And a sudden turn of events. A freshman republican with a documented history of publicly supporting dangerous and violent Conspiracy Theories refusing to back down when faced with her own words and also a Republican House conference that despite a dramatic meeting last night, that went late into last night, they have decided to do nothing to rebuke her and what she stands for. So today there will be a full house vote on a measure that will strip Marjorie Taylor greene of her committee assignments. A vote that will also force republicans to go on the record on where they stand when it comes to the Conspiracy Theories that led to the January 6th Insurrection on capitol and are being embraced by some of their own members, some of the new members. And as you could see in Marjorie Taylor greene. Well hear this house from the white house. Theyve taken a Firm Position they are not going to discuss Marjorie Taylor greene from the Briefing Room. But will the president s Press Secretary have a reaction today after the turn of events last night. One thing that were very likely to hear from the White House Briefing that is going could come up in a few short minutes is the very latest on where it stands with the covid relief talks. Democrats are setting the stage to move ahead on their own today, the house passed a Budget Resolution yesterday to allow democrats to advance the president s massive relief bill without any republican support. Where do things move there because they do seem to be moving along quickly now. And lets start on capitol hill and the vote for Marjorie Taylor greene in the house today. Jessica dean is joining me now. So what is going to happen today. Reporter what were going to see later today is a full house vote on this resolution to remove congresswoman Marjorie Taylor greene from her committees. As you noted, republicans have decided not to act after they say their minority leader Kevin Mccarthy said she apologized in the private meeting with all of the House Republicans yesterday. And so in that since that happened, now democrats say they are taking this to a full house vote. So that is supposed to happen, and theyre supposed to vote on that particular piece of it around 4 30 after going through the rest of the procedure around this. And what is important here is to remember is it needs a simple majority to pass. And we just heard from nancy pelosi who said shes not concerned about setting a bad precedent with this or opening pandoras box with bringing a vote, a simple majority vote to the floor to strip another partys member from her committees because she believes that if, in her words, any member that was a democrat threatened the life of another member democrats would act saying that since republicans havent acted that democrats are being forced to act. Now we are expecting to see some republicans joining democrats in this vote. In fact, congressman Adam Kinzinger said this morning on air that he does intend to vote for it but he said if she publicly apologizes between now and the vote, that he may change his mind. But that is what he was looking to see. So keep your eye on how many republicans join democrats in this vote later today, kate. And put it another way, keep your eye on how many republicans dont join democrats on this vote later today. So congresswoman greene isnt backing down. She is speaking out. Though not speaking out publicly to reject and apologize the positions that shes publicly held in the past. What is she saying . Reporter so this interview with the Washington Examiner came out while they were republicans were inside of their meeting yesterday. And it was a couple of interesting things. One quote to tell you about, she said of democrats, how stupid they are, they dont even realize their helping me. Im pretty amazed of how dumb they are. And what is important, is the congresswoman is fundraising off of all of this. And shes raised Tens Of Thousands of dollars around all of that that is going on this week about pulling her from her committees and she went on to say that she if she is striped from her committees shes going to focus on her time working with President Trump, former President Trump and also moving the Republican Party farther to the right. Now, again, while she was in this meeting, with minority leader Kevin Mccarthy, who ultimately came out and said that he believed her apology, and she had stud up and publicly apologized to the whole caucus and said that she intended to move forward and they accepted that apology. While she this was on going this is what she said about keb mccarthy and fellow republicans and said the leadership and everyone is proving that they are all talk and not action. And theyre just all about Doing Business As Usual in washington. And so what is the difference between them and the democrats . There isnt a difference. So interesting to see where her head is right now which is clearly trying to move this party as far right as possible, kate. And again, you have to underscore that this has been a Fundraising Boon for her. Her supporters have really stepped up and supported her. So she has been able to use all of this to her benefit in a way. What is the action that she wants . Violence. These are the type of empty yet very loaded words and winkwink and nodnod words that so many have used that the republicaners are welcoming in and not and not stopping and not rebuking in their House Conference right now. Jessica, if you could stand by. Were going to wait to hear from nancy pelosi. While were waiting to hear from pelosi, i want to bring in dana bash, cnn chief political correspondent. Im curious to hear what Speaker Pelosi said. Last week when we were together talking about this, she didnt told back at all. She was very focused on Republican Leadership when asked about Marjorie Taylor greene. That it was beyond the pail that they were turning a blind eye. And i wonder if after last night what more does peeker pelosi say in. Probably that. And shes going to have to explain and frankly in some ways defend the fact that they are going