It’s Thursday aka Two Weeks until my Disney Trip. *fingers crossed*
For Thursday, September 23rd, 2021, President Biden has received his daily brief. This afternoon he has lunch with Vice President Kamala Harris.
President Biden has tweeted 1 time so far for Thursday; I will be sharing it down thread.
When Biden Bits was published for Wednesday, President Biden tweeted 1 time. He added 6 tweets giving him a Wednesday Tweeting Total of 7 tweets and 0 retweets.
On Tuesday President Biden addressed the United Nations General Assembly. The below YouTube video is 33 minutes and 50 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
President Biden (1:19): Ladies and gentlemen, this is the clear and urgent choice that we face here at the dawning of what must be a decisive decade for our world — a decade that will quite literally determine our futures. As a global community, we’re challenged by urgent and looming crises wherein lie enormous opportunities if — if — we can summon the will and resolve to seize these opportunities.
President Biden (3:25): Simply put: We stand, in my view, at an inflection point in history. And I’m here today to share with you how the United States intends to work with partners and allies to answer these questions and the commitment of my new administration to help lead the world toward a more peaceful, prosperous future for all people.
President Biden (3:49): Instead of continuing to fight the wars of the past, we are fixing our eyes on devoting our resources to the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future: ending this pandemic; addressing the climate crisis; managing the shifts in global power dynamics; shaping the rules of the world on vital issues like trade, cyber, and emerging technologies; and facing the threat of terrorism as it stands today. We’ve ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan. And as we close this period of relentless war, we’re opening a new era of relentless diplomacy; of using the power of our development aid to invest in new ways of lifting people up around the world; of renewing and defending democracy; of proving that no matter how challenging or how complex the problems we’re going to face, government by and for the people is still the best way to deliver for all of our people.
On Wednesday President Biden held a virtual Global COVID-19 Summit.
The YouTube is 9 minutes and 31 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
President Biden (2:39): Today, I’m announcing another historic commitment. The United States is buying another half billion doses of Pfizer to donate to low- and middle-income countries around the world. This is another half a billion doses that will all be shipped by this time next year. And it brings our total commitment to — of donati- — of donated vaccines to over 1.1 billion vaccines to be donated. Put another way, for every one shot we’ve administered to date in America, we have now committed to do three shots to the rest of the world.
The White House has posted; U.S.-EU Agenda for Beating the Global Pandemic, the fact-sheet on President Biden’s Global COVID-19 Summit, and a fact-sheet on Targets for the Global COVID-19 Summit.
The United States and the European Commission have issued the following joint-statement:
1. Ending the COVID-19 pandemic through global cooperation remains our first priority. That cooperation includes efforts toward smooth manufacturing and supply chains for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
2. U.S. and EU supply chains for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics are closely intertwined.
a. Critical raw materials, drug substance and finished doses are shipped back and forth between the EU and U.S. to enable the production and supply of vaccines for the world.
b. Over the past months, the U.S. and EU have worked closely together to resolve supply chain bottlenecks as part of a regular COVID vaccine supply chain dialogue, led by Commissioner Thierry Breton and White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients.
c. The U.S. the EU have both successfully scaled up production of their vaccine portfolios, becoming world leaders in the production of mRNA vaccines.
d. The U.S. and the EU have made major investments in the global production of the COVID-19 vaccine, notably in Africa in coordination with the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM). The joint support for vaccine production in Senegal through the Fondation Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Team Europe, including the European Investment Bank (EIB) and development finance institutions in EU Member States, is an important first step to grow the region’s long-term capacity to produce vaccines.3. At the U.S.-EU Summit in June, the U.S. and the EU announced a joint COVID-19 Manufacturing and Supply Chain Taskforce to deepen cooperation and resolve issues around expanding vaccine and therapeutics production capacity.
a. The objective of this Joint Taskforce is to deepen cooperation and identify and resolve issues around expanding vaccine and therapeutics production capacity, including by building new production facilities, maintaining open and secure supply chains, avoiding any unnecessary export restrictions, and encouraging voluntary sharing of know-how and technology on mutually-determined terms including through the ACT-A.
