Pool Reports of February 27, 2024

In-town pool report: gathering

In-house pool is now gathering for Biden's meeting with four congressional leaders

In-town pool report #2: Biden's meeting with congressional leaders

passing along from the WH. quotes from biden's brief remarks coming in a moment.

The President is hosting Congressional leaders to discuss the urgency of passing the bipartisan national security supplemental and keeping the government open.

Meeting Participants:
The Vice President
Speaker Mike Johnson (LA-04)
Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY)
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY)
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08)
Director Bill Burns, Central Intelligence Agency
Director Shalanda Young, Office of Management and Budget

White House Participants
Jeff Zients, Assistant to the President & Chief of Staff
Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
Steve Ricchetti, Assistant to the President & Counselor to the President
Lorraine Voles, Assistant to the President & Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Shuwanza Goff, Assistant to the President & Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs

Congressional Staff Participants
Hayden Haynes, Chief of Staff, Speaker Mike Johnson
Michael Lynch, Chief of Staff, Office of the Senate Majority Leader
Sharon Soderstrom, Chief of Staff, Office of the Senate Minority Leader
Gideon Bragin, Executive Director, Office of the House Minority Leader

This is pool report #2. Your pooler forgot to number the first pool report as #1. Your pooler regrets the error.

In-town pool report #3: Biden's remarks

The pool entered the oval office at 11:42 a.m. Vice President was sitting to Biden's right, Speaker Johnson was on a couch beside her with Sen McConnell on Johnson's right. Sen. Schumer was on a couch to Biden's left, and next to Schumer was Rep. Jeffries.

The president did not take any questions from reporters following his remarks.

Biden stressed the passing of the bipartisan national security supplemental as well as the importance of funding the government, adding that it is an "important solution we need to find."

Then when talking about Ukraine, Biden said the "need is urgent."

"I think the consequences of inaction everyday in Ukraine are dire."

The president then spoke briefly about Israel.

"We need to turn the supplemental. we need to deal with the Israelis. But that also contains a significant portion having to do with humanitarian assistance in the Palestinian area, which I think is important."

"And we have to replenish the air defenses for Israel."

On government funding, the president cracked a joke.

"And government funding, I'm sure you guys have it all taken care of."

He then went on to say that all the leaders can agree that a government shutdown "would damage the economy."

Please check quotes against transcript as the president was hard to hear.

Attached is my otter recording of Biden's remarks for you to refer to.

In-town pool report #4: Kirby to join briefing

passing along from the WH

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will be joined by National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby at today's press briefing.

In-town poll report #5: leaders to stake out

The Congressional leaders are headed to the stakeout location for brief remarks.

in-town pool report #6: Schumer and Jeffries remarks

Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries came out to the stake out location at 12:51. They each gave brief remarks and in total stayed outside for about 9 minutes.

Schumer stressed the intensity of the conversation around Ukraine.

"The meeting on Ukraine was one of the most intense meetings I've ever encountered in many meetings in the Oval Office," Schumer told reporters.

"As Democrats, we support a safe, a strong, and a humane border. We just need our House Republican colleagues, not to play politics and engage in political stunts relative to the border," Jeffries said during his remarks.

Schumer took two questions and responded to a shouted question as they walked away.

He was asked about why the conversation was so intense. Here are a few quotes from his response.

"The urgency of supporting ukraine and the consequences to the people of America to America's strength if we don't do anything and don't do anything soon."

"...And the intensity in that room was surprising to me. But because of the passion of the president, the vice president, leader jeffries, leader mcconnell and myself, it was."

Schumer was also asked if there was a legislation discussion about the border or if it was still the Republicans position that it has to be done through the White House.

Schumer's response.

"We made the overwhelming sentiment in our meetings that we got to do Ukraine now. There are other issues including border which we should address but not now. There was a discussion in the room that could you do border just by administrative action? I think Biden won that argument. Because he said you can't do it. We all said without personnel and you need legislation for personnel and even the Republicans in the budget ask for more money for personnel at the border. So it was clear. It was clear that we want to fix border, but it was also clear the speaker did not make – didn't give a reason why you had to do one before you did the other."

As he was leaving a reporter asked if we should be more or less optimistic about aid to Ukraine, Schumer repeated "hopeful, hopeful."

Please check all quotes against the transcript.

Johnson also came out to the stake out location a few moments later. His remarks will follow.

In-town pool report #7: Johnson remarks

Speaker Johnson came out to the stake out location at 1:07 p.m. He spoke for about two minutes and did not take any questions from reporters.

Most notably, Johnson said he met with Biden one-on-one after meeting as a group.

"Let me say this when I showed up today, my purpose was to express what I believe is the obvious truth, and that is that we must take care of America's needs, first. When you talk about Americans' needs, you have to talk first about our open border. I've been, I believe in maybe 20 something States over the last several weeks, going around the country, appearing at events with my colleagues, and we're hearing from the American people of all parties and all persuasions and all cities and all states who feel this acutely. They understand that catastrophe at the border is affecting everyone and it is top of mind for all the American people for that reason. So I brought that issue up repeatedly today in that room and, and again, one on one with the President. I think that's our responsibility to bring that up."

