Pool Reports by Todd J. Gillman, The Dallas Morning News
| Sent: | Reports: |
| February 26, 2021 10:24 |
Travel pool report #1/JBA and gaggle heads-up Marine One touched down at Joint Base Andrews and pulled to a stop in front of Air Force One at 10:14 am. They were aboard the plane at 10:18 without speaking to the pool. It's a brisk 45 degrees at JBA. POTUS snapped a salute as he emerged from the chopper. The Bidens walked holding hands and chatting with their greeters, he with POTUS saluted at the base of the stairs, and they walked up. The president is headed to Houston to survey storm/power grid damage, visit the county emergency operations center, a food bank and a mass vaccination site, where he'll give remarks. Gov. Greg Abbott plans to join him, as does Sen. John Cornyn. Note: Elected officials the President will see in Texas: • Governor Greg Abbott POTUS will do an interview with Univision while we are in Houston, so keep an eye out for that. Senior staff traveling today include: We are aboard the big plane, naturally, because everything is bigger in Texas, including power outages. The smell of bacon cheddar burgers is wafting in the press cabin, and CNN is on the TVs. |
| February 26, 2021 10:25 |
travel pool report 1a/Marine One passengers Marine 1 Passengers Air Force One is taxiing for takeoff at JBA, headed to Houston. |
| February 26, 2021 13:12 |
Travel pool report #2/Arrival in Houston Air Force One touched down at Ellington Field at 12:08 pm CT. Press secretary Jen Psaki and Homeland Security Adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall gaggled for 33 minutes total and our intrepid intown pooler has already been hard at work providing highlights. The first 15 or so minutes was Sherwood-Randall. Psaki ended about 10 minutes before landing. Sherwood-Randall was reading from a typed text for the first several minutes. She left the press cabin after taking questions about Texas response and grid. Lots of discussion about how to incentivize Texas to retrofit its grid, carefully steering away from the idea of putting it under federal regulation. Taxiing. |
| February 26, 2021 13:37 |
Travel pool report #3/Ellington Field The Bidens walked off Air Force One together at 12:20 p.m. While the greeters waited, Reps. Al Green and Sheila Jackson Lee converged on Gov. Greg Abbott and chatted with him. Green also waved at pool and gave a thumbs up to us. POTUS saluted at the bottom and headed straight to Abbott. They shared a fist bump and a few words. Biden introduced the governor to the first lady. A woman in a Texas flag mask, standing beside Abbott, handed Dr. Biden a bouquet of what appeared to be yellow roses. Dr. Biden stuck with the governor for a bit as POTUS moved down the row, chatting with Jackson Lee and Green for a few moments. He and SJL shared an elbow bump. He offered the same to Green but Green pulled out a cell phone to take a photo of POTUS with AF1 behind him, then the congressman offered his right elbow and POTUS instead grabbed it with his hand. POTUS moved on, chatting with the Harris County judge and Rep. Sylvia Garcia, and then Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in suit and black cowboy hat. Everyone masked. Biden and Jill Biden chatted a bit more with the mayor, then the Bidens shared a kiss and POTUS went to his limo while FLOTUS went to a separate car. They'll meet up later at the Houston Food Bank. A guy near the combination McDonald's/Shell station off property held a Trump flag waving in the breeze. Assorted onlookers. Motorcade rolled at 12:27. It is somehow humid, overcast and sunny all at once here in Texas I tell you what. |
| February 26, 2021 13:43 |
travel pool report #4/statement on Syria strike From Press Secretary Jen Psaki: The Department of Defense briefed Congressional leadership before the action last night. The Administration has been briefing the Hill at the Member- and staff-level today. There will be a full classified briefing early next week at the latest. |
| February 26, 2021 14:27 |
Travel pool report #5/Harris County Emergency Operations Center POTUS motorcade arrived at Houston Transtar, which home to the Harris County emergency operations center, at 1pm. Across the street is the Houston SPCA. Folks had a number of dogs as they took pictures. In the EOC upstairs, Sen. John Cornyn was prepositioned. The congresspeople filed in and they shared greetings. Cornyn and Mayor Turner fist bumped and Cornyn teased where was the cowboy hat he'd seen Turner wearing at the airfield. Left it in the car, Turner said. Four long rows of desks on either side if lighted plexiglass with Harris County Homeland Security and Emergency Management logo. Mission control vibe. TV screens all around. Cornyn in brief remarks to pool said he was pleased to have Biden come: "The governor and Senator Cruz and I asked for a declaration from the federal government which provides access to public and private assistance through FEMA.That's going to be important for our recovery." Told about the homeland security advisor's remarks in the gaggle about incentivizing Texas to retrofit its grid: "We ought to listen to anybody with a good idea and try to come up with ways to prevent prevent this from happening again." Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee stood nearby doing a live shot on MSNBC, holding her cell phone for a selfie shot . Can overhear Cornyn talking to her about their joint bill to declare Juneteenth a federal holiday. We still await Biden and Abbott. A handout from Harris County has a bunch of factoids: 4.9 million residents in 34 cities. About 50% of residents lost power (1,441,317 at worst of it on Tuesday Feb. 16.) Power restored to preevent levels 2/19. Water: 3.5 million residents were under boil water notices as of 2/17. As of Thursday it was down to 10,400. Pool is along one side of the room, behind a bank of desks similar to those on the floor -- plexiglas with logo, two monitors, keyboard (I'm at "Logistics," which is between "Finance & Administration" and "Deputy I.C." Background on Stop 1: At the Harris County Emergency Operations Center, the President and Governor Abbott will receive a briefing by:
The Harris County Emergency Operations Center is the emergency management agency that helps prepare, safeguard and protect the residents and property of Harris County. It is overseen by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and is activated during emergencies as the central command center for the city and county. |
| February 26, 2021 14:57 |
travel pool report #6/Harris County emergency ops center - briefing POTUS followed Gov. Greg Abbott into the Emergency Operations Center. Abbott rolled in first and then they went down the center aisle together. Pool was ushered out after 7 minutes with the briefing still underway. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo welcomed the president. (Note: county judge the highest elected official in a Texas county.) "This has been our home away from home for five months" through a pandemic and then last week's crisis of bitter cold that knocked out power, heat and drinking water, she said. Hidalgo gushed about the hard work of the county's emergency staff. "These folks have been the tip of the spear when it comes to fighting for our community. They have been sleeping in the stairwells… They were here every night last week." "Mr. President your support means the world to us," she said. Biden: "Hell of an operation here. It's probably the best one in the country…. You're saving peoples' lives. As my mother would say, you're doing God's work." Biden thanked Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner for the passport allowing him to come to Texas. Turner lauded the county EOC: "This is an incredible operation." Mark Sloan, Homeland Security & Emergency Management Coordinator for Harris County, recounted the crisis last week: "Without power, the water lines froze." At last count, "57,000 residents still have to boil their water. But we've been able to work with our FEMA partners and the state" to deliver water and meals ready to eat. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, had a color coded map of Texas showing the vast areas of the state not yet under a federal major disaster declaration (Abbott asked for all 254 counties from the outset, Biden gave 77, then added 31, and another 17 were added Thursday, per the homeland security advisor gaggling on AF1), so it's now up to 126. FEMA and the administration have said they're open to more designations but need data to back it up. Kidd made the case that the crisis itself has kept many counties from collecting and reporting the data demanded after seven days of sub-freezing temps. "We have a lot of families and businesses and importantly schools that have not yet been able to submit their damage assessments to us," Kidd said. "And so while we see our boil water notices are still across a lot of our state, declared and undeclared counties, what we know is that means the water comes up out of the ground. It gets into the treatment center and it gets into the distribution law, we still don't have a count from the meter to the kitchen sink, of how many homes have been damaged and destroyed with broken pipes. "We want to continue to work closely with our local partners grabbing that assessment, and with our federal partners to get that information to us so we can make the best decision possible for all of us," Kidd said, adding that at least 4,600 school buildings across the state have broken water pipes. "We've got a long way to go. Mr. President, I know we can get through this together and we've just got to keep going." Motorcade rolled at 1:54 pm CT, heading to the Houston Food Bank, where POTUS will reunite with the first lady. (Thanks to Radio pooler Tamara Keith for help on Kidd sound.) |
| February 26, 2021 15:03 |
