Jennifer Rene Psaki, and Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

“ That was not a significant loss of generation capability.
This does point up the importance of creating a context within which we can ensure that we manage supply and generation under extreme circumstances. We need baseline generation power, and we need to be able to incorporate our renewables in a way that allows us to store them — because it’s not always windy or sunny. And that’s one of the things that technologically we’ll be working to do in the work we do on the clean energy transition in this administration. ”

“ Would that kind of action by Governor DeSantis or any other governor affect federal government shipments of vaccines to Florida and prompt the federal government to take oversight of vaccination deliveries and administration in the state? MS. PSAKI: Well, first let me say that our effort to vaccinate — get 100 million vaccines in the arms of American — 100 million shots in the arms of Americans, I should say, in the first 100 days, and exceed that goal, is not through a political prism. ”

“ Can you peel back the curtain a little bit and talk a little bit about the decision-making process, like over what period of time was the President considering doing the strike? Was it something he decided on quickly, or did he need days to think about it? Any of that, sort of, behind-the-scenes? MS. PSAKI: Sure. Well, again, I know the Department of Defense is briefing today, as is the State Department, and hopefully they will be able to provide you additional color. ”

“ Economists, experts, and leaders across the political spectrum have come out and supported the Rescue Plan because they know it’s the best tool we have to get us through this economic storm, create millions of jobs, and get Americans back to work. ”

“ As we continue to learn more in the coming days and weeks, one thing we know for sure is we cannot treat what happened in Texas and in the whole region, in the South, as an isolated event. The impacts reflect our shared vulnerabilities to extreme weather events and other threats, and the need for collective action to modernize and harden our critical infrastructure across the country so that we can meet the full spectrum of challenges that we will face in the future. ”

“ I would say the American Rescue Plan — the key components in there, some are meant to help address exactly this crisis, including funding to reopen schools.
As a mom myself, I can confirm for you, and many mothers across the country can confirm for you, that — the fact that schools still need additional resources to reopen. Obviously, the CDC guidelines give us a good guidepost — give school districts a good guidepost, but many still need funding. That having kids go back to school has an impact on many working mothers, of course. ”

“ The Vice President said today that she views the number of women leaving the workforce as a national emergency. Does the President share the Vice President’s view on that? And if so, does he plan to make a national emergency declaration and take action to address the declining number of women in the workforce, aside from the stimulus package that he’s presented to Congress? ”

“ When it comes to natural disasters like those we’ve experienced here, the President has made it clear that there is no such thing as a red state or a blue county; there are just Americans in urgent need. And that’s why he has made it a priority to travel to Texas today to understand how the recovery is going and to express his gratitude to the dedicated first responders who he’ll meet with. ”

“ To have the Deputy National Security Advisor brief us on the Texas grid collapse — you know, it’s not just the immediate logistical issues that she’s grappling with. I want to ask about the nexus between energy policy and national security.As you know, Republicans in Congress and in the energy sector have been pointing out that, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. achieved one of the core benchmarks of energy independence in 2019. That was the first year since 1957 that the U.S. produced more energy than the country consumed. ”

“ There isn’t a federal authority to regulate that in Texas, but we are looking at, for people who’ve needed it most — and it’s especially in rural areas — we have some capacity to help on that score as a federal government.But, really, this is an area in which, again, Texas — Texas, considering what kind of market it wants to maintain — that incentivizes the kind of investments in resilience, both in supply chains and also in generation capabilities — will be important to managing pricing over time in the state when it faces emergencies. ”

“ And in the case of Texas, decades ago, Texas chose to function as essentially an autonomous grid. So it’s not really linked into the system in the rest of the country, with the exception of El Paso, which has some connectivity outside of the state.And importantly, Texas has chosen not to make the kinds of decisions that would provide for the supplies that you would keep for an emergency — that is to invest in the kind of resilience that other states, which are regulated, are required to invest in. ”

“ And they claim or they argue that the policies being pursued by the Biden administration will sacrifice those gains.
How do you persuade the American people that U.S. national security can be safeguarded by this transition to a green economy, which, of course, has never been fully developed anywhere relative to our scale? ”

“ Going forward, we’ll need very close collaboration among the federal government, states, communities, and importantly, the private sector to incentivize the kinds of actions that need to be taken to build the kind of resilient infrastructure that we can truly depend on in the future. ”

“ And there was actually a poll out yesterday that showed that President Biden and teachers were the most trusted entities in terms of determining when school should reopen. We obviously rely on science and rely on our health experts, and we think that reflects where most of the country want us to be. They want schools to reopen. We’re also committed to doing that.So there are CDC guidelines that came out on Friday that provided a roadmap for schools to open safely. The President wants schools to open five days a week. He wants kids to be in school. Teachers want kids to be in school. ”

“ We are sending — the President is sending an unambiguous message that he’s going to act to protect Americans. And when threats are posed, he has the right to take an action at the time and in the manner of his choosing.He also is going to take those actions in a manner that’s deliberative and that has the objective of de-escalating activity in both Syria and Iraq. ”

“ The President believes all of these require immediate action that is long overdue. Immigration reform is not historically a Democratic or Republican priority, but an American one. Modernizing it is long overdue — the system. ”

“ And certainly the President is always happy to have a conversation with members of both parties about how we can work together on a range of issues, including our national security approach, moving forward. ”

