Vice Presidential Pool Reports of March 15, 2021

VP Pool #1 JBA departure

Hello — I’ll be your print pooler for the VP’s two-day trip out west. First stop: Las Vegas, where Harris will be visiting a vaccination clinic and the culinary academy.

VP Harris and second gentleman Emhoff arrived at the tarmac at JBA at 9 am. She was greeted by Lt Col Tara Opielowski, Deputy Commander of the 89 Airlift Support Group and Sarbjit Edmund, Senior Protocol Specialist. She also took photos with Chris Nichols, VPD agent and family.

VP and Emhoff boarded AF2 at 9:03 am and waved.

Staff traveling with VP today include her Chief of Staff Tina Flournoy.

She did not take questions.

Wheels up shortly for Vegas.

VP Pool #2 Vegas arrival

AF2 landed at 11:15 am PST after a nearly five-hour, mostly uneventful flight.

VP did a brief OTR after boarding earlier this morning to say hello to the traveling press — about 5-7 mins. Emhoff did the same toward the end the flight.

VP and Emhoff deplaned at 11:23 am.

They were greeted by Gov. Steve Sisolak and his wife. They all chatted for about two mins at the tarmac.

Emhoff and Harris then got in separate cars — they have different events this afternoon.

Harris motorcade now en route to University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where Harris will visit a vaccination site.

VP Pool #3 Vaccination site

Motorcade arrived at UNLV's student Union at 11:35 PST.

We zipped through the strip, which was lined with people waving and taking photos/videos on their phones.

Harris entered the room serving as the vaccination site at 11:56 am. The room here had several tables spaced out and set up with vaccinators getting the doses from the vials into syringes. The tables were marked Pfizer on a blue sheet of paper or Moderna on a pink one.

Joining Harris here: Dr. Michael Gardner, Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs and UNLV Medicine President & CEO, and Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Harris said hello to everyone and watched as they drew the doses into syringes. Harris said she got the moderna vaccine, Biden got Pfizer, and pointing to the governor, she said he got J&J. "We've got them all covered."

She thanked everyone in the room and said they were saving lives. "I don't want to slow you down though," she said with a laugh.

Harris then moved on to talk to a nursing student getting vaccinated. It was hard to hear some of the conversation. She also addressed the vaccinators on that side of the room. "You all are the heroes of this moment," she said. There was a quick round of applause.

Harris talked to the nursing student to distract her as she got the shot. "There you go. Congratulations," she said with a clap after it was done.

"Thank you for being in the most noble profession," Harris told the vaccinators.

VP left the room at 12:03 pm.

Per VP office, the nursing student being vaccinated is Mailani Thompson. She is a first year nursing student at the College of Southern Nevada. She is 30 years old. She got a dose of the Moderna vaccine.

And the vaccinator was Lauren Hollifield, UNLV Fourth Year medical student.

Motorcade rolling from UNLV shortly.

VP Pool #4 OTR stop at taco place

Motorcade arrived at Tacotarian, a plant-based Mexican eatery, around 12:40 pm. Harris was joined by NV Attorney General Aaron Ford.

She said hello to the customers in the restaurant. One of them stood up to talk to her about the past year. "We're all in it together," Harris said.

VP talked to the owners of the restaurant Kristen Corral and Carlos Corral. She told them she liked their sign outside "no shirt, no shoes, no masks, no tacos." The owners said that Sen. Booker (who is vegan) has visited them before, and Harris responded that he had told her about the place.

VP talked to them about the importance of having small businesses like theirs in the community. "You're the life blood of the economy," she said.

The owners thanked Harris for what the admin has done to help small businesses.

Harris then talked to the employees behind the plexiglass. Couldn't hear a lot of the conversation, but she asked if they were getting vaccinated and encouraged them to tell their uncles and aunties to get vaccinated too.

VP left with a bag of food.

Motorcade departed at 12:55. Now en route to a stop with the culinary union.

VP Pool #5 a. Culinary Academy

Motorcade arrived at the Culinary academy at 1:03 pm. VP attended a barista training here. She walked into the room, which is set up like a coffeeshop with menus on the wall and a "All you need is Love and espresso" sign, at around 1:25 pm.

Joining her at this stop: Rep. Steven Horsford; Mark Scott, CEO of Culinary Academy of Las Vegas; Geocondo Arguello-Klein; Starr Davis, barista instructor; and Odeth Medina, barista student.

Harris looked at the menu and commented on the "cookie butter latte." "I can't even imagine that," she said.

She ordered a soy latte, and per the recommendation of the instructor, she added lavender. "I've never tried that. That's something that people do?"

As they waited for their lattes, Harris talked to the participants about the retraining work the academy has done to help unemployed people in the last year get different skills for jobs. She mentioned the unemployment benefits extension that passed in the ARP.

They also discussed the vaccine hesitancy among minority communities in Nevada.

As they left, Harris told the student she enjoyed the latte and wished her good luck.

We are now waiting for Harris to make remarks at a second stop at the academy.

VP Pool #5 b gaggle/ Culinary Academy

Harris just briefly gaggled. She dodged on a q about whether admin is considering tax increases. She said what will be in the next round of funding hasn't been decided. Will send full quotes in a min.

Before gaggle, VP entered the room for the second stop at the academy at 2:15 pm. This the academy's fulfillment center, where employees assemble boxes of food for members of the community in need of assistance.

She spoke for a few minutes, touting parts of the ARP: child tax credit, direct payments, unemployment benefits extension.

"I'm here also to make sure we get the word out, so folks know what they are entitled to receive and also by extension, they remember, this is supposed to be the job of your government, which is when you're suffering, when you need a helping hand when you need a little assistance to get over a moment of crisis unit create, that's when leaders are supposed to kick him to say, I'm here I see you and I will help you."

