President Biden’s public schedule for 06/06/2023:
| 10:00 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time The White House In-Town Pool |
| 11:45 AM | The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing Oval Office Closed Press |
| 1:00 PM Press Briefing | Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre James S. Brady Press Briefing Room |
| 2:15 PM Cabinet Meeting | The President holds a Cabinet meeting; The Vice President participates Cabinet Room In-House Pool Spray |
Press Briefing:
The Cabinet Meeting pool spray will be shared in tomorrow’s Biden Bits, probably…
Welcoming Denmark’s Prime Minister to the White House Tweets
From Monday…
The video clip is 55 seconds long.
The leaders prior to their meeting held an Oval Office Pool spray. The YouTube is 3 minutes and 32 seconds long.
Their full remarks:
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, welcome. I am delighted to have Madam Prime Minister here today. Great to see you again.
We were just talking about the last time we met. I had the opportunity, which was a great opportunity — unrelated to anything having to do with foreign policy — that — for her to meet my — my granddaughters, who are bright young women who are college and law school graduates, who still talk to me about their meeting with the Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER FREDERIKSEN: Thank you.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: And as we all know but we don’t talk often much about it, Denmark is one of our greatest allies and most reliable friends, closest friends, and in lockstep in every global issue that we’ve — that we’ve been engaged in.
And I understand today is Constitution Day.
PRIME MINISTER FREDERIKSEN: Yeah, it is. It is.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: And — and it’s — it reflects the fact that we have the same values. I mean, you know, I always talk about how, wh- — it’s about values, whether a country is organized around a certain set of values, and Constitution Day is not dissimilar than our U.S. Constitution. And the idea that there’s a shared commitment to the core values of — that gives our strength. At least that’s what I believe.
And together we’re working to protect those values, including standing up for the people of Ukraine against the brutal aggression of the Russians.
And we’ve also addressing the global challenges, from promoting inclusive economic growth and the climate crisis. And I want to thank you for your clean energy transition leadership. I really mean it.
And together with NATO Allies, we’re taking steps to strengthen our shared security, including finishing our bilateral defense cooperation agreement that we’re working on.
And I want to thank you again, Madam Prime Minister, for making the effort to be here. We’re anxious to see you.
So, welcome. And the floor is yours.
PRIME MINISTER FREDERIKSEN: Thank you so much, Mr. President. It’s really nice to see you again and to be here.
I would — I would like to thank you for your leadership. I mean, from a European perspective, to have a President in the U.S. who is committed to the transatlantic alliance has always been extremely important.
But I mean, nowadays, when war has returned to our continent, in Europe, it is so important that our allies and our friends — that we stick together, that we are united. And we have truly been for now 15 months, in Ukraine. We will, of course, continue, from a Danish perspective, our very strong — strong support to Ukraine, but I’m looking forward to work even closer with you on defense and securities.
I would also like to thank you for your leadership on the green transition. I mean, you have brought the U.S. back to the fight against climate change, and you are doing it in a very interesting way because you — you don’t — you — you have high ambitions when it comes to climate change, but at the same time you insist on making sure that Americans will have a job because of this. So, sustainable growth is so important.
So, thanks for your leadership, and thanks for welcoming us today.
PRESIDENT BIDEN: Well, I’m delighted to have you here. Thank you.
Thank you all.
(Cross-talk.)
Q Will the counteroffensive work?
PRESIDENT BIDEN: (Crosses fingers.)
White House.gov. 06/05/2023.
The White House posted the following meeting readout:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with Prime Minister Frederiksen of Denmark at the White House to underscore the deep and enduring ties between the governments and people of the United States and Denmark. The leaders discussed our unwavering support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s brutal war of aggression. President Biden welcomed Denmark’s provision of significant security assistance to Ukraine and its leadership in training Ukrainian pilots. They discussed their efforts as NATO Allies and close partners to strengthen transatlantic security, which will be further enhanced by the conclusion of a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement. They also talked about their shared work to bolster economic prosperity, increase energy security, and address the impacts of climate change.
