I think it was an effective measure. The idea now is we have to hit back hard. We have to hit back strong if were going to finally put this dual crisis of the pandemic and economic payment engendered behind us. With respect to larrys point, one thing is just wrong which is our team is dismissive of inflationary risks. We have constantly argued the risks of doing too little are far greater than the risk of going big. Providing families and businesses with the relief they need to put this virus behind us. I want to quote Jerome Powell who strongly reiterated this view the other day. I think it was a week or so ago that inflationary risks are also asymmetric. He said, im much more worry about falling short of a complete recovery and losing peoples careers and lives they built because they dont get back to work in time. Im more concerned about the damage that will do, not just to their lives but to the United States economy, to the productive capacity of the economy. Im more concerned about that than about the possibility which exists of higher inflation. This is risk management. This is balancing risks. In our view the risk of doing too a little are far greater than the risk of doing too much. One more question. The Senate Moved Forward with a measure that did not include an increase in the minimum wage. Has President Biden come to a determination thats not going to be a part of the final package in order to get the democratic support it needs . The president has consistently argued that a minimum wage, 15 an hour, is essential to make sure that people, many of whom, millions of whom are Essential Workers are not toiling at a minimum wage of 7. 25 per hour which is the federal minimum wage. This idea that somehow and ive heard this in many questions. This idea that the minimum wage is for this package makes to sense to me. It is an efficient and effective way to raise the pay of people who are in the bottom end of this work force, Essential Workers in retail trade, health care, sanitation. People who are keeping this economy going but consistently undercompensated for it. Will it be part of the final package . Im not going to negotiate that from the podium, as they say. Very good. I have one other point i want to make, getting back to the argument with larry. This is key from my perspective as an economist who throughout my career has been motivated and concerned. Making sure the American Economy provides ample opportunities from people of all walks of life, from all parts of the income scale, men and women, persons of color, communities of color have the opportunities they need to realize their potential. Right now there is deep unused capacity in this economy which is targeted by the American Rescue plan. Theres ten million unemployed people. Theres two and a half fewer women in the labor force. The cost of inaction of not addressing these risks are too steep and too costly to these vulnerable groups relative to the likelihood of overheeding. Thats the way i think about it. Thank you. One more follow up from the other kristen. Is the white houses economic team, is there anyone on the team that is concerned that the 1. 9 trillion is too big, is too much or is everybody in agreement . The White House Economic Team is in complete consensus on the urgency of the need for this American Rescue plan and in complete solidarity on the calibration of this plan. Its of the magnitude to meet the challenges we face. Again, with respect to larry and his piece, its just flat out wrong that our team is quote, dismissive of inflationary risks. Janet yellen is our Treasury Secretary. She knows a Little Something about inflationary risks and tracked that economic issue forever. I just quoted from Jerome Powell whose job is to manage that risk against the risk of slack in the job market, against the risk of persistent unemployment and people getting stuck in joblessness and cant get back out in the job market. Against the risk of scarring in the economy. Not doing enough about current damages so they become permanent damages and people cant get back into the labor market and businesses that should and would be viable on the other side of this crisis fail because we havent taken the steps to get them through to the other side of the crisis. The team has all of our oars in the water pulling in on the same direction of that. The last question. One other question. He also raises questions about your future agenda. He knows you will have committed 15 of gdp with this bill with no increase in public investments. Is this a concern Going Forward . Where will you find the money to build back better as the president has promised . I think the way President Biden talks about this is not just followed an economic logic that is very strong. Rescue recovery. The American Rescue plan gets this economy and the families in the businesses it to the other side of this crisis by finally controlling the virus, producing distributing the vaccine and giving people the relief they need to get to the other side. Simply getting back to where we were is a bar thats far too low for the biden harris administration. Thats where Building Back better in the Recovery Plan comes in. These are structural changes. Many of which as the president have said, permanent programs should be paid for. These are structural programs that not in a cyclical sense dealing with them getting to the other side of the crisis but deal with structural challenges we face in climate, in education, in care, in poverty and Racial Discrimination and i am