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Doha, Qatar

Good morning.

Your Highness: It is an honor to be here with you. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity and warm welcome you and the people of Qatar have shown me on my visit. On behalf of my husband, President Biden, thank you for your leadership as Qatar continues to play a vital role in this region—and the world.

And I’m glad to be with so many heads of state and leaders from across the globe here in Doha.

Yesterday, I visited the Qatar Foundation, which has a magnificent view of Education City. Looking out at all of those world-renowned learning institutions, I thought of the incredible minds, cultures, and ideas coming together.

I appreciate Her Highness Sheikha Moza’s leadership in an area we both deeply care about: education.

As First Lady, I continue to teach writing at a community college, and in my classes, we talk about how stories shape our world.

The stories we tell can divide us. They can isolate us, and make us fearful.

But stories can also help us feel more connected to one another and inspire us to join hands in creating a better future.

That’s the story unfolding on the campus of Weill Cornell Medicine here in Qatar.

Innovation through cooperation.

Yesterday, I met a medical student who is studying why the risk of ovarian cancer goes up with a particular gene mutation. Another student is designing a surgical device that can clean the lens of a camera during an operation—without removing it from the patient’s body. That will make surgeries more precise.

It’s promising work.

But what fills me with even more hope is meeting the people who are powering those discoveries.

Students from Qatar—and countries from all around the world—at an American academic institution, located here in Doha, uncovering health breakthroughs that have the potential to improve people’s lives in this region and globally.

This year’s Doha Forum is focused on the “innovation imperative.”

I believe the first imperative for innovation is cooperation—people of all backgrounds and expertise working side by side, creating something better than we ever could alone.

As First Lady of the United States, I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world. From Japan to Ecuador. From Namibia to Ukraine.

Everywhere I go, I’m reminded that our differences are precious—and our similarities infinite.

Still, on those trips, there have been some who ask me why: Why visit a drought in Africa? Why meet with Wounded Warriors in the United Kingdom? Why visit refugees in Romania?

But if we were reminded of anything, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is this: diseases do not recognize borders. Neither does hunger, poverty, or violence.

We are all connected.

Even when times are tough, we share a responsibility to come together. And whether it’s fighting disease or working for peace in this region, we must bridge divides so that all people may live with dignity and security.

President Biden—my husband, Joe—understands that there isn’t one leader, one government, or one country that can go it alone, not in a world as inter-woven as ours.

The world’s challenges aren’t only ours to endure together. They are ours to solve together.

That can be this generation’s story, one of cooperation, understanding, and opportunity.

Consider climate change. The consequences of extreme heat, droughts, melting glaciers, and typhoons reverberate around the world.

But so too could new technologies with the power to reduce carbon emissions, address water scarcity, and make communities more resilient.

It will take all of us—committing to change, sharing our best ideas, and creating innovations that reach everyone—just as fast and as far as any wildfire or ocean wave.

Another area that’s ready for more innovation is in women’s health research.

Globally, women tend to live longer than men, but we spend almost 25 percent more time in poor health. 

Innovations are happening all around the world to close that health gap. Imagine a blood test—the first of its kind—that can reduce the time it takes for women to get a diagnosis for a debilitating disease like endometriosis. Or think about the benefits of uncovering why Alzheimer’s is more common in women.

This work isn’t just up to scientists and researchers. Governments, academia, the private sector, and NGOs all have to coordinate to make sure the benefits of innovative research reach the people who need them. 

Your Highness: I am here in Doha as part of my final foreign trip as the First Lady of the United States.

In the coming months and years, I will continue to help close the gaps in women’s health research. And the leaders in this room will always have a partner in me to move forward life-saving and world-changing innovations that improve our world.

The imperative to join together is not our burden.

It is our opportunity.

So let us build strong partnerships and innovate our way to better health, opportunity, and prosperity—for all.

A brighter world can be our story to tell.

Let’s write it, together.

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The post Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at the 2024 Doha Forum appeared first on The White House.

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

2:24 P.M. EST

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Hello.  Good afternoon, everybody. 

Q    Good afternoon.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Give me a quick second here.  Packed room.  I wonder why.

Okay.  I have a quick thing at the top, and then we’ll get going. 

On Tuesday, the president will deliver a speech in D.C. on his economic record and legacy, including his transformative investments in America, rebalancing the scales of our country in favor of workers, lowering costs for everyday necessities, and creating a small-business boom. 

Just today, we learned more than 220,000 jobs were created last month, making this the only presidency in 50 years to have job growth every single month. 

Over the last four years, the president has rejected trickle-down economics and written a new economic playbook, playbook that builds the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.  This is a strong foundation for years to come. 

As many of you have reported, including the Associated Press, Trump will inherit an economy primed for growth.

And with that, Associated Press, you have the first question. 

Q    Thanks, Karine.  Is the president considering blanket pardons for either individuals or groups of people who are fearful of potentially being targeted by the incoming Trump administration?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, I’m not — I’m not going to — to get ahead of — of the president, but what I can say is that the president is reviewing other pardons and commutations. 

And I do want to lay out a little bit of the history — the — the history the president has taken over the last almost four years, actions that he’s taken, because it’s important to note that the president has so far issued 20 individual pardons and 122 commutations.  He’s issued more sentence commutations at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms. 

This is in addition to groundbreaking categorical pardons that the president issued to address marijuana possession, convictions — military convictions in the LGBTQ+ community.  And as recently as April, if you go back a couple of months, the president issued 11 pardons, 5 commutations for individuals convicted of nonviolent drug offenses who demonstrated a commitment to rehab- — rehabilitation. 

So, there certainly will be more to — to say, just more broadly speaking.  And as you know, commutations and pardons are usually done when it’s the — when it’s the president’s final — final term, around — historically, around the holidays.  And so, certainly, there’ll be more to come. 

Anything outside of that, I would say that, you know, I’m not going to get into deliberations — private deliberations.  I’m just not going to get ahead of the president. 

Q    And are preemptive pardons on the table as the president goes through with this process?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m just not going to — I’m not going to get into — get ahead of the president.  Certainly, the president is looking at, you know, reviewing next steps, and there will be more to come.  I’m just not going to get ahead of the president.  I’m not going to get into hypotheticals from here. 

Q    And then a different pardon question. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Sure.

Q    In your first briefing here as press secretary, you committed to speaking to the American people, and I quote, “in a transparent way” — 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — “in a truthful way, and an honest way.” 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes. 

Q    And then, in July, here at this podium —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — you were asked about the president pardoning his son, and you said, “It’s a no.  It will be a no.  It’s a no.”

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes.  And that — (laughs) — that is exactly right.

Q    So, clearly in the case of — of the president’s son and that pardon —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — it became a yes. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    I’m wondering if you would like to explain to —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — us, the American people, really, why the information that you provided —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.  And I —

Q    — turned out not to be true?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And I — and I answered this question on Monday.  We spent about 30 minutes on this — almost 30 minutes — roughly 30 minutes on this particular issue.  And I’m just going to reiterate what I said in Air — on Air Force One to your colleagues when I did the gaggle.

And, look, if you look at his statement, it’s pretty comprehensive — the statement that he put out on Sunday when he made this decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden.  It — it’s in his own voice.  I think it takes you through his thinking.  And he did — he wrestled with this.  He wrestled with this.

And, again, he said in his statement in his own voice that he made that decision this past weekend. 

And the fact is, when you think about how the president got to this decision, circumstances have changed.  They have.

And a couple of things — and I said this — I said this on Monday as well.  Republicans said they weren’t going to — to let up, weren’t going to stop.  Recently announced Trump appointees for law enforcement have said on the campaign that they — they were out for retribution.  And I think we should believe their words, right?  We should believe what they say. 

The sentencing was coming up, as you all know.  There was a sentencing coming up.  And the president said this in his statement — that Hunter and his family had been through enough.  “Enough is enough.”  And he wrestled with these circumstances — these changing circumstances, ultimately. 

And the combination of that — the president changing his mind and issuing — certainly led to the president changing his mind and issuing this pardon. 

And one thing that I do want to point to, which I think is important, is what Congressman James Clyburn said when he was interviewed.  He said, “I am absolutely okay with it.  I don’t know how many people urged him to do so, but I did… He seemed to be reticent about it.”  This is what Clyburn said when he spoke to the president two weeks ago.  “But I emphasized” — continuing his — his quote — “emphasized the fact that we, as fathers, have obligations to our children.”

So, that was a conversation that the congressman himself had with the president two — two weeks ago.  Said that the president was reticent when he encouraged the president to do so.

And this weekend, he thought about it and he weighed — he — it was not an easy decision to — to come to, and he put out a comprehensive — comprehensive statement.  And I would certainly, you know, offer that up to folks out there who are wondering.  I would say, “Please read the president’s — president’s response to this in full.”

Q    I’m sure my colleagues have a few follow-ups, so just very specifically, though, I’m —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  It’s not only colleagues who — who watch this.  There’s also the American people.

Q    I — exactly.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  To be — to be fair.  So —

Q    Exactly.  And they were told by you in July —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — that this would not happen.  And it did.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.  Yeah.

Q    Do you — I’m saying, asking for yourself — not the president’s statement, but for yourself — do you feel like are owed apology — an apology by the president? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I just —

Q    Do you owe an apology to the American people?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Zeke, I — I just laid out the president’s thinking.  The president laid it out himself in his own words.  He did.  He laid out how he wrestled with this decision.  He said in his statement — as a president, as a father, he talked about how difficult it was to make this decision. 

He thought about it this weekend.  He did.  He thought about it this weekend.  He wrestled with it.  And there are some, you know, factors — some real factors that he took into consideration.  And that’s why I keep saying, folks should just take — take a — take a look.  Take a look.  Read — read his statement.

And I know what I said.  I know what the president said.  That is where we were at the time.  That is where the president was at the time.  I am his spokesperson. 

This weekend, he thought about it, he wrestled with it — he wrestled with it, and made this decision.  That’s what I can tell the American people.

Q    Why should they —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And I think —

Q    — have any confidence —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And then —

Q    — in anything else —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, I —

Q    — that you say?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — I — I think the American people understand, and I think they understand how difficult this decision would be. 

And I would actually add — and I think it’s important to note here, as you’re asking me these questions — important questions to ask — that there was a poll — a U.S. Gov [YouGov] poll that came out, that some of you all reported on it.  And it said 64 percent of the American people agree with the pardon — 64 percent of the American people. 

So, we get a sense of where the American people are on this.  Obviously, it’s one poll, but it gives you a little bit of insight.  Sixty-four percent is nothing to sneeze at. 

But, again, the president talked about this.  His own words.  He said this weekend, he wrestled with this.  This weekend, he thought about this, and he made this decision. 

And let’s not forget, we can’t — we can’t also forget what some of the legal experts and former prosecutors have all agreed on — many across the country have virtually said no one would be criminally prosecuted with felony offenses with these facts, and they’ve all agreed.  We’ve heard from many legal experts on this. 

You heard me quote the U.S. — the former attorney general, Eric Holder, multiple times — I think about eight times on Monday — “No U.S. attorney would have charged this case given the underlying facts… Had his name been Joe Smith, the resolution would have been fundamentally and more fairly a declination.  Pardon warranted.”

And we’ve heard from many legal experts, and also former — obviously, a former U.S. attorney.

Okay.  Go ahead. 

Q    All of those things you laid out were known long before Thanksgiving.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    And many Americans, in reflecting the 64 percent, certainly understand a father’s point of view.  But the president was declarative.  You were declarative.  You didn’t give room for “depending on the outcome of the election” or “depending on the rhetoric coming from the potential next administration.”  The certainty with which the president and you portrayed —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — the “no pardon” is part of where the question comes from —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — because all the facts that you have outlined were well known in advance. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And I would add, there has been some circumstances that have changed this.  Right?  Republicans not letting up, saying they won’t stop; they’re going to continue to do this.  I mentioned the recent Trump appointees of legal enforcement positions — right? — that said during the campaign they would have — they — they were out for retribution.  And so, no reason to not take them for their word.  I point to that. 

There was a sentencing coming up, as you all know.  There was —

Q    That was well known.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — I said there are multiple factors here.  Not one thing — not one thing led to this.  Multiple factors.  And I think if you look at all of these, it’s a combination of reasons why the president wrestled with this over the weekend and made this decision.

Q    Now that you’ve had time —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — and the president has had time to absorb how the public has responded to this —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — to think on it further, does he have any concerns about the fact that he had been so declarative and then granted this pardon?  What — you know, it’s clearly done —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And — and —

Q    — and many — many Americans understand, as a father —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — how he would do that. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No —

Q    But does — does he have concern about his credibility or the impact it might have —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You know —

Q    — on future pardon decisions?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So — and I will also say — just to bring up Clyburn again, because I think it’s important — right? — because you were asking me what we said over the summer — Clyburn spoke to the president two weeks ago, and the president — he said — this is Clyburn’s words — words — the president was “reticent” when he encou- — tried to encourage him to pardon Hunter Biden.  And I think that is — his son, obviously.  And I think that’s important to note. 

Look, I would refer you back to the last couple of sentences in his — in the president’s statement, and I think it’s important here, where he talked about wrestling this and wanting to — wanting to — understanding that the American people are fair — fair-minded, and talked about the importance of doing this and thinking about this over the weekend and coming to this decision, and how he wrestled with it. 

And that was, I think, a message directly to the American people.  The whole — obviously, the whole comprehensive statement was something that he wanted to share with the American people.  But I think the way he — the way he ended his statement actually acknowledges and wanted to be very clear to the American people his own personal thinking about this and understanding that they would look at this and he believed they would be fair-minded about it. 

And this was not easy for the president.  It wasn’t.  It wasn’t.

Because you all mentioned the statements that we have made over the — over the summer.  So, obviously, this wasn’t easy —

Q    I guess my question is: He could have reserved —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — to come to this decision.

Q    — the right to consider it later.  And — and when he is that declarative —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — as the president of the United States —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  It —

Q    — that’s where it carries weight.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, I understand.  And Kelly O., you know this president.  You followed him during his vice presidency, right?  You have covered him.  When he is asked a question directly, he answers it directly. 

Q    Okay.  So, we are where we are. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    So, does he regret that he had misled the public about what would eventually happen?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, what I will say is he laid out his thought process.  He talked about the underlying — the underlying facts of the case.  He thought it was a very important — that was part of the first paragraph of his statement — wanting to explain and — and talking about the gun charges — right? — talking about the tax cases and wanting to make sure that they understood, like, these types of things would not be a normal — a normal reason to — to prosecute.  Right? 

Virtually no one would be criminally prosecuted with felony offenses with these facts, whether it’s — absent aggravated factors, similar charges are rarely brought.  When you think about gun charges, the tax cases, such as Hunter’s, when taxes are rap- — repaid with penalties are merely — are rarely criminally charged.  They are handled civilly. 

And these are the things that the legal experts also agreed with him on.  And so, he wanted to lay that out for the American people as well. 

And I, you know, don’t have anything else to — beyond what the president laid out — his thinking in his — in his written statement, in his words.  I just don’t have anything beyond that. 

Go ahead.

Q    Thanks.  The president has also faced real swift criticism from members of his own party around this pardon.  I mean, Democrats have called it a setback, a mistake, said that they’re worried Republicans will use this against Democrats in the future.  Has the president felt the need to respond directly to any of his Democratic colleagues around their criticism of this move?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, what the president is going to focus on — and you’ve heard us say this — is running through the tape.  He’s going to focus on the American people.  He’s going to continue to deliver historic progress every day.  That’s going to be his focus. 

And if you think about his legacy more broadly, it includes getting us out of COVID.  It includes bringing the economy back.  It includes beating Big Pharma.  It includes making sure that we had infrastructure investment that we’re able to do in a bipartisan way.  We’re talking about not just actions that the president has taken that people are going to feel today but for generations to come. 

And so, that’s going to be his focus.  I think folks in his party are going to have a lot of thoughts on this, obviously, but there have been — there have been — we’ve heard quotes and support from many — from many elected officials. 

I just mentioned Jim Clyburn.  There was Senator Dick Durbin.  He said, “It’s a right given to the president, a power given to him under the Constitution, and Joe Biden is using it in a very humane way.  I think Hunter Biden has been exploited for political purposes.  It’s not the first time.  It won’t — it won’t be the last time in American history.  But I can certainly understand Joe Biden standing up and saying that he wants to protect his son.” 

Nancy Pelosi, when she was asked about this particular issue, she said, “I support the president.” 

Representative Jasmine Crockett, “I think that it was the right move.” 

And there’s been others who have — in the Democratic Party, part of the leadership, and others — who have supported this president and his decision. 

Q    Just real quick, though.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    When you — when the president is saying that he believed it was a political prosecution, does it make it easier for incoming Trump to also say that he’s pardoning January 6th rioters because he believes that those are political prosecutions?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, I’m not going to get into what the incoming pr- — administration is going to do or not do.  That’s not something that I’m going to speak to.  I’ve been pretty consistent about that since the election.  We’ve been very clear about where we stand on January 6th.  And so, I’m not going to get into that. 

But I think — and you all, some of you, have reported this — Republicans have been very — his political opponents in Congress have been very clear about this.  The president talks about this again in his own statement about how they took credit for bringing — for bringing political pro- — political pressure on the process when it came to Hunter Biden’s plea deal.  And so, they took credit for that when it fell apart.  They took credit for that. 

And they have said they’re not going to stop.  And so, again, I’m not going to point to one particular reason for the president making this decision.  There has been changing factors that led him to where he decided, weighted this decision over the weekend.

Q    And then just re- — really quick, where Zeke started about the idea —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — of preemptive pardons.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    You clearly didn’t rule that out.  You confirmed that the White House is really considering that in your response to me.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — I — that’s not — I — that’s — I’m not confirming anything.  I’m just saying I’m not going to get ahead of the president on this issue. 

