Tag Archives: Biden Administration

Biden Administration, Health Care

Biden Legacy: Biden-Harris Administration Releases Global Health Security Annual Report Demonstrating the Impact of United States Leadership and Investments

Shortly after taking office, President Biden successfully set up the most ambitious vaccination delivery program since the polio vaccine in the 1950s, saving millions of lives. He was determined to make progress toward a world that is safe from biological threats and as he leaves office, issued global health  security report, highlighting progress and identifying remaining challenges. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office determined to end the COVID-19 pandemic while making progress toward a world that is safe from biological threats. Today we are releasing the final annual global health security report of the Biden-Harris Administration, U.S. Government Support for Global Health Security – Protecting Lives and Safeguarding Economies, which highlights progress in global health security and identifies remaining challenges. This fact sheet was provided by the White House:
 
The Biden-Harris Administration has advanced a bold agenda to prevent the devastating toll of outbreaks and pandemics, including investing more than $3 billion in strengthening global health security (GHS) since 2020. These investments have helped to: prepare countries around the world to more effectively prevent, detect and respond to biological threats; build stronger and more effective regional and global institutions to support health emergency preparedness and response; and respond rapidly to numerous outbreaks – from Ebola to mpox – to limit the health and economic impacts on the American people, as well as people living around the world. U.S. leadership in global health security is built on decades of investments in global health and research and development, as well as strong partnerships with other countries, regional and multilateral institutions, civil society, and the private sector.
 
REDUCING THE RISK OF NEW THREATS EMERGING AND BUILDING COUNTRY CAPACITY TO RESPOND TO THREATS
The most effective way to limit the impact of biological threats is to stop them at their source. The United States is working with countries and partners around the world to ensure they have the capacity to identify and stop emerging threats before they grow into regional or global threats. Central to these partnerships is the development of a shared plan based on gaps in each country’s capacity, as well as country ownership to sustain global health security capacities once U.S. Government support has ended. Highlights from the report include:

  • More than 100 countries are building stronger global health security capacities: Over the last four years, the Biden-Harris Administration expanded formal Global Health Security partnerships from 19 countries to more than 50 countries and one regional group. The United States has also leveraged financial resources and diplomatic channels to mobilize support for 50 additional countries to strengthen their health security capacities, for a total of more than 100 countries receiving support. For example, through U.S. support to the Pandemic Fund and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) COVID-19 Response Mechanism, over sixty countries received financing to strengthen core health security capacities. The United States is not the sole provider of these resources, as countries around the world contribute, including through co-financing by low and middle-income countries.
     
  • Measuring the impact of U.S. investments: The Biden-Harris Administration is focused on measurable results of these investments. Of the 25 formal GHS partner countries that have received U.S. support for at least two years, five have achieved the U.S. target of “demonstrated capacity” in at least five technical areas, and an additional five countries are close. We can also see the impact of investments when threats emerge. For example, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – a U.S. government GHS partner since 2015 – has successfully contained five Ebola outbreaks since 2020, dramatically improving detection and response times. In 2022 the government of DRC detected an Ebola outbreak in 48 hours and contained the outbreak with only five lives lost to the disease.
     
  • Country ownership on global health security: Many United States GHS partner countries are leading their own responses to crises, with U.S. collaboration when needed. For example, the U.S. Government is partnering with Nigeria to build stronger capacity on zoonotic diseases, disease surveillance, and health emergency management, among other areas. In 2023, Nigeria experienced outbreaks of anthrax, a zoonotic disease that can cause severe illness in people and animals. Nigeria activated national response mechanisms to coordinate collaboration across the human and animal sectors and reduce the risk for further disease transmission. Nigeria also collaborated with Ghana to exchange strategies for anthrax prevention and control. These and other measures helped curtail the impact of anthrax in Nigeria.
     
  • Reducing the risk of biosafety and biosecurity incidents: Expanding biosurveillance capacity and the rapid evolution of technology are critical for health security, but can also elevate the risk of accidental and deliberate incidents. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken significant steps to minimize the chances of laboratory accidents; reduce the likelihood of deliberate use or accidental misuse; ensure effective biosafety and biosecurity practices and oversight; and promote responsible research and innovation. For example, the United States secured inclusion of biosafety and biosecurity as a critical component of the Pandemic Fund grants to support laboratory strengthening. One of the projects, the Caribbean Public Health Agency Train-the-Trainer Workshop on the Safe Transportation of Infectious Substances, resulted in certified trainers well-positioned to serve as national trainers and advisors in biosafety and safe transport protocols, ensuring safer practices across the region. The U.S. global health security bilateral partnerships also build capacity in biosafety and biosecurity: the GHS partner countries with at least two years of U.S. Government support demonstrated a net improvement in biosafety and biosecurity capacity from 2018 to 2023.
     
  • Modernizing biorisk management: The Administration released the 2024 United States Government Policy for Oversight of Dual Use Research of Concern and Pathogens with Enhanced Pandemic Potential, marking a major new step in modernizing biorisk management. This policy streamlines and expands oversight of research of concern across the entire U.S. Government – setting a new global standard for effective research oversight. The Administration also introduced a new framework for biotechnology safeguards on federally funded purchases of synthetic DNA and RNA. These safeguards, which include Know-Your-Customer screening, will reduce the likelihood of misuse of synthetic biology. 

 
BUILDING MORE EFFECTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL HEALTH SECURITY GOVERNANCE AND FINANCING SYSTEMS
Strong national systems within the United States and other countries are essential to global health security. However, each country, including the United States, operates within a regional or global system that can either facilitate or hamper quick and effective responses to health emergencies. The Biden-Harris Administration has invested in building stronger multilateral systems and partnerships to strengthen global health security. 
Multilateral Partnerships

  • Multilateral Negotiations: Through strong leadership and diplomatic outreach to World Health Organization (WHO) Member States, the United States helped secure an ambitious suite of amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) that will strengthen health emergency prevention, preparedness, and response. The United States is actively negotiating a pandemic agreement, with the goal of putting in place practical measures to prevent future pandemics, and strengthening the international community’s ability to respond rapidly and effectively in the event of a pandemic. The United States has also supported successful negotiations through the United Nations (UN) and UN agencies such as WHO on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; antimicrobial resistance; biosafety and biosecurity; and biological weapons nonproliferation; among other areas.
     
  • Multi-country Partnerships: The Biden-Harris Administration has worked closely with our allies and partners to advance initiatives critical to improving health security. For example, the G20 has been instrumental in establishing and sustaining stronger links between health and finance ministries. The G7 has committed to support more than 100 countries to strengthen their global health security capacities, and has led progress in transforming pandemic preparedness and response financing. The U.S. Department of State launched the Foreign Ministry Channel for Health Security to foster greater diplomatic engagement among Foreign Ministries on global health security. The Quad, a diplomatic grouping between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan, delivered more than 400 million safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to Indo-Pacific countries and almost 800 million doses globally; advanced health security priorities in the Indo-Pacific region; and recently launched the Quad Cancer Moonshot, which will deliver up to 40 million doses of the human papillomavirus vaccine and support other efforts to address cervical cancer to the Indo-Pacific. Since its inception in 2014, the United States has actively engaged in the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), a partnership of over 70 countries, more than 10 international organizations and coalitions, and more than 30 non-governmental organizations, including private sector and civil society partners, working together to accelerate implementation of the International Health Regulations.

 
Financing
Limitations in the existing systems to finance pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response left countries and financial institutions ill prepared to effectively contain COVID-19, contributing to the health and financial crises that resulted in the deaths of over 1.2 million Americans and an estimated $14 trillion in economic losses to the U.S. economy. On day one, President Biden called on his Administration to transform the existing financing institutions and to cultivate new financing sources for global health security that are more effective and sustainable, and that are less dependent on U.S. government assistance. 

  • Expanding Reliable Financing for Pandemic Prevention and Preparedness: The United States was instrumental in the creation of the Pandemic Fund in 2022, the only multilateral financing facility dedicated exclusively to pandemic preparedness financing for low- and middle- income countries. The Pandemic Fund made significant progress in its first two years, awarding grants totaling $885 million, which mobilized an additional $6 billion in investments, to support 75 countries and economies across six geographic regions. The Pandemic Fund also effectively pivoted to support countries to prepare for mpox outbreaks as part of the global response to the ongoing mpox public health emergency. The United States has supported the Pandemic Fund’s $2 billion replenishment goal by pledging up to $667 million by 2025, calling on other donors to step up their contributions and end the cycle of panic and neglect.
     
  • Strengthening Existing Financing Institutions to Support GHS: The United States is working to evolve Multilateral Development Banks to be better equipped to respond to the increasing frequency, scope, and complexity of global challenges, including pandemics. The Biden-Harris Administration strongly supported the establishment of the International Monetary Fund Resilience and Sustainability Trust and its goal of supporting low-income and vulnerable middle-income countries to access long-term, affordable financing to address longer-term challenges, such as health emergencies.
     
  • Improving Timely Access to Emergency Response Financing: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and institutions lacked the liquidity to procure the medical countermeasures (MCM) needed to mount effective and timely responses. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation helped develop and lead a G7 Surge Financing Initiative, through which G7 development finance institutions (DFIs), the European Investment Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and global and regional health stakeholders are developing and deploying innovative financing tools to accelerate access to MCMs in health emergencies. The United States also supported the establishment of the Day Zero Financing Facility, a suite of tools that will enable Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, to quickly meet demand for vaccines during a pandemic, including up to $2 billion in bridge financing loans. The United States also supports the roles of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Global Fund, and other regional and multilateral organizations in the development of solutions to surge financing for MCMs during emergencies.
     
  • Increasing International Coordination and Cooperation in Health Security Financing: During health emergencies donors often surge rapid financial and technical support, with limited effective means for transparency and coordination, which can lead to inefficiencies, duplication of efforts, and gaps in support. The Biden-Harris Administration has taken action to enhance the impact of financing though increased coordination and cooperation including supporting the establishment of the G20 Finance-Health Task Force to strengthen coordination between Finance and Health Ministries; and contributed to improved international mpox response coordination.

 
EXPANDING ACCESS TO MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
The Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized expanding access to quality medical countermeasures (MCMs) around the world, building on decades of global health and health security leadership by the United States. The United States has long led the world in innovation, research and development. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the vital role of U.S. biotechnology and biomanufacturing in developing and producing the life-saving diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines needed to protect American lives and livelihoods, and national and economic security against future biological threats, whether naturally-occurring, accidental, or deliberate. The Biden-Harris Administration has strengthened sustainable global manufacturing and supply chain capacity; donated vaccines, diagnostic tests and treatments and support for their delivery; expanded pandemic response financing for MCMs; and strengthened legal and regulatory systems to ensure quality products and overcome barriers to rapid access. 
 

