White House press briefing

hey um maybe it's 10 minutes there you go huh um foreign [Music] yes a little more guidance would be good guys two minute warning two minute warning the press briefing will begin over here oh sounds ideal okay okay not on open mics hi everyone hey we have another member of the president's jobs cabinet joining us today secretary of energy jennifer granholm secretary granholm is just the second woman to lead the department of energy where she will help america achieve president biden's goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 she'll do this by advancing cutting-edge clean energy technologies creating millions of good-paying union clean energy jobs and building an equitable clean energy future secretary grantham was the first woman elected governor of michigan serving two terms from 2003 to 2011 as governor she successfully led efforts to diversify the state's economy strengthen its auto industry preserve the manufacturing sector and add emerging sectors such as clean energy to michigan's economic portfolio today one third of all north american electric vehicle battery production takes place in michigan the state is one of the top five states for clean energy patents and 126 000 michiganders were employed in the clean energy sector prior to covid 19. she also was the first woman elected attorney general of michigan and served as the state's top law enforcement officer from 1998 to 2002 as always she can take a few questions i'll be the bad cop and with that i'll turn it over to you great great i get to bring my binder to the double binder stack here um thank you so much jen i really am privileged to be able to share the podium with you today and good afternoon everybody so you know i think that um president biden asked me to be the secretary of energy because i was the governor during a time when the auto industry was on its knees and when auto workers were finding themselves out of work through no fault of their own i feel like i have looked into the eyes of people who have been desperate and at a loss more times than i can count and i was also governor when we invested to diversify michigan's economy to build car 2.0 which is the electric vehicle on the guts to that vehicle the battery and now here we are 12 years later and general motors is saying that their entire fleet is going to be electrified it is a huge distance that we've traveled and so much of that is thanks to the decision by the federal government to invest in saving the backbone of the manufacturing industry which was at that point the electric or the vehicle industry the obama biden uh efforts really made a statement and worked and so we can do so much uh more than what we did in michigan and this is what the american jobs plan is all about i'm so i feel so um happy for america that we have a president who wants to invest in our country and in our workers and in our manufacturing and so to me the fact that there is out there globally a 23 trillion dollar market for clean energy products for products that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions is a massive opportunity for this country and you better believe that other countries are seeing that opportunity as well and our economic competitors are working to corner the market on those opportunities countries like china are pressing their foot on the pedal and revving up their electric engines and they are thrilled to see that the united states is standing still while they are working to create jobs for their people um when i after i was finished being governor i traveled to china to see their um their clean energy um efforts i was with a group and we went to um a city and i was standing next to the mayor of the city in china and during a demonstration he leaned over to me and he said so when do you think the united states is going to get a clean energy plan and at this point this was several years ago i said oh i don't know there's so much polarization it's difficult in congress to get consensus and he just looked at me and he smiled and he said take your time take your time because they saw our passivity as their opportunity and it's not just in china it's in other countries too understandably countries want to corner this market on clean energy products because we have 195 countries who have committed to lowering their greenhouse gas emissions so the question is where are those products going to be built and who are they going to be built by and it's going to take a lot of work literally we need millions of people in the united states working to lower greenhouse gas emissions and we all know that in the 21st century making sure that we have the right infrastructure is critical infrastructure is yes roads and bridges but it is ports and airports and it is trains and it is the pipes that pump water into our homes and it is the broadband that brings the world and learning to our children it's the broadband that brings uh economic opportunity to our businesses of course it's the electrical grid that keeps the lights on after what happened in texas can anybody really doubt that electricity and the electric grid is part of the foundation of who we are as a nation and we need to invest in it if we want to make sure power keeps coming to our homes there's an interesting poll that was done in february by consumers reports and they found that 76 percent of americans think that broadband is as important as electricity and water water i mean how can we not agree that broadband is infrastructure and yet we have been disinvesting in infrastructure as a as a nation for decades in infrastructure in research and development and in manufacturing all of them we have been disinvesting in infrastructure as you know is now the smallest share of our economy since world war ii we are at a 72-year low with respect to manufacturing research and development has been dropping since the 1960s china and our economic competitors are investing in research and development because they want to seize the future they want to surpass the united states and if we allow that to happen we will be weaker as a nation and we will fall and we cannot do that and that's what this american jobs plan is all about so we can't just sit around saying we need to do this it's bipartisan we know that republicans and democrats it's a joke in washington infrastructure week and democrats and republicans have been making that joke but it's not a joke anymore we need to get it done and there is bipartisan support for these elements these basic elements so starting on inauguration day just to say a word about what doe department of energy has been doing we've been rolling out efforts uh to research and development and deploy clean energy technologies with an eye toward creating jobs and if the american jobs plan passes this will be able to be put on steroids so in the past two weeks just as an example we made two announcements on research one or one on research and one on deployment of offshore wind the research one was to cut the cost of solar by half yet again in the next 10 years and on offshore wind it was to add 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy on the atlantic seaboard again within 10 years today we are announcing another two two funding opportunities for clean energy technology one of them is to create next generation biofuels for airplanes and ships which are very hard to electrify and the second is to announce clean energy technology funding opportunity to reduce methane emissions from the