to put this vote on the floor. When i use the word defend, i do is very specifically because obviously we heard during the rules Committee Process yesterday, jim mcgovern talked with a lot of passion about the fact that this must not they must not let this stand as a House Representatives that they cant allow somebody with her views with the things that she has said, whether it is in office or before, to sit on these major committees, which is understandable. The flip side of that is the raw politics of this. And there is one political calculus that democrats have which is ruling the day aside from the fact that they believe it is the morally rithing to do but on the republican side that every republican will be on record of whether they will say yes Marjorie Taylor greene and qanon should be on the major committees and those adds are already started and theyll continue using that vote. And the flip side and you know this very well, is that one of the top bits of knowledge for anybody who follows politics is when your opponent, your political opponent is messing up, get out of the way. And that is not what their following here. They are inserting themselves in a way that allows republicans to say, uhhuh, were not going to do this because democrats are telling us what to do. So it is tricky. Even though it seems like it is kind of straightforward, it is tricky politically for democrats and republicans and i see the speaker is coming in. Lets listen into the House Speaker. In the capitol, this week were doing the budget. Yesterday i was very proud of the vote that we had on the floor of the house. Uch heard me say again and again that our budget is a statement of our national values, what is important to us as a nation should be prioritized in our budget. I commend the chair of the Budget Committee mr. Yarmouth and the members of the committee for the great work they did to bring it to the floor and mr. Done briar, the chair of the joints Economic Committee for his work in the debate yesterday as well. Im very proud of the vote. And remember, what we do here is always to honor our oath of office, to support and defend the constitution of the United States. And that constitution has as its Preamble A Guidance for the budget. We the people in the United States in order to perform a more perfect jifs, promote The General Welfare and secure the blesses of liberty for ourselves and for our post ert to establish this constitution. So it is about the constitution and the liberties and the form of government that it contains, but also a value statement. So im very pleased that it passed a Budget Resolution, we passed a Budget Resolution that paves the way for the passage of Landmark Coronavirus Legislation that will save lives and livelihoods. We hope that the republicans would join us in support of we would prefer that. But we need to have the leverage to proceed whether they do or not. We need to act now because it is urgent and americans could not afford any further delay. Our committees now will continue to work when the bill context, that will be all but as soon as the senate finishes this work and then we pass on what they do, so hopefully that is the next 48 hours, then we can signal that were ready to mark up the bills. Or we could file the bills. Our committee will fund the text so that the Biden Relief Package will put money in peoples pockets, vaccinations into peoples arms, children in school, workers to work. And speaking of back to work, also this week, im very pleased with the legislation, the National Apprenticeship act of 2021. As soon as well be debating that and voting on it tomorrow. But that is very important legislation for us to have training for the Work Force Development piece of anything that we do is very important. And if we prepare to go beyond this rescue package, which is what this bill sh the bill im talking about now, and then to the Recovery Bill, Recovery Bill will be about many other things including infrastructure and Work Force Development is very important there in preparation for that, this apprenticeship legislation. So i commend bobby scott, the chair of the education and Labor Committee for his ongoing work. We passed this last year, but it and it had bipartisan support. We hope it will again tomorrow. As you know, sadly this week the congress recognized the service and sacrifice of Brian Sicknick who died from a terrorist mob insurrection on january 6th. He passed on the 7th, the next day. We had that ceremony in the capitol. And what was so important about it, of course we pay our respects and sympathies to his family, who spoke so lovingly and beautifully about him. But also to see the connection among our Capitol Police and how they mourned the loss of their colleague. Indeed is a martyr for democracy. Martyrdom that he suffered. As well as the other who passed weve been good and smith and well be honoring them appropriately at some point when it is sometimes soon. But right now when it came to danger in the capitol, officer sicknick and a Capitol Police, we are enormously grateful, put themselves between us and the violence. Saving lives and defending democracy. Indeed officer sicknick was a martyr for democracy. And his serve and that of other heros in uniform, some of them of the metropolitan police of the district of columbia bringing us to our constitution as i said yesterday. And to our democracy. It is so very, very sad. To do the peoples work it is essential to keep the people safe and to keep this house safe. For our members, our staff, the custodians who custodial staff who make all of this possible, for those of you who cover it in the press. For our visitors, hopefully soon well have some again after covid and i want to salute the general honor spece for his wor here. I was honored that he accepted the charge to study how we keep members safe here as they do their jobs and in washington and in the capitol as they do their jobs in their districts and their travel to and fro. Again, the Security Posture of the capitol complex and that includes the house