It’s Monday.
I had a nice time at Disneyland; even though I nearly drowned cause of all the rain, it rained the whole day. But plus side we rode a bunch of rides before noon…
To Halodoc:
President Biden’s public schedule for Monday 03/13/2023…
| 8:00 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time Roosevelt Room In-House Pool |
| 8:55 AM | Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Joint Base Andrews Overhang Out-of-Town Pool |
| 9:15 AM Remarks | The President delivers remarks on maintaining a resilient banking system and protecting our historic economic recovery Roosevelt Room In-House Pool |
| 9:50 AM | The President departs the White House en route to Joint Base Andrews South Lawn Open Press |
| 10:10 AM | The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route to San Diego, California Joint Base Andrews Out-of-Town Pool |
| 11:30 AM Press Gaggle | Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to San Diego, California Joint Base Andrews Out-of-Town Pool |
| 3:40 PM | The President arrives in San Diego, California Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, CA Open Press |
| 4:30 PM Trilateral Meeting | The President participates in a trilateral meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom Naval Base Point Loma, San Diego, CA Out-of-Town Pool Spray |
| 5:00 PM Remarks | The President delivers remarks on the Australia – United Kingdom – United States Partnership Naval Base Point Loma, San Diego, CA Open Press |
| 5:45 PM Bilateral Meeting | The President participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom Navy Gateway Inns & Suites Point Loma, San Diego, CA Out-of-Town Pool Spray |
| 7:00 PM Bilateral Meeting | The President participates in a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia Navy Gateway Inns & Suites Point Loma, San Diego, CA Out-of-Town Pool Spray |
| 8:35 PM | The President departs San Diego, California en route to Del Mar, California San Diego International Airport Out-of-Town Pool |
| 8:50 PM | The President arrives in Del Mar, California Del Mar Country Club, Rancho Santa Fe, CA Out-of-Town Pool |
| 9:45 PM DNC Reception | The President participates in reception for the Democratic National Committee (6:45 PM Local) Rancho Santa Fe, CA Restricted Out-of-Town Pool |
| 10:30 PM | The President departs Del Mar, California en route to San Diego, California (7:30 PM Local) Del Mar Country Club, Rancho Santa Fe, CAOut-of-Town Pool |
| 11:05 PM | The President arrives in San Diego, California San Diego International Airport |
The audio only press gaggle is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. D.C., time.
President Biden’s remarks on the AUKUS Partnership are schedule for 5:00 p.m. D.C., time.
President Biden has tweeted…
He’s posted 8 tweets so far for Monday…
We are in luck, okay, I am, cause they not only tie into his early morning remarks, but also tweets from Sunday.
Sunday’s tweets…
Federal regulators announced on Sunday that another bank had been closed and that the government would ensure that all depositors of Silicon Valley Bank — which failed Friday — would be paid back in full as Washington rushed to keep fallout from the collapse of the large institution from sweeping through the financial system.
The Federal Reserve, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced in a joint statement that “depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13.” In an attempt to assuage concerns about who would bear the costs, the agencies said that “no losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer.”
New York Times gifted article via my twitter. 03/12/2023.
The Federal Reserve posted the following joint-statement on Sunday:
The following statement was released by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, and FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg:
Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system. This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access to credit to households and businesses in a manner that promotes strong and sustainable economic growth.
After receiving a recommendation from the boards of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, and consulting with the President, Secretary Yellen approved actions enabling the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, in a manner that fully protects all depositors. Depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13. No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer.
We are also announcing a similar systemic risk exception for Signature Bank, New York, New York, which was closed today by its state chartering authority. All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.
Shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected. Senior management has also been removed. Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law.
Finally, the Federal Reserve Board on Sunday announced it will make available additional funding to eligible depository institutions to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors.
The U.S. banking system remains resilient and on a solid foundation, in large part due to reforms that were made after the financial crisis that ensured better safeguards for the banking industry. Those reforms combined with today’s actions demonstrate our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors’ savings remain safe.
Federal Reserve.gov. 03/12/2023.
Monday’s 8 freakin’ tweets…
His remarks were scheduled for 9:15 a.m. D.C., time, but in a rare move they started early at 9:01 a.m. D.C., time. The YouTube is 4 minutes and 27 seconds long.
His full remarks:
Good morning, everyone. Before I leave for California, I want to briefly speak about what’s happening to Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
White House.gov. 03/13/2023.
