Vice Presidential Pool Reports of July 24, 2024

VP Travel Pool #1 — departure

Marine 2 touched down at 10:20. VP walked out at 10:22 in a cream colored suit. She shook hands and exchanged smiles and words with rep Kamlager-dove. She waved at the pool at the top of stairs. but did not stop.

Wheels up shortly.

It's a muggy day at Andrew's with overcast skies.

Traveling with VP is Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA-37).

As a reminder, we are headed to Indianapolis for a key note speech to the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. We will overnight in Houston before a teachers union speech Thursday.

VP pool 2. - OTR

VP had a 5 minute off record chat with pool before takeoff.

VP travel pool 3 — arrival in Indiana

AF2 touched down in Indianapolis at 11:54. VP walked down the stairs at 12:08 and greeted Mayor Jospeh Hogsett at the bottom of the stairs. They spoke briefly. He nodded a few times. They shook hands and then she walked to the VP Lino.

The flight from JBA was uneventful. We are now headed to the Indiana Convention Center for the speech to Zeta Phi Beta.

That event is open press and will be live streamed on WhiteHouse.gov/live.

Mayor Joseph Hogsett greeted the VP.

On Background From a White House Official:

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is continuing her Summer of Engagements by returning to Indianapolis, IN for a keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boulé. During her remarks, the Vice President – a fellow Divine Nine member – will highlight how the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered historic investments that are supporting communities, advancing economic opportunity, and helping people thrive. The Vice President will also urge attendees to join her in fighting to protect fundamental freedoms – including the freedom for women to make decisions about their own bodies, the freedom to live safe from gun violence, the freedom to vote, the freedom to drink clean water and breathe clean air, and the freedom to learn America's full history.

This summer series of engagements with key constituencies is a continuation of Vice President Harris' consistent work to build diverse coalitions while ensuring that no community is overlooked or taken for granted. This includes nearly a dozen engagements with Divine Nine sororities and fraternities since taking office. Today's event in Indiana – the 24th state that the Vice President has visited this year – follows her keynote speech at Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.'s 71st Boulé in Dallas, TX, and comes on the heels of her more than 70 trips since the start of 2024. The 12:45 p.m. ET speech will be livestreamed at WhiteHouse.gov/Live

Additional background on the Vice President's Summer of Engagements:

The Vice President's Summer of Engagements includes a series of high-profile events where she is engaging with thousands of Americans from across the country. These events are a continuation of her intentional efforts to build coalitions while speaking directly with Black Americans, women, young leaders, and community leaders from throughout the nation.

The Vice President began 2024 with a speech in Myrtle Beach at the annual retreat of the Women's Missionary Society of the 7th Episcopal District of the AME Church, a voting rights roundtable with civil rights leaders in Atlanta, a speech in Columbia at the NAACP South Carolina State Conference's MLK Day event, a clean water announcement in Pittsburgh, an economic opportunity announcement at Black Wall Street in Durham, a speech in Selma about the fight for fundamental freedoms, and a moderated conversation during the 30th ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans earlier this month.

While in Dallas for Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.'s 71st Boulé, Vice President Harris also announced the creation of national health and safety standards for maternal care, which builds on her work to address the maternal health crisis in the two years since she introduced a whole-of-government approach to combating maternal mortality and morbidity.

Additional background on the Vice President's leadership in the fight for fundamental freedoms:

Vice President Harris has consistently led the Administration's efforts to mobilize tens of thousands of people in the fight for fundamental freedoms.

• Earlier this year, she launched a nationwide Fight for Reproductive Freedoms tour that took her to WI, GA, MI, AZ, MN, and CA. Most recently, she was in Tucson, Jacksonville,Philadelphia, College Park, Phoenix, and Kalamazoo for reproductive freedom events.

• Additionally, the Vice President recently held amoderated conversation in Atlanta with Quavo that was focused on the freedom to live safe from gun violence after events on gun violence prevention in Parkland, Las Vegas, and Charlotte.

• Last year, she also launched a Fight for Our Freedoms college tour where she mobilized more than 15,000 students while making nine stops at HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, community college, apprenticeship programs, and state schools.

Additional background on the Vice President's Economic Opportunity Tour:

In April, the Vice President launched a nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour that has taken her to Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Charlotte for convenings that highlight how the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered historic investments that have supported communities, put money in people's pockets, and built wealth. She recently carried this message to thousands at the SEIU Quadrennial Convention and the Constitutional Convention of UNITE HERE, the largest hospitality union. The investments include:

• Making unprecedented investments in small businesses and achieving the fastest creation of Black-owned small businesses in more than 30 years with the share of Black business owners more than doubling

• Creating a record number of jobs including more than 2.6 million jobs for Black workers while achieving the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and the lowest gap between Black and white unemployment

• Increasing the wealth of American families with Black wealth up by 60% relative to before the COVID-19 pandemic, representing the largest increase on record

• Increasing access to capital for underserved communities while working to achieve a goal of increasing the share of federal contracting dollars to small disadvantaged businesses by 50% by 2025, translating to an additional $100 billion to minority-owned businesses

