Transcripts For CSPAN2 Natl 20240702

Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to start with the word about the news out as lewiston maine last night where we saw another tragic shooting at his taking the least 18 lives. Injuring many others and let countless people in grief shock and trauma. As the president said in a statement earlier today in the first lady are praying for the victims and their families. For those still fighting for their lives and for the families of survivors and Committee Members reeling from this latest act of gun violence importantly we continue to urge all residents to heed the warnings and guidance of local officials and federal Law Enforcement corps who are on the ground to assist in the response. During the state dinner last night the president was informed he received initial briefing of the shooting antisat down with maine potts governor as well as senator collins and king and congressman jared goldman. He pledged full federal support in the wake of this tragedy. This morning the president received another briefing the shooting from senior advisers and he ordered the u. S. Flag be flown halfstaff at the white house and all public buildings of respect for all the victims. I want to echo the president sentiments on this tragedy and the epidemic of gun violence in general. This is not normal. We cannot accept this. There had been literally hundreds of Mass Shootings in the last year alone leaving seats at dinner tables across the country empty and we think those who survived these acts physically and mentally scarred. While we have made progress since the president signed the bipartisan community, Safer Communities act into law much more, much more must be done. The president has been clear that executive action alone is just not enough. As the president , as the Vice President who oversees the newly established office of gun violence prevention stated during todays luncheon and i know many of you watched it very closely as well where she said it does not have to be this way. As our friends in australia have shown, again it doesnt have to be this way. Its within congresss power to pass legislation that will make our streets safer and make our communities safer and make our schools safer. The house has a new speaker who he said, hes ready to get to work and to find Common Ground. Now is the time. Now is the time to find Common Ground. Lets Work Together to ban assault weapons and highcapacity magazines. Lets Work Together to enact universal background checks, require safe storage of guns and keep guns out at the hands of criminals and dangerous individuals who have no business in armed with a weapon of war. The president will continue to do everything in his power to protect the American People and to protect our communities, protect our children and the urge, to urge Congressional Republicans to come to the table, to come to the table because it truly is Common Ground at this time. With that as you all know im joined in todays Briefing Room by the Economic Council Lael Brainard to discuss the gdp report that you saw this morning and any other economic things out there. Welcome to the briefing for a second time Lael Brainard. We thought this might be a good moment to look back at this time last year and per call with the experts were saying about the u. S. Economy. A year ago the consensus view was that unemployment would need to go up 4. 5 and the economy would need to stall out in order to get inflation down to where it is today. It turns out that was wrong. You can see that here on the charts. The u. S. Growth has been much stronger than the naysayers believed. Unemployment has remained below 4 this entire time. Inflation has actually fallen in line with that forecast. In fact today we learned gdp grew by 4. 9 in the Third Quarter even as core pc inflation on a quarterly basis phil to 2. 4 , the lowest level in nearly three years. That Strong Economy is a testament to the resilience of American Consumers and American Workers with President Bidens plan to grow the economy by growing the middle class. Consumer spending is robust as americans have rejoined the labor force in record numbers in real wages are up over the last year. President biden vows to build the economy from the bottom up and the middle out and thats exactly what we are seeing in the data. Last week survey of Consumer Finances Shows Americans median net worth is 37 higher than it was before the pandemic, adjusted for inflation. Thats the largest gain in the history of the survey and the gains were strongest for the bottom half of the Income Distribution and for and hispanic families that have traditionally not seen as large gains. Just yesterday the way w. Reached a historic tentative agreement that provides a record increase for autoworkers and is a testament to the president s strategy to ensure a strong future for autumn manufacturing here in america. Thats good news for American Workers and good news for the future of the u. S. Auto industry. As the date and that agreement we can see the president s strategy is yielding real results even as we continue to work to bring costs down. Thanks. The present celebrated the gdp report saying its a testament to the resilience of the American Consumer but the report also shows personal savings dropped by 360 million. Is the message to americans. As i said what you are seeing is americans are back in the labor force in record numbers much higher participation than what was anticipated and higher than prepandemic. Their outlook, that is