On Tuesday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held a White House press briefing.
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NewsTranscript
00:00How are you doing?
00:02Good?
00:04How are you?
00:06Good.
00:08Hey, how's it going?
00:10Oh, boy.
00:22How are you doing?
00:24I don't know.
00:26How are you doing?
00:28How are you doing?
00:30How are you?
00:32How are you doing?
00:40Oh, my God!
00:44How are you?
00:46How are you?
00:48I'm fine.
00:50It's just...
00:52It is.
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03:31Hugging.
03:32All right.
03:33All right.
03:34Good afternoon, everyone.
03:38Hello, everybody.
03:46everyone. Hello. Hello. Okay. I have a couple of things at the top and then we'll get going.
03:56So as you all know, this afternoon, President Biden and the first lady will host an event
04:00to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the deferred of the deferred action for child
04:07childhood arrivals program, better known as DACA. Over the last 12 years, DACA has provided
04:13more than 800,000 dreamers with the ability to work lawfully, pursue an education, open
04:19businesses and contribute their enormous talents to make our communities better and stronger.
04:27While Congress has failed to act on the reforms President Biden presented on his first day
04:33of his presidency, the Biden-Harris administration vigorously defended DACA in court and extended
04:39Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA recipients. Now, later today, not to a couple of less
04:46than an hour today, President Biden will announce that the Department of Homeland Security will
04:52take action designed to help US citizens with non-citizen spouses keep their families together.
05:00This new process will help certain non-citizen spouses and children apply for a lawful permanent
05:06residency, a status they are already eligible for without having to leave the country.
05:13Additionally, President Biden will announce that the administration will facilitate the
05:17employment visa process for those who have graduated from college and have a high-skilled
05:23job offer, including DACA recipients and other dreamers. Think about the stability this will
05:29bring to so many American families across the country. These measures will help keep
05:34American families together and allow more young people to contribute to our economy
05:39and our country. The Biden-Harris administration is committed to taking action within its authorities
05:46to secure our border and ensure that our immigration system is more fair and more just.
05:52As you all remember, two weeks ago, President Biden announced additional actions to secure
05:56our southern border after congressional Republicans twice, twice, voted against the
06:02toughest and fairest set of reforms in decades. And while we are still in the early phase of
06:08implementation, encounters in between ports of entry are down and repatriations are up.
06:18However, we know that only Congress can deliver the additional personnel, resources, and policy
06:24changes needed to secure our border. And only Congress can deliver the comprehensive reform
06:31of our immigration and asylum laws that is needed to secure our border and make our immigration
06:37system work. We'll continue to call on lawmakers to do just that. Next, I also wanted to quickly
06:44address the extreme heat wave that we are seeing across the country. We know that extreme heat can
06:50be dangerous, which is especially true for older adults and people with underlying
06:57health conditions. We encourage everyone experiencing extreme temperatures this week
07:03to check in on their neighbors, drink plenty of water, and look for cooling centers if needed.
07:09Stay alert, listen to local officials and weather alerts, and visit heat.gov for more information
07:17on how to stay safe. And finally, this week through Thursday, June 27th, our administration
07:25will amplify the President's and Vice President's work to lower costs for hardworking Americans.
07:30The Cabinet and senior White House officials will travel across the country to discuss the
07:36Biden-Harris lowering costs agenda. From health care and housing to gas prices and groceries,
07:43we will lay out the full scope of the Biden-Harris lowering costs agenda in new products and speeches
07:49and make clear that congressional Republicans are putting the wealthy and the big corporations
07:55first with an agenda to raise costs for hardworking families. You all should have a
08:02full list of events through next Thursday in your inbox, and I know you all will look forward to
08:08those events across the country. With that, Jeremy, it has been a long time.
08:12Jeremy?
08:13Jeremy, Josh.
08:13It has been a long time. Too long.
08:17Oh, it has been too long. I forgot your name.
08:22No, no, you know I love you, Josh. It has indeed been a long time. I was thinking about my Jeremy
08:29in the back, so as I was... Anyway, whatever. Things are happening. It's good to see you.
08:34It's good to see you.
08:35Good to see you. Two subjects.
08:37Yes.
08:38First, on immigration today, is the administration confident that U.S. citizenship and immigration
08:44services can handle possibly hundreds of thousands of new applications,
08:48given the current backlog of other immigration applications?
08:52So look, we have always said, and I said this at the top, the way that we would love to move
08:58forward is in a more balanced approach, obviously, and get that bipartisanship from Congress.
09:05The first day of his administration, as I've already stated, and I've stated this many times,
09:10we wanted to see a comprehensive immigration process, a legislation. That's what the
09:16president put forward. He wanted to see that. Congress never moved, and when they did decide
09:20to move on something, we worked in a bipartisan way. The former president told Republicans in
09:25Congress, Republican senators more specifically, and told them, don't move on this. Don't move on
09:29this because it's going to hurt me and help Joe Biden, and we had a bipartisan approach,
09:33which would have made the immigration system more fair and tougher, and we didn't move in that way.
09:40And so the president has said that he's going to take actions. He's going to take actions to
09:45secure the border, as he did with the executive order that he signed just about two weeks ago or
09:50so, and that he also wants to make sure we keep American families together. So look, we're
09:57obviously going to hear from the president later today, and we believe that we can get this done.
