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In northern California, the awe-inspiring geological wonders collectively described here as the Sáttítla Highlands have framed the homelands of Indigenous communities and cultures for millennia, and today this area continues to cradle historic and scientific treasures of our Nation.  At this area’s core rests a sleeping giant:  the Medicine Lake Volcano.  This massive volcano — one of the two largest volcanos in the Cascades Volcanic Arc — covers an expanse roughly 10 times that of Mount St. Helens, Washington.  “Medicine Lake,” as labeled in English on some maps since approximately 1890, is found within the summit caldera of the volcano for which it is named.  Far earlier and through the present day, however, these stunning and unusual lands have been known as “Sáttítla” in the Ajumawi language, which translates to “obsidian place.”  Sáttítla’s obsidian deposits formed by the volcano have long been important to Indigenous peoples, as shown by obsidian tools and sites they left here from their lives and travels.  The Sáttítla Highlands area as described here includes parts of the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests, and stretches from Sharp Mountain, Wild Horse Mountain, and Little Horse Peak in the west, to Cougar Butte, Glass Mountain, and Border Mountain in the east, and to encompass the cinder cones known as Porcupine Butte, Timber Hill, Snag Hill, and Powder Hill in the south.

Sáttítla includes portions of the ancestral homelands of the Pit River (Ajumawi – Atsugewi) and Modoc Peoples (Mo Wat Knii – Mo Docknii).   For them and many other Indigenous peoples — including the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana and individual Tribes that are members of these groups — the volcanic landscape holds and reflects exceptional power and is central to their spiritual beliefs and cultural practices.  The Modoc believe Medicine Lake is a place of healing and have referred to the lake and its banks as “Lani’shwi.”  Plants and animals found within Sáttítla’s habitats include many that are rare or vulnerable and have long been important to the Indigenous peoples of the area for food, medicine, and ceremonies.  Sáttítla’s remarkable geologic formations and the ecosystems cultivated within and around them have shaped the history and cultures of generations of Indigenous peoples.

This area contains evidence of human occupancy dating back at least 5,000 years.  For members of the Pit River Tribe, Sáttítla, as part of the broader landscape within which it sits, is central to their creation stories and core to their physical, mental, spiritual, and cultural health.  Their cultural and spiritual connections to Sáttítla reach across time and space, linking a web of heritage sites near and far and underscoring the importance of this land to the Indigenous people who have lived here throughout history.  They believe that the people and the land are one in the same, not only that one cannot be separated from the other, but that one cannot exist without the other.  Sáttítla’s deep silence, local plants and animals, unobstructed views across the landscape, and pure water sources are necessary to carry out customs, traditions, and ceremonies of the Indigenous peoples connected to this area.  This area has long provided a place for vision quests, gathering of medicinal plants, spiritual training and purification ceremonies, obsidian gathering, and religious activities that demand privacy, solitude, and unobscured access to both day and night skies.  The night skies of Sáttítla, where distant galaxies and stars are visible, are renowned for being among the darkest in the United States.  

Located at the southern reaches of the Modoc Peoples’ ancestral homelands, Sáttítla could be seen from across Modoc territory.  The volcano and surrounding highlands were central to ceremonial life of the Modoc, and the area is an enduring place of historic and cultural significance.  The area continues to serve as a place of gathering, healing, and spiritual importance for surrounding Indigenous peoples — including the Karuk, Klamath, Shasta, Siletz, Wintu, and Yana.  Tribal Nations collaborate in some of these activities, including ceremonies in and around Medicine Lake.

At least 85 plant species found in Sáttítla are used by Indigenous peoples for healing, medicine, food, tools, building materials, and as ceremonial objects and are considered to have powerful medicinal and ceremonial uses.  For example, Indigenous people used lichen from this area to dye materials used to adorn clothes and ornaments.

Evidence of Indigenous peoples can be found throughout Sáttítla.  Sites in various parts of the area exhibit evidence of obsidian quarrying and use by Indigenous peoples, with some containing unique assemblages of flaked stone and obsidian tools, waste materials from tool manufacture, and blades and cutting implements.  Larger obsidian blades, including those quarried and found in Sáttítla, were highly prized as items of wealth and prestige in Indigenous cultures throughout the region.  Obsidian quarried within Sáttítla was an important resource in a broad Indigenous trade network throughout northern California and the California Coast, and within southern Oregon.  The Indigenous peoples of the region believe that distinct sources of Sáttítla obsidian — such as obsidian deposits in the central part of this area — retain special roles and significance in different uses.  In various locations, evidence of precontact hunting blinds and groundstone implements also highlight that Indigenous peoples have lived and hunted across Sáttítla.

In view of the importance of these lands to Indigenous peoples and the rich cultural resources found here, in 1999, the National Register of Historic Places determined approximately 33,000 acres of the Sáttítla area centered on Medicine Lake to be eligible as a Traditional Cultural Property District.  Further, in 2007, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management developed the Medicine Lake Highlands Historic Property Management Program, which extended this district to encompass approximately 73,000 acres.

Indigenous peoples would likely have witnessed some of the more recent eruptions of the Medicine Lake Volcano — which have occurred multiple times in the past 12,500 years and as recently as 950 years ago — reshaping their sacred lands as they watched, and creating geologic formations and other objects still visible today.  Future volcanic activity will likely continue to shape these highlands.  As a result of its dynamic geology and millennia of human occupation, Sáttítla contains numerous objects of historic and scientific interest — some formed by the volcano and surrounding ecosystems and others, like obsidian tools and ceremonial sites, created by Indigenous peoples — and is integrally connected to the Indigenous Knowledge amassed by the Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples in the area over countless generations.  Some of the objects in this area are sacred to Tribal Nations, are sensitive, rare, or vulnerable to vandalism and theft, or are unsafe to visit.  Therefore, revealing their specific names or locations could pose a danger to the objects or to the public.

The lava flows emanating off the flanks of Medicine Lake Volcano extend in every direction for more than 30 miles, through and, in some places, even beyond Sáttítla.   Eons of historic geological activity provide visitors with vast panoramas of stark, unvegetated lava fields exemplified by the Burnt Lava Flow Geologic Special Interest Area in the southeast and the Callahan Flow in the north, and extending into Lava Beds National Monument along the northeast corner.  The area’s concentration of lava flows that are fewer than 13,000 years old makes Sáttítla one of the premier places to view geologically young lava flows in California — and in the United States.  

In addition to volcanologists who have come to Sáttítla to study and understand the depths of the earth’s core, astronauts have also learned from the area. Between 1965 and 1967, the area’s Pumice Crater –- located in the central portion of Sáttítla — was used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for Apollo program astronauts who trained in the collection and identification of lunar-like geologic features to be prepared for observation and sampling on the moon.  Multiple groups of astronauts traveled to the Pumice Crater area, and four of those astronauts flew Apollo missions, making this crater an important piece of space exploration history. 

Many of the lava flows within Sáttítla created islands of remnant forests that were elevated enough to escape the deluge of lava.  In the north central area of Sáttítla, one such island is Black Lava Butte, which is dominated by shrubs, grasses, and old-growth ponderosa pine.  Isolated from historical logging and development, these islands of forest provide valuable laboratories for future study of enduring and unaltered ecosystems.

The southern portion of Sáttítla is home to miniature volcanoes known as spatter cones, a well-preserved and accessible handful of which appear adjacent to the Giant Crater Lava Flow located in the south-central portion of the area.  Sáttítla’s more than 100 cinder cones — which are formed when lava cools mid-air and falls as fragments creating mounds, including Pumice Stone Mountain, Paint Pot Crater, and Porcupine Butte — are intact, making them of particular scientific interest.

The Fourmile Hill Tree Molds Geologic Area, situated on the north flank of the Medicine Lake volcano, contains dozens of molds formed over 12,000 years ago when molten lava flowed through a conifer forest leaving behind casts of the ancient tree trunks.  These trace fossils can help improve scientists’ understanding of the complex geologic history of the region. 

Sáttítla also contains hundreds of cave-like lava tubes, which were formed over time when molten basaltic lava flows cooled.  Many of these formations are relatively unexplored, with more likely yet to be discovered through future scientific inquiry.  The Giant Crater lava tube originates just south of Medicine Lake, extends southward within Sáttítla, and ultimately forms the longest known lava tube system in the world.

Sáttítla is nearly devoid of surface water drainages, but its surface waters only hint at what is stored underground, as most of the precipitation that falls in this area filters down through the porous volcanic rock filling underground aquifers.   These aquifers supply water to spring systems in northern California — and ultimately to the Sacramento River to the south and the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges to the north.  

The first known Euro-American reports of Sáttítla emerged in 1826-27, with settler-driven development appearing in the region in the 1870s.  The Tickner Road, constructed in 1871, served as one of the earliest routes across Siskiyou County, and remnants of two tracks are still visible in isolated sections in the northeast portion of the area.

As Euro-Americans settled in the traditional homelands of the area’s Indigenous peoples, many Tribal Nations suffered dispossession and, often, forced removal.  The brutalities against them by Euro-Americans were systemic, as evidenced by California’s first Governor declaring a “war of extermination” against the Indigenous peoples, and the California State Legislature appropriating a half-million dollars to pay for militia campaigns to kill them.  By 1872, hostilities between the U.S. Army and the Modoc Peoples exploded into the Modoc War.  Tickner Road was used by the U.S. military during the Modoc War as a supply route, and its remnants serve as a physical marker of this war.  While battles took place in lava fields outside and to the north of the area, some Modoc people sought refuge in Sáttítla, where they successfully avoided relocation after the war and ultimately integrated with the Klamath Tribes.  For these members of the Modoc, their connection to and knowledge of the Sáttítla area proved life-saving.  Other members were less fortunate; following the war several Modoc leaders were captured and hanged, and the remaining approximately 150 survivors were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma.  In view of these atrocities and the resulting loss of homelands, Sáttítla and the objects it contains remain particularly significant both to the Modoc and to our Nation’s history.  

The area’s verdant forests and exceptional geology together have supported and still illustrate important parts of the region’s history.  For example, Sáttítla’s high quality and accessible stands of ponderosa pine attracted the development of railroad logging operations, which came to this area at the end of the 19th century.   Today, within the western and northern part of this area, visitors can see the remains of hundreds of miles of railroad grades, relics of logging camps, maintenance stations, loading and switchyards, and other traces from the railroad logging era. 

Near the center of Sáttítla, Little Mt. Hoffman Lookout Tower provides panoramic views across and outside of the area to distant Mt. Shasta, Mt. Lassen, and the Tule Lake Basin.  Constructed in the 1920s, and eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the tower was actively used as a wildfire lookout until 1978 and today it provides a chance to see much of the Sáttítla Highlands from the edge of the volcano’s caldera.

Sáttítla’s exceptionally varied habitats also support high levels of biodiversity, including a variety of sensitive and endemic species.  For example, the Federally listed northern spotted owl relies on mature forest habitat, which is scattered throughout the southern and western portions of Sáttítla. The area also partially overlaps the historic range of the Federally listed Franklin’s bumblebee, which has one of the most limited geographic distributions of any bumblebee in the world.  The Townsend’s big-eared bat, a State of California Species of Concern, uses the region’s lava tube caves for roosting.  The Swainson’s hawk returns from South America in the spring to breed in the low-elevation juniper forests, sagebrush, and bitterbrush habitats found along the northwestern edge of area.  In the northern portion of Sáttítla, the Three Sisters Bald Eagle Winter Roost Area provides habitat for bald eagles, endangered in California.  Scattered aquatic and riparian habitats in the western portion of the area support two State of California Species of Special Concern, the Cascades frog and long-toed salamander.  Other species known to be north and south of Sáttítla, such as the Federally listed gray wolf, likely migrate through this area, with Sáttítla providing transitory habitat.

Sáttítla supports the survival of at least 16 plants considered threatened, endangered, or rare in California, including the Federally listed whitebark pine growing near Garner Mountain in the western portion of the area, as well as a diverse community of fungi, with 20 species considered rare or sparsely distributed.  Amongst host trees is the Pacific fuzzwort, a rare liverwort that is at the southern end of its habitat in northern California, andthe sugarstick, a parasitic plant associated with the roots of old-growth conifers.  As the climate continues to warm, high-elevation habitats within Sáttítla will remain critical refugia for species including the gray-headed pika and the Sierra Nevada red fox, a State of California threatened species. 

Sáttítla continues to provide traditional cultural resources used by Tribal and Indigenous communities, including food staples like sugar pine seeds and berries from gooseberry, currant, and manzanita, as well as plants collected for their medicinal properties, such as bitter cherry and Prince’s pine.  Various plants found in Sáttítla were historically used by Indigenous peoples for hunting, such as the blue elder­berry whose pithy stem-wood was fashioned into elk whistles and is still collected today.

Sáttítla’s soils, formed from lava over time, are home to several sensitive plants, including the sensitive talus collomia, the snow fleabane daisy, little hulsea, and pyrola-leaved buckwheat, all of which are restricted to fewer than four counties in Northern California.

At the lower elevations along the northwestern portion of Sáttítla, western juniper and ponderosa pine occur above a collection of Great Basin-type shrubs, including curl-leaf mountain-mahogany, bitterbrush, rubber rabbitbrush, and big sage.  The leaves, bark, flowers, and seeds from these shrubs were used by Indigenous peoples to make dye and medicines, and the dense wood of mountain-mahogany was used to make digging sticks, fire drills, bows, arrow shafts, and throwing sticks.  Two species uncommon in California are found in the dry, volcanic soils near the northern boundary of Sáttítla:  the tiny annual doublet and the cushion-like squarestem phlox.

Wet meadows and fens are infrequent within the landscape, but where they occur, they provide habitat for wetland plant species such as the California-endangered Boggs Lake hedge-hyssop and the three-ranked hump moss.  Traditional cultural plants found in these wetter habitats, including clover, yarrow, mountain strawberry, Baltic rush, and several grasses, were historically gathered for food, basket materials, and for their medicinal properties.  Further, sensitive vernal pools are situated southeast of Medicine Lake, supporting species including Oregon sedge.

Protection of Sáttítla will conserve the diverse array of cultural, precontact, historic, natural, and scientific resources — that the volcano at its core has shaped — for the benefit of all Americans.  It is vital to preserve this unique geologic landscape that holds sites and objects of historical, traditional, cultural, and spiritual significance for Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples who have gathered Indigenous Knowledge and practiced and shaped their cultures linked integrally to this area over countless generations.  In addition to containing numerous objects of historic and scientific interest as described above, this area also provides exceptional outdoor recreational opportunities, including hiking, biking, snowmobiling, camping, hunting, scenic driving, and canoeing.  

WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the “Antiquities Act”), authorizes the President, in the President’s discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected; and

     WHEREAS, Sáttítla has long been profoundly sacred to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples with ties to these highlands; and     Whereas, I find that all the objects identified above, and objects of the type identified above within the area described herein, are objects of historic or scientific interest in need of protection under section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, regardless of whether they are expressly identified as objects of historic or scientific interest in the text of this proclamation; and

     Whereas, I find that there are threats to the objects identified in this proclamation, and in the absence of a reservation under the Antiquities Act, these objects are not adequately protected by applicable law or administrative designations, thus making a national monument designation and reservation necessary to protect the objects of historic and scientific interest identified above for current and future generations; and

     Whereas, I find that the boundaries of the monument reserved by this proclamation represent the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects of scientific or historic interest identified above, as required by the Antiquities Act; and

     Whereas,it is in the public interest to ensure the preservation, restoration, and protection of the objects of scientific and historic interest identified above;

     Now, Therefore, I, Joseph R. Biden JR., President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part thereof all lands and interests in lands that are owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, which is attached hereto and forms a part of this proclamation.  These reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 224,676 acres.  As a result of the distribution of the objects across the Sáttítla Highlands, the boundaries described on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects of historic or scientific interest identified above.

     All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries described of the monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition under the public land laws or laws applicable to the Forest Service other than by exchange that furthers the protective purposes of the monument; from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing.

     The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights.  If the Federal Government subsequently acquires any lands or interests in lands not currently owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects of the type identified above that are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be part of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the Federal Government.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the valid existing water rights of any party, including the United States.  This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law.

     The Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), through the Forest Service, shall manage the monument pursuant to applicable legal authorities, as part of the Modoc, Shasta-Trinity, and Klamath National Forests, and in accordance with the terms, conditions, and management direction provided by this proclamation.   

     For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects identified above, the Secretary shall prepare, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior, within 3 years from the date of this proclamation, a management plan for the monument, which shall include provisions for continuing outdoor recreational opportunities consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above, and shall promulgate such rules and regulations for the management of the monument as the Secretary shall deem appropriate.  The Secretary, through the Forest Service, shall consult with other Federal land management agencies or agency components in the local area, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Defense, and the National Park Service, in developing the management plan. 

The Secretary shall provide for maximum public involvement in the development of the management plan, as well as consultation with federally recognized Tribal Nations with cultural or historical connections to the monument, and conferral with State and local governments.  In preparing the management plan, the Secretary shall take into account, to the maximum extent practicable, maintaining the undeveloped character of the lands within the monument; minimizing impacts from surface-disturbing activities; providing appropriate and, where consistent with the proper care and management of the objects of historic or scientific interest identified above, improving access for recreation, hunting, fishing, wildfire risk reduction, wildlife management, and scientific research; and emphasizing the retention of natural quiet, dark night skies, and scenic values.  In the development and implementation of the management plan, the Secretary shall maximize opportunities, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, for shared resources, operational efficiency, and cooperation, and shall, to the maximum extent practicable, provide for the careful and full incorporation of the Indigenous Knowledge and special expertise of Tribal Nations.

The Secretary shall consider appropriate mechanisms to provide for temporary closures to the general public of specific portions of the monument to protect the privacy of cultural, religious, and gathering activities by members of Tribal Nations.

The Secretary, through the Forest Service, shall establish an advisory committee under chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act), to provide advice or recommendations regarding the development of the management plan and, as appropriate, management of the monument.  The advisory committee shall consist of a fair and balanced representation of interested stakeholders, including State agencies and local governments; Tribal Nations; recreational users; conservation organizations; wildlife, hunting and fishing organizations; the scientific community; business owners; the forestry community; and the general public in the region.

In recognition of the value of collaboration with Tribal Nations for the proper care and management of the objects identified above, and to ensure that management of the monument is informed by, integrates, and reflects Tribal expertise and Indigenous Knowledge (including in regard to the practice of cultural burning), as appropriate, the Secretary shall meaningfully engage with Tribal Nations with cultural or historic affiliation to the Sáttítla region including by seeking opportunities for co-stewardship of the monument.

If Tribal Nations with cultural or historic affiliation to the Sáttítla region independently establish a commission or other similar entity (commission) comprised of elected officers or official designees from each participating Tribal Nation to engage in co-stewardship of the monument with the Federal Government through shared responsibilities or administration, then the Secretary shall meaningfully engage the commission in the development, revision, or amendment of the management plan and the management of the monument, including by considering and, as appropriate, integrating the Indigenous Knowledge and special expertise of the members of the commission in the planning and management of the monument.  The management plan for the monument shall also set forth parameters for continued meaningful engagement with the commission, if established, in the implementation of the management plan and, as appropriate, incorporate public education on and interpretation of traditional place names and the cultural significance of land within the monument into the management plan.  The Secretary shall explore opportunities to provide support to the commission, if established, to enable participation in the planning and management of the monument.

The Secretary shall also explore entering into cooperative agreements or contracts, pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq., or other applicable authorities, with Tribes or Tribal organizations to perform administrative or management functions within the monument and providing technical and financial assistance to improve the capacity of Tribal Nations to develop, enter into, and carry out activities under such cooperative agreements or contracts.  The Secretary also shall explore opportunities for funding agreements with Tribal Nations relating to the management and protection of traditional cultural properties and other culturally significant programming associated with the monument.

     Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to alter, modify, abrogate, enlarge, or diminish the rights or jurisdiction of any Tribal Nation, including off-reservation reserved rights.  The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law and in consultation with Tribal Nations, ensure the protection of sacred sites and cultural properties and sites in the monument and shall provide access to Tribal members for traditional cultural, spiritual, and customary uses, consistent with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42 U.S.C. 1996), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.), Executive Order 13007 of May 24, 1996 (Indian Sacred Sites), and the November 10, 2021, Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Interagency Coordination and Collaboration for the Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites.  Such uses shall include but are not limited to, traditional hunting activities and the traditional collection of waters, medicines, berries and other vegetation, obsidian and other mineral products, forest products, and firewood for ceremonial practices, so long as each use is carried out consistent with applicable law and in a manner consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above.

The Secretary shall explore mechanisms, consistent with applicable law, to enable the protection of Indigenous Knowledge or other information relating to the nature and specific location of cultural resources within the monument and, to the extent practicable, shall explain to the holders of such knowledge or information any limitations on the ability to protect such information from disclosure before it is shared with the Department.

     Consistent with the care and management of the objects identified above, the Secretary shall manage livestock grazing as authorized under existing permits and allotments, and subject to appropriate terms and conditions in accordance with existing laws and regulations.  The Secretary shall not issue new grazing permits and shall not designate new allotments on Federal lands within the monument where livestock grazing is not currently allowed.

     Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to preclude the renewal or assignment of, or interfere with the operation, maintenance, replacement, modification, upgrade, or access to, existing or previously approved flood control, utility, pipeline, and telecommunications sites or facilities; roads or highway corridors; seismic monitoring facilities; or water infrastructure, including wildlife water developments or water district facilities, within the boundaries of existing or previously approved authorizations within the monument.  Existing or previously approved flood control, utility, pipeline, telecommunications, and seismic monitoring facilities, roads or highway corridors, and water infrastructure, including wildlife water developments or water district facilities, may be expanded, and new facilities of such kind may be constructed, to the extent consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above and subject to the Secretary’s authorities and other applicable law.

For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects identified above, the Secretary shall prepare a transportation plan that designates the roads and trails on which motorized and non-motorized mechanized vehicle use will be allowed.  The transportation plan shall include management decisions, including road closures and travel restrictions, necessary to protect the objects identified in this proclamation.  Except for emergency purposes and authorized administrative purposes, motorized vehicle use in the monument may be permitted only on roads and trails documented as existing in USDA Forest Service route inventories that exist as of the date of this proclamation.  Any additional roads or trails designated for motorized vehicle use by the general public must be designated only for the purposes of public safety needs or if necessary for the protection of the objects identified above.

     Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the ability of the Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management, after consultation with the Forest Service, to provide access to or to remediate or monitor contaminated lands within the monument, including to provide ancillary road and utility access or water control developments, or access for remediation of geothermal, mine, mill, or tailing sites, for the restoration of natural resources, or for the plugging and abandonment of wells.

Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low-level overflights of military aircraft, military flight testing or evaluation, the designation of new units of special use airspace, or the use or establishment of military flight training routes after appropriate coordination between the Department of Defense and the Department of Agriculture.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish the jurisdiction of the State of California with respect to fish and wildlife management, including hunting and fishing, on the lands reserved by this proclamation. 

The Secretary may carry out vegetative management treatments within the monument to the extent consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above, including addressing ecological restoration, wildlife connectivity or the risk of wildfire, insect infestation, or disease that would endanger the objects identified in this proclamation or imperil public safety.  Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to affect the use of prescribed fire within the monument.  The Secretary shall evaluate opportunities to enter into one or more agreements with governments, including State, local, and Tribal, regarding the protection of the objects identified above during wildland fire prevention and response efforts.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the authority or responsibility of any party with respect to emergency response activities within the monument, including wildland fire response and search and rescue.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall be the dominant reservation.

     Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.

