86. he wanted to have that covid vaccine to set an example in his life. we're waiting, of course, for a very important briefing that will take place at the top of the hour. new actions for the president of the united states. brianna keilar takes over coverage. have a great weekend. hello, i'm brianna keilar and we will be taking you to the white house briefing as soon as it begins. in the next hour, president biden will continue with his flurry of executive actions. today he will be signing a new round of executive orders addressing the economic hardships that have been brought on by the pandemic. the president is using his second full day in office to target economic aid for millions of struggling americans. soon he will sign an executive order to expand access to food stamps. and today he will also expand protections for federal employees, and he will raise the

minimum wage for federal workers to $15 per hour. these executive orders are just a curtain raiser to biden's massive economic covid relief proposal. he has released details on an ambitious, nearly $2 trillion rescue plan that he hopes to push through congress. that plan includes a new round of stimulus checks, it includes funding for state and local governments as well as billions of dollars for vaccine funding. let's get right now to cnn chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins. kaitlan, what are we going to hear from the president today? >> i think this is part of this challenge we were talking about on day one of his time in office. of course, now we're on day three where he has spent basically the last few hours signing all these executive orders. yesterday he did so many related to the pandemic specifically, but this is the other major part of the pandemic, which is the economic aspect of this. so they are trying to send coronavirus relief to americans and tried to ease the pain that so many people have felt over the last ten months, given what's been going on with

coronavirus restrictions, and of course concerns about workplace safety as we're trying to get people vaccinated. i think that's the focus you're seeing at the white house today, because we're actually going to hear from the president in a little bit as he signs these executive orders, the covid focused ones. who we're about to hear from who we have not heard from yet is brian dease. he's going to lay out what the pathway is for the next steps on this. this is such a big aspect of how they're going to deal with this over the next few months, because it's not just getting vaccines to people, it's also how to bolster the economy that's gone because of the pandemic. the other thing we are expecting jen psaki, the press secretary, to be asked about, this news we're hearing on capitol hill about the article of impeachment for president trump to be delivered on monday, meaning that could trigger that trial to start sooner rather than later.

and, of course, the concern inside the white house is that it's going to hinder president biden's agenda his first few days in office. so far he only has two of those critical cabinet posts filled so far, a second one today with the defense department, but, of course, they have many more to go. those are incredibly critical positions. so how that affects what he wants to achieve is going to be something they're asked about. so far they've tried to take a hands-off approach to it and say, we're leaving that timing up to the senate, but a colleague told jeff zeleny today, we are going to move past this. now we'll see what they say now that we have these developments from chuck schumer. >> let's pause, kaitlan. jen psaki is at the podium. let's listen in. >> today we are joined by national economic council director brian dease who will highlight some key highlights the president is issuing today regarding the economy and outlining their impact on

american families and workers. brian is kind enough to take a few questions. he has to go a briefing soon, so i will take over when he has to cut you off. brian? >> thanks, jen. i wanted to take just a couple minutes to talk to you about the executive actions the president will take today. to start with a little bit of context, our economy is at a very precarious moment. we are 10 million jobs short, still, of where the economy was when this pandemic started. last month the economy lost jobs for the first time since last spring. retail sales fell last month, and just yesterday we saw another 900,000 americans file for unemployment insurance. that's a weekly rate that is higher than any week during the great recession. it's a moment that requires

decisive action to beat this pandemic and support the economic recovery that american families need. that's why a week ago, president biden laid out a comprehensive american rescue plan, a plan that is focused on changing the course of the pandemic, getting students back in school, and giving families and businesses a bridge to the economic recovery, while also addressing the stark inequities in our economy that this crisis has exposed. we have been engaging closely with members of congress, with governors, mayors, business and labor organizations in the weeks since and will continue to do so and hope that congress will move quickly to consider this important proposal without delay. at the same time, the american people are hurting and they can't afford to wait. they need help right now. and that's the motivation behind

the actions that the president will take today. i want to be very clear, these actions are not a substitute for comprehensive legislative relief, but they will provide a critical lifeline to millions of families. so just to get into the specifics, the president will sign two executive orders today. the first directs agencies to consider a number of actions that will provide emergency relief for working families affected by the covid-19 crisis. within existing authorities and helping to correct some of the errors or omissions of the prior administration in providing families with relief. i just want to touch on a couple elements that are in that executive order to give you a sense of what we're talking about. on the issue of food insecurity, which is a growing crisis in america of hunger, nearly 30 million americans last week said

they didn't have enough food to put on the table. so the president will ask the department of agriculture to consider taking immediate steps to provide nutrition assistance to hard-hit families, first by increasing pandemic ebt benefits by about 15%. this is the program that is aimed at supporting families who traditionally rely on the school lunch program to provide meals to millions of kids through their schools. so in the pandemic, the pandemic ebt program provides direct assistance to families to cover those costs. but the way it is being implemented today doesn't get to the full costs necessary. so with these changes, an eligible family with three children would get an additional 1 $100 over two months to help pay for food.

