Statements and Releases

Last night, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) ratified a strong contract that recognizes the contribution of over 33,000 workers. I want to congratulate Boeing and the IAM for reaching an agreement that secures historic wage increases and benefits for these workers.  This agreement represents a positive step for Boeing’s future as a leader in the aerospace industry. As I always say: collective bargaining works.
 

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I congratulate the International Association of Machinists and Boeing for coming to an agreement that reflects the hard work and sacrifices of 33,000 Machinist workers. This contract provides a 38% wage increase over four years, improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity, and supports fairness at the workplace. This contract is also important for Boeing’s future as a critical part of America’s aerospace sector. And it was achieved with the support of my economic team, including Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard.

Over the last four years, we’ve shown collective bargaining works. Good contracts benefit workers, businesses, and consumers—and are key to growing the American economy from the middle out and the bottom up.

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Quincy Jones was a trailblazer.
 
He lived his life unapologetically, using his gifts to lift others up. He broke down barriers and opened doors for those who came after him, not for praise but because he knew the power of our shared potential.
 
For more than half a century, as a composer, arranger, record and movie producer, Quincy Jones created art that brought joy to millions of people. As an activist, Quincy Jones championed civil and human rights. He brought together artists who wanted to unite their voices to drive change. As a role model, in particular for young people of color in the music industry, Quincy Jones offered inspiration and mentorship. 
 
I was honored to call Quincy a friend. I will always remember his generosity of spirit, his selfless support, and his deep kindness. Our world has lost a giant. But in his melodies, and in the lives he touched, Quincy’s legacy will live on forever.
 
Today, Doug and I are praying for the Jones family and all those who loved him.  
 

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Quincy Jones was a musical genius who transformed the soul of America – one beat, one rhythm, and one rhyme at a time.

Growing up as a child facing segregation and poverty, he found music to be a refuge. As a teenager, he trained with some of the greatest musicians ever.

Over the next seven decades, he became a producer, composer, instrumentalist, executive, and so much more, discovering some of our most iconic artists and shaping the most memorable records and scores in history.

His God-given talent earned him countless awards and honors in music, film, and television. He was one of few Americans to earn an EGOT and received 28 Grammy Awards – among the most of all time.

In only a way he could, Quincy Jones solidified Black culture as American culture.

He was a great unifier, who believed deeply in the healing power of music to restore hope and uplift those suffering from hunger, poverty, and violence, in America and the continent of Africa.

Jill and I send our love to his entire family and everyone whose spirit was elevated by his extraordinary contributions.

May God bless Quincy Jones.

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I congratulate Maia Sandu on her historic reelection as the President of Moldova. 

On Sunday, the Moldovan people went to the polls and voted in favor of President Sandu’s vision for a secure, prosperous, and democratic Moldova. President Sandu’s reelection comes just two weeks after the Moldovan people passed a constitutional referendum in support of membership in the European Union. 

For months, Russia sought to undermine Moldova’s democratic institutions and election processes. But Russia failed. The Moldovan people have exercised their democratic right to choose their own future, and they have chosen to pursue a path aligned with Europe and democracies everywhere.

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The United States has deep economic ties to the Western Hemisphere. Through the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, the Biden-Harris Administration’s premier economic initiative for the region, the United States is strengthening and expanding our efforts to enhance regional competitiveness by focusing on the drivers of bottom-up and middle-out economic growth that will create good-quality jobs and more resilient supply chains.

The Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (known as the Americas Partnership or APEP) launched at the Summit of the Americas in 2022, includes member countries that represent90 percent of the hemisphere’s GDP and nearly two-thirds of its people.

At the inaugural Leaders’ Summit on November 3, 2023, President Biden and leaders of the eleven other Americas Partnership countries—Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay—deepened our shared commitment to ahemisphere that is among the most dynamic economic regions in the world.  During the past year, Ministers from the Trade, Foreign Affairs, and Finance tracks have met to set goals and develop priority workstreams to intensify regional economic cooperation.  U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen all hosted their Americas Partnership ministerial counterparts to drive inclusive sustainable growth and strengthen critical supply chains in semiconductors, medical supplies, and clean energy and critical minerals. 

One year on, the initiative is delivering concrete results to improve the lives of people throughout the region while creating economic opportunities within the hemisphere. As National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at the Brookings Institutionthis year, “we’re working to make the Western Hemisphere a globally competitive supply chain hub for semiconductors, clean energy, and more.”

Since its launch, the Americas Partnership is: 

Driving investment and expanded entrepreneurship by leading efforts to train an inclusive and diverse cohort of entrepreneurs and connect them with financing opportunities. 

• The Americas Partnership Investor Network was launched at a July 2024 White House meeting hosted by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. As part of the Network, a diverse group of angel and venture capital investors pledged to collectively invest more than $1 billion in early-stage companies and entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2030.  The Inter-American Development Bank’s innovation and venture arm, IDB Lab, contributed $300,000 toward implementation of this Investor Network by the Uruguay Innovation Hub and Endeavor, creating new opportunities for the region’s next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs.  

• The inaugural cohort of 46 impact enterprises from Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Panama graduated from USAID’s CATALYZE Americas Partnership Accelerator program, with the next cohort of 119 impact enterprises from Barbados, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay in the training pipeline.  The program’s work across 10 target countries has mobilized the first $1.5 million of the investment goal of at least $20 million in two years.

• Canada’s AcelerarMe Program is providing training and mentoring to businesswomen in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Mexico, executed by the Thunderbird School of Global Management.  The program aims to graduate an estimated 450 entrepreneurs by 2026.  Already, two active cohorts have completed the majority ofthe training and four new cohorts will begin training in January 2025.

