She cant ignore the literal elephant in the room, the gop. Thats because right now republicans face a reckoning. It centers on two key figures representing two directions for the party. Congresswoman Marjory Taylor greenes comments are putting her party on the spot. Today, lawmakers will have to go on the record over whether or not to strip her of her committee assignments. In the next hour, the white house or rather, the house will start proceedings to make that happen. When it comes to conference chair liz cheney, republicans were okay saying one thing about her publically after she voted to impeach former President Trump but in a closeddoor meeting last night, a majority voted to keep her in a position of leadership even after her break with the former president. More on that in moments. Right now, the white house is trying to keep the focus on Foreign Policy. That includes a trip to the State Department and President Bidens first major policy remarks since taking office. In 30 minutes, the white house will likely have to address all of this at its daily briefing. We will take you there when it starts. Lets start with the action on capitol hill. Nbcs Garrett Haake is there. I want to bring in carlos crabello. Garrett, we will start with you. Im told Speaker Pelosi is on her way to the Briefing Room. One issue certain to come up is the house vote today on Marjory Taylor greene and the divisions among republicans. Take us through the political dynamics at play right now in the house. Reporter relations between the two parties in the house right now are at an all time low. The events of january 6th are hanging in the air. The comments by Marjory Taylor greene across qanon, across other various conspiracies related to parkland, that has been bubbling under the surface for a while. It was the reporting about her endorsement of violence against other congressional leaders, the idea of that kind of violence in the chamber that has democrats poised to take what would be an extraordinary step, to vote perhaps unilaterally, perhaps with no republican support, to strip her of her committee assignments. That would happen later today. This comes after House Republicans had this fivehour Family Meeting in which they apparently decided to accept an apology or an explanation from Taylor Greene depending on who you ask for what she says are her past beliefs. They will stick together and accuse democrats of overreaching, of playing politics, of trying to go after one of their members in a way that would set an alarming precedent. Democrats are ready to push ahead. They think the kind of language, the behavior from Taylor Greene is unacceptable and that they have to act now. This will be a contentious day in the house. I have to say, i wish there was an original thought. It was Jonathan Martin of the New York Times who made the point on twitter about liz cheney surviving the vote to remain in leadership. Its easier for House Republicans to defy the trump wing of the party when theres a secret ballot. You know firsthand how the house operated with President Trump in the white house. What do you make of what has unfolded in the last 24 hours . Jonathan Martins Point is exactly right. Republicans struggle to express Simple Truths in public. Last night, we saw what happens when they are given an opportunity to express Simple Truths and to defend the truth in private. About 70 of House Republicans took a position contrary to that of former President Trump who had been calling some members encouraging them to remove liz cheney from her leadership position. Privately, it seems like republicans know that they should embrace truth and facts. However, they are unable to do so publically. Thats a big challenge for a party that wants to offer a clear and convincing alternative to the governing party in washington, d. C. , which is the democratic party. Last night revealed a lot of what happens in the House Republican conference, revealed a lot about how members think, which is not exactly consistent its not at all consistent with how they act in public. Yesterday, the speaker put out a press relief her office put out a Press Release about this. She referred to the Minority Leader as qcalifornia. You see it there. The q being in place of what would normally be r for republican. Basically saying that the party the Republican Party is now the party of qanon. I imagine she will get a question about that today. Sources tell our hill team that congresswoman greenes speech last night, it was well received. Members applauded. A few stood up to applaud her. A standing ovation. I think its worth noting, so much is said about her being a qanon conspirator. Her controversial comments are rooted in antisemitism, White Supremacy and conspiracy theories. One thing that Kevin Mccarthy said is the Republican Party say big tent. I have to ask, how can there be space in the tent for someone who has those views . Thats an important point. We have two Political Parties in this country. They both ought to be big tents. Those big tents should accommodate diversity in policy, in, of course, race and ethnic background. The diversity should not include the embracing or the endorsing of lies, of violent conduct, of bigoted statements. Thats not the kind of diversity anyone wants in their homes, in their organizations, in their workplaces. Certainly not in their Political Parties. That kind of diversity really is not something that the leader should highlight. What the leader should do is continue pushing his party to reject these conspiracy theories, reject these lies that end in violence and in death, as we saw on the 6th Of January, and support those members who are pressing and recognizing simple truth like the fact that the 2020 election was won by joe