Biden Bits: Stood Humbly Alongside…

Biden Tweets Logo. Image by Lenny Ghoul.

When Biden Bits was posted for Tuesday, President Biden had tweeted 1 time. He added 5 tweets giving him a Tuesday Tweeting Total of 6 tweets and 0 retweets.

The YouTube is 41 minutes and 16 seconds long. The White House has not published a transcript of his remarks as of 8:30 a.m. CA., time.

From the White House announcement regarding the Medal of Honor award:

Specialist Five Dennis M. Fujii

Specialist Five Dennis M. Fujii will receive the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as crew chief aboard a helicopter ambulance during rescue operations in Laos and the Republic of Vietnam from February 18 – 22, 1971.  During a mission to evacuate seriously wounded Vietnamese military personnel, Specialist Five Fujii’s medevac helicopter took on enemy fire and was forced to crash land.  Although injured, he waved off a rescue from another helicopter and remained behind as the only American on the battlefield.  During that night and the next day, although wounded, he administered first aid to allied casualties. On the night of February 19, he called in American helicopter gunships to assist in repelling an enemy attack.  For more than 17 hours, he repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire as he left the security of his entrenchment to better observe enemy troop positions and to direct air strikes against them until an American helicopter could attempt to airlift him from the area.  Upon completion of his tour, he joined the Army Reserve and today resides in Hawaii.

White House.gov. 06/27/2022.

Specialist Five Dwight W. Birdwell

Specialist Five Dwight W. Birdwell will receive the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division, in the Republic of Vietnam on January 31, 1968. That day, a large enemy element initiated an assault on the Tan Son Nhut Airbase near Saigon. They disabled or destroyed many of the unit’s vehicles and incapacitated Specialist Five Birdwell’s tank commander. Under heavy enemy small-arms fire, Specialist Five Birdwell moved the tank commander to safety and fired the tank’s weapons at the enemy force. Afterwards, he dismounted and continued fighting until receiving enemy fire to his face and torso. He refused evacuation and led a small group of defenders to disrupt the enemy assault until reinforcements arrived. He then aided in evacuating the wounded until he was ordered to seek attention for his own wounds. He was honorably discharged on December 29, 1968, and today practices law in Oklahoma City.

White House.gov. 06/27/2022.

Major John J. Duffy

Major John J. Duffy will receive the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as the senior advisor to the 11th Airborne Battalion, 2nd Brigade, Airborne Division, Army of the Republic of Vietnam, from April 14 – 15, 1972.  Two days earlier, the commander of the 11th Airborne Battalion had been killed, the battalion command post destroyed, and Major Duffy was twice wounded.  He refused to be evacuated.  In the morning hours of April 14, after a failed effort to establish a landing zone for resupply aircraft, he moved close to enemy anti-aircraft positions to call in airstrikes and was wounded again, but still refused evacuation.  In the late afternoon, the enemy began a ground assault from all sides, and Major Duffy moved from position to position to adjust fire, spot targets for artillery and direct gunship fire.  In the early morning of April 15, after an enemy ambush, he led evacuees, many of whom were seriously wounded, to an evacuation area, where he directed gunship fire on enemy positions and marked a landing zone for the helicopters. Only after ensuring all evacuees were aboard, did he board as well, assisting a wounded friendly foreign soldier and administering aid to a wounded helicopter door gunner. Major Duffy’s service included three tours in Vietnam in a myriad of Special Forces assignments.  He retired from the Army on May 31, 1977, and currently lives in Santa Cruz, California.  

White House.gov. 06/27/2022.

Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro (July 1928-March 1967)

Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously for acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an infantry squad leader with Troop C, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, near Phu Huu 2, Kim Son Valley, Republic of Vietnam, on Dec. 1, 1966.  Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro and his team entered the village of Phu Huu 2 while on a search and destroy mission and were attacked by North Vietnamese.  Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro destroyed one enemy group with rifle fire and two others with grenades, which enabled the orderly extrication and reorganization of the platoon and ultimately led to a successful withdrawal from the village.  He served in Vietnam between July 18, 1966, until his death on March 6, 1967, as a result of a hostile gunshot wound.