“ Ten million Americans have been laid off, so there’s no question many of them — as we know, statistically — are certainly women. And certainly, getting people vaccinated will help more people return to the workforce, more child — more kids go to childcare centers, and again, schools, as I said.
So I would say, the President recognizes the severity of this crisis, the impact on women. That’s part of the reason why he — why there are some of these key components in this package. ”

“ This morning, I was also in touch with the leadership of FEMA and also with the Department of Energy, and our private sector partners in the electricity sector, to explore whether there is anything more that we can do to provide support for our citizens across this swath of territory who are suffering from the effects of this storm. ”

“ Q In your view, what does Texas need most now from the federal government, in your conversations with Governor Abbott? DR. SHERWOOD-RANDALL: The emergency assistance that we’re providing — just the kind I described — helping individuals who don’t have insurance, for example, to recover from these storms’ impacts — if they have burst water tanks or other damage that has been done — that they need access to that federal assistance to recover. ”

“ I’m just going to step back and make a couple of more observations, which is that, more broadly, the extreme weather events that we’re experiencing this week across the central, southern, and now the eastern United States do yet again demonstrate to us that climate change is real and it’s happening now, and we’re not adequately prepared for it. ”

“ It’s a dangerous trip. We have limited processing at the border, but it is very, very limited. The vast majority of people who come to the border will be turned away, back — to take the treacherous journey back. This is not the time to come. We need time to put in place a humane immigration system, working with members of Congress to do that. Q Jen, this week, Justin Trudeau said that President Biden and the administration have committed to taking an active role in getting his citizens Spavor and Kovrig back. ”

“ Jobless claims increased, and for 48 weeks in a row now, new regular unemployment claims have outpaced their pre-pandemic high. Combined with stalled job growth over the last three months, we have a clear picture of the trouble our economy is in and the financial pain being felt by millions of Americans. ”

“ Last night was a strike on militant groups in defense of U.S. personnel under attack in Iraq. There’s a massive difference in both policy and law.
Q What is President Biden’s red line? For the last administration, Donald Trump communicated, “Basically, if an American was killed, there would be action.” Here, there’s no evidence an American was killed. It appears to be a non-American civilian contractor. What is the Biden administration’s red line? MS. PSAKI: I’ve been doing this long enough not to set new red lines on behalf of a President of the United States and the Commander-in-Chief. ”

“ So on the immigration bill: You know, obviously, front burner for you guys right now is the coronavirus relief legislation, so I’m curious if you could explain, on the decision to introduce this today, you know, why now while there’s clearly a higher priority for you guys, as it relates to Congress.And then secondly, you know, there isn’t much in the way of new funding for border security and enforcement in this bill. I’m wondering if the President is open to increasing funding for border security, including for more wall or fencing construction in order to get this bill through. ”

“ Q Can you just weigh in real fast: Was wind — how much of a problem was wind power in the crisis? DR. SHERWOOD-RANDALL: So as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has said, that was not a bulk of the problem in Texas. The biggest problem in Texas was that you had freezing in of natural gas wells and freezing — and shutdowns of the natural gas plants under extreme weather conditions. ”

“ Q Did the President communicate to King Salman that this strike was coming in advance? And which countries and which leaders were told in advance of this happening? MS. PSAKI: I’m happy to check with our national security team if there’s more we can read out about which coalition partners were briefed in advance. But that was certainly part of our engagement in advance of the strikes. Q On Russia, the White House released a pretty forceful statement today on the annexation of Crimea. When will we know more about whether we’re going to see additional sanctions on Russia? ”

“ It’s also providing blankets and meals and other supplies as requested by the governor of Texas.
I want to express our deep thanks to all of the brave first responders who have continued to deliver essential aid to those in need in these very difficult circumstances. There are many infrastructure workers who are responding under extraordinarily challenging conditions to restore energy and water systems. And there are lots and lots of citizen volunteers who have selflessly extended themselves to help others. ”

“ Q Did the White House invite Ted Cruz to join the other congressional members — the congressional delegation today? MS. PSAKI: There was neither an invitation nor a request for him to attend. There are a number of members of both parties attending and joining the President on the trip today. Q I have a question from my colleagues at the Voice of America. They ask: More than 30 Democrats have sent President Biden a letter asking him to give up sole nuclear launch authority. Does the President have any view on whether he should be the only person with the nuclear codes? ”

“ We know that there are still about a million or more people who are experiencing power outages in the hardest-hit areas of the country, though those numbers are declining significantly. In Texas in particular, we’ve gone from multiple millions of people without power, now to approximately 600,000 at the last data point that I received from FEMA earlier this morning. ”

“ These numbers keep changing as we do more, but the bottom line is: We’re very focused on meeting immediate needs, as well as providing direct, individual financial assistance to uninsured families to help them recover from the disastrous effects of extreme weather. ”

“ Our focus is on working with our partners and allies to engage and coordinate on a range of issues, including the future of the Iran nuclear deal. Secretary Blinken has a meeting with his E3 part- — counterpart later this afternoon, and I would suspect the State Department would have a readout from that meeting.
But certainly our — our focus is, of course, on preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear deal, but they are a long way from compliance and our — our focus is also on working with our partners and allies. On — our priority, I should say, Kayla. ”