• Forgiving more student loan debt than any administration in history and boosting investments in education, including a record $16 billion investment in HBCUs

• Erasing over $500 million in medical debt to date with support from the American Rescue Plan, capping the cost of insulin for seniors, and expanding access to health care with tax credits that led to a 49% increase in Black Americans who are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act
  
  • The Vice President also announced a new proposal to prohibit medical bills from being included on credit reports. This would remove medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans

• Making housing more affordable and lowering child care costs by securing a 30% increase in funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant
  
  • This includes announcing $40 million in awards to more than 165 housing counseling agencies to help expand housing counseling services across the country, and announcing $85 million in housing funds to lower housing costs by reducing barriers to building more homes

• Announcing the grantees for $20B from the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to support community banks and access to capital for clean energy projects particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

• Investing in infrastructure – roads, bridges, public transit, waterways, and more – including $4 billion to reconnect underserved communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities

• Announcing a final SBA rule that will make Americans with a criminal record who have served their time eligible for SBA loan programs that help individuals start and run small businesses.

VP Travel 4 — convention center arrival.

We have arrived at the convention center. VP I walked in outside our view. Moving to speech.

Introducer: Dr. Staci NC Grant, International President & CEO, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority

VP travel pool #5 -- Speech beginning -- talking about Biden -- initial quotes

VP started with words about POTUS and his speech tonight

"Joe Biden is a leader with a bold vision. He cares about the future. He thinks about the future. He has extraordinary determination and profound passion for the people of our country."

The convention hall is packed with mostly women, 10 to a table. Most are wearing white outfits though some have on baby blue. The tables are set up for lunch service. Pooler cannot get a good look at the food from the press area. (no count yet)

There are three giant screens behind the stage. Before the speech introduction, two had the sorority conference logo. A third, in the middle, had the words "BLACK VOTERS MATTER" in white with a black background and a Black power fist in place of the L in the word Black. After speeches began, the two outside screens broadcast the speaker while the one in the middle had the conference log.

Cheers grew loud when Dr. Grant said "Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated will be the first divine nine Black Greek letter organization to host the first black woman presidential nominee"

"she is truly America's number one lady"

VP Travel Pool # 6 -- speech

Speech is livestreamed but here are highlights. Please check against transcript. VP spoke for about 14 minutes and drew loud standing ovation at the end. She is now leaving the stage.

Biggest applause line came when she started to say what she would do on abortion rights and said "when I am president..." cheers drowning out the rest of the sentence.

She laid out her vision as affordable health care, mentioning the administration's insulin cost cap, children getting out of poverty, mentioning reductions under the Biden admin, and "where the economy works for working people" mentioning student debt relief.

She talked about her role in elevating maternal health care, noting that Black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth. "This has been a crisis in our country. And it is time that we recognize the crisis."

She drew roars when she said "These extremists want to take us back, but we are not going back" while talking about Project 2025.

"Ours is a fight for freedom across our nation, we are witnessing a fullon assault on hard fought, hard won freedoms and rights. The freedom to vote.
The freedom to be safe from gun violence, the freedom to live without fear of bigotry and hate. Freedom to love openly with pride, the freedom to learn, and acknowledge our true and full history. And the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own."

VP Travel pool #7 — leaving convention center

Rolling from convention center to airport. Pool did not see VP enter vehicle.

Pool held in a van while VP did some meet and greet with sorority sisters.

The ride to the airport is about 15 minutes, mostly highway, so we are unlikely to get many onlookers.

VP travel pool 8 — departure from INDY and crowd count

VP arrived at the airport at 2:27. She left her vehicle at 2:29 and took a photo with the advance staff. She saluted the Air Force greeters and waved goodbye from the top of the steps.

Now headed to Houston.

The ride to the airport was uneventful. A few people looking and waving before we got on the interstate. A hard rain swept in midway through, reducing visibility for part of the ride.

The VP's office — citing event organizers — said there were 6,000 people at the sorority luncheon where VP spoke.

VP Travel pool #8. — Houston arrival

AF 2 touched down at 3:48 local time. VP walked out at 4:01 and shook hands and chatted with Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and some military greeters. She saluted and shook hands and spoke with a couple of them before entering her vehicle. One handed her a challenge coin. Rolling now.

VP Travel pool #9 — rolling to OTR

Small addition to last report: VP handed her challenge coins to the greeters. Unclear if they handed her anything.

The motorcade is now headed to a previously unannounced stop. Here are the details:

On Background From a White House Official:

While in Houston, TX this afternoon, Vice President Harris is visiting the City of Houston's Emergency Operations Center to receive a briefing on the ongoing recovery efforts following Hurricane Beryl. She will also thank emergency management personnel, first responders, and public works personnel who all supported the immediate life-saving and life-safety actions in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl. Additionally, the Vice President will reiterate that the Biden-Harris Administration will continue working with its federal, state, and local partners to get more critical resources to the people that need them. The visit will be covered by a pool.

