A new White House policy tries to put a dollar value on the future harm of greenhouse gas emissions.
House
Newt Gingrich Says Twitter Censored Him for Tweet on COVID, Illegal Immigration
Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said that Twitter suspended his account for speaking out against the folly of deliberately allowing illegal immigrants to cross the border freely in the time of COVID-19.
Gingrich appeared on Fox Business Mornings With Maria March 5 show to talk to host Maria Bartiromo about a bill before Congress. During the interview, he said that Twitter had just suspended his account. He explained that he was being punished by Twitter because he tweeted “that having illegal immigrants come in without any controls is a public health issue in the time of COVID.”
Standard Twitter policy has been to lock the user’s account so he or she cannot “engage in actions such as Tweeting, Retweeting, or liking” until the offending tweet has been deleted. Gingrich told Bartiromo that he would be appealing the decision in an effort to get Twitter to explain what was wrong with the tweet.
Bartiromo appeared astonished by Gingrich’s comments on censorship. She wondered, “Who put these companies in charge of being the arbiter of truth? What you tweeted is absolutely true.”
Gingrich explained that the result of Big Tech’s wanton censorship would be “a real populous backlash that will either make them liable to lawsuits, or have real controls over them or break them up.” Congress has been considering what to do about Big Tech for some time, with hearings and bills that so far have all gone nowhere.
Gingrich summed up the state of Twitter censorship, saying, “Twitter’s behaving as though it’s a dictatorship, and it’s not.”
Twitter began taking down what it deemed to be COVID-19 misinformation in April, and decided to censor dissent about vaccines starting this year. In October, Twitter flagged a post from President Donald Trump in which he said that COVID-19 was less lethal “in most populations” than “the flu.” Twitter also censored a separate post from Trump in which he said that he was “immune” from COVID-19 after he contracted the virus.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Twitter at (415) 222-9670 and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
Joy Behar Smears Republican as ‘Cheaters’ for Opposing Dem Bill That Makes Elections Less Secure
Wednesday, House Democrats passed a massive “election reform” bill that calls for a “complete overhaul” of the current system, eliminating many safeguards for election integrity. No Republican supported the bill. The liberal hosts of The View, of course, cheered the highly partisan and controversial move on their Thursday show, while smearing Republicans for trying to “cheat” and “suppress the vote.”
Joy Behar sneered that Republican only opposed the bill because they “cannot win without lying, cheating or suppressing the vote,” a malicious claim she’s made many times before on the show.
The co-host seemed to think every American agreed with her far-left politics, claiming that the GOP had “are against everything that could help Americans” and “Americans were catching on:”
The Republican party cannot win without lying, cheating or suppressing the vote, and they know it. Why else would they try to stop mail-in voting, Sunday voting, automatic registration? Why would they do that otherwise? The Attorney General of Arizona, he himself said — the Republican party, said that they are defending voting restrictions because, quote, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Translation, the fewer people who vote, the likelier it is for them to win. Okay? They have nothing to offer Americans. It is a bankrupt party. They didn’t even bother coming up with a platform last election. It’s a cult of personality now. They are against everything that would help Americans. Health care for all, this – package that Joe Biden is trying to pass for COVID relief, the minimum wage. They’re against everything that would help Americans, and Americans are catching on, and that’s why they have to suppress the vote.
Her fellow progressive co-host Sunny Hostin also disparaged Republicans with ugly claims they were trying to stop black Americans from voting. She went on to rave over how great this bill was because it eliminated many common-sense safeguards for election integrity, such as voter I.D. and accurate voter registration rolls:
If you look at some of the things that Republicans are putting forth, Georgia Republicans want to make voters wait for hours while making it a crime to give them water in line. Texas Republicans will accept your gun license, but not a student I.D. to vote. Things like that are happening, and if you look at the bill, the bill creates automatic voter registration. So voters have to opt out and not opt in. It requires officials to automatically register eligible citizens, requires at least 15 consecutive days of early voting with sites open ten hours a day, prohibits states from restricting voting by mail. Expands absentee ballot drop boxes, establishes independent redistricting commissions to end gerrymandering, prohibits voter roll purging.
