News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Support, Strengthen Teaching Profession; White House Hosts First-Ever State Dinner Honoring Teachers

Ahead of Teacher Appreciation Week, the Biden-Harris Administration announced new efforts to strengthen the teaching profession and support schools across the country, including actions to increase teacher recruitment and retention, new data on how fixes to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) are benefitting teachers in every state and Congressional district, and new funding to increase pipelines for special education teachers. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:
 

The Biden-Harris Administration announced new efforts to strengthen the teaching profession and support schools across the country, including actions to increase teacher recruitment and retention (c) Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Our nation’s teachers prepare and inspire the next generation of leaders who are critical to our future. President Biden has been clear since day one that to address these long-standing staffing challenges facing our schools, exacerbated by the pandemic, teachers, paraprofessionals, and other school staff need to be paid competitively and treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve, including through improved working conditions for staff and learning conditions for students.
 
First Lady Jill Biden, a life-long educator, is hosting the first-ever Teachers of the Year State Dinner at the White House to honor the 2024 National Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman, and state teachers of the year from across the United States for their excellence in education.  
 
The Biden-Harris Administration has strengthened the teaching profession by:

  • Encouraging states to increase teacher pay, with 30 states and the District of Columbia taking action to raise teacher pay. To support COVID-19 recovery, the Administration secured $130 billion for the largest-ever investment in public education in history through the American Rescue Plan provided to more than 15,000 school districts and secured nearly $2 billion in additional Title I funding to date; both funding streams can be used to support teacher salaries in our most underserved schools. These funds can also be used to support high-quality teacher pipeline programs and hire more professionals across the education workforce.
     
  • Fixing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which has helped nearly 876,000 borrowers engaged in public service – such as teachers – have their federal student loans forgiven. Prior to the Biden-Harris Administration, only 7,000 borrowers had received relief under this program.
     
  • Returning schools to pre-pandemic staffing levels. While teacher shortages remain, staffing at schools has recovered above pre-pandemic levels, including 40 percent more social workers and 25 percent more nurses, providing critical supports to students that also helps support teaching and learning.
     
  • Expanding Registered Teacher Apprenticeship programs to 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, providing an affordable and high-quality path to become a teacher in communities across the country. 

  • Securing a total of nearly $2.7 billion of investment in teachers in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 budget to help states and communities address teacher shortages, including in areas such as special education, Career and Technical Education, and bilingual education, and in underserved communities, through increased teacher recruitment, support, and retention.

 Additional details on these actions are described further below.
 
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new actions to support teachers:

  • Establishing a new technical assistance center to help states and communities increase teacher recruitment and retention. This week, the Department of Education will release a Notice of Final Priorities and a Notice Inviting Applications and for the Comprehensive Centers grant program, which will support a Center on Strengthening and Supporting the Educator Workforce. This new Center will provide universal and targeted intensive capacity-building services designed to support States as they in turn support their districts, schools and partners in designing and scaling practices that establish and enhance high-quality, comprehensive, evidence-based, and affordable educator pathways (including educator residency and Grow Your Own programs, and emerging pathways into the profession such as registered apprenticeship programs for teachers), and in improving educator diversity, recruitment, and retention. 
     
  • Providing data from each Congressional district showing the effects of the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to fix the PSLF program. The data released today shows the distribution across the country of $62.8 billion in approved debt relief across 876,000 borrowers in every state and Congressional district. These are individuals who worked for at least 10 years in public service while repaying their loans.
     
  • Increasing funding to support a strong pipeline of special education teachers. To date, the Administration has secured a $25 million increase in funding for the Personnel Preparation grant program under Part D of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act compared to the beginning of the Administration, a 28 percent increase dedicated to growing our nation’s supply of special educators – a persistent shortage area. Funding under this grant can be used to support the preparation and development of special educators, including increasing the supply of special education faculty available to establish or scale up preparation programs for special educators at institutions of higher education. In the coming week, the Department will make about $10 million in new awards to grantees implementing programs under Part D of IDEA to help shore up the supply of special educators nationwide.

