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I am proud to announce that the next two Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers will be named for two former presidents: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. 

When I personally delivered the news to Bill and George, they were deeply humbled.  Each knows firsthand the weight of the responsibilities that come with being Commander-in-Chief.  And both know well our duty to support the families and loved ones who wait and worry for the safe return of their servicemember.

The future USS William J. Clinton (CVN 82) and the future USS George W. Bush (CVN 83) will begin construction in the years ahead. When complete, they will join the most capable, flexible, and professional Navy that has ever put to sea.  They will be crewed by Sailors who hail from every corner of the United States, and who will sail these ships into harm’s way, defending our interests overseas and our safety here at home. 

Those Sailors will demonstrate not only the example of our power, but the power of our example. And our nation remains grateful to them, their families, and all the talented shipyard workers who will bring these ships to life.

May God protect all who sail aboard USS William J. Clinton, USS George W. Bush and every other ship in our fleet.  And may God continue to bless our troops.

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I am proud to announce that the next two Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers will be named for two former presidents: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. 

When I personally delivered the news to Bill and George, they were deeply humbled.  Each knows firsthand the weight of the responsibilities that come with being Commander-in-Chief.  And both know well our duty to support the families and loved ones who wait and worry for the safe return of their servicemember.

The future USS William J. Clinton (CVN 82) and the future USS George W. Bush (CVN 83) will begin construction in the years ahead. When complete, they will join the most capable, flexible, and professional Navy that has ever put to sea.  They will be crewed by Sailors who hail from every corner of the United States, and who will sail these ships into harm’s way, defending our interests overseas and our safety here at home. 

Those Sailors will demonstrate not only the example of our power, but the power of our example. And our nation remains grateful to them, their families, and all the talented shipyard workers who will bring these ships to life.

May God protect all who sail aboard USS William J. Clinton, USS George W. Bush and every other ship in our fleet.  And may God continue to bless our troops.

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Our hearts ache for the 24 innocent souls we have lost in the wildfires across Los Angeles. Jill and I pray for them and their loved ones. We are deeply saddened by the devastation caused by the unprecedented ongoing wildfires across Southern California.

I am being frequently briefed on intensive efforts to suppress the wildfires across Los Angeles, and have directed our team to respond promptly to any request for additional federal firefighting assistance. At my direction, hundreds of federal personnel and unique federal aerial and ground support has been sent to California to support the firefighting efforts and help communities in need. My Administration remains laser-focused on helping survivors and we will continue to use every tool available to support the urgent firefight as the winds are projected to increase.

To the brave firefighters and first responders working day and night to suppress these fires and save lives: our nation is grateful. You represent the best of America and we are in your debt.

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The post Statement from President Joe Biden on the Wildfires Across Los Angeles appeared first on The White House.

Our hearts ache for the 24 innocent souls we have lost in the wildfires across Los Angeles. Jill and I pray for them and their loved ones. We are deeply saddened by the devastation caused by the unprecedented ongoing wildfires across Southern California.

I am being frequently briefed on intensive efforts to suppress the wildfires across Los Angeles, and have directed our team to respond promptly to any request for additional federal firefighting assistance. At my direction, hundreds of federal personnel and unique federal aerial and ground support has been sent to California to support the firefighting efforts and help communities in need. My Administration remains laser-focused on helping survivors and we will continue to use every tool available to support the urgent firefight as the winds are projected to increase.

To the brave firefighters and first responders working day and night to suppress these fires and save lives: our nation is grateful. You represent the best of America and we are in your debt.

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President Biden spoke today with Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar. The two leaders discussed the negotiations in Doha for a ceasefire and hostage release deal based on the May 27, 2024 arrangement described by the President last year and endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. The President thanked the Amir for his leadership and praised the mediating role of Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani throughout the process. Both leaders emphasized the urgent need for a deal to be implemented to return the hostages to their families and bring immediate relief to the people of Gaza through a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by the ceasefire and called for in the deal. Both leaders agreed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams at this critical point in the negotiations.

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The post Readout of President Biden’s Call with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar appeared first on The White House.

President Biden spoke today with Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar. The two leaders discussed the negotiations in Doha for a ceasefire and hostage release deal based on the May 27, 2024 arrangement described by the President last year and endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. The President thanked the Amir for his leadership and praised the mediating role of Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani throughout the process. Both leaders emphasized the urgent need for a deal to be implemented to return the hostages to their families and bring immediate relief to the people of Gaza through a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by the ceasefire and called for in the deal. Both leaders agreed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams at this critical point in the negotiations.

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Today, my Administration is approving student loan relief for more than 150,000 borrowers – bringing the total number of Americans who have had their student debt cancelled by my Administration to over 5 million. These 150,000 borrowers include: almost 85,000 borrowers who attended schools that cheated and defrauded their students, 61,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and 6,100 public service workers. 

