welcome to wednesday. it's "meet the press daily." we're minutes from the start of today's daily white house briefing. it was delayed about a half hour. it should start any moment. the administration is having a collision of cat troughics. it's left many many texas without heat and electricity. it isn't done yet.

as of this morning, roughly 2.5 million texans were without power which many are using to heat their homes and dozen have died. some due to their desperate attempts to stay warm. this isn't because of the storm knocked down power lines. natural gas pipelines have frozen. water systems have gone down. the frigid temperatures remain and a second winter storm system is only worsening the situation. how did this happen? well, look, this isn't a typical disruption. most of us that are used to when the storms are the ones that knock down powers or sometimes ice brings down a tree branch which brings down power. this cold spell led to demand in power. beyond what the emergency grid demanded for. it's had forced power outages. they could last for days. the disaster is also put a spotlight on the state's government's and its decision to run a power grid away from the

rest of the country. short term it has, long term another story. perhaps the crisis has been a warning for government officials about the perils of neglecting to plan and prepare for the worst possible realities of climate change. this is not about what's coming. clmate change is here. this is what everybody warned about 20 years ago that basically things like ice storm would turn into catastrophic events like this one. put things in perspective. it was colder in houston, texas than it was in houston, alaska. joining us from texas is a reporter from the houston chronicle and ed hurst energy fellow at the university of houston. let me start with you and just this issue of the rolling blackouts. they say it could last days. what would it take to mitigate that? >> well, chuck, as you mentioned this is a supply problem right now. it's not a demand issue.

it's not an issue that's primarily due or really remotely due to damage to the infrastructure here. texas is simply not producing enough electricity for the customers that need it here. you mentioned two and a half million people in texas don't have power now. half of those people are in the houston area and the compounds that, about five million people effectively do not have water right now in the city. this is a big, big problem, chuck. >> the water issue is due to, is this the water treatment plants are failing and the electricity to those water failing, what is that issue? >> the public works department think, to keep pipes from freezing because they are not insulates in the south, a lot of people have been running their water consistently since sunday night. that's a huge demand on the system. there's probably some pipes, water mains that are broken in the system that they are trying

to figure out now. they hope to restore by tomorrow but it's real tough situation. >> ed, up north frozen pipes are something that there's a lot of planning for. is this a failure of imagination to believe in extreme weather event like this could hit texas? >> well, yes and no. the architects here don't build the houses with the insulation that you'd have up in the northeast in connecticut and new york. i have a couple of colleague who is had pipes break in their garages and attics and we had a break in the sprinkler system for this building. that is different than the grid. the grid, this is the same equipment that is used to produce electricity in buffalo, new york. it's just not treated the same way. the primary reason is nobody pays these generaors to have

them ready to come on during the winter time. our peak demand is in august. once we get past september, a number of those generators, shut down, go fishing for the rest of the year. we have the polar vortex. we're trying to call everybody back in to kick up the power. a lot of the plants were unable to answer the call. >> ed, how much of this where there isn't -- who is the last line of defense here because of the deregulated structure in, look, in virginia, everybody knows it's one company. dominion power. in washington, d.c., there's pepco. obviously, that's not the case . who is in charge of making sure the generators are working? who is the last line of defense? >> each generator is an independent entity and

independent company. ercot is the grid manager, the operator. the air traffic controller for electrons going around the texas grid. they can't make generators come online. they can't invest and build generators. they just coordinate the flow of electrons to get them to consumer. for the last ten years, the generaors did not return any capital. the average price was less than the cost of new equipment. less than the cost of maintaining the equipment and in the electricity only market, they only get paid when they provide electricity. everybody provides electricity in august. not everybody provides electricity through the rest of the year. we've had a number of general -- generors leave the texas market over the past five years. our supply has been reduced to

the point we have hit a catastrophe. >> the governor pointed the finger at the utility commission here. what is their role in this and is this a lack -- what is fair here? is this a lack of imagination or just not believing this was possible in texas? >> look, chuck, these deep freeze vents in texas are rare but not unprecedented. almost ten years ago to the day we had a similar freeze for a few days here in texas and a similar issue where the supply did not meet demand and there were rolling black out. after that in 2011, federal regular larts wrote a report that they recommended texas need to do a better job winterizing the power plants. the state did not do that in the last ten years and that's how we got here right now. >> what's the explanation of why they didn't do it? just a cost issue. just wanted to keep costs low?

