Bharat Ramamurti and Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ But, of course, our view is that that’s not enough, and that’s why the American Rescue Plan includes more than $50 billion in additional aid for small businesses. It provides more than $28 billion in grants to support the hard-hit small restaurants through the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, which was a bipartisan proposal in Congress. It provides $15 billion in grants to help the smallest, most severely affected businesses, especially those that serve lower-income areas. ”

“ The President has made clear that being fiscally responsible is a priority of his. He’s also made clear that, right now, one of the best things that we can do is deficit finance these investments because that’s what gets the economy moving more quickly. And in the long term, growth helps bring down the debt and deficit levels as well. ”

“ There is now significant upfront checks to make sure that any application that’s submitted meets the criteria for the program. And at the same time that we’ve instituted those, we still are processing nearly 100 percent of applications within 48 hours. So we’ve tried to find the right balance between making sure that folks who are not eligible don’t get the — don’t get the relief, but the folks who are eligible get it as quickly as possible. And we think that’s a significant change from the previous administration. ”

“ There’s a range of issues to discuss and work together on — whether it’s addressing the climate crisis, whether it’s working together to address the global pandemic, or, of course, economic cooperation. But I wouldn’t see it through those prisms. The President has been clear about his commitment to rebuilding the middle class and looking at any engagement — trade engagement through that prism. ”

“ The CDC guidelines? That that was a determination made by the CDC. It wasn’t driven by or directed by the White House. And as — as Rochelle — Dr. Walensky has said, it’s just a first step. And as more people are vaccinated, they’ll look at ways to ease additional restrictions.But there were some reasons, as she outlined, that travel was not a part of this, according to what the health and medical experts who are working at the CDC determined, which includes the impact of travel. You know, 10 percent of the population is vaccinated; 90 percent is not. ”

“ Obviously, the Department of Homeland Security and others are — oversee the programs and the engagements that happen at the border.I will say that there are a couple of reasons. I know Aamer asked about our, kind of, change in policy, but there are a couple of reasons why we think people are coming to the border. Of course, individuals are fleeing countries where individuals and families are — you know, they’re fleeing prosecution, fleeing violence, fleeing economic hardships, and other things. ”

“ Well, he’s already had two bipartisan meetings on infrastructure to date as he’s looking to gather ideas and hear from Democrats and Republicans about how they feel we can continue to work together and rebuild the economy.I would say that while we don’t expect — or did not receive, I should say — to date, Republican votes for the American Rescue Plan, the individual — the Republicans in D.C. are in — living in this ZIP Code, are — seem to be outliers in the country, given the majority of people in the country. The majority of Republicans support this package. ”

“ Well, number one, the American Rescue Plan has been documented by several independent experts as providing a tremendous amount of relief all by itself to lower-income and middle-class families. Between the economic impact payments, the checks, the changes to the Child Tax Credit, this — there’s going to be an enormous infusion of relief for lower-income and middle-income families.As you know and as the President has said, this is only step one. Step two is the Build Back Better agenda. ”

“ We just want to keep them safe because they are kids under the age of 18.And when we say, “It’s not the time to come now,” the reason is: This is a — we are still digging our way out of a dismantled, immoral, and ineffective immigration policy that was being implemented by the last administration that was largely based around funding for a border wall. ”

“ Specifically, we’ve approved more than 300,000 loans for businesses with fewer than five employees, and that’s a 15 percent increase compared to the pre-exclusivity period. We’ve approved nearly 200,000 loans to first-time PPP borrowers, which represents a 25 percent increase.
There’s been a 20 percent increase in loans to minority-owned businesses, and that translates to an additional 1,000 minority-owned businesses accessing relie- — relief every single day of the exclusivity period. ”

“ Of course, there’ll be a range of engagements that the President and his National Security team will have with China and other countries in the region in the months and years ahead, but we are directly engaged. There are a range of issues we, of course, have talked with the Chinese about through those engagements. We don’t hold back about our concerns, but we also look for opportunities to work together. Q Jen, just a week — actually, eight days, precisely, before the President entered the White House, the previous administration put Cuba back on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. ”

