Your White House Digest: These are the 3 big things you need to know about Jen Psaki’s Press Briefing on May 18, 2021.
1. Biden Wants to See the Conflict between Israel and Palestine End
Biden wants to see an end to the violence on the ground. He wants to see “an end to the suffering of the Israeli and the Palestinian people.”
Psaki said that the strategy of the Biden administration is to work through “quiet, intensive diplomacy.” Psaki stated that Biden has been doing this long enough to know that the best way to end an international conflict is typically not to debate it in public. Psaki said that Biden “will continue to remain closely engaged behind the scenes.”
So far, the White House confirmed there have been more than 60 calls, including three calls the President has had with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
2. Electric Cars are the Future
The future of the automobile industry is electric. Psaki confirmed Biden believes that the United States should be a larger percentage of the market than they are at this point. “China should not have the larger percentage of the market.”
Biden proposed a $174 billion investment into the American Jobs Plan to support the growth in electric vehicles in the United States.
The Biden administration believes that the industry must grow in order to catch up with the demands of the future. Right now, the U.S. market share of EV sales is 1/3 the size of the Chinese EV.
3. Biden supports Jan 6 Commission
The January 6th commission is back in the news. There was a deal on the Hill yesterday and Kevin McCarthy came out against it.
The President said that “January 6th was a dark day in our country and a dark day for our democracy.” Psaki confirmed that Biden supports the efforts to put together a bipartisan commission by members of Congress to look back at what happened, and how to prevent it from happening in the future.
House Minority Leader McCarthy came out today opposing the current bipartisan deal for the creation of a January 6 commission. Pelosi responded by saying, “Democrats made repeated efforts to seek a bipartisan compromise. But Leader McCarthy won’t take yes for an answer.” She added that “ The American people expect and deserve the truth about what happened on January 6th in a manner that strengthens our Democracy and ensures that January 6th never happens again.”