Hostin and Whoopi Goldberg also lauded this past election as the safest in U.S. history, despite all the controversy and voters’ concerns about election integrity:
“How can both sides still be this far apart on voting when pretty much it seemingly went the way it was supposed to?” Whoopi asked Hostin, who replied, “It did go the way that it was supposed to, and we did have record turnout. We now know that this was the safest election in terms of integrity in U.S. history!”
Only conservative co-host Meghan McCain revealed what was in the bill that the other hosts wouldn’t admit.
“What this bill has in it that I find particularly problematic is it’s going to allow felons to vote even if you are convicted of election fraud,” she pointed out. McCain continued to explain its problems (click “expand”):
It eliminates the voter I.D. These are things you need an I.D. to do in America: To adopt a pet, to rent a car, get on a plane, buy cold medicine, buy a cell phone, get a job. So again, no ID whatsoever. This allows minors to vote, and that includes down to 16-year-olds. The Democrats are saying at the same time, they expanded Obamacare up to age 26 because the idea was that 26-year-olds still really haven’t had this, like, you know, they’re sort of failure to launch, and they still need help from their parents. So on one end, 26-year-olds can’t pay for their own health care, but on the other side, 16-year-olds should have the right to vote and have the responsibility and competence to vote. If this is where the mandate is, then 16-year-olds can do whatever they want, we need to remove that from Obamacare, and anything an 18-year-old should do, a 16-year-old should be able to do as well.
It expands the ‘no excuses absentee voting.’ My biggest problem with it is it’s sending public dollars to fund political campaigns and I just don’t think that our tax paying dollars while the country is absolutely falling apart should be having our taxpayer dollars having, you know, influencing our elections…
McCain ended her response slamming her co-hosts for being “intellectually dishonest:”
“I think it’s just intellectually dishonest and in bad faith to talk about Republicans are evil and they want to ruin the world. This is a basic disagreement on how you think states’ rights should be run,” she argued.
The View’s highly partisan coverage of this legislation was paid for by sponsors Colgate and L’Oreal, contact them at the Conservatives Fight Back page here.
Read the transcript below:
The View
3/4/2021
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: So Joy, what additional election integrity are Republicans looking for, here?
JOY BEHAR: Integrity is not the right word. The Republican party cannot win without lying, cheating or suppressing the vote, and they know it. Why else would they try to stop mail-in voting, Sunday voting, automatic registration? Why would they do that otherwise? The Attorney General of Arizona, he himself said — the Republican party, said that they are defending voting restrictions because, quote, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Translation, the fewer people who vote, the likelier it is for them to win. Okay? They have nothing to offer Americans. It is a bankrupt party. They didn’t even bother coming up with a platform last election. It’s a cult of personality now. They are against everything that would help Americans. Health care for all, this – package that Joe Biden is trying to pass for COVID relief, the minimum wage. They’re against everything that would help Americans, and Americans are catching on, and that’s why they have to suppress the vote.
WHOOPI: So Sunny, the election fraud lie led to the Capitol insurrection. How can both sides still be this far apart on voting when pretty much it seemingly went the way it was supposed to?
SUNNY HOSTIN: It did go the way that it was supposed to, and we did have record turnout. We now know that this was the safest election in terms of integrity in U.S. history, and so I think what we’re seeing is as Joy alluded to, a desperate party trying to make it more difficult for people to vote, and more difficult in particular for people of color to vote, to disenfranchise those voters.
If you look at some of the things that Republicans are putting forth, Georgia Republicans want to make voters wait for hours while making it a crime to give them water in line. Texas Republicans will accept your gun license, but not a student I.D. to vote. Things like that are happening, and if you look at the bill, the bill creates automatic voter registration. So voters have to opt out and not opt in. It requires officials to automatically register eligible citizens, requires at least 15 consecutive days of early voting with sites open ten hours a day, prohibits states from restricting voting by mail. Expands absentee ballot drop boxes, establishes independent redistricting commissions to end gerrymandering, prohibits voter roll purging. If you look at what the Republicans have been up to, as of February 19, 2021, state lawmakers have introduced 253 bills in 43 states, but the state legislatures with the highest number of restricted bills were Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona which all flipped in 2016 from — to vote for — from 2016, I apologize, to vote for President Biden in 2020, and they are scared because of the results of the election.