biden, like the fact that, sure, House Republicans won house seats in the same election, like the fact that the riot and violence on the 6th Of January was provoked by former President Trump. These are all Simple Truths. As long as the Republican Party and its members cannot consistently express those truths, its going to be very difficult for them to convince the American Public that they should be trusted with majorities in the house and the senate and eventually a president of the United States. As we wait for the House Speaker to come out to begin todays Press Conference, i want to play more of how the Minority Leader addressed qanon and the controversy around congresswoman greene. This is from august 2020 and another clip from last night. Take a look. Let me be very clear. Theres no place for qanon in the Republican Party. I do not support it. The candidate you talked about has denounced it. It would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us, denouncing qanon. I dont know if i say it right. I dont know what it is. Any from shootings, she knew nothing about lasers or the Different Things brought up about her. You can see in real time how he is trying to navigate what i guess for him are sort of fraught internal party dynamics. Whats your assessment how he handled this situation so far . Jeff, what the leader is trying to do is avoid conflict within the party. Republicans are very close to having a majority in the house. A lot of prognosticators think under normal circumstances, they would take the house in 2022, the Midterm Election of a democratic presidency. Its important to understand, Conflict Avoidance is different than peace and stability. Just because the leader has avoided this conflict within the party doesnt mean that the party is ready for the 2022 midterms and ready to offer a vision of leadership for the country. Thanks to you both. Lets listen to the House Speaker. To honor our Oath Of Office, to support and defend the constitution of the United States. That constitution has as its preamble our guidance for a budget. We the people of the United States in order to form a more Perfect Union established justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, promote The General Welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves. Its about the constitution and the liberties and the form of government it contains. Its also our value statement. Im very pleased 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. Would we prefer that. We need to have the leverage to proceed whether they do or not. We need to act now, because its urgent and the americans cannot afford any further delay. Our committees now will continue to work when the bill contacts. As soon as the senate finishes their work and then we pass on what they do. Hopefully, thats the next 48 hours. Then we can signal that we are ready to mark up the bill. We can file the bills. Our committee will work on the text so that the Biden Relief Package will put money we are putting money in peoples pockets, vaccinations in peoples arms, children in school, workers to work. Speaking of back to work, also this week, im very pleased with the legislation, the National Apprenticeship act of 2021. We will be debating that and voting on it tomorrow. That is very important legislation for us to have training for the Workforce Development piece of anything we do is very important. As we prepare to go beyond this rescue package, which is what this bill the bill im talking about now and then to the Recovery Bill. The Recovery Bill will be about many other things, including infrastructure and Workforce Development is very important there in preparation for this apprenticeship legislation is very important. I commend bobby scott, the chair of the education and labor committee, for his ongoing work. We passed this last year. 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 following the terrorist mob insurrection on january 6th. He passed on the 7th, the next day. We had that lying in ceremony in the capitol. What was so important about it, of course, we paid our respects and sympathies to his family. 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, officer sicknick is a martyr for democracy. That was martyrdom that he suffered as well as the other who passed, officer lieberman. We will be honoring them appropriately at some point when it is sometime soon. Right now, when it came to danger in the capitol, officer sicknick and the Capitol Police, whom we are enormously grateful, enormously grateful, put themselves between us and the violence, saving lives and defending democracy. Officer sicknick was a martyr for democracy. His service and that of other heroes in uniform, some of them of the metropolitan police of the district of columbia, bring luster to our constitution, as i said yesterday, and to our democracy. 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 custodial staff who make this possible, for those of you who cover it in the press, for visitors, hopefully soon some again, after covid. I want to salute general honore for his work in reviewing security here. I was honored that he accepted the charge to study how we keep members safe here as they do their jobs in washington and in the capitol, as they do their jobs in the district and their travel to and from. Again, the Security Posture of the capitol complex that includes the house office buildings, this will run under march 15th. One of the proposals he made that we have already had good news on is that it was clear that many that the capitol please had been affected by covid. Separate and apart from Everything Else going on, like the rest of the country, they had been affected by covid. He recommended that we vaccinate the Capitol Police. Now with the cooperation of the Biden Administration, we are able to do that. 