     If any provision of this proclamation, including its application to a particular parcel of land, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and its application to other parcels of land shall not be affected thereby.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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In southeastern California, where the Mojave and Colorado Deserts intersect, ancient trails weave through a land of canyon-carved mountain ranges bound together by radiating alluvial bajadas and dark tendrils of dry wash woodlands.  Sharing a name with the wide-bodied lizard that is commonly found here and derived from the Cahuilla word “čáxwal,” the Chuckwalla region is a place of wonder that lies within the traditional homelands of the Iviatim (Cahuilla), Nüwü (Chemehuevi), Pipa Aha Macav (Mojave), Kwatsáan (Quechan), Maara’yam and Marringayam (Serrano), and other Indigenous peoples.  It is imbued with religious, spiritual, historic, and cultural significance for Tribal Nations that trace their origins to these lands.  The area contains an abundance of artifacts attesting to its connection to diverse human communities over thousands of years.  The region’s mosaic of habitats is also home to a remarkable array of plant and animal species.  The dramatic contortions of its mountain ranges embody a fundamental story about the shaping of our world that scientists are still learning to decipher.  The cultural, geologic, and ecological resources on Federal lands in the Chuckwalla region will continue to inspire and fascinate people and provide a scientific research trove for generations to come.

The Chuckwalla region comprises five geographically discrete areas located between Joshua Tree National Park and the Palen/McCoy Wilderness to the north, California State Route 78 to the east, the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range to the south, and the western boundary of the Mecca Hills Wilderness to the west.  Woven together by the physical threads of Indigenous trails that radiate outward connecting peoples and places throughout the Southwest, the region carries significant cultural and sacred meaning for many Tribal Nations.  The southern area is a vast and intact expanse of austere, beautiful mountain ranges and desert valleys stretching from the Mecca Hills and Orocopia Mountains in the northwest, to the Mule and Palo Verde Mountains in the northeast, and to the mesquite-studded draws of the Milpitas Wash in the southeast.  The other four areas, which lie in the transition zone between the Mojave and Colorado deserts, are located at the base of the Cottonwood, Eagle, Coxcomb, and Palen Mountains.

The imprints of generations of Indigenous peoples are found throughout the region in the trails, tools, habitation sites, and spectacular petroglyphs and pictographs they left behind.  The Chuckwalla region has also been marked by the passage of people on the major prehistoric and historic travel corridors that connected the region to the Pacific coast and the interior southwest.  While only a small fraction of the region has been formally inventoried, myriad cultural resources have been documented, and there are likely similar historic sites and objects yet to be discovered.  A few sites are well-known and easily accessible to the public; many others are concealed in labyrinths of rugged canyons and have not yet been formally studied.

Trails within the area helped to link important resources and people across the Indigenous homelands of the Chuckwalla region.  For centuries, they facilitated trade and cultural exchange between peoples throughout the Southwest.  Weaving through canyons, the trails connected indispensable water and other resources throughout the area.  They were, and are, essential to the people who trace their origins to these lands, and provide a sense of connection between generations and between the physical and spiritual worlds.

In some places, the footfalls of past generations have etched these trails into the region’s surface, wearing a clear path into desert pavement.  Ceramics and lithic scatter are also commonly found along trail routes within the Chuckwalla region.  The endless shifting of sand and alluvium have likely obscured artifacts in some locations.  A prehistoric travel route ran through the core of the northern area between the Eagle and Coxcomb Mountains, connecting the Pinto Basin, where some of California’s oldest artifacts have been found, and the Chuckwalla Valley.  The relatively narrow gap between the Eagle and Coxcomb Mountains traversed by the corridor also creates the conditions for flash floods; as a result, artifacts are likely to be found below the surface of the wash rather than on its surface.

At least two trails that traverse the Chuckwalla region are sacred to Tribal Nations and bind their members to the land and to generations past.  These trails, of which physical traces remain, are both ancient and modern, tangible places and passages that Tribes and Indigenous peoples evoke and visit through songs and dreams.  Two versions of the Salt Song Trail pass through the region, connecting it to Tribal communities and sacred sites throughout the Southwest physically and through songs describing corridors, viewsheds, and the related geography and resources.  While the Salt Song Trail can be traveled by foot, traditional singers also travel this trail by voice through songs passed down across generations and that Tribes and Indigenous peoples believe assist the transport of the spirits of the recently deceased.  

The Xam Kwatchan Trail, which parallels the Colorado River in the vicinity of the Mule and Palo Verde Mountains along the eastern edge of the southern area, is maintained by the Quechan people and recognized by many other Tribes of the Lower Colorado River.  Portions of the Xam Kwatchan Trail are still visible and may be traveled physically as the trail weaves through the area and links together three sacred peaks of the Southwest:  Avi Kwa Ame to the north of the Chuckwalla region near Lake Mead, Palo Verde Peak within the southern Chuckwalla region and overlooking the Colorado River, and Pilot Knob to the south of the Chuckwalla region near Yuma, Arizona.  It is a belief of the Quechan people that they also travel this trail through dreams to transport the living and deceased, and to tie them to these lands and to their origin at Avi Kwa Ame.  The Palo Verde and Mule Mountains encompass sites of particular significance along this trail.  The eastern side of the Palo Verde Mountains is particularly dense with evidence of human habitation, including trails, camp spots, and ceremonial fire hearths. 

The Chuckwalla region has no perennial streams or lakes, but hidden within the southern area’s mountain ranges are springs and natural seasonal water catchments (often referred to as tanks).  Knowledge of these water sources has allowed Indigenous people to survive within this arid environment for thousands of years.  The locations surrounding these springs and tanks are replete with artifacts, including stone tools, ceramics, remnants of habitations, and a dazzling array of petroglyphs and pictographs.  In some places, the patina of naturally created desert pavement has been scraped away to form circles and images known as geoglyphs.

In a wide canyon at the heart of the Chuckwalla Mountains lies Corn Springs, a well-known cultural site.  Amid the mountain range’s rugged peaks and dry washes, the oasis at Corn Springs, which supports a stand of more than 60 California fan palms, has long been a beacon to the area’s human occupants. Corn Springs contains extensive petroglyphs encompassing a diverse array of elements and representing contributions by many people over thousands of years.  These petroglyphs, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are carved into flat planes on the golden rocks found near Corn Springs.  

Jutting from the desert floor north of Corn Springs, in an area just south of the community of Desert Center, sits Alligator Rock.  A salient ridge containing dikes of aplite, Alligator Rock was both a milestone on the major Indigenous travel and trade route that passed through Chuckwalla Valley and an important prehistoric source of lithic materials.  Flakes and tools crafted from the area’s distinctive speckled stone have been documented in sites throughout Chuckwalla Valley. 

In the eastern area, northeast of Alligator Rock and Corn Springs and north of the Little Chuckwalla Mountain Wilderness, Ford Dry Lake is now a sparsely vegetated playa in the Chuckwalla Valley at the base of the Palen and McCoy Mountains.  Dense cultural sites have been documented along the lake’s ancient shorelines, attesting to its use by generations of Indigenous peoples.  Artifacts uncovered here include a variety of stone tools, ceramics, and other evidence of Indigenous habitation sites. 

While seemingly inhospitable to humans, the Chuckwalla region has provided sustenance and material resources to the Indigenous peoples who have inhabited and traversed it for generations.  Many of the region’s native plants were gathered for food, including mesquite and ironwood seeds, wild grasses, and cacti.  Mesquite, which thrives in the dry washes of the southern area between the Chocolate and Palo Verde Mountains, was a particularly important source of sustenance.  Large quantities of the beans were collected in the summer and stored for use throughout the year.  In 1972, a large ceramic olla (an earthenware vessel) containing mesquite beans was discovered in a rock shelter in the canyon-striated Mecca Hills of the far western corner of the southern area.

By the mid-1800s, the Chuckwalla region had caught the attention of non-Indigenous Americans seeking wealth in the underbelly of its mountains.  In the 1860s, the Mule Mountains — near the California-Arizona border — were the site of one of the first discoveries of gold in Riverside County.  Two decades later, the largest gold rush in Riverside County’s history occurred when gold and silver were discovered in the Chuckwalla Mountains.  Relics of historic mines, including shafts, trenches, equipment, and remnants of buildings, are present throughout the region’s mountain ranges.  A mining shaft, conveyor, and loading dock associated with the Model Mine, which operated around the turn of the last century, are located in the western foothills of the Chuckwalla Mountains.  

In 1862, as gold seekers spread throughout the region, a miner named William Bradshaw sought to develop a route to connect the Coachella Valley with expanding mines on the east side of the Colorado River.  A Cahuilla leader and another Indigenous trail runner provided Bradshaw with a map of existing Indigenous routes linking springs and tanks along the southern edge of the Orocopia, Chuckwalla, and Little Chuckwalla Mountains.  He used the knowledge shared with him of these existing Indigenous trails to identify what became known as the “Bradshaw Trail,” an overland route that traverses the Chuckwalla Bench through the heart of the southern area.  Some of the springs and tanks, which had long been used by Indigenous peoples, became stagecoach stations associated with the Bradshaw Trail.  Intrepid visitors can still drive the unpaved Bradshaw Trail, which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) designated as a National Backcountry Byway in 1992.

In 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, the Department of the Army established a presence in the Chuckwalla region, reminders of which can still be seen across the terrain.  In March of 1942, Major General George Patton selected a large swath of desert in California and Nevada, including a substantial amount of land in the Chuckwalla Valley, for a Desert Training Center to prepare United States Army units for desert combat.  By the end of World War II, over a million soldiers had been trained at the facility.  Small unit training exercises were held in Chuckwalla Valley, which the Army believed provided the best approximation of terrain they might face in parts of North Africa.  The scars of tank tracks across the southern area’s desert pavement can still be seen today, along with berms, trenches, and foxholes.

The Chuckwalla region includes the footprint of Camp Young, the Desert Training Center’s first camp and its administrative core.  Camp Young was primarily located south of present-day Joshua Tree National Park and north of Interstate 10 in the western area.  While none remain standing, Camp Young boasted almost 100 administrative buildings, two hospitals, 50 warehouses, a theater, an officers’ club, and a post office.  Traces of the soldiers’ lives at Camp Young can still be seen here, including rock-lined walkways and remnants of concrete foundations.

During his tenure at the Desert Training Center, General Patton lived at Camp Young but was in the field on a daily basis, including to review small unit training exercises in the Chuckwalla Valley.  He would often shout orders into a radio while observing tank maneuvers from a hill overlooking the valley between the Orocopia and Chuckwalla Mountains, in the center of the Chuckwalla region’s southern area.  The road bulldozed for Patton’s use to the top of this hill, known as “The King’s Throne,” remains clearly visible.

Against this backdrop of human history, the Chuckwalla region’s many and varied plant and animal inhabitants have continued to persevere in the harsh desert environment.  The region provides a refuge for more than 50 rare plants and animals, as well as 21 vulnerable vegetation communities.  The diversity of biota has attracted numerous scientists over many decades who have conducted research into topics as varied as testing translocation methods for bighorn sheep, studying ant colony forming behavior, and documenting the demographic patterns of the Orocopia sage, a shrub with delicate lavender flowers that is only known to grow in the Mecca Hills and Orocopia and Chocolate Mountains. 

The broad bajadas of the southern area radiate out from a series of small mountain ranges, whose sinuous canyons and ragged peaks provide habitat to a variety of species.  The washes and sandy slopes of the Orocopia Mountains are home to Orocopia sage.  The Mecca aster is endemic to only a small area, with more than half of its known occurrences located in the Mecca Hills.  Mountain areas in the Chuckwalla region are also the only known locations of the recently described Chuckwalla cholla, a relatively low-lying cactus with reddish flowers.

Desert bighorn sheep, a sensitive species with declining numbers, live year-round on the craggy slopes of the Orocopia and Chuckwalla Mountains and are occasionally glimpsed in the Palo Verde and Little Chuckwalla Mountains.  The broad, sandy washes that connect the mountains — unbroken by paved roads or large developments — provide the habitat connectivity necessary to preserve genetic diversity among bighorn sheep populations.

The region’s expanse of gently sloping shrubby terrain is also vital to the survival of the threatened Agassiz’s desert tortoise, encompassing key components of an essential corridor connecting the tortoise’s Chuckwalla and Chemehuevi populations.  Much of the region is critical habitat for this charismatic desert dweller.

Located in the southern area of the Chuckwalla region, the Chuckwalla Bench is an elevated area of alluvial fans that provided a setting for extensive study and monitoring of desert tortoises for decades.  It is also home to over 150 native plant species.  The specific species present change with elevation as the bench’s slopes climb to an 80,000-acre expanse that rises to approximately 2,000 feet in elevation, resulting in an environment that is notably cooler and wetter than is typical for the Sonoran Desert.  At the higher elevations, Mojave yucca and cholla become increasingly common.  The Munz’s cholla, a species endemic to the Chuckwalla Bench whose spiny, branching arms often reach a height of six feet, grows here.

In part because of the relative availability of forage and water, the Chuckwalla Bench is included in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s primary area of interest for Sonoran Desert pronghorn reintroduction in California.  In 1941, around the time that the United States Army began desert training in the area, the endangered Sonoran Desert pronghorn was last observed in the Colorado Desert in the vicinity of Salt Creek Wash, which runs between the Orocopia and Chocolate Mountains.

Dry washes in the Chuckwalla region are threaded with populations of desert trees including ironwood, blue palo verde, smoketree, and mesquite.  These are known as microphyll woodlands, and they provide migration corridors for desert wildlife, as well as crucial habitat for migratory birds.  Milpitas Wash, located south of the Palo Verde Mountains in the southern area near the Arizona border, is one of the largest remaining microphyll woodlands in the Colorado Desert.  It is identified as a component of the National Audubon Society’s Colorado Desert Microphyll Woodlands Important Bird Area.  Old-growth blue palo verde trees in Milpitas Wash provide nesting cavities for an important population of Gila woodpeckers, which are listed as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act.  Rare long-eared owls, Crissal thrashers, and black-tailed gnatcatchers also nest in Milpitas Wash.

Dense pockets of palo verde microphyll woodland occur in the northeast portion of the southern Chuckwalla region and are reported to have the highest winter bird densities in the California Desert.  Sand dunes have dammed several small washes in the area, creating relatively wet conditions that are conducive to dense vegetative growth.  These sand dunes in Chuckwalla Valley are fed by aeolian (windblown) sand transport corridors.  In addition to the rich cultural sites associated with Ford Dry Lake, the portion of the Chuckwalla Valley in the eastern Chuckwalla region protects part of these sand transport corridors.  The dunes in this area also provide habitat for the rare Mojave fringe-toed lizard.

Nightfall reveals another dimension of the Chuckwalla region.  Kit foxes and sensitive species such as burrowing owls and elf owls emerge from dens, while a variety of rare bats including the California leaf-nosed bat, the western mastiff bat, and the western yellow bat dart through the desert sky.  Mountain lions are also known to prowl the Chuckwalla region at night.  A population of mountain lions in southern California and the central coast of California, which includes those in the Chuckwalla region, is currently a candidate species under consideration for listing under the California Endangered Species Act.  

The Chuckwalla region encompasses striking geologic diversity, which both underpins the rich ecological and cultural values and is itself the focus of extensive research.  In the far western reach of the southern area of this region, the Mecca Hills, shaped by the unquiet presence of the San Andreas Fault, attract not only hikers eager to explore their intricate canyons but a long line of geologists seeking to better understand fault dynamics.  There is an exposure of Pliocene-Pleistocene terrestrial sedimentary rocks along the fault, and recent uplift and erosion have allowed the opportunity for its detailed analysis.  Researchers have analyzed the Painted Canyon Fault, which lies within the San Andreas strike-slip fault zone in the Mecca Hills, to better understand tectonic processes along faults as far away as Denmark.  

Just to the east of the Mecca Hills, the Orocopia Mountains have been the site of extensive study of the geologic mechanisms that shape the earth, including deposition, metamorphism, uplift, and exposure.  In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Orocopia Mountains were the site of field training for the Apollo 13 and 15 crews, preparing them to observe and document lunar geology.

In 1986, scientists documented five new species of mollusks from the Eocene epoch that were found in samples taken from the Orocopia Mountains, which helped clarify scientists’ understanding of the timing of the westward migration of Eurasian mollusk species during the early Eocene and late Paleocene epochs.  In the Palo Verde Mountains, at the southeastern edge of the Chuckwalla region, outcroppings of the Bouse Formation are helping scientists unlock mysteries around the formation of the Colorado River. 

Protecting the Chuckwalla region will preserve an important spiritual, cultural, prehistoric, and historic legacy and protect places inscribed with history for future generations; maintain a diverse array of natural and scientific resources; and help ensure that the prehistoric, historic, and scientific resources and values of the region endure for the benefit of all Americans.  As described above, the region contains numerous objects of historic and scientific interest, and it provides exceptional outdoor recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, backpacking, rockhounding, sightseeing, nature study, birding, horseback riding, hunting, climbing, mountain biking, and motorized recreation, all of which are important to the travel- and tourism-based economy of the region.

WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (the “Antiquities Act”), authorizes the President, in the President’s discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected; and

     WHEREAS, the Chuckwalla region has been profoundly sacred to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples with ties to the Colorado and Mojave Deserts since time immemorial; and

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest both to ensure the preservation, restoration, and protection of the objects of scientific and historic interest identified above and to advance renewable energy in Development Focus Areas (DFAs) that were identified by the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) as of the date of this proclamation; and

     Whereas, I find that all the objects identified above, and objects of the type identified above within the area described herein, are objects of historic or scientific interest in need of protection under section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, regardless of whether they are expressly identified as objects of historic or scientific interest in the text of this proclamation; and

     Whereas, I find that there are threats to the objects identified in this proclamation, and, in the absence of a reservation under the Antiquities Act, the objects identified in this proclamation are not adequately protected by applicable law or administrative designations, thus making a national monument designation and reservation necessary to protect the objects of historic and scientific interest identified above for current and future generations; and

     Whereas, I find that the boundaries of the monument reserved by this proclamation represent the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects of historic or scientific interest identified above, as required by the Antiquities Act; and

     Whereas, it is in the public interest to ensure the preservation, restoration, and protection of the objects of historic and scientific interest identified above;

     Now, Therefore, I, Joseph R. Biden JR., President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be the Chuckwalla National Monument (monument) and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part thereof all lands and interests in lands that are owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, which is attached hereto and forms a part of this proclamation.  These reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass approximately 624,270 acres.  As a result of the distribution of the objects across the Chuckwalla region, the boundaries described on the accompanying map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects of historic or scientific interest identified above.

     All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of the monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition under the public land laws, other than by exchange that furthers the protective purposes of the monument or that facilitates the remediation, monitoring, or reclamation of historic mining operations on public or private land within the monument boundary; from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing.

     The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights.  If the Federal Government subsequently acquires any lands or interests in lands not currently owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map, such lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a part of the monument, and objects of the type identified above that are situated upon those lands and interests in lands shall be part of the monument, upon acquisition of ownership or control by the Federal Government.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the valid existing water rights of any party, including the United States, or to alter or affect agreements governing the management and administration of the Colorado River, including any existing interstate water compact.  This proclamation does not reserve water as a matter of Federal law. 

     The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary), through the BLM, shall manage the monument pursuant to applicable legal authorities, as a unit of the National Landscape Conservation System, and in accordance with the terms, conditions, and management direction provided by this proclamation.

     For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects identified above, the Secretary shall within 3 years from the date of this proclamation prepare a management plan for the monument and shall promulgate such rules and regulations for the management of the monument as deemed appropriate.  The Secretary, through the BLM, shall consult with other Federal land management agencies or agency components in the local area, including the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of Defense, and National Park Service, in developing the management plan. 

The Secretary shall provide for maximum public involvement in the development of the management plan, as well as consultation with Tribal Nations affiliated culturally or historically with the Chuckwalla Region and conferral with State and local governments.  In preparing the management plan, the Secretary shall take into account, to the maximum extent practicable, maintaining the undeveloped character of the lands within the monument; minimizing impacts from surface-disturbing activities; providing appropriate and, where consistent with the proper care and management of the objects of historic or scientific interest identified above, improving access for recreation, hunting, dispersed camping, wildlife management, scientific research, and the permissible casual collection of rocks; and emphasizing the retention of natural quiet, dark night skies, and scenic attributes of the region.

The Secretary shall consider appropriate mechanisms to provide for temporary closures to the general public of specific portions of the monument to protect the privacy of cultural, religious, and gathering activities of members of Tribal Nations.

The Secretary, through the BLM, shall establish an advisory committee under chapter 10 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Advisory Committee Act), to provide advice or recommendations regarding the development of the management plan and, as appropriate, management of the monument.  The advisory committee shall consist of a fair and balanced representation of interested stakeholders, including State agencies and local governments; Tribal Nations; recreational users; conservation organizations; the scientific community; the renewable energy and electric utility industry; and the general public in the region.

In recognition of the value of collaboration with Tribal Nations for the proper care and management of the objects identified above and to ensure that management of the monument is informed by, integrates, and reflects Tribal expertise and Indigenous Knowledge, as appropriate, the Secretary shall meaningfully engage with Tribal Nations with cultural or historical affiliation to the Chuckwalla region, including by seeking opportunities for co-stewardship of the monument. 

If Tribal Nations with cultural or historical affiliation to the Chuckwalla region independently establish a commission or other similar entity (commission) comprised of elected officers or official designees from each participating Tribal Nation to engage in co-stewardship of the monument with the Federal Government through shared responsibilities or administration, then the Secretary shall meaningfully engage the commission in the development, revision, or amendment of the management plan and the management of the monument, including by considering and, as appropriate, integrating the Indigenous Knowledge and special expertise of the members of the commission in the planning and management of the monument.  The management plan for the monument shall also set forth parameters for continued meaningful engagement with the commission, if established, in the implementation of the management plan and, as appropriate, incorporate public education on and interpretation of traditional place names and the cultural significance of land within the monument.  The Secretary shall explore opportunities to provide support to the commission, if established, to enable participation in the planning and management of the monument.

The Secretary shall also explore entering into cooperative agreements or contracts, pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq. or other applicable authorities, with Tribes or Tribal organizations to perform administrative or management functions within the monument and providing technical and financial assistance to improve the capacity of Tribal Nations to develop, enter into, and carry out activities under such cooperative agreements or contracts.  The Secretary also shall explore opportunities for funding agreements with Tribal Nations relating to the management and protection of traditional cultural properties and other culturally significant programming associated with the monument.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to alter, modify, abrogate, enlarge, or diminish the rights or jurisdiction of any Tribal Nation, including off-reservation reserved rights.  The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law and in consultation with Tribal Nations, ensure the protection of sacred sites and cultural properties and sites in the monument and shall provide access to Tribal members for traditional cultural, spiritual, and customary uses, consistent with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42 U.S.C. 1996), the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.), Executive Order 13007 of May 24, 1996 (Indian Sacred Sites), and the November 10, 2021, Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Interagency Coordination and Collaboration for the Protection of Indigenous Sacred Sites.  Such uses shall include, but are not limited to, the collection of medicines, berries, plants, and other vegetation for cradle boards and other purposes, and firewood for ceremonial practices and personal noncommercial use, so long as each use is carried out consistent with applicable law and in a manner consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above.  The Secretary shall endeavor to prepare an ethnographic study and cultural resources survey of the monument to assess the importance of the land to Tribal Nations affiliated culturally or historically with the Chuckwalla Region and the religious, spiritual, and cultural practices of culturally affiliated Tribal Nations.

The Secretary shall explore mechanisms, consistent with applicable law, to enable the protection of Indigenous Knowledge or other information relating to the nature and specific location of cultural resources within the monument and, to the extent practicable, shall explain to the holders of such knowledge or information any limitations on the ability to protect such information from disclosure before it is shared with the BLM.

     Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to preclude the renewal or assignment of, or interfere with the operation, maintenance, replacement, modification, upgrade, or access to, existing or previously approved flood control, utility, pipeline, and telecommunications sites or facilities; roads or highway corridors; seismic monitoring facilities; wildlife management structures installed by the BLM or the State of California; or water infrastructure, including wildlife water developments or water district facilities, within the boundaries of existing or previously approved authorizations within the monument.  Existing or previously approved flood control, utility (including electric transmission and distribution), pipeline, telecommunications, and seismic monitoring facilities; roads or highway corridors; wildlife management structures installed by the BLM or the State of California; and water infrastructure, including wildlife water developments or water district facilities, may be expanded, and new facilities of such kind may be constructed, to the extent consistent with the proper care and management of the objects identified above and subject to the Secretary’s authorities, other applicable law, and the provisions of this proclamation related to roads and trails.

