Transcript - Press Gaggle: Karine Jean-Pierre Holds a Press Briefing on Air Force One - November 3, 2023 | Factba.se

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:00:00 - 00:00:31 ()

Bear with me. I have a few things at the top. OK. So good afternoon, everyone. Today in Lewiston, Maine, the president and the first lady will pay their respects the victims of the horrific shooting attack last week. They will spend time with families and community members grieving after this senseless act of violence and express heartfelt gratitude to the courageous first responders, devoted nurses and everyone else on the frontlines of this response.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:00:31 - 00:00:55 ()

The president will also deliver remarks honoring this community while calling on lawmakers to do more to prevent such tragedy from ever happening again. Senators, Collins and King and Representative Pingree are traveling with us into Lewiston. The president and first lady will be greeted by Governor Mills, Lewiston mayor and Auburn mayor as well.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:00:55 - 00:01:18 ()

Last Sunday at the president's direction, Greg Jackson, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention traveled to Maine. He has been on the ground all week to ensure the entire federal government is coordinated in our response. He has been working to streamline federal resources and identify any unmet needs, and closely coordinating with the governor's team throughout.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:01:18 - 00:01:40 ()

The president has taken historic action over the last two and a half years to end the gun violence epidemic tearing our nation apart. Congress has a responsibility too. They must pass an assault weapons ban. They must enact universal background checks, require safe storage and end immunity from liability for manufacturers.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:01:40 - 00:02:08 ()

Congress has the power to ensure an event like this does not happen again. The time is now to act. And today, continuing our 10 days of 10 drug series, we're highlighting NovoLog and Fiasp, an insulin product selected for Medicare price negotiation as part of President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. More than a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries have diabetes, and they need insulin.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:02:08 - 00:02:33 ()

Last year, nearly 800,000 seniors spent hundreds of dollars a month for a lifesaving drug, while Big Pharma raked in record profits and spent $400 million on lobbyists to keep prices high for Americans. One of those seniors is Dawn from New York who takes NovoLog to treat her diabetes, and who has been forced to decide which bill to pay late so that she can afford her life-saving medicine.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:02:33 - 00:03:02 ()

For years, politicians talked about taking on Big Pharma to lower drug prices for seniors. President Biden and Congressional Democrats finally got that done by passing the Inflation Reduction Act without a single Republican vote. As a result, for the first time ever, instead of drug companies charging Americans whatever they want to pay for life saving drugs, Medicare will be able to negotiate lower prices and the out-of-pocket costs for insulin is capped at $35 for seniors like Dawn.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:03:02 - 00:03:38 ()

And finally today, Departments of State and Defense announced a new package of weapons and equipment for Ukraine to meet their critical battlefield needs. The package is partially drawn from existing US military stocks using presidential drawdown authorities that Congress has previously given us, including additional munitions for Ukraine's air defense, ammunition for us provided rocket system, artillery rounds, javelins and anti-tank systems to help Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and independence against Russia, Russian brutality.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:03:38 - 00:04:00 ()

We are also sending Ukraine equipment to strengthen its air defenses against Russia's use of your Iranian's UAV using the Ukrainian Security Assistance Initiative, USAI, through which DOD contracts out new equipment to be built for Ukraine. Today's announcement exhausts the remaining USAI funds currently available to support Ukraine.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:04:00 - 00:04:25 ()

And why we do have remaining PDA authorities to continue to fulfill Ukraine's immediate battlefield needs, we are beginning to provide Ukraine with smaller PDA packages in order to stretch out our ability to support Ukraine for as long as possible. The people of Ukraine are on the front lines in the fight for freedom and democracy as we head into what will likely be another brutal winter full of Russian attacks.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:04:25 - 00:04:42 ()

It is critical that Congress send the world an important message about America's resolve and take action to pass the president's national security supplemental request and show Vladimir Putin and the rest of the world that the United States continues to stand strongly with Ukraine. And with that, you want to kick us off?

Question

00:04:42 - 00:05:07 ()

Thank you, Karine. I have three questions, two on the Middle East and one on Lewiston. The first, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire unless hostages are released, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said his group is prepared for anything based on a continuation of Gaza bombardments.

