 Good afternoon everybody, so quiet in here, okay, I'll be really quick at the top, don't lose, don't break that, okay so kicking us off today is National Economic Advisor Layle Brainard who will be previewing the President's trip as you all know he'll be heading to Allentown Pennsylvania tomorrow along with the new data she'll be talking about that today that came out on inflation and the small business boom under President Biden and Vice President Harris with three years in a row of record breaking small business applications with that well good afternoon tomorrow the president will travel to the Allentown area where he'll meet with small business owners and as he did in Milwaukee a few weeks ago he'll hear about how communities that had been left behind are making a comeback. Allentown was poorly served by trickle-down economics it once was a booming steel town but before the pandemic employment and small business opportunities were lagging in Allentown thanks to the resilience and grit of the community and President Biden's policies Allentown is making a comeback as our many other country towns around the country since the president took office 32,000 jobs have been created in Allentown and the unemployment rate has dropped from 6.4 percent to 3.9 percent that's the lowest rate in 30 years 17,000 more Allentown residents now have access to high-speed internet and we're seeing investments in infrastructure and energy that are modernizing airports fixing bridges and supporting distribution centers and manufacturing like Pratt Industries and an especially strong sign of hope and confidence 4,000 applications have been filed to open businesses in Allentown in just three years and that is part of a bigger picture we got some data today that shows that we really are seeing a small business boom across America earlier today the data showed that 16 million business applications have been filed since the president took office making this the strongest three years on record for new business applications in 20 years in fact each of the last three years has seen more business applications filed in any previous year on record that's more applications than in all four years of the previous administration as you can see on this slide analysis shows that those applications are translating into new business formation and of course we know small businesses are huge job creators small business growth has been particularly strong among black and Hispanic entrepreneurs with black business ownership doubling and Hispanic business ownership up 40% compared to before the pandemic we also received encouraging news today on inflation that shows inflation is down nearly two thirds as supply chain pressures have eased and you can see this in this slide with the reduction in supply chain pressures over the last year being followed by reductions in inflation prices have come down for some key household items like eggs milk and toys and of course we've seen gas prices down they're now below three dollars and much of the country and we are also going to continue our focus on lowering costs for American households so the president is very focused on that he has a agenda to lower prescription drug costs much higher here than in the rest of the world so bringing down insulin prices bringing down out of pocket costs for seniors negotiating Medicare drug prices and the president's also calling on corporations who increased their prices when supply chains were snarled and input costs were rising to bring those prices back down and to pass along the savings as input costs are coming down to consumers in contrast congressional Republicans have no plans to lower costs instead they just continue pushing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations so with that I'm happy to take a few questions quick question on the cpi numbers car insurance rate increases alone accounted for about 15 percent of the overall increase in cpi and as a category was right up there with housing rent we want to understand what the administration is doing to tackle this what leverage do you specifically have when you are talking with insurance companies yeah so the administration has a variety of tools to look at particular areas where prices might be elevated we are very focused where we have legislative authorities on using those and that's really the earlier actions that we're taking on insulin on Medicare drug price negotiations on out of pocket costs those are legislative authorities we also through our independent agencies have both enforcement and rulemaking authorities and that's where you've seen the action that's been so important on overdraft fees and bounce check fees and areas like family seating and baggage fees and so in the area that you're mentioning we may have some authorities there as well but those sit with independent agencies and then finally of course there is just the call to big business to bring down those prices that they increase so much when supply chains were snarled and pass those savings on to consumers specifically talking to any of the insurance companies going forward i would imagine some of those conversations are ongoing is there anything new that's happening that you can talk about so i can't speak to particular actions by some of the independent agencies but i can say that over all of our independent agencies there's a real focus on tackling unfair and deceptive price practices that are leading to greater costs for american consumers thank you let's nice to see you can you talk to us a little bit about how your team is monitoring the situation in the red sea and what is the level of concern right now about the potential for that to drive up prices and mess up the global supply chain yes so the national security team is focusing on the attacks in the red sea area we are very focused on the economic side on monitoring potential effects on the u.s economy so far we really have seen very little effect on the u.s economy some shippers are taking alternate routes that is leading to longer shipping times but so far that really hasn't had an effect on the u.s economy and again as you can see here the supply chain pressures measure that is the most comprehensive is down all the way back to pre-pandemic levels which is due to all the work that this administration has done with the private sector on shipping on trucking on semiconductors on a whole range of areas to get those supply chain those supply chain pressures down do you have a sense of how long before this becomes a bigger issue is it days or weeks so we'll continue monitoring those shipping lanes are more salient for other parts of the world but of course we'll want to continue monitoring for any possible effects on the u.s thanks leo um looking at the report it looked like rent was one of the big drivers of inflation it was up 6.2 percent over the course of last year what's your analysis about why rent continues to be a driver of inflation twice as high as average inflation and what is your outlook for the next year when it comes to rent particularly since mortgage rates are still so high making it difficult for people to buy yeah so the rent affordability and housing