WHOOPI: Right.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Meghan, why do you think the GOP is so opposed to the bill the Democrats passed yesterday?
MEGHAN MCCAIN: This is — this is a complicated one. The first thing I want to start out by saying is that I’m a Constitutionalist and I believe in the Constitution, and I just don’t think this is constitutional. I don’t think the federal government should be mandating what states should do, and this actually went to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, and Breyer and Kagan actually ended up siding with Republicans, and those are obviously more left leaning Supreme Court justices.
What this bill has in it that I find particularly problematic is it’s going to allow felons to vote even if you are convicted of election fraud. What you are saying about national security threats right now, if Mayor Giuliani or the my pillow guy go to jail for helping inciting violence or spreading this lie of election fraud, they still will have the right to vote. I don’t think that should happen. I don’t think someone who is convicted of election fraud should have the liberty and luxury of voting.
It eliminates the voter I.D. These are things you need an I.D. to do in America: To adopt a pet, to rent a car, get on a plane, buy cold medicine, buy a cell phone, get a job. So again, no ID whatsoever. This allows minors to vote, and that includes down to 16-year-olds. The Democrats are saying at the same time, they expanded Obamacare up to age 26 because the idea was that 26-year-olds still really haven’t had this, like, you know, they’re sort of failure to launch, and they still need help from their parents. So on one end, 26-year-olds can’t pay for their own health care, but on the other side, 16-year-olds should have the right to vote and have the responsibility and competence to vote. If this is where the mandate is, then 16-year-olds can do whatever they want, we need to remove that from ObamaCare, and anything an 18-year-old should do, a 16-year-old should be able to do as well.
It expands the ‘no excuses absentee voting.’ My biggest problem with it is it’s sending public dollars to fund political campaigns and I just don’t think that our tax paying dollars while the country is absolutely falling apart should be having our taxpayer dollars having, you know, influencing our elections, and I just — I wish this — when this was even pitched as a topic, I feel like people are just seeing it through one very linear lens. This isn’t about whatever — however you feel about Republicans and Republicans trying to take rights away. It’s about how you interpret the Constitution and how you interpret states’ rights, and I think it’s just intellectually dishonest and in bad faith to talk about Republicans are evil and they want to ruin the world. This is a basic disagreement on how you think states’ rights should be run.
Freedom Watch: China Behind Global Decline in Freedom
Freedom House on Wednesday released the 2021 edition of its annual Freedom in the World report, charting an alarming “deterioration of democracy” around the world in 2020.
Pelosi asked to probe ‘tainted’ food after National Guard troops fell ill
Rep. Chris Smith sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking her to investigate how a group of New Jersey National Guard members got sick after eating possibly “tainted” food while deployed to protect the US Capitol. Smith (R-NJ) noted that the roughly 30 members of the Garden State Guard became ill as did…
: What do Republican voters think of Biden’s $1.9-trillion COVID-19 bill? Their views may surprise you
Democrat-Led House Passes H.R.1, Aimed to Federalize U.S. Elections
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed H.R. 1, otherwise known as the “For the People Act,” which Republicans warn will compromise election integrity and ultimately lead to the federalization of U.S. elections.
The Moneyist: My husband and his brother inherited their family home. Our son lived there for 4 years. We paid $60K on taxes and repairs after a fire. Do we still split it 50/50?
Joe Biden’s Deputies Set 2021 Goal of Welcoming 117,000 Migrant Youths
The White House has dramatically raised the number of migrant youths and children it expects to welcome into the United States’ economy this year.
Stalling Psaki: WH Press Secretary Dodges Hardballs on Cuomo, Dr. Seuss, Immigration
Tuesday’s White House press briefing was more of the same with Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s continued refusal to offer substance on the cancelling of Dr. Seuss, immigration, and scandal-ridden Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY).
Fox News’s Kristin Fisher played a leading role, battling Psaki on Cuomo on the astute observation that, in addition to the fact that President Biden and Vice President Harris haven’t commented publicly on the sexual harassment claims, “Harris was one of the most vocal critics of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, of Senator Al Franken when they faced similar allegations.”
Fisher noted that, in both cases, Harris emphatically stated that she believed accusers of both men, but hasn’t done so with those speaking out about a key administration ally.