  • Investments in Research and Development for Preparedness: While there will always be new or evolving biological threats, developing effective countermeasures for known threats is a critical piece of preparedness. For example, the U.S. government invested billions of dollars in mRNA technology in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic. These public investments translated into millions of lives saved in the United States and around the world, and were crucial to developing the mRNA vaccine technology that can be leveraged in a future pandemic, as well as potentially treating other diseases. The U.S. supports the goals of the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme, a capacity-building initiative in low- and middle-income countries to sustainably produce mRNA vaccines. Similarly, the United States Government invested more than $2 billion in the JYNNEOS vaccine as part of smallpox preparedness. These investments directly led to product licensure for both smallpox and mpox. On September 13, 2024, WHO announced pre-qualification of the JYNNEOS vaccine for global use, including in the Africa region in response to ongoing mpox outbreaks. The JYNNEOS vaccine that has now been used to protect Americans and people living around the world from mpox; it would not exist without the investment and technical expertise provided by the United States.
     
  • Investments in Biotechnology: The Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized transforming our biotechnology capabilities, including catalyzing advances in science, technology, and core capabilities and has advanced a whole-of-government approach to strengthening U.S. biotechnology and biomanufacturing, including for health security. The United States Government’s historic investments in science and technology, from basic science to piloting innovative financing mechanisms to real-time research during health emergencies, are transforming the tools and approaches we use to detect, contain and respond to health threats. These efforts support the ambitious international goal of developing vaccines, treatments and diagnostics within 100 days from the onset of a potential pandemic.
     
  • Support for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI): CEPI is working to accelerate the development of life-saving vaccines against emerging disease threats, and to transform capability for rapid countermeasure development in response to future threats. Notable achievements include: the market authorization of the world’s first Chikungunya vaccine and technology transfer to regional producers for regional supply to LMICs; the advancement through clinical development of vaccine candidates against Lassa, Nipah, and coronaviruses, among others; and the launch of a new Disease X Vaccine Library with six viral families prioritized as high risk.
     
  • Expanding Access to Publicly-supported Medical Inventions: The U.S. supports broad access to medical inventions facilitated by public investments and science, including through: the NIH proposal to promote access to products that rely on NIH-owned inventions (“Promoting Equity Through Access Planning”); fair pricing guarantees in funding agreements between manufacturers and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA); and appropriate provisions in a Pandemic Agreement for timely and equitable access to pandemic-related health products. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NIH licensed COVID-19 technologies arising from NIH intramural research to the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for access through WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP). Such contributions are an important step toward facilitating wider availability of lifesaving interventions around the world.
     
  • Respecting Countries’ Rights to Protect Public Health: The United States respects countries’ right to protect public health and to promote access to medicines for all. The United States respects and does not call out countries for exercising health rights and flexibilities enshrined in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), including with respect to compulsory licenses, in a manner consistent with TRIPS obligations. Toward that end, the United States endorsed negotiations of a temporary waiver of WTO intellectual property rules to support access to COVID vaccines.

 
STOPPING BIOLOGICAL THREATS AT THEIR SOURCE
In February 2021, just a few weeks into the Biden-Harris Administration and during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, DRC and Guinea experienced two unrelated Ebola outbreaks. Since then, the United States Government has supported responses to numerous outbreaks, from Ebola disease and Marburg virus disease to mpox, avian influenza, Oropouche virus, as well as ongoing threats including dengue, cholera, measles, malaria and HIV. United States Government support to emergency response is closely linked with ongoing bilateral investments in preparedness, with the goal of each country developing the capacity and resources to lead and coordinate responses to threats as soon as they emerge. Examples of U.S. Government support to outbreak responses during the Biden-Harris Administration include:

  • COVID-19 Pandemic: Starting in 2021, the United States invested $16 billion in the global COVID-19 response. The Administration accelerated global access to COVID-19 vaccines, including sharing nearly 700 million COVID-19 vaccine doses with countries around the world, as well as diagnostics and therapeutics, supporting health workers, securing supply chains, and combatting mis- and disinformation on safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. The United States was the world’s largest donor to the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) and provided global leadership to raise additional billions in critical funding through the U.S.-hosted and co-hosted Global COVID-19 Summits to save lives globally, end the pandemic, and build stronger health security.
     
  • Mpox Outbreaks: The world has faced two regional or global outbreaks of mpox during the Biden-Harris Administration. In 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration mounted a robust response to the spread of clade IIb mpox by making vaccines available to those at risk, making testing more convenient, and providing treatments to those who needed them both in the United States and worldwide. During the ongoing clade I mpox outbreak, the U.S. Government has committed over $500 million to support mpox preparedness and response activities in mpox-affected countries in Africa, and the U.S. Government has made more than one million mpox vaccine doses available for global use. The United States has delivered additional support through technical assistance and in-kind contributions to surveillance, case investigation, procurement of diagnostic kits, consumable reagents, other laboratory supplies, and personal protective equipment.
     
  • Marburg Virus Disease (MVD): After learning of the MVD outbreak in Rwanda in September 2024, the United States committed to making nearly $11 million available to address urgent health needs in Rwanda and surrounding countries, including for surveillance and contact tracing, infection prevention and control guidance, and exit screening. Within days of learning of the MVD outbreak, CDC deployed three senior scientists to Rwanda to support its response. Although there are currently no FDA-approved vaccines or drugs against MVD, the United States contributed thousands of investigational vaccine doses and a small number of investigational therapeutics doses, which arrived in Rwanda within a week of the U.S. Government learning of the outbreak. The United States has also contributed hundreds of MVD tests and units of personal protective equipment.
     
  • Enhanced U.S. Government Response Coordination: Building on work in previous Administrations, the Biden-Harris Administration has successfully shepherded the “Playbook for Biological Incident Response” and a “Biological Incident Notification and Assessment” protocol from concept stage to an established and well-exercised process for rapid communication and coordination when biological threats emerge. This playbook and the protocol serve to give U.S. federal agencies “off-the-shelf” tools to respond to biological threats from all sources – natural, accidental and deliberate – that avoid response delays that cost lives and resources.

 
While we have made progress since emerging from the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued investment of financial, political, and technical resources is needed to ensure success in building stronger preparedness today, sustainability of those efforts, and resilience to future biological threats. Both at home and abroad, willingness to invest critical financial and political resources has waned as global health security competes with other priorities for attention and resources. Collective action across sectors and throughout the world is needed to ensure we do not cycle once more into neglect, rather that we sustain and build on the significant progress made. Success in these efforts will make Americans safer, protect our economy and reduce international reliance on U.S. resources and expertise during times of crisis.

Biden Administration, Civil Rights, Human Rights, News & Photo Features

Biden Legacy: Biden-Harris Administration Releases First-Ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate

President Biden released the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. The Strategy contains more than 100 Executive Branch Actions and more than 100 Calls to Action to every sector of society to prevent and address such violent attacks and to ensure that Muslim and Arab Americans enjoy the liberties and opportunities that are the bedrock of our country.  © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC

Earlier this month, the Biden-Harris Administration released the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. Take that you pro-Palestinian progressives who thought “I’ll show them!” and voted a hate-mongering racist xenophobe into office, who will give Israel carte blanche to attack Gaza and take over the West Bank and abandon any thought of a two-state solution against the Biden Administration which was pressuring Israel to provide humanitarian aid and negotiate a ceasefire and to negotiate a two-state solution. And how clever are the American Jews who said, “I’ll show them!” and voted for Trump, who is installing into power every White Christo Nationalist Fascist, against Kamala Harris whose husband, Doug Emhoff, led the administration to create a task force dedicated to addressing anti-Semitism and steadfastly has protected Israel in the United Nations and international arena. This fact sheet is provided by the White House. — Karen Rubin, [email protected]

The White House is releasing the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate.
 
The Strategy contains more than 100 Executive Branch Actions and more than 100 Calls to Action to every sector of society to prevent and address such violent attacks and to ensure that Muslim and Arab Americans enjoy the liberties and opportunities that are the bedrock of our country. 

“With this initiative, we are creating a path for progress, in partnership with all levels of government, civil society, and the private sector, both now and over the long term.”
 
The Strategy was developed through a whole-of-government collaboration with a broad range of civil society partners to describe and address the bias, discrimination, and threats Muslim and Arab Americans have long faced. Over the past year, this initiative has become even more important as threats against American Muslim and Arab communities have spiked. In October 2023, six-year old Wadee Alfayoumi, an American Muslim boy of Palestinian descent, was viciously killed in his home in Illinois and over the last year there have been other grievous attacks on Muslim and Arab Americans.

In December 2022, when President Biden established an interagency group to increase and better coordinate efforts to counter Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination, work began on this Strategy. In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released the first-ever National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism and announced the development of the first-ever National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate. This latest strategy has four priorities:

Increase awareness of hatred against Muslims and Arabs and broaden recognition of these communities’ heritages. Muslims and Arab Americans have helped build our country since its founding, but they have also routinely experienced hate, discrimination, and bias due to baseless stereotypes, fearmongering, and prejudice. While individuals have sometimes been targeted because they are thought to be Muslim, it is also crucial to recognize that Arabs are routinely targeted simply for being who they are. Through new data collection and innovative educational efforts, the Administration is increasing awareness of these forms of hate as well of the proud heritages of Muslim and Arab Americans.      

Improve safety and security for Muslims and Arabs. Everyone deserves to live their lives without fear of violence, harassment, or discrimination. The Strategy addresses the targeting of Muslim and Arab communities, including through unprecedented investments in strengthening the security of nonprofits and increased efforts to ensure easier access to those funds; correction of discriminatory travel restrictions; and new tools to address transnational repression, doxing, swatting, and hoax threats. It also seeks to reduce trust deficits between government and community members such as by sharing successful practices of engaging Muslim and Arab Americans in the reporting of hate crimes. The Strategy recognizes our utmost duty to protect the nation from terrorist threats and attacks while safeguarding everyone’s civil rights and civil liberties.

Tackle discrimination against Muslims and Arabs and appropriately accommodate their religious practices. Muslim and Arab Americans have long faced discrimination in settings such as education, employment, public accommodations, land use, housing, health care, and access to financial services. More agencies are making it clear that discrimination against Muslim and Arab Americans in federally funded activities is illegal, and the Administration has instituted new practices to accommodate religion and produced a wide range of resources and trainings on nondiscrimination and religious freedom.

Continue to build cross-community solidarity and collective action to counter hate. Threats to one community must be treated as threats to all. Increasing cross-community collaboration  continues to be a key part of Administration efforts to protect the safety of all Americans, including through new partnerships that build solidarity among communities of diverse faiths and beliefs.
 
