Category Archives: Joe Biden

Biden Takes New Actions to Lower Health Care Costs and Protect Consumers from Scam Insurance Plans, Junk Fees as Part of ‘Bidenomics’ Push

Actions are the latest in a series of steps the Biden Administration has taken to eliminate hidden junk fees and lower prescription drug costs

President Biden announced a series of new actions under a core pillar of his “Bidenomics” agenda to lower health care costs and crack down on surprise junk fees for American families and consumers © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Today, President Biden announced a series of new actions under a core pillar of his “Bidenomics” agenda to lower health care costs and crack down on surprise junk fees for American families and consumers. Since the beginning of his Administration, President Biden has passed historic legislation to lower health care costs for tens of millions of Americans, took on Big Pharma to finally allow Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, and took action to eliminate hidden fees in every sector of the economy. Today, the Administration is taking additional steps to continue to deliver on those promises.

The President announced:

  • The Biden-Harris Administration is cracking down on junk insurance.  New proposed rules would close loopholes that the previous administration took advantage of that allow companies to offer misleading insurance products that can discriminate based on pre-existing conditions and trick consumers into buying products that provide little or no coverage when they need it most.  These plans leave families surprised by thousands of dollars in medical expenses when they actually  use health care services like a surgery.  If finalized, the rule would limit so-called “short-term” plans to truly short time periods, close loopholes made worse by the previous administration, and establish a clear disclosure for consumers of the limits of these plans.
     
  • The Administration is releasing important guidance on rules against surprise medical billing. Biden-Harris Administration rules are already preventing as many as 1 million surprise medical bills every month.  New guidance will help stop providers from gaming the system by evading the surprise billing rules with creative contractual loopholes that still leave consumers with unexpected costs.
     
  • The Administration is announcing new steps to protect consumers from unfair medical debt. For the first time in history, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, HHS, and Treasury are collaborating to explore whether health care provider and third-party efforts to encourage consumers to sign up for these products are operating outside of existing consumer protections and breaking the law. Medical credit cards and loans often lead to higher costs without consumers fully understanding the risks.
     
  • The Department of Health and Human Services is releasing a new report showing that nearly 19 million seniors and other Part D beneficiaries are projected to save $400 per year on prescription drugs when President Biden’s $2,000 out-of-pocket cap goes into effect. It’s also releasing state by state data that demonstrates how seniors across the country are helped by just one element of the President’s robust agenda to lower prescription drug prices.

These actions are the latest in a series of steps the Administration has taken to address hidden junk fees across industries, including: cracking down on bounced check and overdraft fees in the banking industry, which is saving consumers more than $5 billion every year; proposing rules to require airlines to disclose all of their fees up front and successfully pushing a number of airlines to end family seating fees; and mobilizing private sector action to eliminate hidden junk fees for concert and sports tickets.

Cracking down on junk insurance
The Affordable Care Act has helped tens of millions of Americans access high-quality, affordable health insurance and protects Americans from being discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions.  But actions from the previous administration allowed insurance companies to take advantage of loopholes in the law and sell “junk insurance” plans that evade these protections. These “junk insurance” plans leave families surprised by thousands of dollars in bills, often because the insurance plan claims they have a pre-existing condition that isn’t covered.  For example, a man in Montana faced $43,000 in health care costs because his insurance plan claimed his cancer was a pre-existing condition, and a Pennsylvania woman was surprised by nearly $20,000 in bills for an amputation her junk plan refused to cover.  Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is proposing rules to crack down on this junk insurance, as part of the latest efforts by the Administration to eliminate hidden and junk fees in every industry across the economy.  These actions will reduce scam insurance plans that offer really no insurance at all.

  • “Short-term” plans must be truly short-term.  Under the new rules, if finalized, plans that claim to be “short-term” health insurance would be limited to just 3 months, or a maximum of 4 months, if extended – instead of the 3 years that junk plans can offer today as a result of changes made by the previous administration.
     
  • Income replacement “fixed indemnity” plans cannot mimic comprehensive health insurance. Under the proposed rules, plans that want to be exempt from the rules for health insurance — because they are designed to replace lost income when people get sick, rather than provide full medical coverage – have to live up to their original purpose and cannot be designed like comprehensive health insurance. This means that plans would need to make clear that people signing up for these plans would get a defined benefit, like $100 per day of illness, instead of thinking that they have comprehensive insurance. This proposed rule aims to prevent Americans from being on the hook for high medical costs, like a woman who needed an amputation and was left with $20,000 in medical debt because her plan did not include comprehensive coverage.
     
  • Plans have to clearly disclose limits. Under the proposed rules, plans are required to provide consumers with a clear disclaimer that explains the limits of their benefits, including to existing consumers currently enrolled in these plans. 

Preventing surprise medical billing
Before President Biden took office, millions of people received surprise bills for health care they thought was in-network care covered by their health plan.  This could include when people need emergency care and are taken to the nearest hospital, or when a pregnant woman delivers her baby at an in-network hospitals only to find out that the anesthesiologist who cared for her is actually out-of-network.  These surprise bills can cost people hundreds or thousands of dollars, averaging between $750 to $2,600. The Administration is protecting millions of consumers from surprise medical bills through the implementation of the No Surprises Act, which has already protected 1 million Americans every month since January 1, 2022 from unfair, undeserved out-of-network charges and balance bills.
 
The Biden-Harris Administration is taking an important next step to protect consumers from surprise medical bills by issuing guidance to clarify that payers cannot use loopholes to avoid surprising billing protections:

  • Ending abuse of “in-network” designation. Today, some health plans contract with hospitals, but try to claim that they are not technically “in-network” – which can expose consumers to higher payments when they have to make a hospital visit.  The Administration today is making clear this is not allowed under federal law: health care services provided by these providers are either out-of-network and subject to the surprise billing protections, or they are in-network and subject to the ACA’s annual limitation on cost-sharing, further protecting consumers from excessive out-of-pocket costs.
     
  • Facility fees treated like other health care costs. The Administration is also concerned about an increase in patients being charged “facility fees” for health care provided outside of hospitals, like at a doctor’s office. These fees are often a surprise for consumers. The Administration today is making clear that health plans and providers must make information about these facility fees publicly available to consumers, as well as other price information for services and items they cover or provide. In addition, nonparticipating providers and nonparticipating emergency facilities cannot evade the protections of the No Surprises Act, including the prohibition on balance billing, by renaming charges otherwise prohibited under the No Surprises Act as “facility fees.”

Protecting consumers from unfair medical debt
Increasingly, health care providers are signing up patients for third-party medical credit cards and loans to help pay for care. These credit cards often include teaser rates and deferred interest features that lead to higher costs for consumers, and may be offered even when low- or no-cost alternatives, such as zero-interest payment plans, financial assistance, or health coverage may be available. Health care providers may be promoting these products because they could allow providers to get paid faster, outsource servicing and collections costs to third parties, receive a higher payment from consumers who otherwise would pay a discounted price for care, and in some circumstances, receive a share of the interest revenue gained by the third-party financial company.
 
Use of these products may complicate insurance coverage and the availability of financial assistance, and consumers may not fully understand the risks associated with these products, leading to higher costs and negative impacts on consumers’ financial, physical, and emotional well-being.
 
For the first time ever, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), HHS, and Treasury are collaborating on the needs of health care consumers by releasing a Request for Information (RFI) to learn more about this emerging practice and solicit comment on potential policy actions. Part of this RFI will explore whether providers are operating outside of existing consumer protections, because once medical bills are placed on medical credit cards, there may be gaps in how various consumer protections apply. 

New data shows nearly 19 million seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries will save an estimated $400 per year in prescription drug costs because of President Biden’s out-of-pocket spending cap
Thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs at the pharmacy will be capped at $2,000 per year for Medicare Part D enrollees starting in 2025.  Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released data showing that 18.7 million (or 1 in 3) seniors and people with disabilities who are enrolled in Part D plans will save, on average, $400 per year when the $2,000 cap and other Inflation Reduction Act provisions go into effect in 2025. And some enrollees will save even more: 1.9 million enrollees with the highest drug costs will save an average of $2,500 per year starting in 2025. Overall, the law’s Part D benefits provisions will reduce enrollee out-of-pocket spending by about $7.4 billion annually.
 
To view data broken down by state and demographic, visit LINK.
 
Today’s actions follow significant milestones achieved last week in implementing President Biden’s historic law to lower health care and prescription drug costs. On June 30, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released revised guidance that describes how they will negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors later this year. The first ten drugs selected for negotiation will be announced by September 1, 2023. Also last week, the $35 monthly cap on insulin for Medicare Part B beneficiaries went into effect. Already 1.5 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries were saving up to hundreds of dollars per month on insulin costs because of the Inflation Reduction Act, and many more will benefit from these cost savings starting this month.
  

Biden Forges Unity among G7 Leaders on Ukraine, China, Clean Energy, Economic Resilience

President Biden made a historic trip to Ukraine. At the G7, he is forging unity among the G& leaders on Ukraine, China, clean energy and sustainable economic development. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

With all the hullabaloo and unceasing scandals perpetrated, promulgated, manufactured by Trump, MAGA radical right wing extremists, and Republicans (debt crisis, border crisis), people are completely unaware of the important achievements President Biden and the Biden Administration are making globally. We again have someone in the White House worthy of the moniker, “Leader of the Free World” who is doing his damnedest to make the world a safer place. Here is a Fact Sheet summarizing the results of the 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, provided by the White House: –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Since President Biden took office, revitalizing our alliances and partnerships and reestablishing America’s leadership around the world has been one of his top priorities. The G7 Summit in Hiroshima showed that the G7 are more united than ever: united on Ukraine, united on China, united on economic security, united on building the clean energy economies of the future, united on nuclear disarmament, and united on fighting poverty and responding to global challenges like the climate crisis around the world.

United on Ukraine
 
G7 Leaders set forth a powerful statement of unity strength and commitment in our response to Russia’s war of aggression.  Leaders announced a set of concrete actions to intensify the G7’s diplomatic, financial, humanitarian and security support for Ukraine, to increase the costs to Russia and those supporting its war efforts, and to continue to counter the negative impacts of Russia’s war on the rest of the world, particularly on the most vulnerable people.

  • New sanctions and export controls. G7 Leaders announced new steps to economically isolate Russia and weaken its ability to wage its war. They announced new efforts to further disrupt Russia’s ability to source inputs for its war; close evasion loopholes; further reduce reliance on Russian energy and limit its future extractive capacity; and squeeze Russia’s access to the international financial system. G7 leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to keep Russia’s sovereign assets immobilized until Russia pays for the damage it has caused.  To implement these commitments, the Departments of Treasury, State, and Commerce rolled out new sanctions packages including by expanding our broad restrictions, cutting off over 70 companies from Russia and other countries from receiving U.S. exports, and sanctioning upwards of 300 individuals, entities, vessels, and aircraft, including actors across the globe.
     
  • Discussing peace with a broad range of partners.  The G7 leaders met with the leaders of Ukraine, Australia, Brazil, the Cook Islands, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, and Vietnam to discuss international peace and security.  The leaders issued an Action Plan on Food Security that notes, “Especially in light of its impact on food security and the humanitarian situation around the world, we support a just and durable peace based on respect for international law, principles of the UN charter and territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

United on China
 
G7 Leaders affirmed that G7 countries are not decoupling from China or turning inwards. At the same time, G7 Leaders recognized the need to respond to concerns and to stand up for our core values.  

  • Economic security issues. The G7 will push for a level playing field for their workers and companies and seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices and foster resilience to economic coercion. They recognized the necessity of protecting certain advanced technologies that could be used to threaten our national security.
     
  • Indo-pacific. Leaders reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and called for a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. They highlighted that there is no change in the basic positions of the G7 members on Taiwan. They registered their serious concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas and reaffirmed their strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion.
     
  • Core values. G7 Leaders voiced concerns about the human rights situation in China, and called on China not to conduct interference activities or undermine the integrity of our democratic institutions.
     

United on Economic Resilience and Economic Security
 
G7 Leaders took steps to enhance strategic coordination on economic resilience and economic security by strengthening supply chains, reducing vulnerabilities and countering malign practices that exploit and reinforce them. 

  • Protecting critical and emerging technologies. President Biden has taken action in the United States to protect certain dual use technologies from falling into the hands of strategic rivals. In Hiroshima, G7 Leaders affirmed that this is a common interest across G7 countries. To this end, the Leaders further recognized that addressing risks from outbound investment could be important to complement existing tools of targeted controls on exports and inbound investments.
     
  • Launching the G7 Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion. G7 Leaders launched the Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion to increase collective assessment, preparedness, deterrence and response to economic coercion.

 
United on Building the Clean Energy Economies of the Future
 
At home, President Biden has delivered on an ambitious clean energy agenda that is centered around bold public investment and working with partners to build secure and resilient supply chains. In Hiroshima, G7 Leaders outlined the way that G7 partners are working to meet the moment in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, to build secure and resilient supply chains, and to ensure strong industrial bases across G7 countries.

  • Maximizing the impact of incentives. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, this was the first G7 Summit where the President of the United States could unambiguously say that the United States is on a path to meet our Paris Climate commitments. G7 Leaders recognized that achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement urgently requires significant new incentives, industrial policies, and public as well as private investments. Leaders committed to work together to ensure regulations and investments will make clean energy technologies more affordable for all nations and help drive a global, just energy transition for workers and communities that will leave no one behind.


United on an Affirmative and Ambitious Development Agenda

President Biden has championed an affirmative and ambitious agenda to support developing countries, including through reaffirming our support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and working to create fiscal space for increased domestic investments in key development priorities. In Hiroshima, G7 Leaders emphasized the need to unlock investments and policy reforms to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), including by investing in more resilient food and health systems, and by addressing the effects of climate change.

  • Tackling rising levels of debt. G7 Leaders highlighted their concern that serious challenges to debt sustainability are undermining the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. They reiterated the urgency of addressing debt vulnerabilities in low- and middle-income countries and their full support of the G20’s effort to improve the implementation of the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) in a predictable, timely, orderly and coordinated manner, providing clarity to participants.
     
  • Promoting the evolution of the multilateral development banks (MDBs). G7 Leaders noted their strong support for the efforts underway by multilateral development banks to review and transform their business models to better address global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, fragility and conflict, which are integral to achieving poverty reduction and shared prosperity.  They encouraged MDBs to expedite this ongoing work. They looked to further progress on the World Bank’s evolution agenda toward the 2023 WBG and IMF Annual Meetings and beyond.
     
  • Reversing the first global decline in life expectancy in nearly a century. G7 leaders committed to work with global partners to restore access to essential health services to better than pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2025, and to strengthen primary health care delivery, including by investing in health workers, in order to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage. The United States is providing approximately $10 billion in global health program funding with Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 funds, much of which supports essential health services, including addressing HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria, expanding access to water and sanitation, and supporting maternal and child health. One year ago, the President also launched the Global Health Worker Initiative, which aims to address the global shortage of health workers.  
     
