It’s Wednesday.
There are 11 days left until Halloween!
For Wednesday, October 20th, 2021, President Biden has received his daily brief. This afternoon he will travel to Avoca, Pennsylvania, where he will deliver remarks promoting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and his Build Back Better Agenda.
During yesterday’s press briefing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki gave a preview of President Biden’s remarks:
Finally, just wanted to give you a brief preview of the President’s trip tomorrow. Tomorrow he’s traveling to his hometown — or one of his hometowns, I guess — of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to highlight the need for his Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and Build Back Better Agenda.
He will talk about growing up in Scranton and the way his experience there influenced his values, and his belief that we need an economy that works for working people, like those in Scranton, instead of the wealthiest Americans on Wall Street.The President will explain how these values are represented in his Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and Build Back Better Agenda, which will invest in our physical and human infrastructure and help working families like those he grew up with in Scranton.
He will also emphasize, as you heard him do in Michigan last week, how his agenda makes the United States more competitive with China and around the world, and can help America lead again on infrastructure — roads, highways, bridges, ports, and airports — and people, including education, research and development, and childcare.
The President’s infrastructure bill helps us rebuild our country, replace lead water pipes, expand access to high-speed Internet, invest in climate resilience, and create good-paying union jobs
White House.gov. 10/19/2021.
President Biden has tweeted 2 times so far for Wednesday.
A reminder the “55 major corporations paid” zero taxes soundbyte is based on a study released on April 2nd, 2021, by the Progressive Think Tank; Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Politifact.com rated President Biden’s remarks from April as mostly true, because they were based on an study; it’s only mostly true because people criticized the study’s methodology:
The group’s study is based on an analysis of annual financial reports filed by publicly traded companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index or the Fortune 500 list of companies with the largest revenue.
But while this data comes from federally required disclosures, critics say that what is disclosed on these forms is calculated differently from these companies’ actual tax filings, which are private. In other words, the critics say, we don’t really know whether these companies paid zero in taxes or not.
[Snip]
William Gale, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, agreed that it can be difficult to infer a company’s actual tax position from its SEC filings. But he said the idea that many large corporations do pay zero in federal taxes is “by now well-established.”
“The non-partisan Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation has shown that in any given year for the past 15 years or so, about two-thirds of corporations with less than $1 billion in assets paid no federal corporate income tax, and one-third of corporations with assets greater than $1 billion paid no federal corporate income tax,” Gale said. And the committee, he said, “has access to corporations’ actual tax returns.”
[Their ruling]
Biden said, “A new, independent study put out last week found that at least 55 of our largest corporations used various loopholes to pay zero federal income tax in 2020.”
Biden is right that a study had been released days earlier by a non-governmental group that concluded that at least 55 large companies paid zero federal income taxes in 2020.
However, it may be incorrect to call the tax provisions cited in the report “loopholes,” since many of them are deliberate attempts by the government to set incentives through the tax code and may on their own be broadly popular.Critics also say that the financial disclosures used to compile the report are imperfect estimates of what the companies actually paid in taxes, since the accounting rules are different for the two types of filings. On the other hand, separate data from the Joint Committee on Taxation, which is based on actual tax returns, has supported the study’s general point.
We rate the statement Mostly True.
Politifact.com. 04/07/2021.
When Biden Bits was published for Tuesday, President Biden had tweeted 2 times. He added two more tweets giving him a Tuesday Tweeting Total of 4 tweets and 0 retweets.
Thursday last week President Biden provided an update on how his 6 point “path out of the pandemic” plan was going. The below YouTube is 5 minutes and 48 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
President Biden: Let me close with this: The plan I laid out in September is working. We’re headed in the right direction. We have critical work to do, but we can’t let up now.
There will be more on this later but this morning the White House laid out their plan for when children between the ages of 5-11 are approved to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
In anticipation of the FDA’s independent advisory committee meeting on October 26 and the CDC’s independent advisory committee meeting on November 2-3, today the Biden Administration is announcing a plan to ensure that, if a vaccine is authorized for children ages 5-11, it is quickly distributed and made conveniently and equitably available to families across the country. The start of a vaccination program for children ages 5-11 will depend on the independent FDA and CDC process and timeline, but our planning efforts mean that we will be ready to begin getting shots in arms in the days following a final CDC recommendation. These steps will be critical in ensuring that we are staying ahead of the virus by keeping kids and families safe, especially those at highest risk.
White House.gov. 10/20/2021
Bullet Points:
- Securing vaccine supply for our nation’s children: The Administration has procured enough vaccine to support vaccination for the country’s 28 million children ages 5-11 years old. If authorized by the FDA and recommended by the CDC, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 5-11 year olds will be a dose and formula specifically for this age group. The vaccine will have packaging available in smaller configurations that will make it easier for physicians’ offices and other smaller, community-based providers to offer the vaccine to kids and their families. Pending FDA authorization, the packaging configuration will be 10-dose vials in cartons of 10 vials each (100 doses total), delivered in a newly updated product shipper, and the vaccine can be stored for up to 10 weeks at standard refrigeration temperatures and 6 months at ultracold temperatures. And, the vaccine will come with all the ancillary supplies that providers need to serve kids, including smaller needles. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working hand-in-hand with states to make this vaccine supply available in communities across the country as rapidly as possible.
