Press Secretary Jen Psaki White House Press Conference Transcript May 4

Jen Psaki: (00:00)
I wanted to provide a brief update on the situation at our Southern border. After four years of an immigration system rooted in destructive and chaotic policies, President Biden is taking the challenge head-on and is building a fair, orderly and humane immigration system. That’s our objective.

Jen Psaki: (00:17)
After coming into office, our administration immediately jumped into action to address the influx of migrants at the border, something that began during and was exacerbated by the Trump administration.

Jen Psaki: (00:29)
And wanted to provide a couple of data, pieces of data you may have seen, but they’ve come out since the last time we had a briefing in here.

Jen Psaki: (00:35)
At the end of March, there were more than 5,000 children in customs and border protection patrol stations. Today, that number is approximately 600. The amount of time children spend in CBP facilities is down by 75%, from 131 hours at the end of March to under 30 hours now. And just yesterday, the Department of Homeland security announced that it will begin the process of reuniting a number of families who were separated by the policies of the previous administration.

Jen Psaki: (01:05)
Clearly we’re not done. There’s a lot of work ahead. Migration is a dynamic and evolving challenge, but the President has a plan and we’re working on implementing it.

Jen Psaki: (01:16)
Just a few more brief updates for you. As you know, Friday is jobs day. Here we are again. And to mark the occasion, I wanted to convey to all of you that we are going to be welcoming in Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to the briefing room on Friday to provide an update to all of you and take some questions.

Jen Psaki: (01:31)
And throughout this week, the President, the Vice President, cabinet members and other administration officials are fanning out across the country to make a forceful argument for the President’s economic vision. The President of course began that push just yesterday in Virginia to talk about the Jobs Plan and the Families Plan, and it will continue today with the Vice President, who will be traveling, who will be in Milwaukee.

Jen Psaki: (01:52)
As part of this, we’ll also have Secretary Vilsack joining us in the briefing room tomorrow to talk about the vital child nutrition proposals in the American Families Plan.

Jen Psaki: (02:03)
Finally, today, Jeff Zients and members of our COVID response team held their weekly meeting with our nation’s governors. This week, over 29 million doses will go out across all of our channels, with two thirds of those doses going to jurisdictions and one third to federal channels. Jeff reiterated the federal government’s commitments to help expand access to the vaccine, boost vaccine confidence, and help states with their unique needs in this vaccination effort. Zeke, why don’t you kick us off?

Zeke: (02:32)
Thanks, Jen. First, the President’s COVID speech this afternoon, do you a preview of what he’s expected to say, what should the American public expect to hear from him? And any new updates on the White House policies regarding mask wearing or testing here on campus now that the CDC have adjusted their guidelines last week for fully vaccinated Americans?

Jen Psaki: (02:55)
Sure. Well, in terms of the President’s remarks later this afternoon, I’ve been doing this long enough not to get too far ahead of him, but I know there’s been some reporting out there. So you all and the American people can expect to hear an update from the President on our goals for vaccinating Americans by middle of the summer. Also, some more updates on our plans to make the vaccine more available and accessible across the country, and certainly some information about what people can expect once they get vaccinated.

Jen Psaki: (03:26)
And in terms of your second question, we are working, our team here is working to determine how we will apply the CDC guidelines. That will constantly be updated, as you all know, to our efforts in the work we do here in the White House.

Jen Psaki: (03:41)
Now, there weren’t recommendations or there wasn’t guidance given on workplace use, right? So we’re really talking about wearing a mask outside. I think when I leave the White House, I take my mask off. If I’m coming back into the White House, sometimes I put it back on when I’m taking the walk just to save some time. But in terms of the number of people who will be in the building and how we will apply, we’re still working through that internally.

Zeke: (04:08)
And Jen, there were some reports out of Iran over the weekend about a potential deal for the release of some US hostages there. I know the State Department has contested that report, but just sort of as a matter of principle, is the President open to a dollars for hostages deal, essentially ransom payments to free prisoners, or does it need to be a part of a broader pact with the Iranians?

Jen Psaki: (04:34)
Well, our policy as a US government has not changed on ransom, but I will tell you that discussions to bring home Americans who are held in Iran are something that is raised at the highest level through discussions. Obviously those are often indirect discussions or we have our own channels of course and they are separate from the nuclear discussions in Vienna. But it is a commitment and a desire by this administration to certainly bring those hostages back.

Jen Psaki: (05:02)
But reports over the weekend that an agreement had been reached to exchange prisoners was not true. And as I said, we always raise this issue, but there’s no agreement at this time on the release of these four Americans.

Zeke: (05:16)
And just one final one. More than a hundred days into the administration, when you were up here at the beginning of the administration, you announced the domestic violent extremism review. Do you have an update on sort of where that is and what will the final work product of that review be?

Jen Psaki: (05:32)
Sure. Let me give you an update on that. So as you noted, Zeke, we announced early on that we would be undergoing a domestic violent extremism review through the NSC, through the National Security team, and we announced that during the President’s first week.

Jen Psaki: (05:47)
I can report that we completed our policy review in the hundred days we allotted for it, and this review of course tackled domestic terrorism from a range of angles and was comprised of input from various agencies across government.

Jen Psaki: (06:01)
So the stage we’re in now is that we are taking a look at what occurred during that review, lessons that we’ve learned, and ensuring that the policy responses that we’ve been discussing and developing are the right ones. That’s going to take a little bit of time. Our ultimate goal from this review has always been to develop a strategy that will convey to the American people an overarching sense of how we’ll be taking on the threat posed by domestic terrorism, something the President has talked about as one of the greatest threats we face. I anticipate an update on that and the policy recommendations will be weeks, not months. But at this point, that’s the stage of the process. Go ahead.