>> nobody forced them to do it. there's no incentive for generators to make those improvements and pass along the cost to customers. customers will choose a company that's cheaper. >> ed, the long term fix is what? what is a long term fix for fortifying the texas power grid so the next big ice storm like this doesn't do what it's doing? >> generators. the economic incentive to do the ma maintenance. why would i want to add additional generation plants when i can drive the price up if r the plants i have turning. instead of getting back to a $35 megawatt charge, i could be

making 9,000 dollar a megawatt which is what they are doing now. the entire structure is perverse to the goal of electric reliability across texas. we're going to have to find a way to keep the generators available, keep them on the bench and ready to respond to cold weather or hurricanes. they're just not getting revenue except when august, september is when the whole fleet is deployed. the rest of the year, maybe 20 percent, 30% of the fleet doesn't fire up. flst there's no reason for them to spend a lot of money. think about your car, tires, isle, keeping it in shape to go. >> are there small power companies making a boat load of money due to this demand issue? >> i mean, probably. a l those companies don't

want to be in the situation right now. i talked to an energy expert yesterday who talked about there are some energy companies that both produce energy and sell it. those ones are probably going to be okay because they are buying it for extremely expensive and also able to sell it. the energy companies that are primarily only retailers and are buying extremely, extremely expensive electricity but having to sell it, you'll probably see a wave of bankruptcies of those types of companies is what the expert told me. >> ed, is this putting the whole idea of deregulating the power industry on notice? >> it really isn't. this market is not in a deregulated market. it's just regulated differently. with a market partially deregulated it would be like saying let me remove the speed limit on i-95 today.

now, i-95 is deregulated. nonsense. you can't drive at whatever speed you want to drive on i-95. there's another constriction. >> that makes a lot of sense. in the meantime, it looks like we got a long way to go. zach, do you have any idea of when they think rolling blackouts will stop? >> i talked with center point, the e electricity provider for houston and that i had say if you're in houston, don't expect your power to come on before the weekend. it's hard but that's what we're looking at at this point. >> wow. not an end in sight in the near term. thank you both for providing report. with that, we're awaiting the start of the daily white house briefing. >> emerging technology. that's quite a title. well deserved.

she led nsa election security. p overseeing foreign intelligence and cyber security operations. she also served as nsa first chief risk officer, director of commercial solution center and enduring frame work, private security public/private partnership and as a white house fellow. she is going to provide all of you an update on the administration's work related to solar winds. she's willing to take a couple of questions. i will play the bad cop. come on over when you're ready. >> good afternoon. what happened?

how did it happen and what are we doing about? hackers launched a broad effort to compromise the network management software used by government and the private sector. intelligence community is looking at who is responsibility. until that study is complete, i'll use the language we previously used which was to say, an advance persistent threat actor likely russian origin was responsible. as of today, nine federal agencies and about 100 private sector companies were compromised. as you know, roughly 18,000 entities downloads the malicious update so the scale of potentia known compromises. many are technology companies including networks of companies whose products could be used to launch additional intrusions. why does this matter? why is this significant? the techniques that were used lead us to believe that any files or e-mails on a

compromised network were likely to be compromised. the scope and scale of our investigation is under way and we look forward to providing you future updates in the future. how did this happen? there's two parts to that. them and us. the actor was a sophisticated, advanced per sis tent threat. advanced because the level of knowledge they showed about the technology and the way they compromised it was sophisticated. they focused on the identity part of the network which is the hardest to clean up. threat, the scope and scale to networks, to information makes this more than an isolated case of espionage. then, us. there's a lack of domestic visibility. we choose to have privacy and security. the hackers launched the hack from inside the united states which further made it difficult for the u.s. government to observe their activity.