“We urge our state, local, and international counterparts, as well as the nongovernmental sector, to pursue similar initiatives that seek to build greater unity by recognizing our common humanity, affirming our shared values and history, and embracing equal justice, liberty, and security for all.”

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: President Biden Sets 2035 Climate Target Aimed at Creating Good-Paying Union Jobs, Reducing Costs for All Americans

The U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is an economy-wide, all greenhouse gas target of reducing net emissions by 61-66 percent below 2005 levels in 2035
 
The emissions reduction strategy includes leveraging landmark investments from the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, complemented by federal standards; coordinating with local, state, Tribal, and territorial governments; and mobilizing private capital

New York City gets ready for congestion pricing. As the United States continues to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy, President Biden is announcing a new climate target for the United States: a 61-66 percent reduction in 2035 from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions. It keeps the United States on a straight line or steeper path to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

In 2015, the world came together to finalize the Paris Agreement, an historic agreement joined by nearly every country in the world to address the climate crisis and protect the planet for future generations. On Day One of his Administration, President Biden fulfilled his promise to rejoin the Paris Agreement and set a course for the United States to tackle the climate crisis at home and abroad. In 2021, pursuant to the terms of the Paris Agreement, President Biden submitted a nationally determined contribution (NDC) with a target of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 50-52 percent from the 2005 baseline in 2030.
 
Today, as the United States continues to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy, President Biden is announcing a new climate target for the United States: a 61-66 percent reduction in 2035 from 2005 levels in economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions. It keeps the United States on a straight line or steeper path to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050. In connection with this announcement, the United States is making a formal submission of this new target to the United Nations Climate Change secretariat as its next NDC under the Paris Agreement.
 
To develop the U.S. 2035 NDC, the Biden-Harris Administration analyzed how every economic sector – power generation, buildings, transportation, industry, agriculture and forestry– can spur innovation, unleash new opportunities, drive competitiveness, and cut pollution. Additionally, the United States anticipates, as part of achieving its 2035 NDC emissions target, methane reductions of at least 35 percent from 2005 levels in 2035. Cutting methane emissions is among the fastest ways to reduce near-term warming and is an essential complement to CO2 mitigation.
 
This 2035 NDC aligns with President Biden’s target of a net zero greenhouse gas economy no later than 2050 and marks an ambitious capstone to President Biden’s climate legacy, focused on investment, innovation, creating millions of good-paying and union jobs, building the clean energy economy of the future, reducing costs for all Americans, advancing environmental justice, and improving the health and security of communities across America. There are multiple paths to reach these targets, and U.S. Federal, state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments have numerous tools available to work with civil society and the private sector to mobilize investment in the years ahead while supporting a stronger, fairer economy.
 
Momentum from President Biden’s Climate and Economic Agenda
 
Since President Biden announced the 2030 NDC in April 2021 to reduce emissions 50-52% by 2030, the United States has designed and implemented a historic climate strategy that leverages emissions reduction and economic growth in every region of the country. Advanced through thousands of policies and actions undertaken by federal, state, territorial, Tribal, and local governments, the strategy includes passage of the landmarks Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), paired with strategic implementation of a regulatory agenda to ensure emissions reductions across every sector of the economy. This approach has equipped federal, state, territorial, Tribal, and local governments with additional resources and regulatory certainty to partner with the private sector to grow a new clean energy economy that benefits American workers and consumers. Implementation of this broad and comprehensive strategy has already led to more than $450 billion of private sector investment in domestic clean energy and manufacturing projects. This progress will accelerate as the Biden-Harris climate agenda continues to drive a wide range of investments in clean energy deployment and manufacturing in the years ahead. Examples include:
 

  • Arizona has added over 370,000 new jobs, and unleashed more than $120 billion in private sector investment. Investments include $5.5 billion to build a battery facility outside Phoenix that will produce batteries for 350,000 electric vehicles per year.
    • California has added over two million new jobs and more than $45 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investment, including a $4 billion Gigafactory to produce lithium-ion batteries in Imperial Valley.
    • Georgia has added nearly half a million new jobs and mobilized more than $40 billion in private sector investment. Qcells is investing $2.5 billion to expand its solar panel and component manufacturing capacity in Dalton and Cartersville.
    • Maryland has added over 160,000 new jobs, and attracted more than $2.7 billion in private sector investment, including a $350 million investment from Constellation Energy to increase the output and lifespan of its renewable energy portfolio.
    • Pennsylvania has added more than 560,000 new jobs and unleashed nearly $4.3 billion in private sector investment, including a $500 million investment by Eos Energy Enterprises to expand battery manufacturing operations in Turtle Creek, supported by a loan guarantee from DOE’s Loan Programs Office.
    • Wisconsin has added more than 188,000 new jobs and $5.4 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments, including $426 million for the state’s first large-scale solar and battery storage project outside Milwaukee.

These investments and many more tell a clear story: the clean energy revolution is being built in America, and that will not be reversed.
 
Fundamental Economic and Technological Trends
 
Over the past four years the prices of clean energy generation and infrastructure have fallen dramatically. President Biden’s economic agenda, supported by complementary subnational government actions and private sector innovation, has reshaped the energy landscape now and for future generations so that American consumers and workers will benefit, especially in energy communities that have historically powered our nation. Along with the boom in domestic investments, technological advances across the energy sector are also making the U.S. clean energy revolution irreversible, including:
 

  • Clean Energy Generation. The levelized cost of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind are dropping rapidly. In 2024, estimates for utility-scale solar PV and onshore wind are as low as $29 per megawatt hour and $27 per megawatt hour, respectively. On a levelized-cost basis, utility-scale solar is now broadly on par with fossil fuel sources, even before accounting for the environmental and public health benefits. A recent analysis indicates that 99 percent of all U.S. coal plants are more expensive to continue running than to replace with solar, wind, and energy storage resources. Geothermal power generation capacity is also accelerating, with 203 megawatts commissioned globally in 2023, up 12 percent from 2022. Recent technological advances, particularly in drilling, indicate the industry is on track to an average cost of $60-70/MWh by 2030 and $45/MWh by 2035. New enhanced geothermal capacity is already slated to meet the clean electricity demands of new industries. And the recent completion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, the nation’s first new nuclear reactors in over 30 years, as well as planned revitalizations of existing reactors, progress on advancedreactor technologies, and new private sectordemand, are all signs of further progress expanding nuclear power capacity ahead.
    • New and Better Transmission. Expanding and enhancing the U.S. transmission system is critical to the nation’s resilience and national security. Significant expansions of new and upgraded transmission lines by public and private sector entities, including SunZia Transmission in New Mexico, will facilitate the transmission of clean energy across the United States. Meanwhile, a new generation of modern grid technologies provides a significant opportunity to achieve power system capacity expansion, including through high-performance conductors that can carry two times (or more) the amount of power of conventional transmission wires, as well as grid enhancing technologies that maximize electricity transmission across the existing system through a family of technologies that includes sensors, power flow control devices, and analytical tools.
       
    • Battery Storage. Utility-scale battery storage has the potential to provide much-needed flexibility that supports renewable energy sources, and helps address grid infrastructure challenges. Between 2010 and 2023, the cost of utility-scale battery storage projects declined by 89%, to $273 per kilowatt hour, driven by improvements in manufacturing, materials efficiency, and manufacturing processes. Storage capacity additions also increased significantly, with additions of 22 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2023. As the private sector continues to invest in new battery technologies and manufacturing processes, battery storage costs will continue to decline, supporting the clean energy economy of the future.
       
    • Energy Efficiency. Improvements in energy efficiency can cut pollution and save Americans on their energy and water bills. The Biden-Harris Administration has strengthened energy efficiency standards to save households and businesses money, with standards updated by DOE for dozens of appliances expected to provide nearly $1 trillion in consumer savings over 30 years, saving the average household more than $100 a year while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2 billion metric tons. Efficient equipment such as heat pumps powered by clean electricity are already making heating, cooling, and hot water more affordable for a growing number of American homes. 2022 marked the first year that heat pump sales outpaced fossil fuel furnaces in the US; in 2023, heat pumps outsold gas furnaces by 27 percent, demonstrating the technology’s growing popularity with consumers. When paired with energy efficiency improvements, like insulation, heat pumps lower the cost of heating and cooling, while improving indoor and outdoor air quality.
  • Clean Steel and Clean Concrete. Producing steel and concrete, fundamental building blocks of the modern economy, accounts for more than 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Clean steel and concrete are already being produced in the United States. Major steelmakers are now using Inflation Reduction Act investments to build and retrofit American steel facilities to produce cleaner steel. Innovative low carbon methods for concrete production can reduce emissions by eliminating the need for high temperatures or through the use of alternative low carbon feedstocks. These innovative concretes are more durable and stronger than conventional concrete, improving the performance of infrastructure investments and resulting in long term savings. As clean hydrogen and clean electricity prices continue to fall, producers will be able to further slash emissions using these cleaner inputs.
    • Clean Hydrogen. Hydrogen has the potential to reduce emissions across a host of sectors, including transportation and heavy industry. Key cost drivers of green hydrogen production, including the capital expenditure for electrolyzers and the price of renewable energy, are expected to decline in years ahead due to economies of scale, delivering green hydrogen at a lower price point. Combined, these two cost declines could translate to a significant reduction in green hydrogen production costs, from $3-6 per kilogram today to $1.50 – 2 by 2035.
  • Clean Cars and Trucks. Electric vehicles (EVs) are already selling at a record pace in the United States, supported by falling component prices as well as fuel and maintenance cost savings for consumers. From 2018 to 2022, the sales-weighted average price of electric cars decreased, and the price gap between internal combustion vehicles and EVs has begun to close. Through 2035, falling EV component prices will drive down the purchase price for EVs and bring new customers to the EV market. For instance, battery prices are set to fall by as much as 50 percent through 2026 thanks to improved technology and expanded production of key inputs. Federal standards support these market developments: the strongest-ever national pollution standards for passenger cars and heavy-duty vehicles are providing certainty for the automobile industry, catalyzing private investment, creating good-paying union jobs, improving public health, and expanding consumer choice in clean vehicles.
  • Federal Sustainability. With broad support from America’s manufacturers, clean energy developers, labor organizations, business leaders, states, and communities, the Federal Government’s 300,000 buildings, 600,000 vehicles, and $750 billion in annual procurement power will continue to be more sustainable and resilient while supporting good jobs, cutting costs, and saving taxpayers money.