White House.gov. 06/27/2022.

The video snip is 42 seconds long.

President Biden: Today, we’re setting the record straight. We’re upgrading the awards of four soldiers who performed acts of incredible heroism during the Vietnam conflict. To respect the conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity of their service, I mean, it’s just astounding when you hear what each of them have done. They went far above and beyond the call of duty. It’s a phrase always used, but it takes on life when you see these men. To the late Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro, Specialist Five Dwight W. Birdwell, to Specialist Five Dennis M. Fugii, and to Major John Duffy. I’m proud to finally award our highest military recognition, the Medal of Honor to each of you.

The White House posted the following fact-sheet; Biden-⁠Harris Administration Launches National Effort to Support Student Success  

President Biden calls on schools to leverage American Rescue Plan funds to expand programming and services to help students make up for lost learning time and succeed

America’s students are on average two to four months behind in reading and math because of the COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden understands the pain and loss our nation’s students, families, and educators are experiencing, and is committed to supporting our nation’s children. That’s why President Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) provided an historic $122 billion in funding to help schools safely reopen and stay open, combat learning loss, and address student mental health and other needs.

Today, President Biden is calling on schools to use the $122 billion in ARP funds to provide high-quality tutoring, summer learning and enrichment, and afterschool programs that are proven pathways to helping students make up for lost learning time and succeed in school and in life, including by supporting their mental health. Building on President Biden’s call to action in the State of the Union, the Biden-Harris Administration is also joining with leading organizations to launch the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS) to provide students with an additional 250,000 tutors and mentors over the next three years.

We know what works: fully staffed schools, and personalized support for students through high-quality tutoring, summer learning and enrichment, and afterschool programs that help students not only make academic gains, but also stay connected to school and one another. The steps announced today will further help ensure America’s children have what they need to thrive.

White House.gov. 07/05/2022.

Use American Rescue Plan Funds to Provide Additional Instruction So Students Can Make Up for Learning Time Lost During the Pandemic

Thanks to the ARP, states and schools have the funds they need to help students recover from the pandemic. A majority of schools are already using these resources or have developed their plans to provide tutoring, mentoring, summer learning and afterschool programs, and to support staffing. Independent experts at Georgetown University have found school districts plan to spend over half of the $122 billion in ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding for these purposes.

To ensure students are set up for success, the President is calling on states and school districts to continue using American Rescue Plan funds to fully staff schools and provide high-quality tutoring, summer learning and enrichment, and afterschool programs to support, on average, an additional four months of learning gains in reading and math. These programs are most successful when paired with initiatives that support student well-being and mental health, like arts and music, and the programs like those supported by the National Partnership for Student Success.  

White House.gov. 07/05/2022.
  • High-quality summer learning and enrichment: Multiple studies indicate that high-quality summer learning and enrichment programs lasting five weeks, with at least three hours of academic instruction per day, can help students gain roughly an additional two months of learning in math and one month in reading.
  • High-quality tutoring programs: Research has consistently shown that high-quality tutoring programs of a range of durations can produce about five months of additional learning. The best programs provide tutoring three times per week, for 30 minutes each day, and use teachers and well-trained volunteers.
  • High-quality afterschool programs: High-quality afterschool programs are associated with academic gains of roughly the equivalent of four months of learning, with positive impacts on attendance and student behavior as well. These high-quality programs include a concrete focus on skill development, including personal and social skills, and provide opportunities for students to practice new skills.

