I dug into and im excited to tell my daughter about it. For those who have not been following as closely, through the Artemis Program, the United States government will work with industry and International Partners to send astronauts to the surface of the moon, another man and another woman to the moon, which is exciting, conduct new and exciting science, and demonstrate americas values. To date only 12 humans have walked on the moon. That was half a century ago. The Artemis Program provides exactly the opportunity to add numbers to that, of course. Lunar exploration has broad and bicameral support in congress, most recently detailed in the fy201 Omnibus Spending Bill and we support this effort. Can you update us on the president s thinking on the issue of forgiving Student Loan Debt . There are some groups that are pushing anew for the president to forgive all Student Loan Debt. Where does he stand on that . Sure. The president has and continues to support canceling 10,000 of federal Student Loan Debt per person as a response to the covid crisis. Hes calling on congress to draft the proposal. If it is passed and sent to his desk, he will look forward to signing it. Debt relief is of course an important priority for the president. On day one, the first day of his administration, he directed the Department Of Education to extend the existing pause on Student Loan Payments and interest for millions of americans with federal student loans. That was a step he took through Executive Action, but he certainly supports efforts by members in congress to take additional steps, and he would look forward to signing it. So he would do that for legislation and not an Executive Order . I think he already took a step through an executive a on the first day and he would look to congress to take the next steps. Second question. Theres been some discrepancies in the numbers of these femasupported Vaccination Centers that the president wanted created. He called for 100. Do you have an update on how many have actually been set up as of today . And were they set up before the president took office . Well, this is a priority to the president. Setting up those Vaccination Sites through the partnership with fema is something he feels on our health and medical experts feel as a way to get more vaccines in the arms of americans. In terms of this specific numbers that have been set up to date, theres new updates every single day. Im sure the team can provide an update on how many have been set up when they do their briefing tomorrow. I will say that there were some really interesting updates that i received this morning about efforts to set up largescale sites in texas. Obviously, there are some being set up in california. Theyre looking for space where they can have great capacity to bring people in and vaccinate as many people as possible. But its ongoing, and im sure the health team can provide an update on the specific numbers. Go ahead. Thank you. I wanted to ask if President Biden will sign the refugee Executive Order today . Then a followup on that. He is committed to looking for ways to ensure more refugees are welcomed into the United States. Its a priority to him personally. I dont expect him to sign a specific Executive Order today. Will he announce to his intent to raise the fiscal cap for refugees to prorated 125,000, which would be around 80,000 for the year . I think the New York Times reported that. I expect him to talk about his commitment to refugees, but im not going to get ahead of any other specific announcements hell make in his speech. Theres been good reporting. As jay confirmed a lot of pieces. Go ahead. Brief from secretary yellens meeting over Market Volatility like gamestop . And is he expecting her to deliver potential options to address that . I would send you the department of treasury they oversaw the meeting. Im not sure what time it took place. I would defer to them on that and any specific details they want to read out from it. Go ahead. One of the biggest criticisms of President Trumps approach to handling the coronavirus was that the administration didnt provide clear guidance to states about when they should shut down, when they should reopen. Dr. Murphy back in november talked about a National Alert system that would be needed. Is that something that the administration is planning to implement, some kind of colorcoded system to tell states by which criteria they should reopen or shut down . Is that something you guys are considering . Im happy to talk to our health team and youll have another briefing with them tomorrow. Obviously, a number of options are under consideration to both make sure americans are safer and that were doing everything necessary to communicate with them accurately, how the keep themselves and their families safe but also how to better communicate with governors and mayors. Some of that is reopening the line of communication, which was somewhat shut at times according to governors during the last administration, and ensuring, one of the things that governors have requested, they have a better heads up on how many vaccines they will have access to so they can do better planning. Also working with them and tapping into fema, a question that came up earlier, utes lizing their resources to be able to kind of mass vaccinate people in larger locations. Those are a lot of ways were implementing to date. I dont have any updates on a National Alertupdate. Thats a good question for the health team tomorrow. American airlines and united are planning to furlough 27,000 employees by the end of next month as their federal payroll aid runs out. Does President Biden support giving those airlines more financial aid, and does he support including that in this Coronavirus Relief package . I think the president s priorities are already in the package, and they are focused on ensuring that theres funding to get vaccines in the arms of americans, funding to reopen schools, ensuring that the 1 in 7 American Families who cant put food on the table, worried about that, is able to do that. As you know, theres a process that will be ongoing on capitol hill over the course of the next days and through the course of next week where there will be amendments put forward to work on committees, but i think the priorities of the president are already in the bill. And this is a Foreign Policy question. Avril haines said she would support information on who was responsible for the death of the foreign journalist. As you noted, that review would come out of the Intelligence Community and would be released on the time line of when its completed. We would never take a step to expe diet or change the time line that works best for them. And then as jake also noted, theres an ongoing review of a range of our Foreign Policy our National Security policies, certainly including and in terms of our relationship with saudi arabia. But i dont have anything to preview for you at this point in time. Go ahead, peter. As it relates to covid relief, you said the president wants to take care of the people who need the help the most. A lot of americans say they need help. How do you determine who needs help and who doesnt . Where do you draw that line . Well, again, peter, i think what were hoping to do through the package is provide assistance to americans who are struggling to make ends meet at this moment in time. Youre right, theres a Lrnl Swath Of Americans who are struggling through this moment in time because they fear about their health, the health of their grandparents, of their cousins, of their parents, and also people who worry about their kids going back to school and, you know, their desire to get their kids back in school and continue learning. The package itself, again, is of course a priority of the president. It is not the end of our work or the end of his efforts to help bring relief to the American Public. It