These announcements build on actions the Biden-Harris Administration have taken since day one to support our nation’s teachers. To date, the Administration has:

  • Supported a strong educator workforce jobs recovery and helped rehire through the American Rescue Plan. As a result of the President’s decisive action to provide our schools with historic funds through the American Rescue Plan, we now have more people working in public schools than before the pandemic. Our schools lost hundreds of thousands of local public education jobs in just three months during the pandemic. Since President Biden took office, schools have added 638,000 education jobs. As of March 2024, there were 23,000 more employees in local public education than in February 2020. But there is still work to do. Teacher shortages remain and vary significantly across communities, disproportionately impacting students of color, students with disabilities, English learners, and students from low-income backgrounds.
  • Increased investments by $112 million in preparing, recruiting, developing, and retaining teachers since the beginning of this Administration. As a result of the additional funds the Administration has secured in these programs since the beginning of the Administration and through FY23, an additional $112 million has been invested in supporting educators through Department of Education’s competitive grant programs, in addition to the tens of billions invested in staffing through the American Rescue Plan. For example, the Administration has increased annual funding for the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant program by 34 percent, which supports year-long teacher residency programs that have been shown to increase teacher effectiveness, retention, and diversity.
     
  • Funded educator diversity efforts nationwide. The Administration has prioritized efforts to increase educator diversity across 15 competitive grant programs that support teacher preparation, development, recruitment, and retention. These programs awarded nearly $450 million to 263 grantees, 92 percent of which were to grantees that addressed specific priorities related to educator diversity. For example, this year the Department plans to award $15 million to fund up to 27 new awards to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) through the Augustus F. Hawkins program, which works to increase the numbers of diverse personnel in early intervention, special education, and related services.
     
  • Expanded high-quality teacher preparation programs through Registered Teacher Apprenticeships. At the beginning of this Administration, there were no Registered Apprenticeship Programs for teachers. Today, there are registered programs in 34 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. These programs can serve to provide affordable and high-quality pathways into the profession, allowing apprentices to earn a salary and benefits while they prepare to become a teacher, including by scaling up evidence-based Grow Your Own and Teacher Residency programs, which help to increase teacher retention, effectiveness, and diversity.
     
  • Relieved teacher student loan debt through forgiveness, repayment, and grant programs. The Administration has approved almost $160 billion in student debt forgiveness for nearly 4.6 million borrowers through various actions, including $62.8 billion in forgiveness for almost 876,000 borrowers through fixes to PSLF. The Administration has also secured the largest increase to Pell Grants in a decade and launched the new SAVE plan – the most affordable student loan repayment plan ever. The Administration estimates that a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would save $17,000 in payments on the SAVE plan while seeking PSLF. This Administration also implemented changes to the TEACH Grant program to support teacher recruitment and retention in our most underserved communities. The TEACH Grant provides up to $16,000 to undergraduate and graduate students who commit to teaching in a high-need field and school serving students from low-income backgrounds for four years.
     
  • Secured first-ever funding for the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Grants. The Department held the first-ever competition for the Augustus F. Hawkins Grant program, awarding $23 million to date to teacher preparation programs at HBCUs, TCCUs, and MSIs to increase the number of well-prepared teacher candidates, including teacher candidates of color and bilingual and multilingual educators, in the field. The Department is currently administering an additional competition for the Hawkins grant program with $15 million in funding available, with applications due in June 2024.
     
  • Launched a campaign to elevate the teaching profession and call for increasing teacher pay. The Department launched “Teachers: Leaders Shaping Lives” – a campaign to elevate the teaching profession and promote educator diversity. The new Public Service Announcement was developed in partnership with TEACH.org and the One Million Teachers of Color Campaign at the Hunt Institute. This Administration believes that educators should be treated with dignity and respect and receive the pay they deserve – and has encouraged all states to increase compensation so that teachers are paid a livable and competitive wage. Since the 2021-22 school year, 30 states and the District of Columbia have taken action at the state level to increase teacher pay.
     
  • Provided extensive Technical Assistance and Guidance on how to use federal and other resources to implement evidence-based strategies to support teacher preparation, recruitment, retention, development, and advancement. This includes; (1) establishing the Strengthening and Diversifying the Educator Workforce Workgroup which brings together States from across the country to share resources and discuss lessons learned and best practices for supporting teacher development, recruitment, retention and diversity; (2) updating guidance on the use of Perkins V funds to improve the recruitment, preparation, retention, and growth of future educators, including Career and Technical Education teachers; (3) issuing a collection of seven briefs outlining the most common challenges related to recruiting and retaining teachers from underrepresented backgrounds or with certain certifications; (4) sharing best practices, key resources, and making data on job recovery, educator preparation, educator diversity, and compensation, and other related issues easier to access and use through the Department’s Raise the Bar: Eliminating Educator Shortages website; and (5) issuing guidance on how American Rescue Plan funds can be used to stabilize the teacher workforce and support teacher well-being.

