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Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of New Mexico and ordered Federal assistance to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by a severe storm and flooding from October 19 to October 20, 2024.

The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in Chaves County.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding also is available to state, tribal, and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storm and flooding in Chaves County.

Finally, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

Mr. José M. Gil Montañez of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362), or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, can give FEMA the number for that service. 

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. declared that a major disaster exists for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and ordered federal aid to supplement the Tribal Nation’s efforts in the areas affected by a severe storm, straight-line winds, and flooding from July 13 to July 14, 2024.

The President’s action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding is also available to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storm, straight-line winds, and flooding.

Lastly, Federal funding is available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Mr. Edwin J. Martin of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. 

Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the Tribal Nation and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by calling 800-621-FEMA (3362), or by using the FEMA App. Anyone using a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, can give FEMA the number for that service. 

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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I am grateful to be back at Georgetown for the conversation and the chance to take stock of where we stand at halftime in what has been dubbed the “decisive decade” for global climate action.

In the United States, under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, we have doubled our pace of decarbonization, built 100 gigawatts – 25 million homes worth – of clean power, and catalyzed a trillion dollars of private investment, creating good jobs across the nation.

The scoreboard looks good. The fundamentals are strong. But the hard truth remains that we have more field to gain and even less time to do it. The good news is that we carry with us into the second half a fundamentally rewritten climate playbook – an approach that eschews the gloom and doom and embraces the hope and possibilities. This new playbook is the gamechanger – and why I am confident that America will meet the moment.

Together, we will meet this moment because, over the last four years, we have proven climate action as the new foundry for economic opportunity and economic growth in the United States – the figurative factory floor where we are forging a stronger American middle class and mounting the comeback of American manufacturing.

Proven because the new foundry is already delivering – rising wages, expanding apprenticeships, over 600 new clean energy factories, and union density at rates double the rest of the economy. All of this is accelerating as the foundry taps into the salient, the proximate, and the visible uplift of our communities for its fuel.

We will meet the moment because, in our new playbook, we have pulled the upside of climate action both forward and close, even as we took on a problem that is global in nature and decades in the making.

We have pursued climate action in a way that is co-located with economic opportunity and coincided with pollution reduction – a geographic and temporal alignment of benefits designed to earn the political economy to go big, go fast, and go the distance.

Georgetown Climate Center is an apt place to reflect on this playbook because that approach of co-locating with economic opportunity and coinciding with pollution reduction is impossible to execute without partnership – the kind you work to forge through your efforts here – partnership top to bottom and shoulder to shoulder. That means federal, state, local, and Tribal governments, public and private sector – everybody coming together to make a difference, one neighborhood at a time.

Today, as communities are starting to breathe easier, to turn on the faucet with greater peace of mind, and to work jobs that not only provide pay and benefits but also purpose and dignity, we are unlocking that political economy boost – while those operating the brakes on climate action have become less effective, and the politics of climate inaction are deteriorating.

It might be an unexpected assertion, but it is true – drawn from wellsprings of hope and opportunity, change and improved circumstances, that I have seen as I have traveled from coast to coast, in small towns and big cities: People want us to keep investing in climate solutions and the clean energy economy of the future. And there is a reason.

Today, for hundreds of school districts, because of investments through the Biden-Harris Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the iconic yellow school bus is going green – Made in America, by union workers, and showing up at the end of the driveway, no longer pumping diesel pollution into the air.

Today, in communities built over the last century or two, where pipes had been buried for a hundred years and leaking for decades, pipefitters are not just bending metal but also the arc of methane emissions. That same investment is reducing energy costs and safety risks – and the receipts show the impact.

Today, on 80,000 farms and ranches across the country, a new revenue stream is now part of the ledger as the United States leads the next generation of agricultural practice – one that is smarter both in withstanding the trials of climate change and in sourcing the solutions, with farmers paid, finally, to help the land breathe in the carbon from the sky.

Whether on wheels, under our heels, or growing from the ground on which we stand, these climate solutions are now and here. They are delivering the salient, the proximate, and the visible. And, in turn, they are fueling that new foundry, forging economic opportunity and economic growth all across America.

The success of this paradigm-shifting strategy – this new playbook – also comes from harmonizing two sets of tools, the tools to deliver investments and the tools to set standards, all in support of our economic goals.  

We have seen this strategy at work: The investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act enhanced by a complementary architecture of federal standards that spur demand and generate the regulatory certainty needed to accelerate capital formation and encourage entrepreneurial risk-taking. 

It is an important combination, and the success of our new foundry comes from both – the catalytic public investments and tax credits and also the standards that send a signal to the market, spurring long-term investment and firming up that next bet on America.

Bringing the breadth of our tools and partners together helps as we swing for the fences in every sector of the economy. Looking for wins everywhere – power and transportation, buildings and industry, lands and agriculture – gives us a better shot at delivering for everyone. When executed well, the gains from all-in and searching-for-opportunity-everywhere climate action cascade deep through the economy.

I want to give you two examples – one more obvious and the other, hopefully, to make you smile.

Two years ago, sparked by demand from the solar industry, a former steel plant in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, a relic of the World War II era, announced it was making a comeback. Two years later, that spark has sustained, and the plant has tripled in capacity. Hundreds of jobs in a place where, just a few years ago, opportunity seemed forever fenced out.

And then in Milford, Utah, there is Scotty’s Diner, which also got a taste of that cascading economic opportunity. In a town of just 1,500, Scotty’s got a call from a construction crew for an unusually large order – 40 burgers and 40 fries. The owner has since doubled her staff to keep up with the appetite from what she calls “the geothermal thing” – a mega, two-gigawatt geothermal project now being built in her rural community.

That one plant, by the way, permitted on our public lands, increased total U.S. capacity for geothermal generation by 50 percent and reimagined the frontier on a critical clean energy technology where the U.S. can now have the edge.

These jobs – whether at the steel plant or the diner – bring so much more with them than a paycheck. I saw that this fall when I visited a clean energy factory with Sierra Club’s Ben Jealous. Ben pointed out something that has stuck with me ever since. In the hallway out front, he told me to look at the Earth Day artwork made by the kids of the factory workers. It was what you would expect – the most colorful expressions of wonder at nature and its beauty – and conveyed so much more. The artwork captured how the kids saw their parents: not as workers who walk on the ground, but as superheroes soaring to save the planet.

It is not just about putting steel in the ground or even in the spine of the American middle class – it is about filling our wings with a sense of soaring and uplift.

Today, we should all feel that sense of soaring because America is back in the business of doing big things. Too often in our discourse, we talk as if our imaginations have shrunk, as if the Hoover Dam was the apex of our ability to blueprint and build. But this discourse ignores the facts.

Take a look off the coast of Virginia, where the utility company and workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, IBEW, are building a two-gigawatt offshore wind farm. Two gigawatts – the same size as the Hoover Dam – and yet just one of 10 similar offshore wind projects that the Biden-Harris administration greenlit over the last four years. Projects that are now spurring a 50-state supply chain, with steel going into the water and clean electricity coming onto the grid. An industry that was just in our imagination a few years ago, towering high today and lifting up our workers and communities at the same time.

We see it shine through in solar as well.

Half the solar installed today came online during the last four years, and, somehow, that may be the least exciting part of the story. Because of President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership, a technology that was invented in America decades ago is finally being manufactured in America too. In fact, we have quadrupled our capacity to manufacture solar panels in the United States since the start of this administration, and we are set to double that capacity again in a few years.

That is not all. Thanks to tax guidance that the Treasury Department recently finalized – one of over 75 tax guidance projects completed since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act – we are now bringing ingot and wafer manufacturing to our shores. More energy jobs, more energy security, more opportunity and growth unleashed by our new foundry.

By the way, this manufacturing renaissance is also a big deal for innovation – important for America but also for the world’s ability to race toward and reach collective climate goals.

We know this: Manufacturing is the necessary bridge between invention and impact. No country can lead on innovation without the industrial capacity to turn plans into products. That is why America’s manufacturing renaissance delivers on so many bottom lines; because American scientists and engineers can now shine a brighter light into the future. That is good news for everybody. 

Of course, whether it is geothermal, or wind, or solar, or some other fuel or technology altogether, the value proposition depends on a bigger, better grid.

That is why, since the first day of this Administration, we made this a priority. Today, the Biden-Harris administration has financially boosted or environmentally approved over 5,000 miles of new capacity transmission on the grid – adding roads to the electricity highway system, something that must remain a massive national priority. We have worked to adapt the grid to the new realities imposed by the climate crisis. On a bipartisan basis, investment is now moving to bury lines, harden poles, or lay redundant cabling. Senator Murkowski, a champion of this resilience work, talks eloquently about one of these projects – a new high voltage cable that is going to be laid between Kenai and Anchorage. The next time the community faces the prospect of an outage, that cable becomes a vehicle to allow neighbors to help neighbors.

