It’s Friday.
When Biden Bits was posted for Thursday, President Biden had not tweeted. He ended up with a Thursday Tweeting Total of 5 tweets and 0 retweets.
On Wednesday, President Biden delivered remarks on Historic American Rescue Plan Pension Relief. The YouTube of his remarks is 35 minutes and 44 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
President Biden: This Fourth of July, let’s remember who — who is the backbone of this country. It’s you, the American worker. I promised you I would be the most pro-labor, pro-union, pro-worker President in our history. And there’s another promise I am going to be keeping as well. (Applause.) So, let me tell you something: There’s no other place I want to be than right here with the workers in this room and the workers that built America. (Applause.)
The YouTube is 51 minutes and 34 seconds long. The presentation of the Medal’s begins at the 28 minute and 34 second mark. The White House has not posted the transcription of his remarks. Yet.
The names of the 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom were announced on July 1st, 2022.
President Biden’s public schedule for Friday, July 8th, 2022.
| 9:30 AM | The President receives the President’s Daily Brief The White HouseClosed Press |
| 11:00 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time The White HouseIn-Town Pool |
| 11:30 AM | The President delivers remarks on protecting access to reproductive health care services; The Vice President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services attend Roosevelt RoomIn-House Pool |
| 12:00 PM | Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre James S. Brady Press Briefing Room |
| 1:55 PM | The President departs the White House South GroundsIn-Town Travel Pool |
| 2:15 PM | The President visits the CIA headquarters CIA Headquarters, McLean, VAIn-Town Travel Pool |
| 2:30 PM | Out-of-Town Call Time South LawnOut-of-Town |
| 3:40 PM | The President delivers remarks thanking the CIA’s workforce and commemorates the Agency’s achievements over the 75 years since its founding CIA Headquarters, McLean, VAIn-Town Travel Pool |
| 4:30 PM | The President arrives at the White House South GroundsIn-Town Travel Pool |
| 7:45 PM | The President departs the White House en route Rehoboth Beach, Delaware South LawnOpen Press |
| 8:40 PM | The President arrives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Biden Beach House, Rehoboth Beach, DE |
The White House posted the following fact-sheet; President Biden to Sign Executive Order Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services
Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court issued a decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and eliminated a woman’s Constitutional right to choose. This decision expressly took away a right from the American people that it had recognized for nearly 50 years – a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health care decisions, free from government interference. Fundamental rights – to privacy, autonomy, freedom, and equality – have been denied to millions of women across the country, with grave implications for their health, lives, and wellbeing. This ruling will disproportionately affect women of color, low-income women, and rural women.
President Biden has made clear that the only way to secure a woman’s right to choose is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe as federal law. Until then, he has committed to doing everything in his power to defend reproductive rights and protect access to safe and legal abortion.
Today, President Biden will sign an Executive Order Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services. This Executive Order builds on the actions his Administration has already taken to defend reproductive rights by:
White House.gov. 07/08/2022.
- Safeguarding access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception;
- Protecting the privacy of patients and their access to accurate information;
- Promoting the safety and security of patients, providers, and clinics; and
- Coordinating the implementation of Federal efforts to protect reproductive rights and access to health care.
SAFEGUARDING ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE SERVICES
The President has directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take the following actions and submit a report to him within 30 days on efforts to:
- Protect Access to Medication Abortion. HHS will take additional action to protect and expand access to abortion care, including access to medication that the FDA approved as safe and effective over twenty years ago. These actions will build on the steps the Secretary of HHS has already taken at the President’s direction following the decision to ensure that medication abortion is as widely accessible as possible.
- Ensure Emergency Medical Care. HHS will take steps to ensure all patients – including pregnant women and those experiencing pregnancy loss – have access to the full rights and protections for emergency medical care afforded under the law, including by considering updates to current guidance that clarify physician responsibilities and protections under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
- Protect Access to Contraception. HHS will take additional actions to expand access to the full range of reproductive health services, including family planning services and providers, such as access to emergency contraception and long-acting reversible contraception like intrauterine devices (IUDs). In all fifty states and the District of Columbia, the Affordable Care Act guarantees coverage of women’s preventive services, including free birth control and contraceptive counseling, for individuals and covered dependents. The Secretary of HHS has already directed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to take every legally available step to ensure patient access to family planning care and to protect family planning providers.