coal oil and gas industry and as many of you know methane is an extremely potent and dangerous greenhouse gas but these investments are really just a down payment on what we need to do as a nation and the american jobs project will take us the rest of the way and i want to emphasize the because i've been meeting with so many stakeholders on this the true importance of ensuring that 40 of the benefits of the american jobs plan go to communities that have been left behind or unseen people who have been in the shadows of power plants and whose children have to gasp to breathe or use an inhaler we need to remedy a moral wrong and make those investments and the american jobs plan will allow us to do that it's a once in a century investment to seize a once in a century opportunity that's what the people elected joe biden to do and we've waited far too long to do it so we're going to get it done we're going to put america to work and i'm happy to take any questions thank you secretary um here's a little bit one of the things the president's uh infrastructure package was investments in nuclear advanced nuclear development uh one of the things i know you mentioned you reiterated during your confirmation hearings the president's opposition to funding for a nuclear fuel repository down the mountain where does the divide administration plan to store the nation's spent uh radioactive nuclear fuel and what's the ongoing process of that review yeah you uh some of you may recall there was a bipartisan commission on what to do about spent nuclear fuel there has to be a consent based process to be able to do that we are beginning that work inside of the department of energy we have to find a solution but it has to be based on you know community agreement is there a time for that review we'll make an announcement we'll be making an announcement on that not ready to say yet and then just start just changing years again uh the last administration invested heavily in the nation's nuclear triad that the development of new and improved uh nuclear nuclear weaponry is that is the policy of this administration that a lot of this development falls under your department to continue that and that r d that expensive already to modernization nuclear arsenal we have to modernize the nation's nuclear arsenal we have to keep and maintain the stockpile to make sure that it is safe and effective and we will continue to do that to ensure that we can deter nuclear aggression from other countries so our nuclear deterrent is important and it is embedded in the values of that stockpile and we'll make sure that our people are safe thank you so much after you talk about the corporate tax rate and what they want to do with this infrastructure bill can this infrastructure bill be successful with a 25 corporate tax rate you know as the president has said this is a negotiation and he really does want to hear from democrats and republicans about what would be acceptable to get this across the line so there is room for negotiation that his point is that it has to be paid for and so if it's not a 28 what what else is it and we're very um encouraged by by those who have been bringing ideas forth and we are hopeful that especially when congress gets back next week that those discussions can begin in earnest all right thank you um you're one of the five cabinet secretaries that the president is tasked with engaging with congress on this you mentioned the president's willing to negotiate he says he's open to alternative ways to pay for this if republicans put forth any in your conversations at all have you heard any such alternatives from republican members um i have [Laughter] yeah i'm not going to make announcements for them they obviously want to bring forth their own ideas but i have heard alternatives yes and the president also asked you to help engage the public and selling this plan um you haven't hit the road yet though is that something that you plan to do in the coming weeks well we're going to be um taking our guidance uh you know from the white house in terms of what's safe etc we've certainly been hitting the zoom uh and uh and making our case through that and the phones so we'll see you know how it goes there is a period of time that we have to be able to do this but we want to make sure that it's safe emma yeah um in terms of the negotiations the discussions with congress is there a deadline is there a time frame that where this turns into a pumpkin or you just go it alone yeah i i mean i don't know if you want to answer that jen uh a whole briefing after that yeah i mean i know that they said that they would like to see progress by memorial day um and hopefully we can start to see that but obviously those meetings have to begin in earnest next week thank you what do you say to americans working in the oil and gas industry in california and elsewhere who say that these have been good-paying jobs that have given them access to the middle class and what if anything can the federal government do to ensure that these clean energy jobs like the ones that you described are as good as the ones that they'll be replacing yeah this is a great question and we this is why the american jobs plan is very specifically targeting communities in coal and power plant areas in gas and uh and natural gas there are billions of dollars in this bill for the technologies that will reduce co2 emissions in those in those industries for example carbon capture use and sequestration i don't mean to get too technical but hydrogen deployment and demonstration projects i've been talking with my counterparts around the world there is a huge appetite for a partnership with america on these next generation technologies that will reduce co2 emissions from that kind of baseline power those jobs in those kind of technologies are good paying jobs those are jobs that are going to be for welders and sheet metal workers and all of the trades and we're going to as we put out funding opportunities ensure that there are project labor agreements that the people who are working in them are paid under davis bacon are paid prevailing wage so we want to create good paying jobs all across the country and there will be millions of them if this is passed the opportunities this is why we've been having a huge number of discussions with our brothers and sisters in the labor movement in the building trades to make sure that we do this in a way that gives their workers opportunity and it will and that's why they're supportive of it you mentioned the next generation biofuels for airplanes and ships which would expect something like that to come online and you'll see planes flying with violence yeah well it's going to take i mean obviously we got to get started on it and this is a research uh opportunity it is not a deployment opportunity but there because funding opportunities really accelerate so much appetite for the technology and because there have been a lot of breakthroughs in fact the airline industry itself has been investing in next generation biofuels uh to be able to demonstrate that it can be used so uh you know without saying specifically i think in certainly within five to ten years we will be able to see this deployed and available for both shipping and for air last questions nancy thank you um i'm wondering how you're talking about how the the american jobs plan if it passed would create good jobs i'm wondering what levers that the federal government has to ensure that those jobs will be you know at a certain wage