In addition to the new lanes on the electricity highway system and the physical upgrades to boost its resilience, I am excited about another opportunity we are chasing: simply operating our existing energy highway more creatively.

I will start with something wonky: dynamic line ratings. Our grid, as it stands today, has a static speed limit for electricity across the system. But that static speed limit is designed to safeguard the grid during the worst conditions. It does not allow electricity to travel faster during most times when conditions are good. Today, thanks to better sensors and AI, we can set that speed limit through dynamic line ratings. When conditions are good, we can raise the speed limit on the grid. We can squeeze far more capacity out of our existing infrastructure.

Another way we can get more out of the grid is by repaving the roads our electricity travels on. Most transmission cables use the same design that has been in place for a century: aluminum wires that transmit electricity, wrapped in stainless steel cables for durability.

Today, newer advanced cables being made in America employ carbon fiber and superconductors instead of steel and aluminum, making them stronger, lighter, and capable of carrying far more power than a traditional cable. By “reconductoring” our transmission lines, we can quadruple the pace of power we can add to the grid.

Finally, we can use the grid in a fundamentally different fashion by co-deploying battery storage with transmission, Storage As a Transmission Asset. Batteries can help manage rush hour traffic on the grid. When demand is high and you want to move a lot of electricity through the system, you can use the electricity stored in batteries to supplement power generation. When demand is low, you can recharge them. Overall, batteries help optimize the utilization of the transmission system that you have – fewer emissions, more resiliency, lower consumer costs.

To take advantage of that opportunity, we need to make even more of those batteries here, even more cheaply.

Batteries are another example of technology invented here that we had lost the capacity to make. America once at the frontier of the technology but then, for decades, ground ceded to others. Today, thanks to our new playbook – to the investments and the standards – the United States has become a magnet for that investment. Almost overnight, we have gone from a laggard to a leader, the top nation destination for private investment in this space.

We are making the batteries and – double click on them – the anodes and the cathodes, the separators and the materials that go into them too. Earlier this week, I was with President Cecil Roberts and the United Mineworkers at Ruff Creek, where they are now training up workers to make critical inputs – the active materials that go into the cathode of a cutting-edge battery that operates without nickel and cobalt. A union that powered America’s rise in the industrial age is back on the job, ensuring our competitiveness in the global clean energy economy.

Investing in the capacity that these UMWA workers will now create is essential – because mineral security is essential to climate security. Just as the climate imperative compels us to race forward on securing raw materials, as the U.S. is now doing in places like the Salton Sea, we also have to sprint to stand up our capacities to refine and upgrade, recycle and remake these raw materials, as the clean energy economy becomes a circular economy.

Ultimately, it is not just about the grid, or the batteries, or even the inputs. Ultimately, it is about coming together and doing the work of uplift.

I saw it in Western Michigan, where a shuttered nuclear power plant is coming back to serve two rural co-ops – the Hoosiers and the Wolverines – the co-ops teaming up despite their rivaling basketball loyalties. There, I met a union worker who thought he had retired, but was now coming back – out of retirement like the plant, beaming with a sense of pride, and eager to lift up the next generation of workers who will deliver carbon-free electricity to the grid.

I felt it this summer, standing in the Oval Office as Senator Capito, the Republican Ranking Member, and Senator Carper, the Democratic Chair of the Environment Committee, walked into the Oval Office together and shook the President’s hand; as Joe Biden signed into law a bipartisan piece of legislation to advance nuclear energy, our domestic supply chains, and America’s ability to lead on the next generation of tech.

Time and again, even when folks count us out, we show our ability to come together and do the work of uplift. 

To ratify the first environmental treaty in decades, we came together – the manufacturers association joining with environmental advocates to lift up the common ground. To pass the biggest investment in infrastructure since Eisenhower, bipartisan votes gathered to lift up clean energy technologies and environmental remediation. And as we have implemented this historic agenda on climate and clean energy, governors, mayors, and leaders from all parties have come together, proving climate action as a new foundry for economic opportunity and economic growth – truly a project of uplift.

This morning, I was in sunny Philadelphia in a sandy lot for the last stop of the American Climate Corps Tour. The young people there have grown up in a world where the sky turns orange; smoke fills their lungs from fires burning hundreds of miles away; where they get push alerts on the phone warning of the next flood or hurricane barreling through. These young people have all the reason to be angry or despondent. But they have rejected that. Instead, they have answered President Biden’s call from this past Earth Day to join the first-ever American Climate Corps. Choosing to write a different story – one that ends not with doom and gloom but with hope and possibilities. We have so much work to do. But we carry with us this new playbook. We carry with us proof that climate action can be the new foundry for economic opportunity and economic growth in the United States. And we have the example of our youth, who are showing us the way. We have and we must keep coming together and doing the work of uplift. That is how we meet the moment in this decisive decade.

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Dane County Regional Airport
Madison, Wisconsin

1:36 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Hi, everyone.  Good afternoon.  So, we are in the closing days of this campaign, and Donald Trump and I have been presenting our closing arguments to the American people.

As you’ve heard me say many times, my pledge to the American people is to pursue commonsense solutions, to listen to those — even those who disagree with me, to listen to experts, and to be a president for all Americans.

Donald Trump’s closing argument is very different.  He pits Americans against one another.  He spends full time having Americans point their fingers at one another.  And he spends a considerable amount of time plotting his revenge on his political opponents.

As of last night, just to add more, he has indicated that the person who would be in charge of health care for the American people is be someone who has routinely promoted junk science and crazy conspiracy theories, who once expressed support for a national abortion ban, and who is the exact last person in America who should be setting health care policy for America’s families and children.

And then, even worse, he has increased his violent rhetoric — Donald Trump has — about political opponents and, in great detail — in great detail, suggested rifles should be “trained” on former Representative Liz Cheney. 

This must be disqualifying.  Anyone who wants to be president of the United States who uses that kind of violent rhetoric is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president.

Representative Tr- — Cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party.  Trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge, and is increasingly unstable and unhinged.  His enemies list has grown longer, his rhetoric has grown more extreme, and he is even less focused than before on the needs and the concerns and the challenges facing the American people.

 I have also thought a lot about what this means in terms of our standing in the world.  As vice president, I have represented the United States of America around the world, and what I know is that when we walk in those rooms representing the United States of America, we have the earned and self-appointed authority to then talk about the importance of democracy, the importance of rule of law.  And as a result, people around the world who are fighting for freedom and opportunity hold us up as a model.

America deserves better than what Donald Trump is offering.  America deserves a president who understands our role and responsibility to our people and to the rest of the world to be a model. 

So, I’ll end with this.  Voters are making their decisions.  Many have voted, but there are still those who are making a decision about who they’ll vote for.  And what I offer is I ask folks to, among the many issues before you, just consider who’s going to be sitting in the Oval Office on January 20th.  Either you’re going to have Donald Trump there, who will be stewing over his enemies list, or I will be there, working hard on your behalf on my to-do list. 

That is the choice, among many, that is at stake in this election, and I would be proud to earn the vote of the American people.  And I do intend to win.

     With that, I’ll take any questions. 

     AIDE:  Aamer, AP.

Q    Thank you, Vice President.  Have you had a had a chance to talk to Liz Cheney?  And then, secondly, are you concerned about her general security?  And does — concerning the situation and how tense things are, do you think that the government or the administration, in some form, needs to provide her with security in this situation?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, I’ve not talked to her since this comment was made.  But I will tell you I know Liz Cheney well enough to know that she is tough, she is incredibly courageous and has shown herself to be a — a true patriot at a very difficult time in our country, where, to your point, we see this kind of rhetoric that is violent in nature, where we see this kind of spirit coming from Donald Trump that is so laden with the — the desire for revenge and retribution. 

 And Liz Che- — Cheney is a tough person.  She is an incredible American.  And I have an incredible amount of respect for her. 

     Q    Are you worried about her safety?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I think that Liz Cheney is courageous and that we will always make sure that we are all fighting against and speaking out against any form of political violence.

     AIDE:  Nandita, from Reuters. 

Q    Thank you.  Madam Vice President, you spoke about early voting.  What is your assessment?  What is the data that you are seeing across the battlegrounds?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I’m seeing the folks who are showing up at the various places where we are inviting people to come and talk with us, and where we are talking about the issues at stake.  And I’m seeing an incredible amount of enthusiasm from people of every walk of life, every generation, from our first-time voters to folks who are seniors and have a lot at stake on issues like Social Security and Medicare. 

And what I am enjoying about this moment most is that in spite of how my opponent spends full time trying to divide the American people, what I am seeing is people coming together under one roof who seemingly have nothing in common and know they have everything in common.  And I think that is in the best interests of the strength of our nation.

