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Dover Air Force Base
Dover, Delaware

2:50 P.M. EDT

Q    Mr. President, did you — do you support Israel’s decision to try to kill Nasrallah?

THE PRESIDENT:  We’re still gathering information.  I can tell you the United States had no knowledge of or participation in the IDF action.  We’re ga- — we’re gathering more information.  I’ll have more to say when we have more information. 

Q    You say you support Israel’s decision —

THE PRESIDENT:  I — 

Q    — to defend itself.  Do you support what they did today with the strikes in Beirut?

THE PRESIDENT:  We have to get more detail.  I don’t know enough to answer that question.

Thank you.

Q    Are you worried about escalation?

Q    On U.S. Steel, sir.  On U.S. Steel.  The timeline has been pushed back three months.  Some are interpreting that that you might changing your mind about how you feel about that deal.  Do you have any comment about how you feel about that deal?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I don’t — I haven’t changed my mind.  (Inaudible.)

Q    Sir, how concerned are you about escalation right now in Lebanon?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m always concerned about that.  I’m always concerned about that.

Q    And your reading on the hurricane: How bad does it look down there right now?

THE PRESIDENT:  It looks bad.  At least 25 people dead.  There’s still rising waters.  We don’t have enough information yet.  There’s one dam in North Carolina that’s also in question.

2:51 P.M. EDT

The post Remarks by President Biden in Press Gaggle | Dover, DE appeared first on The White House.

Dover Air Force Base
Dover, Delaware

2:50 P.M. EDT

Q    Mr. President, did you — do you support Israel’s decision to try to kill Nasrallah?

THE PRESIDENT:  We’re still gathering information.  I can tell you the United States had no knowledge of or participation in the IDF action.  We’re ga- — we’re gathering more information.  I’ll have more to say when we have more information. 

Q    You say you support Israel’s decision —

THE PRESIDENT:  I — 

Q    — to defend itself.  Do you support what they did today with the strikes in Beirut?

THE PRESIDENT:  We have to get more detail.  I don’t know enough to answer that question.

Thank you.

Q    Are you worried about escalation?

Q    On U.S. Steel, sir.  On U.S. Steel.  The timeline has been pushed back three months.  Some are interpreting that that you might changing your mind about how you feel about that deal.  Do you have any comment about how you feel about that deal?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I don’t — I haven’t changed my mind.  (Inaudible.)

Q    Sir, how concerned are you about escalation right now in Lebanon?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m always concerned about that.  I’m always concerned about that.

Q    And your reading on the hurricane: How bad does it look down there right now?

THE PRESIDENT:  It looks bad.  At least 25 people dead.  There’s still rising waters.  We don’t have enough information yet.  There’s one dam in North Carolina that’s also in question.

2:51 P.M. EDT

The post Remarks by President Biden in Press Gaggle | Dover, DE appeared first on The White House.

Last week, White House officials welcomed leaders from 34 states across the country to discuss state actions to make child care more affordable for working families, increase child care provider supply, and improve job quality for child care workers.

This convening reaffirms the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to expanding access to child care. Last week, the Council of Economic Advisors released its new issue brief identifying how child care is foundational to the overall economy by demonstrating the connection between expanded access to child care and increased maternal labor force participation and business formation. This new analysis adds to earlier findings on how federal funding made possible by the American Rescue Plan lowered costs for working families and increased women’s labor force participation and underscores the need for additional investments in the child care sector as part of economic infrastructure.  

The Biden-Harris Administration has demonstrated its commitment to supporting affordable care through direct investments—including tens of billions of dollars through the American Rescue Plan—and has proposed historic investments in child care in the President’s annual budgets. The President and Vice President have secured a 50% increase in child care funding over this Administration, resulting in child care subsidies supporting over a half million more children from low-income families. President Biden also signed the Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers, which includes more than 50 directives to expand access to affordable, high-quality care and to support care workers and caregivers, and required companies applying for major grants from his CHIPS and Science Act to ensure affordable, high-quality care for their workers. Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, the Administration is lowering child care costs for more than 100,000 lower-income families by capping costs at no more than 7% of their income, saving families an average of $2,400 a year.

At the convening, state leaders talked about progress they have made since the 2023 White House convening including successes from the most recent legislative session and discussed next steps for further state action on child care, such as serving more working families, lowering costs, and supporting providers. Spurred by the historic actions the Biden-Harris Administration has taken, states across the country have made significant investments in child care as part of their budgets, expanded income eligibility for child care subsidies, and increased provider payment rates. Administration officials also highlighted their call to states to invest at least 0.5% of federal highway formula funds, which total nearly $50 billion per year, to expand and diversify their construction workforces, including by providing child care and other supportive services. States can follow the examples of Maryland and Pennsylvania by investing highway funds in high-quality workforce approaches such as registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs and supportive services.

White House officials thanked state legislators for their leadership and dedication to this issue, and discussed the Biden-Harris Administration’s concrete support for continued federal and state action to improve child care access and affordability, worker and provider supports, and quality.

###

The post Readout of the White House States Convening on Child Care appeared first on The White House.

The Biden-Harris Administration took significant proactive measures to support state and local preparation and response measures in advance of Hurricane Helene making landfall. As the storm continues to track north, President Biden and Vice President Harris remain focused on life-saving and life-sustaining response efforts throughout the Southeast. The President and Vice President are closely monitoring these efforts and are receiving regular briefings, including today, from senior Administration officials, including Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Administration officials have been in contact with state and local officials before and during the storm and will continue to coordinate together during recovery efforts. At the President’s direction, FEMA Administrator Criswell is traveling to Florida this afternoon to assess the damage alongside other state and local officials. Administrator Criswell will also travel to Georgia and North Carolina in the coming days.

President Biden and Vice President Harris are praying for those who lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm. Although the storm has weakened, the situation remains extremely dangerous, and the Administration continues to urge residents to heed the warnings of local officials and evacuate immediately if told to do so, as flooding and other hazards may still affect the region.

Consistent with the President’s direction for a robust and well-coordinated Federal response, the Administration has taken swift action to support Hurricane Helene preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Specific actions taken include:

Approved Emergency Declarations Before Landfall 

• Before Helene made landfall, the Governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina submitted emergency declaration requests that President Biden swiftly approved. These declarations authorized FEMA to provide assistance for emergency measures to save lives, protect property, public health and safety, and fund other emergency response measures. The Federal government proactively pre-positioned personnel and resources across the region before Hurricane Helene made landfall, including power restoration teams for temporary emergency power, search and rescue equipment, meals, water, generators, and equipment to assist communities and states with impacts from the storm.
• The Administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services, declared a Public Health Emergency for the states of Florida and Georgia. This gives the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) health care providers and suppliers greater flexibility in meeting emergency health needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Supporting Ongoing Emergency Response Efforts

• At the President’s direction, before Helene made landfall, 1,500 Federal personnel were deployed to the region.
• Urban Search and Rescue has deployed a total of 14 teams (940 personnel) to affected states. In Florida, eight teams are positioned to respond, and all are equipped with Swift Water Rescue Capabilities. In Georgia, two teams with water capability have been deployed to support rescue operations. In North Carolina, four teams all equipped with Swift Water Rescue Capabilities are in place. 
• The U.S. Coast Guard crews will continue to respond with vessels and aircraft to assist search and rescue activities. Approximately 8,000 personnel are working on the Coast Guard response. They will continue to respond to urgent distress calls to save lives and assist those impacted by the storm.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has two teams prepositioned to provide temporary emergency power, with additional personnel deployed and other are prepared to deploy if needed. In addition to temporary emergency power, personnel will assist the states with infrastructure assessments, debris management and temporary roofing assistance as needed. They have activated six emergency operation centers in the region to coordinate operations.
• The Department of Health and Human Services deployed two Health and Medical Task Forces to assist hospitals and other critical care facilities with any impacts as a result of the storm.
• FEMA’s Surge Capacity Force is activated, which enables the deployment of additional disaster staff within the Department of Homeland Security and across the Federal interagency to assist in the areas impacted by the hurricane.
• The Federal government pre-staged more than 2.7 million meals, 1.6 million liters of water, 50,000 tarps, 10,000 cots, and 20,000 blankets in the region to support sheltering needs in impacted communities.
• FEMA pre-positioned tanker trucks with 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 40,000 gallons of gasoline to surge to impacted communities once the storm has passed to help alleviate any fuel shortages.
• Prior to the storm, FEMA also helped source hundreds of ambulances to assist with the movement of any patients out of impacted hospitals or other facilities.