For purposes of protecting and restoring the objects identified above, the Secretary shall prepare a transportation plan that designates the roads and trails on which motorized and non-motorized mechanized vehicle use will be allowed.  The transportation plan shall include management decisions necessary to protect the objects identified in this proclamation.  Except for emergency purposes and authorized administrative purposes, including management activities by appropriate California State agencies to maintain, enhance, or restore fish and wildlife populations and habitats, which are otherwise consistent with applicable law, motorized vehicle use in the monument may be permitted only on roads and trails documented as existing in BLM route inventories that exist as of the date of this proclamation.  Any additional roads or trails designated for motorized vehicle use by the general public must be designated only for public safety needs or if necessary for the protection of the objects identified above.

Livestock grazing has not been permitted in the monument area since 2002, and the Secretary shall not issue any new grazing permits or leases on such lands.

     Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the BLM’s ability to authorize access to and remediation or monitoring of contaminated lands within the monument, including for remediation of unexploded ordnance and mine, mill, or tailing sites or for the restoration of natural resources. 

Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude low-level overflights of military aircraft, the landing of military aircraft in accordance with aviation safety regulations in landing zones that have been or are designated in the future, military flight testing or evaluation, the designation of new units of special use airspace, the use of existing or the establishment of new military flight training routes, or low-level overflights and landings of aircraft by the BLM or its contractors for scientific or resource management purposes.  Nothing in this proclamation shall preclude the use of land within the monument for military training, or preclude air or ground access to existing or new electronic tracking or communications sites associated with special use airspace and military flight training routes, after appropriate coordination between the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior.

As this monument is located near DFAs identified by the DRECP and is consistent with the goals of that plan, nothing in this proclamation shall be interpreted to require denial of proposals for renewable energy projects that are in DFAs identified by the DRECP and that comply with all applicable legal requirements.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge or diminish the jurisdiction or authority of the State of California with respect to fish and wildlife management, including hunting and fishing, on the lands reserved by this proclamation.  The Secretary shall seek to develop and implement science-based habitat and ecological restoration projects within the monument and shall seek to collaborate with the State of California on wildlife management within the monument, including through the development of new, or the continuation of existing, agreements with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Secretary shall evaluate opportunities to enter into one or more agreements with governments, including State, local, and Tribal, regarding the protection of the objects identified above during wildland fire prevention and response efforts. Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to alter the authority or responsibility of any party with respect to emergency response activities within the monument, including wildland fire response.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to limit the authority of the Secretary, consistent with applicable law, to undertake or authorize activities for the purpose of ensuring safe and continued recreational access to canyons in the Mecca Hills Wilderness.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall be the dominant reservation.

     Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.

     If any provision of this proclamation, including its application to a particular parcel of land, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and its application to other parcels of land shall not be affected thereby.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to attend the Inauguration of His Excellency Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. on January 16, 2025, in Ngerulmud, Palau.

The Honorable Joel Ehrendreich, United States Ambassador to the Republic of Palau, will lead the delegation.

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TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.  In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to the situation in the West Bank declared in Executive Order 14115 of February 1, 2024, is to continue in effect beyond February 1, 2025.

The situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region.  These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom.  They also undermine the security of Israel and have the potential to lead to broader regional destabilization across the Middle East, threatening United States personnel and interests.

The situation in the West Bank continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.  Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14115 with respect to the situation in the West Bank.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 14, 2025.

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On February 1, 2024, by Executive Order 14115, I declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the situation in the West Bank. 

The situation in the West Bank — in particular high levels of extremist settler violence, forced displacement of people and villages, and property destruction — has reached intolerable levels and constitutes a serious threat to the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank and Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East region.  These actions undermine the foreign policy objectives of the United States, including the viability of a two-state solution and ensuring Israelis and Palestinians can attain equal measures of security, prosperity, and freedom.  They also undermine the security of Israel and have the potential to lead to broader regional destabilization across the Middle East, threatening United States personnel and interests.

The situation in the West Bank continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.  For this reason, the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14115 of February 1, 2024, must continue in effect beyond February 1, 2025.  Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14115 with respect to the situation in the West Bank.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 14, 2025.

The post Press Release: Notice to the Congress on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to the Situation in the West Bank appeared first on The White House.

TO THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES:

     With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters (the “Treaty”), signed at Abu Dhabi on February 24, 2022.  I also transmit, for the information of the Senate, the report of the Department of State with respect to the Treaty.

     The Treaty is one of a series of modern mutual legal assistance treaties negotiated by the United States to more effectively counter criminal activities.  The Treaty should enhance our ability to investigate and prosecute a wide variety of crimes.

     The Treaty provides for a broad range of cooperation in criminal matters.  Under the Treaty, the Parties agree to assist each other by, among other things:  taking the evidence, testimony, or statements of persons; providing and authenticating documents, records, and articles of evidence; locating or identifying persons or items; serving documents; transferring persons in custody temporarily for testimony or other assistance under the Treaty; executing requests for searches and seizures; and identifying, tracing, immobilizing, seizing, and forfeiting assets and assisting in related proceedings.

     I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to the Treaty and give its advice and consent to ratification.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 14, 2025.

The post Message to the Senate on the Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters appeared first on The White House.

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

     I am pleased to transmit to the Congress, pursuant to subsections 123 b. and 123 d. of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2153(b), (d)) (the “Act”), the text of an Agreement for Cooperation Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy (the “Agreement”). 

     I am also pleased to transmit my written approval, authorization, and determination concerning the Agreement and an unclassified Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement (NPAS) concerning the Agreement.  In accordance with section 123 of the Act, a classified annex to the NPAS, prepared by the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, summarizing relevant classified information, will be submitted to the Congress separately.  The joint memorandum submitted to me by the Secretaries of State and Energy and a letter from the Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission stating the views of the Commission are also enclosed.  An addendum to the NPAS containing a comprehensive analysis of the export control system of the Kingdom of Thailand with respect to nuclear-related matters, including interactions with other countries of proliferation concern and the actual or suspected nuclear, dual-use, or missile-related transfers to such countries, pursuant to section 102A(w) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3024(w)), is being submitted separately by the Director of National Intelligence. 

     The Agreement has been negotiated in accordance with the Act and other applicable law.  In my judgment, it meets all applicable statutory requirements and will advance the nonproliferation and other foreign policy interests of the United States of America.

     The Agreement contains all of the provisions required by subsection 123 a. of the Act.  It provides a comprehensive framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation with the Kingdom of Thailand based on a mutual commitment to nuclear nonproliferation.  It would permit the transfer of material, equipment (including reactors), components, and information for peaceful nuclear purposes.  It would not permit the transfer of Restricted Data or sensitive nuclear technology.  Any special fissionable material transferred to the Kingdom of Thailand could only be in the form of low enriched uranium, with the exception of small quantities of special fissionable material for use as samples, standards, detectors, or targets, or for such other purposes as the parties may agree. 

     Through the Agreement, the Kingdom of Thailand would affirm its intent to rely on existing international markets for nuclear fuel services rather than acquiring sensitive nuclear technology (i.e., for enrichment and reprocessing), and the United States would affirm its intent to support these international markets to ensure nuclear fuel supply for the Kingdom of Thailand.

     The Agreement has a term of 30 years, although it can be terminated at any time by either party on 1 year’s advance written notice to the other party.  In the event of termination or expiration of the Agreement, key nonproliferation conditions and controls will continue in effect as long as any material, equipment, or components subject to the Agreement remains in the territory of the party concerned or under its jurisdiction or control anywhere, or until such time as the parties agree that such material, equipment, or components are no longer usable for any nuclear activity relevant from the point of view of safeguards.

     The Kingdom of Thailand is a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and has concluded a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol thereto with the International Atomic Energy Agency.  The Kingdom of Thailand was also among the early sponsors of and is a State Party to the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone.  A more detailed discussion of the Kingdom of Thailand’s domestic civil nuclear activities and its nuclear nonproliferation policies and practices is provided in the NPAS and its classified annex.

     I have considered the views and recommendations of the interested departments and agencies in reviewing the Agreement and have determined that its performance will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk to, the common defense and security.  Accordingly, I have approved the Agreement and authorized its execution and urge that the Congress give it favorable consideration. 

     This transmission shall constitute a submittal for purposes of both subsections 123 b. and 123 d. of the Act.  My Administration is prepared to immediately begin the consultations with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee as provided in subsection 123 b.  Upon completion of the 30 days of continuous session review provided for in subsection 123 b., the 60 days of continuous session review provided for in subsection 123 d. shall commence.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 14, 2025.

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Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, United States’ policy towards Cuba has focused on empowering the Cuban people to freely determine their own future, and advancing respect for human rights.  This singular purpose has guided our policies to reunify Cuban families, strengthen cultural and educational ties between Cuba and the United States, enable remittances to flow more freely to the Cuban people, and increase support for independent Cuban entrepreneurs. 

In that spirit, we are taking several steps to support the Cuban people as part of an understanding with the Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope Francis and improve the livelihood of Cubans.  First, today we notified Congress that President Biden determined Cuba should no longer be designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.  Secondly, we notified Congress that the President issued a waiver for Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, otherwise known as the Libertad Act, for a period of six months.  Finally, President Biden rescinded the 2017 National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 on Cuba policy to eliminate the so-called “restricted list” and by extension the additional regulations on engagement by U.S. persons and entities with Cuban persons and entities, beyond that which is currently prescribed in U.S. legislation.  We have also been informed by the Catholic Church that the Cuban government will soon begin releasing a substantial number of political prisoners.

In taking these steps to bolster the ongoing dialogue between the government of Cuba and the Catholic Church, President Biden is also honoring the wisdom and counsel that has been provided to him by many world leaders, especially in Latin America, who have encouraged him to take these actions, on how best to advance the human rights of the Cuban people.  We take these steps in appreciation of the Catholic Church’s efforts to facilitate Cuba to take its own, constructive measures to restore liberty to its citizens and enable conditions that improve the livelihood of Cubans. 

###

The post Statement from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Steps to Support the Cuban People appeared first on The White House.

Oval Office

6:15 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Folks, what we’re going to do is I’m going to make a brief statement; the vice president is going to make a brief statement; Liz is going to call on Chief Moore and call on Griswell [Criswell], the — so FEMA is sp- — spoken; and then I — we’re going to each ask some questions; and then we’re going to ask you to leave.  Okay?  Unless you want to talk about the (inaudible) or something. 

You can smile.  It’s okay.  She’s a real tough guy, right there. 

All right?  Okay. 

Can you guys hear us?

CHIEF MOORE:  Yes, we can hear you. 

THE PRESIDENT:  All right. 

Well, look, we’re heading into the second week of fil- — of wildfires out in California.  These wildfires are the worst in California history.

And Vice President Harris and I are about to meet with Secretary Mayorkas, who is here; FEMA administrator; FEMA regional administrator — regional administrator; and the chief of U.S. Fire — Forest Service. 

And, first, I want to share an update on where things stand now as we know it.

One, over the past few weeks, state and local and federal firefighters were able to prevent the largest fires from moving into new areas.  In other words, they’ve been able to contain the fires.  Fourteen percent containment in the Pacific Palisades has been — that’s how much has been contained.  Thirty-three percent in the fire in Pasadena.  Ninety-five percent in Sylmar.  And the fire in Ventura has been 100 percent contained.  And that’s progress.

That said, that was a heartbreaking weekend for a lot of people in Los Angeles.  Ash was raining down like snow.  Homes burned to the ground — thousands of those homes are gone.  And we learned we lost more of our fellow Americans. 

So, let’s say again to the people Los Angeles: We’re with you.  We’re with you. 

And, you know, al- — although the federal government is going to cover 100 percent of the cost for the next 180 days for things like firefighter overtime pay, debris removal, temporary shelters, it’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles back to where it was. 

So, we’re going to need Congress to step up to provide funding to get this done.  And we’re going to get that done, God willing. 

Over the next few days, we’re expecting strong wind gusts that are — could move — be — you know, more fires — more fuel for fires.  And I’m continuing to direct the federal government to do everything possible with — everything we possibly can to help California. 

I’ve sent equipment to Los Angeles, including helicopters, tanker planes, and fire engines.  And our allies in Canada and Mexico have sent 130 firefighters and emergency responders, as the team knows.

I’ve asked Bob Fenton of FEMA to help — he helped Hawaii after the Maui fires — to take the lead in coordinating the federal support and debris recovery and removal in Los Angeles.

And the first step of that is coordinating between FEMA, EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers to remove the ha- — to remove the hazardous debris before you can get in and remove it all.  And that hazardous debris includes things like propane tanks, electric vehicles, and battery (inaudible).  

Then, the monumental task of removing the rest of that debris can begin, but it’s a monumental task.

And I’ve activated 500 Marines from the base in Pendleton to stand by and help in search and rescue, airlift support, and food and water distribution. 

And I want to be clear: We’re not waiting until those fires are over to be — to start helping the victims.  We’re getting them help right now, as you all know. 

People impacted by these fires are going to receive a one-time payment of $770 — a one-time payment — so they can quickly purchase things like water, baby formula, and prescriptions.  So far, nearly 6,000 survivors have registered to do just that and $5.1 million has gone out. 

And I encourage everyone — everyone who has been impacted to get assistance.  Go to Disaster- — DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362.  Let me repeat that number: 1-800-621-3362.

Before I turn this over to Vice President Harris, let me say again to all the incredible firefighters and first responders: Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Los Angeles is the City of Angels, and you’re now the angels — all of you.  You’re the angels, literally, saving people’s lives, and we owe you. 

And we owe your families, who are also in harm’s way and you’re still going out and doing your job.

To the people of Los Angeles: Thank you for sticking together, for helping one another through an unimaginable loss.  And I want you to know — and I mean this — I want you to know we have no higher priority than the safety of you folks in Los Angeles.  We’re going to keep doing everything possible to help you get through this. 

And, Vice President Harris, I now turn it over to you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Mr. President. 

So, what is happening in Los Angeles is truly heartbreaking, and there’s an extraordinary amount of trauma that so many people are experiencing through loss of life, loss of their homes, loss of normalcy. 

And what I would ask is that, on this day seven of the fires, in the midst of the extraordinary exhaustion that everyone is feeling on so many levels, that we stay vigilant. 

The next 48 hours, as we will hear, are very critical.  The winds are going to pick up, with wind gusts that may reach as much as 70 miles per hour. 

And so, this is the time that everyone must be vigilant.  Follow whatever orders you are receiving from your local authorities.  If you are in any area where you may be called to evacuate, collect your belongings that you would want to take in the tragic event that you have to evacuate, and — and please be ready and prepared in that event.

Lots of people who still have a home who are under evacuation order, I know you want to get back home, but this is a time to be patient.  There is still so much work that firefighters, police officers, FEMA, and others are doing that is about search and rescue.  The work that still needs to be done to ensure the safety around utility lines — this work is still very much in progress.  And so, it’s critically important that to the extent you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and unprecedented crisis, that you do.

But I — I’d echo what the president said: We have seen acts of courage, heroism, building of community, people looking out for strangers.  And we applaud and are in awe of the generosity of spirit that we are seeing throughout the region. 

And so, let us just always, again, thank our firefighters, our police officers, our first responders for what they are doing to personally sacrifice so much for the sake of others. 

Thank you. 

DR. SHERWOOD-RANDALL:  Thank you, Madam Vice President.

We’ll now go to the U.S. Forest Service chief, Randy Moore, who’s out in Los Angeles. 

Chief Moore, over to you.

CHIEF MOORE:  Thank you.

Mr. President, Madam Vice President, the situation remains very dynamic, with immediate threats to life and safety. 

One important thing to name is that, unlike what we normally will think of with wildland fires, where they’re often on the landscape for weeks, these incidents are — come from urban conflagrations — whereas once the winds are over and if containment continues to increase, we would expect these incidents to move rapidly from fire suppression to recovery.

Now, in terms of the weather, we’re expecting a period of elevated to critical fire weather risk through Wednesday, as the vice president had indicated, and we’re expected to have red flag warnings in effect for strong gusts of winds, low humidity, and very dry vegetation for much of Los Angeles, Ventura, and neighboring counties. 

We’re also expecting to have moderate Santa Ana winds, which begins today — later today through Wednesday.  And as the vice president had indicated, we’re looking at frequent winds of about 20 to 30 miles per hour, but gusts in anywhere from 50 to 70 miles per hour are very likely. 

Right now, our biggest concern is new starts.  And with this wind event or new growth on the Palisades or Eaton fires, these are high possibilities.  So, our personnel are working really hard to strengthen the existing containment lines. 

And also, from Monday through Wednesday, we’re looking to have minimum relative humidities, which is expected to remain in the upper single digits, somewhere around 20 percent.  So, what that’s basically saying is that the vegetation will continue to stay dry.

And by Friday, we expect several degrees of cooling and a large increase in humidity Friday into Saturday.  So, this is the good news on the back end of that — that wind.

In terms of fire activity — so, the Forest Service remains in unified command on the Eaton Fire; the Lidia Fire is no longer active; and the Hurst Fire is no longer in unified command, as threats are minimal on those two fires. 

Now, regarding the Eaton’s Fire, it’s holding at about 14,000 acres.  Containment has grown yesterday at 27 percent to 33 percent today, and there’s no new growth, which is the good news.  However, our fighters are reinforcing that perimeter, and we’ll have to hold that under these challenging conditions through Wednesday. 

We’re looking at nearly 40,000 structures remain threatened, and early remote sensing is reporting a number of structures have been destroyed.  And we are in the process of doing damage assessments by ground-truth and to see what we’re — we think that we’re seeing from the air.

There’s eight confirmed civilian fatalities as a result of this fire.  And, as of yesterday, there were 50 crews, 375 engines, 16 helicopters, and over 3,400 personnel that was assigned to this fire. 

The Hurst Fire is 95 percent contained, spread is minimal, and it has calmed down, and the repopulation started yesterday.  We still have about 100 firefighters out there doing what we call “mop-up duties.”  That’s where if they seeing smoke, to put the fire completely out.  So, we’ll continue to patrol the area and do mop-up activities. 

We continue to support the Palisades Fire.  We’re having moderate fire behavior that persists.  We currently have about 23,700 acres that are burned, and the fire is about 18 percent contained as we speak.  There’s also two confirmed civilian fatalities on that fire as well.  We currently have about 115 crews, 540 engines, 44 helicopters, and 5,123 personnel that are assigned to this fire.

To date, we’re successfully filling resource requests for both initial tag and incident support.  And as of this morning, there’s about 9,000 firefighters that are assigned to these large fires that we’re talking about here. 

Now, this does not include the many who’s assigned to their home units or pre-positioned to their different units to provide initial attack on new starts.  And we continue to have firefighters coming from all across the country, relieving some of the firefighters who has been pressing really, really hard, and we’ll continue to mobilize personnel as well as equipment.

Now, aviation resources that is operational as of this morning.  We have four Forest Service and one Cal Fire area supervision modules.  These are for the lead planes that are going in, guiding the large planes.  We have 12 air tankers.  We have 18 water-dropping helicopters.  We have three water scoopers. 

And all eight of the Department of Defense Modular Aerial Fighting Firefighter Systems tankers are at south ops or down in this area.  Seven of them are in service, and we’re still working on one that has some mechanical problems on the tail of the — the plane.  That’s expected to be fixed and operational later this evening, so for activity — for duty tomorrow.  So, tomorrow, we’re looking to have all eight that are in operations.  And, as I said earlier, we have seven that are operating now.

A request for assistance has been sent, as I mentioned earlier, to our Canadian partners, looking at mobilizing two of the CL-415 water scoopers.  They are expected to clear customs on Wednesday, and they’ll be available after they clear federal inspections and check rides. 

You know, it’s important to — we’re talking about aviation.  It’s really important to emphasize that aviation resources cannot fly safely when the winds are high, like what we’re talking about, so this is a situation that needs to be continually monitored.  And I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to closely coordinate among all partners in managing aircraft in this limited airspace. 

Our national airspace coordinator is heavily engaged with all of the people that are concerned, looking at safe operation of our aircraft in this area. 

And, you know, we’re working with Cal Fire to e- — evaluate the offers that we’re getting from our international partners.  And this thing is — is dynamic and is rapidly changing.  But given where we are in the year, we have very little competition for firefighting resources nationwide, and so we can still draw upon untapped federal, state, and local firefighting resources. 

Our initial tag rate continues to be really high.  You know, we’re staffing firefighters 24/7.  To give you an idea, we have about — right at about 2,000 federal firefighters that are in station for what we call “quick response emerging fires.”  That’s the new starts. 

To give you an idea of how successful this group of people are — this group of firefighters are: Since January 6th, we’ve had 235 new fire starts, and we have kept many of those, just about all of it, down to five acres or less. 

And I say that because that’s pretty significant, considering the — just the four large fires that we’ve had and the damages this is causing.  This team of firefighters — both state, local, federal, and others — Tribes — have kicked back 235 new starts of fires. 

So, we’re — we’re looking at moving into post-fire recovery at some point.  So, the efforts are already underway.  We’ve already provided post-fire imagery maps to the state’s watershed emergency response teams, as well as the federal response team for both the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire, and we’re in the process of also doing the same thing for the Hurst Fire. 

Now, these post-fire images that we are providing is — they’re — they’re basically soil burn severity, which a team uses to produce a soil burn severity map.  So, we can look at the type of reclamation activity that needs to take place after the fire. 

The Forest Service is also coordinating with our fellow USDA agencies, including Rural Development, Farm Service Agency, and Natural Resources Conservation Service to provide an integrated effort for long-term recovery needs. 

And our Research Department is also working with the city of Los Angeles and other water providers to provide some ash contamination modeling for water users. 

So, we’re likely to have boots on the ground of these teams by Thursday morning, after the red flag incidents subsides.

End of report.

THE PRESIDENT:  Randy, is there any more support the federal government can be providing to support to the firefighters doing this heroic work?  Anything else we — we could be doing?

CHIEF MOORE:  I — I think — when you look at the amount of aircraft, I think we provided everything that’s been asked for and that’s needed. 

In terms of firefighters, we have what we call “U2Fs” — U — “UTFs” — that’s “unable to fill.”  We don’t have any unable-to-fill positions that have been requested to date. 

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

Madam Vice President.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Randy, if, God forbid, the — the fires go beyond Los Angeles County, given the — the surge of resources into Los Angeles, what is your level of confidence that we’ll be able to get the resources to any neighboring county in — in time?

CHIEF MOORE:  I’m confident that we’ll be able to get the resources.  We have access right now to about 15,000 firefighters that are not currently being used, that’s not needed.  So, if things got out of hand, and let’s just say that the wind conditions blew the fires back out into the wildland, we do have firefighters pre-positioned in a lot of different areas to look at that initial attack.

And I mentioned the 235 fires now that these same groups of people have been able to bat down to about 5 or 6 major fires.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good.

THE PRESIDENT:  Can I ask one more question, Randy?  Are you hearing any misinformation that’s going out, false assertions that are being made about the state of the effort to fight the fire?

CHIEF MOORE:  Well, I mean, there’s always rumors with large fires like this, Mr. President.  And one of the — the — one of the things that everybody wants to know is how did these fires start.  And until the team of investigators conclude their investigations, we don’t really know. 

And so, there’s a lot of speculation out there about how these fires started, but there’s no proof to validate a lot of these rumors that we’re — we’re hearing. 

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

DR. SHERWOOD-RANDALL:  Thank you, Randy. 

And now to Administrator Criswell from FEMA.

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  All right.  Thank you, Liz.

Mr. President, Madam Vice President, you know, at your direction, I was on the ground there on Thursday and Friday.  I had an opportunity to meet with incident commanders at both the Palisades Fire as well as the Eaton Fire. 

And, again, I think you see the images on television, but it just doesn’t compare to what you see in person — right? — when you see the devastation, when you talk to the family members, when you talk to the community members and they talk so much about how proud they are of their community. 

And I think one of the things we’ve talked about a lot is, you know, they say the community is gone, but the community is there.  The community’s spirit will continue to exist. 

And we had that long conversation with the Pasadena mayor when I was there, and it was, you know, really telling on how — how proud they are of these communities. 

And so, that’s why, as Randy and his teams are continuing to try to put out these fires, FEMA’s programs are in place to help support all of these families that have been impacted. 