 
Action and Leadership from state, local, Tribal, and territorial governments
 
State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments in the United States have a long history of climate leadership that has laid the groundwork for subsequent federal action, including the Inflation Reduction Act. Many critical climate levers, especially in the transportation, electricity, and building sectors, lie largely within the domain of these governments. In the years ahead, leveraging and expanding the new clean energy economy enabled by the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies and bolstered by strong economic tailwinds supporting clean energy, these governments will ensure that the United States remains all-in on climate action. States, territories, cities, counties, and Tribal governments together have the capacity to step in and deliver on climate ambition. In the years ahead, we expect that subnational and Tribal governments will adopt new and strengthen existing climate-forward policies such as:
 

  • Climate Action Plan Implementation: Through support from the Inflation Reduction Act, more than 45 states and more than 200 Tribes, territories, and metro areas have now developed their own Climate Action Plans, representing a historic set of opportunities for subnational climate progress across sectors. More than $4 billion of Climate Pollution Reduction Grants awarded by the Biden-Harris Administration will also advance 59 implementation projects across 30 states, 33 Tribal Nations, and 1 territory to reduce climate pollution from every sector of the economy. Many of these projects can be expanded and provide examples that other states, local governments, Tribes, and even businesses can replicate in their work to tackle the climate crisis.
    • Innovative Solutions to Cut Pollution from the Existing Transportation Systems. California, Washington, and Oregon have developed and implemented, or started to implement, programs that reduce emissions from the transportation sector through a predictable, market-based approach, generating climate and local-air quality benefits for residents and communities. New York City and State adopted and implemented the country’s first-ever congestion pricing program, which will reduce climate pollution and provide a stable funding source for mass transit. Other states have the opportunity to build on these successful policy initiatives in their own jurisdictions.
       
    • Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs) and Clean Energy Standards (CESs). Today, twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have set RPSs and eight others have adopted CESs, which will increase the generation of low- and zero-carbon electricity. Adoption of these standards by additional states, as well as the strengthening of existing standards, provides significant upside for reducing climate pollution.
       
    • Building Energy Codes. Many subnational governments have already adopted or are in the process of adopting the most up-to-date energy codes to ensure new building construction is energy efficient and lowering emissions for years to come. Subnational governments are also reducing energy costs and emissions in existing buildings, with almost 25 percent of commercial buildings subject to a building performance standard or located in a community with plans to adopt building performance standards.
       
    • State Procurement of Low-Carbon Materials. The Biden-Harris Administration’s landmark Federal Buy Clean Initiative leverages the sway of the U.S. government, as the largest purchaser on Earth, to spur demand for clean American manufacturing of materials that form the bedrock of our economy. Thirteen states have joined the Federal-State Buy Clean Partnership and committed to prioritizing efforts that support procurement of lower-carbon infrastructure materials in state-funded projects. These states can continue to work together to send a clear, harmonized demand signal to the marketplace for the long-term decarbonization of essential industries.
       
    • Financing Climate Solutions. With support from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), the national network for financing clean energy and climate solutions across sectors is larger than ever before. The National Clean Investment Fund awardees are establishing national clean financing institutions that deliver accessible and affordable financing for clean technology projects nationwide, and the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator awardees are establishing hubs that provide funding and technical assistance to community lenders working in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
       
    • State and Regional Efforts to Cap Emissions. 15 states and Puerto Rico have binding economy-wide emissions targets in law, covering more than 115 million Americans across the country. Voters in Washington State recently upheld a groundbreaking law requiring companies to cut carbon emissions while investing in programs that benefit the public, such as habitat restoration and climate adaptation. This recent success builds on initiatives such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional program that requires certain power plants to acquire allowances for every ton of CO2 emitted.

In the years to come, leadership will come from all across American society – cities and states, Tribes and territories, small and big businesses, working communities, individual Americans and the private sector working together to seize the economic opportunity, create jobs, and build the clean energy economy. This new clean energy economy, enabled by the forward-looking policies of this Administration, will continue to grow – and the United States will continue to create good jobs and cut carbon pollution right here at home.

Biden Administration, News & Photo Features

President Biden Designates Frances Perkins National Monument in Newcastle, Maine

President Biden is signing a proclamation establishing the Frances Perkins National Monument in Newcastle, Maine, to honor the historic contributions of America’s first woman Cabinet Secretary and the longest-serving Secretary of Labor. It is Biden’s 13th use of the Antiquities Act, and his fourth new national monument helping to tell a more complete American story (photo: Library of Congress)

Action Uplifts Women’s History by Honoring the First Woman Cabinet Secretary, Longest-Serving Secretary of Labor and a Key Architect of the New Deal

President Biden is signing a proclamation establishing the Frances Perkins National Monument in Newcastle, Maine, to honor the historic contributions of America’s first woman Cabinet Secretary and the longest-serving Secretary of Labor. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:
 
Frances Perkins was the leading architect behind the New Deal and led many labor and economic reforms that continue to benefit Americans today. During her 12 years as Secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she envisioned and helped create Social Security; helped millions of Americans get back to work during the Great Depression; fought for the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively; and established the minimum wage, overtime pay, prohibitions on child labor, and unemployment insurance.
 
During a visit to the Department of Labor’s Frances Perkins Building, President Biden will showcase Frances Perkins’s foundational legacy, which civil rights and women’s rights leaders have built upon to further expand opportunities for all Americans. The President will also highlight how his Administration has continued to stand with labor and strengthen America’s workforce. President Biden is proud to be the most pro-union and pro-worker president in history, including creating the Made in America office; requiring Project Labor Agreements on nearly all major federal construction projects of over $35 million; signing the Butch Lewis Act to save more than one million pensions; and becoming the first president in history to walk a picket line.
 
The designation of this new national monument advances President Biden’s March 2024 Executive Order to strengthen the recognition of women’s history. In addition to establishing the Frances Perkins National Monument, today Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland will announce five new National Historic Landmarks that will increase the representation of women’s history in historic sites across America and additional new actions to advance President Biden’s Executive Order.
 
Frances Perkins National Monument
 
At a time when few women were in leadership positions and just 13 years after the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, President Roosevelt asked Frances Perkins to become his Secretary of Labor. Perkins told President Roosevelt that if she accepted the position, she intended to execute an ambitious plan to protect American workers. Over her 12 years as Secretary of Labor, Perkins accomplished nearly everything on her list and laid the groundwork for the labor policy and social safety net that we continue to build on today.
 
The new national monument boundary encompasses the 57 acres of the Frances Perkins Homestead National Historic Landmark site in Newcastle, Maine. The Perkins Homestead played a pivotal role in Frances Perkins’ life and was the place Perkins felt most at home. She spent her childhood summers there, and returned frequently for respite throughout her ground-breaking professional career.  
 
Owned by her family for over 270 years, the Homestead remains much as it looked during Perkins’ lifetime. The 2.3-acre core area of the Homestead has been donated to the National Park Service and is reserved as part of the new monument, including the Perkins’ family home known as the brick house, a barn and outbuilding, gardens, and part of the stone wall surrounding the property. The remaining Homestead landscape extends from the core area to the Damariscotta River to the east, and contains other buildings, structures, gardens, and the paths used by Perkins and her family throughout her life. These lands are currently owned by the Frances Perkins Center which has been managing and preserving them, and they will be reserved and protected as part of the national monument if they are ever donated to the Federal Government in the future.
 
Advancing Women’s History and Telling a More Complete American Story
 
The establishment of the Frances Perkins National Monument furthers the Administration’s commitment to recognizing women’s contributions to our country. The Biden-Harris Administration has invested more than $40 million to restore and support sites that recognize and elevate the stories of women who have shaped American history. Today, the Department of the Interior (DOI) is announcing additional new actions that advance the President’s Executive Order on Honoring and Recognizing Women’s History, including: 

  • Secretary Haaland is announcing five new National Historic Landmarks, DOI’s highest recognition of a property’s historical, architectural, or archeological significance. These include:
    • The Charleston Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina. This new landmark, historically known as the American Cigar Company Building, will recognize the site where cigar factory workers – led by Black women – went on strike for better pay and working conditions, and against gender and racial discrimination on the job.
       
    • The Furies Collective House in Washington, D.C. This new landmark recognizes the former home of a group of young activists who created a social and political community credited with recognizing the existence and needs of lesbians in the women’s movement in the early 1970s, and who published a newspaper focused on questions of women’s identity, relationships, and roles in society.
       
    • The Lucy Diggs Slowe and Mary Burrill House in Washington, D.C. This new landmark includes the residence of Lucy Diggs Slowe, the first dean of women at Howard University, and her partner Mary Burrill. An advocate for educational parity between men and women students, Slowe helped modernize student affairs at Howard and other historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
       
    • Azurest South in Petersburg, Virginia. This new landmark is designed in the International Style, an architectural style developed in the United States and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s that dominated mid-20th century architecture, by Amaza Lee Meredith, a pioneering Black woman architect.
       
    • The Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth House and Studios in San Patricio, New Mexico. This new landmark recognizes the home and workspace of 20th century Realist painter Henriette Wyeth.    
       
  • The National Park Service is announcing a $500,000 grant from the Historic Preservation Fund to support the renovation of the Seneca Falls Knitting Mill, a part of the Seneca Falls Village Historic District. The Fund’s support will enable the National Women’s Hall of Fame to expand its programming on women’s history and restore the mill, which was one of the few places in Seneca Falls, New York to employ women during its 150 years of operation.
     
  • As directed by President Biden, DOI is releasing a new report on representation of women across sites of national importance, including National Historic Landmarks, national monuments, and national park sites. The report assesses which existing federal sites are significant to women’s history and offers opportunities to improve the recognition of women’s contributions to our country across the National Park Service, including through the National Historic Landmark program.

 Antiquities Act Designations
 
President Theodore Roosevelt first used the Antiquities Act in 1906 to designate Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Since then, 18 presidents of both parties have used this authority to protect natural and historic features in America, including the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, the Pullman National Monument, and the César E. Chávez National Monument.
 
The Frances Perkins National Monument will be President Biden’s 13th use of the Antiquities Act and his fourth new national monument commemorating a site that helps tell a more complete American story. Other designations under President Biden include the creation of the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument, and the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument

Biden Administration, Economic Development, Economic Policies, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Marking Small Business Saturday, Biden-Harris Administration Takes New Actions to Increase Federal Support for Small Businesses

The Biden-Harris Administration is increasing small business lending limits and helping small businesses compete for federal contracting opportunities. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:

Small businesses are the engines of our economy and the heart and soul of our communities. Today, the White House announced new actions by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to increase access to federal lending and contracting opportunities for small businesses. SBA is announcing it is making it easier for traditionally underserved small businesses to access capital from mission-oriented lenders by increasing the cap on their SBA 7(a) loans from $350,000 to $500,000. OMB is releasing procurement guidance on both upcoming contracts and subcontracting opportunities to better enable federal agencies to support small business trying to compete for the over $700 billion in federal contracts. And federal agencies are leveraging small disadvantaged businesses at record rates to improve resilience in federal research and development (R&D) supply chains.
 