Speaker 1: (06:40)
Thank you, Jen. Just about Secretary Blinken’s comments yesterday about Russia at the G7, he said that the United States wants a more stable and predictable relationship with Russia. What-

Jen Psaki: (06:53)
Secretary Blinken?

Speaker 1: (06:54)
Yeah.

Jen Psaki: (06:54)
Just to make sure. Okay. I think you said Secretary Clinton, or that’s what I heard.

Speaker 1: (06:57)
No, no, no, Secretary Blinken.

Jen Psaki: (06:57)
Okay.

Speaker 1: (07:00)
And I was wondering, what does Russia really have to do to make that happen considering the Navalny situation, considering the Russian aggression of the Ukrainian border. How do you have a stable and predictable relationship?

Jen Psaki: (07:12)
Well, our relationship with Russia includes us voicing concerns where we have them, taking actions and putting consequences in place when actions warrant, as we have in the treatment of Alexei Navalny, as we did in reaction to the engagement or the hacking of our own election here in the United States. At the same time, we do think there are areas where we can continue to work together on. This is how historically national security relationships and diplomatic relationships have worked around the world.

Jen Psaki: (07:44)
So I think what we are sending a message of is that we are not looking to escalate the relationship in terms of rhetoric or actions. Of course we reserve the right to put in place consequences should their actions warrant. And we want to have a stable relationship where we will work together in areas where it is constructive, as there might be an opportunity as it relates to the Iran negotiations as an example. And we will continue to voice concerns as we have them.

Speaker 1: (08:13)
And one on sharing IP data, because the administration seems to be ever increasing pressure to share IP data from doctors and even some global leaders, but Dr. Fauci recently joined industry during a television interview to say that that is perhaps not the best way to get shots in arms. And I was just wondering what the official White House view is on that?

Jen Psaki: (08:39)
I wouldn’t say that’s an exact characterization of his comments or remarks that he made, but I will say that I would expect we’ll have something to say about this once the WTO session gets underway. Obviously Ambassador Tai would be making a recommendation to the President. That’s not something that has happened at this point. And obviously just for people to understand, for everyone to understand this process, because sometimes it’s short handed on television or in other places, what we’re talking about is the United States’ position. It’s a WTO process, and what ultimately happens here will not be up to the United States alone. This is a waiver that there would have to be agreement among WTO members on.

Jen Psaki: (09:23)
I think what I saw Dr. Fauci’s comments speak to as well, which is certainly our position, is that our objective is to save lives by producing as much supply as possible and getting shots in arms around the world in the most effective way and we’re determining what the right steps are to do exactly that.

Speaker 1: (09:40)
Okay, thank you. And one last one on India. I know I’ve been asking you constantly about that, but it’s obviously really important. Is the administration doing all it can to help India?

Jen Psaki: (09:51)
Well, let me give you an update. And I know we’ve provided a few of those, but I don’t think we’ve done a substantive one here on what has happened or what the recent shipments have been. So six air shipments funded by a USAID have departed the United States, five of which have already arrived in India. These flights include health supplies, oxygen, oxygen supplies, N95 masks, rapid diagnostic tests and medicine, and these are a lot of the components that the Indian government has expressed a vital need for. More flights are on the way with total [inaudible 00:10:23] expected to exceed a hundred million dollars.

Jen Psaki: (10:27)
At the request of the government of India, USAID provided these urgently needed supplies to the Indian Red Cross to ensure they reach those most in need as quickly as possible.

Jen Psaki: (10:37)
In terms of oxygen support, which as you all know is a big component of what they need right now, we’re talking about oxygen cylinders. So USAID delivered approximately 1500 cylinders that will remain in India and can repeatedly be refilled at local supply centers with more planeloads to come. Oxygen concentrators, USAID sent approximately 550 oxygen concentrators to obtain oxygen from ambient air, and USAID has also delivered a large scale units to support up to 20 patients each of an oxygen generation unit.

Jen Psaki: (11:09)
We’ve also sent 2.5 million N95 masks, and we have an additional 12.5 million N95 masks available should that request come from the Indian government. And we’ve directed our own order of AstraZeneca manufacturing supplies to India, allowing India to make over 20 million doses. We’ve also provided one million rapid diagnostic tests. And this weekend, this past weekend, USAID delivered 20,000 treatment courses of the antiviral drug Remdesivir to help treat hospitalized patients.

Jen Psaki: (11:41)
And we’re also working, one of the questions that’s come up is about assistance and knowhow, and CDC experts will work in close coordination with India’s public health experts in the following areas, laboratory surveillance and epidemiology, I’m not a medical expert, emergency response and operations development, bioinformatics for genomic sequencing and modeling.

Jen Psaki: (12:02)
So we are in close touch. That’s a summary of what we’ve done just over the last several days. And we’re working to meet the immediate needs they have now, even as we consider when we have AstraZeneca doses available, what can happen there. Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 2: (12:16)
Thank you. You mentioned Secretary Yellen is coming on Friday. She said in remarks published today that it may be that, quote, “Interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat.” Does President Biden agree with her?