I think, right now, we have about eight shelters that are still open.  The shelter numbers have been remaining at about 700 to 800, you know, day over day, which means there’s a lot of people that are staying with family and friends or they’re staying in hotel rooms.  And so, that’s one of the things we can cover.  It’s one of the programs through the major disaster declarations.  We can reimburse these families for the hotel costs that they’re experiencing now, in addition to giving them that Serious Needs Assistance of $770 for, like, clothes.  They just need to buy clothes.  They left with nothing. 

I mean, so, those are the first kinds of infor- — not information, but resources that we’re going to be able to provide to so many families.

And in addition to the just over 6,000 that you mentioned, Mr. President, that have already gotten the Serious Needs Assistance, we’ve got almost 33,000 that have registered for assistance.  And this number goes up a little bit every day, but we think it’s going to continue to rise as we can get into the communities. 

We have our Disaster Survivor Assistance team members that are going out into the community.  You know, they normally walk door to door.  In this case, the fires are still burning, so they can’t.  And so, we have them in the shelters, but we’ve also put them in the public libraries, where we know people are probably going to help register to get information.

And then we’ll continue to work with the mayor and the governor on other places where we can send our folks so we can reach the people that haven’t gotten into the system yet.  And so, we’ll continue to work with them to make sure that we can support them as they register for assistance. 

And some of them are already getting notices and letters, you know, that the information has been received but it’s not final yet.  There’s a lot of confusion about that right now, and we recognize that. 

THE PRESIDENT:  Explain that a little more.

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  So, when somebody registers for assistance and they have not submitted all of their documentation, like what their insurance company is going to pr- — cover or not cover, they’ll get a letter from us saying, “You’re not approved yet.”  They’ll — 

THE PRESIDENT:  Can they get a letter if their — if they have no home, how do they get a letter?

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  It’s through email.  So, they get an email notification —

THE PRESIDENT:  I — I just want to make sure we (inaudible).

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  Yeah.  They get an email notification to check their case and that it’s been updated.  But we want them to know that it just means we need the — the rest of that documentation. 

So, I’ve directed my team to start calling every one of these families that have already gotten this type of a notification so we can make sure that they know that, “Hey, we just need more documentation.  We want to work with you and help you through this.”  Because it’s traumatizing, right?  And then to have this bureaucracy, you know, limit that, we w- — I’m trying to take away the bureaucracy, at your direction.  That’s “how much can I get rid of?”  This is one of the things we’re going to do is add that personal touch and call all of these families that have already received this notice so we can get them the assistance that they’re eligible for and help them upload the documentation that they might need.

THE PRESIDENT:  You hear it reported by the press that there’s misinformation being put out there by — from some sources or even people identifying themselves and going on the air saying such and such. 

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT:  Are — are you seeing much of that, and does it have an impact on the — on the public?

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  We are seeing some of that, similar to what we saw in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton. 

We even saw somebody put out a way to spread a message through phones that said FEMA is going to provide three years of coverage for hotel rooms, which was completely false and not sent by us. 

And so, our external affairs team works hard to put out the right information.  And we work with the community to try to get the trusted voices within the community to help get the right message out —

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  — and know who they need to go to in order to get this process started. 

And, unfortunately, there’s a lot of people that try to take advantage of these families that have lost everything, try to apply for assistance on their behalf, try to get them to apply on a false website.  Those are the things that we see in almost every disaster.  It just continues to get worse and worse, it seems like, disaster after disaster.

THE PRESIDENT:  I think that’s right. 

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Given that the winds may pick up tonight and the evacuation geography may change, how are individuals and families going to be alerted if they are now required to evacuate, especially if it happens during the night?

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  Yeah, that’s something that the state and the county have a system to do a wireless emergency alert.  It’ll go right to their cell phone if there’s an evacuation order for their area.  And even if somebody drives into the area, it will let them know that they are in an evacuation zone. 

When I was there, my phone would go off when I would drive into the different areas — when I would drive into Pasadena — saying, “This is an evacuation zone.  You need to leave.”

And so, that alert system goes out, and they have their own provider that sends those out.  It’s all directed at the county level. 

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And then, do you know whether the requests that have been made of the federal government, local, state — are they all being met or are there any that have yet to be met?

ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL:  So, all of the firefighting requests that are going through Randy and all his folks are all being met. 

We are starting this planning process for the — the recovery, and we’re pre-positioning some resources, like food and water, closer to the area if they need it. 

California’s resource — they’ve got a lot of resources, and so they have plenty that they’re drawing from their own stockpiles right now and don’t need ours, but we want to make sure, if they do, we have ours ready to go. 

And so, anything that the state has asked for outside of the fires that FEMA would provide, we’ve been able to meet all of those requests.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Liz, do you have —

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — anything to add to that?

DR. SHERWOOD-RANDALL:  Thank you very much.  I’m all good.

So, with that —

AIDE:  Thanks, guys.  Thank you, press. 

6:40 P.M. EST

The post Remarks by President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Senior White House and Administration Officials During Briefing on the Full Federal Response to the Wildfires Across Los Angeles appeared first on The White House.

Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security Release New Resources to Help Schools Improve Active Shooter Drills

Emerging Firearm Threats Task Force Sends President Biden Report on Machinegun Conversion Devices and 3D Printed Firearms

The Biden-Harris Administration has overseen the two largest single-year decreases in homicide ever recorded.  Violence in many cities is at pre-pandemic levels.  The Administration helped contribute to these historic decreases through unprecedented public safety funding for states, cities, law enforcement, and community violence interventions; more executive action on gun violence prevention than any other Administration; passing and implementing the first significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years; and the establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention (OGVP) to coordinate and lead the Administration’s effort to reduce gun crime and other forms of gun violence.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announces that it completed the work required under the Executive Order President Biden signed in September 2024, directing federal agencies to: 1) help schools improve school-based active shooter drills; and 2) combat the emerging threats of machinegun conversion devices and unserialized, 3D printed firearms. 

New Federal Resources to Help Schools Improve School-Based Active Shooter Drills

Today, the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Homeland Security each are releasing new resources to help schools design and deploy school-based active shooter drills.  The majority of schools use drills to prepare for an active shooter situation.  However, there is very limited research on how to design and deploy these drills to maximize their impact and minimize any harms they might cause.

The Biden-Harris Administration has worked to dramatically reduce the impacts of gun violence on our schools, educators, and students.  We have made the largest-ever federal government investment in youth mental health and unprecedented funding and resources for schools to prevent and respond to gun violence.  We have also advanced strategies to keep guns out of the hands of students or those who seek to do harm, including by funding the implementation of red flag laws, enhancing background checks for people under 21 who are trying to buy guns, and equipping school leaders with tools to educate parents about the importance of safely storing any firearms in their homes.

While federal, state, and local leaders must continue these strategies to reduce the prevalence of gun violence in schools and communities, the new resources will help schools improve drills so they can effectively prepare for an active shooter situation while also preventing or minimizing any trauma school communities may experience in performing drills. The new resources are summarized below.

• The U.S. Department of Education’s resource, Considerations for Education Leaders in Preparing for Active Drills in Schools, provides substantive considerations school officials can use to plan for before, during, and after school-based active shooter drills.  School administrators and other leaders may find this resource helpful when they are working to design and deploy school-based active shooter drills to save lives and minimize any unintended consequences.  The information in this resource is based on robust outreach with practitioners, experts, and advocates, and are in line with existing research and evidence even as additional research is underway.  For example, the resource explains that schools should provide advance notice about active shooter drills to school communities, including parents; avoid simulated gun violence (including highly sensorial elements like fake gunfire); be age-appropriate and designed in similar ways that schools teach academic content; address the needs of all staff and students (including those in need of special accommodations) and ensure all students (including those with disabilities and English Learners) are provided an equal opportunity to participate in safety training; and always provide a clear, consistent message accessible to all students that the event is a drill.  This resource can be found here.

• The Department of Health and Human Services’ resource, Active Shooter Drills Research: An Annotated Bibliography, summarizes research on active shooter drills.  While there is a need for additional research, this document compiles relevant research for school administrators and other leaders to reference when making decisions about drill design. Researchers may also find this resource useful when working to identify gaps in the research that need to be filled.  This resource can be found here.

• The Department of Homeland Security’s resource, Active Shooter Landscape Assessment, summarizes the different types of active shooter drills currently in use in K-12 schools.  School administrators and other leaders may find this document helpful when they want a better understanding of their choices when designing school-based active shooter drills. This resource can be found here.

Combatting Emerging Firearm Threats

Emerging firearm threats like machinegun conversion devices (MCDs) and 3D printed firearms are deadly new trends that are taking innocent lives. In September 2024, the President signed an Executive Order to establish the federal Emerging Firearm Threats Task Force and ordered it to deliver to him a report that includes a risk assessment of these new threats and new strategies to stop the proliferation of MCDs and 3D printed firearms. The Task Force submitted this report to the President in December 2024.

There are viable strategies to reduce the proliferation of emerging firearm threats, strategies that must continue if the United States is going to stay ahead of these emerging threats.  Key strategies include:

• Enforcement action that focuses on the source of the threats, including illegal import of physical products and the availability of computer code used for 3D printing.

• Identifying and shutting down websites offering illegal products for sale.

• Investing in promising technological solutions that can impede the ability to 3D print illegal products. 

Below is a summary of key points on the risks compiled by the Task Force and potential strategies for combatting emerging firearms threats.

Potential Strategies for Combatting Emerging Firearms Threats

Following an assessment of the risks and data provided by the Task Force, OGVP identified the following strategies for combatting emerging firearms threats:

Machinegun Conversion Devices 

Federal agencies have a number of capabilities and legal authorities to detect, intercept, and seize MCDs.  The main pathways include: (1) seizing the websites that illegally offer MCDs for sale, (2) identifying MCDs at ports of entry, and (3) using traditional forensic tools and building new methods to trace 3D printed MCDs back to their origin.

• Websites: Recently, federal authorities seized more than 350 Internet domains that foreign companies used to sell and illegally import MCDs into the United States in violation of the National Firearms Act and other laws prohibiting trafficking in counterfeit goods.  The websites’ domains were used to import illegal MCDs and silencers from China.  Foreign sellers are continuing to establish these websites, so continued law enforcement prioritization of tracking and shuttering the illegal websites selling MCDs is essential.  Law enforcement should continue to use traditional investigatory methods and new technology to efficiently identify and quickly shut down websites that illegally sell MCDs.  OGVP supports a civil process for suspending websites, especially foreign-based websites, that are selling MCDs in the United States. 

• Port of Entry: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has targeted and tracked illegal MCDs since 2019.  CBP has provided all ports of entry with guidance material that highlights trends in shipping and concealment tactics.  CBP should continuously refresh these trainings and guidance to capture new tactics illegal MCD importers are using to avoid detection.

• Tracing 3D Printed Devices: There are already established traditional forensic toolmark methods to determine the source of a 3D printed MCD.  In addition, digital forensics techniques such as computed tomography and sonication may help identify the producer, the printer, or other specific information on a recovered MCD to help enforcement efforts.  Over time and with advancements in this technology, MCDs could be traced and mapped back to supply chains.  These technology solutions require federal, private sector, and philanthropic investment to become viable.

While there is no current U.S. law regulating the simple possession of computer code that could be used to 3D print MCDs, there are statutory authorities to prevent the illegal import and export of such code. Relevant authorities differentiate whether individuals placing MCD files onto the Internet are based in the United States or abroad. 

• Export: The Department of State (DOS) has jurisdiction over the export of MCDs and related technical data.  Thus, DOS has jurisdiction over a person in the United States who places MCD files onto the Internet. But, unlike the Department of Commerce (DOC), DOS has not published a regulation explaining the contours of its jurisdiction.  DOS should consider regulating computer code in the same fashion DOC regulates the computer code used for 3D printing firearms (which is explained in the next section) or moving jurisdiction for MCDs to DOC. 

• Import: The regulation of firearm imports falls under the jurisdiction of DOJ.  The legal authority to regulate these imports derives from the same statute, the Arms Export Control Act, that grants DOS their authorities. However, while DOJ defines “defense articles” on the U.S. Munitions Import List to include MCDs produced by 3D printers, it does not explicitly cover the computer code used to 3D print MCDs or define “importation” to include downloading computer files from abroad.  OGVP recommends that the interpretation of export and import laws be harmonized and applied to best prevent the distribution of computer code used to print MCDs.

There are also potential emerging software solutions to prevent or impede the 3D printing of MCDs.  Due to the reliance of 3D printers on software to convert MCD 3D designs (.stl files) to G-code, the nature of distribution of software and files for printing, and potential partnerships between the federal government and software companies, there are a range of software-based approaches to addressing this problem.  Members of industry and academia are working together on promising potential avenues to interrupt or block the printing of MCDs, which requires additional federal and philanthropic funding to continue the research and development.  There is significant opportunity for continued collaboration between the federal government, technology companies, philanthropy, and civil society.  Congress should authorize and fund the collaborative effort so it can continue to research live-saving solutions.

One limitation on stopping the proliferation of MCDs is that there are few laws related to the software and technology used to 3D print MCDs.  In a manner consistent with the 1st and 2nd Amendments, OGVP urges Congress to prohibit the possession, distribution, and use of computer code that can be readily used in a 3D printer to make an MCD, and create liability for the websites that permit these files to be accessed.

Unserialized or Undetectable 3D Printed Firearms 

While there is no current U.S. law regulating the simple possession of computer code that could be used to 3D print firearms, there are statutory authorities to prevent the illegal import and export of such code. Relevant authorities differentiate whether individuals placing files onto the Internet are based in the United States or abroad.  OGVP recommends that the interpretation of export and import laws be harmonized and applied to best prevent the distribution of computer code used to print unserialized or undetectable 3D printed firearms.

• Export: The Department of Commerce (DOC) has promulgated a regulation for addressing computer code that can be used to 3D print firearms pursuant to the Export Control Reform Act.[1]  DOC regulates code that is “ready for insertion” into a 3D printer and posted on the Internet.  DOC’s policy covers code that can directly interface with a 3D printer (e.g., G-code) as well as the code of the 3D design that only needs to be converted to G-code through widely available “slicer” software and with minimal additional information or manipulation from the individual.[2]  This provision applies to individuals in the United States who place code on the Internet.  Further interagency collaboration would assist DOC in identifying instances where an individual posts offending code on the Internet.

• Import: The regulation of foreign actors who place computer code on the Internet that could be accessed by individuals in the United States and used to 3D print firearms falls under the jurisdiction of the DOJ.  The legal authority to regulate these imports is substantially similar to the statute that is used by DOC, the Export Control Reform Act.  However, while DOJ defines “defense articles” on the U.S. Munitions Import List to include firearms produced by 3D printers, it does not explicitly cover the computer code used to 3D print firearms or define “importation” to include downloading computer files from abroad.  OGVP notes that these are areas where regulations can be strengthened.

DOJ has not engaged with the additive manufacturing industry on strategies to impede the 3D printing of firearms, but many of the same strategies for addressing 3D printed MCDs may be available.  OGVP suggests that one place to start a collaboration would be on fully plastic firearms that can evade a metal detector.

Like MCDs, one limitation in stopping the proliferation of 3D printed firearms is the lack of laws directly addressing the software and technology related to 3D printing of firearms.  Because of the risk posed by 3D printing firearms to enable prohibited individuals to access firearms, facilitate gun trafficking and illegal gun dealing, and create firearms that evade metal detectors, OGVP proposes that in a manner consistent with the 1st and 2nd Amendments, Congress should prohibit the distribution of software that is ready to be used in a 3D printer to make a firearm, including software that can be easily converted to that form.

Additionally, the Undetectable Firearms Act should be modernized and updated to fully capture the technical specifications of the firearms that can evade security and include prohibitions on the computer code used to 3D print undetectable firearms.

Risk Assessment

Machinegun Conversion Devices 

MCDs are a clear and present danger that pose a substantial threat to public safety and law enforcement because they convert semiautomatic rifles and pistols into fully automatic firearms that fire at rates comparable to military machineguns – up to thousands of rounds per minute.  Often small and difficult to identify, MCDs are inexpensive to make and, due to their size and concealability, much easier to traffic than complete weapons.  The devices are easy to obtain, install, and use. For purposes of federal law, MCDs are classified as machineguns, even when not installed on a firearm, and are subject to all the restrictions in the federal firearm laws applicable to the manufacture, possession, and use of machineguns.[3]

From January 1, 2022, to October 24, 2024, there were approximately 12,374 suspected MCDs recovered by law enforcement agencies and submitted for tracing to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).  In that period, the top ten recovery states comprised 64.4% (7,956) of the 12,360 MCDs recovered in the United States.  Florida (1,516), Illinois (1,376), Texas (1,045), Montana (1,030), and North Dakota (999) have submitted nearly half of all domestic recoveries (48.3% of 12,360).[4]  This total count of MCDs is very likely underinclusive as many MCDs are not submitted into the tracing system or are not identified by law enforcement officers at the time of recovery due to their inconspicuous nature.  One reason that so many MCDs are not identified by law enforcement is because they are not illegal under many state laws, and therefore, local law enforcement officers may not have been trained to identify and confiscate them.

The two principal ways that MCDs are currently acquired in the United States are through illegal imports and illegal 3D printing.  Although the MCDs themselves are machineguns and individuals cannot lawfully possess them under federal law and the laws of about half of the states, except under very limited circumstances, possession of the computer code used to produce them is currently unregulated under federal law. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has targeted and seized an estimated 16,000 MCDs at the ports of entry since 2019, with the number of seizures increasing between FY22 and FY24.  The import trends have changed over time with shipments now containing a higher volume of MCDs.  The shipment size has increased from 1-2 MCDs per shipment to upwards of 50 per shipment.

MCD importers often use websites readily available to the general public to market their illegal products with websites operating like traditional e-commerce sites where products can be compared, purchased, and shipped to a customer.  A recent investigation by federal law enforcement shut down 350 websites and identified that MCD importers were also using social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok) to market their MCD business and run ads that target certain user accounts in the United States.  MCDs imported into the United States are almost exclusively from the People’s Republic of China.  After a purchase is made, MCDs are mislabeled on customs invoices as random parts, toys, and other innocuous items to thwart detection. 

Software files that can be used to 3D print MCDs are available to the public on the Internet for little or no cost and can be downloaded in minutes on any phone or computer with access to the Internet.  Once the design file is converted to G-code (the code necessary to 3D print an item), an inexpensive 3D printer (less than $150 or accessed for free at a public library) can be used to quickly print a functional MCD.  The 3D printed version of an MCD is nearly as reliable as the metal part.

Unserialized or Undetectable 3D Printed Firearms 

The emergence of unserialized, 3D printed firearms pose significant domestic and international threats.  Domestically, 3D printers can produce firearm components that, when assembled, create fully-functional, untraceable firearms.  While it is legal for individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms to make their own firearms, whether using 3D printing or otherwise, these types of firearms can create serious challenges for law enforcement, especially when in the hands of prohibited individuals, gun traffickers or unlicensed sellers.  Unserialized firearms cannot legally be sold by gun dealers nor provided to others otherwise prohibited from receiving or possessing firearms.  Internationally, Canadian authorities report a rise in 3D printed firearms, although illicit handguns in Canada are primarily sourced from stolen or smuggled U.S. weapons.

Unserialized firearms pose unique threats to public safety.  Law enforcement relies on the tracing of firearms recovered at crime scenes to identify the most recent purchaser of a firearm, thereby creating an investigative lead.  It is nearly impossible to trace unserialized firearms because they lack the necessary identification markings upon which tracing relies.  A law enforcement officer who encounters an unserialized firearm at a crime scene will therefore be unable to generate an investigative lead from a firearm trace.  In addition, unserialized firearms may not be traced to their point of origin, precluding firearm trafficking investigations from determining larger illegal trafficking patterns and those responsible for the trafficking.  These public safety concerns are the same whether the firearm is assembled from a ghost gun kit or 3D printed.

Undetectable firearms are not detectable by standard metal detectors and pose a particularly acute threat because they can be smuggled into sensitive areas such as airports, courthouses, government facilities, and large arenas.  Undetectable firearms may be made entirely of polymer, without metal, which is why they are undetectable by standard metal detectors.  While unserialized and undetectable firearms pose distinct threats, they are related because undetectable firearms may be produced by consumers using commercially available 3D printers.  The availability of undetectable firearms presents serious threats to public safety and national security.  The availability of 3D printing and files to print an undetectable firearm enables individuals to bypass background checks, border control, and other security measures, increasing the potential for prohibited persons, terrorists, and criminal organizations to use these weapons.  

Like simple possession of the computer code for 3D printing MCDs, simple possession of the computer code that enables a person to 3D print an undetectable firearm is not currently illegal under U.S. law.  The computer code needed for 3D printing can be downloaded or received from individuals on forums and purchased through web-based marketplaces, including on the dark web.  Though some expertise is needed, 3D printer users with minimal additional technical skills can successfully 3D print a firearm.

Transnational and terrorist criminal organizations, including cartels, have increasingly exploited 3D printing technology to manufacture firearms.  This capability allows them to bypass traditional supply chains and border controls, making it easier to arm their networks without detection.  These groups’ use of 3D printed firearms amplifies violence, disrupts security, and complicates efforts to combat organized crime.  The ease of production and distribution of 3D printed weapons, by or for the use of criminal or terrorist organizations, poses threats not only to the U.S., but also to its partner nations, straining law enforcement and national security measures.  The trend of 3D printed firearms’ use in transnational crime underscores the need for coordinated international regulations and prevention strategies to address the proliferation of these weapons.

[1] 15 C.F.R. § 734.7(c). “The following remains subject to the EAR: “software” or “technology” for the production of a firearm, or firearm frame or receiver, controlled under ECCNs 0A501, 0A506, 0A507, or 0A509, that is made available by posting on the internet in an electronic format, such as AMF or G-code, and is ready for insertion into a computer numerically controlled machine tool, additive manufacturing equipment, or any other equipment that makes use of the “software” or “technology” to produce the firearm frame or receiver or complete firearm.”

[2] In 2020, DOC provided public guidance on what types of files are covered in an FAQ document available on the BIS website. See https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/documents/policy-guidance/2572-faqs-for-the-commerce-category-i-iii-firearms-rule-posted-on-bis-website-7-7-20/file. If a person is unsure whether the criteria of section 734.7(c) are met, including whether the “technology” or “software” is ready for insertion into a computer numerically controlled machine tool, additive manufacturing equipment, or any other equipment, persons with such “technology” or “software” can submit an official classification request to BIS using the free online submission system, called SNAP-R, available on the BIS website to receive an official classification.

[3] See, Title 26, U.S.C., Section 5845(b) and Title 18, U.S.C., Section 922(o).

[4] Note that certain of these seizure statistics may include Forced-Reset Triggers, and the legality of certain types of Forced-Reset Triggers is subject to ongoing litigation.  Compare United States v. Rare Breed Triggers, LLC, 690 F. Supp. 3d 51, 88 (E.D.N.Y. 2023) (“[T]he Government is likely to succeed on the merits of its contention that the FRT-15,” a type of Forced-Reset Trigger, “is an illegal machinegun.”) with Nat’l Ass’n for Gun Rts., Inc. v. Garland, No. 4:23-CV-00830-O, 2024 WL 3517504, at *1 (N.D. Tex. July 23, 2024) (holding that the FRT-15 and WOT, a similar type of Forced-Reset Trigger, are not illegal machineguns). 

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President Biden spoke today with President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi of Egypt. The two leaders discussed the negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal based on the arrangement described by President Biden last year and endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council. The President thanked President Sisi for his leadership and praised the mediating role of Egypt throughout the process. He emphasized that this deal would never have been possible without Egypt’s essential and historic role in the Middle East and commitment to diplomacy for resolving conflicts. Both leaders emphasized the urgent need for a deal to be implemented to bring immediate relief to the people of Gaza through a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by the ceasefire together with the return of hostages to their families. Both leaders committed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming hours.

