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Speaker 8: (18:46)
Dr. Fauci, you’ve joked a couple of times today, already about the difference in, that you feel in being the spokesperson for this issue in this administration versus the previous one. Can you talk a little bit about how free, how much different, do you feel less constrained? What is, I mean, you, for so many times you stood up behind the podium with Donald Trump standing behind you. That was a different feeling, I’m sure, than it is today. Can you talk a little bit about how you feel released from what you had been doing for the last year?
Dr. Fauci: (19:26)
Yeah. But you said I was joking about it. I was very serious about it. I wasn’t joking. No, actually, I mean, obviously, I don’t want to be going back over history, but it was very clear that there were things that were said, be it regarding things like Hydroxychloroquine, and other things like that, that really was an uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact. I can tell you, I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the President. So, it was really something that you didn’t feel that you could actually say something, and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it. The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is and know that’s it, let the science speak, it is somewhat of a liberating feeling.
Speaker 8: (20:15) You were basically banished for a few months there for a while. Do you feel like you’re back now?
Dr. Fauci: (20:21) I think so. Okay.
Jen Psaki: (20:22) Well, that’s Mike Shear. You don’t want to take questions from [him 00:20:30] Thank you so much, Dr. Fauci, so much for joining us.We really appreciate it, and we’ll have him back again.
Dr. Fauci: (20:33) Thank you.
Jen Psaki: (20:38)
Well, thank you everyone. As I promised, we’ll have a full briefing from here. So, as you know, just a few moments ago, the President also released a National COVID 19 strategy and signed 10 executive orders and other directives to move quickly to contain the crisis. Underpinning everything the President signed today, and everything we do every day will be equity. Some highlights of those actions include an executive order to fill supply shortfalls for vaccinations, testing and PPE. The president directed agencies to exercise all appropriate authorities, including the Defense Production Act, to accelerate manufacturing and delivering of supplies, such as N`95 masks, gowns, gloves, PCR swabs, test reagents, and necessary equipment and material for the vaccine.
(21:29)
The President also signed a Presidential Memorandum to increase federal reimbursement to states and tribes for the cost of National Guard Personnel, emergency supplies, and the personnel and equipment needed to create vaccination centers, an executive order that established a COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board to bring the full force of the federal government’s expertise to expanding testing, supply, and increasing access to testing. An executive order to bolster access COVID-19 treatments and clinical care, establishing a comprehensive and coordinated pre-clinical drug discovery and development program, to allow therapeutics to be evaluated and developed in response to pandemic threats.
(22:12)
Sorry, I had to clear my throat. There’s a lot here. He also issued an executive order directing the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to provide guidance on safely reopening and operating for schools, childcare providers, and institutions of higher education. An executive order on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to immediately release clear guidance for employers to help keep workers safe from COVID 19 exposure. An executive order to require mask-wearing in airports or certain modes of public transportation, including many trains, airplanes, maritime vessels, and inter- city buses. An executive order establishing a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, something we had previously announced, but making it official today, to provide specific recommendations to the President for allocating resources and funding in communities with inequities in COVID-19 outcomes by race, ethnicity, geography, disability, and other considerations. These steps, of course, build on the actions we announced yesterday.
(23:15)
I had an additional update. Some of you may have seen this come out through late last night, but I wanted to share with you that as a result of one of the executive orders President Biden signed yesterday, the Acting Homeland Security Secretary issued a memorandum to review and reset immigration enforcement priorities. For 100 days, beginning tomorrow, the Department of Homeland Security will pause removals for certain individuals. This pause will allow the administration to review and reset enforcement policies, and ensure that resources are dedicated to the most pressing challenges and that we have a fair and effective enforcement system, rooted in responsibly managing the border and protecting our national security and public safety. I had one other item, I just wanted to flag for you, about something the First Lady is up to. Let me see if I can find that, or I will circle back to it a little bit later. With that, I’m happy to your questions. Zeke, why don’t you kick us off?
Zeke: (24:15)
Thanks Jen. There’s some reporting earlier today about the President’s commitment to extending New START. Can you talk about what the President’s directive on that front has been? Additionally, did he, can you confirm that the President requested reports from that the new DNI, from assessment on potential foreign interference in the 2020 election, and also the SolarWind’s hack?