- Launch Outreach and Public Education Efforts. HHS will increase outreach and public education efforts regarding access to reproductive health care services—including abortion—to ensure that Americans have access to reliable and accurate information about their rights and access to care.
- Convene Volunteer Lawyers. The Attorney General and the White House Counsel will convene private pro bono attorneys, bar associations, and public interest organizations to encourage robust legal representation of patients, providers, and third parties lawfully seeking or offering reproductive health care services throughout the country. Such representation could include protecting the right to travel out of state to seek medical care. Immediately following the Supreme Court decision, the President announced his Administration’s position that Americans must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek the care they need, as the Attorney General made clear in his statement, and his commitment to fighting any attack by a state or local official who attempts to interfere with women exercising this right.
PROTECTING PATIENT PRIVACY AND ACCESS TO ACCURATE INFORMATION
The President’s Executive Order takes additional steps to protect patient privacy, including by addressing the transfer and sales of sensitive health-related data, combatting digital surveillance related to reproductive health care services, and protecting people seeking reproductive health care from inaccurate information, fraudulent schemes, or deceptive practices. The Executive Order will:
White House.gov. 07/08/2022.
- Protect Consumers from Privacy Violations and Fraudulent and Deceptive Practices. The President has asked the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission to consider taking steps to protect consumers’ privacy when seeking information about and provision of reproductive health care services. The President also has directed the Secretary of HHS, in consultation with the Attorney General and Chair of the FTC, to consider options to address deceptive or fraudulent practices, including online, and protect access to accurate information.
- Protect Sensitive Health Information. HHS will consider additional actions, including under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), to better protect sensitive information related to reproductive health care. The Secretary of HHS has already directed the HHS Office for Civil Rights to take initial steps to ensure patient privacy and nondiscrimination of patients, as well as providers who provide reproductive health care, including by:
- Issuing new guidance to address how the HIPAA Privacy Rule protects the privacy of individuals’ protected health information, including information related to reproductive health care. The guidance helps ensure doctors and other medical providers and health plans know that, with limited exceptions, they are not required – and in many cases, are not permitted – to disclose patients’ private information, including to law enforcement.
- Issuing a how-to guide for consumers on steps they can take to make sure they’re protecting their personal data on mobile apps.
PROMOTING SAFETY AND SECURITY
The Executive Order addresses the heightened risk related to seeking and providing reproductive health care and will:
- Protect Patients, Providers, and Clinics. The Administration will ensure the safety of patients, providers, and third parties, and to protect the security of other entities that are providing, dispensing, or delivering reproductive health care services. This charge includes efforts to protect mobile clinics, which have been deployed to borders to offer care for out-of-state patients.
COORDINATING IMPLEMENTATION EFFORTS
To ensure the Federal government takes a swift and coordinated approach to addressing reproductive rights and protecting access to reproductive health care, the President’s Executive Order will:
- Establish an Interagency Task Force. The President has directed HHS and the White House Gender Policy Council to establish and lead an interagency Task Force on Reproductive Health Care Access, responsible for coordinating Federal interagency policymaking and program development. This Task Force will also include the Attorney General. In addition, the Attorney General will provide technical assistance to states affording legal protection to out-of-state patients as well as providers who offer legal reproductive health care.
EXECUTIVE ORDER BUILDS ON ADMINISTRATION’S ACTIONS TO PROTECT ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE
In addition to the actions announced today, the Biden-Harris Administration has taken the following steps to protect access to reproductive health care and defend reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs. On the day of the decision, the President strongly denounced the decision as an affront to women’s fundamental rights and the right to choose In addition to action mentioned above, the Biden-Harris Administration is:
White House.gov. 07/08/2022.
- Supporting Providers and Clinics. The Secretary of HHS directed all HHS agencies to ensure that all HHS-funded providers and clinics have appropriate training and resources to handle family planning needs, and announced nearly $3 million in new funding to bolster training and technical assistance for the nationwide network of Title X family planning providers.
