Biden Bits: “Protect Those Around You This Fall And Winter”…

September 13, 2023 12:00 pm EDT Tiff Biden Tweets (Open Thread) Comments Off on Biden Bits: “Protect Those Around You This Fall And Winter”…
Biden Tweets Logo. Image by Lenny Ghoul.

It’s Wednesday…

President Biden’s public schedule for 09/13/2023:

10:00 AM
Presidential Daily Brief		The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
The White HouseClosed Press
1:00 PM
Press Briefing		Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Jared Bernstein
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:30 PM
Cancer Cabinet Meeting		The President convenes a meeting of his Cancer Cabinet; The First Lady participates
Cabinet Room In-House Pool
6:15 PM
Leaves the White House		The President departs the White House en route to McLean, Virginia
South Grounds In-Town Travel Pool
6:30 PM
Arrives in McLean, Virginia		The President arrives in McLean, Virginia
McLean, VA In-Town Travel Pool
6:40 PM
Campaign Event		The President participates in a campaign reception
McLean, VA Restricted In-Town Travel Pool
8:30 PM
Arrives at the White House		The President arrives at the White House
South Grounds In-Town Travel Pool

Press briefing 1:00 p.m. D.C., time:


Child Tax Credit Tweet

From Tuesday…

Show more =’s the relief they deserve.

From Census.gov…

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2022:

Snips:

These findings come from three Census Bureau reports: Income in the United States: 2022, Poverty in the United States: 2022, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2022. While the official poverty measure is based on the concept of money income, which is pretax and does not include stimulus payments and tax credits, the SPM is a post-tax and transfer poverty measure. The SPM provides an alternative way of measuring poverty in the United States and serves as an additional indicator of economic well-being. The Census Bureau has published poverty estimates using the SPM annually since 2011 in collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

For consistency with past reports, the income estimates in the “Income in the United States: 2022” report are based on the concept of money income. Appendix B of the income report provides post-tax estimates of median household income and income inequality metrics.

All three reports are based on data from the CPS ASEC. The Current Population Survey (CPS), sponsored jointly by the Census Bureau and BLS, is conducted every month and is the primary source of labor force statistics for the U.S. population. It is used to calculate monthly unemployment rate estimates. Supplements are added in most months. The CPS ASEC — conducted in February, March and April — is designed to provide annual, national estimates of income, poverty and health insurance estimates, collecting information about job status, income and health insurance coverage during the prior calendar year.

Although the 2023 ASEC was collected using standard procedures, response rates are still lower than they were before the pandemic. The response rate for the CPS basic household survey declined from 72.2% in March 2022 to 68.9% in March 2023. Since the response rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, which were regularly above 80%, it is important to examine how respondents differ from nonrespondents, as this difference could affect the accuracy of the estimates. For more details on how sample difference and the associated nonresponse bias impact income and official poverty estimates, refer to the Research Matters blog: “Using Administrative Data to Evaluate Nonresponse in the 2023 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.”

Census.gov. 09/12/2023.

Poverty

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Statistical Poverty Directive 14 and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2022 was $29,678. (Refer to <www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html> for the complete set of dollar value thresholds that vary by family size and composition.) 

Official Poverty Measure

  • The official poverty rate in 2022 was 11.5%, with 37.9 million people in poverty. Neither the rate nor the number in poverty was significantly different from 2021.
  • The official poverty rate for Black individuals decreased between 2021 and 2022. The 2022 rate was the lowest on record.

Supplemental Poverty Measure

The SPM extends the official poverty measure by accounting for several government programs that are designed to assist low-income families but are not included in official poverty measure calculations. The SPM also accounts for geographic variation in housing expenses when calculating the poverty thresholds and includes federal taxes, state taxes, work expenses, and medical expenses. The SPM does not replace the official poverty measure; however, it does provide a different metric of economic well-being that includes resources from government programs and tax credits to low-income families. In 2022, there were key changes in federal tax policy, including the expiration of temporary expansions to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as well as the end of pandemic-era stimulus payments which lead to increases in SPM poverty.

