It’s Thursday…
President Biden’s public schedule for Thursday 03/23/2023…
| 9:00 AM | The President receives the President’s Daily Briefing Closed Press |
| 10:00 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time In-Town Pool |
| 1:00 PM Remarks | The President hosts an anniversary event for the Affordable Care Act; The Vice President attends East Room Pooled for TV and Pre-Credentialed Media |
| 2:45 PM | Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Joint Base Andrews Visitor Center Overhang Out-of-Town Pool |
| 4:40 PM | The President and The First Lady depart the White House en route to Joint Base Andrews South Lawn Open Press |
| 5:00 PM | The President and The First Lady depart Joint Base Andrews en route to Ottawa, Canada Joint Base Andrews Out-of-Town Pool |
| 6:25 PM | The President and The First Lady arrive in Ottawa, Canada Pre-Credentialed Media |
| 6:40 PM | The President and The First Lady participate in a greet with H.E. T.R.H. Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada and H.E. Whit Fraser Pre-Credentialed Media |
| 8:25 PM | The President and The First Lady participate in a private gathering hosted by Prime Minister Trudeau and Mrs. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau of Canada Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to Ottawa, |
The morning the White House published the following fact-sheet; White House Lays Out Devastating Consequences of MAGA House Republican Plans to Gut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act in State-by-State Fact Sheets
Today, on the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) becoming law, the White House released 51 state and territory fact sheets highlighting how extreme MAGA House Republicans’ plans to repeal the ACA and gut Medicaid will devastate working families. The fact sheets demonstrate how Congressional Republicans’ reported proposals will raise premiums and health care costs, threaten health care for Americans with pre-existing health conditions, slash protections against catastrophic medical bills, and will balloon waitlists for quality care for seniors and people with disabilities.
Since becoming law in 2010, the ACA has helped a total of 40.2 million Americans gain quality, affordable health care, lowered health care costs for families, and provided critical coverage of services like cancer detection and mental health treatment.
President Joe Biden has built on the progress made under the ACA by lowering health care prices, increasing the number of Americans with insurance, and capping out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare.
White House.gov. 03/23/2023.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- DC
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
The state links takes you to a 2 page PDF “ACA-Fact-Sheet”.
The audio only press gaggle is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. D.C., time according to YouTube.
President Biden has tweeted…
He’s posted 5 tweets so far for Thursday…
FTC thread:
FTC press release:
The Federal Trade Commission today proposed a “click to cancel” provision requiring sellers to make it as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it was to sign up. That is just one of several significant updates the Commission is proposing to its rules regarding subscriptions and recurring payments. The new click to cancel provision, along with other proposals, would go a long way to rescuing consumers from seemingly never-ending struggles to cancel unwanted subscription payment plans for everything from cosmetics to newspapers to gym memberships.
“Some businesses too often trick consumers into paying for subscriptions they no longer want or didn’t sign up for in the first place,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The proposed rule would require that companies make it as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one. The proposal would save consumers time and money, and businesses that continued to use subscription tricks and traps would be subject to stiff penalties.”
The notice of proposed rulemaking announced today is part of the FTC’s ongoing review of its 1973 Negative Option Rule, which the agency uses to combat unfair or deceptive practices related to subscriptions, memberships, and other recurring-payment programs.
These programs are widespread in the marketplace and can provide substantial benefits to both consumers and businesses. But they can become problematic when marketers fail to make adequate disclosures, bill consumers without their consent, or make cancellation either difficult or impossible—such as by requiring customers to cancel in person or keeping them stuck on hold waiting to talk to customer service. Each year, the FTC receives thousands of consumer complaints about such practices.
The current patchwork of laws and regulations available to the FTC do not provide consumers and industry with a consistent legal framework. Accordingly, the proposal would make several specific changes, including implementing:
FTC.gov. 03/23/2023.
- A simple cancellation mechanism: If consumers are unable to easily leave any program when they want to, the negative option feature becomes nothing more than a way to continue charging them for products they no longer want. To address this issue, the proposed rule would require businesses to make it at least as easy to cancel a subscription as it was to start it. For example, if you can sign up online, you must be able to cancel on the same website, in the same number of steps.