Jen Psaki: (24:40)
I can confirm that the United States intends to seek a five-year extension of New START, as the treaty permits. The President has long been clear that the New START treaty is in the national security interest of the United States. And, this extension makes even more sense when the relationship with Russia is adversarial, as it is at this time. New START is the only remaining treaty constraining Russian nuclear forces, and is an anchor of strategic stability between our two countries. To the other part of your question, even as we work with Russia to advance US interests, so too, we work to hold Russia to account for its reckless and adversarial actions. To this end, the President is also issuing a tasking to the intelligence community for its full assessment of the SolarWind’s cyber- breach, Russian interference in the 2020 election, its use of chemical weapons against Opposition Leader, Alexi Navalny, and the alleged bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan. So, that’s hopefully answered all of it. That was a mouthful.
Zeke: (25:42)
Then, just to change gears for [inaudible 00:25:44] to COVID and the negotiations with Capitol Hill. How long is the President willing to pursue bipartisanship? Democrats are already talking about a reconciliation process. Is there a, given the critical need for some sort of aid here, the President is talking about, is there a deadline at which he’s going, he’s giving a recall against … Is it February 1st? Is it President’s weekend, by which he’ll say, “No, we’re going to do this by reconciliation, instead?
Jen Psaki: (26:08)
Well, I’m not going to set any deadlines on our first full day in office, but I will say, and hopefully I’ll have more for all of you on this tomorrow. We are going to be increasing our engagement. It’s already been ongoing, even before the President was inaugurated yesterday, but hopefully we’ll have more to share with you tomorrow on meetings, engagements, discussions that will be going on with leaders on Capitol Hill and many members over the course of the next several days. As I conveyed to all of you yesterday, his preference and priority is a bipartisan package, and working with members of both parties to come to agreement on that, because he believes that the crisis facing the American people, as we saw the jobs numbers this morning, the unemployment insurance claims, I should say, we put out a statement by our NEC director, in case you didn’t see that.
(27:01)
As we’ve seen in the reports from Dr. Fauci, just a few minutes ago, this crisis has dire, and it requires immediate action. We hope and expect members of both parties to work together to do that. We’re also not going to take options off the table. So, we’ll proceed with those discussions over the next couple of days. Go ahead, Christie.
Christie: (27:20)
Hi, Jen. If I could just follow up on that, there was some reporting that there was going to be a meeting this weekend with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Can you give us any indication? Is that going to happen with President Biden or with his economic team? Is that your expectation?
Jen Psaki: (27:34)
Well, I think the reporting was around a meeting with NEC Director, Brian Deese. I spoke with him earlier today. He is definitely going to be engaging with a range of members and a range of different groups of members from Capitol Hill in the coming days. I think we were still working to confirm specific meetings before I came out here. And I hope to have more for of you on that by tomorrow
Christie: (27:54)
Okay, and more broadly speaking, President Biden has proposed this $1.9 trillion package. You already have some Republicans who say, “We just passed a stimulus plan.” They’re not going to get on board with this, Mitt Romney among them. He says, “We just passed a program worth over $900 billion, and some people say their price tag is just way too big.” So, how does President Biden expect to get this passed with bipartisan support, and how does that fit into his broader message of bipartisanship, proposing something like this, [inaudible 00:28:22]
Jen Psaki: (28:23)
Well, I think, it fits perfectly into his message of bipartisanship. He wants to work with Democrats and Republicans to address the crises that the American people are facing, whether they live in Red States or Blue States or Democrats or Republicans. The package was designed, based on recommendations from health experts, from economists. It’s been applauded by everyone from Senator Bernie Sanders to the Chamber of Commerce. There are specific pieces in there that are meant to serve as a bridge for the American people, including a large percentage of it that’s for unemployment insurance, funding for vaccine distribution, something that is pivotal, as we’ve already been discussing here today, for reopening of schools. So, part of the discussion we’ll be having with members is what do you want to cut? And, this is a plan that he feels addressed as the crisis at the moment.
Christie: (29:14)
Quick follow-up on that. The work of the Senate is being held up by this dispute over the filibuster. Where does President Biden come down on that? Does he think that there should not be a filibuster so that the Senate could move forward with its work?