Census.gov. 09/12/2023.
  • The SPM rate in 2022 was 12.4%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from 2021. This is the first increase in the overall SPM poverty rate since 2010.
  • The SPM child poverty rate more than doubled, from 5.2% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2022.
  • SPM rates also increased for 18- to 64-year-olds and people age 65 and older.
  • Social Security continued to be the most important antipoverty program in 2022, moving 28.9 million people out of SPM poverty. Meanwhile, refundable tax credits moved 6.4 million out of SPM poverty, down from 9.6 million people in 2021.
  • The share of the population with resources below 50% of their poverty threshold was lower for the SPM than for the official poverty measure with a consistent universe. In particular, 3.3% of children had SPM resources below half their SPM poverty threshold, compared to 6.6% using the official poverty methodology.
  • SPM rates were higher than the official poverty measure with a consistent universe in three states, lower in 38 states, and not statistically different in nine states and the District of Columbia.
    • SPM rates were higher than official poverty rates in California, Maryland and New Jersey.
    • SPM rates were lower than official poverty rates in 38 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
    • SPM and official poverty rates were not statistically different in nine states: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

President Biden’s full statement:

Today’s Census report shows the dire consequences of congressional Republicans’ refusal to extend the enhanced Child Tax Credit, even as they advance costly corporate tax cuts. We cut child poverty by nearly half to record lows for all children in this nation largely by expanding the Child Tax Credit. Last year, Congressional Republicans insisted on raising taxes on families with children. The rise reported today in child poverty is no accident—it is the result of a deliberate policy choice congressional Republicans made to block help for families with children while advancing massive tax cuts for the wealthiest and largest corporations. No child should grow up in poverty, and I will continue to fight to restore the expanded Child Tax Credit to give tens of millions of families the tax relief and breathing room they deserve.

White House.gov. 09/12/2023.

Condolences Tweet

From Tuesday…

Show more =’s provide additional support. We join the Libyan people in grieving the loss of too many lives cut short, and send our hope to all those missing loved ones.

AP News reported yesterday:

Emergency workers uncovered more than 1,500 bodies in the wreckage of Libya’s eastern city of Derna on Tuesday, and it was feared the toll could surpass 5,000 after floodwaters smashed through dams and washed away entire neighborhoods of the city.

The startling death and devastation wreaked by Mediterranean storm Daniel pointed to the storm’s intensity, but also the vulnerability of a nation torn apart by chaos for more than a decade. The country is divided by rival governments, one in the east, the other in the west, and the result has been neglect of infrastructure in many areas.

Outside help was only just starting to reach Derna on Tuesday, more than 36 hours after the disaster struck. The floods damaged or destroyed many access roads to the coastal city of some 89,000.

[snip]

Libya’s National Meteorological Center said Tuesday it issued early warnings for Storm Daniel, an “extreme weather event,” 72 hours before its occurrence, and notified all governmental authorities by e-mails and through media … “urging them to take preventive measures.” It said that Bayda recorded a record 414.1 millimeters (16.3 inches) of rain from Sunday to Monday.

On Tuesday, local emergency responders, including troops, government workers, volunteers and residents dug through rubble looking for the dead. They also used inflatable boats to retrieve bodies from the water.

Many bodies were believed trapped under rubble or had been washed out into the Mediterranean Sea, said eastern Libya’s health minister, Othman Abduljaleel.

AP News.com. 09/12/2023.

President Biden’s full statement:

Jill and I send our deepest condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones in the devastating floods in Libya.  In this difficult hour, the United States is sending emergency funds to relief organizations and coordinating with the Libyan authorities and the UN to provide additional support.  We join the Libyan people in grieving the loss of too many lives cut short, and send our hope to all those missing loved ones.

White House.gov. 09/12/2023.