President Biden and Vice President Harris invested a record $56 billion in SBA-backed capital in small businesses last year—and have overseen a small business boom. American entrepreneurs have filed over 20 million new business applications, the most in any single Presidential term in history. And these applications are leading historic business creation, with new establishment growth higher under President Biden than at any point in the last quarter-century. Entrepreneurs are thriving across communities, with business ownership doubling among Black families, hitting a 30-year high for Hispanic families, exceeding a 30-year high for Asian Americans, and surpassing pre-pandemic levels for women business owners. The Biden-Harris agenda continues to make sure that small businesses in every corner of the country—rural, suburban, urban, and everywhere in between—have the resources they need to grow and thrive.
 
In advance of Small Business Saturday, the Biden-Harris Administration is doubling down on investments in entrepreneurs by taking the following actions: 

  • Expanding caps on critical lending programs. Today, the SBA is announcing an increase of the maximum loan amount backed by their Community Advantage Small Business Lending Companies (CA SBLCs) from $350,000 to $500,000 for active lenders in good standing. These mission-based non-depository lenders—often Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)—focus on providing access to capital to underserved businesses and underinvested businesses, ensuring that women, people of color, veterans, rural, and low- and moderate-income communities have access to SBA-backed capital. This step builds on prior action by the Biden-Harris Administration to support small businesses through CA SBLCs, including making the program permanent following a successful pilot launched by the Obama-Biden Administration.
    • Improving forecasting of upcoming federal contracting opportunities. OMB is issuing guidance to federal procurement officials to strengthen government-wide procurement forecasts. Agencies have long been required to prepare annual forecasts of upcoming federal contract opportunities for businesses, but variance in the quality and timeliness has made it difficult for small businesses to prepare their proposals and more effectively compete against larger businesses. Today’s memo will help align timelines and expectations, better enabling small business to understand when new opportunities will become available and plan ahead to compete for federal awards.
       
    • Increasing access to federal subcontracting opportunities. In 2023, small businesses received a record $86 billion in subcontract awards from the federal government. Building on this success, OMB is issuing guidance to federal agencies on ways to continue to expand subcontracting opportunities for small businesses, the primary gateway for them to compete as prime contractors. This also improves the resilience of supply chains for critical government needs by increasing competition and expanding the pool of businesses engaged in federal contracts. This guidance describes promising policies and strategies adopted by forward-thinking agencies, and encourages federal procurement officials to recognize prime contractors who meet or exceed their subcontracting plan goals and work to strengthen their small business supply chains.
       
    • Leveraging Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) to meet research and development (R&D) Needs. Federal R&D investments are integral to maintaining American leadership in emerging science and technology. The Biden-Harris Administration has made significant progress in leveraging the talents of SDBs for federal R&D contracts, with two-year average annual spending at $2.5 billion in Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023—an all-time high and nearly $450 million a year more than in 2020. Following OMB’s call for agencies to strategically build out resilience within specific supply chains, the White House, SBA, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released an internal set of best practices to help agencies reach even greater heights in the R&D sector, including actions to strengthen planning, outreach, and use of the resources available through the 8(a) Program. 

Both of OMB’s actions build on significant work by the Biden-Harris Administration to help small and underserved businesses access federal contract opportunities, including awarding a record $178.6 billion in federal contracting opportunities to small businesses (28.4% of eligible federal dollars) and a record $76.2 billion to small disadvantaged businesses (12.1% of eligible federal dollars).

Biden Administration, Climate Action, Climate Change, Energy, Infrastructure, Jobs, Manufacturing, News & Photo Features

Memo to America: Biden’s Investing in America Policy to Building Sustainable Economy Has Generated $1 Trillion in Private Sector Investment in Clean Energy, Manufacturing

More than 3.4 million American families have already saved $8.4 billion on home clean energy upgrades, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Three million more households in America have high-speed internet today than when President Biden took office. There are already more than 74,000 infrastructure and clean energy projects underway across the country, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. That includes 11,400 bridge projects, 196,000 miles of roads under repair, and 376,000 lead pipes already replaced, benefitting nearly 1 million people. Millions of seniors are benefitting from the $35 cap on the cost of insulin, and the cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries has already saved 1.5 million seniors nearly $1 billion in the first half of 2024, with Medicare beneficiaries feeling the full benefits starting in January. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

People said they voted against Kamala Harris because they were just so so very upset about inflation, how they were suffering in this terrible economy, so voted for the guy who not only had no policy, plan or program to address inflation or high prices, but whose stated Project 2025 policies (tariffs) would hurt the economy, jobs and prices. But I am wondering how bad the economy really could be if holiday spending is already up 9%, malls and online sites are seeing massive increases in shoppers, there is record travel on the roads and through airports. Oh, by the way, gas prices are around $3 or less a gallon – close to 2019; – and inflation has fallen below 2.3% for the year, comparable to 2019, while REAL wage increases (that is increased income compared to inflation) are up on average $4000; Thanksgiving meal prices are down. But those working class people (suckers) who think that Trump will give them a better deal? Are you kidding or just really willfully ignorant? Have you seen the billionaires, kleptocrats, oligarchs (not to mention the misogynists, sexual predators and felons) he is installing in power? They are already salivating at shutting down the National Labor Relations Board, ending food and product safety regulation, environmental protection, restricting food stamps and vaccinations for poor children and cutting Medicare and Social Security, while serving up deeper tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals (the top 0.1% already control more wealth than 50 percent of the country) and corporations, already sitting on record profits from price-gouging.

Biden’s Deputy Chief of Staff offered this memo “to interested parties” on what President Biden accomplished that I’m betting 99.9% of Americans have no clue about $1 TRILLION in private sector investment in clean energy and manufacturing since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office because of Biden’s Investing in America agenda, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act – all of which Republicans tried to block, obstruct, sabotage and now threaten to repeal.It’s like the way Republicans were able to generate hostility to Obama’s Affordable Care Act in order to win the 2010 midterms and how Obamacare has become so popular and important in people’s lives, but Trump and the MAGA Republicans are still keen to repeal it, leaving millions without healthcare desperate and insecure – Karen Rubin, news-photos-features.com

On the success of $1 trillion in investment due to his policies and approach to building a sustainable economy “from the bottom up and the middle out,” President Biden stated:

When I took office, the pandemic was raging and the economy was reeling. From Day One, I was determined to not only deliver economic relief, but to invest in America and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down.

Over the last four years, that’s exactly what we’ve done. We passed legislation to rebuild our infrastructure, build a clean energy economy, and bring manufacturing back to the United States after decades of offshoring. Today I’m proud to announce my Investing in America agenda—the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act—has helped attract over $1 trillion in announced private-sector investments. These investments in industries of the future are ensuring the future is made in America, by American workers. And they’re creating opportunities in communities too often left behind.

Over 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs have been created over the last four years, and our investments are making America a leader in clean energy and semiconductor technologies that will protect our economic and national security, while expanding opportunities in red states and blue states.

Today, thanks to my Investing in America agenda, businesses around the world are investing in America—which is good news for American workers and American businesses—and we’re positioned to win the economic competition for the 21st century.

To: Interested Parties

From: Natalie Quillian, White House Deputy Chief of Staff

MEMO: President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda’s Growing Durability and Popularity

When President Biden and Vice President Harris came into office, America was in the midst of a deadly pandemic and our economy was reeling. Since then, President Biden and Vice President Harris have overseen one of the most successful administrations in history and will be leaving behind the best economy in the world.

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’ leadership, 16 million jobs have been created, and we’ve gotten women and people of color back in the labor force at record rates. A record 20 million new business applications have been filed, and inflation is down to near pre-pandemic levels. These outcomes are due in part to our success in passing and implementing legislation that rebuilt our nation’s infrastructure, made the largest investment in climate action in history, lowered prescription drug costs, and spurred a manufacturing renaissance. Together, the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act – the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda – are reshaping our economy. And as of today, that agenda has helped spur over $1 trillion in private sector investment in clean energy and manufacturing since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office.

The level of private sector investment seen under this administration is unprecedented. Business leaders have called the boom in private investment “nothing short of extraordinary,” and have said the United States’ economy is “among the best performing economies” in decades. It is driving a manufacturing renaissance across the country and onshoring new and growing industries such as semiconductors, solar, batteries, and more. It’s also helping rebuild communities and create opportunity in places that were overlooked or left behind by public and private investment for far too long.

As of today, the Department of Commerce has announced over two dozen preliminary or final agreements with semiconductor manufacturing companies to create American-made chips in Phoenix, Arizona; Columbus, Ohio; Taylor, Texas; Syracuse, New York, and more, spurring over $400 billion in private investment that will create at least 125,000 jobs. Over $119 billion in investments in EVs and batteries and $122 billion in clean power have been announced in just the two years since the Inflation Reduction Act was signed. Recent announcements show these investments have continued at a steady pace. For example, in the last month alone, SolarCycle announced it would invest $400 million in Georgia for the largest solar panel recycling facility in the country, MainSpring Energy announced it would match an $87 million grant from the Department of Energy to manufacture power generators in Allegheny County, PA, and Microporous announced a $1.35 billion investment to create 2,000 jobs building battery separators in southern Virginia.

In addition to private investment, the Biden-Harris Administration has been implementing these laws quickly, effectively and equitably since the day the first Investing in America bill was signed. Due to that effort, there are already more than 74,000 infrastructure and clean energy projects underway across the country, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act. That includes 11,400 bridge projects, 196,000 miles of roads under repair, and 376,000 lead pipes already replaced, benefitting nearly 1 million people. More than 3.4 million American families have already saved $8.4 billion on home clean energy upgrades, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act. Three million more households in America have high-speed internet today than when President Biden took office. Millions of seniors are benefitting from the $35 cap on the cost of insulin, and the cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries has already saved 1.5 million seniors nearly $1 billion in the first half of 2024, with Medicare beneficiaries feeling the full benefits starting in January.

To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced awards for 98% of Investing in America funding available for us to spend by the end of fiscal year 2024. Departments and agencies are running through the tape – announcing more awards, finalizing contracts and grant agreements, and accelerating permitting timelines. For example, the Department of Transportation executed more than twice as many grant agreements compared to the prior administration, completed 20 percent more environmental reviews in the transportation sector, and cut the time it takes to complete environmental assessments for transportation projects by one third.

