Pool Reports of October 6, 2021

In-Town Pool Report #1: Briefing Moved to 3:30PM

The White House has moved the briefing to 3:30PM

Also, the White House passes along the following background about President Biden's 1:00PM meeting with business leaders and CEOS:

On Wednesday, President Biden is going to welcome some of the country’s top business leaders to the White House—both in-person and virtually—to discuss the urgent need for Congress to take immediate bipartisan action to address the debt limit and avoid default on the U.S. government’s financial obligations and the economic catastrophe that would follow.

These executives represent some of America’s best-known companies and industries, and they understand firsthand that a default would be economically devastating—risking millions of jobs and throwing our country into recession, and causing lasting harm to America’s economic strength by threatening the dollar’s status as the currency the world relies on and downgrading the U.S.’s credit rating.

The President will also reiterate the cost of any delay—with each day of Republican obstruction and political games increasing the risk that even a near-miss default would result in more costs for middle-class families higher interest rate on auto and home loans, as well as credit cards.

And the President will detail the Republican obstruction that has led us to this point, with the GOP refusing to do the right thing by fulfilling its bipartisan responsibility to address the debt limit—even after adding $8 trillion under the previous Administration. Now Republicans are refusing to get out of the way to let Democrats go it alone and remove this cloud from over our economy, and instead have voted to default, filibuster, and block.

The President will also welcome Jo Ann Jenkins, the CEO of AARP, which represents many of the 50 million Americans who receive retirement benefits through Social Security, as well as the 60 million Americans who are on Medicare. Payments from both those programs would be jeopardized by a Republican-created default and the resulting economic catastrophe.

Participants:

• Jane Fraser, CEO, Citi
• Greg Hayes, CEO, Raytheon Technologies
• Charlie Oppler, President, National Association of REALTORS
• Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO, AARP
• Adena Friedman, President and CEO, Nasdaq
• Punit Renjen, Global CEO, Deloitte LLP
• Jamie Dimon, CEO, JPMorgan Chase
• Pat Gelsinger, CEO, Intel
• Brian Moynihan, CEO, Bank of America

White House/Administration participants (in addition to the President):

• Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen
• Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo
• Cedric Richmond, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President and Director of the Office of Public Engagement

In-Town Pool Report #2: CEO Roundtable

President Biden arrived in the South Auditorium at 1:05. Sec. Yellen is to his right. Business leaders are spread out throughout the room. Others appear on screen via Zoom.

"Our Republican friends need to stop playing Russian-roulette with the US economy," the president said.

Before that, Biden opened the meeting by saying, "this is, to state the obvious, an important get together."

He noted that the meeting is about raising the debt limit, saying "we haven't failed to do that since our inception, and we need to act."

He added that the debt ceiling needing to be raised has "nothing to do" with his build back better agenda or his infrastructure package.

Remarks ongoing. More TK.

Also, the First Lady was spotted chatting with folks as pool crossed the driveway from White House over to the EOB.

In-Town Pool Report #3: Meeting Ongoing

Treasury Sec. Yellen now speaking. More TK. Things that were said before are below. Check quotes against transcript.

"God-willing," Biden said the country is "about to turn the corner" on the pandemic.

He asked one business leader what would happen if the US defaulted on its debt "even for a day or two." He followed up to ask how that might affect not just the markets but also individual savings accounts.

Why from your perspective do we need to raise the debt limit before October 18th, the president asked Jamie Dimon. The CEO of JP Morgan Chase gave several reasons but then added that "we should get rid of the debt ceiling."

Biden returns to his theme about autocracy v democracy, noting that our adversaries around the globe "really believe that autocracy is the only way forward because they can act quickly."

In-Town Pool Report #4: Pool Exit

After Sec. Yellen’s remarks, pool was ushered out of the auditorium at 1:28pm as the meeting continued.

In-Town Pool Report #5: Lunch Lid Until 3:15

White House announced just now that we have a lunch lid until 3:15.

In-Town Pool Report #6: Briefing Moved to 4:00

The White House announces just now that the Press Briefing will begin at 4pm.

In-Town Pool Report #7: Two Minute Warning

In email, White House announces two-minute warning.

In-Town Pool Report #8: Briefing Ends

The briefing concluded at 4:57.

In-Town Pool Report #9: Travel/Photo Lid

An enthusiastic White House aide, over the intercom just now, announced "the news you've all been waiting for." A travel/photo lid was called at 5:45pm.