structure. Im wholly confident in this president and this administrations abilities to go forth and make a strong case for rescue, get folks, get the economy to the other side of the crisis and pursue the recovery the Building Back better agenda. Im confident about that. Infrastructure. I get asked about this a lot. The implication of the question is infrastructure is a democrat thing. Let me tell you. I was testifying a year or two ago in the house. When i finished my testimony, a couple of republicans and i wont name them because this was a private moment. Pulled me aside and said, democrat come here. They said we want to do infrastructure but we cant do it because our boss, President Trump doesnt have plan. The plan was really an asterisks. I guarantee you, there are politicians on both sides of the aisle who are chomping at the bit to make investments in public goods in this country, to do an Infrastructure Bill that repairs not just maintenance but gets into clean energy, broad band and the investments you heard the president talk about. Im confident we work on rescue now, we get the recovery next. Thank you so much. People ask me what my favorite part of the job is and i get to call up jared or Jake Sullivan and bring them in here. I have a couple of items at the top to go over and update you all on. First, sorry. At 3 00 p. M. , Vice President harris and janet yellen will hold a virtual round table with participants from local Plaque Chambers Of Commerce to discuss the importance of passing the American Rescue plan. Local Chamber Representatives will share on the ground experiences during this crisis, ask the Vice President Secretary Questions and discuss how Small Businesses in their community are faring right now and what they need. A brief note on the tragic death of two fbi agents. At the request of the president , Homeland Security adviser dr. Randall will accompany the Acting Attorney General to sunrise, florida this weekend to attend both services. Tomorrow the white house im a week ahead. Tomorrow the white house will launch a new effort for the president to regularly communicate directly with the American People in was a question one of your colleagues asked earlier this week. Theres a time honored tradition of hearing from the president in this way from fdrs Fire Side Chats to Ronald Reagan establishing the weekly president ial radio address. President biden will continue that tradition. We expect it to take on a variety of forms. It will be a conversation between the president and michelle. She lost her job at a clothing company. Look for that on the house digital channels. Next week the president will be focused on engaging with bipartisan groups on the American Rescue plan and other key priorities, including current Vaccine Distribution and National Security. On monday he will tour a vaccination center. On thursday President Biden will visit the National Institutes of health. Why is the president going to delaware this weekend . Hes from delaware and has a home there and is going to spend the weekend with his wife and family there. Guidance from the centers from Disease Control prevention, the White House Briefing just a couple of hours ago was big x over people should avoid travel. Is there an exception to that policy snl. Ensure people dont take steps to make others vulnerable in our effort to get be pandemic under control. Any president of the United States, democrat or republican, obviously takes air force one, a private plane. Delaware is he home and he looks forward to spending the weekend there and some time with his family. A little bit has he been receiving regular tests for the coronavirus . We havent seen since the transition not being on his testing . Ill get back to you on that and provide you an update. He has received his second vaccination that was done in public. The president has stoken about his opposition to the Death Penalty in the path. I dont have anything to predict for you or preview. When does the president recognize that continue to negotiate with republicans wasnt going to lead them anymore and had to embrace his proposal and get on board with train before it leaves the station. It seems time for negotiation is over and the president trying to get this passed. I wouldnt say thats an accurate characterization of his view or the view of any of us. As the package is moving through reconciliation process, theres great deal of time. The process enables for time for negotiations through economy work which will happen next week. Also the majority of Reconciliation Bills in past have been bipartisan. We are hopeful they will be opportunities for amendments from republicans, amendments from others across the board to be part of this process moving forward. Go ahead. If i could follow up with you and just read some of this. If i have the choose between getting help right now for americans hurting right now and getting bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill thats not up to the crisis, thats an easy choice. Im going to help the American People who are hurting now. Has he resigned himself and hes going to have to use reconciliation and move forward without 60 votes from republicans . He will use reconciliation. Congress would use that process. Its a parliamentary procedure and a bill becomes a law moment here. If theres an opportunity to move forward with a bipartisan package, at any moment that can happen. I believe its 18 of 24. I can double check this of Reconciliation Bills have been bipartisan. Were not going to sit here and