It’s Monday…
Happy Valentines Day!
Happy Singles Day!
When Biden Bits was posted for Friday, President Biden had tweeted 3 times ( though I only said he had two 🙄 ). He added 2 more tweets giving him a Friday Tweeting Total of 5 tweets and 0 retweets…
So, here’s the deal on the above tweet:
I know he’s said almost those exact same lines in remarks over the past year; I can’t find them…
I did however find an article I posted last summer in which I say;
As I mentioned yesterday, and probably, every day before that since the end of March, the Build Back Better agenda consists of three and half plans rolled into one catchy phrase; the American Rescue Plan, the American Jobs Plan now the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, the American Families Plan, and the Made in America Tax Plan.
Biden Bits. 07/22/2021
With the passage of the American Rescue Plan and the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill the last pillar left standing is the American Families Plan combined with Made In America Tax Plan…
The last two plans have morphed into the Build Back Better Act/Agenda when in October of 2021 President Biden announced the Build Back Better Framework:
Joe Biden believes that there’s no greater economic engine in the world than the hard work and ingenuity of the American people. But for too long, the economy has worked great for those at the top, while working families continually get squeezed. President Biden promised to rebuild the backbone of the country – the middle class – so that this time everyone comes along. He also campaigned on a promise to make government work for working people again.
White House.gov. 10/28/2021.
Today, the President is delivering on these promises. After hearing input from all sides and negotiating in good faith with Senators Manchin and Sinema, Congressional Leadership, and a broad swath of Members of Congress, President Biden is announcing a framework for the Build Back Better Act. President Biden is confident this is a framework that can pass both houses of Congress, and he looks forward to signing it into law. He calls on Congress to take up this historic bill – in addition to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – as quickly as possible.
This framework will guide the drafting of legislative language. When enacted, this framework will set the United States on course to meet its climate goals, create millions of good-paying jobs, enable more Americans to join and remain in the labor force, and grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out. Specifically, the Build Back Better Act will be:
- The most transformative investment in children and caregiving in generations. The framework will save most American families more than half of their spending on child care, deliver two years of free preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old in America, give more than 35 million families a major tax cut by extending the expanded Child Tax Credit, and expand access to high-quality home care for older Americans and people with disabilities.
- The largest effort to combat climate change in American history. The framework will cut greenhouse gas pollution by well over one gigaton in 2030, reduce consumer energy costs, give our kids cleaner air and water, create hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs, and advance environmental justice by investing in a 21st century clean energy economy – from buildings, transportation, industry, electricity, and agriculture to climate smart practices across our lands and waters.
- The biggest expansion of affordable health care coverage in a decade. The framework will reduce premiums for more than 9 million Americans by extending the expanded Premium Tax Credit, deliver health care coverage to up to 4 million uninsured people in states that have locked them out of Medicaid, and help older Americans access affordable hearing care by expanding Medicare.
- The most significant effort to bring down costs and strengthen the middle class in generations. The framework will make the single largest and most comprehensive investment in affordable housing in history, expand access to affordable, high-quality education beyond high school, cut taxes for 17 million low-wage workers by extending the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and advance equity through investments in maternal health, community violence interventions, and nutrition, in addition to better preparing the nation for future pandemics and supply chain disruptions.
The framework will also improve and reform our broken immigration system consistent with the Senate’s reconciliation rules.
White House.gov. 10/28/2021.
And, it is fully paid for and will reduce the deficit by making sure that large, profitable corporations can’t zero out their tax bills, no longer rewarding corporations that shift jobs and profits overseas, asking more from millionaires and billionaires, and stopping rich Americans from cheating on their tax bills. Under this historic agreement, nobody earning less than $400,000 per year will pay a penny more in taxes.