affordability generally is an area that really is salient for a lot of households as they sit around their kitchen tables paying their bills housing is a big one we are very focused on housing affordability we'd like to see congress pass housing tax credits the president has put them in his budget every year those have always been critical for increasing the supply of affordable rentals we also have put forward proposals for first-generation home buyers to make that more affordable mortgage rates have actually come down over the last few months so they've come down by about one and a quarter percent that will make a difference but we're going to continue putting forward proposals and fighting to make housing more affordable and we hope Republicans in Congress will work with us on that without that legislation do you foresee any relief in the rental market over the next year well certainly there are a lot of forecasts that do anticipate seeing those average rents coming down but that's not enough we need to take action we need Congress to work with us on that thanks I wanted to ask about the tax negotiations on capital but first just to follow MJ's question other than shipping time what are the kind of real-time indicators that we should be looking at to see if there's an impact from what's going on in Red Sea on on the US economy so of course there's been a lot of focus on oil prices oil prices have been volatile but we really haven't seen an increase there and as you know retail gas prices are down about $1.90 and are now below $3 for most Americans at the pump but that is such an important expenditure for all American households that we're going to continue to monitor that very closely shipping costs shipping times or something that we're also monitoring and then on the tax negotiations I know that a deal is still being hammered out and might not actually come together so you guys may not have been able to do a full analysis of the impact though if you have feel feel free to share it with us but I'm wondering how the White House is sort of balancing the potential impacts obviously a child tax credit is something the president's blocked for the R&D credits against the worry about inflation and how it could kind of counter counteract some of the progress that you've seen on inflation so we have consistently pointed to how effective President Biden's child tax credit policy was for lifting millions of American children out of poverty and the president has consistently said that he wants to see the refundability the availability of that child tax credit for low and moderate income families extended so you know we are very much hoping that we can see a balanced package but what is critical for the president is that the child tax credit be extended and particularly be made available for lower and moderate income families because it's so powerful in reducing child poverty you spent a lot of time last year on the banking crisis how do you assess the current health of the banking industry especially the mid to you know smaller size banks that were affected last year yeah so this time last year of course we were very focused on the fragility of some regional banks the regional banking sector has short up capital short up liquidity is in a much more resilient shape now than it was a year ago and so I think most of the analysis suggests that the regional banking sector overall is much healthier and of course that's something that we've been monitoring very closely inflation is cool but food prices are still high what would you say to Americans who are worried about food prices and why do you think that the phrase binomics has not cut off yeah so we are very focused on the kinds of expenditures that hardworking american families make every week food prices is very important we've actually seen uh several categories of food prices coming down over the last year so if you look at dairy it's come down if you look at fruit and vegetable so we are very focused on grocery prices for american families and we are actually seeing prices coming down over the year but more generally you know when we think about the incredible progress in the economy you know if you look at it employment is up 14.3 million overall 2.7 just the last year at a time of low unemployment wages are up since pre-pandemic adjusted for inflation wealth for the median household is up adjusted for inflation since pre-pandemic and small business creation is up those are good things but what the president is very focused on is you know the hardworking american family and what their expenses look like how much breathing room they have at the end of the month and that's where his focus is very much on continuing to lower costs why do you think the phrasing by economics has not caught on so i think again um the president's uh economic policies are showing great results in terms of real wage gains real employment gains real wealth gains but we still have work to do on lowering costs thanks korean thanks for doing this um so if you run down inflation from since president biden came into office overall cpi inflation is up 17.6 food you're talking about is up about 34 percent electricity is up 27 percent so what's your message to americans who are feeling this every day when they buy and use things yeah so uh the president's message is very much he's uh fighting for american consumers he is fighting to lower costs and you can see it on health care health care is one of the single most expensive thing for most americans and he has gotten real gains there insulin prices down to $35 from $400 negotiated medicare prices $2,000 cap on seniors out of pocket costs uh we have gotten real gains on things like overdraft fees uh bounce check fees baggage fees family seating so we are going to continue fighting and of course the president is calling on corporations that we're all too eager to raise prices when supply chains were snarled and input costs were going up now that supply chains are healed he's calling on those same corporations to pass those savings on to consumers but in that same time frame when president biden came into office real wages are down 2.5 percent so people are are feeling that pain a little bit actually let me just update the numbers on real wages real wages are up since pre-pandemic and so no as of so that's just on average hourly earnings real wages are up over a percent for all workers and they're up over 3 percent for moderate income workers if you look at overall purchasing power people can buy as much as they could pre-pandemic and they've got $1,700 extra to spend so in fact the wage gains have outpaced inflation since pre-pandemic and of course employment gains are also meaning more americans are getting those paychecks which is allowing them to continue spending and fueling the really good growth that we've seen thank you thank you thank you have one more guest um so thank you so much laille and uh also joining as you can see is the admiral admiral john curbie who is going to give us an update on the middle east afternoon everybody i'll be very quick to this afternoon i'm sure you've all seen reports about uh the iranian's apparent seizure of