Sameera Fazili, Peter Harrell, and Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ Last July, President Biden committed that, as President, he would direct his administration to take a comprehensive approach to securing America’s supply chains. He said then, and he will reiterate later today, that America should never face shortages of critical products in times of crisis. Our supply chain should not be vulnerable to manipulation by competitor nations. ”

“ Of course, the President is committed to the Post Office — the Postal Service’s success, which is why yesterday he nominated three extremely qualified individuals to fill the empty spots on the Board of Governors: Anton Hajjar, Amber McReynolds, and Ron Stroman.
And the American people highly value the Postal Service and the men and women who deliver our mail every day. And we’re working hard to do exactly that.
But I think we can all agree, most Americans would agree, that the Postal Service needs leadership that can and will do a better job. ”

“ And that’s why there is funding in the President’s immigration bill and why — one of the reasons we’re eager to have it passed.We don’t feel that sending unaccompanied minors, kids, back to take a dangerous journey is the right step to take. And that’s not something that we’re going to do as an administration, and it won’t be our policy. But we always need to keep communicating more effectively about how this is a dangerous time to travel; this is a dangerous time for families to come, for children to come. ”

“ Today, many low-income Americans still lack access to this basic protection. That’s why we’re think — taking this thoughtful and targeted action to keep Americans safe. We will deliver more than 25 million masks across the country. These masks will be available at homes — oh, I’m sorry — at more than 1,300 community health centers and around 60,000 food pantries. Any American who needs a mask will be able to walk into these health centers or food pantries and pick up a high-quality American-made mask that is consistent with CDC guidance. ”

“ We do hold Iran accountable for the actions of their proxies. And, of course, we reserve the right to respond in a manner and at a time of our choosing, but we will respond in a way that’s calculated, on our timetable, and using a mix of tools seen and unseen. What we will not do — and what we’ve seen in the past — is lash out and risk an escalation that plays into the hands of Iran by further destabilizing Iraq. ”

“ Well, certainly, you know, having unaccompanied minors travel across the border, and so many that we are looking — we had to open new facilities, is something that we take incredibly seriously. And we, you know, are eager to, of course, address humanely and with the focus of keeping them safe.I don’t think I’m going to put new labels on it from here or from the podium, but it is a priority of the administration, it’s a priority of our Secretary of Homeland Security, and certainly of the President, who’s kept abreast of the developments. ”

“ What does the White House think when they see a governor, like the Democratic Governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont, who says he thinks if he goes his own way — not with the national recommendations — to distribute vaccines just based on age, then he can get them out faster and more equitably than if he follows the recommendations from the federal level. ”

“ Smart investments in research, manufacturing, domestic capacity, and our workforce has, in the past, unleashed decades of economic expansion, and an expansion that raised wages and living standards for American families across the country. ”

“ The President nominated Neera Tanden because she is qualified, because she is experienced, because she has a record of working with people who agree with her and disagree with her, with — and she has decades of experience, and plus, she has lived experience of her own, having benefited from a number of the programs that she would oversee, as a daughter of a single parent and somebody who benefited from food stamps at certain points in time. ”

“ This is a real opportunity to invest in the future of America and build on our nation’s strengths. There are opportunities for small-business development to help diversify supplier networks and alleviate the risk of “too big to fail” companies in the supply chains for critical goods. ”

“ Well, the President believes that it’s important and long overdue to put in place immigration — to modernize our immigration system, and that includes taking steps to help ensure that high-skilled workers can stay in the country and can go through the proper process to stay in the country. So we’re eager to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to get that done. ”

“ I think we all, as human beings, are heartbroken — as parents, as mothers, as fathers too.We only have a couple of choices. What we are not doing is dividing these kids and separating them from their parents at the border, which is what the last administration did and why President Biden — or then-candidate Biden and then-candidate Harris were outspoken at the time about these kids being pulled from their parents. ”

“ You have to use a number of approaches to get into communities where there is vaccine hesitancy, which is an ongoing issue that we’re working to address.So, of course, he feels that there is more that needs to be done and that there’s more that, across his team, he will continue to encourage people to take action on.
Now, there are a number of steps, including partnering with community- and faith-based organizations; enhancing public transit options; working — of course, distributing vaccines to pharmacies ”

“ The answer to these weaknesses is not always to be to ramp up domestic production. We know these vulnerabilities affect not just American households; it’s a global problem in some of these supply chains. ”