 First Lady Jill Biden Hosts First-Ever “Teachers of the Year” State Dinner

To further demonstrate their appreciation for teachers, First Lady Jill Biden hosted the first-ever “Teachers of the Year” State Dinner at the White House. The event honored the 2024 National Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman from Tennessee, and the State Teachers of the Year from across the country for their excellence in teaching and commitment to students’ learning. 

“Tonight, we celebrate you, because teaching isn’t just a job, it’s a calling, and all of you were called to this profession for a reason,” Dr. Biden said in her welcoming remarks. “You believe that a better world is possible – and you make that world real, one student at a time. To answer the call of teaching, is in itself, an act of hope. You look at your students and don’t just see who they are today – you see all the possibility of tomorrow. You help them find the light within themselves, and that light lives on in all of you.”
 
As a classroom teacher for over 30 years, Dr. Biden continues to teach English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has been a professor since 2009. From championing teacher recruitment and retention, opportunities for career-connected learning, and more affordable options for education after high school, including free community college, Dr. Biden continues to shine a spotlight on educators and the teaching profession. This is the fourth year Dr. Biden has welcomed the National and State Teachers of the Year for a celebration at the White House.

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the U.S. Department of Education, American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association are supporting this event. CCSSO oversees the National Teacher of the Year Program, which identifies exceptional teachers across the country, recognizes their effective work in the classroom, engages them in a year of professional learning, and amplifies their voices. 
 
More information about the program and a list of the 2024 State Teachers of the Year can be found HERE.
 
First Lady Jill Biden and Social Secretary Carlos Elizondo worked with White House Chief Floral Designer Hedieh Ghaffarian to create a guest experience that honors the 2024 Teachers of the Year and celebrates our nation’s educators.

Each of the 2024 State Teachers of the Year received a commemorative brass bell from the First Lady, continuing a tradition she started in 2021 in honor of her grandmother, a fellow educator and the person who inspired her to become a teacher.  Irises, the official state flower of Tennessee, Mrs. Testerman’s home state, were incorporated in the floral arrangements. A personalized gold painted apple served as the place card holder at the place settings for the 2024 Teachers of the Year.

The décor was inspired by classrooms across the country, and the official flags of the states and territories of the 2024 State Teachers of the Year lined the East Portico entrance, greeting honorees and guests upon arrival to the White House. 

Organized by each teacher’s school principal, when the 2024 Teachers of the Year arrived to their seats, they were surprised with a handmade, personalized thank you note from their students, fellow teachers, and school leadership. 

Biden Administration, Democracy

President Biden Awards19 Recipients With the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Who the President chooses to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom says so much about his values. Here are the 19 recipients who will be receiving this honor:

Nancy Pelosi who was the first woman to serve as the Speaker of the House and wearing white at the 2020 State of the Union in solidarity with Suffragists, famously ripped up Trump’s speech. She is being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden for being a staunch defender of democracy © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

In a White House ceremony today, President Biden is presenting 19 recipients with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
 
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the Nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.
 
President Biden often says there is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together. These nineteen Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better. They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service.
 
The individuals who are being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom are:
 
Michael R. Bloomberg
 
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and three-term mayor. He revolutionized the financial information industry and transformed New York City’s education, environment, public health, and the arts.
 
Gregory J. Boyle
 
Father Greg Boyle is a Jesuit Catholic priest who is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang-intervention and rehabilitation program. He has helped thousands of Angelenos turn their lives around.
 
James E. Clyburn
 
Representative Jim Clyburn is the former Assistant Democratic Leader and Majority Whip in the United States House of Representatives. Through three decades in the House, Representative Clyburn has transformed the lives of millions of Americans and created a freer country.
 
Elizabeth Dole
 
Senator Elizabeth Dole has served her country as a trailblazing United States Senator, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Labor, and President of the American Red Cross. She leads by example through her Foundation’s support for military caregivers and their families.
 
Phil Donahue
 
Phil Donahue is a journalist and television pioneer who pioneered the daytime issue-oriented television talk show. Donahue was the first daytime talk show to feature audience participation and one of the most influential televisions programs of its time.
 
Medgar Wiley Evers (posthumous)
 
Medgar Evers (d. 1963) fought for his country in World War II and returned home to lead the fight against segregation in Mississippi. After he was murdered at his home at age 37, his wife Myrlie continued the fight to seek justice and equality in his name.
 
