Psaki’s top announcements included that the Treasury released new data on the emergency Rental Assistance Program, which showed that more than $1.5 billion in assistance was delivered to eligible households in the month of June. This is helping develop a new national infrastructure for rental assistance and eviction prevention that did not previously exist.
On August 25, 2021, President Biden and members of his national security team will team up with other members of the administration and hold a meeting with private sector leaders to discuss how to collectively work towards improving the nation’s cybersecurity. This is a continuation of his effort to work in close cooperation with the private sector.
Finally, according to a new report released this morning, the President’s bipartisan infrastructure framework and build back better agenda will add almost 2 million jobs per year on average across the whole decade, while accelerating America’s path to full employment and increasing labor force participation. This will keep prices stable and decrease inflationary pressure.
Increasing the Debt Limit
Psaki was asked about Mitch McConnell’s comments concerning the debt limit set by Congress, which the President wishes to increase and if Democrats should pass a standalone debt limit or if they will be listening to the opinions of the GOP.
Psaki responded with, “We expect Congress to act in a timely manner to raise or suspend the debt ceiling, as they did three times on a broad bipartisan basis during the last administration.” She continued to say, “We are fully expecting Congress will raise the debt ceiling as they have numerous times over the last couple of years.”
Bipartisanship Jan 6 Committee
Psaki was asked how the White House felt about the January 6 Committee created to investigate the insurrection of the Capitol and national security. In a statement, the White House said they are confident in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ability to proceed with an investigation that is “full, investigative, and transparent.”
The journalist asked why the word “bipartisan” was not included in the description, since this was a main goal of the committee, especially due to the inclusion of both Democrats and Republicans, such as Liz Cheney.
“We stated at the time our disappointment that there wasn’t bipartisan support for a select committee when there was an opportunity to vote for that. And we also have long stated our support for Speaker Pelosi in getting to the bottom of what happened on January 6,” Psaki responded.
She added, “I think many Americans across the country, regardless of their political affiliation, look at the events of January 6 as a dark day in our democracy. The President strongly supports taking steps to get to the bottom of what happened so we can prevent it from happening in the future.”
Covid in the White House
The gaggle ended with Psaki being asked about the state of the White House as positive Covid tests have been released and confirmed for a number of members of the administration.
Psaki stated they will be following the strict CDC guidelines, which state that vaccinated persons can go maskless and unvaccinated people are required to wear a mask in public.
These rules extend to visitors of the White House and to other parts of the world, such as when First Lady Jill Biden visits Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.