White House.gov. 06/05/2023.
Bipartisan Budget Agreement/Investing in America Tweets
From Monday…
From Tuesday…
From the White House; FACT SHEET: White House Launches Invest.gov, Highlights Record Public and Private Investment in Communities Under President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda:
Today, the White House launched Invest.gov, a new website showing the historic public and private sector investments President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is bringing to states and territories across America. Invest.gov features an interactive map showing infrastructure projects underway that are funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as well as private sector investments mobilized by President Biden’s agenda, including the *Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the American Rescue Plan.*
White House.gov. 06/06/2023.
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is rebuilding the economy from the middle-out and bottom-up, not top-down. As a result of historic legislation passed by President Biden – including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act – President Biden has overseen the strongest jobs recovery in history, is rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, and is bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Since President Biden took office, private companies have announced over $470 billion in private sector manufacturing investments, and over the last 18 months, the Administration has awarded over $220 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law aimed at repairing roads and bridges, delivering clean water, deploying high-speed internet, and building out clean energy transportation infrastructure. Invest.gov enables Americans in every state and territory across the country to see these investments in their communities.
White House.gov. 06/06/2023.
The website also includes summaries of the impact of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda in each state and territory, including jobs created, new businesses started, spotlight infrastructure projects funded, and manufacturing investments made under the Biden presidency. The website will be updated regularly to reflect recent investments, projects, and announcements.
State spotlight:
To highlight the impact of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, members of the Administration will be fanning out across the country later this month for a second installment of the Investing in America tour. The tour will coincide with the two-week Congressional recess around the July 4th holiday.
White House.gov. 06/06/2023.
Visit Invest.gov to learn more about the Investing in America agenda and projects in every community across the country
*I provided the links to the laws highlighted in the first paragraph.*
National Heritage Month Tweet
From Monday…
From the White House; A Proclamation on National Immigrant Heritage Month, 2023:
America is more than a place; it is an idea. It is the idea that everyone is created equal and deserves to be treated equally throughout their lives and that everyone should have a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead. That is what has drawn people to our shores for centuries. It is what makes us who we are. And that very idea of America has been advanced by immigrants from every part of the world — my ancestors and yours. Their dreams built America, and during National Immigrant Heritage Month, we celebrate their courage.
The First Lady and I are proud descendants of immigrants — the Giacoppas, from the northeast corner of Sicily in Italy, and the Finnegans of County Louth and the Blewitts of County Mayo in Ireland. Vice President Harris was born in Oakland, California, to parents who emigrated from India and Jamaica. Like so many who still come here seeking a better future, our parents and great-grandparents could not be sure what life would bring. But they had faith that, for their children and grandchildren, anything would be possible in America. And they were right.
Many families also came to America in search of a better future and the promise of the American Dream, and each wave of newcomers brings energy and new ideas to move our Nation forward. Today, one third of our doctors and nearly three quarters of our farmworkers are immigrants, and so many more are essential workers, first responders, and military service members. Immigrants own approximately one in five businesses, create millions of jobs, pay hundreds of billions in taxes, and spend even more on American goods. Almost half of all Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their kids. Immigrants help strengthen our diplomatic and people-to-people ties around the world. It’s simple: immigrants keep our Nation strong and our economy growing.
That truth used to be something most of us agreed on. President Ronald Reagan proudly signed a law giving an opportunity to 2.7 million undocumented people to seek permanent residence. President George W. Bush pushed hard for comprehensive immigration reform. On day one of my Presidency, I sent the Congress my plan that includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, people with temporary status, farmworkers, and essential workers; smarter border solutions, including more equipment and modern infrastructure; and provisions to clear court backlogs, speed up processing, and protect families. Let us come together again in a bipartisan way to fix our broken immigration system for good.
