the “raise hand” function, and we will call on you.

The first hand I see is from Trevor Hunnicutt.  You are now able to unmute.

Q    Thanks so much for taking the question.  Could you talk a little bit about why these tariffs are necessary given the Section 232 tariffs that already exist and — and triple-digit tariffs on, you know, product-specific categories? 

And then also curious if you could give an update on — on what’s happening with the U.S. Steel deal and whether the President is going to use his authorities under CFIUS or DOJ to — to block that deal now that he’s come out in opposition to it.  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Great.  Thanks for that question.  I think I can take the first part. 

I think you rightly note that we’ve had 232 tariffs already in place, but I think as Director Brainard noted, President Biden has passed landmark legislations that together are driving greater investments in the manufacturing industry, and we are seeing tremendous job growth as well as investments across the board.

So, you know, we also know, at the same time as our economy is experiencing this relative strength, China’s economy is increasingly dependent upon export-led growth to essentially support their growth.  So, there is growing concern against, you know, a new export surge that may be impacting global markets.   Secretary Yellen has also spoken about this.  So, it’s critical that we get ahead of this surge to protect our workers.

I think you already know that China alone accounts for almost 50 percent of global steel production.  China is producing more steel than it can utilize domestically.  And as they think about expanding their export-led growth, of course, steel is an important channel through which it is likely to take place.  And if you look at prices, China’s export steel prices are 40 percent lower than U.S. steel prices.  And, therefore, it’s important that, you know, these new tariffs, if acted, provide a more level playing field against China’s unfair trade practices in steel and aluminum.

And I think as to your second question, which was about U.S. Steel, I think nothing new to add.  I think the President has already spoken and said that, you know, it’s important that U.S. Steel remains a domestically owned and operated company.  And, you know, I think the President will make that clear again. He has told the steelworkers he will have his [their] backs, and he means it.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  We’ll now turn it over to Josh Wingrove.

Q    Hi there.  Thank you.  Can you talk a little bit about the Mexico provisions here?  Did you consider actual tariffs on Mexico or on Chinese steel from Mexico?  Is this more of a warning?  Just wo- — wondering if you can walk us through that decision process.  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I can take that question.  Look, we’ve got a senior team in Mexico today, and I want to emphasize our desire to cooperate and partner with Mexico on addressing imports coming into the North American market as a way of circumventing tariffs. 

So, I’m not going to get ahead of the diplomatic conversations that have happened today and that will be happening in the days and weeks to come.  But I think we’re hoping to come to a mutually acceptable solution with Mexico because this is a problem that affects both of our economies.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  But I just want to just also jump in here and just say that the — the President’s calling on USTR to consider tripling the 301 tariffs specifically for Chinese imports on steel and aluminum.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  We’ll now turn it over to Doug Palmer.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for taking my question.  So, just on the recommendation that USTR consider urging — consider tripling the tariffs, I mean, how does that — how does that work?  Is that a foregone conclusion that the 301 tariffs would go to 25 percent? 

And in terms of the shipbuilding probe, one of the things that the steelworkers have asked for is a port fee.  They talked about, like, a hypothetical million-dollar port fee on a 20,000 TEU ship that visits the United States.  Would you expect the 301 investigation to — to lead to a finding like that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hi.  This is [senior administration official].  Happy to jump in on these questions.  And, colleagues, please feel free to supplement. 

With respect to the first part of your question, so the President is calling on the Trade Representative to consider raising and up to tripling the steel and aluminum tariffs under the four-year review. 

The first step would be conclusion of the four-year review.  And, as you know, that statutory review is ongoing.  We hope to see results on that review soon.

And based on the findings of that review, then further responsive action and enhancing the effectiveness of the tariffs could be taken into account, consistent with the President’s call.

With respect to your question on the ships investigation, so the Trade Representative will be initiating the investigation on ships tomorrow.  That will launch an investigation into China’s acts, policies, or practices and their burden of restriction on U.S. commerce. 

So, it’s a little premature to talk about potential responsive actions now.  It’s only if there are affirmative findings, affirmative determinations that the acts, policies, or practices exist and burden or restrict U.S. commerce that the Trade Representative would then turn to consider responsive action.  Thanks.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thanks, Doug.  We’ll now turn it over to Andy Duehren.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for taking my question.  I just wanted to ask on these concerns about Chinese overcapacity and production — if that is limited to steel?  I mean, obviously, you’re seeing that in a few different sectors in China or people are seeing that in a few different sectors in China, but obviously you’re only singling out steel.  And so, I’m curious if the administration’s concerns are limited to that sector or if they go beyond that.  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks for that question.  I think, as you know, Secretary Yellen, returning from her trip from China, has also outlined serious overcapacity concerns in, for example, solar.  This is not a one-sector export surge or policy-driven industrial overcapacity issue; it’s a multisectoral challenge, of course.  But today’s actions that the President is proposing are focused on steel and aluminum.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  Now we’ll turn it over to Demetri.

Q    Thank you.  I’ve got two questions.  The first is on the tariffs.  How much leeway does USTR have to not accept the recommendation from the President? 

And then on shipbuilding.  Given that the U.S. is really, frankly, just to — kind of a bit player globally now — when you look at all the ships being built in China, South Korea, and Japan — is this investigation intended to try and bring shipbuilding back to the U.S. or just come to an outcome where, as someone said earlier, you impose port fees to try and get some money out of the Chinese for what they’re doing?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hi.  This is [senior administration official] again.

Well, with respect to the first question, the tariffs, I can just say: So, the President is calling on the Trade Representative to consider tripling tariffs consistent with the findings and the outcome of the statutory review, which is akin to an investigation.  And so, the Trade Representative would consider that as part of the — the next step after making findings, which is, you know, review of the effectiveness and looking to enhance the effectiveness of the tariffs that are in place under the — the Section 301 — existing Section 301 action.

With respect to the new Section 301 investigation, we think that the labor unions — five national labor unions — have raised very serious concerns with respect to China’s pursuit of dominance in the maritime logistics and shipbuilding sector.  So, the petition is extensive.  It raises a number of very significant concerns and presents a lot of evidence in relation to China’s nonmarket policies and practices through which it pursues its dominance with significant impacts on U.S. workers and on the U.S. industry.

So, we take those allegations very seriously and intend to conduct a thorough investigation into them.  Thanks.

Q    Can I just quickly follow up and ask: If — if nothing is going to be decided until after the 301 review, why is the President coming out now with a recommendation?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I think it’s appropriate as part of the President’s consideration with respect to actions on steel and aluminum to consider, you know, the application of Section 301 tariffs to this sector.  This is a sector that was targeted by China with respect to some of its force technology transfer policies and practices. 

And as part of re- — our review, we consider the tariffs’ impact on the U.S. economy and how they can be made more effective in seeking to address China’s policies and practices.  And so, that’s why there is a focus on the use of Section 301 tariffs for this sector at this time. 

Q    Thank you.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thank you.  We will now turn it over to Gabe Gutierrez. 

Q    Hi.  Thanks so much for doing this.  I guess, what would you say to critics who say these tariffs will raise consumer prices, heat up inflation, or those, you know, who say it’s only — it’s only happening in an election year?  And that’s one question. 

Then, secondly, is this a continuation of the trade war started by the prior administration?  How would you respond to that?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, thank you for that — thank you for that question.  If taken, these actions will not increase inflation, but they will protect American jobs and steel industry. 

Let me just lay out why we see no impact on inflation at all.  First is inflation has come down more than 60 percent.  Right now, residual inflation is not coming from goods.  These actions will not change that.

Second, as you know, the President’s approach has been to invest in key sectors and expand the supply side of our economy, which has contributed to lowering inflation.  And as we are seeing manufacturing rebound, it’s important to protect those gains.

Third, our trade actions are actually strategic and balanced.  President Biden will not impose ineffective, across-the-board tariffs that would increase costs and harm hundreds of thousands of jobs.  In fact, the imports of steel from China account for about 0.6 percent of total U.S. steel demand.  So, it’s quite small, and we see no inflationary passthrough. 

But it is important for us to get ahead of China’s new export surge and their continued pressure on prices that I made — that makes it hard for American steel companies to compete.  Because, if left unaddressed, it can be quite costly to workers, as we have learned from previous cycles of overcapacity and surges. 

