Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ He put the minimum wage — an increase in the minimum wage in his bill because he hopes that it is — because he feels that it is long overdue for that to be raised for American workers. But he also knows it’s got to go through a process. ”

“ You know, we are certainly, as he said this morning, of course, keeping the option open. As you all know from traveling with presidents in the past, it is a significant footprint for a president to travel to a state, especially a state that is still recovering from a disaster. ”

“ And we feel that COVAX is the right organizing mechanism for that to ensure that vaccines are equitably distributed, that they are fairly distributed, and that also there is high-quality vaccines distributed around the world to countries who need that assistance.We have certainly not taken options off the table, but our plan and our priority right now is on ensuring that 300 million of — you know, that — it’s less than that — so that hundreds of millions of American people are vaccinated. ”

“ I think he was reflecting on the fact that it has to go through a Senate parliamentary process. So we have to see that that process has to work its way through. He obviously leaves it up to Congress. The bottom line is: His focus and his desire is to have the minimum wage increased. He thinks it should happen over a period of time. But he thinks workers — American workers are long overdue in getting an increase. Q Why is he raising that doubt about the parliamentarian when this certainly seems like the easiest way for the $15 minimum wage to become law? ”

“ Well, the FDA has not even approved Johnson & Johnson yet. We have ordered enough Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to vaccinate the entire public, so that’s where our focus is on. We’ll see as it moves through the process. ”

“ And it is simply an invitation to have a conversation — a diplomatic conversation. We don’t need additional administrative steps to have that — to participate in that conversation. Q Are there plans to have direct talks between Washington and Iran, or just through this channel with Europe? MS. PSAKI: This is the channel that we have used in the past, working in partnership with our P5+1 partners. That’s the diplomatic channel we anticipate taking moving forward. Q So no direct talks between Washington and Iran for right now? MS. PSAKI: Iran is a long way from compliance. ”

“ Q So he is giving some of these Pfizer vaccines to the Canadians? MS. PSAKI: Again, I think we are focused now on vaccinating the American people. But we made this contribution to COVAX. We are committed to working through that organizing mechanism. And all — you know, there are a range of options on the table for how the United States can contribute to expand our contribution to the global effort to fight COVID. Q What’s the threshold for donating surplus vaccines? How many Americans need to be vaccinated before the U.S. will do that? ”

“ I think it’s too far away at this point to make an assessment of whether we’ll be traveling internationally yet. Q Can I ask — you know, putting it on the record, because we got it from the last administration that there was an invitation for Russia to join the G7. Does that invitation still stand? MS. PSAKI: An invitation from the United States to join the — Q For Russia to join the G7. MS. PSAKI: I don’t think we’re making new invitations to Russia or reiterating new invitations to Russia. Obviously, an invitation would be done in partnership with our G7 partners. ”

“ Should we expect that? MS. PSAKI: That’s a good question. I’m happy to talk to the intel team and see what they’re planning to do at the point when it’s released. I don’t know. Q Have you talked to the President at all about how Senator Cruz has been handling the situation in Texas and, sort of, the backlash around his travel to Mexico and back? MS. PSAKI: I can assure you that with millions of people in Texas still suffering, we’re not spending any time, energy, or breath analyzing Senator Cruz’s whereabouts or his — or his group chat. ”

“ But we — there are a range of options that remain on the table, but our priority and our focus is on vaccinating the American people. Q There was some reporting from, I think, Bloomberg and the FT about China considering export control — export bans on rare earth minerals to U.S. defense companies. Is that something that’s on your radar? And how would the Biden administration react if they did end up doing that? MS. PSAKI: I’d probably have to talk to our national security team about that. It’s not an action that I’ve seen that they have taken to date. ”