Question

00:05:07 - 00:05:12 ()

Does the administration believe that escalation in this conflict has already occurred?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:05:12 - 00:05:33 ()

So let me just say the first thing on the prime minister of Israel and the statement that he made. Look, this is something that we are going to continue to discuss with Israel. We've been clear about our position. You've heard that from Secretary Blinken today, even, and why it could be valuable to have a pause to get aid in and hostages out.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:05:33 - 00:05:51 ()

And so I'll leave it at that. I'm not going to get into private diplomatic conversations, but we've been very clear. Again, as you saw the Secretary of state, Secretary Blinken is in Israel right now. He's in the Middle East and he's been very clear, very clear about this. So I'll leave it that and not going to get into diplomatic conversation.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:05:51 - 00:06:13 ()

As it relates to the Hezbollah leader, so we obviously are aware of of Hezbollah's leader speech today, so we will not engage in a war of words. That's not what we're going to do from here on Air Force One or even at the podium. The United States does not seek escalation. We've been clear about that or widening of the conflict that Hamas brought on to Israel.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:06:13 - 00:06:37 ()

And so what I'll say is this, is that we and our partners have been clear, Hezbollah and other actors, state or non-state, should not take advantage of the ongoing conflict. This has the potential of becoming a bloodier war between Israel and Lebanon than 2006. So the United States does not want to see this conflict expand into Lebanon.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:06:37 - 00:06:57 ()

The likely devastation for Lebanon and her people would be unimaginable and is avoidable. And so again, we've been very, very clear about that part as well. And you heard from the Secretary of State on these two things that I just laid out yesterday, and again today.

Question

00:06:57 - 00:07:14 ()

Karine, quick question on Israel. Just the president's comments this morning, when asked about bringing American hostages home, he said, they're coming home. And we were just wondering if he was really striking an optimistic tone or if there is some kind of mass release being planned?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:07:14 - 00:07:36 ()

So look, we've been very clear that getting Americans home who are being held hostage is a priority and it has been a priority since these horrific events, since Hamas attacked Israel back on October 6th, pardon me, October 7th, and so that is a priority. Obviously, this is a president who is optimistic.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:07:36 - 00:07:53 ()

Those important diplomatic conversations are continuing to happen, but as I mentioned, you see the secretary himself, Secretary of State who is in Israel today, and is also going to be going to Jordan this weekend. So we're going to continue to be optimistic and we're going to continue to make this a priority.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:07:53 - 00:08:00 ()

We want to get the Americans and others who are being held hostage, we want to get them home to their families.

Question

00:08:00 - 00:08:05 ()

Any plans of a mass release being planned? I mean, anything that you can share along that?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:08:05 - 00:08:25 ()

I'm going to get into diplomatic conversations. As you know, we were able to get the two Americans home and they're now with their family. And so that was due to diplomatic conversations, just not going to get into any -- I'm not going to read out or lay out any any of these private conversations that are ongoing, but we've been very clear about this being a priority.

Question

00:08:25 - 00:08:43 ()

And I had one on the Hezbollah leader's speech today. I mean, sure, he warned of a wider conflict, but one way to view his speech is also that Hezbollah is perhaps not planning an immediate full-scale conflict and full-scale battle. Does the White House view it that way?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:08:43 - 00:09:05 ()

I mean, look, that is something to ask the leader. I'm not going to get into the leader's mind here. We've been very clear on our end that is not something we want to see in the region. We've been very, very clear, again, I'll just refer you back to what the secretary said today and yesterday about this, and we've been very consistent on that.

Question

00:09:05 - 00:09:21 ()

Karine, what's the White House's view on a ladder to CR, as the speaker, Mike Johnson has described it, where I guess different areas of the appropriations will be expiring at different dates? Is the white House willing to consider that or is that something that you would reject out of hand?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:09:21 - 00:09:59 ()

So look, we've been really very, very clear about -- so, obviously as it relates to the national security bill on Israel, that the GOP House bill, obviously, the president's been very clear. We put out a SAP. We said that the president would veto it and so we've been very clear about that. As it relates to the broader national package and domestic package as we talk about Israel, Ukraine and the other domestic pieces of the supplemental, we believe, you know there is bipartisan support.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:09:59 - 00:10:16 ()