Supporting Communities and Infrastructure Following the Storm’s Impact

• The Department of Energy’s Energy Response Organization is activated and closely monitoring impacts and restoration efforts related to Helene, including power, fuel, and supply chain interruptions.  Via the Electricity Sub-Sector Coordinating Council, the Department also works continuously with electric utilities across the country to strengthen post-storm power restoration efforts.
• The Environmental Protection Agency is working closely with Federal, state, local, and Tribal partners to help protect water systems, prepare for debris management, and ensure facilities, including Superfund sites, maintain critical public health and environmental protections. EPA stands ready to mobilize additional staff after the storm passes and as clean up and recovery efforts begin. 
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made information available from the HHS emPOWER program, a partnership between the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to support public health emergency planning and response activities. The program provides valuable information on the number of Medicare beneficiaries who rely on electricity-dependent durable medical equipment and certain health care services, such as dialysis, oxygen tanks, or home health care, to help anticipate, plan for, and respond to the needs of at-risk residents in areas impacted by the storm. 
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) notified Public Housing Authorities, multifamily, and healthcare facility owners to implement all appropriate protocols to prepare for the storm and ensure the safety of their residents. HUD is and will continue to work with the Public Housing Authorities, multifamily, and healthcare owners and homelessness assistance partners to determine damage impact and resident displacement. HUD will also be developing vacancy lists of HUD-assisted projects that can be used to provide temporary and/or permanent housing to disaster survivors.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service approved Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ request to provide operational flexibilities in all of the state’s school lunch programs – which will enhance flexibilities for meal service during unanticipated school closures.
• The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aerial teams are being deployed to provide valuable observations of impacted communities to understand the scope of the storm damage and to support disaster response by Federal partners. To ensure navigational safety, NOAA experts work around-the-clock after a storm acquiring and processing data to speed the reopening of ports and waterways by verifying water depth and identifying dangers to navigation.
• Additional personnel from the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and Department of Health and Human Services are deployed to assist with response and recovery efforts.

###

The post FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration’s Life-Saving and Life-Sustaining Response Efforts to Hurricane Helene appeared first on The White House.

The Biden-Harris Administration took significant proactive measures to support state and local preparation and response measures in advance of Hurricane Helene making landfall. As the storm continues to track north, President Biden and Vice President Harris remain focused on life-saving and life-sustaining response efforts throughout the Southeast. The President and Vice President are closely monitoring these efforts and are receiving regular briefings, including today, from senior Administration officials, including Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell.

Administration officials have been in contact with state and local officials before and during the storm and will continue to coordinate together during recovery efforts. At the President’s direction, FEMA Administrator Criswell is traveling to Florida this afternoon to assess the damage alongside other state and local officials. Administrator Criswell will also travel to Georgia and North Carolina in the coming days.

President Biden and Vice President Harris are praying for those who lost loved ones and for everyone impacted by this storm. Although the storm has weakened, the situation remains extremely dangerous, and the Administration continues to urge residents to heed the warnings of local officials and evacuate immediately if told to do so, as flooding and other hazards may still affect the region.

Consistent with the President’s direction for a robust and well-coordinated Federal response, the Administration has taken swift action to support Hurricane Helene preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. Specific actions taken include:

Approved Emergency Declarations Before Landfall 

• Before Helene made landfall, the Governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina submitted emergency declaration requests that President Biden swiftly approved. These declarations authorized FEMA to provide assistance for emergency measures to save lives, protect property, public health and safety, and fund other emergency response measures. The Federal government proactively pre-positioned personnel and resources across the region before Hurricane Helene made landfall, including power restoration teams for temporary emergency power, search and rescue equipment, meals, water, generators, and equipment to assist communities and states with impacts from the storm.
• The Administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services, declared a Public Health Emergency for the states of Florida and Georgia. This gives the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) health care providers and suppliers greater flexibility in meeting emergency health needs of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Supporting Ongoing Emergency Response Efforts

• At the President’s direction, before Helene made landfall, 1,500 Federal personnel were deployed to the region.
• Urban Search and Rescue has deployed a total of 14 teams (940 personnel) to affected states. In Florida, eight teams are positioned to respond, and all are equipped with Swift Water Rescue Capabilities. In Georgia, two teams with water capability have been deployed to support rescue operations. In North Carolina, four teams all equipped with Swift Water Rescue Capabilities are in place. 
• The U.S. Coast Guard crews will continue to respond with vessels and aircraft to assist search and rescue activities. Approximately 8,000 personnel are working on the Coast Guard response. They will continue to respond to urgent distress calls to save lives and assist those impacted by the storm.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has two teams prepositioned to provide temporary emergency power, with additional personnel deployed and other are prepared to deploy if needed. In addition to temporary emergency power, personnel will assist the states with infrastructure assessments, debris management and temporary roofing assistance as needed. They have activated six emergency operation centers in the region to coordinate operations.
• The Department of Health and Human Services deployed two Health and Medical Task Forces to assist hospitals and other critical care facilities with any impacts as a result of the storm.
• FEMA’s Surge Capacity Force is activated, which enables the deployment of additional disaster staff within the Department of Homeland Security and across the Federal interagency to assist in the areas impacted by the hurricane.
• The Federal government pre-staged more than 2.7 million meals, 1.6 million liters of water, 50,000 tarps, 10,000 cots, and 20,000 blankets in the region to support sheltering needs in impacted communities.
• FEMA pre-positioned tanker trucks with 70,000 gallons of diesel fuel and 40,000 gallons of gasoline to surge to impacted communities once the storm has passed to help alleviate any fuel shortages.
• Prior to the storm, FEMA also helped source hundreds of ambulances to assist with the movement of any patients out of impacted hospitals or other facilities.

Supporting Communities and Infrastructure Following the Storm’s Impact

• The Department of Energy’s Energy Response Organization is activated and closely monitoring impacts and restoration efforts related to Helene, including power, fuel, and supply chain interruptions.  Via the Electricity Sub-Sector Coordinating Council, the Department also works continuously with electric utilities across the country to strengthen post-storm power restoration efforts.
• The Environmental Protection Agency is working closely with Federal, state, local, and Tribal partners to help protect water systems, prepare for debris management, and ensure facilities, including Superfund sites, maintain critical public health and environmental protections. EPA stands ready to mobilize additional staff after the storm passes and as clean up and recovery efforts begin. 
• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made information available from the HHS emPOWER program, a partnership between the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to support public health emergency planning and response activities. The program provides valuable information on the number of Medicare beneficiaries who rely on electricity-dependent durable medical equipment and certain health care services, such as dialysis, oxygen tanks, or home health care, to help anticipate, plan for, and respond to the needs of at-risk residents in areas impacted by the storm. 
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) notified Public Housing Authorities, multifamily, and healthcare facility owners to implement all appropriate protocols to prepare for the storm and ensure the safety of their residents. HUD is and will continue to work with the Public Housing Authorities, multifamily, and healthcare owners and homelessness assistance partners to determine damage impact and resident displacement. HUD will also be developing vacancy lists of HUD-assisted projects that can be used to provide temporary and/or permanent housing to disaster survivors.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service approved Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ request to provide operational flexibilities in all of the state’s school lunch programs – which will enhance flexibilities for meal service during unanticipated school closures.
• The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration aerial teams are being deployed to provide valuable observations of impacted communities to understand the scope of the storm damage and to support disaster response by Federal partners. To ensure navigational safety, NOAA experts work around-the-clock after a storm acquiring and processing data to speed the reopening of ports and waterways by verifying water depth and identifying dangers to navigation.
• Additional personnel from the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and Department of Health and Human Services are deployed to assist with response and recovery efforts.