scale have benefits like what can you do to enforce that yeah i mean as as we know the the federal government has many mechanisms for pushing out funding and that includes bidding on projects and that includes passing uh passing it through for in competitions etc in those opportunities you can put you know attach strings to make sure that these are good paying jobs that they have project labor agreements etc and so i know it is and it's true with respect to the federal government's buying power as well as procurement power we want to make sure that we create good paying jobs for all kinds of people in every pocket of america and that means good paying union jobs so we're going to use every every lever possible to be able to do that including if you want to bid on this you've got to make sure that you have a project labor agreement thank you secretary graham all right thank you appreciate it good luck thank you thank you thank you so much wait i gotta grab that oh go ahead sorry okay um a couple items at the top um as president biden noted in a proclamation issued on sunday we are marking holocaust remembrance day this week today we rededicate ourselves to standing in solidarity with the jewish people in america israel and around the world and to remembering the horrors of the holocaust an estimated 6 million jews perist along alongside millions of other innocent victims around around the world we honor the memories of precious lives lost reflect on the incomprehensible wounds to our humanity and the lessons learned and mourn for the communities broken and scattered and we embrace holocaust survivors some of whom are still with us they deserve our continued support to live in dignity uh with that short short top i only had one today go ahead and a secretary um so on the president's uh announcement he announces he's gonna ask congress to uh take action to uh repeal that uh gun manufacturers liability protections yes uh that had been a day one problems of his when should we expect to see that text sent to the hill and you know if it was a priority if it is as big a priority as he said it was for him just a few minutes ago you know why why how much effort is the president willing to put into gun control right now when so much of the administration focus right now is on the infrastructure plan well first let me say that there has been legislation introduced in past congresses and we certainly hope and he's calling for members to reintroduce legislation on light gun liabilities for manufacturers it is an issue that he talked about on the campaign trail and he continues to believe that addressing that holding manufacturers to the same account as other industries is pivotal in keeping our community safe keeping our family safe and addressing the threat of gun violence across the country so what he he is calling for is for the introduction of legislation of which there has been past versions i will say that this has been an issue that the president has been working on for decades throughout his career he helped pass the brady bill he helped get uh get uh ban assault weapons uh back in the 90s he believes that taking additional steps on background checks that putting in place an assault weapons ban again are pivotal to keeping our country safe he strongly supports the background check bills the two that have passed the house it is imperative for any president to walk and chew gum at the same time to continue to push for to advocate for to use the bully pulpit of the rose garden to push forward a range of agenda items and he certainly will continue to do that on putting in place common sense gun safety measures a couple weeks ago press conference the president sort of said you know sequencing is important here that essentially acknowledging that maybe either president come walking young maybe congress can't and the president decided to put infrastructure uh before gun control before before climate change before some of some of these other issues why is why are guns not going before infrastructure well congress plays the role the senate and the house and moving legislation forward and at any given time there are multiple pieces of legislation moving their way through committees moving their way through the house moving their way to the senate there are two background check bills that have passed the house that can move to the senate he certainly is an advocate for those while at the same time being an advocate for moving forward on the american jobs plan finally different type of afghanistan should we expect to hear from the president before may 1 about what he will do with american troops still there i mean it seems they're going to stay there beyond the certain times running out to vote for an order withdrawal from troops still there right now is that an accurate assessment that there will be troops there on on i'm sorry on may 2nd and then in terms of what is the president's message to the american people why is it in their interest for their troops to be serving in harm's way overseas beyond well i'm not going to get ahead of the president's uh decision and announcement i expect you will hear from him before may 1st he has been consistent and clear that it is operationally challenging to get troops out by may 1 which is not a deadline he put in place it is a timeline put in place by the prior administration and there are certainly conditions on the ground including efforts on diplomacy efforts to negotiate with the taliban that have been underway for the last several weeks but he will you will certainly hear from him and once you do we can absolutely have a conversation about where we go from here go ahead thanks jen um given the narrow majorities in the house and the senate right now does the president think enacting universal background checks this year is dual i think the president is going to leave the analysis of what's viable and doable to all of you and people on the outside and certainly he's not vote counting himself but he has he is also clear-eyed about the challenges in moving forward with legislation with the current makeup of the senate he is going to continue to advocate for that as he did just today just this morning in the rose garden surrounded by some of the bravest and most courageous advocates for gun control gun safety legislation in the country but he also is not going to wait and he that's why he took action on uh announced several steps that can be taken in the form of executive actions in the form of guidance uh and then the form of nominating someone to lead the atf because he feels you can't wait and he's going to use the power of his presidency to take steps forward this gets a little bit of what zeke was getting at i mean we have a jobs cabinet now we have face-to-face and zoo meetings ongoing with republicans and democrats about infrastructure should we anticipate a gun control cabinet or meetings with republicans about this issue i certainly would anticipate the president will raise this issue in a range of conversations he has with members of congress this obviously is slightly different given the role of the attorney general in uh measures on gun safety and as is evidenced by the fact that he was present there today so it's a bit different from a jobs cabinet but i can assure you for members where this is appropriate or it's an appropriate role for them to play for members of the administration in the white house and otherwise to communicate with members of congress that will certainly continue to be at the