400,000 Americans have died.
That's more than a died in all of world war two 400,000 This is a war time undertaking.
I'm unveiling a national strategy on COVID-19 and
executive actions to beat this pandemic. President Biden is facing
criticism from Republicans for issuing 30 executive orders
during his first three days in office. Fighting the pandemic is a top
priority for this White House. So they did have many executive
orders on everything from wearing masks on federal
property to ensuring that people wear masks when you have
interstate travel. Other executive orders include
establishing a pandemic testing board mandatory quarantines for
international travelers and reconnecting with the World
Health Organization. Executive Orders are the easy
part getting legislation done is much harder. President-elect Biden outlining
a nearly $2 trillion spending plan to try and combat the virus
and the economic downturn. This initial rescue plan, they
say, is going to be centered around spending around COVID
relief vaccinations and ending the virus. A group of Republican senators
are proposing a smaller stimulus bill presenting President Biden
with a potential path to a bipartisan compromise. The GOP plan is only $600
billion. And that's about a third of the $1.9 trillion
package that the administration has proposed. I like to be doing it with the
support of Republicans, but they're just not willing to go
as far as I think we have to go. If I have to choose between
getting help right now to Americans or compromising on a
bill that's up to the crisis. That's an easy choice. The US House of Representatives
has passed the White House's $1.9 trillion stimulus package
in a vote along party lines receiving no Republican support. Bernie Sanders is pushing for
them to include a $15 minimum wage in this big Coronavirus
relief package. But there's some concern it could lead to job
losses. The minimum wage has got nothing
to do with COVID is got everything to do with their
liberal wish list. We've talked so much about
budget reconciliation. Budget reconciliation. Budget
reconciliation. Budget reconciliation. This is a special process that
allows them to pass a bill with just 51 votes, which
conveniently is how many they're going to have. But it also comes
with some strings attached namely that it can only be used
for revenue and spending measures. The Senate parliamentarian has
ruled that the $15 minimum wage hike that's been proposed that
the President had promised cannot be included in the
President's Coronavirus relief package. It simply does not comply with a
special rules that they're using to pass this legislation without
Republican support The bill ground to a screeching
halt on the Senate floor As soon as the Senate voted to
proceed with the bill. Wisconsin's Republican Senator
Ron Johnson insisted the entire 628 page bill be read out loud President Biden's Coronavirus
relief bill is heading back to the house after the Senate
passed it on Saturday along party line votes with every
Republican senator voting no Democrats are pointing out that
they have bipartisan support from governors and mayors across
the country. And one big reason for that is because the bill
includes $350 billion for state and local governments. The package also has 100% COBRA
subsidy through September. The bill, extending a $300 per
week job was benefit boost including direct stimulus
payments to individuals and expands the child tax credit. They're allowing you to get that
tax credit every single month rather than having to get it at
the end of the year when you file your return This afternoon one day ahead of
schedule, Biden sign the nearly $2 trillion rescue plan that
Congress passed just yesterday. The White House says Americans
should start seeing their $1,400 relief checks within these next
few days. The vaccine rollout in the
United States has been a dismal failure thus far. Operation Warp Speed only really
seemed to focus on the science and ultimately the development
and approval of these vaccines but not the logistics around
distribution administration. With regard to getting people
vaccinated, the Trump administration had the vaccine
for 40 days and got a little bit about 11 million people
vaccinated, about a quarter million people a day, that's
nowhere near where we need to be. They say in talking to the Trump
transition, they found out that things are much worse than they
could have anticipated. There's no national plan, they said
simply for getting the vaccines into arms of Americans across
the country. The president has promised to
provide 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office.
Some question whether it's doable. That's not going to get us to
anything close to the ease of some semblance of herd immunity
before the fall if not late winter 2021. So we have to
increase the pace The Biden ministration just hit
their goal of 100 million shots in 100 days with more than a
month to spare, and we set a record with 2.92 million
vaccinations reported just today. That's a new one day
record. President Biden moving up the
timeline for vaccinations in America He directed states to make all
adults eligible for the vaccine by May 1, he says it is possible
that small groups could begin gathering again on the Fourth of
July. The White House has said the
July 4th goal is an aspirational one, not for concerts on the
National Mall or large sporting events, but to merge a few
households, a timeline they say is not foolproof, but is based
on when they believe vaccines will be available A major milestone: Half of
American adults have now received at least one dose of
the COVID-19 vaccine. In all, more than 200 million shots have
been given. 32% of the total American adult population are
now indeed fully vaccined. President Biden, meanwhile, is
facing criticism over his conflicting messages with
reopening schools. This time for setting the bar too low. His
initial promise in December was to reopen the majority of
schools nationwide within his first 100 days of taking office.
