Vice Presidential Pool Reports of July 21, 2022

VP travel pool report #1/arrival

Vice President Kamala Harris touched down in Charlotte on Air Force 2 at 11:20 under overcast skies.

VP travel pool report #2/COVID test negative

On background from a White House official: "Vice President Harris tested negative for COVID-19. She was last with the President on Tuesday. She spoke to the President by phone this morning. The schedule will continue as planned. The Vice President will remain masked following the advice of the White House medical team."

VP travel pool report #3/departs plane

Harris was greeted by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper at 11:35 and gave a quick wave to the pool. The motorcade left for the Carole Hoefener Center in uptown Charlotte at 11:40.

VP travel pool report #4/arrival

The motorcade arrived at the Carole Hoefener Center in uptown Charlotte at 11:56.

VP travel pool report #5/Internet convo

Small groups of people waved and took pictures as the motorcade drove through uptown Charlotte.

Harris and Cooper met with three beneficiaries of the Affordable Connectivity Program at the Carole Hoefener Center. Harris thanked them for their stories. One beneficiary said the program could help connect seniors to their families and help them with online shopping. Family relationships were strained by the distance caused by the pandemic, he said.

Harris thanked Cooper for his leadership in promoting the program in North Carolina.

VP travel pool report #6/remarks beginning

Andy Berke, Special Representative for Broadband, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce took the stage at 1:03.

On the ACP: "We call this internet for all, and we mean it. No one can be left behind." -Berke

VP travel pool report #7/VP speaks on Biden

Harris said she spoke with President Joe Biden by phone on Thursday. "He is in good spirits," Harris said about Biden's positive Covid-19 test result. Biden is working from the White House residence, she said.

VP travel pool report #8/VP speech ends

Vice President Kamala Harris ended her remarks at 1:43. She asked local and state leaders to help drive enrollment for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which provides discounted Internet for qualifying families and up to $100 off on laptops, tablets and desktop computers.

"Every person in our nation, no matter how much they earn, should be able to afford a high-speed internet plan," she said.

Harris will soon attend a roundtable with state legislators to talk about reproductive rights.

(attached to this email are a transcript of her remarks, as well as an audio file)
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VP travel pool report #9/roundtable begins

The roundtable on reproductive rights has begun.

On Background from a White House Official

Vice President Harris will convene more than 20 North Carolina state legislators and local leaders to discuss protecting reproductive rights. During the meeting with state leaders, the Vice President will convey the Administration’s commitment to protecting access to reproductive health care, including abortion access, and the Vice President will encourage the legislators to continue fighting to protect reproductive rights. The Vice President convened state legislators from across the country on July 8, 2022 at the White House; on July 14, 2022 in Orlando, Florida; on July 16, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and on July 18, 2022 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Speakers:

• Governor Roy Cooper, North Carolina Governor
• Sen. Natalie Murdock, NC State Senator
• Jenny Black, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic
• Calla Hales, Co-owner and Executive Director, A Preferred Women’s Health Center

VP travel pool report #10/roundtable

Harris met with about a dozen state legislators, as well as the executive director of an abortion provider and the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic for the roundtable on reproductive rights.

Harris said the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade not only took away the right to abortion for millions of Americans, but puts other issues like access to contraceptives and gay marriage at stake.

She called on state legislators to support Gov. Roy Cooper, whose veto power allows Democrats to block anti-abortion legislation. Harris also called on Congress to codify the right to abortion.

Calla Hales, Co-owner and Executive Director of A Preferred Women's Health Center, said the number of protesters at abortion clinics has increased since the Dobbs decision. Hales said she worries increased anti-abortion rhetoric could lead to violence.

Jenny Black, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said North Carolina has already seen a spike in non-resident abortions since the Dobbs decision, as other Southern states have restricted access.

"We are experiencing a true public health crisis," Black said.

VP travel pool report #11/roundtable quotes

More to come later. Below are full quotes from Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to Charlotte:

From the roundtable:

• Harris: "There are certain principles that are at stake on this issue and in this discussion, and one of them is that everyone in America should be free to make decisions about her own body without government interference."
• Harris: Supporting the right to abortion "does not require you to abandon your faith or your beliefs, it's to agree that she should be able to make that (choice) without the government telling her what to do. That really is as much as anything what's at stake here."
• "It's about one of the most important princpples upon which our nation was founded: freedom, liberty, freedom from government interference in the most intimate decisions that are essentially about hearth and home."
• Harris said as Vice President she's traveled the world and talked with at least 80 foreign leaders. "When we look at our highest court taking a constitutional right from the people of our country, we must understand what this also means in terms of what we stand for as a democracy, which has stated certain principles about the rights of individuals to be free from interference by their government. So all this is at stake."
• Harris noted "extremist so-called leaders across the country who are daring to also pass laws that will not provide an exception for violent criminal acts like rape and incest."

VP travel pool report #12/motorcade

The motorcade left the Carole Hoefener Center in uptown Charlotte at 3:32 for the airport.

CORRECTION: VP travel pool report #12/motorcade

CORRECTION: The motorcade is not heading to the airport yet.