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Dear Mr. Speaker:   (Dear Madam President:)

Consistent with Section 204(e) of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2024 (Div. G, title II, P.L. 118‑42) and section 101(d)(2) of the Joint Resolution to approve the “Compact of Free Association” between the United States and the Government of Palau, and for other purposes (P.L. 99-658), I transmit here the 2024 Federal Programs and Services Agreement between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Republic of Palau (2024 Palau FPSA).

Consistent with section 101(f) of title I of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-188) and Section 204(e) of the Compact of Free Association Amendments Act of 2024 (Div. G, title II, P.L. 118-42) I transmit here the 2024 Federal Programs and Services Agreement between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands with Annexes (2024 Marshall Islands FPSA).

The reasons for these agreements with Palau and the Marshall Islands are to assist in their development and maintain our close relationship with each country.  The 2024 FPSA agreements with Palau and the Marshall Islands would continue most of the services specified in those agreements as they have been provided to each country under previous agreements, with some technical updates.  The 2024 FPSAs include significant changes to the provision of postal services for both Palau and the Marshall Islands, including more detailed specifications on the minimum level of services provided, allowing the United States Postal Service (USPS) to reduce the individual services within certain categories.  The 2024 FPSA with Palau would also make FDIC insurance available to Palau-chartered banks for the first time, such that existing and future Palau-chartered depository institutions would be eligible to apply for FDIC insurance.  A new component of the 2024 FPSA with the Marshall Islands would make FDIC insurance available to existing Marshall Islands‑chartered institutions, such that they could apply for FDIC insurance.  In addition, the 2024 FPSAs’ general provisions that apply to all U.S. Federal agencies providing programs and services in Palau and the Marshall Islands — not just those providing programs and services under the FPSAs — would last in perpetuity unless terminated by mutual agreement.  This ensures that benefits for U.S. Federal agencies, personnel, and contractors, including certain privileges and immunities, tax exemptions, and claims and dispute settlement procedures, will continue beyond 2043.  With regard to the 2024 FPSA with the Marshall Islands, significant changes relating to disaster assistance include a revision to the process for declaring disasters, increased contributions to the Disaster Assistance Emergency Fund, and changes to promote disaster preparedness.

I commend to the Congress the 2024 Palau FPSA between the United States of America and the Republic of Palau and the 2024 Marshall Islands FPSA between the United States of America and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

                              Sincerely,

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Over the past four years, President Biden and Vice President Harris leveraged the full force of the federal government to advance rights of and opportunities for women and girls across the country and around the globe. From defending reproductive freedom, delivering the highest women’s labor force participation on record, making historic investments in the care economy, and lowering drug prices for women with Medicare to fighting to end violence against women, advancing the human rights of women and girls globally, and promoting women’s political participation and leadership, President Biden and Vice President Harris invested in the future of women and girls.

Defended Reproductive Freedom

With reproductive freedom under attack, President Biden and Vice President Harris fought to ensure that women across the country are able to make deeply personal health care decisions and access the reproductive health care they need. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the President and Vice President called on Congress to restore the protections of Roe in federal law. President Biden also signed three Executive Orders and a Presidential Memorandum directing his Administration to protect access to reproductive health care and established the White House Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access to coordinate these efforts across agencies.

• Protected Access to Medication Abortion. In 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took independent, evidence-based action to allow mifepristone—a safe and effective drug used in medication abortion that FDA first approved more than 20 years ago—to be prescribed by telehealth and sent by mail and to enable interested pharmacies to become certified to dispense the medication. As a result of the new pathway established by FDA, many pharmacies across the country, including major retail pharmacy chains, became certified to dispense medication abortion, giving many women the option to pick up their prescription for medication abortion at a local, certified pharmacy just as they would for any other medication. The FDA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) also defended FDA’s independent, expert judgment, including in a lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court that attempted to curtail access to mifepristone nationwide. And the Administration took action to support patients, providers, and pharmacies who wish to legally access, prescribe, or provide medication abortion, consistent with a Presidential Memorandum issued by President Biden on what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

• Defended Access to Emergency Abortion Care. The Administration fought to ensure that all patients, including women who are experiencing pregnancy loss and other pregnancy-related emergencies, have access to the full rights and protections for emergency medical care afforded under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)—including abortion care when that is the stabilizing treatment required. To educate health care providers on their rights and obligations for emergency medical care, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance and sent letters to health care provider associations affirming the Administration’s view that EMTALA preempts conflicting state law restricting access to abortion in emergency situations. DOJ defended that interpretation, including in litigation before the Supreme Court.

HHS has enforced EMTALA and helped ensure that patients facing all types of medical emergencies receive the care to which they are entitled. As part of its comprehensive plan to educate all patients about their rights and to help ensure hospitals meet their obligations under federal law, HHS launched a new option on CMS.gov, in both English and Spanish, to enable individuals to more easily file an EMTALA complaint; developed new accessible and understandable resources about patient rights and protections under EMTALA and the process for submitting a complaint; disseminated training materials and new model signage for health care providers; and established a dedicated team of experts to increase HHS’s capacity to support hospitals and providers in complying with federal requirements.

• Defended the Right to Travel. On the day the Supreme Court overturned Roe, President Biden reaffirmed the Attorney General’s statement that women must remain free to travel safely to another state to seek the care they need. DOJ filed statements of interest in litigation challenging the Alabama Attorney General’s threat to prosecute people who provide assistance to women seeking lawful out-of-state abortions. DOJ explained that the threatened Alabama prosecutions infringe the constitutional right to travel and made clear that states may not punish third parties for assisting women in exercising that right. DOJ also monitored states’ efforts to restrict the constitutional right to travel across state lines to receive lawful health care.

• Strengthened Access to Affordable, High-Quality Contraception. In response to directives from President Biden—including an Executive Order issued nearly one year after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe—the Administration improved contraception access and affordability under the Affordable Care Act, through Medicare and Medicaid, through federal health centers, and for Service members, veterans, federal employees, and college students. For instance, the Departments of the Treasury, Labor, and HHS issued new guidance to support expanded coverage of a broader range of FDA-approved contraceptives at no cost under the Affordable Care Act; proposed rules to strengthen access to contraception for women with private health insurance; and bolstered the standard for inclusion of family planning providers in Marketplace plan provider networks under the Affordable Care Act. HHS issued new guidance and letters to state Medicaid programs and Children’s Health Insurance Programs to outline existing state obligations to help ensure that enrollees can access family planning services; updated the Medicare Part D formulary clinical review process to include additional contraceptive types; and adopted new data measures for federal health centers to help enhance the overall delivery of voluntary family planning and related services. And FDA approved the first daily oral contraceptive for over-the-counter use, which is now widely available nationwide.

• Bolstered Family Planning Services by Rebuilding the Title X Family Planning Program. The Administration rebuilt and grew the Title X Family Planning Program, which has played a critical role in ensuring access to a broad range of high-quality family planning and preventive health services for more than 50 years. During the prior administration, more than 1,000 service sites left the Title X Family Planning Program, leading to a significant decline in people served. The Administration reversed changes that led to those departures, strengthening the Title X Family Planning Program and helping safeguard this critical part of the nation’s health safety net. In 2023, the Administration provided about $287 million to nearly 4,000 Title X providers across the country to provide free or low-cost voluntary planning and related preventive services for 2.8 million women and families—an 80% increase since 2020.

• Safeguarded the Privacy of Patients and Health Care Providers. HHS issued new rules to strengthen privacy protections for information related to reproductive health care under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and to support health care providers in protecting patients’ electronic health information. HHS also issued a how-to guide on steps that consumers can take to better protect their data on personal cell phones or tablets and when using mobile health apps, which are generally not protected by HIPAA. The Federal Trade Commission clarified the health breach notification rule’s applicability to health apps and other similar technologies and took enforcement action against companies for disclosing consumers’ personal health information, including highly sensitive reproductive health data, without permission. The Department of Education issued guidance to over 20,000 school officials to remind them of their obligations to protect student privacy and issued a know-your-rights resource to help students understand their privacy rights for health records at school. And the Federal Communications Commission launched a guide for consumers on best practices for protecting their personal data, including geolocation data, on mobile phones and strengthened data breach rules to provide greater protections to personal data.

• Protected Access to Reproductive Health Care for Veterans and Service Members. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) revised its regulations to provide abortion counseling and, in certain circumstances, abortion care to veterans and VA beneficiaries and eliminated out-of-pocket costs for certain types of contraception through the Civilian Health and Medical Program. And the Department of Defense (DoD) took action to ensure that Service members and their families can access reproductive health care and that the Department’s health care providers can operate effectively. DoD issued new policies to support Service members and their families’ ability to travel for lawful reproductive health care, to bolster Service members’ privacy, and to afford Service members the time and space needed to make personal health care decisions. DoD also expanded walk-in contraceptive care services for active-duty Service members and other Military Health System beneficiaries and eliminated TRICARE copays for certain contraceptive services.

• Supported Access to Fertility Care, Including IVF. In the face of threats and extreme attacks on fertility services, the Administration supported access to fertility care, including in vitro fertilization (IVF)—an important aspect of reproductive health care. DoD and the VA expanded eligibility for IVF services for certain Service members and veterans. And the Office of Personnel Management significantly expanded access to IVF benefits and coverage to support federal workers in growing their families. For 2025, federal employees and their families—regardless of where they live—were able to choose from multiple nationwide plan options that offer comprehensive IVF coverage.

• Partnered with State Leaders on the Frontlines of Abortion Access. The White House partnered with leaders on the frontlines of protecting access to abortion—both those fighting extreme state legislation and those advancing proactive policies to protect access to reproductive health care, including for patients who are forced to travel out of state for care. The Vice President led these efforts, highlighting the harm of abortion bans to women’s health at more than 100 events in over 20 states and meeting with hundreds of state legislators, health care providers, and advocates. And, on what would have been the 51st anniversary of Roe, the Vice President launched her nationwide Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour to continue fighting back against extreme attacks throughout America.

• Supported Sexual and Reproductive Health Globally. While defending reproductive freedom domestically, the Administration remained steadfast in supporting sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. The January 2021 Presidential Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad revoked the expanded global gag rule, restored life-saving funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and required that adequate funds be directed to support women’s health needs globally, including for sexual and reproductive health services. During this Administration, the United States remained the largest bilateral donor to global family planning assistance—a commitment spanning more than five decades. And we worked to accelerate access to family planning and prevent maternal mortality—providing over $1.7 billion to support global maternal and child health programs and over $1.8 billion to support global family planning and reproductive health programs from FY 2021 to FY 2023.

Improved Women’s Health and Addressed Health Disparities

The President and Vice President believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and expanded health care access for millions more Americans while also lowering health care costs. The Administration built on, strengthened, and protected Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, and the President’s American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act lowered prescription drug costs and health insurance premiums. The President and First Lady led the way in fundamentally changing how we approach and fund women’s health research to pioneer the next generation of discoveries in women’s health. And the Vice President led the Administration’s efforts to address the nation’s maternal health crisis.

• Lowered Drug Prices for Millions of Women. The Administration fought to ensure that no American has to choose between paying for medications they need to live, or paying for other basic necessities. President Biden took on Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs, saving millions of seniors money on health care and reducing the cost of insulin to $35 per monthly prescription for people with Medicare. For the first time in history, Medicare reached agreements on new, lower prices with the manufacturers of ten drugs selected for the first round of drug price negotiation. These drugs are used to treat many common diseases and conditions that affect women, including blood clots, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, heart failure, autoimmune conditions, and chronic kidney disease, and are taken by 9 million seniors, including 4.5 million women. When these lower prices go into effect, people on Medicare will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs, and Medicare will save $6 billion in the first year alone.

• Lowered Health Care Premiums under the Affordable Care Act. Today, more Americans have health insurance than under any previous President, and enrollment in Affordable Care Act Marketplace coverage nearly doubled during the last four years. Ahead of the end of the 2025 open enrollment period, the Administration set an all-time record for Affordable Care Act Marketplace enrollment, with nearly 24 million Americans signing up for coverage. And women made up more than half of the record-breaking number of people with Affordable Care Act coverage for 2025. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act, millions of women and working families saved an average of $800 per year on health insurance premiums.

• Closed Gaps in Women’s Health Research. Recognizing that research on women’s health remains underfunded and understudied, President Biden launched the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council to spur innovation, unleash transformative investment to close research gaps, and improve women’s health. The First Lady announced nearly $1 billion in new federal investments in women’s health research galvanized by the Initiative, including through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s first-of-its-kind Sprint for Women’s Health. The President called on Congress in the State of the Union to make a record $12 billion investment in women’s health research, and he signed an Executive Order directing the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken to expand and improve research on women’s health. In December, the First Lady convened a White House Conference on Women’s Health Research.

• Improved Maternal Health Outcomes. Under the Vice President’s leadership, the Administration took action to improve maternal health and eliminate racial disparities by reducing pregnancy-related complications and mortality, which disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and rural women.

• Addressed the Maternal Health Crisis. In June 2022, the Vice President announced the Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, a comprehensive effort to combat maternal mortality and morbidity. Since the Blueprint was released, the Administration has made significant strides in improving maternal health for women across the country. Over the past four years, HHS launched a new Birthing-Friendly designation to identify hospitals and health systems that deliver high-quality, evidence-based maternity care; announced a new Transforming Maternal Health Model to help develop and implement a whole-person approach to care; established the first-ever baseline federal health and safety requirements for maternal emergency and obstetric services; expanded funding for Maternal Mortality Review Committees; and took action to grow and support the maternal health workforce.

• Helped Women and Families Access Critical Maternal Health Services. Since Vice President Harris issued a call to action in 2021, to date, 47 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have extended Medicaid postpartum coverage from two to 12 months of post-pregnancy care. This coverage option was first made possible by President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and then made permanent by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. In addition, four new states adopted the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, covering over a million people, many for the first time. The Administration also expanded maternity care for veterans, who now have access to maternity care coordinators through 12 months postpartum, helping connect veterans with care after delivery, follow-up screenings, and mental health support.

• Tackled the Mental Health Crisis. As part of the President’s Unity Agenda, the Administration took action to transform how mental health is understood, accessed, treated, and integrated in and out of health care settings. Thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the Administration delivered the largest investment in school-based mental health services ever, providing nearly $1 billion to help train and hire an additional 16,000 mental health professionals to work in America’s K-12 schools. HHS also launched FindSupport.gov and 988, the Nationwide Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which has connected millions of Americans in crisis to immediate, confidential, and free care from trained counselors. Additionally, HHS prioritized maternal mental health, including by launching the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline (1-833-TLC-MAMA) to help tens of thousands of perinatal women access needed support, the Task Force on Maternal Mental Health, and the Talking Postpartum Depression public education campaign and learning collaborative.

• Addressed Girls’ Risk of HIV/AIDS Globally. Under this Administration, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) focused on addressing health equity for vulnerable populations globally – including adolescent girls and young women, children and other key populations. The Administration expanded DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) – a public-private partnership launched as part of PEPFAR in 2014 – to reach more adolescent girls and young women with HIV prevention services, investing approximately $360 million to reach over 2.9 million girls and young women across 15 countries.

• Improved Maternal Health Globally. USAID’s maternal and child health and nutrition programs have played a pivotal role in saving millions of lives by driving down mortality rates through improved health care access and delivery. From FY 2021 to FY 2023, the Department of State and USAID invested more than $7 billion in global health programming to prevent child and maternal deaths. In 2023, USAID supported 12 million women to give birth at health facilities receiving U.S. government assistance and reached 11 million pregnant women with nutrition counseling services.

• Invested in the Global Health Worker Initiative. The Administration launched the Global Health Worker Initiative (GHWI), recognizing that a health workforce that is supported, equipped, and protected to provide essential public health functions is integral to reclaiming lost ground from the COVID-19 pandemic and preparing for future health threats. Through the GHWI, we better aligned investments in health workers across the U.S. government, built stronger partnerships on the health workforce with bilateral partners, multilateral institutions, including the World Health Organization, and other philanthropic partners, and reoriented our global health programs toward cohesive efforts that build stronger and more resilient health systems.

Strengthened Women’s Economic Security

The Administration invested in America’s future by ensuring women have access to good jobs and safe workplaces free from discrimination. The President’s economic agenda led to historic gains in women’s labor force participation. Globally, we supported women’s economic security by promoting women’s access to jobs in sectors critical to the future of our planet and closing the gender digital divide.

• Achieved the Lowest Average Women’s Unemployment Rate of Any Administration on Record. The Administration’s economic plan led to an historic recovery in working-age women’s labor force participation in the United States, bringing it to the highest it has ever been on record since 1948. Since President Biden took office in January 2021, the women’s unemployment rate had its fastest calendar-year drop on record that year, dropping to the lowest annual unemployment rate in 70 years in 2023. Under the President’s and Vice President’s leadership, there was a dramatic reduction in Black and Latina women’s unemployment. There are now roughly 2.5 million more Hispanic women and more than 1 million Black women employed than there were at the start of the Administration.

• Ensured Women Have Access to Good-Paying, High-Quality Jobs. The Administration’s once-in-a generation Investing in America agenda is creating millions of good-paying jobs, helping to ensure that women, people of color, and other communities currently underrepresented in the industries of the future have equitable access to these jobs. President Biden signed Executive Orders to invest in America’s workers by directing his Administration to promote strong labor standards; expand and diversify registered apprenticeship programs; help ensure that federal funding applicants provide supportive services for workers; and encourage worker organizing and collective bargaining. For instance, the Department of Commerce launched the Million Women in Construction initiative, which called on chip manufacturers, construction companies, and unions to bring one million women into the construction industry over the next decade, roughly doubling women’s representation in the industry. The Department of Labor (DOL) launched the Mega Construction Project Program, which fosters equal employment opportunities for qualified workers, including women, on certain federally funded construction projects. And the Administration invested more than $730 million in registered apprenticeships, leading to more than 1 million registered apprentices, including over 100,000 women, receiving gold standard earn-as-you-learn training for in-demand jobs.

• Advanced Pay Equity for Federal Workers. President Biden and Vice President Harris know that closing wage gaps is critical to strengthening and growing the economy. To advance pay equity within the federal workforce, the Office of Personnel Management ensured that more than 80 federal agencies no longer consider an individual’s non-federal pay when determining their salary. The consideration of compensation history in pay-setting decisions has exacerbated pay inequities, disproportionately harming women and people of color. Banning this practice is a proven way to curb pay discrimination that often follow workers from job to job.

• Lifted the Burden of Student Debt for 5 Million Americans. From day one of his Administration, President Biden vowed to fix the student loan system and make sure higher education is a pathway to the middle class—not a barrier to opportunity. Over the past four years, the Administration approved debt cancellation for nearly 5 million Americans, totaling over $179 billion in debt relief through various actions. Life-changing relief is especially important for women who carry nearly two-thirds of all student loan debt.

• Supported Women-Owned Small Businesses. In FY 2024, the Small Business Administration (SBA) backed 15,500 loans to businesses that are more than 50% owned by women, for a total of $5.6 billion. The growth in loans reflects a doubling in women-owned business participation from 2020 to 2024. And women’s small business formation surged during the Administration, substantially outpacing overall small business formation. We invested $100 million in the Women Business Centers (WBC) network, expanding it for the first time into all 50 states and tripling the number of WBCs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and other minority-serving institutions. Through the American Rescue Plan, the Administration invested $10 billion to help states, territories, and Tribal governments leverage even more in matching public and private dollars to support small businesses across the United States, with a particular focus on historically underserved entrepreneurs, including women business owners. And the Administration awarded the highest single year and average annual amount of contracting dollars to women-owned small businesses, including $30.9 billion in FY 2023 alone.

• Ensured Pregnant and Postpartum Workers Have Workplaces Free from Discrimination. The President signed into law bipartisan protections for pregnant and post-partum workers. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) provides basic, long-overdue protections that promote safe, healthy workplaces free from discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued regulations implementing the PWFA to ensure pregnant and postpartum workers have access to common-sense, reasonable accommodations that enable them to stay in the workforce while pregnant or as a new mother. The President also signed the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act, which provides most nursing workers with the right to reasonable break time and a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion to express breast milk while at work. DOL is enforcing the PUMP Act and has issued educational resources for workers and employers. EEOC and DOL also issued a joint resource to help ensure that workers and employers understand their rights and responsibilities under the PWFA and PUMP Act.

• Promoted Women’s Economic Security Globally. The Administration mobilized over $3 billion in public and private resources to advance women’s economic security around the world and prioritized closing persistent gaps in women’s economic participation globally that hinder their ability to participate in a 21st century economy. In 2021, the Administration established the Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund to advance economic security for women and girls and address barriers that limit their full economic participation. Through the Fund, which invested $500 million in direct and attributed indirect resources around the world, the Administration committed to three flagship public-private partnerships to tackle persistent barriers to women’s economic participation. These initiatives include:

• $2 Billion to Support Women’s Participation in Green and Blue Industries. Vice President Harris announced the Women in the Sustainable Economy Initiative—a public-private partnership between governments, the private sector, philanthropies, multilateral organizations, and civil society—to promote women’s access to jobs, training, leadership roles, and financial resources in industries that are critical to the fight against climate change. Thirty-three governments, corporations, foundations, and civil society organizations committed over $2 billion to WISE, including more than $900 million committed by the U.S. government.

• $1 Billion to Help Cut the Gender Digital Divide in Half by 2030. In 2023, the United States secured an historic commitment in the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration and the APEC Leaders’ Golden Gate Declaration to cut the digital gender gap in half by 2030. To help reach this goal, Vice President Harris launched the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative, a public-private partnership with more than $1 billion in commitments from forty-nine government, private sector, and civil society partners to accelerate progress to close the gender digital divide and fully enfranchise women in our globalized, networked economy.

• Supported Job Creation for Women Globally. Vice President Harris and the Partnership for Central America launched “In Her Hands,” a women’s economic empowerment initiative that mobilized $113 million in private sector funding to advance economic security for women. By 2030, the initiative aims to support and provide opportunities for 5 million women across Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras by creating jobs, providing training on technical skills, promoting access to financial assistance, and offering programs focused on manufacturing of textiles and apparel and agricultural regeneration.

Invested in Care at Home and Abroad

The Administration took action to increase access to affordable, high-quality care for families and to support caregivers and care workers. When we invest in care, we allow parents— especially women—to participate fully in the workforce; recognize the value of care workers and care providers, who are disproportionately women and women of color; and strengthen the economy. In 2021, the President’s American Rescue Plan helped child care centers and family child care providers, which are mostly small businesses, remain open or reopen during the pandemic. And, since 2021 the Administration secured an additional $4 billion for the Child Care Development Block Grant and Head Start. President Biden also issued an historic Executive Order that directed the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken to expand access to affordable, high-quality care, and support care workers and family caregivers. And the President continued to call on Congress to provide guaranteed affordable, high-quality child care from birth until kindergarten and a national, comprehensive paid family and medical leave program.

• Made High-Quality Child Care More Affordable. The Administration helped ensure that families have access to high-quality, affordable care. HHS finalized a rule strengthening the Child Care and Development Block Grant program and lowering child care payments for more than 100,000 families receiving federal child care assistance. Under this landmark rule, families will pay no more than 7% of income, saving families in states that do not yet cap copayments over $200 a month of average. In addition, in implementing the CHIPS and Science Act, the Department of Commerce required applicants for semiconductor incentives requesting over $150 million in direct funding to submit plans to provide accessible, affordable, high-quality child care. This first-of-its kind commitment is helping get more people—especially women—into good-paying manufacturing jobs, and helping more employers recruit and retain a diverse, skilled workforce. More than three-quarters of all companies that have signed CHIPS awards or preliminary memoranda as of December 2024 are working to provide child care offerings for their workforce—including many smaller grant applicants that are doing so voluntarily.