Q    But just —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  There’s a process.  I’m — I’m not —

Q    Are you ruling out the idea —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I’m not — I’m — I’m —

Q    — of preemptive pardons?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  What I’m saying is I’m not getting ahead of the president.  I’m not.  There’s going to be — he’s going to make — make announcements on pardons and commutations.  That is something every president — historically, presidents do, especially at the end of their term.  And so, that normally happens around the holiday.  So, you could expect the president making a decision. 

What I can talk to and speak to is this particular pardon this — a couple of days ago, of his son, and what he’s been able to do.  I laid out some historic actions that the president has taken when it comes to pardons, when it comes to commu- — commutations over the past four years, as recently as this past April. 

I — I’m not going to get into hypotheticals here.  I’m not going to get into the president’s thinking. 

Q    Well, it’s not hypothetical.  Ha- — have people come and asked the president for —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, I —

Q    — a preemptive pardon —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well —

Q    — because they’re worried about —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.

Q    — a potential prosecution from the —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, what I can say is —

Q    — Trump administration?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  — we have seen from advocates — right? — who are — who have been very public in lobbying the administration for — for certainly — for pardons and — and clemency, commutations.  We’ve heard from them.  You all have seen it.  So, obviously, we have heard them. 

I’m just not going to get into specifics of what we’re going to do, not do.  I’m not going to get ahead of the president.  And I think you can understand that — that process that we’re going to keep going. 

Go ahead, Tam.

Q    Yeah, thank you.  You mentioned that there is a process.  I would love if you could spell out exactly how that process is working.  Is it in conjunction with the Justice Department? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    Who at the White House is handling it?  And then, you could answer whether the Hunter one was inside or outside of that process, but let’s start with the process.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, no, I actually answered that question on Monday.  The president made the decision on the par- — on the pardon for Hunter Biden.  The White House reached out to the Department of Justice because that has to be filed with the Department of Justice.  It was the president’s decision.  There was no consultation with the Department of Justice.  As you know, the — the president has the right to do this.  So, that was a — obviously, a very separate process. 

As it relates to more commutations, more pardons, that process, obviously, the Department of Justice is involved in that.  There’s a review process.  And so, that’s the — that’s how we’re going to move forward on — on making those types of decisions. 

Q    And who at the White House is leading it up?  Is it out of the Counsel’s office or is it the chief of staff?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, look, obviously, the White House Counsel will — will be part of this process.  I just don’t have anything beyond that. 

Q    And just quickly, President Trump is going to be in France this weekend —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — for the reopening of the Notre Dame, also meeting with President Macron.  How does this White House view President Trump’s meetings with foreign leaders happening while you’re still here?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, look, it’s not unusual, as you’ve heard us say before.  You’ve heard the National Security Council say as well.  I think Jake Sullivan, when he was asked this question — our national security — the president’s national security advisor — made — made that same comment.  It’s not unusual for — when there is a president-elect, for heads of states, foreign leaders to want to have that conversation with the president-elect.  So, I’ll just — I’ll just leave that there. 

Okay.  Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  Just follow-up to Tamara’s question: Why isn’t the president of the United States going to go to the reopening of the Notre-Dame de Paris?  Why not?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So — so, just — as you know, the first lady is attending, and she’s attending as part of her larger travel swing to Italy, UAE, and Qatar.  So, she will be representing the administration. 

They were both invited to — to be there for the o- — reopening of the Notre-Dame.  The president has a — had a scheduling conflict, which is why he was not able to — able to attend.  Any specifics on the first lady’s trip and what that’s going to look like, I certainly would refer you to the first lady’s office. 

Q    But the president was invited?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah, he was.  He was.  There was scheduling conflict, which is why he decided not to attend. 

But the first lady is there, and — and he’s very proud that she’s there representing us.

And anything further on her visit, certainly I would refer you to — to their office. 

Q    I also have a question — thank you, Karine.  And I also have a question on the Canadian foreign min- — the Canadian foreign minister today launched the new — Canada’s new Arctic foreign policy to face Russia, China.  Four years later and with a successor who seems to be skeptical, how does the president see Canada’s involvement in — in mutual defense and international issue — international crises?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, the president values our strong partnership with Canada and their leadership to this particular announcement on addressing major challenges of our time, such as combat — combating climate change.  As you know, the president has taken that issue very seriously by putting forth one of the most historic piece of legislation that really deals with climate change in a way that we’ve never se- — we — we have not seen any other administration deal with it. 

Canada’s contribution, as we — as you all know, to Ukraine’s defense and Multilateral [Multinational] Security Support mission in Haiti have been consequential.  And so we value the Canadians’ cooperation in securing the Arctic region, and that is peaceful, stable, and prosperous and cooperative, and — and so, again, we value that strong partnership.  And I think they have shown leadership.  Many things that they have certainly partnered with us in the past four years. 

Okay.  Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  On Syria.  As you know, armed groups are closing rapidly on many Syrian cities and against the Assad regime.  How does the White House see the outcome or the best outcome?  And what messages do you have to the regime in Syria?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, we’re closely monitoring the situations in Syria, and have been in — in const- — in contact with the countries in the region.  And the NSC put out a statement just last weekend,

“The Assad regime’s ongoing refusal to engage in the political process outlined in UNSCR 2054 [2254], and it is rel- — it is — and its reliance on Russia and Iran created the conditions now unfolding, including the collapse of Assad regime lines in northwest Syria.”  So, “the United States, together with — with its partners and allies, urge de-escalation, protection of civilians and minority groups, and a se- — and a serious and credible political process that can end this civil war once and for all with a political settlement consistent with UNSCR 22- — 20- — 2254.”

And so, we’re going to continue to, obviously, defend and protect U.S. personnel and U.S. military.  That is the president — that has been always very clear about that.  And so, obviously, U.S. personnel and U.S. military, they — they remain essential to ensuring that ISIS can never again resurge in Syria.  But more broadly, to — to answer your question, we’re going to closely monitor the situation in Syria. 

Q    But since this statement, I mean, developments are happening so fast.  The cities after cities are falling.  So, maybe by the weekend, we’re talking about — maybe the Assad regime is not going to be there anymore.  So —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, I’m not going to — I — I’m not going to get into hypotheticals of what’s going to happen the next couple days or — or how it’s going to play out. 

What we are doing — we’re monitoring the situation.  We’re taking this very seriously.  You saw the statement from the National Security Council just this past weekend.  We’re going to continue to stay in contact with countries in the region. 

And so, that’s what I can say that we’re going to do: continue to be in touch, continue to mor- — monitor.  I don’t want to get into hypotheticals from here. 

Q    And one last thing?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Sure.

Q    As you know, the Russians have been supporting the Assad regime since the beginning, but today they said they’re going to play a limited role in (inaudible).  Is this a welcome kind of statement from the White House that the Russians say they’re not supporting the regime the way they did in the past?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, I’m not going to get into what the Russians are doing or not doing. 

What we’re going to do is monitor this really closely.  We’re going to continue to talk with our coun- — with the countries in the region.  And remember, as you — as I just stated, we have U.S. personnel on the ground.  We have U.S. military.  It is important to the president that we continue to make sure that they’re safe — their safety is — is considered here.  I’m just not going to get into what Russia’s have — what the Russians have said and what they’re going to do or not do. 

Q    Thank you.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  Zeke asked this question; I just didn’t hear an answer.  The next time that the president says he will or won’t do something, why should the American people believe him?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I answered that question.  I don’t have anything else to add. 

Q    What — what is your answer?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — I answered the question. 

Q    Can you — can you explain in a way —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I answered the question.

Q    — that’s understandable?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — well, I — I can’t speak to you understanding the question or not or my answer or not on this.  I — I don’t have anything else to say. 

I’m not going to relitigate this.  I — I did this on Monday for 30 minutes.  I went back and forth.  I laid out — I said please read the president’s really comprehensive statement on this.  And I even said, the last paragraph of that statement, he talks directly — directly to the American people.  And that’s how I answered that question.

Q    Can you acknowledge that it may have been a mistake by the president, you to say multiple times, unequivocally, that he would not pardon his son?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  The president laid out in that statement what changed, why his mind ch- — mind changed, how he wrestled with this decision.  The president laid that out.  I don’t have anything else to add. 

Q    So, that statement, he said, in part, “I believe in the justice system, but as — as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” 

Just to understand that sentence — I think it’s important —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah, for sure.

Q    — is it sure that the president believes in the justice system, except in some cases?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  He believes in the justice system.  He believes the facts are — the facts are — obviously, I talked about the gun charges, what legal experts have said, former prosecutees [prosecutors] have all agreed virtually no one would be criminally prosecuted for underlying factors of Hunter’s case.  I talked about the gun charges.  I talked about the taxes — the — the tax cases. 

And there are other factors here: what Republicans have said as they weren’t going to let — let up.  I talked about the upcoming sentencing and what Hunter and his family have been through.  I talked about the app- — appointees by the incoming president on law enforcement positions.

And he wrestled with it.  He did. 

And I also talked about what Jim Clyburn said.  So, you’re asking me about an apology, but Jim Clyburn said himself, in a conversation that he had with the president just two weeks ago, the president said — he said the president was reticent when he encouraged the president.  When he himself, Jim Clyburn, encouraged the president to move forward with it — Co- — Congressman Clyburn — the president responded to him by saying he was — he was reticent. 

And so, this was not an easy decision.  It wasn’t.  It wasn’t an easy decision.  And, you know, it was a lot of circumstances here, and — and we can’t — we can’t pass over what legal experts and former U.S. attorneys have said on this.  You know, and across the country, they’ve all basically agreed, virtually — virtually no one would be criminally prosecrated — prosecuted with felony offenses with these facts.  And I have gone through the — on the two — two important underlying facts of the cases. 

And, you know, I just don’t have anything beyond that to add or to say.  You know, I’ve laid out our thought process.  The president has laid out his thought process.  And we’ve talked about the case.  We’ve talked about his thinking.  And I just don’t have anything beyond that. 

Q    The president just got back from a multiday trip to Angola, where he engaged the press, I think, literally one time, just to quickly confirm that he was getting briefed on the situation in Korea. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.  Yep.

Q    His last foreign trip, it was six days in South America.  As you know, he didn’t engage reporters during that trip.  After that last trip, you told us in this briefing room that he believes in the value of engaging the press.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    He enjoys it, you said.  He will continue to engage —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — reporters.  There will be opportunities to talk to him.  So, why is it that he is —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — avoiding reporters?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, we got — we still have 45 days left in this administration.  The president does — he does believe in the free- — the freedom of the press, right?  He believes in that. 

I think we have shown in the last four years bringing back the norms of engaging with all of you.  We have respected that process.  I hope you guys think that, that we’ve tried to do the best that we can to do that.

And the president is goi- — he does.  He really does enjoy having a back-and-forth.  And when the president and — I do want to say he did take a moment to have a back-and-forth with all of you when he was in Nantucket with some of your colleagues who traveled with him.  He did take some questions there.  So, it’s not like he hasn’t taken questions at all.  He did have a — a — he did do a gaggle when he was in Nantucket around the holiday and took some questions. 

And so, he’ll continue to do that.  And, look, he was really focused — and many of you have asked me this question.  He was focused on his last OCONUS.  He had the G20 — the last G20.  He had the APEC, which was all incredibly important.  Wanted to focus on his engagement with leaders, heads of states.  He did that. 

The trip to Africa, as you all know, was a promise that he wanted to keep, and it was a great trip with very substantive discussions.  And we were able, again, to present — to show his global leadership. 

And so, I would say to all of you, you will hear — you certainly will — will hear from him in the next 45 days. 

Q    Do you consider it upholding norms for the president to basically not engage the press in at least two back-to-back foreign trips?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  What I would say is up- — upholding norms is what we have been able to do in the last four years.  And I would encourage folks to look at the four years more broadly and what the president has been able to do and what the president ha- — has engaged with all of you. 

And, again, we — I would say, especially from here, we have always respected and want to continue to respect the freedom of the press and have a healthy back-and-forth.  And that is the norm that I think, yes, we brought back — we brought back into thi- — from this administration. 

Go ahead, Karen.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  A U.S. official said that the administration won’t be able to use up the nearly $7 billion in military aid that Congress had approved for Ukraine before the president leaves office.  How much money do you estimate that will still be left when the president leaves? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    And is the president concerned that the incoming administration is not going to get that out the door to Ukraine?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, as you know, back in September — September 29th — the president — we put out a statement.  The president was very clear about wanting to surge — surge resources into Ukraine and wanted to make sure that they had everything that they need as what was happening on the ground — a situation on the ground, circumstances on the ground — was changing.  And our commitment has been very steadfast. 

You have seen us, since that date, continuing to make announcements on assistance going towards Ukraine.  I don’t have a number for you or an estimation of how much money would be left or not left in the next — after — well, we’ve got 45 days, as I just mentioned. 

I would refer you to the Department of Defense to get that specific number.  But we are committed to getting the money out the door.  We are committed to make sure that Ukraine has the resources that it needs.  As you know, we have led that.  This president has led, certainly, that charge globally in making sure that Ukraine has the support; making sure 50 countries get behi- — have gotten behind Ukraine; making sure NA- — the NATO alliance is stronger than it’s ever been before.

And I think you see that commitment from this president.  And so, we’re going to continue to surge that.

Q    But with this acknowledgement that there will be funding left when he leaves —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — and given that this has been such a top priority for the administration and for this president, is he worried that when he leaves, that the incoming —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    — administration is going to leave this money on the table and not get it out?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And so, look, again, I’m trying to be really mindful not to get into hypotheticals on what the pr- — the next administration is going to do or not do.  We got to let that process move forward. 

What I will say and remind folks that we got that funding in a bipartisan effort, right?  That’s how we were able to get that funding to make sure the — the resource were — resources were getting into Ukraine.  And so, that was done in a bipartisan way. 

And we can’t take Russia off the hook here, right?  They are the aggressors here.  They are the ones that went into a sovereign territory.  And, again, we say this all the time, this war can end today if Russia would stop their aggression. 

But, again, it was done in a bipartisan way.  We can’t forget that.

Go ahead, Jeff.

AIDE:  Karine, you have time for a couple more.

Q    Thank you.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Okay.

Q    Karine, before the election, the Senate passed a bill that would have added an additional 60 judges to the judiciary. 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Mm-hmm.

Q    That bill is now going to the House, and there are some Democrats who are now not supportive of that bill because it would mean President-elect Trump would have an additional 60 judges to fill.  What’s the — or judge spaces to fill. 

What’s the administration’s view on that bill? 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    Would the president sign or veto it?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And so, I — I need to talk to the president and Office of Leg Affairs about this.  I have not had that discussion about this particular bill. 

As you know, we have been pretty — pretty aggressive and steadfast in getting our nominated judges — qualified judges through in the Senate process.  And so, we have been able to steadily do that over the past couple of weeks. 

On this particular legislation, I just need to — to talk to the team.  I don’t want to get ahead of them.

Q    All right.  And one more on pardons.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Sure.

Q    With — having pardoned his son, some of the criticism that came from the left — including, I believe, Black Lives Matter — was that Black men have been unfairly charged and imprisoned and don’t have fathers who have the ability to pardon them. 

Does the fact that the president has pardoned his son, who was convicted by a jury and did plead guilty on the tax charges, put pressure on the president or does he feel pressure to do an even greater number of pardons this time around for — for people who don’t have that privilege?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, there’s a process.  The president is going to go through it.  I’m not going to get ahead of him.

But, again, I — I do want to — I — I hope folks don’t forget what the president has been able to do, the actions that he’s been able to take over the last four years.  I — I went through them.  Just to — to touch on them a little bit: He’s issued 20 individual pardons, 122 commutations.  He’s issued more sentence commutation at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in the first term. 

This is in addition to the groundbreaking categorical pardons that the president issued to address marijuana possession convictions and military convictions in the LGBTQ+ community.  And let’s not forget what he was able to do in April: 11 pardons, 5 commutations for individuals convicted of nonviolent drug offenses who demonstrated a commitment to rehab.  And so, there’s going to be more to come. 

But what the president has done, he’s shown his commitment to making sure that — that he — he takes these pardons, as he has over the last four years, in a way that is important for communities that you just — you just spoke to, and he’s talked about the criminal justice system. 

He’s talked about — you know, he’s taken actions in a way that we can address with the inequalities of the criminal justice system. 

And I would say that this president’s commitment has been very clear on this and has been very, again, continued — has been very steadfast and has made a difference — has made a difference.  

There’s going to be more to speak to in the upcoming weeks.  And so, certainly, the president will address it.

Q    Does he have a — does he have a response to that kind of criticism?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Look, again, I just laid out what the — the actions —

Q    But my question is, like, does —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, I — I don’t —

Q    — does he get that some people feel that their sons and daughters deserve the same?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  And so, I will say, you know — and I keep going back to his comprehensive written statement, because he speaks to his thought process.  Obviously, I’ve said this mul- — many times.  He speaks to wrestling with this.  He speaks to the underlying factors, as I’ve mentioned many times from here.  And he speaks to how Republicans have politically gone after his son over and over again and continue — and continue to say they’re not going to stop. 

And you’ve heard from legal experts who have said that if his — basically, if his — if his name was — was Joe Smith —

Q    I got all that.  I’m asking about these other people —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — and I — I —

Q    — who are also in jail and were also convicted.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Right.  And I — I’ve answered that by talking about the actions that the president has taken.  I’ve answered that by pointing to the president’s statements, him wrestling with this and laying out his thought process.  It was in his own words. 

And, you know, you’re asking — you also asked me if there were going to be additional pardons.  There will be.  There’s a — we’re reviewing it.  We’re trying to figure out the next steps in this, and you’ll hear from the president on this in the next couple of weeks. 

