President Biden’s public schedule for Wednesday 03/08/2023…
| 9:30 AM | The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing The White House Closed Press |
| 10:30 AM | In-Town Pool Call Time The White House In-Town Pool |
| 12:30 PM Press Briefing | Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre James S. Brady Press Briefing Room |
President Biden has tweeted…
We’ve got 2 tweets so far for Wednesday…
We covered the fact-sheet introducing parts of his Presidential Budget in Tuesday’s Biden Bits (03/07/2023).
President Biden is expected to release his Presidential Budget on Thursday.
Yesterday CNN explained; Millions of people in India and around the world celebrating Holi this week. The Hindu festival of love, color and spring is one of the most joyous celebrations of the year. It’s a time when people don simple, inexpensive clothes and take to the streets to drench each other in clouds of colored powder and buckets of water. There’s singing, dancing, and of course, food. This year’s holiday falls on March 8, but in some parts of India, communities begin the festivities by lighting bonfires the night before in a celebration known as Holika Dahan, or Choti Holi. Once the bonfires have gone out, some Hindus smear the ashes on their bodies as a purifying ritual.
The article contains stunning photos of past celebrations.
I found some YouTubes!
ABC News (11 months ago; 5 minutes and 49 seconds long).
National Geographic (5 years ago; 1 minute and 32 seconds long. No voice over just music).
Good Morning America (11 months ago; 2 minutes and 57 seconds long).
I watched all three and omg, it was so worth it.
When the post was posted for Tuesday, President Biden had tweeted 4 times. He added 12 tweets giving him a Tuesday Tweeting Total of 16 tweets and 0 retweets.
Remarks @ the 2023 International Association of Fire Fighters Legislative Conference (03/06/2023)…
President Biden: Dignity and respect also means protecting your health. Toxic substance you’re exposed to on the job are almost certainly why cancer is a leading killer to firefighters.
President Biden: I have a proposal that I started in the last administration I was part of, with Barack Obama. It’s called the Cancer Moonshot. It’s a key part of my Unity Agenda in the State of the Union to bring together every part of the government to cut the cancer death rates in half and invest in research and development and early detection and screening, better support people facing diagnosis, and end cancer as we know it.
The White House posted the following call readout:
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with His Majesty Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, the Sultan of Oman. The two leaders reaffirmed the longstanding historical ties between our countries and peoples, and discussed mutual efforts to forge a more prosperous, peaceful, and integrated Middle East region. President Biden thanked Sultan Haitham for his personal leadership and support for the UN-mediated truce in Yemen, which over the past year has witnessed its longest period of calm since the war began over a decade ago. He also welcomed Oman’s recent decision to open its airspace to all civilian aircraft, including those flying to and from Israel. Both leaders committed to strengthening the U.S.-Oman strategic partnership, trade and investment opportunities, and cooperation on clean, diversified, secure energy sources. President Biden finally welcomed Oman’s historic role in securing the freedom of American citizens wrongfully held in Iran.
White House.gov. 03/07/2023.
Remarks @ the 2023 International Association of Fire Fighters Legislative Conference (03/06/2023)…
President Biden: As President, I signed legislation extending those benefits to firefighters who are permanently disabled and to families of firefighters who die after experiencing trauma like PS- — PTSD on duty. You see so much. You see so much, God love you. I’m not sure how you do it.
Legislation =’s H.R.6943 Public Safety Officer Support Act of 2022…
Summary:
This bill extends death and disability benefits under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program (PSOB) to certain public safety officers and survivors of public safety officers who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder following a stressful situation while on duty. The PSOB program provides death, disability, and education benefits to public safety officers and survivors of public safety officers who are killed or injured in the line of duty.
Congress.gov. 03/07/2022.
| Date | Actions Overview |
|---|---|
| 08/16/2022 | Became Public Law No: 117-172. |
| 08/16/2022 | Signed by President. |
| 08/15/2022 | Presented to President. |
| 08/01/2022 | Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S3826) |
| 08/01/2022 | Senate Committee on the Judiciary discharged by Unanimous Consent. |
| 05/18/2022 | Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays (2/3 required): 402 – 17 (Roll No. 223). |
| 05/18/2022 | Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Judiciary. H. Rept. 117-335. |
| 03/07/2022 | Introduced in House |
Remarks Commemorating the 58th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday (03/05/2023)…
President Biden: In January, I signed the Electoral Count Reform Act to protect the will of the people and the people transferring the — and the peaceful transfer of power. But we know that we must get the votes in Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. (Applause.)
The video snip is 40 seconds long. It features President Biden meeting with a group of firefighters prior to his remarks @ the 2023 International Association of Fire Fighters Legislative Conference (03/06/2023)…
President Biden: Really and truly, I mean you guys are incredible. And I think the single most underestimated profession in America until we need you. I mean it sincerely and you know it. You know it. You’ve heard me say before, but it’s true you saved my life. Every time that alarm goes off, you guys are out the door, and you’re not thinking about anything other than just how you’re going to help somebody. And you guys are respected around the world. Not a joke, not a joke. I’m just proud to be associated with you.
