Vice Presidential Pool Reports of June 23, 2021

VP pool report #1 - gathering for voting rights event

Hello from the White House where Vice President Harris is meeting with a group of voting rights advocates in the South Court Auditorium at noon. Pool has inquired about who will be in attendance.

The event will not be livestreamed but remarks will be posted after on the White House YouTube page.

Later the VP will meet with LGBTQ stakeholders to mark Pride Month in her ceremonial office.

Pool has been tested and we're awaiting the first event to begin. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.

VP pool report #2 - background on event

From the VP's office:

BACKGROUND

Today at 12:00 PM ET, the Vice President will participate in a virtual discussion with 20 members from leading civil rights and voting rights groups. Following last night's Senate vote on the For the People Act, the meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the path forward and recommit to protecting voting rights. This meeting builds on the Vice President's work to bring together a national coalition on voting rights, to promote voter registration and engagement Americans across the country to protect our fundamental right to vote. She will drive the message that the "fight is not over" and that President and the Administration remain committed to ensure that all Americans have access to the ballot.

Participants

• Stacey Abrams, Fair Fight
• Reverend Barber, Poor People's Campaign
• Michael Brune, Sierra Club
• Rahna Epting, MoveOn
• Arkadi Gerney, Hub Project
• Leah Greenberg, Indivisible
• Wade Henderson, Leadership Conference for Civil & Human Rights
• Mary Kay Henry, SEIU
• Karen Hobert Flynn, Common Cause
• Derrick Johnson, NAACP
• Gene Karpinski, League of Conservation Voters
• Danielle Melfi, Build Back Together
• Maurice Mitchell, Working Families Party/Black Lives Matter
• Tiffany Muller, End Citizen's United
• Janet Murgia, UNIDOS
• Navin Nayak, Center for American Progress
• John Podesta, Center for American Progress
• Becky Pringle, NEA
• Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO
• Michael Waldman, Brennan Center
• Randi Weingarten, AFT
• Rob Weissman, Public Citizen
• Stephanie Young, When We All Vote
• NOTE: this list is updated as of early this morning – additional participants may join.

Additional Background

• Over the last month, Vice President Harris has engaged with voting rights advocates on the ground in Greenville, South Carolina and in Atlanta, Georgia.
• At the White House, she met with Texas legislators who blocked legislation that would have made voting more difficult.
• During a roundtable in Pittsburgh on Monday, the Vice President discussed voting rights with labor leaders.
• Over the next few days, she meet with business leaders from across the country to build support within the business community on the importance of voting rights and protecting democracy.

VP pool report #3 - voting rights event

Pool entered the auditorium at 12:13 pm.

VP Harris was seated at a small white table placed on the right side of the stage against the backdrop of three large screens featuring the virtual attendees.

She opened the event by saying she believes the role she and the administration can play is to "support all the work you've done historically, and recently around convening folks, lifting up the voice of the people. And, and thinking about what is our strategy to do what I think collectively is our goal, which is to ensure that all people in our country have an unfettered access to the ballot box, understanding that our democracy will be as strong as the ability of the people to participate, and any attempts to weaken or lessen the participation of the people in their democracy will result in a week or nation."

Said getting every Senate Democrat in last night's vote was a "feat" and should be considered an accomplishment.

Said there was unity in the Democratic caucus in recognizing the importance of moving forward, to ensure that the American people have full access to the ballot box.

More TK.

VP pool report #4 - more from voting rights event

Says Jan. 6 was one of the "vivid outrageous examples" of an attack on democracy.

"We know that our democracy is under attack in many ways, and that we must preserve the promises of a democracy, including appreciating that the right to vote is fundamental to that"

Says her most recent count is 389 anti-voting bills in 48 states.

Harris said there may be some who have been intent on attacking voters rights, who will perhaps think that there's some wind in their sails, because of what happened last night in terms of the vote.

She said opponents of the bill didn't have the courage to debate the bill.

"The fact is our fight does not look very different than it did yesterday."

Says they will continue to work toward passing federal legislation.

