Jennifer Rene Psaki and Martin Joseph Walsh

“ As mayor and as a labor leader, I’ve seen them change the lives of women and people of color in low-income communities in the city of Boston.
For those reasons and many other, this plan that fuels — is the fuel to a true engine of our economy. The working people certainly can — will work — run off that.
It’s not only the numbers that tell the story of the economy; this is about the conversations Americans are having at kitchen tables all across our country. ”

“ And I think that we will continue to work until we get a vehicle that we can — can have a debate and a vote on the minimum wage.I think that the minimum wage is really — you know, when you look at the aspects of today’s plan, one of the areas that we saw a lot of growth was in low-skilled, mostly — a lot of high school dropouts that came into the workforce — low-wage earners. Minimum wage changes that dynamic.
Those same workers coming back, having a minimum wage, raises their wages, which can actually put more money back into the economy. ”

“ So those are all things that we can collectively do.
And also work with Commerce, work with Transportation — all of my colleagues, the other secretaries — because this issue of inequality is not just a labor issue; it’s all across the board. ”

“ Relief checks and expanded unemployment benefits are not only putting food on the table, they’re also stimulating our local economy. Their support — the supports that are being put in place for rent, mortgages, childcare, schools, small businesses, and emergency paid leave are giving workers the security they need to hold on and start planning for a better future. ”

“ So today was my first jobs today. And I had my first briefing at eight o’clock this morning, and it was — I had a quick briefing yesterday, but not about the numbers today. And one of the things that I — that I did bring up in the conversation was about women who have been pushed out of the workforce. Two million women have been pushed out of the workforce during COVID. So we talked about that.As mayor, dealing with inequality and — women’s inequality, when it comes to getting paid what a man makes, and then looking what a white woman compared to a person of — a woman of color, to a Latino. ”

“ This plan would move us into the 21st century and to the forefront of the world in transportation, in clean energy, in high-speed Internet, and would create millions of good jobs all across the United States. ”

“ If I were in my old office today looking out the window, I’d probably see half a dozen.Again, I think the more that we can get the vaccine out to people, the more we can get shots in people’s arms, the more that we can control the virus and eliminate the virus. That is going to be key.
I mean, I can’t stress it — and I know President Biden said it today — I can’t stress the fact enough of wearing a mask. There are people that won’t wear a mask. Well, wear a mask for the people around you, making sure that you’re being safe and getting testing — tested. ”

“ Q Secretary Walsh, we’ve got some factory owners in the Midwest telling us that they’re really struggling to get people to take their jobs. So if we’re going to add 19 million jobs, where are the people who take those jobs going to come from? And how would — do you need to do extra training? SECRETARY WALSH: Well, first of all, in this bill, there is job training money and there’s workforce development money. And I also think — I think the biggest thing that a lot of — what I’ve heard — a lot of workers are concerned about is COVID-19. People are still afraid of the impacts of COVID-19. ”

“ Whether it’s roads, railways, bridges, access to broadband — access to broadband is an issue that is certainly the case — a challenge, I should say, in inner cities and lower-income communities, but is also an issue across rural America — many parts of the country that are redder, in the political sense, and have more predominantly Republican populations. I think what our focus is going to be on is continuing to communicate the different components of these — this package and how it’s going to specifically help the American people. ”

“ The President of the United States always travels with a national security rep; of course, with a — somebody who serves as, essentially, an Acting Chief of Staff; typically, a member of the press team who travels regularly to, kind of, reconstruct the team that’s around him in the White House. ”

“ First are the jobs: A report from Moody’s Analytics that came out yesterday afternoon projects that the economy will create 19 million jobs over the next decade if Congress passes the American Jobs Plan.
Moody’s also projects that the plan will help reduce the unemployment rate and drive up labor force participation on a sustained basis over the decade. A lot of the benefits will continue once the American Rescue Plan is played through. ”

“ And we agree that the vaccine — the virus, I should say, knows no borders, and it’s important to be — play a role in our global effort to get the pandemic under control.But the President, as the President of the United States, his focus is on ensuring adult Americans and the American people are vaccinated. ”

“ Those investments will create and open up access to good manufacturing and construction jobs.
It will also — there’s also a major investment in our caring professionals, in an industry where one in six workers — who are disproportionately women of color — live in poverty.
We’ve seen how much our families depend on childcare and seniors care over the last year. Those skilled, compassionate workers need and deserve a better deal. ”

“ Some of those folks might not want to go back into that industry. So how do we — and some of those folks are probably the people the President was talking about today. How do we find those folks, get them trained into other opportunities and other skills that they can take advantage of, of jobs that are here today? ”

“ There is a significant amount in this package on climate, green jobs. It will position the U.S. to meet President Biden’s goals of creating a carbon-neutral power sector by 2035 and a clean energy economy by 2050.So it has a lot of good work in there by rebuild- — building modern sustainable and resilient infrastructure; ensuring clean, safe drinking water is a right and available to all communities; revolutiona- — revolutionizing electric vehicle manufacturing; mobilizing the next generation of conservation and resilience workers. ”

“ And a lot of private sector industries and companies — whether it’s the airlines, or even venues where they’re looking forward to having big ticket events, or soccer games — they’re looking for ways to figure out how they can bring people back to normal and make things normal again.So this is really driven by the private sector. ”

“ Q And then on today’s job numbers, one of the things we noticed was that the unemployment rate for Asian Americans went up almost a full percentage point, even though those numbers dropped for almost every other demographic group or at least stayed the same. ”

“ Well, I haven’t looked at your particular polling, but consistently in polling we’ve seen about 80 percent of the public believes we need to invest in our infrastructure across the country and that that is long outdated.And the President doesn’t believe that’s a political issue. ”

“ Finally, is why we can pay for this once-in-a-century investment in jobs and growth by asking corporations to pay their fair share. Another new report — people were busy reporting yesterday — by the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy revealed that 55 big corporations paid zero dollars in federal taxes on 2020 profits. ”

“ I mean, how much — how often or how much of that is part of the public education, messaging — there are some PSAs that the administration is doing. How much of that message is part of that campaign? MS. PSAKI: The big focus of the public campaign is: We can do this, and that it’s important to take the vaccine. And, obviously, increasing partnering that public messaging with our efforts to expedite and getting more vaccines out; increasing the number of vaccination sites ”

“ Secretary, the President just spoke about his concern for people that had been long-term unemployed — you know, over 27 to 30 weeks. We know that, right now, that’s such a big proportion of people that are out of work. ”

“ Q What will the impact on these travel changes that are taking place — the CDC is saying those who are fully vaccinated can travel. Obviously, hospitality, travel, entertainment have been big sectors that have suffered a great deal. ”

“ He has consistently argued it should be easier and not harder to vote. And he believes that making it a criminal act to deliver water to people waiting in line is not making it easier. We’re also not calling from here for specific actions from businesses. Q Can you tell us a little bit more — the President has said this morning that his infrastructure plan would create 19 million jobs. Can you explain a little bit more about how the White House came up with that figure? ”

“ He reaches his vaccine goal of 100 million vaccine shots, and now he’s shooting towards 200&nbp;million. That’s going to make a difference.
And I think what we’ve seen a little bit in some of the economy today, in the numbers, is people feeling comfortable coming back into the workforce. People need to feel safe. ”

“ They’re — in terms of activism or taking — Q Yeah, when it comes to voting rights bills in the states where they reside and where they call home, what does the President believe the responsibility is of businesses when it comes to this issue of voting rights? ”