- New requirements before making additional offers: The proposed rule would allow sellers to pitch additional offers or modifications when a consumer tries to cancel their enrollment. But before making such pitches, sellers must first ask consumers whether they want to hear them. In other words, a seller must take “no” for an answer and upon hearing “no” must immediately implement the cancellation process.
- New requirements regarding reminders and confirmations: The proposed rule would require sellers to provide an annual reminder to consumers enrolled in negative option programs involving anything other than physical goods, before they are automatically renewed.
The Commission vote approving publication of the notice of proposed rulemaking was 3-1, with Commissioner Christine S. Wilson voting no. Chair Khan issued a separate statement, in which she was joined by Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Commissioner Wilson issued a dissenting statement. Once the notice has been published in the Federal Register, consumers can submit comments electronically. The public also may submit comments in writing by following the instructions in the “Supplementary Information” section of the Federal Register notice.
The FTC has developed a fact sheet summarizing the proposed changes to the Negative Option Rule. The primary staffer on this matter is Hampton Newsome in the FTC’s Enforcement Division.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov, or report fraud, scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.
As I suspected the article is paywalled. I googled and found the Bloomberg article not paywalled by Financial Post.
Hanwha Solutions Corp. plans to spend $147 million on a plant in Georgia that supplies material for panels, drawing cheers from President Joe Biden who credits his climate law for jumpstarting efforts to build a solar supply chain in the US.
Its Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia unit expects the facility to go into production in June 2024, according to a statement Thursday. It will supply encapsulant film that sister company Hanwha Qcells will use at a nearby site.
Financial Post. 03/23/2023.
I couldn’t find the Hanwha statement, but I did find a statement from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R):
Governor Brian P. Kemp today announced that Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia, Inc. (HAGA), a manufacturer of lightweight advanced materials for sustainable technology, will create more than 160 new jobs in the City of Cartersville. The company will invest an estimated $147 million in a new manufacturing facility to supply the Qcells facility in Cartersville.
“Georgia is leading the nation in attracting next generation jobs,” said Governor Brian Kemp. “Since we first welcomed Qcells to our state in 2018, we’ve announced more than 4,000 related jobs for hardworking Georgians. We’re proud that Hanwha Advanced Materials is adding to that growing number as it becomes a valued member of the Bartow County community.”
Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hanwha Group and will supply Qcells with encapsulant film. These materials are used in solar cells to ensure long-term panel durability. HAGA will be the only company in the United States manufacturing solar encapsulants.
“The products we make are an important piece of the clean energy supply chain puzzle, and we are excited to meet this need,” said Inhwan Kim, CEO of Hanwha Advanced Materials. “Building our cutting-edge, advanced materials in Georgia will not only create new careers in solar but help bring more affordable, reliable clean energy to customers across the country.”
“Qcells is doubling down on building a complete, domestic solar supply chain, and this recent investment is critical to making that happen,” said HG Park, President of Qcells North America. “Working with Hanwha Advanced Materials, our customers will soon be able to confidently know that the solar they buy from us was made right here in America.”
HAGA will construct a new manufacturing facility located at Highland 75 Corporate/Industrial Park, a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) certified site in the City of Cartersville. The facility is predicted to come online in Summer 2024. The company will be hiring for engineers and line operators. Interested individuals can learn more about working at HAGA by visiting www.hwam.co.kr.
“Our community is thrilled to be adding another Hanwha affiliate to our growing family of industries. Their investment in bringing quality jobs to our community is greatly appreciated,” said Mayor of Cartersville Matt Santini. “Our mix of industries in Cartersville and Bartow County is further diversified by adding them to our local mix, and one of our goals from the beginning was to recruit world-class companies to our area. This helps accomplish this goal. It is also important to note that this is another clean energy company coming to our community, illustrating the growth and importance of that market.”
“This news is a testament of our community’s patient planning efforts to jumpstart quality economic development years ago, after difficult economic times,” said Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor. “We are very happy to welcome Hanwha Advanced Materials Georgia, Inc. to Cartersville-Bartow. Their jobs of the future will be appreciated by not only jobs seekers, but also the broad local team that has invested so much effort in preparing a place like our GRAD-Certified Highland 75 Corporate/Industrial Park.”