Jen Psaki: (29:28)
Well, the President-Elect spoke just yesterday, as you all saw, about the spirit of working together and bipartisanship to confront the four crises facing us. You’ve already seen him work with Republicans and Democrats and work toward a bipartisan approach to passing packages that will address the crisis we’re facing. That certainly is his priority and his preference. So, that’s what we’ll continue to work on, on day two of the administration. Go ahead, Mike Shear.
Mike Shear: (29:56) Okay, see. You can call on me.
Jen Psaki: (29:58) I just gave you a hard time.
Mike Shear: (30:00)
That’s fine. I want to push you a little bit more on that question. If there’s this call for unity that the President made in his speech yesterday, but there has so far been almost no fig leaf, even to the Republican party. You don’t have a Republican cabinet member like president Obama, and I think, President Clinton had. The executive orders that he’s come out the gate, have been largely designed at erasing as much of the Trump legacy is as you can with executive orders, much of which the Republican Party likes and agrees with. You’ve put forth an immigration bill that has a path to citizenship, but doesn’t do much of a nod towards the border security. And, you’ve got a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that has, as folks have said, already drawn all sorts of criticism. Where is the actual action behind this idea of bipartisanship? And, when are we going to see one of those substantial outreaches that says, “This is something that the Republicans want to do too?”
Jen Psaki: (31:05)
Well, I guess what I would send back to you, there’s a lot in there. So, let me do my best here. But Mike, is unemployment insurance only an issue that Democrats in the country want? Do only Democrats want their kids to go back to schools? Do only Democrats want vaccines to be distributed across the country? We feel that that package, he feels that package is designed for bipartisan support. I will also say that we’ve also had some positive developments on our confirmations and our nominees.` Last night, as you all saw, the President’s nominee now confirmed leader. First female leader of the intelligence community was confirmed with a vote of 85 to 10, 84 to 10. You can check me on that, but an overwhelming vote. We’ve seen progress today on the nomination, and hopeful confirmation of Lloyd Austin. So, there is movement supported by both sides of the aisle and members of both parties. I think if you-
(32:03)
Supported by both sides of the aisle and members of both parties. I think if you talk to Republicans on the Hill, which I know many of you do, they will say, they’re not looking for something symbolic. They are looking for engagement. They’re looking to have a conversation. They’re looking to have a dialogue, and that’s exactly what he’s going to do. Go ahead, Mary.
Mary: (32:18)
On that, has the President reached out to congressional leaders to sit down and discuss this relief package? Will he be? How much personal involvement is he going to have in this process?
Jen Psaki: (32:27)
I expect he will be rolling up his sleeves and will be quite involved in this process, Mary. Yesterday was quite a busy day for him, as you all know, his schedule was minute by minute and his family was here, but he was involved even before yesterday, having conversations with members of both parties, picking up the phone and having those conversations. He saw, of course, members of both parties, he invited leaders from both parties to join him at church. Obviously that wasn’t really a discussion about specifics of the bill, but he did have an opportunity to talk about his agenda and working together on his agenda moving forward. But I think you will see him quite involved in the days ahead, but you will also see the Vice-President quite involved. You will also see policy leaders like Brian Dice and others in the administration quite involved and having conversations with both Democrats and Republicans.
Mary: (33:19) But no plans right now to sit down with them?
Jen Psaki: (33:21)
Well, I think we will more to share with you soon in terms of engagement of many of our senior officials with members of both parties.
Mary: (33:29)
And on the Defense Production Act, just to be clear, has the administration actually invoked the Defense Production Act? And if so, can you spell out what changes we may see because of this? Which companies are being asked to make one?
Jen Psaki: (33:42)
Let me give you a very specific example that helped really make it clear for me. One area is to acquire a more low dead volume syringes. And what that does is these specialized syringes allow pharmacists and vaccinators to extract an extra dose of the Pfizer vial, so making more doses available, of course. It also prioritizes the Defense Production Act, raw materials that are used to produce the vaccine, so reducing bottlenecks. And it enables manufacturers, us to empower and invoke, I guess, an action from manufacturers to make sure we have the materials we need to get the vaccines out the door and in the arms of Americans. In terms of, obviously signed it this afternoon, I’ll have to just circle back with you if it’s officially invoked in this moment or if it takes some time and we can circle back with you after the briefing.
Go ahead, JAN.((32:45))
JAN: Thank you, Jen. (34:38) On stimulus, is the White House drafting a legislative bill?
