Pool Reports of April 19, 2022

In town pool report #1 - Biden's video call on Ukraine/Russia

President Biden's secure video call with allies and partners on Ukraine and Russia is underway. Biden was scheduled to participate in the call from the Situation Room.

From the White House press office:

The President’s video call with allies and partners convened at 9:57 AM EDT.

Joining President Biden on the call are Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, European Commission President von der Leyen, European Council President Michel, President Macron of France, Chancellor Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Draghi of Italy, Prime Minister Kishida of Japan, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, President Duda of Poland, President Iohannis of Romania, and Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom.

From today's White House schedule:

9:45 AM THE PRESIDENT convenes a secure video call with allies and partners to discuss our continued support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable as part of our close coordination
Situation Room
Closed Press

In town pool report #2 - video call on Ukraine/Russia ended

From the White House press office:

The President’s video call ended at 11:21 AM EDT.

Handing off to the excellent travel pooler for the President's trip to Portsmouth, NH.

Travel pool report 1 - holding

Good morning, I will be your pooler for the president's trip to Portsmouth, NH, today. While holding in vans at the White House before motorcading to JBA, here's a summary of the schedule.

Pre-departure, POTUS is on a call with "allies and partners to discuss our continued support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable as part of our close coordination."

12:10: Departs Andrews.

1:25: Arrives Portsmouth.

1:55: Visits NH Port Authority at Portsmouth Harbor and its recently completed widening of the turning basin.

2:45: Makes remarks on the infrastructure law.

3:30: Departs Portsmouth.

5:00 Arrives Andrews.

And the White House sent this description of the trip for those interested:

"The President will travel to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he will visit the New Hampshire Port Authority and discuss the unprecedented investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will Build a Better America and improve the country's ports and waterways. The President will highlight how these investments will strengthen supply chains, keep goods moving to help lower prices for working families, and enable the U.S. to compete globally."

Travel pool report 2 - rolling

Pool saw POTUS get in the Beast at 12:04 and motorcade is rolling from the White House to JBA.

Travel pool report 3 - travelers

The White House provides this list of officials joining POTUS on the trip to NH:

Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff
Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
Kate Bedingfield, Assistant to the President & Director of Communications
Jen Psaki, Assistant to the President & Press Secretary
Stephen Goepfert, Special Assistant to the President & Personal Aide to the President
Travis Dredd, Special Assistant to the President & Trip Director
Jeff Nussbaum, Special Assistant to the President & Senior Presidential Speechwriter
Michael Hochman, Special Assistant to the President & Deputy Staff Secretary
Alma Acosta, Special Assistant to the President & House Legislative Affairs
Samantha Silverberg, Deputy Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator
Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works

Travel pool report 4 - AF1 boarding

POTUS boarded (the big) AF1 at 12:31, without stopping to talk to pool under the wing. He wore a black mask.

For those wondering, the White House says that "During transit on today's trip, masking will be required in line with CDC guidance."

We are taking off shortly for the approximately hour and 15 minutes flight.

Press Sec Jen Psaki will gaggle in the air and you can follow on this audio link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yM0ibs0pmE

Finally, some additional reading material from the White House on infrastructure and Portsmouth:

Background on Portsmouth Harbor

Portsmouth Harbor is the only deep-water harbor in New Hampshire and is located on the Piscataqua River about halfway between Boston, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine. The harbor, which includes the State-owned Port of New Hampshire Market Street Terminal as well as multiple private terminals, plays an integral role for the region’s economy and trade. The Portsmouth Harbor handles approximately 3.5 million tons and nearly $2 billion of cargo a year, including rock gypsum, road de-icing salt, home heating oil, and underwater fiber optic cable.

Terminals on the Piscataqua River, including Sprague Energy and Irving Oil, provide more than 80 percent of home heating oil used in New Hampshire. The harbor also supports clean energy, as a staging and transport location for components of wind energy projects like towers, blades, and hubs, and for nuclear power plant components manufactured at Westinghouse Electric two miles away. Simplex Technologies owns another private terminal on the harbor and manufactures underwater fiber optic cable for the U.S. military and telecommunications companies.