second, increasing the emergency snap benefits for 30 million americans, this is the target to preventing hunger in america, and these changes for a family of four would mean about a 15% to 20% benefit increase. and third, revising the thrifty food plan, which is really the basis for determining snap benefits, is out of date and needs to be updated to better reflect the cost of a healthy diet. another element of this executive order is to promote worker safety. and here president biden will ask the department of labor to consider clarifying that workers have a federally guaranteed right to refuse employment that would jeopardize their headlight. and if they do so, they will still qualify for unemployment insurance. this is a commonsense step to make sure that workers have a right to safe work vienvironmen

and that we don't put workers in the middle of a pandemic in a position where they have to choose between their own livelihoods and the health of they and their families. the second executive order that the president will sign is focused on the jobs of federal workers and on federal contractors. he will direct his administration to initiate a process starting today that would allow him, within 100 days, to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay at least a $15 minimum wage and provide emergency pay leave to workers. this was something that the president talked about on the campaign, that when we're using taxpayer dollars, federal contractors should provide the benefits in pay that workers deserve. the order will also protect and empower federal employees who have dedicated their careers to serving the american people, many in very difficult

circumstances during this pandemic. and the steps will include restoring collective bargaining power and worker protections for federal workers, eliminating so-called schedule f which has threatened the protections of career employees and also provided a potential pathway to burrow political appointees into civil service. also promoting a $15 minimum wage by directing the opm, the office of public management, to develop recommendations to pay more federal workers at least 15 there are an hour. finally, just one final note in addition to the executive orders that we'll be issuing today, we will be focusing on another key priority of the president and the vice president which is equitable relief to small businesses. in previous rounds of relief, too much of the support that has been dedicated to small businesses has left out the smallest businesses, mom and pop

businesses that don't have existing connections to a financial institution, in particular black, latino and native american owned businesses were shut out completely, and a lot of that is because of the outreach in communication from the federal government was unclear or just nonexistent. so too many of those companies have been denied relief, and many of them have had to shut their doors for good. the president is completely focused on changing that, and he has directed us to take immediate steps to make sure that we're listening to these communities, we're taking their advice on how to improve the distribution of relief. so just this morning, i met, along with representatives of the small business administration, with dozens of groups representing black and brown-owned businesses and other underserved communities as well as lenders to hear their ideas on how we can improve communications and act on them. we discussed the president's

idea of having navigators who are dedicated to helping small business owners find the right relief programs, fill out paperwork, get the money into their bank accounts, the kind of support that many of these businesses don't have because of embedded relationships that more well-connected businesses do. there are some groups out there in the country who are doing this really successfully. we're determined to learn from them and to scale those efforts nationwide. and in this vein, i look forward, i will be joining vice president harris today. she will be meeting with small business owners to discuss both the american rescue plan and the need for more small business relief delivered without delay. so that is today. that is our focus through a set of executive orders, and i'm happy to take a couple questions, of which you all have

many. >> reporter: hi, brian, good to see you. thank you for taking questions today. >> hi. >> i want to ask you about a call on sunday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. what can you tell us about the call? will president biden be on the call, and what is your message to moderate republicans like mitt romney who say the economy can't have another stimulus after you just passed a $900 billion relief package last month? >> thanks, kristen. so the president has made clear to his team that we should be reaching out to members of congress from both parties to make the case for the rescue plan and to engage with them, understand their concerns. so that's what we're doing, both myself and senior members of the team. we have been doing that over the course of time. we'll continue to do that, including the call on sunday that i'll be doing with a group

of senators, and we'll continue that engagement going forward. in terms of the message, it's pretty clear. we're at a precarious moment for the virus and the economy. without decisive action, we risk falling into a very serious economic hole, even more serious than the crisis we find ourselves in. and economists across the board, including today, president trump's former chairman of the council of economic advisers arguing strenuously that now is the time for that type of decisive action for the economy, and that we can't wait to provide the resources to make sure that we can open schools, we can get vaccine shots into people's arms, and we can provide that bridging relief to families and small businesses. there is a lot of support. i met with a group of mayors

yesterday, bipartisan group of mayors from across the country. you hear from mayors, you hear from governors just crying out that in order to take on these crises, the public health, the pandemic and the economic crisis at the same time, now is the moment for that kind of decisive action. that's the case we'll be making. >> just to be clear, brian, will president biden be on the call, and if not, why not, if this is so urgent? >> like i said, we're doing all outreach. the president has directed the team to do outreach to members of congress, to business and labor organizations, to mayors and governors, and we're in the process of doing that. i'll be having that conversation on sunday. you can expect that other members of the administration will be engaging with members of congress across time as well. >> reporter: and just very quickly, brian, if i could, what would a february impeachment trial, how would a february impeachment trial impact getting the covid relief package passed? >> look, i think that we have --