Jen Psaki: (34:43)
You mean in terms of what he announced last week, last Thursday? Well, he announced what his specific ideas will be and what his vision is, but right now we’re having discussions with members of both parties as we have for the last week about what that will look like.
JAN (34:57) Okay, so no bill draft coming out of the White House is what I’m saying.
Jen Psaki:(35:00)
Well, I’m happy to talk to our legislative team about that. I think what was important to the President was to outline what his vision would be. This is how the process should actually work, right? The President outlines, here’s my vision, here’s what I think should be in a package, let’s have discussions, let’s have engagements with both parties and let’s see what comes out of the sausage making at the other side.
Jen Psaki: (35:22) Go ahead, Anita. I’ll come back to you. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.
Anita: (35:25)
Just following up on what Kristin asked, I don’t think I heard an answer about whether the President supports keeping the filibuster, where he sits on that? Has he talked to Senator Schumer about that? I mean, he served there a long time, what are his thoughts on that?
Jen Psaki: (35:39)
I think what I was conveying to Kristin is that the President has been clear. He wants to work with members of both parties and find bipartisan paths forward. And I don’t have any more conversations to read out for you at this point and time.
Anita: (35:52) Specifically answer that, unless I’m not understanding your answer.
Jen Psaki: (35:55) I don’t think I have more to add to my answer.
Anita: (35:58)
Okay. And then just on the impeachment trial, I know that there was some talk about sort of the Senate doing both things at the same time, two things at once. There’s some reporting this afternoon that Republicans are pushing to have the impeachment trial start in February. Where do you all stand still now on that? Are you still looking for that both paths to happen at the same time? Would it be preferable to do that first or are you okay with later as some Republicans are talking about?
Jen Psaki: (36:25)
Well, Anita, we have been pretty consistent that we believe the timing and the mechanisms for the Congress and the Senate moving forward and holding the former President accountable, we’ll leave that to them. And what our biggest priority and focus is, is ensuring that it doesn’t delay the Senate, Congress moving forward in consideration and discussion around the COVID relief package that the President proposed last week.
Speaker 8: (18:46)
Dr. Fauci, you’ve joked a couple of times today, already about the difference in, that you feel in being the spokesperson for this issue in this administration versus the previous one. Can you talk a little bit about how free, how much different, do you feel less constrained? What is, I mean, you, for so many times you stood up behind the podium with Donald Trump standing behind you. That was a different feeling, I’m sure, than it is today. Can you talk a little bit about how you feel released from what you had been doing for the last year?
Dr. Fauci: (19:26)
Yeah. But you said I was joking about it. I was very serious about it. I wasn’t joking. No, actually, I mean, obviously, I don’t want to be going back over history, but it was very clear that there were things that were said, be it regarding things like Hydroxychloroquine, and other things like that, that really was an uncomfortable because they were not based on scientific fact. I can tell you, I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the President. So, it was really something that you didn’t feel that you could actually say something, and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it. The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is and know that’s it, let the science speak, it is somewhat of a liberating feeling.
Speaker 8: (20:15) You were basically banished for a few months there for a while. Do you feel like you’re back now?
Dr. Fauci: (20:21) I think so. Okay.
Jen Psaki: (20:22) Well, that’s Mike Shear. You don’t want to take questions from [him 00:20:30] Thank you so much, Dr. Fauci, so much for joining us.We really appreciate it, and we’ll have him back again.
Dr. Fauci: (20:33) Thank you.
Jen Psaki: (20:38)
Well, thank you everyone. As I promised, we’ll have a full briefing from here. So, as you know, just a few moments ago, the President also released a National COVID 19 strategy and signed 10 executive orders and other directives to move quickly to contain the crisis. Underpinning everything the President signed today, and everything we do every day will be equity. Some highlights of those actions include an executive order to fill supply shortfalls for vaccinations, testing and PPE. The president directed agencies to exercise all appropriate authorities, including the Defense Production Act, to accelerate manufacturing and delivering of supplies, such as N`95 masks, gowns, gloves, PCR swabs, test reagents, and necessary equipment and material for the vaccine.
