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President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to Belgium and Luxembourg to attend the Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge on December 13-14, 2024.

The Honorable Bill Nelson, Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will lead the delegation.

Members of the Presidential Delegation:

The Honorable Thomas M. Barrett, United States Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

The Honorable Michael M. Adler, United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium

The Honorable Harry Coker, Jr., National Cyber Director, Office of the Cyber Director, The White House

The Honorable Terri Tanielian, Special Assistant to the President for Veterans Affairs, Domestic Policy Council, The White House

The Honorable Sheila Casey, Executive Director of Joining Forces, The White House

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The post President Biden Announces Presidential Delegation to attend the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge in Bastogne, Belgium and Luxembourg City, Luxembourg appeared first on The White House.

Nikki Giovanni was a brilliant poet, a big-hearted educator, and an unapologetic voice for justice and equality.

As a leading voice of the Black Arts Movement, she used her poetry to celebrate Black joy and resilience – while also speaking out for racial and social justice.

Nikki was committed to lifting up the next generation too. Over more than three decades as an educator, she empowered her students to express themselves through creative writing, mentoring hundreds of them along the way.

Throughout her career, Nikki never stopped demanding, and fighting for, an America that lives up to our highest ideals: of freedom, opportunity, fairness, and dignity for all. She leaves behind a storied legacy — in literature, education, and in the fight for a more just America.

Doug and I send our prayers to her family, and to all who were touched by her work.

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The post Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on the Passing of Nikki Giovanni appeared first on The White House.

Nikki Giovanni was a brilliant poet, a big-hearted educator, and an unapologetic voice for justice and equality.

As a leading voice of the Black Arts Movement, she used her poetry to celebrate Black joy and resilience – while also speaking out for racial and social justice.

Nikki was committed to lifting up the next generation too. Over more than three decades as an educator, she empowered her students to express themselves through creative writing, mentoring hundreds of them along the way.

Throughout her career, Nikki never stopped demanding, and fighting for, an America that lives up to our highest ideals: of freedom, opportunity, fairness, and dignity for all. She leaves behind a storied legacy — in literature, education, and in the fight for a more just America.

Doug and I send our prayers to her family, and to all who were touched by her work.

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The post Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on the Passing of Nikki Giovanni appeared first on The White House.

Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer welcomed Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo to the White House yesterday to discuss a range of regional and bilateral issues.  Mr. Finer thanked Foreign Minister Murillo for Colombia’s leadership in serving as the first Country Chair for the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, an initiative the United States and 21 regional partners launched in 2022 to collaborate on migration issues.   They also discussed challenges to democracy in the hemisphere and underscored the importance of maintaining the strong U.S.-Colombia relationship. 

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The post Readout of Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s Meeting with Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo appeared first on The White House.

Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer welcomed Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo to the White House yesterday to discuss a range of regional and bilateral issues.  Mr. Finer thanked Foreign Minister Murillo for Colombia’s leadership in serving as the first Country Chair for the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, an initiative the United States and 21 regional partners launched in 2022 to collaborate on migration issues.   They also discussed challenges to democracy in the hemisphere and underscored the importance of maintaining the strong U.S.-Colombia relationship. 

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The post Readout of Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s Meeting with Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo appeared first on The White House.

In 2020, Nikki Giovanni’s majestic voice echoed her powerful words, “and sometime, there has to be something called courage. You have it in your hands.”

Born in segregated Knoxville, Tennessee, she became a renowned activist, professor, and literary legend who had that courage in her hands and in her heart.

A pioneering poet of the Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights era, she used her pen to advance racial and gender equality and confront violence, hate and injustice, alongside some of the most esteemed artists and icons of the past century.

Author of over 25 books, her wit and intellect earned her numerous accolades, including the Langston Hughes medal, an Emmy award, and a Grammy award nomination. A three-time cancer fighter, Nikki offered words of wisdom that gave hope to countless others fighting disease and despair.

Jill and I send our love and condolences to her family—including her wife Virginia, her son Thomas, and her granddaughter Kai—and all those who loved and admired that something special, her courage.

May God bless Nikki Giovanni.

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The post Statement from President Joe Biden on the Passing of Nikki Giovanni appeared first on The White House.

In 2020, Nikki Giovanni’s majestic voice echoed her powerful words, “and sometime, there has to be something called courage. You have it in your hands.”

Born in segregated Knoxville, Tennessee, she became a renowned activist, professor, and literary legend who had that courage in her hands and in her heart.

A pioneering poet of the Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights era, she used her pen to advance racial and gender equality and confront violence, hate and injustice, alongside some of the most esteemed artists and icons of the past century.

Author of over 25 books, her wit and intellect earned her numerous accolades, including the Langston Hughes medal, an Emmy award, and a Grammy award nomination. A three-time cancer fighter, Nikki offered words of wisdom that gave hope to countless others fighting disease and despair.

Jill and I send our love and condolences to her family—including her wife Virginia, her son Thomas, and her granddaughter Kai—and all those who loved and admired that something special, her courage.

May God bless Nikki Giovanni.

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The post Statement from President Joe Biden on the Passing of Nikki Giovanni appeared first on The White House.

For four months in a row now, inflation has been close to the level right before the pandemic. While price increases have been hard for working families, household incomes are up almost $4,000 more than prices during this Administration. We will continue to fight to lower costs for American families.

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The post Statement from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard on the November 2024 Consumer Price Index appeared first on The White House.

For four months in a row now, inflation has been close to the level right before the pandemic. While price increases have been hard for working families, household incomes are up almost $4,000 more than prices during this Administration. We will continue to fight to lower costs for American families.

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The post Statement from National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard on the November 2024 Consumer Price Index appeared first on The White House.

Over the last four years, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken action to uphold universal human rights around the world. From protecting brave individuals defending life and liberty to securing some of the largest political prisoner releases in recent history, to holding account those who misuse technologies like commercial spyware for human rights violations and abuses, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to support human rights defenders, civil society and journalists. Three historic Summits for Democracy generated millions of dollars in commitments from the U.S., international partners, and the private sector to support civil society and investments in democratic renewal. Through our engagement in multilateral organizations, we have held countries that have violated human rights to account, advanced the status of women and girls, and safeguarded protection for LGBTQI+ human rights defenders. The United States is strongest when we protect people fighting for justice for all at home and abroad through these actions:

Protected Human Rights Defenders and Secured the Release of Political Prisoners

• Advocated for the Release of Unjustly Detained Individuals Globally.  The U.S. raised international awareness of the plight of political prisoners and their families and advocated for the release of all unjustly detained individuals worldwide. Notable accomplishments included: working with international partners to secure the release of 16 unjustly detained prisoners held by the Russian government, including four Americans, in the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War and securing the release of 357 Nicaraguan political prisoners, including human rights defenders and Catholic leaders.
• Empowered Journalists, Civil Society, Workers, and Reform-Minded Leaders.  The Department of State protected journalists and promoted media freedom through the Journalism Protection Platform and joint efforts with UNESCO, provided direct financial support to almost 900 civil society organization (CSOs) in 86 countries through the Lifeline: Embattled CSOs Assistance Fund since 2021; promoted inclusive labor markets and protecting the rights of all workers in line with the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally, worked with partners to equip young leaders with essential skills, such as through the Community of Democracies’ Youth Democracy Network; and elevated the voices of Indigenous youth into global civic conversations by establishing the Indigenous Youth Leadership Coalition.
• Supported Local Human Rights Defenders and Organizations through USAID’s Powered by the People (PxP) Award. In 2024, USAID channeled over $2.5 million to human rights defenders, and organizations protecting and promoting human rights across 28 countries. This included providing rapid relocation, emergency legal assistance, digital security, psychosocial support, and a global help desk.
• Sustained Support to Human Rights Defenders in Ukraine. The U.S. continued to support human rights defenders working to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world. For example, since the start of the war, USAID has helped more than 50 civil society organizations, including the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which documented possible Russian crimes against Ukrainian civilians. In recognition of this work, CCL was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
• Strengthened Civilian Protection. The State Department elevated human rights considerations in security decisions and partnerships, including U.S. arms transfers and security trainings, to higher standards through efforts such as the Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG).
• Expanded Human Rights Programming. In 2024, USAID provided $19.25 million 19 Missions to support human rights defenders and address human rights violations and abuses, combat digital repression and cyber threats faced by HRDs, enhance protection of environmental rights defenders, combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and trafficking in persons, support access to justice for victims of human rights violations, and support comprehensive programming to enable persons with disabilities to understand and realize their rights. In 2024, USAID’s Justice, Human Rights, and Security Rapid Response Award supported 20 USAID Missions nearly $7 million for rapid response activities to meet urgent crises.
• Worked to protect Human Rights Online. Outlined best practices and actions that online platforms can take to implement for robust support for human rights defenders under threat through the Guidance for Online Platforms on Protecting Human Rights Defenders Online.

Mobilized Action to Address the Misuse of Commercial Spyware

• Protected Against Commercial Spyware Misuse. The Biden-Harris Administration advanced a whole-of-government approach to curb the misuse and proliferation of commercial spyware. The President’s Executive Order set standards and safeguards for the domestic government use of these commercial surveillance tools, while the novel application of visa restrictions—including dozens of new designations announced this week, financial sanctions, and trade restrictions has discouraged commercial spyware companies from targeting U.S. citizens or undermining human rights globally.  The Administration has successfully internationalized this pioneering effort through the Joint Statement on Efforts to Counter the Proliferation and Misuse of Commercial Spyware, now endorsed by 22 countries with this week’s formal addition of Latvia. The U.S. has also driven global consensus through language in the Human Rights Council resolution on the Promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, which for the first time recognizes the threat commercial spyware misuse poses to democratic values and the exercise of human rights. The United States has committed $3 million in programming for capacity building, research, and advocacy for the private sector, academia, and government partners.

Upheld Human Rights and Accountability

• Expanded Tools for Accountability.

• To date this year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated more than 100 individuals and entities associated with human rights abuse across more than 20 jurisdictions. These actions targeted an array of activities, including national and transnational repression, forced disappearances and hostage taking, gender-based violence, forced labor and human trafficking, and human rights abuses perpetrated by terrorist groups and criminal organizations.
• The State Department publicly designated over 80 officials for their involvement in gross violations of human rights, sanctioning over 240 individuals and entities for serious human rights abuses under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program, and taking steps to impose visa restrictions on over 8,000 individuals for undermining democracy, repressing marginalized groups, transnational repression, and other activity adverse to U.S. interests, including additional actions announced today.
• The State Department also released business advisories to highlight the legal, financial, and reputational risks posed to businesses,  including  those operating in Russia and Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine, and Hong Kong.

• Fought Political Repression. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) worked to target political repression in 2024 through related actions in Georgia, Iran, Burma, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.  OFAC designated an international assassination network led by a narcotrafficker operating at the behest of the Iranian government in January and, in March, the designation of a commercial spyware consortium that distributed spyware technology that was used to target Americans. 

• Reduced Human Trafficking and Forced Labor. OFAC focused on actions to disrupt human trafficking and forced labor throughout 2024, including actions targeting the Venezuela-based criminal organization; a Syria-based narco-trafficker also under legal prosecution for human trafficking; and a Cambodian businessman and four companies he owns for forced labor in online virtual currency investment cyber scam centers.

• Administered International Justice.
• The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) secured historic sentences in three high profile cases this year concerning human rights violations in Iraq, Ethiopia, and Croatia. In addition, the Department charged three individuals with fraud related to their alleged participation in human rights violations in Rwanda, Syria, and Bosnia.
• On December 9, 2024, DOJ unsealed an indictment in the Northern District of Illinois charging two high-ranking Syrian officials under former President Bashar al-Assad with war crimes. The indictment charges the former Syrian intelligence officials with engaging in a conspiracy to commit cruel and inhuman treatment of civilian detainees, including U.S. citizens, during the course of the Syrian civil war.
• On December 5, 2023, following a joint FBI-HSI investigation, DOJ indicted four persons affiliated with the Russian military for war crimes.  The defendants allegedly interrogated, severely beat, and tortured a U.S. national during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia initiated the case, the first such indictment since the amendment of the War Crimes Act. 

• Empowered Human Rights and Defense. U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) dedicated Human Rights Office continued human rights training and education for partner forces, the implementation of civil-military dialogues including the human rights NGO community, and the integration of human rights considerations into Command exercises.

• Provided Human Rights and Law of Armed Conflict Training. The Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) provided Human Rights and Law of Armed Conflict training to foreign security partner forces that receive resources and support pursuant to 10 U.S.C. Sec. 333.  Over the last year, DIILS faculty conducted numerous advanced-level trainings across dozens of countries and resident courses on a variety of legal topics attended by participants from over 70 countries.

Bolstered Atrocity Prevention and Response

• Issued a National Atrocity Prevention and Response Strategy. The U.S. Government takes timely and effective action to anticipate, prevent, and respond to atrocities, in coordination with partner governments, and international, civil society, and local partners. The White House-led Atrocity Prevention Task Force coordinates these efforts and the United States Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent, and Respond to Atrocities was launched in 2022 to achieve impact through concerted action in countries at risk of atrocities.
• Documented Atrocity Risk. This year’s Elie Wiesel Act Report reflects several Administration priorities.  As part of ongoing work to incorporate women’s rights and inclusion into atrocity prevention efforts, the report incorporates gender-based violence as a potential early warning sign of atrocities and reinforces that conflict-related sexual violence should never be considered an inevitable result of armed conflict.  The report also notes U.S. leadership in training on how to address atrocity risk and critical documentation work through the Conflict Observatory program.

Engaged Multilateral Institutions to Hold Countries to Account

• Re-Engaged with the UN Human Rights System. The United States rejoined the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to highlight and address pressing human rights concerns and to uphold the universal values, aspirations, and principles that have underpinned the UN system since its founding. We also issued a standing invitation to all UN thematic human rights monitors to visit the U.S. and assess our human rights record at home.
• Called Attention to Concerning Human Rights Situations. U.S. leadership led to the establishment of mechanisms through the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations and abuses in situations around the world, including Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Iran, Russia, Sudan, and Ukraine.
• Kept Human Rights Violators Off UN Bodies. The U.S. led successful efforts to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women and deprive Russia of a seat on the Human Rights Council.
• Aided Human Rights Integration in Haiti. U.S. support for the Multinational Security mission (MSS) has been critical in responding to the crisis in Haiti. The MSS and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights established a partnership focused on integrating human rights into security operations since the deployment of the MSS to Haiti.
• Supported Intersex Persons. The U.S. supported the first-ever UN resolution on combatting discrimination, violence, and harmful practices against intersex persons, raising the credibility and influence of intersex advocates and their allies and meaningfully updating how gender is understood in the UN’s work.

Addressed Threats Posed by Transnational Repression

• Combatted Transnational Repression.  The United States worked with multilateral partners to raise awareness, counter the threat, and promote accountability for acts of transnational repression (TNR) —by leading a working group on transnational repression under the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, aiming to raise international awareness of the threat TNR poses, affirming our shared commitment to countering the threat, and sharing best practices and lessons learned. We delivered a statement on behalf of more than 45 countries at the 56th Session of the Human Rights Council to address the urgent and growing threat of transnational repression, and announced the Khashoggi Ban, a policy restricting those engaged in TNR from obtaining U.S. visas and traveling to the United States.

Prevented and Responded to Gender-Based Violence

• Preventing and Responding to Gender-Based Violence Globally. Over the last two fiscal years, the United States maintained the highest-ever level of investment—$250 million—to address gender-based violence globally. This work is guided by the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally. In the third and most recent iteration of the Strategy released in 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking decisive action to further our commitment to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally through programming, policy, and diplomatic efforts. The Strategy also made updates to address 21st century threats, such as online harassment and abuse, and the ways in which climate change exacerbates the risk of gender-based violence.

• Promoted Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. President Biden issued a historic Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in November 2022 directing federal agencies to marshal sanctions authorities to promote justice and accountability specifically for conflict-related sexual violence. The Administration has since issued nearly two dozen sanctions against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence around the globe. This year included a designation of five armed groups and their leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo implicated in sexual violence; two designations in Haiti, one of a former member of Parliament and one of a gang leader responsible for gender-based attacks; an action targeting a Rapid Support Forces commander in Sudan who for CRSV; and sanctions against three former government of Uzbekistan officials for sex trafficking and sexual abuse of minors at a state-run orphanage.
• Supported Documentation of Sexual Violence. In June, Vice President Harris launched the Dignity in Documentation Initiative, which provides support for survivor- and civil society-led efforts to investigate and document CRSV in line with the Murad Code, named for Nobel Laureate and survivor Nadia Murad. Today, we are proud to announce additional aligned commitments to the initiative, including $8 million from the Department of State and $4 million from USAID for a total of over $22 million committed to this work.
• Countered Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence. By founding and co-leading the 14-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, the Administration has advanced global policies to address online safety for women and girls by shaping a range of multilateral policy instruments tackling online harms through the G7, G20, APEC, and UN. The Administration has also invested at least $15 million in targeted funding to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence.  

• Advanced Women, Peace, and Security. The United States is committed to addressing the root causes of violence and conflict as a top national security priority. In 2023, the United States issued a U.S. Strategy and National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which is currently being implemented by the Department of Defense (DOD), USAID, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security. For example, DOD has engaged in Women, Peace, and Security-focused security cooperation activities with Allies and partners to ensure meaningful participation of women in decision making and ensure that crisis and conflict operations do not negatively impact the protection of civilians or their equitable access to relief and recovery resources.

• Defended the Rights of Women and Girls. In October 2022 and February 2023, Secretary Blinken announced a new visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“3C”) to restrict the issuance of visas for current or former Taliban members, members of non-state security groups, and other individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, repressing women and girls in Afghanistan through restrictive policies and violence. In December 2023, the U.S. designated two individuals under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program for repressing women and girls in Afghanistan, including restricting their access to secondary education. The U.S. remains unwavering in our commitment to support the Afghan people, especially Afghan women and girls, in their struggle for an inclusive, stable, peaceful Afghanistan. 

Combatted Hate-fueled Violence

• Launched Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism. The U.S. led “Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism,” represent a set of international best practices for effective public policy against antisemitism. This landmark global effort has been endorsed by 42 countries and multilateral organizations since its introduction in Buenos Aires in July 2024. The United States continues to demonstrate global leadership through ongoing efforts to expand endorsements and deepen adherence.
• Protected LGBTQI+ persons in Uganda. In December 2023, As directed by President Biden, the United States released a fact sheet outlining actions taken to address threats posed by democratic backsliding in Uganda, promote accountability for human rights abuses, and curtail direct assistance to the government.
• Advanced Racial Equity and Justice Globally. The United States has partnered with governments and  international organizations to combat systemic racism, discrimination, violence, and xenophobia globally, including through the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
• Expanded International Disability Rights. The President reestablished the role of Special Advisor on International Disability Rights at the Department of State and actively supported the first-ever G7 Ministerial on Inclusion and Disability in Italy in October of this year, where global leaders discussed disability rights issues related to independent living, artificial intelligence (AI), humanitarian response and emergency management, and sports.

Supported and Sustained Democracy

• Inaugurated the Summit for Democracy. President Biden launched the historic Summit for Democracy in 2021 to strengthen democratic institutions, protect human rights, and accelerate the fight against corruption, both at home and abroad.  Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has taken concrete steps to advance previous commitments and initiatives launched over the past three years in the areas of advancing technology for democracy, media freedom, countering the misuse of technology, and improving financial transparency, gender equity and equality, and rule of law. 
• Fought Anti-Corruption Globally. The Biden-Harris Administration established countering corruption as a “core U.S. national security interest,” and issued the first-ever United States Strategy on Countering Corruption. Since then, the United States has taken action at home and around the world to curb illicit finance, hold corrupt actors accountable, forge multilateral partnerships, and equip frontline leaders to take on transnational corruption.
• Surged Support to Countries experiencing Democratic Openings. In 2024, USAID’s Partnership for Democratic Development (PDD) advanced gender issues and women’s rights across its funded portfolio of programs to improve women’s engagement with and access to municipal services.
• Elevated Technology and Democracy: The Biden-Harris Administration set high standards for the government use of surveillance technologies, including AI and commercial spyware; expanded support for internet freedom technologies and cybersecurity that is essential to human rights defenders; and has used accountability measures, export controls, and voluntary commitments to enlist the private sector to combat authoritarian use of technology. Through the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, endorsed by over sixties countries, and as chair of the Freedom Online Coalition, the Administration strengthened the global commitment to a free and open internet.

• Underscored that respect for human rights is the foundation of safe, secure, and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, the United States signed the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law.
• The Administration developed a Joint Statement on Responsible Government Practices for AI Technologies, to which the 41 countries of the Freedom Online Coalition committed.
• The U.S. government launched the Export Control and Human Rights Initiative under which 26 countries have subscribed to a Code of Conduct by which subscribing states commit to apply export controls to prevent the proliferation of goods, software, and technologies that enable serious human rights abuses. 
• The Administration implemented more than $12 million for programs utilizing AI as a tool to advance democracy, promote human rights and labor rights, and foster justice and accountability.
• In March, President Biden issued an Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence in part to ensure that technology is developed, deployed, and governed consistent with universal human rights, the rule of law, and appropriate legal authorization, safeguards, and oversight, such that it supports, and does not undermine, democracy, civil rights and civil liberties, and public safety. 