is a first step, as he noted, i should say. Hes also going to talk about his build back better agenda in the coming months, and thats something that will build on this as well. I guess how soon for the americans who are listening to every word here, how soon should they expect that relief to come . Can you guarantee it will be there before the march 14 deadline when unemployment insurance, for example, expires . Youre right. Thats something were mindful of here. The president , the Vice President , the Economic Team. Thats one of the reasons why the president has been so firm in his insistence that the 1,400 checks remain intact and that they go out to the American People. Theres a process under way in congress. Next week the committees will be doing the work they should be doing, they do through the budget reconciliation process. We have been clear about the urgency and were hopeful and confident that Congress Shares our view of that. The president talks with bipartisan. Hes met with senate republicans, then senate democrats, spoke to house democrats. When does he meet with or speak to House Republicans . Hes every single day he seems to be he is meeting with members of both parties, engaging with members of both parties. That work is not done, but i dont have a meeting to announce today. Has he spoken or met with Kevin Mccarthy yet . Our team remains in touch with democrats and republicans. We are engaged with all offices that have an interest in engaging with us. Last question if i can. Hunter biden has a memoir to be published in april. I guess my question is, is that book subject to a Clearance Review . Well, for those of you who had not seen the news, it was announced i believe by Simon Schuster this morning. I have a statement from joe and jill biden in their personal capacity as his parents. We admire hunters strength and courage to talk openly about his addiction so others might see themselves in his journey and find hope. This is a personal book about his own personal journey. I will leetch it at that. Go ahead. Can you give us a sense of the scope and scale of the commitment to pullback . Beyond the billions of dollars that have been approved by congress for the Vaccine Alliance in december. Will there be additional funding . We have reiterated our commitment to covax. I dont have any additional funding to announce today. Can you comment on the administrations position on the Vaccine Diplomacy thats being employed by china as well as india . Tell me a little more about what youre looking for. Whats the administrations positions on countries like china and india using vaccine to buy influence, to improve diplomatic ties with other countries . What is the administrations position . Our position is were focused on ensuring that the American People are vaccinated, that we are getting as many shots in the arms of americans as possible. We rejoined the World Health Organization so that the United States can have a seat at the global table in order to play a constructive role in getting safe and effective vaccines in the arms of americans. Ill leave it at that. Do you have anything on the burmese diplomat seeking asylum because, i quote, i cannot accept an illegitimate takeover by the military. Ill have to talk to our National Security team. Some say the minimum wage increase does not belong in a covid relief bill. Is President Biden willing to drop the 15 minimum wage to get bipartisan support for package . The president feels strongly we need to raise the minimum wage and many economists agree with him and looks forward to working with congress to do it. Whether it can be done through the reconciliation process. Does he believe the 15 minimum wage needs to be in this package, in this deal . I heard your question. I think what im saying is hes committed to raising the minimum wage, thinks its an important step for American Workers and for American Families. Theres obviously a process thats ongoing. The reconciliation process. That will make some determinations about what can and cannot be in the bill based on rules. Go ahead. The question about dhs before. My question is about whether or not President Biden believes or plans to in any way make sure that Detention Centers for undocumented immigrants, that those are no longer contracted with private companies. Its not a question about dhs. Its a question about what President Bidens beliefs are and what he plans to do. Well, i think what the president did was sign an Executive Order to put the power in the hands of the department of Homeland Security and secretary mayorkas to conduct a review and determine what the path forward is. He has spoken about his concern about these facilities in the past. That remains the case. But it is under the purview of the department of Homeland Security to make recommendations to the president of the United States. That was what jake was conveying. Will he use the previous Executive Order to direct the Department Of Justice not to renew contracts in prisons . Im asking why he did not also direct the department of Homeland Security to do the same. Theres a new secretary of the department of Homeland Security. Hopefully hell come to this Briefing Room and talk more about these very important issues, but were not going to get ahead of his decisionmaking process. The president has spoken about this issue. But well have more well defer to the secretary of Homeland Security for more specifics about the path forward. Go ahead, kristen. Thank you for getting back to me about artemis. Folks at nasa appreciate it. Absolutely. Yesterday the head of the cdc as you know said it was safe to reopen schools without vaccinating teachers. You said that the white house was still waiting for the official guidance before making a final determination. Why is it what the director of the cdc says, why isnt that enough . Well, first, the director of the cdc also has said they havent issued their final guidance, and we of course wait for that process to complete and see its way through. As she would say, as well, i believe she did an interview last night where she spoke to this issue again. The president t, let me be crystal clear, wants schools to open. He wants them to stay open. And that is and he wants to do that safely. And he wants health and medical experts to be guides for how we should do exactly that. Dr. Walensky spoke to this in her personal capacity. Obviously shes the head of the cdc, but were waiting for the final guidance to use that as a guide for schools around the country. If this final guidance comes out and says that it is fine for schools to reopen without vaccinating teachers, can you say now that is what President Biden will support . Well, im happy, i hope whenever d guidance comes out, the president believes it should be a priority for teachers to be vaccinated. He also, though, believes that even with vaccinations for teachers or any american, that there are a number of other mitigation steps that are important to take masks im sure it will be in the guidance when it comes out or theyll speak to it the wearing of masks, social distancing, ventilation. These are all factors that are important for americans and also for the reopening of schools. Thats one of the reasons that we need funding in order to be able to effectively ensure that Public Schools across the country are able to do that. One more question on this point. Michael bloomberg said yesterday that its time for President Biden to stand up and say that the kids are the most important thing and stand up to the Teachers Unions. If it comes down to a binary choice, and theres no indication that, you know, the Teachers Union in chicago or San Francisco are willing to budge at this point, if it comes down to a binary choice, who would the president choose, the kids or the teachers . I think thats little bit unfair how you pose that question, but i will say the