It’s Friday.
No, still no better countdown clock to be had…
For Friday, December 3rd, 2021, President Biden has received his daily brief. This morning D.C., time he will offer remarks on Novembers Job Report. This evening he will leave Washington and head to Camp David.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in November, and the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point to 4.2 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, construction, and manufacturing. Employment in retail trade declined over the month.
[Snip]
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for September was revised up by 67,000, from +312,000 to +379,000, and the change for October was revised up by 15,000, from +531,000 to +546,000. With these revisions, employment in September and October combined is 82,000 higher than previously reported. (Monthly revisions result from additional reports received from businesses and government agencies since the last published estimates and from the recalculation of seasonal factors.)
BLS.gov. 12/03/2021.
Ben Casselman works for the New York Times, my favorite thing about him, is he publishes the charts so I don’t have too…
I made the executive decision months ago, that attempting to cover President Biden’s economic remarks in real time on Job Reports days was futile. They don’t last long, generally speaking less than 15 minutes and then he basically tweets out his comments later that same day. This was just a little reminder that the decision was made months ago and why; just in case anyone was curious as to why I’m posting already said remarks and not covering them live.
President Biden has tweeted 4 times so far for Friday…
From the YouTube video above; the remark quote to text tweet comes at the 49 minute and 51 second mark. This time stamp will be incorrect once the White House uploads the video to YouTube cutting out the dead air. President Biden’s remarks begin at the 45 minute and 51 second mark.
The remark quote to tweet text happens at the 48 minute and 57 second mark.
Normally, I don’t comment on these things, but note the President sounds raspy in the video. He either has a cold, smoked 2 packs of smokes prior to speaking, or most likely, it’s a weather related rasp cause it was cold last night in D.C., I’m only noting this as you know how everyone loves to speculate on the health of President’s especially older ones. He doesn’t sound like he’s dying…
When Biden Bits was published for Thursday, President Biden had tweeted 2 times. He added 8 tweets giving him a Thursday Tweeting Total of 10 tweets & 0 retweets…
The video was taken from his remarks on November 30th, 2021, from Rosemount, Minnesota…
President Biden: I welcome a serious conversation about how to pay for the investments we make, but here is what those critics are not telling you. They’re not telling you that I’ve committed to paying for every single program that extended, if any are, in future legislation, whether that’s for a day or a decade. And here’s what else they’re not telling you. They’re not telling you why it is that they’re fighting so hard against lowering the prices of prescription drugs or childcare or eldercare or healthcare; why it is that they’re so frightened, so hard to — fighting so incredibly hard to protect the 2017 Trump tax cuts that increase the deficit alone by nearly $2 trillion — the bulk of which went to large corporations and virtually none of it paid for. I’m happy to have that debate about how to pay for these priorities.
On Thursday, President Biden announced his winter plan to combat the coronavirus. The YouTube is 26 minutes and 1 second long. His full remarks can be found here. The White House fact-sheet on the plan can be found here.
President Biden: That’s why I am announcing that health insurers must cover the cost of at-home testing. So that if you’re one of the 150 million Americans with private health insurance, next month your plan will cover at-home tests. Private insurers already cover the expensive PCR test and — that you get at a doctor’s office. And now they will cover at-home tests as well. Now, for those not covered by private insurance, we’re going to make available free tests at thousands of convenient locations — locations for folks to pick them up and take a test kit home.
From the fact-sheet:
- Providing health plan coverage of no-cost rapid, over-the-counter (OTC) COVID-19 tests: To expand access and affordability of at-home COVID-19 tests, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury will issue guidance by January 15th to clarify that individuals who purchase OTC COVID-19 diagnostic tests will be able to seek reimbursement from their group health plan or health insurance issuer and have insurance cover the cost during the public health emergency. Workplace screening would remain consistent with current guidance. Today’s announcement follows the President’s September action directing more than $2 billion to accelerate the production of rapid tests and an additional $1 billion investment in procuring at-home tests. Over the same time period, FDA authorized five additional over-the-counter tests. A total of 8 tests are on the market today; no test was on the market when the President took office.
President Biden: Well, I’m announcing today that all inbound international travelers must test within one day of departure, regardless of their vaccination status or nationality. This tighter testing timeline provides an added degree of protection as scientists continue to study the Omicron variant.
From the fact-sheet:
- Strengthening global pre-departure testing protocols: Early next week, the United States will tighten pre-departure testing protocols by requiring all inbound international travelers to test within one day of departure globally, regardless of nationality or vaccination status. This tighter testing timeline provides an added degree of public health protection as scientists continue to assess the Omicron variant.
President Biden: Since this summer, we have worked with Republican and Democratic governors — as many Republican governors as Democratic governors — to deploy what we call “surge response teams.” These teams work. They provide needed staff for staff overruns at — badly needed staff where over-run hospitals are handling more patients than they can — they can handle for their emergency rooms and intensive care units who don’t have the personnel available. They help provide lifesaving treatments in communities in need, like monoclonal antibody treatments.
From the *Rapid Response Teams to Help Battle Rising Cases: :
- Rapid Response Teams to Help Battle Rising Cases: Today, the President will announce new actions to help states battle any potential COVID-19 outbreaks this winter, including of the Omicron variant. As we worked to bring down the Delta surge throughout this summer and fall, we successfully deployed thousands of federal personnel to help 27 states and two territories. These COVID-19 Surge Response Teams mobilized to address critical needs on the ground, including personnel, therapeutics, and technical expertise. To date, we have deployed over 2,000 personnel, including 1,300 clinical providers; surged over 3,200 ventilators, ambulances and other critical supplies; and shipped over 2.3 million courses of lifesaving monoclonal antibody treatments. As we face the potential of a new variant and rising cases during the winter months, today, the President will make clear that federal government will once again be prepared to help.
*it is number 6 in the fact-sheet WordPress would not allow me to format it as number 6*
President Biden: And they come from a position of strength. We are better positioned than we were a year ago to fight COVID-19.
President Biden: And today, I’m announcing that we’re going to launch hundreds of new family vaccination clinics across the country. These sites are going to offer vaccinations for the whole family — one stop. One stop. Children can get vaccinated. Parents can get vaccinated, get their second — first or second shots or their booster shots.
The daily briefing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. D.C., time.
This is an Open Thread.