wait for an ongoing negotiation where we havent received an offer in return. The American People need the relief now. It seems as though hes resigned there will not be 60 votes in the senate. I think the president listens to the American People who are frankly not too worried about what parliamentary procedure gets them relief, gets shots in peoples arms and reopens schools. Hes hopeful that theres opportunity for this bill, whatever form it takes to have bipartisan support. Theres an opportunity to do that. History shows thats precedent. If i could ask you on Foreign Policy. Theres going be a principles meeting on iran today. President biden, so far, has not accepted, not moved forward with negotiations over a new deal. When is time frame for that to happen and does he think hell be able to get democrats on board with this who have been quite critical in 2015 . First, you asked this question first and smartly. On this meeting today, and i know Interagency Process is a little foreign in this building and the government because of the last four years. This is a Principles Committee meeting. Were not going to confirm every one but to educate people, not the people in this room but folks watching. Im sure iran will be a discussion. Its an important priority for the president and many of our partners and allies around the world but this is not a decisional meeting. Its not a meeting where policy will be completed and its not a meeting the president of the United States will be attending. This is a normal part of the Interagency Process. Just as there are meetings about immigration, criminal justice, the economy every single day across government. On the topic of iran you say iran will be raised in this meeting. Is there a time line for when President Biden would like to try to come back to table and get a deal . Thats really up to iran. If iran comes back and compliance with obligations but the United States will do the same and use that as platform to build a longer and stronger agreement that addresses other areas of concern. That will be done in partnership with our p5 plus one partners and consultation with congress. I know i keep saying this but were still only two and a half weeks into the administration. This is part of how the Interagency Process should work where senior members of the National Security team are meeting and engaging about range of issues in the middle east and those otherwise its in irans court to comply. Go ahead. Thank you. One for Foreign Policy question. During President Bidens big Foreign Policy address he didnt mention afghanistan. Why not and where is he on the full withdrawal of u. S. Troops from that country . Appreciate your question. It was not meant to be a comprehensive Foreign Policy speech. There were a lot of topics that werent discussed because it wasnt designed to give the overarching biden doctrine. Theres nothing i have in terms of an update but hell have more to say on Foreign Policy in the weeks ahead. What is being done about what is being done, what could be done to provide Covid Testing to migrants at the border because the u. S. Customs and Border Protection are saying they have having to catch and release some migrants without giving them any kind of covid test before they are entering the community. What is being done and what could be done . Are you suggesting ta are letting people in without the border or testing this . They are being released. They are saying they are having to provide they are having to release some migrants before they know they do not have covid and are worried they could be spread. Is there anything being done at the federal level to make sure this is not contributing to the spread of coronavirus in this country. The reason we put in a number of protections is to keep the American People safe. I havent seen that report. Go ahead. Thank you. You continue to say youre hopeful that republicans will still get on board and achieve bipartisan. We havent seen any movement on the republican side. Fundamental differences remain the same. What gives you hope and optimism that republicans will come around here . One, the vast majority of the American People support this package. It would bring relief to American Families and get shots in the arms of American People and open schools. We still keep the door open to seek ideas. Ideas to make the package stronger from any republican or other democrats who want to bring them forward. Given the president s remarks earlier and his change of tone, it does seem hes okay if this happens with just democratic support. The president ran on unifying the country. This package has the vast majority of support from the American Public. This is something people want. They want to see it passed. They want the checks to get into communities. They want more money for Vaccine Distribution. He is something is keeping the door open. He will remain engaged with republicans in the days ahead. As you know from covering the hill, theres still several steps in the process here the move it forward. We saw even some actions last night in vote rama where there were bipartisan support. I know somebody asked the question about minimum wage. There was bipartisan support on that including from senator Bernie Sanders to make sure it went implemented immediately. Theres bipartisan support for helping Small Businesses. Theres disagreements on the size but there is a shared view that the American People need relief. On the minimum wage, do you feel this bill is your best shot of getting through a hike. Does