Al Gore
 
Al Gore is a former Vice President, United States Senator, and member of the House of Representatives. After winning the popular vote, he accepted the outcome of a disputed presidential election for the sake of our unity. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his bold action on climate change.
 
Clarence B. Jones
 
Clarence B. Jones is a renowned civil rights activist and lawyer who helped draft Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Jones was instrumental in preserving Dr. King’s legacy and remains an outspoken force against hate.
 
John Forbes Kerry
 
Secretary John Kerry is a former Secretary of State, United States Senator, and the first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. His bravery in combat during the Vietnam War earned him the Silver Star and Bronze Star, and history will remember his public service career that has spanned seven decades.
 
Frank R. Lautenberg (posthumous)
 
Senator Frank Lautenberg (d. 2013) was a five-term United States Senator and New Jersey’s longest-serving Senator. He is remembered for his critical work on environmental protection and consumer safety across a number of fields.
 
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky
 
Katie Ledecky is the most decorated female swimmer in history. An athletic prodigy, she has won seven Olympic gold medals and twenty-one world championship gold medals so far. She will continue to compete for the Nation who watches her in awe.
 
Opal Lee
 
Opal Lee is an educator and activist known for her efforts to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday. More than 150 years after that day in Texas, she joined President Biden to officially make Juneteenth a national holiday in 2021.
 
Ellen Ochoa
 
Ellen Ochoa is the first Hispanic woman in space and the second female Director of NASA’s renowned Johnson Space Center. Dr. Ochoa has flown in space four times, logged nearly 1,000 hours in orbit, and continues to inspire young generations of scientists.
 
Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi
 
Nancy Pelosi served as the 52nd Speaker of the House and has represented San Francisco in Congress for more than 36 years. A staunch defender of democracy, she has shaped legislative agendas and Democratic priorities for decades.
 
Jane Rigby
 
Jane Rigby, an astronomer who grew up in Delaware, is the chief scientist of the world’s most powerful telescope. A prolific researcher, Dr. Rigby embodies the American spirit of adventure and wonder.
 
Teresa Romero
 
Teresa Romero is the president of the United Farm Workers and the first Latina to become president of a national union in the United States. She has secured key victories to improve the lives of the workers who feed and fuel our Nation.
 
Judy Shepard
 
Judy Shepard is the co-founder of the Matthew Shephard Foundation, an organization created in honor of her son who was murdered in one of the nation’s most notorious anti-gay hate crimes. Her work has driven tremendous progress in our fight to give hate no safe harbor.
 

A small town in Pennsylvania changed its name to Jim Thorpe to inspire interest in visiting. The first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal is being honored posthumously by President Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

James Francis Thorpe (posthumous)
 
Jim Thorpe (d. 1953) was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal. The country’s original multi-sport superstar, he went on to play professional football, baseball, and basketball while breaking down barriers on and off the field.
 
Michelle Yeoh
 
Michelle Yeoh is an actress known for her groundbreaking work in a number of blockbusters over four decades. Recently, she became the first Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. Yeoh continues to shatter stereotypes and enrich American culture.

Biden Administration, Health Care, Immigration-Migration-Refugees, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features

Fact Sheet: Biden-Harris Administration Expands Health Coverage to DACA Recipients

President Biden announces final rule that will allow eligible DACA recipients to enroll in Affordable Care Act coverage. Some 100,000 DACA recipients are expected to take advantage of this opportunity. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:
 

During his State of the Union address, President Biden called for Congress to pass comprehensive Immigration Reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. Republicans blocked bipartisan reform legislation, but Biden is expanding eligibility for DACA recipients to enroll in the Affordable Care Act. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

The Biden-Harris Administration is expanding access to affordable, quality health care coverage to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.  In 2012, President Obama and then Vice President Biden created the DACA policy to transform the lives of eligible Dreamers – young people who came to this country as children—allowing them to live and work lawfully in our country.  Over the last decade, DACA has brought stability, possibility, and progress to hundreds of thousands of Dreamers. 
 