Today, thanks to the quick action of my administration over the past few days, Americans can have confidence that the banking system is safe. Your deposits will be there when you need them.
Small businesses across the country that had deposit accounts at these banks can breathe easier knowing they’ll be able to pay their workers and pay their bills. And their hardworking employees can breathe easier as well.
Last week, when we learned of the problems of the banks and the impact they could have on jobs, some small businesses, and the banking system overall, I instructed my team to act quickly to protect these interests. They have done that. They have done that.
On Friday, the government regulator in charge, the FDIC, took control of Silicon Valley Bank’s assets. And over the weekend, it took control of Signature Bank’s assets.
Treasury Secretary Yellen and a team of banking regulators have taken action — immediate action. And here are the highlights:
First, all customers who had deposits in these banks can rest assured — I want to — rest assured they’ll be protected and they’ll have access to their money as of today. That includes small businesses across the country that banked there and need to make payroll, pay their bills, and stay open for business.
No losses will be — and I want — this is an important point — no losses will be borne by the taxpayers. Let me repeat that: No losses will be borne by the taxpayers. Instead, the money will come from the fees that banks pay into the Deposit Insurance Fund.
Because of the actions of that — because of the actions that our regulators have already taken, every American should feel confident that their deposits will be there if and when they need them.
Second, the management of these banks will be fired. If the bank is taken over by FDIC, the people running the bank should not work there anymore.
Third, investors in the banks will not be protected. They knowingly took a risk and when the risk didn’t pay off, investors lose their money. That’s how capitalism works.
And fourth, there are important questions of how these banks got into these circumstances in the first place. We must get the full accounting of what happened and why those responsible can be held accountable. In my administration, no one, in my view — no one is above the law.
And finally, we must reduce the risks of this happening again. During the Obama-Biden administration, we put in place tough requirements on banks like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, including the Dodd-Frank Law, to make sure the crisis we saw in 2008 would not happen again.
Unfortunately, the last administration rolled back some of these requirements. I’m going to ask Congress and the banking regulators to strengthen the rules for banks to make it less likely that this kind of bank failure will happen again and to protect American jobs and small businesses.
Look, the bottom line is this: Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe.
Let me also assure you: We will not stop at this. We’ll do whatever is needed on top of all this.
Let’s also take a look — a moment to put the situation in a broader context. We have made strong economic progress in the past two years. We’ve created more than 12 million new jobs — more jobs in two years than any President has ever created in a single four-year term. Unemployment is below 4 percent for 14 straight months. Take-home pay for workers is going up, especially for lower- and middle-income workers. And we’ve seen record numbers of people apply to start new businesses — more than 10 million of them — more than 10 million applications over the last two years starting businesses.
Now we need to keep the program — this progress going. That’s what swift action that my administration, over the past few years, is all about: protecting depositors, protecting the banking system, protecting the economic gains we have made together for the American people.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God protect our troops. See you in California.
On Sunday he released the following statement:
Over the weekend, and at my direction, the Treasury Secretary and my National Economic Council Director worked diligently with the banking regulators to address problems at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. I am pleased that they reached a prompt solution that protects American workers and small businesses, and keeps our financial system safe. The solution also ensures that taxpayer dollars are not put at risk.
White House.gov. 03/12/2023.
The American people and American businesses can have confidence that their bank deposits will be there when they need them.
I am firmly committed to holding those responsible for this mess fully accountable and to continuing our efforts to strengthen oversight and regulation of larger banks so that we are not in this position again.
Tomorrow morning, I will deliver remarks on how we will maintain a resilient banking system to protect our historic economic recovery.
So, it’s one of those types of tweeter weekends–including the rest of Friday–that President Biden seemed to repeat himself…
Given that most of the tweets are the same I’m going out of order and we will count the tweets at the end.
“My Budget” Tweets…
The White House has a special link for his Presidential Budget where you can find the below fact-sheets:
FACT SHEET: The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2024
Update on the Administration’s Economic Assumptions
FACT SHEET: The President’s Budget Cuts the Deficit by Nearly $3 Trillion Over 10 Years
FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Budget Makes Our Communities Safer and Combats Crime
FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Budget Advances Equity
FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Budget Keeps America Safe and Confronts Global Challenges
FACT SHEET: President Biden’s Budget Delivers for Tribal Nations and Tribal Communities
The 184 page PDF budget can be found here. It is a searchable PDF.
I confirmed the demand letter is accurate…
Prior to their meeting there was a pool spray. The YouTube is 3 minutes and 21 seconds long.