President Biden immediately approved the state's initial request for a Major Disaster Declaration, which unlocked federal assistance to support lifesaving and life-sustaining activities. Shortly thereafter, he swiftly approved the state's additional request for direct financial assistance for Hurricane Beryl survivors in Texas. Prior to Beryl hitting, FEMA, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had resources and personnel staged if needed by the state, including Search and Rescue Teams, generators, food, and water. The Biden-Harris Administration has also provided thousands of meals and liters of water to help backfill State-managed meal distribution sites.

To date, FEMA has provided over $312 million to survivors to help begin their road to recovery. The Small Business Administration has also approved over $13 million in low-interest loans to survivors and businesses.

Vice President Harris has a long history of ensuring that communities across America have the resources they need after a disaster. She has also focused on preparedness before disaster strikes. As a U.S. Senator, she fought to ensure that disaster legislation delivered aid to all who needed it – not just those in her home state of California – and stood side-by-side with impacted communities, visiting Puerto Rico in 2017 after multiple hurricanes tore through the island and touring towns that were most impacted by devastating wildfires in California in 2018 and 2020.

The Biden-Harris Administration has invested a historic $1 trillion in improving infrastructure and tackling the climate crisis, including $50 billion that is specifically for communities to be more resilient to hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, and other climate-related disasters.

Participants in today's briefing include:

• Houston Mayor John Whitmire
• Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis
• Interim Director of Homeland Security and Public Safety and Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Houston Tom Munoz
• Houston Police Department Chief Larry Satterwhite
• Houston Fire Department Chief Sam Pena
• City of Houston Director of Public Works Randy Macchi
• City of Houston Director of Solid Waste Management Mark Willfalk
• Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez
• Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie Christensen

Today's return to Harris County is the Vice President's second trip to Texas this month. Tomorrow, she will deliver the keynote speech at the American Federation of Teachers' 88th national convention in Houston. Media interested in covering the speech should RSVP here.

VP Travel Pool 10 — arrival at EOC

The motorcade arrived at 4:48. Pool did not see her exit her vehicle.

Pool held in a hallway with terrazzo floors and high ceilings after that.

VP came up and elevator at 5:08 to scattered cheers of about 25 Roc staffers.

"Thank you for what you do," she said. She did not answer a shouted question about Biden's speech.

She then walked into a briefing room that is closed press.

VP Travel Pool 10a — quote fix.

Upon closer listening of the recording, the VP said "Thank you all for all your work" to the emergency center staffers.

The motorcade arrived at 4:48. Pool did not see her exit her vehicle.

Pool held in a hallway with terrazzo floors and high ceilings after that.

VP came up and elevator at 5:08 to scattered cheers of about 25 Roc staffers.

"Thank you for what you do," she said. She did not answer a shouted question about Biden's speech.

She then walked into a briefing room that is closed press.

VP Travel 11 — EOC greeting

The VP exited the briefing at 5:48 and greeted about two dozen police and emergency workers who lined the door of the emergency operations room.

She shook hands and thanked people one on one along a line. The mayor and commissioner Ellis also shook hands with the workers.

She then spoke almost outside the pool's earshot as they gathered in a circle around her, telling them they are the heroes. "It's the commitment to the people and caring about them. Perfect strangers."

After the remarks there were applause.

Interim Director of Homeland Security and Public Safety and Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Houston Tom Munoz then pointed out features of the center's capabilities.

"It's very impressive…it really is extraordinary." Harris said.

She then thanked people again.

"Alright let's get back to work" she said at 554 and then exited.

The room is used during major events. The walls have projections of maps and live video streams from around the city. There were also drop ceilings, flat patterned beige and blue carpet and long tables with phones and commander chairs.

VP Travel pool 12 — end of day

The motorcade left at 5:58. Pool did not see VP exit the building or enter the vehicle.

The motorcade arrives at the RON at about 6:19. Pool did not see VP exit.

That's all for today.

VP travel pool 13 — speech note

On Background From a White House Official:
Vice President Harris watched President Biden's Address to the Nation from Houston, TX where she is spending the night after visiting the city's Emergency Operations Center to receive a briefing on the ongoing recovery efforts following Hurricane Beryl. Prior to departing Houston tomorrow, she will also deliver the keynote speech at the American Federation of Teachers' 88th national convention.

Today's visit to Houston followed the Vice President's keynote speech at Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.'s Grand Boulé in Indianapolis this afternoon, a campaign event in Milwaukee yesterday, and a speech to campaign staff in Wilmington, DE on Monday. While in Wilmington, Vice President Harris said this about President Biden:

"It has been one of the greatest honors of my life, truly, to serve as vice president to our president, Joe Biden. Joe's legacy of accomplishment just over the last three and a half years is unmatched in modern history. In one term, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office….I am a firsthand witness from being with him in the Oval Office to the Situation Room and seeing him on the global stage with world leaders. President Joe Biden fights for the American people, and we are deeply, deeply grateful for his service to our nation."