And — but we can’t — we can’t put aside the important notes that I made about the actions that the president has taken on issues and matter — on issues that matter to the community. 

And, again, I said this is — he’s taken — he’s issued more sentence commutation at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at this time — at this same point in their first terms.  That matters. 

He’s taking this very seriously.  And so, you know, that’s what I hope folks would take from that: a president that’s been very serious, that’s been tak- — that’s taken actions. 

And that’s how I’m going to answer that question.

Go ahead.

Q    Thanks, Karine.  When you’re standing there at the lectern, you are White House press secretary speaking on behalf of the president, conveying his thoughts and the views of the administration.  And it’s for that reason that you said on his behalf all those times that he had no plans to do what he did on Sunday.  Has he expressed any regret to you directly, personally, for having put you in this position —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  You know —

Q    — and now having to go back on it?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I — look, I understand this question.  And you started off — I think the way you started off — the question is basically how I feel, right?  And I think all of us who work in this administration — I work for the president.  I speak for the president.  I — I comment on behalf of what he feels and thinks, and that’s my job.  That’s my job as the press secretary — the White House press secretary — the person who speaks on behalf of the president of the United States.  And that’s how I feel. 

Q    But does —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I feel like it’s my — 

Q    But did he apologize to you?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — look, there’s no apology — apology needed — maybe to answer that question.  No apology needed. 

What I will say is this is a president — you’ve heard me talk about the legal experts.  What they have say — said, how they agreed with the president in — in taking this action.  You’ve heard me say that over and over again.  I’ve laid out quotes from different U.S. attorneys, prosecutors who really laid out how the underlying factors of Hunter’s — Hunter’s case would not lead to what had occurred in the past several months.

And I will also say this, and you heard this president say this many times before.  He believes when it comes to his family, when it comes to how he moves forward about thinking about his family, they’re the beginning, the middle, and the end.  And he wrestled with this.  It was not an easy thing for him to decide.

There’s a reason why I keep bringing up Congressman Jim Clyburn.  It is because this is someone who spoke to the president just two weeks ago and encouraged him to do so — to pardon his son.  And at the time, the congressman said, two weeks ago, that this president was reticent.  So, obviously — obviously, he wrestled with this. 

So, no apology needed from him to me.

Q    One of the other things he often says is that voters should trust his, quote, “word as a Biden.”

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yeah.

Q    Should they still?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Yes, the president is — the president —

Q    I mean, this was a pretty big —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I —

Q    — defiant public pronouncement by him that he wasn’t going to do this, and he did it.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I — I hear you and I understand, but the president wrestled with this.  He truly did. 

And, you know, I — I called out the U.S. gov. [YouGov] poll where 64 percent of Americans — that’s not a small number — agree with the president’s decision to pardon his son.  And I think that gives you a little bit of a tiny window of where the American people are on this.

Q    He — he sidestepped a judge and a jury’s decisions on the cases involving his son.  He criticized the political nature of the prosecution.  The next president has spent the last several years vowing to upend the Justice Department and the FBI.

Looking at their current and future presidents, why should any American continue to have confidence in the American justice system?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, the president does have confidence in the American justice system, and he said that in his statement — certainly continues to have confidence in the Department of Justice. 

What he —

Q    But they see two leaders who —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Wha- — o- — okay.

Q    — single out incidents that involve them or their families and say, “Well, they’re not being fair to me —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Can I — okay, can I —

Q    — but the rest of you should agree with it.”

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Can I — can I just be very blunt here?  The situation with Hunter Biden and what the incoming president has said are very different.

Q    But they’re making similar arguments —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, y- — but —

Q    — which is that they’ve been unfairly prosecuted —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I —

Q    — because of who they are.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  But — but I don’t think — I don’t think those two things are the same.  I just don’t.  I don’t — they’re not the same.  They’re just not.

And — and I think the American people understand that.  I do.  I do think they believe and understand that they’re not the same.

What the president’s son had to go through and what we’ve heard from legal experts — former U.S. attorneys general — who look at this case, who understand this case, and have said this would not virtually — there would not be this situation, and I think that’s important to note as well.  And they’ve been very clear about this.  We’ve heard from many of them.  Legal experts, former U.S. attorneys from across the country, again, have all agreed: Virtually no one would be criminally prosecuted with felony offenses with these facts.  I talked about these facts as it relates to the gun charges and tax cases that — that — obviously, Hunter Biden’s case.  And so, that is — you take their word for it.  You can take their word for it. 

Okay.  Wa- —

Q    (Inaudible.)

Q    Oh, wait.  Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Q    (Inaudible.) 

Q    Bring that back.  So, Debra Tice just told the National Press Club, from a significant source in our government, Austin Tice is alive.  Is that what they were told today here at the White House?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I don’t have anything to share about conversation on this particular matter. 

What I can say, though, is that —

Q    Because there was a meeting here today at the White House with her —

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  No, exactly. 

Q    — with the family.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  The national security advisor to the president, Jake Sullivan, did have a meeting with Austin Tice’s family this afternoon.  And — and Jake Sullivan has regularly met with the families of wrongfully detained Americans, so this is in line with what he has been able to do. 

And so, we’re going to continue to make sure that we get Americans who are wrongfully detained — or Americans home to their families.  You’ve seen that.  I think you’ve seen that commitment truly from this administration, what we have been able to do — certainly in last several months — over the past four years, and we’ve brought home 75 unjustly detained around the world. 

So, we work around the co- — clock.  We partner, obviously, with our — with partnership with our allies and we negotiate the release of Americans. 

I don’t — I don’t have anything to say about that particular statement, but I — you know, obviously, Austin Tice’s family — I don’t even — I can’t even imagine what they’re going through right now as they think about Austin Tice, as they, I’m sure, have continued to hope and pray for Austin to — to come home to them. 

And what we have been committed to is making sure that Americans get home.  Seventy-five Americans unjustly detained around the world — we have been able to do that because of this president’s leadership.  And so, I think that matters, and I think that shows the president’s commitment.

(Cross-talk.)

Q    Karine.  Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Go ahead.  Go ahead. 

AIDE:  (Inaudible.) 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I know.  Yeah, we got to go.

Go ahead.  Yeah. 

Q    Thanks, Karine.  So, soon after the president announced the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah, President-elect Trump’s team immediately, you know, claimed credit for it.  Just last week, there was a video out, you know, released by Hamas, of one of the hostages.  Is the White House working with the Trump team to negotiate, you know, the hostage crisis?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, what I can say is we’re going to continue to work 24/7, as we have, day and night, to secure a deal and — that would certainly free the hostages, bring about a ceasefire in Gaza. 

And so, we have been in touch with the president-elect’s team to ensure that they’re aware of our efforts.  And so, we believe they are supportive of them — the president-elect’s team.  And these conversations have been constructive.

But we have been doing the work for some time.  Right?  We’ve been working around the clock in getting that done.  And so, that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on. 

Okay.  All right.  Thanks, everybody. 

(Cross-talk.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Thanks, everyone.

3:13 P.M. EST

The post Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appeared first on The White House.

As Commander in Chief, I have one solemn responsibility: protect the American people from harm. That’s why, over the last four years, I made beating the opioid epidemic a central focus of my Unity Agenda at home—and my cooperation with world leaders abroad.
 
Earlier this week, we saw the impact: Mexican security forces seized more than twenty million doses of illicit fentanyl—enough to kill 15 percent of all Americans. I want to thank President Claudia Sheinbaum for her leadership and partnership that made this possible, and the many military and law enforcement officials on both sides of the border who have dedicated their lives to countering fentanyl, disrupting traffickers, and saving their fellow citizens. It matters.
 
And we won’t let up. Under my Administration, we have seized more fentanyl at our border in the last two years, than the previous five years combined. We’ve put dozens of major cartel leaders and money launderers behind bars. And latest data shows over a 14 percent drop in overdose deaths across the nation—that’s the largest decrease on record.
 
These aren’t just facts and figures. They are families. Families who don’t have to bear the loss of a child, or parent, or spouse. So today, with partners around the world—including Mexico—we vow to double down on our work to size more drugs. To stop more traffickers. To save more lives. And to we make it clear: enough is enough.

###

The post Statement from President Joe Biden on U.S.-Mexico Security Cooperation appeared first on The White House.

Dear Mr. Speaker:   (Dear Madam President:)

I am providing this supplemental consolidated report, prepared by my Administration and consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148), as part of my efforts to keep the Congress informed about deployments of United States Armed Forces equipped for combat.

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN SUPPORT OF UNITED STATES COUNTERTERRORISM EFFORTS

In furtherance of counterterrorism efforts, the United States continues to work with partners around the globe, with a particular focus on the United States Central and Africa Commands’ areas of responsibility.  In this context, the United States has deployed forces to conduct counterterrorism operations and to advise, assist, and accompany security forces of select foreign partners on counterterrorism operations.  In the majority of these locations, the mission of United States military personnel is to facilitate counterterrorism operations of foreign partner forces and does not include routine engagement in combat.  In many of these locations, the security environment is such that United States military personnel may be required to defend themselves against threats or attacks, and, to that end, the United States may deploy United States military personnel with weapons and other appropriate equipment for force protection.  Specific information about counterterrorism deployments to select countries is provided below, and a classified annex to this report provides further information.

Military Operations Conducted Pursuant to the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force and in Support of Related United States Counterterrorism Objectives

Since October 7, 2001, United States Armed Forces, including Special Operations Forces, have conducted counterterrorism combat operations, including against al-Qa’ida and associated forces.  Since August 2014, these operations have included targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which was formerly known as al-Qa’ida in Iraq.  In support of these and other overseas operations, the United States has deployed combat-equipped forces to several locations in the United States Central, European, Africa, Southern, and Indo-Pacific Commands’ areas of responsibility.  Such operations and deployments have been reported previously, consistent with the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40), the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243), Public Law 93-148, and other statutes.  These ongoing operations, which the United States has carried out with the assistance of numerous international partners, have been successful in seriously degrading ISIS capabilities in Syria and Iraq.  If necessary, in response to terrorist threats, I will direct additional measures to protect the people and interests of the United States.  It is not possible to know at this time the precise scope or the duration of the deployments of United States Armed Forces that are or will be necessary to counter terrorist threats to the United States.

Afghanistan.  United States military personnel remain postured outside Afghanistan to address threats to the United States homeland and United States interests that may arise from inside Afghanistan.

Iraq and Syria.  As part of a comprehensive strategy to defeat ISIS, United States Armed Forces are working by, with, and through local partners to conduct operations against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria and against al-Qa’ida in Syria to limit the potential for resurgence of these groups and to mitigate threats to the United States homeland.  A small presence of United States Armed Forces remains in strategically significant locations in Syria to conduct operations, in partnership with local, vetted ground forces, to address continuing terrorist threats emanating from Syria.  United States Armed Forces in Iraq continue to advise, assist, and enable select elements of the Iraqi security forces, including Iraqi Kurdish security forces.  United States Armed Forces also provide limited support to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mission in Iraq.  United States Armed Forces, as part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, remain present in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq.

I directed United States forces to conduct discrete strikes on November 11, 2024, and on November 26, 2024, against facilities in Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated militia groups for headquarters and command and control, weapons storage, training, logistics support, and other purposes.  These strikes followed attacks against United States personnel and facilities in Syria that threatened the lives of United States personnel and Coalition forces operating alongside United States forces, and that were perpetrated by the IRGC, affiliated militia groups, and other Iran-affiliated groups.  I directed these discrete military actions consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive and to conduct United States foreign relations.

Arabian Peninsula Region.  The United States military continues to work closely with the Republic of Yemen government and regional partner forces to degrade the terrorist threat posed by al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS. 

Since at least November 2023, Yemen-based Houthi militants have engaged in a series of attacks against United States military forces, including ships and aircraft, and against maritime commercial shipping operating in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.  These attacks have posed a threat to the safety of United States forces and commercial ships and their crews, regional political and economic stability, and navigational rights and freedoms.  The Houthi militants continue to pose a threat of future attacks against United States forces and military vessels and against other maritime traffic in the region.  In response, United States forces have conducted discrete strikes against facilities, locations, and equipment in Yemen that support and facilitate Houthi militants’ attacks in the Red Sea region.  These strikes protect and defend our personnel and assets, and degrade and disrupt the ability of the Houthi militants to carry out future attacks against the United States and against vessels operating in the Red Sea region that could further destabilize the region and threaten United States strategic interests.  The strikes were conducted in a manner designed to limit the risk of escalation and avoid civilian casualties.

United States Armed Forces are deployed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to protect United States forces and interests in the region against hostile action by Iran and Iran-backed groups.  These forces, operating in coordination with the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, provide air and missile defense capabilities and support the operation of United States military aircraft.  The total number of United States forces in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is approximately 2,027.

Jordan.  At the request of the Government of Jordan, approximately 3,942 United States military personnel are deployed to Jordan to support Defeat-ISIS operations, to enhance Jordan’s security, and to promote regional stability.

Lebanon.  At the request of the Government of Lebanon, approximately 99 United States military personnel are deployed to Lebanon to enhance the government’s counterterrorism capabilities, to support the counterterrorism operations of Lebanese security forces, and to protect United States interests in the country.  The increase of approximately 24 personnel is attributable to the heightened hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, leading to increasing instability.  Accordingly, a small number of personnel were deployed to protect United States diplomatic facilities and diplomatic personnel, and to ensure rapid capability to respond to crisis.

Turkey.  United States Armed Forces remain deployed to Turkey, at the Turkish government’s request, to support Defeat-ISIS operations and to enhance Turkey’s security.

East Africa Region.  United States Armed Forces continue to counter the terrorist threat posed by ISIS and al-Shabaab, an associated force of al-Qa’ida.  Since the last periodic report, United States Armed Forces have conducted one airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabaab in defense of our Somali partner forces.  United States Armed Forces remain prepared to conduct airstrikes in Somalia against ISIS and al-Shabaab terrorists.  United States military personnel conduct periodic engagements in Somalia to train, advise, and assist regional forces, including Somali and African Union Transition Mission in Somalia forces, in connection with counterterrorism operations.  United States military personnel are deployed to Kenya to support counterterrorism operations in East Africa.  United States military personnel continue to partner with the Government of Djibouti, which has permitted use of Djiboutian territory for basing of United States Armed Forces.  United States military personnel remain deployed to Djibouti, including for purposes of staging for counterterrorism and counter-piracy operations in the vicinity of the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and to provide contingency support for embassy security augmentation in East Africa, as necessary. 

Lake Chad Basin and Sahel Region.  OnSeptember 15, 2024, at the request of the Government of Niger, the United States ended its limited military presence in that country.

Cuba.  United States Armed Forces continue to conduct humane and secure detention operations for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under the authority provided by Public Law 107-40, as informed by the law of war.  There are 30 such detainees as of the date of this report.

Philippines.  United States military personnel deployed to the Philippines are providing support to the counterterrorism operations of the armed forces of the Philippines.

MILITARY FORCES IN DEFENSE OF ISRAEL

As reported on October 15, 2024, I directed the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system and United States forces capable of operating this system to Israel.  Although these forces are equipped for combat, THAAD is a defensive system, and I directed the deployment of it and accompanying United States forces for the purpose of protecting both Israel and United States persons and property. 

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN EGYPT IN SUPPORT OF THE MULTINATIONAL FORCE AND OBSERVERS

Approximately 378 United States military personnel are assigned to or are supporting the United States contingent of the Multinational Force and Observers, which have been present in Egypt since 1981.

UNITED STATES AND NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION OPERATIONS IN KOSOVO

The United States continues to contribute forces to the Kosovo Force (KFOR), led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in cooperation with local authorities, bilateral partners, and international institutions, to deter renewed hostilities in Kosovo.  Approximately 403 United States military personnel are among KFOR’s approximately 4,500 personnel.

UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES IN NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION COUNTRIES

Approximately 80,000 United States Armed Forces personnel are assigned or deployed to North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries in Europe, including those deployed to reassure our allies and to deter further Russian aggression.

I have directed the participation of United States Armed Forces in all of the above-described operations pursuant to my constitutional and statutory authority as Commander in Chief and as Chief Executive (including the authority to carry out Public Law 107-40, Public Law 107-243, and other statutes), as well as my constitutional and statutory authority to conduct the foreign relations of the United States.  Officials of my Administration and I communicate regularly with congressional leadership, relevant congressional committees, and other Members of Congress with regard to these deployments, and we will continue to do so.

                              Sincerely,

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. made additional disaster assistance available to the State of North Carolina by authorizing an increase in the level of federal funding for debris removal and emergency projective measures undertaken in the State of North Carolina as a result of Tropical Storm Helene.

Under the President’s major disaster declaration issued for the North Carolina on September 28, 2024, federal funding was made available for Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation, and Other Needs Assistance at 75 percent of the total eligible costs.          

Under the President’s order today, the federal share for Public Assistance has been increased to 90 percent of the total eligible costs, except assistance previously approved at 100 percent for a time limited period

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE  FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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Health care should be a right, not a privilege, and every American should be able to access quality affordable coverage. My Administration has worked tirelessly to make it happen, and our plan is working: premiums for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are more affordable, Medicare and Medicaid are strong, seniors are paying less for prescription drugs, and more Americans have health insurance than ever before in American history.

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office underscores just how critical the legislation to bring down health care costs, enacted under my Administration, have been. Millions of Americans are benefiting from expanded premium tax credits that lower their premiums. If Congress takes that benefit away, premiums will spike and 3.8 million people will become uninsured. That’s simply wrong. The American people don’t deserve to see their health insurance premiums skyrocket. That’s why I’ll continue to call on Congress to continue the Affordable Care Act tax credits, and protect affordable health insurance for millions of Americans.

