Sameera Fazili, Peter Harrell, and Jennifer Rene Psaki

“ This is a real opportunity to invest in the future of America and build on our nation’s strengths. There are opportunities for small-business development to help diversify supplier networks and alleviate the risk of “too big to fail” companies in the supply chains for critical goods. ”

“ What does the White House think when they see a governor, like the Democratic Governor of Connecticut, Ned Lamont, who says he thinks if he goes his own way — not with the national recommendations — to distribute vaccines just based on age, then he can get them out faster and more equitably than if he follows the recommendations from the federal level. ”

“ And there are opportunities to bring more jobs to communities around the country, including communities of color, to leverage the ingenuity and grit of the American people.
This is going to leverage U.S. scientific leadership. It’s going to further advance our research and development prowess. It will do so while also recognizing that our ability to maintain our innovative edge in research requires us to invest in both research and manufacturing in communities across America. ”

“ Today, many low-income Americans still lack access to this basic protection. That’s why we’re think — taking this thoughtful and targeted action to keep Americans safe. We will deliver more than 25 million masks across the country. These masks will be available at homes — oh, I’m sorry — at more than 1,300 community health centers and around 60,000 food pantries. Any American who needs a mask will be able to walk into these health centers or food pantries and pick up a high-quality American-made mask that is consistent with CDC guidance. ”

“ Smart investments in research, manufacturing, domestic capacity, and our workforce has, in the past, unleashed decades of economic expansion, and an expansion that raised wages and living standards for American families across the country. ”

“ Teachers — this President is a strong supporter of unions — public sector unions. Is a teachers union’s obligation to the workers and their concerns about safety, or is the teachers union obligation also to students? MS. PSAKI: Well, I can’t speak to the obligations or the — I’m not a spokesperson for the teachers union; I’m a spokesperson for the President of the United States. So I can convey to you that his commitment is to the students and to the teachers and to the parents who want to have their kids back in school, and he wants to do that safely. ”

“ I think we all, as human beings, are heartbroken — as parents, as mothers, as fathers too.We only have a couple of choices. What we are not doing is dividing these kids and separating them from their parents at the border, which is what the last administration did and why President Biden — or then-candidate Biden and then-candidate Harris were outspoken at the time about these kids being pulled from their parents. ”

“ Disruption is inevitable. But over the past few years, we have moved from crisis to crisis when some essential product was suddenly in short supply. What we need is the capacity to respond quickly when hit by a challenge. This executive order moves the whole government towards being more prepared.
These sector-specific reviews that the President orders today, we’re going to be asking agencies to do the following: They’re going to review risks in supply chains and in our domestic industrial base. They’re going to think broadly about risk. ”

“ I think we think it’s important to have a broad lens and broad view on how you measure the jobs and the job creation in the manufacturing space, because manufacturing is not — doesn’t just support and create jobs in the manufacturing sector. ”

“ He loves infrastructure. So one of the things that I’m sure we’ll be talking about in the months ahead, but — and protecting our nation’s critical infrastructure, which we all know is outdated.But we’re not going to put new labels on it today. We’re just going to focus on how we make sure people have drinking water; how people have — you know, not in the cold; how families have a place to live. ”

“ Has she offered to withdraw her nomination yet? MS. PSAKI: We are working in close touch with Neera, and — with Neera Tanden and with members of Congress on continuing to do the outreach and engagement to fight for her confirmation. That’s where our focus is. Q But no “yes or no,” whether she’s offered to withdraw? MS. PSAKI: That’s not the stage we’re in, Kaitlan. We’re — the stage we’re in is working to continue to fight for her nomination. And as you know, it’s a numbers game. Right? It’s a matter of getting one Republican to support her nomination. ”

“ The answer to these weaknesses is not always to be to ramp up domestic production. We know these vulnerabilities affect not just American households; it’s a global problem in some of these supply chains. ”

“ As you heard in our COVID public health briefing just a few minutes ago, starting next month, we will begin to deliver millions of masks to food banks and community health centers around the country. These are two nationwide networks that disproportionately serve hard-hit populations. ”

“ Well, we make recommendations at the federal level for a reason, because there are groups that we feel should be prioritized, whether they’re frontline workers, healthcare workers, individuals over a certain age — as you noted. And our objective, of course, is to get to the stage where there’s recommendations for people who are much younger, who don’t have pre- — you know, health conditions that would mean they would qualify.So that’s what — that’s the reason we laid them out as we do. ”