a merchant vessel called the saint nicolas of marshall islands flagged and greek-owned oil tanker while it was lawfully navigating waters in the gulf of oman we condemn this apparent seizure the iranian government should immediately release the ship and its crew these provocative and unacceptable actions need to stop we'll continue to work with our allies and partners to deter and confront the full range of iran's concerning and destabilizing behavior in close coordination of course with the international community um now i've gotten a question over the last two days and each time i've gotten the question my answer was probably as satisfying as a gravy sandwich so this is about the israeli the decision for the israeli supreme court um obviously i can't comment about cases before the israeli supreme court but i can affirm that the united states completely supports the critical work that journalists are doing around the world and certainly in the conflict in gaza and we want to make sure that they're able to do that safely securely effectively and um and with full transparency so we discuss a wide range of topics with our israeli counterparts i'm not going to get into the specifics of diplomatic conversations but i can assure you that media freedom is and will always be a part of those discussions i don't know if that gravy's any more tasty than before but that's that's what i can do today thank you karen i have two questions uh today at the hearing of the icj the judge said that under article 51 of the convention that israeli is a signatory tool gaza is an occupied territories despite the fact that israeli's withdrew troops gaza israeli maintains control over land and sea and therefore the protection of civilians in gaza is a legal obligation of israeli so number one do you agree that israeli is gaza is occupied and second is uh protection of civilian legally under the israeli jurisdiction i'm not going to render a legal opinion from this podium nadia we have said repeatedly that we believe these allegations this case is unfounded and that there is no basis for accusations of genocide against against israel that's not a word that ought to be thrown around lightly and we certainly don't believe that it applies here now to the question about civilians again i'm not i'm not an international lawyer i'm not going to pretend to be but we have since the beginning talked to our israeli counterparts about the special burdens that modern militaries particularly modern democratic militaries have when they conduct military operations to protect innocent civilians and to protect civilian infrastructure those conversations continue including on secretary blinkin's truth okay since you're not an international lawyer i will advise you to read uh what the judge said which is israel is a violation article 2a 2b 2c and 2d he said that the woman campaign in gaza is the heaviest in the history of modern warfare including what the Russians doing in Ukraine so he asked the israelis to suspend immediately the military of the operations in gaza the white house position is nauseous fire so is it by the administration in violation of international law now the judge statement notwithstanding the answer is absolutely no israel has a right and responsibility to defend itself we're going to continue to make sure that they can do that we're going to continue to supply them with the tools and capabilities they need to do that no country should have to live to that kind of threat next door so no we are not in violation and we're going to continue to make sure israel has what it means i'll add one more point we're going to also continue to make sure that humanitarian assistance can get to the people of gaza that israel conducts its operations in the most precise careful deliberate way possible so that they can minimize civilian casualties should you position if the final ruling is actually i'm not going to get into i'm not going to get into hypotheticals from here we have made our position clear i did want to follow up on the ipj for seeing um obviously make the position u.s clear but will the u.s accept the court's decisions or penalties if israel is found by the courts have committed genocide again i'm not going to get ahead of where we are in the process can israel count on the u.s to block any potential sanctions that are levied by the court should it come to that i'm just not going to hypothesize or get ahead of the process here we've made clear our view on this particular case um and we've made clear our view on supporting israel as they defend themselves uh secretary of state ante blinkin said that the u.s is prepared to take action against to the attacks of the red sea we seem to make more forceful comments about it just how far is the u.s willing to go we talked about this yesterday i'm not going to telegraph punches one way or another here we're going to do what we have to do to to counter and defeat these threats that the hooties keep throwing up uh on commercial shipping in the red sea uh we'll uh we'll continue to consult with the allies and partners about the appropriate next steps but that's as far as i'll go what's the u.s reaction to recent comments from the hootie leader that any american attack will not go without a response and that the response would be bigger than the recent strike again i'm not going to speculate about potential future military operations one way or another as we have said repeatedly uh the hooties need to stop these attacks and that they will bear the consequences for any failure to do so you talked about the u.s having discussions with the israelis to lower the intensity of fighting when are we going to see that happen you have to talk to the israeli defense forces about their operations i'm not going to lay out their their timetable or their schedule of events they have talked about the fact that they uh they recognize a need to transition to a new phase of the military operation we have obviously encouraged that kind of thinking and that kind of planning and we'll we'll see what they end up doing but it's really for them to speak to thank you so much karen uh john senator kane so patsy you're looking at me so i have to be senator kane and more than a dozen senate democrats are working to block future administrations requests to bypass congressional oversight of arms transfer to israel your comments uh it's hard for me to comment on some amendment language that that uh that we haven't seen and had hadn't had a chance to take a look at we're also very careful about talking about uh any pending legislation uh that that could be considered on capitol hill um i would just tell you broadly speaking we obviously take the oversight responsibilities of congress very very seriously uh we do the best we can in uh to appropriately inform and consult with congress as we provide for military assistance to other other countries including israel and that will continue as you have said to my colleagues last week that the u.s. is not actively assessing whether israel is using these weapons in accordance to the laws of war uh because you don't see any indication that israel is violating those laws of war and if there's