pool report #7/Houston Food Bank background Still rolling from emergency operations center. Background on our second stop at the Houston Food Bank: The President and the First Lady will tour the Houston Food Bank escorted by Brian Greene, CEO of Houston Food Bank. They will also meet local volunteers of the food bank. The Houston Food Bank is the largest food bank in the country serving more than 1.1 million people in 18 southeast Texas counties. The Houston Food Bank distributes food and other essentials to those in need through a network of 1,500 community partners and offers programs and services aimed at helping families achieve long-term stability. Local Volunteers at Houston Food Bank:
Additional Elected Officials on Site:
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| February 26, 2021 15:18 |
Travel pool report #3a/woman with bouquet This was the the first lady of Texas, Cecilia Abbott, at Ellington Field. Sorry for not catching that right away. A woman in a Texas flag mask, standing beside Abbott, handed Dr. Biden a bouquet of what appeared to be yellow roses. |
| February 26, 2021 15:56 |
Pool report #8/Houston Food Bank Arrived at the Houston Food Bank at 2:13 p.m. CT. Inside are long rows of high shelves, like a Costco on steroids. Brian Greene, CEO of Houston Food Bank, walked slowly down Aisle 14 with the Bidens explaining the operation, maybe. We couldn't hear anything in the cavernous space.. Pool set up in the middle of Aisle 14 next to pallets of pistachios, canned vegetarian beans and cans of sliced apples, all shrink wrapped. Once the photos were taken, we were repositioned to the "Carousel Room." Shelves suspended from overhead tracks roll slowly around the room as workers and volunteers fill boxes on steel shelves and place them on the conveyed shelves. The conveyor assembly is Granny Apple green, like the food bank's logo. Also here: local press who spent time covering FLOTUS during her longer visit to the food bank. The Bidens and the CEO enter the Carousel Room at 2:25 or so. POTUS works the room. Too far from us to hear. Talking now to a man in a bright orange shirt (those folks work here) and volunteers (in street clothes). Makes his way to the row of steel tables near the side of room where pool is. Sees a young boy sorting bags of chips and boxes of cookies into bins. "What are you, 18? 18 years old?" The boy seems befuddled. POTUS moves to an even younger kid down the line, who turns out to be the boy's sister. POTUS leans down and offers a pep talk, telling her how his own sister is his best friend "She's smarter than I am. She's better than I am." At one point the girl and POTUS hug. Eventually she runs a few feet over to her brother and gives him a hug, too, which gets a lot of awws; unclear if she was escaping POTUS or acting on his implicit advice to cherish your brother. (POTUS also asked their mom if she was their sister.) He also spoke with an older woman about Beau and cancer. A pooler shouted across the table asking what does he think of this place. Pool is holding in vans outside now, for 20 minutes, we are told, as POTUS finishes the tour and does the Univision interview. |
| February 26, 2021 16:40 |
travel pool report #9/Harris County judge and Houston mayor POTUS loaded up at 3:38 p.m. CT and the motorcade began rolling from the Houston Food Bank, heading for NRG Park, a mass vaccination "super site." While POTUS was still inside the Houston Food Bank, your pooler spotted Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner – ok they were just in front of Press Van 3 – and chatted them up. Highlights: Hidalgo was again laudatory about the quick response from FEMA and the administration: "Them coming here gives hope you know --it's a community that needs hope. It's a community that's been just been, you know, torn down so many times now. It's just disaster after disaster." On Texas needing disaster aid in more counties, even though this area is already on Biden's declaration list, Turner: "Though he's here in Houston -- Harris County -- the same issues are taking place throughout the state of Texas. …I think being here in Houston, Harris County, is also speaking to what he intends to do across the board. Asked what they thought of Sen. Ted Cruz not being here, in his hometown, for a presidential visit after a crisis, both demurred. "It's nice that Senator Cornyn's here. It's nice that Governor Abbott is here. It's a very important example of unity," Hidalgo said. "We're here. That's what matters," Turner said. Texas power grid: Can it be retrofitted and weatherized without federal oversight coming along with federal dollars? Should it remain independent? Turner: "It should have happened a long time ago. It should have started in 2011….The state of Texas went to a market driven approach, hoping that by allowing these power generators to increase them charge for megawatt hours from a few 1000 to 9000 per megawatt that that would have incentivize people to weatherize the system. It did not work. Okay? It didn't work. But the Public Utility Commission should have mandated ERCOT to have sufficient reserves to prevent blackouts. That was precisely