• In 2024, Americas Partnership countries supported Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through the Americas Partnership SME Inclusive Trade Inventory, including programs which assist micro-SMEs, that are owned and led by women, Indigenous persons, minorities, and those from historically underrepresented and underserved communities.  This fall, Americas Partnership governments held a Best Practices Exchange to strengthen knowledge-sharing among APEP countries. 

Advancing economic competitiveness and supply chain resilience for Americas Partnership economies.

• The Department of State has driven inclusive and sustainable growth by providing up to $7 million to the IDB’s Biodiversity and Natural Capital Facility.  This Fund for Nature is supporting Americas Partnership member countries with technical cooperation to mainstream climate, biodiversity, natural capital, and nature-based solutions into economic development plans and investments.  

• To bolster semiconductor production capabilities across the Western Hemisphere, the Department of State, in collaboration with the IDB, unveiled the CHIPS ITSI Western Hemisphere Semiconductor Initiative.  This groundbreaking initiative, supported through the CHIPS Act International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund, is enhancing semiconductor assembly, testing, and packaging capabilities in key Americas Partnership countries, beginning with Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica.  Under the initiative, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic signed MOUs with Arizona State and Purdue Universities to expand their skilled semiconductor workforce. 

• The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and IDB Invest have supported almost $2 billion worth of projects in APEP member countries over the past year.  In addition, DFC and IDB Invest launched the Americas Partnership Platform to facilitate co-investments, and added a $30 million technical assistance facility to support new and existing projects under the Platform.

• The Inter-American Development Bank delivered a “Phase I” report to Americas Partnership members in June 2024 to evaluate and enhance members’ competitiveness in the three priority supply chain sectors (semiconductors, medical supplies, and critical minerals).  This report highlighted the scale of the nearshoring opportunity in our region, while identifying areas where targeted policy innovations and infrastructure improvements will attract additional investment.  In the next stage, the IDB is engaging policymakers and other stakeholders throughout the region to develop concrete, country-specific policy recommendations in a set of “Phase II” reports. 

• Americas Partnership countries launched the Americas Partnership Clean Hydrogen Working Group, co-led by Chile, Uruguay, and the United States.  Backed by the Department of State’s Power Sector Program, the Working Group seeks to ensure the Western Hemisphere is a global leader in clean hydrogen development and deployment as countries seek to meet their national clean energy and climate goals. 

• APEP countries have led a wide range of initiatives on key member priorities.  For example, Ecuador and Peru have joined forces to promote sustainable food production.  The Dominican Republic has led an effort to promote transparency and integrity in the public sector.  Chile is spearheadingexpanded cooperation in civil and commercial space affairs. Supported by agencies like the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), Americas Partnership countries are also aiming to improve regulatory systems and market access for essential medical products across the region.

• Finally, trade ministers are using the Americas Partnership to promote regional implementation of the 2022 Summit of the Americas Declaration on Good Regulatory Practices, with the goal of promoting compatibility in technical standards that will strengthen supply chains.  

In the year since the November 3, 2023 Leaders’ Summit, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked together with the members of the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity to take concrete steps towards fulfilling the hemispheric vision of economic prosperity for all of our citizens.

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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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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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Inflation has now fallen to 2.1%—nearly at its 2% target. While critics said we needed a recession to lower inflation, instead inflation has come down while our economy has grown more than 12% over the course of my Administration—the fastest rate of any presidential term in the 21st century. Incomes are up almost $4,000 after accounting for inflation, and gas prices are down to $3.13 per gallon and below $3 in 21 states.

We have more to do. We will keep fighting to lower costs by building millions of new homes, lowering health insurance premiums, and making child care more affordable. Congressional Republicans are fighting for tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations, while raising costs on families by nearly $4,000 a year with across-the-board tariffs that would cause inflation to skyrocket. They have a cost-raising agenda—we have a cost-cutting agenda.

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National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke by phone today with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.  The two leaders discussed regional security developments, underscoring the need for further efforts to ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.  They welcomed progress in the bilateral partnership, including through the upcoming Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) Intersessional and Indian Ocean Dialogue.  They also discussed further opportunities for closer collaboration in key domains, including clean energy supply chains and defense cooperation. 

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The United States strongly condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) intercontinental ballistic missile test. This launch is a flagrant violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. While U.S. INDOPACOM has assessed it did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies, this launch needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region. It only demonstrates that the DPRK continues to prioritize its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people. We urge all countries to condemn these violations and call on the DPRK to cease its destabilizing actions and engage in serious dialogue. The national security team is closely coordinating with our allies and partners. The United States will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and Republic of Korea and Japanese allies.

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The First Lady’s theme, “Hallo-READ!,” highlights the spooktacular thrill of reading

On Wednesday, October 30th, the President and First Lady are hosting a Halloween event that will welcome local students and military-connected children to the White House for trick-or-treating.  A teacher for 40 years, including years spent as a reading specialist, First Lady Jill Biden created this year’s theme, “Hallo-READ!,” with the White House’s festive décor featuring famous literary tales and spooky story time. Dr. Biden’s theme encourages families and children to once again grab a flashlight, pick out their favorite Halloween book, and relish in the spooktacular thrill of reading together.

Children will trick-or-treat along the South Lawn of the White House up to the South Portico to receive both candy and books from the President and First Lady, as well as other White House friends and neighbors, including representatives from: Department of Agriculture, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Endowment for the Humanities, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Library of Congress, National Archives, Smithsonian, Executive Office of the President, the White House Medical Unit, and the White House Military Office.

Approximately 8,000 guests will participate in this year’s Halloween event at the White House, with each family receiving candy treats provided by the National Confectioners Association and its member companies. Instacart is providing overall support for the Halloween celebration, in addition to supplying Halloween tote bags and treats to each child. The company will also distribute bookmarks with healthy eating tips in coordination with DC Central Kitchen.  