“ And today’s conversation with members of Congress is going to be part of an ongoing conversation we’ve been having with them on this.
Finally, a big part of this executive order is consultation with stakeholders and experts. We are going to be reaching out to talk to the American people. Government action alone will not solve complex supply chain challenges. This is going to be broad engagement, broad conversations that will include business, labor, local communities, academia. ”

“ We are committed to working with partners and allies to reduce these vulnerabilities that are affecting all of us.
The work ahead builds upon America’s historic legacy of making strategic investments in our future that lay the foundation for broad-based economic growth. ”

“ There are broad spillover effects that it has.There are going to be R&D jobs here, research jobs here. There’s going to be jobs in the, kind of, supplier networks, in the services industry. So I think it’s — we have to start tracking and understanding that manufacturing’s contributions to our economy can’t just be narrowly counted in that way. ”

“ Obviously, the President selects people he’s going to nominate for positions and then, oftentimes, the immediate follow-up to an announcement is immediate outreach from the nominees to a range of senators and a range of officials in Congress. ”

“ There’s climate risk and geopolitical risk, but there’s also risk in not having enough workers ready to meet the needs of that sector, or enough factories or the right equipment to make a good — or retool a shift — to shift to a new spike in demand for an essential good. ”

“ We can and should build upon that legacy, and that is how we will approach the supply chain work. This problem was decades in the making. We can solve it by making smart investments that are long term in nature, that will reach families and workers in all of America.
Thank you.
MS. PSAKI: Okay. Let’s see if we can take questions. Go ahead.
Q Thanks, Jen. Presidents, for decades, have been promising to create factory jobs. We’ve got about 12.2 million factory jobs; that’s down from 17 million in 2000. How many jobs do you think this initiative can create? And what are your metrics of success? ”

“ We’re looking at ways to ensure there’s surge capacity available for things that might need to be ramped up quickly — stockpiling; working with our allies and partners to make sure that we have, you know, cross-border open flows with our allies and partners, where we might collectively need take some action. ”

“ Q Okay. And my last question is on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as it’s moving toward authorization. It looks like Jeff Zients, the coordinator, said today they believe they’re going to have between 3 and 4 million to ship, pending authorization. That was initially supposed to be much higher, according to the contract that they — that Johnson & Johnson signed with the federal government: closer to 10 million, I believe, in February. So is President Biden disappointed that Johnson & Johnson is not going to have closer to 10 million vaccines ready to go if and when they get authorization? ”

“ And our objective is to move them — move these kids quickly from there to vetted, sponsored families and to places where they can safely be. This is a difficult situation. It’s a difficult choice. That’s the choice we’ve made.
Q So just one step back from that. We’ve been talking to people down at the border who say that, right now, DHS and the Border Patrol are using the same kind of facilities now that they did during the Trump administration, and there’s a facility right now — it’s in Donna, Texas, instead of McAllen, Texas, but it’s tents and chain-link fence around it. ”

“ I have two questions on Iran and Yemen. On Iran, the President opted for diplomacy, but there’s worries in the region, and Europe as well, that the ballistic missile development and Iran’s interference in the region might not be addressed or linked to the nuclear file. Can you assure us that actually this is the case?And second, do you believe that Iran is testing your resolve in Iraq by attacking the Green Zone and Erbil Airport recently?
MS. PSAKI: Well, first, on the first question, can you just say the last part of it again? You were saying — I’m sorry, masks make it difficult. Q I know. ”

“ But what I was conveying is that there’s a process that this has to undergo, and it needs to move through the parliam- — Senate parliamentarian process. We don’t even know where they’re going to conclude and whether the minimum wage is in the package or not in the package.And certainly — and I’ll leave the analysis to all of you — there would be many who would support it not being in the package and there would be many who would oppose it not being in the package. We understand that. We know how a bill becomes a law. ”

“ But we, of course, engage with business leaders all the time, so, you know, I don’t know that I have more specifics to lay out. Q And on Neera Tanden, has the White House specifically talked to Bernie — Senator Bernie Sanders or Senator Kyrsten Sinema about the viability? Have they talked to them today about what’s going to happen going forward? MS. PSAKI: About the viability of her nomination? Q About the nomination, correct. MS. PSAKI: We have been engaged — I noted yesterday, and I don’t have a new number update, that Neera Tanden herself had engaged directly with 44 senators. ”