It’s Thursday…
President Biden’s public schedule for 11/21/2024:
| 10:00 AM In-Town Pool In-Town Pool Call Time |
| 12:00 PM Oval Office Closed Press The President signs the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act of 2024 [H.R. 7189 was passed by voice vote in the House and unanimous consent in the Senate] |
| 1:30 PM James S. Brady Press Briefing Room Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre |
| 2:15 PM Closed Press The President receives the President’s Daily Brief |
| 4:30 PM South Lawn Open Press The President welcomes the Boston Celtics to the White House to celebrate their victory in the 2024 National Basketball Association Championship |
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre @1:30 PM D.C., time:
President Biden Welcomes the Boston Celtics to the White House to Celebrate their 2024 Championship @4:30 PM D.C., time:
Three Tweets
From Wednesday…
It has been the honor of our lives to serve in the White House and work together to lift up all Americans through the endless possibility of education.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 20, 2024
We're making sure community colleges aren't just America's best-kept secret – they're our best-kept promise. pic.twitter.com/c2lgOFlaba
The video clip is 1 minute and 24 seconds long.
From the White House…
11/13/2024:
Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Classroom to Career Summit; the YouTube is 25 minutes and 37 seconds long.
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden:
So, when Joe was elected as vice president, people assumed that I would stop teaching. But, you know, I just couldn’t give it up. I am first, foremost, and forever a teacher. (Applause.) So, I — I did both: Wh- — the White House and teaching.
Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Classroom to Career Summit; the YouTube is 25 minutes and 37 seconds long. 11/13/2024.
President Biden:
You know, teaching is not what Jill does; it’s who she is — and I mean that — like many of you teachers. It’s — it’s just built in her DNA. She was surprised when we got elected vice president, and she said she wanted to keep teaching. I said, “Of course.” She looked at me like, “Really? You’re going to do that?” And we did it.
Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Classroom to Career Summit; the YouTube is 25 minutes and 37 seconds long. 11/13/2024.
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden:
And at the time, I called community colleges America’s best-kept secret. And I knew that they deserved to be seen and celebrated and championed at every level of government.
[snip]
And from day one as first lady, I knew that community colleges would be a priority for me. So, part of that means pushing to make them tuition free. And — (applause).
[snip]
So, today, less than a decade after we launched the effort to make cuni- — community college free, 34 states — plus Washington, D.C. — and counting offer tuition-free community college and job training programs. (Applause.)
[snip]
As first lady, I’ve also focused on strengthening the pathways between classrooms and careers. Nearly — and you probably all know this — but nearly 60 percent of graduating high school students don’t go directly to a four-year degree. We know that — 6 out of every 10 students. Some will start working. Some will go to community college or technical colleges. Some won’t even know what they want to do next.
So, we continue to keep transforming education to bridge the gap between what students learn and the careers that they can enter.
[snip]
Community colleges are no longer America’s best-kept secret. Thanks to the progress of Joe’s administration and what they’ve created, we’re on our way to making them America’s best-kept promise. Thank you. (Applause.)
Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Classroom to Career Summit; the YouTube is 25 minutes and 37 seconds long. 11/13/2024.
President Biden:
I’m also proud to announce that we’ve committed more than $80 billion — $80 billion — toward strengthening and expanding our workforce.
As Jill just described, that includes supporting free community college programs so students and workers can train for good jobs without the burden of student debt.
[snip]
For Lord’s sake, we’re the United States of America. There is nothing — I mean this from the bottom of my heart — there’s nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. And there’s no b- — group I’d rather be doing it with than all of you.
Remarks by President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Classroom to Career Summit; the YouTube is 25 minutes and 37 seconds long. 11/13/2024.
Today, I had the honor of awarding Cecile Richards the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 20, 2024
With absolute courage, she fearlessly leads us forward to be the America we say we are – a nation of freedom.
Through her work to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s… pic.twitter.com/IayCTAFK4N
From the White House…
11/20/2024 via Forth.News:
In-town pool report 2: Readout of Medal of Freedom award
Today, President Biden awarded the Medal of Freedom to Cecile Richards, the former President of Planned Parenthood. At the private ceremony, the following commendation was delivered:
With absolute courage and conviction, Cecile Richards fearlessly leads us forward to be the America we say we are – a Nation of freedom. Carrying her parents’ torch for justice, shes led some of our Nation’s most important civil rights causes – to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote. A leader of utmost character, she has carved an inspiring legacy that endures in her incredible family, the countless lives she has made better, and a Nation seeking the light of equality, justice, and freedom.