• Supported Public Interest Media. In 2024, USAID gave a grant to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) for core operation support to 16 public interest media outlets to investigate corruption and violations of human rights in Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean, including media outlets operating in exile. This support allows organizations to continue their operations and sustain content production to ensure continued access to high-quality journalism. Since 2022, IFPIM has made 45 grants in 22 countries and territories that cumulatively represent more than $15 million in direct funding and support.

• Advanced Responsible Business Practices. Earlier this year, the Biden Administration released the United States’ second National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct, which compiled commitments to promote business practices and supply chains around that world that respect human rights, good governance, and labor standards. The National Action Plan has:

• Brought stakeholder voices to the table through a new Federal Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct, which held its first public meeting on November 14 and will provide ongoing recommendations and consultation to strengthen the U.S. approach to business and human rights.
• Supported businesses to advance human and labor rights due diligence by providing new guidance and resources, including a Labor Rights InfoHub.  
• Promoted access to remedy and protected stakeholders from retaliation in U.S.-supported development finance projects.
• Combatted Industry Labor Abuses. In June 2022, President Biden signed the historic National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses (NSM-11), directing agencies to put their authorities to work to tackle the problem of IUU fishing and associated labor abuses in the seafood supply chain. IUU fishing can take many forms, ranging from the small-scale misreporting of catch, to large-scale, coordinated efforts by transnational crime syndicates that may also involve forced labor and other human rights abuses.

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The post Fact Sheet: For Human Rights Day, Highlighting the Biden-Harris Administration Global Human Rights Accomplishments appeared first on The White House.

Over the last four years, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken action to uphold universal human rights around the world. From protecting brave individuals defending life and liberty to securing some of the largest political prisoner releases in recent history, to holding account those who misuse technologies like commercial spyware for human rights violations and abuses, the Biden-Harris Administration has worked to support human rights defenders, civil society and journalists. Three historic Summits for Democracy generated millions of dollars in commitments from the U.S., international partners, and the private sector to support civil society and investments in democratic renewal. Through our engagement in multilateral organizations, we have held countries that have violated human rights to account, advanced the status of women and girls, and safeguarded protection for LGBTQI+ human rights defenders. The United States is strongest when we protect people fighting for justice for all at home and abroad through these actions:

Protected Human Rights Defenders and Secured the Release of Political Prisoners

• Advocated for the Release of Unjustly Detained Individuals Globally.  The U.S. raised international awareness of the plight of political prisoners and their families and advocated for the release of all unjustly detained individuals worldwide. Notable accomplishments included: working with international partners to secure the release of 16 unjustly detained prisoners held by the Russian government, including four Americans, in the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War and securing the release of 357 Nicaraguan political prisoners, including human rights defenders and Catholic leaders.
• Empowered Journalists, Civil Society, Workers, and Reform-Minded Leaders.  The Department of State protected journalists and promoted media freedom through the Journalism Protection Platform and joint efforts with UNESCO, provided direct financial support to almost 900 civil society organization (CSOs) in 86 countries through the Lifeline: Embattled CSOs Assistance Fund since 2021; promoted inclusive labor markets and protecting the rights of all workers in line with the Presidential Memorandum on Advancing Worker Empowerment, Rights, and High Labor Standards Globally, worked with partners to equip young leaders with essential skills, such as through the Community of Democracies’ Youth Democracy Network; and elevated the voices of Indigenous youth into global civic conversations by establishing the Indigenous Youth Leadership Coalition.
• Supported Local Human Rights Defenders and Organizations through USAID’s Powered by the People (PxP) Award. In 2024, USAID channeled over $2.5 million to human rights defenders, and organizations protecting and promoting human rights across 28 countries. This included providing rapid relocation, emergency legal assistance, digital security, psychosocial support, and a global help desk.
• Sustained Support to Human Rights Defenders in Ukraine. The U.S. continued to support human rights defenders working to promote human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world. For example, since the start of the war, USAID has helped more than 50 civil society organizations, including the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), which documented possible Russian crimes against Ukrainian civilians. In recognition of this work, CCL was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
• Strengthened Civilian Protection. The State Department elevated human rights considerations in security decisions and partnerships, including U.S. arms transfers and security trainings, to higher standards through efforts such as the Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG).
• Expanded Human Rights Programming. In 2024, USAID provided $19.25 million 19 Missions to support human rights defenders and address human rights violations and abuses, combat digital repression and cyber threats faced by HRDs, enhance protection of environmental rights defenders, combat Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and trafficking in persons, support access to justice for victims of human rights violations, and support comprehensive programming to enable persons with disabilities to understand and realize their rights. In 2024, USAID’s Justice, Human Rights, and Security Rapid Response Award supported 20 USAID Missions nearly $7 million for rapid response activities to meet urgent crises.
• Worked to protect Human Rights Online. Outlined best practices and actions that online platforms can take to implement for robust support for human rights defenders under threat through the Guidance for Online Platforms on Protecting Human Rights Defenders Online.

Mobilized Action to Address the Misuse of Commercial Spyware

• Protected Against Commercial Spyware Misuse. The Biden-Harris Administration advanced a whole-of-government approach to curb the misuse and proliferation of commercial spyware. The President’s Executive Order set standards and safeguards for the domestic government use of these commercial surveillance tools, while the novel application of visa restrictions—including dozens of new designations announced this week, financial sanctions, and trade restrictions has discouraged commercial spyware companies from targeting U.S. citizens or undermining human rights globally.  The Administration has successfully internationalized this pioneering effort through the Joint Statement on Efforts to Counter the Proliferation and Misuse of Commercial Spyware, now endorsed by 22 countries with this week’s formal addition of Latvia. The U.S. has also driven global consensus through language in the Human Rights Council resolution on the Promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the Internet, which for the first time recognizes the threat commercial spyware misuse poses to democratic values and the exercise of human rights. The United States has committed $3 million in programming for capacity building, research, and advocacy for the private sector, academia, and government partners.

Upheld Human Rights and Accountability

• Expanded Tools for Accountability.

• To date this year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated more than 100 individuals and entities associated with human rights abuse across more than 20 jurisdictions. These actions targeted an array of activities, including national and transnational repression, forced disappearances and hostage taking, gender-based violence, forced labor and human trafficking, and human rights abuses perpetrated by terrorist groups and criminal organizations.
• The State Department publicly designated over 80 officials for their involvement in gross violations of human rights, sanctioning over 240 individuals and entities for serious human rights abuses under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program, and taking steps to impose visa restrictions on over 8,000 individuals for undermining democracy, repressing marginalized groups, transnational repression, and other activity adverse to U.S. interests, including additional actions announced today.
• The State Department also released business advisories to highlight the legal, financial, and reputational risks posed to businesses,  including  those operating in Russia and Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine, and Hong Kong.

• Fought Political Repression. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) worked to target political repression in 2024 through related actions in Georgia, Iran, Burma, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.  OFAC designated an international assassination network led by a narcotrafficker operating at the behest of the Iranian government in January and, in March, the designation of a commercial spyware consortium that distributed spyware technology that was used to target Americans. 

• Reduced Human Trafficking and Forced Labor. OFAC focused on actions to disrupt human trafficking and forced labor throughout 2024, including actions targeting the Venezuela-based criminal organization; a Syria-based narco-trafficker also under legal prosecution for human trafficking; and a Cambodian businessman and four companies he owns for forced labor in online virtual currency investment cyber scam centers.

• Administered International Justice.
• The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) secured historic sentences in three high profile cases this year concerning human rights violations in Iraq, Ethiopia, and Croatia. In addition, the Department charged three individuals with fraud related to their alleged participation in human rights violations in Rwanda, Syria, and Bosnia.
• On December 9, 2024, DOJ unsealed an indictment in the Northern District of Illinois charging two high-ranking Syrian officials under former President Bashar al-Assad with war crimes. The indictment charges the former Syrian intelligence officials with engaging in a conspiracy to commit cruel and inhuman treatment of civilian detainees, including U.S. citizens, during the course of the Syrian civil war.
• On December 5, 2023, following a joint FBI-HSI investigation, DOJ indicted four persons affiliated with the Russian military for war crimes.  The defendants allegedly interrogated, severely beat, and tortured a U.S. national during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  The Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia initiated the case, the first such indictment since the amendment of the War Crimes Act. 

• Empowered Human Rights and Defense. U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) dedicated Human Rights Office continued human rights training and education for partner forces, the implementation of civil-military dialogues including the human rights NGO community, and the integration of human rights considerations into Command exercises.

• Provided Human Rights and Law of Armed Conflict Training. The Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) provided Human Rights and Law of Armed Conflict training to foreign security partner forces that receive resources and support pursuant to 10 U.S.C. Sec. 333.  Over the last year, DIILS faculty conducted numerous advanced-level trainings across dozens of countries and resident courses on a variety of legal topics attended by participants from over 70 countries.

Bolstered Atrocity Prevention and Response

• Issued a National Atrocity Prevention and Response Strategy. The U.S. Government takes timely and effective action to anticipate, prevent, and respond to atrocities, in coordination with partner governments, and international, civil society, and local partners. The White House-led Atrocity Prevention Task Force coordinates these efforts and the United States Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent, and Respond to Atrocities was launched in 2022 to achieve impact through concerted action in countries at risk of atrocities.
• Documented Atrocity Risk. This year’s Elie Wiesel Act Report reflects several Administration priorities.  As part of ongoing work to incorporate women’s rights and inclusion into atrocity prevention efforts, the report incorporates gender-based violence as a potential early warning sign of atrocities and reinforces that conflict-related sexual violence should never be considered an inevitable result of armed conflict.  The report also notes U.S. leadership in training on how to address atrocity risk and critical documentation work through the Conflict Observatory program.

Engaged Multilateral Institutions to Hold Countries to Account

• Re-Engaged with the UN Human Rights System. The United States rejoined the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to highlight and address pressing human rights concerns and to uphold the universal values, aspirations, and principles that have underpinned the UN system since its founding. We also issued a standing invitation to all UN thematic human rights monitors to visit the U.S. and assess our human rights record at home.
• Called Attention to Concerning Human Rights Situations. U.S. leadership led to the establishment of mechanisms through the UN Human Rights Council to investigate human rights violations and abuses in situations around the world, including Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Iran, Russia, Sudan, and Ukraine.
• Kept Human Rights Violators Off UN Bodies. The U.S. led successful efforts to remove Iran from the Commission on the Status of Women and deprive Russia of a seat on the Human Rights Council.
• Aided Human Rights Integration in Haiti. U.S. support for the Multinational Security mission (MSS) has been critical in responding to the crisis in Haiti. The MSS and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights established a partnership focused on integrating human rights into security operations since the deployment of the MSS to Haiti.
• Supported Intersex Persons. The U.S. supported the first-ever UN resolution on combatting discrimination, violence, and harmful practices against intersex persons, raising the credibility and influence of intersex advocates and their allies and meaningfully updating how gender is understood in the UN’s work.

Addressed Threats Posed by Transnational Repression

• Combatted Transnational Repression.  The United States worked with multilateral partners to raise awareness, counter the threat, and promote accountability for acts of transnational repression (TNR) —by leading a working group on transnational repression under the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, aiming to raise international awareness of the threat TNR poses, affirming our shared commitment to countering the threat, and sharing best practices and lessons learned. We delivered a statement on behalf of more than 45 countries at the 56th Session of the Human Rights Council to address the urgent and growing threat of transnational repression, and announced the Khashoggi Ban, a policy restricting those engaged in TNR from obtaining U.S. visas and traveling to the United States.

Prevented and Responded to Gender-Based Violence

• Preventing and Responding to Gender-Based Violence Globally. Over the last two fiscal years, the United States maintained the highest-ever level of investment—$250 million—to address gender-based violence globally. This work is guided by the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally. In the third and most recent iteration of the Strategy released in 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking decisive action to further our commitment to prevent and respond to gender-based violence globally through programming, policy, and diplomatic efforts. The Strategy also made updates to address 21st century threats, such as online harassment and abuse, and the ways in which climate change exacerbates the risk of gender-based violence.

• Promoted Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence. President Biden issued a historic Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in November 2022 directing federal agencies to marshal sanctions authorities to promote justice and accountability specifically for conflict-related sexual violence. The Administration has since issued nearly two dozen sanctions against perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence around the globe. This year included a designation of five armed groups and their leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo implicated in sexual violence; two designations in Haiti, one of a former member of Parliament and one of a gang leader responsible for gender-based attacks; an action targeting a Rapid Support Forces commander in Sudan who for CRSV; and sanctions against three former government of Uzbekistan officials for sex trafficking and sexual abuse of minors at a state-run orphanage.
• Supported Documentation of Sexual Violence. In June, Vice President Harris launched the Dignity in Documentation Initiative, which provides support for survivor- and civil society-led efforts to investigate and document CRSV in line with the Murad Code, named for Nobel Laureate and survivor Nadia Murad. Today, we are proud to announce additional aligned commitments to the initiative, including $8 million from the Department of State and $4 million from USAID for a total of over $22 million committed to this work.
• Countered Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence. By founding and co-leading the 14-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, the Administration has advanced global policies to address online safety for women and girls by shaping a range of multilateral policy instruments tackling online harms through the G7, G20, APEC, and UN. The Administration has also invested at least $15 million in targeted funding to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated gender-based violence.  

• Advanced Women, Peace, and Security. The United States is committed to addressing the root causes of violence and conflict as a top national security priority. In 2023, the United States issued a U.S. Strategy and National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which is currently being implemented by the Department of Defense (DOD), USAID, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security. For example, DOD has engaged in Women, Peace, and Security-focused security cooperation activities with Allies and partners to ensure meaningful participation of women in decision making and ensure that crisis and conflict operations do not negatively impact the protection of civilians or their equitable access to relief and recovery resources.

• Defended the Rights of Women and Girls. In October 2022 and February 2023, Secretary Blinken announced a new visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“3C”) to restrict the issuance of visas for current or former Taliban members, members of non-state security groups, and other individuals believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, repressing women and girls in Afghanistan through restrictive policies and violence. In December 2023, the U.S. designated two individuals under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program for repressing women and girls in Afghanistan, including restricting their access to secondary education. The U.S. remains unwavering in our commitment to support the Afghan people, especially Afghan women and girls, in their struggle for an inclusive, stable, peaceful Afghanistan. 

Combatted Hate-fueled Violence

• Launched Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism. The U.S. led “Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism,” represent a set of international best practices for effective public policy against antisemitism. This landmark global effort has been endorsed by 42 countries and multilateral organizations since its introduction in Buenos Aires in July 2024. The United States continues to demonstrate global leadership through ongoing efforts to expand endorsements and deepen adherence.
• Protected LGBTQI+ persons in Uganda. In December 2023, As directed by President Biden, the United States released a fact sheet outlining actions taken to address threats posed by democratic backsliding in Uganda, promote accountability for human rights abuses, and curtail direct assistance to the government.
• Advanced Racial Equity and Justice Globally. The United States has partnered with governments and  international organizations to combat systemic racism, discrimination, violence, and xenophobia globally, including through the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
• Expanded International Disability Rights. The President reestablished the role of Special Advisor on International Disability Rights at the Department of State and actively supported the first-ever G7 Ministerial on Inclusion and Disability in Italy in October of this year, where global leaders discussed disability rights issues related to independent living, artificial intelligence (AI), humanitarian response and emergency management, and sports.

Supported and Sustained Democracy

• Inaugurated the Summit for Democracy. President Biden launched the historic Summit for Democracy in 2021 to strengthen democratic institutions, protect human rights, and accelerate the fight against corruption, both at home and abroad.  Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has taken concrete steps to advance previous commitments and initiatives launched over the past three years in the areas of advancing technology for democracy, media freedom, countering the misuse of technology, and improving financial transparency, gender equity and equality, and rule of law. 
• Fought Anti-Corruption Globally. The Biden-Harris Administration established countering corruption as a “core U.S. national security interest,” and issued the first-ever United States Strategy on Countering Corruption. Since then, the United States has taken action at home and around the world to curb illicit finance, hold corrupt actors accountable, forge multilateral partnerships, and equip frontline leaders to take on transnational corruption.
• Surged Support to Countries experiencing Democratic Openings. In 2024, USAID’s Partnership for Democratic Development (PDD) advanced gender issues and women’s rights across its funded portfolio of programs to improve women’s engagement with and access to municipal services.
• Elevated Technology and Democracy: The Biden-Harris Administration set high standards for the government use of surveillance technologies, including AI and commercial spyware; expanded support for internet freedom technologies and cybersecurity that is essential to human rights defenders; and has used accountability measures, export controls, and voluntary commitments to enlist the private sector to combat authoritarian use of technology. Through the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, endorsed by over sixties countries, and as chair of the Freedom Online Coalition, the Administration strengthened the global commitment to a free and open internet.

• Underscored that respect for human rights is the foundation of safe, secure, and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence, the United States signed the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention on AI and Human Rights, Democracy, and the Rule of Law.
• The Administration developed a Joint Statement on Responsible Government Practices for AI Technologies, to which the 41 countries of the Freedom Online Coalition committed.
• The U.S. government launched the Export Control and Human Rights Initiative under which 26 countries have subscribed to a Code of Conduct by which subscribing states commit to apply export controls to prevent the proliferation of goods, software, and technologies that enable serious human rights abuses. 
• The Administration implemented more than $12 million for programs utilizing AI as a tool to advance democracy, promote human rights and labor rights, and foster justice and accountability.
• In March, President Biden issued an Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence in part to ensure that technology is developed, deployed, and governed consistent with universal human rights, the rule of law, and appropriate legal authorization, safeguards, and oversight, such that it supports, and does not undermine, democracy, civil rights and civil liberties, and public safety. 

• Supported Public Interest Media. In 2024, USAID gave a grant to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) for core operation support to 16 public interest media outlets to investigate corruption and violations of human rights in Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean, including media outlets operating in exile. This support allows organizations to continue their operations and sustain content production to ensure continued access to high-quality journalism. Since 2022, IFPIM has made 45 grants in 22 countries and territories that cumulatively represent more than $15 million in direct funding and support.

• Advanced Responsible Business Practices. Earlier this year, the Biden Administration released the United States’ second National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct, which compiled commitments to promote business practices and supply chains around that world that respect human rights, good governance, and labor standards. The National Action Plan has:

• Brought stakeholder voices to the table through a new Federal Advisory Committee on Responsible Business Conduct, which held its first public meeting on November 14 and will provide ongoing recommendations and consultation to strengthen the U.S. approach to business and human rights.
• Supported businesses to advance human and labor rights due diligence by providing new guidance and resources, including a Labor Rights InfoHub.  
• Promoted access to remedy and protected stakeholders from retaliation in U.S.-supported development finance projects.
• Combatted Industry Labor Abuses. In June 2022, President Biden signed the historic National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses (NSM-11), directing agencies to put their authorities to work to tackle the problem of IUU fishing and associated labor abuses in the seafood supply chain. IUU fishing can take many forms, ranging from the small-scale misreporting of catch, to large-scale, coordinated efforts by transnational crime syndicates that may also involve forced labor and other human rights abuses.

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Via Teleconference

10:45 A.M. EST

MODERATOR:  Hi, everyone.  Thanks for joining our gaggle today.  Kirby has a few words here at the top, and then we’ll get into your questions.

MR. KIRBY:  Hey, everybody.  Good morning.  I know you’re all still focused on the news coming out of Syria, as are we.  Just a couple of points at the top. 

We continue to carefully monitor developments there, as you would expect that we are.  The President is staying fully briefed by his national security team, and that will remain the case going forward.  This is something that he had been — and the team had been watching develop over the last week or so, and certainly he’s going to stay completely up to speed and informed on it.  As a matter of fact, he’s also, as you know, reaching out to counterparts in the region.  He spoke with King Abdullah yesterday. 

I don’t have any additional calls to read out at this time, but I think it’s safe to say that he will be — he will stay in contact with our counterparts in the region.  And he has directed the national security team to do the same. 

Jake Sullivan, our National Security Advisor, will be traveling to Israel tomorrow.  Certainly there will be a lot on the agenda in those discussions, but Syria will no doubt be at the top of that list. 

And then, I think you can expect to see, in coming days, other Cabinet-level and other national security-level individuals traveling to the region and/or having conversations with their counterparts.  So, stay tuned for that.

Now, as for what’s actually happening on the ground, it remains an open question exactly how this is going to play out politically.  As you know, there are multiple rebel groups that are in Damascus right now, multiple opposition groups that are involved.  And as the President said, they’re all saying the right things, but we’re going to have to watch and see what they actually do. 

We want to make sure that, at the end of this, whatever the governing authority looks like, whatever institutions are preserved — and again, we noted that the opposition groups have made clear that they want the Syrian army, for instance, to stay intact — that the Syrian people get to determine what their future looks like and that whatever processes are put in place, they are Syrian-led.  And we want to assist in that, and we will certainly do that internally and externally. 