office buildings, this will run until march 15th. One of the proposals that he made that weve already had some good news on is that it was clear that many that the Capitol Police have been severely affected by covid, separate and apart from Everything Else that is going on. Like the rest of the country, there had been severely affected by covid and he recommended that we vaccinate the Capitol Police and with the cooperation of the biden administration, we were able to do that and i thank the Acting Police Chief for her statement that she put out this morning. Again, we have the threat from within as you are all well aware. Some members refuse to comply with Security Protocols to keep members, staff and Police Officers and everyone including all of you safe, which is why we are passing a rule mandating fines for noncompliance in that regard. Also, in terms of acknowledging a threat, i remain profoundly concerned about House Republicans leadership accepting of extreme conspiracy theorists, particularly to theyre eagerness to Anominate A Qanon and a value to give them to give them valued Committee Positions including who could imagine they would put such a person on the education committee. Today in the house well vote to remove representative greene from her seat on education and labor and the Budget Committees. It is just so unfortunate, you would think that the Republican Leadership in the congress would have some sense of responsibility to this institution. As they did, when they did not representative king of iowa two years ago. For some reason, they have chosen not to go down that path. Even though we gave mr. Hoyer gave the Leader Mccarthy sufficient notice that this was a path that we would follow. Again, on legislating on terms of the budget, in terms of the apprenticeship program, in terms of putting together our legislation for a Commission Similar to 9 11 commission, im very pleased that others and i comment Debbie Wassermann schultz for taking a lead, to uphold and protect the constitution and not only that but to uphold the standard for the house of representatives that respects the institution in which we serve and does no harm to It Institutionally or to our members, staff, visitors, personally. With that, ill be pleased to take any questions. Let me see. Let me see. Thank you, madam speaker. I have a question from one of the Pool Reporters who is unable to be here today. First, looking ahead to the Impeachment Trial was that an announcement that youll have two questions. Yes, maam. Okay. For another reporter. Thank you, maam. Looking ahead to the Impeachment Trial next week, it will be one month since the attack on the capitol and the former president is long gione and plenty of people that say why bother and go through this exercise and what do you say to them. The answer it seems is self evident. Were here to support and defend the constitution of the United States. The world witnessed the incitement that the president caused to incite an insurrection against our government, against our capitol, against members of congress. With a use of force and violence. So for us to why bother . Why bother . Ask our founders why bother. Ask those who wrote the constitution, ask abraham lincoln, ask anyone who cares about our democracy why we are bothering. You cannot go forward until you have justice and what did we say about the preamble to the constitution . Didnt we say it started out with justice. We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, established justice. Youve heard me say again and again and if you want peace, work for justice. Martin luther king said this is not just the act of descension, it is the presence of justice. So we will honor the constitution by establishing justice. And, again, we could do a couple of things at once. We are moving with our legislation to pass the biden administration, Biden Harris Administration covid package. The people, the whole world were witnesses as i said before, so well see. I have no idea how the managers will proceed. I saw their brief when you saw theyre brief. Im so proud of the dignity with which theyve brought to enable us honor our constitution. If we were not to follow up with this, we might as well remove any penalty from the constitution of impeachment. Just take it out. But our founders, they knew about two things and we keep hearing this again and again, they were fearful of a demigod and a mob and that is exactly what descended, that is exactly what descended on the constitution. But i want the public to know there is no opportunity lost in our defending the constitution. In fact, it is an enhancement for us to do our work in a way that is respectful of the institution in which we take an oath to to protect and defend. The other question. Our colleague from the l. A. Times had asked that the House Managers are walking into a trial where all signs point to acquittal. They dont know that. They dont know that. They havent heard the case. They dont know that. They havent heard the case. And the court of the senate, they will make their case. In a court of public opinion, they will make their case. And for history and posterity, as our founder said to ourselves and our posterity, they will make the case but i have great confidence in them and well see. Well see if it is a senate of courage, or cowardice. She asked what does a victory look like . You know what, why dont we just wait and let them make their case. They have been very, shall we say, silent, hardworking, brilliant, and in terms of what we saw in the brief, not only wise but you might appreciate well written. And no Spelling Mistakes of the United States. So, again, im not here to talk about that. Because they are going to be there to present the case. And we dont have to defend why it is necessary. And we dont have to talk about who is going to be there or not because we just dont know. They know and they will present it when they do. Yes, sir. I was wondering what you thought of the republican senators when they went to the white house this week to meet with the