  • Investing in health security with U.S. contribution of $250 Million to the Pandemic Fund. The President announced that the United States plans to provide a $250 million contribution in Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations, subject to Congressional notification, to the Pandemic Fund to demonstrate the United States’ ongoing commitment to strengthening global health security around the world. This planned investment in the Pandemic Fund will continue to serve as a catalyst for additional contributions from other donors. The United States is committed to providing greater investments in health security to help break the cycle of panic and neglect in the wake of health emergencies.
     
  • Launching the Hiroshima Action Statement for Resilient Global Food Security with partner countries to address needs today and into the future.  G7 Leaders reaffirmed their continued commitment to address global food insecurity and the need to build more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive food systems. G7 leaders have exceeded the $14 billion commitment announced at the 2022 G7 Elmau Summit, mobilizing $14.9 billion for food security.  The United States remains the global leader on food security. Since the beginning of 2022, the United States has provided over $13.5 billion in acute and medium to long term assistance for food security.


Showing Tangible Progress at the PGII One-Year Mark
 
One year after G7 Leaders announced PGII as the G7’s collective infrastructure initiative, G7 Leaders demonstrated that PGII is making concrete progress.

  • Collaborating with partners. During the Summit, G7 Leaders were joined by leaders of [Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, and the World Bank]. They were also joined by private sector executives of Citi, Global Infrastructure Partners, Japan Foreign Trade Council, and Nokia to reaffirm their commitment to opening a serious, sustainable channel for unlocking public and private capital for these projects in the developing world.
     
  • Launching new projects. To date, the United States has mobilized $30 billion through grants, federal financing, and leveraging private sector investments towards PGII. President Biden announced new projects and highlighted the impact of several projects announced since PGII’s launch at the 2022 G7 Summit.
     
  • Announcing a PGII Investor Forum. The President announced that the United States will seek to launch an annual Investor Forum to enable the United States Government to more comprehensively de-risk capital, play a matchmaking role between investors and opportunities that advance PGII, and hear feedback on how it can continue to refine the PGII model to maximize its effectiveness.

FACT SHEET: Biden Administration Takes New Actions to Conserve and Restore America’s Lands and Waters

President Establishes New National Monuments in Nevada and Texas; Directs Secretary of Commerce to Consider Expanding Protections for Pacific Remote Islands Which Would Reach Goal of Conserving 30% of U.S. Ocean by 2030

House on Fire, Bears Ears National Monument. During his first year in office, President Biden protected more lands and waters than any president since John F. Kennedy, including by restoring protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments.  Last year, President Biden designated his first new national monument, Camp Hale-Continental Divide in Colorado and most recently, he established two new national monuments: Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Castner Range National Monument in Texas. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

At the White House Conservation in Action Summit on March 21, President Biden announced major new actions to conserve and restore lands and waters across the nation, including by establishing Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Castner Range National Monument in Texas. The President also directed the Secretary of Commerce to consider exercising her authority to protect all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands. These new commitments build on President Biden’s historic climate and environmental record, including delivering on the most ambitious land and water conservation agenda in American history.  

The announcements include:

  • Establishing two new national monuments: Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada and Castner Range National Monument in Texas. The designation of these two national monuments demonstrates the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to protect historically and culturally significant areas and conserve our nation’s treasured outdoor spaces. Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada will honor Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples while conserving our public lands and growing America’s outdoor recreation economy. In Texas, Castner Range National Monument will expand access to the outdoors for the El Paso community while honoring our nation’s veterans and servicemembers. Together, these new national monuments protect nearly 514,000 acres of public lands.
     
  • Protecting all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands. The President directed the Secretary of Commerce to consider initiating a new National Marine Sanctuary designation within the next 30 days to protect all U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands. If completed, the new sanctuary would ensure the U.S. will reach the President’s goal of conserving at least 30% of ocean waters under American jurisdiction by 2030.
     
  • New actions to conserve, restore, and expand access to lands and waters. The Biden-Harris Administration is announcing a series of new steps to conserve, restore, and expand access to lands and waters across the country. These include a proposal to modernize the management of America’s public lands, a plan to harness the power of the ocean to fight the climate crisis, a strategy to better conserve wildlife corridors, and new funding to improve access to outdoor recreation, promote Tribal conservation, reduce wildfire risk, and more.

These actions build on more than two years of the Biden-Harris Administration’s progress and historic investments to advance conservation, restoration, and stewardship nationwide:

  • During his first year in office, President Biden protected more lands and waters than any president since John F. Kennedy, including by restoring protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments. Last year, President Biden designated his first new national monument, Camp Hale – Continental Divide in Colorado.
     
  • Thanks to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, President Biden has, over his first two years in office, invested over $10 billion in conservation initiatives – more than any other modern president.
     
  • Under the President’s leadership, the Administration is making unprecedented investments in land, water, and wildlife conservation, including by launching the $1 billion America the Beautiful Challenge. These investments will help meet the President’s goal – set during his first week in office – of conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
     
  • The Biden-Harris Administration has protected nationally-significant lands and waters across the country, including recent actions to restore protections for roadless areas of the Tongass National Forest, prevent future oil and gas leasing in the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean, safeguard Bristol Bay in Alaska and the world-class salmon fishery it supports, and protect America’s most-visited wilderness area, the Boundary Waters in Minnesota. The Administration is also working to protect Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, the Thompson Divide in Colorado, and accelerating restoration efforts in the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, and the Columbia River Basin.

Establishing Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in Nevada

President Biden signed a proclamation establishing the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. This designation will honor Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples by protecting this sacred Nevada landscape and its historically and scientifically important features, while conserving our public lands and growing America’s outdoor recreation economy.

Avi Kwa Ame is considered to be among the most sacred places on Earth by the Mojave, Chemehuevi, and some Southern Paiute people. It is also important to other Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples including the Cocopah, Halchidhoma, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Kumeyaay, Maricopa, Pai Pai, Quechan, Yavapai, and Zuni Tribes. Its scenic peaks include Avi Kwa Ame (Spirit Mountain), which is designated as a Traditional Cultural Property on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its religious and cultural importance. The area is also home to the one of the world’s largest Joshua tree forests, and provides continuous habitat or migration corridors for species such as the desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, and Gila monster.

Establishing Castner Range National Monument in Texas

President Biden also signed a proclamation establishing the Castner Range National Monument, in El Paso, Texas. This action will protect the cultural, scientific, and historic objects found within the monument’s boundaries, honor our veterans, servicemembers, and Tribal Nations, and expand access to outdoor recreation on our public lands. 

Located on Fort Bliss, Castner Range served as a training and testing site for the U.S. Army during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The Army ceased training at the site and closed Castner Range in 1966. Once the area is sufficiently remediated to be safe for public access, Castner Range will offer unique opportunities for the El Paso community to experience, explore, and learn from nature. President Biden is committed to expanding access to nature for underserved communities that have historically had less access to our public lands, like those bordering Castner Range. Protecting Castner Range connects the area with the Franklin Mountains State Park, creating continuous habitat for wildlife and improved public access for outdoor recreation. Castner Range also hosts significant cultural sites documenting the history of Tribal Nations, including the Apache and Pueblo peoples and the Comanche Nation, Hopi Tribe, and Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma.

Directing Consideration of a Sanctuary to Complete Protections for Waters Around the Pacific Remote Islands

Consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030, the President signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Secretary of Commerce to, using the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, consider initiating a sanctuary designation within the next 30 days to expand protections around the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. Such protections would encompass areas unaddressed by previous administrations so all areas of U.S. jurisdiction around the islands, atolls, and reef of the Pacific Remote Islands will be protected.

The potential new National Marine Sanctuary identified in the Memorandum would conserve 777,000 square miles, including the existing Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and currently unprotected submerged lands and waters. The region has a rich ancestral tie to many Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island communities. The process for a potential sanctuary designation would allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to further explore the area’s scientific, cultural, and ancestral linkages, and tailor its management accordingly.

The President is also directing the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a public process to work with regional Indigenous cultural leaders to appropriately rename the existing Pacific Remote Islands National Monument, and potentially the Islands themselves, to honor the area’s heritage, ancestral pathways, and stopping points for Pacific Island voyagers, and to provide posthumous recognition for young Native Hawaiian men sent to secure U.S. territorial claim to the islands in the run up to World War II.

New Federal and Other Actions to Conserve, Restore, and Expand Access to Lands and Waters

Ocean Climate Action Plan: The Ocean Policy Committee, co-chaired by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, is releasing the first-ever United States Ocean Climate Action Plan, a groundbreaking roadmap to harnesses the power of the ocean to advance immediate, transformational steps to protect ocean health and address the climate crisis. Acknowledging that there is no path to a healthy and livable climate without the ocean, the plan outlines new actions on the Administration’s ocean-climate priorities, including efforts to advance climate solutions, promote environmental justice, support healthy communities, and ensure a robust and sustainable ocean economy.

Wildlife Corridors Guidance: The White House Council on Environmental Quality is issuing new guidance to Federal agencies on how to better incorporate ecological connectivity and wildlife corridors into federal planning and decision-making. The guidance highlights the importance of connectivity across terrestrial, marine, and freshwater habitats, encouraging collaboration across management and ownership boundaries with states, Tribes, local governments, and private land owners. This helps deliver on one of the America the Beautiful Initiative’s six early focus areas – supporting collaborative conservation of fish and wildlife habitat and corridors.

Strengthening the Stewardship of America’s Public Lands: The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in the coming weeks is seeking public input on a proposed rule that will help update and modernize the agency’s tools and strategies for managing America’s public lands. With climate change imposing mounting impacts on the nation’s public lands, and the growing importance of public lands for recreation and conservation, the proposed rule would help ensure that the nation’s lands continue to provide abundant and well-connected wildlife habitat, supply clean drinking water, and power local economies.

New Partnership to Protect Military Readiness and Preserve Green Space: The Department of the Interior and the Department of Defense are partnering to allocate $80 million through a combination of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and matching funds from DoD’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program (REPI) to preserve green space around military installations and improve access to outdoor recreation for millions of Americans. The Departments will make the funding available to states through a competitive process that could support projects on Tribal, private, state, or local lands.

$100 Million Tribal Conservation Funding Pledge: Today, Native Americans in Philanthropy, in collaboration with Biodiversity Funders Group and 15 philanthropies, is launching the Tribal Nations Conservation Pledge with an initial commitment of more than $100 million. This is a new platform for philanthropic organizations to support the conservation work of Tribal Nations and public-private partnerships between the Biden-Harris Administration, Tribes, and philanthropy. The pledge calls on funders to commit to a self-determined amount of funding, or a self-determined percentage of annual programmatic funding, to support the biodiversity and conservation efforts of Tribes, inter-Tribal organizations, and Tribal consortia.

America the Beautiful 2022 Annual Report: The Biden-Harris Administration is releasing the 2022 America the Beautiful Annual Report, an update on progress made to support locally-led conservation and restoration efforts and meet the President’s goal to conserve at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.

New Partnership to Accelerate the Conservation of At-Risk Species: The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Alliance of Forest Owners and the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement Inc., will announce a memorandum of understanding which formalizes the Wildlife Conservation Initiative, a collaborative partnership focused on advancing the conservation of at-risk and listed species within private working forests nationwide. The announcement comes as the Department of the Interior celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act and highlights the landmark law’s importance in preventing imperiled species’ extinction, promoting the recovery of wildlife, and conserving the habitats upon which they depend. 

Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program: Soon the Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Transportation will open applications for the first-of-its-kind $350 million Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. The program will build infrastructure that is proven to improve roadway safety – particularly in rural communities – and bring down the roughly 200 deaths stemming from more than one million collisions every year between vehicles and wildlife.

Nearly $200 Million to Reduce Wildfire Risk to Communities: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announced nearly $200 million in Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) program grants to communities across the country. Funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CWDG program is designed to assist communities, including Tribal communities, non-profit organizations, state forestry agencies and Alaska Native corporations with planning for and mitigating wildfire risks to communities and critical infrastructure as the nation faces an ongoing wildfire crisis.

State Wildlife Grants: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is distributing over $56 million for state fish and wildlife agencies through the State Wildlife Grant Program to support conservation and stewardship efforts for imperiled wildlife and their habitats.  

Boating Infrastructure Grants: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is distributing over $20 million in grant funding to assist states and territories in the construction, renovation and maintenance of marinas and other boating facilities for outdoor recreation. Grants will support projects in 20 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to increase outdoor recreation access and waterway stewardship.  

Pactola Reservoir Protection: The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management announced actions to consider protections for cultural and natural resources in the Pactola Reservoir – Rapid Creek Watershed in South Dakota, including drinking water for Rapid City and Ellsworth Air Force Base, from the adverse impacts of mineral exploration and development. The Pactola Reservoir is the largest and deepest reservoir in the Black Hills National Forest, with 14 miles of shoreline and 150-foot depths on 800 acres and provides high quality recreation for communities and visitors

Springsteen, Vera Wang, Gladys Knight Among Recipients of National Medals of Arts, Humanities

On Tuesday, March 21st, President Biden will host an East Room ceremony at the White House to present the 2021 National Humanities Medals and the 2021 National Medals of Arts. First Lady Jill Biden will attend the ceremony as well.

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists, arts patrons, and groups by the United States Government and honors exemplary individuals and organizations that have advanced the arts in America and offered inspiration to others through their distinguished achievement, support, or patronage. The National Humanities Medal honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the humanities and broadened our citizens’ engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects.

The President previously awarded a National Humanities Medal to Sir Elton John in September 2022, during a White House event, “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme.”

Here is the list of 2021 recipients:

2021 National Medal of Arts Recipients

Judith Francisca Baca: Judith Francisca Baca’s collaborative work has turned forgotten histories into public memory—pioneering an art form that empowers communities to reclaim public space with dignity and pride.

Fred Eychaner: From dance and architecture to arts education and a lifetime of LGBTQI+ advocacy, Fred Eychaner has helped give millions of people strength to be themselves and moved our country forward.

Jose Feliciano: Over 60 years, 60 albums, and 600 songs, Jose Feliciano has opened hearts and built bridges—overcoming obstacles, never losing faith, and enriching the goodness and greatness of the Nation.

Mindy Kaling: Imbued with humor and heart, Mindy Kaling’s work across television, film, and books inspires and delights—capturing and uplifting the experiences of women and girls across our Nation.

Gladys Knight: Gladys Knight’s exceptional talent influenced musical genres—from rhythm and blues to gospel to pop—and inspired generations of artists, captivated by her soundtrack of a golden age in American music. 

Julia Louis-Dreyfus: As one of the most decorated comedic actors of our time, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has blazed a trail for women in comedy and across American life through her commitment to excellence and the power of her example.

Antonio Martorell-Cardona: Transcending generation and genre, Antonio Martorell-Cardona’s art exposes hard truths with whimsy and color, to help us remember and grow, as people and as a Nation.

Joan Shigekawa: Throughout her career, Joan Shigekawa has championed artists, created global exchanges, and promoted the power of the arts to heal, build strong economies, and help people and Nations reach their full potential.