Internally to the region, we have the ability to communicate with the opposition groups, and we’ll continue to do that.  And we also, as I already highlighted, will maintain open communications with counterparts and interlocutors in the region but outside Syria.

We want to make sure that the aspirations of the Syrian people are fully met.  They have suffered enough over 14 years.  And we’re going to be working very, very hard to do that, particularly through existing U.N.-led processes.  But it’s got to be — ultimately, it’s got to be a Syrian-led evolution here towards better and more representative governance. 

We believe it is in our interest, our national security interest, that Syria be stable and secure and that, again, the Syrian people are able to determine their future.  It’s in our interest in the region. 

It is also in our interest that we continue to put pressure on ISIS, and so the counter-ISIS mission by our troops in Syria continues.  The President talked about a wave of strikes we conducted on Sunday, 75-somewhat strikes on ISIS camps and facilities.  You can expect that that kind of activity will continue.  We don’t want to give ISIS an opportunity to exploit what’s going on.  They love nothing more than ungoverned space.  And back to my first point, we want to make sure that all of Syria is properly governed and that the Syrian people, again, have a say in that. 

So, the pressure on ISIS will absolutely continue, because that, too, is very much in our national security interest, and we’ll stay at that. 

I want to just briefly also — as I’m sure you guys will ask, and so let me just let you know — we don’t have any additional information on Austin Tice.  This development could present an opportunity for us to glean more information about him, his whereabouts, his condition. 

But as you and I are speaking here this morning, I can’t report that we have any additional context.  We will work this, as we have, very, very hard.  And we’ll keep the Tice family as informed as we possibly can.  We want to see him home with his family where he belongs.  The President mentioned that as well over the weekend, and I can assure you that we are pushing as hard as we can to learn as much as we can, but I don’t have any additional context to share with you today. 

I think it’s important, before I leave the topic of Syria, to just take a step back and review some of how we got here.  And it is true, I think unequivocally true, that much of the developments that we’ve seen in Syria is an outgrowth of the fact that Assad’s biggest supporters, Russia and Iran, are significantly weakened now.  And that is tied directly, as the President said, to unflagging American support for Israel in their fight against Hamas and in the effort to secure a ceasefire with Hezbollah.  And it is absolutely an outgrowth of our support for Ukraine that has consistently weakened Russian military forces and certainly caused the Russians to refocus the great locus of their military efforts on that war in Ukraine that they started. 

And there’s just no way to look at it and see otherwise.  They are both significantly distracted and weakened by the efforts in the Middle East and in Europe and American support for our allies and partners in both places. 

It isn’t just that Russia and Iran were unwilling to help Assad after 14 years; it is that they were unable to.  And again, the United States played a major role in that. 

Lastly, if I could, just a programming note.  Jake will be meeting this afternoon with hostage families, right on the eve of his travel to Israel.  And as I mentioned earlier, certainly Syria is going to be at the top of the agenda.  But without question, the most important thing Jake is going to want to talk to the Israelis about is how we can try to get a hostage deal in place so that we can get their loved ones back home where they belong, get them the answers that they deserve and that they need.  And so, he’s going to be having another opportunity to have that conversation with them today.

I would remind that this has been a regular drumbeat for Jake.  He does this on a routine basis, keeping them informed and updated.  I am not in a position today where I can tell you that we have a deal that is on the brink of completion; that is not where we are.  But it is fair to say that we are working this extremely hard.  We do think there’s an opportunity here to get a hostage deal in place, to get these families reunited, to get a surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.  But again, there’s an awful lot of work that still has to be done.  Hamas continues to be the obstacle to that outcome, but we’re pressing on it really, really hard.

With that, I can take some questions.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our first question will go to Aamer with the AP.

Q    Hey.  Thank you both.  Just had a couple of Syria follow-ups.  Does the administration have any concerns about Israel moving its troops into the buffer zone in Golan Heights?  And also, with Israel’s military operations in Syria, does it have the U.S. blessing to attack chemical strategic weapon sites?

And then, just finally, you sort of talked about the nexus of Ukraine in the fall of Assad.  Has the administration, in its interactions with the incoming administration, been making that argument and perhaps trying to make the pitch for why there needs to continue to be Ukraine support? 

And if there’s anything generally you could offer on the coordination briefing of the incoming Trump administration, how that’s gone down with what’s going on in Syria.  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, Aamer, there’s an awful lot there. 

Look, on the Israeli operations over and around the Golan Heights, I’m going to let the Israelis speak to that.  I would point you to what they’ve already said, that these are exigent operations to eliminate what they believe are imminent threats to their security, and we certainly recognize that they live in a tough neighborhood and that they have, as always, the right to defend themselves.  But I’m going to let them speak to what they’re doing and the particulars of it. 

There is, as you know, a 1974 disengagement agreement that that all parties have signed up to.  We obviously still support that agreement, and we’re in close touch with our Israeli counterparts here, as these things kind of develop.

I will say, just on the chemical weapons piece, I mean, we do know that Assad had preserved at least some capability that he had proven in the past willing to use it on his people.  And, look, you know, there’s a lot of uncertainty right now, as I said in my opening statement, about how the political situation is going to unfold.  Lots of different rebel opposition groups involved here.  Not all of them are groups that we countenance, at least not officially. 

So, we too have concerns about the existence and potential use of chemical agents in Syria.  So, I think I’d just leave it at that.

As for your question about the discussions with the new team, let me put it this way: Nothing that we’re doing and nothing that we’re saying ought to come as a surprise to the incoming team.  We have the ability and have had conversations with appropriate officials in the incoming Trump team, particularly about what’s going on in Syria but also what’s going on in Ukraine and in the Middle East writ large.  So those conversations have happened.  They are still happening.  And I have every expectation that, going forward, Jake Sullivan and other leaders here in the National Security Council will, as appropriate, continue to keep the incoming team informed. 

They will decide for themselves what policies they might want to keep in place, what approaches they might want to continue and which ones they won’t.  I can’t speak for what their prerogatives are going to be.  All I can speak to is what our prerogatives are, and I kind of lay a little bit of them out in my opening statement. 

We believe it is in our national security interest that Syria emerge from this as a stable, secure, sovereign state; that the Syrian people have a say in determining what that sovereignty looks like, what their government looks like.  It’s got to be a process that meets their aspirations as they define those aspirations.  That’s in our national security interest.

And it’s also in our national security interest that ISIS can’t exploit it and that the pressure needs to be kept up on that group. 

So, that’s — we’ve been very, very open about that with all of you.  We’ve been open about it with ourselves.  The President has made sure that we’re focused on those two national security interests.  And we certainly have been open about it in our conversations, as appropriate, with Trump officials that are coming in.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Michael with McClatchy.

Q    Thanks, Sam.  John, you just mentioned (inaudible) on Austin Tice’s whereabouts and condition.  Obviously, the President said the administration believes that he’s alive, on Sunday.  Can you help just square that circle for us?  How do you know that he’s alive if you don’t know where he is or his condition?  And do you have high-confidence sources, like the Tice family has said, telling you that he’s alive and was being held in the Damascus area?  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  Yeah, look, I’m obviously going to be a little careful here, because, you know, we want to see him back with his family, and I’m not going to get into intelligence information here in an on-the-record gaggle. 

I would just tell you that our going assumption is that he’s still alive; that we have no indication, no information to the contrary.  But we also don’t have complete information about where he is or what his condition is.  So, I’m just being as honest with you as I can.  No indication that he isn’t alive, but also no indication about where he is or what his condition is. 

And that is why, as I said in my opening statement, we believe that the developments in Syria could present an opportunity to gain more context, more information, which could then potentially give us options for how to move forward.  But the goal remains the same: We want to get him back to his family, where he belongs. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Andrea Mitchell with NBC.

Q    Hi, John.  Thank you.  With reference also to what the Israelis are doing, that buffer zone, if you could be a little bit more — do you think that these are appropriate defensive moves?  Are you at all concerned, if they’re not temporary, that this could provoke other reactions from other neighbors?  In particular, what concerns might you have about what Turkey does with the PKK and others, including the SDF, whom we support in the northeast region?  Thank you very much. 

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks, Andrea.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record — again, we support this disengagement agreement from 1974.  I’ll let the Israelis speak to what they’re doing. 

The only thing I would say differently or additionally to what I said before on this question to Aamer is that, as things go forward, what we want to see from all actors inside Syria and outside Syria are actions that help the Syrian people get to governance that they can believe in and governance that, again, meets their aspirations.  We don’t want to see any actor, inside or outside, take actions or do things or espouse policies or programs that run afoul of that process.  And that’s why the President is going to stay engaged with our counterparts outside Syria, and we are going to maintain communications with those inside Syria to make sure that that’s where we go.

Again, I’d point you back to what the Israelis have said.  This is an exigent move.  They’ve said publicly that they don’t envision this being some sort of a long-term set of operations.  And so, I think I’ll just — I’ll leave it there.  We don’t want to see any actor, again, move themselves in such a way that makes it harder for the Syrian people to get at legitimate governance. 

And then, you know, you asked a little bit about the Turks, which is sort of a tangential thing to what you’re — I think your first question.

Look, number one, the Turks have a legitimate counterterrorism threat that they too have a right to deal with; they too have a right to defend their citizens and their territory against terrorist attacks.  And they have come under those kinds of terrorist attacks in the not-so-distant past.  So we recognize they have that right, and they’re an important NATO Ally. 

We have interest, as I said, in going after ISIS, and that means partnering with the Syrian Democratic Forces.  And that will continue.  And where those two goals overlap, or potentially conflict, we will have — as we have, we will have the appropriate conversations with the Turks about how both those outcomes can be achieved.  And I think I’ll just leave it there.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to David Sanger with the New York Times.

Q    Thanks, John.  Two questions for you on this.  First is, there was a brief reference before to the chemical weapons action that Israel is taking, and they’ve also announced that they sank whatever there was of the Syrian navy overnight as well.  Is the U.S. providing intel?  And obviously, we’ve been tracking their chemical weapons sites for more years than I can think.  Is there any U.S. help going on to them, even if it’s just intel support and so forth?

And then the second just goes to your argument that because of the U.S. actions that have weakened the Russians and the Iranians, and the Iranians’ inability to strike Israel, you thought that the administration made it possible for all of this to happen.  I’m sure you’ve heard the alternative argument here, which is: Had Netanyahu listened to President Biden’s advice and not attacked Hezbollah, which we were discouraging him from doing for fear of a wider war, that, in fact, it’s unlikely that you would have seen Assad fall.  So I was just wondering if you would just take that head on.

MR. KIRBY:  Yeah.  I’m not going to — as you know, we have robust intelligence-sharing with Israel, as you might expect we would, and I’m not going to characterize what that looks like. 

I’ve already kind of responded to the issue about our view of what they’re doing.  And again, I’d point you back to what they’ve said, that these are exigent circumstances and non-permanent operations that they’re conducting.

On the counterargument, as you put it, for going after Hezbollah: Again, I think you need to take a step back here.  And I don’t think it’s — I don’t think that anybody should overemphasize one particular operation, whether it’s against Hamas or against Hezbollah, as being the game changer here.  It is the sum total of American support for Israel and their ability to defend themselves.  And it is very much — and this is a point that I think is getting lost here, David — very much this ceasefire, in fact, that we mediated between Israel and Lebanon, and Hezbollah, that sent a strong signal to people in the region that Hezbollah was done, Hezbollah was out of it.  They weren’t going to come to Hamas’s assistance, and Iran wasn’t going to be able to rely on them.  And don’t mistake for a moment that there weren’t groups in Syria that paid attention to the fact that Hezbollah was no longer in the fight. 

But I think the fact that in the aggregate we have been robust in our support of Israel’s right to defend itself, and backing that up with real arms and ammunition, as well as diplomatic efforts, played a real role here.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Karen with the Washington Post. 

Q    Just to (inaudible), as you say, beat a dead horse: On the Israeli actions in Syria, the U.N. Envoy for Syria gave a very strong statement this morning about what the Israelis are doing.  They’re both in the disengagement zone and (inaudible) in Syrian territory itself — I mean, they’re in Quneitra — and some of the air strikes.  And said, “This has to stop.”  You said you recognize the disengagement agreement.  You said, ask the Israelis what they’re doing.  The Israelis have said what they’re doing.  The question is not what are the Israelis doing.  The question is does the United States agree with it.

And separately, on the north, Turkey and the SNA have said that their forces have pushed the SDF out of Manbij and across the Euphrates River.  The SDF said this morning that that’s not true, that there is fighting going on in Manbij.  Does the United States believe that the SDF should just move across the river and let the Turks take that over?  Or what is our position on that particular (inaudible), not only in and around Manbij but other places?

MR. KIRBY:  On the first question, Karen, I really — at the risk of just repeating what I’ve said before, which I’m sure nobody wants to hear again, I really don’t have anything more to add.  I’ve addressed this question about Israel’s operations in and around and over the Golan Heights, and I’m just going to leave it there.

On your second question, we’re not in a position to verify the exact operational status of Manbij.  We have been in close contact with the Turks about this, and certainly remain in close contact with the Syrian Democratic Forces about trying to make sure they stay focused on the counter-ISIS mission that we are partnered with them on.  That’s our priority, and we’re going to continue to do that. 

And one of the reasons why we have said publicly in the past that some of these operations elsewhere along that border, conducted by Turkish military forces, are problematic is because it does have that risk of pulling the SDF away from the counter-ISIS mission, which we don’t want to see happen.  And those are conversations that we’re having with the Turks as well. 

And as I said in my opening statement, you’re going to see continued outreach by the national security team with counterparts in the region about what’s happening in Syria.  And I can assure you that some of those conversations are going to be with our Turkish counterparts as well.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Amy with Foreign Policy.

Q    Thanks.  On the call on Sunday night with a senior administration official, if I recall, they said that the U.S. has contacts with all groups in Syria, which presumably includes, then, HTS.  Could you just give us more detail on what those interactions have been like, what channels you’re using?  And have you explicitly communicated what steps you’d like to see from them to see them get delisted as a terror group?

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not going to go into great detail about what the vehicles actually look like.  There are some opposition rebel groups that we have communicated directly with for many, many years.  There’s open lines of communication, and they stay open and we use them. 

Now, there are other groups where we communicate in various other ways, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly.  But I don’t think it’s helpful for me to go into the mechanisms that are in place at this early stage. 

I would just reiterate what the senior administration official said, which is absolutely true: We do have ways to communicate with all of them, and we are pulling on those ways, as you would expect that we would. 

And then, your second question sort of implies that we’re on a path towards delisting.  And I would just say that there’s no — there are no discussions right now about changing the policy with respect to HTS, but we are watching what they do.  As the President said, Mr. al-Jolani and others are saying all the right things.  This only just happened within the last couple of days, so we got to watch and see what they actually do and the degree to which they make good on their pledges. 

So we’re just not at a point now where we can have a serious discussion about delisting anyone at this point.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Arlette with CNN.

Q    Thank you.  If I could just touch again on the communications with these rebel groups.  Has the U.S. specifically spoken with Mohammed al-Bashir since he’s been named the caretaker, or are there plans to either directly or through an intermediary?

And you also talked a bit about how there’s coordination with the Trump team on all of these topics relating to the Middle East.  Does President Biden specifically plan to speak with President-elect Trump about the situation in Syria since Sunday?

MR. KIRBY:  I don’t have any conversations with al-Bashir to speak to, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do: I will take that question.  I’m not aware of any conversations that anybody has had with him at this early stage, but I’ll take the question.

And then, I don’t have any additional conversations with President-elect Trump to speak to at this point.  I would say that we remain in touch with his key incoming — the people he’s designated as his key national security team leaders, and certainly that includes Jake’s ongoing conversations with Congressman Waltz.  But I don’t have any specific conversations with President Trump to speak to at this time.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Lara with the Wall Street Journal.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for doing this.  I just wanted to follow up on my colleague’s question about your discussions with Turkey.  I’m wondering if you’ve specifically — if the administration has specifically spoken with them about refraining from attacks on the SDF, particularly in the northeast.  We’ve seen reports that they’re attacking Kobani today, so I’m wondering if those talks are going on through diplomatic channels.

MR. KIRBY:  I won’t get into the details of the discussions, Lara, but as I indicated, we have and will remain in close touch with our Turkish counterparts to deconflict as best we can and to make clear what we believe our national security interests are in Syria.  And as I said in my opening statement, one of those is the counter-ISIS mission, which does require partnering with the SDF.

Q    And then also, just — I wanted to follow up on the chemical weapons question as well.  The Israelis have said that they’re making some moves to ensure that chemical weapons don’t — Assad’s chemical weapons don’t end up in the wrong hands.  Does the U.S. have any role in this at the moment?

MR. KIRBY:  I think I sort of dealt with this question a little bit earlier.  I mean, we’re not involved in the Israeli operations that they’re conducting.  These are Israeli operations, and I’m going to let them speak to them.

Again, we remind that the Israelis have made clear these are temporary measures to ensure their own security.  They have a right to defend themselves.  And as I said earlier, you know, we certainly share concerns about the potential existence of and/or potential use of chemical weapons in Syria.  And I think I’m just going to leave it at that. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Robbie with Politico.

Q    Hey.  Thanks for doing this.  First, what’s the White House’s view of how Assad’s fall, if at all, has altered the prospect for hostage talks with Sullivan going to Israel, even indirectly?

And second, going off of Lara’s question on the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, as you know, the Kurds oversee about 50,000 ISIS detainees and their families in those camps in northeast Syria.  Are you urging Turkey to halt — to urge its own militias to halt that offensive against Kurdish forces?  And is there any fear of instability in the northeast risking the security of those camps?  Thanks. 

MR. KIRBY:  I’m sorry, what was your first question?  I missed it.

Q    Just on — how has the fall of Assad, if at all, altered the prospect for hostage talks with regards to Gaza, even indirectly?  You talked about Sullivan going to the region, possibly new pathways to negotiations there.

MR. KIRBY:  Well, look, Hamas has got to be looking out at the world today and realizing that the cavalry is not coming to rescue them.  And so, one would hope that recent developments in Syria reinforce for them that they are just increasingly isolated and ought to take a deal. 

So, certainly, when Jake goes to talk about the potential for a new hostage deal, he goes with, obviously, the developments of the last few days in the background of all that as context.  And it remains to be seen whether Hamas will move, but they absolutely ought to move because there is nobody coming to their assistance.  They can’t rely on Hezbollah.  They certainly can’t rely on Iran.  And this is the time to make a deal.  So we’ll see what happens.  They have consistently been an obstacle on that.

And then, on your second question, we are absolutely concerned about these detention facilities in Syria.  They’re not — you mentioned some in the north and the east.  There’s actually some in the north and the west as well.  Some of these detention facilities do house ISIS fighters, largely of a lower level, but nevertheless ISIS fighters.  And so, we are talking to all of our counterparts, including the Turks, about the status of those detention facilities and about our collective concern of the potential for them to be opened up or for people to be able to get out. 

Now, I will remind — or maybe you know this — I mean, most of them in the east are run by the SDF, who are our partners.  And so, you know, we know we can rely on their ability to continue to properly safeguard those facilities, the ones that are in the east.  But it is a concern, no question about it, and it’s part of the conversations that we’re having.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Keleigh with NewsNation.

Q    Hi, John.  Thanks for taking my question.  Kind of following up on President Biden and then President-elect Trump, both on, you know, foreign policy, kind of talking about different developments, either with Syria or in other places, I’m just curious how this may affect or have an impact on the remaining 41 days or so of President Biden trying to cement his foreign policy legacy.  So, this in regard to Syria as well as in other conflicts.

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not really sure how to answer that one, except to say that, as I sort of mentioned at the beginning, we believe that developments in Syria very much prove the case of President Biden’s assertive foreign policy and our constant and unrelenting support for partners and allies.

One of the things that he started doing at the very beginning was revitalizing alliances and partnerships that, as we came into office, we believed had been let to lapse, or disrespected or ignored, and he turned that around to a fare-thee-well.

We have closer relations in the Indo-Pacific than we’ve ever had before and improved trilateral cooperation between Japan and South Korea.  We have the AUKUS deal, which is now putting Australia on a path to a nuclear-powered submarine.  NATO is bigger and stronger than it’s ever been before.  And where there weren’t alliances, President Biden created coalitions to get things done, such as the 50-plus nations to go support Ukraine and the 20-plus nations that are helping us in the Red Sea defend against Houthi attacks against commercial shipping. 

I think what the President is focused on with the time that he has left is continuing to use this assertive foreign policy and the advantage that our alliances and partnerships give us to see better outcomes.  We’re starting to see bet- — well, you know, certainly it’s early goings in Syria, but we believe that this assertive foreign policy has impacted events in Syria.  It remains to be seen where it’s going to go, but also to finish

so many of the things that we started, and one of those things is to try to get a ceasefire deal — or, I’m sorry, a hostage deal with Hamas. 

