11/06/2021

Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal | Nov. 6, 2021

 White House News in Chinese - About (weebly.com)

Democratic leaders had hoped to pass both bills out of the House on Friday, but postponed action after centrists demanded a nonpartisan accounting of its costs - a process that could take weeks

US Congress passes $1 trillion infrastructure bill

​Biden will now oversee the biggest upgrade of America’s roads, railways and other transportation infrastructure in a generation.

Nov. 6 - After a daylong standoff, Democrats set aside divisions between progressives and centrists to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a package of highway, broadband and other infrastructure improvements, sending it to US President Joe Biden to sign into law.

The 228 to 206 vote is a substantial triumph for Biden’s Democrats, who have bickered for months over the ambitious spending bills that make up the bulk of his domestic agenda.

Biden’s administration will now oversee the biggest upgrade of America’s roads, railways and other transportation infrastructure in a generation, which he has promised will create jobs and boost US competitiveness...     more

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NOVEMBER 5, 2021
​President Biden Remarks on October Jobs Report
President Biden delivered remarks from the White House on the latest economic numbers, noting a fall in the unemployment rate to 4.6% and 531,000 jobs added in October 2021. He said more Americans were working due to his economic agenda as well as COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The president also urged lawmakers to vote for his social spending proposal and a bipartisan infrastructure bill in order to continue strengthening the ecomony. 
Remarks by President Biden on the October Jobs Report

​NOVEMBER 05, 2021SPEECHES AND REMARKS
State Dining Room

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today is another great day for our economic recovery. America is getting back to work. Our economy is starting to work for more Americans.

Thanks to the economic plan we’ve put through in Congress earlier this year and a successful vaccine deployment, America continues to add jobs at a record pace.

In this historically strong recovery, unemployment rate has fallen again today down to 4.6 percent. This included a substantial drop in unemployment for Hispanics, which was much needed.

Our economy is on the move. This morning, we learned that in October, our economy created 531,000 jobs — well above expectations.

We also learned that job growth over the prior two months, August and September, was nearly 250,000 more jobs than previously thought.

In total, the job creation in the first full nine months
of my administration is about 5.6 million new jobs — a record for any new President.

That’s a monthly average of over 60,000 [600,000] new jobs each month — 10 times more than the job creation at three months before I took office.

New unemployment claims have fallen every week for the past five weeks, are down by more than 60 percent since I took office, and are now at the lowest level since the pandemic started.

And people continue to move from unemployment rolls to work. Unemployment has decreased this year by more — more than any other year since 1950. So any year since 1950, unemployment has decreased more in this year than since 1950.

And not only are more Americans working, working Americans are seeing their paychecks go up. Weekly pay went up in October with an average hourly earnings up almost 5 percent this year.

That’s more than some of the lowest — that’s more than some of the lowest-paid workers in our country — men and women who work in restaurants, hotels, the (inaudible) have seen their pay go up 12 percent this year.

Over five and a half million jobs. Unemployment down at record pace to 4.6 percent. And before we passed the Rescue Plan, forecasters said it would take until the end of 2023 — to the end of 2023 to get to 4.6 unemployment rate.

Today, we’ve reached that rate two years before forecasters thought it was possible. I would humbly suggest this is a significant improvement from when I took office and a sign that we’re on the right track...     more
Fact Sheet: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal

NOVEMBER 06, 2021STATEMENTS AND RELEASES

Today, Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness. For far too long, Washington policymakers have celebrated “infrastructure week” without ever agreeing to build infrastructure. The President promised to work across the aisle to deliver results and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. After the President put forward his plan to do exactly that and then negotiated a deal with Members of Congress from both parties, this historic legislation is moving to his desk for signature.

This Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal will rebuild America’s roads, bridges and rails, expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in communities that have too often been left behind. The legislation will help ease inflationary pressures and strengthen supply chains by making long overdue improvements for our nation’s ports, airports, rail, and roads. It will drive the creation of good-paying union jobs and grow the economy sustainably and equitably so that everyone gets ahead for decades to come. Combined with the President’s Build Back Framework, it will add on average 1.5 million jobs per year for the next 10 years.

This historic legislation will:   
                            

Deliver clean water to all American families and eliminate the nation’s...     more
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Official Says DOD Is Focused on Threats From State Actors, Terrorists

NOV. 5, 2021 | BY DAVID VERGUN, DOD NEWS

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby held a briefing with journalists today, covering a broad range of topics from China, Russia and Pakistan to COVID-19 vaccinations.

​Russia
Kirby said there's been an unusual build up of Russian military activity near Ukraine in the last several days.

"We continue to consult with allies and partners on the issue," he said. "We continue to monitor this closely. Any escalatory or aggressive actions by Russia would be of great concern to the United States.

"We would urge Russia to be more clear about its intentions," he added.

China and North Korea
Both nations have been building up their nuclear missile capabilities.

"What we're focused on is being able to address the threats and challenges in the region," Kirby said, referring to the "pacing challenge" from China, as well as potential actions by North Korea.

The Defense Department, he said, would "obviously support any level of dialogue and discussion that reduces the threats of weapons of mass destruction," but the matter would be better addressed at the State Department and White House levels.

"What we have to stay focused on is making sure that to the degree there is a threat and a challenge, that we're ready to deter that threat and challenge and defeat it if necessary, and that's what our focus is on here. But nobody wants to see an arms race that leads to conflict and confrontation," he added.

Pakistan
Pakistan remains a key partner in the region, he said. "We look for opportunities to continue to work with Pakistan to address what is a shared threat, a shared terrorism threat along that spine between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and we're going to continue to explore opportunities to do that."