Q    Are you encouraged by a lot more women showing up in Pennsylvania — a lot of Democratic women, first-time voters?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Women, men, folks of every background are showing up.

AIDE:  Jen Epstein.

Q    Vice President, you’ve had quite a lot of interruptions during your speeches recently, a lot of pro-Gaza protesters.  And, you know, you certainly have — have spoken about democracy when responding to them.  But do you think that you need to say a little bit more about the Mid-East conflict or about what you would do to try to satisfy them? 

And are you concerned at all about how you’ll do on — in college towns and in Michigan, in particular, with them?  President Trump today is going to Dearborn, is going to a Palestinian restaurant.  He’s really — this is the second kind of Arab American restaurant he’s gone to.  He seems to be really trying to make a play for a group that would traditionally be pretty Democratic.  Do you think you’ve done enough to reach these voters?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, I’m very proud to have a significant amount of support from the Arab American community, both because of my position about what we need to do in Gaza and in the region to end the war and bring the hostages home, and my commitment to a two-state solution, but also because, within that community, there are many issues that challenge folks and that they want to hear about, including what we’re going to do to make housing affordable, what we’re going to do to bring down the cost of groceries, what we’re going to do to invest in small businesses. 

I have a plan for all of those things, and that is something that resonates within that community and with all Americans.

Q    Just for voters who say that they’re going to protest, that they want to show the administration that what they did, the — the policy and support for Israel is wrong and are going to make a statement and that they don’t care if it makes Trump the president, what would you tell them?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  So, there’s a real contrast in this race when you look at who stands for democracy and democratic principles and who does not.  Donald Trump is talking about an enemies list.  He is talking about using the American military to turn on American citizens.  He talks in a way that suggests that there should be retribution and severe consequences just because people disagree with him. 

My point is very clear.  I believe in our democracy.  Democracies are complicated, in a wonderful way, because we like debate.  We accept and receive differences of opinion, and we work them out. 

One of the reasons I am going to have a Republican in my Cabinet is because I want different views.  I — I enjoy and benefit from diverse views, from different perspectives that allow me then to make the best decisions I can make. 

That’s a big difference between me and Donald Trump, and that’s the big difference between someone who truly is a leader and someone who is in it for themselves and wants unchecked power. 

     AIDE:  Thank you, Madam Vice President.

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Thank you all.                             

END                1:45 P.M.

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Aboard Air Force One
En Route Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2:43 P.M. EDT

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right, everybody.  Hey, everyone.

Q    Hi.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Hi, hi, hi.  Okay.  I know this is a short flight, but I do have a couple things at the top that’s important.

So, to start, I wanted to mention that open enrollment in the Federal Care Act marketplace, where more than 20 million Americans get health insurance, starts today.  More than a decade after passage of the law, Americans’ health care remains under threat.  Just this week, Speaker Johnson promised massive reform to the ACA.  The Republican Study Committee budget cuts a staggering $4.5 trillion from the ACA, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, consistent with every budget proposed by the former president.

Senator J.D. Vance has taken aim at the very idea of the risk pooling between healthy and sick which lies at the heart of the ACA.  And Republicans in Congress have made clear that one of their first orders of business would be raising premiums in ACA health insurance by an average of 800 bucks per person per year.

President Biden and Vice President Harris have done the po- — the opposite, bringing health insurance to more than ev- — more than ever — mor- — more people than ever before, lowering ACA premiums by 800 bucks per year, getting rid of red tape that the prior administration used to try to keep people from enrolling and expanding enrollment support.

The president and vice president will keep standing up for the affordable health insurance, and they will block any attempt to rip it away. 

Shifting gears just a second, I wanted to quickly discuss a recent ProPublica series highlighting reports of women in states like Texas and Georgia who have died after being denied the lifesaving care they need because of extreme abortion bans.  The stories are heartbreaking, scary, and sickening a- — sickening.  It’s hard to believe or accept as reality, and it’s completely unacceptable. 

This should never happen in America, but, sadly, it is, and tho- — and these abortion bans that are denying women lifesaving care are only possible because the former president appointed three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.  The devastating and gut-wrenching consequences of these bans put in place are — enforced by Republican elected officials are very clear. 

President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that women in every state must have the right to make deeply personal decisions about their health.  They also believe that no woman should ever be denied the care she needs.  They will continue to fight back against these extreme bans and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law.

And finally, we’re en route, as you all know, to Philadelphia, where the president will announce new actions to further his administration’s historic support for unions.  While in Philadelphia, he’ll announce that his administration has protected 1.2 million pensions because of the American Rescue M- — Rescue Plan’s Butch Lewis Act.  During the visit, President Biden will announce new funding to prevent cuts to the earned pensions benefits of 29,000 UFCW workers and retirees.

As you can see to my right, I’m joined by acting secretary — Labor Se- — Labor — Labor, Julia Su, who will share more about today’s action and the historic work the President Biden — the president and the vice president have done to support unions.

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Thank you so much, Karine.  Thank you all for being here.  And so, Karine mentioned this.  We are headed to Philadelphia to announce the restoration of the UFCW Tri-State Pension Fund.  This is part of the president’s commitment, which he has had from day one, to do right by working people.  We know that when jobs are good, when working people are protected, our economy is stronger; our nation is stronger. 

This is the third event that I’m doing like this.  The — the first one was with the carpenters in Detroit.  The second was with the Teamsters in Centralia, Illinois.  Again, you know, a situation where working people who had worked a lifetime and were expecting to be able to retire with dignity because of their pensions were seeing the end of those pensions and were going to see their — their benefits slashed dramatically.

Because of the Butch Lewis Act, because of the actions of President Biden and Vice President Harris — noting that Vice President Harris cast the deciding vote to pass the American Rescue Plan, of which the Butch Lewis Act is a part — because of that, these individuals are now going to be able to retire, to be able to live with dignity, to be able to take care of themselves and their families as they expected.

This announcement also comes, obviously, on the same day that we’ve had a jobs day, and, you know, it’s always a time to talk about good jobs, because this administration now, you know, has presided over more jobs being created than any other administration in the same time period.  It’s now over 16 million jobs.  GDP remains strong.  Inflation is still falling.  Wages are still increasing.  Wages have grown faster than inflation for now 17 months straight.  And the unemployment rate remains at 4.1 percent, so it’s been around 4 percent for the longest stretch since the 1960s.

So, labor market remains very strong, and this shows what happens when you have a president and a vice president who are fighting for workers every single day.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  Thank you.   Go ahead.

Q    Thank you, Secretary.  On the jobs report, should Americans be concerned of — that the economy is cooling in this moment, and what is the administration doing at the moment to ensure that jobs continue to be generated going forward?

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Great.  So, two questions and two answers.  No, we should not be concerned about cooling.  There were some anomalies last month that led to a much lower jobs number.  One was, of course, the devastating hurricanes — back-to-back hurricanes that hit the southeast part of the country.  You know, we saw people who lost their lives, lost their homes, lost their businesses.  The federal government was on the ground immediately, working with state and local authorities to do everything from search and rescue to clearing roads to making sure that people had water and power back.

But in terms of the jobs numbers, it meant that there were employers who, you know, would have been hiring or may have been even ramping up because of the holiday season coming up who just simply couldn’t do that.  So, the hurricanes had a really big effect.

And then, of course, there were workers on strike — over 30,000 of them.  And the — when they’re on strike, their numbers also, you know, show up as a decrease in the jobs.  Just the — the nature of the — of the numbers.

But what do we need to do to continue the incredible economy that we have had is to keep on making the investments that the Biden-Harris administration has had, you know, the — where we’ve got over 60,000 infrastructure projects going on around the country.  I’ve visited many of them.  We have apprenticeship programs bursting at the seams.  People being able to look for jobs and get jobs in communities that were shuttered, where factories were closed in the last administration, now opening up again.  And we just need to keep up that work.

Q    Can I ask about the Boeing strike situation?  It sounds like there’s a vote set for Monday, if memory serves.  Can you speak to what your view is — is on the latest on that and whe- — whether membership will accept?  Will you expect that this will pass —

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Yes.

Q    — as opposed to the previous time when it (inaudible)?

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Yes.  So, I was in Seattle from Monday to Wednesday.  I brought the parties together at the — at my office in Seattle.  They, you know, deserve a lot of credit.  I want to acknowledge the leadership of both the machinists and Boeing for coming to the table and doing the hard work of negotiating. 

You know, the president says this all the time; the vice president acknowledges this all the time: Collective bargaining works.  It doesn’t always look pretty from the outside, but when workers have a voice, when unions are strong and workers are able to help determine the conditions of their work, their wages, the future of their industry, it’s better for everybody. 

And so, now they have a — an unprecedented offer on the table that many people thought was impossible.  And — and they’re — they’re going to vote on it on Monday. 

Q    Sounds like you think it’ll pass. 