no congressional oversight no state department internal review process and no verification uh process on the ground then how do we know that israel is using these weapons in accordance to us and international law i don't know would i wouldn't agree that there's no congressional oversight i think that's uh going a step too far in terms of describing the the relationship that we have with the members of congress and the kind of foreign military assistance that we're providing um we are in constant touch with our israeli counterparts as i've said repeatedly um and we still see no indication and that they're violating the laws of armed conflict they are they are defending themselves against a still viable threat there are too many civilian casualties we've said that before we want to see them take steps to reduce that uh but there's there's no indications that they are deliberately and wantonly violating uh the law of armed conflict just to clarify on that john if you say there is congressional oversight has the administration given congress a complete list of weapons that you are sending to israel when is that done before send the the the arms transfer or after there's two occasions of arms transfer already december ninth and then december 29th uh done under emergency uh spillation we follow the law we follow the law the intent in the spirit of the law i'd refer you to the state department for more details about that process that's really under their purview just to underline is the u.s. holding israel with the same standard of accountability that we apply to other partners that receive american weapons we are uh providing foreign military assistance to israel as they defend themselves against tamas we have been very clear about what the expectations are for the use of that material and that's not going to change thank you animal on monday uh you told one of my colleagues that the situation room's ability to track where cabinet members are is in your words generic limited to the city they're in that scene that seems to be in line with cold war era capabilities where principles in the line of succession had to call in their location to the central locator system that fema runs are you saying that in 2024 when i have a a phone in my pocket that can be paying to locate me within a couple of feet right get the same kind of capability for my dog if i want that we don't have a way of knowing where each person in the line of succession is without them having to tell the situation room or or fema or whoever is in charge of of tracking their locations i do not have a different answer to you today than i did to your colleague on monday there is a process by which cabinet officials and their location is tracked by the situation room there is a check-in every morning where their general location is known and and and logged and and reported general location each of these principles is issued i i assume is issued a mobile phone i'm sure you have one i know kareem there's one let me stop you right there we're not going to track the gps coordinates on somebody's mobile phone in the administration and we're not going to plan a microchip in their neck like they're a poodle they check in every day and we know where they are and that's and i'd leave it at that secretary austin you didn't know where he was you didn't know where he was for days and you're telling me that these daily check-ins are are the best that can be done at that point we had we had no indication that he was outside the dc area now it's true we didn't know he was hospitalized and i've said repeatedly that that's a problem that should not happen again that if a cabinet official becomes hospitalized or has to be seen from medical it was certainly to the degree where the authority has to be delegated that the white house needs to know and kareem has talked about the the memo that mr. zines put out advising cabinet agencies to review those protocols we'll get better at this we'll learn from this why a poodle oh i don't i just i don't have anything against poodles i'm just teasing okay back to the um the seizure of the tanker um the iranians reportedly are saying that the seizure was in retaliation for the u.s. compass getting the same vessel in its oil last year what do you make of that application i would put little stock in anything coming out of tehran uh this was a commercial vessel freely transiting international waters no no justification whatsoever to to seize it none whatsoever they need to let it go thanks john there's a new report out from the defense i g that says that american defense officials didn't fully count for nearly 40 000 weapons that the u.s provided to ukraine sensitive material small enough to be barred from the black market does the white house have any reaction any concern about that report certainly i'd refer you to the defense department for a more detailed reaction but just let me broadly say we have for many many months now been interested in improving in improving accountability over the end use of material that is provided to ukraine we have had that conversation with our ukrainian partners and they share our concerns about accountability now we are grateful for the work that the do d i g did this uh that was a significant body of work and we appreciate that we're gonna go through this i know do d has already gone through this and and reacted to it i would also note that the report made clear that do d has made some improvements including things like hand held scanners um and tried to boost a little bit of the footprint there at the embassy to to try to help with um with better tracking of material the report also noted which i think is not an insignificant two insignificant things i well that it noted one that there's no evidence the report noted there's no evidence of any sort of wide-scale diversion uh or illicit illicit diversion of any of the material that's been going on to to ukraine and two that it is a wartime environment and there are real limits to our ability to count every bean every bullet every artillery shell um we have a small footprint at the embassy of military men and women who are working on this accountability but we aren't gonna we don't want to nor should we be expected to put them in greater harm's way closer to the front to inspect every little shipment and how it's being used i mean it's a combat environment and even in combat environments nancy that that that we run wars were fighting and then we're not fighting in this war um uh there are real limits in actual combat when you are being shot at and attacked and shelled for you to account for everything that you're uh everything that you're actually using thank you very um does president biden share former president uh president trump's view that nato took advantage of the united states and that europe owes uh the united states billions of dollars and uh may ask you for a comment on former president's refusal to fully commit to nato and i have one more question before you let me put a fork in this one because i'm not talking about the campaign trail and i'm not going to talk about the former president what he's saying on the campaign trail i'm not going to