Jen Psaki: (12:29)
I think President Biden certainly agrees with his Treasury Secretary, but I will say that one of the reasons I think you’re asking this question is about inflation concerns and something that we watch closely here obviously in the Treasury Department and in the White House in close coordination. And that is something where there’s agreement. I looked at Secretary Yellen’s remarks, or the ones that I saw, what she also conveyed is how vital it is to make these investments now and how important it is for our economy for investment in research and development, for leveling the playing field in the workforce to make exactly these investments-

Jen Psaki: (13:03)
… leveling the playing field on the workforce to make exactly this investment. So of course, officials who don’t work here and the Federal Reserve and other places closely watch what needs to happen. I’m not going to speak on interest rates, but we also take inflationary risk incredibly seriously. And our economic experts have conveyed that they think this would be temporary and that the benefits far outweigh the concern.

Speaker 3: (13:26)
I ask in part, because of course the previous administration was routinely criticized for repeatedly sharing its views on what rates should do? Secretary Yellen is expressing her view on what will happen to the rates. Do you think that this is an appropriate comment for a treasury secretary? Is she expressing an opinion on what the fed should do when he says this?

Jen Psaki: (13:44)
Well, I would say of all people, Secretary Yellen certainly understands the independence and the role of the Federal Reserve. And I think she was simply answering a question and conveying how we balance decision-making here.

Speaker 3: (13:56)
[inaudible 00:13:56] one other thing, that this week Facebook is going to decide whether or not to reinstate Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram. If he is reinstated, is there any change in strategy that the White House would put on messaging [inaudible 00:14:09]? If he’s on these platforms expressing his views, does that change what you do at all?

Jen Psaki: (14:14)
Nope.

Speaker 3: (14:14)
Okay.

Jen Psaki: (14:16)
Go ahead.

Speaker 4: (14:17)
Thank you, Jen. Ahead of the president’s speech today, is there any context or data you can share about the holdouts, about people who are still not getting vaccinated or signing up to get vaccinated so we can understand if the problem is access to the vaccine or hesitancy because they think it’s unsafe?

Jen Psaki: (14:37)
Sure. First, let me say that what we’ve seen is that the more people who are vaccinated, and today he’ll talk about the fact that you are aware of this data, that 150 million people in this country now I’ve had one dose. Adults, I should say. 105 million have had two doses. The more people who are vaccinated, the more confidence increases and the more people want to get vaccinated. That’s not a surprise to us. That was what we anticipated and hoped for. Given if your friend or your neighbor or somebody in your community is vaccinated, it gives you greater confidence about the efficacy of the vaccine. And maybe you see what the impact and the benefits are. We always expected to be at this phase where once we reached that percentage approximately of people who were vaccinated, once we got to the point where it was no longer an issue of access to supply, because we have more than enough supply for the American public, that it would become more and more difficult to meet people where they are and to reach them.

Jen Psaki: (15:35)
And the biggest factor we’ve seen consistently has… We always focus on confidence, of course, but even with confidence, the biggest challenge is access and access can mean a lot of things. It can mean concerned about safety though, but we’ve seen improvements in confidence levels. It can also mean where do you get a vaccine, which is why we’ve invested so heavily, and the president will talk about this today. And programs like our pharmacy program, mobile vaccine, mass vaccination sites, partnering with primary care physicians, local doctors, et cetera, but also why we made the announcement last week about paid leave. So that people can take a day off of work and they don’t have to worry about losing income. We were seeing that as a factor. So we’re constantly evaluating how to make this easier and more accessible, but we knew we’d be at this point where it would become more difficult. And we’ve been preparing for that.

Speaker 4: (16:25)
Thank you. I know you’ve seen the reports about the FDA approving the Pfizer vaccine for kids between the ages of 12 and 15.

Jen Psaki: (16:35)
Not yet.

Speaker 4: (16:36)
Not yet, but is there anything you can tell us about how close they might be. And in the meantime, what the administration is doing to prepare so that those kids can get the shots right away?

Jen Psaki: (16:48)
Sure. Well, I can’t get ahead of the FDA process. And certainly in part, because we want to ensure people have confidence in the safety of vaccines when they make a decision. But I will say the president will talk a bit about what preparations we are making here to ensure that if the Pfizer vaccine is approved by the FDA or others in the future, that we make that accessible to additional younger populations.

Speaker 4: (17:12)
And just one more on infrastructure.

Jen Psaki: (17:14)
Sure.

Speaker 4: (17:14)
On Sunday, Ron Plains said that the White House had invited a group of Republican senators to come talk about infrastructure. Do you have any details about that meeting, including whether the president will attend?

Jen Psaki: (17:26)
Sure. So I think he was referring to the invitation the president made to Senator Capito that we announced last week and a group of members she selects a to come to the White House. Since Senate is on recess this week, we anticipate that meeting being next week and it just hasn’t been locked in yet on the day and who will be included in that group of attendees, but that’s what he was referring to this weekend. But we don’t have an update quite yet. As we have one more, we’ll share that with all of you.

Speaker 4: (17:54)
Thanks.

Jen Psaki: (17:54)
Go ahead.

Kristen: (17:55)
Thanks, Jen. I just wanted to give you a chance to respond to the accusations that the American Federation of Teachers, the country’s second largest teacher’s union influenced the CDC guidelines on reopening schools. You had Republican Senator Tom cotton saying that this is evidence of a politicized public health agency answering at the beck and call of the teacher’s union. So how does the White House respond?

Jen Psaki: (18:17)
Well, I would say first that’s false. Let’s take a step back and talk about how the CDC works. The CDC, it’s actually long-standing best practice for the CDC to engage with organizations and groups that are going to be impacted by guidance and recommendations issued by the agency. It doesn’t mean they are taking everything they want, or even a percentage of what they want, but it’s important to understand the implementation components. They do so to ensure that recommendations are feasible and that they adequately address the safety and wellbeing of the individuals the guidance is aimed to protect. So the CDC engaged with around 50 stakeholders that are on the front lines in this pandemic and have requisite perspective for the guidance.