“So at what point is the first female vice president going to say something about this,” she added.
Psaki offered nothing new from days past, defending their silence because Psaki does so for them with her emphasis that “every women coming forward should be heard, should be treated with dignity, and treated with respect.”
Fisher said that “it’s appreciated” Psaki briefs reporters everyday, “but it’s another thing to hear it from the Vice President or the President himself. Can we expect to hear from either of them on this topic anytime soon?”
Spoiler alert: Psaki didn’t budge.
In a surprising development, the usually-annoying Yahoo! News correspondent Hunter Walker gave it a go when it was his turn. Along with seeking comment on the calls for Cuomo to resign, he reasked one that AP’s Zeke Miller tried on Monday, which was whether Biden has spoken to the governor.
Once again, Psaki demurred, adding that, in terms of the third accuser being a former campaign worker, “I did not work on the campaign, as you know” and “I’m not aware of a personal relationship that they had or that he knew her personally.”
To Walker’s credit, he inquired about the other (and much larger) Cuomo scandal with nursing homes (click “expand”):
WALKER: As you know, Governor Cuomo is also taking questions over the nursing home situation on COVID. Currently, he’s chair of the NGA. He came up to the white house to discuss COVID with the president. His top aide Melissa DeRosa, who’s been pretty embroiled in this nursing home situation, was also advising the administration on COVID response during the transition. Does the president believe he should step aside from the NGA or is he still seeking advice from his administration on COVID?
PSAKI: Well, that’s a decision for the NGA not a decision for the President or the White House. But I would say that New York, as you know, continues to be one of the hardest hit states by the COVID pandemic. It is one of the hardest hit states by the resulting economic downturn and, of course, we’re going to continue to work with officials in that state to help the people of New York, help get the pandemic under control, and help get people back to work.
Fisher came back later in the briefing, but this time she brought up the woke mob’s canceling of Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day (and, of all days, Seuss’s birthday) and wondered why the Biden administration didn’t issue a presidential proclamation that mentioned the legendary children’s author.
Initially, Psaki followed her usual script of not answering the question by punting to the Department of Education, but then all but admitted that they agreed with the premise that Dr. Seuss’s books were racist because “the day is also a chance to celebrate diverse authors whose work and lived experience reflect the diversity of our country and….it’s especially important that we ensure all children can see themselves represented and celebrated.”
Fisher tried again on the specific omission, but Psaki reiterated the answer that implicitly sided with the mob, stating in part that “it’s important that children of — of all backgrounds see themselves in the children’s books that they read.”
On the heels of the administration refusing to state the influx of illegal immigrants was a crisis, numerous reporters returned to that subject on Tuesday’s episode.
Along with Fisher, NBC’s Peter Alexander and Real Clear Politics’s Philip Wegmann offered important questions (click “expand”):
ALEXANDER: Yesterday, you brought into the briefing room the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorakas who said the following, he said: “We are not saying don’t come” to those migrants. He said, “we are saying don’t come now because we’ll be able to deliver a safe and orderly process to them as quickly as possible. So, the message was don’t come now. It sounds like the message is come later. So, when should these migrants come?
(….)
ALEXANDER: So, for clarity, it sounds like, even if unintentionally, you’re sending the message that these migrants can come, they just got to wait a little bit longer. Is that the message you’re sending?
(….)
ALEXANDER: Is the President going to be briefed on this from the domestic policy council today? DHS assessing 117,000 or so unaccompanied children — 117,000 unaccompanied children will arrive in the U.S. by their projection this year. Will he learn about it today? And that number seems like a crisis. The secretary said it isn’t. How would we define a crisis?
PSAKI: Well, I’ll leave that to the secretary of homeland security to define. He said it was a challenge. It is a challenge. We have more than 7000 unaccompanied kids who have come into the United States and that is certainly a lot of children that we’re trying to treat humanely and safely and process through the system as quickly as we can. That’s — that’s not easy. That is a challenge. Certainly the President receives briefings and regular updates from his team and, you know, we typically don’t confirm those publicly but he is — he is briefed regularly by his team, the Domestic Policy Council and other members of his policy team.
(….)