(21:29)
The President also signed a Presidential Memorandum to increase federal reimbursement to states and tribes for the cost of National Guard Personnel, emergency supplies, and the personnel and equipment needed to create vaccination centers, an executive order that established a COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board to bring the full force of the federal government’s expertise to expanding testing, supply, and increasing access to testing. An executive order to bolster access COVID-19 treatments and clinical care, establishing a comprehensive and coordinated pre-clinical drug discovery and development program, to allow therapeutics to be evaluated and developed in response to pandemic threats.
(22:12)
Sorry, I had to clear my throat. There’s a lot here. He also issued an executive order directing the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services to provide guidance on safely reopening and operating for schools, childcare providers, and institutions of higher education. An executive order on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to immediately release clear guidance for employers to help keep workers safe from COVID 19 exposure. An executive order to require mask-wearing in airports or certain modes of public transportation, including many trains, airplanes, maritime vessels, and inter- city buses. An executive order establishing a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, something we had previously announced, but making it official today, to provide specific recommendations to the President for allocating resources and funding in communities with inequities in COVID-19 outcomes by race, ethnicity, geography, disability, and other considerations. These steps, of course, build on the actions we announced yesterday.
(23:15)
I had an additional update. Some of you may have seen this come out through late last night, but I wanted to share with you that as a result of one of the executive orders President Biden signed yesterday, the Acting Homeland Security Secretary issued a memorandum to review and reset immigration enforcement priorities. For 100 days, beginning tomorrow, the Department of Homeland Security will pause removals for certain individuals. This pause will allow the administration to review and reset enforcement policies, and ensure that resources are dedicated to the most pressing challenges and that we have a fair and effective enforcement system, rooted in responsibly managing the border and protecting our national security and public safety. I had one other item, I just wanted to flag for you, about something the First Lady is up to. Let me see if I can find that, or I will circle back to it a little bit later. With that, I’m happy to your questions. Zeke, why don’t you kick us off?
Zeke: (24:15)
Thanks Jen. There’s some reporting earlier today about the President’s commitment to extending New START. Can you talk about what the President’s directive on that front has been? Additionally, did he, can you confirm that the President requested reports from that the new DNI, from assessment on potential foreign interference in the 2020 election, and also the SolarWind’s hack?
Jen Psaki: (24:40)
I can confirm that the United States intends to seek a five-year extension of New START, as the treaty permits. The President has long been clear that the New START treaty is in the national security interest of the United States. And, this extension makes even more sense when the relationship with Russia is adversarial, as it is at this time. New START is the only remaining treaty constraining Russian nuclear forces, and is an anchor of strategic stability between our two countries. To the other part of your question, even as we work with Russia to advance US interests, so too, we work to hold Russia to account for its reckless and adversarial actions. To this end, the President is also issuing a tasking to the intelligence community for its full assessment of the SolarWind’s cyber- breach, Russian interference in the 2020 election, its use of chemical weapons against Opposition Leader, Alexi Navalny, and the alleged bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan. So, that’s hopefully answered all of it. That was a mouthful.
Zeke: (25:42)
Then, just to change gears for [inaudible 00:25:44] to COVID and the negotiations with Capitol Hill. How long is the President willing to pursue bipartisanship? Democrats are already talking about a reconciliation process. Is there a, given the critical need for some sort of aid here, the President is talking about, is there a deadline at which he’s going, he’s giving a recall against … Is it February 1st? Is it President’s weekend, by which he’ll say, “No, we’re going to do this by reconciliation, instead?
Jen Psaki: (26:08)
Well, I’m not going to set any deadlines on our first full day in office, but I will say, and hopefully I’ll have more for all of you on this tomorrow. We are going to be increasing our engagement. It’s already been ongoing, even before the President was inaugurated yesterday, but hopefully we’ll have more to share with you tomorrow on meetings, engagements, discussions that will be going on with leaders on Capitol Hill and many members over the course of the next several days. As I conveyed to all of you yesterday, his preference and priority is a bipartisan package, and working with members of both parties to come to agreement on that, because he believes that the crisis facing the American people, as we saw the jobs numbers this morning, the unemployment insurance claims, I should say, we put out a statement by our NEC director, in case you didn’t see that.
(27:01)
As we’ve seen in the reports from Dr. Fauci, just a few minutes ago, this crisis has dire, and it requires immediate action. We hope and expect members of both parties to work together to do that. We’re also not going to take options off the table. So, we’ll proceed with those discussions over the next couple of days. Go ahead, Christie.