we are facing right now a period of multiple crises. what we're going to need is to be able to act on multiple fronts. and so that's certainly -- we understand, and as jen has spoken to, we understand that the senate has a constitutional obligation in this context, but we also have these pressing economic and pandemic priorities as well, so we're going to -- that's why we're engaging, that's why we're focused on making the case and certainly with the expectation that congress will heed that call and move forward. >> reporter: if you are able to pass this nearly $2 trillion plan, do you envision this being the last stimulus, or do you think you may need to do more? >> what i can tell you is if we don't act more, we will be in a much worse place and we will find ourselves needing to do much more to dig out of a much

deeper hole. so what i can tell you is the single most important thing economically right now is to take decisive action. along the lines of what we've laid out in this rescue plan. and you hear, again, from economists across the board, whether it's the federal reserve, the international monetary fund and economic experts across the political spectrum as well. when you're at a moment that is as precarious as the one we find ourselves in, the risk of doing too little, the risk of undershooting far outweighs the risk of doing too much, and that's the economic logic, the economic case behind this package. i think you've also heard the president clearly explain that his economic approach is one where rescue and recovery need to come together, and he'll be speaking more about his recovery plans in the coming weeks that are about building back better and urging priority to start creating the kinds of good jobs

we know we will need coming out of this crisis. >> reporter: after the recession, it took nearly a decade to get the country back to full employment under the obama administration. if you're able to pass this rescue package, how long do you think it will take for every american that wants a job to be able to have one? >> i would just point to one example of an independent analysis that was done of the american rescue plan by moody's. what they said -- what they found was that if we pass the american rescue plan now, we could see 7.5 million jobs created just this year, and we could see a return to full employment a full year ahead of what is projected if we don't. those are the stakes involved, and without this kind of decisive action, we're going to have a much deeper economic hole, and that's why we are so focused on making the case for a decisive action now. >> justin? >> reporter: thanks, jen and brian. i want to follow up on welker's

question a little bit. the president wants to seek this bill, but also made it clear there are policy differences. so with the kind of cooperation you would need to get this passed, if you want to know if the white house would pursue bipartisan legislation, and i'm also wondering if you can talk about what the sort of red lines will be, the point at which you say, okay, if you're not willing to negotiate, we're just going to start working with democrats as speaker pelosi and others did. >> i guess i'll say two things to that. if you look at the elements of the american rescue plan, it was designed with a bottoms-up focus on what are the experts saying is the actual need. what's the actual need to get schools open, to have a distribution plan to underline

the strategy you heard dr. fauci and the president talk about yesterday. what's the need to support families and businesses during this transition? and the second thing is that as a result of that, i think we're seeing a lot of support. as i said, bipartisan mayors, bipartisan governors, business organizations, chamber of congress, business roundtable, economists across the board saying this is an appropriate response to an unprecedented economic circumstance. so that's the approach that we are taking, and that's the perspective that we are bringing here. and i think that we are heartened to see that kind of support, and that's the conversation that we're going to have with members of congress, be they republicans or democrats, including, you know, looking at where we've come over the last year and the lessons we've learned, that without decisive action, we know the consequences. and so now is a moment not to

undershoot or to wait and see, now is a moment to act. >> i guess my question is a lesson that president obama and others talked about from the aca fight was continuing republican support beyond the point of it being productive. so i'm wondering with you guys, what is the decision point going to be where you, you know, you might not have republican mayors, but it looks like you don't have republican senators right now. what is the point where you stop asking? >> we're making the case, we're having conversations, we're listening, and we're also focused on the emergency and the need to act. what i can tell you is that's where the president's focus is, that's where the vice president's focus is. that will continue to be where the focus is. we want to engage, we want to act, and that's going to be what guides us here. >> reporter: thank you for doing this, brian. back to the point of the

objections from some of these republican senators who have already spoken out. they say they just passed 900 million or so at the end of the year. most of it isn't even out yet. how do you think if that number hasn't gotten into the system yet that you need to release more at this point? why move ahead with a trillion-dollar plan if the 900 million hasn't even gotten out the door? >> first of all, we waited for six months or more before congress acted. so, really, a lot of what that 900 billion was doing was filling a hole in the second half of 2020 that desperately needed to be filled. and so this is not an issue of congress acting too much, it's an issue of not acting enough. the second is if you look at the components of the $900 billion, again, we could go line by line, but these are resources that are either already out the door or

are addressing economic challenges or public health challenges that were in the rearview mirror. so as we find ourselves today looking forward, we need a very decisive set of actions if we are actually going to get schools open, if we're actually going to get a vaccination program up and running, and i think that the case we will make is that today, we are not where we need to be. and if we go line by line in the american rescue plan, these provisions have been designed based on an assessment of need, and we think they're going to absolutely be necessary. so i think that looking forward, we're quite confident that this is the prudent assessment of needs. >> toi want to clarify two quic things. how many federal employees or federal contractors are making minimum wage right now? do you guys know?