FISHER: And one question on immigration just to pick up from where Peter left off. I know you said you don’t want to label this a crisis. Secretary Mayorkas was in here yesterday saying it’s not a crisis. But now you have Axios reporting the administration needs 20,000 beds to shelter these children. Based on our own reporting, 97 percent of the beds through the Office of Refugee Resettlement are full, so I don’t want to sound like a broken record but at what point does it become a crisis?
PSAKI: Well, I would say I don’t think we need to meet your bar of what we need to call it. We had the secretary of homeland security yesterday conveying it’s a challenge. We have provided numbers publicly about how serious that challenge is. We, of course, because we are approaching this, this humanely and we are approaching this in a way where we will the children safe in a great break from the past administration and because we’re doing this at a time of COVID, that is even more challenging because most of these facilities are at 40 percent capacity, hence the number of beds that are being — being utilized. But again, we’re going to approach this without labeling. We will approach this with policy, with humanity and with a focus on what we can do to keep these kids safe and keep them — and get them in homes as quickly as possible.
(….)
WEGMANN: First off, something that sorta touches, I guess, on immigration and also on vaccines. We’re five weeks into the new administration and the president hasn’t named a permanent FDA commissioner and then yesterday we heard that from the DHS secretary, who said he’s trying to rebuild an agency dismantled by the previous administration but so far, the president hasn’t named a nominee for director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, a Commissioner of Border Protection, a director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. What’s taking so long?
To see the full transcript of the above exchanges as well as excellent questions from Wegmann about green jobs and EWTN’s Owen Jensen on school reopenings and doctors being forced to violate their religious conscience, click “expand.”
White House Press Briefing
March 2, 2021
12:52 p.m. Eastern
PETER ALEXANDER: Let me ask you about immigration, if I can. Yesterday, you brought into the briefing room the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorakas who said the following, he said: “We are not saying don’t come” to those migrants. He said, “we are saying don’t come now because we’ll be able to deliver a safe and orderly process to them as quickly as possible. So, the message was don’t come now. It sounds like the message is come later. So, when should these migrants come?
JEN PSAKI: The president has put forward an immigration reform package that will not only provide a pathway to citizenship but help put in place smart security measures at the border, will also address root causes in the region. There also is time and he talked but this quite a bit yesterday, as you know, that we need to dig out from the immoral and ineffective approach to immigration of the last administration. That’s going to take time, probably months for us to be able to process people at the border, to get people on the right path for consideration of — for asylum seekers and others. Now is not the moment for that.
ALEXANDER: So, for clarity, it sounds like, even if unintentionally, you’re sending the message that these migrants can come, they just got to wait a little bit longer. Is that the message you’re sending?
PSAKI: Well, we’ve been also clear as he was yesterday, the majority who come to the border are turned away. Even undocumented — even kids who come in at the border — un — unaccompanied minors who come in and we have emphasized time and time again, we want to keep them safe. We want to treat them with humanity. They are not guaranteed to stay in the United States. They still go through the processing. We just don’t want to send them back and consideration of whether they can stay here through what is — a — possible through our laws. It’s a difficult time. It’s a difficult journey. We are not encouraging people to come but we also believe different from the past administration would not going to turn away kids who were under 18.
ALEXANDER: Is the President going to be briefed on this from the domestic policy council today? DHS assessing 117,000 or so unaccompanied children — 117,000 unaccompanied children will arrive in the U.S. by their projection this year. Will he learn about it today? And that number seems like a crisis. The secretary said it isn’t. How would we define a crisis?
PSAKI: Well, I’ll leave that to the secretary of homeland security to define. He said it was a challenge. It is a challenge. We have more than 7000 unaccompanied kids who have come into the United States and that is certainly a lot of children that we’re trying to treat humanely and safely and process through the system as quickly as we can. That’s — that’s not easy. That is a challenge. Certainly the President receives briefings and regular updates from his team and, you know, we typically don’t confirm those publicly but he is — he is briefed regularly by his team, the Domestic Policy Council and other members of his policy team.
(….)
