James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
12:44 P.M. EST
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Goodness.
Q Thank you.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: A lot going on.
Q I hope you answer my question because —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh.
Q — Afghan woman has expectation. Thank you so much.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Well, the — the outfit certainly stands out, my friend.
Q Thank you so much. You make my day, Karine.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. It's good to see you. It's good to see you.
Q Good to see you, too.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Well, good afternoon, everybody. Good to see everyone. Happy Wednesday. And Happy International Women's Day — a day where we recognize the achievements of women and girls and recommit ourselves to the work of delivering full equality.
President Biden has made improving the status of women and girls a cornerstone of his administration, and we are focused on lifting up the rights of women and girls through every aspect of both our foreign and domestic policy.
We all have a better future when women and girls are able to reach their full potential. To mark the occasion, First Lady Jill Biden and Secretary of State Ant- — Antony J. Blinken will host the 17th annual International Women of Courage — IWOC — Awards Ceremony later today.
The ceremony will take place at the White House for the first time in the award's history. The annual IWOC Award recognizes women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, often at great personal risk and sacrifice.
The First Lady wanted to bring the stories of these incredible women to the biggest stage we could — and that is, of course, the White House — and ensure that girls everywhere know that there are women fighting for them, transforming their communities, and building a better world for all of us.
On a personal note, I am looking forward to participating and meeting the recipients of this year's awards.
And we have some other news for you. The President's budget, which we will release tomorrow, will cut the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over the next 10 years. That's nearly a $6 trillion difference between the President's budget and congressional Republicans' agenda, which would add $3 trillion to the debt.
Some context here: President Biden took office after his predecessor signed a reckless and unpaid tax handout for the wealthy and large corporations, which added nearly $2 trillion to the deficit. He also inherited a poorly managed pandemic response.
The President has taken a different, respons- — different, responsible approach. Thanks to his unprecedented vaccine — vaccination program and economic recovery, the deficit fell by one-point trillion dollars [$1.7 trillion] in the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration. And the President's Inflation Reduction Act will reduce the deficit by more than $200 billion over the next decade.
Building on that record of fiscal responsibility, the President budgets cuts the deficit, again, by nearly $3 trillion over the next decade.
The budget achieves this while lowering costs for families, investing in America, and protecting programs Americans have paid into because it proposes tax reforms to ensure the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share while cutting wasteful spending on special interests — interests, like Big Oil and Big Pharma.
That's a stark contrast to congressional GOP proposals, which, again, add $3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years with handouts to the rich, big corporations, and special interest groups.
And, Josh, it's always good to see you.
Q Always good to see you, too, Karine.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We always go — we always do this. How are you?
Q I know. I'm good. How are you? (Laughter.)
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: You know, it's Wednesday. It's International Women's Day. It's a good day.
Q Yeah, they run my house. So — (laughter) —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Are you a gir- — you're a gir- — are you a girl dad?
Q I am a girl dad.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Girl dads. That's a good thing.
Q Full-fledged. Full-fledged. She's now BTS fan because of this.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh. (Laughter.)
Q That's another subject. Let's talk —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We may have broken them up, so — (laughter) —
Q Let's talk about —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Let's go, Josh.
Q — two news items.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead.
Q First, on the budget —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.
Q When Biden ran, the — he essentially proposed what fiscal watchdogs would say were policies that would add to budget deficits. He's now, kind of, making budget deficit reduction a cornerstone of his policy. Why did this become more of a priority? And what does he think this does for everyday Americans?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, as — as you just, kind of, alluded to and laid out, this has been a priority for the President. When we talk about deficit — deficit reduction, when we talk about having — being fiscally responsible, this is something that the President has talked about since the campaign.
And you hear me, just as I did moments ago, talk about the $1.7 trillion deficit that he did the first two years. And it was important to the President, as he's going to put forward his budget tomorrow and as we — as you've probably heard us to say, we see this as a value statement on what the President sees in the future of this country. And so, he wanted to make sure it was fiscally responsible.
And so, look, I think, when you think about the deficit — the deficit reduction and what we're talking about and what it means for Americans — right? — this is important to Americans across the country, American families, when you think about lowering costs for families — right? — when you think about investing in growing the economy from the bottom up and middle out.
The President does not believe in trickle-down economics. This is something that he's talked about even during the State of the Union, where we know it doesn't work.
So, the President has rejiggered that thinking and wants to build — build an economy that matters for everyone, asking the wealthy to pay their fair share and cutting wasteful spending on special interest groups.