And that’s why we’re proposing these actions.  It has nothing to do with elections.  I think it has to do with the fact that we’re actually acting from a place of self-confidence and strength because our economy is growing and manufacturing is rebounding thanks to all the investments the President has made.  And it’s important to safeguard and shield those investments from unfair competition from abroad.

Q    Thank you.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  All right.  With that, we, I think, have run out of time.  If you have any other questions, please feel free to email them to me.

Again, this call is embargoed until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow.  The remarks from NEC Director Lael Brainard were on the record, and the Q&A was on background as “senior administration officials.”

Thank you.

  5:24 P.M. EDT

# # #

The post Press Call by National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and Senior Administration Officials Previewing President Biden’s Remarks on Steel appeared first on The White House.

Via Teleconference

5:06 P.M. EDT

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Good afternoon, everyone.  And thank you for joining our call previewing President Biden’s remarks tomorrow at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

This ca- — call will feature on-the-record remarks from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and background questions and answers with senior administration officials. 

For your awareness and not for reporting, those administration officials are [senior administration official], [senior administration official], and [senior administration official].

The content of this call and accompanying materials are embargoed until tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. Eastern time.  If you did not receive the materials, please email me.

With that, I’ll turn it over to Lael to kick us off.

MS. BRAINARD:  Well, thank you, and thanks to everyone for joining us this afternoon. 

As you know, President Biden grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  President Biden understands that American steel built our nation and steel mills helped to build the American middle class with good-paying union jobs in communities in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The President is committed to ensuring that American infrastructure and industies — industries of the future, like clean energy and electric vehicles, will be made here in America using American steel made by American workers.  The President understands we must invest in American manufacturing, but we also have to protect those investments and those workers from unfair exports associated with China’s industrial overcapacity.

Our Investing in America Agenda is working.  Spending on manufacturing facility construction has more than doubled since President Biden took office.  Manufacturing employment is up almost 800,000 on his watch, higher than at any point under the previous administration. 

While the previous administration failed to secure an infrastructure law, President Biden delivered more than 50,000 infrastructure projects so far: roads, bridges, rail, and ports.  And he committed that those projects would be made with American steel by — made by American steelworkers.

However, China’s policy-driven overcapacity poses a serious risk to the future of the American steel and aluminum industry.  China cannot export its way to recovery.  China is simply too big to play by its own rules.

In manufacturing sectors like steel, China is already producing more than China or the world can easily absorb.  China’s subsidies and other forms of support lead to exports flooding global markets at artificially low prices, undercutting American steel that is cleaner.

Tomorrow, the President will travel to Pittsburgh, to the United Steelworkers headquarters, to talk about actions that he will take to help protect American steel and American steelworkers. 

The President’s approach is strategic, balanced, and targeted, and it has been developed in close partnership with industry stakeholders and unions who have directly lived through the impacts of China’s unfair trade practices for years.

It is also an approach where we are working with our partners and allies who also are feeling the effects of China’s overcapacity and artificially low-priced exports.

President Biden has made it clear that his vision for the future is one that doesn’t leave American workers and communities behind.  And today he continues to deliver on that promise. 

And with that, I’m going to turn it over to my colleagues to talk in greater detail about the actions he will discuss.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thanks so much, Lael.  We’ll now take some questions.  If you have a question, please raise your hand using the “raise hand” function, and we will call on you.

The first hand I see is from Trevor Hunnicutt.  You are now able to unmute.

Q    Thanks so much for taking the question.  Could you talk a little bit about why these tariffs are necessary given the Section 232 tariffs that already exist and — and triple-digit tariffs on, you know, product-specific categories? 

And then also curious if you could give an update on — on what’s happening with the U.S. Steel deal and whether the President is going to use his authorities under CFIUS or DOJ to — to block that deal now that he’s come out in opposition to it.  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Great.  Thanks for that question.  I think I can take the first part. 

I think you rightly note that we’ve had 232 tariffs already in place, but I think as Director Brainard noted, President Biden has passed landmark legislations that together are driving greater investments in the manufacturing industry, and we are seeing tremendous job growth as well as investments across the board.

So, you know, we also know, at the same time as our economy is experiencing this relative strength, China’s economy is increasingly dependent upon export-led growth to essentially support their growth.  So, there is growing concern against, you know, a new export surge that may be impacting global markets.   Secretary Yellen has also spoken about this.  So, it’s critical that we get ahead of this surge to protect our workers.

I think you already know that China alone accounts for almost 50 percent of global steel production.  China is producing more steel than it can utilize domestically.  And as they think about expanding their export-led growth, of course, steel is an important channel through which it is likely to take place.  And if you look at prices, China’s export steel prices are 40 percent lower than U.S. steel prices.  And, therefore, it’s important that, you know, these new tariffs, if acted, provide a more level playing field against China’s unfair trade practices in steel and aluminum.

And I think as to your second question, which was about U.S. Steel, I think nothing new to add.  I think the President has already spoken and said that, you know, it’s important that U.S. Steel remains a domestically owned and operated company.  And, you know, I think the President will make that clear again. He has told the steelworkers he will have his [their] backs, and he means it.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  We’ll now turn it over to Josh Wingrove.

Q    Hi there.  Thank you.  Can you talk a little bit about the Mexico provisions here?  Did you consider actual tariffs on Mexico or on Chinese steel from Mexico?  Is this more of a warning?  Just wo- — wondering if you can walk us through that decision process.  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I can take that question.  Look, we’ve got a senior team in Mexico today, and I want to emphasize our desire to cooperate and partner with Mexico on addressing imports coming into the North American market as a way of circumventing tariffs. 

So, I’m not going to get ahead of the diplomatic conversations that have happened today and that will be happening in the days and weeks to come.  But I think we’re hoping to come to a mutually acceptable solution with Mexico because this is a problem that affects both of our economies.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  But I just want to just also jump in here and just say that the — the President’s calling on USTR to consider tripling the 301 tariffs specifically for Chinese imports on steel and aluminum.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  We’ll now turn it over to Doug Palmer.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for taking my question.  So, just on the recommendation that USTR consider urging — consider tripling the tariffs, I mean, how does that — how does that work?  Is that a foregone conclusion that the 301 tariffs would go to 25 percent? 

And in terms of the shipbuilding probe, one of the things that the steelworkers have asked for is a port fee.  They talked about, like, a hypothetical million-dollar port fee on a 20,000 TEU ship that visits the United States.  Would you expect the 301 investigation to — to lead to a finding like that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hi.  This is [senior administration official].  Happy to jump in on these questions.  And, colleagues, please feel free to supplement. 

With respect to the first part of your question, so the President is calling on the Trade Representative to consider raising and up to tripling the steel and aluminum tariffs under the four-year review. 

The first step would be conclusion of the four-year review.  And, as you know, that statutory review is ongoing.  We hope to see results on that review soon.

And based on the findings of that review, then further responsive action and enhancing the effectiveness of the tariffs could be taken into account, consistent with the President’s call.

With respect to your question on the ships investigation, so the Trade Representative will be initiating the investigation on ships tomorrow.  That will launch an investigation into China’s acts, policies, or practices and their burden of restriction on U.S. commerce. 

So, it’s a little premature to talk about potential responsive actions now.  It’s only if there are affirmative findings, affirmative determinations that the acts, policies, or practices exist and burden or restrict U.S. commerce that the Trade Representative would then turn to consider responsive action.  Thanks.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thanks, Doug.  We’ll now turn it over to Andy Duehren.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for taking my question.  I just wanted to ask on these concerns about Chinese overcapacity and production — if that is limited to steel?  I mean, obviously, you’re seeing that in a few different sectors in China or people are seeing that in a few different sectors in China, but obviously you’re only singling out steel.  And so, I’m curious if the administration’s concerns are limited to that sector or if they go beyond that.  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks for that question.  I think, as you know, Secretary Yellen, returning from her trip from China, has also outlined serious overcapacity concerns in, for example, solar.  This is not a one-sector export surge or policy-driven industrial overcapacity issue; it’s a multisectoral challenge, of course.  But today’s actions that the President is proposing are focused on steel and aluminum.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  Now we’ll turn it over to Demetri.

Q    Thank you.  I’ve got two questions.  The first is on the tariffs.  How much leeway does USTR have to not accept the recommendation from the President? 

