Anne Neuberger and Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ The Vice President this morning, I believe, said it’s a “priority” to get vaccinations for teachers. Can you get to five days a week without vaccinations? Does the President believe that teachers need to be vaccinated before they go back to school? MS. PSAKI: No, neither the President nor the Vice President believes that — that it should be — it is a requirement. The CDC guidelines included a range of mitigation steps, including vaccinations, as recommendations. But the mitigation steps also included steps like social distancing, the need for a smaller class sizes, the need for sanitation. ”

“ Let me first say that building resilient and sustainable infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather and a changing climate will play an integral role in creating millions of good-paying union jobs, creating a clean energy economy, and meeting the President’s goal of reaching a net-zero emissions future by 2050, and also will be beneficial in future storms.I will say that there has been some inaccurate accusations out there — I’m not sure if former Secretary Perry made these — but that it was the — that suggested that renewables caused failures in Texas’s power grid. ”

“ Today, President Biden will meet with labor leaders to thank them for their role representing workers and supporting a strong American middle class, and to discuss the importance of passing the American Rescue Plan, which will not only help contain the pandemic and deliver immediate economic relief but will also create jobs, including good union jobs. ”

“ Certainly, as we look at the agencies, there are a number of those of high foreign intelligence interest to a foreign government. So we know that was certainly one goal.But as I noted earlier, when there is a compromise of this scope and scale, both across government and across the U.S. technology sector to lead to follow-on intrusions, it is more than a single incident of espionage ”

“ In the interim period, he’s going to consult with a range of stakeholders — labor leaders today; members of Congress and Senate leaders last week; he had a discussion with the American public on television during a town hall last night — to determine what the next steps look like.
Infrastructure is certainly an issue he’s had a long passion for. He does believe it creates good-paying union jobs. He thinks they can be done as clean energy jobs, but we’re going to focus our efforts at this point in time on the American Rescue Plan. ”

“ We’re working closely with daily conversations with our private sector partners. They have visibility and technology that is key to understanding the scope and scale of compromise. There are legal barriers and disincentives to the private sector sharing information with the government. ”

“ As of today, 9 federal agencies and about 100 private sector companies were compromised. As you know, roughly 18,000 entities downloaded the malicious update. So the scale of potential access far exceeded the number of known compromises. Many of the private sector compromises are technology companies, including networks of companies whose products could be used to launch additional intrusions.
So why does this matter? Why is this significant? The techniques that were used lead us to believe that any files or emails on a compromised network were likely to be compromised. ”

“ Ahead of the meeting this afternoon, the President is taking several steps to expand high-quality registered apprenticeships to reward work, rebuild the middle class, and connect a diverse workforce to family-supporting, living-wage jobs. Specifically, today, he is endorsing Congressman Scott’s National Apprenticeship Act, which the House estimates will create nearly 1 million new apprenticeship opportunities and help ensure women and workers of color benefit. ”

“ The actor was a sophisticated advanced persistent threat. Advanced: Because the level of knowledge they showed about the technology and the way they compromised it truly was sophisticated. Persistent: They focused on the identity part of the network, which is the hardest to clean up. And threat: The scope and scale to networks, to information, makes this more than an isolated case of espionage.
And then, us: There’s a lack of domestic visibility, so as a country, we choose to have both privacy and security. So the intelligence community largely has no visibility into private sector networks. ”

“ We believe it took them months to plan and execute this compromise. It’ll take us some time to uncover this, layer by layer.
Second, building back better to modernize federal defenses. We’re absolutely committed to reducing the risk this happens again. If you can’t see a network, you can’t defend a network. And federal networks’ cybersecurity need investment and more of an integrated approach to detect and block such threats. ”

“ And $815 million will go to manufacture critical testing supplies on things like filter pipette tips, nitrocellulose used in antigen tests, and specialized injection molded plastics needed to house testing regents.
These are critical steps to address vital issues. This funding and these efforts are far from what is necessary; it simply provides a bridge to the funding that is in the American Rescue Plan, which will help us get more shots into the arms of Americans.
I also have an update on the winter storms in Texas, which I know is of great interest to many of you. ”

“ We’ve seen it anecdotally.And his concern is about the impact, of course, on working women today, but also on how it will — it will bring us back in the years ahead. Because if there are fewer women who are in the workplace; there are fewer women climbing the corporate ladder; there are fewer women who are getting law degrees, getting doctorates — and that has a long-term impact.
So, you’re right that — or, I should say, what I’m taking from your question is, you know, can we can we get this done if we don’t have funding, if we don’t have the different components. ”

“ And obviously, you need your team in place and the review to take place? MS. PSAKI: That’s right. There needs to be a team at the Justice Department to make a recommendation on his legal authority. And obviously, the domestic policy team is in place, but they would be a part of that conversation, certainly, as well.And in the meantime, if Congress moves forward and sends him a package that, you know, provides $10,000 of student debt relief, he’d be eager to sign that. ”

“ We certainly don’t have years. It’s wise when planning in cybersecurity to consider the worst case, particularly when you’re dealing with such a sophisticated attacker in that way. So we know we don’t have years, and the remediation — the fix and cleanup work is underway already, and we’ll be doing it in a careful way to ensure that we lock down layer by layer. ”