Project Manager Jacob Lee represented the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s (GDEcD) Global Commerce team on this competitive project in partnership with the Bartow-Cartersville Joint Development Authority, Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development, Georgia Electric Membership Corporation (Georgia EMC), and Georgia Quick Start.
“Hanwha Advanced Materials provides key components for the solar supply chain in Georgia, supporting our state’s commitment to making energy solutions more affordable to businesses and consumers,” said GDEcD Commissioner Pat Wilson. “Over the past five years, clean-tech jobs have been one of the fastest growing manufacturing sectors in Georgia. We are excited that Hanwha Advanced Materials will add another crucial part of the solar supply chain to Georgia’s already robust ecosystem.”
As a Top Ten state for solar energy production, solar photovoltaic is the fastest-growing source of energy in Georgia, which the Solar Energy Industries Association ranked seventh by cumulative solar capacity in 2022. Georgia’s energy solutions providers are helping to accelerate the development of renewable energy products by lowering risks, reducing costs, providing access to innovative industry research, and investing in a superior infrastructure network.
To reduce supply-chain barriers to the growth of the solar industry, companies like Qcells are dedicated to building a comprehensive solar value chain in the U.S. In January Qcells announced it would expand its solar panel production capacity in Georgia to 8.4 gigawatts, 3.3 gigawatts of which will be manufactured at the Bartow County facility by 2024.
About Hanwha Advanced Materials
Hanwha Advanced Materials Company is a global leader in irreplaceable, high-performance, lightweight composite materials market and provides products and solutions of the highest quality that are essential for customers in the field of lightweight composite materials and solar materials. For detailed information, visit: www.hwam.co.kr.About Qcells
Gov.Georgia.gov. 03/23/2023.
Qcells is one of the world’s leading clean energy companies, recognized for its established reputation as a manufacturer of high-performance, high-quality solar cells and modules, portfolio of intelligent storage systems, and growing international pipeline of large-scale renewable energy projects. Qcells also provides renewable electricity retail services and packages to end customers the world over. The company is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea (Global Executive HQ), and Thalheim, Germany, (Technology & Innovation HQ) with its diverse international manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Malaysia, China, and South Korea. For more information, visit: www.qcells.com/us.
President Biden’s remarks on the anniversary of ACA are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. D.C., time.
When the post was posted for Wednesday, President Biden had tweeted 3 times. He added 7 tweets giving him a Wednesday Tweeting Total of 10 tweets and 0 retweets.
The White House has posted so far 4 statements with the keywords “FIVE-ALARM FIRE”…
I’m going to post them here in the order in which they were posted…
The opening 4 paragraphs are the same for each five-alarm fire:
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus has made their priorities clear: imposing devastating cuts to public safety and increasing costs for working- and middle-class families, all to protect and extend tax breaks skewed to the wealthy and big corporations. In fact, their tax cuts would be so expensive that their deep and harmful cuts would not reduce the deficit.
That’s in sharp contrast with the President’s Budget, which invests in America, lowers costs for families, protects and strengthens Medicare and Social Security, and reduces the deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years, while ensuring no one making less than $400,000 per year pays a penny more in new taxes.
Combined with other commitments extreme MAGA House Republicans have already made, the extreme Freedom Caucus proposal will be a disaster for families in at least five key ways: endangering public safety, raising costs for families, shipping manufacturing jobs overseas and undermining American workers, weakening national security, and hurting seniors.
Last week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed that Congressional Republicans’ budget math doesn’t add up. CBO found that—in order to meet Congressional Republicans’ stated commitment to balancing the budget in 10 years without raising taxes on the wealthy or corporations, and without cutting Social Security, Medicare, defense, and some veterans’ benefits—Congressional Republicans would need to eliminate everything in the rest of the Federal budget.
White House Five-Alarm Fire(s) opening paragraphs. 03/20/2023
The links:
“Devastating cuts” =’s a tweet *(03/10/2023)…
“so expensive” =’s White House FACT SHEET: The Congressional Republican Agenda to Increase the Debt by Over $3 Trillion.
