Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ The single shot, as you know, was particularly attractive to those populations that are harder to reach right now. What specifically is the White House doing now to redouble its efforts to improve equity or to attain equity in the distribution of these vaccines? MS. PSAKI: Well, I would say that if we take a step back, which we sometimes like to do, our focus has been on ensuring that equity and addressing any — any issues related to confidence was central to our strategy. ”

“ On the infrastructure bill, Speaker Pelosi says that she wants to get this all done by July 4th. So how much time is the White House willing to negotiate with Republicans before you start making big decisions about what to push through? MS. PSAKI: Well, we’d like to see some progress and some forward movement by Memorial Day, and we’d like to — the President would love to have the package signed — or passed, I should say, this summer. Q Is the White House encouraging the Senate to pass a traditional infrastructure bill through regular order with Republicans? ”

“ Well, certainly, every relationship we have, even with it — when it’s — when it’s adversarial or even when it’s not, we raise issues of the detainment of American citizens or even sometimes citizens of our partners and allies around the world through those diplomatic conversations.Typically, those conversations are led by the State Department and officials that are working at the State Department. ”

“ I would certainly point you to the Department of Homeland Security for specifics about the movement of Border Patrol agents. Q And some of your own administration’s immigration experts — officials — I’m sorry — have said that some migrant families are, in their words, “self-separating” at the border and sending their kids across alone because they know that unaccompanied minors are not going to be turned away. Is it time to rethink that policy because of these unintended consequences and the way people are kind of taking advantage of it? ”

“ You know, he has some fundamental — and this kind of goes in response to an earlier question — he has some fundamental core elements that are important to him: money to update our infrastructure; investments in long-term growth; investments in the American people, in their workplaces, in their education and communities. So we’ll see what this proposal looks like. ”

“ The White House has said over and over again that you want a “stable and predictable” relationship with Russia. MS. PSAKI: Yeah. Q But that seems to run completely counter to the way that Russia operates. They try to be unpredictable, and they have been destabilizing in their actions. So is this goal really realistic to have a stable and predictable relationship with Russia? ”

“ But our objective is to move to a place to de-escalate and to move to a place where, you know, this is not a — that — that escalatory relationship is not a primary focus for the President and this administration.
Q Is there something that the administration plans to do differently than all of the other administrations that have been dealing with Russia and have struggled to get that predictable relationship that it would seem that most administrations have been wanting with Russia, instead of this adversarial relationship? Is there something different that this administration plans to do? ”

“ Q And if I could ask just a question on the Russia sanctions today — in a statement, the White House noted reports that Russia had encouraged Taliban attacks against U.S. coalition personnel in Afghanistan. The word “report” seems to leave some ambiguity. Does the White House believe Russia placed bounties on American troops? MS. PSAKI: Well, I would say, first, that we felt the reports were enough of a cause of concern that we wanted our intelligence community to look into those reports as a part of this overall assessment. ”

“ This is a commission that has officials who are — many very progressive, many very conservative — have a range of viewpoints. They are going to look at a number of issues. The size of the Court is one of the issues, but there are a number of other issues they’ll look at.I’m sure the President will look forward to reviewing that report when it comes to his desk, and then I’m sure it will impact his thinking moving forward. ”

“ These funds will help early childhood educators and family child care providers keep their doors open and make sure every state has a strong child care system that provides families with what they need. ”

“ Since the start of the pandemic, as we’ve talked about a bit in here, roughly 2 million women have left the workforce. That is disproportionately due to caregiving needs, and we are hopeful that this will help. ”

“ He is somebody who believes that refugees, that immigrants are the heart and soul of our country, and they have been for decades.And that is why he has proposed, you know, a comprehensive immigration reform bill. ”

“ Q Jen, the U.S. has been leveling sanctions on Russia for its behavior for years, as you know well. It hasn’t deterred them in the past. Why should we expect that these new sanctions will do something that past sanctions have not? MS. PSAKI: Well, first, I would say, Peter, that our objective here is not to escalate; our objective here is to impose costs for what we feel are unacceptable actions by the Russian government.Some of these are done in coordination with our European partners and allies in the past. And our view is that when there are actions that are taken that are unacceptable ”