Kristen: (19:01)
The president reiterated last week that July 4th is the target date for returning American life to something closer to normal. Can you just define what exactly closer to normal is? What does that look like for the average American?

Jen Psaki: (19:17)
Well, first the president we’ll have more about his updated goals we have as an administration by that July timeline, that he’ll talk about later this afternoon. What he’s talked about is if you’re giving incentives for people to be vaccinated, to understand what the benefits are, what the benefits are of getting a shot or two shots. And one of the things he’s talked about for some time, since his prime time address before the joint address was people being able to gather in their backyard and have a barbecue.

Jen Psaki: (19:46)
And obviously, we follow the advice and guidelines of our health and medical experts. But if we increase the number of people who are vaccinated around the country and communities, that will enable people to do more things that they’re used to. So the guidance last week of course said that if you’re vaccinated, you don’t have to wear a mask outside as long as you’re not in a crowd. It also said if you’re vaccinated, you can go a lot of places if you’re wearing a mask and you can feel safe and comfortable, but he’ll have more to say later this afternoon about the July timeline.

Kristen: (20:15)
Okay. And one more question about, since we’ve been talking a lot about the refugee camp, something that’s not entirely similar, but certainly related, the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Program is facing this backlog of thousands and thousands of applicants. And of course, time is running out, with the withdrawal beginning over the weekend. So can you just kind of summarize what exactly is the plan to address this backlog before all US troops withdrawal?

Jen Psaki: (20:41)
You know, Kristen, it’s a great question. It’s an important program. The president talked about of course, has talked about in the past and he is committed to. I would say the state department would oversee the process for those visas. So I would point you to them.

Kristen: (20:53)
Is there a plan or is the plan still being drafted?

Jen Psaki: (20:56)
I don’t have an update on the plan. I will just convey to you that ensuring that people who have been partners to the United States, who have played such a vital role, who are eligible can apply. And that our embassy of course is remaining there and a presence there as well, but they would be the right agency to talk about processing and timeline and what that looks like.

Kristen: (21:17)
Is there any chance you guys might surge volunteers or staff to the embassy in Kabul to help?

Jen Psaki: (21:22)
It’s a great question. But I would, again, point to the state department because the personnel would come from there. Go ahead.

Kaitlin: (21:27)
The refugee camps, since it is now going to be set at 62,500 this fiscal year, but president Biden says he doesn’t think we’ll actually get there. So where does he think it will be by September 30th on the number of refugees?

Jen Psaki: (21:40)
Well, I would say first that what’s important about this cap is one, that he wanted to… As he said in his statement yesterday, he wanted to eliminate any lingering doubt from any refugee across the world that the United States wasn’t a country that would welcome refugees into apply. Under the Biden Harris administration, that’s exactly who we want to be. But setting this cap, the objective is two-fold. One is it helps send that message to the world I just conveyed, but also it helps get the muscles working that have atrophied over the last several years when we were not welcoming in many refugees.

Jen Psaki: (22:15)
So this is not just a federal government or US government effort. There are so many organizations who play incredible roles in the United States and around the world. They have been understaffed, they’ve been under-resourced, and some of our success will depend on the ability to rebuild those systems. So yes, it is unlikely we will meet that 62,500 cap. It is actually historically rarely are the caps meant, or met, I should say. But our objective is to get those muscles working again and send a clear message to the world.

Kaitlin: (22:50)
And right now, the number is still around 2,000. That was the latest we had gotten. So is there an update on what that number is right now?

Jen Psaki: (22:56)
I can see of there’s an updated number. We have had people start coming in because we resumed the flights. And because we overturned the policy that prevented refugees from applying from the Middle East and from Africa. We’re constantly updating those numbers, but I’ll see if there’s a number to update you on.

Kaitlin: (23:13)
And then on what Jeff Science told the governors today on that call that now the White House will redistribute vaccine allocations if a state doesn’t order the full allocation that week. Can you just walk us through what changed in that policy since last month when the Michigan governor made a direct appeal to the president to get more vaccines for her state. She was told that couldn’t happen at the time. So can you just walk us through the thinking on this policy change?

Jen Psaki: (23:36)
Sure. Well, first we are always evaluating how to ensure we’re getting more supply out to the country and out to the American people, more shots in arms. So even just a few weeks ago, we were in a different phase of our vaccination effort when supply was more constrained and states for the most part were ordering at or near their full allocation. So what this announcement does and what Jeff conveyed to the governors is they can still order. It’s up to them. They can order up to their full allocation based on population.

Jen Psaki: (24:07)
They can also order less than their full allocation and the doses that are not then given to that state will then go into kind of an overarching supply that could then be distributed to other states by population. Now, that same governor could the following week decide to order back to their maximum allocation. So it gives flexibility week by week, but it’s really just an indication that we’re in a different phase now than we were even a couple of weeks ago in terms of access to supply. And we want to ensure that we free up unused and unordered doses.

Kaitlin: (24:43)
And last question, does the president still think that we will get to herd immunity in the US this calendar year?

Jen Psaki: (24:49)
Well, the president’s… We try to leave the predictions of when we will reach any definition by medical and health experts of that term. I will say that what the president will talk about today is what percentage of the population he hopes to be vaccinated by the summer. That obviously is a step forward. And what we can do from an operational standpoint, from the White House, from Jeff Science, and our COVID team is continue to operationalize getting these shots out into the country. But assessments of what that will mean, we will leave to our health and medical experts and apply our guidance accordingly. Go ahead, Karen.