it become more difficult if you cant get it done now. I dont want to get ahead of where we are in the process. The president believes increasing minimum wage would help American Families and its essential to helping people who are struggling and something that workers deserve. We will leave it to the democrats and republicans in congress to see if this is possible through the parliamentary process of reconciliation. To follow up on that and the, the president said the easy choice between getting help or getting bogged down in negotiations. Whats his definition of bogged down. Whats the time line looking like . Hes been involved in negotiations for many years. What does bogged down . Im not going to set a timeline. I understand the entire an interest in that. There is fire under the bellies and in the bellies of people in congress to get this package through, move it through the process over the coming days and weeks. Thats up to them on the time line. He will continue to argue for urgency. The American People, until they know when they will get checks, its hard for them to plan. We know there are timelines that are coming up. One at the brink of spending out the package from december, 600 billion of that has already been spent out and a lot is going to be spent out in the coming weeks. Vaccines. Were hearing so much in our reporting about frustration across the country with people trying to navigate the system. They are setting up on multiple websites to hope to win a lottery and get a vaccine appointment. What is the federal government doing right now to address this challenge for so Many Americans and why cant there be a better system so its easier to sign up and wait for your turn . We agree with you completely. Thats completely confusing. Has opinion around the country and states and localities. The American People who are just trying to do their job, home school, balance everything and everybody is balance right now just want to go on a website and sign up for their vaccine. We announced earlier this week is working with pharmacies to distribute about a million doses in order for americans to be able to do that in certain communities, that number will be increased over time. Thats one way. There are large plans through fema to set up large vaccination sites. Thats something thats starting to be under way this week. Our focus is on increasing communication and ensuring the American People know how an when they can get their vaccine. Theres been a lack of communication, confusion. Its in process. Healthcare. Gov but for vaccines. Could do you a Federalized System . Some people back from the healthcare. Gov days. Theres range of options under consideration. They are open and discussing every day ways to make this more accessible, clearer to the American People and they just want to do it in way thats effective and efficient. I know you refrain from giving a time line. Speaker pelosi said absolutely when asked the covid stimulus would pass by march 15th. Do you share that confidence it would pass by midmarch when the Unemployment Benefits run out . Never doubt speaker pelosi, anything she says. Thats a lesson ive learned in washington. Shes a powerful and fierce force out there. Were not going to set a timeline from here. Its a bill that will be passed by congress. Speaker pelosi is the speaker of the house. We would defer to her and the president looks forward to signing the bill. What youre referring to is the Unemployment Cliff well hit in march. We would like to see action as quickly as possible as we have been saying. Im not going to set a new deadline from here. Were working closely with Leader Schumer every day. Go ahead. Thank you. Happy friday. Happy friday. Yesterday President Biden said we work with allies. However, also on yesterday french president macron said, quote, a situation to join all together against china this is a scenario of the highest possible conflict. This one is counter productive. End quote. What does President Biden expect from u. S. Allies . From our u. S. Allies. Were going to work in close consultation on a range of issues. We talked about iran a little earlier in the briefing. Strategic competition with china is part of that. I can only really speak for what our policy is here from this white house and the United States. We issue no illusion and displace american as the Cutting Leader and the technologies and industries of the future. The National Security and economic consequences of allowing that to happen are simply unacceptable. Thats ha the president conveys in his conversations with our partners and allies. This is a major reason why the president is kplited to making Major Investments and signs of Technology Research and development as well as supply Chain Security and we will leverage the full breadth of authorities available to us to protect the u. S. National and Economic Security interests. Thats our position here. He will communicate that to allies and partners as hes having engagements with them. Did you have a second question . Asian American Woman have the highest jobless rates for the past six months. Reports indicate that because of racism during the pandemic against them. Other than sign the memo, what President Biden can do for the racism against Asian Americans and help them find a job to deal with this situation . One of the things he can do is speak out against racism of any form but also how it impacts range of communities. Asian american, communities of color and one of the factors we have seen in data about covid, of