It’s Thursday…
President Biden’s public schedule for 04/04/2024:
| 10:00 AM Presidential Daily Brief | The President receives the President’s Daily Brief Closed Press |
| 1:30 PM Press Briefing | Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre James S. Brady Press Briefing Room |
| 5:00 PM Reception | The President hosts a reception celebrating Greek Independence Day East Room |
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre @1:30 p.m. D.C., time:
President Biden Hosts a Reception Celebrating Greek Independence Day @5:00 p.m. D.C., time:
Lowering Health Care Costs Tweets
From Wednesday…
Tune in as I deliver remarks on lowering health care costs for Americans. https://t.co/WaQacIJdLx
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 3, 2024
Remarks by President Biden on Lowering Healthcare Costs for Americans; the YouTube is 34 minutes and 49 seconds long.
Through laws I wrote and signed, I enacted tax credits that save an average of $800 per person per year, reducing health care premiums for millions of families.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 3, 2024
Those credits expire next year.
Congress, make that $800 expanded affordable health care tax credit permanent.
$35 a month insulin for seniors.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 3, 2024
$35 inhalers for asthma.
$2,000 a year cap on prescription drugs for seniors starting next year.
With Senator Sanders' help, we’re showing how health care should be a right – not a privilege – in America. pic.twitter.com/n6VppoLFqP
From Thursday…
House Republicans want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act again.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 4, 2024
I got news for them.
We’re going to stop them again.
None of his tweets really relate back to his remarks. Given that I’ve lost track of time, reading a bunch of news on the bridge collapse and other things, we’ll pick this back up on Monday…
Affordable Connectivity Program Tweet
From Wednesday…
Some Congressional Republicans call the Affordable Connectivity Program wasteful.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 3, 2024
I call it necessary.
It’s time Congress extended it so the 23 million households across America that rely on the program can stay connected. pic.twitter.com/S0oOvr7Vjf
The video clip is 37 seconds long.
Remarks by President Biden on High-Speed Internet Investments | Raleigh, NC; the YouTube is 22 minutes and 32 seconds long.
High-speed Internet isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s an absolute necessity. It’s an absolute — (applause) — no, it really is. And yet, when I became president, around 24 million Americans didn’t have access to affordable high-speed Internet. And for millions more, their Internet connection was limited or unreliable.
[snip]
I promised to be a president for all America, whether you voted for me or not. These investments help all Americans in red states and blue states as well. And we’re not leaving anybody behind. (Applause.)
Remarks by President Biden on High-Speed Internet Investments | Raleigh, NC. 01/18/2024.
Remarks by President Biden at the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference; The YouTube is 19 minutes and 8 seconds long.
In January, I was in Raleigh, North Carolina, where we’re investing $3 billion to connect the entire state for affordable high-speed Internet to end — by the end of the decade. And we’re doing it in all 50 states. It’s critical for children to be able to do their homework, small businesses to be able to sell their products, folks to have access to telemedicine when they’re driving — without driving to see their doctors if they live in the countryside.
Remarks by President Biden at the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference. 03/11/2024.
The last 14 seconds of the clip is just saying that Republicans want to end the program because they view the spending as “wasteful” spending…
Travel Plans Tweets
From Thursday…
As the city reels from this tragedy, families are mourning.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 4, 2024
Six construction workers lost their lives in the collapse.
Our hearts go out to their loved ones in this time of grief, and we join them in gratitude for the contributions these men made to the city of Baltimore.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on 03/26/2024 after being struck by a container ship. Six constructions workers repairing potholes on the bridge lost their lives.
Yesterday, Baltimore Governor Wes Moore provided an update…
Join us for live updates on our ongoing response to the Key Bridge collapse: https://t.co/8yxEmjzIG6
— Governor Wes Moore (@GovWesMoore) April 3, 2024
We are going to work together to help Maryland workers, Maryland families, Maryland businesses, and Maryland communities during this difficult time.
— Governor Wes Moore (@GovWesMoore) April 3, 2024
Unified Command is using high-tech devices that emit sound to help us map a three-dimensional rendering of the collapse site.
— Governor Wes Moore (@GovWesMoore) April 3, 2024
This is the best equipment on the market for this type of work and it has only become commercially available in the last decade.
US Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District (USACE Baltimore) has also provided updates…
04/04/2024:
Our engineers are now placing devices on each beam to understand how much force each beam is under — either how much it's holding or how much it's placing on another beam. #FKSBridge 1/3 pic.twitter.com/2Be32aOUXu
— USACE Baltimore (@USACEBaltimore) April 4, 2024
💥 But just like in a game of Jenga, when you pull one piece away, you can change the math on the rest of the puzzle — and the kinds of pressure can shift beam to beam with each cut. 3/3
— USACE Baltimore (@USACEBaltimore) April 4, 2024
04/03/2024:
Updated #FSKBridge salvage operations plan includes concurrent priority of establishing a limited access channel on the opposite side of federal channel from DALI. ⚓ Our commitment to supporting the Unified Command in recovery of the missing victims remains our top priority. pic.twitter.com/4HzRYZHtvT
— USACE Baltimore (@USACEBaltimore) April 3, 2024
04/02/2024:
📷 JUST RELEASED: This imagery, supplied by the @USNavy Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA)
— USACE Baltimore (@USACEBaltimore) April 2, 2024
Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV), shows the wreckage resting at the bottom of the river where the Francis Scott Key Bridge once stood. #FSKBridge 1/3 pic.twitter.com/SJVI39bK3c
Divers are working in virtual darkness because when lit their view is similar to driving through a heavy snowfall at night with high-beam headlights on — divers must be guided via detailed verbal directions from operators in vessels topside viewing real-time CODA imagery. 3/3
— USACE Baltimore (@USACEBaltimore) April 2, 2024
Programming note: Tomorrow, I will be in Disneyland and will be working up Biden Bits tonight, I will try my hardest to include a feed to his remarks from Baltimore, plus the Jobs Report for March…
But I make no promises that I’ll have WiFi, and the ability to use my iPad to update the post…
NATO’s 75th Anniversary Tweet
From Thursday…
Today, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of NATO, the greatest military alliance in history.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 4, 2024
Because of my work to revitalize our alliances, NATO is stronger than ever.
I look forward to hosting our Allies at the Washington NATO Summit as we continue to defend our freedom.
Statement from President Joe Biden on NATO’s 75th Anniversary:
Today, we celebrate a historic milestone: the 75th anniversary of NATO.
This is the greatest military alliance in the history of the world. But it didn’t happen by accident, nor was it inevitable. Generation after generation, the United States and our fellow Allies have chosen to come together to stand up for freedom and push back against aggression—knowing we are stronger, and the world is safer, when we do.
We saw this during the Cold War, as we stood united against the forces of Soviet totalitarianism. We saw it again when America was attacked on September 11, 2001 and our Allies invoked NATO Article 5—an attack against one, is an attack against all—for the first and only time in history. And we’ve seen it over the last two years, as Allies have stepped up to support the brave people of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s vicious invasion—the largest war in Europe since World War II.
Today, NATO is larger, stronger, and more determined than ever before. We’ve added Finland and Sweden to the Alliance—two democracies, with two highly capable militaries. Over the past three years, our NATO Allies have increased their own annual defense spending by almost $80 billion. As our adversaries have plotted to break our remarkable unity, our democracies have stood unwavering. And this July, the United States will host a Washington NATO Summit—bringing together our Allies to modernize our defense and deterrence.
Now, like generations before us, we must choose to protect this progress and build on it. We must remember that the sacred commitment we make to our Allies—to defend every inch of NATO territory—makes us safer too, and gives the United States a bulwark of security unrivaled by any other nation in the world. And like our predecessors, we must ask ourselves what can we do—what must we do—to create a more peaceful future.
75 years ago today—after signing the treaty that brought NATO into existence—President Harry Truman said: “If there is anything certain today, if there is anything inevitable in the future, it is the will of the people of the world for freedom and for peace.” I believe that will is stronger today than ever before—and in the years ahead, I know we’ll prove it.
Statement from President Joe Biden on NATO’s 75th Anniversary. 04/04/2024.
“New” from the White House…
04/03/2024:
- Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; the YouTube is 39 minutes and 35 seconds long.
04/04/2024:
- Biden-Harris Administration Announces Historic $20 Billion in Awards to Expand Access to Clean Energy and Climate Solutions and Lower Energy Costs for Communities Across the Nation; YouTube: Vice President Harris Delivers Remarks about the Historic Investments in Climate Action @2:15 p.m. D.C., time.
This is an Open Thread.