“confirmed” =’s a CBO.gov 9 page PDF letter written to Senator Sheldon Whitehouse Chairman Committee on the Budget (D-RI) and Senator Ron Wyden Chairman Committee on Finance (D-OR). The letter from the CBO is dated 03/14/2023.
“stated commitment” =’s a paywalled Bloomberg article published on 02/15/2023; Republican Balanced-Budget Aim Clashes With Fiscal Realities:
- GOP applauded by budget experts for focusing on the deficit
- Fresh estimates set to show magnitude of fiscal challenges
That’s about as much as I can see…
FIVE-ALARM FIRE: The House Freedom Caucus’ Extreme Budget Proposal Endangers Public Safety (03/20/2023):
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal will be a five-alarm fire for families—including by endangering public safety. While the President’s Budget proposes smart investments to improve public safety, strengthen border security, and improve the safety of our transportation networks, extreme MAGA Republicans are pushing draconian cuts to these critical national priorities that would endanger Americans’ safety.
White House.gov. 03/20/23.
Their proposals will:
- Make Our Border Less Secure The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would eliminate funding for more than 2,000 Customs and Border Protection agents and officers and severely undermine our ability to secure the border and combat drug trafficking—allowing an additional 150,000 pounds of cocaine, nearly 900 pounds of fentanyl, nearly 2,000 pounds of heroin, and more than 17,000 pounds of methamphetamine into our country.
- Defund the Police and Make Communities Less Safe. The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would eliminate funding for 11,000 FBI personnel, including agents who investigate crimes and keep guns out of the hands of felons and domestic abusers. Their plan would cut Federal support to 60 local law enforcement agencies, eliminating 400 local law enforcement positions, slash law enforcement, crime prevention and justice grants to local and state governments by an average of $30,000 per locality and $1 million per state. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) would have to implement a hiring freeze that would mean 190 agents, 130 Industry Operations Investigators, and 180 technical and support staff would be lost to attrition—and ATF’s entire workforce of over 5,000 personnel would have to take 36 furlough days, further undermining their operations. ATF agents are often some of the first federal law enforcement on the scene of a mass shooting to help local law enforcement identify at-large shooters.
- Scale Back Rail Safety Inspections. At a time when train derailments are wreaking havoc on community safety, the extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would lead to 11,000 fewer rail safety inspection days next year alone, and 30,000 fewer miles of track inspected annually—enough track to cross the United States nearly 10 times. Since the Norfolk Southern train derailment, bipartisan Senators have called for more rail inspections, not fewer.
- Jeopardize Air Safety and Increase Airport Security Wait Times. The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would shut down services at 125 Air Traffic Control Towers across the country—undermining safety at one third of all U.S. airports—and increase wait times at TSA security check points by an average of 30 minutes.
FIVE-ALARM FIRE: The House Freedom Caucus’ Extreme Budget Proposal Raises Costs for Families (03/21/2022).
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal will be a five-alarm fire for families—including by raising costs. Unlike extreme MAGA Republicans in the House who are focused on repealing the Inflation Reduction Act—which would raise costs on everything from health insurance, to prescription drugs, to utility bills—President Biden is focused on lowering everyday costs and giving working families more breathing room.
White House.gov. 03/21/2023.
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposals will:
- Make Health Care More Expensive: Extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have signed onto a bill to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. That will increase health care premiums by an average of $800 per year for nearly 15 million Americans.
- Increase Energy Costs. The extreme MAGA House Republicans would eliminate a law that will lower utility bills for American families by hundreds of dollars per year. Their plans would deny Americans critical savings on electric vehicles, energy-efficient windows, solar panels, and more.
- Make College More Expensive. The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would not only eliminate Pell Grants altogether for 80,000 students, it would also reduce the maximum award by nearly $1,000 for the remaining 6.6 million students who receive Pell Grants—making it harder for them to attend and afford college.
- Eliminate Preschool and Child Care Slots. The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would mean 200,000 children lose access to Head Start slots and 100,000 children lose access to child care—undermining our children’s education and making it more difficult for parents to join the workforce and contribute to our economy.
