Im keeping this brief and to the point. Local leaders have been sounding at definite alarm for months about the need for direct fiscal assistance from washington as the virus rages in our city. Our budgets are under extreme stress. Arts fences are skyrocketing. Our essential lifesaving services are strained. The need for public assistance is through the roof. This has been going on since the beginning of the pandemic since march of last year. Today, only 38 cities have received direct relief yet mayors everywhere continue to do what we do everyday. We get it done. We run our cities with a balanced budget which we are required to do by law. So what does that mean . How do we possibly do that in the face of this tremendous crisis . It means the cut jobs. It means eliminating services and staff at the same time. Our First Responders have been on the job since day one of this pandemic transporting those with covid to hospitals with Public Health initiatives keeping social and family order
We will get feedback on the time of day. Ok. I have several announcements for you today. To begin, i know many of you and the American People are interested from the news coming from Johnson Johnsons trial data. The president is encouraged about the data about a potential new vaccine. He knows this is just new data and now is the time for the fda to do its job to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. He continues to urge all americans to mask up and follow Public Health guidelines until it is their turn to get vaccinated. I know there might be a lot of questions about the trial data or Johnson Johnson. I will not get ahead of the experts, who you all get to hear from in the next hour in our Public Health briefing from the Covid Response team. They will discuss this and what this means then. At wednesdays briefing, i shared some of the engagement and outreach the white house is doing to move forward the American Rescue plan from the president , Vice President on down. That wo
Watch booktv this weekend on cspan2. President biden has picked Denis Mcdonough to head the Veterans Affairs department. He previously served as white house chief of staff during the last four years of the obama presidency. His confirmation hearing he was asked about veterans access to healthcare, modernization efforts in the das responds to covid19. This is just over two hours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i i want to call this evening to order. I want to welcome everybody. I appreciate all that are here, all those that are online. The purpose of this hearing is due from the i president s nominate to serve as secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis Mcdonough. Before i talk about him i just want to say i appreciate this committee all the reasons we sat on this committee thats been bipartisan and its been nonpolitical, and we tried to do the best by our veterans whether you are the republican side for the democratic side of the aisle. I particularly appreciate the re
I want to thank her for an sent the National League of cities in the National Association of counties for their sheer dedication to this issue on badly needed federal assistance as we continue to fight the covid19 pandemic. A quick note for members of the press joining us today, we will take questions after brief opening remarks. If you have a question, please put your name and media outlet in the chat and well call on you. Im keeping this brief and to the point. Im keeping this brief and to the point. Local leaders have been sounding at definite alarm for months about the need for direct fiscal assistance from washington as the virus rages in our city. Fences are skyrocketing. Our essential lifesaving services are strained. The need for public assistance is through the roof. This has been going on since the beginning of the pandemic since march of last year. Today, only 38 cities have received direct relief yet mayors everywhere continue to do what we do everyday. We get it done. We r
A next brenon talking with experts. Policy good morning everybody in d. C. , good evening to nerve korea, welcome. This week on the capital cable, global threat. The bidenharris transition and the Foreign Policy environment theyll inherit. Tension, issues posed by dprk, china, and interpreting all the signs around the region. Our guests this week, john brennan is perfectly positioned to address this critical and evolving set of issues an we are lucky to have him here today. He needs no introduction but let me go through it. Former director of c. I. A. , former director of former principal advisor assistant to the president for counterterrorism and Homeland Security in the white house to president obama, former director of the National Counterterrorism center, career c. I. A. Officer, arabic speaker and author of the bestselling and i would add having read it myself, very interesting book undaunted my fight against americas enemies at home and abroad, he is someone who sits at the nexus