showing up also in the wealth number so if you look at American Household median wealth in inflationadjusted terms its actually gone up since before the pandemic so the u. S. Consumer, u. S. Workers they are absolutely the reason we are seeing this resilience in the economy and they are actually seeing increases in their wealth over this period. What about americans who are dipping into savings to afford afford. Because net wealth is rising and real incomes are rising and the americans are working thats exactly what we would want to see in the economy. We are no longer worried about a recession quick. The data in recent months has all pointed in the same direction which is that we are seeing strong ongoing growth with inflation coming down and we are seeing unemployment staying put for below 20 , four months ago with inflation coming down so those data which have been sustained now for a relatively long period of time suggests theres ongoing resilience there. We have seen Small Business formation at a record rate. Theres lots of dynamism and the economy that people are taking notice of and we know the president has historic legislation that is leading to historically high amounts of construction in the Manufacturing Sector including leveraging privatesector. For all these reasons these continues see the economy growing with inflation and the strongest growth and lowest inflation. The gdp numbers were released to the owner of paris payments have begun for tens of millions americans. Is this a headwind that you seen the u. S. Economy and whether there had wednesday as he or the rest of the year . Domestic consumer with very strong in the Third Quarter and we believe based on the strong job market we continue to see resilience there but the president has always said he would like to see students relief go forward and hes continuing to look to find avenues to do that in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. We party announced a number of programs that have led to large and significant relief for a large number of americans that he will continue working to make sure the full amount of Student Debt Relief is available over time. Whether there had wednesday as he . P right now what we see going into the 4th quarter is continued ongoing investments on the basis of the Clean Energy Tax credits and the chips program. The infrastructure law so there should continue to be allowed to privatesector interest. We certainly see it in the numbers with 1 billion worth of private sector investment. Those things i think will continue to provide uplifts to the Global Economy and theres some soft spots there so perhaps a headwind there. Do you expect to see Consumer Spending ease in the coming months . P there is the possibility from quarter to quarter we have seen some variations so its hard to know right now what retail spending and spending more broadly is going to look like. Again consumers have good sources that income and wages rising, strong employment, strong participation of labor force so we can certainly see variations in the relative contributions relative to Business Investment firms. Certainly consumers and businesses are taking it into account the cost of credit and that is a headwind on the economy. Despite that we have seen strong gdp of 4. 9 in the Third Quarter and we think thats because there is strong support from the policy on the vestments cited the economy and the president s historic legislation there and the broader plans to grow the economy from the middle out. Thank you for coming back. Okay we are moving on. As you know admiral john kirby is here. I think you have something to share the top. Admiral. Good afternoon everybody. Let me start, the couple things i want to get to and let me start with the middle east and the present is being routinely updated by the situations are obviously continuing to support. We continue to support israels military Security Assistance that continues to flow to them as needed almost on a daily basis. Obviously we are still laser focused on the situation and making sure more food water and medicine can get in. Since the 21st of this month some 74 trucks have gotten in 12 over just the last 24 hours. More needs to go and we are working with partners on the ground to get them to accelerate and increase the flow of humanitarian assistance so again it remains a high focus for the National Security team. I do want if you allow me to to take a couple of minutes to update you on the situation in ukraine. As we said publicly russia has launched a new offensive in Eastern Ukraine across multiple lines including around. I spoke about this recently. Its not a surprise. We have watched this build and we point president putin aims to conquer ukraine and we have been working to ensure that ukraine has the equipment to defend its territory. Just today we have noticed another package of Security Assistance which includes chaplain antitank missiles and more Artillery Ammunition more ammunition for the high mobility artillery system otherwise known as as far using all these capabilities the ukrainians have been able to hold on on the defense against the offensive. Since the 11th of october russia has suffered significant losses in its offensive attempts including lease 125 Armored Vehicles and more than a battalions worth of equipment. Expect more recent attacks to come. Its a dynamic conflict and we need to remember that russia still maintains an offensive capability may be able to achieve tactical gains in the coming months. To pursue that outcome