course, is the pandemic has had an undue impact on many communities, including many communities of color. I dont have the exact data on Asian American communities, though im happy to check on that. His focus is on getting the pandemic under control in order to help provide a bridge to Economic Relief an recovery and thats one of the ways he can help address that. Go ahead. Thank you, jen. I have two questions. Yes, no or maybe. I never like those questions. Go ahead. Will President Biden use the power of the Bully Bull Pit to help cojoel teachers who are unwilling to go back to school to go back. Im going to reject the premise of the question. I have teachers in my family, as im sure many of you do. They are the first people to tell you that being teaching in the classroom and being able to engage with kids in the classroom or middle schoolers or High Schoolers in the classroom makes their job more enjoyable. Maybes them more effective at what they do. The president is committed to reopening schools. He wants them not just to reopen but to stay open. He wants to do that in a safe way. Were going to rely on cdc guidance which is not officially out yet to determine the best way to do it. There are several mitigating factors that we have seen in data to date that will help make it safe. Vaccines are part of that but so is masking. So is social distancing. So is ensuring that schools have the ventilation and the facilities that they need in order to do it safely. Thats our focus. The president s focus is thats one of the reasons hes out advocating for American Rescue plan. Part of that is funding so schools can do that. Sounds like a yes with an asterisks. If youre the spokesperson for the white house, you can say that but youre not. Ask me another question. Three cities, new york, seattle and portland could be disfavored for federal grants. Has the Biden White House decided to reverse the policies . This is an omb action from the Trump Administration youre asking about . Yes. Were a new administration. Were reviewing range of policies. I dont think ill have my comments from the prior administration. He say quote, my son, my family will not be involved in my business, any enterprise that is in conflict or appears to be in conflict from the presidency and government. Just recently there were reports that the president s son still owns 10 Investment Firm with state owned entities. Do you have an update on divestment from that investment . Hes been working to unwind his investment. Hes a private citizen. I would point you to him or his lawyers on the outside. Two questions. Talking about the threshold of the checks and he said people who make over 300,000 or families should not get the checks. Youve seen Susan Collins and other republicans talk about having the check phase out to 50,000. What is the White House Position on when the checks start to phase out and who should not be eligible for them . Theres an ongoing discussion. Its active discussion. The decision a final conclusion has not been made. Those conversations are happening with democrats and republicans. As i said the other day but its still the status today. The president is firm that people who are eligible receive 1400 checks. There is a discussion about the phase out. That doesnt mean that somebody its a dead cut off. It means it will be phased out to slightly less than that amount after whatever the cut off is. Those are ongoing discussions and a final decision hasnt been made. Theres a lot of discussion today, President Biden talked about the 2009 stimulus package. Lessons he and other people learned from it. What are some points of economic crisis that the Obama Administration dealt with that President Biden learned lessons from. The auto bail out. Theres so much people were dealing with at that time. What other economic crisis did he draw a lesson from . What are those and how is he applying those to the situation today . Its an interesting situation. I have not had this discussion with him about the Obama Administration on his thinking. Theres a number of us who had served in prior administration. Theres lessons about ensuring we act swiftly when the American People need relief. Looking for bipartisan support which is something that the former administration also did. Theres also lessons we have learned about how we sell the packages that were putting out there to the public and thats one of the reasons why we bring in some of our economic officials or Policy Experts so that they can help lay out for all of you and hopefully for the public but thinking behind how packages are designed and we need to continue to think about how we break down the packages for the public to ensure were explaining why were doing what were doing. Its package that has funding to reopen schools. Its a package to help ensure cops and firefighters can stay in their jobs. Its package that will get vaccines in the arms of americans and will ensure the one in seven americans concerned about putting food on the table are able to do that. Those are some of the lessons but i dont have anything more about his specific, what he specifically drawn from it. Like part of that lesson is to not wait for republicans forever. Seems like you want to move quickly. The president wants to move quickly as he talked about back on the campaign trail, too. The American People need relief and we dont have the luxury of waiting months to deliver that relief to them. Thats about reacting and responding to the needs of the American Public at this moment in time and the