It’s Wednesday.
For Wednesday, December 15th, 2021, President Biden has received his daily brief. This morning he will travel to Kentucky to survey the storm damage.
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki explained:
Also, as we just announced, the President will travel to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for a storm briefing and to Mayfield and Dawson Springs, Kentucky, to survey storm damage on Wednesday.
We have been working around the clock, through the weekend, closely with governors of impacted states and local leaders to ensure they have everything they need to respond to and recover from this unimaginable tragedy.
Tragically, we are seeing fatalities across five different states — with Kentucky, of course, being the hardest hit. On Saturday, as many of you saw, the President immediately approved Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear’s request for an emergency disaster declaration for the state, making federal assistance available to support state and local response efforts to save lives and protect property.
And yesterday, the President immediately approved a major disaster declaration for Kentucky, making federal funding available for temporary housing and home repairs to help individuals and businessowners recover.
And I think many of you may have seen our FEMA Administrator speak directly to people having places to live and be and stay as being one of the issues we are working through.
Disaster survivors can apply at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-FEMA to get help.
And the President’s action also makes federal funding available to the state and eligible local governments and nonprofit organizations for emergency work. Damage assessments are, of course, continuing through the impacted region, and the President stands ready to provide additional assistance as needed.
He also directed FEMA to lean forward with a proactive response, and the agency has done just that, which means — it requires governors requesting assistance in order to get it, but he wants our teams to be very engaged proactively about what the needs may be and make sure they have the information necessary to apply if warranted.
Yesterday, as I noted, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the FEMA Administration — and FEMA Administrator were in Kentucky, just one day after the tornado subsided, to meet with the governor and other state and local officials. FEMA has also rapidly deployed urban search-and-rescue teams, incident management assistant teams, and mobile communication operations vehicles to assist response and coordination efforts, and has sent dozens of generators, 30,000 meals, 90,000 bottles of water, 4,500 blankets, 2,100 cots, and other critical commodities to Kentucky to help families in need.
And as you’ve heard the President say a number of times, he’s committed to meeting whatever the needs are in these communities.
White House.gov. 12/13/2021.
President Biden has tweeted 2 times and retweeted 1 time so far for Wednesday…
The link says the same thing, today is the last day for open enrollment in health insurance if you want coverage to start on January 1st, 2022…
See above. More on this tomorrow…
When Biden Bits was published for Tuesday, President Biden had tweeted 1 time. He added 6 tweets giving him a Tuesday Tweeting Total of 7 tweets and 0 retweets.
The tweeted video is 3 minutes and 41 seconds long.
President Biden: Folks, nine years ago today, the families in Newtown were hit especially hard. No matter how long it’s been, every one of those families relives the news they got that day. Twenty precious first graders, six heroic educators, a lone gunman in an unconscionable act of violence. Everything change that morning for you, and the nation was shocked. For me and for Barack, the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was one of the saddest days we were in office–those eight years. But as we got to know you–and I got to know so many of you personally, I spoke to every one of your families and I found hope in your strength as you turn pain into purpose to change the laws and the culture around gun violence. At the time, I remember, because of your leadership, we forged a broad coalition and enacted more than 20 executive orders.
President Biden con’t: We came close to legislation, but we came up short. It was so darn frustrating. And it’s still frustrating now for you and me and so many others in Parkland, Florida and Oxford, Michigan, in countless communities across the country, there’s these horrific shootings that make national headlines and embarrasses as a nation. And for many others, every day, particularly in Black and Brown communities, there’s the equivalent of a mass shooting we don’t even hear about. As a nation, we owe all these families more than our prayers, we owe them action. From my earliest months as President, I’ve acted curbing the proliferation of ghost guns, cracking down on rogue gun dealers, promoting safe firearm storage.
President Biden con’t: You know, in my American Rescue Plan, there’s a fancy way of saying historic 470 billion dollar investment. We encouraged states and cities to use that money to reduce gun violence, among other things. In my budget, I’m calling for doubling the funding for gun violence prevention research, including examining gun violence as a public health threat, which it is in my view. There are three common sense bills to reduce gun violence that the Senate should pass now–right away, long overdue. One requires more extensive background checks for gun sales. One is to keep guns out of the hands of more abusers.
President Biden con’t: My Build Back Better legislation which would make a landmark $5 billion investment in community violence prevention and intervention programs to support trusted leaders who work directly with the people who are most likely to commit gun crimes or become gun victims before it’s too late. These programs work. Again, I know our politicians are frustrated and it can be frustrating, and it’s particularly frustrating now. But we can’t give up hope. We can’t stop. I’ve helped beat the NRA with your help, twice, twice. It can be done again. We have to keep up the pressure.