10:04We believe it's an important part of the president's immigration policy, and keeping
10:11American families together, making sure that we are protecting American families
10:16is a priority for this president, and so we believe that this could move forward.
10:20Gotcha. Secondly, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said he told Secretary of State
10:26Blinken, quote, it's inconceivable that in the past few months the administration has been
10:33withholding weapons and ammunition for Israel, end quote. There was a shipment of bombs paused
10:39in early May at the start of the Rafah offensive, but has the administration been withholding
10:45weapons and ammunitions for months, like Netanyahu seems to be saying?
10:49Let me just start off by saying that we generally do not know what he's talking about. We just don't.
10:55A couple of things that I do want to add, and you're right, there was one particular shipment
11:00of munitions that was paused, and you've heard us talk about that many times. We continue,
11:05we continue to have these constructive conversations with Israelis for the release of that
11:11particular shipment that I just mentioned, and don't have any updates on that. There are no
11:19other pauses, none, no other pauses or holds in place. And so as Secretary Blinken said today,
11:26he took some questions from some of your colleagues and spoke to the press. Obviously,
11:33everything else is moving in due process. That is coming from Secretary Blinken. You heard directly
11:38from him earlier today. Thanks, Karine. So just to confirm, only the shipment of those 2,000 pound
11:45bombs have been repelled? Yes. Got it. That's to confirm it, yes. And when it comes to the new
11:49executive actions today on immigration, can you just talk us through why now, why not earlier?
11:54So look, and I said this a little bit, and I'll say it again, which is, and we say this,
12:00our immigration system is broken. It has been for some decades. The President wants to have a
12:05comprehensive legislative fix. That's the process that we actually want to take, and that's why he
12:11did on day one. And so look, we want to see a balanced approach. We want to see a bipartisan
12:16movement on this, but Congress has failed to act. They just have. They voted twice on a proposal
12:23legislation that they, Republicans and Democrats, came together on to move forward on dealing with
12:32what's happening, the challenges at the border, what's happening with immigration. Republicans
12:36rejected it. They rejected it twice. And so announcing these actions to keep families together,
12:43you know, we're talking about American citizens and their families, to keep them together.
12:47We're talking about young people who contribute. They are contributing to the economy. They are
12:51contributing to their communities. We want to make sure we keep that talent here. And so that is why
12:59we're taking this action. We can do both. We can secure the border, as we did with announcing the
13:05executive order, and we can also protect American families. And that's what the President is going
13:09to be announcing today. Walk us through how the administration decided the concourse of this.
13:14For instance, it is 10 years, but if someone's been married for, you have to be in the country
13:20for at least 10 years, but if you've been in the country for just slightly less than that,
13:24they would not eventually be eligible, right? That is correct. Anybody who is, and the other
13:30added piece of this is anybody who is presenting themselves today would not be eligible as well,
13:37and it is a decade. You have to be here for at least a decade to be able to be, obviously,
13:44to take part of this announcement that the President is making. And here's the thing,
13:48the average person who would be eligible for this, we are predicting, have been here for about 23
13:58years. 23 years. But what do you say to those families, you know, who have a member who's been
14:03here for like nine years and 11 months? No, I hear you. So they'll never have a chance?
14:10I mean, look, the way to actually deal with this is to have a comprehensive immigration legislation,
14:16is for Congress to do their jobs and to move forward. And what we have seen is Republicans
14:22getting in the way because of what the last President said. And that is the way that we
14:27want to see this moving. We have said, I've said this many times, we want to move, we wanted to
14:31move in a balanced approach, a balanced approach. And that's how we had seen this process.
14:37That's going to be part of this announcement, obviously. But, you know, Congress, they
14:43have to fix this. In order to actually fix this broken immigration system, Congress has to act.
14:49And, you know, we are going to do everything that we can to move forward in a way where we are
14:55obviously protecting American families and also dealing with the challenges at the border,
15:00trying to fix a broken immigration or deal with a broken immigration system that's been broken
15:06for decades. And, you know, this is one process that one announcement that we're moving forward
15:11with. And, you know, there's, you know, and the President is always going to look for other ways
15:17to deal with this broken immigration system. But honestly, Congress has to act. They have to act.
15:23Go ahead, Weijia.
15:24Great. Do you have any details about the time frame and when people can actually start applying
15:29for this program?
15:30So I don't have anything to share on the actual timeline on this. We want to make sure, again,
15:37that our border is secure. We want to make sure that we are, you know, we want to make sure that
15:43the immigration system is more fair, more just. I don't have anything on the timeline. I'm sure
15:48DHS may have more on that specific question that you have.
15:51And then just following up on Selena, given the amount of time it's going to take to process the
15:56applications, given the fact that it could all be undone if there's a new administration,
16:02am I hearing the reason why the President didn't do this sooner is because he thought Congress
16:08would do it?
16:10Well, what I'm saying is that, as you know, we've worked really hard to protect DACA.
16:15We put out a comprehensive immigration system. DACA was part of that.
16:20Fixing what's happening and securing the border obviously was part of that.