12:57 p.m. Eastern
KRISTIN FISHER: A question about Governor Andrew Cuomo. Vice President Kamala Harris was one of the most vocal critics of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, of Senator Al Franken when they faced similar allegations. She said repeatedly I believe them, the women. But she hasn’t said anything about the three women who are accusing Governor Andrew Cuomo and now this third accuser, Anna Ruch — she actually worked for the Biden-Harris campaign. So at what point is the first female vice president going to say something about this?
PSAKI: Well, I know that’s how the Vice President continues to feel, and the benefit of doing a briefing every is that I can certainly speak on behalf of the president and the vice president and so let me reiterate they both believe every women coming forward should be heard, should be treated with dignity, and treated with respect. As you all know, the New York attorney general will oversee an independent investigation with subpoena power and the governor’s office said he will fully cooperate. And we certainly support that moving forward.
FISHER: But as you know, it’s one thing to hear it from you and it’s appreciated, but it’s another thing to hear it from the vice president or the President himself. Can we expect to hear from either of them on this topic anytime soon?
PSAKI: Well, again, I’m speaking on their behalf. That’s how they feel. They’re personally both know this [sic] as the situation where both — all of the women coming for it should be treated with dignity and respect and should have their voices heard and that’s the representation of their points of view.
FISHER: And one question on immigration just to pick up from where Peter left off. I know you said you don’t want to label this a crisis. Secretary Mayorkas was in here yesterday saying it’s not a crisis. But now you have Axios reporting the administration needs 20,000 beds to shelter these children. Based on our own reporting, 97 percent of the beds through the Office of Refugee Resettlement are full, so I don’t want to sound like a broken record but at what point does it become a crisis?
PSAKI: Well, I would say I don’t think we need to meet your bar of what we need to call it. We had the secretary of homeland security yesterday conveying it’s a challenge. We have provided numbers publicly about how serious that challenge is. We, of course, because we are approaching this, this humanely and we are approaching this in a way where we will the children safe in a great break from the past administration and because we’re doing this at a time of COVID, that is even more challenging because most of these facilities are at 40 percent capacity, hence the number of beds that are being — being utilized. But again, we’re going to approach this without labeling. We will approach this with policy, with humanity and with a focus on what we can do to keep these kids safe and keep them — and get them in homes as quickly as possible.
(….)
1:14 p.m. Eastern
HUNTER WALKER: You know, obviously, this third allegation against Governor Cuomo has come out. This woman did work for President Biden during the campaign. I’m wondering what the President thinks about the calls for Governor Cuomo to resign and whether he’s spoken directly either to his former staffer or the governor about this situation?
PSAKI: The President believes, as I’ve noted, that every woman who comes forward should — deserves to be heard and treated with respect. There is an investigation, an independent investigation overseen by the attorney general, which has subpoena power and we certainly support that moving forward. In terms of any other conversations, I did not work on the campaign, as you know. I know that she did work on the campaign. I believe she was an organizer in Southwest Florida. I don’t know if they had — I’m not aware of a personal relationship that they had or that he knew her personally. But I don’t have any other engagements. I’m sure she has a number of people she still remains in touch with from the campaign but I don’t have any calls or engagements to read out.
WALKER: As you know, Governor Cuomo is also taking questions over the nursing home situation on COVID. Currently, he’s chair of the NGA. He came up to the white house to discuss COVID with the president. His top aide Melissa DeRosa, who’s been pretty embroiled in this nursing home situation, was also advising the administration on COVID response during the transition. Does the president believe he should step aside from the NGA or is he still seeking advice from his administration on COVID?
PSAKI: Well, that’s a decision for the NGA not a decision for the President or the White House. But I would say that New York, as you know, continues to be one of the hardest hit states by the COVID pandemic. It is one of the hardest hit states by the resulting economic downturn and, of course, we’re going to continue to work with officials in that state to help the people of New York, help get the pandemic under control, and help get people back to work.
(….)
1:17 p.m. Eastern
PHILIP WEGMANN: First off, something that sorta touches, I guess, on immigration and also on vaccines. We’re five weeks into the new administration and the president hasn’t named a permanent FDA commissioner and then yesterday we heard that from the DHS secretary, who said he’s trying to rebuild an agency dismantled by the previous administration but so far, the president hasn’t named a nominee for director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, a Commissioner of Border Protection, a director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. What’s taking so long?
