Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ We’re thinking of her friends and family and the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss. We know that police violence disproportionately impacts Black and Latino people in communities, and that Black women and girls, like Black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence. We also know that there are particular vulnerabilities that children in foster care — care, like Ma’Khia, face. And her death came, as you noted, just as America was hopeful of a step forward after the traumatic and exhausting trial of Derek Chauvin and the verdict that was reached. ”

“ I will say, Kristen, that, look, the President doesn’t believe that he alone can pull the George Floyd Act — Policing Act across the finish line. That is going to be up to Congress. And, right now, there are negotiations that are happening; there are leaders on both sides that are having those discussions. The President obviously advocated, as you alluded to, last night in remarks he delivered after the verdict. And we are also — have been advocating — our senior leadership has been advocating for this on the Hill, including in direct conversations with members. ”

“ Today, the President will announce that on Thursday he expects he will meet his goal of 200 million shots administered in 100 days — or under 100 days, I should say — a goal he doubled after meeting his original goal of 100 million shots by day 58 of his presidency.
As the administration — as we work to get even more people vaccinated, President Biden will call on employers across America to do everything they can to help their employees and their communities get vaccinated. ”

“ Well, again, I think the stage we’re in now is that leaders on the Hill need to have discussions among themselves about where they can find agreement. And often, those discussions, just like they do — it is the case in diplomacy — the best strategy, the most effective strategy is to allow for space for those conversations to have — be happen privately. Once they — once they come to agreement — and we’re certainly hopeful they’ll do that — we’ll have to take a look at what that looks like. ”

“ We’re ramping up targeted media efforts. We’re also — along with the CDC, we’re working to help states expand vaccine distribution to primary care physicians, where many people are very much trusted local doctors. So, yes, we will continue to assess and look for ways to increase access and get it out to more communities. ”

“ And more generally, is the administration talking with its allies and partners around the world about the BRI, and generally, trying to get partners to push back against that? MS. PSAKI: I think the State Department would be the most likely entity within government to give any readout of conversations with the Australians. Obviously, economic partnerships, relationships; how we can work together as a global community and in a coordinated fashion as it relates to China is part of nearly every discussion the President has with a European partner or country in the region. ”

“ Now, by setting a larger cap, which we have every intention of doing, we are sending a message: “Get your muscles back in action so that we can welcome more refugees and continue to strive toward the goal that he has always maintained of 125,000 refugees for next year.” Our policy has not changed on that front. We’ve always wanted to reach 125 [thousand] . It’s just a matter of what we think we can get to this year. Q Well, the State Department is in charge of processing refugees. ”

“ So our focus is on working to address systemic racism and implici- — implicit bias head on and, of course, to passing laws and legislation that will put much-needed reforms into place at police departments around the country. ”

“ I will say that the reason we’re at this point — where we are getting to a point, which we always knew we would reach, where we have greater supply — where we will about a point — get to a point where we have greater supply than we have demand — is because in — only in some regions of the country, I should say is — as you know, not everywhere — is because we worked quickly to increase supply and provide thousands of easy and convenient locations for people to get vaccinated. ”

“ Well, first, our sanctions were put in place in som- — many of them done in coordination with our European partners and allies — because our strong view and the view of the global community is that there should be consequences for actions. We have never expected, nor have we projected, that one set of sanctions or any individual set of sanctions is going to immediately change behavior, but it is sending a clear message that behavior is unacceptable and it can’t continue. ”

“ I believe that the conversations in Vienna — which are ongoing, as you know — are focused primarily on the nuclear file and where — how we can get to a point of having compliance — meet — meeting compliance obligations, I should say, on all sides. So there are a lot of channels we work through, but I — my expectation is that those will focus on that specific issue. Q Talking about Vienna, Western diplomats indicated the negotiations seem to be going through successfully. Going halfway through, (inaudible) . And they believe that maybe you need two more rounds to reach some kind of agreement. ”

“ So we know that democracy in action means there are negotiations, there’s compromise. We’ll see what that looks like. But our objective here is to stay in close touch through senior members of our White House team, through the President himself; to be helpful and constructive and get feedback as needed, but also to leave space for those conversations to happen. Q Because you mentioned the negotiations on the Hill as a separate entity from this White House. ”

“ President Biden did; Vice President Harris did the same last night — said it’s a key priority. Why should people have confidence that President Biden will be able to win over Republican support for the George Floyd bill when he hasn’t been able to do so on his other legislative priorities? MS. PSAKI: Like the American Rescue Plan that he passed into law and — Q He hasn’t been able to — he didn’t get Republican support for that. MS. PSAKI: He didn’t, but he certainly has support from the American people. And about 80 percent of the — almost — it’s more than 70 percent of the American people. ”

“ But, Vladimir — Vladimir Putin accused today — criticized the West by saying that, “All provocateurs will regret it more than ever.” He compared European countries with jackals who, quote, unquote, howl to their “Shere Khan,” but does — did not name specific name — names or countries. Does the U.S. take it personally? MS. PSAKI: I don’t think we take anything President Putin says personally; we have tough skin. Q And then the second question isOn February 2nd — this is to immigration — Biden signed an executive order calling for the CDC and Homeland Security to review Title 2 [sic] — 42. ”

“ Well, I don’t clearly have all the details yet on what the legislation is he’s proposing, but I would say, broadly speaking, our view is that diplomacy should be in the lead; that the former administration pulled out of the Iran deal, which led us to a point where we had far less visibility into what the — what was happening on the ground in Iran. It certainly did not make us safer. And so I don’t know what’s in his legislation, but it’s — I think it’s safe to say we have a very different approach. Q He would not be lifting the sanctions, basically. ”

“ Q What does the Biden admini- — the Biden administration consider to be vaccine discrimination? Should public or private spaces be allowed to exclude people who opt out of getting the COVID-19 vaccine? MS. PSAKI: I don’t think those are standards we’re setting from here. Obviously, private-sector businesses and entities are going to set their own standards. ”

“ And so what the announcement today wa- — is intended to do is address one of those barriers to access, which is people of — not — not through a political prism, but pe- — many people who have not yet been vaccinated are concerned they can’t take a day off of work. ”