>> i don't have an estimate of that right now. >> and then last night you said there are roughly 8 million people who haven't received their stimulus checks. how do you find them? >> it's a great question. this is principalliy an issue associated with non-filers. they aren't filing income taxes mostly because they don't make enough money to need to file federal income taxes. so as a result, the way the treasury department in the previous administration has focused on getting those checks out has been to work through the tax system. but those are people who are legally entitled to those checks, and so we have a number of strategies that we're going to pursue, and today we'll start with the president's executive order to direct the department of treasury to consider a whole range of efforts, including creating an online portal that would allow people to easily

identify if they're eligible to work through counterpart organizations to actually affirmatively do outreach to communities where we know there are significant numbers of these families and these individuals to let people know that they may be available. some of this is education outreach as well. and i would just -- you know, it's a little connected to what i was saying about small business as well. what the president is directing all of us to do is to really focus on the affirmative steps that we can take. an affirmative strategy to say it's not enough to just say, well, if folks don't know or if they don't have a network, then they're left out in the cold. we're going to work both directly in what the federal government can do and with partner organizations to try and make sure that every american that's entitle tod to a benefit actually receiving it. >> reporter: if there's someone out there that hears you and says, i'm eligible and i haven't

received it, is there a way today to raise their hand and get a check? >> starting today, we're going to make a process to make that a lot easier for families, including being able to go online and do that. but that's work that's going to start today. >> reporter: i just have one small question on the eo targeting the food insecurity. does the fda have the money for these programs? >> these are mandate-appropriated programs so there is no need for fda action. these are changes that can be made under existing statute and under existing budgetary authority without any additional action from congress. >> reporter: the money is there, though? >> it's a mandatory program so it operates based on -- the benefits are paid out based on

who is eligible. >> thank you, all. all right, everyone, happy friday. i have a couple of things just at the top, some things you've been asking about, so hopefully they address some of the questions you may have. first we congratulate the confirmation of general lloyd austin who has been breaking black barriers all his life. he is a major benefit to our national security and he's going to hit the ground running leading the pentagon. he will be sworn in today, but he will be sworn in more officially by -- not more officially, i should say, but he will be sworn in more ceremoniously on monday by the vice president. similarly the president is very happy to see that janet yellen, the first woman who would ever lead the u.s. treasury department, was unanimously voted out of committee this morning. this should only be the

beginning. we're facing unprecedented challenges and threats to our national security during these emergencies in our country that we urgently need janet yellen in place. and our confirmation has been approved three times. the assault on the capitol and the tragic deaths and destruction that occurred underscored what we have long known. the domestic rise of insecurity is a threat. the biden administration will face this threat with resolve. we will act on objective and rigorous analysis and with protected free speech and

political activities. our initial work on dv will broadly fall into three areas. the first is a tasking from president biden sent from the odi today, requesting a prompt assessment coordinated with the fbi on violent extremism. this will draw from analysis across the government, and as appropriate, non-governmental organizations. the key point here is that we want fact-based analysis on which we can shape policy. this is really the first step in the process and we will rely on our appropriate law enforcement and intelligence officials to provide that analysis. the second will be the building of an nec capability to focus on countering domestic violent extremism. they will undertake a policy review effort to determine how the government can share information better about this threat, support efforts to prevent radicalization, support violent extremist networks and more.

there is support across the agency in countering dve, and we need to understand better its current extent and where there may be gaps to address so we can determine the best path forward. the third will be creating relevant parts of the federal government to enhance and regulate threats to the dve. they will focus on evolving threats, radicalization, social media, ability to improve information sharing, operational responses and more. just a couple more items. as you all know, the president and vice president are having lunch. this is something they look forward to doing every week. they'll be discussing their agenda, particularly getting relief to working families and containing the covid crisis, and i'm sure they'll talk about the last 48 hours as well. later today the president will speak with prime minister of canada, justin trudeau. we confirmed that earlier this

week. yesterday evening the first lady held a virtual event to show gratitude for the hard work of educators across the country, especially during this difficult time of covid-19. she was accompanied by representatives of the american federation of teachers and the education council. today she will tour the whitman walker clinic in washington, d.c. to promote services for cancer patients and caregivers. we want to use this platform also to share with you information about both the vice president and the first lady moving forward. one more item as well. earlier this morning or late this morning, i should say, the president called general daniel hoganson, who is head of the national guard, to thank him for not just his work of the last few weeks but the work of the national guard over the last several years. he talked about his own personal