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  I don’t know.  You know, I — you know, we believe as — that — that it’s up to the members, of course.  You know, but these workers have not seen a wage increase like this in a very, very long time. 

In fact, the first-year wage increase is more than what they’ve had in — in the last many years combined.  So, it’s a — it’s really a sign of collective bargaining working. 

And, you know, workers exercise their right.  They — you know, i- — that they’re part of what we’re seeing in a Biden-Harris America of — of a new era of worker power, and it is resulting in not just the tremendous job growth we keep talking about but really more equity and more — more powerful working people. 

Q    You touched on this.  But just to be specific, because the president said in his statement that job growth is expected to rebound in November as the hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue, can you give us a sense of what you would project that that could look like?  What could the November picture be?

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  So, obviously, the — the devastating weather-related phenomena that we have been facing, you know, has an impact — right? — has a devastating, direct, personal impact on communities that are affected.  It also has an impact on the economy. 

And so, barring something else like that, you know, that was not a sign of weakness in the economy.  That was really a — you know, a weather-related phenomena.  And so, barring that, we expect, you know, those communities to recover. 

We’re obviously not just watching it happen or hoping it happens.  We’re in there helping it to happen. 

And so, you know, again, the investments that we’re making is really the key here, right?  We would not have seen the kind of economy — the 16 million jobs created — without that.  This is not an administration that has just, you know, hoped for the best.  It’s one that inherited the economy that was still reeling from a global pandemic that the last administration had no idea how to address. 

And what we have done is, you know, really, you know, exceeded all expectations on the recovery.  We need to keep on doing that work.  We need to make sure that those infrastructure projects keep breaking ground; that the fabs that are being built, you know, are completed.  And having union workers do that is a part of that too. 

And so, you know, there’s no reason to expect that the resilient economy that we’ve seen so far will not bounce back from the anomalies of October. 

Q    Was President Biden’s transcript altered — 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Hold on — hold on a second.  Wait a minute. 

Q    Yeah.  (Laughs.)

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Wait a minute.  Is — any other for the secretary?  Can I have her sit down if — if we’re done?

Q    Keep it tight, because we’re going to land soon.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Oh, okay.  All right.

Q    Thank you so much.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Be careful.

ACTING SECRETARY SU:  Thank you all.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Be careful.  Hold on.  I’m going to let AP go first. 

Go ahead, AP.

Q    Thank you, Karine.  On AP’s reporting from last night about the potential doctored co-  — about the doctored comments in the recent transcript.  Were you aware that the Press Office — White House Press Office had done this before the stenographer had taken an approval?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, look, I was asked this question — multiple versions of this question on Wednesday.  I don’t have anything else more to share.  What I can say is — and the president put out a statement that was tweeted out — that’s on X, obviously — ver- — being very clear what he meant, understanding that his words could have been taken out of context. 

He was talking about the comedian.  He was talking about the hateful rhetoric coming out of — from the comedian at the Sunday rally in Madison Square Garden. 

And I said this on Wednesday, and I’m going to keep saying this is that the president is always going to continue to call out hateful rhetoric. 

But of course — of course — and you see this today with the pensions announcement; you saw it this week when he went to Baltimore to an- — to announce some ports infrastructure investment, $147 million that went to Baltimore — to Maryland, specifically; 27 states, 11 of those states are red states.  I mean, these are things that the president wants to continue about, and he always will be a president for everyone, even if you did not vote for him. 

I don’t have anything else to share beyond that.  What I — what we want to make sure — we think what the most important thing for Americans to know is that this is a president that went back and wanted to clarify what he said, because he didn’t want to take it out of context.  I think that says a lot about this president.

And we’ve been pretty consistent about him wanting to be a president and continuing to be a president for all Americans.  And that’s what you’re going to see.  I don’t have anything else to add beyond that.

Q    What does the — have you all received reports about Iran potentially having a re- — a strike against — a retaliatory strike from its proxies?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, as you said, there are reports that Israeli in- — intelligence suggests Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, possibly before the U.S. presidential election.  Is — is that the U.S. view as well?  You know, I’m not — I’m going to be really careful.  I’m not going to — to your question, I’m not going to speculate or discuss intelligence assessments on this from here.

So — but we’ve been very clear that Iran should not respond.  I said this on Wednesday.  We will continue to support Israel.  Our support for Israel’s security is ironclad.  And — and if they choose this to do so, obviously we will continue to support Israel as they continue to protect themselves and their security. 

So, I don’t have anything to share.  I’m not going to read into that.

Q    Is the president aware of former President Trump’s comments about Liz Cheney that he made last night?  And does he have a reaction to that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, he’s aware.  Obviously, you all have done — have covered — covered those remarks.  Here’s what I would say to that.  It is — it is unacceptable; it is dangerous to — to — to s- — to speak to political violence, to talk about political vi- — violence, to lift up political violence. 

And what we are doing and we will continue to do is denounce that, condemn that.  There is no place, anywhere, for any type of violence, no place for political violence. 

And it — and this is a time we shouldn’t be using inflammatory language.  We should be specifically focusing on bringing the country together, and that’s what this president wants to see, and that’s what he’s going to continue to speak to. 

Q    Do you think those comments put Liz Cheney at risk?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  I mean, look, I can’t speak to that.  I can’t get into hypotheticals.  What we know is that those type of comments tend to be dangerous, right?  They can be dangerous. 

That’s — we’re hearing violent rhetoric, and we’re going to continue to condemn that.  It is inappropriate in the political space, and — and it is inflammatory language that should not be said by anyone, certainly by — not when someone has a — a leadership — national leadership.

Q    Has there been any discussion about heightening the security preparations this week in response to what we’ve seen?  Whether it’s, you know, ahead of the election, after the election for certain members of Congress, what does that look like at this point?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  For certain members of Congress specifically?

Q    Well, just for that and then broader security preparations.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, look, I — I would have to — as it relates to Congress, obviously, that’s the — something for — the Capitol Police can speak to.  I can’t speak to that.

Look, I think that what you’ll see from this — from this president is that, you know, free and fair elections and especially peaceful election are the cornerstone of our democracy.  And election officials and poll workers are dedicated to public servants who make our democracy work, and they deserve to do their job — their job safely and freely without harassment, without threat of violence. 

So, we strongly condemn anyone who threatens or harasses them.  And so — but I also believe and we also believe that people should trust in our institutions and trust that this will be a free and fair election.

Q    What about Lebanon?  Can you give us a status report?  Are those talks dead?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  So, a couple of things.  As you know, Brett and —

AIR FORCE ONE CREW MEMBER:  Going to need everyone to take their seats, please.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  All right.  Well, we got to go.

AIR FORCE ONE CREW MEMBER:  There’s going to be some turbulence.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  We’ll — we’ll have more fo- — we can share — I would reach out to the NSC team, and they’ll share more about things.  But we have to sit down.

Thanks, everybody. 

Q    Thanks, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE:  Be careful.  It’s really bumpy.

2:59 P.M. EDT

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Dear Mr. Speaker:   (Dear Madam President:)

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.  In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to Iran that was declared in Executive Order 12170 of November 14, 1979, is to continue in effect beyond November 14, 2024.

Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing.  Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12170 with respect to Iran.

                               Sincerely,

                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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     On November 14, 1979, by Executive Order 12170, the President declared a national emergency with respect to Iran pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and took related steps to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by the situation in Iran.

     Our relations with Iran have not yet normalized, and the process of implementing the agreements with Iran, dated January 19, 1981, is ongoing.  For this reason, the national emergency declared on November 14, 1979, and the measures adopted on that date to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond November 14, 2024.  Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to Iran declared in Executive Order 12170.

     The emergency declared by Executive Order 12170 is distinct from the emergency declared in Executive Order 12957 on March 15, 1995.  This renewal, therefore, is distinct from the emergency renewal of March 12, 2024.

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

                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    November 1, 2024.

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The White House Celebrates Día de los Muertos

WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the fourth year in a row, the White House is displaying a Día de los Muertos ofrenda to honor and celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed. As part of this experience, First Lady Jill Biden welcomed members of the Latino community for a special White House tour and invited guests to add a photo of a loved one to the display. This year’s ofrenda was created in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Institute, located in Washington, D.C.  
 
“The First Lady continues to open the ‘People’s House’ wider and wider to communities across the country. Through this Día de los Muertos ofrenda, we hope all who visit the White House in the coming days can take a moment to recognize those we’ve lost and celebrate the rich diversity of our country,” said Vanessa Valdivia, Press Secretary for the First Lady.
 
This is the fourth Día de los Muertos ofrenda display during the Biden-Harris Administration, and the second to be made available to view on the public tour of the White House. In 2023, Dr. Biden displayed the ofrenda along the public tour route of the White House for the first time and invited members of the Latino community to add a photo of a loved one. In 2022, Dr. Biden partnered with the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) in Chicago, Illinois to display an ofrenda that was located in the West Garden Room of the White House. In 2021, the President and First Lady debuted the first-ever ofrenda at the White House to mark Día de los Muertos.