###

The post FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration’s Life-Saving and Life-Sustaining Response Efforts to Hurricane Helene appeared first on The White House.

East Room

As Prepared for Delivery

SECOND GENTLEMAN DOUGLAS EMHOFF: Good morning, everyone.

On behalf of President Biden, the First Lady, and my wife, Vice President Harris: congratulations to the 2023 Major League Soccer Champions, Columbus Crew, and welcome to the White House.

To all the members of Congress and other distinguished guests: thank you for joining us and for the work you do every day. It’s great to be with all of you.

As Second Gentleman, I’ve traveled to Columbus, Ohio a couple times. And one thing I learned during my travels is just how big of a sports town Columbus is – with loyal ride or die fans to the Crew.

I’ve always loved soccer. I grew up playing a lot of sports as a kid. And at my Jewish Summer camp, I was voted “Most Athletic.”

Later on in life, I was a proud soccer dad for my kids.

First, I was their coach. Then, I became a referee. I had a lot of fun wearing that yellow outfit with the whistle, short shorts, and big socks. Though I think my kids didn’t enjoy that part as much.

And these days, I’m still a massive fan who gets up early to watch the sport.

Last year, I led the Presidential Delegation to the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. And just a couple months ago, I had the honor of representing the United States at the Closing Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where I watched the U.S. women’s national Soccer team take home the gold.

Now, I get to join you all for today’s celebration.

Columbus Crew is a team that exemplifies excellence.

Since 1996, you’ve won 9 major trophies.

During the 2023 regular season, you were the top-scoring team in MLS for the first time in the club’s history.

In Round One of the playoffs, you beat Atlanta in three hard-fought games.

In the Conference Semis, you shut out Orlando on the road.

In the Conference Finals, you capped a legendary comeback against your Cincinnati rivals and came back from 2-0 down at the half to win 3-2 in extra time.

Before the Championship match, Coach Nancy, you shared an important lesson with your team. You reminded them that you have one virtue in life: courage.

“Without courage, you can’t do anything.”

Courage is exactly what you showed in that championship match. You played brave: taking risks, attacking early and often, and relying on each other.

And it paid off.

By the end of the game, you were champions once again, for your second MLS Cup in four years.

You’re not only champions on the field. You’re leaders off the field, too. Through the Columbus Crew’s community efforts, you are:

Developing new fields for kids to play soccer;

Providing equipment to help more kids pick up the sport;

And combating chronic absenteeism in Ohio with the Stay in the Game initiative.

Through your work and dedication, you have made the Central Ohio community – and our entire nation – incredibly proud.

Part of why I love sports so much is that it unifies us.

As we all know, we have way more in common than what divides us. There is a lot of hate and division out there at this moment. But sports bring people – and our country – together.

That’s what each of you do every day. You inspire people across our nation, and you lift them up with a sense of joy and community. You show them what true leadership looks like.

This is something Coach Nancy knows a thing or two about.

Right before the MLS Cup Final, Coach Nancy showed all of you pictures of yourselves as kids.

He reminded you — his team — to play with the same joy you did when you were young and helped to lighten the mood before a high-pressure match.

Coach – in only two seasons as head coach for the Crew, you are already making your mark. You are setting an example for coaches across our nation and around the world.

So, Columbus Crew, congratulations once again, on your championship. And good luck on the remainder of the 2024 season.

Now, please join me in welcoming Coach Nancy.

###

The post Remarks by Second Gentleman Honoring the 2023 Major League Soccer Champions, Columbus Crew appeared first on The White House.

East Room

As Prepared for Delivery

SECOND GENTLEMAN DOUGLAS EMHOFF: Good morning, everyone.

On behalf of President Biden, the First Lady, and my wife, Vice President Harris: congratulations to the 2023 Major League Soccer Champions, Columbus Crew, and welcome to the White House.

To all the members of Congress and other distinguished guests: thank you for joining us and for the work you do every day. It’s great to be with all of you.

As Second Gentleman, I’ve traveled to Columbus, Ohio a couple times. And one thing I learned during my travels is just how big of a sports town Columbus is – with loyal ride or die fans to the Crew.

I’ve always loved soccer. I grew up playing a lot of sports as a kid. And at my Jewish Summer camp, I was voted “Most Athletic.”

Later on in life, I was a proud soccer dad for my kids.

First, I was their coach. Then, I became a referee. I had a lot of fun wearing that yellow outfit with the whistle, short shorts, and big socks. Though I think my kids didn’t enjoy that part as much.

And these days, I’m still a massive fan who gets up early to watch the sport.

Last year, I led the Presidential Delegation to the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. And just a couple months ago, I had the honor of representing the United States at the Closing Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where I watched the U.S. women’s national Soccer team take home the gold.

Now, I get to join you all for today’s celebration.

Columbus Crew is a team that exemplifies excellence.

Since 1996, you’ve won 9 major trophies.

During the 2023 regular season, you were the top-scoring team in MLS for the first time in the club’s history.

In Round One of the playoffs, you beat Atlanta in three hard-fought games.

In the Conference Semis, you shut out Orlando on the road.

In the Conference Finals, you capped a legendary comeback against your Cincinnati rivals and came back from 2-0 down at the half to win 3-2 in extra time.

Before the Championship match, Coach Nancy, you shared an important lesson with your team. You reminded them that you have one virtue in life: courage.

“Without courage, you can’t do anything.”

Courage is exactly what you showed in that championship match. You played brave: taking risks, attacking early and often, and relying on each other.

And it paid off.

By the end of the game, you were champions once again, for your second MLS Cup in four years.

You’re not only champions on the field. You’re leaders off the field, too. Through the Columbus Crew’s community efforts, you are:

Developing new fields for kids to play soccer;

Providing equipment to help more kids pick up the sport;

And combating chronic absenteeism in Ohio with the Stay in the Game initiative.

Through your work and dedication, you have made the Central Ohio community – and our entire nation – incredibly proud.

Part of why I love sports so much is that it unifies us.

As we all know, we have way more in common than what divides us. There is a lot of hate and division out there at this moment. But sports bring people – and our country – together.

That’s what each of you do every day. You inspire people across our nation, and you lift them up with a sense of joy and community. You show them what true leadership looks like.

This is something Coach Nancy knows a thing or two about.

Right before the MLS Cup Final, Coach Nancy showed all of you pictures of yourselves as kids.

He reminded you — his team — to play with the same joy you did when you were young and helped to lighten the mood before a high-pressure match.

Coach – in only two seasons as head coach for the Crew, you are already making your mark. You are setting an example for coaches across our nation and around the world.

So, Columbus Crew, congratulations once again, on your championship. And good luck on the remainder of the 2024 season.

Now, please join me in welcoming Coach Nancy.

###

The post Remarks by Second Gentleman Honoring the 2023 Major League Soccer Champions, Columbus Crew appeared first on The White House.

WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals as members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board:

• Peter Swift, Member and Designated Chair
• Richelle Allen, Member
• Lake Barrett, Member
• Miles Greiner, Member
• Silvia Jurisson, Member
• Seth Tuler, Member

Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) is an independent federal agency in the executive branch of the U.S. Federal Government. NWTRB’s purpose is to perform independent technical and scientific peer review of the U.S. Department of Energy’s activities related to managing and disposing of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. NWTRB reports its findings and recommendations to Congress and the Secretary of Energy.