get into that that would be inappropriate from my perch i i would ask you to look at the record that this president has had with respect to nato nato is now bigger larger and and much more capable uh under president biden's stewardship and leadership inside the alliance and certainly in the context of mr putin's war in ukraine this is a president who has invested literally from the beginning in improving our network of alliances and partnerships investing in their capabilities investing in trusting uh in those relationships and making them stronger and it's not just nato it's all around the world what's your second question or third question last week you told me that you're still discussing with your allies uh whether to confiscate 300 billion of russian frozen assets but blueberg reported reported yesterday that in november the white house sent a note to congress supporting similar such a legislation about confiscating russian assets could you clarify your position do you support in principle confiscating those assets but you're discussing just details or the way to do it or you're still waiting i don't have an update for you on that i have a question on argentina argentina and the imf announced a new stock level agreement yesterday and the iphone expressed support on president's heavier malaise economic policy does the white house support this new deal between argentina and the iphone i'll have to take that question we're seeing an outtick in threats against judges one recent example of the judge overseeing former president trump's civil fraud trial in manhattan was the latest victim of a false swatting call i wanted to ask what the you're doing at the federal level to help local police departments deal with this increasing or increase in threats against judges i'm afraid that's a little out of my lane that's probably a better question put to the justice department obviously we don't want to see anybody come under these kinds of threats and want to make sure that they can do their jobs particularly injurious prudence in a safe and effective way but i'm afraid you're out of my swim lane on that one i'm sorry i just don't think it's helpful mj from the podium here to talk about or speculate about any potential future military options one way or another that the commander-in-chief is weighing or has weighed um we take seriously the responsibility to protect our ships and our sailors at sea as well as the responsibility to protect the flow of international commerce you talked to leo brandard here about how important that waterway is it is it's vital um and we take those responsibilities seriously i would add that we're not the only one other nations are joining us in that effort some 20 plus nations now involved in the operation prosperity guardian these attacks need to stop and we're going to do what we have to do to continue to protect that shipping to protect our our sailors on secretary often you now have to answer many many questions about his hospitalization and the fallout from that including today do you personally think that it might be helpful for the white house if the secretary of defense were to take questions from reporters himself is that something that you think might be a useful exercise when he is better when he's out of the hospital i don't answer questions up here personally i am a representative of the national security council and the administration i would refer you to the pentagon to speak to you know the the work they're doing to better communicate in the wake of this and keep the press and the public informed and i'm i'm sure that they are learning lessons as we all are from what happened here and we'll we'll work to improve that that transparency your professional capacity given that your given that your job is public facing given that you probably are more aware and more knowledgeable about the kinds of questions that the white house is now confronting about secretary austin in that situation is that something you would recommend again it's not for me to recommend this is really a question better put to leadership at the pentagon but and kareen has spoken to this the president is committed to transparency we're all committed to being as transparent as possible on a range of issues and we endorse and and are in favor of efforts to be as transparent with the american people as possible national security implications obviously notwithstanding yes secretary thank you kareen as the government of ecuador is trying to retake control of all the country jails i wonder if the u.s has given any advice or any any aid to the president of ecuador has deployed the military to try to retake control of all this all this country jails with the caveat that they don't have a lot of extra detail we talked about this in some some at some degree yesterday we are in touch with our ecuadorian counterparts obviously the state department is in touch we we obviously support the needs for the ecuadorian people to be safe and secure and we have offered support and we'll continue to stay lashed up with the government there to see what it is they need but i i don't have any new updates to give you today from yesterday the offer of support still stands i'm not aware that they have asked for or requested anything like that and the state department's really a better place to go for that thank you so much so political reports that according to u.s officials there is a rising risk of hezbollah striking americans in the middle east or here in the united states so is there anything you can say about that has the threat environment changed in that regard i would just say that we're constantly monitoring reports coming out of the region we're certainly monitoring as best we can reports coming out of lebanon and mindful of the increased tensions there that northern border between israel and southern lebanon we don't want to see the conflict escalate we haven't seen hezbollah take steps to do that in any meaningful way in terms of like really come into the assistance of hamas um and as for threats to american citizens i'm not going to get into intelligence assessments from here i would just tell you that we watch this very very closely and we will do everything we can to to make sure that americans traveling overseas have the information that they need to be to be safe thank you um i want to follow up on the ick we have 22 arab countries including some of american allies from jordan saudi arabia are supporting um south africa do you have any comments each country should speak for themselves um about this particular uh case and what their view is i have spoken for the united states and and what our view is and that hasn't changed i follow up on drc election outcome do you have any reaction to that any comments dear i'm sorry i missed on i didn't get the last part your drc in what election election let me take that question i wasn't prepared for that but but i'll we'll get you an answer back promise thank you very much good this question i would like to dedicate national security questions i would like to dedicate to a fellow journalist who just passed away in pakistan he started the english newspaper 40 years ago and the city