My Administration has taken historic action to reduce the burden of student debt, hold bad actors accountable, and fight on behalf of students across the country. This includes fixing the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and ensuring over 1 million public service workers receive the student loan relief they are entitled to under the law, approving student loan relief for 1.7 million borrowers who were cheated and defrauded by their schools, delivering student debt relief to 633,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and fixing administrative errors in the Income-Driven Repayment programs to deliver relief to over 1.4 million borrowers who have been in repayment for decades. My Administration also secured the largest increase to the maximum Pell Grant award in a decade to put higher-education in reach for more Americans.

Since Day One of my Administration, I promised to ensure higher-education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and I’m proud to say we have forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in history.

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The post Statement from President Joe Biden on Approving Student Debt Cancellation for Over 5 Million Americans appeared first on The White House.

Today, my Administration is approving student loan relief for more than 150,000 borrowers – bringing the total number of Americans who have had their student debt cancelled by my Administration to over 5 million. These 150,000 borrowers include: almost 85,000 borrowers who attended schools that cheated and defrauded their students, 61,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and 6,100 public service workers. 

My Administration has taken historic action to reduce the burden of student debt, hold bad actors accountable, and fight on behalf of students across the country. This includes fixing the broken Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and ensuring over 1 million public service workers receive the student loan relief they are entitled to under the law, approving student loan relief for 1.7 million borrowers who were cheated and defrauded by their schools, delivering student debt relief to 633,000 borrowers with total and permanent disabilities, and fixing administrative errors in the Income-Driven Repayment programs to deliver relief to over 1.4 million borrowers who have been in repayment for decades. My Administration also secured the largest increase to the maximum Pell Grant award in a decade to put higher-education in reach for more Americans.

Since Day One of my Administration, I promised to ensure higher-education is a ticket to the middle class, not a barrier to opportunity, and I’m proud to say we have forgiven more student loan debt than any other administration in history.

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The Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) has issued its Annual Intellectual Property Report to Congress, which brings together the combined and coordinated efforts of the White House, the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Treasury, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the U.S. Copyright Office. The report provides an overview of the intellectual property enforcement strategy and related efforts undertaken by departments and agencies during fiscal year 2024.

To view the Annual Intellectual Property Report to Congress, visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IPEC-FY-24-Annual-Report_Final.pdf

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The Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) has issued its Annual Intellectual Property Report to Congress, which brings together the combined and coordinated efforts of the White House, the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Treasury, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the U.S. Copyright Office. The report provides an overview of the intellectual property enforcement strategy and related efforts undertaken by departments and agencies during fiscal year 2024.

To view the Annual Intellectual Property Report to Congress, visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IPEC-FY-24-Annual-Report_Final.pdf

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Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming central to both security and economic strength. The United States must act decisively to lead this transition by ensuring that U.S. technology undergirds global AI use and that adversaries cannot easily abuse advanced AI. In the wrong hands, powerful AI systems have the potential to exacerbate significant national security risks, including by enabling the development of weapons of mass destruction, supporting powerful offensive cyber operations, and aiding human rights abuses, such as mass surveillance. Today, countries of concern actively employ AI – including U.S.-made AI – in this way, and seek to undermine U.S. AI leadership.
 
To enhance U.S. national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world’s AI runs on American rails. It is important to work with AI companies and foreign governments to put in place critical security and trust standards as they build out their AI ecosystems.
 
To strengthen U.S. security and economic strength, the Biden-Harris Administration today is releasing an Interim Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion. It streamlines licensing hurdles for both large and small chip orders, bolsters U.S. AI leadership, and provides clarity to allied and partner nations about how they can benefit from AI. It builds on previous chip controls by thwarting smuggling, closing other loopholes, and raising AI security standards.
 
Six key mechanisms in the rule catalyze the responsible diffusion of U.S. technology: 
 

• No restrictions apply to chip sales to 18 key allies and partners. This flexibility enables jurisdictions with robust technology protection regimes and technology ecosystems aligned with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States to benefit from seamless large-scale purchases.
  
• Chip orders with collective computation power up to roughly 1,700 advanced GPUs do not require a license and do not count against national chip caps. The overwhelming majority of chip orders are in this category, especially those being placed by universities, medical institutions, and research organizations for clearly innocuous purposes. Streamlined processing of these orders represents an improvement over the status quo, rapidly accelerating low-risk shipments of U.S. technology around the world.
  
• Entities that meet high security and trust standards and are headquartered in close allies and partners can obtain highly trusted “Universal Verified End User” (UVEU) status. With this status, they can then place up to 7% of their global AI computational capacity in countries around the world – likely amounting to hundreds of thousands of chips. This trusted status is granted on a global and enduring basis, allowing responsible entities to expand rapidly and flexibly, and strengthening U.S. and allied global leadership while keeping frontier training at home.
  