commitment and connection to the national guard given his son had served previously, and he offered assistance, any assistance needed of both the government but also on a personal level and asked him to reach out if there was anything that he ever needed. i will stop there. just a few updates. >> reporter: i know this has been asked of you several times, but now that there is an impeachment trial imminent, does president biden have an opinion on whether former president trump should be convicted? and then secondly, you're now getting a little bit of momentum on confirmations. you have all that you need to get going on coronavirus, on the economy and so forth. is this just going to slow everything down, and does it also take away from the ability to unify? >> well, first, remarkably, at

this moment in history we have some recent precedent of the senate conducting an impeachment trial while also doing the business of the american people. and when the trial was being conducted last january, there were also hearings that were happening nearly on a daily basis, and we expect that type of work to continue. i'll also note, purely on an operational level, the house can also proceed and continue to do the work on the american rescue plan, move that forward, and we certainly expect and hope that they will do that. but what the president's view is what can't be delayed through this process is his proposal to get relief to the american people at this time of crisis. so he's confident, he remains confident after serving decades in the senate that the senate, members of both parties, can walk and chew gum at the same time and can move forward with the business of the american

people. >> reporter: does he believe that former president trump should be convicted? >> he's no longer in the senate, and he believes it's up to the senate and congress to determine how they will hold the former president accountable and what the mechanics and timeline of that process will be. >> reporter: are the tools and methods available to federal law enforcement? are they what we need right now? are we still stuck in a sort of post-9/11 mindset and does there need to be a broad, radical approach to how we do things in the senate? >> the reason the president and the national security team wanted to do this review is it's a priority to make sure we're assessing what's happening in government and how we can do better. clearly more needs to be done. that's why the president is tasking the national security team to do exactly this review on his second full day in

office. so it's sending an indication of that. let me give you a little bit more information. homeland security adviser dr. randall has asked dr. gelsher to pioneer an investigation in the next 100 days. gelsher previously served as the senior director of terrorism on the national security council from 2015 to 2017, and deputy homeland security adviser rick trevors will also bring some of their experience. they will have a review of the steps they're going to be following. >> reporter: one on impeachment, and then if i could on covid. on impeachment, did house speaker nancy pelosi consult with president biden before sending the article of impeachment over to the senate? >> i don't have any calls between them to read out, kristen. obviously they're in regular touch.

i can say from a previous question you asked brian that he's been in touch with both parties about his agenda, even since he was inaugurated. so a range of topics come up in those discussions, but i don't have anything to read out for you. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell said he's going to push for a february team imeline. i know you don't want to comment on the timeline, but how would a february trial assist in getting covid relief passed? >> the president believes in the senate and their ability to multi-task and get the business of the american people done at the same time while they're proceeding on an impeachment trial, on whatever timeline it begins and ends on. >> reporter: is mitch mcconnell fast enough for them? >> he's going to leave it up to them. again, there is precedent for this. they are going to continue to move forward with getting relief to the american people, because that can't be delayed until march, april or may. we can't afford that. >> reporter: if i could follow up with you on what you said about covid yesterday.

you said your goal was a million shots per day which would double, you said, what the trump administration was doing. according to the cdc, we have reached a million shots a day last week. so given that, given the urgent need for vaccinations, why not aim higher? >> first of all, we're not packing up our bags and leaving at 100 days. we felt it was important, and we set that goal before any american had received a single shot. so the incoming biden administration felt it was important to set what was described as a bold and ambitious goal at the time, and many doubted we could even get there. we want to set our own markers and markers for the american public so they know we're meeting our goal. if we surpass that, that's great. we're going to continue working after day 100 as well, but there are a number of factors dr. fauci also talked about. it's not just having access to the vaccine, right? it's about addressing vaccine hesitancy, it's about ensuring we have the materials needed, it's about -- and you all have

done reporting, of course, on different issues going on in states from new york and others where there are concerns about supply, where there's confusion about the process, and we need to address that. so there are a number of operational challenges that are happening at the same time. >> reporter: okay. >> reporter: following up on the vaccine, stakeholders we talk to, state leaders, medical experts have said one of the questions they're trying to figure out is how much vaccine is actually in the national stockpile right now? do you have any sense of that yet? >> our team has been on the ground for about 48 hours, but certainly what they want to determine is not just the operational issues i referenced but also what we're looking at in terms of supply. we are, as you may know, we are going to be starting briefings next week, i should say, a couple times a week with some of our health experts, so i expect they'll be able to provide some update of what they've reviewed and what they have access to at that point in time.