To help parents and schools ensure these critical supports are available in every district, the Administration is taking the following actions:

  • Tracking Progress in Providing Additional Learning Opportunities: The Institute for Education Sciences, the Department of Education’s statistics, research and evaluation arm, will use monthly surveys to track schools’ continued progress in providing summer learning and enrichment, tutoring, and afterschool supports.
  • Empowering Parents: Most decisions about how schools invest ARP funds are made at the local level and districts are required to engage families, educators and other stakeholders as they create their plans for using these historic funds. The Department of Education recently launched its National Parents and Families Engagement Council, and has created a new tool to help families and communities engage with district leaders around ensuring recovery funds are meeting students’ needs. Using this interactive map, families and communities can review how their state and district plans to spend their ARP funds. Parents and families should engage their local leaders if plans do not adequately address the needs of their students.
  • Highlighting Schools Effectively Supporting Student Success: Today, the Department of Education is launching a campaign through the Best Practices Clearinghouse to highlight states and schools using ARP funds to support learning recovery and student mental health in evidence-based ways. The Department is calling on education leaders to nominate work for national recognition through the Clearinghouse.
  • Highlighting How States, Cities and Counties Can Help: Ensuring our students have the supports they need to succeed cannot fall on education leaders alone. States, cities and counties can use the American Rescue Plan’s $350 billion in State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to support student success. As outlined in a new White House toolkit, SLFRF can be used to hire and retain school-based staff; build the educator pipeline; and invest in other ways to support our students, including academic and mental health supports.

Recruit 250,000 New Tutors and Mentors to Help Students Succeed

Research shows that high quality tutors and mentors positively impact student achievement, well-being, and overall success. In fact, the CDC released analyses in March finding that students who are connected to adults and peers at school – the kinds of connections that tutoring and mentoring programs can foster — reported better mental health outcomes than those without such connections. However, many schools need help recruiting and training the caring adults who are essential to implementing these high-quality, evidence-based programs.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration, led by AmeriCorps and the Department of Education, is joining forces with leading national education, youth development, and service organizations and the Johns Hopkins Everyone Graduates Center to launch the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS). NPSS will help expand high-impact tutoring, mentoring, and other evidence-based support programs that help students succeed. The NPSS will bring together school districts, non-profits and higher education institutions to recruit, train and place screened adults in high impact roles as tutors, mentors, student success coaches, integrated student supports coordinators, and post-secondary education transition coaches, with the goal of ensuring an additional 250,000 adults serve in these roles over the next three years. This will also help build the pipeline of educators. As more Americans gain experience working in our schools, more will seek out roles as teachers and student support professionals.

To support this effort, AmeriCorps will prioritize the American Rescue Plan’s $20 million in Volunteer Generation Funds to assist non-profit organizations in recruiting and managing up to 200,000 additional volunteers in these critical positions in schools. The Department of Education has also made it clear that schools can use federal education funds as matching funds for AmeriCorps programs, making it easier for schools to partner with AmeriCorps grantees to support students. 

President Biden is calling on Americans to come together to support our students in a number of different ways:

White House.gov. 07/05/2022.
  • Individuals, from young adults to retirees, can learn more about supporting youth through a range of volunteer and national service opportunities, through AmeriCorps and the NPSS.
  • Community-based organizations and school districts can expand or improve tutoring, mentoring and other programs through the NPSS or through AmeriCorps  
  • Employers across the country can pledge to support their employees in serving as volunteers, amplify these opportunities to serve, and get help in supporting these volunteer efforts.
  • Colleges and universities can learn more about and sign up to partner with K-12 schools and community-based organizations, providing their post-secondary students with meaningful opportunities to support K-12 students’ success. 

Organizations participating in NPSS include Accelerate, Afterschool Alliance, American Federation of Teachers, American School Counselor Association, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, City Year, Communities in Schools, COVID Collaborative, MENTOR, National 4-H Council, National College Attainment Network, National Education Association, National Student Support Accelerator, National Summer Learning Association, AASA: the School Superintendents Association, and Voices for National Service. For a full list of participating organizations, visit https://www.partnershipstudentsuccess.org/.