These are -- these are -- these are emergency requests that have bipartisan support. And so certainly we want to see that, moving forward. As it relates to anything else, I know you're asking about the CR, to avoid a shutdown, I believe that's what you're asking about. That is for -- for them to decide, right?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:10:16 - 00:10:32 ()

That is -- they have to do their job. They have less than two weeks to get this done. To keep the -- keep the government open, that is what Congress is -- one of their main duties is to keep the government. That is up to them to -- to figure that out. We're not going to get into what that's going to look like.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:10:32 - 00:10:45 ()

Like the president said, when he -- when we almost got to -- close to shut down the last time. This is not -- this could be avoidable. We should not be seeing, you know, GOP House leading us to this potential crisis.

Question

00:10:45 - 00:11:09 ()

Karine, Senator Dick Durbin became the first US Senator yesterday to call for a cease fire between Israel and Hamas. Meanwhile, a group of progressive Senators sent President a letter asking about his humanitarian aid request. And among their questions were what political authority would administer Gaza after an Israeli operation?

Question

00:11:09 - 00:11:17 ()

What is the White House's message to members of the Democratic Party, who perhaps do not share the President's view on this war?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:11:17 - 00:11:41 ()

So you know, we've been very, very clear on this. And again, Secretary Blinken actually spoke to this in his opening remarks before he took questions with the press corps that's traveling with him, which is now is not the time for a permanent cease fire. We've been very clear. It would -- it would benefit Hamas, given that -- given -- them time to regroup and plot a new attack, or new attacks.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:11:41 - 00:12:06 ()

And support -- we support humanitarian causes. We've been clear about that in the fighting -- temporary, localized stoppage, and that would -- that is different. That is very much different than a permanent cease fire, a pause to get hostages out, and in and out to allow -- to -- so -- so her -- humanitarian aid could be allowed in and out, obviously, and a cause to saving innocent lives.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:12:06 - 00:12:13 ()

That's what we've been clear about. That's the difference for us and that's what we've been calling, on and those are the -- you know, those diplomatic conversations that we're having.

Question

00:12:13 - 00:12:38 ()

Karine, there's -- you done -- sorry. I didn't mean interrupt. Karine, there's been reporting -- yeah, my best. We're all in one big happy family. I wanted to ask about the reporting. I think in Politico that Democrats are kind of being told to be prepared to accept some immigration and asylum proposals in the supplemental, that may be unsavory, that they may not like.

Question

00:12:38 - 00:12:43 ()

Does the White House of a position on how far you're willing to go on some of these immigration proposals?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:12:43 - 00:13:01 ()

I mean, I have to be very clear here. Those reports are just not accurate. As we've said repeatedly, Congress needs to take action to support Ukraine and to provide sufficient resources to the border. I talked a little bit about this at the podium yesterday. Our immigration system is broken. We've said that.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:13:01 - 00:13:28 ()

It's not -- we're not the only President that has to -- that has been dealing with a broken system. Republican Presidents had to. Demo -- the other Democratic presidents had to. And only Congress, and this is the reality, only Congress has the power to comprehensively address it. And so that is why on the first day of his administration, the first piece of legislation the President put out was an immigration -- immigration reform bill to Congress, a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:13:28 - 00:13:50 ()

So Republicans say they are serious about this, about -- about dealing with the border. This is an opportunity for them to do that. Now is the time for them to get to prove to -- to -- them to prove it by getting serious and providing resources the federal government needs to fully support DHS southwest border operation and invest in our immigration agency to expedite and improve processing capacity.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:13:50 - 00:14:10 ()

What we have seen from them in the past, uh, you know, is bills that actually take away key law enforcement to be at the -- at the -- at the border while the President is adding, and has added CBP and law enforcement at the border. They put bills, trying to take that away. And so we can't politicize this.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:14:10 - 00:14:14 ()

We got to take this very seriously. And now is the opportunity for them to show that they're serious.