- Strip Medicaid Coverage and Food Assistance from Millions of People. Extreme MAGA Republicans want to impose failed policies that take Medicaid coverage away from people who fail to meet bureaucratic work reporting requirements. When it was tried, this policy led to nearly 1 in 4 losing Medicaid coverage – including working people and people with disabilities, caused uninsured rates to spike and led people to go without needed care, and failed to increase employment. Their proposals also put food assistance at risk for millions of older people and parents, and would mean 1.2 million women, infants, and children would lose vital nutrition assistance through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), significantly increasing child poverty and hunger.
FIVE-ALARM FIRE: The House Freedom Caucus’ Extreme Budget Proposal Ships Manufacturing Jobs Overseas and Undermines American Workers
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal will be a five-alarm fire for families—including by shipping manufacturing jobs overseas and undermining workers. Not only would their extreme proposal cost manufacturing jobs in communities across the country, but it would hurt workers by making deep cuts to job training services and preventing workers from recouping back pay that they are owed. Meanwhile, President Biden’s economic strategy is bringing new, leading edge supply chains to America, supporting workers and small businesses, investing in American innovation and industries that will define the future, and fueling a manufacturing boom that is strengthening parts of the country that have long been left behind.
White House.gov. 03/22/2023.
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposals will:
- Offshore Manufacturing Jobs. Extreme MAGA Republicans in the House will send manufacturing jobs overseas, reversing the progress the President and Congressional Democrats have made revitalizing manufacturing across the country. During the President’s Administration, the private sector has invested more than $300 billion in manufacturing in clean energy and semi-conductors. Outside estimates calculate that the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy provisions will create millions of jobs over the next ten years, and shovels are already hitting the ground for hundreds of billions in private sector investments the law has attracted. The MAGA House Republican plan would kill those jobs and move them overseas.
- Undercut American Workers. The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal will deny 750,000 American workers job training and employment services and result in 100,000 fewer workers gaining the opportunity of a Registered Apprenticeship.
- Rob Workers of Back Pay. Recovered wages make a real difference for workers struggling to pay rent, buy food, pay for child care, or cover gas or transportation costs to get to their jobs. By reducing investigations and targeted inspections, the extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would mean that 135,000 workers would lose an average of $1,000 in back wages that they are owed and would tilt the playing field against employers who follow the law.
FIVE-ALARM FIRE: The House Freedom Caucus’ Extreme Budget Proposal Hurts Seniors (03/23/2023).
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal will be a five-alarm fire for families—including by hurting seniors. As the President has made clear, if extreme MAGA Republicans in the House try to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, he will stop them—and his Budget protects these bedrock programs while investing in the health and well-being of America’s seniors.
White House.gov. 03/23/2023.
The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposals will:
- Make the Largest Medicare Benefit Cut in Decades. Extreme MAGA Republicans in the House have signed onto a bill to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act. That will eliminate access to $35 insulin for more than 3 million Medicare beneficiaries, eliminate the $2,000 out of pocket cap on prescription drugs for seniors, increase prices of prescription drugs for seniors, and eliminate free vaccines that are saving 3.4 million seniors on average $70 per year—all to give Big Pharma a bigger taxpayer handout.
- Worsen Social Security and Medicare Wait Times. Under the extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal, people applying for disability benefits would have to wait at least two months longer for a decision. With fewer staff available, seniors would also be forced to endure longer wait times when they call for assistance for both Social Security and Medicare, and as many as 240 Social Security field offices could be forced to close or shorten the hours they are open to the public.
- Rob Seniors of Healthy Meals. The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would take away nutrition services, such as Meals on Wheels, for more than 1 million seniors. For many of these seniors, these programs provide the only healthy meal they receive on any given day.
- Cuts Housing for Seniors. The extreme MAGA Republican House Freedom Caucus proposal would eliminate funding for Housing Choice Vouchers for as many as 100,000 households headed by seniors, putting seniors across the country at greater risk of homelessness.
White House Conservation in Action Summit Remarks (03/21/2023).
The video snip is 1 minute and 15 seconds long.