crisis were facing. Id like to follow up on the issue of school reopenings. Theres increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and without teachers getting vaccinated. You then said the official cdc guidance is not out yet. Theres some urgency to this because schools are making their decisions right now about how and when to reopen. Does the Biden Administration have an assessment today about whether schools can reopen with or without teachers getting vaccinated . The guidance will come from the cdc as they plooef it will convey to you. What were all conveying and what i did a few minutes ago is convey theres a lot of data that shows that it is were looking at vaccines. Thats an important part of Keeping Teachers and the American Public safe but we also need to look at other mitigation steps including masking, social distancing, Proper Ventlation in schools and the urgency should prompt democrats and republicans, Many Democrats to come together support the American Rescue plan to get schools funding they need. Schools are planning but many dont have the steps they need. When will the cdc do that . I would point you to the cdc for more specifics on that. Go ahead, anita. Do you have a sense of when the Cabinet Nominations will go through . Obviously were right up against the Impeachment Trial. This is what you all didnt want. Im curious about the Attorney General. I assume the president has spoken to Senate Leaders about that. Is there anything that can be done . Were hopeful that more of our Cabinet Nominees move forward. We have seen a number move forward in the last couple of weeks. Many with bipartisan support. With bipartisan votes. Youre right. Getting the Attorney General through, Merrick Garland is vital not only to the president but should be vital to democrats and republicans in congress in order to have a leader at the head of the department who can oversee an independent Justice Department and review any investigations happening there. This is an issue, broadly, the confirmations in general, hes raised in the past with members of congress and theres an understanding about the importance of having his peach in place leading agencies but i dont have anything specific for you to update on the attorney and the time line of an Attorney General being confirmed. Theres no specific timeline on when this is done . As soon as possible. Were confident the senate can walk and chew gum at the same time. There was a delay because of need to agree on a power sharing agreement. Were past that. Given many of the comments, including from Many Senate Republicans about the qualification of our Attorney General. The president s Attorney General nominee and the value that i think and hope we all share to have an independent Justice Department. Were hopeful they can move forward as quickly as possible. Quick housekeeping. Excuse me. You mentioned a couple of things that hes doing next week. On the pentagon visit, should we be expecting speeches like we saw yesterday . I think jake mentioned he will be doing a round of visits. Should we be expecting a speech at that Event Next Week . Thats great question. I dont think were fully there, fully cooked in the process. Certainly part of his effort is to thank Civil Servants and members of the military for the work their do every day protecting the American People. In terms of what format the event will take, were not quite there yet in our planning process. The other thing about next week. You mentioned a couple of things but you didnt mention meeting with congress on the bill. I assume some of those meetings will happen next week. Can you tell us about any of those specifically . They will be, many of them will be on recess. Often those come together those engage ms happen. Our plan for next week. Go ahead. Watching it again. Hell be rooting for. Oh, boy. I bet thats a way to get hate mail from a certain part of the country. Hi wife dr. Biden. The super bowl this year and theres long tradition of networks doing interview with the president so that will be part of what you will see on sunday. He will the anchor who is doing the interview will ask whatever the anchor wants to ask. Thats how these things occur. His objective is to convey to the American People that he knows this time is difficult. He knows it requires a great deal of sacrifice. Hes incredibly grateful to health care workers, to the front line workers, to people who are work every day to keep us safe. Hopefully he will have the opportunity to reiterate the measures that we can take. Masking, social distancing, of course ensuring that people are getting the vaccine when they are eligible to get the vaccine and update the public on his efforts to do exactly that. The second one for a colleague who cant be here. We saw a break with policy yesterday in the middle east. Will a Biden Administration openly condemn or implement sanctions against the saudi government for the death of Jamal Khashoggi. Murder of Jamal Khashoggi was a horrific crime. Were prepared to release an unclassified report with full transparency for congress. This is the law and well follow the law. The office of the director National Intelligence would have further details and i would refer you to them for additional specifics. We expect saudi arabia to improve its record on human rights. That includes releasing political prisoners. Were encouraged by the relief of two dual National American saudi citizens. We hope to see progress over the next couple of months. Theres an ongoing review of our policies. You