Question

00:14:14 - 00:14:23 ()

Karine, and just one quick housekeeping note -- yesterday, it was 74 Americans and their families. Do you have an updated number on that?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:14:23 - 00:14:43 ()

I do. Give me one second. I do you have some numbers for you here. So again, we talked about diplomatic efforts and diplomatic conversation. That's something that the President believes in, and because of those efforts, another -- another large group of Americans are expected to depart Gaza today via the Rafah crossing.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:14:43 - 00:15:06 ()

Providing rolling numbers of Americans and family members is challenging. And -- but I can confirm, yesterday, Embassy Cairo assisted more than 100 US citizens and family members who had departed Gaza. We know additional US citizens and family members departed Gaza yesterday, who did not seek assistance from our embassy team.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:15:06 - 00:15:34 ()

But we continue to be focused on getting as many Americans out, as quickly possible, and we expect more Americans to depart over the next several days. But of course this is a fluid situation. Intense diplomacy, again, intensive --

Note

00:15:34 - 00:15:34 ()

[Break in audio]

Question

00:15:34 - 00:15:44 ()

-- the President have lots of meetings with Jewish leaders. When he had the meeting with Muslim leaders, he did that behind closed doors. Why hasn't he been more public with his meetings with Muslim leaders?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:15:44 - 00:16:01 ()

We have been -- look, we have said -- I think I may have said this sometime this week, that the President and his administration has had direct outreach to -- to the Muslim community, to the Arab and Palestinian -- and Palestinian Americans. We've been doing that, and we're going to continue to do that with that community.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:16:01 - 00:16:24 ()

And also, the Jewish community, as well. We know a lot of -- many -- many -- many people are hurting right now. And the President understands that and wants to hear from these communities. And so, as you -- as you heard us this week, we announced another -- another -- another strategy to deal with antisemitism, more specifically in college -- on college campuses.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:16:24 - 00:16:47 ()

We talked about that earlier this week. We talked about our strategy to combine -- combat, pardon me, Islamophobia. So we've been -- we've been very clear about that. And that -- and when we think about hatred in these communities, that is something that the President and this administration has been putting out policy to combat that, since last year, December.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:16:47 - 00:16:52 ()

And so this is important to the President. And so we'll continue to speak to that.

Question

00:16:52 - 00:16:57 ()

Could you be more specific? You said a large group is expected today. Does that mean dozens?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:16:57 - 00:17:33 ()

I mean, I also said that it's really hard, it's challenging -- right? -- to give exact numbers. And so we will do our best, obviously, to -- to provide as -- numbers, as they come in. But this is also a very fluid -- fluid situation. The -- you know, the -- what's happening on the ground is very dynamic, but again these are intense, diplomatic conversations that are happening, that has led to, by the President's direction, to get to -- get the Rafah crossing open so that American citizens and other foreign nationals can -- can -- can leave Gaza, if they choose.

Question

00:17:33 - 00:17:52 ()

Thank you. First -- two questions -- one international, one domestic -- when it comes to Gaza, your messaging has been very clear about the ceasefire, about the -- the need for a humanitarian pause. But even as you and the white House have been putting out this message, we've seen increasing numbers of Democrats calling for a ceasefire.

Question

00:17:52 - 00:18:07 ()

So is there a concern that your message is not getting through? Just today, we saw 50 members of the DNC write a letter to the President calling for a ceasefire. So is there any concern that the messaging, specifically to members of your own party, about the ceasefire is not working?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:18:07 - 00:18:32 ()

I mean, look, we're going to continue to be clear, right? We're going to continue to speak in a -- in -- with complete clarity here. And, you know, let me just take a step back a little bit. You know, Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, which has said, it said, that it will -- it will repeat October 7th until Israel is eliminated.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:18:32 - 00:18:53 ()

That's what Hamas said. We heard them -- we heard from them directly. Israel has an added burden, because Hamas has taken civilians as human shields for its terrorist infrastructure. But does not lessen the responsibility for Israel to act consistent with the laws of war. It's critical to distinguish between terrorists and civilians.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:18:53 - 00:19:17 ()

Every civilian death is a tragedy -- Palestinian, Israeli -- every loss of life. It's heartbreaking. And the President believes in the sanctity and dignity of every innocent life. So the people of Gaza didn't ask for this. Hamas doesn't speak for them, and instead places them in greater danger. So we know there -- there has been enormous loss there, and that too many families are grieving.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:19:17 - 00:19:31 ()