4. This week, the Taskforce met in Washington, D.C., to finalize the Mission Statement of this Taskforce, which will focus on the following three priority work strands:
a. Monitor global supply chains for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics through assessment of global demand and supply of these items and their production and ancillary supplies, and through identification of supply chain bottlenecks:
i. The Joint Taskforce intends to support efforts to analyze global vaccine and therapeutics demand and supply, particularly the joint production capacity for vaccines currently authorized in the U.S. and EU.
ii. The Joint Taskforce intends to support Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) and COVAX supply chain efforts.
b. Address critical supply chain bottlenecks and other disruptive factors for global COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics production:
i. The Joint Taskforce intends to continue to work closely together on critical COVID-19 supply chain issues and bottlenecks, including regular status updates on any potential import–export issues between the U.S. and EU.
ii. The Joint Taskforce intends to engage vaccine and therapeutics manufacturers and suppliers to assess supply chain bottlenecks and develop a joint approach to supply chain monitoring for key vaccine inputs, notably disposables and consumables, which are especially constrained globally.
c. Coordinate initiatives to boost global production of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and their production and ancillary supplies:
i. The Joint Taskforce intends to promote and align initiatives to support additional global manufacturing capacity for vaccines, therapeutics and ancillary supplies.
White House.gov. 09/22/2021.
The White House released the following joint-statement regarding the phone call between the two leaders:
President Emmanuel Macron of the French Republic and President Joe Biden of the United States of America spoke on September 22, at the request of the latter, in order to discuss the implications of the announcement on September 15. The two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners. President Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard.
White House.gov. 09/22/2021.
WhiteThe two leaders have decided to open a process of in-depth consultations, aimed at creating the conditions for ensuring confidence and proposing concrete measures toward common objectives. They will meet in Europe at the end of October in order to reach shared understandings and maintain momentum in this process. President Emmanuel Macron has decided that the French Ambassador will return to Washington next week. He will then start intensive work with senior US officials.
President Biden reaffirms the strategic importance of French and European engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, including in the framework of the European Union’s recently published strategy for the Indo-Pacific. The United States also recognizes the importance of a stronger and more capable European defense, that contributes positively to transatlantic and global security and is complementary to NATO.
In the framework of their joint fight against terrorism, the United States commits to reinforcing its support to counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel conducted by European states.
Now we come to my least favorite tweets; Build Back Better agenda.
The White House published the following readout:
The President hosted three productive and candid meetings with congressional Democrats, representing a wide range of views of the caucuses in both Chambers, about the urgent need to deliver for the American middle class through the Build Back Better Act and the bipartisan infrastructure deal. This was an important opportunity for the President to engage with Members and hear their perspectives, and progress was made toward finding the pathway forward for lowering costs for hardworking people and ensuring that our economic growth strategy is based on investing in families, not more giveaways to big corporations and the wealthiest taxpayers. There is more work ahead in the coming days, and he and his team will have follow-up meetings, starting tomorrow, to continue to advance the process of passing these critical bills.
White House.gov. 09/22/2021.
The White House published the following readout; Meeting with Circle of Protection on the Build Back Better Agenda:
Today, Cedric Richmond, Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, hosted a meeting with the Circle of Protection, a diverse coalition of Christian denominations with close to 100 million members, to discuss President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda and its historic investments in anti-poverty initiatives and programs that support children and families. Melissa Rogers, Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Josh Dickson, Deputy Director of the White House Partnerships Office, and Trey Baker, White House Senior Advisor for Public Engagement, also joined the meeting.
The meeting was part of the Administration’s efforts to hear directly from Americans of all backgrounds about the impact the Build Back Better agenda would have on their communities. The faith leaders stressed the importance of including the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, and housing support in the bill. The group also discussed the need to pass legislation that serves the common good, promotes racial equity, and supports economic mobility and opportunity for children and families of all backgrounds, especially the most vulnerable.
Administration officials reiterated the President’s commitment to creating jobs, lifting children out of poverty, cutting taxes, and lowering costs for working families in the Build Back Better agenda—all paid for by making the tax code fairer and making the wealthiest and large corporations pay their fair share. The Administration also reiterated President Biden’s desire to ensure racial equity and economic opportunity are foundational components of the bill, and committed to continued engagement and partnership with these groups.
Participants included:
Rev. Jim Wallis, Chair and Director, Center on Faith and Justice, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
Rev. David Beckmann, President Emeritus, Bread for the World
Bishop Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal ChurchRev. Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Rev. Walter Kim, President, National Association of Evangelicals
Anthony Granado, Vice President, Catholic CharitiesRev. Adam Taylor, President, Sojourners
Heather Taylor, Director of Strategic Communications and Campaigns, Bread for the World
Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Co-Convener, National African American Clergy Network
Diane Randall, General Secretary, Friends Committee on National Legislation
Rev. Dr. Gabriel Salguero, President, National Latino Evangelical Coalition and Pastor, The Gathering Place
White House.gov. 09/22/2021.
THURSDAY’S 1ST TWEET…
The daily press briefing is scheduled to start at noon D.C., time.
This is an Open Thread.