In-town pool report 2: Readout of Medal of Freedom award. Pool reporter Tal Kopan
Deputy D.C. Bureau Chief, The Boston Globe. 11/20/2024.
ABC News (11/20/2024): President Joe Biden on Wednesday awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards at a private ceremony, the White House said. Richards, the daughter of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, left the reproductive health care organization in 2018 after leading it for 12 years. Earlier this year, Richards revealed she was battling glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer – the same that killed Biden’s son Beau.
Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, we mourn the transgender Americans whose lives were taken this year in horrific acts of violence.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 21, 2024
Every American deserves to be treated with dignity, and live free from discrimination.
Today, we recommit to building a country where…
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From the White House…
11/20/2024:
Statement by President Joe Biden on Transgender Day of Remembrance
Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, we mourn the transgender Americans whose lives were taken this year in horrific acts of violence. There should be no place for hate in America – and yet too many transgender Americans, including young people, are cruelly targeted and face harassment simply for being themselves. It’s wrong. My Administration has taken significant action to strengthen the rights and protect the safety of all Americans, including working across the federal government to combat violence against transgender Americans. Every American deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and to live free from discrimination. Today, we recommit ourselves to building a country where everyone is afforded that promise.
Statement by President Joe Biden on Transgender Day of Remembrance. 11/20/2024.
One Tweet
From Thursday…
As President of the United States, I formally apologize for the Federal Indian Boarding School era.
— President Biden (@POTUS) November 21, 2024
America learns from our history. pic.twitter.com/CR4AeNyIfV
The video clip is 1 minute and 51 seconds long.
From the White House…
10/25/2024:
Remarks by President Biden on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Record of Delivering for Tribal Communities, Including Keeping His Promise to Make this Historic Visit to Indian Country | Laveen Village, AZ; the YouTube is 46 minutes and 6 seconds long.
Long before there was a United States, Native communities flourished on these lands. They practiced democratic government before we ever heard of it, developed advanced agriculture, contributed to science, art, and culture. (Applause.)
But eventually, the United States was established and began expanding, entering treaties with sovereign Tribal Nations. But as time moved on, respect for s- — for Tribal sovereignty evaporated, was shattered, pushing Native people off their homelands, denying — denying their humanity and their rights, targeting children to cut their connection to their ancestors and their inheritance and their heritage.
At first, in the 19- — 1800s, the effort was voluntary, asking Tribes to sell their children — to send their children away to vocational schools. But then — then the federal government mandated — mandated the removal of children from their families and Tribes, launching what’s called the Federal Indian Boarding School era — era. Over a 150-year span — 150 years — from the early 1800s to 1870 — to 1970. One of the most horrific chapters in American history. We should be ashamed. A chapter that most Americans don’t know about. The vast majority don’t even know about it.
[snip]
As president, I believe it’s imper- — important that we do know — know generations of Native children stolen, taken away to places they didn’t know with people they never met who spoke a language they had never heard. Native communities silenced. Their children’s laughter and play were gone.
Children would arrive at schools. Their clothes taken off. Their hair that they were told was sacred was chopped off. Their names literally erased and replaced by a number or an English name.
[snip]
Children abused — emotionally, physically, and sexually abused. Forced into hard labor. Some put up for adoption without the consent of their birth parents. Some left for dead in unmarked graves.
And for those who did return home, they were wounded in body and in spirit — trauma and shame passed down through generations.
[snip]
After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program, but the federal government has never — never — formally apologized for what happened until today.
I formally apologize — (applause) — as president of the United States of America, for what we did. I formally apologize. And it’s long overdue.
[snip]
As I’ve said throughout my presidency, we must know the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. That’s what great nations do. We’re a great nation. We’re the greatest of nations. We do not erase history; we make history. We learn from history, and we remember so we can heal as a nation. It takes remembering.
[snip]
But this official
apolocy[apology] is only one step toward and forward from the shadows of failed policies of the past. That’s why I’ve committed to working with Indigenous communities across the country to write a new and better chapter of our — in our history, to honor the solemn promise the United States made to Tribal Nations, to fulfill our federal trust and treaty obligations. It’s long, long, long overdue. (Applause.)[snip]
I’d like to ask, with your permission, for a moment of silence as we remember those lost and the generations living with that trauma.
(A moment of silence is observed.)
Remarks by President Biden on the Biden-Harris Administration’s Record of Delivering for Tribal Communities, Including Keeping His Promise to Make this Historic Visit to Indian Country | Laveen Village, AZ; the YouTube is 46 minutes and 6 seconds long. 10/25/2024.
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