president , and how much the plan is [ Inaudible Question ]. Well joe biden has presented a plan that meets the needs of the American People. This is very important because we have been i want to read this to you because i think it is very important for people to know. Well get around 450,000 people who have died, before you know it, sad to say and hopefully we dont achieve it, but were in a path to half a Million People dying from covid. And that is because of a complete failure on the part of the Trump Administration. But dont take it from me. This is what the gao in our 346page Government Accountability document said. It said almost 90 , 27 of 31 of the gaos recommendations from june, september and november remain unimplemented as of january 15th. Less than a week before trump left office. Gop remains deeply troubled that the agencies have not acted on recommendations that more fully address official gaps in the medical supply chain and the list goes on. We want to save lives and save livelihoods, it is going to cost some money to do so. But it is a good investment. And dont take it from us. Whether youre talking about the chairman of the fed, the secretary of the treasury, mark zandi and other committees have said even the governor of West Virginia has said go big rather than go small. And that is what we have to do. It is a reasonable plan. It meets the needs. It is not excessive. It is Coronavirus Centric and it is in a timely fashion and that is where we have to go, if were going to gent put vaccine in peoples arms, money in the school and money in peoples pockets and workers back in their jobs. So it is a it is pretty exciting what hes put there. And what we did at the end of december, plus this approximately what we had been advocatesing in the heroes act, 3. 2 and this comes up to nearly 3 trillion. But that is what republican senators that come in at 600 billion, onethird, well are we going to feed fewer children . Are we going to inoculate fewer people . How do you cut that . I think they have not respected our heroes by supporting state and local government, these are the people who are on the first line, whether it is health care workers, police and fire, First Responders of any kind, sanitation, transportation, food workers, our teachers, our teachers, our teachers, our schools. And we have to invest in safely returning our children to schools. So, again, i just dont see how have to make those choices about who you cut out when you decide to cut the funding in the package. Madam speaker, given some of the events in russia in burma, if you believe the house will move forward with any sort of response, sanctions, anything like that. Well we look to the leadership of our new president on that score. I myself have been a supporter of sanctions of burma at the time, going way back. Still call it burma as a matter of fact. And then of course to really enforce the sanctions on russia in a way that really reaches the, shall we say enablers of putin. But well take our lead from the president because hes made his voice clear to putin and he said made a statement about myanmar. They said they were importing illegal radios and in russia they arrested navalny for not reporting to his Probation Officer or Something Like that. Again, it is an interesting time to De Demagoguery Around The World and we have to prevent it from happening in our country. Yes. All of the Budget Reconciliation Package for the coronavirus package, democrat policy that they would like to put in there. There a hearing go on right now about the minimum wage. So some of the things like the minimum wage dont wind up in the bill, because the work process and you had to get the votes, what is the message to folks who have been saying this is our chance to get these things done. What do you say to those doesnt mean it wont happen just because it wont happen there. As you know, and in many ways were at the mercy of the senate in terms of the bird rule. And, again, the parliamentarian of the senate is going to make some determinations, we had hoped he would make them by now but until we have our bill, which we now have, we dont have those determinations from her. But there is so much in the package that has to be done right now. And well do the best we can. Do you have concerns that some that say democrats will have the house or the senate or the white house and this still doesnt mean is it doesnt get done but they will be disappointed and how do you respond to them to say look were were already introducing the minimum wage. That is high priority for us. And we hope that we could get it in reconciliation. Im a veteran of Reconciliation Bills over time. And i know that shall we say the struggle that it frequently is to have everything comply in a way that meets the standard of the senate in terms of the bird rule. We in the house think of it as a house attitude, why dont we just pass what we can pass without having it being determined by one person as to what could be contained in there. Just put it on there and vote it up or down. But in any event, we have were very proud of the legislation and again it is not the last bill that will pass. This is the recovery this is the rescue package. This is the rescue package. We must pass this bill to crush the virus to save the lives and livelihoods of American People to put children back in schools and people back to work. That is its purpose. We want to do it in a way that is fair, that addresses the disparities that have existed, do you know in the native American Community two times as many people percentage wise have died than wights. The disparity in the in the africanAmerican Community and in the Hispanic Community is sinful. So we want to do this bill in a way that is fair and equitable and continue to do testing, et cetera, distribution of the virus but keeping a record of how through thhas been distributed. Maybe this will be a force of fairness rather than the unfairness that has gone before. Then we had the other the next bill will be, this is rescue, that is recovery. And were already