Bruce Springsteen: One of our greatest performers and storytellers, Bruce Springsteen’s music celebrates our triumphs, heals our wounds, and gives us hope, capturing the unyielding spirit of what it means to be American.

Vera Wang: From the runway to red carpets to retail stores, Vera Wang’s modern designs and bridal collections express individualism and elegance, making beauty and style accessible to all.

The Billie Holiday Theatre: Channeling its namesake’s exploration of freedom and identity, The Billie Holiday Theatre cultivates some of our Nation’s most renowned Black actors, writers, designers, and musicians and has expanded the reach of American artistic expression and achievement.

The International Association of Blacks in Dance: Through teaching, training, and performance, The International Association of Blacks in Dance promotes dance by people of African ancestry and origin, explores and exchanges art, spans cultures and generations, and enriches the dance culture of America.

2021 National Humanities Medal Recipients

Richard Blanco: An award-winningpoet and author, professor and public speaker, and son of Cuban immigrants, Richard Blanco’s powerful storytelling challenges the boundaries of culture, gender, and class while celebrating the promise of our Nation’s highest ideals.

Johnnetta Betsch Cole: A scholar, anthropologist, and academic pace-setter, Johnnetta Betsch Cole’s pioneering work about the on-going contributions of Afro-Latin, Caribbean, and African communities have advanced American understanding of Black culture and the necessity and power of racial inclusion in our Nation.

Walter Isaacson: Through the stories of our Nation’s remarkable citizens, Walter Isaacson’s work, words, and wisdom bridge divides between science and the humanities and between opposing philosophies, elevating discourse and our understanding of who we are as a Nation.

Earl Lewis: As a social historian and academic leader, Earl Lewis has made vital contributions to the field of Black history, educating generations of students, while also being a leading voice for greater diversity in academia and our Nation.

Henrietta Mann: The pioneering efforts of Henrietta, Ho’oesto’oona’e, Mann, led to programs and institutions across the country devoted to the study of Native American history and culture, honoring ancestors that came before and benefiting generations that follow.

Ann Patchett: With her best-selling novels and essays, and her bookstore, readers from around the world see themselves in the pages of Ann Patchett’s books that take people to places of the heart and feed the imagination of our Nation.

Bryan Stevenson: An advocate fighting tirelessly for the poor, incarcerated, and condemned, Bryan Stevenson follows the Book of Micah’s instruction to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly as he chronicles the legacy of lynching and racism in America, shining a light on what has been and all that we can be as a Nation.

Amy Tan: By bravely exploring experiences of immigrant families, heritage, memories, and poignant struggles, Amy Tan’s writing makes sense of the present through the past and adds ground-breaking narrative to the diverse sweep of American life and literature.

Tara Westover: Tara Westover’s memoirs of family, religion, and the transformative power of education, has moved millions of readers and served as a powerful example of how the humanities can set people—and a Nation—free.

Colson Whitehead: With genre-defying craftsmanship and creativity, Colson Whitehead’s celebrated novels make real the African-American journey through our Nation’s continued reckoning with the original sin of slavery and our ongoing march toward a more perfect Union.

Native America Calling: Through its interactive shows on the radio and online,Native America Calling educates the American public about Indigenous issues while preserving Indigenous history and culture to honor their contributions that strengthen the sacred Nation-to-Nation relationship. 

From the White House: The American Rescue Plan: Top 15 Highlights from 2 Years of Recovery

The American Rescue Plan funded a Historic Vaccination Campaign: ARP provided $160 billion to support vaccination, therapeutics, testing and mitigation, PPE, and the broader COVID Response effort. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

This fact sheet from the White House outlines the top 15 highlights from two years of recovery under the American Rescue Plan:

  1. Led to the Strongest Jobs Recovery on Record: When President Biden came into office, there was tremendous economic uncertainty. Unemployment was at 6.1% when the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed. It was expected to average 5% in 2022. With the passage of ARP, unemployment averaged 3.6% in 2022 and fell to 3.4% at the beginning of 2023.
  • ARP Drove the Strongest 2-year job growth ever: Over 12 million jobs have been added since President Biden took office – the largest 2-year total in US history and more jobs in two years than in any previous administration’s full year term.
  • Powered the Fastest Recovery in the World: After the American Rescue Plan passed, the US recovered significantly faster than our G7 Peers – with 5.9% growth in 2021 – while our inflation is in the middle of the pack and slower than other countries that did significantly less to help their economies recover.
     
  1. Powered the Most Equitable Recovery in Memory: In past recessions, persistent high long-term and youth unemployment as well as high foreclosures of evictions led to long term harms – “scarring” for millions of Americans and hard, long roads back for Black and Hispanic Americans.

President Biden’s Rescue Plan ensured that didn’t happen this time:

  • Historic drops in Black and Hispanic Unemployment: With the strong recovery powered by ARP, Black unemployment saw its largest 1-year drop since 1984 and is near record lows; Hispanic unemployment saw its fastest 1-year drop and reached its lowest annual rate ever in 2022. Asian American unemployment fell significantly as well – falling by more than half from its January 2021 rate. 
  • Least scarring in any recovery in memory: The American Rescue Plan led to the fastest drop in long-term and youth unemployment ever, which both now stand at pre-pandemic levels. It kept foreclosures historically low and evictions 20% below historic averages even after the end of the CDC Eviction Moratorium.
     
  1. Lowered Health Care Premiums by $800 for over 13 Million Americans: ARP lowered health care premiums – which were extended by the Inflation Reduction Act, increased eligibility to middle- income families and provided strong incentives for states to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act. Result:
  • Saved over 13 million Americans an average of $800 a year on their health premiums.
  • Led to most Americans in history having health insurance
  • Provided health coverage to 3 million Americans who would have otherwise had no health insurance.
  • Provided an extra $1.5 billion in Medicaid funding to Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota for Medicaid expansion coverage to over half a million people.
  • Gave states an easier pathway to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage for a full 12 months – ensuring access to critical care for over 438,000 women nationwide.
     
  1. Largest Small Business Formation Boom in History Due ARP-Driven Strong Recovery and Small Business Investments: The Biden Administration:
  • Increased COVID Emergency Injury Disaster Loans to $2 million, while increasing anti-fraud controls
  • Reformed PPP to more equitably distribute funds to the smallest businesses.
  • Restaurant Revitalization Fund helped over 100,000 Restaurants, Bars, and Food Trucks stay open.
  • Shuttered Venues Program provided relief to 13,000 venues.
  • Invested a historic $10 Billion in the State Small Business Credit Initiative

This, and the strong recovery that ARP powered, led to:

  • A record 10.5 million new small business applications over the past 2 years
  • Hispanic entrepreneurs started small businesses at the highest rate in more than a decade in 2021 and 23 percent faster than pre-pandemic levels. 
  • Black-owned small businesses were created at the fastest rate in 26 years, as the Washington Post found.
  • Asian American entrepreneurs started small businesses at the fastest rate in over a decade in 2021.
     
  1. Led to Lowest Child Poverty Rate in American History: The American Rescue Plan and its expanded monthly Child Tax Credit led to:
  • Child Poverty nearly cut in half to lowest rate – 5.2% – ever.
  • Black child poverty cut by 52%, Hispanic child poverty cut by 43%, Native American child poverty cut by 51%, and dramatic drops in white and Asian child poverty — all to record lows.
  • ~9 million children in rural areas benefited from the expanded credit.
  • 5 million children in Veteran and Active-Duty families benefited from the expanded credit
  • Child Tax Credit payments were delivered reliably with the first ever monthly payment – on the 15th of each month with 90% using direct deposit.
  • Over 65 million children in 40 million working families received largest Child Tax Credit in history.
  • Historic Child Tax Credit Expansion already reached over 230,000 Puerto Rico families: Recent data shows that over 230,000 Puerto Rico households will get the expanded Child Tax Credit. 8X the number from the previous year.
     
  1. Funded a Historic Vaccination Campaign: ARP provided $160 billion to support vaccination, therapeutics, testing and mitigation, PPE, and the broader COVID Response effort.

This led to:

  • Over 230 million Americans are fully vaccinated, up from 3.5 million when President Biden took office.
     
  1. Helped Over 8 Million People Stay in Their Homes:
  • Emergency Rental Assistance – the first national eviction prevention policy in history – was main American Rescue Plan source of multi-month assistance to help over 8 million hard-pressed renters stay in their homes without sacrificing other basic needs.  
  • Emergency Rental Assistance and Other ARP Housing Policies led Eviction Filings to remarkably stay 20% below historic averages in 1.5 years after end of the eviction moratorium.
  • Called the “the most important eviction prevention policy in American history” by Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize Winner author of “Evicted” – and the “deepest investment the federal government has made in low-income renters since the nation launched its public housing system.”
  • HUD Emergency Housing Vouchers have already helped 47,500 households at risk of homelessness lease their own rental housing – these American Rescue Plan funded vouchers support those at risk of or experiencing homelessness or housing instability, and those fleeing domestic violence.
     
  1. Helped Keep 200,000 Child Care Centers Open
  • American Rescue Plan Stabilization Assistance has reached 200,000 Child Care Providers – that employ 1 million child care workers – and have the capacity to serve more than 9 million children.
  • 90% of programs reported that American Rescue Plan funds helped them stay open.
  • More than 8 in 10 licensed child care centers nationwide have received ARP assistance.
  • Benefited 30,000 rural child care programs – in most states, 97+% of rural counties received aid.
     
  1. For First Time in History, Direct Relief to Every Town, City, County and State – No Matter How Big or Small, Urban or Rural So they Could Design their Own Recovery:
  • Before ARP, 70% of cities anticipated layoffs or major cuts in services and half of states were freezing or cutting jobs. Today, cities and states have funds to invest in major challenges – like public safety, housing, workforce, and rehiring, instead of making dramatic cuts.
  • ARP provided direct fiscal relief to every state & territory and 30,000 cities and towns – while previous plans reached only 154 local governments, or fewer, with direct flexible relief.

 
This has led to:

  • American Rescue Plan Led to Surge in State Revenue Growth – Powering Economic Resilience: Before ARP, state revenues were expected to grow just 3.7% in 2021, after falling in 2020. After ARP, state revenues grew by 16.6% in 2021 (record high growth) – and over 14% growth in 2022. As a result, state surpluses are powering resilience economy-wide.
  • Major investments in critical areas:
    • Over $25 billion to Jumpstart Universal Broadband Access – including Broadband Connections for 16 million students through the Emergency Connectivity Fund for schools and libraries to close the homework gap.
    • Over $10 billion from ARP’s State & Local Fund invested in over 3,000 workforce projects
    • Over $20 billion in State & Local funds invested in water infrastructure
    • Over $14 billion in State & Local Funds invested in housing – expanding supply, investing in homeless services, and providing 3.7 million additional households rent, mortgage, and utility relief.
       
  1. One of the Largest Federal Investments in Preventing Crime, Reducing Violence, and Investing in Public Safety in History.
  • Over $10 billion committed to preventing crime and reducing violence, with investments by hundreds of state and local governments to avoid cuts to police budgets, hire more police officers for safe, effective, and accountable community policing, ensure first responders have the equipment they need to do their jobs, and expand evidence-based community violence intervention and prevention programs.
    • Toledo, Ohio used this funding to train a second cohort of new police recruits for the first time and plans for 100 new officers in the next few years; Mercer County invested in a county-wide radio system and improved its 911 system; Baltimore invested $50 million for its comprehensive violence prevention strategy, including community violence intervention programs.
  • That includes $1.2 billion Medicaid Mobile Crisis Intervention Services – the American Rescue Plan included $1.2 billion to fund mobile crisis intervention units staffed with mental health professionals & trained peers. 
  • It also includes $1 billion Family Violence Prevention and Services Program to reduce domestic violence with immediate crisis intervention, health supports, and safety.
     
  1. Funding School Districts Across the Nation to Reopen K-12 Schools, Support Academic Recovery, and Invest in Student Mental Health:
  • ARP provided critical relief to 16,000 school districts and other local education agencies to reopen safely, support academic recovery, and invest in student mental health.
  • Data from School District Plans show that schools are using these funds well:
    • Nearly 60% of funds are committed to investments like staffing, tutoring, after-school and summer learning, new textbooks and learning materials, and mental and physical health supports.
    • Another 23% is going to keep schools operating safely, including providing PPE and updating school facilities. This includes investments in lead abatement and nearly $10 billion for HVAC.

This has led to:

  • Going from 46% of schools that had safely opened to full-time in-person teaching to 100%: In January 2021, CDC data showed that just 46% of schools were open full-time in-person. Today, all schools are open.
  • A major increase in staffing and investments to address student mental health: Schools now employ 36% more school social workers, 11% more school counselors, and 28% more school nurses than pre-pandemic.
     
  1. Major Investment in Workforce Training and Connecting Americans to Good Jobs:
  • Over $40 billion from the American Rescue Plan has gone to workforce training efforts, including over $10 billion from ARP’s State and Local Fund invested in over 3,000 workforce projects across the country, including pre-apprenticeships and other programs to prepare for new infrastructure, health care and care jobs.
  • $500 million Competitive Good Jobs Challenge Awards for 32 Workforce Training Partnerships across the country
  • $1 billion Competitive Build Back Better Regional Challenge – 21 Winners won between $25 million and $65 million to execute transformational projects and revitalize local industries. Projects include developing workforce training programs and connecting workers to jobs – and other transformational investments.
  • Historic Investment in Expanding and Supporting our Health Care Workforce, including:
  • $1.1 Billion investment in the Community Health Workforce, including increasing the mental health workforce
  • Well over $10 Billion of American Rescue Plan Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) funds being used for workforce efforts.
  • Rapid deployment of over 14,000 community outreach workers (through over 150 national and local organizations).
  • Establishment of the first-of-its-kind Public Health AmeriCorps to build and train the next generation of public health leaders, already serving 82 organizations across the country and supporting more than 3,000 AmeriCorps members.
  • Supporting the largest field strength in history (over 22,700 providers) for the National Health Service Corps, Nurse Corps, and Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery programs, treating more than 23.6 million patients in underserved communities
     
  1. Eighteen Million College Students Have Received Direct Financial Assistance from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund that was expanded by ARP:
  • Colleges have reached an estimated 18 million students with direct financial aid from Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEERF) since the beginning of 2021 to help them stay in school and help cover basic needs during the pandemic, like food, housing, and child care.
  • Direct financial assistance for an estimated 6 million community college students.
  • 80% of Pell Grant recipients received direct financial relief in 2021.
  • An estimated 450,000 students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) received direct financial aid. Further, in 2021, 77 percent of HBCUs used HEERF funds to discharge unpaid student balances.
  • Nine in 10 institutions reported that HEERF funds enabled them to keep students enrolled who were at risk of dropping out due to pandemic-related factors.
     