Their full remarks:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Okay. Well, Madam President, welcome back to the White House. Welcome back to the Oval Office. And it’s — it’s always good to see you. You’ve been doing an incredible job.
Two years ago, we committed to a new era of understanding between the EU and the U.S. I told you then that times have changed from the previous administration and that we view the EU as a great addition to security and economic security. And I thought we could benefit all our peoples, and I think we have. I think we have.
And we stood with the brave people of Ukraine, providing security assistance and implementing historic sanctions that cut off Putin’s ability to fund and to fight his war in Ukraine and to make it harder for him.
We supported Europe’s energy security. I remember you and I talking about launching the joint task force and whether or not we’d be able to provide enough liquefied natural gas. We supplied twice as much as we thought —
PRESIDENT VON DER LEYEN: Indeed.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: — we could. It worked. It worked.
PRESIDENT VON DER LEYEN: This is really good.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: It worked.
And at the same time, we’re driving new investments to create clean energy industries and jobs, and make sure we have supply chains available to both our countr- — our continents. And the idea — under that idea is it underpins our — our Inflation Reduction Act, and it lies at the heart of the — your Green Deal Industrial Plan in the EU. So, hopefully, we can talk a little bit about that today.And finally, I want to thank you for your leadership on the Windsor Framework, which has protected the hard-earned peace that existed on the Good Friday — proceeds from the Good Friday Agreement, which I think has probably surprised a lot of Europeans how strongly so many Americans feel about that negotiated agreement.
And, Madam President, the steps the U.S. and the EU are taking over the last few years has increased energy security, its — our economic security, and, I would argue, our national security. So, today, I look forward to talking about all that with you and anything you’d like to talk about.
PRESIDENT VON DER LEYEN: Thank you very much, Mr. President. It’s a pleasure to be here and an honor to be back again. And it’s good to come back here because we are not only partners; the European Union and the United States are good friends. And this could be felt throughout the whole work that we’re doing together.
Indeed, you helped us enormously when we wanted to get rid of the Russian fossil fuel dependency by — you helped us enormously by delivering more LNG, helped us through the energy crisis.
We are, as partners, strongly supporting together Ukraine, that fight for freedom and independence. We’re making Russia pay for its atrocious war. We’re strongly aligned in defending our values.
And indeed, today, I think we will also discuss the Inflation Reduction Act, and I think it’s great that there is such a massive investment in wind and clean technologies now. Indeed, we want to match it with the Green Deal Industrial Plan.
So, plenty of topics — topics to discuss together. Thank you very much, again.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: I look forward to doing that.
PRESIDENT VON DER LEYEN: Thank you.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you. Thank you.
White House.gov. 03/10/2023
The White House posted the following joint-statement:
The United States and the European Union share the most comprehensive and dynamic economic relationship in the world. Our partnership is based on shared values and principles, including the responsibility to protect our planet for future generations and defend our workers. Today, the United States and the European Union are taking new steps to deepen our economic relationship as we build the clean energy economies of the future and address shared economic and national security challenges.
White House.gov. 03/10/2023.
Building the Clean Economies of the Future
The United States and European Union are committed to addressing the climate crisis, accelerating the global clean energy economy, and building resilient, secure, and diversified clean energy supply chains. Both parties recognize that these objectives are at the heart of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan. By building and strengthening our own clean energy industrial bases and investing in the industries of the future, the United States and the European Union will create good-paying jobs and spark virtuous cycles of innovation that drive down costs for clean energy technologies in the global market, making those technologies more affordable and advancing a global just energy transition that will leave no community behind.
The EU-U.S. Task Force on the Inflation Reduction Act has productively deepened our partnership on these common goals, and has taken practical steps forward on identified challenges to align our approaches on strengthening and securing supply chains, manufacturing, and innovation on both sides of the Atlantic.
We will deepen our cooperation on diversifying critical mineral and battery supply chains, recognizing the substantial opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic to build out these supply chains in a strong, secure, and resilient manner. To that end, we intend to immediately begin negotiations on a targeted critical minerals agreement for the purpose of enabling relevant critical minerals extracted or processed in the European Union to count toward requirements for clean vehicles in the Section 30D clean vehicle tax credit of the Inflation Reduction Act. This kind of agreement would further our shared goals of boosting our mineral production and processing and expanding access to sources of critical minerals that are sustainable, trusted, and free of labor abuses. Cooperation is also necessary to reduce unwanted strategic dependencies in these supply chains, and to ensure that they are diversified and developed with trusted partners.