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     On National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we honor the 2,403 service members and civilians who were killed on that tragic December morning 83 years ago.  And we recognize the absolute courage of the service members who, in the wake of this painful and unprovoked attack, stood up to defend democracy and stand up to fascism abroad in World War II.
     As we reflect on the honors and triumphs of the Greatest Generation, we must remember that they risked all, dared all, and gave all not for a person or a place — but for the idea of America.  They recognized that freedom is never guaranteed:  Every generation has had to earn and defend it in the battle between autocracy and democracy.  This service and sacrifice helped deliver a world grounded in peace and security.  And together, these brave women and men proved that no force — not destruction, death, or the darkness of hate — is a match for the flame of liberty that ignites the hearts of free people everywhere. 
     Today, we must be keepers of their mission and bearers of the flame of freedom they kept burning bright.  That begins by honoring our sacred obligation to care for our service members and veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors — especially our World War II veterans whose actions ensured that democracy endured.  That is why my Administration began enrolling all World War II veterans, regardless of length of service or financial status, in Veterans Affairs health care services.  And we also expanded access to benefits for those who participated in testing and clean-up activities related to World War II weapons programs, helping address radiation related illnesses for veterans and civilians. 
     During National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, may we remember the brave patriots whose lives were cut short on this day 83 years ago.  May we honor all the service members who gave their last full measure of devotion to defend democracy in the years that followed.  And may we all recommit to fulfilling the future they fought for — one grounded in freedom, democracy, equality, and opportunity for all.
     The Congress, by Public Law 103-308, as amended, has designated December 7 of each year as “National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.”  Today, let us commemorate the patriots who perished and who were wounded on December 7, 1941, and continue to fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our service members; our veterans; and their families, caregivers, and survivors.
     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 7, 2024, as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.  I encourage all Americans to reflect on the courage shown by our brave service members that day and remember their sacrifices.  I ask us all to give sincere thanks and appreciation to the survivors of that unthinkable day.  I urge all Federal agencies, interested organizations, groups, and individuals to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff on December 7, 2024, in honor of those American patriots who died as a result of their service at Pearl Harbor.
     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.
 
 
                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. made additional disaster assistance available to the State of Georgia by authorizing an increase in the level of Federal funding for emergency work undertaken in the State of Georgia as a result of Hurricane Helene from September 24 to October 30, 2024.

Under the President’s order today, Federal funds for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance has been increased to 100 percent of the total eligible costs for a period of 120 days of the State’s choosing within the first 180 days from the start of the incident period.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. made additional disaster assistance available to the State of South Carolina by authorizing an increase in the level of Federal funding for debris removal undertaken in the State of South Carolina as a result of Hurricane Helene.

Under the President’s order today, Federal funds for debris removal, including direct Federal assistance has been increased to 100 percent of the total eligible costs for a period of 120 days of the State’s choosing within the first 180 days from the start of the incident period, starting September 25.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. made additional disaster assistance available to the State of Tennessee by authorizing an increase in the level of Federal funding for debris removal and emergency protective measures undertaken in the State of Tennessee as a result of Tropical Storm Helene..

Under the President’s order today, Federal funds for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct Federal assistance has been increased to 100 percent of the total eligible costs for a period of 120 days of the State’s choosing within the first 180 days from the start of the incident period on September 26

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.

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America’s comeback continues. Today’s report shows that the economy created 227,000 jobs in November, as Boeing machinists returned to work with record wage gains and hurricane recovery continued. Unemployment of 4.2% is in the same low range of the past seven months. This has been a hard-fought recovery, but we are making progress for working families.

Since I took office, the economy has created more than 16 million jobs, with jobs created every single month. Unemployment has been the lowest on average of any administration in 50 years. Incomes are up almost $4,000 more than prices. While there is more to do to lower costs, we’ve taken action to lower prescription drug prices, health insurance premiums, utility bills, and gas prices that will pay dividends for years to come.

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The Ellipse
Washington, D.C.

6:14 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Merry Christmas, everyone!  (Applause.)  Merry Christmas.  

This Christmas tree lighting is one of my wife Jill’s favorite events, so she truly regrets not being here tonight.  She’s on an international trip in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and Sicily to — in order to promote women’s health research.  (Applause.)  She sends her best wishes to all of you.

And on behalf of Kamala and Doug — where are you, Kamala and Doug?  You — (applause) — there you go.  Welcome to the — on behalf of them, welcome to the National Christmas Tree lighting.

Thank you, Mickey, all the artists who are performing tonight. 

A special thanks to the Jones family for their service and sacrifice and our military families.  (Applause.)  Tonight, they’ll help light this beautiful Christmas tree. 

Mickey, will you start the countdown?

MS. GUYTON:  All right, y’all.  Let’s count down together, people. 

AUDIENCE:  Five, four, three, two, one!

(The Jones family light the National Christmas Tree.)

THE PRESIDENT:  Whoa!  (Applause.) 

MS. GUYTON:  Merry Christmas!

(A choir sings “Joy to the World.”)

THE PRESIDENT:  Folks, as we gather here in President’s Park just outside the White House, a special thanks to the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation.  (Applause.)  I mean it. 

This 30-foot Red Spruce represents the spirit embodied in this year’s White House holiday theme, which Jill unveiled earlier this week.  The theme is “A Season of Peace and Light” — of peace and light — the peace we feel as we pause and reflect on our blessing and the light — the light we see as we gather with loved ones that cherish our time together. 

During this season of reflection and renewal, many of us will sing “O Holy Night.”  A phrase in the song is, “His law is love; His gospel is peace.”  May [My] wish for you and for the nation, now and always, is we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency. 

Merry Christmas, America.  Merry Christmas to all of you.  And may God bless you all.  (Applause.)  And may God protect — may God protect our troops.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)

6:19 P.M. EST

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Capital Hilton
Washington, D.C.

2:09 P.M. EST

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  (Applause.) 

I was — I knew you all were in town.  I couldn’t let it go without coming by to say hello and to say thank you to everyone here, all of these extraordinary leaders.  (Applause.)

I wanted to come by and say happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah — whatever you may celebrate.  But most important, let’s make sure we celebrate each other.  (Applause.)  Let’s make sure we — please have a seat.  I’m going to j- — be just a minute.  I am not here to give a long speech.  I’m here to give greetings.

But here’s what I want to say.  This is the season for us to be thankful, to celebrate our blessings, and to reinvigorate ourselves about the blessings we have yet to create for each other and the people we represent.  And you all are the leaders on the ground who are doing the work that is about lifting people up. 

You all have heard me say so many times: I do believe the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down; it is based on who you lift up.  (Applause.)  And that is the work that each of you does every day. 

Your work benefits people that, for the most part, may never know your name or mine, people you may never meet.  Yours is the work that is a response to a calling to serve; a calling to sacrifice; to work long hours, to work long days to meet the needs of the people. 

Yours is the work that is also the calling that our country makes that asks of each of us to believe in the promise of America and then do everything we can to help our nation realize that promise on behalf of everyone, no matter who they are, where they live, what they look like.

And so, I wanted to stop by to say thank you for all the support you have given me but, most importantly, for your willingness to answer the call to serve in the way you do. 

It’s going to be an important year next year.  And I know that’s part of what the conference has been about, to think about how we are going to use the limited resources we have to serve the greatest number of people and to lift folks up. 

And so, I am here also to thank you in advance for that pledge that you have made and continue to make.  Our work is so important.  And as we reflect on this past year, let us remember we had impact in every way, and we have taken on the work of building community and coalitions.  That’s what we do and do so well.  And, in particular, that’s what members of this organization do, so let’s stay committed to that. 

But you all are the soldiers on the ground and in the field.  And I know that everyone is here together in fellowship to rededicate ourselves to the work yet to be done and to do it knowing, yes, it will be hard work, but hard work is good work.  Hard work is joyful work. 

And we are up — we are up for the moment to see it through and get it done.  And, yes, we will do it with joy in our hearts and with our commitment to the fight that is about lifting up all people, recognizing everyone’s right to opportunity, to dignity, to freedom.

And so, I wanted to just stop by to say thank you for all of that.  And please enjoy the holidays. 

Take care, everybody.  (Applause.)

                         END                     2:13 P.M. EST

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As Prepared for Delivery at the Novogradac Housing Finance Conference

We are at a critically important moment for housing policy.

Housing is less affordable for Americans now than at any point in recent memory. Approximately half of renters are cost-burdened and a quarter are severely cost-burdened, meaning they must devote over half of their income to rent. Renters report that homeownership – long seen as the main source of wealth building for the middle-class – feels unattainable.

Much has been made of why various measures of economic sentiment remain at low or moderate levels in light of a macroeconomy that has performed so well – with robust growth, low unemployment, and an inflation rate that is nearly back to normal. I suspect that the housing situation facing middle- and low-income households is likely one of the more significant reasons.

How did we get here? The combination of a missing decade of apartment construction and homebuilding after the Global Financial Crisis and a historic shift in housing demand after COVID led to a substantial mismatch between supply and demand that triggered unsustainable growth in rents and home prices. And bringing the housing market into better balance would still be insufficient for households earning the lowest incomes, as these households don’t earn enough income to afford market rents.

As we near the end of this presidential term, I’d like to focus today on the groundwork President Biden and Vice President Harris have laid to address housing affordability by increasing the supply of housing. Two and a half years ago, our Administration launched the Housing Supply Action Plan, an all-of-government effort to build and preserve more housing.

Today, I will discuss our work as part of that plan to break down barriers to housing, increase the flow of public and private capital into housing that is affordable, and promote innovation to lower costs. And I’ll highlight what I see as the opportunities ahead for state and local governments and the private sector to build on this work – even as it remains critical that Congress meet the moment to encourage more housing production and preservation.

Breaking Down Barriers to Housing

Land use, zoning, and permitting barriers have long constrained housing supply. Since the 1980s, housing prices have grown sixfold, while construction costs have quadrupled. Restrictive regulations at the state and local level have contributed to this dynamic and divergence.

That’s why the Administration’s plan began with federal action to incentivize state and local governments to reduce barriers to housing construction. Our Administration launched a first-of-its-kind grant program, which supports state and local governments in removing obstacles to affordable housing development, including awarding grants to 21 communities across the country that are taking steps like updating land use policies to increase density and by-right permitting, streamlining regulations, and increasing staffing to enable faster approvals. In addition, we incorporated zoning and land use reforms as selection criteria in more than $20 billion in competitive federal funds, including transportation dollars —meaning, if you have pro-housing policies in place, you are more likely to receive highly-sought after federal grant dollars.

The federal government also has an important role to play in reviewing its regulations and policies in a manner that promotes public health and safety, while seeking to make it easier to build and preserve housing. For example, our Administration waived certain environmental review requirements when commercial structures are being converted into housing.

Looking ahead, this moment calls for much more than just rhetoric of deregulation. We need to build a real coalition across the private sector, state and local leaders, and members of both parties in Washington that asks what more we can do through our policies, investments, and partnerships, to reward and encourage zoning, land use, and permitting reforms that make it easier, faster, and cheaper to build.

Increasing the Flow of Public and Private Capital into Housing that is Affordable

The second key area of focus in our Housing Supply Action Plan was mobilizing more public and private capital into building and preserving housing that is affordable for working families. This is an area where Congressional action is critical, as subsidy dollars are often needed to build and operate housing that is affordable for low-income households.

At the same time, part of making the case to Congress and to the private sector that more capital is needed is demonstrating that existing federal dollars can be used effectively, including to crowd in private investment. Since launching the plan, we finalized regulations to make it easier to use the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit for building mixed-income housing; indefinitely extended and expanded the Federal Financing Bank Risk Share program to channel more capital into projects and increase certainty for new construction; made it easier to layer funds from the American Rescue Plan, which represented the largest one-time housing block grant in U.S. history, with other sources of federal financing; and unlocked billions of dollars in low-cost lending authority at the Department of Transportation to finance housing near transit—a program that will close a deal on its first housing project in the coming days.

Another way governments can help increase the flow of private capital into housing that is affordable is by making under-utilized public land or buildings available for housing. For example, right here in Clark County, Nevada, our Administration recently announced the sale of 20 acres of public land for just $100 per acre that will be transformed into homes for working and middle-class families. And the United States Postal Service, which owns 8,500 facilities nationwide, is soon to announce a first-of-its-kind sale of surplus land to be repurposed as affordable housing – building on steps that the U.S. Forest Service has already taken to enable workforce housing in high-cost areas in the Mountain West.

Looking ahead, in addition to pressing for Congressional action, we must also consider what more the private sector can do in light of increasing housing needs across the income spectrum and significant preservation demands, with the aging of the housing stock and the upcoming expiration of affordability covenants for hundreds of thousands of homes. There is a growing recognition that building and preserving more housing is not just a social necessity—it is also an economic opportunity that, if structured properly, can improve outcomes like long-term affordability and housing quality, and earn attractive risk-adjusted returns.

I believe this recognition presents a critically important opportunity that shares some similarities with the push to mobilize private capital into the energy transition that began more than a decade ago. For example, if the private market, in partnership with state and local governments, can demonstrate how to operate quality, affordable workforce housing at scale, it could bring much-needed capital into meeting the housing needs of working families, begin to address housing challenges in high-opportunity areas, incentivize better policy and innovation, and provide policymakers with insights on how to improve existing housing subsidy programs.

Promoting Innovation to Lower Costs

A final area of focus in the Housing Supply Action Plan was action to encourage housing innovation and improve construction productivity in order to lower costs. This goal, while more long-term than the others I’ve discussed, has the potential to benefit renters and homebuyers, builders, developers, and manufacturers alike.

One key step our Administration has taken to encourage this kind of innovation is enabling more housing types – including duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes – to be built under the HUD Code, a single code that enables offsite manufacturers to benefit from economies of scale because it does not require them to follow different codes in different states. Another example is the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, a grant competition that funded an R&D investment in mass timber for affordable housing, which aims to promote the use of scalable building materials.

Looking ahead, more can and should be done to create the conditions for innovation and productivity growth in multifamily construction in particular. This is an area where the private sector can contribute substantially, with dozens of firms now beginning to experiment with technologies like modular building, robotics, advanced manufacturing, and 3D printing. Efforts to mobilize more private capital into affordable and workforce housing should aim to leverage these technologies in a manner that enables each dollar to go further and faster.

Conclusion

There is no question that the housing challenges facing families across the country are immense. And, while bipartisan consensus is building on this issue, Congressional action is sorely needed. But I remain optimistic about what we can do together in the years ahead to tackle the challenge of housing affordability by building and preserving more housing.

This does not mean housing supply solutions alone are sufficient. We must also support the lowest-income households and promote fairness and competition – from prohibiting egregious rent increases when federal dollars are used to ensuring that algorithmic price fixing does not diminish the incentive for housing providers to compete on price and quality.

But we can’t begin to address the housing challenges facing workers, families, and communities, without a dedicated effort to build and preserve more housing at a scale we haven’t seen in decades. And I remain optimistic that the coming years can bring such an effort.

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Carrinho Food Processing Factory
Benguela, Angola

2:01 P.M. WAT

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Amos Hochstein. I’m a senior adviser to President Biden. It’s an honor to be here with all of you.

I want to open first by saying thank you to Nelson Carrinho and the staff of this facility for opening it up for this event and providing the tour and the facilities for this discussion this afternoon.

Without further ado, I’d like to introduce our host and our leading partner, President Lourenço.

Mr. President.

PRESIDENT LOURENÇO: (As interpreted.) Your excellency, Joe Biden, president of United States of America; your excellency, Félix Tshisekedi, president of the Republic — Democratic Republic of Congo; your excellency, Hakainde Hichilema, of the Republic of Zambia; your excellency, Philip Mpango, vice president of the United Republic of Tanzania; distinguished members of the U.S. Congress; distinguished members of the delegations.

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to greet you with great satisfaction for hosting you at the city of Benguela, on which the attention of all Angolans is focused that are happy with the presence of your excellencies in our country and recognize the importance of this summit for integral development of our continent, the interconnection of this project to the rest of the world.

I’d like to thank President Joe Biden, President Tshisekedi, President Hakainde Hichilema, and President Mpango for having attended this event that will be a historical milestone of international trade and logistic chains.

Angola lives in the situation of peace and stability and is committed to keeping up its commitment with international partners, both at institutional level and with investors that have chosen our country as destiny for their businesses.

It’s important to mention the strategic importance of Lobito Corridor, with Lobito port and the Benguela railway, in the 1970s was one of most profitable rails worldwide by transporting 3.3 millions of tons of cargo per year. We are expecting to optimize this important infrastructure as integral part of an international and transcontinental route that is able to connect the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean and, therefore, connect safely the European, African, Asian continents with gains in terms of transportation and cost of maritime and rail freight.

Lobito Corridor has strategic importance given the contribution that it will give to dynamizing intra-African trade within the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area, as well as the global trade in general.

Excellencies, with the presence of the highest level from our partners of DRC and Zambia, we signed, in June 2023, contract of concession of Lobito Corridor to a private consortium made up by recognized companies.

I would like to highlight the holding of U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022 — in December 2023 in Washington, D.C., whereby Biden administration showed its commitment in the construction of infrastructure in Africa that has been implemented through Lobito Corridor, through the joint declaration U.S.-EU that was made public in the margin on the event on Global Partnership and Infrastructure during the G20 Summit held in India in 2023.

This will be a lynchpin for the economic development that will provide the participation of small and medium enterprise in the business value chain, mainly in agriculture, industry, and mining, in order to increase trade and economic growth of SADC region and the eastern African region, a way that the political commitment of all engaged people in materialization of this big project is a milestone.

It’s important that the African countries involved, the consortium, and the sponsors should promote activities needed in order to materialize this important project that will positively impact the maritime and rail transport in international trade, as well energy transition and safety — food safety and, in general, in the global economy.

Thank you for your attention and wish you fruitful deliberations.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President. It’s now my honor to introduce President Biden, who set the vision for this corridor during the Africa Leaders Summit and implementing it ever since.