even within federal networks, a culture and authorities inhabit viz bt which is something we need to address. i want to take a moment to thank the public and prooifrt sector network defenders who have been working very hard to find and excel these adversaries from government and prooifrt sector networks. finally and most significantly, what are we going to do about it. three things. first, finding and expelling the adversary. second, building back better to modernize federal defenses and reduce the risk of this happening again. finally, potential response options to the perpetrators. first, finding and expelling the adversary. we're coordinating the response from the national security council. i was on the hill last week, at hill discussions this week and will be on the hill next week as well. we're working closely with daily conversations.

in are legal barriers to the private sector sharing information with the government. that is manager we need to overcome. finally, this is challenging. this is a sophisticated actor who did their best to hide their tracks. we believe it took them months to plan and execute this compromise. it will take us some time to uncover this layer by layer. second, building back better to modernize federal defenses. we're committed to reducing the risk this happens again. if you can't see a network, you can't defend a network. federal networks cyber security need investment and more integrated approach to protect and block such threats. we're also working on close to about a dozen things. every part of an upcoming executive action to address the gaps we identified in our review of this incident. finally, in terms of response to the perpetrator.

discussions are under way. i know some you have will want to know what kind of options are being contemplated. i will share how i frame this in my own mind. this isn't the only case of malicious cyber activity of likely russian origin. as we contemplate future response options, we're considering what the activities were. i look forward to coming back and keeping you posted. thank you so much for your time. >> any questions? >> do you have any time frame of how long this will take and what you will do in response? do you have a timeline on the response to tag when the investigation ends or how were you thinking through that? >> what caused the sew solar

winds, we're working to build the networks and improve the networks and carefully thinking through how we respond. the investigation because of the sophistication is taking us layer by layer but work at the same pace to ensure we lock down networks. >> do you have a timeline? i understand it's complicated but how long it will take to go layer by layer? >> i think we're estimating several months. as i said, literally, day by day, hour by hour we're making progress in understanding it. >> as you look at the scope and scale of this, do you have a price tag or sense of a price tag to account the total cost of damage to the u.s. government? >> really interesting question. there's two parts. one is it's highlighted the investments we need to make in cyber security to have the visibility to block these attacks in the future. the second is the scale of the information that was potentially compromised and the impact of

how that information could be used in the hand os of a malicious actor. there's a cost with regard to dollars. it's a cost with regard to national security and we're bounding and understanding both. >> it's been some discussion that entire networks will have to be scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up. i know you don't know the specifics of a time line but talking about years to try and secure some of these networks? >> we don't have years. it's wise when planning in cyber security to consider the worst case when you're dealing with a sophisticated attacker in that way. we know we don't have years. the fix and clean up work is under way already. we'll be doing it in a careful way to ensure that we lock down layer by layer. we know it's going to be a lot shorter than that. >> what happens about this in term offense the data that was stolen and agencies that were hacked. we know the number but what kind

of communications were really impacted by this? >> good question. one of the things we have done from the white house is do a coordinated set of questions to assess that and pull that piece together. it varies agency by agency. there is national security impact and that is what we're looking to consider how we manage the risk of that and how we address it for the future. >> do we have any understanding of the motive that drove this attack based on the assessment that you had? what were the hackers trying to go after? any particular agency out of the nine that you found that they were going after? >> certainly as we look at the agencies, there's a number of those of high foreign intelligence interest to a foreign government. when there's a compromise of this scope and scale to lead to follow on intrusions, it's more than a single incident of

espionage. it's of concern for the ability for this to become disruptive. >> since this involve government agencies and the private sector, how much are you able to share with the private sector as far as what made the compromise on their end and what they can do to prevent this from happening again? >> in the u.s. government, the way we're structured, public/private partnership had to be a core part of national cyber defense. there's active sharing going on in both directions. government sharing insight with private sector, entities and private sector tinty sharing their insights to ensure we can scope and scale what occurred. sgla do you believe you'll find additional u.s. agencies and private companies that have been hacked or is it going to -- is this the final number the and have you roll out data deletion? >> due to the sophistication of