elsewhere on the battlefield russia continues to show no regard for the lives of its soldiers. We believe they have suffered thousands of casualties in the effort to conduct this and some of them on the order of their own leaders. We have information that the Russian Military has been executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders. We have information rushing commanders are threatening to execute and tire units when they seek to retreat from ukrainian artillery fire. Russias mobilize forces remain undertrained, underequipped and unprepared for combat. As was the case during their field winter offensive last year Russian Military appears to be using what we would call human wave tactics just during masses of this poorly trained fighters ready to defy with no no proper equipment no leadership in the resources. Its not surprising russia suffers from poor morale given these conditions. Russias renewed attempt is a sobering reminder that president putin is not giving up on his aspirations to take ukraine as long as russia continues its assault we get to continue to support the ukrainian people in their defense. His intentions are clear and we heard the president talk about this last week. Sending western weapons to ukraine to ensure that we contingent do that its Critical Congress stepped up and passed the simple mental request that the president put forward last week which includes a significant amount of resources for ukraine and further humanitarian and Economic Needs in selfdefense. And to move forward with that supplement and the time clearly is not on our side with ukraine going forward. Same as the present yesterday said he has no confidence in the numbers presented by the palestinians in gaza. Have you reached a conclusion . P we know the cause administration is just a front for hamas and its run by hamas a organization. We cant take anything coming up of hamas including the socalled ministry of health at face value. Secondly the president s talking about humanitarian pause in the peace process. Whats prompting this tone shift. The president has never backed away or never stopped affirming the need for a twostate solution. Coming into office hes been working on it very hard and i know its a lot and its taken people a long time to get there and we havent got there but we havent stopped working towards that goal. We still believe as he said yesterday when this conflict is over the test to be the goal we are driving at a state for palestinians where they can live in peace and security and justice. That is a strategic longterm goal. In a tactical sense as secretary blinken said we do think there should be consideration made. These are localized temporary specific pauses on the battlefields so humanitarian assistance can get in to people that need it where the people can get out at that area to safety. We think its an idea worth exploring. I want to ask you about the present lack of confidence in the numbers in gaza right now. Because the Health Ministry is run by hamas. To be clear that president in the white house you dont dispute the thousands of palestinians many of them innocent civilians have been killed by israeli forces. A force not. We know the death toll is rising in gaza but what we are saying is we shouldnt rely on numbers put forth by hamas. They said more than 7000 is there any way to assess how many does . The president said it we dont have a conference in math and it does appear including allowed people and the room that thousands of palestinians have been killed. Is the white house satisfied to israel to this point has obeyed the laws as the president has indicated and his israel and the white house doing enough to protect innocent lives. Again we are going to react in real time to events on the battlefield and every allegation. We just are going to do that. [inaudible] i just said we are going to react in real time. We have been in constant touch with their israeli counterparts since the early hours of this conflict. To ensure we are asking them the hard questions that they asked themselves and reiterate as the president said yesterday he said theres an added burden here to make sure they are doing everything they can to minimize civilian cashbased and we are in constant communication with them. To followup on the former question does the president have faith in numbers released by the west bank that its more than 100 palestinians killed. I have no dispute with the rough numbers coming up affair. Therethere is a a lot of violenn the west bank as well. And those are the numbers we are seeing come out of gaza. Can you follow up on the meeting and what are the expectations and will the present during the meetings and what kind of role can the u. S. Expect from china. That was like seven questions. Hes looking forward to this discussion. You know hell start up with secretary blinken later this afternoon. The white house. Its a chance to continue the conversation that jake himself has had with their counterparts for many months. Its another milestone in that effort to keep the lines of communication open with the prc. It will be an opportunity to address areas of concern as we continue to have some of the prc behavior particularly in the south china sea. It will also be an opportunity to explore ways in which we can continue to keep these channels open to try to get open the militarytomilitary channels which are still close. Chinas role. Im sorry i have no doubt part of this discussion is whats going on in the least in the chinese perspective and certainly