  1. Historic Investment in the Pension Security for up to 3 million Union workers & retirees: ARP’s Special Financial Assistance is the most significant investment in pension security for union workers and retirees in the past 50 years.
  • Over 200 multiemployer plans that were on pace to become insolvent in the near term will now have solvency ensured until at least 2051 solvent & paying full benefits thanks to ARP.
  • Preventing a wave of multi-employer insolvencies for 2-3 million workers who would have seen major cuts to their earned retirement benefits.
  • Pension Cuts Reversed for over 80,000 Workers and Retirees in 18 “MPRA” Multiemployer Plans that had taken cuts to avoid insolvency.
  • Most significant effort to protect the solvency of the multiemployer pension system in almost 50 years.
     
  1. First-Ever Summer Nutrition Benefit for Students with Nationwide Reach– Extended Permanently:
  • ARP created the first-ever summer nutrition benefit with nationwide reach.
  • 30 million young people: Reached the families of 30 million students.
  • Permanent: Congress extended this innovative program permanently in last year’s Omnibus bill, the first major new permanent food assistance program in nearly five decades.

FACT SHEET: One Year of Support for Ukraine Against Russian Aggression

President Biden made a historic, brave and noble visit into Ukraine (first time in modern history a president went into a hot war zone without US military presence),to reaffirm United States, NATO and allied support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom, democracy and sovereignty against Putin’s genocidal attack. Biden has been steadfast in supporting Ukraine, organizing the coalition, rallying NATO, and providing billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid, including signing $500 million in aid during his visit, coming just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC

Just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden made a historic visit to Ukraine and then delivered a speech in Warsaw recommitting United States, NATO and allied support for Ukraine, in an existential battle for freedom, democracy and sovereignty against Putin’s unprovoked, brutal assault. Here is a fact sheet from the White House listing the past year’s efforts to support Ukraine, which like David and Goliath, has managed to stand up to one of the strongest military forces on earth:

Nearly one year ago, Russia launched its unjust, brutal assault against Ukraine. Putin’s invasion was a test of Ukraine’s commitment to freedom, and a test for America and the world. Putin sought to subjugate Ukraine, but the free people of Ukraine stood strong—bravely defending their sovereignty and democracy. The United States, alongside our allies and partners, did not hesitate to stand with them. 

Over the last year, the United States has provided critical support to the people of Ukraine, working in close coordination with the government of Ukraine to get them what they need. President Biden has spoken regularly with President Zelenskyy, hosting him at the White House and visiting Kyiv to send powerful messages of the United States’ unwavering support. We have led the world in providing security assistance—from the Javelins that halted the Russian tanks assaulting Kyiv, to the air defense systems that have intercepted Russian strikes against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, to the armored vehicles that Ukraine needs for the next phase of this conflict. We also stepped up to provide financial and humanitarian assistance—helping Ukrainians maintain access to fundamental services, like healthcare and heat, as they fight for their liberty and sovereignty.

The United States has not acted alone. Since first exposing Russia’s plans to launch this invasion, we ensured that Ukraine’s resilience has been matched with global resolve. We rallied the international community to speak out and stand against Russia’s brutal war, including at the United Nations, where the world has repeatedly and overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s aggression. We have led unprecedented efforts to isolate and impose costs on Russia—including the largest coordinated sanctions and export control actions taken against a major economy. In response to the global economic disruptions caused by the Kremlin, we have launched initiatives that have stabilized energy markets and food supplies. And we supported our partners as they opened their homes and communities to millions of Ukrainians seeking refuge.

One year ago, Putin thought he could quickly topple Ukraine. He thought he could divide our allies and partners. He was wrong. Ukraine still stands. The international coalition in support of Ukraine is stronger and more united than ever. And President Biden’s visit to Kyiv yesterday sent a clear and powerful message to the world: we remain committed to standing with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.

Actions we have taken to support Ukraine and hold Russia accountable over the last year include:

Security Assistance 

Over the past year, the United States and our allies and partners provided critical security assistance that made a real difference on the battlefield, and helped the people of Ukraine defend their country from Russian attacks and advances.

At the start of the war, the anti-armor and anti-air systems we provided—like the 8,000 Javelin and 1,600 Stingers—enabled Ukraine to win the Battle for Kyiv. The artillery and ammunition we have sent—such as the 160 howitzers and 38 High Mobility Artillery Rocket systems—enhanced Ukraine’s ability to defend its territory in the Donbas region and launch successful counteroffensives in Kharkiv and Kherson, reclaiming hundreds of kilometers of territory and liberating towns and villages subjected to unimaginable Russian brutality. The air defense systems and counter-drone capabilities that we provided help Ukraine protect its people and infrastructure against continued Russian attacks.  The armored capabilities we are sending—including 109 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and tanks—will prepare Ukraine for future counteroffensives and help Ukraine adapt to changing conditions on the ground and defend against future Russian assaults.

We have provided more than one million rounds of artillery ammunition; more than 100,000 rounds of 125mm tank ammunition; and 100,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. We have provided helicopters; Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels, and counter-UAV systems and equipment. And the Departments of Defense and State have released a plan to prevent and counter the potential of illicit diversion of weapons and equipment.

Working with European partners and Ukraine, the United States also launched the Ukraine Defense Contact Group—a coalition of 50 partner nations that has enhanced our coordination of security assistance deliveries to help the people of Ukraine as they continue to defend themselves against Russia’s unjust and unprovoked assault. Together, members of this group already committed $50 billion security assistance, including nearly 700 tanks and thousands of other armored vehicles, more than 1000 artillery systems, more than two million rounds of artillery ammunition, more than 50 advanced multiple rocket launch systems, and anti-ship and air defense systems. 

A comprehensive list of security assistance is available here.

Humanitarian Assistance

When Russia launched its invasion, the United States responded quickly to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine—providing more than $1.9 billion to Ukrainians in need of assistance, including more than 13 million people forced to flee their homes.

We brought together partners across the United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations to address Ukrainian’s critical needs—including food, safe drinking water, shelter, and emergency health care. When winter approached and Putin turned his assault to critical infrastructure, a U.S.-led coalition provided supplies to restore emergency power and heat across the country. In addition to welcoming over 267,000 Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homes to the United States and creating the Uniting for Ukraine program, we have provided $340 million in refugee assistance to our European partners who continue to host millions of Ukrainians, representing the largest population outflow in Europe since World War II.

A comprehensive list of humanitarian assistance is available here.

Democracy, Human Rights, and Anti-Corruption Assistance

To defend human rights in Ukraine and its neighbors, President Biden launched the European Democratic Resilience Initiative (EDRI) in March 2022. Through EDRI, we have provided nearly $220 million for Ukraine to support media freedom and enable Ukrainian media outlets to continue operating during the war, to counter disinformation, increase the safety and security of activists and vulnerable groups, strengthen democratic and anti-corruption institutions, and support accountability for human rights abuses and violations of international law. 

Holding Russia Accountable

Justice and accountability are central pillars of the United States’ policy on Ukraine.  Russia chose this war, and the United States and our partners are holding it accountable for its attacks and atrocities against the people of Ukraine — ensuring that perpetrators, human rights violators, and war criminals are brought to justice.

Based on a careful analysis of the law and available facts, the Secretary of State recently determined that members of Russia’s forces and other Russian officials have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.  

Working with partners, we have supported Ukrainian domestic authorities, international efforts, and strategic litigation to ensure that Russia’s crimes do not go unpunished. Along with many of our allies and partners, we imposed new sanctions on those engaged in human rights abuses and exercising illegitimate authority in occupied areas of Ukraine, including proxy authorities, military units, and those involved in the forced deportation of children.

The United States has also imposed expansive visa restrictions on members of the Russian military and others committing human rights abuses related to Russia’s war.  The United States continues to support a range of international accountability mechanisms—including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Moscow Mechanism, and the Joint Investigative Team on Ukraine. 

Economic Measures Against Russia

The United States and over 30 allies and partners developed the largest set of sanctions and export control actions ever imposed on a major economy. These actions are disrupting Russia from accessing critical inputs and advanced technologies — undercutting its ability to fund and fight its unjust war.

The United States has implemented or expanded more than 2,000 sanctions listings and more than 375 export control Entity Listings, including major state-owned enterprises and third-country actors supporting Russia’s war machine. We imposed sanctions on Russia’s largest financial institutions and imposed increasingly expansive restrictions on military and industrial goods that could support Russia’s defense industrial base. As a result, Russia has been forced to turn to rogue regimes to try to source weapons and equipment because of their inability to make enough parts to resupply Putin’s war at home. Additionally, Congress has revoked Russia’s permanent normal trade relations status — removing Russia’s privileges in international trade and increasing tariffs on hundreds of Russia products imported into the United States.

These sanctions and export controls will cut even deeper into Russia’s economy as time progresses. And at the same time, our economic measures have been specifically designed to shield low- and middle-income countries from their impact — including protecting the exports of food, allowing the provision of humanitarian assistance, and carving out agriculture, medicine, and energy payments from our sanctions.

Energy Assistance and Security

When Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, trying to use winter as a weapon against the Ukrainian people, the United States and its allies and partners provided energy assistance: restoring power, heating homes, and enabling the people of Ukraine to focus on the defense of their sovereignty.

Together with our allies and partners, we provided critical electricity equipment to help Ukraine make emergency repairs to its power system and strengthen the stability of Ukraine’s grid in the face of Russia’s targeted attacks. We also worked with Ukraine to advance its energy transition and build a system decoupled from Russian energy. And we worked to stabilize global energy markets, limit Russia’s revenue, and blunt the impacts of Russia’s war on energy security. Through the U.S.-EU Task Force on Energy Security, we ensured Europe had enough gas for the winter. The United States also released 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, ensured international energy payments continue to flow under our sanctions, and implemented a G7+ price cap on seaborne Russian oil and petroleum products.

We also took steps to reduce nuclear risks posed by Russia’s reckless actions at and around Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to support energy infrastructure, including through training for emergency responders, radiation sensor monitoring, and the provision of emergency diesel fuel and other nuclear safety supplies.

Economic Assistance

The United States has disbursed $13 billion in grant financing for budget support for Ukraine —and will soon begin disbursing another $9.9 billion that Congress recently approved — to ensure the Ukrainian government can continue to meet the critical needs of its citizens and provide basic services as it confronts Russia’s continued aggression. Through the World Bank’s Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance mechanism, the United States has used it to provide budget support on a reimbursement basis — ensuring funding is disbursed to Ukraine only after expenses have been verified.

In its leadership role in international financial institutions, the United States has also worked closely with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support Ukraine — including to strengthen energy security, food security, and support for vulnerable populations and internally displaced persons across the country. Together with the G7, we have launched the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine, to enhance our coordination of economic support for Ukraine’s immediate financing needs and future economic recovery and reconstruction efforts.

Biden in Warsaw Ahead of 1-Year Anniversary of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Rebukes Putin: ‘The US and our Partners Stand with Ukraine’

President Biden, fresh off a historic visit into Ukraine, in his speech in Warsaw, Poland, reaffirmed US, NATO and allied continued support for Ukraine, as the red line in defense of freedom, democracy, sovereignty and international law. Biden stated that Putin started the war and he could stop it with one word. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

Dueling speeches showcase diametrically opposed views of reality: President Biden, fresh off a historic, brave and noble visit into Ukraine (first time in modern history a president went into a hot war zone without US military presence), in his speech in Warsaw, Poland, reaffirmed US, NATO and allied continued support for Ukraine, as the red line in defense of freedom, democracy, sovereignty and international law, while Russian President Putin, using the Orwellian newspeak of dictators and tyrants, accused the West and Ukraine of initiating the invasion and being an existential threat to Russia. Biden stated in his speech in Warsaw that Putin started the war and he could stop it with one word.

Our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided, and we will not tire.  President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail.  And the Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail. Democracies of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow, and forever.  For that’s what’s at stake here: freedom.”

Biden delivered one of the best speeches of his presidency, is career, of any presidency. Here is highlighted transcript –Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

5:39 P.M. CET
 
THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Poland!  (Applause.)  One of our great allies.  President Duda, Prime Minister — Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Mayor, and to all the former ministers and presidents, as well as mayors and Polish political leaders from all across the country: Thank you for welcoming me back to Poland.
 
You know, it was nearly one year ago — (applause) — nearly one year ago I spoke at the Royal Castle here in Warsaw, just weeks after Vladimir Putin had unleashed his murderous assault on UkraineThe largest land war in Europe since World War Two had begun.  And the principles that had been the cornerstone of peace, prosperity, and stability on this planet for more than 75 years were at risk of being shattered.
 
One year ago, the world was bracing for the fall of Kyiv.  Well, I have just come from a visit to Kyiv, and I can report: Kyiv stands strong!  (Applause.)  Kyiv stands proud.  It stands tall.  And most important, it stands free.  (Applause.)
 
When Russia invaded, it wasn’t just Ukraine being tested.  The whole world faced a test for the ages.
 
Europe was being tested.  America was being tested.  NATO was being tested.  All democracies were being tested.  And the questions we faced were as simple as they were profound.
 
Would we respond or would we look the other way?  Would we be strong or would we be weak?  Would be — we would — would we be — all of our allies — would be united or divided?
 
One year later, we know the answer. 
 
We did respond.  We would be strong.  We would be united.   And the world would not look the other way.  (Applause.)
 
We also faced fundamental questions about the commitment to the most basic of principles.  Would we stand up for the sovereignty of nations?  Would we stand up for the right of people to live free from naked aggression?  Would we stand up for democracy?
 
One year later, we know the answers. 
 
Yes, we would stand up for sovereignty.  And we did. 
 
Yes, we would stand up for the right of people to live free from aggression.  And we did. 
 
And we would stand up for democracy.  And we did.
 
And yesterday, I had the honor to stand with President Zelenskyy in Kyiv to declare that we will keep standing up for these same things no matter what.  (Applause.)
 
When President Putin ordered his tanks to roll into Ukraine, he thought we would roll over.  He was wrong.
 
The Ukrainian people are too brave.
 
America, Europe, a coalition of nations from the Atlantic to the Pacific — we were too unified.
 
Democracy was too strong.
 
Instead of an easy victory he perceived and predicted, Putin left with burnt-out tanks and Russia’s forces in delay — in disarray. 
 
He thought he’d get the Finlandization of NATO.  Instead, he got the NATOization of Finland — and Sweden.  (Applause.)
 
He thought NATO would fracture and divide.  Instead, NATO is more united and more unified than ever — than ever before.
 
He thought he could weaponize energy to crack your resolve — Europe’s resolve.
 
Instead, we’re working together to end Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels. 
 
He thought autocrats like himself were tough and leaders of democracies were soft.
 
And then, he met the iron will of America and the nations everywhere that refused to accept a world governed by fear and force.
 
He found himself at war with a nation led by a man whose courage would be forged in fire and steel: President Zelenskyy.
  (Applause.)
 
President Putin — President Putin is confronted with something today that he didn’t think was possible a year ago.  The democracies of the world have grown stronger, not weaker.  But the autocrats of the world have grown weaker, not stronger.
 