Mr. President.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you very much.

Mr. President, thank you very much for your hospitality.

Fellow leaders and friends, I can’t think of a better way to end my trip to Angola than coming here to the Lobito Corridor.

And I want to thank all of you — all of you for being here today, including the presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Zambia; Tanzania; and our partner, the CEO of the American Finance Corporation.

It’s great to — to be here with all of you. And I mean that sincerely. I think we’re at one of those transition points in world history where what we do in the next several years is going to affect what the next six, seven, eight decades looks like, and I think this is one of those milestones.

Our partner, the CEO of the Fi- — American Finance Corporation, is going to take care of everything for us. No- — nothing to worry about. But all kidding aside, it’s great to be with you all.

When I launched this project with our G7 partners last year, I said our goal was to build a better future. And, folks, the future is here. It’s now. The future is here.

The fact is I wish everyone could see what I saw today: tracks that will form America’s fir- — or Africa’s first intercontinental railroad — transcontinental railroad; a railcar that will cut travel from days to hours; and the — grain silos that are going to help transform the region from a food importers to food exporters; businesses that are investing across the corridor in 5G, solar panels, steel bridges made near my hometown back in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

And I want to be clear about something. All these projects’ investments are designed to have high impact and meet the highest standards for workers, for the environment, and for their communities, because the United States understands how we invest in Africa is just as important as how much we invest in Africa.

That’s what the PGI is part of, which is — I started a program early on — calling it Build Back Better, but we’ve changed it to PGI. And that’s why, today, I’m proud to announce the United States will invest nearly $600 million in additional investment to expand agriculture infrastructure, to build high-speed mobile networks, and to continue upgrading the Lobito Atlantic Railway.

A few months ago, the DRC sent the first copper shipment on this railway for transit onward to the United States. The trip used to take 45 days to get to the United States from that. But now it takes 45 — less than 45 hours — 45 hours because of the changes you made. It’s a game changer.

Imagine how transformative this will be for technology, clean energy, for farming, for food security as a whole. It’s faster, it’s cleaner, it’s cheaper, and — most importantly, I think — it’s just plain common sense.

So, my message today is simple: Let’s keep it up.

All told, the United States has invested nearly $4 billion across the length of the Lobito Corridor. But we’re not alone. Collectively, this group mobilized over $6 billion in private and public investments. But these aren’t just investments in the region; they’re investments in all of our futures, no matter where you are in the world.

Think about it. Critical minerals our world needs for electric vehicles and semiconductors can be found here. Clean energy we need to power artificial intelligence data centers and economic growth can be built here. Food we need to end hunger can be grown and transported and exported from all across the corri- — this corridor.

Put simply, as all of you know well, nations across the Lobito Corridor have solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems.

We just need to keep working together — and I believe this from the bottom of my heart — if we work together — to mobilize more capital, to build more infrastructure to help make these solutions real, to help Africa — help Africa lead the way.

I’ve said to these guys and my colleagues here for a while, the last two days, you know, by 2070, the continent of Africa is going to have half the world’s population. How can that survive without having the most — the greatest infrastructure in the world? It has to happen.

To help Africa lead the way, we need more capital, more infrastructure to deal with these real solutions. And that’s why we’re here today. I want to make sure I get to hear from all of you.

So, let me close with this. When we talk about the PGI, we often talk about the big picture: investment numbers, rising exports, national prosperity. But it’s important to remember, at its core, what we’re doing is about our people. I mean, it’s simple pra- — about individuals, about our people. That’s what this is about. And if I — it’s about the farmer who can get more food on more tables because of what we’re doing; the worker who can count on a living wage and safe working conditions; the entrepreneur who is finally empowered to lead, innovate, and build.

It matters. It matters. So, thank you again for being here today and allowing me to be here. And let’s get started getting this done.

Back to you, Amos.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President.

Next, we’ll turn to President Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the largest deposits of copper and cobalt that are now going to be switching direction on this corridor. So, would be grateful to hear your reflections on how this is proceeding and what we need to do in the future for the DRC.

PRESIDENT TSHISEKEDI: (As interpreted.) Thank you, Amos.

Your excellence, President João Lourenço. Excellency, President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia. Your excellency, President Joe Biden of the United States of America. Your excellency, Mr. Mpango, vice president of Zambia. Distinguished ministers. Distinguished guests. Ladies and gentlemen.

It is a true pleasure for me to speak here today at this meeting focused on the development of the Lobito Corridor. This is a project that is full of hope for our countries and our region.

I would like to warmly thank President João Lourenço for his leadership and hospitality.

The corridor is way more than just a transportation axis. It is a unique opportunity for regional integration, economic transformation, and to improve the living conditions of our fellow citizens.

This railway that connects the mining regions of the DRC and Zambia to the Port of Lobito is conceived in order to transport as much as 20 million metric tons of goods per year by 2030.

This is not just an infrastructure project; it is also a link between our three countries — the DRC, Zambia, and Angola. It is the symbol of our collective will to convert the potential of our countries into a tangible prosperity for our peoples by fostering a harmonious interdependence between our countries where our economies can blossom.

For the DRC, the Lobito Corridor is a strategic opportunity to make sure that we get value out of our natural resources, mostly copper and cobalt, because this makes up to 70 tho- — 70 percent of the global demand for the current energy transition. With a production — a combined production of 3 million tons a year between DRC and Zambia, this project will significantly reduce the logistics cost, as well as it will improve and increase our export revenues.

This is a unique opportunity to access — to access, rather, the global markets through the Port of Lobito, and this gives us a strategic alternative to the other exportation corridors.

With its 1,739 kilometers, this railroad is connected to our roads and — and other rails, and it will play an important role in regional integration and continental integration.

The human impact is potentially enormous. It will catalyze the creation of about 30,000 jobs, direct and indirect, and it will reduce poverty and foster exchanges within Africa, in line with Agenda 2063 of the AU.

Today, transit can take up to 30 days or more, and it will be down to 10 days. This will increase our competitiveness on the international market. This is not just a logistical project, but it is a driving force for economic and social transformation for millions of our people.

The DRC is fully committed to this project. As such, we have implemented a number of concrete actions in order to modernize our rail, road, and port infrastructures. We are trying to establish fluid and strategic connections between our main mining sites, like Kolwezi and Likasi, and the rail corridor — the rail corridor.

In parallel, we’ve put local transformation or processing of our natural resources at the heart of our economic strategy. It is imperative that the wealth contained in our ground contribute directly to the well-being of our peoples. This means that we need to develop industrial value chains locally so we can add value before we export.

Inga 3, our project, as well as other renewable energy projects, are essential to provide reliable energy supply that is sustainable and adapted to the demands of our expanding industry.

These efforts will make our investments more competitive, and we will be able to respect our environmental commitments.

Also, we will continue to strengthen the legal framework and the institutional framework to foster private investments and to guarantee transparency and good governance. These remain utmost priorities to foster a climate of trust and to make sure that our partnerships are win-win partnerships.

However, to fully realize the potential of the Lobito Corridor, peace and security in the region remain paramount.

We would like to thank Angola for its determining role in Luanda Process, and we reaffirm our engagement to working for a definitive return to peace in the east of our country, and security will be the bedrock of any sustainable development.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank our international partners, including the United States of America, for their technical and financial support through strategic initiatives like Power Africa and PGI. This support is a testimony to the geostrategic importance of the Lobito Corridor in the global supply chains and potential for it to be a catalyst for development.

In order to seize this opportunity and to invest in development of rail, energy, and port infrastructures, we will need investments. This will help make this sustainable.

The Lobito Corridor is surely an element that can be leveraged for growth. It is a model for regional integration, and it is a shared source of prosperity.

I believe firmly that, thanks to our cooperation and our determination, this project will go beyond expectations and will change the trajectory of our region for good.

The DRC stands ready to play its role in this. With our brothers and sisters in the region, we will move forward with this common vision — joined vision and unfailing will to have a better future for our people.

Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President.

President Hichilema of Zambia, two years ago, during Vice President Harris’ visit to Zambia, you helped draw — literally, draw the map and the line for the greenfield project for the — the newest part of phase two for the Lobito Corridor rail. We’re very happy that you’re here to be able to share some thoughts on how this could really be transformational for — for Zambia.

Mr. President.

PRESIDENT HICHILEMA: Tha- — thank you very much, Amos, moderator.

Let me just recognize President Biden and President Lourenço, our host. Thank you for hosting us.

President Tshisekedi, our neighbor, regional partner; Vice President Mpango, recognize you. Chief executive AFC, my dear friend here. And chief executive KoBold, our partner in Zambia. And also, the CEO American corporation.

Amos, first it’s — it’s my duty, really, on behalf of the people of Zambia, to appreciate this initiative, the Lobito Corridor; to thank President Biden for his effort, he — his government, American people for the recognition of the importance of this corridor, and, obviously, the origination being in Angola here, through DRC, through Zambia — the map that we drew in my dingy office in Lusaka when Amos visited.

And through that connection from — from Angola, which we believe will be (inaudible) on to Chingola, and then connecting that — very important — connecting that to the TAZARA corridor, which will really mean that we can connect our continent, this part of Africa, from the west coast in Lobito here, where we are, through DRC, Zambia, into Tanzania.

It’s a huge, huge opportunity, not just for Zambia. Angola, DRC, Tanzania — happens that these countries are all SADC countries. It’s good for SADC. It’s good for individual countries. It’s good for SADC.

Not just us; it’s good for Africa — the Africa free trade area we are talking about, with the building blocks of our regional bodies — individual countries, regional bodies — SADC, East African community, West African community.

The Africa free-trade ar- — free-trade area we are envisaging, this corridor is of vital importance to opening up our countries, to opening up our regions, the continent, and, truly, the global economy — the U.S., yes; Europe; other parts of the global community, if I may say that.

So, I am aware that, at this stage, not many will see what we are discussing today and how valuable it will be 10 years down the road. But this is really a fundamental, if you like, change to our countries, to our economies, to our people.

I must say that this project is a huge opportunity for investment, for trade. We are talking about the rail infrastructure but also auxiliary infrastructure: the roads that would feed into this corridor; the opportunities for us to invest in the critical minerals; to apply our technology, the global technology — capital, of course, as President Biden said, but the technologies to exploit the resource endowments in our countries, to start with, in critical minerals to make our global economy greener, safer for us, for the future generations, so we can pass on a world that is able to raise children in a healthier environment, because the air will be reasonably cleaner than what it is today.

And the resource endowments that we have that we can exploit through this corridor in an efficient way, a way that will shorten the distances — connect, yes — but shorten the distances to trade — to invest, to trade. It is extremely — very, very, very important.

But also, I want to indicate that it’s not just the rail infrastructure. It’s not just the critical minerals. It’s also the opportunities to invest in energy — energy itself — diversification of our energy portfolios in these countries, in our regions, on our continent, which, yet again, will contribute to a greener — greener world, to meet our carbon emissions targets, which we simply talk about every COP — COP25, 27, to whatever. I think this is walking the talk, in our view.

Solar, geothermal, wind, and others. This project will make it an imperative for us to invest in the energy that is required to exploit the critical minerals. We need (inaudible).

What else? Agriculture. Very important. Food security. In our countries, with the climate change, the need for us to water harvest, to irrigate — precision irrigation — to increase our productivity per hectare of land we have so we don’t cut more trees to create fields. But for the same hectare, instead of producing, I’d say, corn, two tons per hectare, we can move to 12, 13, 14, 15 tons per hectare. This corridor delivers benefits in those areas.

I can go on, but let me just encapsulate it this way. This opportunity really will deliver efficiencies. This project, this opportunity will deliver growth in our individual economies on our continent, contribute to global growth — positive growth, cleaner growth; jobs; food security.

I already said green economies. What else? Business opportunities. We were taken around, first, just the place where we are here. Look at this facility. This facility now — and I’m very enthused. Where is my colleague there? I think that family is doing a great job. This is what Africa needs.

Our young people go out to study. They choose to come back home. They choose to invest here, working with the global capital, working with global technological advancements.

This facility will now be able not just to take in raw materials from the (inaudible) growers in a scheme, small-scale farmers having input supplied to them, having an offtake, assured market, a fair price improves their lives — this is great — but also be able to export beyond Angola and beyond Africa. This is what Africa needs today.

It also is important for treasury income. I don’t have to ask the question, my president here, how much this business contributes to the Angola’s treasury income, which is essential for Angola and for our economies to look after the weak, the sick, the old, the young in our communities.

And this is the connection, President Biden, that we see — your initiative, our collective effort, AFC here, KoBold here. It just took a visit. One of the times you invited me to the States, (inaudible) states were able to contrive a partnership. Now we have a mine that we are developing with KoBold — an American investment in partnership with Zambia, and we’ll do great things together.

This corridor will make it easier to do that business for — for all.

I think I want to end here to say this is good for our countries. This is good for our region, for our continent. This is good for America. This is good for the global community.

Thank you very much for this opportunity. Thank
you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President.

I’d like to turn to Vice President Mpango of Tanzania.

President Biden has often talked about the Lobito Corridor not just as a corridor for the three countries — of DRC and Zambia — but as a transcontinental, and going from ocean to ocean, the end point being Tanzania.

So, we’re very glad to have you here. The floor is yours, Mr. President.

VICE PRESIDENT MPANGO: His excellency, João Lourenço, president of the Republic of Angola, and our gracious host. His excellency, Joe Biden, president of the United States of America. His excellency, Hakainde Hichilema, president of the Republic of Zambia, and my neighbor. His excellency, Hakainde Hichilem- — his excellency, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The high-level dignitaries around the table, distinguished guests.

On behalf of her excellency, Samia Suluhu Hassan, president of the United Republic of Tanzania, I am honored to join this high-level meeting on the Lobito Corridor, which is a regional interconnection project of immense significance not just to Angola, the DRC, and Zambia, but to the broader SADC region and beyond.

Tanzania commends Angola and partners for this bold initiative to unlock the economic potential of Central and Southern Africa by linking this region to the Atlantic Ocean.

The Lobito Corridor, therefore, demonstrates how infrastructure can be a catalyst for social economic integration, trade facilitation, technology transfer, and regional development.

By bolstering connectivity, the Lobito Corridor will not only facilitate the movement of people, goods, and services, but will also promote shared prosperity and inclusive growth across the region.

Tanzania is no stranger to such aspirations, as it already links landlocked countries in Central Africa with the — with the Middle East, Asia, and the Far East. The Tanzania-Zambia railway — or, in short, TAZARA — and the oil pipeline TAZAMA, all connecting the hinterland to the Indian Ocean, have facilitated connectivity, cooperation and shared prosperity since the 1970s.

And through the SADC Protocols on Transport, Communication, and Meteorology, Tanzania is already linked to her neighbors and the wider region, enhancing the movement of people, goods, and opportunities across borders.

TAZARA is an interstate rail link, which allows trains to move from Tanzania to some SADC member states, including Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Tanzania extends profound gratitude to the United States for its steadfast support in advancing the development of the Lobito Corridor. The U.S. commitment to this transformative project reflects its enduring partnership with Africa and its recognition of the catalytic role of infrastructure in development.

In the same vein, we would like to commend the support of AFC and other partners for partnering with the U.S. in support of the development of the Lobito Corridor.

Tanzania views the Lobito Corridor as an integral part of a broader strategy to enhance connectivity in Africa.

We also appreciate the fact that the implementation of the project will provide important opportunities for Africa’s development in sectors such as agriculture, renewable energy, digital transformation, trade, and logistics along the corridor.

Tanzania is already undertaking in- — internal consultations aiming at aligning this project with national priorities and other bilateral and regional commitments.

In closing, allow me to reiterate Tanzania’s commitment to regional integration and shared prosperity. We note the progress made on the development of the Lobito Corridor and commend the visionary leadership that has brought this initiative to life. And it is through such partnerships and innovations that Africa’s Agenda 2063 will be realized.

I thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

I’d like to turn it over to the AFC — the Africa Finance Corporation. Mr. Samaila Zubairu has been a fantastic partner to this project. The AFC has invested across the many projects across the corridor and has been a great partner to making this — to realize this — of investment together, having a partnership with the United States, together with you, in promoting this project as an investable, bankable, and commercial project.

Mr. Zubairu.

MR. ZUBAIRU: Thank you.

Your excellencies, President João Lourenço of Angola, our gracious host. President Joseph R. Biden of United States of America. President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia. Vice President Philip Mpango of Tanzania. Honorable ministers. Members of the consortium. Distinguished guests.

It is my honor and privilege to stand before you here today.

Our purpose at the Africa Finance Corporation is to build the infrastructure that will catalyze Africa’s industrialization and structural economic transformation.

The Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor is exactly the project we are made for and what the founders envisaged when they created AFC 17 years ago.

I have three key messages today: the partnership that got us here, what this project means, and our commitment to deliver this project for future generations.

I recall our first meeting with Amos Hochstein on the margins of the 2022 year’s Africa Leaders Summit convened by President Biden almost two years ago. Amos, at that time, was special presidential coordinator of the newly formed G7 PGI. We agreed, in not so many words, that we’ll do something together that will have a generational impact on our two continents.

I stand here today as lead developer of the Lobito-Zambia greenfield rail corridor, doing exactly what we said we will do. Since that meeting in December 2022, we signed an MOU formally constituting the project consortium in October 2023, comprising the governments of Angola, Zambia, and the DRC, alongside the United States, the European Commission, and the African Development Bank.

In February 2024, we commissioned a feasibility study with CPCS as technical consultant. That same month, we cohosted the Lobito Corridor private sector investment forum in Lusaka, alongside President Hichilema and the U.S. government.

In April 2024, we commenced the legal work stream with Linklaters.