In a nod to this year’s “Hallo-READ!” theme, each family will also receive donated books from Scholastic to read and enjoy. Costumed characters will stroll the South Lawn for the Halloween festivities, including Corduroy, Peter Rabbit, Madeline, Barney, Disney friends Stitch and Angel, Darth Vader and his Stormtroopers, and others.

The White House will be decorated with autumnal foliage, with pumpkins and mums provided by the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA), jack-o-lanterns, stacks of books, and multi-dimensional displays of literary tales. The IFPA will be providing apples and baby carrots to trick-or-treaters as well.  Lawn games and a spooky story time corner will be a part of the Halloween festivities again this year, featuring special guests reading their favorite books of the season to children and families, as well as live pumpkin carving demonstrations by Pumpkin Sculptor Deane Arnold. Readers will include First Lady Jill Biden, the Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, Hocus Pocus actress Kathy Najimy, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre, plus authors and illustrators Jane O’Connor, Robin Preiss Glasser, Pete Oswald, Katie Messner, Dan Santat, Tracey Baptiste, Ana Aranda, Hanh Bui, and others!

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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with President Nikos Christodoulides of the Republic of Cyprus at the White House.  Following the inaugural launch of the U.S.-Republic of Cyprus Strategic Dialogue earlier this month, the leaders had an in-depth discussion on a range of foreign policy issues of mutual interest including energy diversification, regional security, and support to Ukraine.  President Biden expressed his gratitude for the Republic of Cyprus’s support for the maritime humanitarian corridor that delivered more than 8,000 metric tons of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.  Acknowledging the 50th anniversary of the division of the island of Cyprus, President Biden reiterated his support for a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality for all Cypriots consistent with United Nations Security Council Resolutions. 

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Today’s GDP report shows how far we’ve come since I took office—from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression to the strongest economy in the world. Since I took office, the economy has grown 12.6%, we’ve had the lowest average unemployment in 50 years, nearly 16 million jobs have been created, and incomes have risen $4,000 more than inflation. While critics thought we’d need a recession to lower inflation, instead we’ve grown around 3% a year on average, while inflation has fallen to the level right before the pandemic.

We need to keep building on this progress. Instead, Congressional Republicans are proposing across-the-board tariffs that would cost families nearly $4,000 a year, reignite inflation, and kill hundreds of thousands of jobs. The Vice President and I are fighting to lower costs on everyday goods—from housing and groceries to health care and child care—while Republicans fight for more tax breaks for the wealthy and large corporations. The best way to grow the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.

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Today, President Biden will ceremonially sign Executive Order (EO) 14124, establishing the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), alongside nearly two dozen champions for these institutions and Latino communities. President Biden and Vice President Harris will also announce nearly $19 million in transformational investments for five HSIs in Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Puerto Rico to build research infrastructure. These efforts build on the Administration’s historic investment of over $16 billion in more than 500 HSIs across 30 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico that educate more than 4.7 million students annually.

Over the past three years, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken historic actions to expand opportunity for Latino families and communities, including: creating more than 15 million jobs – with 5 million created for Latinos, helping Latino entrepreneurs start new businesses at the fastest rate in over 10 years, addressing our broken immigration system, and working to ensure equitable educational opportunity for students.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new actions to advance educational opportunities for students at HSIs and giving them a fair shot at achieving the American dream. 

Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through HSIs

With student enrollment that is at least one-quarter Latino, HSIs are engines of economic mobility, propelling high numbers of students from low-income backgrounds and first-generation college students into good jobs and brighter futures. Today, President Biden will ceremonially sign EO 14124 to strengthen the Federal Government’s commitment to advancing opportunity for HSIs and the students they serve.

The EO creates a new Initiative and first-ever President’s Board of Advisors on HSIs to:

• Increase awareness of opportunities for HSIs to equally participate in Federal programs and enhance the capacity of HSIs to meet the educational needs of their students.
• Identify best practices for HSIs to scale effective strategies, programs, and initiatives to support the educational success and economic mobility of their students.
• Improve the ability of HSIs to align program offerings with the economic needs of the Nation and their local economies, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and teaching.
• Coordinate efforts to help HSIs become or remain fiscally secure institutions.
• Foster cross-sector collaboration among HSIs and philanthropic, public, and private sector organizations.
• Strengthen Federal recruitment activities at HSIs to build accessible and equal pathways into Federal career opportunities for HSI students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
• Provide tools, data, and analytics to support HSIs in improving educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunity for students.

Investing Additional $19 Million in Research Infrastructure at HSIs

To remain the most competitive economy in the world, the Nation’s most inclusive institutions of higher education must continue to lead in research and development. Yet too many HSIs report having unmet infrastructure needs that hold back their ability to engage in research that will propel forward these institutions, their students, and the nation as a whole.

To help address these needs, the Biden-Harris Administration established the Department of Education’s Research and Development Infrastructure Program (RDI) for the colleges and universities that play a central role in educating students from diverse backgrounds. The program provides funds to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs)—including HSIs— to implement transformational investments in research infrastructure, including research productivity, faculty expertise, graduate programs, physical infrastructure, human capital development, and partnerships leading to increases in external funding.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced nearly $19 million in new grants to five HSIs to build their research and physical infrastructure including—

• Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida received $1.1 million.
• National Louis University in Chicago, Illinois received $3 million.
• Sam Houston State University in Houston, Texas received $5 million.
• Texas A&M University Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas received $4.7 million.
• University of Puerto Rico on the Rio Piedras Campus received $5 million.

The $19 million in grants to HSIs was a part of $49 million in RDI grants to 13 HBCUs, TCCUs, and MSIs.

Building on Historic Investments in HSIs

Today’s announcements build on President Biden and Vice President Harris’ historic investments of over $16 billion in direct funding to HSIs, including through COVID relief funds and the Department of Education’s federal grant program funds.

 The chart below provides a state-by-state breakdown of funding to date.