But, I mean, my goodness, just since the election, you know, we’ve brokered a ceasefire with Lebanon, between Israel and Lebanon.  And he cemented a huge economic opportunity in Africa with the Lobito rail corridor, which you all probably saw last week.  And we secured deals with China on artificial intelligence.  And we brought additional people that were wrongfully detained from China back home.  And all this is just since, you know, Election Day. 

So what the President is focused on is, with the time he has left, continuing to move these balls forward.  And again, I think you’re going to see that. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Danny with the AFP. 

Q    Hey there.  Thanks for that, Admiral.  Just a couple of things.  Firstly, at the G7 virtual meeting this Friday, what is the President going to be discussing with the other leaders in terms of Syria?  Are they going to be coming out with some kind of agreement on backing a transitional government, for example? 

And secondly, just wanted to ask what you guys think of the fact that the possible incoming Director of National Intelligence previously met with Assad.  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  Syria and Ukraine will absolutely be on the agenda for the G7.  We’ll have more to say about that agenda as we get a little closer to the end of the week.  So I don’t want to steal anybody’s thunder, but you can bet that those two topics will be front and center.  And again, we’ll have more to share. 

I’m not going to comment on individuals that the incoming team and the President-elect are — that he’s looking at or has announced for various jobs.  That’s not our place here at the National Security Council.  We’re focused, as I said earlier, on certainly, in the national security space and the foreign policy space, executing on the President’s agenda and trying to finish out the time we have left in the strongest way possible. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  And unfortunately, we only have time for one more question because we’re about to get kicked out of our room.  So, over to James Rosen.

Q    Okay, thank you so much, Sam.  And thank you, Admiral.  I actually have two questions. 

First, senior administration officials have acknowledged that the fall of Aleppo to HTS came as a surprise to the U.S. intelligence community.  What accounts for that intelligence failure?  And from where did HTS, apparently under the nose of our intelligence community, acquire all of its weapons, training, and funding?  That’s the first question. 

MR. KIRBY:  You want to go with number two first, or you want me to just take that one?

Q    If you would take that one, please. 

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not going to talk about intelligence issues here in this gaggle, James.  As I said, we’ve been watching events unfold here for more than a week in Syria.  We’ve been staying abreast of it as best we can, keeping the President abreast of it. 

No doubt that things have moved quickly.  I’m not going to deny that one bit.  And we believe, as I mentioned to David Sanger — we believe that a factor in the fast nature of this was, in fact, that the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon, that that sent yet another strong signal to folks in the region that Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance was a lot weaker than people had anticipated.

Q    Before I go to the second question, you have nothing you want to say about where HTS derives its support from? 

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not going to get into that at this point. 

Q    Second question: I want to follow up on what David Sanger asked you and give you an opportunity to defend President Biden and his legacy, but also take issue with some of what you’ve had to say here so far. 

This notion that the Biden administration played this indispensable role in creating and handing over to the incoming administration a vastly revamped Middle East marked by Israeli triumphs over Iranian proxies, and this corresponding diminution in Iranian power and capability. 

From the Israelis’ perspective, contrary to what you said, which was that President Biden’s support has been unflagging and unrelenting, it has, in fact, flagged and relented at various points.  To wit, President Biden himself publicly proclaimed Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks to be, quote, “over the top.”  He withheld at least one arms shipment from the Israelis, and he used the world stage repeatedly to denigrate and otherwise criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu and his conduct of these conflicts. 

Indeed, much of what the Israelis have done that has served to weaken Iran has been done against the advice and warnings of Mr. Biden and his national security team.  So my question is this: Isn’t it disingenuous, at a minimum, for the Biden team to be crowing over this checkered record of support for our closest strategic ally in that region?

MR. KIRBY:  No.

Q    You don’t want to address anything else or the fact that he said it was over the top, the fact that he withheld an arms shipment from them, the fact that he’s been so critical, the fact that he advised against the very offensive against Lebanon that you’re now saying was so critical to the fall of Assad?

MR. KIRBY:  I don’t think your (inaudible) merits a response, James.  It’s just wrong on so many fronts.  And I’m not going to belabor everybody’s time by going through it point by point. 

This is the President who put fighter aircraft up, not once but twice, to defend Israel.  No president has done that before.  No president has gone to Israel while they’re at war, like President Biden has done.  And no president has done more to send shipments and arms to Israel so that they can continue to defend themselves. 

I could go on and on, because the premise of your question is just so incredibly wrong, but I’m not going to do that and waste everybody’s time.  If you and I — you want to have a conversation, I’m happy to talk to you offline on this.  But, my goodness, there is so much wrong with your question, it just befuddles me.  And I don’t have the time to address it right now.

MODERATOR:  Okay.  Thank you, James.

That is all the time we have for our gaggle today.  I know we have a lot of hands still raised.  I’m so sorry we weren’t able to get to you. 

As always, reach out to the NSC press distro, and we’ll try to get back to you as soon as we can.  Thanks, everyone.

11:29 A.M. EST

The post On-the-Record Press Gaggle by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby appeared first on The White House.

Via Teleconference

10:45 A.M. EST

MODERATOR:  Hi, everyone.  Thanks for joining our gaggle today.  Kirby has a few words here at the top, and then we’ll get into your questions.

MR. KIRBY:  Hey, everybody.  Good morning.  I know you’re all still focused on the news coming out of Syria, as are we.  Just a couple of points at the top. 

We continue to carefully monitor developments there, as you would expect that we are.  The President is staying fully briefed by his national security team, and that will remain the case going forward.  This is something that he had been — and the team had been watching develop over the last week or so, and certainly he’s going to stay completely up to speed and informed on it.  As a matter of fact, he’s also, as you know, reaching out to counterparts in the region.  He spoke with King Abdullah yesterday. 

I don’t have any additional calls to read out at this time, but I think it’s safe to say that he will be — he will stay in contact with our counterparts in the region.  And he has directed the national security team to do the same. 

Jake Sullivan, our National Security Advisor, will be traveling to Israel tomorrow.  Certainly there will be a lot on the agenda in those discussions, but Syria will no doubt be at the top of that list. 

And then, I think you can expect to see, in coming days, other Cabinet-level and other national security-level individuals traveling to the region and/or having conversations with their counterparts.  So, stay tuned for that.

Now, as for what’s actually happening on the ground, it remains an open question exactly how this is going to play out politically.  As you know, there are multiple rebel groups that are in Damascus right now, multiple opposition groups that are involved.  And as the President said, they’re all saying the right things, but we’re going to have to watch and see what they actually do. 

We want to make sure that, at the end of this, whatever the governing authority looks like, whatever institutions are preserved — and again, we noted that the opposition groups have made clear that they want the Syrian army, for instance, to stay intact — that the Syrian people get to determine what their future looks like and that whatever processes are put in place, they are Syrian-led.  And we want to assist in that, and we will certainly do that internally and externally. 

Internally to the region, we have the ability to communicate with the opposition groups, and we’ll continue to do that.  And we also, as I already highlighted, will maintain open communications with counterparts and interlocutors in the region but outside Syria.

We want to make sure that the aspirations of the Syrian people are fully met.  They have suffered enough over 14 years.  And we’re going to be working very, very hard to do that, particularly through existing U.N.-led processes.  But it’s got to be — ultimately, it’s got to be a Syrian-led evolution here towards better and more representative governance. 

We believe it is in our interest, our national security interest, that Syria be stable and secure and that, again, the Syrian people are able to determine their future.  It’s in our interest in the region. 

It is also in our interest that we continue to put pressure on ISIS, and so the counter-ISIS mission by our troops in Syria continues.  The President talked about a wave of strikes we conducted on Sunday, 75-somewhat strikes on ISIS camps and facilities.  You can expect that that kind of activity will continue.  We don’t want to give ISIS an opportunity to exploit what’s going on.  They love nothing more than ungoverned space.  And back to my first point, we want to make sure that all of Syria is properly governed and that the Syrian people, again, have a say in that. 

So, the pressure on ISIS will absolutely continue, because that, too, is very much in our national security interest, and we’ll stay at that. 

I want to just briefly also — as I’m sure you guys will ask, and so let me just let you know — we don’t have any additional information on Austin Tice.  This development could present an opportunity for us to glean more information about him, his whereabouts, his condition. 

But as you and I are speaking here this morning, I can’t report that we have any additional context.  We will work this, as we have, very, very hard.  And we’ll keep the Tice family as informed as we possibly can.  We want to see him home with his family where he belongs.  The President mentioned that as well over the weekend, and I can assure you that we are pushing as hard as we can to learn as much as we can, but I don’t have any additional context to share with you today. 

I think it’s important, before I leave the topic of Syria, to just take a step back and review some of how we got here.  And it is true, I think unequivocally true, that much of the developments that we’ve seen in Syria is an outgrowth of the fact that Assad’s biggest supporters, Russia and Iran, are significantly weakened now.  And that is tied directly, as the President said, to unflagging American support for Israel in their fight against Hamas and in the effort to secure a ceasefire with Hezbollah.  And it is absolutely an outgrowth of our support for Ukraine that has consistently weakened Russian military forces and certainly caused the Russians to refocus the great locus of their military efforts on that war in Ukraine that they started. 

And there’s just no way to look at it and see otherwise.  They are both significantly distracted and weakened by the efforts in the Middle East and in Europe and American support for our allies and partners in both places. 

It isn’t just that Russia and Iran were unwilling to help Assad after 14 years; it is that they were unable to.  And again, the United States played a major role in that. 

Lastly, if I could, just a programming note.  Jake will be meeting this afternoon with hostage families, right on the eve of his travel to Israel.  And as I mentioned earlier, certainly Syria is going to be at the top of the agenda.  But without question, the most important thing Jake is going to want to talk to the Israelis about is how we can try to get a hostage deal in place so that we can get their loved ones back home where they belong, get them the answers that they deserve and that they need.  And so, he’s going to be having another opportunity to have that conversation with them today.

I would remind that this has been a regular drumbeat for Jake.  He does this on a routine basis, keeping them informed and updated.  I am not in a position today where I can tell you that we have a deal that is on the brink of completion; that is not where we are.  But it is fair to say that we are working this extremely hard.  We do think there’s an opportunity here to get a hostage deal in place, to get these families reunited, to get a surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.  But again, there’s an awful lot of work that still has to be done.  Hamas continues to be the obstacle to that outcome, but we’re pressing on it really, really hard.

With that, I can take some questions.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our first question will go to Aamer with the AP.

Q    Hey.  Thank you both.  Just had a couple of Syria follow-ups.  Does the administration have any concerns about Israel moving its troops into the buffer zone in Golan Heights?  And also, with Israel’s military operations in Syria, does it have the U.S. blessing to attack chemical strategic weapon sites?

And then, just finally, you sort of talked about the nexus of Ukraine in the fall of Assad.  Has the administration, in its interactions with the incoming administration, been making that argument and perhaps trying to make the pitch for why there needs to continue to be Ukraine support? 

And if there’s anything generally you could offer on the coordination briefing of the incoming Trump administration, how that’s gone down with what’s going on in Syria.  Thanks.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL:  Yeah, Aamer, there’s an awful lot there. 

Look, on the Israeli operations over and around the Golan Heights, I’m going to let the Israelis speak to that.  I would point you to what they’ve already said, that these are exigent operations to eliminate what they believe are imminent threats to their security, and we certainly recognize that they live in a tough neighborhood and that they have, as always, the right to defend themselves.  But I’m going to let them speak to what they’re doing and the particulars of it. 

There is, as you know, a 1974 disengagement agreement that that all parties have signed up to.  We obviously still support that agreement, and we’re in close touch with our Israeli counterparts here, as these things kind of develop.

I will say, just on the chemical weapons piece, I mean, we do know that Assad had preserved at least some capability that he had proven in the past willing to use it on his people.  And, look, you know, there’s a lot of uncertainty right now, as I said in my opening statement, about how the political situation is going to unfold.  Lots of different rebel opposition groups involved here.  Not all of them are groups that we countenance, at least not officially. 

So, we too have concerns about the existence and potential use of chemical agents in Syria.  So, I think I’d just leave it at that.

As for your question about the discussions with the new team, let me put it this way: Nothing that we’re doing and nothing that we’re saying ought to come as a surprise to the incoming team.  We have the ability and have had conversations with appropriate officials in the incoming Trump team, particularly about what’s going on in Syria but also what’s going on in Ukraine and in the Middle East writ large.  So those conversations have happened.  They are still happening.  And I have every expectation that, going forward, Jake Sullivan and other leaders here in the National Security Council will, as appropriate, continue to keep the incoming team informed. 

They will decide for themselves what policies they might want to keep in place, what approaches they might want to continue and which ones they won’t.  I can’t speak for what their prerogatives are going to be.  All I can speak to is what our prerogatives are, and I kind of lay a little bit of them out in my opening statement. 

We believe it is in our national security interest that Syria emerge from this as a stable, secure, sovereign state; that the Syrian people have a say in determining what that sovereignty looks like, what their government looks like.  It’s got to be a process that meets their aspirations as they define those aspirations.  That’s in our national security interest.

And it’s also in our national security interest that ISIS can’t exploit it and that the pressure needs to be kept up on that group. 

So, that’s — we’ve been very, very open about that with all of you.  We’ve been open about it with ourselves.  The President has made sure that we’re focused on those two national security interests.  And we certainly have been open about it in our conversations, as appropriate, with Trump officials that are coming in.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Michael with McClatchy.

Q    Thanks, Sam.  John, you just mentioned (inaudible) on Austin Tice’s whereabouts and condition.  Obviously, the President said the administration believes that he’s alive, on Sunday.  Can you help just square that circle for us?  How do you know that he’s alive if you don’t know where he is or his condition?  And do you have high-confidence sources, like the Tice family has said, telling you that he’s alive and was being held in the Damascus area?  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  Yeah, look, I’m obviously going to be a little careful here, because, you know, we want to see him back with his family, and I’m not going to get into intelligence information here in an on-the-record gaggle. 

I would just tell you that our going assumption is that he’s still alive; that we have no indication, no information to the contrary.  But we also don’t have complete information about where he is or what his condition is.  So, I’m just being as honest with you as I can.  No indication that he isn’t alive, but also no indication about where he is or what his condition is. 

And that is why, as I said in my opening statement, we believe that the developments in Syria could present an opportunity to gain more context, more information, which could then potentially give us options for how to move forward.  But the goal remains the same: We want to get him back to his family, where he belongs. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Andrea Mitchell with NBC.

Q    Hi, John.  Thank you.  With reference also to what the Israelis are doing, that buffer zone, if you could be a little bit more — do you think that these are appropriate defensive moves?  Are you at all concerned, if they’re not temporary, that this could provoke other reactions from other neighbors?  In particular, what concerns might you have about what Turkey does with the PKK and others, including the SDF, whom we support in the northeast region?  Thank you very much. 

MR. KIRBY:  Thanks, Andrea.  At the risk of sounding like a broken record — again, we support this disengagement agreement from 1974.  I’ll let the Israelis speak to what they’re doing. 

The only thing I would say differently or additionally to what I said before on this question to Aamer is that, as things go forward, what we want to see from all actors inside Syria and outside Syria are actions that help the Syrian people get to governance that they can believe in and governance that, again, meets their aspirations.  We don’t want to see any actor, inside or outside, take actions or do things or espouse policies or programs that run afoul of that process.  And that’s why the President is going to stay engaged with our counterparts outside Syria, and we are going to maintain communications with those inside Syria to make sure that that’s where we go.

Again, I’d point you back to what the Israelis have said.  This is an exigent move.  They’ve said publicly that they don’t envision this being some sort of a long-term set of operations.  And so, I think I’ll just — I’ll leave it there.  We don’t want to see any actor, again, move themselves in such a way that makes it harder for the Syrian people to get at legitimate governance. 

And then, you know, you asked a little bit about the Turks, which is sort of a tangential thing to what you’re — I think your first question.

Look, number one, the Turks have a legitimate counterterrorism threat that they too have a right to deal with; they too have a right to defend their citizens and their territory against terrorist attacks.  And they have come under those kinds of terrorist attacks in the not-so-distant past.  So we recognize they have that right, and they’re an important NATO Ally. 

We have interest, as I said, in going after ISIS, and that means partnering with the Syrian Democratic Forces.  And that will continue.  And where those two goals overlap, or potentially conflict, we will have — as we have, we will have the appropriate conversations with the Turks about how both those outcomes can be achieved.  And I think I’ll just leave it there.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to David Sanger with the New York Times.

Q    Thanks, John.  Two questions for you on this.  First is, there was a brief reference before to the chemical weapons action that Israel is taking, and they’ve also announced that they sank whatever there was of the Syrian navy overnight as well.  Is the U.S. providing intel?  And obviously, we’ve been tracking their chemical weapons sites for more years than I can think.  Is there any U.S. help going on to them, even if it’s just intel support and so forth?

And then the second just goes to your argument that because of the U.S. actions that have weakened the Russians and the Iranians, and the Iranians’ inability to strike Israel, you thought that the administration made it possible for all of this to happen.  I’m sure you’ve heard the alternative argument here, which is: Had Netanyahu listened to President Biden’s advice and not attacked Hezbollah, which we were discouraging him from doing for fear of a wider war, that, in fact, it’s unlikely that you would have seen Assad fall.  So I was just wondering if you would just take that head on.

MR. KIRBY:  Yeah.  I’m not going to — as you know, we have robust intelligence-sharing with Israel, as you might expect we would, and I’m not going to characterize what that looks like. 

I’ve already kind of responded to the issue about our view of what they’re doing.  And again, I’d point you back to what they’ve said, that these are exigent circumstances and non-permanent operations that they’re conducting.

On the counterargument, as you put it, for going after Hezbollah: Again, I think you need to take a step back here.  And I don’t think it’s — I don’t think that anybody should overemphasize one particular operation, whether it’s against Hamas or against Hezbollah, as being the game changer here.  It is the sum total of American support for Israel and their ability to defend themselves.  And it is very much — and this is a point that I think is getting lost here, David — very much this ceasefire, in fact, that we mediated between Israel and Lebanon, and Hezbollah, that sent a strong signal to people in the region that Hezbollah was done, Hezbollah was out of it.  They weren’t going to come to Hamas’s assistance, and Iran wasn’t going to be able to rely on them.  And don’t mistake for a moment that there weren’t groups in Syria that paid attention to the fact that Hezbollah was no longer in the fight. 

But I think the fact that in the aggregate we have been robust in our support of Israel’s right to defend itself, and backing that up with real arms and ammunition, as well as diplomatic efforts, played a real role here.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Karen with the Washington Post. 

Q    Just to (inaudible), as you say, beat a dead horse: On the Israeli actions in Syria, the U.N. Envoy for Syria gave a very strong statement this morning about what the Israelis are doing.  They’re both in the disengagement zone and (inaudible) in Syrian territory itself — I mean, they’re in Quneitra — and some of the air strikes.  And said, “This has to stop.”  You said you recognize the disengagement agreement.  You said, ask the Israelis what they’re doing.  The Israelis have said what they’re doing.  The question is not what are the Israelis doing.  The question is does the United States agree with it.

And separately, on the north, Turkey and the SNA have said that their forces have pushed the SDF out of Manbij and across the Euphrates River.  The SDF said this morning that that’s not true, that there is fighting going on in Manbij.  Does the United States believe that the SDF should just move across the river and let the Turks take that over?  Or what is our position on that particular (inaudible), not only in and around Manbij but other places?

MR. KIRBY:  On the first question, Karen, I really — at the risk of just repeating what I’ve said before, which I’m sure nobody wants to hear again, I really don’t have anything more to add.  I’ve addressed this question about Israel’s operations in and around and over the Golan Heights, and I’m just going to leave it there.

On your second question, we’re not in a position to verify the exact operational status of Manbij.  We have been in close contact with the Turks about this, and certainly remain in close contact with the Syrian Democratic Forces about trying to make sure they stay focused on the counter-ISIS mission that we are partnered with them on.  That’s our priority, and we’re going to continue to do that. 

And one of the reasons why we have said publicly in the past that some of these operations elsewhere along that border, conducted by Turkish military forces, are problematic is because it does have that risk of pulling the SDF away from the counter-ISIS mission, which we don’t want to see happen.  And those are conversations that we’re having with the Turks as well. 

And as I said in my opening statement, you’re going to see continued outreach by the national security team with counterparts in the region about what’s happening in Syria.  And I can assure you that some of those conversations are going to be with our Turkish counterparts as well.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Amy with Foreign Policy.

Q    Thanks.  On the call on Sunday night with a senior administration official, if I recall, they said that the U.S. has contacts with all groups in Syria, which presumably includes, then, HTS.  Could you just give us more detail on what those interactions have been like, what channels you’re using?  And have you explicitly communicated what steps you’d like to see from them to see them get delisted as a terror group?

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not going to go into great detail about what the vehicles actually look like.  There are some opposition rebel groups that we have communicated directly with for many, many years.  There’s open lines of communication, and they stay open and we use them. 