While President Biden continues to call on Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship to Dreamers and others, he is committed to protecting and preserving DACA and providing Dreamers with the opportunities and support they need to succeed, including access to affordable, quality health care coverage.  Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions, today’s final rule will remove the prohibition on DACA recipients’ eligibility for Affordable Care Act coverage for the first time, and is projected to help more than 100,000 young people gain health insurance.  Starting in November, DACA recipients can apply for coverage through HealthCare.gov and state-based marketplaces, where they may qualify for financial assistance to help them purchase quality health insurance. Four out of five consumers have found a plan for less than $10 a month, with millions saving an average of about $800 a year on their premiums.
 
President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that health care should be a right, not a privilege. Together, they promised to protect and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, lowering costs and expanding coverage so that every American has the peace of mind that health insurance brings.  Today’s final rule delivers on the President’s commitment by giving DACA recipients that same peace and opportunity.  
 
Today’s rule also reinforces the President’s enduring commitment to DACA recipients and Dreamers, who contribute daily to the strength and vitality of our communities and our country.  On day one of his Administration, President Biden committed to preserving and fortifying the DACA policy.  While only Congress can provide Dreamers permanent status and a pathway to citizenship, the Biden-Harris Administration has continued to vigorously defend DACA against ongoing legal challenges and strengthened DACA by codifying the 2012 policy in a final rule.  

Statement from President Joe Biden:

Today, my Administration is expanding affordable, quality health care coverage to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. Dreamers are our loved ones, our nurses, teachers, and small business owners. And they deserve the promise of health care just like all of us.
 
Nearly twelve years ago, President Obama and I announced the DACA program to allow our young people to live and work in the only country they’ve called home. Since then, DACA has provided more than 800,000 Dreamers with the ability to work lawfully, pursue an education, and contribute their immense talents to make our communities better and stronger.
 
I’m proud of the contributions of Dreamers to our country and committed to providing Dreamers the support they need to succeed. That’s why I’ve previously directed the Department of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to “preserve and fortify” DACA. And that’s why today we are taking this historic step to ensure that DACA recipients have the same access to health care through the Affordable Care Act as their neighbors.
 
On Day One of my administration, I sent a comprehensive immigration reform plan to Congress to protect Dreamers and their families. Only Congress can provide Dreamers permanent status and a pathway to citizenship. Congress must act.

Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris:

Dreamers throughout this country are serving in our military, teaching in our classrooms, and leading our small businesses as entrepreneurs. They are our neighbors, classmates, and loved ones. Our nation is fortunate that America is their home.
 
Thanks to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), more than 800,000 Dreamers have been able to live, study, and work in the only home they have ever known while making our nation a better place. It is why I fought to defend and protect DACA as Attorney General of California and a U.S. Senator from California.
 
Now as Vice President, I have worked alongside President Biden to take steps to preserve and fortify DACA. Today, we are building on this progress by ensuring DACA recipients also have access to affordable health care, which will improve the health of all communities. This announcement will bring relief to more than 100,000 people and help them thrive while working to achieve their aspirations.
 
President Biden and I will continue to do everything in our power to protect DACA, but it is only a temporary solution. Congress must act to ensure Dreamers have the permanent protections they deserve.

Contrast to Trump Position on DACA, ACA

In stark contrast to Biden’s support of DACA and ACA, Trump tried to dismantle the DACA program which had protected 700,000 young people who were brought to this country as children from deportation, eventually losing at the Supreme Court.

And Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act – failed – and is vowing to try again if he wins in November. What this would mean for Americans:

  • More than 100 million Americans with preexisting conditions could be denied coverage or charged more
  • 40 million people’s health insurance coverage at risk
  • Health care costs would increase for the millions of Americans
  • Young adults up to age 26 could be kicked off their parent’s health care plan
Biden Administration, Economic Development, Economic Policies, Economy, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Celebrating National Small Business Week, Biden-Harris Administration Announces Record Federal Dollars Awarded to Small Businesses

As Congressional Republicans propose cutting SBA funding by 31%, White House releases 2024 Small Business Boom Report that shows SBA small dollar Loans on track to nearly double since 2020. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:  

 

The Biden Administration is touting a sustained small business boom, with Americans filing a record 17.2 million new business applications © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Small businesses are the engines of the economy. As President Biden says, every time someone starts a new small business, it’s an act of hope and confidence in our economy. In celebration of National Small Business Week, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new milestones in support delivered to small businesses across the country.
 
Since arriving in office, the Biden-Harris Administration has overseen a sustained small business boom across the country. The President’s agenda has driven the first, second and third strongest years of new business application rates on record—and is on pace for the fourth—with Americans filing a record 17.2 million new business applications. Business applications are a leading indicator for new business creation, and the historic growth in business applications has coincided with the strongest labor market in decades. And traditionally underserved small businesses are growing at near-historic rates, with Black business ownership growing at the fastest pace in 30 years and Latino business ownership growing at the fastest pace in more than a decade.
 