And then on shipbuilding.  Given that the U.S. is really, frankly, just to — kind of a bit player globally now — when you look at all the ships being built in China, South Korea, and Japan — is this investigation intended to try and bring shipbuilding back to the U.S. or just come to an outcome where, as someone said earlier, you impose port fees to try and get some money out of the Chinese for what they’re doing?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hi.  This is [senior administration official] again.

Well, with respect to the first question, the tariffs, I can just say: So, the President is calling on the Trade Representative to consider tripling tariffs consistent with the findings and the outcome of the statutory review, which is akin to an investigation.  And so, the Trade Representative would consider that as part of the — the next step after making findings, which is, you know, review of the effectiveness and looking to enhance the effectiveness of the tariffs that are in place under the — the Section 301 — existing Section 301 action.

With respect to the new Section 301 investigation, we think that the labor unions — five national labor unions — have raised very serious concerns with respect to China’s pursuit of dominance in the maritime logistics and shipbuilding sector.  So, the petition is extensive.  It raises a number of very significant concerns and presents a lot of evidence in relation to China’s nonmarket policies and practices through which it pursues its dominance with significant impacts on U.S. workers and on the U.S. industry.

So, we take those allegations very seriously and intend to conduct a thorough investigation into them.  Thanks.

Q    Can I just quickly follow up and ask: If — if nothing is going to be decided until after the 301 review, why is the President coming out now with a recommendation?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I think it’s appropriate as part of the President’s consideration with respect to actions on steel and aluminum to consider, you know, the application of Section 301 tariffs to this sector.  This is a sector that was targeted by China with respect to some of its force technology transfer policies and practices. 

And as part of re- — our review, we consider the tariffs’ impact on the U.S. economy and how they can be made more effective in seeking to address China’s policies and practices.  And so, that’s why there is a focus on the use of Section 301 tariffs for this sector at this time. 

Q    Thank you.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thank you.  We will now turn it over to Gabe Gutierrez. 

Q    Hi.  Thanks so much for doing this.  I guess, what would you say to critics who say these tariffs will raise consumer prices, heat up inflation, or those, you know, who say it’s only — it’s only happening in an election year?  And that’s one question. 

Then, secondly, is this a continuation of the trade war started by the prior administration?  How would you respond to that?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, thank you for that — thank you for that question.  If taken, these actions will not increase inflation, but they will protect American jobs and steel industry. 

Let me just lay out why we see no impact on inflation at all.  First is inflation has come down more than 60 percent.  Right now, residual inflation is not coming from goods.  These actions will not change that.

Second, as you know, the President’s approach has been to invest in key sectors and expand the supply side of our economy, which has contributed to lowering inflation.  And as we are seeing manufacturing rebound, it’s important to protect those gains.

Third, our trade actions are actually strategic and balanced.  President Biden will not impose ineffective, across-the-board tariffs that would increase costs and harm hundreds of thousands of jobs.  In fact, the imports of steel from China account for about 0.6 percent of total U.S. steel demand.  So, it’s quite small, and we see no inflationary passthrough. 

But it is important for us to get ahead of China’s new export surge and their continued pressure on prices that I made — that makes it hard for American steel companies to compete.  Because, if left unaddressed, it can be quite costly to workers, as we have learned from previous cycles of overcapacity and surges. 

And that’s why we’re proposing these actions.  It has nothing to do with elections.  I think it has to do with the fact that we’re actually acting from a place of self-confidence and strength because our economy is growing and manufacturing is rebounding thanks to all the investments the President has made.  And it’s important to safeguard and shield those investments from unfair competition from abroad.

Q    Thank you.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  All right.  With that, we, I think, have run out of time.  If you have any other questions, please feel free to email them to me.

Again, this call is embargoed until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow.  The remarks from NEC Director Lael Brainard were on the record, and the Q&A was on background as “senior administration officials.”

Thank you.

  5:24 P.M. EDT

# # #

The post Press Call by National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and Senior Administration Officials Previewing President Biden’s Remarks on Steel appeared first on The White House.

Via Teleconference

5:06 P.M. EDT

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Good afternoon, everyone.  And thank you for joining our call previewing President Biden’s remarks tomorrow at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

This ca- — call will feature on-the-record remarks from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and background questions and answers with senior administration officials. 

For your awareness and not for reporting, those administration officials are [senior administration official], [senior administration official], and [senior administration official].

The content of this call and accompanying materials are embargoed until tomorrow at 5:00 a.m. Eastern time.  If you did not receive the materials, please email me.

With that, I’ll turn it over to Lael to kick us off.

MS. BRAINARD:  Well, thank you, and thanks to everyone for joining us this afternoon. 

As you know, President Biden grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  President Biden understands that American steel built our nation and steel mills helped to build the American middle class with good-paying union jobs in communities in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The President is committed to ensuring that American infrastructure and industies — industries of the future, like clean energy and electric vehicles, will be made here in America using American steel made by American workers.  The President understands we must invest in American manufacturing, but we also have to protect those investments and those workers from unfair exports associated with China’s industrial overcapacity.

Our Investing in America Agenda is working.  Spending on manufacturing facility construction has more than doubled since President Biden took office.  Manufacturing employment is up almost 800,000 on his watch, higher than at any point under the previous administration. 

While the previous administration failed to secure an infrastructure law, President Biden delivered more than 50,000 infrastructure projects so far: roads, bridges, rail, and ports.  And he committed that those projects would be made with American steel by — made by American steelworkers.

However, China’s policy-driven overcapacity poses a serious risk to the future of the American steel and aluminum industry.  China cannot export its way to recovery.  China is simply too big to play by its own rules.

In manufacturing sectors like steel, China is already producing more than China or the world can easily absorb.  China’s subsidies and other forms of support lead to exports flooding global markets at artificially low prices, undercutting American steel that is cleaner.

Tomorrow, the President will travel to Pittsburgh, to the United Steelworkers headquarters, to talk about actions that he will take to help protect American steel and American steelworkers. 

The President’s approach is strategic, balanced, and targeted, and it has been developed in close partnership with industry stakeholders and unions who have directly lived through the impacts of China’s unfair trade practices for years.

It is also an approach where we are working with our partners and allies who also are feeling the effects of China’s overcapacity and artificially low-priced exports.

President Biden has made it clear that his vision for the future is one that doesn’t leave American workers and communities behind.  And today he continues to deliver on that promise. 

And with that, I’m going to turn it over to my colleagues to talk in greater detail about the actions he will discuss.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thanks so much, Lael.  We’ll now take some questions.  If you have a question, please raise your hand using the “raise hand” function, and we will call on you.

The first hand I see is from Trevor Hunnicutt.  You are now able to unmute.

Q    Thanks so much for taking the question.  Could you talk a little bit about why these tariffs are necessary given the Section 232 tariffs that already exist and — and triple-digit tariffs on, you know, product-specific categories? 

And then also curious if you could give an update on — on what’s happening with the U.S. Steel deal and whether the President is going to use his authorities under CFIUS or DOJ to — to block that deal now that he’s come out in opposition to it.  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Great.  Thanks for that question.  I think I can take the first part. 

I think you rightly note that we’ve had 232 tariffs already in place, but I think as Director Brainard noted, President Biden has passed landmark legislations that together are driving greater investments in the manufacturing industry, and we are seeing tremendous job growth as well as investments across the board.

So, you know, we also know, at the same time as our economy is experiencing this relative strength, China’s economy is increasingly dependent upon export-led growth to essentially support their growth.  So, there is growing concern against, you know, a new export surge that may be impacting global markets.   Secretary Yellen has also spoken about this.  So, it’s critical that we get ahead of this surge to protect our workers.

I think you already know that China alone accounts for almost 50 percent of global steel production.  China is producing more steel than it can utilize domestically.  And as they think about expanding their export-led growth, of course, steel is an important channel through which it is likely to take place.  And if you look at prices, China’s export steel prices are 40 percent lower than U.S. steel prices.  And, therefore, it’s important that, you know, these new tariffs, if acted, provide a more level playing field against China’s unfair trade practices in steel and aluminum.

And I think as to your second question, which was about U.S. Steel, I think nothing new to add.  I think the President has already spoken and said that, you know, it’s important that U.S. Steel remains a domestically owned and operated company.  And, you know, I think the President will make that clear again. He has told the steelworkers he will have his [their] backs, and he means it.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  We’ll now turn it over to Josh Wingrove.