“Bidenomics” Tweets

From Tuesday…

From Wednesday…

Our fav New York Times Econ Guy Ben Casselman says…

President Biden’s full statement:

Today’s report provides more evidence that core inflation is trending down toward pre-pandemic levels at a time when employment remains strong. Unemployment has remained below 4% for 19 months in a row, the share of working age Americans with a job is the highest in 20 years, and real wages are higher now than they were before the pandemic. Overall inflation has also fallen substantially over the last year, but I know last month’s increase in gas prices put a strain on family budgets. That’s why I remain laser-focused on cutting energy costs, including by investing in clean energy to bolster our energy security. We’re continuing to build an economy from the middle out and bottom up, with better jobs and lower costs — even as Republicans in Congress push for tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations and devastating cuts to programs hard-working Americans count on.

White House.gov. 09/13/2023.

American Rescue Plan (03/11/2021).
Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (11/15/2021).
Inflation Reduction Act (08/16/2022).
CHIPS and Science Act (08/09/2022).


COVID/Flu Vaccine Tweet

From Tuesday…

From FDA.gov…

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration took action approving and authorizing for emergency use updated COVID-19 vaccines formulated to more closely target currently circulating variants and to provide better protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death. Today’s actions relate to updated mRNA vaccines for 2023-2024 manufactured by ModernaTX Inc. and Pfizer Inc. Consistent with the totality of the evidence and input from the FDA’s expert advisors, these vaccines have been updated to include a monovalent (single) component that corresponds to the Omicron variant XBB.1.5.

FDA.gov. 09/11/2023.

What You Need to Know

  • Individuals 5 years of age and older regardless of previous vaccination are eligible to receive a single dose of an updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccine at least 2 months since the last dose of any COVID-19 vaccine. 
  • Individuals 6 months through 4 years of age who have previously been vaccinated against COVID-19 are eligible to receive one or two doses of an updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (timing and number of doses to administer depends on the previous COVID-19 vaccine received). 
  • Unvaccinated individuals 6 months through 4 years of age are eligible to receive three doses of the updated authorized Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine or two doses of the updated authorized Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine.
  • The FDA is confident in the safety and effectiveness of these updated vaccines and the agency’s benefit-risk assessment demonstrates that the benefits of these vaccines for individuals 6 months of age and older outweigh their risks.
  • Individuals who receive an updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccine may experience similar side effects as those reported by individuals who previously received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines as described in the respective prescribing information or fact sheets.
  • The updated vaccines are expected to provide good protection against COVID-19 from the currently circulating variants. Barring the emergence of a markedly more virulent variant, the FDA anticipates that the composition of COVID-19 vaccines may need to be updated annually, as is done for the seasonal influenza vaccine. 
  • The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet tomorrow (Sept. 12), to discuss clinical recommendations on who should receive an updated vaccine, as well as further considerations for specific populations such as immunocompromised and older individuals. 
  • Manufacturers have publicly announced that the updated vaccines would be ready this fall, and the FDA anticipates that the updated vaccines will be available in the near future.

“Vaccination remains critical to public health and continued protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “The public can be assured that these updated vaccines have met the agency’s rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality. We very much encourage those who are eligible to consider getting vaccinated.”

The updated mRNA vaccines are each approved for individuals 12 years of age and older and are authorized under emergency use for individuals 6 months through 11 years of age. As part of today’s actions, the bivalent Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are no longer authorized for use in the United States.

Data Supporting the Updated mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines (2023-2024 Formula)

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines approved and authorized today are supported by the FDA’s evaluation of manufacturing data to support the change to the 2023-2024 formula and non-clinical immune response data on the updated formulations including the XBB.1.5 component. 

FDA.gov. 09/11/2023.
  • The updated mRNA vaccines are manufactured using a similar process as previous formulations. In studies that have been recently conducted, the extent of neutralization observed by the updated vaccines against currently circulating viral variants causing COVID-19, including EG.5 and BA.2.86, appears to be of a similar magnitude to the extent of neutralization observed with prior versions of the vaccines against corresponding prior variants against which they had been developed to provide protection. This suggests that the vaccines are a good match for protecting against the currently circulating COVID-19 variants.
  • The benefit-risk profile of previously authorized and approved mRNA COVID-19 vaccines is well understood as these vaccines have been administered to hundreds of millions of people in the United States. 