working with some of the provisions that we would have in recovery act. Were legislators, that is why were here and what we do and were always getting ready for the next legislation. Build back better for the people. They were some of what we talked about, joe biden said help is on the way. And the Recovery Package with Lower Health Care costs and bigger paychecks for the people is what we need to do. So just because something might not be in one bill and we dont accept that yet, but if it isnt, we have other places to do it. In fact, i wish we were talking about a living wage. But 15 an hour is an important improvement over that. I just had time for one more question. Im curious, as far as the Impeachment Trial is concerned, senator graham said if the democrats call any witness, that theyll be prepared to the republicans will be prepared to call in the fbi and, quote, tell us about people who preplanned this attack and what happened with the security foot print at the capitol. What is your response to that . Your question is a waste of time. Are you worried at all about the precedent that it would set . Not at all. If any of our members threatened the safety of other members, we would be the first ones to take them off of the committee. Thank you. And when you heard right there from House Speaker nance at the very end is the distinction that she is very ready to make between the House Democrats and House Republicans right now. Let me bring back in jessica dean and dana bash on that. Do you you think that last statement from her, she cut off the question, saying if a democrat would threaten the life of another member, we would be the first to take them off the committee. Absolutely. That was our colleague manu raju who asked that very important question. Because that is the argument that were going to hear from so many republicans, even those who think that Marjorie Taylor greene is a cancer on their party. And that argument is likely to be and will be that they dont think she should be on the committee. They wish that their own leadership dealt with it. But they cant vote for a situation where theyre setting a precedent for a member or the other party deciding who was going to be on the committees. Having said that, what you just saw from nancy pelosi, the way that she, as you said, kate, kind of cut it off and said, no, she said that if any of our members threatened the safety of others, we would take them off of the committees. It was not just her speaking as speaker of the house and kind of Protecting Members , it is personal. One of the many things that Marjorie Taylor greene said that is so outrageous is, the threatening the life of nancy pelosi. Right. We havent heard anything about that in public. Whether or not she really meant that or not. But regardless, it is something that she said. And so it is understandable that she, nancy pelosi, takes that personally. I mean, who wouldnt. Exactly right. And dana spoke to this earlier an and i think this is important on another show, what is impossible to understand is what needle Kevin Mccarthy is trying to thread here, when what were hearing is nothing of an apology or rebuke of ore past statements from Marjorie Taylor greene. But were hearing from Kevin Mccarthy that he wants everyone inside of the big tent and he doesnt know qanon. Really . Yeah, that was very surprising to hear that he doesnt know what qanon is considering all of the information that is out there and considering that qanon is at the center why so much of the focus is on Marjorie Taylor greene. Because she had spoken and Espoused Qanon Conspiracy Theories. So it is remarkable to say you dont know what that is if youre talking about expelling a member from the committee because of the very issue. But putting that aside, hes trying to thread quite a needle her. They want to keep the tent as big as possible but the problem is, as dana alluded to, youre widening the spectrum even further. You have the Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell calling these loony lies and a cancer on the party. We have talked to a number of Senate Republicans who have very similar views who do not believe she should stay on the committee and that is a number of Senate Republicans who do not typically speak out in this way against their fellow republicans, especially in another chamber. But Kevin Mccarthy is trying to keep the spectrum very broad and what does that mean . It means that today every one of his republican members is going to have to go on the record and vote publicly on this one way or the other and that is going to have implications in 2022. Now Kevin Mccarthy is betting that they could make it work. But it may not work. And that is what is going to happen. Were going to have a record of everybody on where they stand here because leadership didnt choose to act on this one way or another. And to take it in a in a step more broadly, dana, does what happened last night, and what is going to happen today, with the vote, help solve at all the broader longer term problem of the civil war within the Republican Party because within that same meeting last night, liz cheney, who is the Polar Opposite of Marjorie Taylor greene, had a huge victory and a huge vote of support from this very same members. Which is why if you pose that question to people who are in and around liz cheney, maybe even liz cheney herself, the answer would be yes. Yes, that decisive vote of 145 even though this was a secret ballot, 145 of her members saying we dont think it is appropriate to throw her out of the leadership for a vote of conscience. That that does set put a flag in the ground for that wing of the Republican Party. The flip side of that is that you cant look at that in a vacuum. Because at the exact same time that the Marjorie Taylor greene situation is being left to fester, and it is not being addressed. So, it is the leadership above liz cheney trying to have it both ways. Arguing to use the term that jessica used, that that is what do you in a big tent, but i will just say this again, this