Q    Hi there.  Thank you.  Can you talk a little bit about the Mexico provisions here?  Did you consider actual tariffs on Mexico or on Chinese steel from Mexico?  Is this more of a warning?  Just wo- — wondering if you can walk us through that decision process.  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I can take that question.  Look, we’ve got a senior team in Mexico today, and I want to emphasize our desire to cooperate and partner with Mexico on addressing imports coming into the North American market as a way of circumventing tariffs. 

So, I’m not going to get ahead of the diplomatic conversations that have happened today and that will be happening in the days and weeks to come.  But I think we’re hoping to come to a mutually acceptable solution with Mexico because this is a problem that affects both of our economies.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  But I just want to just also jump in here and just say that the — the President’s calling on USTR to consider tripling the 301 tariffs specifically for Chinese imports on steel and aluminum.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  We’ll now turn it over to Doug Palmer.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for taking my question.  So, just on the recommendation that USTR consider urging — consider tripling the tariffs, I mean, how does that — how does that work?  Is that a foregone conclusion that the 301 tariffs would go to 25 percent? 

And in terms of the shipbuilding probe, one of the things that the steelworkers have asked for is a port fee.  They talked about, like, a hypothetical million-dollar port fee on a 20,000 TEU ship that visits the United States.  Would you expect the 301 investigation to — to lead to a finding like that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hi.  This is [senior administration official].  Happy to jump in on these questions.  And, colleagues, please feel free to supplement. 

With respect to the first part of your question, so the President is calling on the Trade Representative to consider raising and up to tripling the steel and aluminum tariffs under the four-year review. 

The first step would be conclusion of the four-year review.  And, as you know, that statutory review is ongoing.  We hope to see results on that review soon.

And based on the findings of that review, then further responsive action and enhancing the effectiveness of the tariffs could be taken into account, consistent with the President’s call.

With respect to your question on the ships investigation, so the Trade Representative will be initiating the investigation on ships tomorrow.  That will launch an investigation into China’s acts, policies, or practices and their burden of restriction on U.S. commerce. 

So, it’s a little premature to talk about potential responsive actions now.  It’s only if there are affirmative findings, affirmative determinations that the acts, policies, or practices exist and burden or restrict U.S. commerce that the Trade Representative would then turn to consider responsive action.  Thanks.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thanks, Doug.  We’ll now turn it over to Andy Duehren.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for taking my question.  I just wanted to ask on these concerns about Chinese overcapacity and production — if that is limited to steel?  I mean, obviously, you’re seeing that in a few different sectors in China or people are seeing that in a few different sectors in China, but obviously you’re only singling out steel.  And so, I’m curious if the administration’s concerns are limited to that sector or if they go beyond that.  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Thanks for that question.  I think, as you know, Secretary Yellen, returning from her trip from China, has also outlined serious overcapacity concerns in, for example, solar.  This is not a one-sector export surge or policy-driven industrial overcapacity issue; it’s a multisectoral challenge, of course.  But today’s actions that the President is proposing are focused on steel and aluminum.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Great.  Now we’ll turn it over to Demetri.

Q    Thank you.  I’ve got two questions.  The first is on the tariffs.  How much leeway does USTR have to not accept the recommendation from the President? 

And then on shipbuilding.  Given that the U.S. is really, frankly, just to — kind of a bit player globally now — when you look at all the ships being built in China, South Korea, and Japan — is this investigation intended to try and bring shipbuilding back to the U.S. or just come to an outcome where, as someone said earlier, you impose port fees to try and get some money out of the Chinese for what they’re doing?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Hi.  This is [senior administration official] again.

Well, with respect to the first question, the tariffs, I can just say: So, the President is calling on the Trade Representative to consider tripling tariffs consistent with the findings and the outcome of the statutory review, which is akin to an investigation.  And so, the Trade Representative would consider that as part of the — the next step after making findings, which is, you know, review of the effectiveness and looking to enhance the effectiveness of the tariffs that are in place under the — the Section 301 — existing Section 301 action.

With respect to the new Section 301 investigation, we think that the labor unions — five national labor unions — have raised very serious concerns with respect to China’s pursuit of dominance in the maritime logistics and shipbuilding sector.  So, the petition is extensive.  It raises a number of very significant concerns and presents a lot of evidence in relation to China’s nonmarket policies and practices through which it pursues its dominance with significant impacts on U.S. workers and on the U.S. industry.

So, we take those allegations very seriously and intend to conduct a thorough investigation into them.  Thanks.

Q    Can I just quickly follow up and ask: If — if nothing is going to be decided until after the 301 review, why is the President coming out now with a recommendation?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  I think it’s appropriate as part of the President’s consideration with respect to actions on steel and aluminum to consider, you know, the application of Section 301 tariffs to this sector.  This is a sector that was targeted by China with respect to some of its force technology transfer policies and practices. 

And as part of re- — our review, we consider the tariffs’ impact on the U.S. economy and how they can be made more effective in seeking to address China’s policies and practices.  And so, that’s why there is a focus on the use of Section 301 tariffs for this sector at this time. 

Q    Thank you.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  Thank you.  We will now turn it over to Gabe Gutierrez. 

Q    Hi.  Thanks so much for doing this.  I guess, what would you say to critics who say these tariffs will raise consumer prices, heat up inflation, or those, you know, who say it’s only — it’s only happening in an election year?  And that’s one question. 

Then, secondly, is this a continuation of the trade war started by the prior administration?  How would you respond to that?  Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Well, thank you for that — thank you for that question.  If taken, these actions will not increase inflation, but they will protect American jobs and steel industry. 

Let me just lay out why we see no impact on inflation at all.  First is inflation has come down more than 60 percent.  Right now, residual inflation is not coming from goods.  These actions will not change that.

Second, as you know, the President’s approach has been to invest in key sectors and expand the supply side of our economy, which has contributed to lowering inflation.  And as we are seeing manufacturing rebound, it’s important to protect those gains.

Third, our trade actions are actually strategic and balanced.  President Biden will not impose ineffective, across-the-board tariffs that would increase costs and harm hundreds of thousands of jobs.  In fact, the imports of steel from China account for about 0.6 percent of total U.S. steel demand.  So, it’s quite small, and we see no inflationary passthrough. 

But it is important for us to get ahead of China’s new export surge and their continued pressure on prices that I made — that makes it hard for American steel companies to compete.  Because, if left unaddressed, it can be quite costly to workers, as we have learned from previous cycles of overcapacity and surges. 

And that’s why we’re proposing these actions.  It has nothing to do with elections.  I think it has to do with the fact that we’re actually acting from a place of self-confidence and strength because our economy is growing and manufacturing is rebounding thanks to all the investments the President has made.  And it’s important to safeguard and shield those investments from unfair competition from abroad.

Q    Thank you.

MR. KIKUKAWA:  All right.  With that, we, I think, have run out of time.  If you have any other questions, please feel free to email them to me.

Again, this call is embargoed until 5:00 a.m. tomorrow.  The remarks from NEC Director Lael Brainard were on the record, and the Q&A was on background as “senior administration officials.”

Thank you.

  5:24 P.M. EDT

# # #

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Private Residence

Los Angeles, CA

5:56 P.M. PDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  (Inaudible.)  Everyone, sit down.  Sit down.  Hi.  Hi. 

Oh, this feels so formal.  (Laughter.)  I’m just going to stand here.

Sybil and Matthew, I — first of all, I just want to thank you guys for hosting us, but for everything that you do for our country and our world, really.  And I just — I so enjoy speaking with you about a range of topics.  And now we’re going to talk about high-speed Internet also.  (Laughter.)

High-speed Internet is really — it’s a big deal.  It’s actually a big deal.  And I’m going to get into other issues.  But, you know, I think that the pandemic in so many ways was obviously something that caused an extraordinary amount of suffering — right? — extraordinary loss of life; people lost their jobs; they lost their sense of normalcy; children lost, you know, very significant phases of their education.  And the pandemic in — in some ways was also an accelerator around some things we do need to get on with and do and embrace, including technology.  Right? 

So — but what it did is it highlighted those — the number of people who don’t have access to critical technology.  And it also facilitated the use of technology for those who had it in a way that we had been encouraging, such as telemedicine. 

But, I’ll — you know, I — when I — back in the day, I was campaigning in South Carolina — in rural South Carolina.  It was back in 2019.  And I was — I’ll never forget.  It was a day after I went to church with all these ladies, and then we did an event and everyone was in their finery.  And it was in a rural area of South Carolina, and I was talking about education — something that I know we all care about and have talked about. 