Now, there are other groups where we communicate in various other ways, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly.  But I don’t think it’s helpful for me to go into the mechanisms that are in place at this early stage. 

I would just reiterate what the senior administration official said, which is absolutely true: We do have ways to communicate with all of them, and we are pulling on those ways, as you would expect that we would. 

And then, your second question sort of implies that we’re on a path towards delisting.  And I would just say that there’s no — there are no discussions right now about changing the policy with respect to HTS, but we are watching what they do.  As the President said, Mr. al-Jolani and others are saying all the right things.  This only just happened within the last couple of days, so we got to watch and see what they actually do and the degree to which they make good on their pledges. 

So we’re just not at a point now where we can have a serious discussion about delisting anyone at this point.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Arlette with CNN.

Q    Thank you.  If I could just touch again on the communications with these rebel groups.  Has the U.S. specifically spoken with Mohammed al-Bashir since he’s been named the caretaker, or are there plans to either directly or through an intermediary?

And you also talked a bit about how there’s coordination with the Trump team on all of these topics relating to the Middle East.  Does President Biden specifically plan to speak with President-elect Trump about the situation in Syria since Sunday?

MR. KIRBY:  I don’t have any conversations with al-Bashir to speak to, but I’ll tell you what I’ll do: I will take that question.  I’m not aware of any conversations that anybody has had with him at this early stage, but I’ll take the question.

And then, I don’t have any additional conversations with President-elect Trump to speak to at this point.  I would say that we remain in touch with his key incoming — the people he’s designated as his key national security team leaders, and certainly that includes Jake’s ongoing conversations with Congressman Waltz.  But I don’t have any specific conversations with President Trump to speak to at this time.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Lara with the Wall Street Journal.

Q    Hi.  Thanks for doing this.  I just wanted to follow up on my colleague’s question about your discussions with Turkey.  I’m wondering if you’ve specifically — if the administration has specifically spoken with them about refraining from attacks on the SDF, particularly in the northeast.  We’ve seen reports that they’re attacking Kobani today, so I’m wondering if those talks are going on through diplomatic channels.

MR. KIRBY:  I won’t get into the details of the discussions, Lara, but as I indicated, we have and will remain in close touch with our Turkish counterparts to deconflict as best we can and to make clear what we believe our national security interests are in Syria.  And as I said in my opening statement, one of those is the counter-ISIS mission, which does require partnering with the SDF.

Q    And then also, just — I wanted to follow up on the chemical weapons question as well.  The Israelis have said that they’re making some moves to ensure that chemical weapons don’t — Assad’s chemical weapons don’t end up in the wrong hands.  Does the U.S. have any role in this at the moment?

MR. KIRBY:  I think I sort of dealt with this question a little bit earlier.  I mean, we’re not involved in the Israeli operations that they’re conducting.  These are Israeli operations, and I’m going to let them speak to them.

Again, we remind that the Israelis have made clear these are temporary measures to ensure their own security.  They have a right to defend themselves.  And as I said earlier, you know, we certainly share concerns about the potential existence of and/or potential use of chemical weapons in Syria.  And I think I’m just going to leave it at that. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Robbie with Politico.

Q    Hey.  Thanks for doing this.  First, what’s the White House’s view of how Assad’s fall, if at all, has altered the prospect for hostage talks with Sullivan going to Israel, even indirectly?

And second, going off of Lara’s question on the U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, as you know, the Kurds oversee about 50,000 ISIS detainees and their families in those camps in northeast Syria.  Are you urging Turkey to halt — to urge its own militias to halt that offensive against Kurdish forces?  And is there any fear of instability in the northeast risking the security of those camps?  Thanks. 

MR. KIRBY:  I’m sorry, what was your first question?  I missed it.

Q    Just on — how has the fall of Assad, if at all, altered the prospect for hostage talks with regards to Gaza, even indirectly?  You talked about Sullivan going to the region, possibly new pathways to negotiations there.

MR. KIRBY:  Well, look, Hamas has got to be looking out at the world today and realizing that the cavalry is not coming to rescue them.  And so, one would hope that recent developments in Syria reinforce for them that they are just increasingly isolated and ought to take a deal. 

So, certainly, when Jake goes to talk about the potential for a new hostage deal, he goes with, obviously, the developments of the last few days in the background of all that as context.  And it remains to be seen whether Hamas will move, but they absolutely ought to move because there is nobody coming to their assistance.  They can’t rely on Hezbollah.  They certainly can’t rely on Iran.  And this is the time to make a deal.  So we’ll see what happens.  They have consistently been an obstacle on that.

And then, on your second question, we are absolutely concerned about these detention facilities in Syria.  They’re not — you mentioned some in the north and the east.  There’s actually some in the north and the west as well.  Some of these detention facilities do house ISIS fighters, largely of a lower level, but nevertheless ISIS fighters.  And so, we are talking to all of our counterparts, including the Turks, about the status of those detention facilities and about our collective concern of the potential for them to be opened up or for people to be able to get out. 

Now, I will remind — or maybe you know this — I mean, most of them in the east are run by the SDF, who are our partners.  And so, you know, we know we can rely on their ability to continue to properly safeguard those facilities, the ones that are in the east.  But it is a concern, no question about it, and it’s part of the conversations that we’re having.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Keleigh with NewsNation.

Q    Hi, John.  Thanks for taking my question.  Kind of following up on President Biden and then President-elect Trump, both on, you know, foreign policy, kind of talking about different developments, either with Syria or in other places, I’m just curious how this may affect or have an impact on the remaining 41 days or so of President Biden trying to cement his foreign policy legacy.  So, this in regard to Syria as well as in other conflicts.

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not really sure how to answer that one, except to say that, as I sort of mentioned at the beginning, we believe that developments in Syria very much prove the case of President Biden’s assertive foreign policy and our constant and unrelenting support for partners and allies.

One of the things that he started doing at the very beginning was revitalizing alliances and partnerships that, as we came into office, we believed had been let to lapse, or disrespected or ignored, and he turned that around to a fare-thee-well.

We have closer relations in the Indo-Pacific than we’ve ever had before and improved trilateral cooperation between Japan and South Korea.  We have the AUKUS deal, which is now putting Australia on a path to a nuclear-powered submarine.  NATO is bigger and stronger than it’s ever been before.  And where there weren’t alliances, President Biden created coalitions to get things done, such as the 50-plus nations to go support Ukraine and the 20-plus nations that are helping us in the Red Sea defend against Houthi attacks against commercial shipping. 

I think what the President is focused on with the time that he has left is continuing to use this assertive foreign policy and the advantage that our alliances and partnerships give us to see better outcomes.  We’re starting to see bet- — well, you know, certainly it’s early goings in Syria, but we believe that this assertive foreign policy has impacted events in Syria.  It remains to be seen where it’s going to go, but also to finish

so many of the things that we started, and one of those things is to try to get a ceasefire deal — or, I’m sorry, a hostage deal with Hamas. 

But, I mean, my goodness, just since the election, you know, we’ve brokered a ceasefire with Lebanon, between Israel and Lebanon.  And he cemented a huge economic opportunity in Africa with the Lobito rail corridor, which you all probably saw last week.  And we secured deals with China on artificial intelligence.  And we brought additional people that were wrongfully detained from China back home.  And all this is just since, you know, Election Day. 

So what the President is focused on is, with the time he has left, continuing to move these balls forward.  And again, I think you’re going to see that. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  Our next question will go to Danny with the AFP. 

Q    Hey there.  Thanks for that, Admiral.  Just a couple of things.  Firstly, at the G7 virtual meeting this Friday, what is the President going to be discussing with the other leaders in terms of Syria?  Are they going to be coming out with some kind of agreement on backing a transitional government, for example? 

And secondly, just wanted to ask what you guys think of the fact that the possible incoming Director of National Intelligence previously met with Assad.  Thanks.

MR. KIRBY:  Syria and Ukraine will absolutely be on the agenda for the G7.  We’ll have more to say about that agenda as we get a little closer to the end of the week.  So I don’t want to steal anybody’s thunder, but you can bet that those two topics will be front and center.  And again, we’ll have more to share. 

I’m not going to comment on individuals that the incoming team and the President-elect are — that he’s looking at or has announced for various jobs.  That’s not our place here at the National Security Council.  We’re focused, as I said earlier, on certainly, in the national security space and the foreign policy space, executing on the President’s agenda and trying to finish out the time we have left in the strongest way possible. 

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  And unfortunately, we only have time for one more question because we’re about to get kicked out of our room.  So, over to James Rosen.

Q    Okay, thank you so much, Sam.  And thank you, Admiral.  I actually have two questions. 

First, senior administration officials have acknowledged that the fall of Aleppo to HTS came as a surprise to the U.S. intelligence community.  What accounts for that intelligence failure?  And from where did HTS, apparently under the nose of our intelligence community, acquire all of its weapons, training, and funding?  That’s the first question. 

MR. KIRBY:  You want to go with number two first, or you want me to just take that one?

Q    If you would take that one, please. 

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not going to talk about intelligence issues here in this gaggle, James.  As I said, we’ve been watching events unfold here for more than a week in Syria.  We’ve been staying abreast of it as best we can, keeping the President abreast of it. 

No doubt that things have moved quickly.  I’m not going to deny that one bit.  And we believe, as I mentioned to David Sanger — we believe that a factor in the fast nature of this was, in fact, that the ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon, that that sent yet another strong signal to folks in the region that Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance was a lot weaker than people had anticipated.

Q    Before I go to the second question, you have nothing you want to say about where HTS derives its support from? 

MR. KIRBY:  I’m not going to get into that at this point. 

Q    Second question: I want to follow up on what David Sanger asked you and give you an opportunity to defend President Biden and his legacy, but also take issue with some of what you’ve had to say here so far. 

This notion that the Biden administration played this indispensable role in creating and handing over to the incoming administration a vastly revamped Middle East marked by Israeli triumphs over Iranian proxies, and this corresponding diminution in Iranian power and capability. 

From the Israelis’ perspective, contrary to what you said, which was that President Biden’s support has been unflagging and unrelenting, it has, in fact, flagged and relented at various points.  To wit, President Biden himself publicly proclaimed Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks to be, quote, “over the top.”  He withheld at least one arms shipment from the Israelis, and he used the world stage repeatedly to denigrate and otherwise criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu and his conduct of these conflicts. 

Indeed, much of what the Israelis have done that has served to weaken Iran has been done against the advice and warnings of Mr. Biden and his national security team.  So my question is this: Isn’t it disingenuous, at a minimum, for the Biden team to be crowing over this checkered record of support for our closest strategic ally in that region?

MR. KIRBY:  No.

Q    You don’t want to address anything else or the fact that he said it was over the top, the fact that he withheld an arms shipment from them, the fact that he’s been so critical, the fact that he advised against the very offensive against Lebanon that you’re now saying was so critical to the fall of Assad?

MR. KIRBY:  I don’t think your (inaudible) merits a response, James.  It’s just wrong on so many fronts.  And I’m not going to belabor everybody’s time by going through it point by point. 

This is the President who put fighter aircraft up, not once but twice, to defend Israel.  No president has done that before.  No president has gone to Israel while they’re at war, like President Biden has done.  And no president has done more to send shipments and arms to Israel so that they can continue to defend themselves. 

I could go on and on, because the premise of your question is just so incredibly wrong, but I’m not going to do that and waste everybody’s time.  If you and I — you want to have a conversation, I’m happy to talk to you offline on this.  But, my goodness, there is so much wrong with your question, it just befuddles me.  And I don’t have the time to address it right now.

MODERATOR:  Okay.  Thank you, James.

That is all the time we have for our gaggle today.  I know we have a lot of hands still raised.  I’m so sorry we weren’t able to get to you. 

As always, reach out to the NSC press distro, and we’ll try to get back to you as soon as we can.  Thanks, everyone.

11:29 A.M. EST

The post On-the-Record Press Gaggle by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby appeared first on The White House.

Brookings Institution

Washington, D.C.

12:43 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m — I’m here to steal her back.  (Laughter.) 

You’re the best, Cec.

DR. ROUSE:  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  You really are.  Thank you. 

Well, this is only a 400-page speech.  (Laughter.)  You know, we — I wanted to talk about how we’re — the economy, and it is a — it is a daunting task to talk about the transition we’re trying to initiate here.  

I want to thank you, Glenn.  And thank you, CeCe, for the introduction and for the leadership you’ve se- — you served as the chair of the — my Council of Economic Advisors.

And it’s great to be back at Brookings Institution.  I started here 400 years ago as a senator.  (Laughter.)  God, it’s hard to believe.  That’s long ago.  Oh, I don’t want to admit it.  Anyway.  But — and then as vice president.  And I was — when I was thinking about running for president, I came here, and now as president.

Last month, I spoke to the Economic Club of Washington D.C. about the pivotal actions we took to rescue the economy from the devastating harm caused by the — by the way the — in my view, the pandemic was handled and how we delivered immediate economic relief to those most in need.  We got back to full employment, got inflation back down, managed the soft landing that most people thought was not very much likely to happen.

Today, here at Brookings Institution, I would like to talk about pivotal actions we’ve taken to rebuild the economy for the long haul, you know, and how we’re — how we’re at a critical, in my view, moment in the direction the economy is going to take.

Next month, my administration will end and a new administration will begin.  Most economists agree the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy, at least at the moment — an economy going through a fundamental transformation that’s laid out a stronger foundation and a sustainable, broad-based, highly productive growth.  And it is my profound hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress. 

Like most grace [great] economic developments, this one is neither red nor blue, and America’s progress is everyone’s progress. 

After decades of trickle-down economics that primarily benefitted those at the very top, we — we’ve written a new book that’s growing the economy — the middle-out and the bottom-up — that benefits, thus far, everyone.  And that’s going to be the test with go- — going forward. 

Over 16 million new jobs — that’s new jobs — the most in any single presidential term in American history; the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in the last 50 years; 20 million applications for new business records — I mean, it’s — it’s for a new business — for ri- — that is a record, I should say; stock market hits record highs.  I wish I owned a lot of stock.  (Laughter.) 

You know the worst part of all this that I can acknowledge at Brookings?  For 36 years, I was listed as the poorest man in Congress.  (Laughter.)  What a foolish man. 

Anyway, 401(k)s are up.  More than a trillion dollars in private-sector investment in clean energy and advanced manufacturing in just two years alone.  After decades of sending jobs overseas for the cheapest labor possible, companies are coming back to America, investing and building here, and creating jobs here in America, in my view, where they belong.

And, of course, this economic growth is not without pain.  The entire world faced a spike in inflation due to disruptions from the pandemic and Putin’s war in Ukraine. 

We acted quickly to get inflation down with the help of Republicans and Democrats.  Inflation came down to pre-pandemic levels.  Wages have increased. 

But still, too many working- and middle-class families struggle with high prices for housing and groceries and the daily needs of life. 

At the same time, as inflation and interest rates continue to fall, we’ve entered a new phase of our economic resurgence. 

With the outcome of this election, we also face an inflection point: We do — do we continue to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, investing in all of America and Americans, supporting unions and working families as we have the past four years?  Or do we — or do we move backward — in my view, backslide to an economy that’s benefitted those at the top, while working people and the middle-class struggle to — for a fair share of growth and economic theory that encouraged industries and live- — livelihoods to be shipped overseas? 

And I might add, I’m not anti-corporation.  For 36 years, I represented corporate America.  I — my state has more corporations in — registered in my state than every other state in the Union.  So, I’m mildly accustomed to corporate America, and to see it grow is useful and helpful and necessary. 

But to make the most of the opportunities ahead, I want to share key pages from our middle-out, bottom-up economic playbook and lay down what I believe to be a new set of benchmarks to measure against the next four years and see whether this theory is more than just a phenomenon.

Four years ago, when I came to office, 3,000 Americans were dying per day from the pandemic that infected and the- — had profound effect on our economy — not only ours but around the world.  Millions of Americans lost their jobs, were at risk of losing their homes.  Hundreds of thousands of factories and businesses — excuse me — yes, hundreds of thousand closed and — creating despair in communities.

I remember I — when I was campaigning and they’d say, “My dad used to work at that factory.  My grandfather worked at that factory.  It’s gone.”  People lost hope.  They lost hope, and particularly through the Midwest and other areas of the country.

Supply chains was shattered.  Prices soared on everything from cars to homes to appliances.

The previous administration, quite frankly, had no plan — real plan — to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. 

In fact, there’s an old saying, “If the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” 

Over the course of decades of Republican leadership and — and I’m not a — those of you who know anything about me and my career in the Senate, I had as many Republican friends as Democratic friends, for real.  I’m not — I’m not of these — anyway, I won’t get going.  (Laughter.)

But I’ve never been a big fan of trickle-down economics.  The w- — it was a hammer that was hammering working people.

My dad used to say — my dad was a well-read — well-read man who didn’t get to — he got accepted to go to Hopkins and — but during the war, he never got to go.  But my dad used to talk about — he said, “Dad” — “Joey, not a whole lot trickles down on my kitchen table at the end of the month.”

Slashing taxes for the very wealthy and the biggest corporations, diminishing public investment in infrastructure, in education, in research and development. 

And keep your eye on it.  We’re going to find out whether or not what they want to do on each of those areas — continue to slash — makes sense or not. 

Offshored jobs and factories — I took off- — for cheaper labor overseas. 

Destroying unions while imposing costs on — on those products made in America. 

And despite the mythical reputation to pay for itself, trickle-down economics deeply worsened our fiscal outlook, in my view. 

To offset the costs, advocates of trickle-down economics ripped the social safety net by trying to privatize Social Security and Medicare, trying to deny access to affordable health care and prescription drugs. 

Lifting the fortunes of the very wealthy often meant taking the rights of workers away to unionize and bargain collectively. 

And, by the way, I’m all for the very wealthy.  I’m not joking.  If you can make as much money as you can, good for you.  But everybody’s got to be — pay — pay their fair share.

It meant rewarding short-termism in pursuit of short-term profits, extraordinary high executive pay, instead of making long-term investments, in many cases. 

As a consequence, our infra- — our infrastructure fell further behind.  A flood of cheap imports hollowed out our factory towns. 

Remember “Infrastructure Week”?  We had Infrastructure Week for four years.  Nothing got built.

Well, everybody said when I wanted to have an infrastructure bill that mattered — over a trillion three hundred billion dollars — we’d never get it done.  We got it done.

The next president has a game plan I laid out.  And, by the way, he’s going to find, since I made a promise I’d invest as much in red states as blue, he’s going to have a trouble not doing it.  He’s going to have a lot of red state senators who were opposed to all of it and didn’t vote for it deciding it’s very much in their interests to build the facilities that are on this (inaudible).

Economic opportunity and innovation became more concentrated in few major cities, while the heartland and communities were left behind. 

Scientific discoveries and inventions developed in America were commercialized in countries like China, bolstering their manufacturing investment and jobs instead of the economy. 

Even before the pandemic, this economic agenda was clearly failing.  Working- and middle-class families were being hurt. 

The pandemic and the economic crisis revealed a failure for everyone to see and to feel. 

And, you know, one of the things that’s going on here — (the president’s teleprompter shuts off) — they just turned off my — I’m going to go off my — I lost the electricity here.

But anyway, one of the things we found is that, you know, we — we invented the semic- — the computer chip, the size of the tip of your little finger, to power our everyday lives, from vehicles to advanced weapons, cell phones, everything in between.

The United States invented these computer chips, but over time, we stopped making them.  In the very beginning, we had — we produced 40 percent of them in the world. 

Well, they all went overseas, almost — virtually all.

So, when the pandemic hit, we found out how vulnerable America was.  Supply chains abroad got shut down in the Far East because people got sick.  The factories making the chips closed.  And all of a sudden, everybody started learning about supply chains, a phrase that was probably used more in the last four years than the last 40 years.  No, I’m serious.

You couldn’t get these chips.  Prices soared.

For example, it takes over 3,000 chips to build an American automobile — 3,000.  But when the overseas factories making those chips shut down, the production stopped and the cost of new cars soared.

You know, it didn’t have to be that way, and I was determined to change that.

I remember looking at my staff and saying, “I’m going to South Korea.”  And they said, “You’re what?”  Oh, you think I’m kidding.  See the guy next to you?  He’s a brilliant economist.  (Laughter.)  He didn’t think I was so brilliant going overseas there.  (Laughter.)

But all kidding aside, I came into office with a different vision for America that’s been consistent with my record — good, bad, or indifferent — since I’ve been a senator: grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up; invest in America and American products.  And when that happens, everybody does — the wealthy still do very well, and all of America, no matter where they lived, whether they went to college or not.

I was determined to restore U.S. leadership in industries of the future.

You know, four years later, we have proof that the playbook is, at least now, working. 

You know, within the first two months of office, I signed the American Rescue Plan — the most significant economic recovery package in our history — and I also learned something from Donald Trump.  He signed checks for people for 7,400 [1,400] bucks because we passed the plan.  And I didn’t — stupid.  (Laughter.)

But all kidding aside, I realize we’re talking about the impact of politics, but the economic basic principles is what we’re (inaudible).

