It’s Thursday.
Today marks President Biden’s 43rd day in office.
For day 43, President Biden will receive his daily brief. At 2:00 p.m. D.C., time he will meet with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg along with a bipartisan group of House members to discuss infrastructure. At 5:00 p.m. D.C., time, the President will speak with NASA JPL Perseverance team to congratulate them on a successful Mars landing.
To finish his Wednesday tweeting, he tweeted 5 more times, adding to his 1 tweet covered in Wednesday’s Open Thread.
1:52 p.m. D.C., time he tweeted that 200,000 Americans have gotten health insurance, since his Administration opened a special enrollment period.
January 28th, 2021, President Biden signed two Executive Actions in order to “restore and strengthen Americans’ access to quality health care.” One such action was to open a special enrollment period from February 15, 2021, through May 15, 2021, so that, anyone in need of health insurance during the pandemic could sign-up.
On February 15, 2021, President Biden offered a statement regarding the start of the special enrollment period.
Starting today and running through May 15, 2021, we are opening HealthCare.gov for all Americans to have the opportunity to sign up for health insurance. Now, everyone will be able to use a special enrollment period to help secure some peace of mind as we work to beat the pandemic and strengthen and build on the Affordable Care Act.
White House.gov. 02/15/2021.
On Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021, he offered another statement.
Snips from the statement.
On February 15, my administration opened HealthCare.gov for three months to provide all Americans the opportunity to sign up for health insurance through a special enrollment period. In the two weeks since, more than 200,000 Americans have gotten covered. These numbers are an encouraging sign — but we can’t slow down until every American has the security and peace of mind that quality, affordable health coverage provides.
There is plenty of time left to sign up, and I encourage everyone who needs health insurance to go to HealthCare.gov before May 15. If you already have coverage, you can help family members and friends who are uninsured get themselves covered.
White House.gov. 03/03/2021.
At 5:30 p.m. D.C., time, he shares a White House tweet that says 77 percent of those polled support the American Rescue Plan.
The White House tweet was posted on March 3rd, 2021.
I found the following Morning Consult poll that corresponds with the 77 percent number shared.
According to the article, Morning Consult found that:
- 77% of voters backed the stimulus plan when its Democratic origin is not disclosed vs. 71% who did so when the Democratic label was included.
- 59% of GOP voters say they support the $1.9 trillion stimulus package; 53% of GOP voters who were told it was the Democrats’ plan still backed it.
- 40% of voters say Congress should raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, while 29% prefer an $11-per-hour baseline.
The poll’s PDF is 340 pages long. They, to the cheering of all, shared their methodology first, not last…
This poll was conducted between February 26-March 1, 2021 among a national sample of 1992 Registered Voters. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Registered Voters based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Morning Consult PDF (pg.1). 03/03/2021.
According to the article shared by Morning Consult, the latest survey tested whether partisanship would “materially impact level of support,” for President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.
They say they found it mattered little; When provided the partisan framing along with the details of the proposal, 71 percent of voters — including 53 percent of Republicans — still supported it. The split-sample responses carry a margin of error of 3 percentage points, while the broader poll of 1,992 registered voters has a 2-point margin of error.
@ 6:37 p.m. D.C., time, he shares a propaganda/PSA video.
The video is 8 seconds long, and comes as Texas, and other states lift mask mandates.
During a press spray in the Oval Office President Biden was asked to react to the news that Governor Abbott (R-TX), was letting his mask mandate expire.
His full answer regarding the lifting of mask mandates:
President Biden: I think it’s a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody has realized by now: These masks make a difference. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally change the nature of this disease because of the way in which we’re able to get vaccines in people’s arms. We’ve been able to move that all the way up to the end of May to have enough for every American to get — every adult American to get a shot. And the last thing — the last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything is fine, take off your mask. Forget it. It still matters. I carry a card with me — I don’t have it. I put it on my desk. As of last — as of yesterday, we had lost 511,874 Americans. We’re going to lose thousands more. This will not occur — we’ll not have everybody vaccinated until sometime in the summer. We have the vaccine to do it. Getting a shot in someone’s arm and getting the second shot are going to take time. And it’s critical — critical, critical, critical — that they follow the science: Wash your hands — hot water; do it frequently. Wear a mask. And stay socially distanced. And I know you all know that. I wish the heck some of our elected officials knew it.
For more thoughts on the stupid choices made by elected leaders during a pandemic @ the News Blender.
At 8:20 p.m. D.C., time, he shared an image from his Oval Office meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers where they discussed what could be done to help end cancer.
The White House posted a readout of the meeting:
Today, President Biden and Vice President Harris met in the Oval Office with a bipartisan group of Members of Congress who have been leaders in supporting medical research to discuss the critical need to work together to end cancer as we know it. As the President, Vice President, and Members of Congress discussed, this is an issue that is personal and one that affects all families. They had a productive conversation and exchanged constructive ideas about how to make breakthrough progress in cancer research. They agreed to continue collaborating on ideas for investing in transformational research and committed to working across the aisle to deliver on the issue for the American people.
White House.gov. 03/03/2021.
At 9:58 p.m. D.C., time he tweeted that he was looking forward to working with his newly confirmed Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
She was confirmed in a vote 84-15 on March 2nd, 2021.
Senate.gov‘s roll-call has Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee not voting.
For Friday he has tweeted 1 time so far.
At 9:05 a.m. D.C., time he shares an image of himself walking to work.
I mean as far as images go, it’s not a bad one, and no, that is not a stain on his jacket, that is steam from his coffee. And yes, I did check by expanding the image, just in case someone asked about it.
The daily press briefing is scheduled at 12:45 p.m. D.C., time.
Live Feed: White House.
This is an Open Thread.