• Improved Long-Term Care and Support Family Caregivers. The Administration remained committed to protecting the health and dignity of older adults and people with disabilities. HHS issued new rules to ensure home care workers get a larger share of Medicaid payments and establish minimum staffing standards in nursing homes receiving Medicare and Medicaid funding. The Administration delivered $37 billion in American Rescue Plan funds across all 50 states to enhance, expand, and strengthen home and community-based care, and $145 million to help the National Family Caregiver Support Program deliver counseling, training, and short-term relief to family and other informal care providers. The Administration also developed the first-ever National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, which outlines the more than 350 actions being taken by 15 federal agencies in support of family caregivers. HHS published a guide to help older women find programs and services—such as respite care and counseling—to help maintain their health and well-being while being a caregiver for others. And VA launched a program to provide mental health counseling services to family caregivers caring for our nation’s heroes.
• Invested in Care Infrastructure and Supported Caregivers and Care Workers. The Administration helped raise the wages and quality of care worker jobs, and invested in care infrastructure. SBA announced new funding opportunities to support small businesses in the child care sector and launched a lender campaign to highlight SBA resources to support small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses, including child care businesses; the Department of the Treasury provided resources to address barriers for child care businesses that need to secure financing. The Administration also took action to ensure Service members and military spouses—the vast majority of whom are women—have the support they need to care for themselves and their families while serving our country, including by strengthening the hiring and retention of military spouses across the federal government, and expanding access to child care and other employment resources. And DOL published sample employment agreements so domestic home care, child care, and long-term care workers and their employers can help ensure all parties better understand their rights and responsibilities.

• Leveraged More Than $500 Million in Projected Funding to Boost Women’s Employment by Investing in Child Care. Through the Invest in Childcare Initiative—a public-private partnership with more than $500 million in leveraged funding between the World Bank, the governments of Canada, Germany, Australia, and the United States, domestic government resources, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and several others—the Administration incentivized investment in child care infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries, which will boost women’s employment and overall economic growth. And in 2024, the United States secured an historic commitment in the G7 Apulia Leaders’ Communiqué to tackle the unequal gender distribution of care work with G7 nations committing to support 200 million more women to join the workforce by 2035 through investment in child care globally.

• Supported Care Workers Globally. At the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, USAID announced a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Ford Foundation and the Care for All with Respect and Equity (CARE) Fund to partner in advancing decent work for care workers worldwide. USAID, the Ford Foundation, and the CARE Fund are partnering to fund “Together We Care: Partnerships for Equitable Health Systems,” an activity implemented by UNI Global Union. This partnership builds on USAID’s previously pledged $4 million and will advance women’s economic security and resilient health and care systems. USAID is supporting programming in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, and the Philippines, with partners supporting additional programming in Brazil.

Addressed Gender-Based Violence

Working to end gender-based violence has been a cornerstone of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ careers, and the Administration has worked to prevent and end gender-based violence wherever it occurs—at home, at work, in the military, in schools, in communities, and online. From signing historic legislation to issuing new Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda to securing significant funding for domestic violence and sexual assault services to combating conflict-related sexual violence, the Administration made significant progress in reducing violence and supporting survivors. The Administration’s efforts were guided by the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, a whole-of-government, intersectional approach to preventing and addressing sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of gender-based violence.

• Reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act. President Biden strengthened the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)—landmark bipartisan legislation that he wrote and championed as a U.S. Senator and has worked across the aisle to strengthen ever since—by signing into law the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022. This critical legislation expands access to safety and support for survivors, increases prevention efforts, and establishes new federal protections against online harassment and abuse. The President and Vice President also secured the highest-ever funding levels to implement VAWA and increased funding for VAWA programs by over 35% since 2021. The Administration swiftly implemented the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 by:

• Protecting and Supporting Survivors of Gender-Based Violence. DOJ awarded more than $690 million in VAWA grants and cooperative agreements in FY 2024 for more than 40 grant programs and initiatives to help states, Tribes, territories, law enforcement, victim advocates, and community-based organizations address gender-based violence. This includes more than $40 million to implement new grant programs established by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, including trauma-informed training for law enforcement, pilot programs for serving protection orders electronically, strategies to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and victim-centered and trauma-informed restorative practices programs that address gender-based violence.

• Supporting the Housing Needs of Survivors of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Dating Violence, and Stalking. In 2024, five federal agencies issued an interagency statement to affirm VAWA’s housing protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking as well as other individuals, such as those who assist survivors. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also established a new Office on Gender-Based Violence, as directed by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, to coordinate and implement policies and programs to address the safe housing and economic stability needs of survivors and awarded $10 million to provide VAWA training and technical assistance to housing grantees, owners, and managers. HUD also published a first-of-its-kind report on the housing needs of survivors of human trafficking, as required by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, and a fact sheet that applies the report’s findings to help assist youth trafficking survivors and youth at risk of trafficking with housing needs.

• Expanding Access to Justice and Strengthening Gender-Based Violence Protections for Tribal Communities. DOJ awarded more than $85 million in FY 2024 VAWA grants and more than $68 million in FY 2023 VAWA grants to provide services and promote justice for survivors in Native communities. In making these awards, DOJ took new measures to increase access to the Tribal Governments Grant Program. DOJ also supported Tribal implementation of new provisions in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 that recognized expanded special Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence, child violence, stalking, assaults on Tribal law enforcement officers, and sex trafficking on Tribal lands, in addition to domestic and dating violence. These efforts included launching a new Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction Reimbursement Program and a pilot program to support Alaska Native Tribes that want to exercise special Tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indian offenders for certain crimes, including crimes of sexual and domestic violence.

• Addressing Online Harassment and Abuse. To support survivors of image-based abuse, DOJ funded the first-ever national helpline to provide 24/7 support and specialized services for victims of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. Operated by the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, the Image Abuse Helpline and Online Safety Center significantly expanded support to survivors of online harassment and abuse, meeting the rising need for services to address the non-consensual creation and distribution of intimate images. DOJ also awarded about $5.5 million in new grant funds to support local law enforcement in prosecuting cybercrimes against individuals and funded a new National Resource Center on Cybercrimes Against Individuals that was authorized by the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 to help law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim services organizations prevent, enforce, and prosecute cybercrimes against individuals. DOJ also distributed resources to United States Attorneys’ Offices and national legal and service organizations to raise awareness of the new provision in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 that created a federal civil cause of action to address the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.

• Promoting Prevention and Strengthening Services for Survivors of Sexual Assault. The VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 improved prevention and response to sexual violence through additional funding and new protections. In FY 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided more than $49 million to more than 110 state health departments and state, territorial, and Tribal sexual assault coalitions for the Rape Prevention and Education Program. DOJ awarded $51.8 million—a nearly 45% increase in funding from the previous year—to provide victims of sexual assault with services in every state and the District of Columbia, as well as American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Separately, DOJ awarded more than $20 million in FY 2024 to support colleges and universities in preventing and responding to sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking.

The VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 also enacted the Fairness for Rape Kit Backlog Survivors Act, which requires state victim compensation programs to allow sexual assault survivors to file for compensation without being unfairly penalized due to rape kit backlogs. And, as directed under the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, the Department of Education—in collaboration with DOJ and HHS—launched a Task Force on Sexual Violence in Education that issued recommendations to schools on ways to improve sexual violence prevention and response on campuses.

• Improving Trauma-Informed and Victim-Centered Investigations and Expanding Pathways to Justice. DOJ implemented a new program authorized in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 to train law enforcement officers on trauma-informed and victim-centered investigations of gender-based violence and released a new Framework for Prosecutors to Strengthen our National Response to Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Involving Adult Victims. Separately, DOJ implemented a new program, also authorized in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, to support, enhance, and expand restorative practice programs that prevent or address domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, as well as build evidence for victim-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive restorative practices addressing these harms.

• Helped Keep Guns Out of the Hands of Domestic Abusers. President Biden signed the historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant legislation to reduce gun violence in nearly 30 years, that narrowed the “boyfriend loophole.” DOJ worked with states to educate them about the scope of this protection, expanded technical assistance and federal funding opportunities for state and local law enforcement programs that remove firearms from domestic abusers, and is actively reporting denied transactions of firearms purchases to state, local, and Tribal law enforcement within 24 hours. President Biden also established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which is overseen by Vice President Harris, to lead the Administration’s efforts to end our nation’s gun violence epidemic. And DOJ successfully defended at the Supreme Court the constitutionality of a federal law that helps keep guns out of the hands of individuals subject to domestic violence protective orders.

• Kept Students Safe and Addressed Campus Sexual Assault. The Department of Education restored and strengthened vital Title IX nondiscrimination protections for students and employees. The Department’s rule provided protection from sex-based harassment, including sexual violence; promoted accountability and fundamental fairness through a transparent and reliable process; and provided clarity to ensure that students, employees, and families understand their rights and that institutions know their responsibilities. The new rule also clarified that schools have a responsibility to address sex discrimination and harassment that occurs under its programs and activities whether the conduct takes place online, in person, or both, and strengthened definitions for sex-based harassment under Title IX to address the growth in technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including AI-generated abuse.

• Implemented Historic Military Justice Reforms to Better Protect Survivors. The Administration removed barriers to women’s advancement, opportunity, and well-being in the U.S. military, including by addressing sexual assault, domestic violence, and sexual harassment in the force. One of President Biden’s earliest acts in office was to call for the establishment of the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military to strengthen accountability and inform reforms to the military justice system. Since 2021, President Biden signed three Executive Orders to implement historic, bipartisan reforms to the military justice system, transferring key decision-making authorities from commanders to specialized, independent military prosecutors in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, murder, and other serious offenses by amending the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Building on these reforms, DoD implemented additional Independent Review Commission recommendations to improve its response to sexual assault and made record investments in sexual assault prevention and survivor support, more than doubling annual funding from $500 million to more than $1 billion in 2024 for these lifesaving services. This work made a difference: for the first time in nearly a decade, rates of sexual assault and harassment within the active-duty force declined—with a nearly 19% drop in the number of service members who reported experiencing unwanted sexual contact since 2021.

• Invested in Communities to Support Survivors and Save Lives. The President’s American Rescue Plan invested nearly $1 billion in supplemental funding for domestic violence and sexual assault services and supports through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act Program. The President also signed into law the VOCA Fix Act, which provided more than $1.4 billion for the Crime Victims Fund to support local programs and services for survivors. Since the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) became law in 1984, we have invested more than $38 billion dollars in local programs that provide mental health, housing, legal assistance, victim advocacy, crisis intervention, and other services to help victims of gender-based violence and other crimes.

• Supported Survivors in Accessing Housing, Homeless Assistance, and Community Services. In 2024, HUD awarded $57 million in Domestic Violence Bonus projects serving survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking and announced an additional $52 million in Domestic Violence Bonus projects, which will be issued in 2025. HUD also directed Homeless Continuum of Care recipients to offer services to people experiencing trauma or a lack of safety related to gender-based violence, consistent with the new definition of “homeless” for survivors included in the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022. And Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) grantees used nearly $13 million of CDBG funds and another $8.3 million of CDBG-CV funds in FY 2023 to support services for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. CDBG funds supported crisis intervention, crisis hotline, counseling, emergency shelter and housing assistance, legal assistance, and other community services for adults and children as well as survivors.

• Helped Protect Survivor Privacy. President Biden signed the Safe Connections Act to allow a survivor of domestic abuse to separate a mobile phone line from an account shared with an abuser. He also signed the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act, which allows survivors of domestic violence and others who have faced economic abuse to sever joint student loan debt, and the SECURE 2.0 Act, which allows survivors of domestic abuse to elect to receive penalty-free distributions from an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

• Strengthened Protections for Survivors of Sexual Assault and Harassment in the Workplace. President Biden signed into law new bipartisan protections to support survivors and address sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act empowers survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment at work by providing a choice to go to court instead of being forced into arbitration. And the Speak Out Act enables survivors to speak out about workplace sexual assault and harassment by prohibiting the enforcement of pre-dispute nondisclosure and non-disparagement clauses regarding allegations of sexual harassment or assault. In addition, the Office of Personnel Management responded to a Presidential Memorandum by issuing new guidance to support federal employees’ access to paid time off and leave without pay for purposes related to seeking safety and recovering from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and related forms of abuse. DOL continued to award grants under the Fostering Access, Rights and Equity Grant opportunity, which assists underserved and marginalized low-income women workers who have been impacted by gender-based violence and harassment, and helps them understand and access their employment rights, services, and benefits. And EEOC issued new resources to help employers prevent and remedy harassment, including sexual harassment, and create respectful workplaces.

• Addressed Gender-Based Violence in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities. In addition to actions taken to implement the VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022, President Biden issued an Executive Order directing federal agencies to address the crisis of missing or murdered Indigenous peoples, which significantly impacts women, girls, LGBTQI+ people in the community, and Two-Spirit Native Americans. Pursuant to the Not Invisible Act, DOJ and the Department of the Interior established the Not Invisible Act Commission in 2022, a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee composed of law enforcement, Tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing or murdered individuals, and survivors. The Commission provided recommendations to improve the federal government’s efforts to address violent crime and the high rates of people reported missing in Native communities, which the Departments responded to in 2024. Additionally, the United States relaunched the North American Trilateral Working Group on Violence Against Indigenous Women and Girls, in collaboration with the governments of Canada and Mexico, and with the participation of Indigenous women leaders from all three countries.

• Developed and Implemented National and Global Strategies to End Gender-Based Violence. The White House issued the first-ever U.S. National Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, a comprehensive, government-wide plan to prevent and address sexual violence, intimate partner violence, stalking, and other forms of gender-based violence. The National Plan provided a framework for guiding federal action across each of seven strategic pillars—from prevention to economic security and housing stability to online safety. To address gender-based violence around the world, the United States advanced the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally, which was updated in 2022 to address 21st century threats, including the rise of gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic; technology-facilitated gender-based violence; and safety risks related to climate migration and displacement. Under this strategy, the Administration secured the first-ever U.S. commitment to the United Nations Global Programme to End Child Marriage and continued our long-standing commitment to the United Nations Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. And over the last two fiscal years, the United States maintained the highest-ever level of investment—$250 million—to address gender-based violence globally.

• Held Perpetrators Accountable for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. The Administration has condemned sexual violence whenever and wherever it occurs, including in South Sudan, Iraq, Haiti, Ukraine, and the attacks committed by Hamas in Israel on October 7—and in Gaza against hostages. In 2022, President Biden issued an historic Presidential Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence committing to fully exercising U.S. authorities—including sanctions, visa restrictions, and security assistance vetting—to impose consequences on perpetrators of this human rights abuse. The Administration has since issued nearly two dozen sanctions against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence around the globe—including the largest set of financial sanctions and visa restrictions the United States has issued against individuals connected to this abhorrent human rights abuse. The Vice President also launched the Dignity in Documentation Initiative, which provides support for survivor- and civil society-led efforts to investigate and document conflict-related sexual violence in line with the Murad Code, named for Nobel Laureate and survivor Nadia Murad. This initiative—which includes $18 million in direct and aligned commitments from the Department of State and $4 million in aligned commitments from USAID—will support justice for survivors by promoting accountability for crimes punishable under international law.

• Improved Access to Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations. DOJ dedicated more than $124 million to the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which provides funding to support the inventory, tracking, and testing of previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits; the collection and testing of DNA from arrestees and offenders; and resources to address the cold case sexual assault investigations and prosecutions that result from evidence and Combined DNA Index System hits produced by tested sexual assault kits; among other services. DOJ also provided nearly $18 million to increase access to trained sexual assault medical forensic examiners, improve access to wrap-around care for survivors, and establish regional Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) training programs and a Center of Excellence in Forensic Nursing model to prepare current and future SANEs. With $10 million in FY 2024 funding, DOJ implemented a new program to further address nationwide gaps in the availability and quality of post-sexual assault medical forensic care by establishing new SANE/Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner programs, strengthening existing ones, and providing technical assistance to support these programs.

• Expanded Protection Services for Women and Girls in Humanitarian Emergencies. Recognizing that gender-based violence increases dramatically during humanitarian emergencies, the State Department and USAID relaunched the Safe from the Start ReVisioned initiative, which prioritizes improving and expanding GBV prevention, risk mitigation, response efforts, and empowering women and girls in crisis-affected countries. This new iteration, which builds on the original initiative launched in 2013, strengthens the focus on improving and expanding GBV programming and expertise, shifting power to crisis-affected women, and recognizing them as experts, care providers, and leaders.

• Prevented and Responded to Online Harassment and Abuse in the U.S. and Globally. To strengthen support for survivors of online harassment and abuse, the President established and the Vice President launched the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse, which coordinated comprehensive actions from more than a dozen federal agencies and supported a record investment of more than $36 million in dedicated funding to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence in the U.S. and globally. In addition, the President’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence directed federal agencies to address deepfake image-based abuse. And, following the Vice President’s leadership in underscoring the urgent need to address deepfake image-based sexual abuse and the White House Call to Action to Combat Image-Based Sexual Abuse, the Administration announced a set of voluntary commitments from AI model developers and data providers to curb the creation of image-based sexual abuse and proactively reduce the risk of new images from being generated without someone’s consent as well as ensure that known, verified instances of image-based sexual abuse are excluded from their products and systems.

To strengthen support for survivors globally, the Administration launched and co-leads the 16-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. Through this Global Partnership, the Administration advanced global policies to address online safety for women and girls by shaping a range of multilateral policy instruments tackling online harms through the G7, G20, APEC, and UN. The Administration also invested at least $15 million in targeted funding to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and counter its chilling effects on women leaders and democratic participation as part of our emphasis on supporting democracies globally, including through new initiatives to provide support to women leaders who have experienced extreme threats or forms of online violence.

• Combat Human Trafficking. The Administration released an updated National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking laying out an integrated federal response to human trafficking as well as a National Human Trafficking Prevention Framework. DOJ also disseminated more than $190 million in funding to combat human trafficking and support survivors and released updated guidelines for its employees who work with victims and witnesses of crime to provide enhanced protections for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking and for other vulnerable victims. Separately, the Department of Homeland Security adopted a victim-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally sensitive approach to protecting survivors; finalized a rule to strengthen the integrity of the T nonimmigrant visa process; and established a process to conduct bona fide determinations and provide employment authorization and deferred action to noncitizen victims of crime, including domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking, with pending petitions for U nonimmigrant status for those who met certain standards.

Promoted Women’s Representation, Leadership, and Political Participation

As Vice President Harris has said, “the status of women is the status of democracy.” We know that the status of women and the stability of nations are inextricably linked and that wherever the rights of women and girls are under threat, so too are democracy, peace, and stability. It is why President Biden established the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council and why the Council developed the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality to guide the Administration’s efforts to advance gender equity, defend women’s rights, and elevate women’s civic and political participation and leadership at home and abroad.

• Assembled the First-Ever Gender-Balanced Cabinet in Our Nation’s History. The Administration reached gender parity in the Cabinet for the first time ever. The President appointed a record number of women and people of color—including the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary, the first woman to serve as Director of National Intelligence, the first Native American woman to serve in the Cabinet, and the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official.

• Appointed Judges Who Reflect the Diversity of Our Country. President Joe Biden set an historic precedent by appointing more non-white and female judges to the federal judiciary than any other president in U.S. history. Since January 2021, the Senate confirmed 235 of President Biden’s nominees to lifetime federal judgeships. This is the largest number of confirmations in a single Presidential term since the 1980s. Of the 235 individuals who have been confirmed to lifetime positions on federal courts, 63% are women, and 60% are people of color. President Biden appointed more women, including more Black women, and more LGBTQ judges than any other administration in history. In April 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by the United States Senate as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, the first Black woman to ever serve on the Court.

• Strengthened the Federal Government’s Recognition of Women’s History. In 2024, President Biden established the Frances Perkins National Monument in Newcastle, Maine, to honor the historic contributions of America’s first woman Cabinet Secretary and the longest-serving Secretary of Labor. In addition, the Department of the Interior announced five new National Historic Landmarks that increase the representation of women’s history in historic sites across America; announced $500,000 to support the renovation of the Seneca Falls Knitting Mill, the current site of the National Women’s Hall of Fame; and issued a report on representation of women across sites of national importance, including National Historic Landmarks, national monuments, and national park sites. The President also signed into law the Women’s Suffrage National Monument Location Act, authorizing the placement of a monument honoring women’s suffrage on the National Mall. These actions advanced President Biden’s Executive Order to strengthen the National Park Service’s recognition of women’s history, helping to increase the representation of women’s history in sites across America and honor the legacy and contributions of women and girls to our country.

• Broke Barriers for Servicewomen. President Biden eliminated obstacles to women’s military service, including by advancing historic military justice reforms; updating military hair, dress, and fitness standards; and expanding parental leave policies. Women commanders also rose to unprecedented ranks, including Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Admiral Linda Fagan, the first woman to hold the rank of four-star admiral and serve as Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and Service Chief of any U.S. military service.

• Advanced Women’s Political and Civic Participation Globally. Since the first Summit for Democracy in 2021, the Administration prioritized efforts to dismantle barriers to women’s political participation and build the pipeline of women leaders. On the margins of the NATO 75th Anniversary Summit, the Administration launched Women Leading Effective and Accountable Democracy in the Digital Age (Women LEAD) to further advance women’s political participation and leadership as a pillar of our efforts to promote security and democratic stability. The United States and partners made over $900 million in commitments to invest in programs that build and sustain a diverse pipeline of women leaders, address barriers to women’s participation in public life online and offline, and establish a global community of practice of leaders and organizations working to advance women’s political and civic participation.

• Promoted Women’s Participation in Peace and Security Efforts. The President and Vice President made historic advances in strengthening women’s meaningful participation in national security, defense, and political leadership and reaffirmed that commitment with the release of the 2023 Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Strategy and National Action Plan. The strategy reflects critical shifts in our global landscape, including an emphasis on threats to women leaders posed by technology-facilitated gender-based violence and gendered disinformation, which is strategically deployed by state and non-state actors to destabilize democracies. The Department of State also announced and has since invested nearly $2 million to provide technical assistance to WPS Centers of Excellence, which will strengthen relationships and facilitate consultations between governments and civil society stakeholders to develop strategies, approaches, and solutions to implementing WPS principles in practice. The project will also leverage networks of WPS experts and leaders to foster learning, deepen collaboration, and raise awareness of WPS issues through existing and future WPS Centers in Kosovo, Colombia, and The Philippines. In addition, the Administration:

• Updated NATO Policy on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). As host of the NATO 75th Anniversary Summit, the Administration prioritized WPS, recognizing that the status of women is inextricably linked to the stability of nations—and therefore critical to NATO’s present and future effectiveness. At the Summit, Allies formally endorsed an updated policy to build on NATO’s long-standing commitment to WPS. The 2024 policy addressed new security threats, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence and the misuse of new and emerging technologies, climate security, and conflict-related sexual violence, and also notes Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the threats it poses specifically to women on the frontlines of the conflict.

• Equipped Ukrainian Servicewomen with Military Gear. At the Anniversary Summit, Allies announced historic contributions through the Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP) to provide women’s body armor, boots, and uniforms to the Ukrainian armed services to further NATO’s non-lethal support to Ukraine and commitment to supporting women’s full and equal participation in defense and security. This action marked the first time Allies directed resources through CAP to advance Women, Peace, and Security objectives.

• Invested in Efforts to End Child Marriage Globally. On International Day of the Girl in 2024, the Administration announced investments of nearly $86 million to prevent and respond to child, early, and forced marriage globally. These programs help equip girls and young women with education and workforce readiness skills; mitigate harmful effects of child marriage through education, health, legal, and economic support; and raise awareness of the risks and harms associated with child marriage. In addition, for the first time, the United States contributed to the United Nations Children’s Fund–UNFPA Global Programme to End Child Marriage, which works in 12 countries in Africa and South Asia to promote the rights of adolescent girls.

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Dear Mr. Chairman:  (Dear Madam Chair:)

Consistent with section 306(c)(1)(B) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-114) (the “Act”), I hereby determine that suspension for 6 months beyond January 29, 2025, of the right to bring an action under Title III of the Act is necessary to the national interests of the United States and will expedite a transition to democracy in Cuba.