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, police officers, everyone including all of you, safe. Which is why we are passing a rule mandating fines for noncompliance in that regard. You are aware of that, im sure. Also in terms of acknowledging a threat, i remain profoundly concerned about House Republican leadership acceptance of extreme conspiracy theorists, their eagerness to reward a 9 11 truther, a harasser of School Shootings and to give them valued committee positions, including who could imagine they would put such a person on the education committee. The house will vote to remove representative greene from her positions. Its 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 seek representative king of iowa. For some reason, they have chosen not to go down that path, even though we gave mr. Hoyer mr. Hoyer gave leader mccarthy sufficient notice this is a path we would follow. 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 pleased that others and i commend honoring our Oath Of Office to protect the constitution. But not only that, 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, i would be pleased to take any questions. Let me see. Thank you, madam speaker. A question from one of the Pool Reporters who is unable to be here today. If i could they go together. Looking agents the Impeachment Trial. You will have two questions . Yes, maam. Is that all right with the rest of you . Looking ahead to the Impeachment Trial, it will be one month since the attack on the capitol. The former president is long gone. There are plenty of people who say, why bother . Why go through this exercise . What do you say to them in. I appreciate that question. The answer is selfevident. We are here to support and defend the constitution of the United States. The world witnessed the insurrection against our government, our capitol, members of congress with the use of force and violence. For us to why bother . Why bother . Ask our founders why bother. Why 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. 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, establish justice. You have heard me say again and again, if you want peace, work for justice. Martin luther king, peace is not just absence of dissent. We will establish justice. We can do a couple of things at once. We are moving with our legislation to pass the Biden Administration Biden Harris Administration covid package. The world were witnesses to this, as i said before. So we will see. I have no idea how the managers will proceed. I saw their brief when you saw their brief. Im so proud of the dignity with which they have brought to enabling us to 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. We keep hearing this again and again. They were fearful of a demagogue and a demagogue and mob. Thats exactly what happened. I want the public to know that there is no Opportunity Cost in our defending the constitution. In fact, its an enhancement for us to do our work in a way that is respectful of the institutions in which we serve the constitution which we take an oath to protect and defend. Your 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 have the case. The court of the senate, they will make their case. In the court of public opinion, they will make their case. For history and posterity, they will make the case. I have great confidence in them. We will see. We will see if its going to be a senate of courage or cowardice. What does a victory look like . You know what . Why dont we wait and let them make their case. I dont want they have been very, shall we say, silent, hard working, brilliant in terms of what we saw in the brief. Im not here to talk about that, because they are going to be there to present the case. We dont have to defend why it is necessary. We dont have to talk about who is going to be there or not. We dont know. They know. They will present it when they do. Yes, sir. I was wondering what you thought of the republican senators plan to meet with the president and how much the plan is at joe biden wants well, joe biden has presented a plan that meets the needs of the American People. This is very important. We have been i want to read this to you. I think this is very important for people to know. We will get around 450,000 people who have died, before you know it sad to say, hopefully we dont achieve it, but were on a path to half a Million People dying from covid. That is because of a complete failure on the part of the Trump Administration. Dont take it from me. This is what the gao and 346page Government Accountability document has said. It said, almost 90 , 27 of 31 of the gaos recommendations from june, september and november remain unimplemented. Gop remains deeply troubled that the agencies have not acted on recommendations to more fully address official gaps in the medical supply chain. The list goes on. We want to save lives and save livelihoods. Its going to cost money. Its a good investment. Dont take it from us whether you are talking about the chairman of the fed, the secretary of the treasury, other economists have said, even the governor of West Virginia said, go big rather than go small. Thats what we have to do. It is a reasonable plan. It meets the needs. Its not excessive. Its coronavirus centric. Its in a timely fashion. Thats where we have to go if we are going to, again, put vaccine into peoples arms, children in school, money in peoples pockets and workers back in their jobs. Its pretty exciting what he has put there. What we did at the end of december plus this is approximately what we had been advocating in the heroes act. This comes up to nearly 3 trillion. Thats what for the republican senators to come in at