Because in the moments of great upheaval and uncertainty, that knowing what you stand for is most important, and knowing who stands with you makes all the difference.
 
The people of Poland know that.  You know that.  In fact, you know — you know it better than anyone here in Poland.  Because that’s what solidarity means.
 
Through partition and oppression, when the beautiful city was destroyed after the Warsaw Uprising, during decades under the iron fist of communist rule, Poland endured because you stood together.
 
That’s how the brave leaders of the opposition and the people of Belarus continue to fight for their democracy.
 
That’s how the resolve of Moldovan people — (applause) — resolve of the people of Moldova to live in freedom gained them independence and put them on the path to EU membership.
 
President Sandu is here today.  I’m not sure where she is.  But I’m proud to stand with you and the freedom-loving people of Moldova.  Give her a round of applause.  (Applause.)
One year into this war, Putin no longer doubts the strength of our coalition.  But he still doubts our conviction.  He doubts our staying power.  He doubts our continued support for Ukraine.  He doubts whether NATO can remain unified.

But there should be no doubt: Our support for Ukraine will not waver, NATO will not be divided, and we will not tire.  (Applause.)

President Putin’s craven lust for land and power will fail.  And the Ukrainian people’s love for their country will prevail.

Democracies of the world will stand guard over freedom today, tomorrow, and forever.  (Applause.)  For that’s what’s at stake here: freedom.

That’s the message I carried to Kyiv yesterday, directly to the people of Ukraine.

When President Zelenskyy said — he came to the United States in December — quote — he said this struggle will define the world and what our children and grandchildren — how they live, and then their children and grandchildren.

He wasn’t only speaking about the children and grandchildren of Ukraine.  He was speaking about all of our children and grandchildren.  Yours and mine.

We’re seeing again today what the people of Poland and the people all across Europe saw for decades: Appetites of the autocrat cannot be appeased.  They must be opposed.

Autocrats only understand one word: “No.”  “No.”  “No.”  (Applause.)

“No, you will not take my country.”  “No, you will not take my freedom.”  “No, you will not take my future.”

And I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year in this same place: A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to erase the people’s love of liberty.  Brutality will never grind down the will of the free.  And Ukraine — Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia.  Never.  (Applause.)

For free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness.

You know, this has been an extraordinary year in every sense.

Extraordinary brutality from Russian forces and mercenaries.  They have committed depravities, crimes against humanity, without shame or compunction.  They’ve targeted civilians with death and destruction.  Used rape as a weapon of war.  Stolen Ukrainian children in an attempt to steal Ukraine’s future.  Bombed train stations, maternity hospitals, schools, and orphanages.

No one — no one can turn away their eyes from the atrocities Russia is committing against the Ukrainian people.  It’s abhorrent.  It’s abhorrent.

But extraordinarily, as well, has been the response of the Ukrainian people and the world.

One year after the bombs began to fall and Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine,Ukraine is still independent and free.  (Applause.)

From Kherson to Kharkiv, Ukrainian fighters have reclaimed their land.

In more than 50 percent of the territory Russia held last year, the blue and the yellow flag of Ukraine proudly waves once again.

President Zelenskyy still leads a democratically elected government that represents the will of the Ukrainian people.

And the world has already voted multiple times, including in the United Nations General Assembly, to condemn Russia’s aggression and support a just peace.

Each time in the U.N., that vote has been overwhelming.

In October, 143 nations in the United Nations condemned Russia’s illegal annexation.  Only four — four in the entire U.N. — voted with Russia.  Four.

So, tonight, I speak once more to the people of Russia.

The United States and the nations of Europe do not seek to control or destroy Russia.  The West was not plotting to attack Russia, as Putin said today.  And millions of Russian citizens who only want to live in peace with their neighbors are not the enemy.
 
This war was never a necessity; it’s a tragedy.  
 
President Putin chose this war.  Every day the war continues is his choice.  He could end the war with a word.

It’s simple.  If Russia stopped invading Ukraine, it would end the war.  If Ukraine stopped defending itself against Russia, it would be the end of Ukraine.

That’s why, together, we’re making sure Ukraine can defend itself.

The United States has assembled a worldwide coalition of more than 50 nations to get critical weapons and supplies to the brave Ukrainian fighters on the frontlines.  Air defense systems, artillery, ammunition, tanks, and armored vehicles.
 
The European Union and its member states have stepped up with unprecedented commitment to Ukraine, not just in security assistance, but economic, and humanitarian, refugee assistance, and so much more. 

To all of you here tonight: Take a moment.  And I’m serious when I say this: Turn on and look — turn around and look at one another.  Look at what you’ve done so far.

Poland is hosting more than 1.5 million refugees from this war.  God bless you.  (Applause.)   

Poland’s generosity, your willingness to open your hearts and your homes, is extraordinary.

And the American people are united in our resolve as well.

All across my country, in big cities and small towns, Ukrainian flags fly from American homes. 

Over the past year, Democrats and Republicans in our United States Congress have come together to stand for freedom.

That’s who Americans are, and that’s what Americans do.  (Applause.) 

The world is also coming together to address the global fallout from President Putin’s war.

Putin tried to starve the world, blocking the ports in the Black Sea to stop Ukraine from exporting its grain, exacerbating the global food crisis that hit developing nations in Africa especially hard.
 
Instead, the United States and the G7 and partners around the world answered the call with historic commitments to address the crisis and to bolster global food supplies.

And this week, my wife, Jill Biden, is traveling to Africa to help bring attention to this critical issue.

Our commitment is to the people of Ukraine and the future of Ukraine — a Ukraine that’s free, sovereign, and democratic.

That was the dream of those who declared Ukraine’s independence more than 30 years ago — who led the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity; who braved ice and fire on the Maidan and the Heavenly Hundred who died there; and those who continue still to root out Kremlin’s efforts to corrupt, coerce, and control.

It’s a dream for those Ukrainian patriots who have fought for years against Russia’s aggressions in the Donbas and the heroes who have given everything, given their lives, in the service of their beloved Ukraine.

I was honored to visit their memorial in Kyiv yesterday to pay tribute to the sacrifice of those who lost their lives, standing alongside President Zelenskyy.

The United States and our partners stand with Ukraine’s teachers, its hospital staff, its emergency responders, the workers in cities across Ukraine who are fighting to keep the power on in the face of Russia’s cruel bombardment.
 
We stand with the millions of refugees of this war who have found a welcome in Europe and the United States, particularly here in Poland.
 
Ordinary people all across Europe did whatever they could to help and continue to do so.  Polish businesses, civil society, cultural leaders — including the First Lady of Poland, who is here tonight — have led with the heart and determination, showcasing all that’s good about the human spirit
.

Madam First Lady, we love you.  Thank you all.  (Applause.)

I’ll never forget, last year, visiting with refugees from Ukraine who had just arrived in Warsaw, seeing their faces exhausted and afraid — holding their children so close, worrying they might never see their fathers, their husbands, their brothers or sisters again.

In that darkest moment of their lives, you, the people of Poland, offered them safety and light.  You embraced them.  You literally embraced them.  I watched.  I watched the looks on their faces. 

Meanwhile, together we have made sure that Russia is paying the price for its abuses.

We continue to maintain the largest sanctions regime ever imposed on any country in history.  And we’re going to announce more sanctions this week together with our partners.
 
We’ll hold accountable those who are responsible for this war.  And we will seek justice for the war crimes and crimes against humanity continuing to be committed by the Russians.


You know, there is much for us to be proud of over the — all that we have achieved together this past year.  But we have to be honest and cleared-eyed as we look at the year ahead.

The defense of freedom is not the work of a day or of a year.  It’s always difficult.  It’s always important.

As Ukraine continues to defend itself against the Russian onslaught and launch counter-offensives of its own, there will continue to be hard and very bitter days, victories and tragedies.  But Ukraine is steeled for the fight ahead.  And the United States, together with our Allies and partners, are going to continue to have Ukraine’s back as it defends itself.

Next year, I will host every member of NATO for our 2024 summit in the United States.  Together, we’ll celebrate the 75th anniversary of the strongest defensive alliance in the history of the world — NATO. 

And — (applause) — and let there be no doubt, the commitment of the United States to our NATO Alliance and Article 5 is rock solid.  (Applause.)  And every member of NATO knows it.  And Russia knows it as well.
 
An attack against one is an attack against all.  It’s a sacred oath.  (Applause.)  A sacred oath to defend every inch of NATO territory.

Over the past year, the United States has come together with our Allies and partners in an extraordinary coalition to stand against Russian aggression.

But the work in front of us is not just what we’re against, it’s about what we’re for.  What kind of world do we want to build?
 
We need to take the strength and capacity of this coalition and apply it to lifting up the lives of people everywhere, improving health, growing prosperity, preserving the planet, building peace and security, treating everyone with dignity and respect.
 
That’s our responsibility.  The democracies of the world have to deliver it for our people.

As we gather tonight, the world, in my view, is at an inflection point.  The decisions we make over the next five years or so are going to determine and shape our lives for decades to come.

That’s true for Americans.  It’s true for the people of the world.

And while decisions are ours to make now, the principles and the stakes are eternal.  A choice between chaos and stability.  Between building and destroying.  Between hope and fear.  Between democracy that lifts up the human spirit and the brutal hand of the dictator who crushes it.  Between nothing less than limitation and possibilities, the kind of possibilities that come when people who live not in captivity but in freedom.  Freedom.

Freedom.  There is no sweeter word than freedom.  There is no nobler goal than freedom.  There is no higher aspiration than freedom.  (Applause.)
 
Americans know that, and you know it.  And all that we do now must be done so our children and grandchildren will know it as well.

Freedom.
 
The enemy of the tyrant and the hope of the brave and the truth of the ages.
 
Freedom.
 
Stand with us.  We will stand with you.

Let us move forward with faith and conviction and with an abiding commitment to be allies not of darkness, but of light.  Not of oppression, but of liberation.  Not of captivity, but, yes, of freedom.
 
May God bless you all.  May God protect our troops.  And may God bless the heroes of Ukraine and all those who defend freedom around the world.

Thank you, Poland.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for what you’re doing.  (Applause.)  God bless you all.

6:00 P.M. CET

Dueling Economic Agendas: Biden, Democrats Blast Republicans

During the State of the Union address, President Joe Biden laid out a plan to continue to grow the economy in a stable, sustainable way, so that all Americans could benefit. Republicans, meanwhile, are intent on policies that would add $3 trillion to the national debt while hurting seniors, the middle class, working families. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

Further evidence that President Joe Biden’s economic plan – essentially building the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, and creating longterm, sustainable, stable growth – is working. Despite the manufactured hysteria over inflation and impending recession, the data shows otherwise – in terms of record 12 million jobs created, lowest unemployment in 50 years, real increase in wages.

Biden is also able to show progress in slowing inflation – which has been much more crippling throughout the world – and has been able to demonstrate that while his economic policies will address the national debt (a record reduction in the budget deficit), Republicans’ agenda would worsen the national debt (largely caused by the Trump/GOP tax plan that reduced taxes on the wealthiest individuals and corporations, and which added $7.4 trillion, or 25% of the national debt, in the four-year term). The Republican plan would actually add $3 trillion MORE to the national debt.

President Biden, commenting on the January CPI Report, said:

“Inflation in America is continuing to come down, which is good news for families and businesses across the country. Today’s data confirm that annual inflation has fallen for seven straight months. Inflation for food at the grocery store came down again last month. Gas prices are down about $1.60 from their peak last year. And real wages for working Americans are up over the last seven months, delivering welcome breathing room for American families. We are seeing this progress even as unemployment remains at its lowest level since 1969 and job growth remains resilient.”  
 
“There is still more work to do as we make this transition to more steady, stable growth, and there could be setbacks along the way. That is why my unwavering focus is on continuing to lower costs for families, rebuild our supply chains, and invest in America. Right now, because of the Inflation Reduction Act we passed last year, we are lowering prescription drug costs, health care costs, and home energy costs for tens of millions of Americans all while lowering our deficits. My administration is eliminating junk fees which make it harder for American families to make ends meet at the end of the month. And we are creating manufacturing jobs all across the country, which will lower costs and rebuild our supply chains.”
 
“Unfortunately, many of my Republican friends in Congress seem intent on taking us in the opposite direction. They have proposed repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, which would make inflation worse, shower billions of dollars on Big Pharma, and increase the deficit. They are threatening to raise costs for seniors by threatening to cut Medicare and Social Security, and other critical programs that American seniors and families count on. And some are threatening to default on the full faith and credit of the U.S., which would raise costs and create economic chaos. I will stand firmly against any effort to make inflation worse and increase costs for families. Today’s data reinforces that we have made historic progress and are on the right track, and now we need to finish the job. “

The Congressional Republican Agenda to Increase the Debt by Over $3 Trillion

Congressional Republican leaders insist that the national debt is among our nation’s greatest challenges, and reducing it is among their highest priorities. In fact, they claim that reducing the debt is so urgent it warrants endangering the entire U.S. economy through debt limit brinksmanship. But their legislative agenda to date points in a very different direction—with proposals that would increase the debt by over $3 trillion.

  • The first bill passed by the new Republican House majority increased the debt by $114 billion by allowing wealthy people and corporations to continue to cheat on their taxes.
     
  • Congressional Republicans proposed repealing—and are even running ads attacking—reforms President Biden signed to lower prescription drug costs. Repealing these policies would increase the amount of money Medicare pays Big Pharma, raise costs for seniors, and add $159 billion to the debt.
     
  • House Republicans have advocated and proposed repealing tax increases on large corporations that President Biden has signed into law, adding $296 billion to the debt.
     
  • House Republican leaders have also committed to extend the expiring Trump tax cuts, a $2.7 trillion debt increase that would give the top 0.1% (with incomes over $4 million per year) a $175,000 annual tax cut, over 2.5 times a typical family’s annual income.

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, exposed the political logic of Congressional Republicans’ fiscal hypocrisy. He told Republicans their focus should be “not the deficit” after all: it’s to shift public discussion to cutting spending, paving the way for more tax cuts for the wealthy.

That trickle-down economic theory has never worked. President Trump and President Bush’s tax cuts added trillions to the debt and failed to deliver their promised benefits for the economy or American workers. And taking revenues—and even savings from cutting corporate subsidies—off the table means Congressional Republicans consistently propose deep cuts to programs seniors and middle-class and working families count on.

That’s why the American people deserve to see Congressional Republicans’ full and detailed budget plan and compare it with the President’s Budget plan to invest in America, bring down costs for families, protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare, and reduce the deficit, which he will release March 9.

