It’s Tuesday.
Tuesday marks President Biden’s 48th day in office.
For day 48, President Biden will receive his daily briefing before visiting a small business in Washington, D.C., that has benefited from the Paycheck Protection Program.
The White House daily press briefing will be held at 1:30 p.m. D.C., time. In Monday’s daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that President Biden will deliver prime-time remarks on Thursday to “commemorate the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 shutdown.”
She went on to say that President Biden “will discuss the many sacrifices of the — the American people have made over the last year and the grave loss communities and families across the country have suffered. The President will look forward, highlighting the role of Americans — that Americans will play in beating the virus and moving the country toward getting back to normal.”
For What It’s Worth: His first prime-time address to the nation will happen on his 50th day in office–that’s half-way through his first 100 days in office.
To finish Monday’s tweeting, President Biden added 5 tweets, to the one covered in Monday’s Open Thread, plus 1 retweet. That gives him a total of 6 tweets and 1 retweet for Monday.
1:30 p.m. D.C., time he pushed the American Rescue Plan.
CNN reported on Tuesday that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expects the American Rescue Plan to pass the House on Wednesday at the latest.
The aid legislation had originally passed the House in February, but the aid package underwent changes before passing the Senate on Saturday meaning the House has to take-up the legislation again.
President Biden’s next four tweets, sent @ 4:02 p.m., 4:23 p.m., 5:52 p.m., and 8:03 p.m. D.C., time focused on International Women’s Day.
He celebrates International Women’s Day.
He shares a live feed to his remarks regarding International Women’s Day.
He shares another video marking International Women’s Day.
For his last tweet he shares another video this time of him signing two-Executive Orders.
According to International Women’s Day.com‘s about page International Women’s Day has “occurred for well over a century with the first gathering held in 1911. Learn more about the day’s timeline.”
The live feed he shared is 21 minutes and 26 seconds long and features remarks from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President Biden.
His full remarks can be found @ White House.gov.
Prior to his remarks, he signed two Executive Order’s, the first explains, that it is the policy of his administration that all “students should be guaranteed an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including discrimination in the form of sexual harassment, which encompasses sexual violence, and including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Sec. 2. Review of Agency Actions. (a) Within 100 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Attorney General, shall review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions (collectively, agency actions) that are or may be inconsistent with the policy set forth in section 1 of this order, and provide the findings of this review to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
White House.gov. 03/08/2021.
The second established the White House Gender Policy Council.
Section 1. Policy. [In-part] It is therefore the policy of my Administration to establish and pursue a comprehensive approach to ensure that the Federal Government is working to advance equal rights and opportunities, regardless of gender or gender identity, in advancing domestic and foreign policy — including by promoting workplace diversity, fairness, and inclusion across the Federal workforce and military. This order is intended to advance gender equity and equality, with sensitivity to the experiences of those who suffer discrimination based on multiple factors, including membership in an underserved community.
Sec. 2. The White House Gender Policy Council. (a) There is established a White House Gender Policy Council (Council) within the Executive Office of the President.
Sec. 3. Government-Wide Strategy to Advance Gender Equity and Equality. (a) Within 200 days of the date of this order, the Council, after coordination by the Co-Chairs, shall develop and submit to the President a Government-wide strategy for advancing gender equity and equality in the United States and, when applicable, around the world (the “Strategy”). The Strategy should include recommendations on policies, programs, and initiatives that should be proposed, passed, or implemented to advance gender equity and equality in the United States and around the world.
Sec. 5. Termination. The Working Group created by section 2 of the Presidential Memorandum of February 7, 2019 (Promoting Women’s Global Development and Prosperity) (NSPM-16), is terminated. NSPM-16 is amended by substituting, in section 3(e), “the Council” for “the Working Group”.
Sec. 6. Definitions. (a) The term “equity” means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as women and girls; Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.
White House.gov. 03/08/2021.
During yesterday’s press briefing Psaki introduced two of the co-chairs to the newly created (but not really new, apparently, see Sec. 5 terminated), Gender Policy Council.
To talk about these executive orders, we’re thrilled to have two newly named co-chairs of the Gender Policy Council, Julissa Reynoso and Jennifer Klein.
Julissa is the Chief of Staff to the First Lady. She was the Ambassador of the United States to Uruguay from 2012 to 2014, and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central American, Caribbean, and Cuban Affairs.In addition to being a co-chair, Jen [Jennifer Klein] is Executive Director of the Gender Policy Council. She was previously Chief Strategy and Policy Officer at TIME’S UP and a board member of the International Center for Research on Women.