top of our list two other unrelated things real quick the u.s and iran are engaged in indirect nuclear talks this week will americans detained in iran be part of those discussions uh certainly americans detained in iran is an issue that we have raised with partners around the world and those who are having direct discussions with the iranians in terms of the focus and content of these discussions i know they'll do a readout when they conclude the meetings likely direct talks on on even issues like the nuclear negotiations but i'm not going to have an update beyond that from here and then tomorrow the army corps of engineers will be in a federal court hearing regarding the fate of the dakota access pipeline is it the administration's belief that construction of that pipeline should continue uh our view is that we would look at each pipeline on the environment and jobs which is my assumption would be happening here so i don't have an assessment of that but we look at each of them individually conceivably we get that tomorrow at the court hearing uh i i i guess in considering this given that the administration asks for more time so we're trying to figure out if we may get that tomorrow it wouldn't come from the white house presumably but i can certainly check if there's an expected timeline that we can share from here go ahead thanks uh following up on zeke's question on the manufacturer liability bill the president just said that if god granted him one item on his to-do list it would be to get this done to make it so that gun manufacturers can be held liable it is something he promised on day one it is day 78 what's the hold up here there's no holdup it just legislation needs to be reintroduced there are a number of members in congress who are strong advocates for exactly what the president supports share his view about the impact and we're certainly hopeful and encourage them to move forward on that legislation reintroduce it but the president promised to send his own plan you know it's clear that you're waiting to see how this works its way through congress but why not put out your own bill lead the charge on this he is leading the charge by advocating for this moving forward by using the bully pulpit of his presidency and of the rose garden to advocate for this legislation moving forward it is the role of congress of course to push legislation forward to vote on it to move it through committees and he certainly is hopeful they'll do exactly that on this issue the president did suggest recently that you know tackling this is a long-term issue as he put it given the recent shootings does he still see it that way does he still see this as a long-term issue i think he certainly sees it as an issue that we won't solve overnight so yes he sees and is encouraged by the actions that we've seen across states take red flag laws as an example there are 19 states many have have implemented those laws in just the last few years we know that they're impactful in many places there's bipartisan support for that what one of the announcements he made today was uh that we will be putting forward guidance to make it easier for states to put forward those laws he knows that sometimes the first action doesn't happen at the federal level it can happen at the state level we've certainly seen that on a range of issues and we've seen that on gun safety legislation as well so he's he's encouraged by that but knows that it can be a long journey and has he been in touch with leader schumer about the next steps forward especially on these bills that have passed the house he as you know he's regularly in touch with leader schumer who shares his commitment and concerns about the impact of gun violence on our communities on on this country and they certainly discuss this among a range of other issues the president does actually have it here the list of all the promises that he made uh during the campaign of gun actions that he wanted to take obviously you're doing what what you think you can unilaterally waiting for these measures to work its way through congress does the president feel that he's doing everything he can to meet the scope of these commitments right now well today the administration announced initial actions to address gun violence there will be more that is absolutely his commitment and he also will use the power of his presidency his voice his political will to advocate for actions in congress he also recognizes that there are incredible roles to be played by many of the gun safety groups and leaders that were here today who have helped pass laws in states across the country on everything from background checks to red flag laws efforts that have had a measurable impact in states to reduce incidents of gun violence of homicide of suicide as a result of guns so he will remain engaged with those groups and those leaders as well and he will work on this on through many lovers go ahead caitlyn with these ghost guns they can basically be bought printed and assembled at home so how is the president confident that this rule can be enforced well it's a rule that is being put in place by the department of justice it is certainly a step to make that more difficult to regulate an area of gun production that has not been regulated previously so it's something that will have to be worked through through law enforcement officials around the country through the department of justice right but if you're like doing it at your house how are they going to know to be able to enforce that well there's the purchase of kits of course that's part of it but certainly putting in place steps to make it more difficult to make it harder to regulate the ability to gain access to ghost guns ghost gun kits is certainly a step forward in our view okay my other question is on the atf nominee when is he expected to formally nominate david chipman to this role i mean put forward his nomination to congress i would i would expect quite soon i don't think there's any reason for a delay of that i will say that um david chipman who for others who are not as familiar with his background because i know there's been a twitter about him out there but he has 25 years of experience at the atf he has helped with the 1993 world trade center bomb he helped invest he helped while he was there there was investigations into the world trade center bombing and oklahoma city bombing he's overseeing complex firearms trafficking cases and he is a gun owner himself so the president's views there's no one better to lead the atf he's certainly looking forward to putting his nomination forward and i expect there would be no delay in that given his history as a gun control advocate is the white house worried that this is going to be an uphill battle to get him confirmed well it's up to congress he's also somebody who has he has certainly been an advocate for gun safety measures but he also has 25 years of experience at the atf he's been involved in uh playing he's played a pivotal role in investigations he is a gun owner himself so uh he has a broad swath of qualifications and certainly we believe he's somebody who should be seriously considered by congress so you're confident he can get confirmed well that's up to the senate we the president gets to pick who he wants to nominate he's nominated somebody who's qualified who has decades of experience who is a gun owner himself and is up to the senate to decide if they move forward with his nomination question sorry is on the refugee cap that the president has