Until the Congress acts, my Administration will keep using every tool we have to make the system more orderly, safe, and humane. We have announced new pathways for nationals of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti, and other countries in the region to come here lawfully. And in May, we joined with partners across the Western Hemisphere to launch a plan to open new centers where people can receive help with applying to come to the United States, rather than making the dangerous trek at the mercy of criminal organizations and smugglers. At home, we have expanded whistleblower protections for undocumented workers so they too can call out wage theft or unsafe working conditions, improving things for everyone. And we have strengthened the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that for more than 10 years has allowed 800,000 Dreamers to live and work freely in the only country they know as home. In addition, we have recently proposed a plan to expand DACA recipients’ access to health care through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.
Immigration has always been essential to America, and this month, we reflect on the strength and spirit of immigrants that have been passed down through families and infused in our Nation. This spring, I had the chance to travel back to Ireland, to walk the ground my ancestors walked, and to celebrate the bonds that connect us still. Over the years, stories of that place have become part of my soul. I stood beside a cathedral built of bricks that my great-great-great-grandfather supplied. I imagined his son bringing his family across the ocean during the famine of 1850, leaving all they had known for hope on a distant shore. I remembered stories of his son — my great-grandfather — who kept those roots alive in Scranton, helping to found the Irish American Association, chairing the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and passing that pride on to his granddaughter — my mom. It is a pride that speaks to the history and the values that bind us: immigrant values of hard work, dignity, and respect that I have tried to pass on to my own children and grandchildren.
Most Americans have their own version of that same story: ancestors who overcame incredible odds to build new lives in this promised land and contribute to the fabric of our Nation. And we see those same values alive at the White House every time we celebrate our proud immigrant communities, whose holidays and rich cultures give new life to our Nation — including Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights; Eid, the feast ending Ramadan; Greek Independence Day, a celebration of freedom and democracy; and the Lunar New Year, a festivity committing to new beginnings. We see that spirit of hope at every naturalization ceremony, when we celebrate the journey completed by millions of people whose courage and commitment have earned them a title that is equal to that of President in our democracy — the title of “citizen.” This month, we honor our ancestors by working to keep the torch of liberty lit and held high.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2023 as National Immigrant Heritage Month. I call upon the people of the United States to learn more about the history of our Nation’s diverse and varied immigrant communities and to observe this month with appropriate programming and activities that remind us of the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
White House.gov. 05/31/2023.
thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-seventh.
Super Bowl Champs Tweets
From Monday…
The YouTube is 16 minutes and 52 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
From the White House via Twitter:
From the Kansas City Chiefs via Twitter:
D-Day Tweet
From Tuesday…
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin offered remarks during an event commemorating the 79th anniversary of D-Day in France. The YouTube, streamed by the Department of Defense is 2 hours and 21 minutes long. Secretary Austin’s remarks begin at the 1 hour and 45 minute mark. He concludes his remarks at the 1 hour and 56 second mark.
His full speech:
Thank you, sir.
It’s an honor to be in France today.
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, and above all, the World War II veterans here today: I am absolutely humbled to join you at this hallowed place on this fateful day.
Seventy-nine years ago, France and much of the rest of Europe lay beneath the Nazi boot.
The night before Operation Overlord, General Eisenhower met with U.S. troops from the 101st Airborne. Some thought that he looked nervous. But one soldier called out: “Now quit worrying, General. We’ll take care of this thing for you.”
And they did.
Young men from the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, France, and other countries rallied together, as President Roosevelt said, “to set free a suffering humanity.”
The largest armada in history carried tens of thousands of Allied troops to the gate of Nazi-occupied France.
The Allied pilots flew low, under relentless German fire.
The paratroopers jumped into cloudy skies, and improvised when many of them landed miles from their drop zones.
Soldiers weighed down by gear waded off the boats, and were raked by Nazi guns.
And the medics dove in to care for the wounded as the cold waters turned red.
It’s easy to forget how desperate the battle was, how loud the clash was, how many things could have gone wrong, and how many things did go wrong.