State Total Funds Received by HSIs in the State AR $11,356,918AZ $739,602,657CA $6,389,050,269CO $290,670,467CT $81,522,902DC $10,396,350FL $1,524,890,025GA $96,526,460ID $12,477,969IL $664,298,648IN $20,049,711KS $20,869,761MA $110,295,475MD $68,836,836MN $12,999,876NC $10,750,057NE $1,211,270NJ $582,987,076NM $399,198,109NV $336,899,054NY $327,800,182OH $875,529OK $9,372,922OR $58,864,009PA $66,357,824PR $1,135,872,342RI $48,066,707TN $7,383,933TX $3,433,719,411VA $14,730,892WA $124,035,244WI $23,119,648Grand Total $16,635,088,533

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One year ago, President Biden issued a landmark Executive Order to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). The Executive Order directed sweeping actions to manage AI’s safety and security risks, protect Americans’ privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers and workers, promote innovation and competition, advance American leadership around the world, and more.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing that Federal agencies have completed on schedule each action that the Executive Order tasked for this past year—more than one hundred in all. Below are some of the Administration’s most significant accomplishments on managing AI’s risks and seizing its promise in the year since President Biden signed his Executive Order.

Managing Risks to Safety and Security:
The Executive Order directed the boldest actions ever taken to protect Americans from a broad range of AI’s safety and security risks, including risks related to dangerous biological materials, software vulnerabilities, and foreign actors’ efforts to develop AI for harmful purposes. Over the last year, to protect safety and security, agencies have:

• Used Defense Production Act authorities to require developers of the most powerful AI systems to report vital information, including results of safety and security testing, to the U.S. government. These companies have notified the Department of Commerce about the results of their red-team safety tests, their plans to train powerful models, and large computing clusters they possess capable of such training. Last month, the Department of Commerce proposed a rule to require the reporting of this information on a quarterly basis.

• Led the way on AI safety testing and evaluations to advance the science of AI safety. The U.S. AI Safety Institute (US AISI) at the Department of Commerce has begun pre-deployment testing of major new AI models through recently signed agreements with two leading AI developers. The Department of Energy (DOE) developed and expanded its AI testbeds and evaluation tools, which it has already used to test models’ risk to nuclear security.

• Developed guidance and tools for managing AI risk. The US AISI and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at the Department of Commerce published frameworks for managing risks related to generative AI and dual-use foundation models, and earlier this month, AISI released a Request for Information on the responsible development and use of AI models for chemical and biological sciences. The Department of Defense (DoD) released its Responsible AI toolkit to align AI projects with the Department’s Ethical Principles.

• Issued a first-ever National Security Memorandum (NSM) on AI. The NSM directs concrete steps by Federal agencies to ensure the United States leads the world’s development of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI; to enable agencies to harness cutting-edge AI for national security objectives, including by protecting human rights and democratic values; and to advance international consensus and governance on AI. This essential document serves as a formal charter for the AI Safety Institute, designating it as the center of the whole-of-government approach to advanced AI model testing, and will guide rapid and responsible AI adoption by the DoD and Intelligence Community. The NSM also directs the creation of a Framework to Advance AI Governance and Risk Management in National Security, which provides agile guidance to implement the NSM in accordance with democratic values, including mechanisms for risk management, evaluations, accountability, and transparency. 

• Finalized a framework for nucleic acid synthesis screening to help prevent the misuse of AI for engineering dangerous biological materials. The framework, developed by the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), encourages nucleic acid synthesis providers to identify gene sequences that could be used to pose national security risks, and to implement customer screening to mitigate the risks of misuse. Federal agencies will require that funding recipients obtain synthetic nucleic acids from vendors that adhere to the framework, starting in 2025. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has developed an initial framework with principles for evaluating the effectiveness of screening mechanisms going forward.

• Launched a new Task Force on AI Datacenter Infrastructure. The Task Force provides streamlined coordination on policies to advance datacenter development operations in line with economic, national security, and environmental goals.

• Identified measures—including approaches for labeling content and improving transparency—to reduce the risks posed by AI-generated content. The Department of Commerce submitted to the White House a final report on science-backed standards and techniques for addressing these risks, while NIST has launched a challenge to develop methods for detecting AI-generated content. President Biden has emphasized that the public has a right to know when content is AI-generated, and agencies are working to use these tools to help Americans to know that communications they receive from their government are authentic.

• Combatted AI-generated image-based sexual abuse. Image-based sexual abuse—both non-consensual intimate images of adults and child sexual abuse material—is one of the fastest growing harmful uses of AI to date and disproportionately targets women, children, and LGBTQI+ people. This year, following the Vice President’s leadership in underscoring the urgent need to address deepfake image-based sexual abuse and a White House Call to Action to reduce these risks, leading AI developers and data providers made voluntary commitments to curb the creation of AI-generated image-based sexual abuse material. Additionally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) funded the first-ever helpline to provide 24/7 support and specialized services for victims of the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, including deepfakes. The Department of Education also clarified that school responsibilities under Title IX may extend to conduct that takes place online, including AI-generated abuse.

• Established the AI Safety and Security Board (AISSB) to advise the Secretary of Homeland Security on the safe and secure use of AI in critical infrastructure. The AISSB has met thrice this year to develop a set of recommendations for entities that develop, deploy, and promote accountability for AI systems that assist in delivering essential services to millions of Americans. The work of the AISSB complements DHS’s first-ever AI safety and security guidelines for critical infrastructure owners and operators, which were informed by agencies’ assessments of AI risks across all critical infrastructure sectors. To help protect critical infrastructure further, the Department of Treasury released a report on managing security risks of AI use in the financial sector, and the Department of Energy released an assessment of potential risks to the power grid, as well as ways in which AI could potentially strengthen grid resilience and our ability to respond to threats.