>> reporter: two other quick wu ones on the previous subject. adam schiff is calling on president biden not to extend the courtesy to president trump on getting access to intelligence. any word on that? >> not that i'm aware of. we would certainly leave the decision to the intelligence committee. >> reporter: there is concern about who exactly dismissed the chief white house usher. did the biden or was it the previous administration? >> that's a very important question. i'm happy you asked it. it happened before we walked in the door so i don't have any more information than what we provided. go ahead. >> reporter: not to belabor this point, but you said congress can walk and chew gum at the same time, which is true. but there are also only so many hours in the day. has the president expressed any concern that a trial will slow down any movement on a covid relief bill? >> only that it cannot. there are only so many hours in

the day, you're right, but again, if there is a senate trial happening in the senate, of course, it would happen in the senate, the house can move forward on a package. and certainly there is the capacity and ability to have discussions, have hearings, take steps to move forward on the president's covid relief package, and we don't think it can be delayed or it can wait, so they're going to have to find a path forward and he's confident they can do that. >> reporter: president biden has made pretty clear that he believes former president trump is unfit to serve. does he think he should be barred from holding federal office going forward? >> we'll leave it to congress. he ran against him because he thought he was unfit to serve and he's no longer here because president biden beat him. but we'll leave the steps, the accountability steps to congress to determine. >> reporter: a couple covid questions. any update as to whether the president may sit down with congressional leaders to discuss and try to hammer out this package? >> sure. i will say without giving you specifics, necessarily, which i know you're looking for so i

shouldn't have locked myself into that rabbit hole, but the president has already done a number of calls with democrats and republicans. that will continue. he's very eager to be closely involved, roll up his sleeves and be making calls himself soon, but i don't have an update on any meeting. i will also add for context, i know the reporting, thanks to your reporting, i suppose, about the meeting this weekend kind of got out there and obviously brian confirmed it. there are a lot of meetings happening at one time with a lot of different officials, so i wouldn't see that as this is the negotiating tool that is one of many engagements and one of many discussions that the president, the vice president, senior members of the white house team are having and are ongoing. >> reporter: is he confident you have enough democrats on board with this plan to pass this? >> well, he announced the plan about a week ago, right, and his view is this is how democracy

should work, which is the president of the united states announces what his vision is and what his plan, his proposed plan is to address the crises the american people are facing. then there are ongoing discussions with congress. they like some pieces, they don't like other pieces. you have seen democrats like many pieces, republicans like many of the pieces, too, and he's had those encouraging conversations. but the final package may not look exactly like the package that he proposed. that's okay. that's how the process, the legislative process, should work. go ahead, justin. >> reporter: thanks, welcome back. >> thank you. >> reporter: i have a question on covid but i want to start with housekeeping. i was wondering if -- >> the plane? >> sure, we can start there. >> on the plane we are certainly aware of the white house military units' proposal that

has been submitted to them about reconsidering the color scheme of air force one. i can confirm for you here the president has not spent a moment thinking about the color scheme of air force one or anything in the house or any article of anything, so -- and no one is going to submit a decision memo to him on that particular topic, but certainly we're aware of the proposal, and as there are any updates, we're happy to provide them to you. >> reporter: maybe a little more tentatively, you mentioned companies yesterday, but not specific companies that had dpa contracts and the state hub was mentioned in the first briefing. >> i don't know of certain companies for you. i can see if we have more of those specifics. obviously those conversations with happening as we speak. there was a question whether the

defense production act had been inv invoked. it has been invoked, so those conversations are ongoing. the president has supported d.c. statehood in the past, that's certainly his position, but i don't have anything for you in the timeline or next steps there. >> reporter: on covid quickly, the administration's last efforts were there would be a big announcement on jared kushner's testing website and no timeline put on it, it never really materialized. i was interested when the chief of staff said last night there would be a central clearing house for vaccine information, and i was wondering if you could provide an expectation or timeline on when americans could expect when there is a dot.gov e-mail address or phone number they could go to to figure out their vaccine information. >> i know members of my family are curious about that question, as i'm sure yours are. it is something they're eager to do to provide the american

public about when they can call their pharmacy and schedule an appointment just to make it easier. the lack of information, and the disinformation at times about how people can get the vaccine, when they can get the vaccine, who is eligible has created a great deal of confusion, as you all know. i don't have anything on the timeline, but i will remind you the person who saved healthcare.gov and the person who helped him are working on the covid team. so we're in very good hands and they're certainly committed to getting more information out in a more accessible way. go ahead. >> reporter: two questions. the first has to do with operations in the west wing. who has oval office walk-in privileges in this white house? do you have oval office walk-in privileges as you speak to the president, and how does that access control things? >> i won't give you a list of everybody, but since the first conversation i had with president-elect biden, he said