The Portsmouth Harbor is the home of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery Maine, which services Virginia-class nuclear submarines and is undergoing major capital improvements described below. The harbor is also important for the local fishing industry and is used extensively by the local lobstering fleet and commercial fishermen.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Investments

Earlier this year, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded $1.7 million from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for maintenance dredging of the shipping channel and basin in Portsmouth Harbor through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This investment is essential to maintaining safe and efficient operations of the port by keeping a challenging stretch of the channel clear of sediment. Without regular dredging, the port would not be able to bring in full loads of cargo or will need to reinstate restrictions on when the ships can pass through the harbor. The port anticipates that the maintenance dredging funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will begin in the fall.

This latest investment builds on an $18.2 million Army Corps project in Portsmouth Harbor for navigation improvement funded in 2021. The project widened the uppermost turning basin of the Piscataqua River from 800 feet to 1,200 feet, improving navigation safety and supporting the efficient movement of goods. Before widening the turning basin, the port was only able to move larger ships in ideal conditions, such as high tide, daylight and light winds. Otherwise, ships would have to wait, which drove up commodity costs that were passed to consumers, such as through higher home heating oil prices. The project was completed earlier this month.

Other Infrastructure Investments at Portsmouth Harbor

Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Project: A $2.3 billion project at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to increase the shipyard’s capacity to maintain nuclear submarines. A $1.7 billion contract was awarded to this project by the Navy in August 2021. The project is being incrementally funded and expected to take seven years to complete. The President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2023 requested $503 million, with the remaining balance to be requested in future Budgets. The construction materials and equipment for this project are being transported through the port because it is more economical and expeditious to get to the shipyard via barge than via truck.

Market Street Terminal Main Wharf Rehabilitation: The Port just started work on a $12 million project to rehabilitate and modify the existing ship berth at the State-owned Market Street Terminal. The project is partially funded by a $7.5 billion U.S. Department of Transportation BUILD grant. When the work is complete, the terminal will be able to accept larger cranes and cargo, including wind energy components.

Port Investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $17 billion to upgrade our nation’s port infrastructure. The Biden-Harris Administration has already taken a number of steps to deliver these port investments in a timely manner, given their importance for strengthening our supply chains. Key actions and investments include:

Ports Action Plan: In November, President Biden announced a Ports Action Plan, including a number of steps to accelerate investments in ports.

Port Infrastructure Development Program: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides $2.25 billion in funding for the Port Infrastructure Development Program. Applications are currently open for $684 million in funding, $450 million of which was provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Army Corps: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided historic funding to the Army Corps of Engineers to invest in ports and resilience. This year alone, the Biden-Harris Administration has announced a total of $13 billion in new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for approximately 700 projects across 50 States and territories.

Land Ports of Entry: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $3.4 billion for the General Services Administration (GSA) to build and modernize land ports of entry on the country’s northern and southern borders. In February, GSA announced that this $3.4 billion in funding would support 26 projectsto modernize land ports of entry to strengthen our supply chains, improve safety, and create good-paying jobs.

Travel pool report 5 - wheels up

AF1 wheels up at 12:39

Travel pool report 6 - arrival

AF1 was wheels down in Portsmouth, NH, at 1:32 after a smooth trip. No visitors to the press cabin beyond Jen Psaki for the gaggle, which you hopefully heard (if any problems give a shout).

For the record, the White House sent this from Andrews:

Greeting the President on arrival at Joint Base Andrews:

Col Matthew Jones, Commander, 89th Airlift Wing

Travel pool report 7 - rolling + Biden quote

POTUS disembarked from AF1 (via the lower stairs) at 1:47 on a blustery, cloudy, north Atlantic coast kind of afternoon.

To a shouted question of "will you be sending more artillery to Ukraine?" he answered: "Yes."

Greeting him on the tarmac, per the White House, were:

Chris Sununu, Governor of New Hampshire
Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator (NH)
Chris Pappas, U.S. Congressman (NH-01)
Annie Kuster, U.S. Congresswoman (NH-02)
Deaglan McEachern, Mayor of Portsmouth (D)
Major General David Mikolaities, Adjutant General, New Hampshire
Chief Master Sergeant Pranav Zaveri, State Command, New Hampshire

The motorcade is rolling at 1:52.