Christie: (27:20)
Hi, Jen. If I could just follow up on that, there was some reporting that there was going to be a meeting this weekend with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. Can you give us any indication? Is that going to happen with President Biden or with his economic team? Is that your expectation?
Jen Psaki: (27:34)
Well, I think the reporting was around a meeting with NEC Director, Brian Deese. I spoke with him earlier today. He is definitely going to be engaging with a range of members and a range of different groups of members from Capitol Hill in the coming days. I think we were still working to confirm specific meetings before I came out here. And I hope to have more for of you on that by tomorrow
Christie: (27:54)
Okay, and more broadly speaking, President Biden has proposed this $1.9 trillion package. You already have some Republicans who say, “We just passed a stimulus plan.” They’re not going to get on board with this, Mitt Romney among them. He says, “We just passed a program worth over $900 billion, and some people say their price tag is just way too big.” So, how does President Biden expect to get this passed with bipartisan support, and how does that fit into his broader message of bipartisanship, proposing something like this, [inaudible 00:28:22]
Jen Psaki: (28:23)
Well, I think, it fits perfectly into his message of bipartisanship. He wants to work with Democrats and Republicans to address the crises that the American people are facing, whether they live in Red States or Blue States or Democrats or Republicans. The package was designed, based on recommendations from health experts, from economists. It’s been applauded by everyone from Senator Bernie Sanders to the Chamber of Commerce. There are specific pieces in there that are meant to serve as a bridge for the American people, including a large percentage of it that’s for unemployment insurance, funding for vaccine distribution, something that is pivotal, as we’ve already been discussing here today, for reopening of schools. So, part of the discussion we’ll be having with members is what do you want to cut? And, this is a plan that he feels addressed as the crisis at the moment.
Christie: (29:14)
Quick follow-up on that. The work of the Senate is being held up by this dispute over the filibuster. Where does President Biden come down on that? Does he think that there should not be a filibuster so that the Senate could move forward with its work?
Jen Psaki: (29:28)
Well, the President-Elect spoke just yesterday, as you all saw, about the spirit of working together and bipartisanship to confront the four crises facing us. You’ve already seen him work with Republicans and Democrats and work toward a bipartisan approach to passing packages that will address the crisis we’re facing. That certainly is his priority and his preference. So, that’s what we’ll continue to work on, on day two of the administration. Go ahead, Mike Shear.
Mike Shear: (29:56) Okay, see. You can call on me.
Jen Psaki: (29:58) I just gave you a hard time.
Mike Shear: (30:00)
That’s fine. I want to push you a little bit more on that question. If there’s this call for unity that the President made in his speech yesterday, but there has so far been almost no fig leaf, even to the Republican party. You don’t have a Republican cabinet member like president Obama, and I think, President Clinton had. The executive orders that he’s come out the gate, have been largely designed at erasing as much of the Trump legacy is as you can with executive orders, much of which the Republican Party likes and agrees with. You’ve put forth an immigration bill that has a path to citizenship, but doesn’t do much of a nod towards the border security. And, you’ve got a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that has, as folks have said, already drawn all sorts of criticism. Where is the actual action behind this idea of bipartisanship? And, when are we going to see one of those substantial outreaches that says, “This is something that the Republicans want to do too?”
Jen Psaki: (31:05)
Well, I guess what I would send back to you, there’s a lot in there. So, let me do my best here. But Mike, is unemployment insurance only an issue that Democrats in the country want? Do only Democrats want their kids to go back to schools? Do only Democrats want vaccines to be distributed across the country? We feel that that package, he feels that package is designed for bipartisan support. I will also say that we’ve also had some positive developments on our confirmations and our nominees.` Last night, as you all saw, the President’s nominee now confirmed leader. First female leader of the intelligence community was confirmed with a vote of 85 to 10, 84 to 10. You can check me on that, but an overwhelming vote. We’ve seen progress today on the nomination, and hopeful confirmation of Lloyd Austin. So, there is movement supported by both sides of the aisle and members of both parties. I think if you-
(32:03)
Supported by both sides of the aisle and members of both parties. I think if you talk to Republicans on the Hill, which I know many of you do, they will say, they’re not looking for something symbolic. They are looking for engagement. They’re looking to have a conversation. They’re looking to have a dialogue, and that’s exactly what he’s going to do. Go ahead, Mary.