saw the president make an announcement yesterday. It will be ongoing discussions and reviews by our National Security team. I dont have any Policy Decisions to read out for you at this point in time. Go ahead in the back. Thanks. Two questions as well. Keeping with the economic theme of the day. Given the most recent job numbers and the continued unemployment and what you have to say today about how minority communities have been affected, is this the right time to increase the number of refugees coming into the country and to also ease immigration and border restrictions . Well, the president fundamentally believes that having a humane and moral Immigration System in place strengthens our country, strengthens our economy and many Business Leaders across the country have said the same thing. The most power step that can be taken now is to pass the American Rescue plan because that is a step that economists across the board have said would help expedite economic recovery, help expedite getting people back to work and without it well be years behind by i according to a lot of Economic Data where we need to be. Considering the coronavirus are still where they are. The president is enacted more restrictions on Travel Restrictions including south africa, how does that play into it. Im not sure im understanding your question. Considering the coronavirus and were doing more restrictions on travel, does that affect Refugee Policy and immigration, bringing more people into the country. The Refugee Policy is i creasing the cap. It doesnt change what our Travel Restrictions are Travel Policies are. Those are put in place to keep the American People safe but those are not meant to do anything other than take necessary steps at this moimt in time based on the advice of health and medical experts on where we need to restrict travel from. When its safe to undough those restrictions, our health and medical team will advice us on that. This is going to the pentagon. The secretary of defense announced they stand down for the military to discuss extremism and extreme, why would the military need to stand down from enemies foreign and abroad to have these discussions . My bet is that Secretary Austin and my friend john kirby would disagree your assessment there. The president has tasked a review of domestic Violent Treemism in the country. My friend john kirby has a briefing this afternoon. I encourage to ask more about the plans. Jake sullivan mentioned if Focus On Domestic Terrorism yesterday. I think a lot of people want to know how does this administration define the term domestic terrorist. In what way . Does that include antifa . How do you set the parameters . We see a lot of Focus On January 6th and not some of the extremism and violence in the northwest. Ive answered a version of this question a couple of times before. The reason we have review, which is not a political review but is a review done by our National Security team. Something tasked to take a review of Domestic Violence extremism. Well cover incidents across the board. Im sure theyll have more to say on it. Go ahead. One quick Foreign Policy. Talking about iran and china and the need to have allies going into those kind of stormy issues with you. Theres been some reporting that the eu commissioner will have a phone call with President Biden and propose the six month truce on trade tariffs. Im wondering if hes open to that and whether that will give you a united front . I know theres a lot of interest in trade tariffs. I dont have anything to preview for you. I can follow up with our team and if thats being planned, well provide you with read out. Go ahead. Follow up on several questions about school reopenings. Does the white house believe schools across right now whether to go back and reopen the schools, does white house believe they should hold off on reopening until the cdc guidelines are out and until the American Rescue plan is passed . Well, i think some schools are looking for that Guidance S Looking for that guidance and looking for funding. Obviously different jurisdictions make decisions. We are hopeful that when the cdc guidelines are out, that will provide some advice, more than that, specific guidance from our health and medical team, the expertise of dr. Walensky and her team on what steps should be taken to reopen safely. But as of right now, theres no recommendation one way or another . Just wait for the guidelines . I wont get ahead of what the guidelines are. There are different jurisdictions that make a lot of decisions. A lot of School Districts are waiting for those guidelines and waiting for funding so they can reopen safely, make sure teachers are safe, students are safe and families can feel confident in their kids being at school. Go ahead. Thank you. Following up on one of the questions from earlier, and then i have a Foreign Policy question, too. Is there any update on the state of a large scale public sort of Pr Media Campaign supporting the vaccine effort . Or is it difficult to do that without knowing whether or not the inventory is sufficient enough to actually tell people to go to cvs or walgreens or wherever they may go . Part of our commitment is to launch a Massive Public affairs campaign. It takes time to get your ducks in a row to get that going. Part of what were also trying to do is utilize our experts to be out there publicly, do these briefings three times a week, as karen was asking about earlier, to provide more accurate and clear information to governors so they can communicate