16:24Fixing an immigration policy that's been broken for decades obviously was part of that. That's
16:29why it was comprehensive. The President has been focused on this since day one and worked with
16:35Republicans and Democrats in the Senate to try to figure out how do we move forward with a policy
16:41that's fair and just. And we believe it is still the way to go is to do this through Congress,
16:48to do this in a legislative way. And so the President is always going to look,
16:52and you hear us say this often, the President's going to look for different ways
16:56to move forward on dealing with this broken system that we have. We're always going to find ways.
17:02Two weeks ago we made an announcement and he signed an EO on securing the border. We did that.
17:08But we've taken more actions than that before leading up to that EO. And today we're making
17:15this announcement on protecting American families. So look, we would rather see Congress act.
17:21That's what we want to see and do it in a comprehensive way. They should, you know,
17:26take a look at the legislation that we put forward on day one or go back to their bipartisan
17:33proposal that they put forward. So there are ways to do this and the President said he would
17:38always look at different options and this is one of them. How do you respond to Republicans who
17:43say this particular move is just an election year stunt? Look, I'm not here to talk about
17:48election year. That's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about the President's
17:51policy and why he's doing this because we have a broken immigration system. The President
17:57did this on his first day when he put forth that comprehensive immigration system.
18:02For about two months or so, coming out of last year, going into early this year,
18:07the President worked his team. He directed his team to work with Congress on getting done
18:13a bipartisan, you know, proposal to deal with immigration and we were able to do that. We were
18:19able to do that with Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and Republicans rejected it. They
18:24rejected it because of what they were told by the former President. That's politics. That's putting
18:30partisan first, right? That's partisanship. That's politics. That is doing something on behalf of
18:36someone who is currently a candidate for 2024. We have been saying since day one,
18:41we want to figure out how to fix this broken system. On the deficit, the Congressional
18:47Budget Office just came out with its new numbers. It's saying that the U.S. budget deficit will be,
18:54will reach $1.92 trillion in 2024, up from $1.69 trillion in 2023. Anything you can share?
19:01So, as you just stated to me, J.J., it just came out, so obviously I don't have,
19:05I haven't seen it yet. I need to talk to our folks. A couple things I do want to say
19:10is that this President has a strong agenda and to reduce the deficit, you hear him talk about this
19:15very often, instead of blowing it up, again, by extending the Trump tax cuts, which would cost
19:21$5 trillion, $5 trillion, while the last administration increased the debt by a record
19:28$8 trillion and didn't sign a single law to reduce the deficit. And what we have done,
19:33what this President has done, he has signed legislation to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion
19:39since taking office. That's what he's been able to do. So, moreover, this budget would lower the
19:44deficit another $3 trillion by making the wealth and large corporation pay their fair share,
19:49closing tax loopholes, cutting wasteful spending on big pharma, big oil, and other special
19:55interests. And it is the opposite of what congressional Republicans are trying to do
20:01when they are trying to give tax cuts to billionaires and corporations, which will hurt
20:05the middle class, which will hurt the working class. And so that is not what the President
20:10wants to do. We cannot afford that. And so the President's going to continue to work
20:14to do everything that he can to do the right thing when it comes to lowering the deficit.
20:19Again, I haven't seen this report, so I can't say much, but I can speak to what the President
20:23has tried to do more broadly. Thanks, Karine. A question about President,
20:29Russian President Putin's visit to North Korea and his words today about supporting North Korea
20:34against the enemy, which he identified as the United States. What's the White House's response
20:39to that? And to what extent are you concerned or more concerned now after what he said about what
20:45Russia might do? So, just a couple of things. I know that he is in the DPRK today and that he's
20:50going to go to Hanoi in the upcoming weeks. My NSC colleague spoke to this just a little bit
20:57yesterday. So, deepening cooperation between Russia and the DPRK is a trend that should be
21:04of great concern to anyone interested in maintaining peace and stability in the Korean
21:10Peninsula, upholding the global non-proliferation regime, abiding by the UN Security Council
21:16resolutions, and supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend for their freedom and
21:21their independence against Russia's aggression and, obviously, Russia's invasion. This is
21:27something we have been mourning about for some time as DPRK's provision of weapons to Russia
21:33has helped enable Russia's brutal war in Ukraine. So, we noted that Putin and Xi joint statement
21:40last month called for all sides to reaffirm that political and diplomatic means as the
21:46only way to resolve issues on the Korean Peninsula. We hope this is a message that Putin
21:51will convey to Kim in their discussion. As we have said before, we don't believe any country should
21:56give Mr. Putin a platform to promote the war of aggression that we are obviously currently
22:02seeing in Ukraine and Russia, we believe, is blatantly violating the UN Charter and working
22:09to undermine the international system. And so, you know, this is something obviously that we're
22:16watching very closely and we continue to do so. And what about going, flowing the other way,
22:20what concerns does the White House have about support that Russia may provide to North Korea?
22:25I mean, look, that is obviously something that we are concerned with as well. It goes both sides,
22:33both ways. Obviously, with Putin, we are seeing this invasion in Ukraine. And so,
22:40any collaboration in helping Putin do this, Mr. Putin do this, is something that
22:45we are, again, deeply, deeply concerned about. One follow-up, lastly, on the question of timing
22:51for the immigration move today. Can you just give us a sense of... Hold on, did somebody pass up?
