Pool Reports of July 22, 2021

White House pool report #1 - 2 min warning to press briefing

Greetings from the White House.

At 12:37 p.m., we have a two minute warning to the press briefing, which is airing in all the usual spots. Today’s briefing features Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

No changes to the president’s schedule today so far.

At 2:15 p.m., President Biden will sign H.R. 1652, the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021, into law. That will be aired on White House live but pooler will give warning and send color from room.

At 4 p.m., President Biden and Vice President Harris will meet with union and business leaders to discuss the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework.

There is a chance the union and business leaders could come to the sticks afterward. Pooler will keep you updated on that and any other schedule changes.

Please reach out with any questions.

White House pool report #2 - bill signing now at 2:45 pm

The president's remarks and signing of H.R. 1652, the Crime Victims Fund, will now take place at 2:45 pm, per the White House.

White House pool report #3 - lunch lid until 2:30 pm

We have a lunch lid until 2:30 pm.

White House pool report #4 - guests at bill signing i

Pool and pre-credentialed media are assembled in the East Room for the president’s signing of H.R. 1652, the Crime Victims Fund.

This is airing on White House live: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

There’s about 80 people in the room. Four rows of chairs are in front of the presidential podium with the press on the back.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff is here as is a bipartisan group of lawmakers:

Guest list per the White House:

Attending the President’s remarks and signing of H.R. 1652, the VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021, are approximately 80 members of Congress and stakeholders, including:

The Vice President
The Second Gentleman
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta
Acting Assistant Attorney General Amy Solomon, Office of Justice Programs, DOJ
Kristina Rose, Director, Office for Victims of Crime, DOJ
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring
Senator Tammy Baldwin
Senator Richard Blumenthal
Senator Shelley Capito
Senator John Cornyn
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto
Senator Joni Ernst
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Lindsey Graham
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Senator Patrick Leahy
Senator Cynthia Lummis
Senator Lisa Murkowski
Senator Chris Van Hollen
Representative Deborah Dingell
Representative Brian Fitzpatrick
Representative Sheila Jackson Lee
Representative Ann McLane Kuster
Representative James Langevin
Representative Lucy McBath
Representative Gwen Moore
Representative Jerrold Nadler
Representative Ayanna Pressley
Representative Mary Gay Scanlon
Representative Jackie Speier
Representative Ann Wagner
Representative Jennifer Wexton

White House pool report #5 - 2 minute warning to bill signing

Two minute warning to POTUS remarks and bill signing.

Reminder it's airing on White House live: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

White House pool report #6 - signing end and that extra pen

President Biden finished his remarks at 3:26 pm. He invited the bill’s sponsors to join him on stage as he signed.

He passed out the pens with the help of Sen. Feinstein, who then ended up without one. Aide Stephen Goepfert, at Biden’s request, brought another pen to the stage. POTUS gave it to Feinstein.

Pool and additional press was ushered out at 3:30 pm as POTUS was still talking to lawmakers.

An orchestra was playing in the entryway as press left.

Note: Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee was wearing a face mask. She is the only person in the audience the pooler saw wearing one. She took it off when she joined POTUS on stage.

White House pool report #7 - gathering for union and business leaders meeting

Pool is gathering for POTUS and VPOTUS meeting with union leaders and business leaders in the Roosevelt room.

We are holding in West Wing lobby.

White House in town pool #8 - Union and business leaders meeting and quotes on masks

Pool was led into room at 4:42 pm.

POTUS answered one covid related question on mask question.

"We follow the science."

He said experts are "looking at all the possibilities happening now. We have a pandemic of unvaccinated. If you're vaccinated you're safe."

"What they're doing is they're investigating any aspect of any change that could or might take place," he said.

POTUS had remarks at top on meeting. Please check quotes against transcript:

This is one of those meeting I've been looking forward to.

We're looking for a bipartisan effort to get this infrastructure bill passed

It's not about business vs labor. It's about the race to the future.

There's just a lot we can do to put people to work.

More complete quotes to come.

White House pool report #9 - fuller POTUS quotes and meeting participants

Here are more quotes from the meeting and the one question POTUS answered at the end.

The question was: what conversations he's had with health officials about possibly changing the mask guidelines for vaccinated Americans.

POTUS response: "We have a pandemic among the non vaccinated. …If you are vaccinated, you are safe. If you're vaccinated, you have over a 98% chance of never catching the virus at all. If you catch it, you're likely, the overwhelming proof so far, is you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be sick, you're probably going to have no signs that you had it and you're not going to be die. It's a simple proposition. What they're doing is they're going to be investigating any aspect of any change that could or might take place. But the vaccine are good against all of the variants out there, including the delta variant."

POTUS on his meeting:

"This is one of those meeting I've been looking forward to. They're not here to negotiate with one another. … They're supporting what we're trying to get done in infrastructure. And I know that we're looking for this bipartisan effort to get this infrastructure bill passed. As you all know and they share my belief that it's both in the interest of business and labor to get this done. And it's about it's not about energy and that lot versus environment, business versus labor. It's all about basically a race to the future."

Here are the meeting participants, per the White House:

The President and the Vice President are meeting with leaders from both the labor and business community to talk about the critical need to invest in America's economic strength by passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework. Attending the meeting:

• Lise Aangeenbrug, Executive Director, Outdoor Industry Association
• Josh Bolten, President and CEO, Business Roundtable
• Brent Booker, Secretary-Treasurer, North American Building Trades Unions (NABTU)
• Suzanne Clark, CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Michael Lamach, Executive Chair, Trane Technologies Board of Directors, National Association of Manufacturers
• Terry O'Sullivan, General President, Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA)
• Kenny Rigmaiden, President, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
• Lonnie Stephenson, International President, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
• Heather Zichal, CEO, American Clean Power Association

• Brian Deese, Director of the National Economic Council
• Steve Ricchetti, Counselor to the President
• Cedric Richmond, Director of the Office of Public Engagement
• Zach Butterworth, Director of Private Sector Engagement
• Erika Dinkel-Smith, Director of Labor Engagement
• Seth Harris, Deputy Assistant to the President for Labor and Economy
• John McCarthy, Senior Advisor to the Counselor to the President
• Mike Pyle, Chief Economic Advisor for the Vice President

White House pool report #10 - travel photo lid

The White House called a travel photo lid at 5:42 pm.

It does not appear the business and labor leaders will come to the sticks after their meeting with POTUS but pooler will hang around for a little bit in case.

Have a good night.