And so, this is something that we think is important. This is something that shows the American people that we take this very seriously when we think about the fiscal responsibly, when we think about how do we move forward not just for Americans today but for Americans — other generations that are going to be coming behind us.
That's why we're talking about the 10 — 10-year — right? — $3 trillion over a decade. That's going to matter. And still doing that by growing the economy and making sure that we don't leave anybody behind.
So, that's what is important to the President. It's — if you look at it holistically in his economic plan.
Q And then secondly, the Justice Department released this report on the police in Louisville, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, after the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. I was curious what the White House thought about the findings that the police there engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights. And what obligation does that leave the Congress and the White House in terms of addressing these inequities?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, specifically on the — the investigation that Department of Justice laid out, we know they are independent, so we refer you to any specifics of that particular investigation on their findings.
But what I would say, more broadly, as we look at this from a 30,000-foot view: The President has said repeatedly he believes that a key part of building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve is ensuring that there's accountability when — when we see an officer violate the law.
And this is something that we have been very consistent about. You heard the President talk about this in the campaign and, certainly, in the last two years.
That is why he signed an executive order to advance effective accountability, community policing. And this is — remember, he put that forward when — this executive order — when Congress was not able to get the job done.
And so, he took federal action, historic action, to make sure that he was able to deal with this on a federal level.
So that executive order required federal law enforcement agencies to implement tighter use-of-force standards and to greatly restrict the use of no-knock warrants, and has a host of provisions to incentivize those and other reforms at the state and local level.
And so, I just want to say very clearly that the President has said himself Breonna Taylor's death was a tragedy — a blow to her family, her community, and also to America more broadly.
And the President continues to call for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to be sent to his desk that he will sign.
The President also understands that Black women experience a disproportionate share of violence in this country, and he will continue to fight for legislation that advances police reform and making sure that we keep — that we keep Black communities safe.
And so, that is going to be his commitment as he — as we continue into his administration.
Go ahead, Mary.
Q A question on the economy. The Fed is forecasting, of course, that unemployment may have to go up before they reach their goal. Just wondering if the White House shares the view that unemployment might need to rise in order to keep inflation down.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, again, when it comes to the Fed, it is independent. The President believes in its independence. And so he believes in giving the Fed the space needed to make decisions on monetary policy.
As it relates to unemployment, and I've heard — we've heard the comments that have been made in Congress. Look, when we look at the recent economic indicators and we look at the data, it is not consistent with a recession or even a precursory period.
And the reason why: As you see, unemployment is at the lowest in 50 years, and that's a record low. More than 500,000 jobs were created last month, representing a very strong labor market. GDP grew by 2.9 [2.7] percent just last quarter. And real wages are higher than they were seven months ago.
So we believe that households are indeed very strong, in a strong position. And household net is above the pre-pandemic levels, and measures of financial distress are below — are below the pre-pandemic levels as well.
And so, the data and the indicators — those economic indicators that I just laid out — shows us that, again, we're in a strong position as we move forward.
Q But how concerned are you that if unemployment does go up, that it may hinder that very economic message? Because unemployment, as you just did, is often a bright point that the President points to.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: But I think — the reasons I laid out the economic indicators — they're showing us that because of the President's — because of the President's economic plan, we — we see that his plan is working. And I think that's important to point out too.
We understand that there is concerns. We always say there's always more work to do, obviously. But our economists believe that what the President has put forth as a plan to make sure that we're building an economy from the bottom up, middle out is indeed working. And we see that in the data when you look at the unemployment record low, when you look at wages going up. And that is occurring because of the work that we have done.
Now, is there more work to do? Of course. But, again, those indicators give us confidence.
Q And just a quick logistical question. This is the second day in a row where the President hasn't had any public events on his schedule. What's he up to? And is there any sort of strategy to having him —
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Laughs.) "What's he up to?" "What is the President up to?"
Q — kind of out of the public eye before this big speech tomorrow?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, yesterday, as I think we read out two heads-of-state calls that he had with — I believe with the Oman and also with President Macron. We read those two calls out. And so the President is always working, always making sure that he — not even always making sure, he does have the American people at the top of mind every day. He is constantly meeting with his senior staff.
And you will see him tomorrow for the big day as we roll out the President's budget.
Go ahead.
Q Karine, thank you. Could you confirm our reporting that President Biden is going to host the Australian and British prime ministers in San Diego on Monday?