is not about whether or not one side wants a smaller Spending Bill or the other side wants lower taxes. Exactly right. This is about whether or not they are espousing Conspiracy Theories and bigoted comments that havent publicly been renounced or apologized for. One person who would not feign ignorance, one person who would not is definitely one liz cheney. She stood up and voted for her conscience and she knows exactly what it looks like to lead. Thanks, appreciate it. Still ahead, were standing by to hear from the white house. The president s Press Secretary jen psaki is taking to the Briefing Room, going to be taking questions from reporters any second now. There is a lot happening at the white house as well. Well bring you that when it gets underway. Well be right back. It shows our new dove advanced care formula is effective. And kind to skin, leaving underarms cared for and you. More confident and carefree. Since his inauguration, President Biden has put diplomacy at he center of the United States Foreign Policy grounding our International Engagement in american values, rebuilding our alliances and reengaging with International Institutions to help strengthen them, obviously part of the visit to the State Department is an emphasis on that. But to talk bts president s visit to the State Department as well as the executive actions he will sign, were excited to welcome Jake Sullivan to the Briefing Room and hes kind enough to take a couple of questions an ill be the bad cop as usual over here. My mask. Sorry about that. Hi, everybody. It is great to have the opportunity to be here. As jen just mentioned, President Biden is going over to State Department to give remarks on Foreign Policy and National Security today. It is not an action that hes chosen, the State Department as the venue for these first remarks that he will make on this subject. He wants to send a clear message that our National Security strategy will lead with diplomacy. And before he actually gives his speech, hell meet with Career Professionals from the state Department Foreign service and Civil Service who were the dip of the diplomatic spear. This is the first in a series of visits he makes to the National Security work force at the pentagon, at the intelligence community, and across the u. S. Government. His remarks are not going to be the totality of his Foreign Policy. Theyre going to be focussed on his early decisions and actions and those early moves the core strategic thrust of them is to establish a position of tlng strength for the United States to be able to deal with both Great Power Competition an the transnational threats that the American People face. So establishing this position of strength involves five major lines of effort. One, veinvestments at home to shore our foundations and the american Recovery Plan is not just a matter of economic policy, it is a matter of National Security treat as well. Two, revitalizing american alliances. The president has spoken with key allies in europe and asia and last night he spoke with the president of The Republic Of Korea and the Prime Minister of australia. And the National Security team is working now with those allies to build out an ambitious agenda. Three, reengaging key institutions and agreements as part of a new commitment to service of Americas National interest. Weve rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and President Biden will host a climate Leaders Summit in april. Weve reversed the disease to leave the world health organization. Weve yesterday extended the new start treaty to maintain nuclear ability with russia for the next five years. Four, reasserting our values. The president in the first two weeks has reversed the muslim ban, the ban on Transgender Service members serving in our military and today he will announce an end to american support for offensive operations in yemen. And five, getting our Global Force Posture right. Making sure that our Global Force Posture is cob nsistent i our priorities. Today he will announce that Secretary Austin will lead a Global Force Posture review and during the pendence of that review will freeze any Troop Redeployments from germany. Now of course establishing a position of strength also means building up National Security team that is fit for purpose. And here is the the National Security council not only have we reinforced and reinvigorated every element of our regional and functional work, weve added a new deputy for cyber and emerging technology, we have elevated democracy as a key part of the National Security council work, weve added a coordinator for the endo pacific and weve begun an intensive review of our strategies and resources towards the threat posed by domestic violent extremism. Now our view is that once we have established this position of strength, we will be able to compete more effectively with our competitors across the board and especially with china. In every domain. Economic, diplomatic, technological, security, you name it. Well be able to counter russia for effectively and be better equipped to address threats from Climate Change to pandemics to Nuclear Proliferation. We will also be able to more effectively pursuit a Foreign Policy for the middle class. This is not just a tag line. It is an Organizing Principle for the work that we will do. So what does that mean . What is Foreign Policy for the middle class. It starts with how we set priorities. Everything we do in our Foreign Policy and National Security wil will be measured by a basic metric. Is it making life better and safer and easier for Working Families. So that means a different approach to trade policy. Were not about trying to make the world safe for multinational investment and were about creating jobs and wages here in the United States. So our priorities is not to get access for Goldman Sachs in china, our priority is to make sure that were dealing with chinas trade abuses that are harming American Workers in the United States. So whether it is dumping or subsidies or intellectual property theft or the countries across