the techniques that were used, we believe we're in the beginning stages of understanding the scope and scale and we may find additional compromises given the technology companies that were compromised. we have not ruled out potential additional activity but we're very focused on carefully taking this step by step to understand the broad implimplications. >> thank you so much. we'd love to have you back any time. >> president biden will meet with labor leaders to thank them for their role and supporting a strong american middle class and discuss the importance of passing the american rescue plan which will not only help contain the pandemic and deliver economic relief and create jobs including good union jobs.

a critical piece of turning the tide of the pandemic and protecting our public health. hhs will use these funds to create regional coordinating center that will partner with labs to leverage their testing capacity. these coordinating centers will help match lab capacity with demand from schools, congregate settings like homeless shelters or other under served populations. this will help us identify variants sooner which is important at this point in time. $815 million will go to

manufacturer critical testing supplies on things like filter, specialized molded plastics needed to house testing regents. these are critical steps to address vital issues. it will help us get more shots into the arms of more americans. i have an update on the winter storms in texas which i know is of great interest to many of you. our team and fema continue to monitor the situation in texas as well as other states in the storm's path that might be impacted. we remain in close contact with states across the affected area to ensure any federal support requirements are met. fema has supplied generators to texas and is preparing to move diesel into the state to ensure the continued availability of backup power which is major issue on the ground to key

critical infrastructure including communications hospital and water. they are supplying blankets. we're preparing to process statss from other states for emergency assistance. we urge people to listen to their emergency management officials. ahead of the meeting this afternoon, the president is taking several steps to expand high quality strerjed apprenticeships to award work and rebuild the middle class and connect a diverse work force to family supporting living wage jobs. today he is endorsing congressman scott national apprenticeship act which is house estimates will create one million new apprenticeship opportunities and help ensure women and workers of color benefit. he's reinstating the long standing national advisory committee which will bring the voice of unions, employers and other institutions to expanding and improving the registered

apprenticeship programs and signing an executive order that resources trump's executive order which spurred the creation of industry recognized apprenticeship programs. i said that was the last. i have one more thing. the president nominated jennifer abruso as general council of labor relations board. having spent more than 20 years working, she will bring her deep energy e experience and knowledge of the role and build a more strong and resilient and inclusive economy that delivers every american a fair turn for their work. a couple of things at the top. go ahead. >> couple of questions from follow up from yesterday and this morning on two different issues. first, getting the five days a week school.

the vice president this morning said it's a priority to get vaccinations for teachers. can you get to five days a week without vaccinations? does the president believe that teachers need to be vaccinated before they go back to school? >> the president nor the vice president believed that it is a requirement. the cdc guidelines included a range of mitigation steps including vccinations but the mitigation steps include steps like social distancing. the need for smaller class sizes. the need for sanitation. these are -- this is one of several steps recommended in the cdc guidelines. at the same time, the president and the vice president both believe that teachers should be prioritized. as you know that's up to states to determine. there's federal recommendations. about half of the states in the country have prioritized

teachers and they both feel that's important including child health care workers and they both feel that's something that is impacting working women and moms who are trying to go back to work and trying to make sure that their kids have the attention and child care they need. it's not a requirement to reopen schools but they believe that teachers should be prioritized. >> on the impact, also the idea of getting to that seven million number that the president talked about yesterday that if you pass the plan, you can get all the estimates and get seven million jobs back. >> yeah. >> can you do that without getting five days of school? how do women go back to work without having their kids full-time in school? >> one of the reasons the president has put $130 billion of funding in his mern rescue plan is he knows schools need funding to satisfy some of the mitigation steps that are

recommended in the cdc guidelines. i talked with him about this this morning. this is deeply impacting women. we're seeing that statistically with every week and month of jobs numbers. we have seen it. his concern is about the impact on working women today but also on how it will bring us back in the years ahead. if there are fewer women in the workplace, there's fewer women climbing the corporate ladder and fewer women getting law degrees, doctorates and that has a long term impact. you're right or what i'm taking from your question is can we get this done if we don't have funding, if we don't have the different components. when he announced his goal of opening the schools he made clear we need funding. they were waiting for the cdc guidelines. they wanted to do it safely but they need the funding to hire more teachers. they need more bus drivers.