Based on an evaluation of the totality of the evidence, the benefit-risk profile is favorable for individuals 6 months of age and older to receive an updated COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. Although serious outcomes from COVID-19 are less common in younger individuals, they do occur, and it has been demonstrated that recently receiving a COVID-19 vaccine reduces the risk of such serious outcomes.

Additional Details on Today’s Actions

Specifically, today’s actions include:

FDA.gov. 09/11/2023.
  • Approval of Comirnaty (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) to include the 2023-2024 formula, and a change to a single dose for individuals 12 years of age and older. Comirnaty was previously approved as a two-dose series for individuals 12 years of age and older. 
  • Approval of Spikevax (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) to include the 2023-2024 formula, a change to a single dose for individuals 18 years of age and older, and approval of a single dose for individuals 12 through 17 years of age. Spikevax was previously approved as a two-dose series for individuals 18 years of age and older. 
  • Authorization of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine for emergency use in individuals 6 months through 11 years of age to include the 2023-2024 formula and lower the age eligibility for receipt of a single dose from 6 years to 5 years of age. Additional doses are also authorized for certain immunocompromised individuals ages 6 months through 11 years, as described in the fact sheets.
  • Authorization of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for emergency use in individuals 6 months through 11 years of age to include the 2023-2024 formula. Additional doses are also authorized for certain immunocompromised individuals ages 6 months through 11 years, as described in the fact sheets.

The approval of Comirnaty (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) (2023-2024 Formula) was granted to BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH. The EUA amendment for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (2023-2024 Formula) was issued to Pfizer Inc.

The approval of Spikevax (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA) (2023-2024 Formula) was granted to ModernaTX Inc. and the EUA amendment for the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine (2023-2024 Formula) was issued to ModernaTX Inc.

FDA.gov. 09/11/2023.

President Biden’s full statement:

Since entering office, my Administration has made historic progress in our ability to manage COVID-19 so that it no longer meaningfully disrupts our lives. Today marks another important milestone. Following an independent scientific review, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have now authorized, approved, and recommended everyone 6 months and older get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against serious illness this fall and winter.
 
Today’s announcement also means that we now have immunizations for all three major seasonal respiratory viruses – COVID-19, flu, and RSV. As we head into fall and winter, we are in our strongest position yet with more tools and systems available than ever before – including safe and effective vaccines, widely available at-home tests, and effective treatments.
 
Vaccination against COVID-19 remains the most important protection in avoiding hospitalization, long-term health complications, and death. I encourage all Americans to stay up-to-date on their vaccines.

White House.gov. 09/12/2023.

Vietnam Visit Tweet

From Tuesday…

The video clip is 26 seconds long.

Remarks by President Biden to Service Members, First Responders, and Their Families on the Anniversary of 9/11 | Anchorage, AK

Let me close with this.  Earlier today in Hanoi, I visited the marker to honor my friend, war hero, senator, and statesman, John McCain.  John and I disagreed like hell.  Like two brothers, we’d argue like hell on the Senate floor, and then we’d go to lunch together. 

[snip]

One thing I always admired about John was how he put duty to country first — and that’s not hyperbole; he did — above party, above politics, above his own person. 

This day reminds us we must never lose that sense of national unity. 

White House.gov. 09/11/2023.

FYI:

How to change x.com to twitter.com in the comment section…

https://x.com/ScottGustin/status/1701960475934625864?s=20

X.com changes to twitter.com.

https://twitter.com/ScottGustin/status/1701960475934625864?s=20

For what it’s worth–I have no idea how long this trick will work, but for now, it’s working…


This is an Open Thread.


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About Tiff 2559 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.