• Entities that meet the same security requirements and are headquartered in any destination that is not a country of concern can apply for “National Verified End User” status, enabling them to purchase computational power equivalent to up to 320,000 advanced GPUs over the next two years. This provision permits trusted national entities to benefit from advanced U.S. technology, serving local, governmental, and regional customers, while guarding against diversion risks.
  
• Non-VEU entities located outside of close allies can still purchase large amounts of computational power, up to the equivalent of 50,000 advanced GPUs per country. This cap ensures that U.S. technology is available to service foreign governments, healthcare providers, and other local businesses.  
   
• Government-to-government arrangements cultivate an international ecosystem of shared values regarding the development, deployment, and use of AI. Governments that sign these arrangements – which align those nations’ export control, clean energy, and technology security efforts with the United States – can double their chip caps (up to 100,000 of today’s advanced GPUs).

Even as it encourages the diffusion of U.S. technology, the rule takes significant steps against countries of concern, constraining them from accessing advanced AI systems and the computing power used to train them. These actions include:

• Continuing to ensure that advanced semiconductors sold abroad are not used by countries of concern to train advanced AI systems, while still permitting access for general-purpose applications from telecommunications to banking.

• Restricting the transfer to non-trusted actors of the model weights for advanced closed-weight models. The rule does not in any way inhibit the publication of model weights for open-weight models.
  
• Setting security standards to protect the weights of advanced closed-weight AI models, permitting them to be stored and used securely around the world while helping prevent illicit adversary access.

The rule builds on previous regulations that aim to protect U.S. national security, including the October 2022 and October 2023 chip controls. It follows a broad range of relevant engagements over the past ten months with stakeholders, bipartisan members of Congress, industry representatives, and foreign allies and partners.

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The post FACT SHEET: Ensuring U.S. Security and Economic Strength in the Age of Artificial Intelligence appeared first on The White House.

Artificial intelligence is quickly becoming central to both security and economic strength. The United States must act decisively to lead this transition by ensuring that U.S. technology undergirds global AI use and that adversaries cannot easily abuse advanced AI. In the wrong hands, powerful AI systems have the potential to exacerbate significant national security risks, including by enabling the development of weapons of mass destruction, supporting powerful offensive cyber operations, and aiding human rights abuses, such as mass surveillance. Today, countries of concern actively employ AI – including U.S.-made AI – in this way, and seek to undermine U.S. AI leadership.
 
To enhance U.S. national security and economic strength, it is essential that we do not offshore this critical technology and that the world’s AI runs on American rails. It is important to work with AI companies and foreign governments to put in place critical security and trust standards as they build out their AI ecosystems.
 
To strengthen U.S. security and economic strength, the Biden-Harris Administration today is releasing an Interim Final Rule on Artificial Intelligence Diffusion. It streamlines licensing hurdles for both large and small chip orders, bolsters U.S. AI leadership, and provides clarity to allied and partner nations about how they can benefit from AI. It builds on previous chip controls by thwarting smuggling, closing other loopholes, and raising AI security standards.
 
Six key mechanisms in the rule catalyze the responsible diffusion of U.S. technology: 
 

• No restrictions apply to chip sales to 18 key allies and partners. This flexibility enables jurisdictions with robust technology protection regimes and technology ecosystems aligned with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States to benefit from seamless large-scale purchases.
  
• Chip orders with collective computation power up to roughly 1,700 advanced GPUs do not require a license and do not count against national chip caps. The overwhelming majority of chip orders are in this category, especially those being placed by universities, medical institutions, and research organizations for clearly innocuous purposes. Streamlined processing of these orders represents an improvement over the status quo, rapidly accelerating low-risk shipments of U.S. technology around the world.
  
• Entities that meet high security and trust standards and are headquartered in close allies and partners can obtain highly trusted “Universal Verified End User” (UVEU) status. With this status, they can then place up to 7% of their global AI computational capacity in countries around the world – likely amounting to hundreds of thousands of chips. This trusted status is granted on a global and enduring basis, allowing responsible entities to expand rapidly and flexibly, and strengthening U.S. and allied global leadership while keeping frontier training at home.
  
• Entities that meet the same security requirements and are headquartered in any destination that is not a country of concern can apply for “National Verified End User” status, enabling them to purchase computational power equivalent to up to 320,000 advanced GPUs over the next two years. This provision permits trusted national entities to benefit from advanced U.S. technology, serving local, governmental, and regional customers, while guarding against diversion risks.
  