24:03Okay. It is stuffy in here. You are, you are... Put your heat effect right there.
24:19Yeah, I know. You are correct. It is hot in here. I was just asking a follow-up question.
24:27Yes. If we're all okay.
24:29I think we're okay. I think we're okay to move on. And does anybody need water?
24:34We're good. Do you want... Scotch, perhaps.
24:38That's a whole other place, not here. It used to be standard, I think.
24:42Oh, really? Okay. Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry.
24:47No, not at all. Thanks for helping. With regard to the timing of the president's decision today...
24:54Oh, wait. Hold on a second. Okay.
25:07Okay. Timing on immigration, the announcement.
25:11Yes, exactly. Could you just give us a sense of the discussions that led to
25:15doing this? Whose idea was it? Why now? I mean, you've already answered why now, but
25:23how did it come to this?
25:24So, look, I certainly am not going to speak to private discussions that are
25:29had at the White House. What I can speak to, and very much how I answered the question moments ago,
25:34look, the president has always said he wants to do everything that he can to deal with this
25:38broken immigration system and immigration policies as well. You heard us talk about
25:42DACA. That's something that happened back in 2012 when it was Obama-Biden administration,
25:48and how we, from the beginning of this administration, we've tried to protect and
25:51fight for DACA, and we continue to do so. So there is a history, if you will, about the president
25:58wanting to protect American families, wanting to protect American citizens, and this is what you
26:06see in this announcement. And making sure that people who have been here, I said on the average
26:15there's some folks who've been here for 23 years, 23 years, and, you know, when you, separating them
26:24is kind of a cruel thing to do, right? And these are people who have contributed to our economy,
26:32contributed to communities across the country, and this is very different than what we saw from
26:37the last administration. The last administration literally separated families, babies from their
26:43parents, from their fathers, from their mothers, and it was cruel. We are, in this administration, we are
26:48working to get those families reunited. And so we want to make sure that we're securing the border,
26:55we want to make sure that we're doing everything that we can to do that, and we also want to make
26:59sure that we have a fair and just system. And that is something that the president continues to live
27:06by, and that's what this announcement is all about today.
27:10Can you offer an updated readout of Amos Hochstein's talks in Beirut, and what is the president's level of concern about
27:19there being a serious escalation that erupts between Israel and Lebanon, or does he think
27:24we're already there? So a couple of things on that. As you know, he is, he's, Amos is Amos,
27:33Amos, I'm having problems with names today, Amos is in Lebanon today, and so it is
27:40important discussions that he is having, and part of those discussions obviously is restoring
27:45calm along the blue line, which remains a top priority for the United States and must be the
27:51utmost importance for both Lebanon and Israel, and that's what you're seeing, obviously, Amos take
27:57part of while he's in the region. We have been concerned by the increase in violence to your
28:02question, MJ, including the firing of more than 200 rockets by Hezbollah at Israel this past week,
28:08and so we are going to continue to work hard toward a diplomatic resolution that would allow
28:14Israel and Lebanese citizens to return to their homes and live in peace and security. And so
28:19though that conversation about the blue line obviously remains a priority, a top priority for
28:26us. I don't have any readout. I know Amos had an opportunity to talk to the press earlier today
28:32while he was in Lebanon, but I just don't have anything beyond that. Does he, the President,
28:37think the recent events amount to a serious escalation in the situation? Look, the President,
28:44this, what you're seeing is the President's efforts to avoid further escalation, right? One of the
28:49reasons Amos is there, and he met with Israeli officials yesterday, and he's going to continue
28:56in his, during his trip to meet with Lebanese government, and so that's what he's doing today.
29:02And so we'll continue efforts to secure a deal that would lead to a durable end of the war in
29:08Gaza. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to make sure we get this hostage deal,
29:11working very hard in a diplomatic way. You saw Secretary Blinken in the region just last week,
29:17and we want to lower tensions. We believe this hostage deal will play a part in lowering
29:21the tensions. And so you heard that from the President's remarks when he laid out
29:26what that hostage deal was not too long ago. And so we do not want to see an escalation.
29:32And then just on the stretch of days that the President will be spending at Camp David,
29:37how much of that time will be devoted to debate prep? And just what have you observed the President
29:44do in recent days in terms of preparing for the debate? Like, have you seen him,
29:49going back to watch previous debates between the President and the former President or anything
29:55like that? So as it relates to debate prep, that is squarely in the camp of the campaign.
30:03So I have to keep that there, and I'm not going to speak in details about that.
30:09And so what I will say is that while the President is at Camp David and Rehoboth,
30:20he certainly will be able to be – to stay up to date on what's going on, to get updates from
30:28his senior advisors, from his team. As we say many times, a President could be President anywhere.
30:33We have the infrastructure to do just that. I don't have anything specific on how his time
30:38is being divided, but I can tell you this. The President's going to continue to stay
30:42squarely focused on his duty as President of the United States.
30:46Okay, Karen.