Karen: (25:28)
Jen, to follow up on that question then from Kaitlin, the president was asked about that yesterday and said there’s a debate about it. And on the call with the governors today, we obtained audio of it. Dr. Fauci seemed to downplay the notion of herd immunity. He called it an elusive concept of a number. So is that no longer the administration’s goal? Does the White House not believe that’s possible? Is this deliberate shift away from that?

Jen Psaki: (25:51)
Again, it’s a great question. I just don’t want to answer. And I know we typically have a briefing with our health and medical team on Tuesdays. So you may have to wait for the next one or the next time one of these doctors is on-

Jen Psaki: (26:03)
You may have to wait for the next one or the next time one of these doctors is on television to talk about the definition of it, but what our objective is, is of course, to vaccinate as much of the population as quickly as we can. The definition of what that will mean for communities, what that will mean for going back to normal, we look forward to applying that. Believe me, we all want to take our masks off inside and we all want to return back to normal. We understand the frustration of the public, but we will leave the definition of that to our health and medical experts.

Reporter #1: (26:31)
Is the administration planning to phase out FEMA’s mass vaccine sites in favor of focusing more on local-level community health centers, the mobile centers that we’ve been talking about? Is it not effective to be using those mass vaccine sites anymore at this point in the campaign?

Jen Psaki: (26:47)
It’s more effective in some places than others. We announced a couple new mass vaccination sites last Thursday or Friday. There are some places where those mass vaccination sites, that’s a mouthful for some reason, have not stayed open. We evaluate, working in coordination with, of course, governors, local health and medical experts on what’s working. We look at the data and see what’s working.

Jen Psaki: (27:09)
There are some programs, like our pharmacy program, we initially launched it as a pilot with just a couple thousand pharmacies, right? Now it’s over 40,000 or even greater than that, because that we’ve seen is very effective. We’re partnering with local primary care physicians in part, because through our data we see that people trust their local doctors. That if it’s easy, if you know you’re going there to get your checkup, that that is an easy place to do vaccinations.

Jen Psaki: (27:36)
There are certain parts of the country, or certain communities, where we still have mass vaccination sites, where we’ll continue to open them, but we’re constantly evaluating the best delivery mechanisms. If something is not the most effective one, we will make changes.

Jen Psaki: (27:49)
Go ahead.

Thank you. Does the administration want, or does it already have some plans being formulated, to allow in foreign visitors this summer in the same way the EU has pretty clearly said that soon we’re going to open the doors?

Jen Psaki: (28:02)
They have, but we, again, this is a case which I know is endlessly frustrating to people, and I will acknowledge that, where we will rely on the advice and the recommendations by our health and medical experts on what is safe for the American public. They are constantly evaluating that, but I can’t get ahead of their process and what I anticipate in terms of any changes to travel restrictions.

Thank you. Another one, against the background of fighting, which is going on now in Helmand in Afghanistan, after the US troops left, the Taliban and government forces started in. What is going to be the President’s message if this specter of a Taliban takeover, which is obviously quite possible, happens after September? What’s going to be his message to the Afghan people, including the many who probably don’t support the Taliban? Is it going to be essentially, “Look, we’re sorry. This is now your affair. We’re out of here.”? I mean, is there going to be anything more than that, that he can say to them?

Jen Psaki: (29:03)
I will say that when the President gave his speech on our decision to pull troops out of Afghanistan, he talked about the fact that we will continue, of course, to have an over the horizon presence, that we will continue to provide a range of humanitarian and other direct assistance. We will still have an embassy at this point in Afghanistan and a presence there at a diplomatic level.

Jen Psaki: (29:28)
The announcement we made was about removing troops, because it is in the best interest of our own national security. But he believes in diplomacy, believes that is the right path forward. We will continue to support that and work with our international partners around the world to move forward.

Could he foresee a day when the US and the US Embassy and United States deals with a Taliban government, which is ruling Afghanistan?

Jen Psaki: (29:51)
Obviously, we watch closely and work closely with our partners in the region on what the future looks like, but I’m not going to get ahead of the status in Afghanistan.

Thank you.

Jen Psaki: (29:59)
Go ahead.

Yeah, a couple questions. The White House has said the President wants to see progress on the American Jobs Plan by the end of this month and passage by the summer. Does that same timeframe apply to the Families Plan that he released last week?

Jen Psaki: (30:13)
That’s a great question. I mean, we obviously just introduced it some period of time after we introduced the American Jobs Plan. I expect we’ll have discussions with members of Congress about components of each. Different members have support, or are more excited about different components of different parts of the plan, but I don’t have a new timeline to set for the American Families Plan.

Well, with those negotiations, the meeting that you referenced coming up with Republican senators, you mentioned he’ll talk infrastructure. Is he also going to talk the Families Plan with those senators when he holds that meeting?

Jen Psaki: (30:49)
Well, this particular meeting, there’s dozens and dozens of engagements, phone calls, conversations that are happening on a regular basis. Secretary Pete Buttigieg is going to be briefing the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week on the package, as well as speaking at Leader Hoyer’s Committee Chair weekly meeting. Our Job’s Cabinet continues to make one-on-one calls to members on both sides of the aisle. Some of them are also in districts this week, amplifying with members. Our legislative affairs team is doing briefings and having dozens of calls and engagements as well.