with communities and power local medical experts and doctors so they can communicate more clearly with their communities, which are some of the trusted sources. We had a lot of officials out on local television, Doing Local Television interviews. Even as were preparing for a more widespread or broad scale public campaign, weve had a number of members of our team doing everything they can to communicate effectively and efficiently on this issue. And the Foreign Policy question. Some time overnight during the votearama in the senate you just wanted to use that word. There was a 973 vote in favor of supporting the location of the u. S. Embassy in jerusalem. Is there a position in terms of the Biden Administration as to whether or not the Trump Administrations actual implementation of the Jerusalem Embassy act should be maintained or whether it will be moved back to tel aviv . Thats a good question. I have not had a chance to ask about that. I will get that answer and get back with you. Thank you, everyone. Happy friday. Weve been listening to todays datedaily White House Briefing on a day of developments as President Biden and democrats step up their effort to fast track their 1. 9 Trillion Covid relief bill and theres a flurry of activity today partially because they know next week with the Impeachment Trial its going to be a little harder to break through. So thats why i think theres this intensity today. We just heard white house economic adviser Jared Bernstein speak about how this mornings Sluggish Bernstein only reinforces their push for a massive relief bill. Repeating the mantra of doing too little is worse than doing too much. President biden said he would not get bogged down in developing a smaller package with republicans, he said he would go big and fast with covid relief even if he didnt have bipartisan support. March 14th is when some covid relief they passed in december expires. The senate pulled an allnighter to create the structure to pass this covid relief bill without republican support. Lets go to Kristen Welker with me now in the White House Briefing room. If there was any back and forth today, it really was between former obama economic official and clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Jared Bernstein. Where Larry Summers through out this idea of, hey, is this too big of a onetime relief stimulus especially if you dont get longterm bigger infrastructure like spending approved . The white house sensitive to that criticism. They were sensitive to that, chuck. And you could tell that Jared Bernstein was ready for the questions that he got on that very topic. I put that question squarely to him, is the Biden Administration going too big with its 1. 9 billion covid relief plan. He said firmly no and went in to delve on a point by Point Takedown of why he believes Larry Summers is wrong in his criticism. At the core of the argument here that you heard from Jared Bernstein and hearing from Biden Administration officials, chuck, is that the economic crisis, the covid crisis is so deep theres a real failure just getting an announcement overhead, apologies. I got you. But the crux of the argument is that if the Biden Administration does not go big enough that the issues within the economy are going to go unaddressed and ignored. Ultimately it is a crisis that will deepen. Thats their argument. Thats the argument that you heard him make from the podium, jen psaki reiterated that argument as well. But one point that is worth noting, chuck, remember, they are very mindful of what happened during the Obama Administration. That during that 2009 stimulus package, that was criticized for not being big enough. And that was the product of long negotiations with republicans. So what you have here is President Biden going it in a very different way. Right. Very quickly, i think its based on another question you asked. It is not clear to me where the president s position is on reopening schools. Right . We know he wants it done, but this issue of is it safe . The teachers unions. It seems as if jen psaki keeps leaving it ambiguous. Purposeful . I think so. I think theyre waiting for that final guidance from the cdc about whether teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen schools safely. Youre right, thats what President Biden says he wants to see in the coming months. Theres an urgency to this. Schools are making their plans as we speak, so they need to know what guidelines are in place in order to move forward safely. Dr. Walensky initially said it was her assessment and the science suggested that schools could start to reopen without teachers getting vaccinated. But she and the Biden Administration have walked that back to some extent in the wake of her making those comments and she was firm theyll wait for cdc guidance before weighing in today. All right. Kristen welker in the press room for us, thank you. Thank you all for being with us this hour. Well be back monday with more meet the press daily. On sunday its meet the press on nbc. Be sure to check out our feed. Msnbc coverage will continue after this break. Ter this break skip to Cold Relief Fast with Alka Seltzer Plus severe power fast fizz. Dissolves quickly, instantly ready to start working. Oh, what a relief it is so fast. Some say this is my greatest challenge ever. But ive seen centuries of this. With a companion that powers a digital world, traded with a touch. The gold standard, so to speak ; announcer do you want to reduce stress . 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