• Piloted AI for protecting vital government software systems. The Department of Defense and DHS conducted AI pilots to address vulnerabilities in government networks used, respectively, for national security purposes and for civilian governmental organizations.

Standing up for Workers, Consumers, Privacy, and Civil Rights
AI is changing the products and services Americans buy, affecting jobs and workplaces, and introducing or exacerbating risks to privacy, equity, and civil rights. President Biden’s Executive Order stands up for Americans in each of these domains, and over the last year, agencies have:

• Developed bedrock principles and practices, along with guidance, to help protect and empower workers as AI is built for and used in the workplace. The Department of Labor (DOL) released AI Principles and Best Practices for employers and developers to build and use AI in ways that center the wellbeing of workers and improve the quality of jobs. DOL also published two guidance documents to assist federal contractors and employers in complying with worker protection laws as they deploy AI in the workplace. In addition, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released resources for job seekers and workers to understand how AI use could violate employment discrimination laws.

• Protected patients’ rights and safety, while encouraging innovation, as AI is developed and deployed for healthcare. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established an AI Safety Program to track harmful incidents involving AI’s use in healthcare settings and to evaluate mitigations for those harms. HHS has also developed objectives, goals, and high-level principles for the use of AI or AI-enabled tools in drug development processes and AI-enabled devices. Additionally, HHS finalized a rule that established first-of-its-kind transparency requirements for AI and other predictive algorithms that are part of certified health information technology. HHS also finalized a civil rights regulation, implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, that requires covered health care entities to take steps to identify and mitigate discrimination when they use AI and other forms of decision support tools for care.

• Published guidance and resources for the safe, secure, and trustworthy design and use of AI in education. In July, the Department of Education released guidance calling up on educational technology developers to design AI in ways that protect rights, improve transparency, and center teaching and learning. This month, the Department of Education released a toolkit to support schools and educational leaders in responsibly adopting valuable AI use cases.

• Issued guidance on AI’s nondiscriminatory use in the housing sector, which affirms that existing prohibitions against discrimination apply to AI’s use for tenant screening and housing advertisements, while explaining how to comply with these obligations. Additionally, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau approved a rule requiring that algorithms and AI used for home valuations are fair, nondiscriminatory, and free of conflicts of interest.

• Set guardrails on the responsible and equitable use of AI and algorithmic systems in administering public benefits programs. The Department of Agriculture’s guidance provides a framework for how State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments should manage risks for uses of AI and automated systems in critical benefits programs such as SNAP, while HHS released a plan with guidelines on similar topics for benefits programs it oversees.

• Affirmed commitments to prevent and address unlawful discrimination and other harms resulting from AI. DOJ’s Civil Rights Division convenes federal agency civil rights offices and senior government officials to foster AI and civil rights coordination. Five new agencies also joined a 2023 pledge to uphold America’s commitment to fairness, equality, and justice as new technologies like AI become more common in daily life.

• Advanced privacy protections to safeguard Americans from privacy risks that AI creates or exacerbates. In particular, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and DOE established a research network dedicated to advancing the development, deployment, and scaling of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), while NSF launched the $23 million initiative Privacy-preserving Data Sharing in Practice program to apply, mature, and scale PETs for specific use cases and establish testbeds to accelerate their adoption. Simultaneously, DOE launched a $68 million effort on AI for Science research, which includes efforts at multiple DOE National Laboratories and other institutions to advance PETs for scientific AI. The Department of Commerce also developed guidelines on evaluating differential privacy guarantees. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a Request for Information (RFI) on issues related to federal agency collection, processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, and disposition of commercially available information containing personally identifiable information. OMB also released an RFI on how federal agencies’ privacy impact assessments may be more effective at mitigating privacy risks, including those that are further exacerbated by AI and other advances in technology and data capabilities.

Harnessing AI for Good
Over the last year, agencies have worked to seize AI’s enormous promise, including by collaborating with the private sector, promoting development and use of valuable AI use cases, and deepening the U.S. lead in AI innovation. To harness AI for good, agencies have:

• Launched the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot and awarded over 150 research teams access to computational and other AI resources. The NAIRR pilot—a national infrastructure led by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with DOE and other governmental and nongovernmental partners—makes available resources to support the nation’s AI research and education community. Supported research teams span 34 states and tackle projects covering deepfake detection, AI safety, next-generation medical diagnoses, environmental protection, and materials engineering.

• Promoted AI education and training across the United States. DOE is leveraging its network of national laboratories to train 500 new researchers by 2025 to meet demand for AI talent, while NSF has invested millions of dollars in programs to train future AI leaders and innovators. These programs include the EducateAI initiative, which helps fund educators creating high-quality, inclusive AI educational opportunities at the K-12 through undergraduate levels that support experiential learning in fields such as AI and build capacity in AI research at minority-serving institutions.

• Expanded the ability of top AI scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to come to the United States, including by clarifying O-1 and H-1B visa rules and working to streamline visa processing.

• Released a report on the potential benefits, risks, and implications of dual-use foundation models for which the model weights are widely available, including related policy recommendations. The Department of Commerce’s report draws on extensive outreach to experts and stakeholders, including hundreds of public comments submitted on this topic.

• Announced a competition for up to $100 million to support the application of AI-enabled autonomous experimentation to accelerate research into—and delivery of—targeted, industry-relevant, sustainable semiconductor materials and processes.

• Established two new National AI Research Institutes for building AI tools to advance progress across economic sectors, science, and engineering. The NSF-led AI Research Institutes launched in September will develop AI tools for astronomical sciences, with broader applications across scientific disciplines. Earlier this year, NSF also funded 10 inaugural Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines), seven of which include a focus on advancing AI.