“ Well, all I was conveying is a commitment to get you an even — an expert — Q Right. MS. PSAKI: — that can — that is involved in these discussions who can help answer your questions.But — and I also conveyed that it is a key priority for us and that there are conversations going on at a number of levels — obviously through our National Security team, through the State Department — about the importance of conveying clearly this is not the time to come; working with countries on how we can address the root causes. ”

“ Look, I think one of the things the President is committed to, what — has talked about — talked about on the campaign, I should say, when he ran, was strengthening access to affordable and accessible healthcare.So one of the things we did was we reopened the period of time where people could apply to — on the — to get access to the benefits from the Affordable Care Act. We’ve seen a huge — a huge influx of people who were not previously covered with health insurance do that. ”

“ Is President Biden interested in working with Congress to make them more permanent?And if you could, please address some of the criticism that those two measures specifically have been getting — that they are not in any way related to COVID relief or stimulus directly.
MS. PSAKI: Well, I would say: If you’re a family with kids, then the notion that the Child Tax Credit is unrelated to the economy is an absurd notion. ”

“ They are working over the course of every day since then on putting in place policies that can help address what we’re seeing and help ensure that we are keeping these kids safe and moving them as quickly as possible from Border Patrol facilities to shelters where they can have access to educational resources, health resources, mental health resources, legal aid, et cetera. ”

“ So one of the things we’re doing is implementing — working to implement these recommendations so that we can ensure there are more kids who can be safely in these facilities. We are also, as I noted, working to expedite — we’re looking at additional facilities where we can safely house children and ensure they have access to all of the resources that I noted.
And finally, we’re also looking for ways that we can expedite the way that we vet and process families and sponsor host families where these kids can go. ”

“ The President believes everyone should pay their fair share, but we don’t have a bill that actually exists, so we’re not going to talk about what components would be a part of it or not at this point in time. ”

“ He believes that benefits, like the $3,000 Child Tax Credit that is included in this package, are benefits that help address what he and the Vice President feel is a crisis, which is the large number of women who are leaving the workforce and have left the workforce since the pandemic started. ”

“ Second, Americans, especially Cuban Americans, are the best ambassadors for freedom and prosperity in Cuba.
A Cuba policy shift is not currently among President Biden’s top priorities, but we are committed to making human rights a core pillar of our U.S. policy, and we’re committed to carefully reviewing policy decisions made in the prior administration, including the decision to designate Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
Q Very, very last question. I promise. MS. PSAKI: Sure. Go ahead. Q Okay? It’s about the border. MS. PSAKI: Okay. Q You keep repeating, “This is not the time to come.” ”

“ Unfortunately, a lot of companies like this, with fewer than 20 employees, were left out of previous rounds of small-business relief. Too many mom-and-pop businesses and too many minority-owned businesses were left behind, while larger, well-connected businesses got funds quickly. ”

“ We’ve obviously made progress, but we have more work to do.And right now, our focus, as the U.S. government, is on getting more people vaccinated. And we’ll think about how people can demonstrate they are vaccinated as we get more people vaccinated. ”

“ Q On the infrastructure bill package: There was a bipartisan push last year to knock down the payment of the top-paid federal employee: the CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority, who reportedly earned $15 million last year in compensation. There are Democrats in Congress who support this. The former President supported this. Some conservatives do.Does the Biden administration believe that an infrastructure bill should slash this $15 million compensation for a federal employee? ”

“ It is not a private home. And so we will continue to wear masks, we will continue to be tested, we will continue to socially distance until our health and medical experts tell us otherwise.
Go ahead in the back. ”

“ And I think we’re still trying to think through what the aspects of that program are going to be. We actually — we have received the letter from the senators who’ve talked about potentially including recurring relief payments in it. We’re looking at the idea, but we’re still thinking through the contours of what’s going to be in that next package.
MS. PSAKI: Go ahead. Q Thank you. Thank you. So, earlier today at the event, President Biden said that “a lot of [PPP] money went to people who shouldn’t have...” ”