the bill that I filed in 2011, House Bill 1986. The people in the state of Texas are going to demand that something takes place. They're wanting accountability and they wanted the assurance that what happened last week is not happen again." Q Should the federal government pay to retrofit and weatherize the Texas grid? Hidalgo: "Part of it is weatherization. Part of it is just the plants that exist needed to have had reserves on hand. That's how it's done elsewhere. These guys just didn't do it because there was no regulation or requirement. There was no incentive. And frankly, they felt like they could get away with that, under the state leadership." As for the solution, she's not ready to say. "But the point is, we can't get distracted at this political point whether it's at the climate change fight, the wind turbine fight, whether it's state versus feds. What we've got to figure out is how are we going to have a grid that is resilient, and that's not rocket science. They do it elsewhere." Turner: "You've got the state of Texas sitting on a rainy day fund of about $12 billion dollars," and Texas stands to get maybe $14 billion more under the $1.9 trillion bailout plan. "You just can't look to the feds for 100%. So it's a combination of the power generators. It's our responsibility as well. They just can't make money and not invest….You cannot expect just to consumers the customers to pay to pay that tab." None of this came up with Biden, they said. They were focused on current needs. "What this trip highlights is unity and it's a challenge that is going to take unity," Hidalgo said, noting the Republican governor and Sen. John Cornyn, and the Democratic members of the U.S. House. She and Turner also are Democrats. Turner, asked about potential reluctance outside Texas for taxpayers to help solve the state's grid problems: "That's a narrow perspective. We've got the petrochemical industry here in Houston-Harris County that benefits people across the country…. If Texas wants to hold on to ERCOT, which is a closed grid, and you start asking for assistance from outside, you might want to think about whether or not it's time to restructure your grid, to open it up so that you can get generation, get power, from the East or from the West Coast when you need it…. Texas has to make a decision as to whether or not the model that we have put in place, that is very closed, whether or not that is still prudent. That's a serious conversation that needs to take place." |
| February 26, 2021 17:11 |
Travel pool report #10/NRG Park OTR The president's motorcade arrived at NRG Stadium ar 4pm. POTUS stayed in his limo for several minutes on the phone. FLOTUS next to him. This is a mass vaccination site, biggest in Texas. POTUS and FLOTUS will get an overview from military personnel. They got out of the car at 4:05. Cars are parked next to those big white tents that cars drive through as Texans get shots. They're at Lane 7, marked by a big red sign. Perhaps a couple hundred troops are waiting under the canopies of Lanes 2 and 3. The members of Congress and mayor and judge are here, too. Background on stop at the FEMA COVID-19 vaccination facility at NRG Stadium: The President and First Lady will meet with Local Leaders on arrival to NRG Stadium.
After, the President will deliver remarks from the Teal Parking Lot of NRG Stadium. The President will be standing with 12 vaccine workers from DOD, FEMA, Harris County, and the City of Houston. NRG Stadium Vaccination Center: The NSG Stadium Vaccination Center is a Community Vaccination Center that has launched at NRG Park, in partnership with the State of Texas. FEMA will operate the site as a full-time vaccination center for eight weeks, administering up to 6,000 shots a day and operating seven days a week. The 11-lane drive-through site opened on Tuesday, February 24, with 222 active-duty Department of Defense personnel and 13 FEMA personnel on-site to support vaccination operations, along with 100 county personnel. Vaccines administered at the site are provided directly by the federal government. Equity is front and center to both how the site was located and how it is run. For example, FEMA has established an over-the-phone interpretation service for site staff to be able to communicate with visitors who have limited English proficiency. The NRG Park site will operate by appointment only, with individuals notified for sign-up using the Harris County and City of Houston vaccination waitlists. Individuals can register for the county or city waitlist online or by phone. The NRG Park site had previously hosted several mass vaccination events. This center was announced along with two other federally-established Texas sites opening this week, at Globe Life Field in Arlington and Fair Park in Dallas. |
| February 26, 2021 17:17 |
pool report #11/Biden comment on Iran Asked what message he was trying to send to Iran with the air strike, Biden said: "You can't act with impunity." He paused, then added, "Be careful." Biden was reviewing a uniformed medical team at the NRG Park vaccination site. More tk not as newsy. |