• Announced millions of dollars in further investments to advance responsible AI development and use throughout our society. These include $13 million invested by DOE in the VoltAIc initiative for using AI to streamline permitting and accelerate clean energy deployment, as well as $68M from DOE to fund AI for scientific research to accelerate scientific programming and develop energy efficient AI models and hardware. DOE has also launched the Frontiers in AI for Science, Security, and Technology (FASST) initiative roadmap and request for information to harness AI for scientific discovery, national security, energy and electric grid resilience, and other national challenges, building on AI tools, models, and partnerships. NSF, in partnership with philanthropy, announced an inaugural investment of more than $18 million to 44 multidisciplinary, multi-sector teams across the U.S. to advance the responsible design, development, and deployment of technologies including AI, ensuring ethical, legal, community, and societal considerations are embedded in the lifecycle of technology’s creation.
• Issued a first-ever report analyzing AI’s near-term potential to support the growth of America’s clean energy economy. DOE’s National Laboratories also issued a long-term grand challenges report identifying opportunities in AI for energy over the next decade. 

• Released a vision for how AI can help us achieve our nation’s greatest aspirations. AI Aspirations sets forth goals to create a future of better health and opportunity for all, mitigate climate change and boost resilience, build robust infrastructure and manufacturing, ensure the government works for every American, and more. In furtherance of these goals, HHS launched CATALYST, a research and development program focused on the potential use of AI to better predict drug safety and efficacy before clinical trials start. In complement, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology also authored a report outlining AI’s potential to revolutionize and accelerate scientific discovery.

• Published guidance addressing vital questions at the intersection of AI and intellectual property. To advance innovation the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has released guidance documents addressing the patentability of AI-assisted inventions, on the subject matter eligibility of patent claims involving inventions related to AI technology, and on the use of AI tools in proceedings before USPTO.

Bringing AI and AI Talent into Government
AI can help government deliver better results for the American people, though its use by Federal agencies can also pose risks, such as discrimination and unsafe decisions. Bringing AI and AI-enabling professionals into government, moreover, is vital for managing these risks and opportunities and advancing other critical AI missions. Over the last year, agencies have:

• Issued the first-ever government-wide policy to strengthen governance, mitigate risks, and advance innovation in federal use of AI. OMB’s historic policy, M-24-10, requires agencies to implement concrete safeguards when using AI in a way that could impact Americans’ rights or safety. These safeguards include a series of mandatory risk management practices to reliably assess, test, and monitor AI’s impacts on the public and provide greater transparency into how the government uses AI. OMB’s policy also directs agencies to designate Chief AI Officers to coordinate the use of AI across their agency, while expanding and upskilling their AI workforce and removing barriers to adopting AI for all manner of purposes—from addressing climate change to advancing public health and safety.

• Released a government-wide policy to advance responsible acquisition of AI by Federal agencies. M-24-18, published this month by OMB, helps ensure that when Federal agencies acquire AI, they have the information and tools necessary to manage risks, promote a competitive marketplace, and collaborate on strategic planning. This work directs the Federal government—the largest buyer in the U.S. economy—to advance AI innovation and risk management through responsibly exercising its purchasing power.

• Hired over 250 AI practitioners into the Federal government through the AI Talent Surge. Tech talent programs ramped up hiring for AI talent, with the Presidential Innovation Fellows bringing on their first-ever AI cohort, DHS establishing their AI Corps with over 30 members onboarded to date, and the U.S. Digital Corps providing pathways for early-career technologists to join Federal service. AI talent has been instrumental in delivering on critical AI priorities, from using AI to deliver top-tier government services, to protecting the public’s rights and safety in the use of AI.

• Established the Chief AI Officers Council to harmonize best practices and sharing of resources across the interagency to implement OMB’s guidance and coordinate the development and use of AI in agencies’ programs and operations.

• Introduced expanded reporting instructions for the federal AI use case inventory to include identifying use cases that impact rights or safety and how the agency is addressing the relevant risks in line with OMB’s policies. 
• Bolstered the public interest technology ecosystem. Building on the AI Talent Surge, the White House announced funding across government, academia, and civil society to support education and career pathways that will help ensure government has access to diverse, mission-oriented technology talent.

• Activated new hiring authorities to bring AI and AI-enabling talent into agencies. As part of the AI Talent Surge, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) granted new hiring authorities, including direct hire authorities and excepted service authorities, for agencies to rapidly bring on top-tier AI and AI-enabling talent, and released guidance on skills-based hiring and pay and leave flexibilities to best position agencies to hire and retain AI and AI-enabling talent. Additionally, OPM collaborated with partners to run three National Tech to Gov career fairs to connect the public with AI and tech jobs in government, surfacing roles from over 64 Federal, state, and local government employers to over 3,000 job seekers.

Advancing U.S. Leadership Abroad
President Biden’s Executive Order directed work to lead global efforts to capture AI’s promise, mitigate AI’s risks, and ensure AI’s responsible governance. To advance these goals, the Administration has:

• Sponsored and passed a landmark United Nations General Assembly resolution. The unanimously adopted resolution, with more than 100 co-sponsors (including the People’s Republic of China), lays out a common vision for countries around the world to promote the safe and secure use of AI to address global challenges.

• Engaged foreign leaders on strengthening international rules and norms for AI, including at the 2023 UK AI Safety Summit and the AI Seoul Summit in May 2024, where Vice President Harris represented the United States. In the United Kingdom, Vice President Harris unveiled a series of U.S. initiatives to advance the safe and responsible use of AI, including the establishment of AISI at the Department of Commerce.

• Announced a global network of AI Safety Institutes and other government-backed scientific offices to advance AI safety at a technical level. This network, which will formally launch in November at the inaugural network convening in San Francisco, will accelerate critical information exchange and drive toward common or compatible safety evaluations and policies.

• Expanded global support for the U.S.-led Political Declaration on the Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy. Fifty-six nations now endorse the political declaration, which outlines a set of norms for the responsible development, deployment, and use of military AI capabilities. DoD has expanded the scope of its international AI Partnership for Defense to align global Responsible AI practices with the Political Declaration’s norms.