Congressional Republicans’ Commitment to Debt Increases

The fiscal consequences of the debt increases Congressional Republicans have put at the top of their agenda are stark. After a decade, these policies, if enacted, would add over $3 trillion to the debt (accounting for debt service costs), increasing debt as a share of the economy by almost 10 percentage points.
Congressional Republicans’ debt increases include:

The Tax Cheats Protection Act: House Republicans’ first bill in the new Congress would add $114 billion to the Federal debt by repealing President Biden’s legislation that cracks down on wealthy tax cheats. While working people pay 99% of taxes on their income from wages and salaries, the top 1% hides about 20% of their income from tax, including by funneling it through offshore accounts and tax havens that do not report earnings. President Biden passed a law to make our tax system fairer by cracking down on wealthy tax cheats, while protecting middle-class taxpayers and small businesses and improving taxpayer service. But 221 House Republicans voted to enable tax fraud by wealthy Americans and large corporations.

Increase Spending With a Handout to Big Pharma: House Republicans have introduced a bill to repeal the entire Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), including the reforms President Biden signed into law to lower prescription drug costs. Congressional Republicans and Big Pharma have launched a concerted attack on the IRA’s prescription drug reforms, advocating to increase both Federal spending and seniors’ costs to increase Big Pharma’s profits. Thanks to the new prescription drug law, Medicare will finally be able to negotiate drug prices, and drug companies will pay rebates to Medicare if they try to hike their prices faster than the rate of inflation. Congressional Republicans want to repeal these policies, giving a $159 billion handout to Big Pharma, raising costs for seniors, and driving up the Federal debt.

Enrich Multi-Billion Dollar Corporations: In 2020, 55 of the largest, most profitable corporations paid $0 in taxes. The President signed into law legislation to level the playing field for companies and small businesses that are already paying their fair share in taxes. Under his corporate minimum tax, the largest, most profitable corporations—those with over $1 billion in profits—have to pay a 15% minimum tax on the profits they report to their shareholders. But House Republicans—through their Inflation Reduction Act repeal bill and other statements—have made clear that they want to enrich large corporations that don’t pay their fair share. That would add $222 billion to the debt.

Increase the Tax Subsidy for Stock Buybacks: President Biden signed into law a surcharge on corporate stock buybacks, which reduces the differential tax treatment between buybacks and dividends and encourages businesses to invest in their growth and productivity as opposed to paying out corporate executives or funneling tax-preferred profits to foreign shareholdersThe President in his State of the Union address proposed quadrupling the stock buybacks tax to 4% to address the continued tax advantage for buybacks and encourage long-term investment over giveaways to executives. House Republicans instead want to repeal the stock buybacks tax and let corporations continue to funnel tax-preferred profits to shareholders instead of investing in productivity and the broader economy. That would add $74 billion to the Federal debt.

Extend President Trump’s Unpaid-for Tax Giveaway to the Wealthy and Large Corporations: President Trump and Congressional Republicans deliberately sunset portions of their tax giveaway to the wealthy and large corporations. They did this to conceal how much their plan added to the debt as well as how large the tax breaks were for multi-millionaires and large corporations. Now, House Republican Leadership has made clear that extending President Trump’s tax giveaway to the wealthy and large corporations is one of their top priorities. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center found that doing so would mean an average tax cut of $175,000 for the top 0.1%—Americans making more than $4 million per year. That average tax cut is more than 2.5 times a typical family’s annual income. Meanwhile, extending the expiring Trump tax cuts would add $2.7 trillion to the Federal debt over 10 years.

The President supports a fiscally responsible approach to continuing current tax policies for people making less than $400,000 per year, and opposes any tax increase for this group. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans—including the more than three quarters of them who are signatories to Grover Norquist’s tax pledge—have made clear they will oppose paying for middle-class tax cuts by raising taxes on the wealthy and large corporations.

Even Without a Budget, Congressional Republicans Are Already Showing Who Will Pay the Price

The proposals Congressional Republicans have put forward show that, even as they commit to massive tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, they are more than ready to raise taxes on middle-class and working families. The House Republican IRA repeal bill would cut premium tax credits that are helping an estimated 14.5 million people pay for health insurance. And the House Budget Committee last week doubled down on eliminating Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for middle-income people with high health insurance premiums: a tax increase of $7,600 per year for a typical 62-year old earning $55,000.

In addition, some Congressional Republicans continue to push a national retail sales tax bill that would repeal most existing taxes and impose a new 30% sales tax on American families. The legislation would increase debt by trillions—and cut taxes for a couple making a million dollars a year by more than $200,000—and at the same time would raise taxes by at least $7,000 for a retired couple with $60,000 in Social Security income and at least $6,000 for a single mom making $38,000, a recent analysis found.

The bottom line is: having committed to over $3 trillion in debt increases and also insisted they are committed to reducing the debt, Congressional Republicans owe the American public a complete and transparent accounting of who will foot the bill. Will it be middle-class and working families, seniors, students, or all of the above? 

House Republican agenda amounts to a death panel for Medicare and Social Security:

The contrast in agendas for America between President Joe Biden and the Democrats and the Congressional Republicans could not be more stark.

While President Biden, in his State of the Union address, described his plans for building on the historic job creation he has achieved, making more progress against inflation, reducing the deficit by making the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, and protecting Medicare and Social Security benefits from cuts, in contrast, House Republicans opened the week by announcing the latest in a long succession of attempts to undermine Medicare and Social Security.

Bloomberg reports that as part of a ransom demand for not triggering a financial meltdown, top House Republicans want an agreement that both earned benefits programs are put on track for cuts.

As The Washington Post reported in late January, House Republicans have continuously pressed for slashing Medicare and Social Security benefits in exchange for not actively harming the American economy with the first debt default in our history.  

House Republicans have repeatedly indicated they would do so in the new Congress, and on the campaign trail.

Republicans have also introduced legislation to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act, which would be one of the biggest Medicare benefit cuts in history, depriving seniors of lower insulin costs, the $2,000 cap on out of pocket expenses for prescription drugs, and Medicare’s new ability to negotiate lower drug costs.

Today’s news is even more confirmation that House Republicans are taking direct aim at programs that are critical to the middle class, even as they vote for tax giveaways to the rich that would manage to increase taxes on working families while raising the deficit at the same time, the White House stated.

“With the President poised to announce new plans to keep making our economy works from the bottom up and the middle out – not the top down – House Republicans are dead-set on the opposite,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. “They’re opening the week unveiling their latest in a long line of ultimatums about how they’ll act to kill jobs, businesses, and retirement accounts if they can’t cut Medicare and Social Security benefits. Meanwhile, they’re voting to worsen the deficit with tax welfare for the rich and big corporations. Think about that: they’re targeting the Medicare and Social Security benefits that middle class families pay in to earn their whole lives, then turning around and giving tax handouts to big corporations. The American people want more jobs and lower costs, not a death panel for Medicare and Social Security.” 

“While President Biden shows the American people his plan to build on the unprecedented deficit reduction his leadership has already delivered, by having the richest taxpayers and big corporations pay their fair share and lowering prescription drug prices, House Republicans’ only plan is to make the deficit skyrocket by over $3 trillion with unaffordable tax giveaways to wealthy special interests,” stated White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. “They’ve even proposed raiding Medicare so that the ultra-rich can enjoy new tax welfare. Meanwhile, House Republicans are threatening to actively throw our economy into a tailspin with a default – which they have a non-negotiable, Constitutional duty to prevent – unless they can further cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It’s utterly backwards. The President is delivering on his commitment to build an economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out – not from the top down. The House GOP seems determined to pull the American economy in the opposite direction, increasing taxes on working families while giving $3 trillion in new handouts for the rich.”

The chart below is based on the record:

Policy10-Year Deficit Increase
Republican House-passed bill to make it easier for billionaires to cheat on their taxes$114 billion
Republican Proposals to repeal Inflation Reduction Act’s prescription drug savings, which will raise costs for seniors and Medicare and increase federal spending$159 billion
Republican Proposals to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act’s 15% minimum tax on corporations with profits over $1 billion$222 billion
Republican Proposals to extend the Trump tax cuts: an average tax cut of $175,000 for the top 0.1%$2.7 trillion
Deficit increases from Republican proposals to dateOver $3 trillion

Congressional Republicans keep calling for earned benefits on the one hand, but more tax giveaways for the rich on the other

After President Biden put Republicans on the defensive over their long-public intentions to slash Medicare and Social Security benefits, a continuing list of congressional Republicans ranging from Ron Johnson last week to Senator Mike Rounds yesterday, keep proving his point.

Whether it’s a large number of House Republicans and Rick Scott pushing to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act in what would be one of the worst Medicare benefit cuts of all time, or the Republican Study Committee proposing benefit cuts and the privatization of Social Security of last year, the receipts are undeniable. For months, congressional Republicans have indicated they would even use the threat of a catastrophic default to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Republicans in Congress justify these intentions under the guise of fiscal responsibility. However, at the same time, they are advocating for enormous tax giveaways to rich special interests that, combined, would add over $3 trillion to the debt. Those two positions are irreconcilable.

The first vote the Republican-controlled House took was to help wealthy individuals and multinational corporations worsen inflation by cheating on their taxes. They broadly support renewing the Trump tax giveaways for the rich. And in addition to being a Medicare benefit cut, repealing the Inflation Reduction Act would at the same time be more tax welfare for the rich and a giant windfall for Big Pharma. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  

“It’s irreconcilable to support Medicare and Social Security benefit cuts in the name of supposed ‘fiscal responsibility,’ while at the same time adding $3 trillion to the national debt with a seemingly endless gravy train for rich special interests,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. “Prioritizing tax giveaways for the wealthy and specific handouts for Big Pharma over the Medicare and Social Security benefits that middle class families pay to earn throughout their lives is a recipe for making our economy work from the top-down. The last thing that Americans who’ve felt invisible want is cuts to lifeline programs in exchange for permanent trickle-down economics.”

SOTU Preview: Biden Offers Plan to Build on Economic Success

What a difference a year makes! The atmosphere for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address could not be more different from 2022, when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. But his message, continuing to build on the progress of his Unity Agenda, repeats his theme to work in a bipartisan fashion for the good of the American people © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via C-Span.

It is truly shocking to hear “poll” results where the majority of people think President Biden has done nothing, that the economy is weak, that no new jobs have been created. Beyond absurd – you have to wonder about who was polled, how the polling was done, or what rock these people have been under, or if they are permanently wired to Fox Fake News. This preview of the State of the Union Address providing a Fact Sheet on the Biden Administration’s economic record, comes from the White House:

President Biden has long believed that we must build the economy from the bottom up and middle out, not the top down. As the President says, when the middle class does well, the poor have a ladder up and the wealthy still do very well. He believes the best way to grow the economy, create good-paying jobs, and lower costs for families is by promoting workers, investing in America and its people, making the economy more competitive, and reforming the tax code to reward work and not wealth. Our progress over the last two years shows that his economic strategy is working.
 
The state of the economy is strong. In his State of the Union address, President Biden will highlight the historic progress we have made to bring the economy back from the pandemic and create more jobs in a two-year period than under any other president on record. He will discuss progress lowering costs and providing more breathing room for families, including cutting prescription drug costs, health insurance premiums, and energy bills, while driving the uninsured rate to historic lows. He will outline the manufacturing boom across the country—in infrastructure, semi-conductors, and clean energy—that is strengthening parts of the country left behind and creating good jobs, including for workers without college degrees.
 
And, he will emphasize that his economic strategy has been a fiscally responsible one. President Biden’s predecessor passed a nearly $2 trillion unpaid for tax cut with benefits skewed to the wealthy and large corporations, and the deficit went up every single year under his watch. Under President Biden, the deficit has fallen by $1.7 trillion, and his reforms to take on Big Pharma, lower prescription drug costs, and make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share will reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions more.
 
President Biden knows that the work to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out is far from done. He will say that we need to build on this work to continue growing our economy and lowering costs. He will discuss the work to come to implement his historic investment agenda in a way that benefits all Americans. And, the President will preview the budget he will send to Congress on March 9, which will build on the historic economic progress of the past two years by continuing to invest in America and its people, continuing to lower costs for families—from child care to housing to college to health care—protecting and strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and reducing the deficit through additional reforms to ensure the wealthy and largest corporations pay their fair share.
 
Historic Progress to Create Jobs, Promote Workers, and Transition to Steady and Stable Growth

When President Biden took office, the economy was in crisis, millions were out of work, and Main Streets were shuttered. In two years, the President has overseen a historic economy recovery and laid the foundation for steady and stable growth in the years to come.

A historic, equitable economic recovery. President Biden’s economic strategy led to a historic recovery with tangible benefits for workers and families. Since President Biden took office, the economy has created more than 12 million jobs—including more than 800,000 manufacturing jobs—and the unemployment rate is at a 54-year low, including near record lows for Black workers. The unemployment rate for Hispanic workers hit a record low last year. The past two years were also the best two years for new small business applications on record. None of this progress was pre-ordained. Before President Biden signed his Rescue Plan into law, experts predicted it would take far longer to create this many jobs. And few—if any—experts predicted it would be possible to get the unemployment rate down to a level last seen in 1969. In fact, before the Rescue Plan passed, the Congressional Budget Office projected the unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2023 would be 4.8%, rather than its current level of 3.4%.

More breathing room and economic security for families. This historic jobs recovery, along with Biden-Harris Administration policies designed to help workers and families, has left families more economically secure than before the pandemic. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, households are now less likely to be delinquent on their credit card bills and mortgages, and more likely to have health insurance. They are facing fewer evictions and foreclosures than there were before the pandemic, and bankruptcy rates are lower as well. This economic security is giving families peace of mind and breathing room that they didn’t have before the pandemic. Child poverty also fell to a historic low in 2021, and the President will call on Congress to continue these gains through the expanded Child Tax Credit, even as he has taken action to lift nearly 1 million children out of poverty by modernizing nutrition benefits.

Progress on transitioning to steady, stable growth with lower inflation. In the wake of unprecedented economic disruption from a historic pandemic, inflation has been a challenge all over the globe. Last spring, President Biden set the goal of transitioning our economy to lower inflation, while maintaining a resilient job market for American workers. Now, annual inflation has fallen for six months straight, driven in large part by a roughly $1.50 decline in gas prices compared to last summer. Over the second half of 2022, three-month core inflation fell from nearly 8% at an annualized rate to 3% at an annualized rate—at the same time that the unemployment remained at or near 50-year lows. As a result of the progress on inflation and the resilience of the job market, wages adjusted for inflation are higher than they were seven months ago. While there is more work to do to bring inflation down and lower costs for families—and there may be setbacks along the way—the past six months have marked significant progress toward the President’s goal of bringing down inflation without giving up the economic progress we’ve made.

Manufacturing Boom Across the Country and Historic Investments in Infrastructure

Even before the pandemic, the middle class was hollowed out. Manufacturing jobs moved overseas and factories closed down. The President believes that the United States can lead the world in manufacturing again. His economic plan has done just that—generate a manufacturing boom across the country and build an economy where no one is left behind. The President’s economic plan is stimulating new factories and manufacturing lines and creating good-paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree. His plan includes the most significant upgrade to our nation’s infrastructure in generations—an investment larger than FDR’s investment Rural Electrification and Eisenhower’s efforts to build the Interstate Highway system. It includes the most significant clean energy plan ever, transitioning the clean energy economy and lowering households’ energy costs. And, it includes the most substantial investment in science, innovation, and industrial strategy in over 50 years.
 