President Biden con’t: May God bless all those innocent lives in Newtown and all across the country, and all of you who have been the victim of gun violence and your families have suffered from it. My heart breaks for you, but we have to act. We can’t give up. We got to get it done. God bless you all, and God bless the loved ones who are left behind.
The above tweet comes from remarks he gave on December 3rd, 2021, in regards to the November Jobs Report.
President Biden: Now — now it’s time to build on the success we’ve had this year on jobs, wages, creation of more small businesses, and fixing challenges in the economy. We need to cut costs further for families. That’s what my Build Back Better plan does that’s still being considered in Congress. It will lower the out-of-pocket cost for childcare, eldercare, housing, college, healthcare, and prescription drugs.
The tweet he quoted over linked to a blog post by the White House; Progress at the Pump…
The President understands that gasoline prices squeeze families’ budgets. That’s why he has taken a series of bold actions to save Americans money at the pump. The President announced a historic release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in parallel with other countries to help address the imbalance between the supply and demand of oil and to spur greater competition in the gasoline market. And, the President asked the Federal Trade Commission to consider whether illegal conduct is costing families at the pump.
Industry costs have declined as crude oil and wholesale gasoline prices have receded. Instead of oil and gas companies padding their profits, Americans should see falling prices. We are starting to see results at the pump:
The average price at the pump is down nearly 10 cents per gallon since the peak last month, and prices are continuing to fall.
And, the price of gasoline on the wholesale market has fallen even more than that over recent weeks, dropping over 30 cents per gallon since its peak. The President expects those savings to be passed on to Americans as quickly as possible. To date, it hasn’t been happening fast enough. That’s why the President asked the Federal Trade Commission to examine mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies that keeps prices elevated.
White House.gov. 12/14/2021.
The average price at the pump is down nearly 10 cents per gallon since the peak last month, and prices are continuing to fall.
And, the price of gasoline on the wholesale market has fallen even more than that over recent weeks, dropping over 30 cents per gallon since its peak. The President expects those savings to be passed on to Americans as quickly as possible. To date, it hasn’t been happening fast enough. That’s why the President asked the Federal Trade Commission to examine mounting evidence of anti-consumer behavior by oil and gas companies that keeps prices elevated.
The average price at the pump is now $3.32. This price is in line with the real price of gasoline over the previous ten years from 2011-2020. While current price levels aren’t unprecedented, the President believes that they are too high especially given that we are emerging from a once-in-a-century pandemic.
Finally, while the national average price of gasoline is $3.32, in many states it is significantly less than that. The national average incorporates states where, for geographic and state-specific reasons, gasoline prices have historically been high. Americans in other states are paying much less at the pump. Right now, twenty states have state-level averages below $3.15. That puts those states below both the 10-year real average of $3.30 per gallon and also below the 20-year real average of $3.18 per gallon. That number is increasing week by week, with only 12 states below that threshold a month ago.
Note: That’s the whole blog…
According to the 58 second clip; Hailey Gallagher is 9 years old and wrote to the President saying she wanted to be a kid advisor. The White House invited Hailey to the White House where she told President Biden she wanted to get her coronavirus vaccine on TV in order to “motivate the kids in America.” So, #NickNews tagged along while Hailey received her vaccine.
His full statement:
As we mark the tragic milestone of 800,000 American deaths due to COVID-19, we remember each person and the lives they lived, and we pray for the loved ones left behind. I know what it’s like to stare at an empty chair around the kitchen table, especially during the holiday season, and my heart aches for every family enduring this pain.
To heal, we must remember. We must also act. That’s exactly what we have done over the past 11 months. We stood up a historic vaccination program, and 240 million Americans have stepped up and gotten at least one shot. As a result, we have saved over one million American lives, and spared families in every community across the country the incalculable loss that too many others have suffered.
Today, more than 200 million Americans are fully vaccinated, and each day, more people are getting boosted than ever before. As we head into the winter and confront a new variant, we must resolve to keep fighting this virus together. This means getting vaccinated and getting your booster shot, and taking other prevention measures, such as masking.
The vaccines are safe, effective, free, easy, and our best tool to prevent more loss and pain. If you were fully vaccinated before mid-June, please go get your booster shot as soon as possible. And if you haven’t already — please get yourself and your school-age children vaccinated.I urge all Americans: do your patriotic duty to keep our country safe, to protect yourself and those around you, and to honor the memory of all those we have lost. Now is the time.
White House.gov. 12/14/2021.
The daily brief was in the form of a press gaggle aboard Air Force One at 11:00 a.m. D.C, time.
YouTube says President Biden will offer remarks on the federal response to the tornado’s @ 1:00 p.m. my time; Which is 3:00 p.m. Central time…
This is an Open Thread.