Photos of the display are available here and additional content is on the @FLOTUS and @LaCasaBlanca accounts.

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La Casa Blanca celebra el Día de los Muertos 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Por cuarto año consecutivo, la Casa Blanca exhibe al público una ofrenda del Día de los Muertos para honrar y celebrar las vidas de seres queridos que han fallecido. La Primera Dama Jill Biden le dio la bienvenida a los miembros de la comunidad latina a un recorrido especial por la Casa Blanca e invitó al público a agregar una foto de un ser querido a la exhibición. Este año, la ofrenda fue creada en colaboración con el Instituto Cultural de Mexico en Washington, D.C.
 
“La Primera Dama continúa abriendo cada vez más la ‘Casa del Pueblo’ a comunidades de todo el país. Con esta ofrenda del Día de los Muertos, esperamos que todos aquellos que visiten la Casa Blanca en los próximos días puedan tomarse un momento para reconocer a aquellos que hemos perdido y celebrar la inmensa diversidad de nuestro país,” expresó Vanessa Valdivia, Secretaria de Prensa de la Primera Dama.
 
Esta es la cuarta vez que se exhibe una ofrenda del Día de los Muertos durante la administración Biden-Harris, y la segunda vez que está disponible para ser vista durante el recorrido público por la Casa Blanca. En 2022, la Dra. Biden colaboró con el Museo Nacional de Arte Mexicano (NMMA por sus siglas en inglés) en Chicago, Illinois para exhibir una ofrenda ubicada en el West Garden Room de la Casa Blanca. En 2021, el Presidente y la Primera Dama estrenaron la primera ofrenda en la Casa Blanca para conmemorar el Día de los Muertos.
 
Las fotos de la exhibición están disponibles aquí y el contenido adicional está en las cuentas @FLOTUS y @LaCasaBlanca.

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MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT:       Delegation of Authority Under Section 614(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 621 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the authority under section 614(a)(1) of the FAA to determine whether it is important to the security interests of the United States to furnish up to $76 million in assistance to Ukraine without regard to any provision of law within the purview of section 614(a)(1) of the FAA.

You are authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

                               JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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In October, unemployment was unchanged at 4.1%, but the devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and new strike activity, lowered job growth. Job growth is expected to rebound in November as our hurricane recovery and rebuilding efforts continue. In addition, I want to congratulate the leadership of the Machinists and Boeing for negotiating a new contract proposal that will be voted on by union members. Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed over the years and deserve a strong contract.

America’s economy remains strong, with 16 million jobs created since I took office, including an average 180,000 jobs created each month over the last year—more than the year before the pandemic. We have the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in 50 years, our economy has grown more than any presidential term this century, incomes are up $4,000 over prices, and inflation has fallen nearly to its 2% target.

There’s more work to do. We are working every day to lower costs for working families on rent, prescription drugs, health insurance, and child care. Congressional Republicans, however, are proposing a national sales tax that would cost families nearly $4,000 a year, hurt American manufacturing, and cut hundreds of thousands of jobs. They are fighting for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations—we are fighting to grow the middle class.

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The application for the 2025-2026 White House Fellows Program is now open.

Today, Rose Vela, Director of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, announced the opening of the application season for the 2025-2026 White House Fellowship year: “This uniquely non-partisan program has a distinguished legacy that reaches back more than half a century, and we hope that Americans with a passion for leadership and public service will take a look at the website, examine the criteria, and consider applying – or urge others to consider applying.”

Founded in 1964, the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships is the Nation’s premier program for leadership and public service. The White House Fellowship offers exceptional Americans first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the Federal Government on a strictly non-partisan basis. Selected individuals spend one year in Washington, D.C., working as full-time paid government employees, aiding Cabinet Secretaries, senior White House staff, and other top-ranking government officials.

The program has fostered a remarkable legacy of leadership. Of the nearly 900 alumni in the last half-century, scores have gone on to top positions in the military, business, education, media, and philanthropy. Alumni currently serving in the Administration include Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, Deputy Secretary of State Dr. Kurt M. Campbell, and U.S. Ambassador to Panama Mari Carmen Aponte.

The 2025-2026 White House Fellows Program year will begin in August 2025, and conclude in August 2026. All applicants must be United States citizens, and must have completed at least their undergraduate education. With the exception of active-duty military personnel, Federal Government employees are not eligible to apply.

Selection criteria include:

• A record of remarkable early-career professional achievement.
• Evidence of leadership skills and the potential for further growth.
• A demonstrated commitment to public service.
• The skills to succeed at the highest levels of the Federal Government and the ability to work effectively as part of a team.

Interested individuals may apply at: https://fellows.whitehouse.gov/. The application is available as of November 1, 2024, and will remain open until January 3, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. ET. Any applications received after the deadline will not be accepted.

For more information, including details about the Fellowship, its history, and the selection process, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/get–involved/fellows/. Any questions regarding the White House Fellows Program can be directed to whitehousefellows@who.eop.gov.

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President Biden travels to Philadelphia to announce over 29,000 union workers and retirees covered by a Pennsylvania-based pension plan will have their benefits protected.

Today President Biden will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to announce that the Biden-Harris Administration has protected more than 1.2 million pensions because of the American Rescue Plan’s (ARP) Butch Lewis Act, according to a new report from the Department of Labor. During the visit, President Biden will announce actions to prevent cuts to the earned pension benefits of 29,000 United Food and Commercial (UFCW) workers and retirees, primarily in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan – which zero Republicans voted for – the Biden-Harris Administration has protected the pensions of over 65,000 Pennsylvanians, 80,000 Michiganders, 78,000 New Yorkers, 73,000 Illinoisans, 63,000 Ohioans, 63,000 Californians, 42,000 Floridians, 38,000 Missourians, 36,000 Texans, and many more to date.

The President’s announcement in Philadelphia comes after the Vice President announced the protection of pension benefits of over 22,500 union workers and retirees under the Detroit Carpenters Pension Fund last month.

Last week, President Biden spoke with Pennsylvania residents Roger Custer, a retired Teamster, and his wife, Marsha. Roger’s earned pension benefits were cut by hundreds of dollars per month in 2019, but because of the American Rescue Plan, Roger’s pension benefits were fully restored and protected for decades to come.

Since they took office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have fought hard to protect union workers and ensure a secure retirement for every American.  The ARP’s Butch Lewis Act pension protections – called the Special Financial Assistance program – will provide security for roughly 2 million workers and retirees, ensuring their pensions remain solvent and will be able to pay the full benefits that these workers have earned over the next several decades. Additionally, for retirees who previously suffered cuts to their earned benefits due to their pension plans becoming insolvent, or to avoid future pension plan insolvency, the Butch Lewis Act restores their benefit level and makes them whole for previous losses.

Today’s announcement will save the workers and retirees covered by the UFCW Tristate Pension Fund from an estimated reduction to their earned benefits of 15% on average beginning within four years. Instead, thanks to ARP, the plan will now pay full benefits to workers and retirees into at least the 2050s.

The President also will highlight new data from the Department of Labor’s report showing the historic progress in delivering pension security for union workers and retirees that finds:

• More than 120,000 retirees who otherwise would have continued to suffer or would have seen new reductions in their earned pension benefits have instead received an average of roughly $13,600 each in earned benefits so far that were protected or restored thanks to President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s American Rescue Plan. The Butch Lewis Act is restoring benefits levels, making retirees whole for previous benefit cuts, and preventing additional cuts that would have resulted from new plan insolvencies suffered through no fault of their own. That includes thousands of Western Pennsylvania Teamster retirees who saw their benefits cut by up to 30% back in 2019.

• Workers and retirees in plans receiving assistance from the Butch Lewis Act had suffered or faced projected average cuts of 41% to their monthly pension benefits, with many facing cuts to earned benefits as large as 70% or more.

• Union workers and retirees across many industries have had their pension benefits protectedto date, including:
  • Nearly 620,000 workers and retirees in Teamster pension plans,
  • More than 152,000 workers and retirees in UFCW pension plans,
  • More than 103,000 workers and retirees in Bakers and Confectionery worker pensions plans,
  • Over 89,000 workers and retirees in United Steelworker pension plans,
  • Tens of thousands of workers and retirees in Communications Worker of America (55,000), Musicians (49,000), and Carpenters (29,000) pension plans, among many more.

The pension protection legislation included in President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s American Rescue Plan was named after veteran and retired Teamster Butch Lewis (1951-2015) for his role in fighting to protect union retirees’ pensions from harsh benefit cuts through no fault of their own. Ultimately, the Butch Lewis Act is expected to ensure roughly 2 million workers’ and retirees’ pension plans remain solvent and will be able to pay the full benefits that workers have earned through at least 2051, making its inclusion in the ARP the most significant effort to protect the solvency of the multiemployer pension system in 50 years.