                              Sincerely,

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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NATIONAL SECURITY MEMORANDUM/NSM-29

MEMORANDUM FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT
               THE SECRETARY OF STATE
               THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY
               THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
               THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
               THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE
               THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY
               THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY
               THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OF STAFF
               THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANANGEMENT AND BUDGET
               THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
               THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE UNITED NATIONS
               THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
               The DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
               THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL
                  SECURITY AFFAIRS
               THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
               THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR ECONOMIC
                  POLICY AND DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL
               THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND HOMELAND
                  SECURITY ADVISOR AND DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR
               THE CHAIR OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS
               THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY
               THE NATIONAL CYBER DIRECTOR
               THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
               THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY
               THE DIRECTOR OF THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF
                  INVESTIGATION
               THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER
               THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY CENTER

SUBJECT:            Revocation of National Security Presidential

                    Memorandum 5

The United States maintains as the core objective of our policy the need for more freedom and democracy, improved respect for human rights, and increased free enterprise in Cuba.  Achieving these goals will require practical engagement with Cuba and the Cuban people beyond what is outlined in NSPM-5, and that takes into account recent developments in Cuba and the changing regional and global context.

Accordingly, I hereby revoke NSPM-5.  

     Section 1.  Revocation.  NSPM-5 is hereby revoked.  Accordingly, the Secretary of State shall immediately rescind the list developed in accordance with Section 3(a)(i) of NSPM-5, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall initiate a process to adjust current regulations as a result of this revocation of NSPM-5.  

     Sec. 2.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

     (b)  This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

     (c)  This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.   

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

     I transmit herewith a report to the Congress with respect to the proposed recission of Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 14, 2025.

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President Biden came into office facing the worst public health crisis in more than a century. COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on our country – closing our businesses, keeping our kids out of school, and forcing communities into isolation and lockdown. In the first year of the pandemic, nearly 400,000 Americans died of COVID-19.  

Even before taking office, President-elect Biden recognized that the U.S. needed an emergency response that was worthy of the crisis it faced – a response that would leave no stone unturned and that would leverage the full force of the federal government, the innovation of the private sector, and the determination of the American people. Building on decades of research and planning efforts, President Biden, on his first full day in office, released the first comprehensive National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. This strategy focused on building a response to this virus that would give people the tools and transparent communication they needed to protect themselves, reopen our schools, and get our economy moving again.

The following report outlines the numerous actions the Biden-Harris Administration took to combat COVID-19 both nationally and globally, and it serves as a roadmap for how the U.S. can effectively respond to pandemics and public health threats in the future. In addition to this public-facing report, this Administration is leaving behind a three-step playbook that future Administrations can use to continue to protect the nation and effectively respond to any future biological threat.

1 – Taking Immediate Action to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Standing Up the Largest Vaccination Program in Our Country’s History

In President Biden’s first year of office, the Biden-Harris Administration worked hand-in-hand with doctors, nurses, businesses, unions, community organizations, governors, mayors, and citizens across every state, Tribe, and territory to put vaccines at the center of the United States’ COVID-19 response. These vaccines still remain the best tools available to lower the risk of hospitalization and death.

The Administration stood up the largest free vaccination program in American history: mobilizing 90,000 vaccination locations; standing up mass vaccination sites with the ability to administer more than a combined 125,000 shots a day; deploying over 9,000 federal personnel to support vaccinations nationwide – including over 5,000 active-duty troops, and launching vaccinefinder.org to provide current information on locations for vaccination. Another part of the federal government’s strategy to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for the American public was the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program (FRPP) for COVID-19 Vaccination. Pharmacies are readily accessible in the majority of communities in the U.S. – with most Americans living within five miles of a pharmacy. Recognizing this, the federal government made pharmacies a key part of its COVID-19 vaccination strategy, partnering with 21 retail and long-term care pharmacies to vaccinate Americans in more than 41,000 locations nationwide, including long-term care pharmacies.

As a result of these efforts, over 270 million people received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by May 2023. Additionally, a December 2022 analysis from the Commonwealth Fund suggested that COVID-19 vaccinations saved over 3 million American lives and successfully prevented over 18 million hospitalizations.

Increasing the Country’s Testing Supply

Under the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration, America’s testing supply increased substantially, allowing Americans to quickly get answers without having to go to a doctor’s office, and to make informed decisions about their day-to-day activities. Less than a month after taking office, the Administration announced a $650 million investment to expand COVID-19 testing for schools and underserved populations, as well as an $815 million investment to increase domestic manufacturing of testing supplies so that we would have a more reliable supply when needed. The Administration, through HHS, also partnered with the private sector to develop and scale manufacturing of tests suitable for home use. Free testing sites were available at 21,500 locations around the country. This was made possible by federal action to expand pharmacy testing sites, a federal surge in free testing sites, delivery of tests to thousands of community health centers and rural health clinics, and $10 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to provide tests to K-12 school districts. The Administration also invested nearly $6 billion in ARP funding to cover free testing for uninsured individuals, and to support testing in correctional facilities, shelters for people experiencing homelessness, and mental health facilities. To reach people experiencing homelessness, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) collaborated with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide tests across major U.S. cities.

The Biden Administration also stood up COVIDtests.gov through which Americans could order tests that were sent by the United States Postal Service directly to their homes — for free. By the end of the Public Health Emergency in May 2023, the Administration had distributed more than 750 million free COVID-19 tests, shipped directly to more than 85 million households. The Administration had also coordinated more than 50 million diagnostic tests in-person at pharmacy and community-based sites.

Collectively, these actions gave Americans the opportunity to keep both themselves and their communities safe, while getting back to school, work, and time with family and friends. Additionally, the Lancet Public Health journal recently published a study showing that making diagnostic tests available quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic mitigated an estimated 7 million hospitalizations and saved approximately 1.4 million lives.

Increasing Treatment Options for Americans

The Biden-Harris Administration also increased investment in the development, manufacturing, and procurement of COVID-19 treatments, which helped to minimize the severity of COVID-19 infections.  By March 2022, about 5 million antiviral treatment courses were available to Americans, and the President announced the Test-to-Treat initiative to help make it easier for people at high risk of severe disease and those with limited financial means to quickly access free oral antiviral treatments. By April 2022, the U.S. government purchased 20 million treatment courses—more than any other country in the world and took action to nearly double the number of locations where Americans could get oral antivirals. The Administration also provided medical providers with more guidance, education and tools to help them understand and prescribe these treatments, and to help them inform the choices that the American people made about receiving safe and effective treatments.

2 – Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery

On his first day in office, understanding that the pandemic had exacerbated severe and pervasive health and social inequities in America, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Ensuring an Equitable Pandemic Response and Recovery – which included the establishment of the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. From the start, the Administration took action to empower communities to improve access for all Americans to tests, therapeutics and vaccines.

In addition, the Administration supported partners through an all-of-society effort that increased response and recovery initiatives in support of communities in every corner of the country. In some communities, local chambers of commerce worked with business leaders to encourage flexibilities such as paid time off for their employees who needed to travel to a vaccination or testing center. In other communities, due to the Administration’s efforts, child care providers offered drop-in services for caregivers to get vaccinated. Some public transit authorities and ride-sharing companies provided free rides to vaccination sites, while churches, civic organizations, barbershops, and beauty salons opened their doors to be trusted spaces for testing or for vaccinations.

Ten months into the Biden-Harris Administration’s term, deaths had declined nearly 90% in Black, brown, and Indigenous communities; the gap in vaccination rates between Black and Latino/Hispanic adults and white adults had closed; and nearly 100% of schools were open for in-person instruction.

Investing in the Hardest-hit and Highest-risk communities:

The Biden-Harris Administration invested over $785 million from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan to support organizations that were building vaccine confidence across communities which historically had lower vaccination levels, including communities of color, rural populations, and low-income populations. The Administration bolstered the efforts of Tribal communities seeking to increase awareness of options to mitigate the spread of the virus, and it expanded public health systems’ ability to respond to the needs of older adults who have been among the highest risk for infection or death from COVID-19.

Additionally, recognizing that the pandemic had tremendous impacts on disabled individuals and resulted in new members of the disability community, the Administration prioritized Long COVID services, supports, and research in the context of disability; established a call line dedicated to ensuring individuals with disabilities can equitably utilize the Administration’s at-home test distribution program; ensured disabled individuals and other high-risk individuals could access at-home testing; and invested American Rescue Plan (ARP) resources to build COVID-19 vaccine confidence and access among people with disabilities.

Putting Community Health Centers at the Forefront of the Response:

Community Health Centers played a vital role in the Administration’s efforts to ensure an equitable response, as they served as the single largest source of comprehensive primary health care for medically underserved urban and rural communities. Because of the Administration’s efforts, these centers tested millions of patients for COVID-19, distributed millions of vaccine doses, increased access to telehealth in order to improve and expand patient care, and offered treatment options such as oral antiviral medications and monoclonal antibody therapy. Additionally, through its COVID-19 Testing Supply and COVID-19 N95 Mask Programs, the Administration enabled health centers to distribute millions of N95 masks, COVID-19 at-home test kits, and COVID-19 point-of-care testing supplies, at no charge to their patients and community members.

Supporting Community-Based Organizations in Vaccine Outreach to High-Risk Communities:

Through community-based organization vaccine outreach, the Administration was able to focus on empowering local trusted messengers and providing educational materials that served the most vulnerable populations. The Administration translated materials into 14 languages, and these were used by community- and faith-based organizations around the country, as well as by doctors’ offices, pharmacies, health centers, employers, and other groups. These education and outreach efforts allowed the Administration to reach the unvaccinated, deploy information about the importance of boosters, support pediatric vaccination efforts, and provide other important COVID-19 updates through trusted community members.

Building the Workforce to Support Underserved Communities:

President Biden’s American Rescue Plan provided a total of over $1.1 billion for community health, outreach, and health education workers—the largest ever one-time investment in the nation’s community health workforce. In the fall of 2022, the Administration invested $225 million in American Rescue Plan funds to train over 13,000 Community Health Workers (CHWs) – responding to the acute need to expand the health care workforce and address pandemic-related burnout. This effort supported apprenticeship programs for workers at over 500 health care and public health sites nationally, including emergency departments, community health centers, state and local public health departments, mobile health clinics, shelters, housing programs, faith-based organizations, and other locations where high-risk populations access care and receive services.  The Administration also rapidly deployed over 14,000 community outreach workers through over 150 national and local organizations to deepen COVID-19 vaccine confidence, increase vaccination rates, and serve as trusted messengers in underserved communities. These actions built upon the efforts of the roughly 50,000 CHWs who were already working in American communities before the pandemic.

3- Getting America Back on its Feet

Countless lives were saved by the Administration’s efforts to ensure all Americans had access to safe tests, treatments and vaccines. In addition, robust support to employers minimized the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to these efforts, families nationwide were able to get back to work and school and the country’s economy recovered faster and more broadly than any of the other leading economies in the world.

Progress By the Numbers

• In May 2023, compared to January 2021, COVID-19 deaths had declined by 95% and hospitalizations were down nearly 91% in the U.S.; those who were not vaccinated were more likely to be hospitalized or to die of COVID-19, compared to people who were vaccinated.

• With the largest domestic vaccination program in history, the U.S. made it possible for over 270 million people to receive at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by May 2023. At its peak, the Biden Administration COVID-19 vaccination program administered over 4 million vaccines in one day, or over 2,700 vaccines a minute, into the arms of the American people. Lifesaving treatments were widely available and used, with more than 15 million courses administered.

• Through COVIDTests.gov, the Administration has delivered more than 921 million free COVID-19 tests – shipped directly to more than 85 million households – as of January 2025.  

• Through the Administration’s efforts, more than 50 million diagnostics tests were administered in-person at pharmacy and community-based sites.

As a result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts, the economic recovery from the pandemic in the U.S. was historic. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) accelerated that economic recovery throughout 2021 and made it more resilient to challenges: one analysis found that the ARP resulted in 4 million more jobs and nearly doubled GDP growth – and that without it, the United States would have come close to a double-digit recession in spring 2021. The results of the ARP have also been historically equitable, with major progress against child poverty, food insecurity, and unemployment for low-income communities and communities of color.

Additionally, the Biden-Harris Administration’s COVID-19 response ensured that schools could reopen and families could get back to work. By the end of March 2020, all public schools in the United States were closed to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.  In November 2020, 19 percent of districts remained fully remote, with 45 percent using hybrid models and 36 percent fully in person. Shortly after the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, in early May, 2021, just over 3 months after taking office, only 1 percent of districts across the country were fully remote, and over half of schools were fully in person.

These changes are reflected in the public’s perception of the pandemic’s impact on their lives. According to Gallup public opinion polling, in December 2020, 3/5th of Americans believed that COVID-19 in the U.S. was getting worse. By June 2021, that percentage had fallen to three percent of Americans. Additionally, over half of Americans worried about catching COVID in December 2020, and that number fell to less than 20% by June 2021.

Today, although much progress has been made, the Administration continues to ensure that Americans have what they need to stay safe, including by continuing to provide free COVID-19 tests through COVIDtests.gov. In addition, the Administration has extended the authorities which allow pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to continue to administer vaccines, allowing other healthcare workers to focus on other tasks that only they can perform. And, the Administration’s $5 billion investment in Project NextGen continues to accelerate and streamline the rapid development of the next generation of coronavirus vaccines and treatments through public-private collaborations.

In addition to addressing the immediate impact of COVID-19 infections, the Biden-Harris Administration recognized that millions of Americans continue to experience symptoms for months and sometimes years after their acute COVID-19 infection. To help better understand why this occurs and to develop potential treatments, the Biden-Harris Administration has dedicated billions of dollars to research efforts, developed the first-ever National Research Action Plan on Long COVID, and created an Advisory Committee on Long COVID.

4 – Ensuring the World Responded and Recovered from COVID-19

While the Biden-Harris Administration implemented all of these programs to help Americans fight COVID-19 here at home, the Administration also recognized that helping the rest of world quickly and effectively respond to the pandemic was critical to both our domestic and the broader global recovery. The United States committed to bringing the same urgency to international response and recovery efforts that we demonstrated domestically. On day one, President Biden called on his National Security Advisor to advance global health security, international pandemic preparedness, and global health resilience to support the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This included re-establishing the National Security Council’s team focused on health security and biodefense.

• Restoring Partnerships with Critical, Life-saving Institutions: As soon as President Biden entered office, he ensured that the U.S. reversed its decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization – which was essential to coordinating a global response during the pandemic. In early 2021, United States committed $4 billion to support COVAX, the multilateral effort that aimed to accelerate the development and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and to support equitable access for every country in the world. In two years, the United States provided over $16 billion to vaccinate the world, save lives, and build stronger health security. The United States also convened world leaders at two Global COVID-19 Summits, accelerating response efforts and mobilizing $3.2 billion in commitments to vaccinate the world, save lives, and build stronger health security.

• Vaccinating the World: The United States donated more COVID-19 vaccines than any other country, and it was the first country to announce a purchase of vaccine doses solely for donation to other countries. The U.S. was also the first country to ensure the African Union could start receiving up to 110 million doses of Moderna at a reduced rate negotiated by the United States – and it was the first country to negotiate a deal to send vaccines directly to humanitarian settings and conflict zones to vaccinate displaced persons. Between May 2021 and February 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration donated – in partnership with COVAX, Caricom, the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT), and bilaterally – nearly 700 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to countries around the world. This included over 44 countries and economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, 31 countries in the Western Hemisphere, and 26 countries in Southern, Central, and Eastern Asia.

The COVID-19 pandemic also led to a dropoff in routine childhood immunization in many countries around the world, as they surged scarce resources to pandemic response. As a result, we began to see the reemergence of vaccine-preventable diseases, from measles to polio. In 2024, the United States Government pledged $1.58 billion to support Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, over the next five years. This commitment builds on a 24-year partnership that has immunized over a billion children and saved 17 million lives. The new funding aims to vaccinate the next billion children within a decade, saving over eight million lives by reaching unvaccinated children, expanding vaccinations for diseases like malaria and cervical cancer, and enhancing emergency health preparedness. The United States, through Gavi, also supports the launch of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, which will help African countries produce vaccines locally, promoting vaccine equity and swift responses to future health crises. In addition, the United States supports the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which is working to accelerate the development of life-saving vaccines against emerging disease threats, and to transform capability for rapid countermeasure development in response to future threats. Notable achievements include: the FDA approval of the world’s first Chikungunya vaccine and technology transfer to regional producers for regional supply to LMICs; the advancement through clinical development of vaccine candidates against Lassa, Nipah, and coronaviruses, among others; and the launch of a new Disease X Vaccine Library with six viral families prioritized as high risk.

• Delivering Life-Saving Resources: In addition, the U.S. government delivered life-saving resources like oxygen, treatments, PPE, and other essential supplies worth more than $1 billion to countries experiencing outbreaks by March 2022. This included countries that were most affected by the pandemic. As an example, as India battled a devastating wave of the Delta variant, the United States delivered supplies worth more than $100 million to provide urgent relief. This included 15 million N95 masks, 1 million rapid diagnostic tests, and vaccine manufacturing supplies to help India make over 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, the U.S. consistently provided immediate support to allies such as Brazil that were seeing disproportionate cases and deaths due to the pandemic – through providing much-needed ventilators, vaccines, personal protective equipment, and support for struggling businesses and communities.

• Providing Technical Assistance and Supporting Vaccine Manufacturing: U.S. public health experts across multiple federal agencies worked side-by-side with on-the-ground providers – providing technical assistance in vaccine program implementation, care provision, and outbreak investigation. The United States respects countries’ right to protect public health and to promote access to medicines for all. Toward that end, the United States endorsed negotiations of a temporary waiver of WTO intellectual property rules to support access to COVID vaccines.

In addition, the U.S. increased the world’s capacity to manufacture vaccines and fostered an enabling environment for innovation, including by spurring African manufacturing. For example, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) provided a $3.3 million technical assistance grant and a follow-on $15 million loan to Institute Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) in Senegal to expand flexible vaccine manufacturing capacity for both routine and outbreak vaccines. IPD also received support from other U.S. government agencies on regulatory strengthening, workforce development and training, and research and development. 

5) Managing Current Public Health Threats

The tools and strategies that the Biden-Harris Administration developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are applicable to a range of biological threats, including avian flu, Marburg, Ebola, mpox, COVID-19 variants, and others.

As an example, the National Wastewater Surveillance System has allowed the U.S. to glean more specific information on where avian flu is found in the environment, often before the first human or animal case has been confirmed. Additionally, Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance, which was among the first to detect multiple Omicron variants up to six weeks before they were reported elsewhere in the United States, continues to screen for other threats including new COVID-19 variants. Hospital data reporting also provides granular information on which hospitals may see strain due to admissions from COVID-19, Flu, and RSV each respiratory season.

Avian Flu: Protecting Human and Animal Health

Avian flu, or Influenza A(H5N1), was first detected in dairy cattle in the U.S. in late March 2024. While we have seen this virus in birds for decades and the risk to the general public remains low, the Administration immediately knew that the spread to cows and other mammals demanded serious attention and action. Within twenty-four hours of confirmation of the first case, interagency coordination groups began meeting at the senior leader and technical levels to synchronize support to State and local public health and agriculture officials. Since then, the interagency has worked with government, industry and other partners to ensure we keep communities healthy, safe, and informed – by monitoring and stopping transmission, keeping animals healthy, ensuring that our Nation’s food supply remains safe, and safeguarding the livelihood and well-being of American farmers and farmworkers. In total, since USDA began supporting state-led efforts to mitigate the risk of avian flu in poultry in 2022, the Biden-Harris administration has dedicated nearly $2.8 billion to this important work.

Monitoring the Virus and Stopping Transmission: Within a few weeks of the outbreak, USDA took action to stop the spread of the virus, issuing a federal order in April 2024 that mandated avian flu testing of all lactating dairy cattle moving between states. USDA also stood up a voluntary program for states and farmers to test their herds, implement biosecurity and created incentives for them to do so. By the end of 2024, USDA and its partner laboratories had run over 110,000 tests on dairy cattle and made more than 1,000 staff deployments to support response and traceback efforts on the ground, including 221 personnel currently deployed. In October 2024, USDA announced a nationwide milk testing initiative, requiring states to comprehensively monitor and respond to the presence of the virus in America’s dairies. Today, 28 states – representing nearly two-thirds of America’s dairy production – have joined this program. The remaining states are working to stand up the necessary infrastructure.  

CDC has also been closely tracking the virus through a collaborative effort between CDC and many partners, including state, local, and territorial health departments; public health and clinical laboratories; clinics; and emergency departments. These include systems to monitor case reporting, laboratory monitoring at both public health and clinical labs, emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and assessing wastewater. These systems build on developments over the last four years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Altogether, they provide us with early warning signs on where the virus is spreading, as well as visibility on whether there is any severe disease from avian flu. When human cases have been reported, CDC has engaged and supported state and local health officials with technical support, including the deployment of experts to the field to support public health investigations. 

Since the start of the outbreak, USDA and CDC have been monitoring virus specimens using the latest techniques, to inform our response.  When new human cases are reported, CDC’s national laboratory confirms the findings and performs timely genomic sequencing and other analysis to monitor for any concerning changes in the virus, as well as any potential impacts on our treatments and vaccines. This information has been released in technical reports and the sequences are made available on public servers. Similarly on the animal side, genetic sequences from this outbreak are shared by USDA, with over 4,500 raw or curated sequences having been posted to GISAID (the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) or the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Sequence Read Archive. USDA continually monitors these sequences for any potentially concerning changes and immediately shares any such findings with CDC.  

Protecting Workers and the Public: Learning from bottlenecks and shortages in the very early COVID-19 response, the Administration has spent the last several years refilling our Strategic National Stockpile to ensure that we have the PPE, antivirals, tests, vaccines, and more that the country needs to prepare for future health emergencies. As a result, HHS was immediately able to offer support to states. To date, we have delivered nearly 4 million pieces of PPE and thousands of antivirals to protect workers. USDA also set up a program that reimburses farmers when they purchase PPE for their workers, and post-exposure prophylaxis with Tamiflu is also promptly offered to workers with any known exposure. We have also taken steps to build trust with impacted communities along the way – investing $5 million in campaign to educate and test farmworkers. In total, USDA and CDC have deployed over 100 federal workers into the field to support response and support workers.

As we protect workers today, we are also preparing for any possible scenario tomorrow. The CDC and NIH are tracking changes in the virus so we can see whether it’s becoming more adaptable to humans.  We have already prepared nearly 5 million doses of vaccines so they’re ready if we need them.  Further, by the end of the first quarter of 2025, we will have stockpiled 10 million doses of vaccine to inoculate humans against bird flu. And we’ve invested $176 million in Moderna to develop next-generation mRNA vaccines that can rapidly respond to any adaptations in the virus, with phase 3 trials beginning shortly. In addition to vaccines, we have 68 million courses of influenza antivirals on hand in the Strategic National Stockpile to treat those who may become infected with the virus. We have made 3,000 courses available to affected communities. 

Preserving Animal Health: Research suggests the virus travels via surfaces related to normal business operations such as vehicles, milking equipment, and people’s clothing. That’s meant that biosecurity practices—like limiting visitors, disinfecting work apparel, and separating animals of different species— were essential to reduce the spread and keep cows healthy. In early May 2024, USDA launched assistance for producers with H5N1 affected premises to improve on-site biosecurity in order to reduce the spread of the virus. This includes financial support for protecting workers with PPE, funding for disposal of milk, reimbursement for veterinary costs, and payments for shipping laboratory Samples. As of January 2025, over 500 farms have utilized these programs to date. Later that month, USDA expanded support for producers to stop the spread through cattle, by issuing a rule to compensate eligible producers with positive herds who experience a loss of milk production. So far, over 300 producers have applied to the program with tens of millions of dollars in payments distributed.  Additionally, USDA accelerated efforts to develop a first-of-its-kind bovine vaccine for the virus, and candidates have already entered field safety trials. USDA also announced in early January 2025 that work would begin to build a new stockpile of avian flu vaccines for poultry.

Ensuring the Safety of Our Food Supply: We have 100 years of data showing pasteurization works, but it was essential for our Administration to confirm that this was still the case with this new pathogen. USDA and the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) began testing retail dairy samples from across the country to ensure the safety of the commercial pasteurized milk supply and conducted laboratory experiments to reaffirm that pasteurization inactivates the virus. USDA similarly conducted research to confirm that cooking beef to proper temperature inactivates the virus, which it does. USDA also sampled muscle tissue from culled cattle at beef processing facilities as part of our robust ongoing surveillance programs. Today, we are confident that pasteurized milk, as well as properly cooked meat and eggs, are safe for consumers.