| February 26, 2021 17:38 |
travel pool report #11a/NRG Park Other than that remark on Iran in #11... President Biden was speaking with a small group of uniformed personnel, most with "MED" patches. He praised their contribution to the COVID-19 relief effort, said that if you ever want to get something done, turn to someone in uniform. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he told them. "We finally got access to the vaccine and found we didn't have enough vaccinators -- people to shots in people's arms. The first place I went, I went to FEMA, and I went to the Defense Department. This is it, man. They're the best." Motorcade rolled from the OTR, at the drive through vaccine site, at 4:18 pm CT. Didn't get far before coming to a stop. Mayor Turner walked past the traffic jam -- we're just going around the corner. Pool was at the speech site by 4:25. Teal Lot 30, a mostly empty parking lot near NRG Stadium. Press office confirmed a roughly 15 minute stoppage to limit access of cars (carrying vaccine-seekers) for POTUS' security. We await the president's speech. A lectern with the presidential seal is set up. Behind it, a FEMA trailer with a satellite dish on top. Next to that is a Harris County Public Health vehicle and on the side, one from the Harris County Hospital District. Program will start shortly and will be livestreamed. |
| February 26, 2021 18:09 |
travel pool report #12/Biden done speaking Biden spoke speaking at NRG Park in the parking lot. Biden vowed ongoing help to Texas. "When a crisis hits our states, it's not a Republican or Democrat who's hurting. It's a fellow American who's hurting," he said. "My prayers are with you in the aftermath of the storm...We will be true partners to help you cover the bill for the storm and this pandemic." Quick pivot to pandemic and vaccine ramp-up. VIPs seated very distant from each other toward the front include members of the US House, city and county leaders, chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Biden recalls his son Beau's fight with cancer with a shout out to Houston's famed MD Anderson Cancer Center. From OTR stop nearby: The vaccinators at the NRG vaccination facility were Active Duty Air Force. |
| February 26, 2021 18:48 |
travel pool report #13/departing Houston Motorcade arrived at Ellington Field. The Bidens boarded Air Force One at 5:44 pm. The president turned back, saluted and then waved before they entered. Passed lots of palm trees that look like they suffered badly in the hard freeze last week. Cars on the service road were stopped, and one man had climbed partway over the concrete barrier to flash two thumbs down as we whizzed past. Pool can only guess whether that was aimed at the president, a few hundred yards ahead, or if this man knew who might be aboard the unarmored vans near the rear. Just before the exit off the highway, another cluster of drivers stopped entirely for who knows how long seemed pretty grumpy, and several thumbs down were spotted, including one man standing out the door of his big rig, sans trailer. Lots of other folks we passed along the route had given friendly waves, however. No sign of the Trump campaign flag as we passed the combo McDonald's/Shell station just before entering the air field, though there were banners a block closer, in front of Arise Church. And then at the final turnoff, a guy waving a huge Biden head. Next stop JBA. |
| February 26, 2021 21:11 |
pool report #14/landed at JBA Uneventful flight. Bad weather call, so travel pool will deliver POTUS and FLOTUS to the White House by motorcade. |
| February 26, 2021 21:28 |
Travel pool report #15/rolling from JBA The first couple emerged from Air Force One in a steady light drizzle at 9:19 pm. Dr. Biden was the one holding the large black umbrella. They walked down the steps together under it. At the bottom the president ducked a bit under the umbrella and gave a salute in a partial crouch. Whoever it was he was chatting with kept his attention long enough that, like the travel pool, Dr. Biden seemed to think they'd been out there long enough. She and the umbrella headed to the limo. POTUS waved at the pool and followed her a moment later. Motorcade rolled at 9:22 pm or so. |
| February 26, 2021 21:31 |
Travel pool report #15a/JBA greeters Greeter at Joint Base Andrews: Catherine Snelson, spouse of Colonel Snelson So, it was Col. Snelson who POTUS was talking with. Sorry couldn't make it out in the dark and drizzle. Still driving toward the White House. |
| February 26, 2021 21:53 |
Travel pool report #16/back at White House The president's motorcade is back at the White House. Pool did not see POTUS and FLOTUS. The windows on the pool bus were so fogged we couldn't see much anyway. Lid declared at 9:48 in the rain. |
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Travel Pool Reports of February 26, 2021 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/348840