• Developed comprehensive plans for U.S. engagement on global AI standards and AI-related critical infrastructure topics. NIST and DHS, respectively, will report on priority actions taken per these plans in 90 days.

• Signed the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law. This first multilateral treaty on AI represents a powerful affirmation of the relevance of existing human rights obligations to AI activities and establishes a strong baseline in international law for responsible government use of AI. The United States’ signature reflects its commitment to ensuring that AI technologies are designed, developed, used, and governed in ways that promote respect for human rights and democratic values. 

• Led the development of a Joint Statement on Responsible Government Practices for AI Technologies. The Joint Statement, to which the 41 countries of the Freedom Online Coalition committed, calls on governments to develop, use, and procure AI responsibly, including by respecting international obligations and commitments, assessing impacts of AI systems, conducting ongoing monitoring, ensuring adequate human training and assessment, communicating and responding to the public, and providing effective access to remedy. 

• Launched the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse.  The 15-country Global Partnership has advanced international policies to address online safety, and spurred new programs to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including through AI.

• The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development published resources to advance global AI research and use of AI for economic development. The AI in Global Development Playbook incorporates principles and practices from NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework to guide AI’s responsible development and deployment across international contexts, while the Global AI Research Agenda outlines priorities for advancing AI’s safe, responsible, and sustainable global development and adoption.

The table below summarizes many of the activities that federal agencies have completed in response to the Executive Order.

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Port of Baltimore
Baltimore, Maryland

2:18 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Baltimore!  (Applause.)  Hello, hello, hello.

Don’t jump, guys.  All right?  (Laughter.)

Thank you, Gwen, for that introduction.  And a big congratulations to your fellow longshoremen, who just won record wage gains.  You deserve it, man.  (Applause.) 

You know, I’m called the most pro-union president in history.  It’s nothing hard, man.  It’s a simple proposition.  The middle class built this country, and unions built the middle class, period.  (Applause.)  I mean it.

You sacrificed so much to keep America’s ports open, especially during the pandemic.  You deserve a strong contract.

I also want to thank the Governor Moore.  I think he may be the best governor in the country, man.  Where are you, Gov?  (Applause.)  I tell you what, man, I wish to hell I would play ball with him.  (Laughter.)  

You know, and — and, Mayor Scott, where — where — I — I — there you go.  Stand up, man.  Let them see you.  (Applause.)  This guy has got a — being a mayor of a major city is one of the hardest jobs in American politics.  They think you have all the answers, and they know where you live.  (Laughter.) 

And Johnny O., county exec — where are you, Johnny?  There you are.  (Applause.)  I used — I used to be a county councilman.  I think it’s the hardest job in America.  People think you know what you have.  You don’t have nearly what you think you have.  They think you can solve all your problems.  And when you can’t, you get in trouble.  And they know where you live too.  So, thank you, Johnny O.  (Laughter.)  Appreciate it.  We look forward to seeing you in Congress next year, man.  Look forward to seeing you in Congress.  (Applause.)

And Senator Ben Cardin and Senator Chris Van Hal- — Von Hallen — what the hell is his name?  He’s new.  (Laughter.)  Chris Von — (laughs).  Chris and I have been doing this for so many years now, it’s getting old.  Or at least I’m getting old; Chris isn’t getting old.

And, Ben, we’re going to miss you in the Senate.  We’re going to miss you in the Senate.

And I want to thank Congressmen Mfume and Ruppersberger and Sarbanes.  But, you know, every time I see Sarbanes, he seems about a foot taller.  (Laughter.)  I don’t know, man.  Work — his dad taught me that I better understand and learn — I better learn Greek or I’m going to be in trouble. 

And my good friend — and he is a good friend; we’ve shared a lot together — Steny Hoyer.  Steny, thanks for all you’ve done, pal.

And from my Cabinet and EPA — the director, Michael Regan.

You know, last spring, in the dead of night, that massive container ship crashed into the Key Bridge.  Within seconds, steel beams crumbled into the harbor like toothpicks.  Thirty thousand people lost their daily route to work, to school, and to home.  Twenty thousand port-related paychecks became at risk. 

Six construction workers were killed in the process.  All were Marylanders: hardworking, strong, and selfless.  I met with their families, as many of you did.  And I vowed to them we would never forget the contributions these men made to this city and that we wou- — and we’d do everything possible to reopen this port as fast as it possibly could be. 

And I’m proud to say, with all the folks sitting — assembled here and the unions assembled here, you did just that.  The Port of Baltimore is back open for business. 

I want to thank the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Army Corps of Engineers — helped remove 50,000 tons of concrete and steel wreckage — 50,000 tons.  Some thought the shipping channel would be blocked for six months or more, but you cleared it in just 78 days — 78 days.  (Applause.)  

On top of this, my administration provided $60 million in federal funding to res- — and for res- — response and recovery, offered grants to displaced port workers to get paid to help with the cleanup, and we teamed up with businesses to keep auto farm — auto and farmers’ shipments moving.  The result: 8,000 workers back on the job, over one hun- — 100,000 tons of cargo pass through this port again on a daily basis. 

But as I promised last spring, we won’t stop until the new bridge is finished completely — finished, finished, finished.  (Applause.)  I’m calling on Congress to fully fund it this year — before we go out, this year — a new bridge built with American steel and union labor.

And that’s not all.  For years, I’ve been saying it’s not enough to just rebuild America.  We have to build it back better and stronger than before.  (Applause.)  That’s why today I’m proud to announce we’re delivering $3 billion in funding from my Inflation Reduction Act to help clean up and modernize ports in 27 different states and territories, from Pennsylvania to Georgia, Michigan, and beyond — including, yes, Puerto Rico.  (Applause.) 