White House.gov. 03/08/2021.
Reynoso: The first executive order will formally establish the Gender Policy Council within the Executive Office of the President with an explicit role in both domestic and foreign policy development. We know that the full participation of all people, including women and girls, across all aspects of our society is essential to the economic wellbeing, health, and security of our nation and of the world. This is matter of human rights, justice, and fairness.
Reynoso con’t: The Gender Policy Council will tackle a number of issues. We will work to combat systemic bias and discrimination, including sexual harassment. We will focus on increasing economic security and opportunity by addressing the structural barriers of women’s participation in the labor force, decreasing wage and wealth gaps, and addressing the caregiving needs of American families and supporting care workers. We will ensure access to comprehensive healthcare. We will strengthen efforts to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, and develop a National Action Plan that establishes a government-wide approach both domestically and globally. We will promote equity and opportunity in education, leadership, and we’ll work to advance gender equality globally through diplomacy, development, trade, and defense.
Klein: The executive order requires the Council to submit to the President a government-wide strategy for advancing gender equity and equality in the United States, and an annual report to measure progress on implementing that strategy. The strategy will guide the administration’s work to advance domestic and global gender equity and equality, and rights and opportunity for women and girls. And the strategy will evaluate and make recommendations to improve policies and programs, budgets, and data collection across agencies and across the White House, all with a gender lens.
Klein con’t: The second executive order the President signed this morning focuses on policies — advancing policies to guarantee education free from sexual violence. The Title IX EO directs the Department of Education to review all of its existing regulations, orders, guidance, and policies to ensure consistency with the Biden-Harris administration’s policy that all students be guaranteed education free from sexual violence. The Secretary of Education will consider suspending, revising, or rescinding, or publishing for notice and comment proposed rules suspending, revising, or rescinding those agency actions that are inconsistent with the policies of the administration.
Their full remarks can be found @ White House.gov.
President Biden also offered a statement regarding the introduction of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2021.
I applaud the House of Representatives for introducing today the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA), and I urge Congress to come together in a bipartisan manner to ensure swift passage of VAWA legislation in both the House and the Senate. Strengthening and renewing VAWA is long past due. Delay is not an option, especially when the pandemic and economic crisis have only further increased the risks of abuse and the barriers to safety for women in the United States. Domestic violence is being called a pandemic within the COVID-19 pandemic, with growing evidence showing that the conditions of the pandemic have resulted in escalated rates of intimate partner violence, and in some cases more severe injuries.
I was raised to believe that the greatest sin was the abuse of power, and I’ve spent my life in public office trying to fight those abuses everywhere I see them. That’s what motivated me to write and champion the original Violence Against Women Act – even as I was told time and time again that domestic violence was a “family issue” that should be left to families to address in private. VAWA has been reauthorized three times with bipartisan support in the years since we first passed it. Each time, I worked to enhance the legislation to address barriers and to expand access to safety and well being for all survivors, including those from marginalized communities. Studies demonstrated that in the first two decades following VAWA’s implementation the rates of domestic violence declined significantly. While there has been significant progress in efforts to prevent and improve the response to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking, there is still much work to do.
In 2019, a bipartisan coalition in the House of Representatives passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, which included significant improvements and increased pathways to safety that were proposed by advocates, survivors, lawyers, experts, prosecutors, and law enforcement who are in the trenches protecting and supporting survivors. Every single Senate Democrat signed on to the Senate version of the House-passed bill, but Republican Senate leadership refused to bring VAWA to the floor for a vote. This should not be a Democratic or Republican issue – it’s a matter of justice and compassion. I am grateful to see the House of Representatives champion ending gender-based violence, and I urge Congress to follow past precedent and bring a strong bipartisan coalition together for swift passage of VAWA.
White House.gov. 03/08/2021
President Biden has not tweeted this morning, so far.
I lied, which I blame totally on Twitter, not refreshing my notifications *shakes fist at Twitter*.
Anyhoo, he has tweeted now…
At 12:03 p.m. D.C., time he says that the American people need their direct cash payment.
With the House setting to vote on the American Rescue Plan, I’m pretty sure, he will tweet more about the plan today. I do wonder, what he’ll focus on once the plan is passed and signed into law.
I foresee “infrastructure week” in our near future…
White House Press Briefing.
Live Feed: White House.
This is an Open Thread.