Peter Swift, Member and Designated Chair

Peter Swift is a consulting geoscientist with over 30 years of experience in high-level radioactive waste management and disposal. He was formerly a Senior Scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he served from 2011 to 2020 as the National Technical Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy Spent Fuel and Waste Technology Research and Development Campaign. His prior experience includes key roles in the certification and licensing processes for both the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the formerly proposed Yucca Mountain repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in Nevada. Specific to the Yucca Mountain project, he led the total system performance assessment effort that developed estimates of the long-term safety of the site and then served as the Chief Scientist for the program’s Lead Laboratory during the Department of Energy’s 2008 submittal of the license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Swift received a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Arizona, Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Geology from the University of Wyoming, and a B.A. in English from Yale University. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and a member or past member of the American Nuclear Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and the Geochemical Society. 

Richelle Allen, Member

Richelle M. Allen-King is Professor of Geological Sciences at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She is a hydrogeochemist with more than 35 years of experience studying the fate and transport of contaminants in groundwater with particular focus on the importance of geologic context. She is also interested in groundwater impacts on lake geochemistry in a changing climate.

Allen-King earned a B.A in Chemistry with Specialization in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego and PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Waterloo. She has served as a member of the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board and on several of the Council’s technical committees on groundwater use, contamination, and remediation. Particularly relevant were the NRC committee on Development and Implementation of a Cleanup Technology Roadmap, NRC Committee on the Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soils and Sediments, and the Committee on Innovations in Ground Water and Soil Clean-up. Allen-King has also served on committees and advisory panels for the Environmental Protection Agency, such as Ecological Processes and Effects Committee.  

Allen-King resides in Buffalo, New York. She was selected as a Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecturer, sponsored by the National Ground Water Association, and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Lake Barrett, Member

Lake Barrett is an independent consultant in the energy field. He has worked in the nuclear energy and nuclear materials management areas for more than five decades. Barrett currently serves as special advisor to Japan for the recovery of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Before that, he served as the head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Nuclear Waste Management which was responsible for implementing programs for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste management, as mandated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. In that capacity, Barrett led the complex scientific Yucca Mountain Geologic Repository program through the statutory site selection process culminating with the presidential site designation and following successful House and Senate votes before he retired from federal service.

He also served at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in various senior capacities, including as the site director during the stabilization, recovery, and cleanup of the Three Mile Island reactor accident. He has testified in various congressional hearings concerning spent nuclear fuel policies and the Fukushima reactor accident. He also has extensive managerial and engineering experience in Department of Energy’s Defense Programs and private industry at both Bechtel Power Corporation, with commercial nuclear power plants, and Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, with nuclear reactor and submarine systems design, operation, and decommissioning. He has degrees in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering and has been the recipient of various executive branch and congressional honors.

Miles Greiner, Member

Miles Greiner is currently a Foundation Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and past chair of the UNR Mechanical Engineering Department. Since 1993 he has directed of the UNR Nuclear Packaging Program, which conducts externally funded research to develop and experimentally validate computational methods to predict the thermal performance of nuclear packaging under normal and severe fire accident conditions. This includes performing large-scale experiments and computational studies of heat transfer to massive objects engulfed in pool fires, developing methods to predict transport during used nuclear fuel package vacuum drying, and developing wireless methods to monitor nuclear packaging internal conditions.

Since 2016, Greiner has directed a UNR educational program which awards graduate certificates in nuclear packaging and in transportation security and safeguards. He has published over one-hundred journal articles and conference papers on nuclear packaging topics. Miles Greiner earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Silvia Jurisson, Member

Silvia Jurisson is Professor Emerita of Chemistry and Radiology at the University of Missouri. She has been involved in inorganic and radiochemistry research with applications to radioisotope production and separations, radiopharmaceutical chemistry, radio-environmental chemistry, and biological systems, and has trained many graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral students over the past 30 years. She has over 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is an Associate Editor of Radiochimica Acta, and a Councilor for the Nuclear Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

She received the John H. Hubbell Award from Elsevier in 2018, the TERACHEM Award in 2018, and the Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry from the ACS in 2012. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014, a Fellow of the ACS in 2016, and a Fellow of the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences in 2022.

She spent 5 years in the pharmaceutical industry at Squibb/Bristol-Myers-Squibb before beginning her academic career at the University of Missouri. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Delaware, and her PhD in inorganic and radiopharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Cincinnati.

Seth Tuler, Member

Seth Tuler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative and Global Studies Division, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Senior Research Fellow at the Social and Environmental Research Institute. Tuler’s research interests focus on risk governance, public participation in risk assessment and decision making, and developing tools to characterize human impacts and vulnerabilities to risk events. He has extensive experience with interdisciplinary research in multiple policy arenas, including climate adaptation planning, oil spill response planning, nuclear waste management, and regional land-use planning.

Tuler was a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Energy-Related Epidemiologic Research and chaired its Subcommittee for Community Affairs for 2 years. He served on the National Academy of Science’s Committee on Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste and was asked to co-author two technical reports for President Barack Obama’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future on social distrust, with Roger Kasperson, and public engagement, with Eugene Rosa and Thomas Webler. More recently he served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Alternatives for the Demilitarization of Conventional Munitions; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Standing Committee on Chemical Demilitarization; and National Research Council Committee on Review of Criteria for Successful Treatment of Hydrolysate, a hazardous byproduct of chemical weapons demilitarization, at two facilities in Pueblo, Colorado and Blue Grass, Kentucky.

# # #

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WASHINGTON – Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint the following individuals as members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board:

• Peter Swift, Member and Designated Chair
• Richelle Allen, Member
• Lake Barrett, Member
• Miles Greiner, Member
• Silvia Jurisson, Member
• Seth Tuler, Member

Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) is an independent federal agency in the executive branch of the U.S. Federal Government. NWTRB’s purpose is to perform independent technical and scientific peer review of the U.S. Department of Energy’s activities related to managing and disposing of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. NWTRB reports its findings and recommendations to Congress and the Secretary of Energy.

Peter Swift, Member and Designated Chair

Peter Swift is a consulting geoscientist with over 30 years of experience in high-level radioactive waste management and disposal. He was formerly a Senior Scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he served from 2011 to 2020 as the National Technical Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy Spent Fuel and Waste Technology Research and Development Campaign. His prior experience includes key roles in the certification and licensing processes for both the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the formerly proposed Yucca Mountain repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in Nevada. Specific to the Yucca Mountain project, he led the total system performance assessment effort that developed estimates of the long-term safety of the site and then served as the Chief Scientist for the program’s Lead Laboratory during the Department of Energy’s 2008 submittal of the license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Swift received a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Arizona, Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Geology from the University of Wyoming, and a B.A. in English from Yale University. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, and a member or past member of the American Nuclear Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and the Geochemical Society. 

Richelle Allen, Member

Richelle M. Allen-King is Professor of Geological Sciences at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. She is a hydrogeochemist with more than 35 years of experience studying the fate and transport of contaminants in groundwater with particular focus on the importance of geologic context. She is also interested in groundwater impacts on lake geochemistry in a changing climate.

Allen-King earned a B.A in Chemistry with Specialization in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego and PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Waterloo. She has served as a member of the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board and on several of the Council’s technical committees on groundwater use, contamination, and remediation. Particularly relevant were the NRC committee on Development and Implementation of a Cleanup Technology Roadmap, NRC Committee on the Bioavailability of Contaminants in Soils and Sediments, and the Committee on Innovations in Ground Water and Soil Clean-up. Allen-King has also served on committees and advisory panels for the Environmental Protection Agency, such as Ecological Processes and Effects Committee.  