30:47Thanks, Miranda. For today and the policy, the immigration policy, has the President met with
30:52any families that would be impacted that could benefit from what he's going to announce today?
30:56Has he been moved personally by any stories that then led him to take action?
31:01So that's a really good question. I don't have any families in particular, specifically American
31:06families, whose spouse is going to benefit from this. So I don't have any readouts to speak of.
31:14Obviously, we have heard – you all have done a really good job of covering
31:18scenarios and situations like this, families who have been pulled apart.
31:22So we are obviously acutely aware of how that could affect – being pulled apart from your
31:28family can affect not just a family but also a community. So we obviously are aware of that.
31:33The President has met DACA recipients, obviously, as well, who in a different way have been affected
31:43by being DREAMers here. And obviously, I talked about what they were able to do back in 2012.
31:50And just to be very clear, what we're talking about is not part of DACA. Obviously,
31:55we're doing this around the anniversary of DACA, but it is not – this announcement is not – will
32:00not affect DACA recipients. But that story is the same, right? The story of coming here for a better
32:06life and searching for the American Dream is very similar. And the President is going to continue
32:13to make sure that we fight to protect American families and certainly to keep them together.
32:17Will there be an audience today for the remarks? Anybody there that will be impacted by this?
32:22So I – there will be more than 200 people in the audience today. I don't have a list of
32:29particular people who will be affected by this. If we do, we certainly will share that with all
32:33of you, as we normally do. I just don't have anything at this moment, at this time.
32:37Go ahead, Kelly.
32:38So as you were indicating, when the President's at Camp David, he's still President. Do you
32:41intend to brief during the time that he is away?
32:44We don't typically do traditional press briefings when the President is away.
32:49So we do not have a scheduled formal briefing to speak of. But obviously, we will continue – the
32:59press team and with our policy folks, as needed, will continue to hold briefing calls when
33:04appropriate to preview upcoming events, upcoming announcement. That is something that we will do.
33:09And if you – obviously, if you all have any questions, we will be here
33:13to answer any of those questions.
33:15We would request that you would brief because it's working days even if the President is away.
33:19You guys want to continue seeing me?
33:21We want to see you, yes.
33:22Oh, man.
33:22It's several days. On the issue of immigration, do you view today's executive order as sort of
33:29a counterweight to the asylum measure that the President signed?
33:33You know, I wouldn't look at it that way. I really wouldn't. I think – and this is what
33:37I've been trying to say when I've been up here. It's like this is – this system is broken.
33:42More broadly, it is a broken system. We're seeing the challenges at the border. We're
33:48seeing immigration policy that has not been revamped for some time, and the President
33:53wants to address that. And we can do – we can do the EO and deal with the border, border security,
34:01and secure the border in that way, and also make sure that American families are not broken up,
34:07make sure that people who have been contributing to our economy, to communities, have an opportunity
34:14here. And so I think all of – we're trying to really deal with a broad stroke of issues here,
34:21and that's what you're seeing this President do.
34:22And how does he find the balance between wanting to, as you describe it, keep American families
34:27together, to select people who've been in the country for a longer period of time,
34:34and then the sort of balance, the fact that they would get some benefits that other immigrants
34:39would not get, and have reduced penalties and that kind of thing? How does he make that balance?
34:45Well, so say more – say a little bit more?
34:48Well, without this kind of a program, people would have to leave the country,
34:52they would have a longer period of time for getting a green card, those sorts of things.
34:56So how does he find that balance between something that is giving a benefit
35:00to people who, at one point, broke the rules?
35:03I mean, look, here's the thing. The eligible population is limited, so we have to remember
35:08that. And individuals who arrive now are not eligible, right? So we did try to give this a
35:15scope, if you will. And then – and we can't forget, those who are eligible have been here
35:23for 23 years, in the U.S., for 23 years. And they are – that spouse, obviously,
35:29is married to someone who's an American citizen. And they probably have children here,
35:34some of them, right, who are American citizens because they were born here.
35:38And so, look, we're going to continue to take steps to crack down on smugglers, right? We're
35:45going to continue to take steps to secure the border, you know. And so that is something that
35:50we're certainly going to focus on. But I think to your – I think to answer the question in a
35:56more broader sense, the immigration system is broken. It is broken. It has been broken for
36:02decades, for decades. The President, on day one, wanted to get ahead of that or try to fix that,
36:09move that forward by putting forth a broken immigration system. The announcement today
36:14does not take away from the fact that the immigration system is broken. And it does
36:18not take away from the fact that Congress needs to act. And we want to see a balanced approach.
36:24We want to see a bipartisan approach to this. And they could. They can do it. They can certainly
36:29do that. Okay. Following up on immigration, when you were asked about timing earlier,
36:34you were mentioning the President prefers to work with Congress. Why not earlier this year,
36:39for example, or late last year? I know the bipartisan Senate bill was being worked on,
36:43but that didn't include parole in place for spouses or anything for DACA recipients.
36:48Yeah, I mean, look – It seems different.