These programs and projects mean real benefits for people across the country. It’s why as we continue to implement the Investing in America agenda, we see these programs grow in popularity even among skeptics, suggesting that the transformation of the U.S. economy is here to stay. For example:

  • Nearly 8 in 10 Americans support keeping the Inflation Reduction Act’s $35 per month cap on the cost of insulin for seniors, including 76% of Republicans.
  • A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 88% of Americans support the Administration’s work building or repairing our nation’s roads, bridges, rail lines, ports and other infrastructure.
  • Outside groups have found that the majority of private sector investments spurred by Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits are going to red districts, and 57 percent of the new clean energy jobs created since the Inflation Reduction Act passed are located in Congressional districts represented by Republicans.

The progress we’ve made, however, represents only a fraction of the full impact of this agenda. As the President said earlier this month, the impacts of this historic agenda “will be felt over the next 10 years.” If future Administrations continue to implement at the pace we have, people across the country will enjoy the benefits of safer water, cleaner air, faster internet, and smoother commutes.  For example, by the end of 2026, the country is on track to have launched repairs on a total of over 356,000 miles of highway and over 20,800 bridges with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. By the end of 2028, communities will replace more than one million toxic lead pipes, bringing clean water to over 2.5 million people and protecting the health and safety of children and families.  And by 2030, 6 million more households and small businesses will have access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet.

Also, major projects we’ve funded will be completed in the coming years. For example, TSMC’s first Arizona factory will fully open in early 2025 and for the first time in decades, an American manufacturing plant will produce leading-edge chips. Service on the Brightline West High Speed Rail System, connecting Las Vegas, Nevada to Rancho Cucamonga, California, is on track to start in 2028, in time for the Los Angeles Olympics. A project to replace Michigan’s outdated I-375 freeway will be completed in the same year.

Over the coming months, the Biden-Harris Administration will continue the critical work of implementing the Investing in America agenda by announcing more awards, finalizing contracts and grant agreements, and making sure these investments are reaching the American people. While the full effects won’t be realized for years to come, it’s clear that the Investing in America agenda – and its impacts on the economy, on communities, and on American families – is here to stay.

Biden Administration, Gender Equity, Health Care

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces $110 Million in Awards from ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health to Accelerate New Discoveries, Innovations

First Lady Jill Biden at the 2024 Clinton Global Initiative announced the Department of Defense’s new commitment to spend $500 million on vital women’s health research. With this new investment, the Department will fund research on conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently—such as ovarian cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and musculoskeletal injuries © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

As the Biden-Harris administration institutes new actions to protect women’s access to contraceptives and researchers have just published findings on risk factors for stroke that women – who suffer 57 percent of strokes – face, the administration just announced $110 million in awards from ARPA-H’s “Sprint for Women’s Health” to accelerate new discoveries and innovation. The President and First Lady recognized that medical research largely ignored women, focused almost entirely on men, and established the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.

Meanwhile, three states – Missouri, Idaho and Kansas (despite recently approving abortion rights  – have revived the lawsuit that the Supreme Court rejected last year, to curb access to abortion medication. Indeed the fact that pregnancy is one of the factors in women’s increased risk of stroke demonstrates why increasing access to contraception and abortion medication is vital, along with the statistics which show spikes in maternal and infant mortality in states that ban abortion and have criminalized pregnancy. The stakes and the contrast in this election – by pro-women’s rights candidate Kamala Harris vs. anti-women’s freedom candidate Donald Trump, could not be more clear. Here is a fact sheet provided by the White House on the latest women’s health initiative. – Karen Rubin/[email protected], news-photos-features.com

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden created the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research to fundamentally change how our nation approaches and funds women’s health research. Despite making up more than half the population, women have historically been understudied and underrepresented in health research. Since its launch in November 2023, the Initiative has made significant investments to close gaps in research on women’s health—from menopause-related conditions to endometriosis to auto-immune conditions to cardiovascular disease—so that we can improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, and differently.
 
Today in Las Vegas, Nevada, the First Lady will announce $110 million in awards from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to accelerate transformative research and development in women’s health. President Biden established ARPA-H, a new research and development funding agency, with bipartisan Congressional support to generate high-impact biomedical and health breakthroughs. In February 2024, the First Lady launched ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health, the first major deliverable of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. Over the last 10 months, ARPA-H received an unprecedented response to this call for solutions for women’s health, with over 1,700 submissions across 45 states and D.C. as well as 34 countries.
 
In less than a year, the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research has galvanized nearly a billion dollars in funding for women’s health research, including the First Lady’s recent announcement of $500 million from the U.S. Department of Defense and $200 million from the National Institutes of Health. Additionally, in his State of the Union address, President Biden called on Congress to make a bold, transformative investment of $12 billion in new funding for women’s health research. President Biden also signed a first-of-its-kind Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation, directing the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken to expand and improve research on women’s health. Through the Initiative, federal agencies have committed to taking over 100 actions to prioritize investments in women’s health research and integrate women’s health across the federal research portfolio.
 
Accelerating Progress in Women’s Health Research
 
Today’s ARPA-H awardees will spur innovation and advance high-impact, novel approaches to diseases and conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, and differently. Today’s awardees are working across a range of women’s health issues—from pursuing new ways to prevent, detect, and treat cardiovascular conditions, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, neurological diseases, and pain in women to developing next-generation approaches to menopause, migraines, obstetrics, and gynecological care.
 
One-quarter of today’s awardees are pursuing “launchpad” projects, meaning those projects have the potential for commercialization within two years. The remaining awardees are pursuing “spark” projects that are in the early stage of research. ARPA-H’s support for these projects will help ensure that women and their health care providers can soon benefit from the research investments being made today.
 
The $110 million in ARPA-H awards announced today across 23 teams fund bold and transformative women’s health solutions, including:
 

  • Aspira Women’s Health Inc. of Shelton, Connecticut will receive $10 million to create a first-of-its-kind definitive, non-invasive blood test to diagnose endometriosis. Endometriosis is a debilitating condition that affects about 1 in 10 women and often takes years and surgery to be diagnosed. Aspira Women’s Health Inc. aims to reduce the time it takes to diagnose endometriosis from years to days while helping health care providers identify the most appropriate treatment option for each woman’s needs.
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts will receive $9.1 million to improve our ability to assess brain disorders in women through a novel non-invasive MRI imaging biomarker. Even though conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and multiple sclerosis disproportionately affect women, there are significant gaps in our knowledge about how to prevent, detect, and treat these conditions in women. By developing a novel and non-invasive MRI technology to measure a specific brain protein, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc. will advance our understanding of, and improve treatments for, brain disorders in women. 
  • Children’s Research Institute of Washington, DC—through its research arm on families—will receive $8.1 million to develop a novel way to assess chronic pain in women. Women experience pain differently than men which can lead health care providers to underestimate and undertreat this pain, resulting in prolonged suffering, delayed diagnosis and treatment, and a reluctance to seek medical care. Despite this need, there is currently no objective, quantitative indicator of chronic pain in women. Children’s Research Institute aims to fill this gap by studying how a woman’s eyes react to external stimulation, which is directly related to how she perceives pain.
    •  Gravidas Diagnostics, Inc. of Los Angeles, California will receive $3 million to create a first-of-its-kind at-home test to revolutionize our ability to detect early preeclampsia, a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. By making it easier to identify preeclampsia quickly, Gravidas Diagnostics Inc.’s new low-cost fingerstick test would help women and their doctors get the information they need sooner to reduce pregnancy-related complications and improve maternal and child health.
    •  The University of Iowa will receive $10 million to revolutionize the treatment for late-stage and metastatic ovarian cancer by using personalized nanoparticles to boost a woman’s immune system. More than half of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed only after the cancer has metastasized, making it harder to treat and reducing survival rates. Leveraging nanotechnology, the University of Iowa will engineer personalized nanoparticles to use a woman’s own immune system to attack multiple cancers and help more women get the treatment they need to live longer.
       

Additional information and a full list of awardees is available here.

See also:

States Revive Lawsuit to Sharply Curb Access to Abortion Pill

To Protect Women’s Freedom, Liberty, Life, Vote for Harris, Democrats and the ERA

New Stroke Recommendations Call Out Risks Unique to Women

At Clinton Global Initiative, First Lady Announces $500 Million More Funding for Women’s Health Research; President Biden Receives Global Citizen Award

Biden Administration, Civil Rights, Criminal Justice, Economic Development, Justice Agenda

FACT SHEET: President Biden and Vice President Harris Are Delivering for Black Americans

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris implement the SAFE Communities Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the most significant gun violence reduction legislation enacted in nearly 30 years, which has had a measureable effect in the administration achieving record declines in gun violence including murder rates. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC).

The fact sheet detailing the actions the Biden-Harris administration has taken to better the lives of Black communities, delivering historic results, was provided by the White House:

Over the past four years, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken action to ensure the promise of America reaches every community—including Black communities. These actions have delivered historic results, enabling more Black Americans to access a quality education, obtain a good-paying job, start a business, and buy a home—driving significant gains in wealth. From growing economic and educational opportunities to improving health outcomes, from enhancing public trust and public safety to advancing equity, civil rights, and racial justice, the Biden-Harris Administration has demonstrated its deep commitment to ensuring equal opportunity for all and investing in the future of Black Americans.
 