In just the two years since President Biden took office, we have spurred more than $700 billion in announced private investment in manufacturing, utilities, and energy from more than 200 companies in all 50 states. Much of this investment is driven by the semiconductor, energy, electric vehicles and batteries, and other cutting-edge sectors.
 
Ensuring President Biden’s agenda creates a future made in America. Building on the historic investment agenda the President has signed into law, President Biden is ensuring that our historic infrastructure investments use materials made in America. For decades, Buy America laws focused on iron and steel and only covered certain federally funded infrastructure projects. This giant loophole meant projects could be built with other materials sourced from anywhere in the world. The Biden-Harris Administration is working to close this loophole and implement new standards, once and for all, so materials for roads and bridges, airports, transit, rail, water, high-speed internet, and clean energy infrastructure are made in America and support American jobs.
 
The President will announce in the State of the Union that he is issuing proposed guidance to ensure construction materials from copper and aluminum to fiber optic cable, lumber, and drywall, are made in America. Once finalized, these standards will apply to virtually all infrastructure spending supported by Federal financial assistance—not simply roads and bridges, but also buildings, water infrastructure and high-speed internet, providing consistency for companies and state and local governments to apply the standards and a strong federal government-wide demand signal.
 
These steps complement the Administration’s implementation of the most robust updates in nearly 70 years to the Buy American Act for federal procurement. Those updates are helping to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars support American manufacturing, boost resiliency in critical industries, and create good-paying jobs right here at home. The Buy American rule increased the percentage value of component parts manufactured in the US from 55% to 60% this past fall as the first step toward increasing that value to 75%.
 
Lowering Health Care Costs for Families
 
The President knows what it’s like to stare at the ceiling, worried about paying for prescriptions or health care. He believes that every American has a right to the peace of mind that comes with knowing they have access to affordable, quality health care. President Biden passed legislation to lower health care and prescription drug costs for American families, giving families more breathing room. Tomorrow, he will discuss the historic progress we have made on lowering health care costs under his watch, including steps to strengthen Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and steps we must take to build on that progress and give more families the peace of mind of affordable prescriptions and health care.

$800 lower health care premiums. A record-setting 16.3 million people signed up for ACA coverage this year, and the national uninsured rate hit an all-time low last year. That’s thanks in large part to President Biden and Democrats in Congress’ work to lower premiums for ACA coverage by an average of $800 per person per year—along with President Biden’s actions to quadruple consumer assistance, increase outreach, and close the “family glitch” loophole that blocked many children and spouses from affordable coverage. Tomorrow, the President will call on Congress to make these savings for American families permanent, so we can continue our work to make health care a right, not a privilege.

60 million Medicare beneficiaries will be protected from skyrocketing drug costs. President Biden took on Big Pharma—and won. Thanks to the new prescription drug law, Medicare will be able to negotiate drug prices and cap out-of-pocket pharmacy costs at $2,000 per year under Part D, and drug companies will pay rebates to Medicare if they try to hike their prices faster than the rate of inflation. For the last six weeks, seniors across the country have been benefiting from key drug pricing protections that are putting money back in their pockets:

  • $35 price cap on insulin in Medicare. Starting this year, Medicare beneficiaries will pay no more than $35 per month per insulin prescription. 1.5 million people would have each saved, on average, $500 per year had this law been in effect in 2020. The President will call on Congress to extend this commonsense, life-saving protection to all Americans, not just people with Medicare.
     
  • $0 vaccines through Medicare. More adult vaccines are now available without any co-pays under Medicare Part D thanks to the new prescription drug law. This includes the shingles vaccine, which used to cost seniors as much as $200.

1 million surprise medical bills are prevented every month. Before President Biden took office, millions of people received surprise bills for out-of-network care, costing them hundreds or thousands of dollars. The Administration is protecting millions of consumers from surprise medical bills through the implementation of the No Surprises Act, which has already protected 10 million Americans from unfair, undeserved out-of-network charges.

$3,000 in savings on hearing aids. In October 2022, over-the-counter hearing aids hit the shelves following a rule from the Food and Drug Administration. Now, millions of Americans can buy hearing aids for low to moderate hearing loss without a prescription or exam. This is anticipated to save Americans as much as $3,000 per pair, providing more breathing room for the estimated 30 million Americans with mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

39 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid coverage. Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota are the most recent states to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of low-income adults previously locked out of Medicaid coverage. The Administration remains committed to closing the coverage gap in the remaining 11 states, and the President will call on Congress to finish the job. In addition, the Administration also worked with over half the states and DC to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage for millions of women.

Promoting Competition

As President Biden said at last year’s State of the Union, “capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation—and it drives up prices.” Over the past year, the Administration has been delivering for the American people to lower prices, protect workers, and increase competition across the economy. In this year’s State of the Union, the President will highlight progress we need to continue to make to promote competition and protect consumers.

Cracking down on junk feesThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is lowering or eliminating the banking and credit card “junk” fees that too many Americans pay. The CFPB announced a proposal that will slash excessive credit card late fees to $8 from approximately $30, which combined with other measures could save consumers up to $9 billion a year in late fees. Last year, the CFPB also targeted overdraft and bounced check fees—making changes that will cut fees by over $1 billion a year. The Department of Transportation (DOT) also proposed a rule that would require airlines and online search sites to disclose up front any fees to choose seats including to sit next to one’s child, for baggage, and for changes or cancellations. It also published a dashboard of airline policies when flights are delayed or cancelled due to issues under the airlines’ control, leading 9 airlines to change policies to guarantee coverage of hotels and 10 airlines to guarantee coverage of meals.

The President will re-state his call on Congress to pass a Junk Fees Prevention Act to ban resort and family seating fees, eliminate unnecessary early termination fees for internet and phone services, and crack down on excessive fees and other practices that drive up ticket prices. DOT will also launch a family seating dashboard to raise awareness about airline policies and undertake a rulemaking to ban these fees.

Addressing non-compete agreements. Roughly 30 million Americans, including many low-wage workers, are covered by non-compete agreements that can stifle wage growth for American workers by making it more difficult for workers to leave for higher-paying jobs. The Federal Trade Commission released a proposed rule in January 2023 to ban non-compete clauses, which it estimates will increases wages by $300 billion annually.

Lowering ocean shipping costs. Ocean carriers increased their rates by as much as 1,000% during the pandemic. Last June, Congress passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act heeding the President’s call in the 2022 State of the Union. This legislation will cut costs for shippers, and in turn American families, and ensure fairer treatment for exports from our farmers and ranchers.

Lowering meat prices. The Administration has taken a number of steps to increase competition in the meat and poultry markets. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also issued proposed regulations under the Packers & Stockyards Act to increase competition and market integrity and to prevent abuse of farmers in the poultry growing system. USDA is also using $1 billion to expand independent meat processing capacity, so the market isn’t dominated by just a few big players.

Helping consumers get the right to repairThe President believes that consumers shouldn’t be restricted by big manufacturers from repairing their own equipment—whether it’s a tractor or a smartphone. After President Biden expressed strong support for the right to repair in his Competition Executive Order, Microsoft conducted a study on the issue and made its Surface devices more easily repairable and Apple announced self-service repair for certain devices.

Improving safety and accountability in nursing homesAs the President directed in last year’s State of the Union, CMS has taken action to strengthen oversight of the worst performing nursing homes, prevent abuse and Medicare fraud, and improve families’ ability to comparison shop across nursing homes. In the coming days and months, CMS will announce new actions to increase safety and accountability at nursing homes.

Reducing the Deficit by Ensuring the Wealthy and Large Corporations Pay their Fair Share

In the last two years, the Administration cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion—the largest deficit reduction in American history. The President believes we need to continue that progress—and reward work, not wealth.

Since coming to office, the President has signed legislation to make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share and provide tax cuts for working families, while reducing the deficit. Under his plan, no one making under $400,000 per year will pay more in taxes.

Billionaire Minimum Tax. President Biden is a capitalist and believes that anyone should be able to become a millionaire or a billionaire. He also believes that it is wrong for America to have a tax code that results in America’s wealthiest households paying a lower tax rate than working families. In a typical year, billionaires pay an average tax rate of just 8%. In the State of the Union, he’ll call on Congress to pass his billionaire minimum tax. This minimum tax would make sure that the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters.

Surcharge on corporate stock buybacksStock buybacks enable corporations to funnel tax-advantaged payouts to wealthy and foreign investors, instead of paying dividends that shareholders are required to pay taxes on. In addition, a number of experts have argued that CEOs—who are compensated mostly in stock—use buybacks to enrich themselves to the detriment of the long-term growth of the company. Last year, oil and gas companies made record profits and invested very little in domestic production and to keep gas prices down—instead they bought their own stock, giving all that profit to their CEOs and shareholders. President Biden signed into law a surcharge on corporate stock buyback, which reduces the differential tax treatment between buybacks and dividends and encourages businesses to invest in their growth and productivity as opposed to paying out corporate executives or funneling tax-preferred profits to foreign shareholders. In the State of the Union, the President will call for quadrupling the tax on corporate stock buybacks.

Corporate minimum taxIn 2020, 55 of the largest corporations that were profitable paid $0 in federal income tax. To end that unfairness in the tax code, President Biden signed into law a 15 percent minimum tax on the profits that large corporations—those with over $1 billion in profits—report to shareholders. This book minimum tax means that it will be harder for companies that say they’re earning a billion in profits to pay tax rates in the single digits on those profits. It also levels the playing field for companies—including small businesses—that are already paying their fair share.

Legislation to crack down on tax cheats and create a fairer tax system. Working people pay 99% of the taxes they owe on their income from wages and salaries, while the top 1 percent hides about 20% of their income from tax, including by funneling it through offshore accounts in tax havens that don’t report earnings. The President signed legislation into law that will crack down on wealthy people and large corporations that cheat on their taxes, while improving customer service for taxpayers. The legislation will not increase audit rates for families or small businesses making under $400,000 per year.

SOTU Preview: Biden to Outline Vision to Advance Progress on Unity Agenda in Year Ahead

This year’s State of the Union address by President Joe Biden will have a very different look, with Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy standing in place of Nancy Pelosi, but Biden plans to continue to press for further progress on the Unity Agenda he proposed last year © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via C-SPAN.

During his first State of the Union address, President Biden announced a four-part Unity Agenda focused on areas where members of both parties can come together and make additional progress for the American people: ending cancer as we know it; delivering on the sacred obligation to veterans; tackling the mental health crisis; and beating the opioid and overdose epidemic.

Over the last year, the President was proud to work with Democrats and Republicans to enact major legislation that delivers on all aspects of this four-part agenda. In his State of the Union today, the President will announce a new set of policies to continue to make progress advancing his Unity Agenda and deliver results for families across the country.

Accelerating Progress to End Cancer as We Know It Today
Cancer has touched nearly every American family, and it remains the second leading cause of death in America. To accelerate progress in the fight against cancer, last year, the President and First Lady reignited the Cancer Moonshot with the goal of cutting U.S. cancer death rates by at least half in 25 years and improving the experience of individuals, caregivers, and families living with and surviving cancer. Over the past year, the Cancer Moonshot has announced nearly 30 new federal programs, policies and resources to close the screening gap, tackle environmental exposure, decrease preventable cancers, advance cutting-edge research, support patients and caregivers, and more. More than 60 private companies, non-profits, academic institutions, and patient groups have also answered the President’s call and stepped up with new actions and collaborations. The President will call on Congress to act to end cancer as we know it, and the Cancer Moonshot will drive additional progress this year by:

Bringing America’s cancer research system into the 21st century. As we work to continue the progress we’ve made over the last year, the Administration is urging Congress to reauthorize the National Cancer Act, which 52 years ago set up the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in its current form. The reauthorization will update the nation’s cancer research and care systems to put modern American innovation fully to work to end cancer as we know it. This includes standing up clinical trial networks, creating new data systems that break down silos, and ensuring that knowledge gained through research is available to as many experts as possible, so we can find answers faster and make a difference for patients. Working with Congress, we can also lock in the strong investment in cancer research that passed in 2016 as part of the broadly bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which otherwise expires this year.

Providing patient navigation support to every American facing cancer. The Biden-Harris Administration will take steps to ensure that patient navigation services – services that help guide individuals, caregivers, and families through cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship – are covered benefits going forward for as many people facing cancer as possible. These patient navigation services not only improve the experience for those patients and their families, they improve patient outcomes and provide value back to the health care system. 

Tackling the biggest single driver of cancer deaths in this country – smoking. The Administration is preparing further action to help people avoid smoking in the first place and support Americans who want to quit. These steps could prevent as much as 30 percent of cancer deaths in this country, saving up to 130,000 American lives, annually. While we have made progress, tobacco products still hook too many young people at an early age and take control away from individual Americans to make the decision not to smoke. The Administration is working to put that control back in the hands of Americans.

During his first State of the Union address, President Biden cited the recent announcement of his plan to supercharge the Cancer Moonshot and called on Congress to fund ARPA-H, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, to drive breakthroughs in cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and other diseases. Since that time, the President and Congress have stepped up together to provide ARPA-H $2.5 billion in initial investment. The President also signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act, which will lower prescription drug costs for tens of thousands of cancer patients with Medicare coverage. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will also help cut cancer deaths by accelerating clean-up at Superfund sites and helping states and communities replace lead pipes and service lines.

Supporting America’s Veterans and Their Families, Caregivers, and Survivors
The President believes there is no more sacred obligation than taking care of our nation’s military service members, veterans, and their families, caregivers, and survivors. On health care, education, and housing, the Administration and Congress have worked together to make progress to connect veterans and their families to needed resources. Over the past year, the Administration expanded benefits for veterans as well as their caregivers and survivors, and delivered more benefits and health care more quickly to more veterans than ever before. In 2022, VA processed an all-time record 1.7 million veteran claims, and delivered $128 billion in earned benefits to 6.1 million veterans and survivors. In the State of the Union, the President will announce his Administration plans to continue that work by:

Reducing veteran suicide. Suicide among veterans is a public health and national security crisis. Since 2010, more than 71,000 veterans have died by suicide – more than the total number of deaths from combat during the Vietnam War and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Since releasing a comprehensive strategy for reducing military and veteran suicide, both DOD and VA reported declines in suicide deaths, but much more remains to be done. This will include actions to:  

  • Support states and territories. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is working with the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense (DOD) to partner with 49 states and 5 territories through the Governor’s Challenge. To help facilitate this work, VA will launch a new $10 million program to provide federal resources to states, territories, Tribes and Tribal organizations to develop and implement proposals under the program.
     
  • Increase lethal means safety: In the coming year, VA will deploy new resources to improve suicide risk identification and increase lethal means safety counseling and safe storage. VA will offer additional training for the 1.3 million community providers and expand KeepItSecure, the landmark lethal means safety campaign, with new resources and materials for providers, caregivers, family members of veterans, and gun shop owners to encourage safe storage of firearms and lethal medications.
     