White House.gov. 07/05/2022.

The link shared by President Biden sends you to Partnership Students Success.org. The site explains how you can volunteer to help, their mission, and a list of participating organizations.

President Biden’s public schedule for Wednesday, July 6th, 2022:

9:30 AMThe President receives the President’s Daily Brief
The White HouseClosed Press
10:30 AMIn-Town Pool Call Time
The White HouseIn-Town Pool
11:15 AMOut-of-Town Pool Call Time
Joint Base Andrews Visitor Center OverhangOut-of-Town Pool
12:25 PMThe President departs the White House en route Joint Base Andrews
South LawnOpen Press
12:45 PMThe President departs Joint Base Andrews en route Cleveland, Ohio
Joint Base AndrewsOut-of-Town Pool
1:15 PMPress Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route Cleveland, Ohio
Joint Base AndrewsOut-of-Town Pool
1:55 PMThe President arrives in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland Hopkins International AirportOpen Press
3:15 PMThe President delivers remarks announcing the final rule implementing the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance program
Max S. Hayes High School, ClevelandOpen Press
4:55 PMThe President departs Cleveland, Ohio en route Joint Base Andrews
Cleveland Hopkins International AirportOpen Press
6:00 PMThe President arrives at Joint Base Andrews
Joint Base AndrewsOut-of-Town Pool
6:20 PMThe President arrives at the White House
South LawnPress Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route Cleveland, Ohio

The White House posted the following fact-sheet; President Biden Announces Historic American Rescue Plan Pension Relief for Millions of Union Workers and Retirees

Tomorrow, President Biden will join union workers and retirees at the Max S. Hayes High School in Cleveland, Ohio to announce the final rule implementing the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance program. The American Rescue Plan provided critical assistance to working families and jump started our economic recovery, re-opening 99% of schools, helping to create more than 8 million jobs, and generating the fastest economic growth in 40 years. The Special Financial Assistance Program will protect millions of workers in multiemployer pension plans who faced significant cuts to their benefits.

Multiemployer plans are created through agreements between employers and a union, with plans typically involving multiple employers in a single industry or related industries. A typical worker whose multiemployer plan became insolvent would see their expected pension benefits slashed substantially. Before the American Rescue Plan, workers and retirees participating in more than 200 multiemployer pension plans faced the prospect of not receiving the full benefits they earned and need to support them and their families in retirement.

These plans are insured by a federal agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). PBGC provides partial protection of the benefits of approximately 10.9 million workers and retirees in approximately 1,400 private-sector multiemployer, union-connected plans. Prior to the America Rescue Plan, the PBGC’s multiemployer pension insurance program was projected to become insolvent in 2026.

White House.gov. 07/05/2022.

The American Rescue Plan Protects Retirees’ Pension Benefits

Named for heroic Ohio union leader and pension advocate Butch Lewis, the American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance program will provide financial relief to struggling multiemployer pension plans and ensure that millions of families facing benefit cuts will receive their full benefits they earned.

Under the program, financially struggling multiemployer pension plans can apply to the PBGC for assistance. PBGC issued an Interim Final Rule implementing the program in July 2021. Unions, employers, and other key stakeholders provided important comments that PBGC and the three Cabinet agencies that constitute its Board of Directors (the Labor, Treasury, and Commerce Departments) considered in developing the Final Rule. Important policy changes from the Interim Final Rule to the Final Rule include:

