It’s Friday…
I was looking for a song about “April” the month, not the wine or a person, but…
Today, is the first of April aka April Fools Day, this is your friendly reminder to beware of shitpost Twitter posting things that are fake, lies, and fake jackassery….
Before we continue our dive into April 1st, 2022, we go all the way back to Thursday…
When Biden Bits was posted for Thursday, President Biden had tweeted 4 times. He added 14 tweets giving him a Thursday Tweeting Total of 18 tweets and 0 retweets.
More on Transgender Day of Visibility can be found in yesterday’s Biden Bits.
The YouTube is 17 minutes and 41 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
President Biden: Today, I want to talk about one aspect of Putin’s war that affects and has real effects on the American people: Putin’s price hike that Americans and our allies are feeling at the pump.
President Biden: Today, I’m authorizing the release of 1 million barrels per day for the next six months — over 180 million barrels — for the Strategic — from the — from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
President Biden: So, today, I’m laying out a two-part plan not only to ease the pain that families are feeling right now, but to end this era of dependence and uncertainty, and to lay a new foundation for true and lasting American energy independence.
President Biden: U.S. oil companies made nearly $80 billion in profit last year. And this year, those profits are expected to continue to soar. This is a time — not the time to sit on record profits. It’s time to step up for the good of your country, the good of the world; to invest in immediate production that we need to respond to Vladimir Putin; to provide some relief for your customers, not investors and executives.
President Biden: Right now, the oil and gas industry is sitting on nearly 9,000 unused but approved permits for production on federal lands. There are more than a [12] million unused acres they have a right to — to pump on.
President Biden: So, to help execute this first part of my plan, I’m calling for a “use it or lose it” policy. Congress should make companies pay fees on wells on federal leases they haven’t used in years and acres of public land they’re hoarding without production.
President Biden: It’s also a moment of patriotism. I want to acknowledge those companies that have already announced they’re increasing immediate production. They’re investing money to produce more oil and also clean technologies we need to reduce our dependence on oil in the future.
President Biden: Ultimately, we and the whole world need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels altogether. We need to choose long-term security over energy and climate vulnerability. We need to double down on our commitment to clean energy and tackling the climate crisis with our partners and allies around the world. And we can do that by passing my plan that is literally before the Senate right now — the United States Congress right now — it’s been there for well over a month — to speed the transition to a clean energy future that is made in America with American products and American values.
President Biden: That’s why, today, I am issuing a directive to strengthen our clean energy economy. I’m going to use the Defense Production Act to secure American supply chains for the critical materials that go into batteries for electric vehicles and the storage of renewable energy: lithium, graphite, nickel, and so much more.
Clean energy made in America helps safeguard our national security, tackle climate change, and support millions of good-paying jobs for generations to come.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 31, 2022
But the most important thing my plan will do right away is save your family money.
If you take advantage of the next generation of electric vehicles, the typical driver will save about $80 a month in perpetuity from never having to pay at the gas pump again.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 31, 2022
If your home is powered by safer, cheaper, clean electricity like solar and heat pumps, you save about $500 per year on average.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 31, 2022
This week, my Administration is making $3.2 billion — ten times the historical level — available to states, Tribes, and territories to retrofit homes.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 31, 2022
A program that in the past has delivered the average family another $372 a year in savings.
We’re setting new standards to boost the fuel economy of vehicles an average of 10 miles per gallon within 5 years.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 31, 2022
We’re setting similar standards for smaller appliances — just one of 100 actions we’re taking to save the average household another $100 per year on utility bills.
President Biden: Yes, building a made-in-America clean energy future will help safeguard our national security. Yes, it will help us tackle climate change. Yes, it’s going to help us ensure that America creates millions of good-paying jobs for generations to come. But most important — the most important thing my plan will do right away is save your family money.
President Biden: And here’s what I mean: Under my plan, which is before Congress now, we can take advantage of the next generation of electric vehicles that a typical driver will save about $80 a month from not having to pay gas at the pump.
President Biden: If your home is powered by safer, cheaper, cleaner electricity, like solar or heat pumps, you can save about $500 a month [year] on average.
President Biden: My administration is making $3.2 billion available from this legislation to provide up to $6,500 direct payment for working-class families to be able to weatherize their homes, to save them money, to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It’s a direct grant. This program has been around for a while, and in the past, it’s delivered to families — average families another $327 [$372] in savings when they weatherize. But now we have the ability to reach 10 times as many families because of the legislation that we already passed in the legislation. But now we have the ability to reach 10 times as many families because of the legislation that we already passed in the legislation.
President Biden: In addition to that, we’re also setting new standards to boost fuel economies for new vehicles sold in America. Within five years, we’re going to travel 10 miles more on every single gallon we have, because the average fuel economy of 49 miles to the gallon is going to be required. That means hundreds of dollars in savings for families at the pump. We’re also setting similar standards for appliances — from your air conditioner to your microwave to your refrigerator, washers, dryers. It’s just one of a hundred actions we’re taking to save the average family $100 per year in utility bills.
President Biden: Look, the bottom line is this: Between rapping up — ramping up production in the short term and driving down demand in the long term, we can free ourselves from our dependence on imported oil from across the world.
President Biden: Look, I know gas prices are painful. I get it. My plan is going to help ease that pain today and safeguard again — against it tomorrow. I’m open to ideas to strengthen the plan, but I will not be — put off and put it on hold. It’s time to deliver true long-term energy independence in America once and for all. And I’m going to continue to use every tool at my disposal to protect you from Putin’s price hike. This is not time for politics. Americas — Americans can’t afford that right now. So let’s meet this moment together.
For Friday, April 1st, 2022, President Biden will offer remarks on March’s Jobs Report. After his remarks the President will receive his daily brief. This afternoon he will travel to New Castle, Delaware.
President Biden has tweeted…
So far President Biden has tweeted once. This will change as Friday progresses.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Friday that total non-farm payroll employment rose by 431,000 in March, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.6 percent.
As always we turn to New York Times Econ/business/data reporter Ben Casselman:
That’s all he has so far.
FYI’s: I can’t gift the first tweeted out NYT article; it’s possibly not paywalled… *shrug*
The jobs added of 431,000 is slightly below the expectations cast a couple of days ago by ADP as CNBC News reported on March 30th.
Companies added jobs at a solid pace in March, indicating that hiring is strong despite signs of a tightening labor market, payroll processing firm ADP reported Wednesday.
Private payrolls expanded by 455,000 for the month, the firm said, about in line with the Dow Jones estimate of 450,000 though it was the lowest since August 2021. The total was slightly below the upwardly revised 486,000 for February, and brought ADP’s first-quarter jobs count to 1.45 million.
CNBC News. 03/30/2022.
This is not to say ADP got it wrong, they know how many payroll checks they cut; this is the reminder that how ADP measures “economic growth” and how the BLS does are not the same thing.
The *BLS revised January and February jobs numbers up; The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for January was revised up by 23,000, from +481,000 to +504,000, and the change for February was revised up by 72,000, from +678,000 to +750,000. With these revisions, employment in January and February combined is 95,000 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 PDF bottom of pg. 4*
The next jobs report release is scheduled for May 6th, 2022.
His second tweet for Friday…
President Biden’s remarks are scheduled for 10:45 a.m. D.C., time. Chances are he’ll be running late.
The daily press briefing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. D.C., time.
I will not be covering the weekend afternoon open thread for the foreseeable future. Lady Snark has offered to cover the weekends, so I don’t be like…
Let’s hear it for Lady Snark!
That ends my announcement. I look forward to joining in the comment section…
This is an Open Thread.