We further recognize the need to make bold investments to build clean energy economies and industrial bases, including in electric vehicle batteries and clean hydrogen. Today, the United States and the European Commission announced the launch of the Clean Energy Incentives Dialogue to coordinate our respective incentive programs so that they are mutually reinforcing. Both sides will take steps to avoid any disruptions in transatlantic trade and investment flows that could arise from their respective incentives. We are working against zero-sum competition so that our incentives maximize clean energy deployment and jobs—and do not lead to windfalls for private interests. The Clean Energy Incentives Dialogue will become a part of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council where it will also facilitate information-sharing on non-market policies and practices of third parties—such as those employed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—to serve as the basis for joint or parallel action and coordinated advocacy on these issues in multilateral or other fora.
We are committed to achieving an ambitious outcome in the Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum negotiations by October 2023. The arrangement will ensure the long-term viability of our industries, encourage low-carbon intensity steel and aluminum production and trade, and restore market-oriented conditions globally and bilaterally. Together, we will incentivize emission reductions in these carbon-intensive sectors and level the playing field for our workers. The arrangement will be open to all partners demonstrating commitment to countering non-market excess capacity and reducing carbon-intensity in these sectors.
We are working together to support countries around the world as they develop their economies to deliver inclusive and resilient growth, while fostering sustainable pathways to net zero emissions as well as boosting the security of global supply chains. Through the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, we are identifying opportunities to generate significantly more public and private financing for quality climate and energy security investments in developing countries. We are also advancing an ambitious agenda to evolve the multilateral development banks, starting with the World Bank, to better respond to global challenges like climate change, while also enhancing their work on poverty alleviation and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
Recognizing our shared history as well as our joint visions for the future, we believe that people to people exchanges strengthen the transatlantic partnership, especially for younger generations. We will discuss how to deepen our cooperation.
White House.gov. 03/10/2023.
Standing Together to End Russia’s War Against Ukraine
The United States and the European Union have taken a strong and united stand against Russia’s illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war against Ukraine. We, along with a broad coalition of partners, have imposed swift and sweeping sanctions that are reducing Russia’s revenue to fund its war and its military-industrial base. Putin thought that he would divide us, and yet we are more united than ever. We stand together in our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes.
One year ago, the United States and the European Commission launched a new partnership to rapidly reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate Europe’s green transition. This partnership has exceeded our goals, delivering more than double the U.S. liquefied natural gas supplies to Europe than our baseline pledge. We note the significant European efforts to diversify their energy supplies and accelerate the energy transition, which have helped limit the impact of the global energy crisis in Europe. We will continue to work together to advance energy security and sustainability in Europe by diversifying sources, lowering energy consumption, and reducing Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels. We will also continue our close coordination to support Ukraine’s energy security through its further integration into Europe’s energy markets. We will continue our cooperation for stable and balanced global markets and security of supply and step up the clean energy transition globally, including by efforts to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector.
We have also taken unprecedented, coordinated, and effective sanctions and other economic measures together to further degrade Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal war and its military-industrial system. We are deepening our joint work to aggressively enforce our sanctions and export control measures and also to end and deter circumvention and backfill, including by expanded authorities to close down Russia’s access to all inputs that can support its war machine. As part of this, we are taking new steps together to target additional third-country actors across the globe to disrupt support for Russia’s war from any corner of the world where it is identified. We are working in lockstep to limit Russian revenue even further while ensuring continued energy supplies to emerging market and developing countries via the G7+ price cap for seaborne Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products. We will continue to work together to strengthen our economic restrictions to ensure that the costs to Russia of its illegal war continue to grow.
The United States and European Union are working to ensure that Ukraine has the security, economic, and humanitarian support it needs for as long as it takes. We have worked together to supply the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the military equipment and training it needs to defend itself from Russian aggression. We, together with Ukraine, are co-chairing the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform, and, in line with its European path, are helping advance Ukraine’s reform agenda, laying the foundation for sustainable growth and reconstruction, and ensuring assistance is delivered in a coherent, transparent, and accountable manner. We remain committed to providing and mobilizing international support including from the private sector for Ukraine’s economic and financial stability. We support the International Monetary Fund delivering an ambitious program by end March 2023 to provide necessary budget support to Ukraine throughout and beyond 2023.