Last month, Biden said his goal only applies to schools that
teach through the eighth grade and now the White House is
adding even more fine print saying that schools would be
considered open as long as they teach in person classes at least
one day a week. The CDC director said point
blank that vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for
opening across the country. Several major school districts
have been at odds with teachers unions, who insist they will not
send their educators into unsafe environments. The White House
said it supports the new guidance, but the press
secretary says the president and vice president both believe
teachers should be prioritized for vaccines. I know there are teachers
listening and the CDC has said they don't have to be vaccinated
to go back to school. We think that should be a
priority. We think they should be a priority. The states are
making decisions individually about where they will be on the
list of who gets vaccinated. President Biden also said he
used the federal pharmacy program to prioritize the
vaccination of childcare workers and pre K through 12 educators
with the goal of every teacher getting a first shot by the end
of March. Let's go now to the crisis on
the southern border. On day one, Mr. Biden signed
orders to preserve and fortify the dreamer program to end the
so called Muslim travel ban reverse an order that expanded
deportation priorities and stop construction of the border wall. The number of unaccompanied
minors crossing the border is rising. The Biden administration still
refusing to allow journalists inside the migrant facilities. A federal judge in Texas has
temporarily blocked President Biden's 100 day deportation ban.
It's the first major blow to the president's immigration agenda. We know that the administration
has been looking into building more facilities to house these
children. But the challenge becomes the fact that you do
have unaccompanied minors who are being held for longer than
the time that is allowed. And so that's opening this
administration up to criticism frankly from the right end from
the left. President Biden is facing an
uphill battle in Congress with his next economic proposal A first look at how Americans
feel about President Biden's $2.25 trillion infrastructure
plan showed a slight edge among supporters and overall support,
by the way, for raising corporate taxes to pay for it.
But the plan is much less popular than the relief bill
passed earlier this year. The White House is framing this
package as a once in a century capital investment paid for by
permanent tax increases on corporate America. It's mostly a new Green Deal
sort of disguised as an infrastructure plan. According to Democrats paid
leave is infrastructure, housing is infrastructure and care work
is infrastructure because it enables all other work. And just
about half of the $2 trillion price tag comprises projects
normally funded by Congress under infrastructure programs
plus broadband power grids and water pipes. Other items like rehabbing
schools and housing facilities and strengthening supply chains
do involve some construction, but they are non traditional and
the largest line item eldercare is the one that requires the
most imagination. We'll be open to good ideas and
good faith negotiations. We will not be open to doing nothing.
Inaction simply is not an option. President Biden delivering his
first address to a joint session of Congress and happens this
evening. Ahead of that speech, the White House releasing
details for $1.8 trillion package of spending and tax cuts
aimed at working families and paid for in large part by the
wealthy. The president will frame this as
a historic investment in the human capital of the country,
including $200 billion for universal preschool 109 billion
for two years of free community college, and $225 billion for a
national paid family leave program. It also makes the larger earned
income and dependent care tax credits permanent and extends
the bigger child tax credit through 2025. Now to offset the cost of these
programs, the White House wants to close loopholes in the tax
code, ramp up enforcement and raise taxes on the rich. That
includes restoring the top individual income rate to 39.6%,
taxing capital gains as ordinary income for households making
over a million dollars and being stepped up basis for gains over
a million dollars as well. I think you should be able to
become a billionaire and a millionaire, but pay your fair
share. I'm not looking to punish anybody. But I will not add a
tax burden, additional tax burden to the middle class in
this country. They're already paying enough. This was a proposal of the
greatest expansion of the social safety net in decades. He's
proposing structural change to how the government works.
There's no question that cloaked in the language of compromise
are big, bold, huge progressive ideas. And this is a massive execution
job. President Obama's plan got a lot of criticism for some
very, very small mistakes. The potential for mistakes, failure
of execution here is high. And if it fails, I think it will set
back the cause of progressivism for several more decades. So
getting it proposed is important. Getting a pass will
be hard as you guys were just talking about, but getting it
executed. I think in some ways, it's going to be the President's
biggest challenge. He's got to deliver not just passage, but
actual real results for Americans and programs that
people perceive are working or else we go back to government
being the enemy again.