Travel pool report 8 - Port Authority + Biden quotes on masks

Motorcade arrived NH Port Authority at Portsmouth Harbor at 2:01 pm. This is a windswept facility alongside a bridge, and featuring a lot of orange trucks.

A handful of folks outside the entrance of the facility waved signs including but not limited to: "Trump won" and "Let's go Brandon." A man yelled "take your mask off" though it wasn't clear whom he was addressing as the president had long passed.

POTUS is getting a briefing in infrastructure ahead of giving remarks.

As he passed by pool, he was asked if Americans should be wearing masks. He replied: it's "up to them."

He also said in response to a question about whether the DoJ should appeal the court ruling on travel masks, that he hadn't "spoken to the CDC."

Pressed for details of his talks wit the Allie's on Ukraine, he said "we're here to talk about New Hampshire."

Per White House, these are Biden's briefers:

In attendance for the briefing on Ports and Infrastructure:

Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator (D-NH)
Chris Pappas, U.S. Congressman (NH-01)
Annie Kuster, U.S. Congresswoman (NH-02)
Deaglan McEachern, Mayor of Portsmouth
Geno Marconi, Port Director, New Hampshire State Port Authority
Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
CAPT Amy Florentino, United States Coast Guard, Commander Sector Northern New England

Travel pool report 9 - POTUS remarks 2 min warning

We have a two minute warning to POTUS remarks in a Portsmouth Port Authority hangar. You can follow them at the usual places, including >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnxmOhU-mlA&feature=youtu.be<

The White House says that the small crowd in the hangar consists of "75-100 elected officials and members of the Administration." POTUS' small stage is flanked by signs reading "Building a Better America."

The wider décor is basic: damp concrete floor, iron girders holding up the ceiling, a motor boat on a trailer, stacks of construction materials, random boating equipment. Reminding your pooler that spring is also coming this far north, an excited pair of birds is having a lot of fun up in the girders.

Ahead of the president's speech, there were introductory remarks by the following officials:

Annie Kuster, U.S. Congresswoman (NH-02)
Chris Pappas, U.S. Congressman (NH-01)
Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator (NH)
Deaglan McEachern, Mayor of Portsmouth
The President

And finally, for the record, the WH sent out this list from the president's photo line prior to the speech:

Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator (NH)
Chris Pappas, U.S. Congressman (NH-01)
Annie Kuster, U.S. Congresswoman (NH-02)
Deaglan McEachern, Mayor of Portsmouth
Joyce Craig, Mayor of Manchester
Joanna Kelley, Assistant Mayor of Portsmouth
Donna Soucy, New Hampshire State Senator
Rebecca Perkins-Kwoka, New Hampshire State Senator
Tom Sherman, New Hampshire State Senator

Travel pool report 10 - statement on Ukraine weapons

Forwarding from the White House

"Attributable to Press Secretary Jen Psaki in response to a question asked during today's gaggle:

"Yes, President Biden and the Leaders on the call this morning spoke about providing more ammunition and security assistance to Ukraine."

Travel pool report 11 - motorcade

POTUS finished his remarks at 3:18 pm and the motorcade is rolling for AF1 at 3:31 pm. Pool did not lay eyes on Biden.

Travel pool report 12 - AF1

POTUS boarded AF1 at 3:42 pm, without coming to answer questions from pool.

Motorcade was without incident, featuring the same "Brandon" bunch and a few pro-Biden folks, including one with a large "Forgive Student Debt" sign.

Wheels up shortly for JBA.

Travel pool report 13 - JBA wheels down

?AF1 was wheels up from Portsmouth at 3:56 pm and down at JBA at 5:08 pm.
Pool had no visitors to the cabin during the occasionally rather bumpy flight.
POTUS, maskless, disembarked at 5:17 and the motorcade is rolling for the White House.

Travel pool report 14 - White House + lid

Motorcade arrived at the White House at 5:40 pm. Pool saw POTUS walk from the Beast in under the South Portico.

The White House then called a lid.

And that’s it from me. Have a good evening all.