In June 2024, we welcomed the government of Italy to the consortium and their commitment to — of $320 million. Thanks to President Biden for making that happen.

In September 2024, we completed a feasibility study and signed a $2 million grant agreement with USTDA in support of the enviro- — social impact assessment, which has been commissioned for delivery by decision analysis.

On the margins of UNGA this September, we signed the concession agreement with the governments of Angola and Zambia in the sec- — in the ceremony hosted by Secretary Blinken.

With thanks to President Lourenço, we have commenced — who has given (inaudible) instructions for the demanding efforts, we have taken a fundamental step towards unlocking the cultural value chain around the rail corridor.

We are now on track to break ground by early ‘26 in both Zambia and Angola. We plan to break ground at the same time from two different locations.

We have done all this while acting as financial adviser for the Lobito Atlantic Rail consortium, concessionaire of the Benguela rail line, which runs from the Port of Lobito here to Luau in DRC.

The rapid pace at which we are moving reflects the urgency of the type of development Africans are demanding from their leaders and the conviction of this consortium to execute. In particular, the resolve of the minister of transport of Angola, Ricardo Viegas D’Abreu, and the minister of transport and logistics for Zambia, Honorable Frank Tayali.

What this project means — we’ve heard about what this project means. I’ll just mention a key — a few statements. The Lobito Corridor is more than just a rail line. It is an economic corridor that provides lower cost, lower carbon gateway to African integration and global competitiveness, cutting travel time from the Copperbelt to international markets from 45 days to 45 hours, as we heard President Biden mention recently.

Shifting freight from road to rail will cut emissions by a minimum of 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, underscoring Africa’s primacy in the global energy transition and efforts to decarbonize the battery minerals value chain, particularly in producing battery precursors for both our industries here and in America.

It al- — it will also catalyze opportunities in ecotourism, agribusiness, and power transmission lines.

Earlier this week, President Lourenço offered us an opportunity to help build transmission lines and interconnectors to the Copperbelt and the South African Power Pool, as well as to the Lobito Atlantic Rail Corridor.

Our commitment: Here today, we celebrate our decision to step in as project developers for this greenfield railway.

But this is just the beginning. I am delighted to announce AFC’s commitment of $500 million in financing for the Lobito-Zambia greenfield rail. This investment reflects our confidence in the project’s transformative potential to deliver economic benefits that transcend borders.

We will mobilize African pension funds to invest alongside us, ensuring generational sustainability. We will also partner with other MDBs and financial institutions to cocreate instruments that crowd in global institutional capital, as was successfully done in markets such as Japan and the Gulf.

In addition, we have signed a memorandum of understanding with KoBold Metals as our anchor client, guaranteeing a minimum of 300,000 tons of copper and related freight per year. We have also pledged $100 million to Kobaloni Energy for Zambia’s first battery-grade copper sulfate facility.

Excellencies, distinguished guests, this project symbolizes what Africa’s leadership, together with our global partners, can achieve when we unite behind a shared vision. It is not just about railways or minerals or food security. It is about forging partnerships, creating jobs, and driving a sustainable future for Africa and the rest of the world.

Together, let us seize this moment and make history. Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. Zubairu. And let me repeat again: Thank you, again, on behalf of everyone, for just making today’s announcement of committing an additional $500 million for the project and starting it at the same time between Zambia and Angola is a great step forward.

You mentioned KoBold Metals. And all of this is not possible without the private sector coming and making the investments in the countries of the corridor. KoBold is literally the company that connects the 20th century and the 21st century. It’s a technology company that’s gone into the mining industry for products that will go into chips and electric vehicles.

So, very glad that you’re here with us. And thank you, Josh, for being here and for your words.

MR. GOLDMAN: Your excellencies, President Biden, President Lourenço, President Hichilema, President Tshisekedi, Vice President Mpango, Director Ebong, CEO Zubairu, thank you very much. It’s really an honor to be here.

KoBold is the world’s most advanced mineral exploration company. The next phase of global economic growth is going to require significantly expanding supply of metals like copper and lithium to make everything from cars to data centers for AI.

But the mining industry keeps getting worse at finding more deposits of these metals — ten times less successful today than a generation ago. And the problem just keeps getting harder. The mines in production today, the vast majority were easily discovered and they were discovered many years ago.

So, at KoBold, we invent technology to improve exploration and discover the next generation of ore deposits. And we use our technology to go out and explore all over the world, at scale, using a powerful combination of artificial intelligence and human intelligence.

And then, when we make discoveries, we develop mines in ways that deliver lasting benefits to the countries and the communities where we operate.

In Zambia, we’re developing the Mingomba deposit, which will be one of the largest copper mines in the world. And we are very proud to be an anchor partner of the — the new Zambia-DRC-Angola Lobito rail, because the Lobito Corridor fits the way that we do business.

First, we move fast. The economic impact and the creation of good jobs needs to happen now, not later. CEO Zubairu said that there will be shovels in the ground on the greenfield Zambia-Angola portion of the Lobito rail, and that’s great news, because at KoBold, we’re working to start major construction on the Mingomba mine also in 2026.

We will ship at least 300,000 tons per year of copper on the Lobito rail so that our investments at Mingomba can accelerate development across the region. And the faster we all move, the better for everyone.

Second, we succeed because of our partnerships. We work every day with our most important partners throughout the Zambian government and with our joint venture partners at ZCM-IH. Together, we’ll create thousands of good jobs that will last for generations and will in- — increase intra-African trade. And our partnerships succeed because KoBold follows the rules and government supports our investments with actions that are fair, transparent, and fast.

Third, we raise the standards, as CEO Zubairu said. To succeed where industry is failing at finding more metals, we have to do better science, and we’re equally committed to raising the standards for protecting communities, the environment, and the rule of law. We’re committed to the Lobito Corridor because the standards are high, and that’s how KoBold works.

Lastly, the private sector can step up and deliver. This year, KoBold’s investors, our shareholders, came to Africa. They saw Mingomba. They met with key policy makers. We see the value that Lobito can create for the Mingomba mine, for our future discoveries. So, it will help enable the next round of investment and the next one.

And we’re building the foundation of — for success of our business and for the region, and we’ll be your partners every step of the way. Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Josh. In the United States, we’ve been proud of the fact that the government — we’ve been working towards government-enabled and private-sector led.

And under President Biden’s leadership, we have sought to expand the ability of the finance corporations of the United States — EXIM Bank, DFC, the MCC — these are all acronyms — for our export-supporting agencies.

And with us today is one of those agency heads, Enoh Ebong of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, to be able to talk about what the United States, over the last few years, in a very short period of time since President Biden not only launched this initiative but addressed the Africa Leaders Summit and made the commitment of turning the support from not only assistance but also investment.

So, with us, Enoh Ebong will be able to address how we’ve been able to do that and what the United States wants to do further.

Enoh.

MS. EBONG: Thank you. Your excellencies, President Lourenço, President Tshisekedi, President Hichilema, Vice President Mpango, our own President Biden, private-sector partners, when President Biden launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, he called upon our government to prioritize working with like-minded partners on the development of their infrastructure priorities. PGI has since become a critical global platform for the work of more than a dozen U.S. government agencies.

We are here because of your vision for connecting a region and its citizens to the life-changing opportunities that the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor can offer.

Through PGI, we are delivering game-changing deals and harnessing what no other country can: the innovation of our private sector.

For our part, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency helps mobilize capital by working alongside U.S. industry to prepare infrastructure projects through grant-based funding for feasibility studies, technical assistance, and pilot projects.

The Export-Import Bank of the United States, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Agen- — the — the U.S. In- — Agency for International Development are all funding significant commitments to sustainable infrastructure in your countries, including rail, clean energy, digital access, and opening the door for sectors like agribusiness.

Through PGI, we are using the full U.S. government tool kit to catalyze private investment and deliver innovative U.S. technology, high-quality infrastructure, and inclusive economic growth in the communities along the Lobito Corridor.

Our partnership with you is generating results — results that will endure for decades to come. We are at a hopeful inflection point in our shared history — one which calls to mind the Angolan national motto, “Virtus Unita Fortior”, which is a call for strength through unity.

We are inspired to convene in Lobito, a gateway to the world, to solidify our momentum and celebrate the strength of the partnership that we have built together. Thank you.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Enoh.

And as we come to a close, President Lourenço, none of what we’ve heard today or what we’ve done over the last couple of years would have been possible without your partnership, your leadership, your friendship, and your commitment to this corridor.

I’d like to turn to you for any closing remarks that you may have. Mr. President.

PRESIDENT LOURENÇO: (As interpreted.) Thank you very much. I would like to thank the presence of everyone, not only that of head of states, but also all our partners, private-sector financial institutions, and particularly thank President Joe Biden for — for the seriousness in keeping up to the promise made at the U.S. Leaders — U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that has said — is now being implemented.

So, this big project of Lobito Corridor is an infrastructure that we, as African statesmen, have been claiming for so that it can ensure the development of our continent. So, without connectivity, without (inaudible), we cannot ensure food security and development of a continent.

So, once again, thank you very much to all of you. Feel yourselves at home while you remain in the Angolan territory, and you are mostly welcome at any time you would wish to visit Angola.

Thank you very much.

MR. HOCHSTEIN: Thank you, Mr. President. President Biden has told me that he is not a patient man and that, when he wants to deal with infrastructure, he wants it to happen as soon as possible. That is true in the United States. It is surely true here as well.

Mr. President, you heard today that shovels are already in the ground and working here in Angola. It is already cutting the time since your announcement in the DRC. And you heard again today that the shovels will be in the ground for the greenfield project. You promised that the beginning of 2026 in the — for the greenfield.

Mr. President, I hope that what you’ve seen and heard today from the private sector and from the other leaders is a demonstration of the transformative impact of your commitment that you made and the commitment that has been now delivered through the last couple of years, since the — since you launched this project a year and a half ago and since your commitment at the Africa Leaders Summit.

Mr. President, I hope you can — closing remarks to adjourn this meeting.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Mr. President, I’m coming back to ride on the train, all the way, from end to end.

I — as they say, if you — when we — on the Senate floor of the United States Senate, “Excuse a point of personal privilege.” I’ve ridden an awful lot on trains. I commute every day 212 miles a day on Amtrak from Washington to my hometown to Wilmington, Delaware, as a senator. And so, I — I like trains a lot. (Laughs.) So, I’m coming back. You’re stuck with me.

I want to close with one final thought. It’s almost exactly this day, just over 160 years ago, my country, the United States, broke ground on America’s first transcontinental railroad.

President Abraham Lincoln called it, quote, “the proudest thing of his life.” “The proudest thing of his life.” And — and he hoped that when he retired as president, he said, he’d be able to take a trip on that rail line.

I want to take a trip on this rail line, if I can.

Folks, PGI is one of the things that I’m most proud of in my presidency. The Lobito Corridor and all the work you all are doing proves why.

Because, like Lincoln, we’re not just laying tracks; we’re laying the groundwork for a better future for our people — ordinary people, people that’s going to create jobs. It’s going to create good-paying jobs for people. It’s going to put them in a position where they can have the benefits people around the world have without having to long for them and actually get them.

And so, you know, laying the groundwork for better a future is what we’re all doing here, in my view — a future of innovation, a future of opportunity, and, quite frankly, a future of pride.

Back home in the United States, I often say that when people see big infrastructure projects in their hometown — when they see cranes in the air, shovels in the ground — it literally gives them hope. It gives them hope and brings pride back to communities that have left behind for too long, communities that used to have industry but no longer have it.

And — and Africa has been left behind for much too long beyond that, but not anymore.

Africa is the future. I’m not being solicitous. Those of you who’ve had to deal with me, I’ve been focusing on Africa since I was a kid in the United States Senate heading the Africa Affairs subcommittee. It is the future, and we have to step up.

And I could not be prouder that our governments, our businesses, and our workers — (coughs) — excuse me — are working together to seize that future — that future — to build something that will deliver for the region and, quite frankly, deliver to the whole world — deliver to the whole world.

Going to get your coba- — your — your materials — instead of them coming in, you know, 45 days, they’ll come in 48 hours now. No, I’m serious. It’s a — it’s a big deal, as we say where I come from.

To build something that will deliver for the region and the world — something that, if done right, will outlast all of us and keep delivering for our people for generations to come.

So, thank you again for your partnership.

Thank you, Mr. President, and all of you for your leadership.

And I can’t wait to see all of you will continue to accomplish here in the Lobito Corridor in years ahead, and I think it’s going to set a standard for the rest of the world.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you. And I really appreciate being able to work with you and what you’re doing. Appreciate it. (Applause.)

2:59 P.M. WAT

The post Remarks by President Biden Participating in the Lobito Corridor Trans-Africa Summit | Benguela, Angola appeared first on The White House.

Center for Strategic and International Studies

Washington, D.C.

MR. SULLIVAN:  Well, good afternoon.  And thank you, John.  It’s a pleasure for me to be here, and it’s a pleasure for me to come talk about what is, yes, a technical topic, but also a deeply strategic topic for the future of U.S. defense and deterrence and for the future of American statecraft.

Earlier this week, President Biden signed his 71st security assistance package for Ukraine.  It was the latest step in a massive effort, on a scale not seen since the Second World War, to equip a partner with the military capability it needs to defend its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity against a brutal invasion by a larger neighbor.

And in the process of providing that support, we have also modernized our own arsenal.  With every package, the Department of Defense provides Ukraine older equipment it has on the shelf, and then uses congressionally appropriated funding to purchase new, more modern equipment for our own stockpiles.  This approach has enabled Ukraine to stand up against an adversary with an economy 10 times larger, a population three times bigger, and a military once ranked the second best in the world.

But at no stage was this historic undertaking a sure thing. In fact, in a matter of eight weeks of war in 2022, Ukraine burned through a year’s worth of U.S. 155-millimeter artillery production.

I hold a daily meeting on Russia and Ukraine in my office at the White House, and in those early months, in those daily meetings, we reviewed Ukraine’s run rate in excruciating detail, and we confronted a startling reality: The American arsenal of democracy was fundamentally underequipped for the task at hand. So, President Biden issued a straightforward order: Exponentially ramp up the production of 155-millimeter artillery munitions.  It turned out, executing on that was not so straightforward.

At a stretch, we could only immediately add about 400 rounds on top of the 14,000 rounds we produced each month, enough for Ukraine to defend itself for a few extra hours.  Our industrial capacity simply wasn’t there.  We lacked supplies of critical precursor materials.  We had to dig ourselves out of a deep hole.

Now, to offset their early munition shortage, Ukraine began to leverage drones and autonomous systems.  And this is the second part of the story, one that continues to evolve today on the frontlines.  They used off-the-shelf technology and cheap, mass-produced platforms to rapidly build an army of drones. 

But even as Ukraine demonstrated success on the battlefield with these new systems, we were behind the curve in innovating, acquiring, and fielding those types of systems ourselves, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.  The deeper we looked, the clearer it became that we needed larger stocks of many critical munitions and weapons platforms, both to maintain U.S. readiness and to equip a partner under attack.

Now, the men and women of our national security and defense communities are extraordinary, and they can pull rabbits out of hats.  I’ve seen it done.  But decades of under-investment and consolidation had seriously eroded our defense industrial base, and there was no way around it.

Now, in some respects, we had recognized this challenge from the moment we entered office, and in fact, we started taking steps to fix it in the President’s very first budget request.  But Russia’s war against Ukraine sharpened the stakes and clarified the scope of the challenge.  It was a strategic warning.

America’s defense industrial base, the one we inherited, was not up to the task that we face in a new age of strategic competition, including how we have to prepare for and deter future conflicts in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific.

So we had to act, and we did act.  We did so thanks to the President’s clear direction, the able leadership of Secretary Austin and Deputy Secretary Hicks, and strong bipartisan congressional support. 

By the time we leave office, our defense industrial base will be producing 55,000 155-millimeter artillery rounds per month, almost a 400 percent increase, and we’ve put it on track to double again, reaching 100,000 per month by early 2026.

But this effort extends way beyond 155-millimeter ammunition rounds.  As we’ve drawn down our older stockpiles to support Ukraine of other weapons, we’ve invested in new weapons and platforms to replace them.  Industry has responded and reoriented to meet our demand signal.  New production lines have opened and increased output.  We’re now building more javelins in Alabama and Arizona; tanks in Ohio; armored vehicles in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; HIMARS in Arkansas; rockets in West Virginia.  And our investments, all told, reach dozens of states. 

We’ve galvanized defense industries, commercial companies, startups, and venture capital firms to focus increasingly on developing low-cost, uncrewed systems for our allies, and countering those of our adversaries and competitors.  

The story also extends well beyond Ukraine, from our efforts to revitalize the submarine industrial base to a groundbreaking initiative with Canada and Finland to spur the production of polar icebreakers. 

All told, the Biden administration has made major investments across four defense budgets and multiple supplemental funding bills to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base, devoting almost $1.3 trillion to the research, development, and acquisition of capabilities that is driving production and driving industrial capacity.

In real dollars spent, this is more than the United States investment in procurement and R&D in any four-year period throughout the entire Cold War. 

But this challenge is not one that can be met in a single term in office.  There is still so much work to do.  This has to be a generational project. 

So, today I want to do two things.  First, I want to share the steps that we’ve taken to modernize, invigorate, and expand our defense industrial base.  And then, second, I want to offer a roadmap for the next Congress and the next administration to carry this work forward on a bipartisan basis.

But let me provide a little bit of context. 

Over the past several years, we’ve seen a tectonic shift in the global landscape.  We’ve seen the rise of a peer competitor in the PRC.  We’ve seen patterns of cooperation deepen between the PRC, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.  We’ve seen the proliferation of low-cost lethal technologies to a number of state and non-state actors across multiple continents. 

Against this backdrop, a strong defense industrial base is essential to effective statecraft.  This means not just more investment, but smarter investment, production, innovation, and integration with allies.

