Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ Obviously, we feel these checks and the components in the package — whether it’s preventing 11 million people from being dropped from unemployment insurance, or essential funding to get schools open, or funding to increase vaccine distribution around the country — is essential to not just the crisis in this moment, but what we’re facing and looking ahead to the coming months. ”

“ The people we’re listening to are the 400 mayors, Democrats and Republicans, who have conveyed clearly that they need assistance, they need funding to ensure that they can keep cops on the beat, they can keep firefighters employed, and they can keep state and local governments functioning. We’re still at the height of a pandemic. The pandemic has not concluded at this point in time. And they’re also looking ahead to what their needs are down the road.We’ve also — you know, we proposed, as you said, $360 billion for this package, and we also — and let me add one more statistic, sorry. ”

“ Well, I’m not going to make a prediction about herd immunity, but I will say that you’re touching on an incredibly important point in that, now that we’re at the stage where the President just announced we’ll have enough vaccines to vaccinate all of the American people by the end of May, we will eventually reach a point — to your point, April — where we will have more vaccines than people who want vaccines. ”

“ I would say that our actions have been clear, that we’ve been basing our recommendations to school — our work with school districts to reopen on science, on the recommendations of CDC guidelines; and that we’ve been clear it’s not a prerequisite. It is not a requirement for teachers to be vaccinated.However, we also — the President has also been clear he believes they should be prioritized, as many other frontline workers are, because — because they are playing a vital role — a role as essential workers, teaching our kids, educating the future of the country. ”

“ You’re using the federal pharmacy program, which was supposed to establish more equity, especially for communities of color. Dr. Celine Gounder has called the move to prioritize teachers “anti-equity,” since most teachers are white, and it’s taking away from those people who are underserved.So what is the administration doing to make sure teachers, and these people who are underserved, will have the same access to vaccines? ”

“ On February 15th, the Biden-Harris administration opened HealthCare.gov for three months to provide all Americans the opportunity to sign up for health insurance through a Special Enrollment Period. In the two weeks since, more than 200,000 Americans have gotten covered. These numbers are encouraging, but we can’t slow down until every American has health coverage. ”

“ The President nominated Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services because he has a record of fighting alongside Democrats and Republicans to expand access to COVID treatments and to take on abusive practices of tobacco companies. He has a career of working to — he has a career behind him, working to increase access to quality, affordable healthcare, and to protect under- — protecting underserved communities. ”

“ Well, first, the majority of people who come to the border — families, adults — are turned away, and that remains the case because we are still abiding by Title 42 at the border.In the narrow and limited instances in which migrants are placed in alternatives to detention while their cases are being adjudicated, testing for COVID-19 is done at the state and local level and with help of NGOs and local governments. ”

“ So that is the majority of states in the country who are treating teachers as essential workers, and that’s what the President is asking, what he is recommending.We, of course — right now, the teachers will have access through pharmacies. That is — the supply that goes to pharmacies is through the federal supply. And so that is a — you know, an area where we can work through a program that we have instituted to ensure that teachers are prioritized. ”

“ We certainly believe that the Senate should move forward with the approximately half a dozen — or about five, I believe — Cabinet-level nominees who have still not been confirmed, because it is essential we have somebody leading the Department of Health and Human Services, of course, as we’ve been talking about, but also with the other agencies, given the range of crises we’re facing as a country.Go ahead. ”

“ This afternoon, the President and Vice President will also meet with members of Congress, which we announced last night, to begin working together in a bipartisan way to end cancer as we know it.
Defeating cancer is of significant personal importance to the President, the First Lady, and the Vice President. And cancer is, of course, a disease that impacts — affects many Americans, no matter their political affiliation. ”

“ Well, first, we simply disagree, and not just me or the President, but the head of our Equity Task Force and our health and medical team, for a couple of reasons.One is it’s critical to remember that the program is beyond teachers; it includes bus drivers, janitorial workers, childcare workers — a workforce that is broadly, incredibly diverse. ”

“ And the President has been clear, and he was on the campaign, that he and his administration will focus on the needs of Puerto Rico and its residents.We have been working — we have worked with Congress to address parity in two critical areas via the American Rescue Plan, representing an initial step forward in the administration’s Puerto Rico policy. In the plan, Puerto Rico will have parity in terms of the child tax credit, which I know is of big concern, and the earned income tax credit, which have been key efforts to reduce poverty and support working families. ”

“ Q What’s your message then to other essential workers? Are teachers really more at risk in the classroom than Americans who are working at a meatpacking plant? MS. PSAKI: Well, look, certainly the President has taken a number of steps over the last couple of days to expedite the availability and the access of vaccines to Americans across the country, working in a range of industries.This is a step that he felt was important to take because of the impact on the next generation of kids, of the future of the workforce, future leaders in our country. ”

“ And he is looking for, in every instance where he’s implementing policies — whether it’s on housing, whether it’s on addressing economic disparities, getting assistance to small businesses — ways to address the long and historic racial disparities that we’re seeing across government programs and across our country. ”

“ Second, getting kids back to school is one of the most equitable steps we can take, because what we’ve seen statistically is that black and Latino students are disproportionately experiencing learning loss for a variety of reasons — Internet interconnectivity, parents who are disproportionately frontline workers — and this compounds the damaging effects of policies that already leaves students of color with lower-quality resources. ”

“ Last month, he made it very clear that, as you well know, it’s up to states to determine how to prioritize vaccines. And you reminded us that even though there are federal recommendations, the process is not to mandate states to prioritize anyone.What has changed between then and now? And what power does President Biden have to direct states to prioritize teachers? ”

“ The Vice President will be visiting a woman-owned small business in Alexandria, Virginia, later today, called Fibre Space. The Vice President heard how the small business has been impacted by COVID-19 and how they had to adjust their business model. She also will discuss the importance of passing the American Rescue Plan — of course, as you’ve heard us all talk about a few times — while she is visiting this small business. ”

“ No, we don’t believe — and any member of the Senate can tell you this, or I’m sure they will tell you this: that they look at each nomination and whether they’re going to vote to support and confirm a nominee on an individual basis; otherwise, every nominee will get the same exact number of votes. Right? And they don’t.And we had — of course, Cecilia Rouse was confirmed as the first woman of color to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers with 94 votes. ”

“ That feels hard to believe at this moment in time, but we are focused on — we are concerned about the level of vaccine hesitancy in a range of communities across the country. And certainly communities of color are communities where there’s been a higher level of vaccine hesitancy.Now, we are working to take a number of steps. ”

“ I have nothing to preview for you, but of course, Japan and South Korea are key components in addressing the threats in — on the Korean Peninsula. Q And another issue is in-house issue. We know today there’s new COVID test rules have been implemented in the White House. Some suggested that if the White House can provide vaccinations to the White House journalists and cameramen, this daily test issue could be resolved. Does the White House have any plan to do so? ”