onethird, what is it . Are we going to feed fewer children, inoculate fewer people . Are we going to 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 its health care workers, police and fire, First Responders of any kind, sanitation, transportation, food workers, our teachers, our teachers, our teachers, our schools. We have to invest in safely returning our children to schools. Again, i just dont see how you have to make those choices about who you cut out when you decide to cut the funding in the package. Given some of the events in russia this week, curious if you believe the house will move forward with any sort of response, sanctions . We look to the leadership of our president. I have been a supporter of sanctions going way back. Of course, to really enforce the sanctions on russia in a way that really reaches shall we say the enablers of putin. We will take our lead from the president , because he made his voice clear to putin. He said made a statement about they arrested navalny for not reporting to his Probation Officer or Something Like that. Its an interesting time to see demagoguery Around The World. We have to prevent it. On the budget reconciliation package, there are democratic Policy Priorities they would like to put in this. Theres a hearing about the minimum wage. If some of those things, like minimum wage, dont wind up in the bill, because you have to work through the process, whats the message to folks who are thinking, this is our chance to get things done . What do you say . It doesnt mean they wont happen. As you know, in many ways we are at the mercy of the senate in terms of the rule. The parliamentarian of the senate will make some determines. We hoped she would make them by now. Until we have our bill, which we now have, we dont have those determinations from her. Theres so much in the package that has to be done right now. We will do the best we can. Do you have confirmed there are some that said democrats will have the house, the senate, the white house, and you say just because its not in this bill doesnt mean it doesnt get done, but they will be disappointed and have you we have already are introducing the minimum wage. Thats a high priority for us. We cant we hope that we can get it in reconciliation. I know that i know shall we say the struggle that it frequently is to have everything comply in a way that meets the standards of the senate in terms of the rule. We in the house think of it as a house of words. Why dont we just pass what we can pass without having it being determined by one person as to what can be contained in there . Put it on there. Vote it up or vote it down. In any event, we are very proud of the legislation. Again, its not the last bill we will pass. This is the re this is a rescue package. This is the rescue package. We must pass this bill to crush the virus, to save the lives and livelihoods of the American People, to put children back in school 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. In the native american community, two times as many people, percentagewise, have died than whites. The disparity in the Africanamerican Community and in the Hispanic Community is sinful. As we do this bill, we want to do so 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 this has been distributed. Then hopefully we can get to a place where this bill will be a force for fairness rather than ossifying some of the unfairness that has gone before. Then we have the other the next bill will be this is rescue. Thats recovery. We are already working with some provisions that we would have in a recovery act. We are legislators. Thats why we are here. Thats what we do. We are always getting ready for the next legislation. Build back better for the people. These were some of what we talked about. Joe biden said, help is on the way. The Recovery Package with Lower Health Care cost and bigger paychecks for the people is what we need to do. Just because something might know be in one bill, 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. 15 an hour is an important improvement over that. I have time for one more question. Im curious, as far as the Impeachment Trial is concerned, senator graham said that if the democrats call any witness that they will be 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 Footprint at the capitol. Whats your response . Your question is a waste of time. Are you worried about the president not at all. If any of our members threaten the safety of other members, we would be the first to take them off a committee. Thats it. Thank you all. Are you willing to House Speaker nancy pelosi holding one of her weekly press briefings. He had spoke about covid relief as democrats prepare to go it alone if they have to, passing the 1. 9 trillion package with just democratic votes. She said, we didnt delay. We have to get money in pockets, kids in schools, shots in arms. She talked about the Historic Second Impeachment Trial for former President Trump set to start next week. She says, this trial will test if the senate is a body of courage or cowards. Garrett haake is with me. A question about the Impeachment Trial. You and i clocked a lot of hours around this time last year in those halls covering trumps first Impeachment Trial. What do we know about how this trial will proceed next week . Reporter the short answer is, we dont know a lot. We just had this senate Power Sharing Agreement come into affect the other day, putting democrats fully in charge of the senate. It will be up to democrats to determine what they want the structure of the trial to look like. Remember in the last Impeachment Trial, there was a lot of debate about how long they would go, would there be witnesses in documents. In this case, its not clear that the