Jen Psaki: (31:22)
This one particular meeting is related to a counterproposal that Senator Capito made, which is focused on the American Jobs Plan. I would expect that to be a primary focus of the meeting, but there will be a range of meetings about the proposals, the American Families Plan as well, and different proposals that the President has put on the table.

At this point when you think about getting these plans passed through Congress, are you envisioning both plans being combined into one bill? I mean, is that what the White House favors or separately? What’s the position right now?

Jen Psaki: (31:56)
We’re open to a range of mechanisms for the President’s ideas moving forward, but exactly what you’re talking about as part of the discussion we’re going to have with members of Congress. There’s an openness to smaller package, to different components moving forward together. We will leave those mechanics to leaders in Congress, but what we’re discussing with them is where we can find agreements on many of the proposals and ideas the President has put forward.

Question on the Families Plan, during the campaign, President Biden proposed free tuition to four-year colleges and universities for students whose families earn $125,000 or less. His Families Plan released last week, as you know, only offers free tuition to students to attend two-year community colleges. Why did he not go through with that larger plan for free schooling at universities and college? Why was it limited to just community colleges?

Jen Psaki: (32:53)
Well, let me first say, while the American Families Plan is a historic investment in education and childcare, free universal pre-K for three and four year olds across the country, which we know would have a huge impact. You’re 58% more likely to graduate from high school if you go to preschool as opposed to daycare and two years of community college, but this is not the totality of what the President hopes to do on education. This is a significant investment, a historic investment that he’s proposing, but we’re less than 107 days, I know we are, into the administration. Go ahead.

Thanks, Jen. Does the President and the House Department of Education believe that public schools should require that students get vaccinated once folks under 16 [inaudible 00:33:40] available to get vaccinated, whether it’s Pfizer, Moderna, what have you, in the next couple of months?

Jen Psaki: (33:46)
It’s not my understanding that we’re putting in new requirements here from the federal government. I would expect the Department of Education will work with local schools and school districts on implementation and how to keep students and teachers safe.

Would the White House come out in support of teachers unions who are already pretty public about the fact that they would want students under 16 to get vaccinated if they can vaccinated and are eligible to get vaccinated?

Jen Psaki: (34:09)
I don’t have any anticipation of requirements from the federal government at this point in time, but obviously, we’ll look to our health and medical experts on any additional guidance to provide.

What do you [mean like passing for 00:34:19] on social media? I know the President is very pro union, but we just have to keep [reading 00:34:24] all the time, would at least invite them here to have conversations. Do you anticipate that President Biden would at least come out on the side of the unions for this specific issue?

Jen Psaki: (34:31)
I wouldn’t. I would say that the President is going to abide by the advice and guidance of health and medical experts. Certainly, we put out public health information. We’ve put out mitigation steps that schools can take in order to protect their school population, but I don’t have anything else to predict for you at this point in time.

Sorry, just one more.

Jen Psaki: (34:49)
Sure.

I just want to get the White House to respond to the backlash Liz Cheney has been getting recently for coming out and saying that, honestly, Biden won the election fair and square. In fact, the Republicans are saying that that’s not true. It’s a bit of hogwash and, obviously, I’m taking artistic liberties there, but is the [inaudible 00:35:08] response to the Republicans kind of ganging up on her or having a negative reaction to that?

Jen Psaki: (35:13)
Well, I would say first that the Republican party seems to be spending a lot of blood, sweat, and tears trying to figure out where they stand and what they stand for. That’s their prerogative. But our focus is on, and how we’re spending our time is on defeating the pandemic, growing our economy, building on that for the long run.

Jen Psaki: (35:35)
It’s no secret that the President doesn’t see eye to eye on many policies with Congresswoman Cheney, but his view is that the American people elected him and also many people representing them in Congress to solve problems for them. He’s going to continue to seek civility even when he disagrees.

Jen Psaki: (35:55)
Oh, let me just get around and then I’ll come back to you, if that’s okay. Go ahead, Jonathan.

Jonathan: (35:58)
Okay, thanks. President Biden just recently nominated somebody to run the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It will be his first Senate-confirmed administrator in years. The agency has been criticized for years by traffic safety advocates for not doing anything, especially for trucks they’re supposed to regulate. For example, since 2016, they have a proposed rule to limit the speed of trucks, which hasn’t been acted on now in five years. Did the President discuss safety when he nominated her to take over the agency?

Jen Psaki: (36:31)
I’m not sure there’s been a discussion with her directly. Obviously, if she was selected or nominated to serve in this particular role, but it’s my understanding that the Department of Transportation, I should say, sorry, is examining available tools to address exactly the problems that you’ve outlined, which could include awareness training and supporting healthy practices, preventive medical intervention and regulation, but we’d really defer to them on their processes.

Jonathan: (36:59)
The President also recently named three people to the Chemical Safety Board, which had been down to one of five board members for the last year. What didn’t he make that some of his early earliest appointments or nominations?

Jen Psaki: (37:09)
Well, as you touch on Jonathan, the Chemical Safety Board has a significant backlog of cases pending. Currently, it only has one board member out of five. The President wanted to fill the vacancies, or hopes to fill the vacancies, quickly to make sure the board is able to fulfill its responsibilities and review these cases in a timely manner and certainly the impact communities across the country.

Jonathan: (37:31)
One last question, there’s a bunch of [inaudible 00:37:32] may include, when I cover, who would love to still see another round of stimulus checks, direct payments even every month until the pandemic ends. It hadn’t been in either of the President’s new proposals, but that’s something that could be on the table.