You know, we helped vac- — that — passed that act, we helped vaccinate the nation and has returned to full employment.

This was just the beginning.  

We understood we needed long-term investments for the future.  Investing in America agenda, which includes my Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act — together, they mark the most significant investment in America since the New Deal.  And that’s a fact.  I mean, whether it’s good or bad, that’s the fact. 

The Inflation Reduction Act alone is the most significant investment in climate and energy ever, ever anywhere in the entire world.  We were told we couldn’t get it done.  We got $368 billion.  

We make these investments — when we make them, we buy America.  “Buy American” has been the law of the land since the ‘30s.  I won’t go back — it takes too much time, but you go back to the laws Lincoln pass- — Lincoln, my lord — if you go back to the laws that Roosevelt passed about allowing unions to resist being stepped on and organize, well, there’s a prevision — a “Buy America” prevision.

I was a senator for a long time.  I thought I was pretty informed.  I didn’t know it existed.

And, by the way, former presidents didn’t know.  If they knew, they didn’t say anything about it.

It says that the money that a president authorizes, that Congress has spent, should be used by the president to hire American workers and buy American products.

There was an exemption.  If you couldn’t find the American product, American worker, you could go overseas, but you had to show it.

Well, guess what?  Past adminiscration, including my present [predecessor], failed to “Buy America.”  But not on my watch.

We’re modernizing our roads; our bridges; our ports; our airports; our clean water system; affordable, high-speed Internet systems; and so much more.

And, by the way, if you think about the high-speed Internet systems, they’re as consequential to farmers as electricity was during the — during the administration of — of Roosevelt.  I’m serious.  You can’t function without it.

And we’ve incentivized building all these large federal projects within — with American products and American union — mostly union labor, new pathways into these jobs, including a record number of registered apprenticeships that we’ve made sure occurred.

As I noted earlier, when I came to office, semiconductor manufacturing had moved overseas.  I was determined to bring it back so we wouldn’t be at the end of the supply chain; we’d be beginning of the supply chain.  And that’s what we’ve done with my CHIPS and Science Act, which has attracted $350 billion in private-sector investment in America, including from Korea and from Taiwan.

These — I remember when we went to — to — I digress; I shouldn’t because it’s a long speech, but to digress just a moment — I went to South Korea and I met with Moo- — Yoon and — and I met with Samsung.

I said, “Why are you making this billions-dollar investments in — in what we call the ‘Field of Dreams,’ outside of Columbus, Ohio?”  He said, “Because you have the most capable workers in the world, and it’s the safest place in the world for me to make my investment.”

These investments are building what they call a new “fab.” You all know this.  But a fab is — new factories.  But they’re these giant, giant things as big as football fields.  And guess what?  When they’re built, they employ thousands of people.  And guess what?  The average salary: $102,000, and you don’t need a college degree to do the job.

These investment — massive chips factories, these fabs, these — the size of several football fields.  As I said, in the “Field of Dreams” from all across America — from New York to Ohio to Arizona.

I mean, you know, and when I ask these companies why they’re investing — again, not a joke; I give you my word.  And you all know th- — you’re businesswomen and -men.  You all know it.  They say we have the most qualified workers in the world. 

Everybody thinks that — you know, I have trouble with my union friends.  They’re not very good salesmens for themselves.  Everybody thinks — the average person out there thinks — they say, “I want to be electrician.”  Five years later — five years later, as an apprentice, you can become an electrician.

Look, the CHIPS investments are creating over 125,000 jobs so far.  Many of those jobs are paying over 100 grand a year, and we don’t need to come a college degree, as I said. 

And it’s not just fabs.  These investments are creating opportunities for entire communities, small businesses, creating even more jobs.

When they move — when you build — for example, you build one of these fabs, whether it’s in Syracuse or wherever they’re — they’re — and they’re all over the place.  Guess what?  You know what happens?  They end up building drugstores, coffee shops, automobile dealerships.  They build entire communities because thousands of people move in who can afford — can afford to live a decent life.

In fact — and we knew in the beginning this wasn’t can- — going to come to fruition in my campaign — my — my administration.  It takes time to get this done, but watch, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 years from now.

We’ll soon be the only economy in the world to have all five of the major chip companies operating in the United States of America.  It’s not only cr- — creating thousands — it will create thousands of jobs, and good-paying jobs building chips factory, it wa- — also creating those jobs for workers installing more sol- — solar panels, batteries, selling more electric vehicles than ever before.

You know, that’s a construction boom and a manufacturing boom all across America.  It’s just going to continue to pick up with the billions of dollars being invested.

When faced with unfair practices from abroad, we’ve taken a tough but targeted actions on behalf of the American worker, American businesses, and factory towns.

You know, we know the pandemic and Russian war in Ukraine and infl- — and inflation created enormous pain and hardship all across America.  It’s true for every major economy in the world.  But we took aggressive action that brought prices down.

For example, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, causing gas prices to spike globally, I ordered the biggest release of — ever in our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  That’s all the — you all know — most people listening wouldn’t — but that’s all that oil we’ve saved up.

And — and we challenged the oil and gas companies to take their record profits and invest more in production — invest more in production. 

Today, American energy production is at record levels, including in oil and gas production.  Gas prices are down to three bucks — three bucks, below the price before Russia’s invasion. 

In addition, we’ve successfully pushed [purchased] back all oil — all the oil released at a much lower price, and we’ve refilled the facilities, making the taxpayers, in the process, $3.5 billion.  Brought it out — s- — got it back; a hell of a lot cheaper to fill it back up.

Now inflation is coming down faster than almost anywhere in the world, in advanced economies. 

As inflation eased and the strong labor market persisted, inflation-adjusted wages and incomes began to rise.  Average tax f- — average after-tax income is up almost $4,000 than prices on aver- — for average Americans. 

Eighty percent of working-age Americans have jobs — near a decade — a multi-decade high. 

We’re creating a record jobs sixty percent of all Americans who chose to pursue a four-year college degree — who chose not to pursue a four-year degree. 

With our historic backing of union, public support for unions is the highest it’s been in more than a half a century, and the labor movement is expanding and changing in new companies are — and industries. 

Here’s why it’s important for all workers.  I asked the Treasury Department, when I was pushing for union expansion — and I — to do a study, and they found that when union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up across the board.  It matters.

The middle-out and bottom-up playbook is also — is also asking that the very wealthy begin — the most profitable corporations begin to pay their fair share.

I won’t use the usual ci- — cite that you usually — we got a thousand billionaires in America.  Their average federal tax is 8.2 percent.  Anybody want to trade with them?   

Well, look, my predecessor’s $2 trillion tax cut overwhelmingly benefitted the very wealthy and the biggest corporations, delivering tax cuts to the top 1 percent — worth more than 50 times the tax cuts that went to middle-class — families received. 

My approach is leading to better results for everyone.

I kept my commitment that no one — it didn’t make me very popular with Democrats — no one earning less than $4,000 a year would se- — $400,000 a year would pay an additional single penny in additional taxes.  No one. 

Not only I fought hard to expand the Child Tax Credit for working families, but cut child poverty nearly — it was — it cut child poverty nearly in half.  And, by the way, it increases economic growth.  More women can go back to work.  More women can grow the economy.  Expanded tax credits to make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act.  By the way, my — the other team tried to re- — get rid of it.  Fifty-one votes, okay?  

After a decade of severe underfunding, I fought hard to make the IRS have a budget with enough personnel and technology.  And it’s awful hard — it’s easy to go after my taxes.  Not a problem, you know?  And I — I make a good living.  You pay me a lot of money as a — as a president.  But for the very wealthy, it’s awful hard.  You need more personnel. 

And guess what?  We finally — after the fight — got more personnel.  Never did I think I’d be fighting to get more tax collectors.  We got more folks in the — in the department. 

The result: The IRS has already collected over $1 billion in unpaid taxes from the super wealthy that had not been paid in the past.

Look, folks, our economic playbook also includes increasing fair competition.  I’m a capitalist, but capitalism without competition is not capitalism; it’s exploitation.  But not on my watch.

My Inflation Reduction Act took on Big Pharma, reduced the price of insulin for seniors with diabetes to pay only 35 bucks a month until the — close to the average of $400 a month.

You know, when I was trying to sell this to the American public, I’d go around the country doing town meetings and say, “Anybody has a prescription from a major drug company in America?  Come with me and get on Air Force One.  I will take you to Toronto, to Berlin, to Rome, to anywhere in the world, and I’ll get you that same exact prescription, from the same exact company for somewhere between 40 to 60 percent less.”

Well, the Inflation Reduction Act also finally gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors across the board.  It’s already passed. 

Starting next month, out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for seniors — total prescription drug costs — will be capped at $2,000 a year no matter how much they spend, no matter how expensive their drugs.  And you all know it, because some of you, like me and others, have lost families to cancer and cancer treatment.  Those drugs — cancer drugs — can cost 10-, 12-, 14 million — thousand dollars a year.

These other reforms not only save seniors money, not only saves the patient money, but guess what?  It saves every one of you taxpayers money because the federal government is not paying out $160 billion over the next 10 years that it had to pay now, because they’re not paying that.  They’re paying 35, not 400 bucks for the prescription — exorbitant prices of pharmaceutical companies have been cha- — they’re charging.

We’re also lowering costs by eliminating junk fees.  Junk fees are those hidden costs that can add up to hundreds of dollars for the average American family — you know, hidden costs like excessive banking overdraft fees.

So, I — I didn’t realize they had the power to do this, but we brought them down from an average of $35 a month for an overdraft to $5 a month.  It costs the banks a lot of money, but it was fair.  Thirty-five bucks to deal with an overdraft. 

And, in addition to that was late fees for credit cards; apartment application fees — I know most of us don’t even look at that, but just the ap- — just to apply; hidden hotel fees; or family seating arrangements on flights.  A lot of you got that one down.

I don’t know about all of you, but — maybe it’s the Irish in me — but just — I hate being played for a sucker.  (Laughter.)  No, I’m serious.  People get angry when they find this out.

Fair competition is especially important for small businesses that have been crushed by decades of concentrated corporate power.  That’s important because small businesses represent nearly 50 percent of the entire GDP of the American economy.

Because of our policies and confidence of entrepreneurs in the economy, we’ve seen 20 million in — since I became president, 20 million new business applications during this administration — the most of any presidential term in history — a record. 

Black businesses ownership — back — Black businesses ownership is doubling.  Hispanic business ownership is up by 40 percent since the pandemic.  The share of women in business is also on the rise.

It all has benefitted not just those groups but all of the economy.  Every single application for a new business license is like a — like an act of hope, of confidence.

There’s so much more from our playbook.

The bottom line is, in four short years, we’ve come a long way from a cri- — (coughs) — excuse me, my cold — I apologize — from the crisis we inherited.

We not only — we not only beat the pandemic; we broke from the economic orthodoxy that has failed this nation, in my view, for a long time — a theory that led to fewer jobs, less economic growth, and bigger deficits.

I had a fundamentally different theory.  My theory was the strongest economy is built from the bottom up and the middle out — from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.

And the best way to build that in America was to invest in America, invest in American products and invest in the American people — not by handing out tax breaks to those at the top. 

And I’m not looking — look, I — I won’t get in — we can talk about taxes. 

But it was — it’s long past time for America to make a generational investment in our infrastructure, in our manufacturing base, in the technological edge in our clean energy future.

I know it’s been hard for many Americans to see, and I understand it.  They’re just trying to figure out how to put three squares on the table.  But I believe it was the right thing to do, not only to lift Americans out of economic crisis caused by a pandemic, but set America on a stronger course for the future.  And we did that.

We don’t only — don’t take my word for it.  Here’s how Time Magazine and other commentators describe the economy I’m leaving to my successor, and there’s a number of these quotes: “President-elect Trump is receiving the strongest economy in modern history, which is the envy of the world.”

I’m going to say something outrageous.  I know a fair amount about foreign policy.  I’ve known every major world leader for a long — I’ve been around 500 years.  (Laughter.)  I know these guys.  And I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t change their econ- — their economy with ours.  Can you think of one, any major nation that says, “I want to trade — I don’t want to trade.  I’ll keep mine.  I like what I’m doing”?

Let me close with this.  By all accounts, the incoming administration is determined to return the country to another round of trickle-down economics and another tax cut for the very wealthy that will not be paid for — or, if paid for, is going to have a real cost — once again, causing massive deficits or significant cuts in basic programs, from health care, education, veterans benefits.

On top of that, he seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all imported goods brought into this country on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs rather than the American consumer.  Who does he think pays for this?

I believe this approach is a major mistake.  I believe we’ve proven that approach is a mistake over the past four years. 

But we all know in time — we all know in time what will happen. 

I’ve never agreed with Ronald Reagan’s approach to the economy — although, I got along with him very well — but I did agree with something he said.  President Reagan said, and I quote, “Facts are stubborn things.”  “Facts are stubborn things.”  They are.

Here are the facts.  A set mark of benchmarks, if you will, that we should measure the success or failure of our next four years: During my presidency, we created 60 million new jobs in America.  Will the next president create jobs or, like Herbert Hoover, be the only president to lose jobs in his administration?

During my presidency, we see the lowest average unemployment rate of — than any administration in 50 years. Will the unemployment be higher or lower in the next four years?

We’ve long — we have a — we have a — had a strong economic growth of 3 percent, on average, on a yearly basis.  Will the next president have a stronger or weaker economic growth?

And inflation.  Yes, inflation.  We’re battling through worldwide effects of the pandemic, Putin’s war in Ukraine, and the supply chain disruptions.  I’m leaving the next president with an inflation rate that’s near 2 percent.  Where — where will inflation be at the end of the next president’s term?

Look, these are simple, well-established economic benchmarks used to measure the strength of any economy, the success or failure of any president’s four years in office. They’re not political, rhetorical opinions.  They’re just facts — simple facts.  As President Reagan called them, “stubborn facts.” 

And one more fact I prep- — as I prepare to leave office: You know, there is no country on Earth better positioned to lead the world in the years to come than America.  Think about it.  What stunned me — and, again, I’m going to say something outrageous — I have as much experience in foreign policy as any president in the history of the United States has had.  I was chairman of Foreign Relations Committee.  I — anyway, I spent a lot of time.  I know all of them.

Well, the decisions we make over the next four years have been transformative to the nation. But I tell you what, what stunned me — and it’s not — I’m not being a hyper-American here — I can’t name a single country in the world that doesn’t think — I’ll put it this way: If we’re not leading the world, who does?  Not a joke.  I’m not being wise guy.  If we do not lead the world, what nation leads the world?  Who pulls Europe together?  Who tries to pull the Middle East together?  How do we (inaudible) the Indian Ocean?  What do we do in Africa? 

We, the United States, lead the world.  And you all are extre- — extremely experienced women and men.  You know many of these leaders.  You know many of these countries.  Find me one that says we’re not or wish we weren’t.

Look, my hope and belief is that the decisions and investments are now so deeply rooted in the nation that it’s going to be politically costly and economically unsound for the next president to disrupt to c- — or cut.

You know, some of my friends in the Republican Party when I do States of the Union who holler and like, you know, those things — they’re against all the things we did.  Keep your eye on them.  Tell me when they want the programs we voted for them — to cut in their states.  Show me the most conservative Republicans willing to take away the factories that are going to be built in their states. 

Going to be interesting.  Going to be interesting.

Look, I pray to God — because I think everybody has an opportunity to reconsider their going — growth — I pray to God the president-elect throws away Project 2025.  I think it’d be an economic disaster for us and the region.

In fact, consider one additional fact: The historic investments we’ve made went to more red states than blue states.  Not a politically smart thing to do, and I knew what I was doing.  I knew people would be angry.  But the reason the red states — and they need it more because of the decisions they made — decisions they made and geography.

Will the next president stop a new electric battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, that will create thousands of jobs?

Will he shut down a new solar factory being built in — in Carterville [Cartersville], Georgia?  Are they going to do that?

You know, will we deny seniors living in red states $35-a-month insulin?

I believe the only way for a president to lead America was to lead all of America.  And I believe the economy I’m leaving at the moment — and others could do better than I did; I’m not saying I was perfect — but ends up, at this moment, the best economy, strongest economy in the world and for all Americans, doing better. 

So, we got a lot to do, and I’m — I’m — I’m leaving the presidency, but I’m not going away — in bad news for you all — (laughter) — because I think we can — we got to bring this country back together.

When I announced my candidacy for president, I said I was running for three reasons.  One was to restore the soul of America, just decency in the way we treat one another — politically how we treat one another.

I know you know that when I — back when Pat was around and others, we had vicious fights.  We’d go and sit and have lunch together in the Senate dining room.

I’m taking more of your time than I should.  But one of the things that I realized when I was vice president — Barack wanted me because of my background in foreign policy and my ability to work in the Congress fairly well.  And so, about five years, six years in, I decided to go up to the Senate dining room — I’m president of the Senate — to sit at the table where Democrats and Republicans sit together and began to listen again, just talk to people.

Well, guess what?  No place to go. 

You’ve been to the senator’s dining room where they take you into the ro- — the room where you can eat with other senators and other people.  But right — the doors on the left of that elevator are a private dining — it used to be a long buffet table.  You walk in — a long table sitting, I guess, 16, 18 people on the right, parallel with the table.  And you walk through an archway, and there was a table going the other way.  One was the Democratic table.  One was Republican table.  And when there weren’t enough to sit at any one table, then they all sit together.

It’s hard to really dislike an individual that you strongly disagree with when you find out his wife is dying of breast cancer or he just lost a child or he’s having serious physical problems himself. 

We knew each other.  I really mean it.

Barack used to — used to drive Barack crazy when we’d — we met every morning at 9 o’clock and with his last (inaudible) talk to one another when the day ended.  And he always give me — he said, “I know, I know, I know.  All politics is personal.”  But it is.  It is.

I watched Teddy Kennedy and Jim Eastland rip each other apart on the floor and then go down and have lunch together.

So, one is to restore the soul of the country.

The second thing to do — I was trying to do when I — I said I was — when I ran was to begin to restore the middle class, to focus on people most in need.

And thirdly, was to — to bring the cou- — bring the politics together again.  Again, we don’t have to agree with one another, but we sure in hell have to stick with the system that’s allowed us to strongly disagree and yet keep within the confines of the — of the admonitions of the Constitution.

I’ve taken much too much of your time, and I apologize.  But you’re the — among the most informed people in Washington, and I would really appreciate, down the road here a little bit, any constructive criticism you have, and I’m sure you have some.  (Laughter.) 

All right.  Thank you so very much for having me.  (Applause.)

1:20 P.M. EST

The post Remarks by President Biden on His Middle-Out, Bottom-Up Economic Playbook appeared first on The White House.

Brookings Institution

Washington, D.C.

12:43 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m — I’m here to steal her back.  (Laughter.) 

You’re the best, Cec.

DR. ROUSE:  Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT:  You really are.  Thank you. 

Well, this is only a 400-page speech.  (Laughter.)  You know, we — I wanted to talk about how we’re — the economy, and it is a — it is a daunting task to talk about the transition we’re trying to initiate here.  

I want to thank you, Glenn.  And thank you, CeCe, for the introduction and for the leadership you’ve se- — you served as the chair of the — my Council of Economic Advisors.

And it’s great to be back at Brookings Institution.  I started here 400 years ago as a senator.  (Laughter.)  God, it’s hard to believe.  That’s long ago.  Oh, I don’t want to admit it.  Anyway.  But — and then as vice president.  And I was — when I was thinking about running for president, I came here, and now as president.

Last month, I spoke to the Economic Club of Washington D.C. about the pivotal actions we took to rescue the economy from the devastating harm caused by the — by the way the — in my view, the pandemic was handled and how we delivered immediate economic relief to those most in need.  We got back to full employment, got inflation back down, managed the soft landing that most people thought was not very much likely to happen.

Today, here at Brookings Institution, I would like to talk about pivotal actions we’ve taken to rebuild the economy for the long haul, you know, and how we’re — how we’re at a critical, in my view, moment in the direction the economy is going to take.

Next month, my administration will end and a new administration will begin.  Most economists agree the new administration is going to inherit a fairly strong economy, at least at the moment — an economy going through a fundamental transformation that’s laid out a stronger foundation and a sustainable, broad-based, highly productive growth.  And it is my profound hope that the new administration will preserve and build on this progress. 

Like most grace [great] economic developments, this one is neither red nor blue, and America’s progress is everyone’s progress. 

After decades of trickle-down economics that primarily benefitted those at the very top, we — we’ve written a new book that’s growing the economy — the middle-out and the bottom-up — that benefits, thus far, everyone.  And that’s going to be the test with go- — going forward. 

Over 16 million new jobs — that’s new jobs — the most in any single presidential term in American history; the lowest average unemployment rate of any administration in the last 50 years; 20 million applications for new business records — I mean, it’s — it’s for a new business — for ri- — that is a record, I should say; stock market hits record highs.  I wish I owned a lot of stock.  (Laughter.) 

You know the worst part of all this that I can acknowledge at Brookings?  For 36 years, I was listed as the poorest man in Congress.  (Laughter.)  What a foolish man. 