VP Pool #5 c Gaggle quotes

Motorcade en route to the airport. Per VP's office, Harris met with members of the culinary union earlier this afternoon before her remarks.

Rough otter transcript of gaggle — let me know if you have any questions before I lose wifi on the plane!

Asked if she would support raising taxes for next round of funding, Harris said: "Well, first of all, what I want to do is make sure that people know what they're entitled to in the American rescue plan, and so that is about the 14 $100 checks the Child Tax Credit. Part of what the President and I are talking about is also reminding people to file their taxes. We've got 30 days to do it before April 15 There are a number of folks who don't file taxes if their income is too low, but it would actually help them get their benefits quicker and maybe even direct deposits if they file their taxes now so we want to encourage people to do that, so that they know what their rights are right now. We don't, we want to avoid a situation where folks are unaware of what they're entitled to and then this moment passes and they don't get the full relief that they're entitled to get."

Asked if raising taxes is under consideration, she said: "we haven't really figured out what the next phase is going to be, to be honest with you, and we're gonna make those decisions, you know, this just happened last week and we want to get on the road matrix people know what it is, so I'll keep you posted."

On what she has learned from her trip today:

"Well I've learned one that people are suffering but we knew that before, and we knew it based on the statistics but but the stories, add much more color to that point right when you hear the folks whose you know folks want to work. And for those who are in industries where they may not get rehired. What that is going to mean for them in terms of prolonged suffering, and and that was really the point of the stories that I heard today. What have I learned I've learned the character of people to help one another"

On why admin feels the need to sell the bill if it's already popular: "It's not selling... it's it's kind of like you, you buy a product you're even sold on the product, but you need some directions out of the box. Right. And so this is about hey, know that you're entitled to this, file your taxes so that you can speed up the benefits that you're going to receive, to talk to your friends and neighbors about getting vaccinations because we are speeding up the delivery and supply of vaccinations and sites like UNLV. These are the things we are doing to let people know what they're entitled to and to spread the word and think of it more as a public education campaign. This is what's happening. This is what you're entitled to receive. And so go out there and get it. Thank you."

VP Pool # 5 d cleaning up quote/audio links

Got a q about a quote I sent earlier, so cleaning up here. Also links to otter files for Harris remarks and gaggle below.

"I'm here also to make sure we get the word out, so folks know what they are entitled to receive and also by extension, they remember, this is supposed to be the job of your government, which is when you're suffering, when you need a helping hand when you need a little assistance to get over a moment of crisis you didn't create, that's when leaders are supposed to kick in to say, I'm here I see you and I will help you."

https://otter.ai/u/VXxSCgE1VIOY0ZOfs-H-TgHpSNE

https://otter.ai/u/immo18t5itiBbQvqRER5aeleIAw

VP Pool #6 Vegas airport/departure

VP motorcade arrived at Vegas airport at 3:04 pm. Harris boarded plane at 3:06 pm.

Wheels up shortly for LA, where Harris and Emhoff will be staying tonight.

VP Pool #7 Harris call readouts/LA arrival

VP's office passes this along: "Today the Vice President spoke with former Nevada Senator Harry Reid. They discussed the American Rescue Plan and its impact on Nevadans given the economic devastation families and communities have endured due to COVID-19. In advance of heading to California, the Vice President spoke with California Governor Gavin Newsom and reiterated her support for the Governor. They also discussed the American Rescue plan and its impact on Californians."

Harris was on the phone with Newsom as she boarded AF2 from Vegas to LAX.

AF2 landed in LA after a short flight at 4:08 pm. It is extremely windy here. The VP's seal from the plane blew off and fell on the tarmac as we waited for Harris and Emhoff.

Harris and Emhoff deplaned at 4:21 pm, holding hands. Harris chatted with the flight crew before taking a very windy photo. Harris kept trying to hold her hair back in the wind.

No more public events for the two scheduled for today. Motorcade en route now to their private residence in LA.

Pool report: VP Harris at Culinary Academy

Press entered Culinary Academy of Las Vegas at 12:44 pm.

In the academy's ballroom, the CALV's community food assistance program team has set out boxes containing thousands of pounds of cucumbers, oranges, onions, potatoes and tomatoes.

The emergency food assistance program has distributed 12.58 million pounds of food during the pandemic, in food baskets that typically contain 30 to 40 pounds of produce.

Team members of the Community Food Assistance Program began loading boxes with produce at 1:41 pm.

Harris entered the ballroom of the CALV at 2:15 pm alongside Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV).

CEO the CALV gave introductory remarks about how the food assistance program has helped people through the pandemic, a group predominantly made up of women.

At 2:18, Horsford spoke about the CALV, which he previously led, and then introduced Harris and the American Rescue Plan.

"This rescue plan finally puts people and workers first," he said.
"We are going to crush this virus with the help of the American Rescue Plan," he said

Harris began speaking at 2:21, with thanks for the culinary workers.

"Help is here," she said.

Harris discussed the American Rescue Plan, including ensuring equity with the plan, and she explained child tax credits included in the plan.

"You are the heroes of this moment," she said.

Harris's speech ended at 2:29 pm

Horsford explained to Harris that the food for the program is funded by the CARES Act.

Harris recognizes the difficult NV has faces as a state reliant on hospitality.

"Meet the moment," Harris says of the American Rescue Plan.

Harris says she has learned more about people's suffering during her visit to Las Vegas.

Harris said she wants to make sure people know what they are entitled to in the American Rescue Plan as a part of this tour, calling it a public awareness campaign.

Harris exits the floor at 2:37 after taking a couple questions from press.