- Standing Up Vaccination Sites in Settings That Kids and Their Parents Know and Trust: The Administration will make vaccination accessible and conveniently located to families across the country, including vaccination clinics at doctors’ offices, hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers, and school- and community-based sites. Nationwide, more than 25,000 pediatric and primary care provider sites will provide vaccinations for children, in addition to tens of thousands of other provider locations that serve children, including pharmacies, children’s hospitals, and community health centers.
- Over 25,000 Pediatricians’ Offices and Other Primary Care Sites: The Administration, in partnership with states and localities, will make vaccinations available at doctors’ offices across the country — more than 25,000 pediatric offices and other primary care sites in total. Pediatricians, and other doctors, are some of the most trusted sources for families when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines for children. These providers will play a critical role in the nationwide effort to get children vaccinated. To facilitate this, the Administration is working with states to increase the number of pediatric and primary care providers enrolled to administer the vaccine and to provide the training and resources they need — including the vaccine supply in smaller package size and with easier-to-handle storage requirements highlighted above.
- Over 100 Children’s Hospitals and Health Systems Across the Country: The Administration is launching a partnership with the Children’s Hospital Association to work with over 100 children’s hospital systems across the country to set up vaccination sites in November and through the end of the calendar year. Parents know and trust children’s hospitals to be there for their children’s medical needs, and these vaccination efforts will be no different. Pediatricians, pediatric specialists, nurses and team members will administer the vaccine to kids in trusted, family-friendly settings that serve kids every day. Participating hospitals will work to partner with community- and faith-based organizations, school districts, and other partners to conduct outreach to their local communities, and offer vaccinations at convenient hours that work for kids and their parents – such as after school, evenings, and on weekends. And, pediatric clinicians will be available to parents for questions about vaccine safety and effectiveness. Children’s hospitals and health systems will be a critical part of our efforts to advance equity and ensure access for our nation’s highest-risk kids, including those with obesity, diabetes, asthma, or immunosuppression.
- Tens of Thousands of Pharmacies: As part of the federal government’s pharmacy program, tens of thousands of pharmacies across the country will offer the vaccine to their local communities. Pharmacists are a trusted source of information for parents, and local pharmacies will be a convenient, accessible option for many families. Pharmacies will offer family-friendly in-store clinics to best meet the needs of local communities. And, pharmacies will offer vaccinations at convenient hours for kids and their parents – allowing for advanced appointment scheduling and walk-ins wherever available. Pharmacy partners will launch comprehensive campaigns to reach parents and families, including texts, calls and outreach to meet local communities where they are.
- Hundreds of School and Community-Based Clinics: The Administration will work with states and local partners to make vaccination sites available at schools and other trusted community-based sites across the country. The Administration, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), is providing full funding to states to support vaccination operations and outreach – including setting up sites, procuring equipment and supplies to store and administer the vaccine, providing transportation to and from vaccination sites, and communicating with the public, such as through in-person community engagement, call center support, public service announcements, and translation services. And, for those schools who need extra help, the Administration will launch a new effort to match school districts with vaccine providers who will provide on-site vaccination clinics for their students and local communities.
- Hundreds of Community Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics: The Administration will work with community health centers and rural health clinics across the country to provide vaccinations to the children and families they serve. Health centers and rural health clinics play a critical role in providing care for kids and their families well. Nationwide, over 3 million 5-11 year olds get their primary health care from community health centers. The Administration – working through states, the federal Health Center COVID-19 Vaccine Program, and the Rural Health Clinic COVID-19 Vaccine Program –will make vaccine supply available to health centers and rural health clinics across the country, and work hand-in-hand with providers to ensure they have the resources and support they need to serve kids and their families.
- Supporting Education and Engagement Efforts to Build Public Trust: To ensure that parents have the information they need to make informed choices for their families, HHS will conduct a national public education campaign to reach parents and guardians with accurate and culturally-responsive information about the vaccine and the risks that COVID-19 poses to children. To achieve this, the campaign will invest heavily in trusted messengers; work with schools, state and local health departments, faith leaders, and national and community organizations to increase vaccine confidence; create forums for parents to ask questions to pediatricians; and reach out to parents directly through press and social media across channels and in multiple languages. Central to this work will be close collaboration with the major national organizations, and their local affiliates, that reach families across the country – including provider and parent organizations and other key partners from across the public and private sectors. And, the over 14,000 members of the COVID-19 Community Corps will play a critical role in mobilizing grassroots efforts to keep kids and their families safe. Additionally, while many parents will go to their own pediatrician to get their questions answered, we know some children do not have a consistent medical provider and their parents may have questions. To ensure that every parent can get answers from trusted sources, the Surgeon General will enlist pediatricians and community leaders to talk to Americans directly via popular media and social media channels and through visits to hard-hit and high-risk communities.
Since the President is traveling the daily press briefing will be a press gaggle aboard Air Force One. It’s scheduled for sometime around 3:50 p.m. D.C., time.
President Biden’s remarks are scheduled for 5:15 p.m. D.C., time.
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