did not have even journalism department uh and he was my father this question uh and i hope you like this question because he sent me to a christian school here in high school and university so then going back to pakistan i met many religious fanatics over there who had no idea about christianity then when i came here i just saw many christians being fanatics as well and then i hear you talking about anti-semitism and muslim clerics being killed and these things growing in this recently especially so my humble suggestion as a journalist is that as a national security advisor don't you think it's time you create something where you can bring harmony to tell these people that look izes and moses and abraham it's the same people that are is that are in islam as well so as a student and as a journalist i feel like from national security point of view america right now needs one place from national security where you can tell them listen these are the these were the same guys just with different names so this is one of my national security thing that i feel like i as an international journalist i should bring this to you i appreciate that and my condolences to you and to your family for the loss of your dad um i know how painful that can be uh look president biden has been very clear our foreign policy agenda is really driven from a foundation of human and civil rights and certainly that includes religious freedom and we and he does not and has not will not tolerate um discrimination based on on on faith or or any or any violence that's that's hate based in that that comes from uh that that basic core so we we uh and we stand by that we have to wrap it up sir good thank you um just a quick question on gaza uh just given the very slow trickle of humanitarian assistance now getting into gaza are there any fresh concerns about a famine breaking out that that that you have or is there any new assessment we we see we we recognize that uh that there are real food security issues in gaza 100 percent and that's why food has really been one of the main staples of the humanitarian assistance that we have been trying to get in food water medicine but food certainly uh right at the top of that list we understand that there's a lot of of hunger and starvation uh in gaza we're not taking that seriously which is why secretary blinkin again on this trip was so focused on trying to see what we can do to increase the volume and the speed with which those trucks are getting in now we're grateful that the israelis have opened up now carim shalom that uh allows a second venue but i'm not gonna i'm not going to spin it here there is not enough trucks getting in we're not satisfied with the level right now you know at the maximum on a given day i think we've been able to reach around 200 and that's dramatically less than what was happening pre-war now again combat conditions make it harder to get stuff in there but more work needs to be done and i can i can assure you that we're not going to take our after ball we know that there's many people suffering in gaza not just from hunger but other needs and we're going to do everything we can to alleviate that any new updates on uh military assistance to ukraine i mean has the has the well really run dry in here or yes we we have issued the last uh drawdown package that that we had funding to support and that's why it's it's uh critical that that congress move on that national security supplementary request and we get more funding the the the assistance that we provided has now ground to a halt the attacks that the russians are conducting uh are only increasing and now as i talked about earlier this week they're using north korean ballistic missiles to do their dirty work so um the the need is acute right now particularly in these winter months all right um i do want to i do want to say one thing uh to court needs question about federal judges under threat and any violence look this is a president that's been very clear this administration has been very clear we condemn any form of threats or violence against any judges against any group again anyone and so i just want to make that clear that is something that we're going to be certainly steadfast on continuing to say and be very clear about that uh sungman i want to give you a topic that i may there are reports that speaker johnson might renege on the top line spending deal that he's reached with senator schumer and now the speakers come out and said that he's made no commitments to doing so he's just talking with members of his conference right now but what is the white house's message to house republicans who want to not abide by that deal between uh johnson and schumer so just a couple of things to say on that like house republicans as we know voted for an agreement back in may that is what we know that is a fact uh speaker johnson reaffirmed it on sunday uh he did it himself his own words and so we have an agreement republicans need to keep their word and stop stop playing or any games here we cannot have a shutdown the american people do not deserve a shutdown and that is their basic duty uh to keep the government open we've been pretty consistent about this but again there was an agreement our house republicans agreed on in may and the speaker speaker johnson reaffirmed he have reaffirmed it on sunday and on another topic um this week alone president biden has had three of his judicial nominees with you all from consideration so can you discuss what's happening with that is it are there vetting issues on the white house and there didn't seem to be blue slip issues here so are you facing more resistance from members of your own party on nominees or do these nominees just not want to go through the confirmation process so look i i'm assuming it's a case by case situation every every person has probably their own reason to not move forward uh on their particular specific respective nominations so i can't speak to it in a broad broad stroke obviously um but look the the president takes all these nominations very seriously he always wants to put forth and he has put forth a very uh credible qualified folks especially in these obviously in these positions to how important they are but i i don't want to speak about it in a broad stroke and i don't know each case so i just want to be super super mindful people may have their own reason uh to to uh just to uh you know step down from this nomination or step away from their nomination concern that the pace of confirmation appears to be slowing especially after the two sort of rapid case years that you had the first two well you said something that's really important uh that i want to make sure the american people know there's been a rapid pace we've had um historic uh movement on our nominations so we appreciate that we appreciate certainly the senate for moving in that rapid rapid pace obviously we want to get these nominations done it is a priority it is important to get these folks uh into their position i think to share beyond that i don't want to get into uh into specifics as to why folks may have stepped out or or not part of the nomination process anymore i just want to be super mindful