VP travel pool report #13/fraternity

Harris received a standing ovation during the 2022 international meeting of Omega Psi Phi, a historically Black fraternity.

She encouraged them to help elect two Democratic U.S. Senate candidates, Cheri Beasley in North Carolina and John Fetterman in Pennsylvania.

She also asked them to talk to their families about reproductive rights, saying abortion may not be the right choice for every family, but that it should not be the government’s choice.

VP travel pool report #14/departure

Harris entered Air Force 2 at 4:22 under mostly clear skies. Wheels up at 4:35.

VP travel pool report #15/final, quotes

Final dispatch from the pool:

PRIMARY REMARKS

Andy Berke, Special Representative for Broadband, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce:

• "We call this internet for all, and we mean it. No one can be left behind."

Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt (D-NC-Charlotte)

• Said she wants to make Charlotte the most "digitally equitable city in America."
• "This big audacious goal won't happen overnight, but rest assured we are already making progress."

Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Federal Communications Commission

• Said school children who lack Internet access are sometimes forced to use fast food restaurants just to finish their homework.
• "We can fix this, and the good news is we already are."

Gov. Roy Cooper

• On making high-speed Internet affordable: "This is happening now, and we need it to happen now."

Tiffany White, ACP Beneficiary, who introduced Vice President Harris

• Said the ACP benefit allows her to work from home, go to school and stay better connected with her friends and family.
• She works as a digital navigator for the Center for Digital Equity, housed at Queens University in Charlotte. White said she can connect with people who call the office because she also receives the benefit, and tells them: "We are in this together."

Vice President Kamala Harris

• "He is in good spirits, he is feeling well, he is doing well." -on Joe Biden.
• "In the 21st century, high-speed Internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity."
• "For so many of us the internet is an essential part of our daily lives, and yet more than 30 million people in our country still do not have access to high-speed Internet. Think about that."
• "The Affordable Connectivity Program has already done so much good. Today about 13 million people are enrolled, and these are students who can now study at their kitchen table instead of in the parking lot of a local fast food restaurant."
• "Our nation is facing a maternal mortality crisis." She continued: "With high-speed Internet connection and through telehealth, these women can access life-saving maternal care."
• "We need your help, and that's why I'm here." She continued: "Talk to everybody who comes over for Sunday dinner, at little league games, at work, at school, in your neighborhood. Talk to folks about what is available to them that they may not otherwise know."

FROM ROUNDTABLE

Jenny Black, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic

• "We are experiencing a true public health crisis. It shouldn't

Calla Hales, Co-owner and Executive Director of A Preferred Women's Health Center

• Her parents opened their first clinic when she was eight years old. "For us, abortion is not just a moral good, it's a family value."
• Hales said since Jan. 1, 2017, the Charlotte clinic alone has seen over 68,000 protesters on their sidewalk. That's more than double the number of patients they saw during the same time period.
• "We've been forced to deal with various security threats, such as trespassing and blockades, as protesters begin to really press the boundaries of what they can get away with."
• "There's a major possibility that this increased rhetoric will result in the attack or murder of another provider. Who knows, maybe my own."

Sen. Natalie Murdock, NC State Senator

• "If we do not elect more pro-choice Democrats this November, North Carolina will become the next Texas, passing extreme legislation that will roll back reproductive rights, justice and abortion access."
• "Our state is key."

Vice President Kamala Harris

• Harris: "There are certain principles that are at stake on this issue and in this discussion, and one of them is that everyone in America should be free to make decisions about her own body without government interference."

• Harris: Supporting the right to abortion "does not require you to abandon your faith or your beliefs, it's to agree that she should be able to make that (choice) without the government telling her what to do. That really is as much as anything what's at stake here."

• "It's about one of the most important principles upon which our nation was founded: freedom, liberty, freedom from government interference in the most intimate decisions that are essentially about hearth and home."

• Harris said as Vice President she's traveled the world and talked with at least 80 foreign leaders. "When we look at our highest court taking a constitutional right from the people of our country, we must understand what this also means in terms of what we stand for as a democracy, which has stated certain principles about the rights of individuals to be free from interference by their government. So all this is at stake."

• Harris noted "extremist so-called leaders across the country who are daring to also pass laws that will not provide an exception for violent criminal acts like rape and incest."

FROM 2022 INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF OMEGA PSI PHI

• Harris: Calls on members to help elect Democrats Cheri Beasley of North Carolina and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania to the U.S. Senate.
• "If we pick up some seats then during the course of our administration we could really see through what we got started."
• Harris pointed to racially-biased home appraisals. "You all have heard those stories," she said, saying some Black families have placed photos of white families throughout the home in order to receive a fair price.
• Harris said some states are passing laws to make it more difficult to vote. She referenced a law in Georgia that made it illegal to serve water to people waiting in line at voting booths.
• On abortion: "It may not be your choice, it may not be the choice for your family, but the government shouldn't be in the business of making that decision for her.
• "People around the world watch us because we are a role model." She continued, saying attacks on abortion and voting rights are not just an attack on those rights, but "an attack on democracy."