Allen-King resides in Buffalo, New York. She was selected as a Henry Darcy Distinguished Lecturer, sponsored by the National Ground Water Association, and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Lake Barrett, Member

Lake Barrett is an independent consultant in the energy field. He has worked in the nuclear energy and nuclear materials management areas for more than five decades. Barrett currently serves as special advisor to Japan for the recovery of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Before that, he served as the head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Nuclear Waste Management which was responsible for implementing programs for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste management, as mandated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. In that capacity, Barrett led the complex scientific Yucca Mountain Geologic Repository program through the statutory site selection process culminating with the presidential site designation and following successful House and Senate votes before he retired from federal service.

He also served at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in various senior capacities, including as the site director during the stabilization, recovery, and cleanup of the Three Mile Island reactor accident. He has testified in various congressional hearings concerning spent nuclear fuel policies and the Fukushima reactor accident. He also has extensive managerial and engineering experience in Department of Energy’s Defense Programs and private industry at both Bechtel Power Corporation, with commercial nuclear power plants, and Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, with nuclear reactor and submarine systems design, operation, and decommissioning. He has degrees in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering and has been the recipient of various executive branch and congressional honors.

Miles Greiner, Member

Miles Greiner is currently a Foundation Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and past chair of the UNR Mechanical Engineering Department. Since 1993 he has directed of the UNR Nuclear Packaging Program, which conducts externally funded research to develop and experimentally validate computational methods to predict the thermal performance of nuclear packaging under normal and severe fire accident conditions. This includes performing large-scale experiments and computational studies of heat transfer to massive objects engulfed in pool fires, developing methods to predict transport during used nuclear fuel package vacuum drying, and developing wireless methods to monitor nuclear packaging internal conditions.

Since 2016, Greiner has directed a UNR educational program which awards graduate certificates in nuclear packaging and in transportation security and safeguards. He has published over one-hundred journal articles and conference papers on nuclear packaging topics. Miles Greiner earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Silvia Jurisson, Member

Silvia Jurisson is Professor Emerita of Chemistry and Radiology at the University of Missouri. She has been involved in inorganic and radiochemistry research with applications to radioisotope production and separations, radiopharmaceutical chemistry, radio-environmental chemistry, and biological systems, and has trained many graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral students over the past 30 years. She has over 150 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is an Associate Editor of Radiochimica Acta, and a Councilor for the Nuclear Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

She received the John H. Hubbell Award from Elsevier in 2018, the TERACHEM Award in 2018, and the Glenn T. Seaborg Award for Nuclear Chemistry from the ACS in 2012. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2014, a Fellow of the ACS in 2016, and a Fellow of the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences in 2022.

She spent 5 years in the pharmaceutical industry at Squibb/Bristol-Myers-Squibb before beginning her academic career at the University of Missouri. She earned her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Delaware, and her PhD in inorganic and radiopharmaceutical chemistry at the University of Cincinnati.

Seth Tuler, Member

Seth Tuler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative and Global Studies Division, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Senior Research Fellow at the Social and Environmental Research Institute. Tuler’s research interests focus on risk governance, public participation in risk assessment and decision making, and developing tools to characterize human impacts and vulnerabilities to risk events. He has extensive experience with interdisciplinary research in multiple policy arenas, including climate adaptation planning, oil spill response planning, nuclear waste management, and regional land-use planning.

Tuler was a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Energy-Related Epidemiologic Research and chaired its Subcommittee for Community Affairs for 2 years. He served on the National Academy of Science’s Committee on Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste and was asked to co-author two technical reports for President Barack Obama’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future on social distrust, with Roger Kasperson, and public engagement, with Eugene Rosa and Thomas Webler. More recently he served on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Alternatives for the Demilitarization of Conventional Munitions; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Standing Committee on Chemical Demilitarization; and National Research Council Committee on Review of Criteria for Successful Treatment of Hydrolysate, a hazardous byproduct of chemical weapons demilitarization, at two facilities in Pueblo, Colorado and Blue Grass, Kentucky.

# # #

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On September 25, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan hosted a Partnership on Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Investor Forum on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly. He was joined by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investment Amos Hochstein, and World Bank President Ajay Banga, along with ten private sector leaders representing asset managers, debt and equity providers, and infrastructure operators. Collectively, the group represented institutions with trillions of dollars of assets under management and a diversity of financing options to power the most efficient development of sustainable infrastructure in key sectors across the globe.
 
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan opened the discussion by reaffirming PGI’s importance to America’s national and economic security objectives; highlighting projects in the Indo-Pacific, South America, and Africa that PGI has made possible; and thanking private sector leaders for their partnership in catalyzing $60 billion for infrastructure investments in low- and middle income countries since PGI’s launch.
 
The group then discussed a range of opportunities to continue public-private collaboration, including:

• Focusing efforts on a subset of specific countries and sectors where public tools and private capital can drive outsized impact, particularly in climate and digital infrastructure investments (e.g., subsea cables, data centers);
• Continuing to simplify and streamline access to public capital and the use of bilateral and multilateral risk mitigation tools, such as through the recently launched World Bank Group’s Streamlined Guarantee Platform and by scaling up FX risk mitigation tools;
• Empowering the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to more effectively deploy public capital in infrastructure investments;
• Scaling project development initiatives that are being piloted in the Indo-Pacific; and
• Continuing to improve the integration of U.S. small and medium-sized exporters into PGI infrastructure investments and projects.

As announced by President Biden at the 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima, the PGI Investor Forum aims to further strengthen partnership with the private sector in order to realize U.S. PGI’s collective goal of mobilizing $200 billion by 2027 for sustainable, global infrastructure investments.

Participants at the Investor Forum event included:

Public Sector Participants:

• Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor
• Adewale Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
• Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investment
• Ajay Banga, President, World Bank President

Private Sector Participants:

• Mark Carney, Chair, Brookfield Asset Management
• Jim Coulter, Executive Chairman, TPG
• Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock
• Jon Gray, President and COO, Blackstone
• Adebayo Ogunlesi, Chair and CEO, Global Infrastructure Partners
• Daniel Pinto, President and COO, JPMorganChase
• Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer, Alphabet and Google
• Brad Smith, Vice-Chair and President, Microsoft
• Sadek Wahba, Chairman and Managing Partner, I Squared Capital
• Shemara Wikramanayake, Managing Director and CEO, Macquarie Group

###

The post Readout of 2024 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Investor Forum appeared first on The White House.

On September 25, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan hosted a Partnership on Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Investor Forum on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly. He was joined by Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investment Amos Hochstein, and World Bank President Ajay Banga, along with ten private sector leaders representing asset managers, debt and equity providers, and infrastructure operators. Collectively, the group represented institutions with trillions of dollars of assets under management and a diversity of financing options to power the most efficient development of sustainable infrastructure in key sectors across the globe.
 
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan opened the discussion by reaffirming PGI’s importance to America’s national and economic security objectives; highlighting projects in the Indo-Pacific, South America, and Africa that PGI has made possible; and thanking private sector leaders for their partnership in catalyzing $60 billion for infrastructure investments in low- and middle income countries since PGI’s launch.
 
The group then discussed a range of opportunities to continue public-private collaboration, including:

• Focusing efforts on a subset of specific countries and sectors where public tools and private capital can drive outsized impact, particularly in climate and digital infrastructure investments (e.g., subsea cables, data centers);
• Continuing to simplify and streamline access to public capital and the use of bilateral and multilateral risk mitigation tools, such as through the recently launched World Bank Group’s Streamlined Guarantee Platform and by scaling up FX risk mitigation tools;
• Empowering the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to more effectively deploy public capital in infrastructure investments;
• Scaling project development initiatives that are being piloted in the Indo-Pacific; and
• Continuing to improve the integration of U.S. small and medium-sized exporters into PGI infrastructure investments and projects.

As announced by President Biden at the 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima, the PGI Investor Forum aims to further strengthen partnership with the private sector in order to realize U.S. PGI’s collective goal of mobilizing $200 billion by 2027 for sustainable, global infrastructure investments.