“ It is — we are not in a place where we can predict exactly when everybody will feel normal again. And it has — there are a number of reasons. One is, even though we will have enough doses for every person in this country, as you all know because we’ve talked about it in here, vaccine hesitancy remains a challenge. We need to ensure that everybody who can get a dose is getting a dose. ”

“ Q And what have you specifically learned about this attack in terms of, kind of, the data that was stolen and, you know, agencies that were impacted? We know the number, but what kind of communications were really impacted by this hack? MS. NEUBERGER: Good question. One of the things we’ve done from the White House is do a coordinated set of questions to assess that and pull that piece together. It varies agency by agency. And certainly there is a national security impact, and that is what we’re looking to consider: both how we manage the risk of that and how we address it for the future. ”

“ And it is not — it is up to, of course, local school districts to determine which mitigation steps they will take. It is up to them to determine how they will use accessible funds. But that funding is needed by school districts across the country and I think will be, you know, essential to our success. Q I guess what I’m asking is: The scale of what the CDC is recommending, in terms of the changes some schools would have to make — whether it’s through their HVAC systems or their spacing or, as you noted, hiring bus drivers, teachers — that would take time. ”

“ And that — the fact is, is that even when you’re communicating with another world leader and you’re having a tough conversation, we can’t — our values and our — and our priorities — whether it’s human rights, as it relates to the Uyghurs and what they have suffered through, or the freedom of press or media — they can’t take a backseat. ”

“ It’s great to be here with you today. So I’ll give an update across our SolarWinds work — what happened, how did it happen, and what are we doing about it.
So, first, what happened? Hackers launched a broad and indiscriminate effort to compromise the network management software used by both government and the private sector. The intelligence community is looking at who is responsible. ”

“ This is going to be up to local schools and school districts. However, what has been lacking is clear federal guidelines based on science, done by health experts, to give schools a better understanding or a better roadmap for what mitigation steps they can take to ensure their teachers, their students, their community can return safely. That was what was announced by the CDC, of course, on Friday.The role that the President can play — I’m not the President; I work — I’m speaking for him — the role the President can play is to work with Congress to get the necessary funding. ”

“ But, yes, there is a legal review. There’s going to be a review by our domestic policy team to consider all of these options, and we’ll wait for that conclusion before a final decision is made.
Q Gotcha. And then one other question, just building off of the earlier questions — MS. PSAKI: Sure. Q — about Texas. Does the White House believe that more should have happened earlier to better prepare Texas power grids and water systems for climate change? And what does the White House believe needs to happen there and in other states going forward? ”

“ It takes time to get money out the door. How does that impact the first 100 days? MS. PSAKI: It impacts it because it means there’s an urgency to getting this money through and to ensuring that schools have the ability to plan ahead.Some of these schools — and obviously I’m not speaking to any particular district — but broadly speaking, you know, they have funding that they can frontload, right? ”

“ Well, this is the question, as I’m sure is the case for all of you, that every neighbor, every friend, every family member asks — at least me in the street when I’m walking my dog in the morning.We want to be straight with the American public, though. ”

“ It’s part of the larger — it’s an option in the school funding that’s in the COVID package. Q And then beyond that, is the Department of Education going to make an ultimate recommendation on how districts should handle the question of holding in-person summer education for students who have been out of the classroom for so long? MS. PSAKI: I’m sure that’s something they’ll look at. And I think what they’re eager to have access to is this data on what the impact has been of students being out of school, students learning remotely, hybrid learning. We don’t know ”

“ This will be his number-one priority is working with the school districts to safely reopen as quickly as possible.
Q And the timeline for widespread vaccine availability keeps getting pushed back. Originally, it seemed we were eyeing sometime in the spring. Now the President, last night, said the end of July. So when do we expect that there will be enough doses for everyone who wants a vaccine to be able to get one? MS. PSAKI: Well, the President actually — I know we’ve been putting out a lot of COVID news — I realize that — almost every day. ”

“ Q So you’re still optimistic, Jen, that $15 will make it into this package and will become a reality? MS. PSAKI: We’ll see. It’s up to members of Congress to determine what the final package looks like. It’s a priority to the President; that’s why he put it in the package. ”

“ He is excited about infrastructure, and I’m sure he will be talking about it today. Q But is it indeed the next big piece, or is the administration trying to figure out what the next big piece will be? MS. PSAKI: Well, first, I will say our focus right now, and the President’s focus, is on the American Rescue Plan and moving that — doing everything he can to move that through Congress; to communicate with the American public; to convey why there’s money needed to reopen schools; to get shots in arms ”

“ I also said I can assure any parent listening that his objective, his commitment is to ensure schools are open five days a week.So I think we’ve been consistent for the last several days. And certainly, when I initially said “one day a week,” it was our — it was our floor ”

“ So it’s not a requirement to reopen schools, but they believe that teachers should be prioritized.
Q And on the impact, particularly with women — you just mentioned — also the idea of getting to that 7 million number that the President talked about yesterday — that if you pass the plan, you can get all the estimates that say you can get 7 million jobs back this year — MS. PSAKI: Yep. Q — can you do that without getting back to five days of school? ”