"And again, it's about what we can do to uplift all the voices around stopping legislation that is in process, but also addressing what must happen in those states where legislation has already passed to empower voters, and to navigate the system that has been tampered with."

Called this "an inflection point" and said she and the president remain undeterred.

She finished her remarks after about 13 minutes and pool was escorted out at 12:27 pm.

VPOTUS Pool Report No. 5 - LGBTQ event details

Hi there - I'm taking over VP print pool duties this afternoon.

BACKGROUND
Vice President Harris is having an in-person meeting with seven LGBTQ+ advocates today at 4:00 PM in her Ceremonial Office as a part of Pride Month. The Vice President will discuss her support for the LGBTQ+ community and will amplify the progress that has been made. She will highlight her commitment to combatting discrimination, intolerance, and hate that many LGBTQ+ Americans face each day.

Participants:

• Imani Woody, Founder, Mary's House [Pronouns: She/Her]
• Amiri Nash, DC Youth Poet Laureate [Pronouns: He/Him]
• Marcelle Afram, Chef and Co-Owner, Shababi Palestinian Rotisserie Chicken [Pronouns: They/Them]
• D Ojeda, Policy Advocate, National Center for Trans Equality [Pronouns: They/Them]
• Mia Ives-Roblee, Director of Disability Justice Initiative, Center for American Progress [Pronouns: She/Her]
• Anthony Musa, Chair, Pride in Federal Service & Sanctions Licensing Officer, U.S. Department of the Treasury [Pronouns: He/His]

Background on VP's Work:

• As San Francisco District Attorney:
  • The Vice President created one of the first LGBTQ+ hate crimes units in the nation.
  • She supported the Gwen Araujo and the Justice for Victims Act after the horrific murder of Gwen Araujo, where the defendants tried to assert the "trans panic" defense. The bill strengthened training for hate crimes investigations and sought to reduce bias related to investigating these crimes.
• As Attorney General:

The Vice President refused to defend Prop 8 and played a key role in bringing marriage equality back to California as it was litigated in the courts. When many were content with civil unions, she performed marriages on the steps of city hall.

• She fought successfully to ban the use of the "gay/trans panic defense" in California and organized support across the country to end the practice.
• Vice President Harris ensured the California Department of Justice published a report about hate crimes in California every year.

• As U.S. Senator:
  • The Vice President supported codifying protections for the LGBTQ community in federal anti-discrimination law as it relates in employment, education, housing, public accommodations, credit, and other areas. (co-sponsored of the Equality Act).
  • She supported making sure religion is never used to discriminate or deny equal rights to LGBTQ people (introduced Do No Harm Act).
  • Vice President Harris supported ending discrimination against potential foster and adoptive parents by signing into law the (co-sponsored the Every Child Deserves a Family Act).
  • She supported banning "conversion therapy" (co-sponsored the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act).
  • She supported establishing protection from discrimination, bullying, and harassment for LGBTQ students in public K-12 schools (co-sponsored the Student Non-discrimination Act and Safe Schools Improvement Act).
  • She supported ensuring that every patient who needs PREP is enrolled in an insurance plan that covers it as well as all of the necessary tests and visits associated with it (introduced PREP Coverage & Access Act).
  • She supported ensuring that LGBTQ people are properly counted in the census (introduced Census Equality Act).

Some additional color:

The event is taking place in the VP's ceremonial office.

The preferred pronouns of attendees are on their name tags.

We're holding for now - more TK

VPOTUS Pool Report No. 6

Pool was brought in at 4:07 p.m. We left at 4:13 p.m.

She answered no questions including on the border trip and if former President Trump's trip motivated it being scheduled.

VPOTUS said while this is Pride month this is a conversation that needs to be had "Every day of the week all year round."

"My pronouns are she and her," she also said.

"There's a lot of work to be done."

Talked about how she and the president are "allies."

Harris spoke a bit about her record on LGBTQ issues in California, including officiating the first marriage in the state.

Talked about rescinding the trans military ban. And how the VA will cover gender affirming surgery.

More TK