President Biden: Folks, the third thing we’re doing today — I’m — I’m issuing a presidential memorandum directing the Secretary of Commerce to immediately consider designating 777,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii as a new — (applause) — as a new — new national marine sanctuary. You know — (applause) — that’s an area larger than Alaska and Colorado put together and three times the size of Texas. That’s no small amount of land. (Laughter.) (Inaudible.) It would make it the largest ocean area on the planet with the highest level of protection. (Applause.) And it will help us meet our goal of conserving — the goal I set when I got elected — of protecting and conserving 30 percent of our oceans. (Applause.)
President Biden: Look, second thing we’re doing is we’re protecting the Castner Range in Texas as a national monument. (Applause.)
President Biden: It matters. This matters, because when we conserve our country’s natural gifts, we’re not just protecting the livelihoods of people who depend on them — like the family farms, outdoor recreation businesses, rural communities welcoming visitors across — from all across the country and around the world that matter. We’re protecting the heart and the soul of our national pride. We’re protecting pieces of history, our — telling our story that will be told for generations upon generations to come.
From the White House fact-sheet; Biden-Harris Administration Takes New Action to Conserve and Restore America’s Lands and Waters (03/21/2023):
Directing Consideration of a Sanctuary to Complete Protections for Waters Around the Pacific Remote Islands
Consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030, the President will sign a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Commerce to, using the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, consider initiating a sanctuary designation within the next 30 days to expand protections around the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. Such protections would encompass areas unaddressed by previous administrations so all areas of U.S. jurisdiction around the islands, atolls, and reef of the Pacific Remote Islands will be protected.
The potential new National Marine Sanctuary identified in the Memorandum would conserve about 770,000 square miles, including the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and currently unprotected submerged lands and waters. The region has a rich ancestral tie to many Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island communities. The process for a potential sanctuary designation would allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to further explore the area’s scientific, cultural, and ancestral linkages, and tailor its management accordingly.
The President is also directing the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a public process to work with regional Indigenous cultural leaders to appropriately rename the existing Pacific Remote Islands National Monument, and potentially the Islands themselves, to honor the area’s heritage, ancestral pathways, and stopping points for Pacific Island voyagers, and to provide posthumous recognition for young Native Hawaiian men sent to secure U.S. territorial claim to the islands in the run up to World War II.
White House.gov. 03/21/2023.
We met Joshua and his mother Shannon back in 02/11/2022.
Joshua’s family found out that he had type 1 diabetes when was just 11 months old. He says in the clip there were days when he needed 10 injections of insulin or even 12. He now has a pump, but he says as he gets older the dosage gets higher.
Prior to when the NowThis clip starts, Joshua says he is in 7th grade, active in Scouts and also plays goalie for his Lacrosse team.
The YouTube is 36 minutes and 59 seconds long. Their full remarks haven’t been posted.
His full statement:
Today, Jill and I extend our best wishes to Muslim communities across the country and around the world as they begin the Islamic holy month of Ramadan—a time of fasting, renewal, charity, worship, and growth.
During this sacred time of reflection, the United States also reaffirms our support to Muslim communities suffering hardships and devastation. We will continue to stand with the people of Turkiye and Syria—who have lost many loved ones during the recent devastating earthquakes—and with the people of Pakistan, who are rebuilding their lives following last summer’s floods. Today especially, we remember the universal human right to practice, pray, and preach our faiths peacefully and openly. And together with our partners, the United States stands in solidarity with Muslims who continue to face oppression—including Uyghurs in the People’s Republic of China, Rohingya in Burma, and other Muslim communities facing persecution around the world.
During this holy month, we also honor Muslim communities across our nation that have been part of the American story since our founding. From science and technology, to arts and academia, to law and medicine, to business and government, and beyond—Muslim Americans continue to strengthen our nation’s diverse tapestry generation after generation. So today, let us join together across cultures and faiths and renew our commitment to creating a more equal, more just, more tolerant, and more compassionate nation.
To my fellow Americans observing Ramadan, and to Muslims around the world: Ramadan Kareem—we wish you a blessed and peaceful Ramadan.
White House.gov. 03/22/2023.
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