Jen Psaki: (37:47)
Well, I mean, first I would say that in the President’s new proposal, he does call for an historic expansion, I should say, extension of the child tax credit. If passed, the families of tens of millions of children will continue to get regular payments that total up to $3,000 per year for kids age six and over and $3,600 for kids under six. Obviously, we’re continuing to evaluate what their needs are to continue to get the pandemic under control, put people back to work, but we think that’s also a proposal that will have a long-term benefit.

Jonathan: (38:20)
Do you think that there could be another round of direct payments in one of these bills?

Jen Psaki: (38:23)
We’ll see what members of Congress propose, but those are not free.

Jen Psaki: (38:28)
Go ahead in the back.

Jen, my first question is on ambassadorships. Many key picks have not been made for these roles, which serve as a representation of American diversity oversees. The United States has never had a lesbian woman or transgender person as an ambassador. Is the President missing an opportunity to name those firsts?

Jen Psaki: (38:53)
Well, given we haven’t named many ambassadors quite yet, and we hope to soon, stay tuned, certainly the President looks to ensuring that the people-

Jen Psaki: (39:03)
Certainly, the President looks to ensuring that the people representing him, not just in the United States, but around the world, represent the diversity of the country. And that certainly includes people who are LGBTQ, members of the transgender community. I don’t have any predictions for you on that front, but I will say that he’s soon, I’m sure, will be evaluating some recommended nominees coming from our personnel office and our national security team to fill some important posts. And he, of course, always looks at diversity.

Speaker 5: (39:31)
Could you define soon a little bit further? What was that, like days, months, weeks?

Jen Psaki: (39:34)
Well, I think it depends on when the President makes some decisions and he’ll continue to consider a range of options for a lot of the positions that are out there and still remain vacant. I will say having served at the State Department for a couple of years, there are incredible career service employees who are serving in these embassies around the world who are representing the United States and our values. That continues to be the case. But of course, we’re eager to have ambassadors in place and confirmed to represent the President and the Vice President.

Jen Psaki: (40:04)
Go ahead.

Speaker 5: (40:05)
Thank you. My second inquiry is on the President’s speech to Congress last week. He told transgender youth he has their backs. And the President made these remarks in the context of states enacting laws against transgender youth including a measure the Tennessee governor signed just today requiring parental notification on LGBTQ inclusive school curriculum. The President’s inclusion of transgender people in his speech to Congress is significant, in and of itself, but what will the President having their backs look like going forward?

Jen Psaki: (40:41)
Well, certainly the President has signed executive orders. He’s also used the power of the bully pulpit and his presidency to convey that transgender rights are human rights. And that is his belief and the view of his administration and how he expects policies to be implemented. That includes ensuring that transgender youth have the opportunity to play sports and to be treated equally in states across the country. So he will look to members of his administration to implement what his view is and what his value is as President.

Speaker 5: (41:14)
Would you rule out legal action against these laws going forward as part of that?

Jen Psaki: (41:17)
I will leave that to the Department of Justice. Go ahead in the back.

Speaker 6: (41:20)
Thank you, Jen, very much. A couple of questions and then another one from [inaudible 00:41:23] Will President Biden give an update on sharing vaccines with the world today? And, for example, is there any consideration to let go the unordered vaccine supply that will be redistributed here also to other countries? Is there consideration for that?

Jen Psaki: (41:42)
Well, our focus right now is on allowing the AstraZeneca vaccine supply that we have expected over the next couple of months, going through a process to determine where we can provide those vaccines. So, right now, we have zero doses available. We hope to have about 10 million in the coming weeks and about an additional 50 million in the coming months. And there is a process internally that’s determining where those doses will go, but that’s really where our focus is at this moment. But we will continue to evaluate ways to increase and expand global vaccine supply around the world beyond that.

Speaker 6: (42:19)
So does the White House believe they could be doing more or faster to help closing the gap between vaccination in rich countries and the rest of the world? Or do you believe the 60 million doses of AstraZeneca are enough?

Jen Psaki: (42:35)
I don’t think I said it was enough. I think I said that that is where our focus is at this moment, but we will continue to look for ways to … Our objective is to be a big contributing component of providing as much global supply in as cost-effective manner as possible. And that’s what we’re evaluating now. So the 60 million is what we know we will have available in the coming months.

Speaker 6: (42:58)
Jen, you just went through a list of help that administration is giving to India. And that is a great coordination to help India. Why we are not seeing the same response or engagement from this White House with Brazil? A lot of experts around the world, they’re saying Brazil is living a humanitarian catastrophe and there are more deaths in Brazil than in India. So why such a difference? And we know that Brazil also asked for oxygen, sedatives. Is the White House, or is the administration, considering sending additional help to Brazil?

Jen Psaki: (43:35)
Well, recognizing that the fight against COVID-19 is a global struggle, we are working to partner with the government of Brazil and the Pan American Health Organization to finalize access to $20 million worth of critical intubation medications needed to save Brazilian lives. These medications will come from the US government facilitated purchase and from the US Strategic National Stockpile. The support is being offered to offset global supply shortages, and will enable Brazil to receive sufficient medication to meet their immediate hospital needs. So that is an effort that’s underway. Has not yet been finalized, but we are working in partnership with the government of Brazil on that.

Speaker 6: (44:17)
So being the least to receive the AstraZeneca doses?

Jen Psaki: (44:20)
There are a range of requests we’ve had from around the world. We’re evaluating those needs now, but I can’t get ahead of that process.