looking for ways to be helpful. The Florida Governor said the state is sending drones to israel. Have youve been coordinating with the Florida Governor and this and will they send weapons another materia . That i will certainly that the governor speak. Its not illegal for the governor of the state to offer assistance to another country. They are a laws and regulations that govern how the export process is handled. Thats all done through commerce. I cant speak with authority today. Whether the governor has checked all those boxes are not. Its not illegal for state governors to do that kind of thing. To followup on the question regarding the death toll coming up if hamas ministry. Do you have any sense to acknowledge that saudis have died in gaza and you know the percentage of those [inaudible] more than 33 have been killed in the attack on hamas. Did you say 30 have been killed . Said 30 have been injured. I will at pentagon speak to the number of injuries that they have had three my understanding is almost all the troops are back on duty and there are some that have suffered what they call traumatic brain injury and the concussive effect when these rockets land close by and sometimes it takes a wild for it to manifest itself so the numbers again are free to the pentagon as it could change over time. As the president said yesterday we have troops in iraq and syria that are there on a mission and is still a viable mission. They have in the past come under attack by some of these militia groups. Back in march we responded and retaliated aggressively and as the president said we are going to do what we had to do to protect those troops. What we decide to do the commanderinchief its his decision to make and he will make it in a timely manner of his choosing. Is it acceptable that israelis even though they know that civilians could likely be killed and for these strategic or targeted . I will let the Israeli Defense forces speak to their operations in their targeting procedures. We are not involved in that. They have a right and responsibility to go after hamas after what happened in october 7 and we have obviously had conversations about it in and the president suggested that need to be careful about causing civilian casualties and targeting hamas leaders in a way that minimizes risks to civilians and collateral damage. You mentioned the idea of a humanitarian did the president raise that with Prime Minister netanyahu when he saw him yesterday. Could you spell out what the u. S. Believe what it would look like and how long would it last in the would it be a hault and some of the incursions we saw in effect yesterday . The israelis had tanks over the borders so would it be a hault in the bombing and what would it look like . It wont be a satisfying answer to put the answer is it depends. A minute during policy is by definition a temporary and local agreement to stop the fighting long enough to do some discrete tasks. In this case would be to get humanitarian assistance in end or to allow people to get out. They arent encouraging not allowing people to leave. So and it could be a matter of hours. Could be a matter of days and it is by definition a short duration and geographically localized area. It could also be more than one spot. So it depends. We think its a valuable idea thats worth looking at to help alleviate the humanitarian suffering. Do you have any response or reaction to Senior Leaders of hamas yesterday. I cant speak for their travel habits further conversations with the rations. Our message to any other nations around the world has its not a time to support hamass ability to continue to kill israelis and certainly not a time for any nation thats out there that wants to be involved and look for ways to be involved to help israel defend itself and help with humanitarian assistance so well see what comes from the conversation. Two things but was there any come coordination with the white house on the meeting with his real . Not that im aware of. Can you elaborate on the execution of Russian Military and how long has it been going on . [inaudible] that last question is reprehensible to think that you would execute your own soldiers because they didnt want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units. Its barbaric. I think its a symptom of how poorly russias military leaders know they are doing and how bad they have handled it from a military perspective. From the very beginning we have been talking about poor for command and control import logistics. They cant even see their guys in the fields for crying out loud. It also speaks to the desperation in the manpower crunch. I asked this question a day or so ago. Obviously it russia obviously has a bigger military than ukraine and they have access to more manpower but they are in such desperate need to make some kind of progress particularly in the donetsk area they are literally throwing young men who havent been properly trained in certainly are not being properly lead. John the president said if the iran or its proxies attacked u. S. Troops who would respond. What is he waiting for exactly . He said [inaudible] im not going to telegraphed punches from the podium. We have responded and retaliated in the past quite aggressively back in march and as the president said we will not hesitate to protect our troops and our facility but we will do it at the time of our choosing and the manner of their choosing and the decision to do it is his as commanderinchief. He issued a warning. How is that warning deliberate . Im not going