White House.gov. 07/05/2022.
  • Addressing the amount of Special Financial Assistance needed to better achieve the goal of allowing plans to remain solvent until 2051. The interim final rule applied a single rate of return included in the statute that is higher than could be expected for Special Financial Assistance funds given that they were required to be invested exclusively in safe, but low-return, investment-grade fixed income products. The final rule uses two different rates of return for SFA and non-SFA assets so that the interest rate for SFA assets is more realistic given the investment limitations on these funds. This policy fix will help ensure that all multiemployer plans that receive assistance will receive sufficient funds to remain solvent until 2051.
  • Responsible permissible return-seeking investments: The final rule allows 33% of Special Financial Assistance to be invested in return-seeking assets that are projected to allow plans to receive a higher rate of return on their investments than under the interim final rule, but subject to strict protections. This portion of plans’ SFA funds generally must be invested in publicly traded assets on liquid markets to ensure responsible stewardship of federal funds. These return-seeking investments include equities, equity funds, and bonds. The other 67% of SFA funds must be invested in investment-grade fixed-income products.
  • Ensure MPRA plans could confidently restore both past and future benefits and enter 2051 with rising assets. PBGC designed the final rule to ensure that no MPRA plan – the 18 multiemployer plans that remained solvent by cutting benefits pursuant to the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) – was forced to choose between restoring their benefit payments to previous levels and remaining indefinitely solvent, as required by the Act. The final rule ensures that all 18 MPRA plans avoid this dilemma, with enough assistance so that these plans can both restore benefits and be projected to remain indefinitely solvent going into 2051.

Taken together, these changes ensure that all plans that receive Special Financial Assistance are projected to be solvent and pay full benefits through at least 2051.

The American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance Program Will Have Historic Impacts:

  • Positions multiemployer plans that receive assistance to remain solvent through at least 2051 – with no cuts to earned benefits:
    • Before American Rescue Plan: over 200 multiemployer plans were on pace to become insolvent in the near term.
    • After: Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, every multiemployer pension plan that faced near-term insolvency and benefit cuts that receives Special Financial Assistance is projected to remain solvent through 2051, and for much longer.
  • Protect benefits for millions of workers who faced cuts:
    • Before the American Rescue Plan: a wave of multiemployer pension plan insolvencies was projected to leave two to three million union workers, retirees, and their families without the full benefits they had earned.
    • After: Two to three million workers and retirees in plans that receive assistance are expected to have their full pension benefits for the next three decades.
  • Harsh Pension Cuts Reversed for over 80,000 Workers and Retirees in 18 Multiemployer Plans:
    • Before: MPRA allowed plans to, for the first time, cut workers’ and retirees’ benefits in order to remain indefinitely solvent. Eighteen multiemployer “MPRA plans” were approved to utilize this program.
    • After: More than 80,000 workers and retirees in MPRA plans who, through no fault of their own, had their pension benefits cut, are eligible to have those benefits fully reinstated – with their plans solvent through 2051. The Special Financial Assistance program ensures all MPRA plans that were forced to cut benefits are able to restore those cuts in full, maintain full benefits into the foreseeable future, and be projected to remain indefinitely solvent. 
  • Most significant effort to protect the solvency of the multiemployer pension system in almost 50 years: 
    • Before: Before the American Rescue Plan, because of the anticipated financial pressures from the need to guarantee minimum (partial) benefits for insolvent plans, PBGC’s Multiemployer Pension Insurance Program was projected to become insolvent in 2026. 
    • After: The American Rescue Plan’s Special Financial Assistance program extended the solvency of the PBGC multiemployer insurance program from 2026 to 2055. This relief is the most substantial policy to strengthen the solvency of our nation’s multiemployer pensions since the enactment of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in 1974.

President Biden has tweeted…

President Biden has tweeted 1 time so far for Wednesday…

June 22nd, 2022, President Biden offered remarks on Gas Prices and Putin’s Price Hike

President Biden: (12:09) We can deal with the imme- — this immediate crisis of high gas prices and still seize the clean energy future. We’re Americans.  We can do both.  We have the most qualified people in the world.

The daily press briefing will be held aboard Air-Force. The audio only briefing is schedule for 1:15 p.m. D.C., time.

President Biden’s remarks are scheduled for 3:15 p.m. D.C., time.

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Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.

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