Participants at the Investor Forum event included:

Public Sector Participants:

• Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor
• Adewale Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
• Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investment
• Ajay Banga, President, World Bank President

Private Sector Participants:

• Mark Carney, Chair, Brookfield Asset Management
• Jim Coulter, Executive Chairman, TPG
• Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock
• Jon Gray, President and COO, Blackstone
• Adebayo Ogunlesi, Chair and CEO, Global Infrastructure Partners
• Daniel Pinto, President and COO, JPMorganChase
• Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer, Alphabet and Google
• Brad Smith, Vice-Chair and President, Microsoft
• Sadek Wahba, Chairman and Managing Partner, I Squared Capital
• Shemara Wikramanayake, Managing Director and CEO, Macquarie Group

###

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     On this solemn day, we honor the memories of the patriots who served our Nation, defended our freedom, and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  We hold close to our hearts the Gold Star mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons, and other loved ones, who grieve their loss and carry on their legacy.  And we recommit to fulfilling our sacred obligation to care for all of our Gold Star families.

     Each of our service members is a link in the chain of honor that stretches back to the founding days of our Nation.  They are bound not just by their bravery but also by their commitment to an idea unlike any other in human history:  the idea of the United States of America.  Decade after decade, our service members have fought for our freedom and the freedom of others because they knew that freedom has never been guaranteed.  And just as our fallen heroes have kept the ultimate faith in our country and our democracy, we must keep faith in them.

     To everyone who has loved and lost someone in the service of our country and to everyone with a loved one still missing or unaccounted for, I know how hard these days of remembrance can be.  No matter how much time has passed or how much pride you have in their legacy, the grief and the hurt never fully go away.  The First Lady and I are keeping all Gold Star families in our prayers.  Since I took office, I have signed over 30 bipartisan laws supporting service members and veterans as well as their families, caregivers, and survivors.  And I will continue to do everything I can to support our Gold Star families, to whom our Nation owes a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay. 

     Today, we join Gold Star families in their grief and express our gratitude:  gratitude to our fallen heroes, gratitude for the sacrifices of the families left behind, and gratitude to the brave souls who continue to uphold the flame of liberty all across our country and around the world.  Because of them, our country stands today.  As we honor Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day, we recommit to making a more perfect Union, for which our fallen heroes lived and died.  That is our promise.

     The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 115 of June 23, 1936 (49 Stat. 1895 as amended), has designated the last Sunday in September as “Gold Star Mother’s Day.”

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, September 29, 2024, as Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day.  I call upon all Government officials to display the flag of the United States over Government buildings on this special day.  I also encourage the American people to display the flag and hold appropriate ceremonies as a public expression of our Nation’s gratitude and respect for our Gold Star Mothers and Families.

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

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

The post A Proclamation on Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day, 2024 appeared first on The White House.

     On this solemn day, we honor the memories of the patriots who served our Nation, defended our freedom, and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  We hold close to our hearts the Gold Star mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons, and other loved ones, who grieve their loss and carry on their legacy.  And we recommit to fulfilling our sacred obligation to care for all of our Gold Star families.

     Each of our service members is a link in the chain of honor that stretches back to the founding days of our Nation.  They are bound not just by their bravery but also by their commitment to an idea unlike any other in human history:  the idea of the United States of America.  Decade after decade, our service members have fought for our freedom and the freedom of others because they knew that freedom has never been guaranteed.  And just as our fallen heroes have kept the ultimate faith in our country and our democracy, we must keep faith in them.

     To everyone who has loved and lost someone in the service of our country and to everyone with a loved one still missing or unaccounted for, I know how hard these days of remembrance can be.  No matter how much time has passed or how much pride you have in their legacy, the grief and the hurt never fully go away.  The First Lady and I are keeping all Gold Star families in our prayers.  Since I took office, I have signed over 30 bipartisan laws supporting service members and veterans as well as their families, caregivers, and survivors.  And I will continue to do everything I can to support our Gold Star families, to whom our Nation owes a debt of gratitude we can never fully repay. 

     Today, we join Gold Star families in their grief and express our gratitude:  gratitude to our fallen heroes, gratitude for the sacrifices of the families left behind, and gratitude to the brave souls who continue to uphold the flame of liberty all across our country and around the world.  Because of them, our country stands today.  As we honor Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day, we recommit to making a more perfect Union, for which our fallen heroes lived and died.  That is our promise.

     The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 115 of June 23, 1936 (49 Stat. 1895 as amended), has designated the last Sunday in September as “Gold Star Mother’s Day.”

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Sunday, September 29, 2024, as Gold Star Mother’s and Family’s Day.  I call upon all Government officials to display the flag of the United States over Government buildings on this special day.  I also encourage the American people to display the flag and hold appropriate ceremonies as a public expression of our Nation’s gratitude and respect for our Gold Star Mothers and Families.

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

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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     Generations of Americans have enjoyed hunting and fishing — cherished traditions that bring us closer to our Nation’s natural wonders and embody America’s spirit of resourcefulness and adventure.  During National Hunting and Fishing Day, we celebrate our Nation’s hunters and anglers, honor their contributions, and continue the conservation work that so many of them have led.  

     Americans who hunt and fish have immense appreciation for our environment.  They know that when we take care of the natural world, we ensure that all generations to come will also have the opportunity to hunt, fish, and enjoy the great outdoors.  Passing down this tradition is especially important to rural communities, where hunting and fishing are time-honored pastimes, and to Tribal Nations, where hunting and fishing remain central to their cultures and livelihoods.  My Administration set the most ambitious conservation goal ever — committing to conserve at least 30 percent of all our Nation’s lands and waters by 2030.  That goal is at the heart of my “America the Beautiful” initiative to support locally led, voluntary conservation and restoration efforts across the country.  And within our national wildlife refuge system, I approved a 2-million-acre expansion of land available for hunting and fishing.  The Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior are working with the Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council to improve hunters’ and anglers’ access to public lands and waters.  I also launched the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation to create more safe, affordable, and equitable opportunities for outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing.  My Inflation Reduction Act made the largest investment ever in addressing the climate crisis, harnessing the power of nature as a climate solution and working to ensure that our fish and wildlife are healthy and abundant for years to come.

     During National Hunting and Fishing Day, we celebrate hunting and fishing and the place they hold in our hearts, cultures, and national story.  We recommit to protecting these activities, which are important to upholding our sacred trust, treaty, and subsistence responsibilities to Tribal Nations.  And we honor all the incredible contributions of the hunters and fishers, land owners, State and territorial officials, Tribal Nations, Indigenous communities, and local leaders working to conserve our lands and waters.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 28, 2024, as National Hunting and Fishing Day.  I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities.

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

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

The post A Proclamation on National Hunting and Fishing Day, 2024 appeared first on The White House.

     Generations of Americans have enjoyed hunting and fishing — cherished traditions that bring us closer to our Nation’s natural wonders and embody America’s spirit of resourcefulness and adventure.  During National Hunting and Fishing Day, we celebrate our Nation’s hunters and anglers, honor their contributions, and continue the conservation work that so many of them have led.  

     Americans who hunt and fish have immense appreciation for our environment.  They know that when we take care of the natural world, we ensure that all generations to come will also have the opportunity to hunt, fish, and enjoy the great outdoors.  Passing down this tradition is especially important to rural communities, where hunting and fishing are time-honored pastimes, and to Tribal Nations, where hunting and fishing remain central to their cultures and livelihoods.  My Administration set the most ambitious conservation goal ever — committing to conserve at least 30 percent of all our Nation’s lands and waters by 2030.  That goal is at the heart of my “America the Beautiful” initiative to support locally led, voluntary conservation and restoration efforts across the country.  And within our national wildlife refuge system, I approved a 2-million-acre expansion of land available for hunting and fishing.  The Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior are working with the Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council to improve hunters’ and anglers’ access to public lands and waters.  I also launched the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation to create more safe, affordable, and equitable opportunities for outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing.  My Inflation Reduction Act made the largest investment ever in addressing the climate crisis, harnessing the power of nature as a climate solution and working to ensure that our fish and wildlife are healthy and abundant for years to come.