to get into that. Was their third party and was there as message written after the after the u. S. Troops why were would injuries not disclosed on tuesday . And why did the u. S. Approve for irans foreign minister to speak and he had to plant meetings with hezbollah and hamas. And the secretary general called the meeting at the ministerial level. We take that responsibility seriously. We like the fact that hes on u. S. Soil . Know. Unlike a lot of countries around the world who take those responsibilities in those rules seriously so we love him to come and intend these meetings we hope quite frankly we will take advantage of their parts and in being of others take it advantage of the opportunity to ask him what hes doing what is going to support hamas and hezbollah. This is the opportunity for World Leaders up in new york to make their perspectives and their concerns known directly to the iranian people. A pentagon official, she was alleged to be involved in operations and there was some discussion about whether she would keep her clearance and she did. Shes overseeing hostage negotiations. Is it appropriate to someone with these connections with the Iranian Regime to be overseeing rescue operations where americans are being held by iran backed proxies . Have you encouraged china to be helpful in the least and can you elaborate on what youd like to see out of it [inaudible] you have called up beijing in the past are providing support for putins war effort in ukraine. What is your Current Assessment on whether that support is ongoing and the level of red lines. It was nonlethal aid a couple of months ago so where does it stand . Putin was in china couple of weeks ago. We havent seen any indication that china is willing to provide capabilities to russian authorities. As for them being helpful they are able to have conversations in some places like tehran that we arent. We will see what he says when he gets here tomorrow and this afternoon. I think it would be irresponsible to try to take issue with them and to see what their thoughts and perspectives are. Thanks john. Back to the numbers eight groups including the United Nations are working on the numbers for the health in the end. I was going to mention that. The state department has cited those numbers. Is the administration is thinking that hamas is it than manipulating the numbers now and not before. They slap the number 500 on it and within our of the attack in the same Ministry Said it was in his and the israeli airstrike and we know thats not true. And we have since found that the numbers arent that high. A least a couple hundred hundred in thats terrible and thats and that sad and we all grieve for the families and loved ones who are affected by the numbers are not reliable. They are just not reliable and i dont want to tell you how to do your job. If you are going to report casual figures i would frankly recommend you dont choose the numbers put out by a division run by a organization. Thank you so much. The president said this is the price of the war and you also said that. [inaudible] they called on the president to apologize. To the present apologize . Harsh is the way hamas is using people as human shields and taking hostages leaving families to worry. Harsh is dropping in on a Music Festival a bunch of young people trying to join an joint afternoon. I could go on and on. Thats whats harsh. Thats what harsh and being honest about the fact that there had been civilian casualties and there likely will be more is being august because thats what war is. Its brutal and its to the president said that yesterday. Doesnt mean we have two like it and it doesnt mean each and everyone is a tragedy in its own right in each and every one we should try to prevent and that is why we are in close contact with their israeli counterparts to do everything we can to help them minimize the risk of civilians that are in harms way. It would be helpful if hamas. Let them lead, leave their homes and leave areas not shelter in their houses and let them get out. We know they are a thousands waiting to leave gaza rate large and hamas present prevents them from doing it. That is what is harsh. I would like to know the White House Position in revoking visas from the u. N. Representatives. What is the position of the Administration Israel today the u. N. Secretary hes revoking of visa or by u. N. Representative at a time of war. I let the u. N. General state from sopa President Biden has spoken repeatedly consistently about where we are including yesterday in the rose garden. Can you be more specific about it and its difficult to estimate what are we talking days, weeks, months . I would say the same thing about ukraine. I know time is not on our side. We need that supplemental funding. My colleague turned 32 today. Is there any concern their hostages in gaza that detract . There wont be any distraction. We want to get evan and paul home. I wish i had an update for you. I dont except to say that the team has not stopped working on that and try to get them out but we dont have a negotiation to speak to and we have no progress to make but its very much an active effort and our thoughts continue to be with them. Admiral is you know was killed by israeli airstrikes yesterday. It happened while the chief was reporting live on air and this is coming as reports from the secretary telling aljazeera to tone down its coverage of the war [inaudible] president doesnt believe in targeting journalists at all at anyway and i cant speak to the pacific the specifics. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and its just but i cant speak to the circumstances in which that occurred. Make no mistake the present believe strongly in what you will do for a living and how you need to be able to do that. We know that you take great risks sometimes in doing that job. Aljazeera in specifically they make you are asking me do we have some kind of beef with aljazeera . All at the secretary speak to his conversations. We recognize aljazeera is a valuable voice and an outlet that has incredible reached in the region and beyond. Truly a global network. One quick question. And least 24 journalists have been killed trying to cover this story. Are you concerned that israel is trying to silence journalists who are trying to tell both sides of the story including our eldest of their arabic agency . I have not seen anything. Theres absolutely zero evidence of that. Admiral deed theft any progress on the thames to the hostages hostages . Nothing that i can speak to. The president said yesterday if its conveyed to the Prime Minister if there is anyway to find some time to free the hostages there should be a humanitarian pause. If there is no progress how long should that pause last . It should last as long as we need it to last to get the hostages out. To kevins question deposits temporary and perhaps localized. We cant assume that all these hostages are in the same places for the same condition. We dont have anything specifically to report today i can promise you on your question in progress i can tell you we are working hard with our partners in the region. What im saying is does hamas need to show some effort to release more of these hostages in order to justify a humanitarian. Im not going to do that. It would be we dangerous if we started negotiating in public about how those hostages, how we can work to get them out. We wont use that in right at diplomatic chart. 50 of the hostages have been killed in israeli bombing raids since the conflict began. Youve talked a lot about the fact that the u. S. Doesnt trust the numbers coming from hamas and do you have any way to independently verify whether that figure is correct or not . No. On the chinese form in Foreign Ministry can we expect the president to be at the meeting . I dont have any information on that. Thank you emeril. [inaudible] i consider myself fairly warned. One followup regarding the twostate solution what is the present station for what that would actually look like and are there any preconditions for contingencies that would be in place . We are not there yet. Obviously obviously the ideal is a twostate solution and its not a new idea and its one that President Biden has believed in for a very long time. Getting there has proven difficult. I dont need to tell you that and obviously it will remain a difficult task but what we hope is its not illusory and its not impossible. What that could look like once we get the folks at the table all that will come in the future. I couldnt possibly describe what the framework would look like right now. Became not a month ago to 52 of palestinians are against the twostate solution since they started pulling this question i believe and furthermore they showed 84 dont have confidence in the current administrations ability to bring about an agreement. How you work with those kinds of numbers . We work towards the goal. Recognized their different opinions out there but we dont enact policies that we dont pursue potential and promise for security in the middle east. Last question. Why did the president believe [inaudible] say that again. The present is said [inaudible] to. I think you misunderstood. What he said is he believes the normalization process and the agreement we are trying to reach between israel and saudi arabia which we believe is an important stepping stone to getting towards a twostate solution was what may have motivated hamas. Thank you misunderstood what he said. One more question . Thats up to. I wont talk about Intelligence Matters one way or another. Thank you everybody. Okay. Colleen its good to see you. Has the new speaker been invited to the white house and is the president concerned about his track record on gun control and abortion a couple of things. Upon the speakers election we invited him today and its actually happening right now to bipartisan briefing with leadership and Relevant Committee chairs and ranking members and on the president s supplemental National Security package. Thats happening right now and i think its still happening. The speakers here and he will join everything. The president was asked yesterday about 2020 president answered straightforward. You heard him say when he came the 2020 election you had more than 60 judges who basically threw those cases under court for proved it not to be true. When it came to the accusations that the elections were not real or whatever however they set it in 2020 but also the Trump Administration said the 2020 election was the safest elections they have ever had any heard that from the administration. The president and should that question. More broadly the president has said once the house conference was able to get their affairs in order after spending 22 days in their chaos that we have seen the last 22 days once he figures that out hed be willing to work with them in good faith to get things done on behalf of the American People. We have been able to do big things in a bipartisan way whether its the infrastructure law, weve been able to deliver to the American People and the president