proposed raising to 62 500 but he's not actually formally signed the paperwork yet is the white house still committed to raising that cap to 62 500 by this fiscal year yes and so we should expect that before october and it's not going to change from 62 500 is my other question i don't anticipate that it is that it would change i should say it is uh remains the president remains committed to raising the cap uh go ahead yeah following on caitlyn have you um have you counted the votes do you think that shipment can be confirmed by democrats alone it seems as though there may be at least one democrat who i can think of who has a decent grade with the nra and may not support an atf director are there any republicans that you could win over or is this going to be a nomination that languishes like so many other atf directors have in the past we're certainly familiar with the history the president would not have nominated him if he didn't think he was qualified and didn't think he was someone that the senate members of both parties should give fair hearing to seriously consider uh confirming but we just announced his nomination today so i don't have an assessment of the legislative outlook quite yet okay um quickly when is the address to a joint session of congress have you figured out that or the logistics on that what it'll look like i can't wait till we can announce this i i i'm with you we can all share a joy on that we are still working through and finalizing the date the logistics the president remains committed to delivering a joint session we're working with leaders in congress to finalize that we certainly hope we'll have more to say soon another matter of general matt motors has halted production in north america at several factories um and extended shutdowns because of this semiconductor chip shortage um it's disrupting the auto industry and and i'm wondering um are there any short-term measures that the federal government can take to help with this shortage is there anything that can be done well let me first say that we fully recognize that this is an issue that is impacting industries across the country including the auto industry earlier this year the president held a meeting in his office with a bipartisan bicameral group he continues to work he feels there's opportunity to work with members of both parties on addressing uh what is a very challenging issue for many industries there's al there's a hundred day review that is ongoing uh which we plan to share the outcome of with the american people soon and we're certainly looking through that review at um undertaking the reviews focused i should say on undertaking uh the first ever hole of government approach to building a resilient diverse and secure supply chain to help address this issue for the long term uh so that we are not just dealing with a short-term emergency um the uh the president has also proposed included i should say 50 billion dollars to create an office at the commerce department dedicated to monitoring domestic industrial capacity because he recognizes that this is an issue that we will need to continue to address and finally next week there's going to be a meeting led by our nac director and our national security advisor with a number of companies we should have more details on hopefully by tomorrow for all of you to help discuss get some private sector input on how to address this issue so this is something that there is a great deal of focus on at the highest level across government go ahead just following out what tam said um and the president's meeting the president's supposed to meet with the japanese prime minister next friday and i'm wondering if he'll ask japan to place restrictions on exports of semiconductor trips to china well he is meeting with the japanese prime minister as we've confirmed uh next friday um i certainly expect uh semiconductors and shortage to be a part of that discussion but we're just not going to get ahead of the agenda of that i expect they'll they'll have remarks uh and take questions following the meeting and just one more thing jen um the president has said that next week he intends to host lawmakers in the oval office once they're back from recess i wonder if you could give us any preview of whether that whether or not that will include democrats republicans what type of outreach that will look like i expect he'll have both democrats and republicans attend or join and once we have confirmation of attendees we'll share that information with all of you go ahead meeting next week on semiconductors do you expect that to lead to some recommendations on what to do about this problem i i would say steve that it's part of our effort and again it's led by the national security advisor our director of the national economic council so it shows you what a priority this is to the president uh to have a discussion about best practices what their uh how it's uh the shortage is impacting their industries take that information back as part of our 100-day review i wouldn't say i'm predicting an outcome or an announcement immediately coming out of it as much as it's part of our consulting processes we're working to address an issue that's impacting a range of industries is there some complication to raising the refugee camp cap we've been hearing about this for a couple of months now no we remain committed to it and i know there's a question about signing the paperwork but it remains a commitment and when it's signed we will update all of you on that as well there's been an escalation of violence in northern ireland are you aware of this you have a response to the city we get in touch with the parties uh we do we are concerned by the violence in northern ireland and we join the british irish and northern irish leaders in their calls for calm we remain steadfast supporters of a secure and prosperous northern ireland in which all communities have a voice and enjoy the gains of the hard-won piece we welcome the provisions in both the eu uk trade and cooperation agreement and the northern ireland protocol which help protect the gains of the belfast good friday agreement at this point i would expect that engagements and discussions are at the level of the state department and i expect my colleague over there we'll see if he has an update on those engagements today in his briefing go ahead francesca florida governor ron desantis announced a lawsuit today against the cdc and the federal government demanding that cruise liners be able to operate again and florida's attorney general said the suit was filed this morning against those entities and hhs pushing to have the government's conditional sale order declared unlawful does the white house have a response to florida's lawsuit we don't have a direct response to a lawsuit nor a comment on a specific legal action but i will just reiterate that the cdc guidance is based on data and health and medical guidelines uh hence that's why they put it out and why they regularly update it the president has set forth july 4th as the date you'd like to see americans who were vaccinated be able to gather in small groups at the same time the cdc said last week that there's a low risk for vaccinated americans who travel so does the president think it's an appropriate timeline of july 4th that's what the cruise industry specifically norwegian travel is asking for is july 4th date here we would defer to the cdc uh on any updated guidelines but i don't anticipate that but i would defer to them on any um any expectation