White House.gov. 03/10/2023.
Strengthening Economic Security and National Security
The United States and the European Union are working to reinforce, through transatlantic cooperation, our essential security interests and the resilience of our economies. We affirm that our cooperation to strengthen our economic security and national security should be rooted in maintaining the rules-based system. We will continue our work through the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council and the G7 and strengthen our bilateral coordination by tasking our Sherpas to formulate key recommendations on economic security by the summer.
We will continue work to strengthen our economic security, responding to concrete threats we have identified. The United States and the European Union share concerns about the challenges posed by, among other issues, economic coercion, the weaponization of economic dependencies, and non-market policies and practices. We will continue our work through the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council and the G7 to strengthen coordination with each other and other likeminded partners to diversify our supply chains, and to increase our collective preparedness, resilience, and deterrence to non-market policies and practices and to economic coercion.
We are increasing our cooperation to prevent the leakage of sensitive emerging technologies, as well as other dual-use items, to destinations of concern that operate civil-military fusion strategies. Our respective existing controls related to exports, inbound investment, and research cooperation are essential tools and need to be upgraded to correspond to a changing geostrategic environment. We have a common interest in preventing our companies’ capital, expertise, and knowledge from fueling technological advances that will enhance the military and intelligence capabilities of our strategic rivals, including through outbound investment. As we develop and upgrade our toolkit, we will coordinate efforts across the Atlantic to avoid the backfilling of any controlled exports and investments and will continue to share lessons and seek to align our approaches where feasible to maximize the effectiveness of our efforts.
White House.gov. 03/10/2023.
Jobs Report Tweets…
Because of our efforts over the past two years, 12 million more Americans have a job.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 10, 2023
That matters.
Twitter added a note to the above tweet but so far not the below tweet…
The link takes us to WRAL-NEWS the article Fact check: When Biden took office, how many Americans were on unemployment benefits?, was posted on 06/17/2022 in response to a 06/13/2022 press briefing.
I have attempted to load the article above three times and each time it crashes my chrome browser forcing me to restart my computer…
So, we are skipping the not for me helpful note and diving into a similar fact-sheet provided by PolitiFact on 01/25/2023 in a ironic twist they were fact-checking a tweet!
The standard measures for unemployment show a smaller number of unemployed Americans two years ago. But the White House provided PolitiFact with a spreadsheet that backed up Biden’s numbers. The difference is that the official statistics did not include a large swath of people who received assistance through temporary, pandemic-era programs.
Official Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show there were about 10.2 million unemployed Americans nationwide in January 2021. The most recent data available is for December, when about 5.7 million people were unemployed.
So, using this measurement, Biden was too high on the unemployment figure for two years ago (he said 18 million), and too low on the figure for “today” (he said 1.6 million).
PolitiFact. 01/25/2023.
They rated the claim half-true.
FactCheck.org called the claim misleading on 01/27/2023:
Speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting, President Joe Biden botched a statistic on the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, misidentifying them simply as the number of people “out of work.” His comment leaves the false impression that unemployment declined by more than 16 million people on his watch, when the decline was actually under 5 million.
And a big reason for the large decline in unemployment benefits is the expiration of pandemic-related expansions of such benefits.
“Two years ago this week, 18 million people were out of work — two years ago this week,” Biden said at the conference on Jan. 20. “Now the — that number is under 1.6 million, near the lowest level in decades.”
The White House transcript notes that the line drew applause.
But it’s not accurate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people “out of work” — or officially unemployed — in the U.S. in January 2021 was about 10.2 million, and the number in December 2022 was 5.7 million.
A White House spokesperson told us Biden was referring to the number of people receiving unemployment insurance benefits. And he noted that Biden was including pandemic unemployment insurance programs. By that measure, and with those caveats, the statistic cited by the president would be nearly accurate (although we would note the number has crept up from 1.6 million in mid-December to 1.9 million by Dec. 31, the latest data now available).
Assistant White House Press Secretary Michael Kikukawa told us Biden was simply using “shorthand for something that is true,” and that on at least two occasions — in remarks in early December and in a tweet on Jan. 25 — Biden has “more fully contextualized” his comments by noting that he was talking about the number of people claiming unemployment benefits.
Biden may have simply been careless in his wording of the statistic before the U.S. Conference of Mayors, but the Department of Labor explains on its website that it is a common public misconception to confuse the two metrics.
FactCheck.org. 01/27/2023.