wants to do that but he wants to continue that progress. The American People are clear they want to continue to see that type of bipartisanship. They want to continue to grow the economy so that the president s focus and is willing to do that in willing to take up the speakers were in now is working on Common Ground to make that happen. Is he confident the house is in order to begin the supplemental. A couple of things there. As we know we heard from many republicans even on the supplemental especially than National Security supplemental and how they have received bipartisan support. So thats really important to have a couple of quotes that i want to read epic leader mcconnell said her National Security priorities from russia to hamas to china are connected and they were choirs a approach. Ranking member whitaker said he supports linking ukraine and the majority of the house and senate could too. Vice chair susan cullen collins said each of these four elements are critical. We have strong bipartisan support for the security supplemental that includes ukraine in israel so theres no reason we should not be able to move forward on that. Speaker johnson for the record shows he strongly opposed to two state legislation. They couldnt pass universal background checks. I hear the question. Look what happened last night. Look what happened. And maine in a Small Committee of 30,000 people and clearly the gunman is still at large and so its a dynamic situation on the ground but as far as we know 18 people were killed. We should not have weapons in anywhere in our communities. Weapons of war anywhere in our communities. The time is now to act and heres the thing speaker johnson and all the members republicans in congress they have the ability to stop this. They have the ability to put forth legislation to deal with this issue. They can change this. They can save lives and we are not going to take, its great to hear thoughts and prayers and we obviously want to give the families who are dealing with this tragedy and the victims who are clearly dealing with this tragedy obviously want to make sure they are in our thoughts and prayers but thats not enough. Thats not enough do we are able to do a bipartisan piece of legislation to deal with gun violence and obviously so there ways to get there. They are ways to get their we have got to do more and just because it may be difficult and may be hard doesnt mean that we stop. Doesnt mean that we stop fighting and it doesnt mean that we wont say over and over again that we to stop this gun violence. I dont have anything to read out at this time. As you know theres an office to prevent gun violence which is a Historic Office which the president is proud of. He was part of that leading the efforts of that office. We have too continued to do the work. We to contain to do the work and that has to be done. The president has done to more executive actions that we need to do more. We need to sign legislation into law and build bipartisan action. Just to clarify [inaudible] i dont have anything to read out on a visit with the president but what i can say is the speaker is here and he was when i walked out giving a briefing with other members of congress on the National Security fundamental package which we believe is an important package to move forward. We have strong bipartisan support. Is this the first time that President Biden has spoken to mike johnson . I dont have the engagement. I can say when therell be a congressional picnic congressman johnson was here and there was an event here not too long ago and the president shouted out congressman johnson. Are you willing to give us i know its been in place for while now appeared what exactly are the meetings like and are they talking about executive action or potential legislation . What exactly exactly is the . They have one thing that i can say one of the deputies of the office as it relates to what happened last night he is speaking with a federal agency and he did that this morning. There resources already deployed and meeting the needs of the people of williston work through the unimaginable grief that they may be experiencing. We are looking for Common Ground there. I dont have any other executive action information about that but our focus is to contain to call on congress. We need to see legislation. We need to see, make sure weapons of war are not in our communities. We need to make sure weapons of war we should take more action better common sense gun laws that the American People want to see. The majority of americans want to see this. Its for House Republicans to listen to their constituents, to listen to americans across the country. They can help stop what we are seeing here. They can help save lives and its their job to do that at the capitol on the hill. I dont want to get ahead of the present schedule and i dont have anything to share. Its a dynamic situation on the ground. I think the priorities of our focus is to make sure local enforcement has the resources that it needs in a president wants to make sure that happens. We want to bring him to justice and thats incredibly important as well. We are with the community on the ground and the president wants to make sure they have a resources at this really critical time. What are some of the concrete goals of the office of gun violence . Look i think having this Historic Office is incredibly important making sure it shows how critical we see the epidemic thats happening across the country and we want to make sure we do everything we can to save