It’s Wednesday aka St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick’s Day also marks President Joe Biden’s 56th day in office.
For day 56 aka St. Patrick’s Day President Biden will receive his daily brief. This afternoon he will hold a virtual meeting with Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) Micheál Martin. The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. D.C., time.
Ahead of the meeting the White House posted a fact-sheet that says “Today, in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and to reaffirm the United States’ close partnership with Ireland, President Biden will host Micheál Martin, Prime Minister of Ireland, for a virtual bilateral meeting. In today’s meeting they will emphasize their commitment to:”
Combating COVID-19:
The top priority for the President and Taoiseach is ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Our two countries are committed to working together to safely restore global travel, work within multilateral fora to prevent and respond to future outbreaks, and ensure a sustainable global economic recovery.Addressing Global Challenges:
The United States and Ireland have long partnered bilaterally and through multilateral institutions to advance democratic values in the world and to protect these values from authoritarian threats.Increasing Our Shared Prosperity:
The United States and Ireland share a deep trade and investment relationship. Ireland’s foreign direct investment in the United States was approximately $343.5 billion in 2019 and supported 336,400 U.S.-based jobs. Today, more than 900 U.S.-owned firms operate in Ireland. The President and the Taoiseach are committed to ensuring this prosperity provides jobs and opportunity for the middle class.Supporting the Good Friday Agreement:
For over twenty years the Good Friday Agreement (also known as the Belfast Agreement) has been the bedrock of peace, stability, and prosperity for all the people of Northern Ireland. The United States continues to support the agreement and its implementation. Since 1986 the United States has contributed more than $544 million to the International Fund for Ireland for projects that sustain the peace process and generate cross-community engagement and economic opportunity.Strengthening People-to-People Ties:
White House.gov. 03/17/2021.
The Irish and American people enjoy a special bond. Over 30 million Americans, almost ten percent of the population, claim Irish heritage. We are committed to preserving and strengthening that bond through educational, cultural, and professional exchange and development opportunities.
On a background press call a senior administration official explained that “There will be a press avail at the top, where both leaders will be giving remarks. And of great importance to the President, there will also be the traditional ceremony with the Shamrock bowl, with the Irish government having sent a beautiful engraved bowl here to the White House in Washington, along with shamrocks so that we will be able to preserve this part of the bilateral meeting and the ties between our countries, even though we are doing this in a virtual way this year.”
The White House tweeted this morning:
President Biden added 4 tweets to the 1 as seen in Tuesday’s Open Thread giving him a total of 5 tweets and no retweets for Tuesday.
3:38 p.m. D.C., time he says that there were nearly 6 million vaccine doses administered over the weekend with over 2 million doses administered on Monday.
The White House COVID-19 Response Team posted on Monday:
The next 3 tweets focus on the American Rescue Plan and were sent @ 5:33 p.m., 8:44 p.m., and 10:39 p.m. D.C., time.
CNN Business on March 11th, 2021 broke down the money as follows:
- $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program
- Through the State Small Business Credit Initiative, the legislation allocates $10 billion for state governments to help leverage private capital and make low-interest loans and other investments to help their small business economies recover.
- The legislation earmarks $15 billion to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan grants program to be given to small businesses in underserved areas, especially those that are minority-owned.
- The American Rescue Plan includes nearly $29 billion to create a grant program that provides direct relief to restaurants.
- Another $15 billion will be added to the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants program, created by the previous economic aid package.
- Additional funding for the Small Business Administration: To help the SBA administer all the new programs that have fallen under its purview as a result of the pandemic, the bill allocates another $1.325 billion to its budget.
NPR on March 11th, 2021, broke down the small business as follows:
There’s a variety of provisions in the legislation to offer support to different industries. The Small Business Administration will get $25 billion for a new grant program for “restaurants and other food and drinking establishments.” Grants will be up to $10 million per entity and $5 million per physical location, with a maximum of 20 locations.
The legislation sets aside $5 billion of the total money to be targeted to businesses with less than $500,000 in revenue in 2019.The legislation includes another $1.25 billion for the Small Business Administration’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.
To support the transportation sector, the legislation allocates nearly $30 billion for transit costs, including payroll and personal protective equipment; $8 billion for airports; $3 billion for a temporary payroll support program to help support the aerospace manufacturing industry; and $1.5 billion to recall and pay Amtrak employees who were furloughed because of the pandemic and to restore various daily routes. Another $15 billion will also be allocated to support workers in the airline industry.
NPR. 03/11/2021.
In his second tweet he posts a video.
The video is 1 minute and 6 seconds long, appears to be snips from conversations had by him?, possibly with two small business owners. One is female the other is male. It also features a snip from his Rose Garden celebration of the passing of the American Rescue Plan, which was held on Friday March 12th, 2021.
In his last tweet for Tuesday he shares an image of himself from Smith Flooring where he visited to discuss how the American Rescue Plan will help them.
Smith Flooring is located in Chester, Pennsylvania. Factbase Videos posted remarks made by President Biden from Smith Flooring.
His full remarks can be found @ White House.gov.
For St. Patrick’s Day President Biden has tweeted 1 time so far.
11:00 a.m. D.C., time he says that he looks forward to renewing our bond to Ireland this afternoon.
The daily press briefing is scheduled for 3 p.m. D.C., time, with special guest Educational Secretary Miguel Cardona expected to attend.
Live Feed: White House.
This is an Open Thread.
