Vice Presidential Pool Reports of June 1, 2022

VP Pool Report #1

Good Morning –

Pool is gathering on pebble beach.

Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver remarks from the Executive Office Buliding's Indian Treaty Room today on the 'White House plan to elevate water security as a foreign policy priority.'

VP is expected to begin her remakes around 11:45, but pooler was advised the timeline may be shifting.

Remarks will be live streamed at WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Sending along background attributable to a White House Official:

On Wednesday, June 1st, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the first ever White House Action Plan on Global Water Security, which, for the first time, elevates water security as a foreign policy priority and outlines an innovative, whole-of-government approach to addressing this challenge.

In her remarks, the Vice President will emphasize the implications of water scarcity on communities globally—from their ability to grow food to having access to safe drinking water—and the ripple effect they can have. She will emphasize how our international actions will help to prevent conflict and advance cooperation, increase equity and economic growth, and build more inclusive and resilient communities. Vice President Harris will also highlight what the Biden-Harris Administration has done to ensure water security here at home, including by securing $63 billion in water infrastructure investments through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan.

In addition to the Action Plan, the Vice President will release the 1-year report of the Biden-Harris Administration's Drought Resilience Interagency Working Group. This first-of-its-kind group was charged with addressing worsening drought conditions in the U.S. to support farmers, ranchers, Tribes, and communities impacted by ongoing water shortages. Over the last year, the Administration has made considerable progress in heralding an all-of-government approach to addressing drought. With roughly 90 million Americans currently living in drought conditions, the Administration's work on drought resilience is of critical importance.

Wednesday's announcement will build on the Vice President's leadership to underscore the critical importance of access to clean and safe water. As recently as last month, the Vice President spoke about the issue of drought at the ASEAN summit. She also traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Newark, New Jersey this year to highlight the Administration's work to ensure clean and safe water by replacing lead pipes.

Biden-Harris Administration Actions to Address Drought Resilience at Home

• In April 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration launched the Drought Resilience Interagency Working Group (IWG) to address worsening drought conditions in the United States and to support farmers, ranchers, Tribes, and communities impacted by ongoing water shortages.
  
  • Co-chaired by the Secretaries of the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Drought Resilience IWG reports to the National Climate Task Force and is one of five White House Resilience IWGs tackling climate impacts. It includes a total of fourteen Departments across the Federal government.
• Key actions taken in 2021 by the Drought Resilience IWG include:
  
  • The Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation's $8.3 billion investment of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds in water resilience;
  • USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service $918 million investment in watershed infrastructure projects with and for local communities also funded through BIL;
  • Launching a federal-state, conservation task force with the Western Governors' Association;
  • And, advancing drought and soil monitoring systems, and more.
• BIL provides historic investments of over $13 billion to help communities meet water supply demands through a wide variety of infrastructure improvements including water efficiency, storage, conveyance, recycling, and watershed protection and follow-through on the President's promise to build climate resilience.

Additional Background on Vice President Harris' Leadership on Water Access

• In the Senate, the Vice President authored multiple pieces of legislation to address the western water crisis and wildfires that are exacerbated by worsening drought conditions. Components of these bills, including parts of the Water for Tomorrow Act and the Wildfire Defense Act, are included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
• Vice President Harris traveled the country to make the case for investing in the nation's water infrastructure through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including visiting a water treatment plant in Oakland, California and Lake Mead in Nevada, which provides water to 25 million people in Nevada, Arizona, California, and Mexico.
• Vice President Harris has raised the issue of clean water access to world leaders, including at the Paris Peace Forum, the Leaders' Summit on Climate, and while meeting King Abdullah II of Jordan. She also launched the Mekong Coastal Habitat Conservation program while in Vietnam.

VP Pool Report #2

At 11:49 AM, four additional speakers entered the room to discuss the importance of water security in foreign nations to promote peace and health.

Additional speakers include:

• - Administrator Samantha Power, U.S. Agency for International Development
• - Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks, U.S. Department of Defense
• - Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation
• - Sonia Shahrigian, Country Team Lead for Timor-Leste, Millennium Challenge Corporation

The Vice President did not immediately join the four women as they discussed the White House's inter-agency effort to promote global water security.

Note: The event was originally schedule to take place in the South Court Auditorium, but your pooler learned it was moved to the Indian Treaty Room due to technical issues that would not be resolved in time for the VP's remarks.

VP Pool Report #3

VP Harris began her remarks at 12:03 PM after entering the room following all four of her guest speakers' remarks.

She praised the administration's $63B investment in water infrastructure to address water insecurity, including replacing all lead pipes in the US within the next 10 years and funding "water efficiency, water reuse" and water storage.

VP announced a new a plan on global water security to "prevent conflict and advance cooperation" between nations.

"Water insecurity makes our world less stable" and "less equitable".

"As many of you know, I am a daughter of California... I have been my entire life acutely aware of the reality of our scarcity" of water, Harris said. She noted the droughts in California and said "even when I was in the Senate we would talk about this issue."

VP linked the water insecurity and droughts and wildfires to climate change and the environmental crisis and said it disproportionately affects women and girls.

"Let's get in front of this, let's take it seriously," VP said.

"Many of our most fundamental national security issues" are related to water insecurity.

VP concluded remarks at 12:15 PM.

Please check all quotes against the transcript. Reminder that the event streamed live at WhiteHosue.gov.