And I talked about the upside-down school day — this new way of doing education where we give kids a tablet to take home for the relatively passive part of the education, which is hearing the lecture from the teacher, and then we send them to sch- — the class the next day to do homework with the teacher, which, of course, can then address issues like a parent who’s working two or three jobs and can’t do homework with their kids or a parent who may not have graduated high school even or English is a second language, but why should that kid suffer — right? — because the resources aren’t there?  Upside-down school day.

And I’m very excited about it, and I’ve been talking about it for years.  And I’m in rural South Carolina talking about it — and blank stares, like nothing.  I’m getting nothing from anybody in this room.  (Laughter.)  And then I realized — and I could have just — I was so upset with myself — they don’t have high-speed Internet out there. 

So, this idea — this smart idea I’m coming in with — (laughter) — right? — about the tablet and the upside-down school day, it doesn’t connect with their reality. 

And so, what we have done is — one of the things of our accomplishments is that we are now on track to establish for every family in America that they will have access to and be able to afford high-speed Internet, and it’s going to be a game changer, whether it be telemedicine, whether it be —

You know, one of the things that we’ve been talking a lot about — and I’ve been spending a lot of time with young people, particularly Gen Z, who I love.  I — I — you know, I know if you have them in your life, it’s complicated.  (Laughter.)  But — but about mental health, you know, this younger generation really will talk about mental health. 

But one of the great things about telemedicine and mental health treatment is this isn’t — nobody has to see you walk into the “crazy house” to get treatment.  Right?  You don’t have to run into this person at the grocery store.  This can be somebody who lives 3,000 miles away, and technology will facilitate that kind of treatment that otherwise people did not have access to. 

So, high-speed Internet: one of our biggest accomplishments that may be invisible to a lot of people, but for a lot of people, it’s going to be a game changer. 

You know, my husband, Doug — he’s so very funny.  He’s like, “Honey, you know, the problem that we have in this reelect is that our list of accomplishments — like a CVS receipt.”  (Laughter.)  You know, the thing just goes on and on and on.  And we have to condense it and bring it, you know, down to maybe three or five things that people can process, but there’s so much. 

But with that, I’ll just say this.  We’re going to win this election.  We are going to win this election.  We’ve got a ton of good material, in terms of accomplishments, that directly impact real people in a very significant way, in a way that they feel as well as understand. 

And the stakes could not be higher.  You know, we all have been a part of these campaigns.  Every four — we’re perennials, right?  And every time, we said, “This is the most important election of our lifetime.”  This is the most important election of our lifetime. 

I mean, we literally are at a point where we are making a decision about what the trajectory of our country will be for generations to come. 

We were talking about — I was sharing with these guys that I recently saw, at the state dinner, the Prime Minister of — of Japan, Kishida.  And now, as Vice President, I have met with, my team tells me, over 150 world leaders — presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings.

My last three international trips were Munich Security Conference, Dubai for COP28, and the UK.  Rishi Sunak invited me to come, and I presented on the future of the safety of AI. 

In any event, having now met many of these world leaders multiple times to the point that we are on a first-name basis, these last three trips, to a one, they came up to me, “Kamala, I hope you guys are going to be okay.”  And when they present that point, it is purely out of self-interest. 

You know, sometimes I think about and — and hope that we, as the American people, fully understand the significance of our country to the world.  You know, we do, in terms of a sense of patriotism about the flag and about — you know, there’s a certain righteous bravado that we have about who we are.  But I really do hope we fully understand how significant we are to the world — flawed though we may be, imperfect though we certainly are. 

But the outcome of this election will have implications that are, without any question, global and — and profound.  And we are going to win.  And everything is at stake. 

And one of the things that I think we all know and you all know, which is why you keep just doing what you are doing to be so supportive and actively supportive and engaged is — you know, when we talk about fighting for our democracy — and when I am traveling, which I’m traveling practically every day and will be through November — 203 days to go, if anyone wants to know — (laughter) — I talk about our democracy, and usually, the language I use is more about freedoms. 

But on the subject of our democracy, you know, there’s a duality to the nature of democracy, I think.  On the one hand, incredible strength when a democracy is intact — what it does to uplift and defend and protect the rights of its people — right? — the freedoms, the liberty of its people, what — incredible strength.  And it is very fragile.  It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. 

And so, fight we must.  And fight we do.  And when we fight, we win.  And that’s it.  (Applause.)

END                 6:04 P.M. PDT

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Carpenters Training Center
Scranton, Pennsylvania

6:29 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Guys, you come up here.  Come on.  Come on. 

Good to see you, buddy.

PARTICIPANT:  Yeah, you too.

THE PRESIDENT:  Come on.

With the Bells and the Bidens, like all of you — my dad used to have an expression.  He’d say, “Family is the beginning, the middle, and the end” — “the beginning, the middle, and the end.” 

(Addressing Megan Bell’s daughter, Eloise.)  And you need Secret Service guarding you.  (Laughter.) 

But, folks, look, first of all, I want to thank the Carpenters Union.  They’ve been with me for my entire career.  They’ve been loyal to me, and I think I’ve been loyal to them.  (Applause.)

Now, one of the things that she hadn’t told you is Tommy is — along with Larry — Larry, stand up.  This is Larry Orr.  Larry is another one of the — (applause) — he lived right across the gates in Marywood — and another guy named Charlie Roth, the four of us were inseparable. 

When — when things changed for my dad up in Scranton and lost his job, we moved back to Delaware, where he was from.  And when he originally — that’s where he came from — Delaware — to Scranton.

And — and I’d come home, though, for every holiday, almost all summer.  And when I fell in love when I was in law school — actually, it wasn’t even law school; I was in college.  I went on spring break.  I had made $85 of — from a tax return.  (Laughter.)  And — oh, you think I’m kidding; I’m not.  (Laughter.)

And my dad didn’t own but he ran an automobile dealership.  And so, I had a car, and I put five guys in the car.  They all chipped in to pay the way down.  We went to Lauderdale.

Now, the problem is — I’m going to lose a lot of credibility with all of you — (laughter) — but I’m the only Scrantonian and the only Irishman you’ve ever met that’s never had a drink in his life because too many people have too many drinks in their life, in my opinion.  (Laughter.)  And so, we got down to Fort Lauderdale, and all everybody was doing is drunk most of the time.  And I found out that there was a possibility of being able to get on a plane for 20 bucks — $22 round trip to go to Nassau.

So, I thought, “Well, there may be some nice girls in Nassau.”  (Laughter.)  The only reason we all came down — any rate. 

So, I got on the plane, and I had two guys with me.  We had just finished spring football practice at the University of Delaware.  And I had been named as the likely starting safety that year and — next year.  And so, we started off, and a guy named — his nickname was Mi- — he was Mike McCrann.  We called him “Crash” McCrann.  He looked like Rock Hudson and acted like it.  (Laughter.)  And a guy named Fred Sears, who ran one of the biggest banks in Delaware later.

And so, we walked into — we went to the British Colonial hotel.  We — actually, we found a bunch of guys from Michigan.  We slept on the floor of their place.  And — and we went to go to the beach.  Turns out, all the beaches in Nassau — public beaches, there’s none of the college girls.  They’re — you know, they — they’re all locals, and there’s not many people.

So, we walked down to the beach this particular day — the first day we got there — and the British Colonial hot- — hotel had this chain-link fence that ran from the street all the way down into the water so you couldn’t cross into the — the hotel area.  And so, we wondered what the heck we were going to do.

Turns out they — a bunch of folks going in and throwing their towels saying “British Colonial hotel” on it over the wi- — barbed wire — not barbed wire — chain-link fence.  So, I had an idea.  We each grabbed a towel, put it around us, and we walked in the front door — (laughter) — no, I’m serious; true story — of the British Colonial hotel. 

And we walked in and we acted like — and you walked in, and you had the — the registration on the left and down the cent- — but straight ahead — like, from here, half again the distance from the back wall — was the glass looking out on the swimming pool and then beyond the swimming pool and onto the ocean. 

And so, we just walked in like we belonged there and walked right out.  (Laughter.)  And I’m standing there, and we’re all looking around, and I saw this beautiful young woman.  I said, “I’m going to go talk to her.”  And old Crash McCrann, I nicknamed — he was a fullback — I said, “No, I am.”  I said — and Fred Sears, my buddy, flipped a coin.  I won.  (Laughter.)