Republicans in Congress have undermined small businesses by attempting to repeal Inflation Reduction Act investments that are lowering costs for small business. House Republicans are also threatening assistance to small businesses across the country by proposing draconian cuts to the Small Business Administration as part of their 31% reduction to government-wide spending. And House Republicans would defund the President’s agenda to advance racial and gender equity in federal contracts.
 
President Biden is fighting to grow the small business boom spurred by his agenda. The Biden-Harris Administration announced:

New Records for Federal Procurement Dollars Awarded to Small Businesses, Including Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs). The Small Business Administration (SBA) released its Procurement Scorecard showing that in Fiscal Year 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded an all-time high in federal contracts to small businesses across federal agencies. In total, a record-high of $178.6 billion, or 28.4 percent, of all contracting dollars went to small businesses. This includes:
 

  • $76.2 billion to SDBs, totaling 12.1 percent of federal contracting dollars and surpassing the 12% goal for FY23 established by the Office of Management and Budget. This represents the third consecutive year of record-breaking awards to SDBs under President Biden, and puts the Administration on track to reach the President’s goal of increasing federal contracting dollars to SDBs by 50% by 2025. Increasing federal investments in under-resourced businesses helps more Americans realize their entrepreneurial dreams, strengthens the supplier base, and contributes to narrowing persistent wealth disparities.
  • $32 billion to Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB), representing a nearly $4 billion increase from Fiscal Year 2022. The Administration surpassed its goal by nearly 70%, with a total of 5.07 percent of federal contracting dollars going to SDVOSB.
  • In FY23, government contracting with small businesses supported one million jobs, including in manufacturing, construction, research & development, technology, defense, and other vital industries.
  • Across the federal government, 22 agencies received an ‘A’ or higher on their individual procurement scorecards, surpassing last year’s total.
  • In conjunction with the scorecard, the SBA released federal contract data broken down by business owner race and ethnicity for FY23, which shows that businesses owned by historically underrepresented groups earned more through federal contracts across every category.

 
Release of Third Annual Small Business Boom Report. The White House released its third annual Small Business Boom Report, illustrating the continued achievements of the Biden-Harris Administration to support small businesses by expanding access to capital, providing small businesses with more hands-on support, ensuring federal spending benefits small businesses, and building a fairer tax code. The report shows the Administration has continued to make historic progress on all 35 commitments in the original report including:
 

  • SBA has nearly doubled small dollar loans. Small businesses consistently voice the need for access to small dollar loans, with survey results indicating over 50% of small businesses seek loans of less than $100,000, but only one-third of the smallest businesses – those with $100,000 or less in annual revenue – report receiving the full funding they request from banks. Less than one year since implementing policy reforms to increase access to small dollar loans, SBA is on pace to nearly double the number of small loans approved compared to the final year of the previous Administration, with over 20,000 7(a) loans under $150,000 approved in Fiscal Year 2024. It represents a one-third increase over last year, translating to 750 more businesses getting approved for a small dollar loans every month.
  • Through the American Rescue Plan’s State Small Business Credit Initiative approved over $8 billion in capital support for small businesses, leveraging significantly more in private sector funding. Funded by the American Rescue Plan, Treasury’s nearly $10 billion State Small Business Initiative (SSBCI) program delivers funding to states, territories, and tribal governments that spur lending and investing in small businesses, and provides critical technical assistance. So far, Treasury has approved $8.4 billion in allocations to 55 states and territories and 34 tribal governments that are expected to catalyze at least $10 in private investment for each dollar of SSBCI capital funding. Already $1.1 billion of approved funding has been deployed to support loans or investments to small businesses or investments in venture capital funds. To date, Treasury has also announced the approval of more than $135 million in technical assistance grants to 40 states and territories.
  • Delivering more than $250 billion to small businesses through SBA’s lending programs by the end of the decade. In 2021, SBA committed to delivering more than $250 billion in financing to more than 500,000 small businesses by the end of the decade. Under this Administration, SBA has taken numerous steps to expand access to capital including finalizing rules to increase small dollar lending, expanding programs that help connect traditionally underserved businesses with resources, and revamping its Lender Match portal. As a result, SBA has delivered nearly $124 billion in financing to small businesses through its 7(a), 504, and microloan programs, putting them on pace to reach their goal.
Biden Administration, Cybersecurity

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Key AI Actions 180 Days Following President Biden’s Landmark Executive Order

Six months ago, President Biden issued a landmark Executive Order to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). Since then, agencies all across government have taken vital steps to manage AI’s safety and security risks, protect Americans’ privacy, advance equity and civil rights, stand up for consumers and workers, promote innovation and competition, advance American leadership around the world, and more.
 