Impeachment Managers want to introduce witness testimony. Their pretrial filings, for example, relied on open source things like news reports, police reports, video and events we all saw play out live on january 6th. Several of the Impeachment Managers, several democratic senators, our team has been spread out across the capitol trying to get answers today. None of them really know exactly what the trial will be beyond that it will start tuesday. Thats one of the unfinished pieces of business on the senate side. I dont want it to get lost. We did hear at the very end of the Press Conference there asking a question about the precedent it might set when democrats decide later today that they will strip Marjory Taylor greene of her committee assignment, you hear Speaker Pelosi say shes not worried about it. If it were a democratic member with a threat of violence thats the thing that democrats say was the straw that broke the camels back she would line up to and suggest that member be removed from their committee. A little news there as she was walking out the door from Speaker Pelosi on the Taylor Greene saga. Garrett haake, appreciate it. Jen psaki will talk to reporters ahead of this busy afternoon for President Biden. We will bring that to you live. First, the Texas Motor Speedway transformed into a massive vaccination site. We will look at how they are racing to get thousands of people the covid vaccine. [ Thunder Rumbles ] [ Engine Rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, theres progressive. Im still going for whats next. Even with higher stroke risk due to. Afib not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin,. I want that. Eliquis. Eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin. And has less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis has both. Dont Stop Taking Eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an Artificial Heart Valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking, you may bruise more easily. Or take longer for bleeding to stop. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. It may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. The number one cardiologistprescribed blood thinner. Ask your doctor about eliquis. Go pro at subway® for double the protein on Footlong Subs and new protein bowls. And if you want to go pro like marshawn, you got to feed virtual marshawn, too. Thanks for the footlong, irl marshawn go pro and get double the protein for just 2 more. You are looking at a live picture of the White House Press Briefing Room where any minute now, White House Press secretary jen psaki will come before the lectern. Joining her will be Jake Sullivan with a preview of President Bidens Foreign Policy speech later today at the State Department. If you look at the number of coronavirus cases, you will see something interesting. Here are the facts. Around 114,000 cases were diagnosed in the u. S. Yesterday. Thats a lot. Its 100,000 fewer daily cases compared to one month ago. Its the lowest daily total since november 4th. President biden just declared the virus a major disaster for the navajo nation. He ordered more federal assistance to help fight the virus at the nations largest reservation. Covid killed more than 1,000 nation members, including its former council president. Many seniors are having a hard time getting their second dose, saying the process is difficult or confusing. The cdc recommends a second dose 21 days after the first pfizer dose or 28 days after the first moderna dose. In texas alone, 6,000 people are already overdue for their second shot. Texas is also home to one of the 100 mass vaccination sites opening across america. They are part of President Bidens push to ramp up the federal vaccination effort. Jen psaki comes into the White House Press Briefing Room. To talk about the president s visit to the state Department Today as well as the executive actions he will sign on reengaging the world with diplomacy, we are excited to Welcome National security advisor Jake Sullivan to the Briefing Room. He is kind enough to take a few questions. I will be the bad cop, as per usual, over here. Hi, everybody. Its great to have the opportunity to be here. As jen mentioned, President Biden is going over to the State Department to give remarks on Foreign Policy and National Security today. Its not an action that he has chosen. He wants to send a clear message that our National Security strategy will lead with diplomacy. He will meet with Career Professionals from the State Departments Foreign Service and Civil Service who are the tip of the diplomatic speer. This is the first in a series of vus visits he will make. His remarks are not going to be the totality of his Foreign Policy. They will be focused on his early decisions and actions. Those early moves, the thrust is to establish a position of strength for the United States to be able to deal with both Great Power Competition and the transnational threats the American People face. Establishing this position of strength involves five major lines of effort. One, investments at home to shore up our countrys foundations and the american Recovery Plan is not just a matter of economic policy, its a matter of National Security strategy as well. Two, revitalizing americas alliances. The president has spoken with key allies in europe and ally. Last night, he had the opportunity to speak with both the president of The Republic Of Korea and the Prime Minister of australia. 