It’s Friday.
Friday March 5th, 2021, marks President Biden’s 44th day in office.
For day 44, President Biden will receive his daily brief, followed by lunch with Vice President Harris. After lunch President Biden and Vice President Harris will meet with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to be briefed on the economy, afterward, President Biden will participate in roundtable to discuss the American Rescue Plan.
Speaking of the economy news…
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released February’s job report Friday morning.
According to the report total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 379,000 in February with the unemployment rate, changing little, coming in at 6.2 percent.
Economic reporter with Politico, Megan Cassella, tweeted that permanent job losses, long-term unemployment and labor force dropouts are staying elevated.
Economic/Business reporter with the New York Times, posted a long Twitter thread featuring charts. I will not be posting the entire thread, but here are some chart highlights:
February was way better than January, but it’s important to keep that in perspective. We’re still down 9.5 million jobs from prepandemic levels. pic.twitter.com/ogXgaZCRq9
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) March 5, 2021
There wasn’t nearly the same strength in other sectors. Retail was up, but not more than in Jan. Construction actually lost jobs (though weather could be a factor there). Temp. hiring was slower than in January. pic.twitter.com/fcKz6C62Oj
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) March 5, 2021
The unemployment rate fell to 6.2%. But the unemployment rate is *extra* misleading right now, as Fed officials have been emphasizing lately. Good @jeannasmialek story on that discussion here: https://t.co/xmG6a1JlVA pic.twitter.com/8uBThCV8oU
— Ben Casselman (@bencasselman) March 5, 2021
Cecilia Rouse, the newly confirmed chair of the Council of Economic Advisers responded in a blog posted at White House.gov., to the BLS jobs report where she wrote that while today’s report showed acceleration in job growth for February we are still down 9.5 million jobs, from February 2020.
This morning’s jobs report shows an acceleration in job growth in February and an upward revision to January’s job growth. However, the economy remains down 9.5 million jobs from February 2020 and will require more than two years of job growth at February’s pace just to get back to pre-pandemic levels.
White House.gov. 03/05/2021.
She goes on to say that “by far the worst hit industry is leisure and hospitality,” adding that this industry accounts for around 36 percent of the jobs lost during the coronavirus pandemic.
The overall jobs gap masks very different trends across industries. By far the worst hit industry is leisure and hospitality. Leisure and hospitality added 355,000 jobs in February, and its losses in January were revised down. However, over the last three months the industry has lost an average of 56,000 jobs, reflecting heavy losses in December. This industry alone accounts for around 36 percent of jobs lost during the pandemic. On the other hand, the financial activities sector, where workers can more easily telecommute, has held up relatively well, down only 1 percent from February 2020. State and local government employment continues to suffer, down 1.4 million jobs from February 2020, of which one million are in education.
White House.gov. 03/05/2021.
President Biden added 3 tweets and one retweet to his one tweet, as seen in Thursday’s Open Thread, giving him a Twitter total of 4 tweets and 1 retweet, for Thursday.
At 2:48 p.m. D.C., time he says he looks forward to signing into law H.R. 1 after it passes through the legislative process.
H.R.1– For the People Act of 2021 can be found at congress.gov.
NPR reported that H.R.1 For the People Act of 2021, is a reboot of a 2019 bill under the same name. The bill passed the House on Wednesday night, 220-210, but is not expected to gain support in the narrowly Democratic held Senate.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, wrote an op-ed, which CNN‘s fact-checkers, Daniel Dale, Holmes Lybrand, and Tara Subramaniam, called “dishonest,” regarding the election reform bill.
According to the fact-check of that op-ed, they write:
Voter identification
Pence claimed in the piece that voter ID would be banned from “Coast to Coast.”
This is false. The bill does not prohibit states from having voter identification requirements. Rather, it requires states to allow voters who do not show ID to instead submit a signed statement under penalty of perjury attesting to their identity and eligibility to vote. Pence could fairly argue that this provision weakens voter ID rules; Heritage Action for America, an advocacy organization connected to The Heritage Foundation, has argued that the provision “sabotages” and “undermines” state rules. But Pence’s declaration that voter ID would be “banned” is not true.
CNN. 03/03/2021.
Pence went on to claim that this bill would allow for Undocumented immigrates to vote.
This is false. The bill does not change current law that bans people who aren’t citizens of the United States, including undocumented immigrants, from voting in federal elections. The bill makes clear that people would still have to affirm that they are US citizens before they are added to the voter rolls. It also says that the government agencies involved in the process are to inform only US citizens that they will be registered to vote unless they choose to opt out. And it says the agencies are required to send state elections officials not only people’s names but “information showing that the individual is a citizen of the United States.”
CNN. 03/03/2021.
For fairness, Pence did get one statement true, the bill does allow formerly incarcerated people with Pence writing, “felons would be able to vote the moment they set foot out of prison.”
This is correct. Under the bill, people who have committed felonies would be allowed to vote in federal elections unless they are currently incarcerated.
[According to CNN, the House] voted 328 to 97 to defeat an amendment from progressive Democrats to extend federal voting rights to people who are still incarcerated.
CNN. 03/03/2021.
At 4:49 p.m. D.C., time he pushes the American Rescue Plan which is currently pending action in the Senate.
According to CNN‘s live updates, the Senate is now starting the process informally known as “vote-a-rama”.
At 8:02 p.m. D.C., he shares his “infrastructure week” image.
This is the second time, President Biden and Vice President held a bipartisan meeting to discuss “infrastructure week”.
The White House posted a readout of the meeting:
Today, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg met in the Oval Office with a bipartisan group of Members of Congress from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to discuss the critical need to invest in modern and sustainable American infrastructure, including strengthening and enhancing American roads, bridges, waterways, schools, housing, and more. The discussion follows a bipartisan meeting the Administration held with Senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee last month and it is part of ongoing engagements on infrastructure with Members of Congress and stakeholders.
The President, Vice President, Secretary, and Members of Congress discussed their shared commitment to working across the aisle to build modern and sustainable infrastructure in rural, suburban, and urban areas across the country that create good-paying, union jobs and support the economic recovery. They also shared their commitment for ensuring new and existing infrastructure is modernized to withstand the impacts of climate change while creating jobs with the choice to join a union and leading the world in a clean energy revolution. Additionally, they emphasized the Administration’s commitment to creating skilled-trades jobs across construction, manufacturing, and engineering sectors, fulfilling our obligation to working communities too often left behind, and positioning America to compete and win the 21st century.
The Administration leaders were grateful to hold a constructive conversation about delivering infrastructure and jobs for American communities and to exchange ideas that further inform President Biden’s economic recovery plans to build back better for working families.
White House.gov. 03/04/2021.
President Biden has not tweeted so far for Friday.
Today’s White House daily press briefing is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. D.C., time.
Ahead of her daily briefing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki posted 4 tweets that might feature in today’s press briefing.
Live Feed: White House.
President Biden’s roundtable on the American Rescue Plan is scheduled to start at 3:15 p.m. D.C., time.
Live Feed: White House.
This is an Open Thread.
Have a great weekend everyone!