they need the ability to implement the mitigation steps that will work for their school districts. >> one last thing from last night. president biden said no one should go to jail for a drug offense. what did he mean by that? >> anyone who had the pleasure of journeying around the country with him before covid and during covid when it was happening remotely, he talked again and again on the campaign trail about eliminating mandatory minimums and making sure people suffering from addiction aren't incarcerated for drug use alone but sent to treatment. that's reflected in the plan he put forward op the campaign and that's his goal as president. we're four weeks in so there's a lot more policy work to be done fwhau is a commit m and a policy proposal or policy commit m he talked about on the campaign trail. >> thank you. just a couple of follow ups from last night. the president mentioned that

china will face repercussions for human rights abuses. what did he mean by repurr -- repercussions? is he considering sanctions? >> he talked about the values of the united states and the fact even when you're communicating with another world leader and having a tough conversation, our values and priorities whether it's human rights and what they have suffered through and the freedom of press, they can't take a backseat. the context of his comments are

those are issues he's going to continue to raise. we are not in a rush. we're focusing on commune indicating. the president had a number of conferrings with europeans. he will continue conversations with world leaders in the weeks ahead but beyond that, there's an ongoing policy process and i don't have anything to preview for you today. >> just in terms of the existing restrictions that were put under the previous administration, are they likely to continue? you said take your time and have a measured response to this. >> i didn't call it a measured response. what i conveyed is our process is to ensure that we are strengthening our economy at home. we want to come to our approach to china to that relationship from a position of strength. that is something the president, his national security team are doing. he is also going to communicate.

we see our relationship as one focused around competition. he will focus on working with our partners around the world. when he was answering the question, he was reiterating his view as president and his commitment that he's not going to miss an opportunity to restate his values as a country. go ahead. i can come back to you but go ahead. >> on the issue of teachers you're making it clear that a vaccination isn't a must but you hope it stays prioritized. is this administration sharing that message with teachers? has the president been reiterating that with governors to put teachers at front of the line? >> it's something he said in nationally televised town hall meeting last night and something he will continue to communicate.

they're are not requirements. at the same time the president, the have the believe teachers should be prioritized and in many states they are. >> you do agree with the guidelines that vaccinations is not a must for teachers? >> it's one of mitigation steps that should be taken by schools to keep things staf. when his secretary of education is confirmed next week then he will be leading this effort. in will be his number one priority as working with the school districts to safely reopen as quickly as possible. >> the time line for widespread vaccine availability keeps getting pushed back. we were in spring and now the president said the end of july. when do we expect there will be

enough doses for every one who wants vaccine to get one? >> i know we have been putting out a lot of covid news. the president announced last week, or we announced last week he would be purchasing that the federal government would be purchasing enough doses to vaccinate 300 million americans. he reiterated that last night. we will get the last shipment of those doses. by tend of may we'll have about 400 million doses. at that point once we have 400 million doses it will be a larger swath of people who will be eligible. when every american who wants a vaccine can get one, we'll have enough doses by the end of july and those have been ordered from pfizer and moderna. >> the question of will we get some semblance of normalcy. that time line seems to be shoplifting.

now et seems it's being shifted to next year. when will we get back to some taste of normalcy? >> every neighbor, every friend, every family member asks, at least me in the street when i'm walking my dog in the morning. we want to be straight with the american public. it's not place where we with predict. there's a number of reasons. even though we will have enough doses for every person in this country, as you all know because we talked about it in here. vaccine hesitancy remains a challenge. everybody who is getting a dose can get a dose. we need to be taking social distancing measures. there's an understandable question and i think the president wants things to return to noral as we all do.