Too many have been lost, and too many have been hurt, and too many are missing. And we will continue to do everything that we can to get lifesaving assistance to those who need it. And -- and we've just been very, very clear about that. I know you said you had a domestic -- you had a domestic -- domestic --

Question

00:19:31 - 00:19:44 ()

[Inaudible] domestic -- so we do have elections next week in Ohio, Virginia, Mississippi, Kentucky. We've heard the former President, President Obama, doing robocalls in Virginia. Is President Biden going to be involved in any of those elections?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:19:44 - 00:20:00 ()

Because it's an upcoming election, I don't want to speak to, don't want to speak to -- to the election on Tuesday. I would refer you to the -- to the -- to refer your questions to them, ask anything specific about what the President might be doing, so, I refer you to them.

Question

00:20:00 - 00:20:16 ()

Karine, I have one on the jobs report. The Wall Street take on the numbers today is that growth is slowing and that at some point, the fed will take its foot off the brakes, potentially leading to more inflation. What is the White House view on this out of consensus?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:20:16 - 00:20:31 ()

So I'm definitely not going to comment on the fed and whatever monetary policy or actions that they're taking. They are independent and I'm just going to leave it there and just not going to comment on the fed.

Question

00:20:31 - 00:20:33 ()

And any comment on the growth piece of it?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:20:33 - 00:20:51 ()

So that I can comment on. And so look, Bidenomics, what you're seeing, what we believe you're seeing from this data, the jobs report today is that Bidenomics is in action and 150 jobs were created throughout the president's administration. We've seen more than 14 million jobs created under this president.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:20:51 - 00:21:14 ()

Unemployment continues to be at under four percent. That's for 24 months now, the longest stretch for over 50 years. Remember, we always say you got to look at the trend. You hear that from Jared. You hear that from Lael. It's important to look at the trend. Share of working age Americans with jobs is higher than before the pandemic and record share of working age women have jobs and that's important.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:21:14 - 00:21:33 ()

And what we're seeing on the other side is they want to continue to push MAGA-nomics, which is failing the middle class. The president cares about the middle class and wants to build that up from the middle out, bottom up and you're continuing to see Republicans talking about cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, raising costs for hard working families.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:21:33 - 00:21:41 ()

There is a difference between us. The president sees this very, very differently and so that's going to be our focus, and make sure that we have an economy that works for all.

Question

00:21:41 - 00:21:50 ()

So quickly, the administration is confident that growth is going to continue and then what Wall Street is talking about in terms of there being a slowdown and what we're seeing --

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:21:50 - 00:22:10 ()

Well, we have said, and you know this, Nandita, we have said that we're in a transition, right, to a slower and steady growth, and that's what we're seeing, but it doesn't negate the trends that we're seeing, right, doesn't get the fact that unemployment is under four percent, which is something that we've seen, again, for 21 months.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:22:10 - 00:22:19 ()

Doesn't take away the fact that this president under his presidency has created 14 million jobs. And so it's a slow and steady growth as we're going into this transition.

Question

00:22:19 - 00:22:20 ()

Karine, do you have a week ahead?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:22:20 - 00:22:21 ()

Question

00:22:21 - 00:22:24 ()

Do you have a week ahead.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:22:24 - 00:22:27 ()

Don't have a week ahead. We'll get that --

Question

00:22:27 - 00:22:39 ()

Questions on Maine, Karine. When you read off the folks who are traveling with the president today, it sounded like the entire Maine Congressional delegation except for Jared Golden is on the plane. Does he plan to [Inaudible] on the ground?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:22:39 - 00:22:53 ()

So I don't have any update on his involvement for today. We can certainly, I can double back to make sure maybe we left him off. If not, if he's not here today, I would just refer you to his office.