lives. Look one of the things as well that we want to do is to make sure we offer emotional and mental assistance that can be done through the office and we want to see what other executive actions can be done. We believe there may be additional executive actions that can be done so to make sure we look at that and thats what we are doing is looking at the potential options to build on what the president has been able to do. Having conversations with communities on the ground listening to them taking advice on further actions that can be taken on the ground. This office is critical at this moment in what we are seeing with these committees really going through this epidemic and we see guns being the numberone killer of children, i think when you think about the office and what it does in preventing gun violence at the way for the president to show he takes this very seriously and its a way to figure out what else can be done to stop this epidemic and working with the communities on the ground. Is there a timeframe for how long to figure out what can be done quick. I dont have a timeline. As i said we will take executive action but its up to congress. We to see laws. We had to seek ways for congress to take action and making sure there arent weapons of war on the streets and to make sure theres common sense legislation out there that americans want to see. If we have two take legislative action to deal with the issue and build on the bipartisan thats how we will deal with this epidemic. This office will be there for the community and to see what else we can do from this side of pennsylvania avenue will do everything that we can from here. Really the answer is Congress Passed the act. It has to take action. Can i ask you quickly about the House Speaker who is apparently the building as we speak right now. Does the presidency Speaker Mike Johnson is a maga senator . I think he will have the answer that question for himself. What we can say is we want to move forward and making sure we get the work done on the half of the American People. The president is willing to do that in a good safe fashion as weve been able to do on many bipartisan laws now the president was able to push through congress with democrats and republicans. Thats what we want to see. Vasopressin last month when he speaking in arizona and honoring his late friend john mccain he said their extreme agenda, referring to members of what he described as maga republican extremists, american democracy as we know it, does that concern apply to Speaker Mike Johnson given the leading role he played to overturn the election in 2020 . The speaker is spoken to publicly about where he sees his views ideologically. Im not going to get ahead of that. Im not going to prejudge what the relationship is going to be like right now. But in the past you were willing to [inaudible] we want to make sure, the president wants to meet sure we get the business of the American People done. I was asked about the National Security supplemental. We need to make sure in 21 days theres not a shutdown and thats the job of congress to make sure they get that done. The moment we are in right now should not be a bipartisanship. I am not going to prejudge with their relationships going to look like moving forward, thank you. He said he do note to prejudge the Biting Campaign calling jonathan at maga extreme, does that goes your message here . Works and not going to speak to at the campaign does pay that is the campaign. And when to speak to hear right now with this administration the present in this administration. What i can say is the president and something that he has said himself that he wants to work in good faith which with whoever they chose to be speaker it happens be speaker johnson. He wants to deliver to the American People that some in the present has set himself for the past couple of weeks as well. Into that a 20 hour focus. That is what we want to get done for this a lot of work to get that their two supplementals out there one is domestic one is National Security supplemental. They are urgently needs as we talk about our National Security. We talk about Disaster Relief, childcare. All these things are important to the American People and thats with the present is focused on. A lot of hands. As it relates to the new speaker, escaping the governmentfunded a major test for this new speaker . If there is a Government Shutdown you essentially say is all would be speakers about how do you view that . Im not pointing to hypotheticals we know we have 21 days but its their job its very clear of Congress Stays open. We make sure they do that. The government stays open. We dont have military or federal employees. Not getting paid the critical programs are out there at the American People need, that needs to continue. We will see what happens. I cant 21 days to get that done as a relates to other priorities the president had that we believe we talked about Disaster Relief we talked about childcare. All of those things has some bipartisan support. So we believe those things can get done. Getting pulled by the team here. We will be back tomorrow, okay think of the last question, nope . Okay thank you. California governor gavin newsom is currently in china and met with president xi yesterday. Has the white house coordinate with him on this visit and the white house sanction this trip . Consider having to speak to on that trip. I would refer you to the state department and the Governors Office i do not have a thing to share. Thank you, see you guys tomorrow