Jennifer Rene Psaki and Brian Christopher Deese

“ And we are — his view is that this is how democracy should work, which is the President of the United States announces what his vision is and what his plan — his proposed plan is to address the crises the American people are facing. Then there are ongoing discussions with Congress. They like some pieces; they don’t like other pieces. You all have seen, Democrats like many pieces; Republicans even like some of the pieces, too. And we’ve — he’s had those encouraging conversations.But the final package may not look exactly like the package that he proposed. ”

“ On the issue of food insecurity, which is a growing crisis in America — of hunger — nearly 30 million Americans last week said that they didn’t have enough food to put on the table. So the President will ask the Department of Agriculture to consider taking immediate steps to provide nutrition assistance to hard-hit families, first by increasing pandemic EBT benefits by about 15 percent. This is the program that is aimed at supporting families who traditionally rely on the school lunch program to provide meals to millions of kids through their schools. ”

“ In addition to the executive orders that we’ll be issuing today, we will be focusing on another key priority of the President and the Vice President, which is equitable relief to small businesses.
In previous rounds of relief, too much of the support that has been dedicated to small businesses has left out the smallest businesses, mom-and-pop businesses that don’t have existing connections with a financial institution. And in particular, black-, Latino-, Asian-, and Native American-owned businesses were shut out completely. ”

“ I will say that what is important to the President and also our national security adviser Jake Sullivan is that we do — everything we do must help advance working families and the American middle class. ”

“ It is really the next layer of people who are concerned, as you alluded to, about the safety and about the efficacy. And, unfortunately, there is a large percent — a larger-than-should- be percentage in minority communities, communities of color, and so we’ve been quite thoughtful — or we want to be quite thoughtful about how we do outreach and engagement. Obviously, it’s making it accessible, so ensuring we have these community centers and health centers that can provide the vaccine, but also who’s communicating on behalf of the government or on behalf of the safety of the vaccine. ”

“ This is a common-sense step to make sure that workers have a right to safe work environments and that we don’t put workers, in the middle of a pandemic, in a position where they have to choose between their own livelihoods and the health of they and their families.
The second executive order that the President will sign is focused on the jobs of federal workers and on federal contractors. ”

“ Well, the President’s expectation — he believes in the Senate and their ability to multitask and get the work and business of the American people done at the same time while they are proceeding with an impeachment trial, on whatever timeline it begins and ends on, Kristen. ”

“ Q So, Japan is planning to host a Tokyo Summer Olympic game in six months, but they have not made a final decision if they go (inaudible) or be canceled because of the pandemic. So does the White House expect to be (inaudible) , or is President Biden confident to be a safe Olympic game in Tokyo? And does he feel safe to (inaudible) Tokyo in this summer? MS. PSAKI: Well, as a big Olympics fan, I’m certainly looking forward to it, but I have not talked to the President or our national security team about plans for the summer or the games. ”

“ We have been engaging closely with members of Congress, with governors, mayors, business and labor organizations in the week since, and we’ll continue to do so and hope that Congress will move quickly to consider this important proposal without delay.
At the same time, the American people are hurting, and they can’t afford to wait. They need help right now. And that’s the motivation behind the actions that the President will take today. ”

“ Well, our — the President’s view is, of course, that it is without question that North Korea’s nuclear ballistic missile and other proliferation-related activities constitute a serious threat to the international peace and security of the world, and undermine the global nonproliferation regime. And we obviously have — still have a vital interest in deterring North Korea — as does Japan, of course.We will adopt a new strategy to keep the American people and our allies safe. ”

“ Well, you know, I will say, as Brian said, that our objective here — the way that the package was designed was to address the core issues of the crisis. So I think the tricky piece of that question is: Do you delay vaccine funding to distribute the vaccine? Do you delay funding for unemployment insurance? Do you delay funding to reopen schools? Nobody wants to be having a conversation about why schools aren’t reopened in May or June — Democrats, Republicans, no members of Congress. ”

“ And that, today, we’ll start with the President’s executive order to direct the Department of Treasury to consider a whole range of efforts, including creating an online portal that would allow people to easily identify if they’re eligible, to work through counterpart organizations to actually affirmatively do outreach to communities where we know there are significant numbers of these — of these families and these individuals to let people know that they may be available. ”

“ Another element of this executive order is to promote worker safety. And here, President Biden will ask the Department of Labor to consider clarifying that workers have a federally guaranteed right to refuse employment that would jeopardize their health. ”