The most transformative investment in children and caregiving in generations:
Too many working families struggle to afford the growing cost of raising children and too many older Americans and Americans with disabilities cannot access affordable home care. The Build Back Better framework will make the most transformative investment in children and caregiving in generations. Specifically, the framework will:
- Provide universal and free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds, the largest expansion of universal and free education since states and communities across the country established public high school 100 years ago. Preschool in the United States costs about $8,600 per year. The Build Back Better framework will enable states to expand access to free preschool for more than 6 million children per year and increase the quality of preschool for many more children already enrolled. Importantly, parents will be able to send children to high-quality preschool in the setting of their choice – from public schools to child care providers to Head Start. The program will lead to lifelong educational and economic benefits for children and parents, and is a transformational investment in America’s future economic competitiveness. In fact, research shows that every $1 invested in high-quality early childhood care and education can yield $3 to $7 over the long-run, as they do better in school, are more likely to graduate high-school and college, and earn more as adults.
- Make the largest investment in child care in the nation’s history, saving most working American families more than half of their spending on child care. For decades, child care prices in the United States have risen faster than family incomes, yet the United States still invests 28 times less than its competitors on helping families afford high-quality care for toddlers. The Build Back Better framework will ensure that the vast majority of working American families of four earning less than $300,000 per year will pay no more than 7 percent of their income on child care for children under 6. Parents who are working, looking for work, participating in an education or training program, and who are making under 2.5 times their states median income will receive support to cover the cost of quality care based on a sliding scale, capped at 7% of their income. The framework will help states expand access to high-quality, affordable child care to about 20 million children per year – covering 9 out of 10 families across the country with young children. For two parents with one toddler earning $100,000 per year, the framework will produce more than $5,000 in child care savings per year. Better access to high-quality child care can increase the likelihood that parents, especially mothers, are employed or enrolled in education and training beyond high school, while also providing lifetime benefits for children, especially those who are economically disadvantaged.
- Deliver affordable, high-quality care for older Americans and people with disabilities in their homes, while supporting the workers who provide this care. Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of older Americans and Americans with disabilities on waiting lists for home care services or struggling to afford the care they need, including more than 800,000 who are on state Medicaid waiting lists. A family paying for home care costs out of pocket currently pays around $5,800 per year for just four hours of home care per week. The Build Back Better framework will permanently improve Medicaid coverage for home care services for seniors and people with disabilities, making the most transformative investment in access to home care in 40 years, when these services were first authorized for Medicaid. The framework will improve the quality of caregiving jobs, which will, in turn, help to improve the quality of care provided to beneficiaries.
- Provide more than 35 million households up to $3,600 (or $300 per month) in tax cuts per child by extending the American Rescue Plan’s expanded Child Tax Credit. The Build Back Better framework will provide monthly payments to the parents of nearly 90 percent of American children for 2022 – $300 per month per child under six and $250 per month per child ages 6 to 17. This historic tax cut will help cover the cost of food, housing, health care, and transportation and will continue the largest one-year reduction in child poverty in history. And critically, the framework includes permanent refundability for the Child Tax Credit, meaning that the neediest families will continue to receive the full Child Tax Credit over the long-run.
The largest effort to combat climate change in American history:
Scientists have warned for years that extreme weather will only worsen in the wake of climate change. Millions of Americans are living this reality in real time. In addition to the lives shattered and lost, extreme weather fueled by climate change destroys homes, schools, and small businesses, and cost America more than $100 billion last year alone. Delayed action on climate also sets us back in the global race on manufacturing and innovation and keeps us from harnessing the economic opportunity that this moment represents.The Build Back Better framework is the largest effort to combat the climate crisis in American history. The framework will start cutting climate pollution now, and deliver well over one gigaton, or a billion metric tons, of greenhouse gas emissions reductions in 2030 – at least ten times larger than any legislation Congress has ever passed. The framework’s $555 billion investment represents the largest single investment in our clean energy economy in history, across buildings, transportation, industry, electricity, agriculture, and climate-smart practices across lands and waters. The framework will set the United States on course to meet its climate targets, achieving a 50-52% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels in 2030 in a way that grows domestic industries and good, union jobs — and advances environmental justice.