A stronger defense industrial base is necessary for us to deter military aggression against NATO or our Indo-Pacific allies and partners.  It’s necessary for us to equip our partners when they come under attack.  It’s necessary for us to respond to threats to the global commons, including freedom of navigation.  And it’s necessary to strengthen our hand at the negotiating table as we pursue diplomacy to end conflicts like we recently have done with the war that raged across the border between Israel and Lebanon.

In the Cold War era, our DIB was formidable, but it took a long time to build up.  We understood then, almost intuitively, that our production capacity was central to our military capability and, therefore, to our deterrence.  When the Iron Curtain fell, we turned the page.  In the decades that followed, we enjoyed a brief moment without a peer competitor to pace us, and our defense enterprise atrophied. 

In part due to the urging from the government, mergers collapsed significant defense companies into each other, from 50 to the five major prime contractors that we have today.  Factories closed.  Production lines shut down.  Our skilled workforce declined.  The number of defense suppliers shrank.  And many of our supply lines migrated overseas. 

Now, I’m not suggesting we need to retool for a new Cold War, but we once again face a dangerous, complex, and contested global landscape.  Our adversaries and competitors are taking more risks, and importantly, they’re working together to strengthen each other’s defense capacity. 

So, today, once again, we need to heed the maxim that industrial might is deterrence.  Given the DIB we inherited, our task has been to reverse years of decline while simultaneously increasing agility, innovation, and integration. 

So we’ve made three big pushes to try to strengthen our defense industrial base:

First, as I’ve described, by boosting production of munitions and weapons platforms and creating the infrastructure to sustain that boost in production.  This has meant new factories, new lines, accelerated delivery times on the weapons and munitions we need most. 

The Department of Defense released its first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy.  We’re strengthening supply chain resilience and increasing stockpiles of key inputs, like the solid rocket motors that power our most advanced missiles.  We’ve made notable progress on our air defenses, another critical component of our global defense architecture, which is in high and increasing demand across Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific.

Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain are working together to procure almost $6 billion worth of Patriot missiles that are now being produced through a joint venture between a U.S. and German company. 

At the same time, we’re working to expand joint production deals with Japan to strengthen our air defense umbrella in the Indo-Pacific.

On long-range fires, another essential element of deterrence in the modern era, we’ve made big strides towards modernization.  We’re investing heavily in the next generation of ground attack missiles, what we call PrSM, to rapidly increase production capacity. 

We’re taking similar steps to expand production of several kinds of anti-ship missiles across a variety of ranges. 

And we’ve made significant investments across the American shipbuilding supply chain — that entire supply chain.  The challenge there on shipbuilding has been especially immense.  We’ve sought to recover from an erosion that actually traces its decline to decades of erosion in the overall American manufacturing base.

Over the last 40 years, in the submarine industrial base alone, five shipyards closed, the workforce shrank, suppliers left the market.  Our approach to production was built on post-Cold War assumptions about a global security environment and just-in-time supply chains that, frankly, have not borne out. 

To give you a sense of the scale of the problem, we need an additional 140,000 more skilled workers — 140,000 — machinists, welders, pipe fitters, electricians — than we currently have to meet submarine production demand over the next 10 years. 

Now, we can’t fix four decades of challenges in four years, but we have surged to invest in our submarine industrial base.  With billions of dollars in new funding, we’re developing new suppliers across more than 30 states to reduce bottlenecks, expand the use of robotics and additive manufacturing, and upgrade and expand shipyards. 

These investments will leave the submarine industrial base in a stronger position, but frankly, more is needed.  And so, we’re seeking more funds from Congress, especially for more manufacturing technology, for more infrastructure improvements, and for wage increases to ensure we can retain the workers we have while we work to hire thousands more. 

The second big push we’ve made is to try to leverage and unleash the potential of innovative technologies and the power and speed of our commercial sector.

On the battlefield in Ukraine, we’re seeing the character of war evolve before our eyes as Ukraine pairs artificial intelligence with low-cost drones to create powerful and cheap alternatives to precision-guided munitions. 

Ukraine’s missile and drone manufacturers are among the most innovative on the planet, a product of both necessity and Ukrainian resolve and ingenuity.  They bring groundbreaking, state-of-the-art capabilities to the fight at costs that are an order of magnitude lower than our traditional munitions. 

By facilitating collaboration between American and Ukrainian industry, we’re ensuring that our own companies are pioneering new technologies to complement our more exquisite capabilities.  Our firms are learning what technologies work best and how to use them and iterate them during conflict. 

We’re creating a feedback loop that prizes and enshrines innovation.  And that way, the American military can get to and remain on the cutting edge of these new forms of warfighting technology.

Here at home, the Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative is just one example of how we’re trying to adapt more institutionally to the future character of warfare.  Through Replicator, DOD is procuring and fielding attributable [attritable] autonomous capabilities at speed and scale — thousands of systems across air, land, and sea — in less than 24 months. 

And we’re establishing the processes to be able to adopt and scale new technologies as needed in the future, including from non-traditional defense companies and from the commercial sector, because we need to keep pushing the envelope in terms of speed and scale.

Recognizing the power of responsible AI to transform the way militaries fight, we released our first-ever National Security Memorandum on Artificial Intelligence.  It provides a blueprint for harnessing the power and managing the risks of AI to advance our national security.

Now, all this we’re doing at home, but we recognize that we can’t and shouldn’t do this alone.  As strategic competition intensifies, as the global environment becomes more contested, we have to take bold steps in concert with our allies and partners to integrate and strengthen deterrence across the major theaters of the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. 

And that leads to the third big push we’ve been making: laying the foundation to build an integrated defense industrial base for the free world. 

In the first year of our administration, we launched one of the most ambitious defense projects in modern history, the trilateral security partnership, AUKUS.  Under AUKUS, we joined forces with the UK and Australia to support Australia’s acquisition of a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability in ways that will strengthen our collective submarine industrial bases. 

And we’re creating opportunities for innovation and collaboration through AUKUS on cutting-edge technologies in advanced cyber, undersea capabilities, electronic warfare, quantum, AI, and hypersonics. 

Just this year, we held trilateral exercises in Australia, with Japan in attendance, conducting tests on the collective use of autonomous and uncrewed systems in maritime operations. 

And this push for an integrated DIB for the free world extends way beyond AUKUS.  Over the past four years, we’ve ramped up efforts to expand and accelerate what we call global defense production, a catch-all term for co-development, co-production, and co-sustainment of platforms and munitions with allies and partners. 

Similarly, we’ve worked with our NATO Allies to follow our example and overhaul their defense industrial bases.  And this was a major line of effort and set of outcomes at the NATO Summit President Biden hosted here in Washington for the 75th anniversary of NATO this summer. 

As part of this effort, we’ve had to rethink our strategic technology controls to account for today’s realities.  The fact is our non-proliferation and export control regimes, especially when it comes to allies, were formulated in a different era.  The risks were different.  The nature of technology diffusion was different.  These outdated restrictions have actually caused us to withhold critical technologies from close partners and close allies.  And without a significant change in the way we do business, our friends could be left behind as our adversaries march forward with deeper technology-sharing among themselves.  So we can’t let that happen. 

Through AUKUS, we began the hard work of driving major reforms in our export control regime to strengthen cooperation with Australia and the UK. 

And now, our team is finalizing a National Security Memorandum on Missile Technology Exports to modernize our implementation of the MTCR, the Missile Technology Control Regime. 

We will renew our commitment to a strong non-proliferation regime to keep these technologies out of the hands of bad actors, but we will also add flexibility to transfer this technology to certain partners with strong export control systems.  That means we can now boost our friends’ production of advanced missiles to increase the global availability and interoperability of long-range and precision-guided munitions that can strengthen our collective deterrence.

And this cooperation with our allies and partners enhances not just our national security but, frankly, our joint economic prosperity.  We’re creating jobs for American workers, opening new markets for American businesses, all while reaping the clear national security benefits of this work. 

Those are the three big pushes, and we’ve made progress over the last four years.  But frankly, we need progress over the next 40.  We need a roadmap for the future that builds on what we’ve done, because there is still a lot left to do.  I’m not here to report that the job is finished.  I’m here to report the job has started, and now it needs to continue in a big and sustained and bipartisan way. 

Now, there will be important debates over the size of the defense budget in the new administration and the new Congress.  Wherever the defense topline lands, I see at least four critical pieces of work that demand the sustained effort of the next administration, the next Congress, the armed forces, and industry all working in common purpose.

First, and most fundamentally, we’ve got to keep ramping up and accelerating production and procurement of the things that we need most.  This includes long-range critical munitions, vital air defense capabilities, and attritable and autonomous systems that are shaping the future of warfare.  Because no budget will be unlimited, this is going to require that we make hard trade-offs, prioritizing these key capabilities in particular. 

The bottom line here is that we’ve got to keep growing our magazine depth.  Future conflicts are going to consume munitions and equipment at a rate we have not seen in a very long time.  That means stockpiling both the vital munitions we know we’ll need in sufficient quantities and the components needed to produce them on short notice. 

We actually asked Congress for a critical munitions acquisition fund that would have guaranteed an ongoing demand signal to industry and enabled us to stockpile munitions that are in high demand, both at home and among our partners. 

Despite bipartisan support for that fund, Congress didn’t ultimately come through with the appropriation.  I urge Congress to work with the next administration to get this done.

When it comes to funding our defense needs, we also need Congress to return to regular order.  The practice of relying on continuing resolutions to equip our forces creates uncertainty and instability for both DOD and the industries we rely on. 

Pentagon leaders, and leaders from both parties across multiple administrations, have continually raised the alarm about this.  On a bipartisan basis, Congress should fund the defense enterprise — and, frankly, the rest of the U.S. government — responsibly and on time. 

And we also need industry to do its part to grow our magazine depth, by moving beyond the current cycle in which they hedge against uncertainty and do just enough to meet current demand, even when DOD is prepared to sign multiyear contracts. 

This calls for a new era of public-private partnership to build and sustain more commercial facilities, to maintain warm production lines, and to invest in a long-term effort to shore up our DIB workforce so that we have surge capacity when we need it. 

And while we’re doing that, we need to expand the shipyards, the armories, and the plants owned by DOD as well, to make our defense industrial base more resilient. 

Second, we need to accelerate major acquisition reform at DOD to prize innovation agility and to encourage a degree of risk taking.  This requires rethinking our requirements process to ensure that even tech companies outside the traditional defense orbit can understand and provide what DOD needs.  It requires adapting our system to allow flexibility for innovation mid-cycle in the development of a new system or platform. 

We also need to make it even easier for the defense enterprise to absorb more technological solutions from the commercial sector, and to do so quickly and at scale.

Today, collaboration among DOD, Silicon Valley, and America’s wider innovation ecosystem is better than it’s been in decades.  And that’s been met with significant bipartisan funding and support from Congress.  We’ve got to keep up this virtuous cycle. 

Two years ago, Congress created a bipartisan commission that examined ways to improve the Pentagon’s six-decade-old process for how it plans budgets and spends.  They put forward dozens of smart recommendations that DOD is already in the process of implementing.  But to really make that report work, we need new authorities from Congress too.  The critical munitions acquisition fund is one example of that.  Providing DOD with department-wide resources that can be used to meet emergent requirements is another.

Third, we have to institutionalize the work we’re doing, in concert with our allies and partners, to integrate our defense industrial bases. 

Working together boosts our collective readiness.  It allows us to dramatically expand our total production.  It creates resilience in our supply chains and manufacturing bases.  And most importantly, it strengthens deterrence as our adversaries learn that they will have to deal with the combined industrial might and fighting capacity of the U.S. and our allies and partners around the world. 

And finally, we can produce all the military hardware in the world, but it will mean nothing without our people, the talented men and women of the joint force.  They are the ones who ensure the equipment we buy translates into the capability we need.  They underwrite our deterrence and security, and we have to continue to invest in them and ensure that we’re recruiting and retaining the talent and leadership that we rely on to field the best military in the world, the best military in history. 

Now, none of this will be easy.  We don’t know what the future holds.  But we do know that the best way to preserve peace and protect American interests is to maintain a force that is strong enough to deter a future conflict.  That has been at the front of the President’s mind for nearly four years, and it will have to remain so for the next administration as well. 

We’ve laid the foundation to renew our great arsenal of democracy, but the work will have to continue to ensure we have the munitions and capabilities we need to navigate a myriad of contingencies.  After all, history teaches us that the adversary rarely chooses to start the war that we are most prepared for, but it also teaches us that when we galvanize the collective power of American national security and defense communities, American workers, American businesses, and American ingenuity, we will prevail. 

Thank you for listening to me on what can be a dense subject but I believe a subject of profound consequence for hearing now both on what we have done and what we need to do.  And I look forward to taking a few questions.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.) 

MR. JONES:  Thank you.  And for those who have not read the FDR speech on the arsenal of democracy, it is well worth going back and rereading that from the early days of World War Two. 

Thanks for coming to CSIS.  I wanted to start, actually, not with our industrial base — defense industrial base, but with the Chinese defense industrial base.  Part of the need, I think, for a strong industrial base is that we have adversaries that are building their own. 

So I wonder if you could start off with your sense of where the Chinese are at on their defense industrial base.  What is of particular concern?  Where do you see vulnerabilities?  The new DOD report on China also highlights major corruption within the Chinese industrial base.  So how would you characterize the industrial base?  And what’s the significance, then, as we look at continuing to build ours?

MR. SULLIVAN:  So, first, China has been growing its defense budget year on year, closing the gap in terms of their outlays and ours.  Second, because they have a state-directed system with state-owned enterprises working hand in glove with the PLA, with their military, they’re able to direct production and expand production at rates much more rapidly than we historically have been able to.

And they’ve also increased their innovation capacity, going beyond merely stealing technology, and then copying it, to developing new systems. 

So I think we have to take the overall industrial base capacity of China very seriously, and it is a key factor in the way that we think about what we’ve got to tool up to do ourselves and along with our allies and partners. 

At the same time, I think that there are three areas where the U.S. has inherent advantages.  One of them is: The same state-owned enterprises that are able to very rapidly send the demand signal and generate the production of key munitions and weapons platforms, they’re also — they can put brakes on or limits around innovation. 

And so we continue, I believe, to have an edge.  And watching how Ukraine in particular has dealt with this uncrewed, autonomous system issue, this is something that the U.S. is uniquely capable of being able to iterate, evolve, adapt over time, and that’s an advantage of ours that we need to continue to nurture. 

Second is this corruption problem you described.  I think it is — the reports that you’re referring to and other public reporting on this has shown that throughout the entire PLA, you have major problems of corruption in terms of the acquisition, the testing, and the reporting on the defense capabilities that they have, which raise real questions about whether there’s a gap between reality and advertisement. 

And then, the third goes to the issue of workforce and people, both the people operating the systems and the people building the systems.  And the United States has always had a huge advantage when it comes to people.  Now, we have a shortage of them, but the ones we have are the best in the world and the most tested in the world, because they’ve had to go through building the systems, having them end up in conflict, and then learning lessons from them, adapting them, and so forth.  The PLA really hasn’t, and the entire Chinese defense industrial base really hasn’t had to do that. 

So we’ve got to double down on our advantages.  And where they have the single biggest advantage, the sheer scope and scale of production, we have to close the gap in the ways that I describe by increasing our magazine depth. 

The final point I’ll make is that God forbid we end up in a full-scale war with the PRC, but any war with a country like the PRC, a military like the PRC, is going to involve the exhaustion of munition stockpiles very rapidly.  So, a big part of the answer to a healthy defense industrial base over time is the ability to regenerate, to surge, to build during a conflict, not just to build before to prepare for a conflict.  And that’s got to be a key lesson that we take away from what we’ve seen over the last three years on the battlefield in Ukraine. 

MR. JONES:  So, one follow-up on this.  Your sense and level of concern as we’ve seen greater integration or coordination of the industrial bases of the North Koreans, the Iranians, the Russians, and the Chinese.  What does that say about cooperation between them and their industrial bases?  And what’s the implication then for us?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I’m glad you mention that.  And when you asked the question, I made a mental note in my head to get to that point, because it’s a critical point.  I didn’t do so, although I spoke about it in my remarks.

We are seeing concerning flows of capability and know-how among these various actors.  You’ve got Iranian drones going to Russia; now Russia is indigenizing that capability.  You’ve got North Korean munitions going to Russia, and in return, Russia is sending back know-how and capacity in some of the more high-end capabilities that North Korea is trying to develop.  Going both ways between Russia and the PRC, you see both dual-use capacity going from the PRC to Russia that is helping fuel Russia’s war machine, and Russia is reciprocating by providing certain types of technological capabilities to China that they’ve been behind on. 

So this is something that is going to be a feature of the landscape as we go forward, and it means we’re going to have to get better ourselves, and we’re going to have to get more integrated with our allies and partners so that our collective industrial might exceeds that of our competitors and adversaries.  And then we are also going to have to look for ways, through sanctions, export controls, and other restrictive measures, to try to put a drag on or reduce or restrict or disrupt that flow that I just described among these actors. 

But this is a feature of the modern landscape that, in my view, only reinforces the various calls to action that I made in my remarks today.

MR. JONES:  One of the issues that you mentioned in your remarks is on the subject of munition stockpiles.  And if you look at some of the war games that have happened, whether it’s here at CSIS or some of the ones that have happened within the Pentagon, one of the things that’s interesting with current stockpiles is that with, say, some of our long-range anti-ship missiles, LRASMs, or our extended-range JASSMs, we run out pretty quickly in a conflict. 

So, two questions along those lines.  And again, you mentioned this a little bit earlier, but how serious of an issue is this?  How are you thinking about addressing and dealing with addressing it?  And, you know, along the latter lines too, how does this impact deterrence if we’re not effectively able to increase those stockpiles?

