It’s Monday aka President’s Day.
President’s Day marks President Biden’s 26th day of his first 100 day’s in office.
For day 26, President Biden will be traveling back to Washington, D.C., this afternoon from Camp David.
On Friday as the News Blender covered, President Biden had tweeted 2 times. To finish Friday, he added 4 more tweets, and no retweets giving him a total of 6 tweets for Friday.
4:55 p.m. D.C., time, he shared a 2 minute and 32 second video of his virtual tour of an Arizona vaccination site.
President Biden and Vice President Harris toured the State Farm Stadium vaccination site located in Glendale, Arizona on February 8th, 2021. The video is clips taken from the different speakers.
Their full remarks.
For a transcript of their full remarks you can find it here.
6:52 p.m. D.C., time, he offered a statement on the CDC guidelines for safely reopening schools, closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. He also mentions his American Rescue Plan.
Before taking office, I set a goal of opening most K-8 schools by the end of my first 100 days. It’s a national imperative—one that can only be achieved if Congress provides states and communities the resources they need to get it done safely through the American Rescue Plan.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 12, 2021
It’s also a goal we can meet if we follow the science. Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided the best available scientific evidence on how to reopen schools safely. https://t.co/IQVWO6iT0B
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 12, 2021
Statement via White House.gov.
before taking office, I set an ambitious but achievable goal of opening most K-8 schools by the end of my first 100 days. I’ve said all along that this is a national imperative — one that can only be achieved if Congress provides states and communities with the resources they need to get it done safely through the American Rescue Plan.
It is also a goal we can meet if we follow the science. Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, has provided the best available scientific evidence on how to reopen schools safely.
These scientific guidelines tell us that our schools are safer when we have appropriate distancing in classrooms and on school buses, when masks are worn consistently and properly, when handwashing occurs regularly, and when we are able to effectively respond to cases through testing and contact tracing, and when we follow other recommended steps. To meet these guidelines, some schools will need more teachers and support staff to ensure smaller class sizes, more buses and bus drivers to transport our kids safely, more spaces to conduct in-person instruction, and more protective equipment, school cleaning services, and physical alterations to reduce the risk of spread of the virus.
These needs cost money. But the cost of keeping our children, families, and educators safe is nothing when compared with the cost of inaction. Today, an entire generation of young people is on the brink of being set back up to a year or more in their learning. We are already seeing rising mental health concerns due in part to isolation. Educational disparities that have always existed grow wider each day that our schools remain closed and remote learning isn’t the same for every student. Our educators are frontline workers who are doing everything they can to protect and educate our students, despite a lack of resources and as districts face budget crises that risk education jobs. Moms — and dads — are exiting the workforce in astonishing numbers in order to care for and manage the school experience for their children at home, hindering their own opportunities and further undermining the health of our economy.
We have sacrificed so much in the last year. But science tells us that if we support our children, educators, and communities with the resources they need, we can get kids back to school safely in more parts of the country sooner.
When my Secretary of Education is confirmed, I will task him with working alongside school administrators, educators, and parents to safely accelerate the process of school reopenings. As many states continue to follow the CDC’s recommendation to prioritize teachers for vaccination, I urge all states to follow suit.
And given the irreversible costs of inaction, Congress needs to pass the American Rescue Plan right away — for our children, our families, our community, and our country.
We know what we need to do.
We need to move fast.
White House.gov. 02/12/2021.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH., posted several tweets about the CDC recommendations.
February 12th, 2021.
Science shows us K-12 schools that have implemented strict #COVID19 mitigation strategies have been able to safely open for in-person instruction & remain open. Today, @CDCgov released a roadmap on how to do this safely: https://t.co/j7xzymsOfX
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) February 12, 2021
An important aspect of @CDCgov’s strategy for K-12 schools is using prevention methods together to provide the greatest level of protection from #COVID19. Highest priority strategies are universal & correct use of masks and physical distancing of at least 6 ft between people.
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) February 12, 2021
ACIP recommends that frontline essential workers, including teachers and school staff, be prioritized for #COVID19 vaccination. As such, I strongly encourage states to prioritize teachers and other school staff to get vaccinated as soon a supply allows.
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) February 12, 2021
She stopped the thread there on Friday, but added a tweet to the thread on Sunday, saying that she wanted to be clear, the release of the operational strategy, was not mandating anything, it was simply a roadmap to how schools could safely reopen.
I want to be clear – with the release of @CDCgov's operational strategy for schools, we are not mandating that schools reopen. These recommendations simply provide schools a long-needed roadmap for how to do so safely under different levels of disease in the community.
— Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH (@CDCDirector) February 14, 2021
At 7:30 p.m. D.C., time he shared a photo of himself and his wife First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, talking a walk on Friday morning.
The dogs running across the lawn, steal the show…
For Saturday and Sunday he tweeted a total of 6 times. Two on Saturday and four on Sunday.
At 10:01 a.m. D.C., time, he posts a 2 minute and 56 second video of his virtual conversation with Samir and Neal from Georgia.
The brothers are small business owners of an Indian restaurant in Georgia. Neal calls it “an Indian restaurant concept” which they opened ten-years ago. He goes on to say that when COVID-19 hit they had to adapt their business. Neal than explains that when President Biden found out about their situation he reached out.
The President and the brothers discuss that in order for businesses to survive American’s need vaccinated.
And yes, there is a push for the American Rescue Plan.
His last tweet for Saturday was sent at 4:15 p.m. D.C., time.
The White House released a transcript of his remarks from the Oval Office.
Hello, everybody. Thanks for coming in. I’m fortunate to have today a group of leading governors and mayors of both political parties to talk about the COVID plan that we’ve put forward, and their needs and their ideas and their recommendations on how to proceed.