White House.gov. 10/28/2021.
Specifically, the Build Back Better framework will:
- Deliver substantial consumer rebates and ensure middle class families save money as they shift to clean energy and electrification. The consumer rebates and credits included in the Build Back Better framework will save the average American family hundreds of dollars per year in energy costs. These measures include enhancement and expansion of existing home energy and efficiency tax credits, as well as the creation of a new, electrification-focused rebate program. The framework will cut the cost of installing rooftop solar for a home by around 30 percent, shortening the payback period by around 5 years; and the framework’s electric vehicle tax credit will lower the cost of an electric vehicle that is made in America with American materials and union labor by $12,500 for a middle-class family. In addition, the framework will help rural communities tap into the clean energy opportunity through targeted grants and loans through the Department of Agriculture.
- Ensure clean energy technology – from wind turbine blades to solar panels to electric cars – will be built in the United States with American made steel and other materials, creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs here at home. The Build Back Better legislation will target incentives to grow domestic supply chains in solar, wind, and other critical industries in communities on the frontlines of the energy transition. In addition, the framework will boost the competitiveness of existing industries, like steel, cement, and aluminum, through grants, loans, tax credits, and procurement to drive capital investment in the decarbonization and revitalization of American manufacturing.
- Advance environmental justice through a new Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator that will invest in projects around the country, while delivering 40% of the benefits of investment to disadvantaged communities, as part of the President’s Justice40 initiative. The framework will also fund port electrification; facilitate the deployment of cleaner transit, buses, and trucks; and support critical community capacity building, including grants to environmental justice communities. In addition, the framework will create a new Civilian Climate Corps – with over 300,000 members that look like America. This diverse new workforce will conserve our public lands, bolster community resilience, and address the changing climate, all while putting good-paying union jobs within reach for more Americans.
- Bolster resilience and natural solutions to climate change through a historic investment in coastal restoration, forest management, and soil conservation. The framework will provide resources to farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners, supporting their efforts to reduce emissions. At its peak, the increased investments in climate smart agriculture alone could reach roughly 130 million cropland acres per year, representing as many as 240,000 farms. Farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners have long demonstrated leadership in environmental stewardship with strategies that provide benefits for the farm, the environment, and the public. These investments will help meet the demand from the farming community for conservation support and enable producers to realize the full potential of climate benefits from agriculture.
The biggest expansion of affordable health care in a decade:
White House.gov. 10/28/2021.
Health care should be a right, not a privilege, and Americans facing illness should never have to worry about how they are going to pay for their treatment. While the historic Affordable Care Act (ACA) reduced the number of uninsured Americans by more than 20 million, extended critical consumer protections to more than 100 million people, and strengthened and improved the nation’s health care system, too many Americans continue to struggle to afford care. About 30 million people were uninsured in 2019 before President Biden took office, and coverage under the ACA (even with the premium subsidies) was too expensive for many families. In addition to investing in protecting Americans from future pandemics, the Build Back Better framework will expand access to affordable coverage. In all, the framework will be the largest expansion of health care coverage since the Affordable Care Act. Specifically, the framework will:
- Strengthen the Affordable Care Act and reduce premiums for 9 million Americans. The framework will reduce premiums for more than 9 million Americans who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace by an average of $600 per person per year. For example, a family of four earning $80,000 per year would save nearly $3,000 per year (or $246 per month) on health insurance premiums. Experts predict that more than 3 million people who would otherwise be uninsured will gain health insurance.
- Close the Medicaid coverage gap, leading 4 million uninsured people to gain coverage. The Build Back Better framework will deliver health care coverage through Affordable Care Act premium tax credits to up to 4 million uninsured people in states that have locked them out of Medicaid. A 40-year old in the coverage gap would have to pay $450 per month for benchmark coverage – more than half of their income in many cases. The framework provides individuals $0 premiums, finally making health care affordable and accessible.