we don't know what the timeline will look like. >> a couple of things on school funding. are the goals as they are laid out for reopening entirely con tin gent on having the 140 billion dollar based on having the money or based on not having the murn and the money will serve to turbo charge things? >> he conveyed that money was a pivotal part of that. it's up to them to determine how they will use accessible funds. that funding is needed by school districts across the country. i think we'll be essential to our success. >> i'm asking is the scale of what the cdc is recommending in terms of the challenges some of the schools will have to make

whether through spacing or hiring bus drivers, it takes time to get money out the door. how does that impact the first 100 days? >> it impacts it because it means there's an urgency to getting this money through and to ensuring that schools have the ability to plan ahead. some of these schools and obviously i'm not speaking to any particular district but broadly speaking, they have funding they can front load but they need to know their security of funding that's ahead. they want to implement these mitigation measures, take the steps, work with local school districts to do it but don't have the resources to effectively do it. as soon as our education secretary is sworn in, this is going to be his number one priority. >> really quick. the president mentioned it the idea of summer school. is that something --

>> doesn't every kid want summer school? >> is that something he would like to see? i know it's in the discussion. is that something he would look to do if schools are able to reopen? >> it's something that's an option. our department of education is also undergoing a study to determine the impact of covid on kids and schools and what is the impact of doing remote learning. what's the impact of not being in school with your teacher? from that, they will be able to work with school districts on what's going to work best to address the challenges and needs they are finding through that study but this funding that is in the american rescue plan can be used for range of purposes. we talked about a lot of them. bus drivers, hiring of temporary teachers, ppe or other equipment but also can be used for tutoring and summer school and it's really going to be up to the school district to determine that. >> you've said that the

president's preference is that states prioritize teachers. this is a vaccine that's being provided for free to the states by the federal government. can't you mandate that states prioritize teachers? >> we can provide federal guidelines. we work in close partnership with states to make recommendations on the prioritization and they implement. the power of the presidency and the power of the vice presidency is conveying what their preference is which they have both done over the last 24 hours. that's in the how the process has worked and i don't anticipate that's how it will be moving forward. >> the president said his goal is to have the majority of k through 8 schools open five days a week by day 100. what about high schools? what's the goal for them? >> i'm not going set new goals. the president wants students to be if school, learning with teachers five days aweek.

he wants that to happen as quickly as possible. he wants that to happen in first 100 days. it's harder and we saw this in the cdc guidelines because of social distancing, it's more challenging with older students than it is with younger students. that has to be factor and something i'm sure school districts will consider. >> they are also suffering more, aren't they? >> there's a study that our department of education is undergoing to provide to acquire data to make a determination about recommendations on how to address the impacts. we'll let them speak to that. i think we can all see what the impact is on older students. we want students to be back in classroom but we want to do it safely. the president is committed to doing that. >> you said the goal was to have the majority of k through 8 schools open one day a week in the first 100 days. last night president biden called that a mistake the

communication. he wants five days a week. what is the administration's goal for reopening schools. >> i'm not going to take it personally that you don't hang on every word i say in here. i did say last thursday that the president will not rest until every school is open five days aa week. that's our goal. we look forward to seeing the cdc guidelines. i also said i can assure any parent listening that is objective his commitment is to ensure schools have been open. i think we have been consistent for the last days. when i said one day a week, it was our floor. it was not our ceilceiling. the president wants students in school five days a week. we have guidelines from the cdc with several mitigation steps. we need funds to do that. that's a pivotal piece of it. they don't have it and we need our secretary of education in place to work to implement.