it was important to him that we have regular conversations and we're able to have a discussion about how he sees things and questions coming up to make sure we're providing you all with information not just about our policies, which is, of course, pivotal, but also his thinking on issues. so i talked to him this morning, and certainly i expect and anticipate i'll have regular conversations with him, and there are a number of other people who have those conversations with him on a daily basis as well. that's part of his style and part of his style of governing is to make sure that people who are engaging with the outside world have an understanding of his thinking. >> reporter: one more question for you. is dr. deborah birx still a member of this covid response team? >> i'll have to circle back on that one. that's an excellent question. i don't have any information in front of me. >> reporter: iver've got a quesn about the senate and also a foreign policy question. >> great. i love foreign policy questions. >> reporter: thank you. senator mcconnell and senator schumer have been going back and forth over discussions when it

comes to a power situation. obviously the sticking point has been the filibuster. are you concerned those conversations could delay the president's legislative agenda, his nominees, and also does the president still oppose overturning the legislative filibuster like he did in that interview with the "new york times"? >> the president's position hasn't changed, but i will say he's conveyed in conversations with both now leader schumer and senator mcconnell that they need to have their conversations, of course, but he is eager to move his rescue plan forward, he is eager to get relief to the american public. he wants to work with both of them to do exactly that and he wants it to be a bipartisan bill, so that is his objective. >> reporter: his position hasn't changed, he opposes overturning a filibuster? >> his position has not changed.

>> reporter: and on the way out the door, trump said china's crimes were, quote, crimes against humanity and genocide. does the president agree with that opinion? >> we know our state is just about to be confirmed, so mitch mcconnell tells us. i know he will be reviewing decisions that have been made. obviously the president has spoken before to the horrific treatment of reagers. i don't have anything more. >> reporter: just a couple quick follow-ups. the families that depend on schools to feed their children, that is $100 for three children every two months. is that too little too late? what more are you thinking of doing? >> first i will say that the executive actions, and this is

something when we were discussing this with the president earlier today, are just part of his effort to bring relief to the american people. his priority was overturning a number of the detrimental steps that the trump administration had taken and to take steps that he can through executive authority through the review of the legal team to do, to bring that relief. but he has also proposed this large package, as many of you have pointed out to all of us, to bring additional relief, and he wants to work with congress to build on executive actions, to take a bipartisan approach to making sure we are -- that kids have food to eat, that people who don't have jobs have the relief they need, that we can get the vaccine out, that schools can reopen. those are all priorities of his, but his big focus is undoing that in a bipartisan way with congress. >> reporter: there was this other detail mentioned about the $15 minimum wage, and i know brian spoke about federal

contractors. but the issues obviously faced a lot of opposition in previous days. is chuck schumer ready to bring the bill that the house passed on the $15 to the senate? how does this broadly help workers around the current. >> again, there are many federal contractors of course serving the government. he felt it was something not just right to do something necessary to do, but he has proposed a significant relief package, package that will provide assistance to many, many americans, and he will continue to advocate for the $15 minimum wage moving forward. no question about it. go ahead. >> thank you very much, jen. i'd like to focus on vaccinations. there's arguably something the federal government can do on this front.

in new york a looming -- the governor and mayor saying they're running out of first batches of the vaccine and don't expect to get more than tuesday. a three-day gap. is the federal government and president biden doing fanything to prevent that? >> looked the cdc to look into exactly this issue and see what can you done. i i don't have updates beyond that but certainly don't want any states to run out of access to vaccine. we are hopeful in the weeks ahead as we get our sea legs here and our team starts to operationalize engagement with governors, engagement with local officials, to provide them a greater understanding of supply, of what we are going to have access to, in a farther in a time frame farther in advance that we can avoid situations like this in the future, but we've asked the cdc to look into what's happened. >> on that, arguably there's a

way the federal government is flip a switch and alleviate that. and ay lew what they have to be used for first shots? >> in the past we advocated for releasing additional access from reserves but have really deferred to health and medical experts. that's why we've asked the cdc to look into what the options are. >> asked the cdc to look into this? >> look into, have the conversation with foishofficial new york and look into what is possible. we want to lean into health and medical experts to make the decisions. go ahead. >> thanks, jen. one of the executive orders signed yesterday requires that travelers quarantine or self-isolate. is the administration going to do anything to enforce that rule or is it an honor system?

