It’s Thursday…
President Biden’s public schedule for 07/20/2023:
| 9:00 AM Presidential Daily Brief | The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing Closed Press |
| 9:35 AM | Out-of-Town Pool Call Time Joint Base Andrews Overhang Out-of-Town Pool |
| 9:45 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time In-Town Pool |
| 10:20 AM Leaves White House | The President departs the White House en route to Joint Base Andrews South Grounds In-Town Travel Pool |
| 10:50 AM Leaves Joint Base Andrews | The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Joint Base Andrews Out-of-Town Pool |
| 11:35 AM Arrives in Philadelphia, PA | The President arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Open Press |
| 12:05 PM Gets a Tour | The President participates in a tour of Philly Shipyard Out-of-Town Pool |
| 1:00 PM Remarks | The President discusses how his Bidenomics agenda is growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up Open Press |
| 2:15 PM Leaves Philadelphia, PA | The President departs Philadelphia, Pennsylvania en route to Joint Base Andrews Out-of-Town Pool |
| 3:10 PM Leaves Joint Base Andrews | The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route to the White House Joint Base Andrews In-Town Travel Pool |
| 3:30 PM Arrives at the White House | The President arrives at the White House South Grounds Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton will gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to Phildelphia, Pennsylvania |
YouTube says the audio only press gaggle is scheduled for 11:15 a.m. D.C., time.
Warm-up for Remarks Tweet
From Thursday…
President Biden’s “Bidenomics” remarks are schedule for 1:00 D.C., time.
PRO Act Tweet
From Wednesday…
The video clip is 1 minute and 29 seconds long. It was recorded on 07/17/2023 in the Oval Office.
President Biden: My impressions from the beginning were what great courage these young people had.
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT): This is a historical moment and I’m just very delighted that the President did what I don’t know has ever been done before: invite young workers right here into the White House to talk about how we can work together.
Unnamed Young Person with Purple Hair: We want a democratic workplace where we have a voice because we know what needs to be done to make it a better place to work ad a better place to visit as a customer.
Unnamed Young Person wearing a Pink Shirt Paired With Classy Pearls: We need respect and dignity.
Unnamed Young Person with a Tasteful Lip Ring: They refuse to come to the table to begin bargaining. They won’t recognize us as represented by a union.
Unnamed Young Person Wearing a Blue Suit: Pre-unionization, a lot of guys were hesitant, myself included–this is my one shot.
President Biden: First of all, thank you for your courage. You guys are role models for all workers.
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT): You’ve got a chemist from Yale University, and you have a barista from Starbucks. You have a baseball player, you have somebody from the deep south who is in manufacturing.
President Biden: They’re risking their jobs. Many have lost their jobs, but they’re insistent on giving everybody a chance. A job is about a lot more than a paycheck–it’s about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about being able to look people in the eye and say it’s going to be okay. That’s what they’re fighting for, for all these young people out there.
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT): At the same time, these workers are standing up fighting to form unions, you’re seeing an unprecedented level of union-busting efforts. That’s why we need to pass, among many other pieces of legislation, the PRO Act.
President Biden: Couldn’t agree more. They make you want to work harder, they make you want to get more done. And we’re going to get it done.
The PRO Act was reintroduced in Congress on 02/28/2023:
Bill text =’s 55 page PDF.
Fact-Sheet =’s 2 page PDF.
Section by Section Summary =’s 8 page PDF.
Competition Council/Rental Housing Junk Fee Tweets
From Wednesday…
The YouTube is 10 minutes and 52 seconds long. His full remarks can be found here.
President Biden retweeted HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge:
President Biden retweeted Agriculture Secretary Ton Vilsack:
From Thursday…
The video clip is 45 seconds long.
President Biden:
That’s why, two years ago, I signed an executive order to create this council to increase competition and lower costs for American households.
For example, we made hearing aids available over the counter for as little as $200 a pair, instead of thousands of dollars, and capped the price of insulin at $35 on — those on the Medicare, and thus saving folks hundreds of thousands of dollars over time.
You know, we aim to — we’ve — we’re taking aim at non-compete clauses, which prevent 30 million Americans — from security guards to retail workers — from getting jobs in the same field. And there’s no rationale for that. It’s not like they have trade secrets.
And we’re cracking down on junk fees across industries, including banking, concert, airlines, and junk health insurance plans.
Folks are tired of being played for suckers. They’re just tired of being played for suckers. And it’s about basic fairness.
White House.gov. 07/19/2023.
I shared the full fact-sheet; White House Competition Council Announces New Actions to Lower Costs and Marks Second Anniversary of President Biden’s Executive Order on Competition and the fact-sheet; Biden-Harris Administration Takes on Junk Fees in Rental Housing to Lower Costs for Renters in Wednesday’s Biden Bits.
The White House posted the following readout; of the Fifth Meeting of the White House Competition Council
Yesterday, the President convened the White House Competition Council to mark the two-year anniversary of his Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy and to announce new initiatives to support healthy competition, lower costs, and crack down on hidden junk fees. The Competition Council drives the Administration’s whole-of-government effort to restore competition and coordinate progress on the Executive Order’s 72 initiatives, delivering concrete benefits of increased competition to America’s consumers, workers, farmers, and small businesses.
White House.gov. 07/20/23.