Friday was Jobs Report Friday…
Halodoc shared all of Ben Casselmans heavy lifting so we don’t have to tweets on Friday.
President Biden offered remarks on Friday regarding the newly released data. The YouTube is 11 minutes and 35 seconds long.
The American Rescue Plan Turns 2 Celebration Tweets…
The White House posted the following fact-sheet; The American Rescue Plan’s 2-year Difference
The White House posted the following statement; The American Rescue Plan (ARP): Top 15 Highlights from 2 Years of Recovery
1. Led to the Strongest Jobs Recovery on Record: When President Biden came into office, there was tremendous economic uncertainty. Unemployment was at 6.1% when ARP passed. It was expected to average 5% in 2022. With the passage of ARP, unemployment averaged 3.6% in 2022 and fell to 3.4% at the beginning of 2023.
- ARP Drove the Strongest 2-year job growth ever: Over 12 million jobs have been added since President Biden took office – the largest 2-year total in US history and more jobs in two years than in any previous administration’s full year term.
- Powered the Fastest Recovery in the World: After the American Rescue Plan passed, the US recovered significantly faster than our G7 Peers – with 5.9% growth in 2021 – while our inflation is in the middle of the pack and slower than other countries that did significantly less to help their economies recover.
2. Powered the Most Equitable Recovery in Memory: In past recessions, persistent high long-term and youth unemployment as well as high foreclosures of evictions led to long term harms – “scarring” for millions of Americans and hard, long roads back for Black and Hispanic Americans.
President Biden’s Rescue Plan ensured that didn’t happen this time:
- Historic drops in Black and Hispanic Unemployment: With the strong recovery powered by ARP, Black unemployment saw its largest 1-year drop since 1984 and is near record lows; Hispanic unemployment saw its fastest 1-year drop and reached its lowest annual rate ever in 2022. Asian American unemployment fell significantly as well – falling by more than half from its January 2021 rate.
- Least scarring in any recovery in memory: The American Rescue Plan led to the fastest drop in long-term and youth unemployment ever, which both now stand at pre-pandemic levels. It kept foreclosures historically low and evictions 20% below historic averages even after the end of the CDC Eviction Moratorium.
3. Lowered Health Care Premiums by $800 for over 13 Million Americans: ARP lowered health care premiums – which were extended by the Inflation Reduction Act, increased eligibility to middle- income families and provided strong incentives for states to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Result:
- Saved over 13 million Americans an average of $800 a year on their health premiums.
- Led to most Americans in history having health insurance
- Provided health coverage to 3 million Americans who would have otherwise had no health insurance.
- Provided an extra $1.5 billion in Medicaid funding to Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota for Medicaid expansion coverage to over half a million people.
- Gave states an easier pathway to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage for a full 12 months – ensuring access to critical care for over 438,000 women nationwide.
4. Largest Small Business Formation Boom in History Due ARP-Driven Strong Recovery and Small Business Investments: The Biden Administration:
- Increased COVID Emergency Injury Disaster Loans to $2 million, while increasing anti-fraud controls
- Reformed PPP to more equitably distribute funds to the smallest businesses.
- Restaurant Revitalization Fund helped over 100,000 Restaurants, Bars, and Food Trucks stay open.
- Shuttered Venues Program provided relief to 13,000 venues.
- Invested a historic $10 Billion in the State Small Business Credit Initiative
This, and the strong recovery that ARP powered, led to:
- A record 10.5 million new small business applications over the past 2 years
- Hispanic entrepreneurs started small businesses at the highest rate in more than a decade in 2021 and 23 percent faster than pre-pandemic levels.
- Black-owned small businesses were created at the fastest rate in 26 years, as the Washington Post found.
- Asian American entrepreneurs started small businesses at the fastest rate in over a decade in 2021.
5. Led to Lowest Child Poverty Rate in American History: The American Rescue Plan and its expanded monthly Child Tax Credit led to:
- Child Poverty nearly cut in half to lowest rate – 5.2% – ever.
- Black child poverty cut by 52%, Hispanic child poverty cut by 43%, Native American child poverty cut by 51%, and dramatic drops in white and Asian child poverty — all to record lows.
- ~9 million children in rural areas benefited from the expanded credit.
- 5 million children in Veteran and Active-Duty families benefited from the expanded credit
- Child Tax Credit payments were delivered reliably with the first ever monthly payment – on the 15th of each month with 90% using direct deposit.
- Over 65 million children in 40 million working families received largest Child Tax Credit in history.