“ The Biden-Harris administration is committed to ensuring Americans have access to vaccine in their own communities, including at local pharmacies. And last week alone, the administration doubled our allocation to pharmacies to over 2 million doses across 7,000 pharmacies. ”

“ Disruption is inevitable. But over the past few years, we have moved from crisis to crisis when some essential product was suddenly in short supply. What we need is the capacity to respond quickly when hit by a challenge. This executive order moves the whole government towards being more prepared.
These sector-specific reviews that the President orders today, we’re going to be asking agencies to do the following: They’re going to review risks in supply chains and in our domestic industrial base. They’re going to think broadly about risk. ”

“ The head of the group the President is going to meet with today, the National Governors Association, Andrew Cuomo, is being accused of sexual harassment by a former staffer named Lindsey Boylan. She says that Cuomo, while he was governor, gave her an unwanted kiss on the lips. He asked her to play strip poker. Is the White House worried about this becoming a distraction from an important meeting about COVID response? MS. PSAKI: Well, let me first say that the President has been consistent in his position. When a person comes forward, they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect ”

“ Teachers — this President is a strong supporter of unions — public sector unions. Is a teachers union’s obligation to the workers and their concerns about safety, or is the teachers union obligation also to students? MS. PSAKI: Well, I can’t speak to the obligations or the — I’m not a spokesperson for the teachers union; I’m a spokesperson for the President of the United States. So I can convey to you that his commitment is to the students and to the teachers and to the parents who want to have their kids back in school, and he wants to do that safely. ”

“ Well, the President is certainly looking forward to sharing his budget priorities for the fiscal year with Congress and, of course, the American people as our nation faces unprecedented challenges.We anticipated during the transition — and we talked about it a bit during the transition — that the budget would be delayed due to some intransigence we encountered from political appointees at OMB during the transition. ”

“ I think we think it’s important to have a broad lens and broad view on how you measure the jobs and the job creation in the manufacturing space, because manufacturing is not — doesn’t just support and create jobs in the manufacturing sector. ”

“ There are a lot of legal immigrants who leave their country and they want to make this country as their home, but they’re having a decade-long wait for the issue of green cards so that once they get it, their potential is unfolded: They can open their company, they still have the startups, and they give employment — create employment and generate employment in this country.What’s the President’s message to those legal immigrants in this country? ”

“ And we expect, as we get to the point where there are enough vaccines for Americans — 300 million by the time we get to the end of July, or if not sooner — that one of the challenges will be, you know, ensuring it’s equitably distributed and that people who are — have a history of vaccine hesitancy take the vaccine. ”

“ And today’s conversation with members of Congress is going to be part of an ongoing conversation we’ve been having with them on this.
Finally, a big part of this executive order is consultation with stakeholders and experts. We are going to be reaching out to talk to the American people. Government action alone will not solve complex supply chain challenges. This is going to be broad engagement, broad conversations that will include business, labor, local communities, academia. ”

“ As you heard in our COVID public health briefing just a few minutes ago, starting next month, we will begin to deliver millions of masks to food banks and community health centers around the country. These are two nationwide networks that disproportionately serve hard-hit populations. ”

“ Well, a lot has happened on Brexit — and in the world — since 2016, I think it’s fair to say.I will say that President Biden is focused on strengthening our domestic economy through significant investments in American workers and competitiveness. ”

“ He loves infrastructure. So one of the things that I’m sure we’ll be talking about in the months ahead, but — and protecting our nation’s critical infrastructure, which we all know is outdated.But we’re not going to put new labels on it today. We’re just going to focus on how we make sure people have drinking water; how people have — you know, not in the cold; how families have a place to live. ”

“ Q Is Pakistan doing enough in the fight against terrorism? MS. PSAKI: Well, of course we remain closely engaged with a range of leaders and officials in the region, including those in Pakistan. But in terms of an assessment of that, I would point you to the State Department or the intelligence department — team. Q Yesterday, President issued a proclamation in which he revoked the previous — his predecessor’s policy on green — issue of new green cards to (inaudible) people who are outside the country. ”

“ That’s his focus. He’s committed to prioritizing those investments at home before signing new trade deals. That’s his approach, and that’s how he sees trade deals in general around the world. Making those investments is critical to restoring the middle class and making us more competitive.
So our team is still reviewing negotiations that were begun under the prior administration. Ambassador-designate Tai, of course, had her hearing this morning, and she will be essential to that review. ”