they have of changing those guidelines again they base them on health and medical experts who work at the cdc on base they base them on data the president's announcement on july 4th has nothing to do with cruise lines as you know it has to do with incentivizing encouraging americans to get access to the vaccine when they can get vaccinated as we know by the end of may we will have enough vaccine supply to ensure every adult american can be vaccinated so that's more about gathering small gatherings in your backyards which is quite different from cruises of course the reason i brought it july 4th is because that's the date that norwegian cruise line is asking for uh them to be able to allow to vaccinated individuals to be able to cruise so that's where the july 4th day comes from but also more broadly speaking they're asking in this industry for them to be able to be treated the same way that planes and airlines are able to be treated so is there any specific concern that the white house has about allowing people been vaccinated to be able to resume cruising again we rely on the guidance of the cdc uh health and medical experts there's a return to science in this administration they have guidelines they've put out on cruises cruise lines if they decide to update them that is their prerogative to do but that's not a decision made by the white house go ahead since the last time you asked about the state local tax deduction jonathan salon by the way i recognize you by your voice i can't see your mustache he has a good mustache for anyone who doesn't know go ahead last time you were asked about state global tax deduction since then uh speaking pelosi has now come out in favor of removing the cap you know you know the summer stands on the cap and we also know that uh the house definitely enough house democrats making new york new jersey said they won't support bills without removing the attack uh given the and they could sink the bill if they stand for that thing given that are you working with members of congress now to try to find a way to address their concerns in the deduction cap well we certainly know this is a proposal that a number of members have and they've advocated for eliminating the salt deduction or returning the salt deduction i guess i should say it is not a revenue raiser as you well know and but we are open to hearing their ideas whether it's this or whether it is different proposals or different numbers for the corporate tax rate what it could be raised to or whether it is different ways we can approach expanding broadband access or rebuilding our roads railways bridges and helping our caregivers so we expect this to be a part of the discussion we expect members to continue to bring forward ideas including around issues like salt and that will be a part of the negotiations moving forward the other question is before president biden took office he got a letter from advocates of safety advocates who lost loved ones in truck crashes truck pressure up about 35 percent over the last 10 years they asked them to support certain provisions technology to reduce crashes those those technologies including automatic braking systems speed were recommended on tuesday by the national transportation safety board is that something the president supports so he's going to have people in the agencies look at trying to impose some of those new safety restrictions i'd certainly have to talk to him about it but the good news is our secretary of transportation is coming tomorrow to the briefing room so it sounds like a good question somebody can ask him as well but we'll see if we can get something more for you before then as well one thing i know under the obama biden administration they began a rule making to address sleep apnea which was implicated in several fatal crashes it was dropped in 2017 is that something you guys are looking at resurrecting that rule i i remember that real well i would have to check with our team who works on rulemaking as it relates to transportation and again these all sound like good questions for a secretary of transportation but work in between now and then to get you some answers as well um go ahead and ann yeah just back on the liability gun maker liability issue again at the risk of flogging a dead horse i'm just okay wondering if you can explain what changed between when as a candidate uh biden said that he he would send legislation himself on day one to now day 70 whatever it is when your position is that congress should do this on its own is that right what what i don't think we're saying on its own on their own just like there is legislation on banning assault weapons that the president supports there's legislation on increasing expanding universal background checks which he supports there's also been legislation many cycles of congress on gun law but holding gun manufacturers to the same liability standards as other industries so all i'm conveying is he would certainly advocate that for that as he did today there is an opportunity to reintroduce legislation certainly hopeful that members do that and he would advocate for it uh and and and certainly use the power of the presidency to move it forward he ruled out sending drafting something himself for you guys yourselves well i think uh it's not necessary it's not perhaps necessary given there have been a range of bills proposed that would address exactly this issue and a range of leaders in congress who have been advocates for putting in place common sense gun safety measures i wouldn't rule anything out all i'm conveying is that there has been a range of bills put forward in the past that he would support that would address exactly this issue um oh go ahead and actually okay good um so there's a spike uh in in coronavirus cases in japan and vaccines are in very short supply with the prime minister coming next week and the tokyo olympics uh as a huge priority for the japanese is it still the u.s position that american athletes should attend those games and are you persuaded is the president persuaded that they will be safe our position hasn't changed obviously we work in close coordination with the u.s olympic committee on assessing and with our health and medical advisors in the us government on assessing but our position has not changed and their attendance at the games one more very quickly is there any update on announcements for ambassadors we're now past march which you had said was sort of when many other administrations had had done so and you haven't put any forward any big ones forward yet i don't have an exact update other than to convey that i would i would expect that nominees for career career nominees will probably be in the first slate of nominees for ambassadors as your as you're planning go ahead thank you ma'am a couple questions on the president's gun safety executive orders i'm wondering does the administration have data on how many crimes have been committed with these ghost guns that your team could share i'm sure we can get you some data sure and i bet you a range of the uh the experts who are joining us here today have a bunch of data and that they could share with you as well even maybe on their websites all right then following up the the president said a moment ago quote you go to a gun show you can buy whatever you want no background check is there a special exemption in federal law that he was referring to or just do fla dealers not have to do background checks when they're at a gun show are you asking me if he was referring