Anyway, 401(k)s are up.  More than a trillion dollars in private-sector investment in clean energy and advanced manufacturing in just two years alone.  After decades of sending jobs overseas for the cheapest labor possible, companies are coming back to America, investing and building here, and creating jobs here in America, in my view, where they belong.

And, of course, this economic growth is not without pain.  The entire world faced a spike in inflation due to disruptions from the pandemic and Putin’s war in Ukraine. 

We acted quickly to get inflation down with the help of Republicans and Democrats.  Inflation came down to pre-pandemic levels.  Wages have increased. 

But still, too many working- and middle-class families struggle with high prices for housing and groceries and the daily needs of life. 

At the same time, as inflation and interest rates continue to fall, we’ve entered a new phase of our economic resurgence. 

With the outcome of this election, we also face an inflection point: We do — do we continue to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, investing in all of America and Americans, supporting unions and working families as we have the past four years?  Or do we — or do we move backward — in my view, backslide to an economy that’s benefitted those at the top, while working people and the middle-class struggle to — for a fair share of growth and economic theory that encouraged industries and live- — livelihoods to be shipped overseas? 

And I might add, I’m not anti-corporation.  For 36 years, I represented corporate America.  I — my state has more corporations in — registered in my state than every other state in the Union.  So, I’m mildly accustomed to corporate America, and to see it grow is useful and helpful and necessary. 

But to make the most of the opportunities ahead, I want to share key pages from our middle-out, bottom-up economic playbook and lay down what I believe to be a new set of benchmarks to measure against the next four years and see whether this theory is more than just a phenomenon.

Four years ago, when I came to office, 3,000 Americans were dying per day from the pandemic that infected and the- — had profound effect on our economy — not only ours but around the world.  Millions of Americans lost their jobs, were at risk of losing their homes.  Hundreds of thousands of factories and businesses — excuse me — yes, hundreds of thousand closed and — creating despair in communities.

I remember I — when I was campaigning and they’d say, “My dad used to work at that factory.  My grandfather worked at that factory.  It’s gone.”  People lost hope.  They lost hope, and particularly through the Midwest and other areas of the country.

Supply chains was shattered.  Prices soared on everything from cars to homes to appliances.

The previous administration, quite frankly, had no plan — real plan — to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. 

In fact, there’s an old saying, “If the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” 

Over the course of decades of Republican leadership and — and I’m not a — those of you who know anything about me and my career in the Senate, I had as many Republican friends as Democratic friends, for real.  I’m not — I’m not of these — anyway, I won’t get going.  (Laughter.)

But I’ve never been a big fan of trickle-down economics.  The w- — it was a hammer that was hammering working people.

My dad used to say — my dad was a well-read — well-read man who didn’t get to — he got accepted to go to Hopkins and — but during the war, he never got to go.  But my dad used to talk about — he said, “Dad” — “Joey, not a whole lot trickles down on my kitchen table at the end of the month.”

Slashing taxes for the very wealthy and the biggest corporations, diminishing public investment in infrastructure, in education, in research and development. 

And keep your eye on it.  We’re going to find out whether or not what they want to do on each of those areas — continue to slash — makes sense or not. 

Offshored jobs and factories — I took off- — for cheaper labor overseas. 

Destroying unions while imposing costs on — on those products made in America. 

And despite the mythical reputation to pay for itself, trickle-down economics deeply worsened our fiscal outlook, in my view. 

To offset the costs, advocates of trickle-down economics ripped the social safety net by trying to privatize Social Security and Medicare, trying to deny access to affordable health care and prescription drugs. 

Lifting the fortunes of the very wealthy often meant taking the rights of workers away to unionize and bargain collectively. 

And, by the way, I’m all for the very wealthy.  I’m not joking.  If you can make as much money as you can, good for you.  But everybody’s got to be — pay — pay their fair share.

It meant rewarding short-termism in pursuit of short-term profits, extraordinary high executive pay, instead of making long-term investments, in many cases. 

As a consequence, our infra- — our infrastructure fell further behind.  A flood of cheap imports hollowed out our factory towns. 

Remember “Infrastructure Week”?  We had Infrastructure Week for four years.  Nothing got built.

Well, everybody said when I wanted to have an infrastructure bill that mattered — over a trillion three hundred billion dollars — we’d never get it done.  We got it done.

The next president has a game plan I laid out.  And, by the way, he’s going to find, since I made a promise I’d invest as much in red states as blue, he’s going to have a trouble not doing it.  He’s going to have a lot of red state senators who were opposed to all of it and didn’t vote for it deciding it’s very much in their interests to build the facilities that are on this (inaudible).

Economic opportunity and innovation became more concentrated in few major cities, while the heartland and communities were left behind. 

Scientific discoveries and inventions developed in America were commercialized in countries like China, bolstering their manufacturing investment and jobs instead of the economy. 

Even before the pandemic, this economic agenda was clearly failing.  Working- and middle-class families were being hurt. 

The pandemic and the economic crisis revealed a failure for everyone to see and to feel. 

And, you know, one of the things that’s going on here — (the president’s teleprompter shuts off) — they just turned off my — I’m going to go off my — I lost the electricity here.

But anyway, one of the things we found is that, you know, we — we invented the semic- — the computer chip, the size of the tip of your little finger, to power our everyday lives, from vehicles to advanced weapons, cell phones, everything in between.

The United States invented these computer chips, but over time, we stopped making them.  In the very beginning, we had — we produced 40 percent of them in the world. 

Well, they all went overseas, almost — virtually all.

So, when the pandemic hit, we found out how vulnerable America was.  Supply chains abroad got shut down in the Far East because people got sick.  The factories making the chips closed.  And all of a sudden, everybody started learning about supply chains, a phrase that was probably used more in the last four years than the last 40 years.  No, I’m serious.

You couldn’t get these chips.  Prices soared.

For example, it takes over 3,000 chips to build an American automobile — 3,000.  But when the overseas factories making those chips shut down, the production stopped and the cost of new cars soared.

You know, it didn’t have to be that way, and I was determined to change that.

I remember looking at my staff and saying, “I’m going to South Korea.”  And they said, “You’re what?”  Oh, you think I’m kidding.  See the guy next to you?  He’s a brilliant economist.  (Laughter.)  He didn’t think I was so brilliant going overseas there.  (Laughter.)

But all kidding aside, I came into office with a different vision for America that’s been consistent with my record — good, bad, or indifferent — since I’ve been a senator: grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up; invest in America and American products.  And when that happens, everybody does — the wealthy still do very well, and all of America, no matter where they lived, whether they went to college or not.

I was determined to restore U.S. leadership in industries of the future.

You know, four years later, we have proof that the playbook is, at least now, working. 

You know, within the first two months of office, I signed the American Rescue Plan — the most significant economic recovery package in our history — and I also learned something from Donald Trump.  He signed checks for people for 7,400 [1,400] bucks because we passed the plan.  And I didn’t — stupid.  (Laughter.)

But all kidding aside, I realize we’re talking about the impact of politics, but the economic basic principles is what we’re (inaudible).

You know, we helped vac- — that — passed that act, we helped vaccinate the nation and has returned to full employment.

This was just the beginning.  

We understood we needed long-term investments for the future.  Investing in America agenda, which includes my Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act — together, they mark the most significant investment in America since the New Deal.  And that’s a fact.  I mean, whether it’s good or bad, that’s the fact. 

The Inflation Reduction Act alone is the most significant investment in climate and energy ever, ever anywhere in the entire world.  We were told we couldn’t get it done.  We got $368 billion.  

We make these investments — when we make them, we buy America.  “Buy American” has been the law of the land since the ‘30s.  I won’t go back — it takes too much time, but you go back to the laws Lincoln pass- — Lincoln, my lord — if you go back to the laws that Roosevelt passed about allowing unions to resist being stepped on and organize, well, there’s a prevision — a “Buy America” prevision.

I was a senator for a long time.  I thought I was pretty informed.  I didn’t know it existed.

And, by the way, former presidents didn’t know.  If they knew, they didn’t say anything about it.

It says that the money that a president authorizes, that Congress has spent, should be used by the president to hire American workers and buy American products.

There was an exemption.  If you couldn’t find the American product, American worker, you could go overseas, but you had to show it.

Well, guess what?  Past adminiscration, including my present [predecessor], failed to “Buy America.”  But not on my watch.

We’re modernizing our roads; our bridges; our ports; our airports; our clean water system; affordable, high-speed Internet systems; and so much more.

And, by the way, if you think about the high-speed Internet systems, they’re as consequential to farmers as electricity was during the — during the administration of — of Roosevelt.  I’m serious.  You can’t function without it.

And we’ve incentivized building all these large federal projects within — with American products and American union — mostly union labor, new pathways into these jobs, including a record number of registered apprenticeships that we’ve made sure occurred.

As I noted earlier, when I came to office, semiconductor manufacturing had moved overseas.  I was determined to bring it back so we wouldn’t be at the end of the supply chain; we’d be beginning of the supply chain.  And that’s what we’ve done with my CHIPS and Science Act, which has attracted $350 billion in private-sector investment in America, including from Korea and from Taiwan.

These — I remember when we went to — to — I digress; I shouldn’t because it’s a long speech, but to digress just a moment — I went to South Korea and I met with Moo- — Yoon and — and I met with Samsung.

I said, “Why are you making this billions-dollar investments in — in what we call the ‘Field of Dreams,’ outside of Columbus, Ohio?”  He said, “Because you have the most capable workers in the world, and it’s the safest place in the world for me to make my investment.”

These investments are building what they call a new “fab.” You all know this.  But a fab is — new factories.  But they’re these giant, giant things as big as football fields.  And guess what?  When they’re built, they employ thousands of people.  And guess what?  The average salary: $102,000, and you don’t need a college degree to do the job.

These investment — massive chips factories, these fabs, these — the size of several football fields.  As I said, in the “Field of Dreams” from all across America — from New York to Ohio to Arizona.

I mean, you know, and when I ask these companies why they’re investing — again, not a joke; I give you my word.  And you all know th- — you’re businesswomen and -men.  You all know it.  They say we have the most qualified workers in the world. 

Everybody thinks that — you know, I have trouble with my union friends.  They’re not very good salesmens for themselves.  Everybody thinks — the average person out there thinks — they say, “I want to be electrician.”  Five years later — five years later, as an apprentice, you can become an electrician.

Look, the CHIPS investments are creating over 125,000 jobs so far.  Many of those jobs are paying over 100 grand a year, and we don’t need to come a college degree, as I said. 

And it’s not just fabs.  These investments are creating opportunities for entire communities, small businesses, creating even more jobs.

When they move — when you build — for example, you build one of these fabs, whether it’s in Syracuse or wherever they’re — they’re — and they’re all over the place.  Guess what?  You know what happens?  They end up building drugstores, coffee shops, automobile dealerships.  They build entire communities because thousands of people move in who can afford — can afford to live a decent life.

In fact — and we knew in the beginning this wasn’t can- — going to come to fruition in my campaign — my — my administration.  It takes time to get this done, but watch, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 years from now.

We’ll soon be the only economy in the world to have all five of the major chip companies operating in the United States of America.  It’s not only cr- — creating thousands — it will create thousands of jobs, and good-paying jobs building chips factory, it wa- — also creating those jobs for workers installing more sol- — solar panels, batteries, selling more electric vehicles than ever before.

You know, that’s a construction boom and a manufacturing boom all across America.  It’s just going to continue to pick up with the billions of dollars being invested.

When faced with unfair practices from abroad, we’ve taken a tough but targeted actions on behalf of the American worker, American businesses, and factory towns.

You know, we know the pandemic and Russian war in Ukraine and infl- — and inflation created enormous pain and hardship all across America.  It’s true for every major economy in the world.  But we took aggressive action that brought prices down.

For example, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, causing gas prices to spike globally, I ordered the biggest release of — ever in our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  That’s all the — you all know — most people listening wouldn’t — but that’s all that oil we’ve saved up.

And — and we challenged the oil and gas companies to take their record profits and invest more in production — invest more in production. 

Today, American energy production is at record levels, including in oil and gas production.  Gas prices are down to three bucks — three bucks, below the price before Russia’s invasion. 

In addition, we’ve successfully pushed [purchased] back all oil — all the oil released at a much lower price, and we’ve refilled the facilities, making the taxpayers, in the process, $3.5 billion.  Brought it out — s- — got it back; a hell of a lot cheaper to fill it back up.

Now inflation is coming down faster than almost anywhere in the world, in advanced economies. 

As inflation eased and the strong labor market persisted, inflation-adjusted wages and incomes began to rise.  Average tax f- — average after-tax income is up almost $4,000 than prices on aver- — for average Americans. 

Eighty percent of working-age Americans have jobs — near a decade — a multi-decade high. 

We’re creating a record jobs sixty percent of all Americans who chose to pursue a four-year college degree — who chose not to pursue a four-year degree. 

With our historic backing of union, public support for unions is the highest it’s been in more than a half a century, and the labor movement is expanding and changing in new companies are — and industries. 

Here’s why it’s important for all workers.  I asked the Treasury Department, when I was pushing for union expansion — and I — to do a study, and they found that when union wages go up, everybody’s wages go up across the board.  It matters.

The middle-out and bottom-up playbook is also — is also asking that the very wealthy begin — the most profitable corporations begin to pay their fair share.

I won’t use the usual ci- — cite that you usually — we got a thousand billionaires in America.  Their average federal tax is 8.2 percent.  Anybody want to trade with them?   

Well, look, my predecessor’s $2 trillion tax cut overwhelmingly benefitted the very wealthy and the biggest corporations, delivering tax cuts to the top 1 percent — worth more than 50 times the tax cuts that went to middle-class — families received. 

My approach is leading to better results for everyone.

I kept my commitment that no one — it didn’t make me very popular with Democrats — no one earning less than $4,000 a year would se- — $400,000 a year would pay an additional single penny in additional taxes.  No one. 

Not only I fought hard to expand the Child Tax Credit for working families, but cut child poverty nearly — it was — it cut child poverty nearly in half.  And, by the way, it increases economic growth.  More women can go back to work.  More women can grow the economy.  Expanded tax credits to make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act.  By the way, my — the other team tried to re- — get rid of it.  Fifty-one votes, okay?  

After a decade of severe underfunding, I fought hard to make the IRS have a budget with enough personnel and technology.  And it’s awful hard — it’s easy to go after my taxes.  Not a problem, you know?  And I — I make a good living.  You pay me a lot of money as a — as a president.  But for the very wealthy, it’s awful hard.  You need more personnel. 

And guess what?  We finally — after the fight — got more personnel.  Never did I think I’d be fighting to get more tax collectors.  We got more folks in the — in the department. 

The result: The IRS has already collected over $1 billion in unpaid taxes from the super wealthy that had not been paid in the past.

Look, folks, our economic playbook also includes increasing fair competition.  I’m a capitalist, but capitalism without competition is not capitalism; it’s exploitation.  But not on my watch.

My Inflation Reduction Act took on Big Pharma, reduced the price of insulin for seniors with diabetes to pay only 35 bucks a month until the — close to the average of $400 a month.

You know, when I was trying to sell this to the American public, I’d go around the country doing town meetings and say, “Anybody has a prescription from a major drug company in America?  Come with me and get on Air Force One.  I will take you to Toronto, to Berlin, to Rome, to anywhere in the world, and I’ll get you that same exact prescription, from the same exact company for somewhere between 40 to 60 percent less.”

Well, the Inflation Reduction Act also finally gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors across the board.  It’s already passed. 

Starting next month, out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for seniors — total prescription drug costs — will be capped at $2,000 a year no matter how much they spend, no matter how expensive their drugs.  And you all know it, because some of you, like me and others, have lost families to cancer and cancer treatment.  Those drugs — cancer drugs — can cost 10-, 12-, 14 million — thousand dollars a year.

These other reforms not only save seniors money, not only saves the patient money, but guess what?  It saves every one of you taxpayers money because the federal government is not paying out $160 billion over the next 10 years that it had to pay now, because they’re not paying that.  They’re paying 35, not 400 bucks for the prescription — exorbitant prices of pharmaceutical companies have been cha- — they’re charging.

We’re also lowering costs by eliminating junk fees.  Junk fees are those hidden costs that can add up to hundreds of dollars for the average American family — you know, hidden costs like excessive banking overdraft fees.

So, I — I didn’t realize they had the power to do this, but we brought them down from an average of $35 a month for an overdraft to $5 a month.  It costs the banks a lot of money, but it was fair.  Thirty-five bucks to deal with an overdraft. 

And, in addition to that was late fees for credit cards; apartment application fees — I know most of us don’t even look at that, but just the ap- — just to apply; hidden hotel fees; or family seating arrangements on flights.  A lot of you got that one down.

I don’t know about all of you, but — maybe it’s the Irish in me — but just — I hate being played for a sucker.  (Laughter.)  No, I’m serious.  People get angry when they find this out.

Fair competition is especially important for small businesses that have been crushed by decades of concentrated corporate power.  That’s important because small businesses represent nearly 50 percent of the entire GDP of the American economy.

Because of our policies and confidence of entrepreneurs in the economy, we’ve seen 20 million in — since I became president, 20 million new business applications during this administration — the most of any presidential term in history — a record. 

Black businesses ownership — back — Black businesses ownership is doubling.  Hispanic business ownership is up by 40 percent since the pandemic.  The share of women in business is also on the rise.

It all has benefitted not just those groups but all of the economy.  Every single application for a new business license is like a — like an act of hope, of confidence.

There’s so much more from our playbook.

The bottom line is, in four short years, we’ve come a long way from a cri- — (coughs) — excuse me, my cold — I apologize — from the crisis we inherited.

We not only — we not only beat the pandemic; we broke from the economic orthodoxy that has failed this nation, in my view, for a long time — a theory that led to fewer jobs, less economic growth, and bigger deficits.

I had a fundamentally different theory.  My theory was the strongest economy is built from the bottom up and the middle out — from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down.

And the best way to build that in America was to invest in America, invest in American products and invest in the American people — not by handing out tax breaks to those at the top. 

And I’m not looking — look, I — I won’t get in — we can talk about taxes. 

But it was — it’s long past time for America to make a generational investment in our infrastructure, in our manufacturing base, in the technological edge in our clean energy future.

I know it’s been hard for many Americans to see, and I understand it.  They’re just trying to figure out how to put three squares on the table.  But I believe it was the right thing to do, not only to lift Americans out of economic crisis caused by a pandemic, but set America on a stronger course for the future.  And we did that.

We don’t only — don’t take my word for it.  Here’s how Time Magazine and other commentators describe the economy I’m leaving to my successor, and there’s a number of these quotes: “President-elect Trump is receiving the strongest economy in modern history, which is the envy of the world.”

I’m going to say something outrageous.  I know a fair amount about foreign policy.  I’ve known every major world leader for a long — I’ve been around 500 years.  (Laughter.)  I know these guys.  And I don’t know anybody who wouldn’t change their econ- — their economy with ours.  Can you think of one, any major nation that says, “I want to trade — I don’t want to trade.  I’ll keep mine.  I like what I’m doing”?

Let me close with this.  By all accounts, the incoming administration is determined to return the country to another round of trickle-down economics and another tax cut for the very wealthy that will not be paid for — or, if paid for, is going to have a real cost — once again, causing massive deficits or significant cuts in basic programs, from health care, education, veterans benefits.

On top of that, he seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all imported goods brought into this country on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs rather than the American consumer.  Who does he think pays for this?

I believe this approach is a major mistake.  I believe we’ve proven that approach is a mistake over the past four years. 

But we all know in time — we all know in time what will happen. 

I’ve never agreed with Ronald Reagan’s approach to the economy — although, I got along with him very well — but I did agree with something he said.  President Reagan said, and I quote, “Facts are stubborn things.”  “Facts are stubborn things.”  They are.

Here are the facts.  A set mark of benchmarks, if you will, that we should measure the success or failure of our next four years: During my presidency, we created 60 million new jobs in America.  Will the next president create jobs or, like Herbert Hoover, be the only president to lose jobs in his administration?

During my presidency, we see the lowest average unemployment rate of — than any administration in 50 years. Will the unemployment be higher or lower in the next four years?

We’ve long — we have a — we have a — had a strong economic growth of 3 percent, on average, on a yearly basis.  Will the next president have a stronger or weaker economic growth?

And inflation.  Yes, inflation.  We’re battling through worldwide effects of the pandemic, Putin’s war in Ukraine, and the supply chain disruptions.  I’m leaving the next president with an inflation rate that’s near 2 percent.  Where — where will inflation be at the end of the next president’s term?

Look, these are simple, well-established economic benchmarks used to measure the strength of any economy, the success or failure of any president’s four years in office. They’re not political, rhetorical opinions.  They’re just facts — simple facts.  As President Reagan called them, “stubborn facts.” 

And one more fact I prep- — as I prepare to leave office: You know, there is no country on Earth better positioned to lead the world in the years to come than America.  Think about it.  What stunned me — and, again, I’m going to say something outrageous — I have as much experience in foreign policy as any president in the history of the United States has had.  I was chairman of Foreign Relations Committee.  I — anyway, I spent a lot of time.  I know all of them.