And so, I walked up, sat down on the end of the bench of the — and the sun was coming from — toward the water.  And it was later — and toward the water.  And I sat on the end of the chaise lounge, and I said, “My name is Joe Biden.  I’m from the University of Delaware.”  And she said, “My name is Neilia Hunter.  I’m from Syracuse.”  And I said hi, and we started to talk and just talking.  And I watched this — this yacht pull up in front.  I’m not — this is not a joke.

Well, to me, it was a yacht.  It was, like, 40, 45 feet.  (Laughter.)

And I see this guy with a white hat on, white, you know, uniform — not uniform — pants and the — and the shoes and the whole deal.  And he gets in a little dingy and he rows to shore.  And I’m just — I’m talking to her like — like you’re she, and I’m looking up.  And I watch the guy pull up, and he pulls a — the dingy up onto the beach.  And he starts walking toward us. 

And I’m just watching him.  And he walks straight to us, and he looks down at Neilia, and he says, “Neilia, are we on for dinner tonight?”  (Laughter.)

I thought, “Oh, man.”  (Laughter.) 

But what happened was he — she looked and she said, “Oh, I’m sorry” — it — it was the Wickwire family, a major highway contractor in New York — in Skaneateles, New York, in the state of New York.  And what — they were neighbors. 

And she said, “No.”  She said, “I — Joe and I are going to go to dinner.”  (Laughter.) 

And so, with that, he left, and she was mortified.  She said, “I’m so sorry, but I didn’t want to.”  I said, “Why don’t we?”  I had a total of $42 left.  (Laughter.)  But then, you could buy a McDonald’s hamburger for 19 cents or something.  (Laughter.)

So, she said, “Well, I kn- — I know a place we can go.”  And she’s a very classy lady.  She picked a place she thought we co- — I could afford.  And so, we walked into this particular restaurant and sat down.  I ordered a hamburger because I didn’t have any money, and she — the classy woman she was, she ordered the same thing, like whatever it was.

But anyway, we — and I was smitten by her.  I really was.  And, you know, sometimes there’s love at first sight.  This really was.  I was — my — I was just taken by her.  And she was really quiet, and she was lovely. 

And one thing led to another, and she said — the bill came.  And the bill was $48.  (Laughter.)  And I had $23.  And I could feel under the table — I could feel this.  (The President rests his hand on an audience member’s knee.) 

And I put my hand down, and she put 40 bucks in my hand.  (Laughter.)  Her father was fairly wealthy.  He was a Navy cook and an Auburn — if you know Auburn, New York, he had a large diner in Auburn, which was very profitable, and he — he also had the contracts to do Syracuse University. 

Anyway, he was a — a fairly wealthy guy.  And so, I took it, and I paid.  I said, “I’m so embarrassed.”  She said, “Oh, it happens to my father all the time.”  (Laughter.)

So, we’re walking back to the hotel she was staying at, and — and I swear to God, I hadn’t kissed her, I hadn’t done — we hadn’t done a single thing together.  And there was a chain and — that w- — post and chain divid- — stopping the parking lot from coming out of the — and so, like a horse’s tail, I was going to show — I jumped over the chain.  (Laughter.)  And I caught my ankle and fell.  (Laughter.)  Totally mortified. 

She said, “Oh, that’s okay.  That’s — are you okay?”  I said, “Yes.”  And I got up, and I looked at her, and I know — and this wasn’t a joke — I looked at her.  I said, “You know, I think I’m going to marry you.”  I give you my word.  (Applause.)

And she looked at me, and we hadn’t even kissed one another, and she said, “I think so.” 

From that time on, I quit the football team that year — that was spring practice — the next year, and I started commuting every single weekend. 

My dad ran an automobile agency, and I made money by getting — there was a place called Manheim Auto Auction, where they — and I would drive to Manheim.  And back in those days in Delaware, you could not — you could not have a car on campus.  And so, a lot of the guys I was with, they were happy to get a chance to drive a relatively new car.  They paid $10 for every car we delivered back to Delaware.

So, I’d get a van, take 10 guys up, get 100 bucks; I’d keep $50.  (Laughter.)  No.  And that’s how I’d go back and forth every single weekend — every single weekend.

And — but sometimes it just happens.  Sometimes it just happens.

And — and so, no man deserves one great love, let alone two.  When she was killed in that accident with my daughter as well, my two boys weren’t expected to make it.  And they were only just three and just four years old. 

And what happened was that I got put on that 10 most-eligible bachelors list in America.  (Laughter.)  You got it man.  I thought it was a pretty cool thing.  (Laughter.)

But I used to send more things to the Secret Service because I’d get women sending me pictures that I was afraid I’d get set up for.  (Laughter.)  And unlike the guy running, I didn’t take advantage of any of it.  (Laughter and applause.) 

Any rate, to make a long story short, all kidding aside, I — I would just give them to the Secret Service. 

So, I decided I couldn’t — I really couldn’t date anybody because every time I’d go out with somebody — I had more yentas in Delaware than you can imagine — very nice to me.  And so, I just gave up. 

And I get a call from my youngest brother.  He said, “Joe, I’ve got just the girl for you.”  And he was at the University of Delaware at the time, as this girl was.  She used to be nine years younger than me. Now she’s 25 years younger, but — (laughter) — 

So, he said, “You’ll love her.  She doesn’t like politics.”  (Laughter.)  And I met her, and this third date I went out with her, I realized I was going to marry her. 

No man deserves one great love, let alone two.  So, I’ve been an incredibly fortunate guy — incredibly fortunate. 

And that’s why I kept coming back up to Scranton, because what would happen is I would drive up on — after I — I paid my guys their money, I’d drive up on Friday — through Scranton, up 81, up into Syracuse, next to Skaneateles Lake — and then go back.  And I’d always stop at my Uncle Jack’s house on the way back in Scranton.

And, you know, everybody’s from Scranton, but no one ever leaves Scranton.  (Laughter.)  It’s in their — but any rate, I don’t know why the hell I told you that.  (Laughter.)  Except you reminded me.

MS. BELL:  It was my fault.  I told (inaudible).

THE PRESIDENT:  No, no, but — but, you know, look, folks, I’ve ran for — I — I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’ve done.  It’s a pretty basic thing for me. 

You may remember when I announced for president, I said I was running for three reasons, initially.  I said, one is to restore the soul of America.  We lost a sense of decency that was in the way we campaign and what people say and how they talk to one another. 

And the second thing, I said I wanted to rebuild the middle class because when the middle class works, everyone works — everyone does better.

I said, thirdly, I want to unite the country.  And I was, understandably, by the national press, viewed as I was — they’d give me credit for being a fairly significant United States senator and able to cross the aisle and get a lot done, but they thought I was extremely naive.

I don’t know how we can lead the world when we can’t unite ourselves.  I really mean it.  I mean, so, we got a lot of work to do.

And then I decided — my son Beau ended up going — volunteering to go to Iraq.  He was the attorney general of the state of Delaware.  And he came back — he — his — I was in, I think, 36, 38 times in Iraq and Afghanistan as a senator and as a vice president.  And — and he came back — he — his — his hooch — that’s where he slept — was only about 400 yards from a major burn pit.  And the burn pit is about the size of a football field — probably 80 yards long, 30, 40 yards wide — burning everything from human waste to oil and the rest.

And just like the 9/11 firemen got — my son came back after a year with glioblastoma — stage four glioblastoma.  And — and I lost him. 

And I didn’t — I wasn’t going to run again.  I really wasn’t.  Not a — I give you my word, I had no intention of running again. 

And then along came — along came what happened down in Charlottesville.  And I talked to the mother who lost that daughter who was killed by these — coming out of a field, in the United States of America, in the year two thousand and — I guess it was ’16, ’17, ’18, in that range, but a little later — carrying torches, Ku Klux Klan, Nazi banners — I mean, literally Nazi swastikas, and — and marching through the streets.

And my w- — my future opponent, my present opponent — they asked him what he thought of it.  He said there were “very good people on both sides.” 

And I’m going to say something that may sound outrageous to you, but I thought — I thought he’s the antithesis of everything I believe, and I thought I could beat him.  And that’s why I ran.

And so, what’s at stake now, folks, is our democracy.  It’s not hyperbole.  You may remember, when I got the nomination, the first thing I did, I made a speech at the — at the — in Convention Hall — excuse me, in — in Philadelphia.  And I made a speech on democracy.