The President spoke to how promoting competition is a core important part of Bidenomics. He thanked the Council for their ongoing work to increase competition across the economy, including actions that have already made hearing aids more affordable and accessible, lowered insulin costs, and taken aim at prevalent junk fees. The President celebrated new actions announced yesterday to lower food prices, crack down on junk fees in the housing rental market, and provide clarity around enforcement of laws prohibiting anti-competitive mergers. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack then spoke to a new enforcement partnership with bipartisan state Attorneys General, as well as the Department’s ongoing work to invest in expanding independent meat and poultry processing and to issue new rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act to prevent abuse of farmers. Vilsack noted he was encouraged to see bipartisan interest in Congress in addressing competition issues in agriculture, but that the Department would continue to use its available tools to act now.
Yesterday’s announcements include:
- The Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched a new enforcement effort, the Agricultural Competition Partnership, with over two dozen bipartisan State Attorneys General to address anticompetitive and anti-consumer practices in food and agricultural markets, including in grocery, meat-processing, and other markets. This bipartisan group will use both state and federal enforcement tools to reduce prices and increase competition. USDA also announced a Farmer Seed Liaison to give farmers a voice in the patent process. These announcements follow ongoing work by USDA to support farmers and shoppers, including through proposing rules to address anticompetitive behavior and providing millions of dollars in grants for small and independent processing.
- The Competition Council announced a new front in the war against junk fees by announcing new actions to address rental housing fees. For example, rental application fees are often as much as $100, far above the cost of running a background or credit check – and add up when consumers apply to multiple units in a tight rental market. The White House announced that Zillow, Apartments.com, and AffordableHousing.com have committed to release new website features to allow prospective renters to see all the fees up front so they know what they’ll actually be paying as they comparison shop. The Department of Housing and Urban Development also issued a new white paper on rental housing junk fees and how to address them.
- The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission answered President Biden’s call to action in the Competition Executive Order and released new proposed Merger Guidelines for public comment. These Guidelines aim to provide the public, businesses, workers, and consumers with more clarity around how law enforcement agencies assess mergers under current antitrust laws. The Council of Economic Advisers explained that the new proposed Guidelines are informed by the best and most recent economic evidence available, and that robust enforcement of mergers can lower prices, increase wages, and strengthen innovation.
The Council members used the rest of the meeting to discuss recent accomplishments and their priorities for the coming months, including how the Council can continue to support labor market competition and deliver cost-saving measures for Americans.
Participants in yesterday’s meeting included:
White House.gov. 07/20/23.
- Lael Brainard, Assistant to the President and Director of the National Economic Council (Chair)
- Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture
- Julie Su, Acting Secretary of Labor
- Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation
- Jared Bernstein, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Neera Tanden, Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor
- Don Graves, Deputy Secretary of Commerce
- Adrianne Todman, Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Rohit Chopra, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- William LaPlante, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment
- Kathi Vidal, Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
- Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General
- Lina M. Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission
- Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission
- Daniel Maffei, Chair of the Federal Maritime Commission
- Martin J. Oberman, Chair of the Surface Transportation Board
- Eric Van Nostrand, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy
- Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division
- Caroline Crenshaw, Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Richard Revesz, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
- Natasha Coates, Deputy General Counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Hannah Garden-Monheit, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director for Competition Council Policy
- Chad Maisel, Special Assistant to the President for Housing and Urban Policy
White House Congressional Picnic Tweet
From Wednesday…
The YouTube is 4 minutes and 58 seconds long. Their full remarks can be found here.
Meeting With President Herzog of Israel Tweet
From Wednesday…
The video clip is 31 seconds long.
President Biden:
Well, Mr. President, welcome back. Welcome back to Washington. Welcome back to the White House, and a pleasure to have you.
And I — you know my love for Israel is deep-rooted and long-lasting. And as I — as I’ve often said: If there wasn’t an Israel, we’d have to invent one. And — but 75 years.
[snip]
Seventy-five years. It’s hard to believe. Hard to believe I remember about two thirds of those. (Laughs.)
And this is a friendship, I believe, that’s just simply unbreakable. Unbreakable. And together, working to bring more stability and integration in the Middle East. And a lot of hard work. We’ve got a lot more to do, but there’s progress.[snip]
And as I affirmed to Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday, America’s commitment to Israel is firm and it is — it is ironclad. And we’re committed, as well, to ensure that — that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.
So we got a lot to talk about. But, again, welcome.
White House.gov. 07/18/2023.
The White House posted the following meeting readout:
Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. welcomed President Isaac Herzog of Israel to the White House. The two discussed the special significance of Herzog’s July 19 address to a Joint Meeting of Congress to commemorate Israel’s 75th anniversary, 35 years after an address by his father President Chaim Herzog, reflective of the enduring nature of our partnership, one that has transcended numerous U.S. and Israeli Administrations.
White House.gov. 07/18/2023.
The two consulted on key issues of mutual concern, including enhanced coordination to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and Iran’s growing defense partnership with Russia. They noted the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship, based on the bedrock of shared democratic values, and discussed the need for a consensus-based approach to the judicial reform package. They discussed ongoing cooperation to develop technology-based solutions to shared global challenges like climate change, pandemics, and food insecurity.
President Biden reiterated his commitment to maintaining a path for a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the best avenue to a lasting and just peace, and to providing Israelis and Palestinians equal measures of freedom, prosperity and security. The President stressed the need to take additional measures to improve the security and economic situation in the West Bank and prevent acts of terrorism. The two also reviewed opportunities to advance Israel’s regional integration to create a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East. Finally, building on the recently launched U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, they agreed on the need to continue to work together to address the persistent scourge of antisemitism.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed a Joint-Meeting of Congress on Wednesday. The YouTube provided by C-SPAN is 1 hour and 15 minutes long.
This is an Open Thread.