- Expand Medicare to cover hearing benefits. Only 30% of seniors over the age of 70 who could benefit from hearing aids have ever used them. The Build Back Better framework will expand Medicare to cover hearing services, so that older Americans can access the affordable care they need.
The most significant effort to bring down costs and strengthen the middle class in generations:
In addition to major investments in children and care, climate, and health, the Build Back Better framework includes targeted investments that will reduce costs that hold back middle-class families and grow our economy from the bottom up and the middle out. Specifically, the framework will:
White House.gov. 10/28/2021.
- Make the single largest and most comprehensive investment in affordable housing in history. The framework will enable the construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of more than 1 million affordable homes, boosting housing supply and reducing price pressures for renters and homeowners. It will address the capital needs of the public housing stock in big cities and rural communities all across America and ensure it is not only safe and habitable but healthier and more energy efficient as well. It will make a historic investment in rental assistance, expanding vouchers to hundreds of thousands of additional families. And, it includes one of the largest investments in down payment assistance in history, enabling hundreds of thousands of first-generation homebuyers to purchase their first home and build wealth. This legislation will create more equitable communities, through investing in community-led redevelopments projects in historically under-resourced neighborhoods and removing lead paint from hundreds of thousands of homes, as well as by incentivizing state and local zoning reforms that enable more families to reside in higher opportunity neighborhoods.
- Extend the expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for around 17 million low-wage workers. Before this year, the federal tax code taxed low-wage childless workers into poverty or deeper into poverty — the only group of workers it treated this way. The Build Back Better framework will extend the American Rescue Plan’s tripling of the credit for childless workers, benefiting 17 million low-wage workers, many of whom are essential workers, including cashiers, cooks, delivery drivers, food preparation workers, and childcare providers. For example, a childless worker who works 30 hours per week at $9 per hour earns income that, after taxes, leaves them below the federal poverty line. By increasing her EITC to more than $1,100, this expansion helps pull such workers out of poverty.
- Expand access to affordable, high-quality education beyond high school. Education beyond high school is increasingly important for economic growth and competitiveness in the 21st century, even as it has become unaffordable for too many families. The Build Back Better framework will make education beyond high school – including training for high-paying jobs available now – more affordable. Specifically, the framework will increase the maximum Pell Grant by $550 for more the more than 5 million students enrolled in public and private, non-profit colleges and expand access to DREAMers. It will also make historic investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to build capacity, modernize research infrastructure, and provide financial aid to low-income students. And, it will invest in practices that help more students complete their degree or credential. The framework will help more people access quality training that leads to good, union, and middle-class jobs. It will enable community colleges to train hundreds of thousands of students, create sector-based training opportunity with in-demand training for at least hundreds of thousands of workers, and invest in proven approaches like Registered Apprenticeships and programs to support underserved communities. The framework will increase the Labor Department’s annual spending on workforce development by 50% for each of the next 5 years.
- Promote nutrition security to support children’s health. The Build Back Better framework will help children reach their full potential by investing in nutrition security year-round. The legislation will expand free school meals to 8.9 million children during the school year and provide a $65 per child per month benefit to the families of 30 million children to purchase food during the summer.
- Strengthen the middle class through a historic investment in equity, safety, and fairness. The legislation makes a transformative investment in Rural America through a new Rural Partnership Program that will empower rural regions, including Tribal Nations and territories, by providing flexible funding for locally-led projects. The Build Back Better framework will also make an historic investment in maternal health and establish a new and innovative community violence intervention initiative, in addition to investing in small businesses and preparing the nation for future pandemics and supply chain disruptions.
The Build Back Better framework includes a $100 billion investment that will improve our immigration system by providing long awaited relief to millions through reconciliation, and making enhancements to reduce backlogs, expand legal representation, and make the asylum system and border processing more efficient and humane.
White House.gov. 10/28/2021.
