Jennifer Rene Psaki, and Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

“ As we continue to learn more in the coming days and weeks, one thing we know for sure is we cannot treat what happened in Texas and in the whole region, in the South, as an isolated event. The impacts reflect our shared vulnerabilities to extreme weather events and other threats, and the need for collective action to modernize and harden our critical infrastructure across the country so that we can meet the full spectrum of challenges that we will face in the future. ”

“ When it comes to natural disasters like those we’ve experienced here, the President has made it clear that there is no such thing as a red state or a blue county; there are just Americans in urgent need. And that’s why he has made it a priority to travel to Texas today to understand how the recovery is going and to express his gratitude to the dedicated first responders who he’ll meet with. ”

“ There isn’t a federal authority to regulate that in Texas, but we are looking at, for people who’ve needed it most — and it’s especially in rural areas — we have some capacity to help on that score as a federal government.But, really, this is an area in which, again, Texas — Texas, considering what kind of market it wants to maintain — that incentivizes the kind of investments in resilience, both in supply chains and also in generation capabilities — will be important to managing pricing over time in the state when it faces emergencies. ”

“ And in the case of Texas, decades ago, Texas chose to function as essentially an autonomous grid. So it’s not really linked into the system in the rest of the country, with the exception of El Paso, which has some connectivity outside of the state.And importantly, Texas has chosen not to make the kinds of decisions that would provide for the supplies that you would keep for an emergency — that is to invest in the kind of resilience that other states, which are regulated, are required to invest in. ”

“ Going forward, we’ll need very close collaboration among the federal government, states, communities, and importantly, the private sector to incentivize the kinds of actions that need to be taken to build the kind of resilient infrastructure that we can truly depend on in the future. ”

“ I just want to add my deep thanks to everyone who stepped forward to help and those who’ve made truly valiant efforts to deliver essential aid to those in need under incredibly difficult circumstances. ”

“ Q In your view, what does Texas need most now from the federal government, in your conversations with Governor Abbott? DR. SHERWOOD-RANDALL: The emergency assistance that we’re providing — just the kind I described — helping individuals who don’t have insurance, for example, to recover from these storms’ impacts — if they have burst water tanks or other damage that has been done — that they need access to that federal assistance to recover. ”

“ It’s a dangerous trip. We have limited processing at the border, but it is very, very limited. The vast majority of people who come to the border will be turned away, back — to take the treacherous journey back. This is not the time to come. We need time to put in place a humane immigration system, working with members of Congress to do that. Q Jen, this week, Justin Trudeau said that President Biden and the administration have committed to taking an active role in getting his citizens Spavor and Kovrig back. ”

“ Q Can you just weigh in real fast: Was wind — how much of a problem was wind power in the crisis? DR. SHERWOOD-RANDALL: So as the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has said, that was not a bulk of the problem in Texas. The biggest problem in Texas was that you had freezing in of natural gas wells and freezing — and shutdowns of the natural gas plants under extreme weather conditions. ”

“ And certainly the President is always happy to have a conversation with members of both parties about how we can work together on a range of issues, including our national security approach, moving forward. ”

“ Last night was a strike on militant groups in defense of U.S. personnel under attack in Iraq. There’s a massive difference in both policy and law.
Q What is President Biden’s red line? For the last administration, Donald Trump communicated, “Basically, if an American was killed, there would be action.” Here, there’s no evidence an American was killed. It appears to be a non-American civilian contractor. What is the Biden administration’s red line? MS. PSAKI: I’ve been doing this long enough not to set new red lines on behalf of a President of the United States and the Commander-in-Chief. ”

“ We are sending — the President is sending an unambiguous message that he’s going to act to protect Americans. And when threats are posed, he has the right to take an action at the time and in the manner of his choosing.He also is going to take those actions in a manner that’s deliberative and that has the objective of de-escalating activity in both Syria and Iraq. ”

“ These numbers keep changing as we do more, but the bottom line is: We’re very focused on meeting immediate needs, as well as providing direct, individual financial assistance to uninsured families to help them recover from the disastrous effects of extreme weather. ”

“ Energy and water plant staffs, linemen and women, road workers, and many others have responded under extraordinarily challenging conditions to restore energy and water systems. Healthcare workers, already laboring under COVID constraints, have continued to work tirelessly. ”

“ He will thank volunteers at the Houston Food Bank. This is one of the largest food banks in the country, serving approximately 1.1 million people — very large; it serves the community.
He will also deliver remarks at the NRG Stadium, which is also being utilized as a mass vaccination center. Up to 6,000 vaccinations are distributed from that center on a daily basis, just for your knowledge.
I think we shared with all of you a number of people the President will see today while he’s in Texas: Governor Greg Abbott, of course, who will spend most of the day with him ”

“ Q Did the White House invite Ted Cruz to join the other congressional members — the congressional delegation today? MS. PSAKI: There was neither an invitation nor a request for him to attend. There are a number of members of both parties attending and joining the President on the trip today. Q I have a question from my colleagues at the Voice of America. They ask: More than 30 Democrats have sent President Biden a letter asking him to give up sole nuclear launch authority. Does the President have any view on whether he should be the only person with the nuclear codes? ”

“ Q Did the President communicate to King Salman that this strike was coming in advance? And which countries and which leaders were told in advance of this happening? MS. PSAKI: I’m happy to check with our national security team if there’s more we can read out about which coalition partners were briefed in advance. But that was certainly part of our engagement in advance of the strikes. Q On Russia, the White House released a pretty forceful statement today on the annexation of Crimea. When will we know more about whether we’re going to see additional sanctions on Russia? ”