Mpox, Marburg, Measles and More: Managing Additional Public Health Threats

The Biden-Harris Administration has also mounted a robust response to other infectious disease threats that have emerged since 2021, including Marburg and Mpox. On Day 1 of the multiple Marburg and Mpox responses, medical countermeasures existed and were ready to be deployed at home and around the world as a result of U.S. preparedness efforts. In the case of Marburg, the United States had invested in experimental vaccines and therapeutics in order to be able to quickly deploy, test, and eventually seek regulatory approval for new countermeasures. 

Mpox Domestic and Global Responses:

• In early 2022, an outbreak of clade II mpox (then known as Monkeypox) rapidly spread globally and domestically. Shortly after the first U.S. case was identified in May 2022, the Administration deployed tens of thousands of doses of an FDA-approved vaccine and hundreds of courses of an investigational therapeutic from the Strategic National Stockpile to support domestic efforts to control spread and treat patients. We also rapidly scaled up testing capacity from 6,000 to 80,000 tests per week and, by October 2022, over one million doses of JYNNEOS had been administered to individuals at heightened risk of exposure to mpox, over 40,000 treatment courses had been distributed across the country, and domestic cases of clade II mpox had decreased by 90%. Today the mpox vaccine, which is effective against both clades of mpox, is also now commercially available with an ample supply at health departments and local pharmacies.

• During the 2022 response, the Biden-Harris Administration also stood up a White House National Monkeypox Response Team and, in collaboration with a diverse group of community-based and civil society partners, promoted equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics and testing and made significant strides in reaching vulnerable populations where they were with trusted community messengers.  Among the many successes of this group were the planning and execution of multiple “pop up” sites at events where at-risk individuals could learn more about mpox and, if they chose to do so, protect themselves by getting vaccinated against mpox.
• When a new clade of mpox began spreading internationally in 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration was poised to act quickly. Within weeks of WHO’s declaration of a public health emergency of international concern, President Biden announced in September 2024 that the United States was prepared to commit at least $500 million and to donate up to one million doses of mpox vaccines to support African countries in preventing and responding to this outbreak. We are delivering on that commitment, with two-thirds of our global mpox funding pledge fulfilled already, and all one million of the pledged mpox vaccine doses available now for countries that are ready to receive them.

• Most biological threats emerge outside the United States, which means that Americans will be safer when countries around the world are prepared to prevent, detect and respond to threats when they emerge. As part of the implementation of the National Biodefense Strategy, the United States Government continues to work with more than 50 countries around the world – including most mpox-affected countries and those at-risk of an mpox outbreak – to build stronger global health security capacities, ensuring countries are better prepared to stop outbreaks at their source while protecting U.S. national and homeland security.

• Domestically, in 2024, the Administration has continued to focus on additional preparedness steps to increase awareness of mpox risks; provided updated recommendations to prevent, detect, and treat both clades; and expanded wastewater surveillance to provide an early warning of mpox activity and community spread. In addition, the United States continued to build on the critical testing landscape created during the 2022 outbreak and can not only detect both clades of mpox, but can also differentiate between clade I and clade II mpox.

Global Marburg Response:

In September 2024, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health announced an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD), a rare, viral hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola. Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris Administration has responded to 11 Ebola or Marburg outbreaks.  Immediately after learning of the outbreak in Rwanda, in partnership with the Government of Rwanda, the United States committed millions of dollars to address urgent health gaps in Rwanda and surrounding countries, through provision of technical assistance with surveillance and contact tracing, infection prevention and control guidance, case management, risk communication and community engagement, safe and dignified burials, donation of laboratory test kits, and point of entry exit screening at Rwanda’s airport and neighboring border crossings. Within 8 days of learning of the outbreak, the United States Government worked with the Government of Rwanda, WHO, CEPI, and other critical partners to share experimental vaccine doses with Rwanda, and into the arms of healthcare workers at high risk of exposure, an unprecedented public health achievement. The United States also contributed tests, treatments and PPE, to support response efforts and protect health workers. This support has been made possible through the United States robust investments in science and research over the last 10 years. On December 20, the outbreak was declared over by the Government of Rwanda, with one of the lowest case fatality ratios (22%) of any Marburg outbreak in history.

Domestic Measles Response:

As the number of children protected from measles infections continues to decline due to declining vaccine coverage and misinformation, multiple jurisdictions have had to rapidly respond to measles outbreaks. The administration has deployed experts to support local responses and has distributed additional vaccine doses to support targeted vaccination campaigns, which are effective in ending outbreaks. The Administration has underscored that while the measles vaccine is highly effective and provides durable protection, 93-95% vaccine coverage is needed to maintain community protection. An unvaccinated individual exposed to the virus has a 90% chance of developing disease – therefore vaccination is critical to this response.

6) Building the Infrastructure for Future Biological Threats

The Biden-Harris Administration has also taken historic actions, building on policies from prior administrations, to protect Americans from biological threats that may emerge in the future.

Replenishing the Strategic National Stockpile:

The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) was created in 1999 to “provide for the emergency health security of the United States …in the event of a bioterrorist attack or other public health emergency.” Historically, the SNS holds vaccines and therapeutics to protect the country from any number of chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear events. Many of these medical countermeasures are not commercially available and the SNS is the only source for these critical supplies in the country–and in some instances the world. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the SNS’s budget increased by 25% – allowing it to secure more of the vaccines, therapeutics and medical supplies needed to protect the country from public health emergencies and disasters.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Strategic National Stockpile distributed more than 27,000 tons of medicines, equipment, and supplies to support the country’s public health and health care needs. Early in the pandemic, the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) deployed 90% of its overall inventory of personal protective equipment (PPE) – nearly 72 million items – as well as 100% of its Federal Medical Stations, which served as alternate care sites across the country. Much of this PPE was purchased ten years before with funds from the H1N1 outbreak—and had not been restocked.
Since President Biden took office, the SNS has dramatically increased its stockpiled quantities of PPE and ventilators—with supplies that were made in America where possible. The SNS now has 70 times the number of N95 respirators, 34 times the number of gloves, 50 times the number of isolation gowns, and 10 times the number of ventilators than it had before the pandemic.  Restocking the SNS to these levels has allowed it to make PPE available to communities impacted by COVID1-9, H5N1 and other infectious disease outbreaks. In 2022, the SNS provided nearly 300 million N95 masks to retail pharmacies and community health centers for free —the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.  Under President Biden, the SNS has also assigned staff to state public health departments and completed a series of tribal consultations and urban Indian confers to ensure all communities understand what tools it has available and how to access them in times of emergency or disaster.

Expanding Surveillance Capabilities:

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, because of years of underinvestment in modernizing data systems, some state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions still relied on fax machines to transmit public health data and the U.S. struggles to collect, analyze and share essential data on the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in communities, the rate of transmission, and the impact on hospitals. Throughout our response, the U.S. government has expanded our surveillance capabilities to monitor disease and better inform the public. These steps include: 

• Increasing the number of healthcare facilities which provide automated, near real-time electronic case reporting to local, state, tribal, territorial and federal public health officials from less than 200 in 2020 to over 48,000 in 2024 and supporting public health authorities to adopt the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) to further enable the exchange of public health data across the healthcare ecosystem to help rapidly identify emerging outbreaks.

• Standing up a National Wastewater Surveillance System, which routinely reports early warning information from over 1,500 sites covering over 150 million people in the United States.

• Scaling up genomic sequencing, which is important to detect new pathogens including variants.  At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, only 23 public health labs demonstrated advanced molecular detection surveillance capabilities. By the end of 2022, this number expanded to 68 public health laboratories, and CDC launched 5 Pathogen Centers of Excellence. The average turnaround time for public health laboratories to publish genome sequences has dramatically improved – decreasing from 96 to 40 days. Some laboratories able to sequence in less than two days.

• Developing a COVID-19 Variant Playbook, which served to assess the disease severity and transmissibility of a new variant immediately, and to expedite the rapid laboratory evaluation of the effectiveness of vaccines, tests, and treatments against any variant.

• As a result of close collaboration between the CDC, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and industry stakeholders, over 80% of all hospitals from across America are now sharing critical data on emergency department visits and hospital admissions.

Advancing Capabilities in RNA Vaccine Technologies: 

With investments totaling over $400 million, the Administration has also been advancing capabilities in RNA vaccine technologies to guard against future pandemics. To further these efforts, multiple companies are currently partnering with HHS to develop RNA vaccines that may allow for a faster, more sustainable response capability against multiple threats, lower the requirement for needles, simplify storage requirements, or investigate new methods of administration.

Strengthening Domestic PPE Supply Chain:

Given gaps in domestic capacity for critical PPE, this Administration, in an effort to minimize foreign reliance, the President signed the “Make PPE in America Act” in 2021. The statute requires that the Departments of Homeland Security (DHS), Health and Human Services (HHS) and Veterans Affairs (VA) (collectively referred to as “covered agencies”) issue long-term contracts for PPE containing only materials and components that are grown, reprocessed, reused or produced in the U.S. This requirement is critical to strengthening our domestic manufacturing capabilities and promoting the production of essential PPE in the United States. The statute recognizes the power of leveraging the federal government’s buying power as a catalyst to increase market participants, support competition and the health of the domestic PPE industry.

A sustained federal commitment to procure PPE from domestic sources supports the health of the domestic PPE industry. Since the enactment of the Make PPE in America Act, covered agencies took actions to support a long-term domestic federal procurement strategy, model demand, and more closely align their acquisition strategies to send a government-wide demand signal to the PPE industry, while working collaboratively with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to implement the Make PPE in America Act.

Stopping Outbreaks at their Source and Transforming our Biopreparedness Capabilities:

In 2022, President Biden signed National Security Memorandum 15 on Countering Biological Threats, Enhancing Pandemic Preparedness, and Achieving Global Health Security. This NSM launched a new National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan, which envisions “a world free from catastrophic biological incidents” and directs a coordinated, whole-of-government effort to prepare for biothreats. It includes an ambitious five-to-ten-year vision for developing moonshot biodefense capabilities, including the ability to develop new vaccines within 100 days and repurpose therapeutics within 90 days.

The most effective way to limit the impact of biological threats is to stop them at their source. The United States is working with countries and partners around the world to ensure they have the capacity to identify and stop emerging threats before they grow into regional or global threats. To advance that goal, the administration published an updated Global Health Security Strategy, laying out our commitment to working with foreign partners in order to continue building our capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats wherever they emerge. The Administration took several concrete actions to support these transformative efforts.  The U.S. Government reached the ambitious goal of directly supporting 50 countries in building their health security capacity, which is one of the most powerful prevention tools we have in this space. The United States has also leveraged financial resources and diplomatic channels to mobilize support for 50 additional countries to strengthen their health security capacities, for a total of more than 100 countries receiving support.

Limitations in the existing global systems to finance pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response left countries and financial institutions ill prepared to effectively contain COVID-19. On day one, President Biden called on his Administration to transform the existing financing institutions and to cultivate new financing sources for global health security that are more effective and sustainable, and that are less dependent on U.S. government assistance. The United States was instrumental in the creation of the Pandemic Fund in 2022, the only multilateral financing facility dedicated exclusively to pandemic preparedness financing for low- and middle- income countries. The Pandemic Fund made significant progress in its first two years, awarding grants totaling $885 million, which mobilized an additional $6 billion in investments, to support 75 countries and economies across six geographic regions. The United States is also working to evolve Multilateral Development Banks to be better equipped to respond to the increasing frequency, scope, and complexity of global challenges, including pandemics. The Biden-Harris Administration strongly supported the establishment of the International Monetary Fund Resilience and Sustainability Trust and its goal of supporting low-income and vulnerable middle-income countries to access long-term, affordable financing to address longer-term challenges, such as health emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and institutions lacked the liquidity to procure the medical countermeasures (MCM) needed to mount effective and timely responses. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation helped develop and lead a G7 Surge Financing Initiative, through which G7 development finance institutions (DFIs), the European Investment Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and global and regional health stakeholders are developing and deploying innovative financing tools to accelerate access to MCMs in health emergencies. 

While there will always be new or evolving biological threats, developing effective countermeasures for known threats is a critical piece of preparedness. For example, the U.S. government invested billions of dollars in mRNA technology in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic. These public investments translated into millions of lives saved in the United States and around the world, and were crucial to developing the mRNA vaccine technology that can be leveraged in a future pandemic, as well as potentially treating other diseases. For example, the Department of Defense and the National Laboratories are leveraging Artificial Intelligence for rapid development of medical countermeasures. The Administration is executing a whole-of-government implementation plan for strengthening capabilities in early warning, vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, clinical trials, and PPE.

Strengthening Research Capacity and Oversight:

The lives saved and hospitalizations avoided as a result of the COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines were the result of decades of foundational research investments. Because viruses and bacteria are constantly changing and the frequency of naturally occurring biological outbreaks is increasing, the Biden-Harris Administration published the American Pandemic Preparedness Plan in the fall of 2021. In addition, the administration has continued to invest more than $7 billion annually in research by Federal, academic and industry researchers in new ways of protecting Americans from tuberculosis, HIV and other infectious diseases that remain leading causes of illness in our nation. These investments are crucial to ensure our nation is prepared for future threats and to deter those who are seeking asymmetric advantages over the US.

In 2024, the Administration also released an updated policy to enhance oversight of research. This update to standards that were originally released in 2012 will reduce the likelihood of accidental outbreaks and deliberate misuse of life science research, while ensuring that lifesaving research proceeds.

Supporting Global Biosafety and Biosecurity:

Expanding biosurveillance capacity and the rapid evolution of technology are critical for health security, but can also elevate the risk of accidental and deliberate incidents. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken significant steps to minimize the chances of laboratory accidents; reduce the likelihood of deliberate use or accidental misuse; ensure effective biosafety and biosecurity practices and oversight; and promote responsible research and innovation. The Biden-Harris Administration knows that in order to protect the domestic population, investing in global biosafety and biosecurity practices and oversight is essential. These efforts – which minimize the chances of laboratory accidents, reduce the likelihood of deliberate use or accidental misuse, and more – have been critical as we expand biosurveillance capacity. For example, the United States secured inclusion of biosafety and biosecurity as a critical component of the Pandemic Fund grants to support laboratory systems. One of the projects, the Caribbean Public Health Agency Train-the-Trainer Workshop on the Safe Transportation of Infectious Substances, resulted in certified trainers well-positioned to serve as national trainers and advisors in biosafety and safe transport protocols, ensuring safer practices across the region. The U.S. global health security bilateral partnerships also build capacity in biosafety and biosecurity: the final global health security report of the Administration showed that global health security partner countries with at least two years of U.S. Government support demonstrated a net improvement in biosafety and biosecurity capacity from 2018 to 2023. The Administration also supported the 2024 World Health Assembly resolution on Strengthening Laboratory Biological Risk Management, which calls for improvements to biosafety and biosecurity practices globally.

Standing up the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy:

Recognizing the growing threat of pandemics, the Administration stood up the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR) in August of 2023. This is a permanent office in the Executive Office of the President charged with leading and coordinating actions related to preparedness for, and response to, known and unknown biological threats or pathogens that could lead to a pandemic and/or to national security. OPPR assumed the duties of the COVID-19 Response Team and Mpox team at the White House and has continued to coordinate and develop policies and priorities related to pandemic preparedness and response.

Because every successful response to a biological event has required a synchronized, integrated team, OPPR has worked with federal, state and local health partners, and has engaged with a broad array of private sector, academic and other stakeholders to ensure lessons from the response to COVID-19 and other recent outbreaks inform future plans and response efforts.  Recent accomplishments include:

• Partnering with multiple industry stakeholders to resolve supply chain issues affecting the availability of a new immunization, reducing infant hospitalizations by more than 80%.
• Partnering with leaders from the European Union, the Republic of Korea, Japan, India and multiple industries to develop a process to quickly recognize and address supply chain issues affecting availability of medications in the US and partner countries.
• Partnering with leaders from the Long-Term Care industry to improve vaccination rates for residents of long-term care facilities.
• Partnering with leaders from across the domestic healthcare enterprise to identify and mitigate constraints to our national preparedness for future biological events and to create a collaborative committed to continuing to mitigate future challenges.
• Partnering with community support organizations to identify best practices from the COVID-19 pandemic and to develop strategies to sustain outreach to historically medically underserved communities to ensure all Americans can access their healthcare options.

Conclusion

As of result of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts, the COVID-19 pandemic no longer disrupts our daily lives, our children are back in schools, our economy is stronger than ever and families have been able to resume their pre-pandemic routines. As new viruses and other biological threats have continued to emerge, we have remained vigilant in monitoring and responding to each threat. From investments into research for new tests and treatments for diseases, to launching the largest vaccination program in our country’s history, to expanding the nation’s surveillance capabilities, to replenishing the Strategic National Stockpile, the Biden-Harris Administration has transformed our nation’s pandemic preparedness and response.

In order to ensure that future Administrations are prepared for any threat that emerges, the Biden-Harris Administration will also leave behind a three-step internal playbook with nearly 300 pages of guidance on how to rapidly and effectively respond to biological threats from all sources – naturally occurring, accidental and deliberate.

• Step 1: Within 24 hours of notification of a serious biological threat, NSC convenes Departments and Agencies for a biological incident notification and assessment (BINA).
• Step 2: If the threat poses a significant risk to the United States, within 24-48 hours Departments and Agencies establish an Incident Response Coordination Structure (IRCS), with agency leadership and support roles pre-determined in a playbook.
• Step 3: Departments and Agencies operationalize a rapid and effective response, with coordination by the IRCS and leadership from the White House. The playbook includes detailed operational annexes to address many scenarios that commonly arise during biological incident responses. 

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, we have exercised this three-step playbook numerous times, including in recent weeks. All Departments and Agencies have received final versions of the Playbook, and the Biden-Harris Administration will give copies to the incoming Administration to ensure they are prepared to act on day one of a crisis to protect the American people. 

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Vice President Kamala Harris spoke today with President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. of the Philippines and thanked him for the partnership of the Philippines and for their close working relationship over the past two and a half years, including through six meetings in Manila, Washington, D.C., Jakarta, and San Francisco. The Vice President underscored the strength of the U.S.-Philippines Alliance and people-to-people ties and noted it was critical for preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific. The leaders reviewed progress made in the Alliance during the Biden-Harris Administration, including initiatives launched on the Vice President’s November 2022 visit to the Philippines, to enhance cooperation on climate and clean energy, technology, critical minerals and semiconductor supply chains, maritime security, and inclusive economic growth. The Vice President recalled her visit to Palawan, the Philippines – the highest-ranking visit by a U.S. official ever – and reaffirmed her support for all those she met there, including women in the fishing community of Tagburos and members of the Philippine Coast Guard. The Vice President affirmed the importance of continued defense of international rules and norms in the South China Sea in the face of provocations from the People’s Republic of China and noted the United States must stand with the Philippines in the face of such provocations and the enduring nature of the U.S. defense commitments to the Philippines. They also discussed trilateral cooperation with Japan as a key pillar of regional security, which the Vice President helped accelerate with the first leader-level trilateral meeting in Jakarta in September 2023.
 

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Vice President Kamala Harris spoke separately today with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. The Vice President expressed regret she was no longer able to travel to Singapore given the historic wildfires in Los Angeles. The Vice President thanked both leaders for their partnership throughout the Biden-Harris Administration in strengthening the U.S.-Singapore relationship. The leaders reviewed the Vice President’s consistent engagement on the Indo-Pacific and her work to expand the U.S.-Singapore relationship, beginning during her August 2021 visit. They discussed the implementation of various initiatives the Vice President launched on that visit to address climate and clean energy, cyber cooperation, supply chains, emerging technology, and bilateral military cooperation. Building on her bilateral meetings with Singaporean leaders and multilateral summits with Indo-Pacific leaders, the Vice President underscored the continued importance of defending international rules and norms around the world, including freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea. The leaders discussed the continued importance of ASEAN centrality and the strengthening of the U.S.-ASEAN relationship in the Biden-Harris Administration, including through the Vice President’s participation in the 2023 U.S.-ASEAN Summit in Jakarta and the 2022 U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit in Washington, D.C. The Vice President reaffirmed her view that the United States has enduring interests and commitments in the Indo-Pacific and she expressed optimism in the future based on the dynamism in Southeast Asia. The Vice President underscored the importance of U.S.-Singapore cooperation for promoting security and prosperity in the region and around the world. With Senior Minister Lee, the Vice President thanked him for the hospitality he showed her in Singapore in 2021, and expressed her appreciation for their warm and substantive engagements over the past four years.
 

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Today, President Biden is announcing strong and decisive actions to safeguard America from national security risks associated with the exploitation of U.S. connected vehicle supply chains by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Russian Federation (Russia). The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that our automotive supply chains are resilient and secure from foreign adversary cyber threats. 

The Department of Commerce has issued a final rule that will prohibit the sale and import of connected vehicle hardware and software systems, as well as completed connected vehicles, from the PRC and Russia. This final rule marks the conclusion of a rigorous factfinding and regulatory process that President Biden launched last year.

Connected vehicles are comprised of many connected components and systems – such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, and satellite connectivity – designed to provide consumers with greater convenience and increase safety for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.  At the same time, foreign adversary involvement in the supply chains of connected vehicles poses a significant threat in most cars on the road today, granting malign actors unfettered access to these connected systems and the data they collect. As PRC automakers aggressively seek to increase their presence in American and global automotive markets, through this final rule, President Biden is delivering on his commitment to secure critical American supply chains and protect our national security.

The Department of Commerce’s rule will also help the United States defend against the PRC’s  cyber espionage and intrusion operations, which continue to pose a significant threat to U.S. critical infrastructure and public safety.  Over the past several years, PRC state-sponsored cyber actors such as Volt Typhoon have engaged in an extensive hacking campaign aimed at pre-positioning on – and potentially launching disruptive cyberattacks targeting – U.S. critical infrastructure. Russia also remains a malign cyber actor, with a similar history of well-documented cyber attacks against U.S. systems.  The American transportation system is vital to facilitating commerce, essential services, and daily life.  This rule ensures that our critical infrastructure is not exposed to the risk of foreign adversary-controlled supply chains that could provide bad actors with the means to disrupt U.S. critical infrastructure.

Beyond risks to critical infrastructure, the Department of Commerce assesses that certain hardware and software used in connected vehicles could enable mass collection of sensitive information, including geolocation data, audio and video recordings, and other pattern-of-life analysis.

The final rule is the culmination of a year-long examination of these risks and extensive consultation with industry and international partners.  It will prohibit the import or sale of certain connected vehicle systems designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by entities with ties to the PRC or Russia.  This includes vehicle connectivity systems (VCS), or systems and components that connect vehicles to the outside world – including via Bluetooth, cellular, satellite, and Wi-Fi modules – and automated driving systems (ADS), which allow highly autonomous vehicles to operate independently of a driver behind the wheel.  The rule includes restrictions on the import or sale of connected vehicles using VCS and ADS software, as well as imports of VCS hardware equipment. Restrictions on software will take effect for Model Year 2027 and restrictions on hardware will take effect for Model Year 2030. The rule also includes a prohibition on the sale of connected vehicles in the United States by entities who are owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of the PRC or Russia – even if those vehicles were made in the United States. That prohibition will take effect with Model Year 2027.

While this final rule applies only to passenger vehicles, the Department of Commerce is also announcing today its intent to pursue a rulemaking to address foreign adversary involvement in the supply chain of commercial connected vehicles, or vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of over 10,000 pounds, given the significant and unique risks they pose to national security and public safety. The Department of Commerce will also continue to consider the use of its authorities to address individual entities that may pose a threat to the connected vehicles ICTS supply chain.

In developing this final rule, the Department consulted with industry to ensure any actions maximally protect U.S. national security, while minimizing unintended consequences or disruptions to the market.  The Biden-Harris Administration also made extensive efforts to engage U.S. allies and partners, including through convening an inaugural multinational meeting to address connected vehicle risks in July 2024 of more than a dozen countries to advance affirmative cybersecurity standards and coordinate policy measures to mitigate risks. Commerce and other agencies will continue to work closely with industry and international partners as the final rule comes into effect.

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