- Historic Child Tax Credit Expansion already reached over 230,000 Puerto Rico families: Recent data shows that over 230,000 Puerto Rico households will get the expanded Child Tax Credit. 8X the number from the previous year.
6. Funded a Historic Vaccination Campaign: ARP provided $160 billion to support vaccination, therapeutics, testing and mitigation, PPE, and the broader COVID Response effort.
This led to:
- Over 230 million Americans are fully vaccinated, up from 3.5 million when President Biden took office.
7. Helped Over 8 Million People Stay in Their Homes:
- Emergency Rental Assistance – the first national eviction prevention policy in history – was main American Rescue Plan source of multi-month assistance to help over 8 million hard-pressed renters stay in their homes without sacrificing other basic needs.
- Emergency Rental Assistance and Other ARP Housing Policies led Eviction Filings to remarkably stay 20% below historic averages in 1.5 years after end of the eviction moratorium.
- Called the “the most important eviction prevention policy in American history” by Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize Winner author of “Evicted” – and the “deepest investment the federal government has made in low-income renters since the nation launched its public housing system.”
- HUD Emergency Housing Vouchers have already helped 47,500 households at risk of homelessness lease their own rental housing – these American Rescue Plan funded vouchers support those at risk of or experiencing homelessness or housing instability, and those fleeing domestic violence.
8. Helped Keep 200,000 Child Care Centers Open
- American Rescue Plan Stabilization Assistance has reached 200,000 Child Care Providers – that employ 1 million child care workers – and have the capacity to serve more than 9 million children.
- 90% of programs reported that American Rescue Plan funds helped them stay open.
- More than 8 in 10 licensed child care centers nationwide have received ARP assistance.
- Benefited 30,000 rural child care programs – in most states, 97+% of rural counties received aid.
9. For First Time in History, Direct Relief to Every Town, City, County and State – No Matter How Big or Small, Urban or Rural So they Could Design their Own Recovery:
- Before ARP, 70% of cities anticipated layoffs or major cuts in services and half of states were freezing or cutting jobs. Today, cities and states have funds to invest in major challenges – like public safety, housing, workforce, and rehiring, instead of making dramatic cuts.
- ARP provided direct fiscal relief to every state & territory and 30,000 cities and towns – while previous plans reached only 154 local governments, or fewer, with direct flexible relief.
This has led to:
- American Rescue Plan Led to Surge in State Revenue Growth – Powering Economic Resilience: Before ARP, state revenues were expected to grow just 3.7% in 2021, after falling in 2020. After ARP, state revenues grew by 16.6% in 2021 (record high growth) – and over 14% growth in 2022. As a result, state surpluses are powering resilience economy-wide.
- Major investments in critical areas:
- Over $25 billion to Jumpstart Universal Broadband Access – including Broadband Connections for 16 million students through the Emergency Connectivity Fund for schools and libraries to close the homework gap.
- Over $10 billion from ARP’s State & Local Fund invested in over 3,000 workforce projects
- Over $20 billion in State & Local funds invested in water infrastructure
- Over $14 billion in State & Local Funds invested in housing – expanding supply, investing in homeless services, and providing 3.7 million additional households rent, mortgage, and utility relief.
10. One of the Largest Federal Investments in Preventing Crime, Reducing Violence, and Investing in Public Safety in History.
- Over $10 billion committed to preventing crime and reducing violence, with investments by hundreds of state and local governments to avoid cuts to police budgets, hire more police officers for safe, effective, and accountable community policing, ensure first responders have the equipment they need to do their jobs, and expand evidence-based community violence intervention and prevention programs.
- Toledo, Ohio used this funding to train a second cohort of new police recruits for the first time and plans for 100 new officers in the next few years; Mercer County invested in a county-wide radio system and improved its 911 system; Baltimore invested $50 million for its comprehensive violence prevention strategy, including community violence intervention programs.
- That includes $1.2 billion Medicaid Mobile Crisis Intervention Services – the American Rescue Plan included $1.2 billion to fund mobile crisis intervention units staffed with mental health professionals & trained peers.
- It also includes $1 billion Family Violence Prevention and Services Program to reduce domestic violence with immediate crisis intervention, health supports, and safety.
11. Funding School Districts Across the Nation to Reopen K-12 Schools, Support Academic Recovery, and Invest in Student Mental Health:
- ARP provided critical relief to 16,000 school districts and other local education agencies to reopen safely, support academic recovery, and invest in student mental health.