And the American Rescue Plan is — has multiple pieces. The most important piece, in my view, is making sure we give them enough capacity to deal with the virus in their states and how we’re going to do that.
But equally consequential is the need to help the states economically, in terms of everything from unemployment to being able to make sure that they’re able to get kids back in schools and what role the federal government should play in helping getting that done.
And, you know, if — these folks are all on the frontlines. They’ve been dealing with this crisis from day one. It’s — I’m not making a political statement; it just it’s taken a while to adjust. They’ve been left on their own, in many cases.
I think some have found what I found when I got here: that what we thought was available, in terms of everything from vaccine to vaccinators, was not the case.
So I thank them for the work they did in their cities and their states in order to respond to the crisis. But I think it’s — and I’ve said it plainly when I was running and as President — that I think the federal government has a major role to play here. But these are the folks that are on the ground dealing with it every single solitary day. And they see the pain, and they see the successes when they occur.
And what I really want to know about is what should that — the recovery plan — should we have more or less of anything in it; what do they think they need most; how to proceed. Because as I’ve said before, you know, governors and mayors — that’s a real job.
I was a senator for years. I got in a train every day and came to Washington, D.C., and I’d get asked questions by the conductors and the shoeshine guys and the ticket masters and — but every single day, these folks are home. Every single day, they’re meeting with their constituents.
We’re down here in Washington, and we meet with them. I don’t mean to belittle them at all, but it’s not the same as being on the ground. And so whenever I want to know what’s really happening, I want to talk — and I’m not being solicitous — to governors and mayors.
And so thank you for being here. And that’s what we’re going to be doing today. Thank you all.
White House.gov. 02/12/2021.
Sunday aka Valentines Day his first tweet was sent at 11:35 a.m. D.C., time.
From the Executive Order:
Section 1. Policy. Faith-based and other community-serving organizations are vital to our Nation’s ability to address the needs of, and lift up, low-income and other underserved persons and communities, notably including persons of color. The American people are key drivers of fundamental change in our country, and few institutions are closer to the people than our faith-based and other community organizations. It is important that the Federal Government strengthen the ability of such organizations and other nonprofit providers in our communities to deliver services effectively in partnership with Federal, State, and local governments and with other private organizations, while preserving our fundamental constitutional commitments guaranteeing the equal protection of the laws and the free exercise of religion and forbidding the establishment of religion. The Federal Government can preserve these fundamental commitments while empowering faith-based and secular organizations to assist in the delivery of vital services in our neighborhoods. These partnerships are also vital for the success and effectiveness of the United States’ diplomatic, international development, and humanitarian work around the world.
Sec. 2. Establishment. There is established a White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (White House Partnerships Office) within the Executive Office of the President, supported by the Domestic Policy Council and the Office of Public Engagement, that will have lead responsibility in the executive branch for establishing policies, priorities, and objectives for the Federal Government’s comprehensive effort to enlist, equip, enable, empower, and expand the work of community-serving organizations, both faith-based and secular, to the extent permitted by law.
White House.gov. 02/14/2021.
At 3:35 p.m. D.C., time he offers his congratulations to Italy’s new Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
NPR reported on Saturday that Draghi “who formerly served as the head of the European Central Bank, took the oath of office with support from across the political spectrum with all but one of Italy’s major parties backing him. Twenty-three members of Draghi’s cabinet, which included technocrats and a broad swath of politicians, also took the oath of office Saturday.”
They go on to say; Draghi faces parliamentary votes of confidence next week, and with only one major party not included in his cabinet — the far-right Brothers of Italy — he’s expected to net the biggest majority in Italian history.
Reuters explains that some members of the 5-star movement, “which was created in 2009 as an anti-system, anti-euro protest group, have said they might vote against Draghi, threatening a party schism.”
Prime Minster Giuseppe Conte, as the News Blender reported resigned his post, in late January of 2021.
At 4:42 p.m. D.C., time, he published a statement regarding the anniversary of the Parkland school shooting that left 14 students dead along with 3 educators killed.
Three years ago today, a lone gunman took the lives of 14 students and three educators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In seconds, the lives of dozens of families, and the life of an American community, were changed forever.
For three years now, the Parkland families have spent birthdays and holidays without their loved ones. They’ve missed out on the experience of sending their children off to college or seeing them on their first job after high school. Like far too many families, they’ve had to bury pieces of their soul deep within the Earth. Like far too many families — and, indeed, like our nation — they’ve been left to wonder whether things would ever be okay.
These families are not alone. In big cities and small towns. In schools and shopping malls. In churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples. In movie theaters and concert halls. On city street corners that will never get a mention on the evening news. All across our nation, parents, spouses, children, siblings, and friends have known the pain of losing a loved one to gun violence. And in this season of so much loss, last year’s historic increase in homicides across America, including the gun violence disproportionately devastating Black and Brown individuals in our cities, has added to the number of empty seats at our kitchen tables. Today, as we mourn with the Parkland community, we mourn for all who have lost loved ones to gun violence.
Over these three years, the Parkland families have taught all of us something profound. Time and again, they have showed us how we can turn our grief into purpose – to march, organize, and build a strong, inclusive, and durable movement for change.
The White House. 02/14/2021.
He also says that he has called on Congress “to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets. We owe it to all those we’ve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change. The time to act is now.”
At 6 p.m. D.C., time., he wished his wife, First Lady Jill Biden a happy Valentines Day.
He has tweeted no times so far for Monday aka President’s Day. In light of the Holiday, we will not be taking a trip in our way-back machine until Tuesday. You’re welcome.
This is an Open Thread.