Today’s announcement builds on historic actions President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken to support union workers. While the prior Administration rolled back overtime protections and appointed union busters to the National Labor Relations Board, this Administration has expanded overtime protections for millions of workers, appointed worker advocates to the National Labor Relations Board, and also ensured federal dollars are going to create good jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union and that federal construction projects are built using a project labor agreement. The Biden Administration has also expanded worker protections and safety, made it easier to organize and collectively bargain, provided funding to increase registered apprenticeship programs, and is making sure the Administration’s historic infrastructure investments are built with American-made construction materials and create good jobs. And, the Administration worked to protect and strengthen Social Security and the retirement plans of hardworking Americans, including by taking action to ensure retirement advisors act in the financial interest of retirement savers. The President also signed SECURE 2.0 into law, which encourages more employers to offer retirement plan benefits to their workers and makes it easier for Americans to save for retirement.

Ensuring that union workers and their families enjoy the retirement security they earned through a lifetime of work is just one of the ways that the Biden-Harris Administration has kept its commitment to workers and delivered on being the most pro-union administration in American history.

States with the most workers and retirees who have had pensions protected under the Biden-Harris Administration, through October 2024:

StateWorkers and retirees protectedMichiganMore than 809,000New YorkMore than 78,000IllinoisMore than 73,000PennsylvaniaMore than 65,000OhioMore than 63,000CaliforniaMore than 63,000FloridaMore than 42,000MissouriMore than 38,000TexasMore than 36,000MassachusettsMore than 35,000IndianaMore than 34,000WisconsinMore than 33,000MarylandMore than 32,000New JerseyMore than 31,000MinnesotaMore than 30,000TennesseeMore than 25,000GeorgiaMore than 24,000North CarolinaMore than 19,000VirginiaMore than 18,000KentuckyMore than 17,000

Source: Department of Labor, “Report on Special Financial Assistance”

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Today is the first day of Open Enrollment for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, which has given millions of Americans the peace of mind that comes with quality health care. I am proud of the work we have done to make the Affordable Care Act more accessible and more affordable than ever – lowering costs by $800 per person per year and getting rid of red tape. As a result of my and Vice President Harris’s efforts, 9 million more Americans have been able to receive coverage, and starting today and running through January 15th, 2025, Americans across the country can join them.

Just this week, prominent Republicans in Congress threatened to undo this progress and undermine the Affordable Care Act, just like my predecessor tried and failed to do repeatedly. Their plan would rip coverage away from over 45 million Americans, eliminate critical protections for over 100 million people with pre-existing conditions, increase premiums for women and older adults, and erode Medicaid coverage for millions of children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. We won’t let it happen on our watch.

Vice President Harris and I will always stand up to these attempts to roll back access to health care and drive up costs. We will continue to fight to make health care and prescription drugs more affordable for all Americans. I encourage Americans to visit HealthCare.gov before January 15th to sign up for or renew your health coverage for 2025.

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     From the energy that powers our homes to the networks that connect us and the systems that protect our health and safety, our critical infrastructure keeps our economy thriving and our communities secure.  This Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month, we recommit to strengthening our country’s critical infrastructure and building an America that is safe and secure for generations to come.

     This year, I signed a National Security Memorandum to secure and enhance the resilience of United States critical infrastructure — updating the policy for the first time in a decade.  This represents the launch of a new era in protecting our infrastructure against all threats and hazards by safeguarding our strong and innovative economy and enhancing our collective resilience to disasters before they happen.  But there is more to do.  Climate change is making natural disasters more frequent, ferocious, and costly — endangering our supply chains, creating more instability for our communities, and straining the critical infrastructure Americans depend on for their livelihoods.  And we need to stay vigilant against adversaries that seek to maliciously target our critical infrastructure, including through cyberattacks.  

     To meet this moment, my Administration made a once-in-a-generation investment in our Nation’s infrastructure — creating an opportunity to build in resilience to all hazards upfront and by design.  Through my American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPS and Science Act, we are investing billions of dollars to secure and bolster our infrastructure.  That includes improving our electric grid so that people can maintain power in any situation, elevating roads and bridges over possible flood zones, funding community resilience programs, and more.  These investments have not only helped to protect Americans — they have benefited our economy, creating jobs and new possibilities for our communities.  At the NATO summit this year, I announced an arrangement with Canada and Finland to collaborate on the production of polar icebreakers.  The partnership will advance United States economic and national security interests by strengthening our shipbuilding and industrial capacity while simultaneously opening up new trade routes and pushing back against foreign aggression and bolstering our international alliances.  This year, I also announced a United States Port Security Initiative to reverse our dependence on foreign manufactured port equipment.

     Ensuring our Nation is resilient in the face of threats also means working with other nations around the globe to build better, stronger, and more sustainable infrastructure.  At the G7 Summit in June, I was proud to announce the historic progress we have made with our Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.  This initiative will strengthen United States national and economic security for Americans at home and enable sustainable economic growth for partner countries.  To date, we have mobilized $60 billion to create high-quality global infrastructure.  That comes on top of our work with the European Union and African heads of state to develop the Lobito Corridor as well as our work with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to expand regional and global trade markets through the Port of Lobito in Angola.  We continue to pursue opportunities to expand our investments across Africa and around the world, including the Indo-Pacific, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere.  Investments like these create more shared opportunities, prosperity, and security for everyone.

     Across the Nation, America is writing the greatest comeback story we have ever known — people are putting shovels in the ground, founding new businesses, and creating hope for entire communities.  It is more important now than ever before that we remain vigilant against any threats that seek to undermine our collective security and prosperity. 

     During Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month, we recommit to safeguarding and strengthening our Nation’s critical infrastructure to save lives and allow our Nation to continue doing what it does best:  creating new possibilities.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 as Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month.  I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the importance of protecting our Nation’s infrastructure and to observe this month with appropriate measures to enhance our national security and resilience.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, 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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     Every child deserves to know the unconditional love of a permanent home.  During National Adoption Month, we honor all the wonderful families that grow through adoption, we remind our foster youth and adoptees that we are right by their side, and we rededicate ourselves to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

     More than 100,000 children are in our Nation’s foster care system awaiting the adoption that could offer them familial love, a lasting home, and a stable foundation for them to grow.  That is why I have called on the Congress to make the adoption tax credit fully refundable, lowering the cost of adoption and giving families and legal guardians some breathing room.  I have also called on the Congress to provide housing vouchers to all 20,000 youth exiting foster care annually — a key step in helping them secure stable housing during this difficult transition.  To further support kinship caregivers, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule last year that requires States to provide them with the same level of financial support that other foster parents receive.  My Administration is also working to eliminate barriers LGBTQI+ families face in the adoption process and ensure LGBTQI+ foster youth grow up in safe and loving environments.  And through the expanded Military Parental Leave Program, we are giving service members more time to spend with their families after a child is born, adopted, or placed in their homes for long-term foster care.

     My Administration also remains committed to supporting youth who are aging out of foster care.  Since the beginning of my Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded over $60 million to provide over 4,000 vouchers to foster youth, helping them secure housing as they leave the foster care system.  And my Administration is working to ensure these youth can keep their SNAP benefits without work reporting requirements, easing a difficult transition period.  We have also been working to help foster youth stay in school and graduate, make the successful transition to postsecondary education, train for jobs, pay their bills, and get their lives off to a solid start.

     During National Adoption Month, we celebrate the love shared by adoptive families and professionals across our country.  And we honor the millions of adoptive and kinship families who have welcomed new family members into their loving homes.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 as National Adoption Month.  I encourage all Americans to honor this month by helping the children and youth in their communities secure their forever homes and find the love and connection that they need to thrive.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, 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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     Too many Americans know the pain of losing a loved one to lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death in the United States.  During National Lung Cancer Awareness Month, we honor all those living with lung cancer and their loved ones.  We thank the researchers searching for answers and the medical professionals who are working tirelessly to care for those with lung cancer, and we recommit to ending cancer as we know it.

     Although scientists have made incredible breakthroughs that have improved prevention, detection, and treatment for cancer and saved lives, a lung cancer diagnosis can be terrifying.  This year, nearly 250,000 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease.  Treatment can be grueling.  Medical bills can cause concerns for the whole family.  And the flood of medical information directed toward patients and their caretakers can be overwhelming.  Too often, people feel lost and left behind, especially those who are disproportionately impacted by lung cancer — such as Black men, rural residents, and women under 50 years old.