Fully Paying for Historic Investments
The plan is fully paid for by asking more from the very largest corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and by repealing the Trump Administration’s rebate rule. The framework will help reverse the windfall delivered to wealthy Americans and large corporations in the 2017 tax cut and invest the revenue in American families and workers. No one making under $400,000 will pay a penny more in taxes.
Specifically, the framework will:
- Stop large, profitable corporations from paying zero in tax and tax corporations that buyback stock rather than invest in the company. In 2019, the largest corporations in the United States paid just 8 percent in taxes, and many paid nothing at all. President Biden believes this is fundamentally unfair. The Build Back Better framework will impose a 15% minimum tax on the corporate profits that large corporations—those with over $1 billion in profits—report to shareholders. This means that if a large corporation says it is earning a billion dollars, then it can’t avoid paying taxes. The framework also includes a 1% surcharge on corporate stock buybacks, which corporate executives too often use to enrich themselves rather than investing workers and growing their businesses.
- Stop rewarding corporations for shipping jobs and profits overseas. President Biden has led the world to stop the race to the bottom in corporate taxes, while also calling for an end to incentives that encourage corporations to ship jobs and profits overseas. That’s why the President won an agreement among 136 countries on a 15% global minimum tax. This framework will help finish the job. Consistent with that agreement, it’d adopt a 15% country-by-country minimum tax on foreign profits of U.S. corporations, so that they no longer receive massive tax benefits from shifting profits and jobs abroad. And, these reforms would ensure that other countries abide by the agreement by imposing a penalty rate on any foreign corporations based in countries that do not. Other countries will not be able to take advantage by pursuing a race to the bottom.
- Ask the highest income Americans to pay their fair share. The Build Back Better framework includes a new surtax on the income of multi-millionaires and billionaires – the wealthiest 0.02 percent of Americans. It would apply a 5 percent rate above income of $10 million, and an additional 3 percent surtax on income above $25 million. The Build Back Better framework will also close the loopholes that allows some wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying the 3.8% Medicare tax on their earnings.
- Invest in overhauling tax administration, so the wealthy finally pay what they owe. Regular workers pay the taxes they owe on their wages and salaries—with a 99 percent compliance rate—while too many wealthy taxpayers hide their income from the IRS so they don’t have to pay. Yet, the IRS does not have the resources it needs to pursue wealthy tax cheats. As a result of budget cuts, audit rates on those making over $1 million per year fell by over 60 percent over the last decade, and the IRS audits only 75,000 of the 4.2 million partnership returns filed each year. The result of a gutted IRS is a two-tiered tax system, where wage earners pay all the taxes they owe, but the top 1 percent evades over $160 billion per year in taxes. The framework will create a fairer tax system through transformation investments in the IRS: hiring enforcement agents who are trained to pursue wealthy evaders, modernizing outdated IRS technology, and investing in taxpayer service, so regular Americans can get their questions answered and access to the credits and benefits they are entitled to. Additional enforcement resources will be focused on pursuing those with the highest incomes; not Americans with income less than $400,000.
The linked Framework includes a chart at the end that breaks down the costs of the reworked plan.
Reminder: All the above is subject to change on the whim of the House and Senate. The above is just for frame of reference giving myself and the reader a place to start when searching for things…
The White House posted the following readout of the video call:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. held a secure video call with transatlantic leaders today. The leaders expressed their concern about Russia’s continued build-up of military forces around Ukraine and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. They expressed their desire for a diplomatic solution to the crisis, and discussed recent engagements with Russia in multiple formats. The leaders agreed on the importance of coordinated efforts to deter further Russian aggression against Ukraine, including their readiness to impose massive consequences and severe economic costs on Russia should it choose military escalation, and to continue reinforcing the defensive posture on NATO’s eastern flank. They committed to continued close consultation, including working with and through NATO, the EU, the OSCE, and the UN.
Participants in the call included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, President Andrzej Duda of Poland, President Klaus Iohannis of Romania, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom.
White House.gov. 02/11/2022.