​Kirby added that Pakistan itself has fallen victim to terrorism in that border region, and the country's citizens have been killed or wounded, "so, they have a real stake in this."

Vaccinations
Kirby also reminded those present that Nov. 22 is the deadline for DOD civilians to show proof that they've been vaccinated for COVID-19.


NOVEMBER 5, 2021
Defense Department Briefing
Defense Department Spokesman John Kirby briefs reporters at the Pentagon.
Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Holds a Press Briefing

NOV. 5, 2021

Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby

PRESS SECRETARY JOHN F. KIRBY: Good afternoon, everybody.
(CROSSTALK)

Oh, there we go. OK, just to note that the entire Department of Defense is thinking and -- and praying for the family of Colin Powell, his loved ones, his -- his friends and colleagues. I'm sure you all got a chance to see the terrific memorial service at the National Cathedral, and again, we -- we hold in great esteem and with great respect his long service in the United States Army and of course as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and again, our thoughts and prayers are -- are with the family as they continue to grieve his loss.

Schedule-wise, a note that, on next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, a once in a lifetime event will be taking place at Arlington National Cemetery, as part of the centennial commemoration of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the American public will be able to walk in the same footsteps as the tomb guards and lay a flower at the unknown soldier. This event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, a joint service honor procession will march through the cemetery, and that will evoke the memory of the unknown soldier funeral procession. Concurrently, a joint service aerial review of 17 aircraft will fly over the tomb that day. This was, again, a once in a lifetime event here celebrating a century of the Tomb of the Unknown and we obviously encourage you all to cover that and we certainly encourage the American people to -- if they can and -- and are -- and -- and desire to, to take part in that. 

With that, we'll take questions. I think we have Lita on the phone.

Q: Hi, John,..     more
NOVEMBER 5, 2021
White House Daily Briefing
​White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held a briefing on the Biden administration’s policy agenda. The president’s social spending and infrastructure proposals dominated discussion.
Press Briefing by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

NOVEMBER 05, 2021PRESS BRIEFINGS

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right, everyone. Happy Friday.
 

Q  Happy Friday. (Laughter.)
 
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: It’s been a long week. It’s been a long week. Okay, I got a couple toppers for all.
 
So, President Biden’s economic plan is working. And thanks to his Rescue Plan and our successful vaccine program, America continues to add jobs at a record place — pace: 620,000 a month on average and over 5.6 million jobs created since he took office. Americans are getting back to work.
 
Because of the success of that effort, our economy has the resilience we need to weather the challenges posed by this virus, more Americans are going back to work, and more Americans feel safe going back to work.
 
That’s why we added 531,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent — the lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic, and a place that the CBO projected, before the Rescue Plan was passed, that we wouldn’t reach until the fourth quarter of 2023.
 
Unemployment has decreased this year more than any other year in U.S. history. And the number of Americans filing for unemployment each week has declined from nearly 900,000 when President Biden took office to under 270,000 this week.
 
Because of the decisive action the President took with the Rescue Plan and his efforts to fight the pandemic, our economy has rebounded at a rate unsurpassed in modern history, far outstripping those of our peer countries. And because of that, businesses were able to stay open, schools were able to reopen, and Americans are able to get back to work. 
 
It’s been a busy week making strong progress in our fight against COVID-19, so I also wanted to give an overview of this work — the work that we’ve been doing around the pandemic, in fighting the pandemic.
 
On Monday, we hit 80 percent of adults with at least one shot and 70 percent of adults fully vaccinated. And we’re still vaccinating hundreds of thousands of Americans every day...     more
Statement by President Joe Biden on the House Passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

​NOVEMBER 06, 2021STATEMENTS AND RELEASESTonight, we took a monumental step forward as a nation.

The United States House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a once-in-generation bipartisan infrastructure bill that will create millions of jobs, turn the climate crisis into an opportunity, and put us on a path to win the economic competition for the 21st Century.

It will create good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced. Jobs that will transform our transportation system with the most significant investments in passenger and freight rail, roads, bridges, ports, airports, and public transit in generations.

This will make it easier for companies to get goods to market more quickly and reduce supply chain bottlenecks now and for decades to come. This will ease inflationary pressures and lower costs for working families.

The bill will create jobs replacing lead water pipes so every family can drink clean water.

It will make high-speed internet affordable and available everywhere in America.

This bill will make historic and significant strides that take on the climate crisis. It will build out the first-ever national network of electric vehicle charging stations across the country. We will get America off the sidelines on manufacturing solar panels, wind farms, batteries, and electric vehicles to grow these supply chains, reward companies for paying good wages and for sourcing their materials from here in the United States, and allow us to export these products and technologies to the world.

It will also make historic investments in environmental clean-up and remediation, and build up our resilience for the next superstorms, droughts, wildfires, and hurricanes that cost us billions of dollars in damage each year.

I’m also proud that a rule was voted on that will allow for passage of my Build Back Better Act in the House of Representatives the week of November 15th.

The Build Back Better Act will be a once-in-a-generation investment in our people.

It will lower bills for healthcare, child care, elder care, prescription drugs, and preschool. And middle-class families get a tax cut.

This bill is also fiscally responsible, fully paid for, and doesn’t raise the deficit. It does so by making sure the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share and doesn’t raise taxes a single cent on anyone making less than $400,000 per year. 

I look forward to signing both of these bills into law.

Generations from now, people will look back and know this is when America won the economic competition for the 21st Century.