- Promoting Access to Accurate Information. On the day of the Supreme Court’s decision, HHS launched ReproductiveRights.gov, which provides timely and accurate information about reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care. This includes know-your-rights information for patients and providers and promoting awareness of and access to family planning services, as well as guidance for how to file a patient privacy or nondiscrimination complaint with its Office for Civil Rights.
- Providing Leave for Federal Workers Traveling for Medical Care. The Office of Personnel Management issued guidance affirming that paid sick leave can be taken to cover absences for travel to obtain reproductive health care.
- Protecting Access to Reproductive Health Care Services for Service members, DoD Civilians, and Military Families. The Department of Defense (DoD) issued a memo to the Force, DoD civilians and military families on ensuring access to essential women’s health care services. The memo reiterates that the Department will continue to provide seamless access to reproductive healthcare for military and civilian patients, as permitted by federal law. Military providers will continue to fulfill their duty to care for Service members, military dependents and civilian personnel who require pregnancy termination in the cases of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother.
President Biden has tweeted for Friday…
President Biden has tweeted 2 times.
On Friday, Japan time, shortly before noon former Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, was shot twice in the back and *later died.
The shooting took place while he was delivering a campaign speech ahead of the upper house elections according to The Australian. The assassin was taken into custody.
Former PM Shinzo was 67 years-old.
*there are some disputes on if he was already dead before being transported to the local hospital or if he passed away later on Friday.*
His full statement:
I am stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened by the news that my friend Abe Shinzo, former Prime Minister of Japan, was shot and killed while campaigning. This is a tragedy for Japan and for all who knew him. I had the privilege to work closely with Prime Minister Abe. As Vice President, I visited him in Tokyo and welcomed him to Washington. He was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people. The longest serving Japanese Prime Minister, his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific will endure. Above all, he cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service. Even at the moment he was attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy. While there are many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief. I send my deepest condolences to his family.
White House.gov. 07/08/2022.
Bloomberg Quicktake posted a short video of Prime Minister Fumo Kishida of Japan’s statement on the death of former Prime Minister Shinzo.
Obviously it’s Jobs Report Friday!
According to BLS.gov. the total nonfarm payroll rose by; 372,000 in June, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care.
In June they say that average hourly earnings rose by 10 cents…
In June, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 10 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $32.08. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 5.1 percent. In June, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 13 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $27.45.
BLS.gov. 07/08/2022.
They revised April and May’s jobs numbers down for a combined total of 74,000 jobs lower than previously reported.
The PDF with charts can be found here.
President Biden’s full statement on today’s jobs report:
Today, we learned that our private sector has recovered all of the jobs lost during the pandemic, and added jobs on top of that. This has been the fastest and strongest jobs recovery in American history, and it would not have been possible without the decisive action my Administration took last year to fix a broken COVID response, and pass the American Rescue Plan to get our economy back on track.
In the second quarter of this year, we created more jobs than in any quarter under any of my predecessors in the nearly 40 years before the pandemic. We have more Americans working in the private sector today than any day during Donald Trump’s Presidency – more people than any time in our history.
The historic strength of our job market is one reason our economy is uniquely well positioned to tackle a range of global economic challenges – from global inflation to the economic fallout from Putin’s war. No country is better positioned than America to bring down inflation, without giving up all of the economic gains we have made over the last 18 months.
Of course, having added a record number of new jobs, and achieved historically low levels of unemployment, additional job growth from this strong position will be slower. That is not a bad thing, because our economy should move to stable growth for the years ahead.
The best way to achieve that goal is for Congress to pass legislation that lowers costs for families – from prescription drugs to utility costs – while reducing the federal budget deficit, in addition to passing the Bipartisan Innovation Act.
White House.gov. 07/08/2022.
President Biden’s first remarks for Friday are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. D.C., time.
The daily press briefing is scheduled for noon D.C., time.
The President’s remarks thanking the CIA for their service live feed hasn’t been posted by the White House at this time.
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