that senator schumer said it's crystal clear that a cr is needed to keep the government open you had said yesterday that kicking the can down the road is not the way congress should be operating but is the president prepared to sign as he are i'm not going to get ahead these are there's uh conversations happening obviously i don't want to get into hypotheticals from here it is important to keep the government open we've been very clear on that there is a framework agreement here uh that is also important to note and so i just don't want to get into hypotheticals at this point will the president sit down with congressional leaders this week well don't have any any schedule to preview as you know the president spoke to speaker johnson yesterday on the phone uh so uh because he thought it was important uh to have that conversation right away and so they had that conversation um i just don't have anything to share on a preview any uh any meetings as it relates to the budget thanks great question on immigration i'll be understatement secretary marca is willing to testify before the committee trying to impeach um have you worried about him having to testify alongside other possible witnesses like families of fentanyl overdose victims we understand there's a is a committee hearing plan for gen 18 and there are fentanyl victims families who are likely to testify there so look that uh that is for secretary marca's decision to for him to decide uh what how he's going to be moving forward we've been really clear uh i mean what we've said from here is we just don't know as it relates relates to these impeachment proceedings on uh different members uh multiple cabinet members at this point and obviously the president uh we just we just are we've been really clear like these are they are pushing and continuing to do these baseless uh kind of baseless accusation it's almost as if you know we have to ask the question who else would they not impeach who wouldn't they impeach right in this case and so look house republicans are playing political games they're playing political stunts there are baseless allegations here we've been clear about that what we want to see i was just asked about a cr i was just asked about the budget that's what house republican should be focused on how we're going to continue to keep the budget the budget going the the government open that's what we want to talk about that's what the americans want to see they want to see a continuation of bipartisan movement here from washington dc there's a supplemental that they that we need to move forward on and instead of playing these political uh games he's having these political stunts it is really shameful and it's unfortunate last week said he has asked the united states to give four permits to 10 million long-term Hispanic immigrants in the u.s legally and also provide 20 billion in development funding in the americas and also lift all sanctions at cuba and venezuela a lot of demands uh is the white house work to do and use those things and who'd you say it was asking us oh so look we have a very robust strong relationship with the president of mexico so i just want to put that out there and we've worked well together in dealing with with irregular migration and what's happening in the region so i'm just going to not get into specifics about his ask it's not i will say this it's not a transactional relationship with with mexico it is indeed a partnership but diplomatic conversations that we have with them i'm just not going to get into specifics thank you president by does not have any events at the white house in the new year and he's been kept from public view for three full days now why the president had a three-day swing went to four states in the new year he went to uh just actually just recently he went to pennsylvania valley forge where he gave a really impactful important remarks on our democracy protecting our democracy ahead of on the eve ahead of january 6 what we saw in 2011 on january 6 was an attack on our democracy and he went out there and he spoke to the american people it was very well received and this is something that he's going to continue to do he went to obviously he was in delaware and then he went to south carolina also gave another impactful speech in our democracy and our freedoms and then he went to texas to honor a a former congresswoman ebj who recently passed away and he went there to pay his respect so the president did a three three-day swing he went to four states he's been out there he's been able to talk directly to the american people and we think that's really important tomorrow he's going to be in allentown and you heard from leo where he's going to talk about small businesses how important especially in allentown that's been 15 million applications in three years that's a record record number because it's important to see how bionomics is working he's going to talk about bionomics but let's not forget if people are starting small businesses they must have some confidence in the economy so we are he's looking forward to to be out being out there tomorrow and talking again to directly to the american people so he did a three-day swing but for the last three days Tuesday Wednesday Thursday none of his constituents have seen him doing anything who decided that the american people are best served by seeing less of president i would disagree i wouldn't say you they saw less of the president he was out there again a couple of states in a in three days i think that's important to note as well and give give the american people full the full information here and yesterday we noted this he met with paul wailins sister elizabeth wailin and this is a commitment when it comes to american hostages bringing them home the president has been committed to doing that and we have brought home more than 30 people 30 americans who have been held hostage across across the globe and so the president's committed he wanted to have a conversation with elizabeth wailin he did that he met with his national security team as he does regularly he did that he had lunch with the vice president yesterday important partner in everything that he's trying to get done on behalf of the american people so the president is active the president is doing what he needs to do to deliver for the american people and he'll continue to do that there's an item in axios the president biden was advised by the white house council to stop giving big-dollar donors tours of the oval office while he has been out of view of the public for the last three days has he given any wealthy campaign donors tours of the oval office so um just speaking to that particular point about those stories that were out there so as many of your outlets have covered it is typical it is typical for all presidents regardless of party to host supporters at the white house complex which is both as you know is working working office as well as his personal residents as well and president biden and his team take all of this very seriously we take rules concerning the white house and reelection seriously and so and we're proud of that we're proud of taking those rules very seriously just to have anything