But on D-Day, courage won out over terror, daring over cruelty, and liberty over tyranny.
“Quit worrying, General. We’ll take care of this thing for you.”
One of the soldiers who took care of things was 1st Lieutenant Waverly Wray—known as Charlie—of the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment—known as the Panthers.
Lieutenant Wray jumped into Normandy before dawn on D-Day. His battalion was on its own until it could be reinforced by the Allied amphibious forces storming the beaches. So Wray’s unit, Company D, faced terrifying odds. German forces outnumbered them by more than 20 to one.
But the Nazis didn’t count on the Panthers. And they didn’t count on citizen-soldiers like Charlie Wray.
Wray’s battalion commander ordered him to counterattack the German flank. And Wray personally found and destroyed the German command post in Sainte-Mère-Église. And it became the first town in France that the Allies liberated from Nazi occupation.
After the fighting, Wray returned to report—with part of his right ear sliced off by a German bullet and his own blood caked on his neck and shoulder. And Wray’s commander said, “They’ve been getting kind of close to you, haven’t they, Waverly?”
And Lieutenant Wray grinned and said, “Not as close as I’ve been getting to them, sir.”
That’s the spirit that took the beaches.
That’s the courage that liberated a continent.
And that’s the valor that swung the hinge of fate from tyranny to freedom.
Since the days of ancient Athens, historians have known that free soldiers will fight more bravely than the armies of tyrants.
The men who landed here on D-Day did just that.
And they wrote themselves into the pages of history as a grand refutation of Hitler’s bile.
D-Day reminds us that there is no force multiplier stronger than a just cause.
And the democratic ideals carried by the troops of Operation Overlord still inspire free people everywhere.
Ladies and gentlemen, it was one of the great honors of my life to serve, some 50 years after D-Day, as the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry.
In fact, I jumped into Normandy with my battalion for the 50th anniversary of D-Day.
With pride, we shouldered the legacy of liberty passed down by Charlie Wray and his brothers in arms.
And it is all of our duty to defend with undimmed vigor the principles for which the Allies fought.
We still seek a world where aggression is a sin.
Where human rights are sacred.
Where those who preach hatred, tyranny, and genocide are cast out.
Where civilians are safe from the ravages of war.
Where sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected.
And where all states and all peoples can pursue their own destinies in freedom.
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s open world of rules and rights was built on the shoulders of those who took the beaches code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword.
Today’s rules-based international order is the legacy of those who won the bloodiest war in history.
And it is our task to carry forward their mighty work.
For most of us, the demands of democratic citizenship today are far less stern than they were in 1944.
But we must meet today’s challenges with our full strength—soldier and civilian alike.
If the troops of the world’s democracies could risk their lives for freedom then, surely the citizens of the world’s democracies can risk our comfort for freedom now.
And some of our friends no longer have that choice.
On a recent trip to a U.S. training post in a free Germany, I met brave young men and women from Ukraine who were learning how to fight for their lives and their country.
And today, I am more determined than ever to stand by them for as long as it takes.
In our unsettled times, we again hear some sneer that tyranny is the future, that people long for strongman rule, that the unity of free people will shatter, and that the hour of democracy has passed.
They are wrong.
And every D-Day, citizen by citizen, we remember that we each have the ability—and the responsibility—to fight for the principles that drove the Allied armies forward.
Seventy-nine years ago, General Eisenhower told the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines of the Allied Expeditionary Force, “The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”
The eyes of the world are still upon the heroes of D-Day.
They are upon us as well.
And we will not let the torch of freedom go out.
Every time a veteran of D-Day is gathered to his Maker in the fullness of time, after a long life lived in freedom, he wins a final victory over Hitler.
To the veterans of World War II: we salute you.
You saved the world.
We must merely defend it.
So may God bless the American and Allied troops who fought and fell 79 years ago today.
May God bless the United States of America.
And may God bless all those who still fight for freedom.
Thank you.
Defense.gov. 06/06/2023.
This is an Open Thread.