>> thank you. >> sure. go ahead. >> another follow up on last night. the president said clearly that he doesn't think he has the authority to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt. senator schumer and warren said in a statement that they were told the administration is still working on figuring out if it has the authority. if your lawyers would determine that cancelling this is legal, would the president go ahead with this and if not, why not in. >> first on last night's town hall, he was reiterating his previously stated position which is he doesn't favor $50,000 in student loan relief without limitations. he used types of schools and when it should be reimbursed or refunded. relief above 10,000 dollars should be targeted based on the borrowers income, kind of debt, public schools versus private.

there's a lot of considerations at play. he will ask them to conduct a legal review of his authority in conjunction with policy review from domestic policy council. that's a review that would need to take place. there's a legal consideration there, as i think everybody agrees there's a policy consideration and once that's concluded, he will decide the path forward. >> he hasn't yet ruled it out if these ifs and buts are still in place. >> there needs to be team at the justice department and domestic policy team is in place but they would be part of that conversation as well and in the meantime, if congress moves forward and sends them package that provides $10,000 of student debt relief he would be eager to

sign that. he's looking forward to that process moving forward. go ahead. >> the president during the campaign supported the study for operations, house judiciary committee hearing today. does the president support the legislation to stop short saying during the campaign, he came to his desk. >> studying to continuing the impacts of slavery which is being discussed in this hearing on hr 40, i believe it is. he signed the executive order on his first day which will begin to deliver on his commitment to having an across government

approach to addressing racial inequality and making sure equity is part of his entire policy agenda. he would support a study of reparations. sgla the bill came to his desk, will he sign it? >> he would support a study. we'll see what happens through the legislative process. >> last question. the president signed quite a few executive actions. why not on this issue? >> he signs a number of equity on his first day or first couple of days in office. he felt it was essential to send the message to the american people and the world but having an across government approach, ensuring equities is a central part of his policy agenda was not a singular issue but

something part of every policy issue he approaches whether it's health care, whether it's economic inequality, range so you have -- range of issues. that's how he's trying to address the root causes of racism. >> he doesn't support a reparations executive order? >> it would be up to him. he has executive order authority. he would support a study and we'll see where congress moves on that issue. go ahead. >> just, getting a lot of follow up from last night and one more. the -- >> i welcome it. go ahead. >> the president spoke about minimum wage last night and reiterated his support for $15 an hour. at the same time, he also tried to explain a gradual roll out. he spoke about 12, 13. we appreciate the clarification your office put out this morning about what that would look like. i'm trying to get a better

understanding of whether the white house will insist that $15 go into the covid relief bill now and if that is not happening, what is the path forward? house legislation talking about $15 by october 2025. is that what is white house will support if in doesn't happen? what is it looking like? >> well, we're in the middle of the legislative process for the american rescue plan. we fully recognize, as does the president, having served in the senate for 36 years that his bill that he proposed that included a $15 minimum wage increase, included many other key components. it may not look the same way when it comes out of the sausage making machine. he put it in there. kneel it's a priority. men and women working hard and making honest living shouldn't

be living below poverty. it will move uts way through the senate process and hopefully soon but i'm not going to get ahead of the process in congress. >> you're still optimistic that $15 will make it into this package and become a reality? >> we'll see. it's up to members of congress to determine what the final package looks like. it's a priority to the president. that's why he put it in the package. i appreciate you referencing the -- i like stumbled over a hundred words. i appreciate you referencing when he was asked this question last night, it was by a small business owner who was concerned immediately he would -- or this is what the president's take away. immediately he would be in place where he had to pay his workers $15 an hour next month or soon. the president was explaining to him that this would be progressive increase. that's something that senator sanders supports as well.

he's explaining it would go to 12 then to 13. it would be over a couple of years. that was how he was explaining it. again, the process is ongoing. we look forward to it moving forward rapidly and we'll see what comes out on the other side. >> he definitely supports so hel rollout on the rollout? >> absolutely. >> as do senator sanders and many advocating for increasing the minimum wage. >> i wanted to ask for a clarification on the summer school question. are you saying there would be an additional funding stream for schools that wanted to go in that direction? >> it's an option in the school funding that's in the covid package. >> is the department of degs going to make a recommend on how they should handle education for student that's have been out of the classroom for so long? >> i think what they're eager

for access to is the data on what the impact has been of students being out of school, learning remotely, and they want to be able to look at that more closely. >> one more, on a different topic, it's an issue that came up in congress, it is being talked about, is the president giving his relationship with the senate a view on permanent influence on the u.s. capitol? >> it is really up to congress. to determine what measures need to be taken. i'm sure they're working on their own to make that determination. >> a top cdc official and transportation secretary said publicly in recent weeks that