no it's okay were you asking me if he was referring to like a specific circumstance or i'm sorry just tell me a little bit more about your question i mean is it the president's belief that you do not have to undergo a background check when you are at a gun show no it's not his belief he believes that gun that background checks should be universal right he says no background check well we know what his position is right so let me reiterate that which is that uh gut background checks or something that should be universal they're supported by more than 80 percent of the public he supported legislation advocated for that um and advocated against loopholes as well so that's his position and i appreciate you asking for the clarification go ahead one here um i know the doj is working on this regulation sure and then we're gonna have to wait um but with regards to the stabilizing braces uh what's the message to people who you know earlier on before this was an issue law-abiding folks who who bought these i mean who weren't criminals according to the congressional research service there's something like 40 million currently in circulation what should the law-abiding american do as they await that regulation i mean should they expect buybacks or should they be prepared to turn those in or is this a confiscation situation i don't think that's what we're suggesting there's obviously going to be some time to put in place this regulation as you refer to and take a close look at the most effective way to do that and what the effort here is that's underway is to put in place methods that make the country safer and make communities safer and obviously there are uh impacts uh we every step that he announced today we believe would do exactly that a quick circle back from last week in terms of uh the scheduling of fentanyl as schedule one i know it's a difficult issue with a lot of moving parts but given that that scheduling is set to expire in may is the administration taking a closer look at the scheduling of fentanyl analogs i know you asked about this and i'm sorry we failed to get you a good answer on it we will venture to do that um before may 1st is the deadline is that not your deadline but the timeline the timeline uh the of the of the expiration the first week of may okay we will check that and we will venture to do a better job getting back with you on that go ahead and ask today's print cooler i'm going to ask an inquiry for myself one of my colleagues can't be here because of public restrictions and then i have a wild card question okay i like the setup go ahead all right let's start with me okay despite warnings anti-transgender bills are an illegal form of sex discrimination a number of states have enacted into law uh measures against transgender youth including a measure the arkansas legislature uh enacted the law this week by overriding a veto of the governor will the president reach out to the attorney general for legal action against these measures uh i don't know that i can stand here i can't stand here and predict legal action obviously that would be a decision made by the justice department and the attorney general what i can say is that the president's view is that all persons should receive equal treatment under law no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation that's fundamental to how he will make laws advocate for laws i should say how he will communicate about his views on the rights of transgender individuals in the country and certainly um you know what his view is as it relates to any actions by the government but in terms of legal action i would point you to the attorney general and the justice department well i understand that but why not why why uh shouldn't the president be able to communicate with the attorney general on the goal you certainly can i don't have anything to predict for you on that at this point in time the question from my colleague is next um how involved is former president obama and first lady obama and the biden harris administration is president biden seeking to bring back the often bipartisan portrait unveiling events at the white house i'm certain we will have bipartisan portrait unveiling events at the appropriate time when covet allows i don't know when that will be but that certainly would be something i know the president would support in terms of his engagement with president obama they are they're not just former colleagues i guess you call them as president and vice president but they're also remain close friends and they talk regularly about a range of issues from policy issues to bouncing ideas off of each other to to their families so they are in close touch but we just don't read out those specific calls we keep them private and now my wild card question okay uh there's a lot of construction going on the south lawn what's up with that oh i like that it's a i'm happy to get you kind of a more official response on this but it is a kind of regular maintenance i expect it to be good i think we expect it to be going on for eight to ten weeks um but uh we can get you a more official new construction going on there's something that's really supposed to like regular uh happenings and this this something that is consistently going on or something like a new construction for a new event or a new thing on the on the lawn no it's not but but i can get you a more official uh uh statement from our team that is overseeing the up updates and the maintenance so in the back thank you jen three questions on gun violence does president biden have a deadline for congress to act and if they don't meet that deadline is he prepared with more executive action first the president's not going to wait uh for congress to act to take additional executive actions this is the beginning he will continue to have his team review both from a policy and a legal standpoint additional executive actions that are possible to take um i would just remind everyone that he also led the effort to put in place nearly two dozen executive actions under the obama obama biden administration and he fully recognizes that the only way to put in place permanent long-term measures to keep our children our communities and our uh our and families across the country safe is by passing legislation so he will also is also committed to that but he's not going to wait he can move on both levers at the same time and how soon does the president expect or hope to see change due to the executive action action today change in what way how soon does he expect to see some of his policies in place well there are there are certain uh periods of time of reviews for for different components of this obviously things like the guidance on red flag laws is something that states could use as soon as that's prepared and distributed to move forward on putting in place red flag laws there are certain components of this that require 30 days 60 days etc so i would say it just depends on the component of his of uh what he proposed this morning my final question for you president invited mentioned fred gutenberg by name in the rose garden today what role did fred and other gun safety advocates play in crafting uh this executive action well first i would say that uh people like fred gutenberg and shannon watts and gabby giffords i mean these are people who are absolute heroes on getting gun safety measures in place they have led the effort when there was no appetite in washington and none at the federal level to move forward on putting in place laws around the country and the president recognizes that and he has a huge respect and value for the role that they've played that's why they were here today uh he's had conversations our team has had conversations uh at a range of levels with a number of these uh gun safety leaders through the course of the president's presidency and they have ideas they have proposals and certainly that's taken into account as we were considered considering policy options to put forward today go ahead oh go ahead german chancellor merkel spoke with vladimir putin today and demanded the withdrawal of the russian troops on the ukrainian border what is the u.s