And a lot of people said, “What’s he doing that for?”  Because it is at stake.  We’ve never had this kind of a campaign before.

And so, for me, it’s not about whether or not you’re left, right, or center — although it matters to my — my philosophy of government — but it matters about whether or not you’re going to abide by the basic rules, you’re going to have a sense of decency. 

You — I’ve never thought I’d see a time when I’m going through a — a neighborhood or a rural town that’s in the west and see big signs that s- — have a Trump sign in the middle that says “F Biden” and having a little kid standing with his middle finger — seven years old, eight years old.

Well, I promise, it happens all the time.  It’s not who we are. 

So, the point I’m making is this.  We are — think of — think of it this way: If the United States wasn’t leading the world, who could step up to do it?  No, not a — not a joke.  What other country?  What other country?

I’ve known every major world leader for the last 35 years.  I know them all by their first names — not a joke — not because I’m important; because of the nature of my job when I was Foreign Relations Committee and a senior senator.

And, you know, the rest of the world looks to us.  I walk in a room — no matter whether it’s the G7 or the G20, whatever it is — and they all look to me — not me, Joe Biden; America — because they know we are the essential nation.  And, you know, Madeleine Albright wrote about us being the essen- — she was absolute- — absolutely right.  Absolutely right.

And we have a chance.  We have an incredible chance to change the direction of the world without using American forces.  We have enormous chance.

So, I said before I ran, I was going to write a book on inflection points in American history, where the things that happen in a very short period of time can determine what the next four, five, six decades look like.  We have a chance.  We have a chance to change the dynamic in a way that we haven’t had before. 

The post-war era is over.  It’s over.  What’s going to follow?

So, I — when I started the book — and I decided to run instead.  I started the book, I talked about how technology has changed the direction in the world.  Were it not for Gutenberg inventing the print- — the printing press, there would be no unity in Europe.  They wouldn’t have been able to communicate with one another at the period of time.  All the way to the — it’s a silly example — Nixon would probably be president but for a televised debate where he perspired a great deal.

And — (laughter) — no, I — no, I’m not joking.  I’m thinking these things matter.

Even to now, look what’s happening on TikTok.  Look what’s happening.  What are the source of information?  These press people are all honest and decent, and they — they take real risks.  And not a lot — and they don’t all like me.  But they — (laughter) — no, I’m serious.  This is — they’re entitled to that.  But they take real risks.

But, folks, think about it.  Where do people get their news these days?  All the data shows hardly anybody watches the nightly news, in relative terms.  Who reads the New York Times and the — and the Wall Street Journal and the — and so on?  I mean, what percentage of people?  So, where did they get their news?  And it’s so much — so easy to just flat-out lie and not know what’s — what’s true. 

So, we got a lot at stake here — a lot at stake.  But for me, it gets down to a basic thing.  My dad used to say — for real; my word — he’d say, “Joey, a job is about a lot more than poli- — is about a lot more than a paycheck.  It’s about your dignity.  It’s about respect.  It’s about being able to look your kid in the eye and say, ‘Honey, it’s going to be okay,’ and mean it — and mean it.”

That’s what this is all about.  The va- — the vast majority of the American people just want an even chance — just a shot.  Just a shot.  And it breaks down into everything from taxes to philosophy.

But with your help, I’ve been able to get a lot done that no one thought could get done.  We’ve been able to get a lot done.  But there’s so much more we have to do, but we can do it.  But we have to win. 

And it gets down to old-fashioned politics, gets down to knocking on doors, gets down to telling stories about why you’re for who you’re for.  It gets down to being able to have — pick these people to put yard signs up.  It matters.

Last point I’ll make — and I’m talking too long, and I apologize.  (Laughter.)

The last point I’ll make is: We have over 100 — is it 120 or 160?  What’s it up to now?  Individual contributors?

AIDE:  Oh, 1.6 (inaudible).

THE PRESIDENT:  1.6 million individual contributors; 550,000 more than before then — since we started, new contributors.  You know what the — of — 97 percent of those contributors contributed less than $200 — 97 percent. 

There’s a real groundswell going on because of you.  It matters.  It matters.  And people are contributing $5, $10, $30, $50.  And it’s having a real impact and real effect. 

We have opened more campaign offices because of you all than he — he doesn’t — hasn’t opened any that I’m aware of.  I’m not being facetious.  I’m not being facetious.

We’re also in a situation where we’re in a position that we’re generating a paid staff.  That’s significant.  And we’re growing in every state. 

I’ve been to every — every single — every single of the toss-up states so far. 

And guess what?  If you knock anybody who knows anything about polling, it’s awful hard to poll these days.  Because — no, I’m serious.  But guess what?  Even in the polls that are being used now, we’re — we’re m- — we’re ahead in — in 35 polls, but — by the way — (applause) — it’s just about continuing to push. 

And, again, one simple proposition: How do we give hardworking Americans an even shot, an even chance — an even chance to make it?  Just that.  Nothing more than that.  And how do we move people together again? 

And I think we can do it.  I’m confident that we’re going to be able to do it.  And I feel very good about where we are because of all of you.  But thank you for what you’re doing.  Again, I — I didn’t mean to tell you so much.  (Laughter.)  But thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)

MS. FRIEDMAN:  Well, Mr. President, I think we have a few folks eager to ask you questions, if we may. 

THE PRESIDENT:  Sure.

MS. FRIEDMAN:  Absolutely.  Sam.

MR. KUCHWARA:  Mr. President, what made you run for president?

THE PRESIDENT:  A simple proposition, and I was — I asked that question — I just came from my old home where I was raised in Scranton.  A simple proposition that — just simply, people just want a shot.  They just want an even shot and just to be able to realize the possibility that what they care about will matter with what will happen. 

What made me run for president: In fact, when I moved from Scranton — my dad was born in Balti- — Baltimore.  They say Baltimore — (pronounced in an accent) — (laughter) — in Baltimore.  And his dad was with the American Oil Company.  And they opened up the — the American Oil Company, used — AMOCO, it became.  And the Blaustein family owned it.  He opened up York, Pennsylvania, then he opened up Scranton.  And they moved to Scranton when my dad was a junior in high school. 

And, you know, it’s — and so, I was born in Scranton, and then we moved back to Delaware.  When we moved back to Delaware, one thing that I hadn’t seen in Scranton — there were very few African Americans in Scranton when I was here in Lackawanna County — very few.  But in Delaware, we have the eighth largest Black population as a percent of population of any state in the nation. 

And in addition to that, we’re one of those border states that couldn’t — that — it was a slave state that fought on the side of the North because it couldn’t figure how to get to the South.  (Laughter.)  No, I’m serious.  So was Maryland.  So was Tennessee.  Anyway —

And so, I remember when we moved to Delaware, we lived on — in what later became Section 8 housing.  It was a long way — but very, very modest apartment complex was being built in Claymont with about 400 apartments.  And — and I remember that they’d drive — Mom would drive us up to school in the morning because it was too dangerous to — it was a — the Philadelphia Pike was an — was an access highway.  It wasn’t I-95, which is now the way to get there.  But she was worried us crossing the streets. 

So, I was in third grade.  My sister was in first grade.  And they’d drop us in the parking lot.  And we used to watch — and I couldn’t understand why this little Catholic school I went to, Holy Rosary — why this bus would go by when we pulled in the parking lot that had what was referred to then as — all full of “colored” children.  There were no whites in it.  And even though the major school — public school, Claymont High School, was a right-hand turn three blocks up. 

I remember asking my mother why they couldn’t come — why — why’d that bus go all the way downtown?  And she said, “Because they’re not allowed to go to school with white kids.”  “Not allowed to go to school with white kids.” 

And that had an enormous impression on me.  And it got me engaged in the Civil Rights Movement.  I wasn’t in any great shape, but I was a public def- — I became a public defender after getting a job with a fancy law firm. 

My city of Wilmington, Delaware, was the only city in America occupied by the military for 10 months, with the National Guard standing on the corner with drawn bayonets for 10 months when Dr. King was assassinated because of the riots that occurred. 

And so, I got involved trying to change the Democratic Party and turn it into more — the conservative party on race was the Democratic Party in Delaware.  And the Republican Party, which was the party of DuPont, was very, very restrictive on economic issues, but it was more open. 