On Saturday President Biden from Camp David spoke with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The White House posted a readout of the call:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Vladimir Putin of Russia about Russia’s escalating military buildup on the borders of Ukraine. President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden reiterated that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing. President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios.
White House.gov. 02/12/2022.
The White House also posted a Background Press Call by a Senior Admin Official on the President’s call with the Russian President:
Thanks. And thanks, everybody, for taking the time.
So, the call between the two presidents was professional and substantive. It lasted a bit over an hour. There was no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks, but we believe that we have put ideas on the table that would be in our and our allies’ interest to pursue, that would enhance European security, and that would also address some of Russia’s stated concerns, just as we have been clear that we are committed to upholding Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the rights of states to choose their own security arrangements.
But it remains unclear whether Russia is interested in pursuing its goals diplomatically as opposed to through the use of force.
We remain committed to keeping the prospect of de-escalation through diplomacy alive. But we are also clear-eyed about the prospects of that, given the readily apparent steps Russia is taking on the ground in plain sight, right before our eyes. Stakes — the stakes of this are too high not to give Russia every chance to avoid an action that we believe would be catastrophic.
So, as always, we continue along two paths: diplomacy, including maintaining close alignment with our partners and allies, as evidenced by the President’s repeated bilateral engagements, including with President Zelenskyy, his call yesterday with key allies, and today’s call with President Putin, as well as other senior officials’ calls with their counterparts in all of these same categories.
Meanwhile, we are intensifying our efforts to deter Russia and to impose costs should it decide to go ahead with military action anyway.
You will have seen the announcement yesterday of an additional 3,000 U.S. forces headed to Poland. Our deliveries of security assistance to Ukraine have continued in recent days, and our discussions with the EU, UK, Canadian, and other partners and Allies to ensure that we are prepared to immediately impose severe financial sanctions and export controls are also reaching a culmination point.
We are continuing to reduce our diplomatic presence in Kyiv, as you’ve seen, and the President was very direct with President Putin about our concern for the safety and security of Americans still in Ukraine.
Whatever Russia decides, our assessment is that their efforts to improve their strategic position are already failing and that this will only be exacerbated should they decide to take military action.
The transatlantic relationship is more closely aligned than it has been in quite some time. NATO is stronger and more purposeful. Russia is already finding itself increasingly isolated from the wider world and more dependent on China, having together revealed a fundamentally different worldview at odds with the principled, affirmative, international law-abiding worldview and values that we stand for.
And Russia is finding itself on defense in the information space, given our own transparency about its intention.
Over time, if Russia invades, this list will also include a severe economic cost that I’ve already described and irrevocable reputational damage caused by taking innocent lives for a bloody war choice.
The two presidents agreed that our teams will stay engaged in the days ahead. Russia may decide to proceed with military action anyway. Indeed, that is a distinct possibility.
If it does, the damage to Ukraine, to European security, and, yes, to Russia will be profound. That is an outcome President Biden believes we should continue to work hard to avert.
White House.gov. 02/12/2022.
On Sunday President Biden spoke with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The White House posted the following readout of the call.
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. President Biden reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. President Biden made clear that the United States would respond swiftly and decisively, together with its Allies and partners, to any further Russian aggression against Ukraine. The two leaders agreed on the importance of continuing to pursue diplomacy and deterrence in response to Russia’s military build-up on Ukraine’s borders.
White House.gov. 02/13/2022.
President Biden’s Saturday Tweeting Total is 1 tweet and 0 retweets.
On the 9th of February President met with CEO’s to discuss his Build Back Better Agenda. The YouTube is 21 minutes and 5 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
The White House posted the following readout regarding the meeting:
This afternoon, the President hosted 10 electric utility executives at the White House for a discussion about his Build Back Better (BBB) agenda to modernize America’s energy system and meet the moment on climate. These electric utilities – that collectively employ more than a hundred thousand Americans in communities across the country and provide power to more than 50 million homes and businesses every day – offered their overwhelming support for the climate and clean energy investments in BBB.