Question

00:22:53 - 00:22:59 ()

Sure. And does the president have any plans to push Congress to pass a national Red Flag Law following the Maine shooting?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:22:59 - 00:23:26 ()

I mean, look, we've been very clear about the Red Flag Laws and how important that is. I was talking about it in our topper. He's directed the administration to improve public awareness of Red Flags in states that have them. There is more than $100 million in federal funding available right now for this purpose, thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to support that implementation, so that was one of the clearly important pieces of that act.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:23:26 - 00:23:45 ()

The Justice Department also issued model Red Flag legislation to encourage more states to adopt these laws. And since the model legislation was released, Michigan, Minnesota, have enacted Red Flag Laws. So we recently convened a dozen states to encourage them to use federal funding to implement their Red Flag Laws.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:23:45 - 00:24:05 ()

So there's federal funding right now, right, for states to do this. It's again, more than $100 million. We're going to continue to work with states to get this done, encourage them to move forward with the Red Flags law. Obviously, this is something that the president thinks it's really important. He signed the act that had that provision in it and so we're going to continue to work with states on --

Question

00:24:05 - 00:24:08 ()

But that's different than pushing congress to do something.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:24:08 - 00:24:27 ()

No, look, we've been very clear what we think Congress should do, right, an assault weapons ban, right? You'll hear that from the president today as he addresses the community that's mourning, lost way too many lives. One life is too many, and so we've been clear on what we believe common sense gun reform.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:24:27 - 00:24:52 ()

Obviously, a ban assault weapon -- law on assault weapons ban. And so these things are incredibly important, so that's what we're going to focus on. As it relates to Red Flag Laws, there is funding right now for states to take that on. We're going to work with states to make sure that they enact that and encouraged them to enact that in their own states obviously and so that's going to be our focus for now.

Question

00:24:52 - 00:25:02 ()

Karine, this is the first mass shooting since the Office of Gun Violence Prevention has been stood up. What tangibly have you been able to do differently this time that you couldn't before?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:25:02 - 00:25:29 ()

So I mean it's just been recent, right, as you just stated. We just announced that office very, very recently. And what I would say is, I've mentioned how Greg is on the ground and has been on the ground this whole entire week and talked about this a little bit yesterday, him being on the ground, having the office there actually helps them coordinate with the FBI and certainly DOJ to victim services.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:25:29 - 00:25:46 ()

That's really important. Because when something like this horrific event happens in a community, there's a lot of assistance that families and people need on the ground. So working with HHS to deploy of behavioral health and public health staff support, coordinated the school reopening strategy with the Department of Education.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:25:46 - 00:26:04 ()

As you know, the schools had to be shut down when they were searching for the shooter, work with local leaders to support community wide engagement and memorial events occurring in the wake of this tragedy. So look, there are things [Inaudible] I think concretely able to do on the ground because of this office.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:26:04 - 00:26:34 ()

The office has obviously a broader action, which is trying to make sure that we are accelerating the more than two dozen executive actions that the president has signed. Also also, the first in 30 years of gun violence prevention law that the president signed last year. So there's still a lot of work to be done, but in order to save lives, Congress needs to do a lot more and the president's going to call that out too as well.

Question

00:26:34 - 00:26:41 ()

Do you think Congress has the appetite for an assault weapons ban given the Safer Communities Act's passage?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:26:41 - 00:26:59 ()

I mean, there are too many lives being lost, too many lives being lost. And we're going to see that. We're going to see a community that's in mourning today. And the president, obviously the first lady is going to be with him, as we're there for this community, going to offer whatever resources are needed.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:26:59 - 00:27:20 ()

And we're going to be with them as long as they need us, but this shouldn't be a conversation. The conversation, if they have an appetite, should not be a question, really, it should not. They should be taking action. They meaning Republicans in Congress. They should have the appetite to try and save a life.

Question

00:27:20 - 00:27:22 ()

What will the president's message be to these families today?

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:27:22 - 00:27:49 ()

So you'll hear directly from him, pardon me, so certainly not going to get ahead of his message. I talked a little bit about it at the top. Certainly, he's going to be there for them, let them know that the federal government, that the Biden-Harris administration is there for them as long as it takes. Be that consoler in chief that he has been and so I'll let the president speak directly to what he'll say to the community.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:27:49 - 00:27:50 ()

You'll hear from him.

Question

00:27:50 - 00:27:51 ()

Thanks, Karine.

Karine Jean-Pierre

00:27:51 - 00:27:51 ()

Thanks, everyone.

Question

00:27:51 - 00:27:54 ()

Thank you, Karine.