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 multilateralism in service of Americas National interests. We rejoined the paris climate accord. President biden will host a summit in april. We have reversed the decision to leave the world health organization. We have yesterday extended the new start treaty to maintain Strategic Nuclear stability russia for the next five years. Four, reasserting our values. The president in the first two weeks has reversed the muslim ban, ban on Transgender Service members serving in our military and today, he will announce an end to american support for Awe Offensive operations in yemen. Get our Global Force Posture right. Making sure its consistent with our National Security and diplomatic priorities. Secretary austin will lead a review. During the pendency, we will freeze Troop Redeployment from germany. Of course, establishing a position of strength also means building up National Security team that he is that is fit for purpose. We added a deputy for cyber and emergency technology. We elevated democracy as a key part of the work. We have added a coordinator for the endopacific. We have begun a review of vat gi strategies toward domestic violent extremism. 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. Counter russia and address threats from Climate Change to pandemics to Nuclear Proliferation. We will also be able to more effectively pursue a Foreign Policy for the middle class. This is not just a tag line. Its an Organizing Principal for the work we will do. What does that mean . What is a Foreign Policy for the middle class . It starts with how we set priorities. Everything we do in our Foreign Policy and National Security will be measured by a basic metric. It is going to make life better, safer and easier for Working Families . Of course, that means a different approach to trade policy. We are not about trying to make the world safe for multinational investment. We are about creating jobs and raising wages in the United States. Our priority is not to get access for Goldman Sachs in china. Our priority is to deal with chinas trade abuses that are harming american jobs and workers in the United States. Whether its dumping or subsidies or intellectual property theft or the countries across the world who have engaged in problematic currency practices, our priorities in the trade space will be about the american worker. Its about much more than that. Its about thinking about National Security as national competitiveness. Making investments in our own industrial and Innovation Base so that the good paying jobs in industries of the future are here in the United States. Build back better isnt just about economics, its about National Security as well. Then its 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. From our perspective, putting the middle class and working people at the center of our Foreign Policy isnt just good from a strategic perspective, its good common sense and good decent values as well. These are some of the things you will hear from President Biden today. We will also have the opportunity to put out a set of Executive Orders that establish regular order in our National Security decision making, that revitalize our workforce both in terms of the skills they have and to reflect the diversity, 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. Let me stop there and be happy to take a few questions before turning the podium back over to jen. Jacob, thanks for being in the room. I want to ask you, you 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 the hack, on navalny, days after putin ignored it and sentenced navalny to 2 1 2 years in prison . Unlike the Previous Administration, we will hold Russia Accountable for the malign activities that it has undertaken. That includes interfering in americas democracy. It includes the poisoning of citizens on european soil. With chemical weapons. It includes the types of hacks and breaches you just referred to. And many other things as well. We will do that at a time and in a manner of our choosing. We believe that imposing those costs and consequences will have an affect on russias behavior going forward. Is it going to stop putin from doing everything we dont like . Of course not. 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 . We do. At the same time, i would like to reiterate, that doesnt rule out being able to work with russia where its in our interest to do so. We can walk and chew gum at the im and the new s. T. A. R. T. Treaty and that extension, keeping a lid on Nuclear Proliferation is, in fact, very much in americas National Security interests. Another topline issue on your plate as it relates to kim jongun and north korea, you said the president spoke to the president of korea, of course not to the head of the dprk there. Does President Biden have any intention to continue the diplomacy as it relates to kim jongun . Will we meet with kim jongun . We are conducting a review of our policy towards north korea as we speak. President biden told president Moon Last Night that review is under way and we will consult closely with our allies, particularly the rok in japan. I wont get ahead of that review. Yeah. On immigration, 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 he plans to do . If so, why didnt he do it in that Executive Order . I would refer you to dhs and Secretary Mayorkas for that. The president campaigned on a Memorandum Making Lgbtq Human Rights a priority in u. S. Foreign policy within one week of his administration. Do you expect that announcement today . If so, how will that Initiative Compare to the initiative of the Previous Administration . I appreciate you asking the question. I didnt want to steal his thunder. He will be announcing a president ial memorandum on protecting the rights of lgbtq individuals worldwide today. That will be part of his statements at the State Department and reflects his commitment to these issues Around The World and in the United States. The United States will speak out and act on behalf of these rights as we go. Just