Mary: (32:18)
On that, has the President reached out to congressional leaders to sit down and discuss this relief package? Will he be? How much personal involvement is he going to have in this process?
Jen Psaki: (32:27)
I expect he will be rolling up his sleeves and will be quite involved in this process, Mary. Yesterday was quite a busy day for him, as you all know, his schedule was minute by minute and his family was here, but he was involved even before yesterday, having conversations with members of both parties, picking up the phone and having those conversations. He saw, of course, members of both parties, he invited leaders from both parties to join him at church. Obviously that wasn’t really a discussion about specifics of the bill, but he did have an opportunity to talk about his agenda and working together on his agenda moving forward. But I think you will see him quite involved in the days ahead, but you will also see the Vice-President quite involved. You will also see policy leaders like Brian Dice and others in the administration quite involved and having conversations with both Democrats and Republicans.
Mary: (33:19) But no plans right now to sit down with them?
Jen Psaki: (33:21)
Well, I think we will more to share with you soon in terms of engagement of many of our senior officials with members of both parties.
Mary: (33:29)
And on the Defense Production Act, just to be clear, has the administration actually invoked the Defense Production Act? And if so, can you spell out what changes we may see because of this? Which companies are being asked to make one?
Jen Psaki: (33:42)
Let me give you a very specific example that helped really make it clear for me. One area is to acquire a more low dead volume syringes. And what that does is these specialized syringes allow pharmacists and vaccinators to extract an extra dose of the Pfizer vial, so making more doses available, of course. It also prioritizes the Defense Production Act, raw materials that are used to produce the vaccine, so reducing bottlenecks. And it enables manufacturers, us to empower and invoke, I guess, an action from manufacturers to make sure we have the materials we need to get the vaccines out the door and in the arms of Americans. In terms of, obviously signed it this afternoon, I’ll have to just circle back with you if it’s officially invoked in this moment or if it takes some time and we can circle back with you after the briefing.
Go ahead, JAN.((32:45))
JAN: Thank you, Jen. (34:38) On stimulus, is the White House drafting a legislative bill?
Jen Psaki: (34:43)
You mean in terms of what he announced last week, last Thursday? Well, he announced what his specific ideas will be and what his vision is, but right now we’re having discussions with members of both parties as we have for the last week about what that will look like.
JAN (34:57) Okay, so no bill draft coming out of the White House is what I’m saying.
Jen Psaki:(35:00)
Well, I’m happy to talk to our legislative team about that. I think what was important to the President was to outline what his vision would be. This is how the process should actually work, right? The President outlines, here’s my vision, here’s what I think should be in a package, let’s have discussions, let’s have engagements with both parties and let’s see what comes out of the sausage making at the other side.
Jen Psaki: (35:22) Go ahead, Anita. I’ll come back to you. I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.
Anita: (35:25)
Just following up on what Kristin asked, I don’t think I heard an answer about whether the President supports keeping the filibuster, where he sits on that? Has he talked to Senator Schumer about that? I mean, he served there a long time, what are his thoughts on that?
Jen Psaki: (35:39)
I think what I was conveying to Kristin is that the President has been clear. He wants to work with members of both parties and find bipartisan paths forward. And I don’t have any more conversations to read out for you at this point and time.
Anita: (35:52) Specifically answer that, unless I’m not understanding your answer.
Jen Psaki: (35:55) I don’t think I have more to add to my answer.
Anita: (35:58)
Okay. And then just on the impeachment trial, I know that there was some talk about sort of the Senate doing both things at the same time, two things at once. There’s some reporting this afternoon that Republicans are pushing to have the impeachment trial start in February. Where do you all stand still now on that? Are you still looking for that both paths to happen at the same time? Would it be preferable to do that first or are you okay with later as some Republicans are talking about?
Jen Psaki: (36:25)
Well, Anita, we have been pretty consistent that we believe the timing and the mechanisms for the Congress and the Senate moving forward and holding the former President accountable, we’ll leave that to them. And what our biggest priority and focus is, is ensuring that it doesn’t delay the Senate, Congress moving forward in consideration and discussion around the COVID relief package that the President proposed last week.
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