The President thanked these leaders for their support and had a detailed conversation with them about their shared conviction that Build Back Better would support good jobs, lower energy bills for American families, make our electric grid more reliable in the face of extreme weather, enhance U.S. competitiveness, boost economic growth, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The CEOs in attendance spoke about how Build Back Better would make our country more globally competitive by investing in energy innovation, make our electric grid more reliable by investing in transmission, and support the growing number of electric vehicles Americans are buying. They also expressed that, while they may not agree with every aspect of the President’s agenda, they firmly support investments in climate and clean energy.
The climate and clean energy provisions in Build Back Better are a comprehensive set of investments to get America on track to reach the President’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035, and he appreciates the partnership of these top electric utility CEOs in that effort.
White House.gov. 02/09/2022.
President Biden’s Sunday Tweeting Total is 3 tweets and 0 retweets.
On Friday, I explained that Josh is 12 years old and has type 1 diabetes he was tasked with introducing the President prior to President Biden’s remarks on lowering health care costs for families.
The video is 59 seconds long and a mash-up of the President meeting Josh and his family, his mother Shannon also offered brief remarks before her son introduces the President. There are also snips from Josh’s remarks and the President’s.
Because it’s a mash-up I will not be transcribing the full video clip.
You’re welcome…
As covered in Coffee Talk for Sunday; it was special as it was Superbowl Sunday.
All and all the game was exciting and it was clear to me at least, that both teams earned their place fighting for the Ring…
I didn’t watch the post game stuff because I hardly ever do…
But ICYMI like me…
And while this did not happen on Valentines Day…
For Monday February 14th, 2022, President Biden has returned to the White House following his weekend at Camp David. President Biden has received his daily brief.
President Biden has tweeted 2 times so far for Valentines Day…
His full statement:
On February 14th, 2018, a gunman stole the lives of 14 students and 3 educators at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It was the deadliest high school shooting in a nation with far too many of them, and it left another community — and our country — shattered by grief.
On this difficult day, we mourn with the Parkland families whose lives were upended in an instant; who had to bury a piece of their soul deep in the earth. We pray too for those still grappling with wounds both visible and invisible. And, as we remember those lost in Parkland, we also stand with Americans in every corner of our country who have lost loved ones to gun violence or had their lives forever altered by a shooting, in tragedies that made headlines and in ones that did not.
Out of the heartbreak of Parkland a new generation of Americans all across the country marched for our lives and towards a better, safer America for us all. Together, this extraordinary movement is making sure that the voices of victims and survivors and responsible gun owners are louder than the voices of gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association.My Administration stands with those working to end this epidemic of gun violence. I have put forward a comprehensive plan to reduce gun crime that includes curbing the proliferation of “ghost” guns, cracking down on gun dealers who willfully violate the law, issuing model extreme risk protection order legislation for states, and promoting safe firearm storage, among other efforts. The Department of Justice is also helping more cities adopt smart law enforcement models like the one I recently saw in New York City, in which federal, state, and local law enforcement work together to share intelligence and remove shooters from our streets.
I’ve asked Congress to pass a budget that provides an additional half billion dollars for proven strategies we know reduce violent crime — accountable community policing and community violence interventions. I have also requested increased funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Marshals. And Congress must do much more — beginning with requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers.
We can never bring back those we’ve lost. But we can come together to fulfill the first responsibility of our government and our democracy: to keep each other safe. For Parkland, for all those we’ve lost, and for all those left behind, it is time to uphold that solemn obligation.
White House.gov. 02/14/2022.
I looked for the name of their wedding song, but well, instead I got all kinds of details about their lives and love, but no one said what song it was, so I picked…
The first song that popped into my head…
The song recommend to me by YouTube…
And just cause when I think weddings I eventually think of my own wedding song…
The daily press briefing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. D.C., time.
This is an Open Thread.