picking up on peters question on speaking from a position of strength, i want to talk about sanctions on myanmar. We have republican lawmaker who is support the claim that the election was stolen, some potentially having ties to extremist groups who stormed the capitol. Does it make the job of the administrations Foreign Policy more difficult to punish countries like myanmar on the grounds of violations of democracy and rule of law . On the one hand, pulling our country together, revitalizing our own democratic foundation, building more unity as President Biden has talked about, that will be an important part of us operating effectively in the world. When it comes to burma specifically, there is an area there is genuine bipartisan agreement. President biden in his remarks today will talk about some of the outreach hes 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 be working with allies and partners Around The World. I wanted to follow up on burma. The top generals have been sanctioned, and the state Department Said the administration wants to avoid any action that could negatively impact the burmese people. What options specifically in terms of sanctions is the administration considering . And does it include declaring like a new National Emergency via an Executive Order to impose sanctions on more generals of the military or government as a whole . Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, we are reviewing 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. So 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. On monday, iran proposed allowing the European Union to negotiate a simultaneous return to the iran nuclear deal, the idea being, you know, the u. S. Drops 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 1, germany, the uk, france. We are talking to 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 towards dealing with diplomacy around the nuclear file. And i just dont want to get ahead of where thats going to end up. One or two more. Will the president announce that hes naming a new envoy for yemen when hes at the State Department this afternoon . Yes, he will. You know, as i said in my remarks today, he is going to announce an end to american support for Offensive Operations in yemen. That is a promise that he made in the campaign, that he will be following through on. But he wl playing a more actived engaged role in the diplomacy to bring an end to the conflict in yemen, and that will include the naming of a special envoy, which will happen today. Last question. Yeah. Could you just on yemen, could you explain more in detail what an end to american support for Offensive Operations entails . Does that extend to actions against aqap in that region . As President Biden informed the leaders of saudi arabia and the uae . So, it does not extent to actions against aqap, which are actions that we undertake in service of protecting the homeland and protecting american interests in the region and our allies and partners. It extend to the types of Offensive Operations that have perpetuated a Civil War In Yem than has led to a humanitarian crisis. The types of examples of that include two arm sales, a precisionguided immunity u munitions that the president has halt,ed that were moving forward at the end of the last administration. We have spoken with both senior officials in the uae and 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. You guys have announced youre reviewing a number of malign 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 deterrence and to impose consequences. So 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 attacks not on President Trump but as attacks on the United States of america. Thank you guys. Thank you. 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 because of covid with all speakers delivering 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 in 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. Trivia for the dinner table. 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 work to make the case directly to the American People. Were heartened congress is moving quickly on this. Over the next several days, committees will have a chance to review the legislation, The Next Step in the process next week after the votearama tonight, a washington term, but thats what its called. Republicans will have an opportunity to provide additional input. Were encouraged there is aint greemt on the need to move swiftly and the goal of making this a bipartisan bill and package. Theres couple questions many of you have asked us and others have asked with the American Rescue plan. I 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. So i just wanted to highlight a couple of pieces for all of you. The c bo report found without additional stimulus our economy wouldnt Reach Prepandemic levels until 2025 and it would take just as long to get back to full employment. This week was the 46th consecutive week that jobless claims have exceeded the prepandemic record high. Kevin hassett, President Trumps top economic adviser said, quote, we need to be risk averse and without a major zim lus we could have a, quote, negative spiral for the economy. This is a grim picture but analysis after Analysis Shows us that the rescue plan would make a huge difference. Moodys aalytics found it would get us to full employment faster. 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 this morning shows 72 of americans support the rescue plan, including 53 of republicans. A Quinnipiac Poll yesterday found that 68 of americans back the rescue plan. A yahoo survey on monday shows over twothirds support the package. 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, whos back today again, asked a great question about the artemis program, w