else to add okay on that meeting the president had a problem on sister yesterday at the white house was there something that prompted that meeting is there progress on a deal to get paul's release so i i don't i wish i had an announcement to share on a deal on getting home paul will and let's not forget evan as well this is obviously a top of mind for this administration for national security council and for the state department to get home americans are being held hostage or long fully detained so that is something that we are working on regularly so the president and elizabeth wane have had conversations before she's been in regular touch with the mass security council jake sullivan and also obviously folks at the department of state don't have any catalyst for this particular meeting but the president obviously thought it was important for them to get together and to have a conversation is not going to get into private specific you know agendas or what was discussed but look this is something that the president takes really seriously we saw him do that with the american hostages that are in in the hamas right in gaza and how seriously he's been taking that for the past since october 7th working around the clock we see secretary blinkin it was in the region we're constantly having those diplomatic conversations to get hostages home to their friends to their families and to their friends and others right so he is taking this really seriously so it's no surprise that he would have sat down and have a meeting with elizabeth wane yesterday in december the administration said it made a significant offer to secure the release of wilan and evan griskovich but russia rejected it has a new offer been made since last so i don't have anything else to to share on what we have said most recently but this is something that the president is a priority for the president to bring them both home to bring other americans who are being held hostage or wrongfully detained home that is something that he takes very very seriously and we're going to can take to need a work on that kind of thing i want to follow up on some of the question yesterday about hunter biden you've said he's a private citizen which is true but the president is a public citizen and what's happening on capitol hill is public it's political so can you clarify why you are able to speak more about the president's role in his son emily i really don't have anything else to add he's a private citizen he's not a member of the white house he doesn't work here i just don't have anything else to share i would have to i would have to refer you to hunter's representative i don't have anything else to add from that to that u.s. oil production at an all-time high in 2023 curious what the administration sort of responds to that measurement is and how it sort of fits in with the broader agenda of transitioning the evs in the green agenda that the president talks so much about in the context of like job creation in the economy yeah look we've always said how important it is to transition to obviously to the ev and that's something that we take incredibly seriously and obviously the inflation reduction act the bipartisan infrastructure law all play a very important role in this and you know one of the things that we've worked really hard on is making sure that you know as we talk about oil production making sure that gas prices go down right and that is something that we've seen over the past couple of months we see that they're under three bucks in over 20 in about 28 states so look when it comes to oil production we've also said that what the corporation profits like americans should feel that as well and so that's something that the president's going to continue to speak to as well i don't have any specifics to say about 2023 but that's been kind of the the road that we have looked at as we think about oil production as we think about clean energy and how we want to move forward with electric vehicles and how important that is as we deal with the climate climate change. I'll try and call if you have any strategy to try to get Julie Sue confirmed now that the president has renominated her and why did he decide to stick with her after she couldn't get confirmed? Well she's done an excellent job she's done a great job as the acting secretary of labor we've had a couple of you know negotiation agreements that she was very much involved with with labor and helped this helped either with technical assistance or being directly involved land some of those agreements that were incredibly important to labor workers and so and their families so that's important we think she's done a great job we think that she should go through the nomination process we think she should be the the secretary of labor and so of course the president is always going to go with the person that he believes is the most qualified and she is indeed the most qualified let's not forget when she was the deputy secretary when she was going through that process she was she went through nomination she got the support so there's no reason that this can't happen again I'm gonna start wrapping it up good sir yeah thanks great um Governor Westmore earlier this week proposed launching a statewide good violence prevention center like the White House has suggested my question is have you been in touch with any other governors about this initiative? So look I think it's important we are glad to see that governor the governor of Maryland has you know has started an office to prevent gun violence obviously as you know we did that here which is one of the first office of its kind we are constantly in touch with local and state officials and localities on how they how to move forward in dealing with gun violence in their communities I don't have any conversations to speak to about any other states doing the same the president disappointed at all about that initiative hasn't you know been embraced rapidly by some of these states experiencing a rash of you know violent murders and other violent violence. I mean look the president has been very clear there's a gun violence gun epidemic here in this country and he's going to do everything that he can to deal with this that's why he took the executive actions that he has more than two dozen more than any other presidents for certainly in the first in their first term you know that's why we were able to pass this really comprehensive piece of legislation that he signed into law obviously that dealt with gun violence all of these things are critical and important we are going to work one of the one of the charges of the gun violence office here at the White House is to work with localities is to work with states on how to move forward in dealing with gun violence in their community the support that we can give them how to implement some of the executive actions that the president has signed it's certainly parts of the legislation that is obviously now into their communities and so we're going to continue work hand in hand to prevent gun violence in those communities that you just laid out what we're seeing. All right everybody thank you so much we'll see you on the road tomorrow.