- Data from School District Plans show that schools are using these funds well:
- Nearly 60% of funds are committed to investments like staffing, tutoring, after-school and summer learning, new textbooks and learning materials, and mental and physical health supports.
- Another 23% is going to keep schools operating safely, including providing PPE and updating school facilities. This includes investments in lead abatement and nearly $10 billion for HVAC.
This has led to:
- Going from 46% of schools that had safely opened to full-time in-person teaching to 100%: In January 2021, CDC data showed that just 46% of schools were open full-time in-person. Today, all schools are open.
- A major increase in staffing and investments to address student mental health: Schools now employ 36% more school social workers, 11% more school counselors, and 28% more school nurses than pre-pandemic.
12. Major Investment in Workforce Training and Connecting Americans to Good Jobs:
- Over $40 billion from the American Rescue Plan has gone to workforce training efforts, including over $10 billion from ARP’s State and Local Fund invested in over 3,000 workforce projects across the country, including pre-apprenticeships and other programs to prepare for new infrastructure, health care and care jobs.
- $500 million Competitive Good Jobs Challenge Awards for 32 Workforce Training Partnerships across the country
- $1 billion Competitive Build Back Better Regional Challenge – 21 Winners won between $25 million and $65 million to execute transformational projects and revitalize local industries. Projects include developing workforce training programs and connecting workers to jobs – and other transformational investments.
- Historic Investment in Expanding and Supporting our Health Care Workforce, including:
- $1.1 Billion investment in the Community Health Workforce, including increasing the mental health workforce
- Well over $10 Billion of American Rescue Plan Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) funds being used for workforce efforts.
- Rapid deployment of over 14,000 community outreach workers (through over 150 national and local organizations).
- Establishment of the first-of-its-kind Public Health AmeriCorps to build and train the next generation of public health leaders, already serving 82 organizations across the country and supporting more than 3,000 AmeriCorps members.
- Supporting the largest field strength in history (over 22,700 providers) for the National Health Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery programs, treating more than 23.6 million patients in underserved communities
13. Eighteen Million College Students Have Received Direct Financial Assistance from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund that was expanded by ARP:
- Colleges have reached an estimated 18 million students with direct financial aid from Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEERF) since the beginning of 2021 to help them stay in school and help cover basic needs during the pandemic, like food, housing, and child care.
- Direct financial assistance for an estimated 6 million community college students.
- 80% of Pell Grant recipients received direct financial relief in 2021.
- An estimated 450,000 students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) received direct financial aid. Further, in 2021, 77 percent of HBCUs used HEERF funds to discharge unpaid student balances.
- Nine in 10 institutions reported that HEERF funds enabled them to keep students enrolled who were at risk of dropping out due to pandemic-related factors.
14. Historic Investment in the Pension Security for up to 3 million Union workers & retirees: ARP’s Special Financial Assistance is the most significant investment in pension security for union workers and retirees in the past 50 years.
- Over 200 multiemployer plans that were on pace to become insolvent in the near term will now have solvency ensured until at least 2051 solvent & paying full benefits thanks to ARP.
- Preventing a wave of multi-employer insolvencies for 2-3 million workers who would have seen major cuts to their earned retirement benefits.
- Pension Cuts Reversed for over 80,000 Workers and Retirees in 18 “MPRA” Multiemployer Plans that had taken cuts to avoid insolvency.
- Most significant effort to protect the solvency of the multiemployer pension system in almost 50 years.
15. First-Ever Summer Nutrition Benefit for Students with Nationwide Reach– Extended Permanently:
- ARP created the first-ever summer nutrition benefit with nationwide reach.
- 30 million young people: Reached the families of 30 million students.
- Permanent: Congress extended this innovative program permanently in last year’s Omnibus bill, the first major new permanent food assistance program in nearly five decades.
Random Tweets from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday…
Let me advise that the replies are not all positive ones.
Here’s the thing:
If you support our Constitution if that’s something you thump your chest about. Gay people, transgender people, have a human right to exist without our governments interfering. I’m not suggesting they deserve more rights, than straight people. I’m saying that they do in fact deserve the same rights as straight people. The ability to enjoy the freedoms that most American’s simply take for granted. The ability to pay their taxes and raise their families as they see fit. Freedom is not for some people, freedom means all people.
This is an Open Thread.
P.S. the final tweeting tally for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is 30 tweets and 0 retweets…