sand one more. has the president considered establishing any sort of national memorial to memorialize those people who died from be coronavirus? >> both excellent questions. first i should have information on but i have to follow-up with you on both. i'm not aware of the second piece. interesting idea. bring it back to people see what they have to say. >> and the president gotten feedback on the immigration bill sent to the hill yesterday and an overall timeline when he'd like to see that move? >> well, we already have co-sponsors of the immigration bill, as you may have seen. obviously it's a good sign. a number of experts, you know, covered this issue some sometime. canning for a little detail, who worked on immigration reform, had bipartisan decisions in the past. this bill sent forward yesterday we hope an opportunity for a reset to restart those discussions but expect that will be the first step here, and that

we're hopeful that the components of this proposed bill which are different than proposed in the past, because it includes smarter security, includes a path to citizenship and includes funding to address the root cause, will help be the basis of those discussions. we would like to see them move forward quickly. >> okay. go ahead and -- >> you mentioned issue of the vaccine hesitancy. does the president believe all americans should get it's v vaccine and those reluctant to get it, how do you convince them it's safe? >> he does. the more people vaccinated the safer we are. that health and medical experts conveyed that. i'm quoting. in terms of addressing vaccine hesitancy, it's a big challenge. you heard dr. fauci talk about this yesterday, and it will be easier for the first tranche of americans to get, to convince them to get the vaccine. they're looking for information where to go, how to sign up, how

to get grandma to come with them. it's really the next layer of people who are concerned. as you alluded to about the safety and efficacy, and unfortunately there is a, a large percent, a larger than should be percentage in minority communities, communities of color, and so we have been quite thoughtful or want to be quite thoughtful how we do outreach and engagement. y obviously making it accessible. ensuring we have community centers and health centers to provide the vaccine and who's communicating on behalf of the government or on behalf of the safety of the vaccine. the president certainly will be doing that. the vice president will be doing that. i know a lot of celebrities have offered. that's okay, but what's interesting in the data, we welcome that, it's great, interesting in the data. local doctors and local officials, people from the community are people who are often most trusted, and so we're trying to empower and be able to

fund local communities to be able to be the spokespeople to build that trust. go ahead in the back. >> thank you, jen. on the, you mentioned that the covid package, the talks, may change the package and already things you feel there's bipartisan support for. any consideration taken place or that may take place in separating some of these pieces out and passingal things first and foremost that may generate bipartisan support given the urgency you talk about? >> well, you know, i will say as brian said, that our objective here, the way that the package was designed was to address the core issues of the crisis. i think the tricky piece of that question is, do you delay vaccine funding to distribute the vaccine? do you delay funding for unemployment insurance? do you delay funding to reopen schools? nobody wants to be having a conversation about why schools aren't reopen in may or june. democrats, republicans, or members of congress.

there are key components in here that we, that in the package designed to address the current crises. right now we're having a discussion about the big package, but as you noted, there are viewpoints, points of view, no surprise, about many components of it. certainly we understand that. we welcome the discussion andy gaugement with members of both parties. >> on the back period for the domestic violence extremism orders, letters you sent. is there a period when you're expecteding to get make -- >> when we're getting the report back? i don't believe we have outlined that yet. let me -- we can follow-up with you if there's a specific timeline putting out publicly at this point. go ahead, and committee yesterday said that president biden wouldn't be signing any free trade deals because the focus was on the domestic economic and infrastructure. where does that lead potential for uk/u.s. trade deals which is it months away? or next year? or year after? >> well, i can't give you any

timeline. i will say that what is important to the president and also our national security adviser jake sullivan is that we do everything we do, must help advance working families and the american middle class. that center includes any trade agreements and that is part of their objective and how they would approach it. but as you noted, at this point in time we're working to get the pandemic under control, provide economic relief to the american public and of course can do multiple things same time, but those are primary priorities at this point. >> can i ask what happened to the churchill bastian and what should be read about its removal. >> important question. the plain of today. i will follow-up on that. i don't have -- it is something that may certainly be existing in the complex, of course. very familiar with the bust, but we will circle back with you if there's more to update you on that. go ahead, and just asking you, follow-up on domestic unrest.

first of all, does the president have any comment on the ongoing violence in oregon and washington state? >> certainly we had our team on the ground, our national security team, even before 12:01 early in the morning on inauguration day, because we wanted to be able to monitor events happening across the country and any unrest that was resulting from, from the last couple of weeks. i haven't spoken with him specifically about those events but it's something our national security team, homeland security adviser is closely monitoring, of course. but if we have additional update i'm happy to provide it to you. >> and speaking with mexico. word on, any discussion about when or under what conditions he, the vice president, the secretary of state, would fly over seas to meet with the leader? >> despite his desire, my desire if that matters, to do a foreign

trip, i think it will be a bit of time i don't have an update when at this point. i expect additional foreign leader calls next week, as has been the case with our national security team. you can anticipate those will start with allies and partners including many europeans but no specific day-by-day calendar at this points. >> does he still plan to go to mass every weekend and has he pick add parish here in the washington area or a place he plans to go. >> his faith is quite torimport you know from covering him. i expect he will continue to attend church very regularly. he has not selected a church yet, if and when that happens we'll certainly keep you updated. taken, go ahead in the back. >> tokyo plie