36:51No, I hear you. Look, there's been many phases of this, obviously. There was, first,
36:55the comprehensive immigration proposal legislation that the President introduced day one, right? And
37:02then he took – he's taken actions, right, from that moment until the bipartisan discussion was
37:09happening in Senate. Like, he's taken multiple actions, right? And then we had an opportunity
37:15late last year, early this year, to do that in a more balanced approach, right? To do that
37:20in the Senate with both Republicans and Democrats. So the President took that opportunity and
37:25directed his team to have those conversations. And we believed at that time what the proposal
37:30that was being put forward was going to be fair – tough but fair. And I would say since then,
37:38since it was rejected by Republicans twice, the President has looked at every option. And we say
37:43that. We say that many, many times. We look at all options. And we tried to figure out how we
37:49could move forward with these different options and different ways. And look, with the EO to
37:57secure the border, this is something that a majority of Americans wanted to see, right?
38:01No, I understand that. But the Senate bill seems separate than what's being announced today.
38:06No, and I'm agreeing with you.
38:07So, like, I'm trying to understand the impetus and why now for the impact of today.
38:12There's been many iterations of different ways to move forward in dealing with a broken
38:17immigration system. The first one was a comprehensive plan that the President himself
38:21put forward. And then he took actions, right? He took other actions between then, that moment,
38:28until we got to the Senate and their bipartisan proposal. And that was different. You're right.
38:35It is very different than what you're seeing here. The President has always said – remember,
38:38he's taken executive actions before. He took one very recently. And he's looking at every way to
38:45figure out how we can have policy that's also fair. We've always said that our immigration
38:50policy needs to be fair and just. We've always said that. And we've taken different approaches.
38:54We've taken different actions. This is the announcement for today.
38:57Is it fair to say you wanted to sign the executive order on the border before
39:00doing something like this for those?
39:02I mean, I'm not going to get into that. I think we know, right, for some time that what we're
39:10seeing at the border is dynamic. We saw that, right, that they were – that it was important
39:15to deal with the challenges of the border. So the President acted on that. And we've always said,
39:20we've always said that we need an immigration policy that's more just, that's more fair. I mean,
39:25let's not forget, this is a President that was part of the DACA, right, DREAMers getting a shot
39:33here and being able to stay and get work permits. That happened in 2012. So there's nothing unusual,
39:38I think, of where we are today than where the President has stood for some time, more than a
39:43decade. And so I think this is all part of that. This is all part of building on actions that he
39:49has taken. He would love to see a comprehensive congressional approach. We still need that. We
39:56still need legislation. And so he'll continue to work on that.
39:59Okay, Michael.
40:00Thanks, Grace. Sticking with immigration, this order is almost certainly going to be
40:05challenged in court. So I'm just wondering how confident you are that you're on solid legal
40:09footing with this? How confident are you that this can withstand the court challenge?
40:12So, look, we believe that this approach or this announcement that we're taking
40:17today is squarely within our legal authorities. That's what we believe.
40:23I have one on immigration, but I wanted to address the heat and the wildfires out west.
40:30How closely is the White House watching those wildfires? And is there any concern about the
40:35sort of early start to wildfire season?
40:39And I appreciate the question because I think it's really important. The President and his team are
40:43obviously closely monitoring the wildfires in California and also in New Mexico. And he has
40:49directed his team to do everything that they can to support state and local efforts to contain and
40:55suppress the fire. Today, FEMA approved two fire management assistant grants for the South Fork
41:02Fire and the Salt Fire in New Mexico. The U.S. Forest Service is on the ground right now working
41:09directly with their state and local counterparts to fight the blaze. As we do any time that we're
41:16seeing these wildfires, we certainly urge residents in the area to listen to local officials and heed
41:22the evacuation warnings and orders. It is imperative and critical that they do that.
41:27And I know you had a second question.
41:29Yeah. On immigration, I just wanted to – I mean, you keep referring to Congress's duty to act,
41:34the broken immigration system. Does the White House feel that –
41:37But it's true. I keep referring to it because it's –
41:38Understand.
41:39It's true. It's true.
41:39But does the White House feel that it is – that President Biden has exhausted everything that he
41:44can do on this matter by executive order?
41:47I mean, but look, you see the President making announcement. He's going to make
41:51announcement today. He took an executive action a couple weeks ago. We continue to say we're going
41:58to look to see what else we can do. And this is what he's directed his team to do, right, is to
42:04look at ways that we can deal with this broken immigration system. But this is piecemeal,
42:11right? I mean, this announcement is important. It's going to be important and critically
42:15important to American families and their communities. It's really important. But as I
42:21keep saying, in order to actually deal with this issue, we have to do it in a comprehensive way.
42:27The President's going to do everything that he can. And it is – I mean, it is imperative
42:34for Congress to do their job and to fix the system that's been broken for decades
42:39and not listen to the former president who's about their own political aspirations. That's
42:45not what we're talking about here. We're talking about dealing with a system that has been broken
42:49and moving forward in a way that helps Americans and American citizens and their families.
42:54Go ahead.
42:55Thank you, Karine. Back – going back to Prime Minister Netanyahu's comments earlier,
43:01he made this pretty blistering statement in English, posted it to social media for consumption
43:09by American English-language media not long after his war cabinet collapsed or he had to
43:17pull down his war cabinet. And you just said that you have no idea what he's talking about,
43:24and only this one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs has been paused by the President.