  • Expand outreach to justice involved veterans. Veterans who become involved in the criminal justice system may be at high risk of suicide. Through Veteran Treatment Courts and other justice outreach engagements, VA is able to provide veterans access to benefits and services that can be life-changing, and VA will accelerate hiring of veteran justice outreach professionals to expand these programs.
     
  • Expand Access to Legal Support Services. VA will build upon and expand its current 28 Medical-Legal Partnerships. Family caregivers participating in VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance will also be able to receive Financial and Legal Assistance later this year. VA will also award up to 75 grants under its new Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans at Risk for Homeless (LSV-H) program to provide legal services to veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Expanding access to peer support, including mental health services. Military service increases the risk of mental health problems and other adjustment challenges for veterans. Veteran Peer Specialists are a critical asset within VA’s workforce, working across various programs to connect their fellow veterans to services, participate as members of health care teams, and provide individual and group-based peer support. Last year, VA pledged to hire an additional 280 peer specialists and is on track to meet this goal by the end of 2023. VA will increase the number of peer specialists working across VA medical centers by 350 over the next 7 years.

Ensuring access to affordable, stable housing for low-income veterans. Every veteran should have a roof over their head. The President’s upcoming budget will triple the number of extremely low-income veterans who can access the assistance they need to afford rent over the years ahead, paving the path to an entitlement for those who have served our country. The number of veterans experiencing homelessness declined by 11% between 2020 and 2022 and the United States permanently housed more than 40,000 veterans in 2022 alone. 

Delivering high-quality job training for veterans and their spouses. Roughly 200,000 service members transition from the military to civilian life each year. In the coming year, DOL’s Veteran Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS) will implement its Employment Navigator Partnership Pilot, which has already provided one-on-one career assistance to 6,500 transitioning service members and military spouses. And, the Department of Defense will use the Military Spouse Career Accelerator Pilot program, a 12-week paid fellowship program, to expand employment opportunities for eligible military spouses.

In last year’s State of the Union, the President called for Congress to pass comprehensive legislation to address military toxic exposures. In August 2022, President Biden signed the bipartisan PACT Act into law, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years. Over the last year, the Administration also took critical action to help reduce veteran suicide, including transitioning the Veterans Crisis Line to “988, press 1.” The Administration also expanded access to reproductive health services for women veterans, supported more than 2.3 million children living with wounded, ill, or injured service members through the First Lady’s Joining Forces Initiative, and implemented key measures to protect veterans from predatory for-profit colleges.

Tackling the Mental Health Crisis
Forty percent of American adults report symptoms of anxiety and depression, and the percent of children and adolescents with anxiety and depression has risen nearly thirty percent. Last year, President Biden called for additional actions to advance his Mental Health Strategy across its three objectives: support Americans by creating healthy environments; strengthening system capacity, and connecting more Americans to care.  Over the last year, the Administration invested critical resources to provide mental health and substance use supports to Americans, including by expanding Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, investing unprecedented resources in the 988 suicide prevention hotline, and taking steps to help address the harms of social media on youth. In the State of the Union, the President will say that we will continue that work by:

Creating healthy environments. Decades of research show that coordinating prevention and recovery support across settings can pay long-term dividends. The Biden-Harris Administration will:

  • Protect kids online. There is compelling and growing evidence that social media and other tech platforms can be harmful to mental health, wellbeing and development. Children, adolescents, and teens are especially vulnerable to such harm. More than one-third of American teens say they use a major social media platform “almost constantly” and that they spend “too much time on social media.” Far too often, the platforms do not enforce their own terms of service with respect to minors who use their products and services. Children are also subject to the platforms’ excessive data collection vacuum, which they use to deliver sensational and harmful content and troves of paid advertising. Children also suffer from bullying, harassment, abuse, and even sexual exploitation by other users online. And platforms use manipulative design techniques embedded in their products to promote addictive and compulsive use by young people in the name of “user engagement” – all to generate more revenue. The Administration will build on the Surgeon-General’s Youth Mental Health Advisory, the Department of Health and Human Services’ new Center of Excellence on Social Media and Mental Wellness, and the recent passage of the Children and Media Research Advancement Act. Platforms and other interactive digital service providers should be required to prioritize the privacy and wellbeing of young people above profit and revenue in their product design, including safety by design standards and practices for online platforms, products, and services. The President is calling for bipartisan support to ban targeted advertising online for children and young people and enact strong protections for their privacy, health and safety online.
     
  • Strengthen data privacy and platform transparency for all Americans: Big Tech companies collect huge amounts of data on the things we buy, the websites we visit, and the places we go.  There should be clear and strict limits on the ability to collect, use, transfer, and maintain our personal data, especially for sensitive data such as geolocation and health information, and the burden must fall on companies – not consumers – to minimize how much information they collect. We must also demand transparency about the algorithms companies use that far too often discriminate against Americans and sow division. The President has called for imposing much stronger transparency requirements on Big Tech platforms and is calling for bipartisan support to impose strong limits on targeted advertising and the personal data that companies collect on all Americans.
     
  • Support the mental health of the health workforce. Even before the pandemic, health workers were experiencing high levels of burnout, anxiety, and depression. Studies have shown that burnout have reached crisis levels, affecting up to 54 percent of nurses and physicians. This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will launch a new campaign to provide a hub of mental health and resiliency resources to health care organizations in better supporting their workforce
     
  • Promote youth resilience. While rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm among youth have been on the rise over the past several years, there are also remarkable stories of hope and resilience. To help foster innovation in promoting resilience, HHS will launch a new Children and Youth Resilience Prize Challenge, awarding a total of $750,000 in a new pilot program.  

Connecting more Americans to care.  On average, it takes 11 years after the onset of mental health symptoms for someone to seek treatment. We can do better. To mitigate these challenges, the Administration is working to make care more affordable and accessible across all types of health insurance, integrating mental health services into settings that are more familiar, such as schools, and expanding access to telehealth. To continue this progress, the Biden Administration will:

  • Improve school-based mental health. The Department of Education (ED) will announce more than $280 million in grants to increase the number of mental health care professionals in high-need districts and strengthen the school-based mental health profession pipeline. HHS and ED intend to issue guidance and propose a rule, respectively, to remove red tape for schools, making it easier for them to provide health care to students and more easily bill Medicaid funding for these critical services.
     
  • Strengthen parity. This spring, the Administration will propose new rules to ensure that insurance plans are not imposing inequitable barriers to care and mental health providers are being paid by health plans on par with other health care professionals.
     
  • Enhance crisis services. The Administration launched 988, the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, in 2022, making it easier for individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis to receive timely care. In the coming year, HHS will improve the capacity of the 988 Lifeline by investing in an expansion of the crisis care workforce; scaling mobile crisis intervention services; and developing additional guidance on best practices in crisis response. 
     
  • Expand access to telehealth. HHS will triple resources dedicated to promoting interstate license reciprocity for delivery of mental health services across state lines. VA will launch a new nationwide network of behavioral health clinicians to ensure timely access to evidence-based mental health services to veterans enrolled in VA health care. And, DoD will continue to expand the BRAVE program, a virtual behavioral health center providing services 24/7 to service members and their families located on federal installations across the globe.

Strengthening system capacity. Severe shortages in the behavioral health workforce are at the center of the mental health crisis. In addition to implementing legislation passed by Congress that creates 350 new slots to help train the next generation of mental health professionals, the Administration will:

  • Recruit diverse candidates to the mental health profession: HHS will increase funding to recruit future mental health professionals from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and to expand the Minority Fellowship Program.
     
  • Prioritize research: The Office of Science and Technology Policy and Domestic Policy Council released the White House Report on Mental Health Research Priorities, which identifies key areas where additional scientific research is needed to address our national mental health crisis. These priorities will ensure coordination across the federal agencies and private sector partners that support or perform mental health research.

Last year, after the President called for addressing the nation’s mental health crisis in the State of the Union, the Administration made important progress on expanding access to mental health services and treatment for substance use. President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which makes unprecedented investment in youth mental health and supports school-based health services. The Administration also oversaw the successful transition to 988, the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, investing over $500 million to strengthen 988 infrastructure and grow local crisis-center capacity – a twenty-fold increase over the prior administration. The Biden Administration also developed new resources to support the mental health and resilience of frontline workers, expanded Medicare coverage to include additional mental health and substance use disorder services, and encouraged states to better address youth mental health for those with Medicaid coverage.

Beating the Opioid and Overdose Epidemic by Accelerating the Crackdown on Fentanyl Trafficking and Public Health Efforts to Save Lives
Last year, President Biden announced his plan to beat the opioid epidemic as part of his Unity Agenda, because opioid use and trafficking affect families in red communities and blue communities and every community in between. Under President Biden’s leadership, overdose deaths and poisonings have decreased for five months in a row – but these deaths remain unacceptably high and are primarily caused by fentanyl. In the State of the Union, the President will announce key actions the Administration to tackle this issue head on, including by:  

Disrupting the trafficking, distribution, and sale of fentanyl. In just the last year Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seized a historic 260,000 pounds of illicit drugs primarily at ports of entry on our border, including nearly 15,000 pounds of fentanyl. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program were involved in the seizure of more than 26,000 pounds of fentanyl in FY22—including 50.6 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit prescription pills—along with over 6,500 pounds of heroin, 335,000 pounds of methamphetamine, and 370,000 pounds of cocaine. The HIDTA seizures denied $9 billion to drug traffickers, cutting into their profits. Further, through President Biden’s Executive Order on Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade, the Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions against dozens of individuals and entities involved in the illicit drug trade. To aggressively expand on this historic effort, the President will announce in the State of Union that his administration will:

  • Stop more fentanyl from getting into the U.S. at the Southwest Border Ports of Entry. By providing 123 new large-scale scanners at Land Points of Entry along the Southwest Border by Fiscal Year 2026, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will increase its inspection capacity from what has historically been around two percent of passenger vehicles and about 17 percent of cargo vehicles to 40 percent of passenger vehicles and 70 percent of cargo vehicles. These investments will crack down on a major avenue of fentanyl trafficking, securing our border and keeping dangerous drugs from reaching our country.
     
  • Stop more packages from being shipped into the United States with fentanyl and the materials used to make it. Drug traffickers use small, hard-to-track packages to ship opioids and other illicit materials into and within the United States, hidden among the millions of packages sent daily via commercial package delivery companies. That’s why CBP is working with these companies to have them voluntarily provide data that help law enforcement identify, inspect and intercept suspicious packages. Through these combined public-private efforts, CBP has increased seizures in commercial package delivery services’ warehouses from 42,000 pounds of illicit substances to more than 63,000 pounds in just the past two years. This year, CBP will expand these voluntary data sharing partnerships to capture more information – and, in turn, seize more packages.
     
  • Lead a sustained diplomatic push that will address fentanyl and its supply chain abroad.  The Administration will work with international partners to disrupt the global fentanyl production and supply chain, and call on others to join our efforts. We will focus on seizing chemical ingredients and fentanyl before it can reach our communities, and hold accountable the producers, traffickers, and facilitators of these deadly drugs. Many of these ingredients and materials originate outside our borders, and we will call on global partners to work with us and do more to disrupt the criminal elements within their countries who sell chemicals and tools for the production of counterfeit pills around the world.
     
  • Work with Congress to make permanent tough penalties on suppliers of fentanyl. The federal government regulates illicitly produced fentanyl analogues and related substances as Schedule I drugs, meaning they are subject to strict regulations and criminal penalties. But traffickers have found a loophole: they can easily alter the chemical structure of fentanyl—creating “fentanyl related substances” (FRS)—to evade regulation and enhance the drug’s impact. The DEA and Congress temporarily closed this loophole by making all FRS Schedule I. The Administration looks forward to working with Congress on its comprehensive proposal to permanently schedule all illicitly produced FRS into Schedule I. Traffickers of these deadly substances must face the penalties they deserve, no matter how they adjust their drugs.

Expanding access to evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. Over the last year, the Biden-Harris Administration took unprecedented steps to expand access to naloxone and other harm reduction interventions, such as permitting the use of $50 million for local public health departments to purchase naloxone, releasing guidance to make it easier for programs to obtain and distribute naloxone to at-risk populations, and prioritizing the review of over-the-counter naloxone applications. The Administration has also fundamentally changed addiction treatment across the country by working with Congress to remove barriers that prevented medical professionals from prescribing treatment for opioid use disorder and pursuing rulemaking to make permanent the COVID-19 era flexibilities that allowed for telehealth prescribing of buprenorphine and take-home methadone doses. To further connect people to life-saving help, the Biden-Harris Administration will:

  • Deliver more life-saving naloxone to communities hit hard by fentanyl. In late spring, HHS will take new steps to encourage and aide states in their efforts to use existing funding to purchase naloxone and distribute it in their communities. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will provide enhanced technical assistance to states who have existing State Opioid Response funds, and will host peer learning forums, national policy academies, and convenings with organizations distributing naloxone beginning this spring.
     
  • Ensure every jail and prison across the nation can provide treatment for substance use disorder. Providing treatment while individuals are in jails and prisons, and continuing their treatment in their communities, has been proven to decrease overdose deaths, reduce crime, and increase employment during reentry. By this summer, the Federal Bureau of Prisons will ensure that each of their 122 facilities are equipped and trained to provide in-house medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Further, since more than 90 percent of individuals who are incarcerated are in state and local jails and prisons, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will provide guidance this spring allowing states to use Medicaid funds to provide health care services—including treatment for people with substance use disorder—to individuals in those facilities prior to their release.
     
  • Build on historic progress to drastically expand access to medications for opioid use disorder. The Biden-Harris Administration will further expand access to treatment by working with medical professionals to make prescribing proven treatments, including buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, part of routine health care delivery and ensure that manufacturers, wholesalers, and pharmacies are making medications available to everyone with a prescription. 
     
  • Launch a national campaign to educate young people on the dangers of fentanyl, and how naloxone saves lives. The Ad Council’s Real Deal on Fentanyl campaign has raised awareness about the dangers of fentanyl among youth. ONDCP and the Ad Council will build on this work by launching a naloxone education component of the campaign, which will reach the young people who are the fastest-growing age group to experience opioid overdose and poisoning by engaging popular social media platforms, college athletes and campus-based organizations. The campaign will also develop media to be shared on college campuses, in bars, public transportation stations, and retail locations to educate young people about the dangers of fentanyl and highlight naloxone resources.

During his first State of the Union address, President Biden called on Congress to get rid of outdated rules that stop doctors from prescribing treatments and provide law enforcement with the tools necessary to stop the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl. In his State of the Union today, President Biden will highlight a bipartisan effort that delivered on his promise by passing the MAT Act, which removed the X-waiver as a barrier for health care providers prescribing life-saving medications for opioid use disorder at a time when fewer than 1 out of Americans can access the treatment they need. President Biden also signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act that included a two-year extension to classify fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act, ensuring law enforcement has the tools they need to respond to the manufacture and trafficking of illicitly manufactured synthetic opioids driving the overdose epidemic.