“ We discussed the President’s idea of having navigators who are dedicated to helping small-business owners find the right relief programs, fill out paperwork, get the money into their bank accounts — the kind of support that many of these businesses don’t have because of embedded relationships that more well-connected businesses do. ”

“ There are only so many hours in the day; you’re right. But, again, if there’s a Senate trial happening in the Senate — of course it would happen in the Senate — the House can move forward on a package. And certainly there is the capacity and ability to have discussions, have hearings, take steps to move forward on the President’s COVID relief package. And we don’t think it can be delayed or it can wait, so they’re going to have to find a path forward, and he’s confident they can do that. Q And President Biden has made pretty clear that he believes former President Trump is unfit to serve. ”

“ What the President is directing all of us to do is to really focus on the affirmative steps that we can take and an affirmative strategy to say it’s not enough to just say, “Well, if folks don’t know or if they don’t have a network, then they’re left out in the cold.” ”

“ What I can tell you is, if we don’t act now, we will be in a much worse place, and we will find ourselves needing to do much more to dig out of a much deeper hole.So what I can tell you is the single most important thing, economically, right now is to take decisive action along the lines of what we’ve laid out in this rescue plan. ”

“ Our economy is at a very precarious moment. We are 10 million jobs short still of where the economy was when this pandemic started. Last month, the economy lost jobs for the first time since last spring. ”

“ This is a confirmation that we are going to continue to press on in all of our engagements and conversations with the Senate.
I also have some news to share on the President’s response to domestic violent extremism. The January 6th assault on the Capitol and the tragic deaths and destruction that occurred underscored what we have long known: The rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing national security threat. ”

“ Q You mentioned the issue of vaccine hesitancy. Does the President believe that all Americans should get the vaccine? And then for those who might be reluctant to get it, how do you convince them that it’s safe? MS. PSAKI: Well, he does. The more people who are vaccinated, the safer we are. Health and medical experts have also conveyed that. That’s who I’m quoting.In terms of addressing vaccine hesitancy, it’s a big challenge. You heard Dr. Fauci talk about this yesterday, and it will be easier for the first tranche of Americans to get the — to convince them to get the vaccine. ”

“ And he’ll be speaking more about his recovery plans in the coming weeks that are about building back better, an urgent priority to start creating the kinds of good jobs that we know we’re going to need coming out of this crisis.
Q And after the recession, it took nearly a decade to get the country back to full employment under the Obama administration. If you’re able to pass this rescue package, how long do you think it will take for every American who wants a job to be able to have one? ”

“ Q And there was this — there was this other detail mentioned about the $15.00 minimum wage — and I know Brian spoke about federal contractors — but the issue has obviously faced a lot of opposition in Congress over the years. Is President Biden planning to speak to Senator Schumer to bring the bill — the legislation that the House passed on $15.00 — to the Senate? I mean, how does this broadly help workers around the country? MS. PSAKI: Well, again, this is just one part of his step to provide relief to the American people. ”

“ The Biden administration will confront this threat with the necessary resources and resolve. We are committed to developing policies and strategies based on facts, on objective and rigorous analysis, and on a respect for constitutionally protected free speech and political activities.
Our initial work on DVE will broadly fall into three areas. The first is a tasking from President Biden sent to the ODNI today requesting a comprehensive threat assessment, coordinated with the FBI and DHS, on domestic violent extremism. ”

“ Any update as to whether the President may sit down with congressional leaders to discuss and try and hammer out this package? MS. PSAKI: Sure. Well, I will say, without giving you specifics necessarily, but — which I know you’re looking for, so I shouldn’t have just walked myself into that rabbit hole, but — Q (Inaudible.) MS. PSAKI: Right. (Laughs.) But the President has already done a number of calls with Democrats and Republicans; that will continue. He’s very eager to be closely involved, roll up his sleeves, and be making calls himself. ”

“ Well, his — the President’s position hasn’t changed, but I will say he’s conveyed in conversations with both now Leader Schumer and Senator McConnell that they need to have their conversations, of course, but he is eager to move his rescue plan forward. He is eager to get relief to the American public. ”

“ And what’s the need to support families and businesses during this transition?And the second thing — the second thing is that, as a result of that, I think we’re seeing a lot of support, as I said, of bipartisan mayors, bipartisan governors, business organizations, Chamber of Commerce, business roundtable, economists across the board, saying this is a — this is a — an appropriate response to an unprecedented economic circumstance. ”