     Cancer is personal to many families, including mine, so I made fighting cancer a top priority in my Administration.  The First Lady and I began by reigniting the Biden Cancer Moonshot, aiming to cut the cancer death rate by at least 50 percent over the next 25 years.  I also secured $4 billion in bipartisan funding and established the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health to support scientists, innovators, and public health professionals in driving innovation to prevent, detect, and treat cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

     My Administration is also working around the clock to make cancer treatments more affordable and the treatment process more manageable for families.  We have saved millions of families $800 per year on their health insurance premiums by strengthening Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.  Through my Inflation Reduction Act, we are capping total out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000 per year, including for cancer drugs, which can cost many times that.  And for the first time ever, families fighting cancer can access patient navigation services that are fully paid for through Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance — helping guide families through the diagnosis and treatment process and offering them much-needed support.

     My Administration is also committed to preventing cancer by tackling another driver of cancer deaths in this country:  smoking.  To ensure that Americans who want to quit have the support they need, the Department of Health and Human Services created a Framework to Support and Accelerate Smoking Cessation, setting goals and strategies to help our communities reduce smoking.  And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a $15 million program that will help increase awareness about smoking and options for services to help people quit.  For anyone looking to quit smoking, you can find resources at BeTobaccoFree.gov or smokefree.gov or by calling 877-44U-QUIT.

     My Administration is expanding early detection and screening services because an early diagnosis of lung cancer can save lives.  Together, Federal agencies, community health centers, and other partners are providing early detection knowledge and support services to underserved communities.  I encourage all Americans to talk to their doctors about lung cancer symptoms.

     During National Lung Cancer Awareness Month, we strengthen our commitment to standing by all those facing lung cancer and their families, and we ensure they have access to the care they need.  We also rededicate ourselves to spreading awareness about lung cancer and working to end cancer as we know it, in order to save more lives. 

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 as National Lung Cancer Awareness Month.  I call upon the people of the United States to speak with their doctors and health care providers to learn more about lung cancer.  I encourage citizens, government agencies, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, the media, and other interested groups to increase awareness about what Americans can do to prevent, detect, and treat lung cancer.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, 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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The Edgewater Hotel
Madison, Wisconsin

10:08 A.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Good morning, everyone.  Happy Halloween.

     Q    Good morning. 

     Q    Good morning.

     Q    Happy Halloween.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And for those of you who are without your children today, thank you for just being on the road.

So, today, we will be leaving Wisconsin, heading west.  And I’ll be, obviously, in three states again today talking with the American people about the stakes of this election and the opportunity that we, the American people, have to chart a new way forward.

I will comment on the former President Donald Trump’s remark about women and — and whether they “like it or not.”  And, listen, it’s just — it actually is, I think, very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right, and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.

And this is just the latest on a series of reveals by the former president of how he thinks about women and their agency, whether he has said, as he has, that women should be punished for their choices; whether he has talked about his pride in taking away a fundamental right from women; whether it be how he has actually created a situation in America where now one in three women lives in a Trump abortion ban state and has legal restrictions on the right she rightly should have to make decisions about her own body.

The other point I will refer to about — in the last many hours is the speaker’s comments about the Affordable Care Act.  Look, I’ve been saying throughout this campaign: Be very clear that among the stakes in this election are whether we continue with the Affordable Care Act or not.

It has been a part of Donald Trump’s agenda for a very long time.  He has made dozens of attempts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act.  And now we have further validation of that agenda from his supporter, the speaker of the House.

And what that would mean for the American people is that pharma- — that — that insurance companies could go back to a time when they would deny you coverage for health insurance based on preexisting conditions — preexisting conditions, such as you being a survivor of breast cancer, asthma, diabetes.

And what I know is that the American people, regardless of who they’re voting for, know the importance of the Affordable Care Act — of, as it is also called, “Obamacare,” in terms of expanding people’s coverage to health care based on a fundamental principle that I hold deeply: Access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege to those who can afford it.

So, there’s still a lot of work to do.  But each day, I think that there are also indications that we are receiving from my opponent that verify, validate, and reinforce the fact that, one, he is not going to be fighting for women’s reproductive rights.  He does not prioritize the freedom of women and the intelligence of women to make decisions about their own lives and bodies.  And health care for all Americans is on the line in this election as well.

I’ll take your questions. 

     AIDE:  Tam. 

Q    Oh, yeah.  You know, since the beginning stages of your campaign, you’ve described yourself as an underdog.  That language is gone from your speech now.  Has something changed in how you’re feeling?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  No, listen, I am putting it all on the field, and it’s going to be a very tight race.  And I — I am running like the underdog, because we are.  Donald Trump has been running for the — the last decade.  I’ve been in this race about three and a half months, and the stakes are so high.

But I’ve been saying for quite some time, regardless of what the polls say, we are going to win.  I do believe that, because I do believe that this is a choice about two very different directions for our country. 

And the choice being offered by Donald Trump is about going backward, about a constant emphasis on degrading the American people in our capacity, versus a track that is about bringing the country together, knowing we have more in common than what separates us. 

And we should have a plan, which I do, to actually get things done, including bringing down the cost of living for people, investing in our small businesses, expanding access to health care, investing in American industries, including the future of American industries and American workers. 

So, there you go. 

AIDE:  Will. 

Q    So, you talked about the — what the former president said being offensive to women.  Wh- — 

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Oh, I think it’s offensive to everybody, by the way. 

Q    Well, that — that was my question.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    The sort of hypermasculinity that he is talking about, do you — what do you think about it possibly resonating with men and male voters specifically?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  You will — you — you’ve been following me, and you will see that in the tens of thousands of people who attend our rallies — which is an opportunity to talk about the issues, talk about the future of our country — right? — there are men, women, young people, people of every race, every background. 

One of the points, I think, that is a point of pride for everyone who attends — and including myself — is that our campaign really is about bringing people together, people of very different and diverse backgrounds, around a common theme that is about love of country, defending the Constitution of the United States, and investing in our future as — and rejecting the notion that we are divided or that that should be acceptable that we would be divided as a nation. 

So, I’m very proud to have the support of — of men, women, young people, people of every background.

AIDE:  Ebony. 

Q    So, we know we have five days until the election.  How are you going to continue to draw the contest with former President Donald Trump, specifically with the undecided voters, as the pool is really shrinking now?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I will continue — as we will do today, as we did yesterday, and so on — to talk with people where they live — so, again, here in Wisconsin, heading to Arizona, heading to Nevada — to talk with people about issues, like how we’re going to deal with price gouging — corporate price gouging as a way to deal with grocery costs; how we’re going to invest in small businesses and expand access to capital; how I will give first-time homeowners a $25,000 down payment assistance if they are a first-time homebuyer to help them get their foot in the door. 

These are the issues that the American people want to talk about, because these are the issues that affect them.  These are the issues they think about when they’re sitting at their kitchen table or when they’re trying to go to sleep at night. 

And what I know is that they want a president of the United States who, as I say, will walk into the Oval Office with a to-do list and not an enemies list. 

And so, that’s what I will continue to do over the course of these next few days to let folks know that I see them, I hear them, and I’m prepared to address their challenges with a plan that is about getting things done.

AIDE:  Thank you. 

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Thank you. 

                             END       10:15 A.M. CDT

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     Each veteran and military family represents a link in a chain of honor that stretches back to our founding days, unwavering in their devotion to their loved ones who served in uniform.  This month, we honor all of our military and veteran families.  They too serve and sacrifice to answer our Nation’s call to duty.  We owe them a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay.

     I often say that, as a Nation, we have many obligations, but only one is truly sacred:  to prepare and equip those we send into harm’s way and to care for them and their families when they come home.

     We are continually working to make sure that our Nation’s veterans and service members have access to the benefits and care they deserve.  I have signed more than 34 bipartisan bills to better support our service members, veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors.  One of those bills, the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, was the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic-exposed veterans and survivors in nearly 30 years.  To date, more than 1.1 million veterans and over 11,000 survivors are now receiving new service-connected disability benefits, and over 796,000 veterans have newly enrolled in Veterans Affairs health care since the law was enacted.  This law is helping families who lost loved ones to toxic illness gain access to critical resources and services, including monthly benefits, educational assistance, home loans, and more.  Actions outlined in our national strategy to prevent military and veteran suicide are tackling the root causes of the military and veteran suicide crisis, including by better supporting families through the Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families.  And we are making progress in eliminating homelessness and improving financial security for veteran and military families.  Too often, veteran and military families become the targets of bad actors and scam artists.  My Administration’s Veteran Service Member Family Fraud Evasion initiative is providing easy, one stop access to resources to report fraud and get help from the Federal Government to combat scams.  Additionally, I signed an Executive Order that implemented historic, bipartisan military justice reforms to transform how the military handles sexual assault and domestic violence cases.  And I directed the Department of Defense to review pay and benefits for our service members — an important step toward ensuring their compensation reflects their service and sacrifice.