     During National Hunting and Fishing Day, we celebrate hunting and fishing and the place they hold in our hearts, cultures, and national story.  We recommit to protecting these activities, which are important to upholding our sacred trust, treaty, and subsistence responsibilities to Tribal Nations.  And we honor all the incredible contributions of the hunters and fishers, land owners, State and territorial officials, Tribal Nations, Indigenous communities, and local leaders working to conserve our lands and waters.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 28, 2024, as National Hunting and Fishing Day.  I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities.

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

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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     America’s natural wonders are our Nation’s heart and soul.  Our public lands protect many of these treasures and ensure that generations can enjoy their splendor — from our national parks and monuments to our forests and wildlife refuges.  On National Public Lands Day, we honor these irreplaceable lands and waters and recommit to working together to preserve them.

     Whether it is the soaring cliffs of Yosemite National Park, the striking geysers of Yellowstone National Park, or the lush hills of the Appalachians in the Monongahela National Forest — our Nation’s public lands inspire and unite us through the ages.  They hold pieces of our country’s history, etched into our lands and waters.  Some public lands are considered sacred by Tribal Nations, which have stewarded them since time immemorial.  And these lands and waters also carry so much promise:  helping protect us against climate change, providing the clean air we breathe and clean water we drink, and sustaining the livelihoods of ranchers, outfitters, guides, and rural and Indigenous communities.  

     Since the beginning of my Administration, I have taken historic steps to conserve our natural treasures for future generations.  That began when I signed an Executive Order that established the most ambitious conservation goal in the history of our country — committing to conserve at least 30 percent of our Nation’s lands and waters by 2030.  To that end, my “America the Beautiful” initiative is supporting voluntary, locally led conservation and restoration efforts across the country.  I also signed an Executive Order to safeguard and steward our Nation’s forests and enlist nature to help address the climate crisis, including through the development of the first National Nature Assessment. 

     Since I came into office, my Administration has conserved more than 42 million acres of our Nation’s lands and waters.  I established and expanded eight national monuments — including the stunning Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada, thought to be one of the most sacred places on Earth by some Tribal Nations.  I restored protections for lands and waters across the country that had been rolled back by the previous administration — including the desert buttes of the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the stunning Tongass National Forest, and the underwater canyons of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. 

     To protect our waters, I took executive action to direct consideration of more than 700,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii as a new National Marine Sanctuary — which could make this one of the largest protected marine areas on the planet.  And I protected the United States Arctic Ocean from new oil and gas leasing.  My Administration is also advancing the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, which stretches along 116 miles of California coastline.

     My Administration has also made historic investments to preserve our Nation’s ecosystems and safeguard our communities against the impact of climate change.  Our Inflation Reduction Act made the largest investment in history to confront the climate crisis, and together with our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these investments will help support conservation and restoration, including $50 billion dedicated to strengthening community and ecosystem resilience to climate change.  We have also worked to promote equitable access to outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands and waters through the “America the Beautiful” initiative, launching the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation to address common challenges and opportunities in expanding outdoor recreation activities and access to the great outdoors.

     I also launched the American Climate Corps to mobilize a new, diverse generation of Americans — putting them to work conserving and restoring our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and advancing environmental justice.  And, upon completing this program, we are working to ensure they have a pathway to getting high-quality, good-paying clean energy and climate resilience jobs in the public and private sectors.

     Our Nation’s public lands have always been and will always be central to our country’s heritage and essential to our identity.  On National Public Lands Day, I encourage every American to enjoy the wonder of our public lands.  All of our country’s national parks, forests, refuges, and grasslands will have a “Fee-Free Day” on September 28 — anyone can visit them free of charge.  There are several more fee-free days throughout the year, the last of which will occur on Veterans Day, November 11.  Whether you go for the incredible vistas, the lush forests, or the rolling grasslands, our public lands will never fail to inspire awe and connect us to something bigger than ourselves.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 28, 2024, as National Public Lands Day.  I invite all Americans to join me in a day of service for our public lands.  I also encourage volunteers from across the Nation to celebrate and care for our lands and waters by reforesting the land, maintaining trails, nurturing ecosystems, removing invasive species, and doing other conservation work to serve the lands and waters that support and sustain us.

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

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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     America’s natural wonders are our Nation’s heart and soul.  Our public lands protect many of these treasures and ensure that generations can enjoy their splendor — from our national parks and monuments to our forests and wildlife refuges.  On National Public Lands Day, we honor these irreplaceable lands and waters and recommit to working together to preserve them.

     Whether it is the soaring cliffs of Yosemite National Park, the striking geysers of Yellowstone National Park, or the lush hills of the Appalachians in the Monongahela National Forest — our Nation’s public lands inspire and unite us through the ages.  They hold pieces of our country’s history, etched into our lands and waters.  Some public lands are considered sacred by Tribal Nations, which have stewarded them since time immemorial.  And these lands and waters also carry so much promise:  helping protect us against climate change, providing the clean air we breathe and clean water we drink, and sustaining the livelihoods of ranchers, outfitters, guides, and rural and Indigenous communities.  

     Since the beginning of my Administration, I have taken historic steps to conserve our natural treasures for future generations.  That began when I signed an Executive Order that established the most ambitious conservation goal in the history of our country — committing to conserve at least 30 percent of our Nation’s lands and waters by 2030.  To that end, my “America the Beautiful” initiative is supporting voluntary, locally led conservation and restoration efforts across the country.  I also signed an Executive Order to safeguard and steward our Nation’s forests and enlist nature to help address the climate crisis, including through the development of the first National Nature Assessment. 

     Since I came into office, my Administration has conserved more than 42 million acres of our Nation’s lands and waters.  I established and expanded eight national monuments — including the stunning Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada, thought to be one of the most sacred places on Earth by some Tribal Nations.  I restored protections for lands and waters across the country that had been rolled back by the previous administration — including the desert buttes of the Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the stunning Tongass National Forest, and the underwater canyons of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. 

     To protect our waters, I took executive action to direct consideration of more than 700,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii as a new National Marine Sanctuary — which could make this one of the largest protected marine areas on the planet.  And I protected the United States Arctic Ocean from new oil and gas leasing.  My Administration is also advancing the proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, which stretches along 116 miles of California coastline.

     My Administration has also made historic investments to preserve our Nation’s ecosystems and safeguard our communities against the impact of climate change.  Our Inflation Reduction Act made the largest investment in history to confront the climate crisis, and together with our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these investments will help support conservation and restoration, including $50 billion dedicated to strengthening community and ecosystem resilience to climate change.  We have also worked to promote equitable access to outdoor recreation opportunities on public lands and waters through the “America the Beautiful” initiative, launching the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation to address common challenges and opportunities in expanding outdoor recreation activities and access to the great outdoors.

     I also launched the American Climate Corps to mobilize a new, diverse generation of Americans — putting them to work conserving and restoring our lands and waters, bolstering community resilience, deploying clean energy, implementing energy efficient technologies, and advancing environmental justice.  And, upon completing this program, we are working to ensure they have a pathway to getting high-quality, good-paying clean energy and climate resilience jobs in the public and private sectors.

     Our Nation’s public lands have always been and will always be central to our country’s heritage and essential to our identity.  On National Public Lands Day, I encourage every American to enjoy the wonder of our public lands.  All of our country’s national parks, forests, refuges, and grasslands will have a “Fee-Free Day” on September 28 — anyone can visit them free of charge.  There are several more fee-free days throughout the year, the last of which will occur on Veterans Day, November 11.  Whether you go for the incredible vistas, the lush forests, or the rolling grasslands, our public lands will never fail to inspire awe and connect us to something bigger than ourselves.

     NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 28, 2024, as National Public Lands Day.  I invite all Americans to join me in a day of service for our public lands.  I also encourage volunteers from across the Nation to celebrate and care for our lands and waters by reforesting the land, maintaining trails, nurturing ecosystems, removing invasive species, and doing other conservation work to serve the lands and waters that support and sustain us.

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

                              JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

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Today’s report shows inflation has come back down to 2.2%, similar to pre-pandemic levels, at a time when interest rates have fallen—lowering the cost of buying a home or car, or operating a small business. This follows yesterday’s news that on my watch the economy has grown more than 10% and incomes are up nearly $4,000, after accounting for inflation. The economy, incomes, savings, and consumer spending are all stronger than previously estimated.
 
We have more work to do to lower costs and create opportunities for Americans. The Vice President and I want to build millions of new homes, continue to lower the price of prescription drugs and health care, and cut taxes for families, small businesses, and industries of the future. Congressional Republicans would take the opposite approach—raising costs for middle-class families by nearly $4,000 per year while giving more tax cuts to the wealthy and big corporations. That’s not how you grow the economy, or the middle class.

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Today’s report shows inflation has come back down to 2.2%, similar to pre-pandemic levels, at a time when interest rates have fallen—lowering the cost of buying a home or car, or operating a small business. This follows yesterday’s news that on my watch the economy has grown more than 10% and incomes are up nearly $4,000, after accounting for inflation. The economy, incomes, savings, and consumer spending are all stronger than previously estimated.
 
We have more work to do to lower costs and create opportunities for Americans. The Vice President and I want to build millions of new homes, continue to lower the price of prescription drugs and health care, and cut taxes for families, small businesses, and industries of the future. Congressional Republicans would take the opposite approach—raising costs for middle-class families by nearly $4,000 per year while giving more tax cuts to the wealthy and big corporations. That’s not how you grow the economy, or the middle class.

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Vice President’s Ceremonial Office
Eisenhower Executive Office Building

3:46 P.M. EDT

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS:  Well, President Zelenskyy, it is good to see you again.  This is our seventh visit together.  And welcome back to Washington, D.C.

As I have made clear on our six previous meetings and throughout Putin’s brutal aggression and war against Ukraine, my support for the people of Ukraine is unwavering. 

I have been proud to stand with Ukraine.  I will continue to stand with Ukraine.  And I will work to ensure Ukraine prevails in this war. 

To be safe, secure, and prosperous, the United States must continue to fulfill our long-standing role of global leadership.  We must stand with our allies and our partners.  We must des- — defend our democratic values and stand up to aggressors.  And we must stand for international order, rules, and norms.  Each one of these principles is at stake in Ukraine, and that is why Ukraine’s fight matters to the people of America. 

The Ukrainian people are bravely defending their homes and their homeland, their freedom, and their democracy against a brutal dictator, and the American people know well the meaning of freedom, of independence, and the importance of rule of law.  These ideals are central to who we are as Americans, and some of the most important moments in our history have come when we stood up to aggressors like Putin just as we must today. 

Indeed, standing with our friends and defending our ideals against tyranny has helped make America the most powerful and prosperous nation in the world.  Putin’s aggression is not only an attack on the people of Ukraine, it is also an attack on fundamental principles such as sovereignty and territorial integrity. 

 International rules and norms are not some abstract notion.  They provide order and stability in our world.  They support American security and American prosperity.  And when they are threatened anywhere, they are threatened everywhere. 

History has shown us if we allow aggressors like Putin to take land with impunity, they keep going.  And Putin could set his sights on Poland, the Baltic states, and other NATO Allies.  We also know that other would-be aggressors around the world are watching to see what happens in Ukraine.  If Putin is allowed to win, they will become emboldened.  And history reminds us and history is so clear in reminding us: The United States cannot and should not isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.  Isolation is not insulation. 

 So, then, the United States supports Ukraine not out of charity but because it is in our strategic interest.  We will continue to provide the security assistance Ukraine needs to succeed on the battlefield, as demonstrated by President Biden’s significant announcement earlier today.

I’ve been proud to work alongside President Biden and the 50-nation coalition we have built up to allow Ukraine to defend itself.  Thanks to this coalition and the skill and the bravery of the Ukrainian people, along with your courageous leadership, President Zelenskyy, Ukraine has stood up to Russia’s aggression, and today Kyiv stands free and strong. 

President Zelenskyy, I am clear: Putin started this war, and he could end it tomorrow if he simply withdrew his troops from Ukraine’s sovereign territory.  Of course, he has demonstrated no intention of doing that.  Instead, he continues to assault civilian infrastructure and terrorize the people of Ukraine.

In Switzerland, in June, along with 90 other nations at the Uka- — at the Ukraine peace conference, I told you that the United States shares your vision for the end of this war, an end based on the will of the people of Ukraine and the U.N. Charter, and that m- — we must work with the international community se- — to secure a just and lasting peace.  And I told world leaders there: Nothing about the end of this war can be decided without Ukraine. 

However, in candor, I share with you, Mr. President, there are some in my country who would instead force Ukraine to give up large parts of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Ukraine accept neutrality, and would require Ukraine to forego security relationships with other nations.  These proposals are the same of those of Putin.  And let us be clear: They are not proposals for peace.  Instead, they are proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable.

So, President Zelenskyy, I look forward to our discussion today, and I will continue to work with you to ensure Ukraine prevails in this conflict and remains a free, democratic, and independent nation. 

Welcome back, again. 

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY:  Thank you so much.  Madam Vice President, thanks for invitation.  Happy to see you.

Dear journalists, I want to especially thank you for your participation in the peace summit.  And, really, it was very important, and we remember it.  The format was successful.  We are preparing the second one. 

And now, we have to end this war.  We need a just peace, and we must protect our people — Ukrainian families, Ukrainian children, and everyone — from Putin’s evil.  And we are grateful to America for supporting Ukraine all along. 

And we’ll have an important meeting today, right after I talked to President Biden about the plan of victory, and I will share some details of the plan with Vice President Harris.  It’s crucial for us to — to be fully understandable and to work in a full coordination with the United States. 

And this morning, I talked also to — to the congressmen, both chambers, both parties.  And I am thankful for their bipartisan support.  We believe this war can be won and just peace can be close only with a — with the United States. 

Madam Vice President, this is our — you said seventh meeting?

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS:  Seventh.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY:  Yeah, and it’s not last.  And the third meeting — as far as I remember, the third meeting this year. 

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS:  Yes.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY:  Thank you.  And I want to inform you about the latest developments on the battlefield, of course, and about Ukraine’s actions in the Kursk region, on what has been achieved and the ambitions ahead.

Today, we have a new strong support package, as you said, and we have common view on the things that need to be done.  We have to keep pressure on Russia to stop the war and to make truly lasting and just peace.  It’s a top priority for us and for other freedom-loving nations to achieve not a freezing but real — real peace for us. 

So, we need to keep sanctions against Russia strong, and we need to use the proceeds from immobilized Russian assets to protect Ukraine — our people, our cities, our front line — from Russian evil.  And, of course, we must work hard to bring all Russian war criminals to justice. 

And one more thing.  I want to inform Madam Vice President about the latest Russian missile and the Shaheds attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.  We need to urgently strengthen Ukraine’s air defense to save thousands of lives and reduce Russian terror to zero. 

It’s achievable. 

Thank you, again.  Thanks, America.  Thanks to you, Madam Vice President. 

Slava Ukraini.

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS:  Thank you.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY:  Thank you so much.

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS:  It’s good to see you.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY:  Good to see you too.

                   END                     3:55 P.M. EDT

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