43:30Is the Prime Minister lying? Is he making things up for political effect?
43:35You would have to – I can't speak to his political strategy effects. That's not something
43:40that I can speak to. I can – I was asked a question. I answered it. I don't know what he's
43:44talking about. We were very clear about there being one, one shipment that we're having – continue
43:50to have construction conversations with Israel about. Nothing else has been paused. You heard
43:56that directly from Secretary Blinken. I can't speak for the Prime Minister. He's clearly speaking
44:02for himself. I'm speaking on behalf of this administration. I'm speaking on behalf of this
44:06President. I just don't have anything to add. I can't – I can't speak to his political strategy.
44:11That is not something for me to analyze, to do punditry from this podium.
44:16Understood. So just to confirm.
44:18Yeah.
44:19Anything other than the before-mentioned shipment of 2,000-pound bombs
44:23categorically untrue that it's been paused?
44:25I already answered this question in categorically untrue. There is one shipment,
44:30one shipment. All right. Go ahead, Anita.
44:33Thank you. I have a question about the Resolve Tibet Act and then another on marriage.
44:38Starting with the Resolve Tibet Act, China's warning that if the President signs it,
44:43there will be, quote, resolute measures, end quote, against the U.S. They're also protesting
44:48U.S. delegations like Nancy Pelosi who are going to India to meet with the Dalai Lama.
44:52So what is the White House's response to these threats from China,
44:55and does the President plan to sign this?
44:57I mean, look, the President is going to do what he thinks is best on behalf of the American people.
45:01That's what I can tell you.
45:02Yes or no?
45:03He's going to do what he thinks is best on behalf of the American people.
45:07I'm not going to get ahead of the President.
45:09Cool. All right. On marriage, it's hot, but sure. Cool. Sure. Cool. On marriage, so
45:17regarding this EO, in many states in the United States, such as my home state of Texas —
45:21Oh, marriage —
45:22Yeah.
45:23Okay.
45:23You have to present a stack of documents — for example, a driving license,
45:27a certified copy of birth certificate, passport or military identification card,
45:31and Social Security cards — in order to get a marriage license.
45:34Okay.
45:35This — I just wonder if this puts some of these applicants in this Kafka-esque situation
45:40where they haven't applied for this, they may have an informal marriage or a common-law marriage,
45:46and would that make them ineligible for this executive order? Do you accept things like,
45:51for example, the declaration of informal marriage form from states?
45:55So I appreciate — this is a process question. I appreciate the question. You're going to have to
45:59go to DHS to get specifics on that. I won't get into details of this,
46:06but that is something that the Department of House —
46:08I'm concerned that, you know, asking for what amounts to paperwork, legal paperwork,
46:13for people who are undocumented and have a lack of paperwork in many critical ways,
46:19might put them in a binding position.
46:21Look, I think the bottom line here is something to remember, that there are American families,
46:29there are people who have been here for 23 years who are married to American citizens
46:35and who have contributed into these communities, whether it's the economy
46:39or, as I said, in communities, and we want to protect American citizens, American families,
46:46and not separate them. And this is an opportunity to do that.
46:51And as far as, like, what this is going to look like, what are the rules, what's the process,
46:57that is something DHS can obviously speak to more. But if you look at this in a more
47:02broad stroke, this is an important announcement. This is. As we're dealing with an immigration
47:08policy that is broken, that is arcane, that has not been updated in some time,
47:14the president is doing everything that he can within his power to deal with this situation.
47:20And look, I'm going to be a broken record, but it is important as I'm trying to make my point here,
47:28Congress needs to act to actually have a comprehensive answer here to deal with the
47:34system. You would not be asking me this specific question if Congress did not,
47:38would do their job, right, if they would actually take action and do their job.
47:43And so I think what's important is this is an, this is a, this announcement is going to matter,
47:49is going to matter to American citizens who are here and have a spouse who have been here for
47:58more than a decade, participated in the economy, participated in their community. And I think
48:04that's important. Can I ask the last cricket question I promise I will ever ask? Did the
48:09president call the U.S. team after they beat Pakistan? And if by some wonderful turn of events
48:15they do win the tournament, will he be inviting them to the White House? What's the interest in
48:18the cricket team? No, it's great. I'm just. Are you serious? Because I can answer that. Oh yeah,
48:21no, I'm serious. Okay. So there are 5 million people of subcontinental origin in the United
48:26States. Add to that 13 million people of West Indian origin in the United States.
48:31You may see us everywhere. Yeah. But in terms of sports icons, we're thin on the ground.
48:35Okay. To see them with the word USA on their chests, beating the British at their own game.
48:44Now that's cool. Now that's cool. The decolonization metaphor. That's cool.
48:48So like we said yesterday, we certainly congratulate the U.S. cricket team. Obviously
48:53what they have been able to accomplish is meaningful to many people like yourself.
48:58And well, yeah, well, you know, 18 million of you all, which I think is incredibly important.
49:06Representation matters. You hear us say that all the time. As it relates to a call from the
49:12president, don't have anything to share at this time. But we are certainly, we congratulate them.
49:18It is a big deal. It is indeed very, very cool. And we are very proud and excited for them.