PSAKI: You’re right and he is eager to nominate individuals to fill all of these spots. We need to find the right people and the right nominees and I hope we will have news on that in the coming weeks, but I don’t have anything to review for you, unfortunately, on personnel .
WEGMANN: Alright, very good. And then from Christian Tatoc of the Daily Caller, Interior announced yesterday it’s giving out more than $260 million in grants to help coal-production states create clean energy jobs. Is the white house launching any program to help fossil fuel workers into green tech or are they leaving that up to the governors?
PSAKI: I’m not familiar with the interior program and I’m happy to certainly check on that. As I’ve noted here before the president is committed to moving forward on the rest of his Build Back Better agenda. WE’re going to wait and work with the American rescue plan and that is signed into law, direct checks are going out to the American people, more money to get vaccines into arms, schools are starting to reopen with money. So, that’s our focus now but he believes that we can invest in areas like infrastructure and do that in a way that creates good paying, green jobs that are good-paying union jobs and so, I have nothing more to preview other than that remains his commitment.
(….)
1:21 p.m. Eastern
OWEN JENSEN: First, pro-life groups right now very concerned about the phrase pregnancy discrimination in the Equality Act. You’re familiar with that, I’m sure. That would force doctors to perform abortions even if it violates their conscience. They’re also concerns with the bill that would for doctors to perform gender transition surgeries and sterilizations again even if it violates their conscience. What does the President — President Biden say about those concerns ?
PSAKI: The President’s been a long supporter of Roe v. Wade. It’s been his consistent belief that it should be law and he will fight to continue to protect that as being law .
JENSEN: So is conscience concerns not a concern of his?
PSAKI: I’m going to state what the President’s policies are. Did you have another question?
JENSEN: Two. Will the president keep the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division at HHS — the office that was put in place under President Trump, keep it in place to receive conscience complaints from those doctors ?
PSAKI: You’ll have to talk to a future Secretary Becerra once he is confirmed.
JENSEN: And then, quickly, another subject. On education, everyday that goes by, some kids are in school year round. They have been, for example, in Nebraska, kids have been in school since day one back in August. In other states, strictly virtually. The education gap is widening. No doubt about that. When fall rolls around, if some schools are still not in person full-time, will the President accept or will he have a firm deadline to get kids back in the classroom?
PSAKI: Well, the President wants school back in the classrooms. His wife is a teacher. He believes not only do students want to be in school, but teachers want to be in school and he wants them open five days a week. He put — there were CDC guidelines put out and we now have a secretary of education as of yesterday. This will be his number one priority and certainly the President looks forward to having schools open across the country .
JENSEN: But he doesn’t have a firm deadline in mind for when kids should be back? I know he can’t demand it. He can’t do that. I realize it’s up to the school districts but certainly he can create a sense of urgency, right?
PSAKI: Well, one of the steps you can advocate for his how any of these folks can advocate for is the signing of the American Rescue Plan which has $160 billion to ensure schools and make the changes to their facilities, can hire enough teachers so that they can have socially distant kids in classrooms, so that they can have enough bus drivers and that’s an important component of getting this done as well.
(….)
1:29 p.m. Eastern
FISHER: A question about Dr. Seuss since this is the only day you can bring up Dr. Seuss in the briefing. It is National Read Across America day. It’s also Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Both former presidents Obama and Trump mentioned Dr. Seuss in their read across America day proclamations but president Biden did not. Why not?
PSAKI: Well, first, the proclamation was written by the Department of Education and you could certainly them about more specifics about the drafting of it, but Read across America day which, as you’re right, has not existed forever, as only been around for a short training of time to celebrates a love of reading among our nation’s youngest readers and the day is also a chance to celebrate diverse authors whose work and lived experience reflect the diversity of our country and that’s certainly what they attempted to do or hope to do this year. And as we celebrate the love of reading and uplift diverse and representative authors, it’s especially important that we ensure all children can see themselves represented and celebrated in books that they read.
FISHER: So, does the omission have anything to do with the controversy about the lack of diverse characters in the author’s books?
PSAKI: Well, again, I think it’s important that children of — of all backgrounds see themselves in the children’s books that they read, but I would point you to the Department of Education for any more details on the writing of the proclamation.