• Non-VEU entities located outside of close allies can still purchase large amounts of computational power, up to the equivalent of 50,000 advanced GPUs per country. This cap ensures that U.S. technology is available to service foreign governments, healthcare providers, and other local businesses.  
   
• Government-to-government arrangements cultivate an international ecosystem of shared values regarding the development, deployment, and use of AI. Governments that sign these arrangements – which align those nations’ export control, clean energy, and technology security efforts with the United States – can double their chip caps (up to 100,000 of today’s advanced GPUs).

Even as it encourages the diffusion of U.S. technology, the rule takes significant steps against countries of concern, constraining them from accessing advanced AI systems and the computing power used to train them. These actions include:

• Continuing to ensure that advanced semiconductors sold abroad are not used by countries of concern to train advanced AI systems, while still permitting access for general-purpose applications from telecommunications to banking.

• Restricting the transfer to non-trusted actors of the model weights for advanced closed-weight models. The rule does not in any way inhibit the publication of model weights for open-weight models.
  
• Setting security standards to protect the weights of advanced closed-weight AI models, permitting them to be stored and used securely around the world while helping prevent illicit adversary access.

The rule builds on previous regulations that aim to protect U.S. national security, including the October 2022 and October 2023 chip controls. It follows a broad range of relevant engagements over the past ten months with stakeholders, bipartisan members of Congress, industry representatives, and foreign allies and partners.

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The post FACT SHEET: Ensuring U.S. Security and Economic Strength in the Age of Artificial Intelligence appeared first on The White House.

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru of Japan and President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. of the Philippines to advance our continuing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.  This meeting follows the historic trilateral summit hosted at the White House in April 2024. Together the three Leaders discussed trilateral maritime security and economic cooperation, as well as the People’s Republic of China’s dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea. The three Leaders agreed on the importance of continued coordination to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific.

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The post Readout of President Biden’s Call with Prime Minister Ishiba of Japan and President Marcos of the Philippines appeared first on The White House.

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru of Japan and President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. of the Philippines to advance our continuing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.  This meeting follows the historic trilateral summit hosted at the White House in April 2024. Together the three Leaders discussed trilateral maritime security and economic cooperation, as well as the People’s Republic of China’s dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea. The three Leaders agreed on the importance of continued coordination to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific.

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President Biden spoke today with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. The two leaders discussed the ongoing negotiations in Doha for a ceasefire and hostage release deal based on the May 27, 2024 arrangement described by the President last year and endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. The President discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region. He stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal. The Prime Minister thanked the President for his lifelong support of Israel and for the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense.   

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The post Readout of President Joe Biden’s Call with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel appeared first on The White House.

President Biden spoke today with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. The two leaders discussed the ongoing negotiations in Doha for a ceasefire and hostage release deal based on the May 27, 2024 arrangement described by the President last year and endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. The President discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region. He stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal. The Prime Minister thanked the President for his lifelong support of Israel and for the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense.   

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Today, President Biden spoke with His Holiness Pope Francis and named him as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. This is the first time that President Biden has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction.

Citation: 

As a young man, Jorge Bergoglio sought a career in science before faith led him to a life with the Jesuits. For decades, he served the voiceless and vulnerable across Argentina. As Pope Francis, his mission of serving the poor has never ceased. A loving pastor, he joyfully answers children’s questions about God. A challenging teacher, he commands us to fight for peace and protect the planet. A welcoming leader, he reaches out to different faiths. The first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, Pope Francis is unlike any who came before. Above all, he is the People’s Pope – a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world.

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The post President Biden Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction to His Holiness Pope Francis appeared first on The White House.

Today, President Biden spoke with His Holiness Pope Francis and named him as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. This is the first time that President Biden has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction.

Citation: 

As a young man, Jorge Bergoglio sought a career in science before faith led him to a life with the Jesuits. For decades, he served the voiceless and vulnerable across Argentina. As Pope Francis, his mission of serving the poor has never ceased. A loving pastor, he joyfully answers children’s questions about God. A challenging teacher, he commands us to fight for peace and protect the planet. A welcoming leader, he reaches out to different faiths. The first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, Pope Francis is unlike any who came before. Above all, he is the People’s Pope – a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world.

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Yesterday, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of South Carolina and ordered Federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms and flooding from November 6 to November 14, 2024.

Federal funding is available to state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and flooding in the counties of Bamberg, Calhoun, and Orangeburg.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

Mr. Brian F. Schiller of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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The post President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves South Carolina Disaster Declaration appeared first on The White House.

Yesterday, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of South Carolina and ordered Federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms and flooding from November 6 to November 14, 2024.

Federal funding is available to state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and flooding in the counties of Bamberg, Calhoun, and Orangeburg.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

Mr. Brian F. Schiller of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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