Securing Economic Mobility, Educational Opportunity, and the American Dream for Black Communities
 
President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that the promise of America—the American Dream—is that everyone should have a fair shot at getting ahead. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, we have made progress: 

  • Achieved the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and created 2.4 million jobs for Black workers as of August 2024
    • Lifted 400,000 Black children out of poverty by increased SNAP benefits through updating the Thrifty Food Plan, and continuing to call on Congress to restore the full expanded Child Tax Credit—which, during the COVID-19 pandemic, cut Black child poverty in half benefitting 600,000 and brought racial poverty disparities to a record low Grew Black American business ownership at the fastest rate in over three decades Tripled the number of SBA-backed loans to Black-owned businesses Awarded a record $10 billion in federal contracts to Black-owned small businesses in Fiscal Year 2023 Invested a record of more than $16 billion in Historically Black Colleges and Universities Secured a $900 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award—the largest increase in the past 10 years—and $23 million in first-ever funding to the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program to increase the number of teachers of color and multilingual educators across the country Approved the cancellation of almost $170 billion in student loan debt for nearly 5 million borrowers, including a significant number of Black borrowers who are disproportionately burdened by student debt  Took on racial bias in home appraisals and closed the Black-white home misevaluation gap by 40% Reduced mortgage insurance premiums for FHA loans, saving 76,000 Black households an average of $900/year Cut costs for high-speed internet to 5.5 million Black households with the Affordable Connectivity Program Distributed $2.2 billion in financial assistance to over 43,000 farmers who experienced discrimination 
    • Led a historically equitable economic recovery—Black wealth, even after adjusting for inflation, is up 60% relative to pre-pandemic levels—the largest increase on record

 
Ending Health Disparities
 
President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to keeping health care costs down for individuals and families and improving access to health care to address disparities in Black communities. To improve health outcomes for the Black community, the Biden-Harris Administration has:
 

  • Ensured more Black Americans have health care than ever before by lowering premium costs by an average of $800 for millions of Americans, increasing Black enrollment in Affordable Care Act coverage by 95%, or over 1.7 million people since 2020
    • Lowered monthly premiums for health insurance, capped the cost of insulin at $35 and all out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 for people on Medicare, and announced new negotiated prices for the first ten prescription drugs for Medicare price negotiation—expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year of the program alone Made sickle cell disease the first focus of the new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services models, aimed to lower the high cost of drugs, promote accessibility to drug therapies, and improve patient care Expanded Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months in 46 states and Washington, D.C., covering 700,000 more women in the year after childbirth Secured an additional $1.5 billion for Head Start 
    • Delivered $1 billion to help meet the mental health needs of young people by preparing and hiring a projected 14,000 additional mental health professionals to serve America’s schools

 
Making Communities Safer and Strengthening America’s Commitment to Justice
 
The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to using every available federal lever to advance effective, accountable policing, build trust, and improve public safety so that the promise of equal justice under the law is a reality for all. To enhance equal justice and public safety for all communities, including the Black community, the President has:
 

  • Signed an Executive Order on police reform when Congressional Republicans would not pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act; restricted the use of force, banned chokeholds, restricted the use of no-knock warrants and created the first-ever national database of federal law enforcement misconduct
    • Created the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention U.S. Surgeon General named gun violence a public health crisis and issued a public health advisory on how to reduce violence. Signed into the law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the most significant gun violence reduction legislation enacted in nearly 30 years, and taken more meaningful executive action than any other president to make our schools, churches, grocery stores, and communities safer Secured $400 million in funding dedicated specifically for community violence interventions that invests in evidence-informed strategies to prevent violence Cracked down on the source of illegal firearms by making it illegal to manufacture “ghost gun” kits, enacting the first-ever federal gun trafficking law, taking a “zero tolerance” approach to rogue gun dealers, and regulating the number one source of guns involved in gun trafficking investigations – unlicensed sellers. Pardoned thousands of Americans under federal and D.C. law for simple possession of marijuana 
    • Helped bring violent crime to its lowest level in 50 years—lower than during any year of the previous administration

 
Restoring the Soul of Our Nation
 
President Biden believes that advancing equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity is the responsibility of the whole of our government and requires sustained leadership and partnership with all communities. To make the promise of America real for Black communities, the President has:
 

  • Signed two Executive Orders directing the federal government to address inequality
    • Protected Black history as American history Signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, the first new federal holiday since MLK DayDesignated Springfield 1908 Race Riot and Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monuments Signed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act to classify lynching for the first time as a federal hate crime 
    • Worked to protect the sacred right to vote through executive actions and continued calls for legislation 

Appointed the first Black woman to the Supreme Court, more Black women to federal circuit courts than all previous presidents combined, and more Black judges in a single term than any other president

Biden Administration, Gender Equity, Health Care, News & Photo Features, Womens Issues, Women's Rights, Womens Issues, Womens Rights

At Clinton Global Initiative, First Lady Announces $500 Million More Funding for Women’s Health Research; President Biden Receives Global Citizen Award

President Biden accepts the 2024 Clinton Global Citizen Award at the Clinton Global Initiative, with Dr.Chelsea Clinton, President Bill Clinton, First Lady Jill Biden, and Secretary Hillary Clinton © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

By Karen Rubin, News-Photos-Features.com, [email protected]

First Lady Jill Biden at the 2024 Clinton Global Initiative announced the Department of Defense’s new commitment to spend $500 million on vital women’s health research. With this new investment, the Department will fund research on conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently—such as ovarian cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and musculoskeletal injuries. This commitment is consistent with President Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation as well as the Department of Defense’s broader efforts to support the health of the women it serves and the medical readiness of the force.
 
The First Lady, joined by Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, and Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse Medical School and an infertility specialist and researcher, also discussed the rapid progress being made by the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which was launched less than a year ago with the goal of fundamentally changing how we fund and approach women’s health research, that included $100 million for transformative research and development in women’s health.

First Lady Jill Biden at the 2024 Clinton Global Initiative announced the Department of Defense’s new commitment to spend $500 million on vital women’s health research. With this new investment, the Department will fund research on conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently—such as ovarian cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and musculoskeletal injuries © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

“Women are living longer, which means they are living longer with chronic pain,” Dr. Biden said to emphasize the need to determine why women are more likely to become afflicted by Alzheimer’s, MS, and auto immune diseases and no one knows why. Up until now, research on medications, therapies and treatments have only been developed with men as subjects. There has been virtually no study of ovarian health – arthritis, migraines – and why women getting these conditions.

President Biden was determined to do something about it, so allocated $100 million to ARPA-H – the mega-research agency of the government which Biden created to do health research in the same way ARPA researches and develops technology; then the National Institutes of Health allocated $200 million to study how menopause affects the brain, heart, and bone health. Now, the Department of Defense has allocated $500 million to study military women’s health, which will yield insights for all women.

Dr. Rice, a ground-breaking OB/GYN, said more study has to be done on how nutritional balance influences the cycle, how estrogen levels fluctuate throughout the cycle, and about lifestyle changes. “The only way we can understand how to introduce interventions is to include women in the studies early.” She added that social determinants must be considered in order to engender trust so women will volunteer to participate in clinical trials. “It starts with trial design.”

Dr. Chelsea Clinton, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, First Lady Jill Biden and Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse School of Medicine discuss women’s health research as part of the mainstage session, titled “Look Around,” where leaders from across the social impact spectrum highlighted the ways in which they break down barriers between peer institutions, cultivate partnerships and community, and align values and programs to create new, specific, and measurable ways to support one another © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Monday’s CGI event followed the First Lady joining the top of the President’s Cabinet meeting last week, where she expressed gratitude to the agencies for their continued progress and momentum towards that goal. This was the first time the First Lady joined a Cabinet meeting and is a testament to how personally important this effort to advance women’s health research is for both the President and the First Lady.
 
Since launching the initiative last November, the First Lady has visited research centers and universities, and spoken with doctors and scientists across the country to understand the research questions we need to ask – and the answers they could find if we invest in women’s health.
 
“Since launching the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research last November, the First Lady has put the spotlight on the urgent need to close the gap in how we fund and approach women’s health research,” FLOTUS Press Secretary Vanessa Valdivi stated.”The Biden-Harris Administration has quickly mobilized to make progress in less than year, and in the months ahead the First Lady will continue to push the work of this initiative forward, and build on the incredible momentum and enthusiasm we’ve seen across the public and private sectors.”
   
The White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research
 
The White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research is ensuring that research on women’s health is a priority and galvanizing new research on a wide range of topics. In his State of the Union address, President Biden called on Congress to make a bold, transformative investment of $12 billion in new funding for women’s health research. The President also signed an Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation that directed the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken to expand and improve research on women’s health.
 
The Initiative—led by the Office of the First Lady and the White House Gender Policy Council and Chaired by Dr. Carolyn M. Mazure —consists of executive departments and agencies across the federal government, such as the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, and White House offices, such as the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Members of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research have already taken action to advance women’s health research, including:
 

  • The President’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) committed $100 million for transformative research and development in women’s health for its first-ever Sprint for Women’s Health. ARPA-H received an unprecedented response to its call for proposals, receiving submissions from a mix of scientific visionaries from across the globe and sectors.
    • The National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a new agency-wide effort to invest $200 million for new, interdisciplinary women’s health research—a first step towards the transformative central Fund on Women’s Health that the President called on Congress to invest in. This cross-cutting effort will allow NIH to fund ambitious, multi-faceted research projects such as research on the impact of perimenopause and menopause on heart health, brain health and bone health.
    • The Department of Health and Human Services announced $12.5 million in new funding to address the unique mental health and substance use treatment needs of women. The new Women’s Behavioral Health Technical Assistance Center will help fill vital gaps in health care providers’ knowledge and ability to treat the mental health and substance use conditions of women across the nation.
    • The NIH launched a new challenge to accelerate the development of innovative technologies for the diagnosis of endometriosis, a debilitating condition that affects about 1 in 10 women and often takes years to be diagnosed. NIH will award $3 million in prizes to innovators who develop new technologies that make it easier and quicker to diagnose endometriosis.
    • The National Science Foundation (NSF) issued its first-ever call for novel and transformative science and engineering research focused entirely on women’s health. NSF has also convened experts in the fields of engineering, biomedical research, and advanced computing to identify ways to improve women’s health research—including how artificial intelligence and machine learning can revolutionize our understanding of menopause.
    • DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs launched a new Joint Collaborative to Improve Women’s Health Research for Servicemembers and Veterans to further promote joint efforts to advance women’s health research and improve evidence-based care for women Servicemembers and veterans.

The First Lady joined Chelsea Clinton and Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice at the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss women’s health research as part of the mainstage session, titled “Look Around,” where leaders from across the social impact spectrum highlighted the ways in which they break down barriers between peer institutions, cultivate partnerships and community, and align values and programs to create new, specific, and measurable ways to support one another.
 
As vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, Chelsea Clinton works alongside the Foundation’s leadership and partners to improve lives and inspire emerging leaders across the United States and around the world. This includes the Foundation’s early child initiative Too Small to Fail, which supports families with the resources they need to promote early brain and language development; and the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), a global program that empowers student leaders to turn their ideas into action. A longtime public health advocate, Chelsea also serves as vice chair of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and uses her platform to increase awareness around issues such as vaccine hesitancy, childhood obesity, and health equity.
 
Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and the first woman to lead the freestanding medical institution, is a renowned infertility specialist and researcher. She most recently served as dean and executive vice president of MSM, where she has served since 2011. Prior to joining MSM, Dr. Montgomery Rice held faculty positions and leadership roles at various health centers, including academic health centers. Most notably, she was the founding director of the Center for Women’s Health Research at Meharry Medical College—an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee—one of the nation’s first research centers devoted to studying diseases that disproportionately impact women of color.
 
Dr. Montgomery Rice joined the President and First Lady for the Women’s Health Research Executive Order signing at the White House in March and participated in two White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research events with Dr. Biden in Atlanta, GA in February.