position and has there been any contacts between the u.s and russia in the recent days about this issue i don't have any additional contact to read out aside from i think the last high level contact was at the defense minister level that took place at the end of last week but since you gave me the opportunity let me just convey that the united states is increasingly concerned by recent escalating russian aggressions in eastern ukraine including russian troop movements on ukraine's border russia now has more troops on the border with ukraine than at any time since 2014 five ukrainian soldiers have been killed this week alone these are all deeply concerning signs we are of course president spoke with president zielinski as you know last week in addition to reassurances to ukrainian officials the united states we are also discussing our concerns about the increase in tensions in ceasefire violations and regional tensions with nato allies so that's another part of the conversations that is ongoing but i don't have any engagements with the russians to read out after issuing a multitude of sanctions in the last years and even after calling vladimir putin a killer as the president did in general what do you think how is the influence does the us and does the general in the west in general have any influence on vladimir putin do we have any influence on vladimir putin look i think that is perhaps in some ways suggesting that just because someone does bad behavior we shouldn't hold them accountable unless we know it's going to immediately change their behavior that's just not how we see foreign policy or how we see our engagement in the world and look i think our focus is on there's still an ongoing review weeks not months weeks not months and that is that we are assessing as it relates to the troubling actions of russia and this russian government where there will be consequences as the president has conveyed seen and unseen and we hope to have more on that soon go ahead just follow up on your answer there regarding former president obama because you said that you're in touch fairly regularly can you more clearly define fairly regularly no that would be violating their friendship okay is it fair to say he is the privacy of their friendship i should say is he fairly regularly in touch with any other former president i would say he is the president he is most frequent former president he's most frequently in touch with we're talking a few times a week i i'm not going to give it a more define i'm not going to define it more other than to say that they engage not just about freak important moments in our country but also about their own families they have a connection on a personal level so they discuss a range of issues when they connect yeah go ahead caitlyn does the president agree with senator manchin that budget reconciliation should not replace regular order in the senate well first for those of you who read the op-ed today or didn't read the op-ed either way did you all read it surprise to hear surprise to hear um you know i will say there's a couple of principles the president has as it relates to engagement with congress and how democrats and republicans should work together you that's why he's going to hear from them on their ideas that they've already put forward we're going to leave it to leaders in congress to determine the mechanisms for moving things forward but we think there should be every opportunity to do this on a bipartisan basis can you rule out those russian sanctions coming this week coming this week uh yes i'm not going to rule out further i'm just trying to give you some sleep tomorrow we already have the the um the guide and the budget guidance coming tomorrow we can't overload you on a friday one thing about infrastructure i know that you mentioned secretary of judge would be here tomorrow unfortunately due to social distancing i will not be so when it comes we will take your questions with one of your colleagues we will email the print pooler but with regards to the 20 000 miles of highways roads and main streets and the president's infrastructure plan it also says it will fix the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country and it specifically says it will repair the worst 10 000 smaller bridges so the white house to this point has not released any sort of a list of these so why isn't there a list that you can share with us and presumably there is some sort of a list because otherwise where did you get the 20 000 and 10 000 numbers from in terms of roads and railways that need to be repaired where did those numbers come from we can certainly get you a citation what i did the other day but i'm happy to reiterate is explain that we expect that the package and the funding will come through a combination of grants formula grants and competitive grants right and formula grants are allocated to states based on certain criteria like the number of miles of an interstate highway or a population in a given urban area most of our existing transportation funding flows through formula grants so with past infrastructure funding bills that have gone through congress in the in the last several decades this gives states a lot of flexibility in covering how they repair roads how they repair real you know things that need to be repaired in their state the other part type of funding is competitive grants which those 10 bridges you talked about they would be through competitive grants so these direct funding to certain policy goals like the tiger grant program that was a part of the recovery act so there's just different we expect that to be how it's structured that will all be discussed and finalized through our conversations with members of congress um with leaders in congress about what the combination of those uh funding components should be one uh final thing yeah uh the vice president talked a little bit about his so the president talked about his role as vice president leading the obama administration's actions on guns we've seen a lot of conversations about gun control legislation in that rose garden before why does the president think that this time will be different than any other time apparently when he was in the vice presidency for this legislation and how much and you know is he committing that it will be different i should say he is committing that it will be different and if the president uh was just defeated uh every time he was defeated on an objective or a goal he wouldn't be president so here he is he remains an advocate throughout his life to putting in place gun safety measures and it's something that he has been committed through not just through words but through action and he believes it's something that as president he can help move forward and put in place more action thanks everyone you

2021-04-16 22:56

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