world that have engaged in problematic currency practices, our priorities in the trade space will be about the american worker. But it is about much more than that. It is about thinking about National Security as national competitiveness. Making investments in our own industrial and Innovation Base so that the goodpaying jobs and industries of the future are here in the United States. So build back better isnt just about economics, it is about National Security as well. And then it is about the set of issues that Working Families in this country are facing every day that are challenging their lives and livelihoods. The pandemic, Climate Change, the threat of domestic violent extremism. And so from our perspective, putting the middle class and working people at the center of our Foreign Policy isnt just good for from a strategic perspective, it is just good common sense and good decent values as well. So, these are some of the things that youll hear from President Biden today. And we will also have the opportunity to put out a set of Executive Orders that establish regular order in our National Security decisionmaking, that revitalize our work force both in terms of the skills they have and to reflect the diversity and equity and inclusion priorities of this administration, and to build up a more robust capacity for the United States to accept refugees from around the world. So, let me stop there and be happy to take a few questions before turning the podium back over to jen. Yeah. Jacob, thanks for being in the room. We appreciate it. I would ask you to speak about the president s position of strength. As it relates to russia, what does it say about President Bidens position of strength that after his conversation with President Putin on issues like navalny and he sentenced him to two and a half years in prison. Well be taking steps to hold russia accountable for the range of amalign activities it has undertaken, including interfering in american domestic and the poisoning of citizens with chemical weapons, it includes the type of hacks and breaches that you just referred to and many other things as well. We will do that at a time and in a manner of our choosing and we believe that imposing those now, is it going to stop Vladimir Putin from doing everything we dont like . Of course not. But do we believe that we will be able to take a firmer, more effective line when it comes to russian aggression and russian bad behavior . Yes, we do. At the same time, i would just like to reiterate that that doesnt rule out being able to work with russia where its in our interests to do so. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, and the new s. T. A. R. T. Treaty and that extension, keeping a lid on Nuclear Proliferation is very much in americas National Security interests. Reporter with another top issue on your plate right now as it relates to kim jongun and north korea, you said the president spoke to the head of korea. Does the white house have any intention of continuing the diplomacy as it relates to kim jongun . Will he meet with kim jongun . We are conducting our policy with north korea as we speak. President biden told Moon Last Night that we will speak with our allies, particularly in japan, and im not going to get ahead of that review. Reporter when the president signed his Executive Order directing doj not to contract with private federal prisons, he did not extend that to dhs and i. C. E. , which houses many undocumented immigrants. Is that something that he plans to do, and if so, why didnt he do it in that Executive Order . I would refer you to dhs and Secretary Mayorkas for that. Reporter the president ial campaign issued in a Mem Morand Making Lgbtq Rights And Human Policy A priority for the nation. How will that Initiative Compare to the issue by burnell . I didnt want to steal the president s thunder, but since you asked directly, he will be announcing a president ial memorandum protecting the rights on lgbtq individuals worldwide today. That will be part of his remarks at the State Department, and it reflects his deep commitment these issues both here and in the United States and everywhere around the world. The United States will speak out and act on behalf of these rights as we go. Reporter just picking up on the question of speaking from a position of strength, when we talk about sanctions on myanmar, the fact that we have republican lawmakers who support the claim that the election was stolen, some potentially having ties to Extremist Groups that stormed the capitol, does it make the job of the administrations Foreign Policy team more difficult to punish countries like myanmar on the grounds of violation from democracy . On the one hand, pulling our country together, revitalizing our own democratic foundation, building more unity that President Biden has talked about, that will be an important part of us operating effectively in other parts of the world. But when it comes to burma specifically, this is an area where there is genuine bipartisan agreement. President biden in his remarks today will talk about some of the outreach he has done to republicans on the issue, and we believe we can work with the congress on a package of sanctions to impose consequences in response to this coup. We will also be working with allies and partners around the world. Yeah. Reporter i just wanted to follow up quickly on burma. The top generals there have already been sanctioned by the menisky act, and they want to not do anything that would impact negatively on the burmese people. So what sanctions is the administration considering, and does it include declaring a new National Emergency Via Executive ord order . Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, we are considering the possibility of a new Executive Order and we are looking at specific targeted sanctions both on individuals and on entities controlled by the military that enrich the military. We believe we have plenty of space to be able to find the types of Sanctions Targets necessary to sharpen the choice for the burmese military. Yeah. Reporter on monday, iran proposed allowing the European Union to negotiate a simultaneous return to the iran nuclear deal, the idea being the u. S. Drops its sanctions in exchange for iran coming into compliance. Is that proposal at all being considered . We are actively engaged with the European Union right now, particularly the three members of the p5 plus 1, germany, the u. K. And france. We are talking with them at various levels of our government. Those consultations, i think, will produce a unified front when it comes to our strategy towards iran and dealing with diplomacy around the nuclear file, and i just dont want to get ahead of where thats going to end up. We can take one or two more. Reporter will the president announce hes making a new envoy for yemen at the State Department this afternoon . Yes, he will. As i said in my remarks today, hes going to announce an end to american support for offensive operations in yemen. Thats a promise he made in the campaign he will be following through on, but he will go further than that. He will talk about the United States playing a more active, engaged role in diplomacy to bring an end to the conflict in yemen, and that will happen with a Special Envoy which will happen today. Reporter can you please explain in a little bit more detail what an end to american support for offensive actions entails, and does that extend to actions against aque in that region, and has the president formed actions there already . It does not preserve aque. It extends to the types of operations that have perpetuated a Civil War In Yemen that has led to a humanitarian crisis. The types of kbaexamples of tha include two arms sales, and something that was moving at the end of the last administration. We have spoken to both senior officials in the uae and senior officials in saudi arabia. We have consulted with them. We are pursuing a policy of no surprises when it comes to these types of actions so they understand that this is happening and they understand our reasoning and rationale for it. Reporter you guys have announced youre reviewing a number of maligned actions carried out by other countries, whether its russia or china or other countries. Does President Biden feel a responsibility to impose consequences for actions undertaken by other countries in the last several years where President Trump gave those countries a pass, and if so, how far back does that extend . I think the way that President Biden looks at this is it doesnt matter who the occupant of the oval office is if this country gets attacked, if our elections get attacked, if our Critical Infrastructure gets attacked, if our troops are threatened by foreign actors. Hes going to respond to establish deterrents and to impose consequences. He doesnt have a particular time or date from when that starts, and he certainly will look at actions undertaken during the Trump Administration as a tax not on President Trump but as attacks on the United States of america. Thank you, guys. Okay. Just a couple other things i wanted to go through. President biden delivered an address about faith and unity at the National Prayer breakfast this morning. I should say it was via video. This event was entirely virtual this year because of covid with all speakers delivering taped remarks. Alongside President Biden, four living former president s sent messages to the breakfast. President biden is committed to the Prayer Breakfast tradition of reflection and fellowship, especially at this difficult time in our nations history. A little piece of history for all of you, every president has attended the breakfast since dwight d. Eisenhower made his appearance in 1954. A couple other updates. The president and his administration, all of us, are continuing their close engagement today on the American Rescue plan, a top priority for him and all of us at this moment, including outreach to lawmakers and stakeholders as well as our continuing to make the case to the American People. Congress is moving quickly on this. Over the next several days, committees will have a chance to review the legislation. As you know, thats kind of The Next Step in the process next week after the voterama. Thats literally what its called. Republicans will be able to provide input on the final product. Thats how the process is supposed to work, and we agree there is a need to move swiftly and a goal to make this bipartisan bill and package. There is a couple of questions that many of you have asked us and others have asked us over the course of our effort on the American Rescue plan, so i just wanted to address some of those here. First, why do we need a package of this size . Obviously this is a good question thats asked as Economic Data comes out. I just want to highlight a couple pieces for all of you. A cbo report found that without a lot of stimulus, our economy wouldnt reach better levels until 2025 and it would take just as long to get to full employment. This week was the 40th consecutive week that job numbers have exceeded the high. They said we need to be risk averse, and without a negative stimulus, we could have a negative spiral for the economy. This is a grim picture, but analysis after Analysis Shows us the rescue plan would make a huge difference. Moodys analytics said it would bring us back faster, and over 90 of economists surveyed by reuters found it would drive substantial growth. The second question we often get, another good question, is when we will see bipartisan support for this bill. The reality is we see it every single day. A new survey from Navigator Research out this morning shows 72 of americans support the rescue plan, including 53 of republicans. A Quinnipiac Poll found 68 of americans back the rescue plan. A survey on monday showed over twothirds support the package. I just wanted to highlight a couple of those pieces. Those are excellent questions we get in here, but we did a little thinking about your questions. Last thing i wanted to do at the top, kristen, who is back today again, asked a great question about the