So, I joined a group of senior members of the — of the Democratic Party to try to reform the Democratic Party and move it to more of a northeastern Democratic Party.  The governor of Delaware could choose to be part of the Southern Governors’ Conference or the Northeast.  And the Democrats often chose to be part of the Southern Governors’ Conference. 

In the southern part of the state there is a canal that goes across the top of my state, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal that cuts u- — bisects the state.  And when you just go below that canal — and I’m not — this is not a criticism — they talk at you like this.  Eastern Shore of Maryland.  (Pronounced in an accent.)  Very southern in the way they talk and the way they move and everything.

And so, I got involved in trying to change the party.  And one thing led to another, and I remember they came to me and said they wanted me to run — the local folks.  Trying to get people to run — just show up as Democrats in areas they — that they weren’t able to win. 

And so, I got a call — I was a public defender part-time in a — and I had a law practice.  I was starting alone. 

And with that, I remember a group of people from Elsmere, Delaware — the Democratic organization — came to see me, wanted me to run for the state senate.  And I said, “I can’t do that because I’m just starting a law firm, and I can’t go to Dover.” 

And they came back about three days later and said, “Well, why don’t you run for the county council?”  I said, “I can’t do that.”  And they said, “Come here.”  And they walked me to my window in my office and it looked across — and they said, “They meet there twice a week at night.”  (Laughter.)

So, they wanted me to run in a district no Democrat had ever run.  And I said, “Well, at least I can do my job.  I can go out and run.  Make — demonstrate that we’re running.” 

And the problem is I asked my sister who has graduated with honors from Delaware, who’s smarter than me and ran my campaign.  And she won a campaign where a Democrat had never won. 

And all of a sudden, I was in the county council.  And — but the Democra- — the Republicans saw something in me I didn’t see, for — it’s the God’s truth.  They saw in me that I was going to do something beyond that. 

I was elected to a four-year term.  And what they did was they reapportioned me to a two-year term.  So, it was either up or out.  And I was — I was happy with that.  I was prepared to leave and do my practice and work in the party. 

And one thing led to another, and I won’t bore you with the detail, but one day I showed up at an off-year convention, and I was in — I was in the motel after — the local motel getting changed after the afternoon session, go back to the evening session. 

And I’d come down with some young activists — they were a — a little older than me, but still young activists — who were involved in trying to reform the party.  And I was in one of those 8-by-10 bathrooms — you know they have a shower, a toilet, and a sink.  And I got a towel on me and shaving cream, and I hear, “Bam, bam, bam,” at my door really loudly.  And I wonder, “What the hell is that?” 

I thought it was this guy Bob Cunningham who had a radio show and a cou- — couple of other guys.  So, I say, “Okay, okay, guys.” 

And I walked to the door and opened it up and standing there was the former governor of the state of Delaware, Elbert N. Carvel, a big guy, about six-five.  Talked at you like this.  (Pronounced in an accent.)  (Laughter.)  And the state representative who got defeated four years earlier as a Democratic state rep — who was retired — and one of the — from the family that had more so — more senators appointed than any other family in American history, the — the Tunnells — and a former retired Justice and the — and the state chairman. 

And they said — and I’m standing in a towel with shaving cream on my face.  (Laughter.)  And with that, they looked at me and said — they come in and said, “We’re — we’re coming — we just had dinner.  We want to talk to you.” 

And I walked in, and I said, “Okay, gentlemen.”  And I ran to the bathroom thinking I could put something on.  (Laughter.)  All I could do is take off the shaving cream.  I had on a towel.  I walked out — two headboards nailed to one side of the wall, the desk to the other side. 

And I’m st- — they’re — he’s sitting on the end of the bed.  And I’m sitting down, and they said, “Joe, we just had dinner, and we think you should run for the Senate.”  I said, “Run?  Man, I’m not old enough.”  And the former Justice looked at me he said, “Joe, you obviously didn’t do well in constitutional law.”  (Laughter.)  “You don’t have to be — you have to be 30 to be sworn in, but you can be elected at any age.  You’ll be — 17 days after, you’ll be eligible. 

One thing then I — I don’t know about you, but all of us who have some teacher or some professor we really had faith in.  Well, my political philosophy professor at Delaware — which was between Dov- — Newark, Delaware — between Dover and my home — was one of those guys. 

And I called him, and I said, “Can I stop by and see you?”  And I remember seeing him and asking him my — a question: What he thinks I should do.  He said, “Joe, remember what Plato said.”  I’m thinking, “What the hell did Plato say?”  (Laughter.)  Seriously, it’s an absolutely true story.  He said, “Joe, the penalty good people pay for not being involved in politics is being governed by people worse than themselves.”  (Laughter.)  And I was opposed to the Vietnam War. 

Anyway, one thing led to another.  I ended up running not with any enthusiasm as I started.  But we had the same kind of thing of — just a lot of young people and people who hadn’t been deeply involved. 

Just — there was a — we had a picnic for our volunteers at the end of the summer.  And there was ads on the radio, “Do not take I-95 South.  Biden is having a picnic.  There was no accident.”  (Laughter.)  No, I’m serious.  (Laughter.) 

Nixon won by 60 percent of the vote.  We won by a rousing 3,100 votes. 

But my point is, it wasn’t planned.  I love reading these biographies of me that “Biden knew he was going to run for president.  He knew it was going to happen.” 

But look, folks, it matters — it matters what we do.  You wouldn’t be here.  You wouldn’t be here doing it — forget me.  I mean, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think a lot was at stake.  And we have enormous opportunities — enormous opportunities. 

But I know that probably over-answers your question but — (laughter) —

MS. FRIEDMAN:   Amazing.  Mr. President, thank you so, so much.  Hasn’t this been amazing?  (Applause.) 

7:00 P.M. EDT

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    On April 21, 2022, by Proclamation 10371, I declared a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States and authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security to regulate the anchorage and movement of Russian-affiliated vessels, pursuant to the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) and section 1 of title II of Public Law 65-24, ch. 30, June 15, 1917, as amended (Magnuson Act) (46 U.S.C. 70051).

     The policies and actions of the Government of the Russian Federation to continue the premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine continue to constitute a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States.  Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to the Russian Federation and the emergency authority relating to the regulation of the anchorage and movement of Russian‑affiliated vessels to United States ports set out in Proclamation 10371.

     This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    April 16, 2024.

The post Press Release: Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency and of the Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Russian-Affiliated Vessels to United States Ports appeared first on The White House.

    On April 21, 2022, by Proclamation 10371, I declared a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States and authorized the Secretary of Homeland Security to regulate the anchorage and movement of Russian-affiliated vessels, pursuant to the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) and section 1 of title II of Public Law 65-24, ch. 30, June 15, 1917, as amended (Magnuson Act) (46 U.S.C. 70051).

     The policies and actions of the Government of the Russian Federation to continue the premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine continue to constitute a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States.  Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to the Russian Federation and the emergency authority relating to the regulation of the anchorage and movement of Russian‑affiliated vessels to United States ports set out in Proclamation 10371.

     This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    April 16, 2024.

The post Press Release: Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency and of the Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Russian-Affiliated Vessels to United States Ports appeared first on The White House.

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.  In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Proclamation 10371 of April 21, 2022, with respect to the Russian Federation and the emergency authority relating to the regulation of the anchorage and movement of Russian-affiliated vessels to United States ports, is to continue in effect beyond April 21, 2024.

The policies and actions of the Government of the Russian Federation to continue the premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine continue to constitute a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States.  Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Proclamation 10371.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    April 16, 2024.

The post Message to the Congress on the Continuation of the National Emergency and of the Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Russian-Affiliated Vessels to United States Ports appeared first on The White House.

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.  In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in Proclamation 10371 of April 21, 2022, with respect to the Russian Federation and the emergency authority relating to the regulation of the anchorage and movement of Russian-affiliated vessels to United States ports, is to continue in effect beyond April 21, 2024.

The policies and actions of the Government of the Russian Federation to continue the premeditated, unjustified, unprovoked, and brutal war against Ukraine continue to constitute a national emergency by reason of a disturbance or threatened disturbance of international relations of the United States.  Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Proclamation 10371.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    April 16, 2024.

The post Message to the Congress on the Continuation of the National Emergency and of the Emergency Authority Relating to the Regulation of the Anchorage and Movement of Russian-Affiliated Vessels to United States Ports appeared first on The White House.