Speaker 6: (44:26)
Can I just ask one more for my colleague [inaudible 00:44:28] MVS Radio from Mexico. He’s saying at least 20 people have been killed in protests that they have been going on in Colombia for a week. And now nearly a thousand cases of police brutality have been reported. Is the President being briefed about the situation in Colombia and what is the White House response?

Jen Psaki: (44:50)
I’ll have to ask our national security team on the latest engagement we’ve had with the Colombian government and others on that. And I will get back to you with a comment.

Speaker 6: (44:58)
Quickly one. Last one. Sorry. Does the White House believe the former president, President Trump, should be allowed to return to Facebook and Instagram?

Jen Psaki: (45:07)
It’s a decision being made by an independent oversight board. Beyond that, we don’t have any further comment. Go ahead.

Speaker 7: (45:13)
Thanks, Jen. I want to ask you a few about taxes real quick.

Jen Psaki: (45:16)
Fun.

Speaker 7: (45:16)
Yeah. Fun. Taxes goes for the last one in the back, right?

Jen Psaki: (45:20)
That’s right. That’s right.

Speaker 7: (45:22)
On the [SALT cap 00:45:23], some congressional Democrats are saying no SALT cap repeal, no deal with the President as it goes forward with his tax plan. Democrats up on the hill. We know the position that the White House has had for several weeks now, so I’m wondering, what’s more likely at this point for the White House to move towards these congressional Democrats or congressional Democrats, in this case, to back off their position eventually?

Jen Psaki: (45:45)
We don’t know yet. This is democracy in action. This is what’s fun about this. We are having discussions. We are certainly aware of the members who have conveyed a strong view about the SALT deduction, and we’ll have that discussion with them. We’re eager to hear their proposals. Some of them have put some proposals forward. I think what we’re factoring in here in the discussion is that, I think as you and I have talked about before, this is not a revenue raiser. So it would be additional cost. That’s okay. But then you have to determine either how to pay for it. What other things are cut out? Certainly, that would be a part of the discussion.

Speaker 8: (46:21)
We heard from the President yesterday about the step-up in basis. He sort of laid out the argument as to why that should be eliminated. For wealthy individuals upon inheritance, it essentially lowers the capital gains burden. The tax foundation gave an example on a hundred million in gains, they say that the tax on that would be 61%. We know the White House was positioned that the wealthiest need to pay their fair share. I think anyone would agree that a hundred million dollars in gains is a lot of money. But I guess the question is whether or not a 61% tax bill is reasonable. Does the White House believe that’s reasonable?

Jen Psaki: (46:58)
I’d have to talk to our number crunchers about the specific example you gave. I don’t know what percentage of people have a hundred million dollars in capital gains. Maybe you know. That sounds like quite a lot to me. But the fundamental value here the President is conveying is that his proposals are about making a historic investment in education and childcare. That’s going to make us more competitive to compete with China, to bring more women back into the workforce. He’s proposed a way to pay for it that’s going to impact, as it relates to capital gains, 0.3% of the population. And the example you gave, I don’t even know, that’s probably 0.0. I don’t know what percentage of the population. That’s his proposal. There are other proposals that can be put forward, but I have to look at the specific statistics with our team to give an evaluation on that.

Speaker 8: (47:47)
And lastly, in the American Families Plan, it calls for financial banks and financial institutions to report account flows. The Treasury Department said it would add, quote, information about aggregate account outflows and inflows, basically money coming in and out of one’s bank account. And the question is, there’s a concern that maybe that’s the federal government having too big of an insight into what’s going into your bank account and of what’s coming out of your bank account, along with that it would just make filing your taxes a whole lot tougher.

Jen Psaki: (48:19)
It’s already a pain.

Speaker 8: (48:20)
It’s already a pain. Is that too much for the federal government to know what’s coming in and what’s coming out of your bank?

Jen Psaki: (48:26)
So what this proposal is, as you know, but just to explain to others, is cracking down more on ensuring people are paying the taxes they should be paying on their income at the rates they should be paying them at. There’s a number of implementation mechanisms for that. And obviously, the IRS can outline that more specifically than I can. But again, this is a proposal about how to pay for historic investments in childcare and education. If people have alternative proposals that don’t raise taxes on people making less than $400,000 a year that will help pay for this, we’re quite open to them.

Speaker 8: (49:01)
And one last one real quick. Mitch McConnell put forth, or basically said that Republicans would be willing to go forward with the $600 billion infrastructure plan. No. Do not touch the corporate tax structure that is currently in place. The White House’s response to that is what?

Jen Psaki: (49:19)
Well, I think, one, there’s a counterproposal that we’re happy that we’re going to have a discussion about with Senator Capito next week. There’s lots of discussions at a staff level. I think the question there is, is he suggesting we don’t need to pay for the proposal? It sounds like it. Unless there’s an alternative-

Speaker 8: (49:35)
[inaudible 00:49:35] people who use-

Jen Psaki: (49:36)
Which, again, as we’ve talked about, user fees would put the burden on the backs of the American people, would make it so that people driving a car … It depends on what the user fees are, right? If it’s basically a tax for the number of miles you drive, as an example, or other user fees, that means people making $50,000, $100,000, $150,000 a year are going to have to pay for these proposals. We have a difference of view on the pay force. Our view is that the 1% of people who are making over a $400,000 a year can afford to pay a little bit more. But we can have a discussion about that.

Speaker 8: (50:13)
Thank you, Jen.

Jen Psaki: (50:13)
Thanks, everyone.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki White House Press Conference Transcript May 4

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