covid testing was under consideration. i know you said last week that was inaccurate. but why is it no longer on the table at like canada are significantly increasing covid travel restrictions? and did the white house have a conversation with the cdc about the proposal given the pressure coming from the hill? >> no, there is a policy process for every consideration, right? we said we would guide with health and science leaders and there are steps that we have nut place. including mandatory masking on flights which our health experts feel is an effective step that should be taken on airlines. we also limited restricted travel from international travel, but that's not a step

that was determined to be essential to be made. so we'll follow the guidelines. >> of course there was a suggestion because texas is not part of the national grid. you may have seen rick perry has said today that texasens would rather endure days of blackouts than submit to federal regulations. is he going to leave three million texans out?

>> climate will play an integral role in creating jobs, creating clean energy, and also will be beneficial in future storms. there has been some inaccurate accusations out there. i don't know if former secretary perry made these, but they suggested that renewables caused failures in texas's power grid. numerous reports showed it was failures in coal and natural gas and officials that operate the state's power grid went so far to say that failures in wind and solar were the least of the problems. beyond that i would send you to the department of energy for any

further comment on that particular line of questioning. >> a lot of texans are concerned that their homeowners insurance is not going to cover, for instance, pipes that burst. some policies might cover that, some might not, will fema make people whole for that kind of damage? >> i send you to fema. they're very involved in providing generators, water, and essential steps. in any crisis there are typically many agencies involved. fema is a coordinating body. i send you to them for any other update on that. >> a quick question, the president received ashes for ash wednesday, what, if anything, is he giving up for length? >> i will have to follow up with you on that question. sometimes people don't give something up, sometimes they do

something good. i will see if i can get more information -- >> i have a question for someone outside of the room. there is a bill to remove the las vegas airport, any idea if the president would support that. >> i have not spoken with him about that. i know he has a great deal of respect for senator reed. in terms of the renaming of airports i think that is up to congress to do that. he is of course a big harry reid fan. >> will the president release a statement on rush limbaugh. >> i know the news just came out in just the last hour. i'm not sure if we will release a statement. he has speaken to his sickness and illness at the time.

certainly his condolences go out to the family and friends of rush limbaugh who, of course, have lost him today. i don't know that i anticipate a statement from the president. i can certainly pass on his condolences and expression of support for the family. >> is the administration going to get involved in the case of princess latifah. >> i'm happy to follow up with our national security team on that particular question as well. >> thank you, i want to ask you about the meeting coming up. he believed the president learned a lesson that if you're going to make a decision in which jobs are lost you need to announce jobs being made.

the labor union says 1,000 jobs are lost. will the president bring this issue up when he needs to the labor leaders? did he learn any lesson? and is he going to make any comments? it is about his belief that the president is the committed to good paying jobs. and that incluss his dire to create good, clean energy, good paying union jobs, and that he believes those two can multily happy. he, when he put out his clean rchlg plan last year he had union leaders and the

environment mentalists. and he has this particular issue. prior to covid-19, the bureau of labor and statistics reported that two of the fastest growing jobs were in the wind turbine and solar industries, and our plan will make historic investments in the auto industry. creating millions of good paying union jobs. >> ask i ask about other future plans as well? yesterday he said we have not determined what the nick priority moving forward will be. earlier this month when the president was at the overall office with house democrats he said "i can hardly wait to sit

down and work on infrastructure. this is the next big piece. so i'm wondering -- >> he is excited about structure and i'm sure he will talk about it today. >> is it indeed the next big piece? >> first i will say our focus right now and the president's focus is on the american rescue plan and doing everything he can to move that through congress to community with the american public. to convey why there is money needed to reopen. i do not expect him to reopen that. in the inter interim period he will consult with labor leaders from last week. he spoke with americans about it last night. infrastructure is certainly an issue. he had a long passion for it. he believes it