I’d like to take that guy for a swim out there.  Anyway.  (Laughter.)  Steny is looking at me, “Don’t get going, Joe.”  (Laughter.)  “Don’t get going, Joe.  Slow up.”   

But this also includes a $447 million [$147 million] for the Port of Baltimore to upgrade its cargo equipment, infrastructure, and power grid. 

Folks, ports are the lynchpin — the lynchpin to America’s supply chain.  They keep goods moving.  They keep the economy strong.  And they employ over 100,000 union workers, from teamsters to longshoremen. 

But for too long, they’ve run on fossil fuels and aging infrastructure, putting workers at risk and exposing nearby communities to dangerous pollution.  Studies show more childhood asthma, lung disease, and heart disease and cancer in folks who live close to ports. 

It’s about environmental justice.  I asked Gloria, who you heard from earlier, were any of the neighbors in Turner Station or across the water in Curtis City [Bay] — communities too long left behind.  It’s simply wrong. 

The new $3 billion funding we’re delivering today will help ports and communities all across America.  It will cut ports’ opening costs, strengthen supply chains, make America businesses more competitive, and keep consumer prices down while slashing carbon pollution, and support an estimated 40,000 new, good-paying jobs at the port and clean-energy manufacturing all across America.  (Applause.)

In fact, the funding for this port is estimated to create 2,000 new jobs — jobs for longshoremen, ironworkers, engineers, electricians, utility workers, steelworkers, laborers, and so much more — good-paying union jobs you can raise a family on without a college degree.  (Applause.)

We’re making sure all new port equipment funded by the Clean Port — Clean Ports Program will be operated and maintained by people, not by robots, which is going to protect those jobs far into the future.

Folks, this is just a smart part of — small part of what we call Investing in America agenda, to invest in America and all Americans.  It’s working.  Just look at how far we’ve come from the crisis we inherited from my predecessor. 

An example, my American Rescue Plan — which not a single Republican voted for, I might add, although there is (inaudible) — delivered immediate economic relief to those who need it most and got us through the pandemic. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is one of the most significant laws ever, ever written to modernize our roads, our bridges, our ports, our airport, help replace every poisonous lead pipe in America, and bring affordable high-speed Internet to every household. 

My predecessor promised “Infrastructure Week” every week for four years, but he never built a damn thing.  (Laughter.)

My CHIPS and Science Act also bringing semiconductor and advanced manufacturing back home where it belongs, where it started.  And through the Inflation Reduction Act, we made the largest investment ever in history to fight climate change and accelerate clean energy, which is the way my predecessor said — by the way, he’d repeal it if elected. 

Folks, a lot at stake here.

We’re all Investing in America agenda, and because of what we did, remember how we were going to go into depression and all that stuff?  Guess what?  We got the strongest economy in the world.  (Applause.)  The whole damn world.  And in America, our Invest in America agenda has already attracted $1 trillion in private-sector investments — $1 trillion in ener- — clean energy, high-tech factories, and so much more.  (Applause.)  

And here’s what it means for Maryland.  So far, in this state alone, it pro- — it — it provides $13 billion for nearly 1,000 infrastructure, energy, and manufacturing projects.  It matters.  For example, look at the Baltimore and the Potomac Tunnel.  It’s 150 years old.  I’ve walked through that — I used to commute every day back and forth from Wilmington to — to Washington.  I walked through it.  It’s leaking.  It needs to be replaced.  It’s badly needed.

And thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, it finally is being replaced.  When the project is done, it will shorten commute times significantly, increase safety, and, in the process, will create 20,000 new construction jobs.  And that’s just one example of the investment.  (Applause.)  

Folks, it’s clear after years of broken promises by the last administration, Kamala and I and our entire administration are delivering for America.  We created a record 16 million new jobs, more than any single presidential term in American history.  Wages are up.  We brought inflation down to the same rate it was before the pandemic.  In fact, wage gains have outpaced inflation.  Some people have more money in their pockets.  Interest rates are falling.  Unemployment has been this — this low — hadn’t been this low for this long in over 50 years because of you all.  Manufacturing is making a comeback. 

Where the hell is it written saying we can’t be the manufacturing capital of the world?  Where is that written?  (Applause.)  So, we’re bringing jobs back home and factories home. 

And, by the way, we’ve invested more in red states than in blue states, because I said, when we got elected, we’d rep- — I’d be president for all Americans — more in red states than in blue states.  And those of you in Congress know that there’s a group of Republican members of the House saying we got to keep this going — because, all of a sudden, they’re realizing how helpful it is.

America once again has the wr- — world’s strongest economy.  Folks have filed a record 19 million new business applications since we took office.  Each filing for a new business application is an act of hope.

Put all together, in thousands of cities and towns, we’re seeing the great American comeback story.

Consumer confidence is up this month larger than ever.  The economy is growing.  The middle class is doing well.  We’re showing we’re the only nation in the world that always emerges stronger from a crisis than we went into the crisis — the only one.  We have to keep that progress going and growing.

Let me close with this.  When I — when I see this port now — cranes in the air, ships and cargo on the move — I hope and feel what I hope you feel: a real sense of pride.  I mean it sincerely.  Pride.  Pride in your community.  Pride in our country.  Pride in the capacity of our labor unions.

That’s what “Baltimore Strong” is all about.  It’s about pride.

I know because generations of Bidens lived here since the 1850s.  My dad was born here.  He always told me the true measure of a person is not how often you get knocked down; it’s how fast you get back up.  That’s Baltimore.  It gets back up fast.  (Applause.)  That’s Maryland.  It gets back up.  (Applause.)

And that’s why I’ve never been more optimistic for our future.  We just have to remember who in the hell we are.  We’re the United States of America, and there is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together.  So, let’s keep working together. 

God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.  (Applause.)

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

Thank you.  Thanks.  (Applause.) 

 2:31 P.M. EDT

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