At the 34 second mark the video cuts away to President Biden taking photo with the firefighters.
We covered the opinion piece and the fact-sheet introducing parts of his Presidential Budget in Tuesday’s Biden Bits (03/07/2023).
The first two quotes are direct quotes taken from his opinion piece posted in the New York Times on Tuesday. The last quote is not a direct quote, but does appear in the same opinion piece.
For decades, I’ve listened to my Republican friends claim that the only way to be serious about preserving Medicare is to cut benefits, including by making it a voucher program worth less and less every year. Some have threatened our economy unless I agree to benefit cuts.
Only in Washington can people claim that they are saving something by destroying it.
The budget I am releasing this week will make the Medicare trust fund solvent beyond 2050 without cutting a penny in benefits. In fact, we can get better value, making sure Americans receive better care for the money they pay into Medicare.
New York Times, President Biden Opinion Piece. Shared via my Twitter. 03/07/2023.
Bloody Sunday took place on Sunday, March 7th 1965.
Smithsonian says: Today marks the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a march held in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 for the 600 people attacked on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was there that law enforcement officers beat unarmed marchers with billy clubs and sprayed them with tear gas.
Archives.gov has an eyewitness account from former Congressman from GA., John Lewis (02/21/1940-07/16/2020)…
Their intro:
In 1965, at the height of the modern civil rights movement, activists organized a march for voting rights, from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the state capital. On March 7, some 600 people assembled at a downtown church, knelt briefly in prayer, and began walking silently, two-by-two through the city streets.
With Hosea Williams of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) leading the demonstration, and John Lewis, Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), at his side, the marchers were stopped as they were leaving Selma, at the end of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, by some 150 Alabama state troopers, sheriff ’s deputies, and possemen, who ordered the demonstrators to disperse.
One minute and five seconds after a two-minute warning was announced, the troops advanced, wielding clubs, bullwhips, and tear gas. John Lewis, who suffered a skull fracture, was one of fifty-eight people treated for injuries at the local hospital. The day is remembered in history as “Bloody Sunday.” Less than one week later, Lewis recounted the attack on the marchers during a Federal hearing at which the demonstrators sought protection for a full-scale march to Montgomery. A transcript of his testimony is presented in the following pages.
Archives.gov.
Senate.gov says: The Senate Passes the Voting Rights Act (08/04/1965):
On August 4, 1965, the United States Senate passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The long-delayed issue of voting rights had come to the forefront because of a voter registration drive launched by civil rights activists in Selma, Alabama. Among Selma’s 15,000 black citizens of voting age, only 335 were registered to vote. On March 7, 1965, 600 civil rights protesters attempted to march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. On what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” they were stopped by police using tear gas, night sticks, and whips. Media coverage of the event shocked and inspired citizens from across the country to travel to Alabama in support, and some 25,000 people, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., completed the march to Montgomery on March 25, protected by U.S. troops, the National Guard, and the FBI. That route has been designated a U.S. National Historic Trail.
Following Bloody Sunday, President Lyndon Johnson sent a voting rights bill to Congress. It provided for direct federal intervention to enable African Americans to register and vote and banned tactics long designed to keep them from the polls. With 66 sponsors in the Senate, the bill went to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Mississippi senator James Eastland, had a record of resisting civil rights legislation. To avoid his power to delay action, the Senate instructed the committee to report the bill out no later than April 9. Working down to the wire, committee members added amendments to strengthen the bill. Those amendments were the work of a bipartisan group of senators, consisting of Democrats Philip Hart of Michigan, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Birch Bayh of Indiana, Edward Long of Missouri, Quentin Burdick of North Dakota, and Joseph Tydings of Maryland, together with Republicans Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, Hiram Fong of Hawaii, and Jacob Javits of New York.
Once the bill emerged from the Judiciary Committee, it faced a filibuster on the Senate floor. On May 25, the Senate mustered the necessary two-thirds vote and achieved cloture by a margin of 70 to 30. The next day, the bill passed 77 to 19. Then it went to the House, where the Republican leadership offered a substitute. When southern Democrats endorsed this substitute as less objectionable, they caused moderate Republicans to bolt, and the substitute failed. Instead, the House passed the stronger bill that had been reported from the House Judiciary Committee. A conference committee reconciled the House and Senate versions, which both bodies adopted.
On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in the President’s Room just off the Senate Chamber. The bill flowed from a “clear and simple wrong,” Johnson asserted, and its purpose was “to right that wrong.” The “outrage of Selma” had spurred the federal government’s response, and the efforts of that bipartisan group on the Senate Judiciary Committee helped ensure that the previously disenfranchised would gain political equality through the power of the ballot.
Senate.gov.
Remarks Commemorating the 58th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday (03/05/2023)…
President Biden: The right to vote — the right to vote and to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty. With it, anything is possible. Without it — without that right, nothing is possible. And this fundamental right remains under assault.
President Biden: We must remain vigilant.
This is an Open Thread.