President Joe Biden Receives 2024 Clinton Global Citizen Award

President Biden addresses the Clinton Global Initiative in accepting the 2024 Clinton Global Citizen Award, with President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Clinton, First Lady Jill Biden, and Dr. Chelsea Clinton © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Immediately after the panel discussion, president Joe Biden came onto the stage to surprise the CGI attendees, and perhaps be surprised himself by being awarded 2024 Clinton Global Citizen Award.

The award acknowledged Biden’s transformational presidency in taking the United States out of deadly COVID pandemic and double-digit unemployment, to the strongest recovery, the strongest economy, while transitioning the economy and society for economic, climate and civil justice, reestablishing the United States’ global leadership and standing up for democracy, peace and prosperity around the world, and standing up for country over personal interest.

As President Biden told the United Nations General Assembly just hours before, “I’ve made the preservation of democracy the central cause of my presidency. This summer, I faced a decision whether to seek a second term as president.  It was a difficult decision.  Being president has been the honor of my life.  There is so much more I want to get done.  But as much as I love the job, I love my country more.  I decided, after 50 years of public service, it’s time for a new generation of leadership to take my nation forward.”

To the Clinton Global Initiative he said, “I am congenitally optimistic about this country.  I really am… We’re good people.  We really are.  We just have to live up to what we expect of others,” in humbly accepting the award.

Previous Clinton Global Citizen Award winners have included First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska (2023); Dolores Huerta (2022) for her advocacy of human rights of women, children and working class people worldwide; Nadia Mura (2016), a Yazidi woman who survived her capture and enslavement by ISIS and has become a voice for women and children trafficked in conflict; and Malala Yousafzai (2014) who survived an attack by the Taliban, targeted for going to school, and has gone on to be a strong advocate for girls’ education.

__________________________

© 2024 News & Photo Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. For editorial feature and photo information, go to www.news-photos-features.com, email [email protected]. Blogging at www.dailykos.com/blogs/NewsPhotosFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures, Tweet @KarenBRubin Threads: @news_and_photo_features

Biden Administration, Health Care, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Announces New, Lower Prices for First Ten Drugs Selected for Medicare Price Negotiation to Lower Costs for Millions of Americans

President Joe Biden, at the State of the Union Address, touts Medicare’s ability for the first time to negotiate prices with Big Pharma, a win for seniors who will pay significantly less, and for Medicare, saving $1.5 billion the first year © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com via MSNBC.

New negotiated drug prices are expected to save millions of seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in the first year of the program alone. This fact sheet was provided by the White House:

For far too long, Americans have paid more for their prescription drugs than any developed nation. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is delivering on its promise to lower out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors and save money for Americans. That’s because Medicare has the power to negotiate prescription drug prices for the first time in history thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by President Biden with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. Because Medicare is now able to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for seniors and people with disabilities, American taxpayers are expected to save $6 billion on prescription drug costs, and people enrolled in Medicare are expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2026 alone. President Biden and Vice President Harris took on Big Pharma and won, and now millions of seniors and others on Medicare will soon see their drug costs go down on some of the most common and expensive prescription drugs that treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood clots, and more.


HHS Announces Negotiated Prices for Medicare Drugs

HHS has reached agreements with all participating manufacturers on new negotiated, lower drug prices for the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare drug price negotiation program. After manufacturers have steadily increased the list prices of all 10 of these drugs since they went on the market, these new prices will cut the list price of these drugs between 38 and 79 percent.

The new prices will go into effect for people with Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage in 2026:

Drug NameCommonly Treated ConditionsNumber of Medicare Enrollees Who Used the Drug in 2023Drug List Price in 2023 for 30-day SupplyNegotiated Price for 2026 for 30-day SupplySavings (%)
EliquisPrevention and treatment of blood clots3,928,000$521$231$290 (-56%)
JardianceDiabetes; Heart failure; Chronic kidney disease1,883,000$573$197$376 (-66%)
XareltoPrevention and treatment of blood clots; Reduction of risk for patients with coronary or peripheral artery disease1,324,000$517$197$320 (-62%)
JanuviaDiabetes843,000$527$113$414 (-79%)
FarxigaDiabetes; Heart failure; Chronic kidney disease994,000$556$178.50$377.50 (-68%)
EntrestoHeart failure664,000$628$295$333 (-53%)
EnbrelRheumatoid arthritis; Psoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis48,000$7,106$2,355$4,751 (-67%)
ImbruvicaBlood cancers17,000$14,934$9,319$5,615 (-38%)
StelaraPsoriasis; Psoriatic arthritis; Crohn’s disease; Ulcerative colitis23,000$13,836$4,695$9,141 (-66%)
Fiasp; Fiasp FlexTouch; Fiasp PenFill;
NovoLog; NovoLog FlexPen; NovoLog PenFill		Diabetes785,000$495$119$376 (-76%)

Source: CMS, https://www.cms.gov/files/document/fact-sheet-negotiated-prices-initial-price-applicability-year-2026.pdf

These ten drugs are among those with highest total spending in Medicare Part D. If the negotiated prices had been in effect during 2023, Medicare would have saved an estimated $6 billion. When the negotiated prices go into effect in 2026, people enrolled in Medicare Part D are estimated to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs.

Millions of Part D enrollees that depend on these treatments to treat life-threatening conditions including diabetes, heart failure, and cancer are also expected to see lower out-of-pocket costs for these drugs. For example, a Medicare enrollee who takes Stelara for their arthritis and pays $3,459 on their drug today for a 30-day supply would pay only $1,174 in 2026. Many seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare who take these drugs will also benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act’s $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket spending, which will be fully in effect in 2025, saving 19 million beneficiaries an average of $400 per year, in addition to these savings from the negotiated drug prices.

More drugs will be selected each year as part of Medicare’s drug price negotiation program. Medicare will select up to 15 additional drugs covered under Part D for negotiation in 2025, up to an additional 15 Part B and D drugs in 2026, and up to 20 drugs every year after that.

Building on Progress Lowering Health Care Costs

Every day, millions of Americans are saving money on health care costs because of the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions.

  • People with Medicare are saving an average of $70 in out-of-pocket costs on vaccines like shingles and Tdap because President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act made recommended vaccines free for beneficiaries, including the 10.3 million enrollees who received a free vaccine in 2023.
  • All 3.4 million Medicare Part D enrollees who filled an insulin prescription in 2023 had their insulin costs capped at $35 per month, saving some seniors hundreds of dollars for a month’s supply.
  • Some seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries taking drugs covered under Part B for which manufacturers have hiked prices faster than inflation are saving up to $4,593 in lower coinsurance this quarter thanks to the new Medicare inflation rebates.
  • Starting this year, Part D enrollees no longer pay 5% co-insurance when they reach the catastrophic phase of their benefit and have their out-of-pocket drug costs capped at about $3,500. In just the first quarter of 2024, over 260,000 people benefited from this cap.
  • Millions of American are saving an average of about $800 per year on health insurance premiums because of savings from the American Rescue Plan that the Inflation Reduction Act extended, helping drive the nation’s uninsured rate to historic lows under the Biden-Harris Administration.

Check out the Biden-Harris Administration’s Savings Explorer to see how some of the Administration’s policies are helping Americans save money on annual expenses – from health care to junk fees, grocery costs and more.

Continuing to Lower Prescription Drug Costs

People with Medicare will continue to see their prescription drug costs go down as more provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act go into effect next year. Nearly 19 million seniors and other Part D beneficiaries are projected to save $400 per year on prescription drugs when the out-of-pocket cap drops to $2,000 in 2025, and 1.9 million enrollees with the highest drug costs will save an average of $2,500 per year. And the lower prices negotiated for the high-spend drugs announced today will go into effect in 2026.

The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2025 builds on this success by significantly increasing the pace of negotiation, bringing more drugs into negotiation sooner after they launch, expanding the $2,000 out-of-pocket prescription drug cost cap beyond Medicare and into the commercial market, and other steps to build on the Inflation Reduction Act drug provisions. The Budget also includes proposals to curb inflation in prescription drug prices and extends the $35 cost-sharing cap for monthly prescriptions of insulin to the commercial market to lower drug costs for all Americans.


Statement from President Joe Biden on Lower Prescription Drug Prices

For years, millions of Americans were forced to choose between paying for medications or putting food on the table, while Big Pharma blocked Medicare from being able to negotiate prices on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities. But we fought back – and won.
 
Today, for the first time in history, my Administration is announcing that Medicare has reached agreements on new, lower prices with the manufacturers of all 10 drugs selected for the first round of drug price negotiation. When these lower prices go into effect, people on Medicare will save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs and Medicare will save $6 billion in the first year alone. It’s a relief for the millions of seniors that take these drugs to treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and more – and it’s a relief for American taxpayers.
 
This historic milestone is only possible because of the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed with the leadership of Democrats in Congress, and with Vice President Harris casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate – without a single Republican voting for it. We showed that major progress can be made for the American people when we work together to take on special interests, even as Big Pharma continues to go to court to try to block lower prices for consumers. But the Vice President and I are not backing down. We will continue the fight to make sure all Americans can pay less for prescription drugs and to give more breathing room for American families.

Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on Lower Prescription Drug Prices

Every American should be able to access the health care they need no matter their income or wealth. That is why President Biden and I fought to lower the costs of health care with our Inflation Reduction Act, transformational legislation that I was proud to cast the tie-breaking vote on in the Senate. During the two years since President Biden signed this landmark bill into law, we have cut prescription drug costs, capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month, and lowered premiums for seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare – helping millions of families get the care they deserve.

Today, we are building on our work to lower costs and increase access to affordable prescription drugs by announcing that the Biden-Harris Administration has reached agreements with all participating manufacturers to lower prices for the first 10 drugs selected for the Medicare price negotiation program – from those that treat cancer to those that treat diabetes, heart disease, and blood clots. Thanks to our historic work to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, millions of Americans who rely on these drugs will save on their out-of-pocket costs. While people enrolled in Medicare are expected to save $1.5 billion in 2026 alone, American taxpayers will also save an estimated $6 billion.

Today’s announcement will be lifechanging for so many of our loved ones across the nation, and we are not stopping here. Additional prescription drugs will be selected each year as part of our Medicare drug price negotiation program. This includes up to 15 additional drugs covered under Medicare Part D for negotiation in 2025, up to an additional 15 Part B and Part D drugs in 2026, and up to 20 drugs every year after that.

From my time as Attorney General of California and a U.S. Senator, I have consistently worked to lower the costs of prescription drugs and fought to protect patients. As Attorney General, I held Big Pharma accountable for their deceptive and illegal practices. The record-breaking settlements that I won – for the people – amounted to more than $7 billion against pharmaceutical companies for their unsafe and unfair tactics. President Biden and I will never stop fighting for the health, wellbeing, and financial stability of the American people.