49:23Go ahead, Garrett. I have two questions. First, the fearless fund, a venture capital firm
49:29that awards grants to black women-owned businesses, had a federal appeals court
49:34suspend their grant program due to the claim that it discriminates against white businesses.
49:39The co-founder is calling on President Biden to take executive action to quote
49:44safeguard DEI initiatives and funding rights for marginalized groups. Similarly, the
49:50leadership conference on civil and human rights sent a letter to the president today asking for
49:56him to, given these collective, asking to promote, protect, and expand programs that lead to diversity,
50:04equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Given these concerns, does the White House believe
50:08it is doing all it can to protect diversity, equity, and inclusion? Yeah, so I'm going to
50:13be really mindful here. It's an ongoing litigation, so I don't want to speak to it directly.
50:18And, you know, don't have any news to make obviously on any executive action. But this is kind of,
50:27you know, in line to what I was just saying to Anita about how important for representation,
50:33how that matters. And the president always says diversity is one of our greatest strengths here
50:39in this country. It kind of really goes in line with many of the themes of today. And we
50:43talk about immigration, we talk about keeping talent and strengthening our community. It's all
50:50in line. And so what I will say more broadly is under this administration, we're achieving the
50:55fastest creation of black-owned business than we've seen in 25 years. I think it's about 18
50:59million new applications in small business since this administration started. I think that's
51:04important. And to have an increase in an uptick in black-owned business is, out of that 18 million,
51:11is actually pretty critical. The president also signed an executive order to advance diversity
51:17and accessibility within his first six months in office. This administration is going to keep
51:25providing economic mobility for all Americans, including obviously, you know, the talent and
51:33the talent that we see in black communities, including women and women-owned businesses,
51:38and how they contribute to our economy. And so that's something that we take very seriously here
51:43in this administration. SBA takes very seriously, obviously, in the work that they have done. And,
51:49you know, diversity is certainly one of our greatest strengths, which is something that
51:52the president says over and over again. Has the White House been in contact with the
51:56Fearless Fund at all? If we haven't been in contact with the Fearless Fund, I don't have any
52:02calls or meetings to speak to. And we're just going to be super mindful, as I just stated
52:07at the top in answering your question, this is an ongoing litigation, so we want to be super
52:11careful here. Given the president's actions on marijuana reform, does the White House have a
52:16response to Maryland Governor Wes Moore pardoning 175,000 marijuana convictions, which has been
52:23hailed as a major racial justice effort? So we certainly welcome the news, and it builds on
52:29the president's work to reform how nations approaches marijuana. And the president has said
52:36he called, you know, for governors to do their part and to take action. So this is
52:41welcomed, as I just stated. And, you know, in addition to rescheduling the process to reschedule
52:48marijuana, the president has been clear that no one, no one should be in jail just for possessing
52:54marijuana. And he has a record number of pardons for prior federal offenses of simple possession
53:00and use of marijuana. And he has, will continue to urge all governors to do the same. And so we
53:08see that in Maryland. We saw that in Massachusetts. We saw that in Oregon. And so he commends and
53:14welcomes certainly this news. On heat waves, climate experts... Sorry, can you start from
53:22the beginning? Yeah, on the heat waves, according to climate experts to advocacy groups, these heat
53:28waves are going to become more frequent, last longer, start earlier. Is the federal response
53:35and relief system adequately equipped to deal with this threat? So look, we are doing everything
53:42that we can to deal with what we're seeing, the heat wave. And you've heard us talk about
53:49climate change, and the president has taken certainly strong actions, progressive actions
53:55to deal with climate change. You see that in the Inflation Reduction Act,
53:59which is the biggest, biggest, biggest legislation to actually deal with climate change. But the
54:06president is going to continue to work, to work in lowering cooling costs. I think that's important,
54:11and keep Americans safe from extreme temperatures. A couple things that I just want to lay out. HHS
54:16launched a nationwide effort to help local officials identify communities most vulnerable
54:22to extreme heat and target resources to those communities. The Department of Labor is using all
54:27of its existing tools to protect workers from extreme heat. Since 2022, they have conducted
54:32over 5,000 federal heat-related inspections, and we have provided billions of dollars to cities
54:38nationwide to help build resilience against climate impacts like heat wave, including by
54:43expanding access to cooling systems for public housing residents. This is why the Inflation
54:48Reduction Act, which, by the way, only Democrats voted for it, was so critical and so important
54:55in providing those types of resources as well. I think I have to — yeah, Jared, I know I have to wrap it up.
54:59A follow-up to something that came up yesterday when you were asked about the president making
55:02comments about potential Supreme Court nominations. I was just curious, unrelated to the campaign,
55:08how far along is the president kind of thinking about who he'd want to nominate
55:11in the event that he has more nominations? Wow, that's way into the future.
55:16He brought it up sort of in the campaign, but is it something he's thinking about?
55:20I mean, look, as you said, you heard directly from the president. He brought it up in a campaign
55:25stop, obviously, this weekend in Los Angeles. I don't have anything more on the president's thinking
55:33or a list for you all at this time, but I guess what I like to say is stay tuned,
55:39stay tuned. All right, everybody, thank you so much.