“ Well, we feel that has to be our objective and that part of our objective is to, as you said, have a stable and predictable relationship in order to leave space to pursue areas where we feel there is greater opportunity and also address areas where there might be greater challenge.Now, we’re not going to get ahead of what those discussions look like. ”

“ I will say that, you know, we will continue to provide and work with Congress to expedite and expand Special Immigrant Visas.We remain committed to working with and helping people who have served alongside and been important partners to our men and women serving on the ground in Afghanistan. ”

“ It’s okay. Q — but you said that the U.S. is seeking the “denuclearization of North Korea,” and then later you said the “North Korean Peninsula,” and that sort of betrays the — MS. PSAKI: Sorry. Of North Korea — Q But it betrays the thrust of my question — MS. PSAKI: Yeah. Q — which is the policy (inaudible) denuclearization of the entire Korean Peninsula. And so I’m wondering if you could explain why that’s sort of shifted in the administration and if you no longer seem — see denuclearization of South Korea as part of this long-term negotiation? ”

“ That means that there’s an additional number of Americans above that who wouldn’t. But you guys don’t have a specific number that you’re circling right now? MS. PSAKI: I don’t have any number to share with all of you. Q Okay, thanks. MS. PSAKI: Thanks. Okay. Oh, go ahead. Did you have one last question? Q I wanted to ask about the Supreme Court commission that you’ve been talking about during the briefing. Will that commission at all study lower-court reform? MS. PSAKI: It is looking at five issues. It’s primarily focused on the Supreme Court. ”

“ We look forward to hearing alternate ideas or different ideas as they come forward, and there should be an opportunity for that.We’re also quite open to what path this takes. We don’t — it doesn’t — we’re not going to predetermine whether it has to all happen in one big package. ”

“ Q And so, just a little bit more on the Vice President’s role: Republicans have, over the past few days, been quite critical of the Vice President and — MS. PSAKI: I’ve seen that. They need more to do, I think. Q — and what her relationship — is the White House suggesting that her diplomatic role is — is disconnected from the border? How are you guys squaring, kind of, how you think about that issue? ”

“ Typically, we don’t read out too much detail because our focus is, of course, on bringing Americans home.
Q And just one more: I think we ask you this every week but — on the refugee cap. MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm. Q You know, we hear a lot of concerns from your allies on Capitol Hill. And I think the big concern is not necessarily, right now, when is the President going to sign the directive; it’s what are the issues that are holding it up. And I feel like Democratic senators we’ve spoken to don’t have answers to that, even though they said they’ve reached out to you guys. ”

“ The President believes that — in freedom of speech and that members can come forward and share their points of views on a range of issues, including the future of the courts. He has his own view, and he looks forward to seeing their — the recommendations from — and — that comes out of this Court commission.Okay, go ahead.
Q I wanted to start with the Russia sanctions. MS. PSAKI: Sure. Q The Kremlin has been kind of downplaying the actions today, noting that Americans still buy debt on the secondary market. ”

“ He believes that members of Congress have the right to put forward legislation on issues they support. His — his view is that he wants to hear from this commission that has a range of viewpoints. Q Okay, and one more question. Senator Ed Markey, he just said this: “We must expand the Court, and we must abolish the filibuster to do it.” Is the White House comfortable with a Democratic senator explicitly linking those two ideas from the steps of the Supreme Court? ”

“ MS. PSAKI: Well, first, to be clear, I think the poll you’re referencing from yesterday was measuring vaccine confidence writ large in all of the vaccines. And I think the poll today — if I’m correct, but correct me if I’m wrong here — was related specifically only to Johnson & Johnson — Q Yeah — MS. PSAKI: — which are slightly different. So it’s a little apples and oranges. Our — Q Well, some White House officials were touting that data yesterday on Twitter about — pointing to it, saying, “Look, you know, the pause was a good thing given this data.” So — MS. PSAKI: Correct. ”