MR. SULLIVAN:  This is, I think, a significant learning experience for all of us.  And, by the way, that goes for the U.S., our friends, and our adversaries, out of what we’ve seen unfold in the course of the war against Ukraine. 

First, it means that we need deeper magazine depth now, which means accelerating and ramping production and trying to reduce what are, kind of, eye-poppingly long timelines to generate what you and I might not think are a huge number of these high-end systems, LRASMs or JASSMs or what have you, or PrSM, for that matter, which I referred to in my remarks.  So we’ve got to build the stockpile, build the magazine depth.

Second, and the point I made just a minute ago, we have to have the production lines and the skilled workforce ready for surge capacity so that, in a conflict situation, we’ve got a warm, kind of turn-key ability to dramatically increase production on demand. 

I started my speech by talking about our desire to do that with 155-millimeter artillery production.  On demand was another 400 rounds a month.  I mean, we didn’t have it.  So part of the defense industrial base has to build that.

Third, we have to recognize, as the Ukrainians did, that we’re also going to need substitutes for the highest and most exquisite capabilities, and those substitutes will be cheaper autonomous systems that just come in much greater scale, quantity that can actually be, to a certain extent, a fill-in for delivering effects, battlefield effects that aren’t identical to what an LRASM could deliver, but at sufficient quantity can help sustain the fight even as you’re drawing down your magazine depth. 

Fourth, we have to think not just about the most high-end, most exquisite capabilities.  We also have to think about cheap, attritable stuff; more dumb munitions, frankly, as part of any conflict going forward; and get out of a mindset that says everything has to be the most whiz-bang thing ever. 

And then the final point that I would make is that another key lesson from Ukraine is the EW environment, the electronic warfare environment in which all of this is happening, and the way in which this is a very dynamic, iterative game where defense gets better, then offense adjusts to overwhelm it, then defense gets better. 

And so, the other thing we have to think about across all of the four lines I just described — stockpile, surging, attritable systems, dumb munitions — we have to think about how are we building a feedback loop so that everything we built doesn’t get neutralized, we actually can adapt it to overcome whatever defenses that we happen to be up against.  That has been another critical lesson from Ukraine.

MR. JONES:  Yeah, it was interesting, my last trip a few months ago to Ukraine.  As several folks in Zelenskyy’s office were briefing on the speed with which the battlefield was rapidly evolving on the electronic warfare, the UAV — counter- UAV dimension, just the speed with which things were changing was dramatic, and, you know, the need to be very adaptive in how to respond. 

One of the issues you mentioned in your talk was the submarine industrial base.  We had — a couple of months ago, we had Mike Waltz and Senator Kelly; it was a bipartisan discussion on the maritime industrial base.  And one of the issues that they have highlighted, and others have as well, is more broadly shipbuilding. 

So I want to read you just briefly the bipartisan congressional report, just one sentence from it, sort of the topline conclusions: “Decades of neglect by the U.S. government and private industry had weakened our shipbuilding capacity and maritime workforce, contributing to a declining U.S. flag-shipping fleet to bring American goods to market and support the U.S. military during wartime.” 

There have been other assessments.  The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, unclassified assessment: The Chinese have 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the United States.  That’s one assessment.  That’s not how much they’re producing; that’s a capacity issue. 

So where do we stand on the broader shipbuilding side, not just the submarine base?  And where do we have to go?

MR. SULLIVAN:  Well, first, just diagnosing the problem, a big part of the problem is a skilled workforce issue, where we’ve just lost a skilled workforce in shipbuilding that we need to rebuild, and this administration has put a series of initiatives in place to begin to build that back. 

Second, we have a huge supply chain problem.  Suppliers of the necessary components for ships have disappeared from the United States, and — or there’s one, and we have to rely on that one for any shipbuilding we do, whether it’s a U.S. flag commercial carrier, of which we build very, very few, or it’s a ship that we’re building for a defense requirement. 

And then, third, there are major problems we have in being able to adjust to changes in design over the course of the life of a — you know, of a ship line, and our ability to just, like, have a design, execute it, and churn it out.  This is something the Chinese are very good at.  We have not proven to be very good at this. 

Now, part of this is so fundamental and so structural, and it goes back to the early 1980s when the bottom fell out of the American shipbuilding industry, commercial shipbuilding industry.  That’s not going to reverse overnight.  But there are steps that we can take to push back against unfair practices.  We, the Biden administration, accepted a petition for a 301 investigation of Chinese shipbuilding practices that are putting downward pressure on our ability to compete effectively.

And then part of it is pick spots where you can get wins and build step by step to get back some of that lost ground over the last few decades.  I mentioned very briefly in my remarks something called the ICE Pact, which we entered into with Norway — I’m sorry, with Finland and with Canada.  Finland and Canada are at the cutting edge of polar icebreaker construction and production.  The United States has one producer producing, basically, one cutter for our Coast Guard. 

We have the capacity to do so much more than that on something that, for our allies and partners, the other places they can go are Russia and China; where we really could build this out in concert with Finland and Canada, and, for that specialty capability, reinvigorate an aspect of the American shipbuilding base that then we could take to other specialty areas, and over time build back a larger capability that would have amazing knock-on effects for our capacity to do naval shipbuilding much more rapidly, at much greater scale and at cheaper cost. 

Because anyone who knows, you know, when we contract for a given ship or line of ships, by the third one being turned out, the cost has gone up dramatically for a variety of reasons that get to supply chain, workforce, and other things.  But part of it is we don’t have the backbone of a healthy commercial shipbuilding base to rest our naval shipbuilding on top of.  And that’s part of the fragility of what we’re contending with and why this is going to be such a generational project to fix.

We’ve taken these beginning steps on it, and particularly focused on the submarine industrial base because of the centrality of that to our deterrence.  But it is a larger issue that Secretary Del Toro has been passionate about, Secretary Austin.

I have dug into the details of workforce development initiatives in this area because it’s something that’s so core to our national security over time.

MR. JONES:  So, last question before we get to a few audience questions here.  Role of other allies and partners.  If you look at the shipbuilding industry, both the Koreans and the Japanese have major capabilities.  We’ve got some regulations, we’ve got some congressional acts, including the Jones Act, that make some of that more difficult.  Should we rethink make it easier for us to collaborate with some of our partners?  That’s the first question.

And two is, AUKUS — how do you think about expanding — or do you think about expanding AUKUS to include more than just the UK and Australia in the future?

MR. SULLIVAN:  So, on the first question, I think, you know, I’ll leave it to others to debate the relative merits of some of the, kind of, domestic regulations.

I’ll just make one, I think, really important point, which is: In semiconductors, in clean energy technologies, we’ve developed a suite of industrial policy tools that are stimulating a revolution in the manufacturing capacity of the United States in these critical sectors.  I believe that those same tools, in some cases those same pots of money, could actually attract a Hanwa or another Korean or Japanese shipbuilder to the United States the same way that we’ve attracted a Samsung or an LG to the United — or a Hyundai to the United States.

And so, we should have a theory of stimulating American shipbuilding that is in part about attracting our allies to invest here in building out their capabilities. 

How we then get into the regulatory landscape for what will work and what wouldn’t in the puts and takes of that is harder for me to speak to, but I think the overall theory of the case that we’ve applied in these other critical sectors could be applied to shipbuilding.  There are some green shoots of that in the maritime initiative that Secretary Del Toro has underway.  We really need to build on that because that, ultimately, is going to be an important part of the long-term answer to revitalizing the American shipbuilding industry.

MR. JONES:  Yeah, and I think it is an area where I think we’ve got to close that gap with the Chinese.

So, one question —

MR. SULLIVAN:  Oh, you said AUKUS.  We don’t have any plans to expand pillar one of AUKUS, which is the conventionally armed nuclear-powered subs.

MR. JONES:  Subs.  Yeah.

MR. SULLIVAN:  We do see other partners coming in to work with us on pillar two, which are all these other advanced —

MR. JONES:  I’ve seen the aperture already start to open a bit.  Yeah.

On — questions for the audience.  This has nothing to do with the subject of the discussion here, the industrial base. But first question here from someone in the audience is: “South Korea’s president declared martial law, which he then lifted. What has been the White House response?  It looked a little slow from our vantage point.”  How would you — I mean, what has been your response?  How concerned have you been with the unfolding events in South Korea?

MR. SULLIVAN:  You know, it’s — you know you’re living in a modern information age when an entire episode like this unfolds over the course of less than a day, and the characterization of the White House response is slow.  (Laughs.)

MR. JONES:  Too slow.  Yes.

MR. SULLIVAN:  But it’s a fair question.

I mean, we were not consulted in any way.  We learned about this from the announcement on television the same way the rest of the world did.  It raised deep concern for us, this declaration of martial law.  The National Assembly worked according to constitutional processes and procedures.  The president retracted martial law.  Now there’s, you know, a series of procedures in place to kind of react to what happened there, and they’ll be toing and froing between the main parties in Korea.

What we want to see is just the proper functioning of the democratic institutions of the ROK.  And after this rather dramatic announcement that raised alarm bells everywhere, including here in Washington, we have seen those processes and procedures work.  South Korea’s democracy is robust and resilient, and we’re going to continue to speak out publicly and engage privately with South Korean counterparts to reinforce the importance of that continuing as we go forward.

MR. JONES:  Thanks.

This question is about the industrial base, which — and it’s an interesting one because it deals with critical minerals. “China has banned exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony, which have significant military applications in the industrial base.  How significant are these actions?  And probably more importantly, what are U.S. options to decrease reliance from China on critical minerals?”

MR. SULLIVAN:  The most important thing about this is that it is a continuing reminder of the need of the United States to have diverse and resilient supply chains for critical minerals with national security applications, and not to be reliant on any single country, especially a competitor like the PRC.  We knew that.  We know that.  We are reminded of that when they take steps like this.

Now, we, in particular, anticipated this step because they had already moved to restrict germanium and gallium in the past, before taking the full move this week to say no more exports to the United States.  There are other sources of germanium and gallium in the world.  But as we look at the wider aperture of critical minerals, not just for military purposes, but for strategic purposes — semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy transition technologies, et cetera — we need to get together with likeminded producers, processors, and users of these critical minerals for a high-standards critical mineral marketplace that ensures that China can’t, for example, crash the price of a given critical mineral, drive mines out of business, reduce the overall global supply, and operate as a chokehold.  That’s, ultimately, the logic we need to break.

We’ve taken some really important steps on this in the last few years.  It has allowed us to diversify and make more resilient our supply chains.  But that, too, just like the defense industrial base, is a work in progress, and we need the next administration to continue it, working with the Congress and private industry.  And I will be the biggest cheerleader of that ongoing effort, because it’s something we’ve devoted a lot of attention to over the last four years and something that is going to take, you know, at least the next decade to get ourselves in a position where we can really breathe a sigh of relief. 

We’re there.  We’re doing better.  We have solutions to a lot of these issues, but this is going to be a highly contested space, and there’s a lot more work to be done.

MR. JONES:  Thanks.

And last question.  Can be brief.  From Time Magazine: “Is DOGE friend or foe in an effort to revitalize the defense industrial base?”  I mean, what would you say to an effort to look at the Elon Musk initiative?

MR. SULLIVAN:  I just don’t know.  I mean, I’ve read, but I don’t know what it actually is.  Do we need more government efficiency?  Of course, we can all use more government efficiency.  So at a very macro level, finding ways, as I described in my speech, to modernize, streamline, make more effective procurement and all of the decades-long rules and regulations of the Defense Department.  I laid out a whole list of things in the speech that we should do.  Whether this initiative is about that or about something else, I just don’t know, so it’s hard for me to speak to.

MR. JONES:  Well, thank you. If you can all join me in thanking Jake for coming to CSIS.  (Applause.)  And if you could briefly just stay put as we get out, that’d be great.  Just 30 seconds or so.  Really appreciate everyone taking the time to come.  Thanks.

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On November 15, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration held the Fourth Annual White House Tribal Youth Forum.  At the Forum, over 100 Native American youth from across the country engaged with Administration officials on key issues impacting their communities, including food sovereignty, climate change, mental health, and missing and murdered Indigenous persons. Discussions touched on themes youth leadership, preservation of culture, and destigmatizing mental illness. Youth were also given a presentation from the White House Internship Program to learn about opportunities available to them within the White House Office.

The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to strengthening the relationship between the Federal Government and Tribal Nations to advance opportunity for Indigenous people, which includes empowering the future leaders of Indian Country. For the past four years the White House Tribal Youth Forum has provided a unique opportunity for Tribal youth to share their ideas and provide input on policy decisions that impact their communities and future generations.

Tribal youth participants heard directly from Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory, White House Internship Program Associate Director Jasmin Chavez-Cruz, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Deputy Assistant Secretary Sonia Chessen, Administration for Native Americans Deputy Commissioner Hope MacDonald Lone Tree, and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland.  In addition, the Forum included senior White House officials and senior Administration officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the White House Domestic Policy Council.

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Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and Angolan President João Lourenço co-hosted African leaders from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, and Tanzania, as well as private sector CEOs, U.S. development and finance institutions, and the Africa Finance Corporation, to celebrate and highlight progress on the development of the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor and the partnership of the Lobito Corridor consortium. President Biden praised the progress made on the Corridor since its launch under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) at the 2023 G7 Summit, and today announced more than $560 million in new funding, including commitments expected to generate at least $200 million in additional private sector capital, for infrastructure projects along the Corridor, bringing the total for U.S. investments to more than $4 billion. The Leaders discussed the transformative impact the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor has had on enhancing access to the critical minerals needed for the clean energy transition and digital connectivity, strengthening food security, boosting regional trade, and empowering communities all along the Corridor. To date, the United States regional development banks, and international partners have mobilized over $6 billion in high-standard, public and private investments along the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor.

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, to discuss the U.S.-Zambian relationship and our shared commitment to economic and democratic progress. The two leaders discussed the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor and the new rail line from the Angola border into Zambia. They discussed how these investments in infrastructure — including through a new $491 million Millennium Challenge Corporation compact with the Government of Zambia in which the United States will invest $458 million and Zambia will commit $33 million — will help catalyze sustainable and inclusive economic growth for the people of Zambia, lower the cost of transporting goods to regional and global markets, and create an incredible legacy for generations to come. They affirmed the need to ensure conditions are in place to attract private sector investments in Zambia, including a conviction that strong, resilient democracies are essential to create quality jobs and inclusive economic growth. The presidents underscored their conviction that countries should not be held back from investing in their development by the need to service unsustainably high debt, and together committed to continue advocating for reform.

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Gesso, Italy

Buongiorno!

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for a warmer welcome than I could have imagined.

I’m also grateful to Ms. Prefect Di Stani and to President Schifani for their leadership.

Ambassador Markell, Jack, Carla, thank you for your hospitality and your work to strengthen the special relationship between Italy and the United States.

I know you have an excellent partner in Consul General Roberts-Pounds, Tracy, thank you for your service in Naples.

Dr. Mario Sarica, thank you for researching my family’s history and capturing it in your wonderful book.

My daughter, Ashley, and I just stepped into this beautiful church, where we saw the record of my great-grandmother’s baptism in 1865.

Father Franco Arrigo, thank you for inviting me to visit the church of my great-grandparents.

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden—that its light shines for all to see.

I’m here today because the light from the hills of Gesso shines across the world—and it shines brightly within me.

More than a hundred years ago, my great-grandparents, Gaetano and Conchetta Giacoppa, walked the narrow streets of Gesso. They talked with their neighbors and watched the stars wander out at night.

And in the everyday rhythms of life, they were shaped by Italian values: loyalty, hard work, and the belief that there’s always room for one more seat at the table.

Like many in their generation, strengthened by those values, yet seeking better opportunities, my great-grandparents decided to leave their homeland for the promise of an unfamiliar place, and the idea that no matter where you come from, you can find a home and a future in the United States of America.

As they crossed the Atlantic, they prayed for the protection of St. Anthony, who continues to watch over the people of Gesso.

In America, they quickly found that Hammonton, New Jersey was home to fellow immigrants from Gesso. And other neighbors had come from their own Gessos around the world, bringing the light of those homelands to their new nation too.

Step by step, my great-grandparents built a life. Their last name, “Giacoppa,” became Jacobs.

Their son—my grandpop—grew up and got a job moving furniture.

And his son—my father—joined the United States military at age 17, and then went to school to become a banker.

Within two generations, America was no longer an unfamiliar place. It’s where they dreamed bigger with every decade. 

My great-grandparents said goodbye to Gesso and set sail with hope in their hearts.

But they never could have predicted that within three generations, their great-granddaughter would be back in Gesso, standing before you, as the first Italian American First Lady of the United States.

As First Lady, I’ve brought the vibrant Italian American community together to celebrate our culture and sustain our traditions.

I’ve even had the opportunity to serve gnocchi and braciole in the White House!

And the values of loyalty, hard work, and that spirit of generosity that my great-grandparents brought with them to America still live on today.

I am so grateful to be here in Gesso. And as I look out at this beautiful place, and all of you, I feel the warmth of home. Because of your kindness, because of your joyful welcome, I will always remember and cherish this day.

And if my great-grandparents could see all of us here together, I know they would have been happy, not because I have the title of “First Lady,” but because their descendants stayed true to their roots.

I’m returning to Gesso today with gratitude for my great-grandparents, and you. For the culture we cherish. And for the light that shines in the White House, and wherever there is a son or daughter of Gesso.

May God bless you and keep you.

Grazie.

Now, I’ve brought a gift for all of you. Mr. Mayor, could you please join me?

My home, Delaware, has a state tree—the American Holly. So today, I’m giving Gesso a tree that’s closely related: the European Holly.

I hope this tree will stand for generations to come, as a symbol of the enduring bond between Gesso and her children across the ocean. May our roots remain strong, and may we always grow together.

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