Well, the decisions we make over the next four years have been transformative to the nation. But I tell you what, what stunned me — and it’s not — I’m not being a hyper-American here — I can’t name a single country in the world that doesn’t think — I’ll put it this way: If we’re not leading the world, who does?  Not a joke.  I’m not being wise guy.  If we do not lead the world, what nation leads the world?  Who pulls Europe together?  Who tries to pull the Middle East together?  How do we (inaudible) the Indian Ocean?  What do we do in Africa? 

We, the United States, lead the world.  And you all are extre- — extremely experienced women and men.  You know many of these leaders.  You know many of these countries.  Find me one that says we’re not or wish we weren’t.

Look, my hope and belief is that the decisions and investments are now so deeply rooted in the nation that it’s going to be politically costly and economically unsound for the next president to disrupt to c- — or cut.

You know, some of my friends in the Republican Party when I do States of the Union who holler and like, you know, those things — they’re against all the things we did.  Keep your eye on them.  Tell me when they want the programs we voted for them — to cut in their states.  Show me the most conservative Republicans willing to take away the factories that are going to be built in their states. 

Going to be interesting.  Going to be interesting.

Look, I pray to God — because I think everybody has an opportunity to reconsider their going — growth — I pray to God the president-elect throws away Project 2025.  I think it’d be an economic disaster for us and the region.

In fact, consider one additional fact: The historic investments we’ve made went to more red states than blue states.  Not a politically smart thing to do, and I knew what I was doing.  I knew people would be angry.  But the reason the red states — and they need it more because of the decisions they made — decisions they made and geography.

Will the next president stop a new electric battery factory in Liberty, North Carolina, that will create thousands of jobs?

Will he shut down a new solar factory being built in — in Carterville [Cartersville], Georgia?  Are they going to do that?

You know, will we deny seniors living in red states $35-a-month insulin?

I believe the only way for a president to lead America was to lead all of America.  And I believe the economy I’m leaving at the moment — and others could do better than I did; I’m not saying I was perfect — but ends up, at this moment, the best economy, strongest economy in the world and for all Americans, doing better. 

So, we got a lot to do, and I’m — I’m — I’m leaving the presidency, but I’m not going away — in bad news for you all — (laughter) — because I think we can — we got to bring this country back together.

When I announced my candidacy for president, I said I was running for three reasons.  One was to restore the soul of America, just decency in the way we treat one another — politically how we treat one another.

I know you know that when I — back when Pat was around and others, we had vicious fights.  We’d go and sit and have lunch together in the Senate dining room.

I’m taking more of your time than I should.  But one of the things that I realized when I was vice president — Barack wanted me because of my background in foreign policy and my ability to work in the Congress fairly well.  And so, about five years, six years in, I decided to go up to the Senate dining room — I’m president of the Senate — to sit at the table where Democrats and Republicans sit together and began to listen again, just talk to people.

Well, guess what?  No place to go. 

You’ve been to the senator’s dining room where they take you into the ro- — the room where you can eat with other senators and other people.  But right — the doors on the left of that elevator are a private dining — it used to be a long buffet table.  You walk in — a long table sitting, I guess, 16, 18 people on the right, parallel with the table.  And you walk through an archway, and there was a table going the other way.  One was the Democratic table.  One was Republican table.  And when there weren’t enough to sit at any one table, then they all sit together.

It’s hard to really dislike an individual that you strongly disagree with when you find out his wife is dying of breast cancer or he just lost a child or he’s having serious physical problems himself. 

We knew each other.  I really mean it.

Barack used to — used to drive Barack crazy when we’d — we met every morning at 9 o’clock and with his last (inaudible) talk to one another when the day ended.  And he always give me — he said, “I know, I know, I know.  All politics is personal.”  But it is.  It is.

I watched Teddy Kennedy and Jim Eastland rip each other apart on the floor and then go down and have lunch together.

So, one is to restore the soul of the country.

The second thing to do — I was trying to do when I — I said I was — when I ran was to begin to restore the middle class, to focus on people most in need.

And thirdly, was to — to bring the cou- — bring the politics together again.  Again, we don’t have to agree with one another, but we sure in hell have to stick with the system that’s allowed us to strongly disagree and yet keep within the confines of the — of the admonitions of the Constitution.

I’ve taken much too much of your time, and I apologize.  But you’re the — among the most informed people in Washington, and I would really appreciate, down the road here a little bit, any constructive criticism you have, and I’m sure you have some.  (Laughter.) 

All right.  Thank you so very much for having me.  (Applause.)

1:20 P.M. EST

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On December 9, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer met virtually with the Deputy National Security Advisors of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.  Mr. Finer discussed with his counterparts the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the importance of working closely together across their respective capitals and with partners in the region to support the aspirations of the Syrian people and manage risks associated with the ongoing transition. The group discussed efforts to reinforce the ceasefire in Lebanon and reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.  Mr. Finer also noted the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to ensure Ukraine has the strongest hand possible heading into 2025 and to increase costs on Russia for its continued aggression. The group discussed shared concerns over democratic backsliding in Georgia, including through last month’s elections and more recent violence against protestors. 

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The post Readout of Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s Meeting with Quint Deputy National Security Advisors: Xavier Chatel of France, Christian Aulbach of Germany, Pietro Sferra Carini of Italy, and Nick Catsaras and Matt Collins of the United Kingdom appeared first on The White House.

On December 9, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer met virtually with the Deputy National Security Advisors of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.  Mr. Finer discussed with his counterparts the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the importance of working closely together across their respective capitals and with partners in the region to support the aspirations of the Syrian people and manage risks associated with the ongoing transition. The group discussed efforts to reinforce the ceasefire in Lebanon and reach a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.  Mr. Finer also noted the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to ensure Ukraine has the strongest hand possible heading into 2025 and to increase costs on Russia for its continued aggression. The group discussed shared concerns over democratic backsliding in Georgia, including through last month’s elections and more recent violence against protestors. 

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The post Readout of Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s Meeting with Quint Deputy National Security Advisors: Xavier Chatel of France, Christian Aulbach of Germany, Pietro Sferra Carini of Italy, and Nick Catsaras and Matt Collins of the United Kingdom appeared first on The White House.

The spirit of innovation is central to who we are as Americans. America invented the semiconductor, the building blocks of the technology of today and tomorrow. Through our CHIPS and Science Act, President Biden and I have made the historic investments necessary to ensure semiconductor manufacturing returns to and remains here in America.
 
Today, thanks to our historic legislation, the Department of Commerce has finalized one of its largest awards to date with Micron Technology, the only U.S. based manufacturer of memory chips. This more than $6.1 billion investment in Clay, NY and Boise, ID supports the construction of several state-of-the-art memory chips facilities as part of Micron’s total $125 billion investment over the next few decades, creating at least 20,000 jobs by the end of the decade. These investments will help the U.S. grow its share of advanced memory manufacturing from nearly 0% today to 10% over the next decade.

I am also proud to say that Micron is building these facilities by utilizing project labor agreements and registered apprenticeship programs, which will further strengthen local economies, support workers, and ensure the construction is completed on time and within budget. Additionally, the Department of Commerce announced that it agreed to preliminary terms with Micron for an additional $275 million investment to expand Micron’s Manassas, VA facility and onshore a critical technology relied upon by our defense industry, automotive sector, and national security community.
 
Our administration knows these landmark announcements are more than investments; they are catalysts for sustained economic growth. When President Biden and I took office, supply chain disruptions led to chips and semiconductor shortages. That is why we worked with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in Congress to pass legislation to make these unprecedented investments that are creating opportunity in red and blue states alike. At the same time, our work has bolstered our national and economic security by promoting the domestic creation of the chips that are responsible for powering nearly every device Americans rely on – from smartphones and vehicles to advanced defense systems and artificial intelligence data centers. This work will make a lasting difference for decades to come and proves that in the competition for the 21st century, we can invest in American industries and American workers at the same time.

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The post Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on CHIPS and Science Act Investments in Micron Technology appeared first on The White House.

The spirit of innovation is central to who we are as Americans. America invented the semiconductor, the building blocks of the technology of today and tomorrow. Through our CHIPS and Science Act, President Biden and I have made the historic investments necessary to ensure semiconductor manufacturing returns to and remains here in America.
 
Today, thanks to our historic legislation, the Department of Commerce has finalized one of its largest awards to date with Micron Technology, the only U.S. based manufacturer of memory chips. This more than $6.1 billion investment in Clay, NY and Boise, ID supports the construction of several state-of-the-art memory chips facilities as part of Micron’s total $125 billion investment over the next few decades, creating at least 20,000 jobs by the end of the decade. These investments will help the U.S. grow its share of advanced memory manufacturing from nearly 0% today to 10% over the next decade.

I am also proud to say that Micron is building these facilities by utilizing project labor agreements and registered apprenticeship programs, which will further strengthen local economies, support workers, and ensure the construction is completed on time and within budget. Additionally, the Department of Commerce announced that it agreed to preliminary terms with Micron for an additional $275 million investment to expand Micron’s Manassas, VA facility and onshore a critical technology relied upon by our defense industry, automotive sector, and national security community.
 
Our administration knows these landmark announcements are more than investments; they are catalysts for sustained economic growth. When President Biden and I took office, supply chain disruptions led to chips and semiconductor shortages. That is why we worked with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents in Congress to pass legislation to make these unprecedented investments that are creating opportunity in red and blue states alike. At the same time, our work has bolstered our national and economic security by promoting the domestic creation of the chips that are responsible for powering nearly every device Americans rely on – from smartphones and vehicles to advanced defense systems and artificial intelligence data centers. This work will make a lasting difference for decades to come and proves that in the competition for the 21st century, we can invest in American industries and American workers at the same time.

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U.S. International Development Finance Corporation
Washington, D.C.

1:01 P.M. EST

MR. SULLIVAN:  Well, good afternoon.  And thank you so much for that introduction, Scott.  And thank you especially for your leadership here at DFC over these last years, a sentiment that I know President Biden shares deeply. 

Simply put, no one has played a more important role in this institution’s growth and development than you, and no one could have brought greater creativity, savvy, or tenacity to the task. 

Trust me, I have seen Scott in full warrior mode on behalf of DFC in the Situation Room, taking on other agencies with other ideas, and he’s constantly delivering to make sure that DFC, in turn, delivers on its mission. 

I also know, from personal experience myself, that leaders are only as capable as their teams, and the team at DFC is second to none.  And I want to salute everybody here in the audience, who either is current or past member of the DFC team, for all that you have done to build this into the impactful organization that it is today. 

If your first five years have proven anything, it is your impact globally will only compound exponentially in the years to come. 

So, thanks to you all, and thank you for letting me be here to mark this occasion with you. 

As many of you know, last week, President Biden traveled to Lobito, Angola.  Scott was there, of course.  Just a few years ago, that was an area completely devoid of any American investment.  But not anymore. 

During his visit, the President saw a rail car that will travel on Africa’s first transcontinental railroad, grain silos that will help transform the region from food importers to food exporters, and businesses that are investing in everything from clean energy to 5G all across the region. 

These are transformational projects, generational projects, projects that would have been unthinkable just five years ago but are already having an impact, and it’s because of the work that we’ve all done together to reimagine investment and development around the world in the face of profound and accelerating global change. 

When President Biden came to office, our nation faced several converging challenges: a pandemic that had shaken the world, a worsening climate crisis, vulnerable supply chains, rapid technological change, and geopolitical competition from a pacing competitor in the PRC. 

So, as these challenges were all coming to a head, we were entering this new era of geopolitics, one defined by strategic competition.  Ad hoc investments, grants, and loans were not going to cut it.  The old way of doing business was not going to cut it.  And it was not just that we weren’t punching above our weight.  It’s that, in many cases, when you looked at the full kind of capacity that the U.S. could bring to the table and the gap in what we were, in fact, bringing to the table across all of the tools of our national power, we were ceding the field.

So it was imperative that we needed to step back, look at the bigger picture, and present a positive-sum vision for growth and development globally, one calibrated to new geopolitical realities and one matched to the scope of the transformational challenges we faced. 

So, the first question we faced was: Okay, how do we do that?  How can we mobilize capital at scale for nations around the world, and how can we get our global partners to join us?

And here, having a bipartisan effort like the DFC, built in the previous administration under President Trump, handed off to President Biden, but still in its early stages, this was going to be a critical piece of the puzzle but one piece of a larger puzzle that was going to require a whole set of tools to be able to effectively mobilize capital in the service of our national interest and in the service of the global common interest. 

So the President, at the first G7 that he went to in Cornwall, England, launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, or PGI.  In true government fashion, we give our best initiatives the most memorable acronyms, PGI.  (Laughter.)

At its core, the aim of PGI was to redefine the traditional Western value proposition to the developing world to say, “Okay, we hear you when it comes to the priorities you have in order to deliver for your citizens.”  And at the top of that list, for country after country in regions of the world on different continents, the answer consistently came back: infrastructure.  Physical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, digital infrastructure, health infrastructure, but the basic building blocks of growth and dynamism that could deliver for these countries.  And there was a massive gap.

And the country that was most active in actually trying to deliver for countries around the world with respect to infrastructure was the PRC, through its Belt and Road Initiative.  And we were not playing at the level or with the intensity that we had to play. 

So, we looked at this and we said: Somehow, given this need across the world, we need to turn billions into trillions of dollars of investment with solutions that those countries helped fashion on their own but with capital enabled by the United States and our partners in the G7 and other likeminded countries.

We layered on top of that the idea of catalyzing and concentrating investment in key corridors so that we were leveraging our investment to the maximum, not just spreading it thin across the board.

And through these corridors, including in Africa and Asia, PGI is designed to help close that infrastructure gap in developing countries, and I’m very proud of the progress that we’ve made so far. 

Over the last two years, the U.S. has mobilized over $80 billion in investments through the DFC and other tools to build out these corridors, like the Lobito Corridor that President Biden visited last week. 

This approach is about strengthening countries’ economic growth.  It’s also about strengthening America’s supply chains and global trusted technology vendors.  And it’s about diplomacy.  It’s about strengthening our critical partnerships in critical regions. 

And as the people in this room know better than anyone, this is not spending huge amounts of public dollars.  It’s about taking public dollars and public tools to mobilize private dollars.  And, frankly, the response we have seen from the private sector over the past four years has been increasing enthusiasm, increasing buy-in for the vision that we are all working towards. 

Take our climate goals, for example.  In year one, President Biden set an audacious target to quadruple U.S. international finance for climate to $11 billion every year. 

When we set that target, we knew that the DFC was going to be central to achieving it, but we didn’t quite realize the extent to which the DFC would create the backbone for our investment portfolio in energy security and supply chain resilience.  And as a result of the heroic work that so many of the people in this room did, we’ve been able to massively accelerate the speed and scale of the clean energy transition to help meet the moment on climate. 

We also recognize that how we invest is just as important as how much we invest, which leads to my next point.  Throughout every PGI investment and every project and everything that the DFC is doing, we’ve focused on quality, not just quantity.  As everyone here knows well, that’s going to make our investments more sustainable over the long run, and it is what sets the United States apart from our competitors. 

And I want to be clear: We’re not forcing nations around the world to choose between us and China, or any other nation for that matter, but we are making sure that there is an option that is high standard and credible and more attractive and impactful than what our competitors might offer. 

And that means ensuring that our investments meet the very highest standards — for workers, for the environment, for the people that they are meant to serve.  It means ensuring that our projects don’t produce unsustainable debt for our partners, debt that prevents them from investing in their own development over time.  And it means ensuring that the progress we’ve helped fuel around the world does not inadvertently facilitate corruption. 

In fact, shortly after he took office, President Biden issued a Presidential Policy Directive that established corruption as a core national security threat, and created the first-ever National Strategy on Countering Corruption.

Now, today is — we’re celebrating the five-year birthday of the DFC.  Today is also International [Anti]-Corruption Day.  And I’m exceedingly proud that four years later, we’ve made good on the President’s directive and given this strategy, to counter corruption, meaning and force so that we can mark and celebrate International Anti-Corruption Day today with stronger regulations, closed loopholes, a record of cutting off money launderers, and taking steps to ensure that our own financial system serves as a check rather than an accomplice to corrupt behavior.  That goes from implementing the landmark Corporate Transparency Act that we helped pass, to tightening regulations in the real estate sector so criminals cannot use the U.S. real estate sector to launder their own dirty money. 

We’ve gone after kleptocrats, criminals, and their cronies who steal from public coffers, including issuing 500 new anti-corruption sanctions.  And we’re working with partners to enable them to advance protections as well. 

But we can’t let up.  Looking ahead, we need to come together on a bipartisan basis to finally pass the ENABLERS Act.  We need to encourage our global partners, like the IMF and the World Bank, to strengthen their own anti-corruption efforts. 

And we need to stay on the balls of our feet, including quickly expanding the investments DFC is making in countries that are experiencing a window of opportunity for governance reform, like we’ve done so effectively in both Moldova and the Dominican Republic.  That is a model for how we can take the fight against corruption, the fight for economic growth, the tools of the DFC, and seize opportunities that lie before us.  And we have a proven track record of being able to do just that. 

And this leads me to the final point I want to discuss today, and that’s where we go from here, what we should be focusing on as we head into the next five years.  Maybe I shouldn’t be the one answering this since I’m leaving, but I will give my advice anyway. 

And I — because I truly do mean “we.”  It’s not just about who’s sitting in this seat in the U.S. government in a particular administration.  It’s about the public sector and the private sector.  It’s about the administration and the Congress.  It’s about Democrats and Republicans.  It’s about all of us.  And I intend to continue to be a partner to this effort, even from the outside. 

DFC is a bipartisan priority.  It was created, as we’ve all noted, under the Trump administration.  It has been strengthened under the Biden administration.  And as we look to DFC’s reauthorization next year, it has to remain a bipartisan priority.  And I think we have to work together to implement a few key reforms. 

First, we’ve got to modernize DFC’s equity program.  As all of you know, appropriation for DFC’s program that invests in companies and projects has to account for each investment, when it’s an equity investment, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, like a grant, instead of recognizing the investment’s value, which is an equity stake in an enterprise and will eventually not just be recouped by DFC but in most cases will earn a return. 

The accounting quirk that we currently have to use — this dollar-for-dollar basis — really limits how much the DFC can invest every year.  Changing the equity program to account for future returns up front would enable the DFC to invest more and invest earlier at the same cost to the U.S. taxpayer.  That would be a game changer, especially in priority sectors like critical minerals and clean energy, where investment at scale is needed. 

Second, we’ve got to increase DFC’s footprint.  Right now, the list of countries where DFC can invest is generally limited, as you all know, by a certain income per capita threshold.  In some ways, this makes sense.  I understand why this got put into place.  Low- and middle-income countries need the development support the most.

But operating based on income per capita alone doesn’t account for other critical factors, like access to finance or vulnerability to shocks.  We can solve this by allowing DFC to mirror the World Bank’s country of operation model.  This would allow the DFC to operate in more countries that need our assistance in more areas.  And most importantly, it will ensure that nations don’t suddenly get cut off once their income per capita goes just slightly above the threshold. 

Finally, and maybe most importantly, most fundamentally, we need Congress to reauthorize the DFC on a bipartisan basis.  Here in Washington, we do sometimes get stuck thinking in two- or four-year cycles. 

But to put it simply, our private sector partners want to know that they can count on us in the long term.  Our allies who are investing with us, like the G7, want to know that they can count on us in the long term. 

And nations around the world want to know that they can count on us, the countries that will be taking our investments, in the long term; that big, quality infrastructure projects they choose to undertake with us will actually be completed, whether it takes 5 years or 10 years or 15 years or more for the kinds of generational investments we want to be making.

Now, to really do that, you need a permanent reauthorization.  That would send a clear signal to all of those audiences: You can count on the United States of America. 

It would create real market certainty and predictability that positions the private sector to help serve the American national interest while making good returns for their investors. 

And it would allow the DFC to focus on what matters: mobilizing capital at greater scale, including through the DFC’s enterprise fund authority; taking on smart investment risks to bring forward projects the private sector wouldn’t otherwise consider; maximizing cooperation with our other development tools, like the MCC or USTDA or USAID; and expanding collaboration with the MDBs like you’ve done with the Inter-American Development Bank. 

Let me close with this:

President Biden often says that our world stands at an inflection point, a point where the decisions we make now will determine the course of our future for decades to come.  In just five short years, the Development Finance Corporation and the work so many of you have done all around the world, including through these larger initiatives like PGI, has set that course on a better path for our nation and for nations around the world. 

Now is the time to keep going, to keep growing, to keep coming together across the aisle and around the world. 

It has been an honor to get to work with you, to be your supporter, to try to be your champion, and also, in the work that I do every day trying to protect America’s national security, be the beneficiary of the work you’ve done to enhance our national security.  And I can’t wait to see what you will accomplish in the next five years and the five after that and beyond. 

So, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity.  (Applause.)

1:17 P.M. EST

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