Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ And analysis after analysis has shown that the economic cost of inaction would be incredibly painful for the American people — something we saw last Friday with the latest month of weak job numbers.
But they also know that we have a way to help workers and get our economy back by passing the Rescue Plan. So a couple of pieces of economic data you all may have seen: A CBO projection last week found that it would take the economy four years to bounce back and return to full employment without the Rescue Plan. ”

“ I should say — that they’ve also concluded that 27 million American workers would — millions of low-wage workers — I should say 27 million American workers would — would be able to get — it would help get them out of poverty [a raise] .So, there’s a huge impact of raising the minimum wage. It’s — that’s why the President supports it. There are also many other economic studies that show that raising the minimum wage has minimal impact on employment. ”

“ Obviously, we’ve seen economists saying that it’s better to do too much than nothing at all, but Republicans are expected — expressing sticker shock. So I was curious what the President’s plan was to decrease the deficit once the pandemic has abated and the economy is stabilized. ”

“ As we’ve discussed previously in this room, the President and the administration are making the case directly to the country about the need to pass the Rescue Plan so we can finish the job and get $2,000 into the pockets of working families, so we can reopen schools safely, and so we can get economic relief to struggling Americans and communities. ”

“ Q — candidate Biden was very concerned about the last President’s potential conflicts of interest. At one point, in 2019, he tweeted, “Hosting the G7 at Trump’s hotel? A president should never be able to use the office for personal gain.” So how is the White House going to guarantee to members of the public that nobody in the family is using the office for personal gain? ”

“ Well, he — the President is certainly hopeful that the process that’s underway now, the markups that are happening in the House, the markups where that will then proceed in the Senate will provide an opportunity for Republicans, Democrats of all different political stripes to put their ideas forward and have those ideas considered.At the end of the day, his view is that urgency is his first priority here, and that the American people — people who are concerned about getting food on the table, one in seven American families ”

“ As the first President in 40 years with a child who served in the military, he has a personal connection to the important role of mil- — work of the military, the men and women who serve.He will also discuss the vital role of the Department of Defense and our national security, talk about the significance of having the first African American Secretary of Defense in history leading the department. ”

“ Obviously, our COVID team and our health and medical experts make recommendations based on what is necessary to keep people safe, and they’ve put in place some travel restrictions. But I don’t have anything to preview for you or predict on the Canada land-crossing front. Q Okay. And then, you mentioned the, sort of, goal is opening up schools swiftly and safely. Could you help us understand what the White House’s or what the President’s definition of “open schools” is? Does it mean teachers in classroom teaching students in classroom? ”

“ We’ve put in place stringent policies in order to ensure that it is not being used for personal gain. There is not a single member of the family who is employed at the White House, will have an office in the White House, or will benefit financially. ”

“ So, you know, that’s one suggestion.But the reason that the President and members of his economic team feel that a package of this size is so essential at this moment is because we are dealing with a pandemic, we are dealing with an economic downturn, people are suffering, the American people need assistance. ”

“ You just have to have some teaching in school, some teachers in school — not the majority of teachers in school in the majority of classrooms. MS. PSAKI: Well, teaching at least one day a week in the majority of schools, by day 100. ”

“ Moody’s also found that passing the Rescue Plan would double economic growth, returning the economy to full employment a full year faster.
A couple of other updates from our COVID team. You may have also seen this. Jeff Zients, the COVID coordinator, made a few announcements earlier this afternoon.
Today, we announced the launch of our Federal Quality [Qualified] Health Centers — “FQHC” — vaccination program. Community health centers provide primary care services in underserved areas, reaching almost 30 million people. ”

“ And there’s certainly going to be a lot of attention and focus on it, but our focus and the President’s focus is on putting people back to work, getting the pandemic under control. And that means we’re not going to weigh in on every question about the impeachment trial, and we don’t feel it’s necessary or our role to do that.Go ahead.
Q A couple topics. I’ll get through them quick. The CBO projected that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would lift 900,000 people out of poverty, but it would cost 1.4 million jobs; that is a difference of a half a million people. ”