Johnson said his other priority was government funding. He added that Congress has been working in "good faith" and "around the clock" every single day for weeks and months to "get the job done."

His concluding remarks follow:

"But again, the first priority of the country is our border and making sure it's secure. I believe the President can take executive authority right now today to change that. And I told him that again today in person, as I've said to him many times, publicly and privately over the last several weeks. It's time for action. It is a catastrophe, and it must stop and we will get the government funded and we'll keep working on that."

Please check against the transcript.

In-town pool report #8: lunch lid

A lunch lid was called until 1:55 p.m.

In-town pool report #9: briefing now 2:15

The press briefing will begin at 2:15 p.m.

In-town briefing #10: two minutes till briefing

two minute warning until press briefing with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby.

You can tune in live here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

In-town pool report #11: briefing begins

The press briefing began at 2:21 p.m.

The press briefing is being streamed live here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

In-town pool report #12: briefing ends

The press briefing concluded at 3:24. It last an hour and three minutes.

Supplemental pool report #1

The Vice President began speaking at the White House's roundtable on voting rights around 4:38 pm. Passing along background shortly.

VP Harris notes that she and other White House officials will be in Selma this Sunday calling on Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.

The White House will also be holding three days of action later this year to address voting rights ahead of the 2024 election.

Supplemental pool report #2 - background

Please contact your pooler if you need an otter from the event

From WH-

On Background From a White House Official:

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is hosting her second convening of the new year with leaders who are on the frontlines of protecting voting rights and registering communities to vote. This 4:00 p.m. ET discussion about the fight for voting rights and other fundamental freedoms will have a pool spray at the top and will be livestreamed atwww.WhiteHouse.Gov/Live. Following the Vice President's participation in today's convening, her staff will meet with these leaders during the afternoon to continue the conversation about the roadmap forward.

During the roundtable conversation, the Vice President will announce new steps that the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to ensure Americans have the information they need to vote, promote voter participation for students, protect election workers, and fight voter suppression laws. This includes the following actions:

The Department of Health and Human Services is emailing information about how to register to vote to everyone who enrolls in health care under the Affordable Care Act.

The Social Security Administration will now display signs with Vote.Gov in all Social Security offices. There are more than 1,200 offices across the country that see around six million visitors each year.

The Department of Interior will now display Vote.Gov signage and information at national park entrances and visitor centers throughout the nation.

Students who are in the Federal Work Study program will now be able to get paid to register people to vote and work as nonpartisan poll workers through federal, state, local, or tribal government employment, helping to address the shortage of poll workers that exists across America.

The Vice President is issuing a call to action to voting rights groups to coordinate and collaborate on three National Days of Action on voting. These days of action will focus on voter engagement and will occur on National Voter Registration Day, the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, and Juneteenth.

Today's convening comes on the heels of the Vice President's roundtable conversation on voting rights that occurred last month. While in Atlanta, GA, she called out extremists across the country for their full-on assault on the freedom to vote at a time when more than 300 anti-voter bills were introduced last year. The Vice President also outlined steps that the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to protect voting rights and our democracy, and once again called on Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

Since being sworn in, the Vice President has been working with the President to ensure that the voting rights of Americans are protected and advanced. In addition to her work on pushing for federal legislation, the Vice President has consistently convened a broad coalition of voting rights champions to strategize about what we must do to ensure that Americans have access to the ballot. Vice President Harris has consistently brought together leaders from the Black community, Latino community, Asian American and Pacific Islander community, Native American and Tribal community, voters with disabilities, youth, poll workers and election officials, and democracy advocacy groups.

Additional Background on the Vice President's Continued Leadership on Voting Rights and the Fight for Fundamental Freedoms:

Last month, the Vice President traveled to South Carolina to mark the third anniversary of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol bydelivering the keynote speech at the 7th Episcopal District AME Church Women's Missionary Society's annual retreat. Her address focused on the full-on attack on hard fought, hard-won freedoms.

In the fall, the Vice President launched a nationwide "Fight for Our Freedoms" college tour in which she energized more than 15,000 students and young leaders at HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, community colleges, apprenticeship programs, and public universities. During each moderated conversations, the Vice President took questions from students on a range of issues – including voting rights – and called on students to register to vote, organize, and stay involved in the fight for our freedoms.

Last year, the Vice President also held a Summer of Action in which she traveled to 17 states to hold a series of events with communities and constituencies that are too often written off or taken for granted. During these events, the Vice President spoke about voting rights and how the Administration is fighting back against attacks on fundamental freedoms. For example, she visited the Gila River Indian Community where she spoke about the need for the Native American Voting Rights Act.

In July, the Vice President convened a roundtable discussion on the Americans with Disabilities Act that focused on voting rights and built on an earlier convening about making voting more accessible for those with disabilities.

In March of 2022, the Vice President deliveredremarks commemorating the President's Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting.

The Vice President has regularly held meetings about voting rights with state legislators and members of Congress across the country. This includes traveling to Tennessee after Rep. Jones and Rep. Pearson were expelled, speaking with Texas legislators who were working to block voter suppression efforts, and holding a listening session inMichigan.