     Military-connected families sacrifice for our country, answering the call to duty over and over again.  Many military and veteran spouses, caregivers, and survivors struggle to achieve their desired career goals due to unique challenges military-connected families face.  This is why I signed an Executive Order that takes the most comprehensive set of administrative actions in history to support the economic security of military families and veterans’ spouses, caregivers, and survivors.  I encouraged Federal agencies to do more to retain military spouses through flexible policies, ensuring they have access to stable jobs throughout their careers.  Last year, I signed an Executive Order that directed more than 50 actions to improve the care economy, which included critical actions to better support military and veteran caregivers and expand access to military child care.  These orders build on the efforts taken by my Administration to improve the quality of life for military families, including initiatives to ease military moves, afford housing, and find child care.  Joining Forces, the First Lady’s initiative, is working to better support military and veteran families — doing everything from making school transitions easier for military children to expanding economic opportunities for military spouses and caregivers.

     This is personal for my family and for me.  We know the pride of seeing your child wear the uniform of the United States.  We know the pain of long deployments far from home.  We know what it is like to pray for the safe return of someone you love.  This month, may we show our immense gratitude for our military and veteran families, whose courage and dedication represent the best of who we are as a Nation.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 as National Veterans and Military Families Month.  I call upon the people of the United States to honor veterans and military families with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, 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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     During National Native American Heritage Month, we honor the history, rich cultures, and vast contributions of Native peoples.  We celebrate the hundreds of Tribal Nations that are ushering in a new era in our Nation-to-Nation relationships.  And we recommit to respecting Tribal sovereignty and self-determination and working in partnership with Tribal Nations to bring new prosperity and security to Native peoples.

     Indigenous peoples’ history in the United States is defined by strength, survival, and a deep commitment to and pride in their heritage, right to self-governance, and ways of life.  Native peoples have built and sustained powerful Tribal Nations, and the knowledge they developed still benefits us today.  However, our Nation’s failed policies of the past subjected generations of Native peoples to cruelty, violence, and intimidation.  The forced removal of Native peoples from their homes and ancestral homelands; attempts to assimilate entire generations; and stripping of Indigenous peoples of their identities, cultures, and traditions are some of the darkest chapters of our Nation’s history.  The trauma and turmoil fundamentally altered their communities.  As the first President to visit Indian Country in 10 years, I delivered a national apology for the unspeakable harms caused to Native peoples at Federal Indian Boarding Schools.

     Indigenous peoples have persisted and survived — a testament to their resilience and resolve.  Today, Native communities are leading the way forward and continuing to strengthen the fabric of the United States.  They have long served in the United States military and currently serve in the highest levels of government — including the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, America’s first Native American Cabinet secretary.  In every field and sector, Native peoples are pushing for progress and contributing to our shared prosperity.  

     Since I came into office, the Federal Government has made record investments in Tribal Nations.  Federal contracts with Native American-owned companies increased by over $8 billion from 2020 to 2023.  My American Rescue Plan made the largest direct Federal investment in Tribal Nations ever, helping vaccinate Tribal communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and keeping the economy going.  My Bipartisan Infrastructure Law made the single biggest investment in Tribal roads, bridges, water, high-speed internet, electricity, irrigation, environmental cleanup, and so much more.  My Inflation Reduction Act made the biggest investment in fighting climate change ever — including funding to help Tribal communities lead in the just transition to clean energy and ease the impact of droughts, wildfires, and rising sea levels, which threaten Native lives and precious homelands. 

     My Administration is also working to ensure that Native communities are safe and secure and have the resources they need to thrive.  I signed an Executive Order that improves the Federal response to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples.  When we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act in 2022, we included historic provisions to reaffirm Tribal sovereignty and expand Tribal jurisdiction in cases where outside perpetrators harm members of their Nation.  And for the first time ever, my Administration also secured advance funding for the Indian Health Service so hospitals can plan ahead, order supplies, and hire doctors.  We have provided historic funding to Tribal communities to help fight the behavioral health crisis and taken significant steps to improve maternal health for Native American women, who are twice as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications as white women. 

     I have always believed that we must know the good, the bad, and the truth of who we are as a Nation — we must acknowledge our history so that we can begin to remember and heal.  That is why I became the first President to issue a formal apology for the Federal Indian Boarding School era, one of the most horrific chapters in our Nation’s history.  For 150 years, the Federal Government mandated the removal of Native children from their families and Tribes — and as a result, generations of Native children had their childhoods stolen and whole Tribal cultures were erased.  I am proud to formally end the silence surrounding this shameful era and I remain proud that my Administration defended the Indian Child Welfare Act in court, ensuring that our Nation respects Tribal sovereignty and protects Native children by helping Native families stay together and grow up with their languages and cultures.  And we are working to support Native American families and communities as they heal from the Federal Indian Boarding School era through the Department of the Interior’s Road to Healing initiative and by supporting Native language preservation and public safety initiatives.  

     My Administration has also worked with Tribal Nations to preserve, protect, and steward important ancestral Tribal lands and waters.  Through more than 200 co-stewardship and co-management agreements signed under my leadership, we are working side by side with Tribes to make decisions about how to manage the lands that are most precious to them.  And to date, I have protected and conserved more than 45 million acres of our Nation’s lands and waters.  That includes the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, vast offshore waters off California’s coast and the first sanctuary to be proposed by Indigenous communities.  I have also established, expanded, and restored 11 national monuments, many containing sites considered sacred to Tribal Nations — from Bears Ears National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and Avi Kwa Ame National Monument to Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and others.  

     During National Native American Heritage Month, we honor the heritage and contributions of Native peoples, and we work tirelessly to build a future grounded in dignity, respect, and partnership.  We remain committed to working with Native communities to write a new and better chapter in American history for Tribal Nations — one that honors the solemn promise the United States made to Tribal Nations, fulfills our Federal trust and treaty obligations, and works together to rebuild Tribal economies and institutions.  

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 as National Native American Heritage Month.  I urge all Americans, as well as their elected representatives at the Federal, State, and local levels, to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.  Also, I urge all Americans to celebrate November 29, 2024, as Native American Heritage Day.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, 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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     Entrepreneurs embody the essence of America — their ideas and energy have always kept our country on the cutting edge, and their determination and drive uplift communities, create millions of jobs, and keep our Nation moving forward.  This month, we celebrate their unstoppable spirit.

     Supporting entrepreneurs, especially small business owners, has always been key in growing our economy from the middle out and bottom up, giving everyone a fair shot to get ahead.  Many entrepreneurs are at the heart and soul of their communities, running the mom-and-pop shops that are the glue of our neighborhoods.  But when Vice President Harris and I took office, hundreds of thousands of small businesses had been forced to close down due to the pandemic, and millions more were hanging by a thread.  Not only were entrepreneurs’ livelihoods on the line but also their life’s savings and hopes of growing wealth for the next generation. 

     That is why Vice President Harris and I were committed to investing in America’s entrepreneurs and innovators.  My American Rescue Plan provided billions of dollars in capital and support to small businesses.  My CHIPS and Science Act is investing more into research and manufacturing than ever before, building the high-tech industries of the future and the small-business supply chains to support them right here at home while helping them expand their businesses in high-growth, high-wage industries.  And my Inflation Reduction Act is incentivizing manufacturers to help tackle the climate crisis using American suppliers while cutting down on entrepreneurs’ overhead costs like health insurance and energy bills.

     The Biden-Harris Administration is also committed to ensuring every small business and entrepreneur has a fair shot.  This year, the Small Business Administration (SBA) provided a record $56 billion through more than 100,000 small business financings — the most in more than 15 years and a 50 percent increase over 2020.  The Federal Government has invested tens of billions of dollars into small disadvantaged businesses.  The SBA is lending tens of billions of dollars to small businesses that would otherwise struggle to access capital.  Since 2020, the number of SBA-backed loans doubled for women-owned businesses, tripled for Black-owned businesses, more than doubled for Latino-owned businesses, and increased by about 70 percent for Asian American-owned businesses.  And my Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also made the Minority Business Development Agency permanent to help close the gap for these and other entrepreneurs from underserved and underrepresented communities too long left behind. 

     Today, entrepreneurs across the country have filed nearly 20 million new business applications since Vice President Harris and I took office — each an act of hope and confidence in our economy.  A record number of those businesses are being opened by Black, Latino, and women entrepreneurs.  And 16 million new jobs have been created.

     I have often said that America can be defined in one word:  possibilities.  That is what entrepreneurship is all about.  During National Entrepreneurship Month, we honor every entrepreneur with a vision for something better and the grit to make it real, growing our economy and creating new possibilities for everyone.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2024 as National Entrepreneurship Month.  I call upon all Americans to commemorate this month with appropriate programs and activities and to celebrate November 19, 2024, as National Entrepreneurs’ Day.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of October, 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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