Federal agencies reported that they completed all of the 180-day actions in the E.O. on schedule, following their recent successes completing each 90-day, 120-day, and 150-day action on time. Agencies also progressed on other work tasked by the E.O. over longer timeframes.
 
Actions that agencies reported as complete include the following:
 
Managing Risks to Safety and Security:
Over 180 days, the Executive Order directed agencies to address a broad range of AI’s safety and security risks, including risks related to dangerous biological materials, critical infrastructure, and software vulnerabilities. To mitigate these and other threats to safety, agencies have:
 

  • Established a framework for nucleic acid synthesis screening to help prevent the misuse of AI for engineering dangerous biological materials. This work complements in-depth study by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Energy (DOE) and Office of Science and Technology Policy on AI’s potential to be misused for this purpose, as well as a DHS report that recommended mitigations for the misuse of AI to exacerbate chemical and biological threats. In parallel, the Department of Commerce has worked to engage the private sector to develop technical guidance to facilitate implementation. Starting 180 days after the framework is announced, agencies will require that grantees obtain synthetic nucleic acids from vendors that screen.
     
  • Released for public comment draft documents on managing generative AI risks, securely developing generative AI systems and dual-use foundation models, expanding international standards development in AI, and reducing the risks posed by AI-generated content. When finalized, these documents by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will provide additional guidance that builds on NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework, which offered individuals, organizations, and society a framework to manage AI risks and has been widely adopted both in the U.S. and globally.
     
  • Developed the first AI safety and security guidelines for critical infrastructure owners and operators. These guidelines are informed by the completed work of nine agencies to assess AI risks across all sixteen critical infrastructure sectors.
     
  • Launched the AI Safety and Security Board to advise the Secretary of Homeland Security, the critical infrastructure community, other private sector stakeholders, and the broader public on the safe and secure development and deployment of AI technology in our nation’s critical infrastructure. The Board’s 22 inaugural members include representatives from a range of sectors, including software and hardware company executives, critical infrastructure operators, public officials, the civil rights community, and academia. 
     
  • Piloted new AI tools for identifying vulnerabilities in vital government software systems. The Department of Defense (DoD) made progress on a pilot for AI that can find and address vulnerabilities in software used for national security and military purposes. Complementary to DoD’s efforts, DHS piloted different tools to identify and close vulnerabilities in other critical government software systems that Americans rely on every hour of every day.

 
Standing up for Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights
The Executive Order directed bold steps to mitigate other risks from AI—including risks to workers, to consumers, and to Americans’ civil rights—and ensure that AI’s development and deployment benefits all American. Agencies reported that they have:

  • Developed bedrock principles and practices for employers and developers to build and deploy AI safely and in ways that empower workers. Agencies all across government are now starting work to establish these practices as requirements, where appropriate and authorized by law, for employers that receive federal funding.
     
  • Released guidance to assist federal contractors and employers comply with worker protection laws as they deploy AI in the workplace. The Department of Labor (DOL) developed a guide for federal contractors and subcontractors to answer questions and share promising practices to clarify federal contractors’ legal obligations, promote equal employment opportunity, and mitigate the potentially harmful impacts of AI in employment decisions. DOL also provided guidance regarding the application of the Fair Labor Standards Act and other federal labor standards as employers increasingly use of AI and other automated technologies in the workplace.
     
  • Released resources for job seekers, workers, and tech vendors and creators on how AI use could violate employment discrimination laws. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s resources clarify that existing laws apply the use of AI and other new technologies in employment just as they apply to other employment practices.
     
  • Issued guidance on AI’s nondiscriminatory use in the housing sector. In two guidance documents, the Department of Housing and Urban Development affirmed that existing prohibitions against discrimination apply to AI’s use for tenant screening and advertisement of housing opportunities, and it explained how deployers of AI tools can comply with these obligations.
     
  • Published guidance and principles that set guardrails for the responsible and equitable use of AI in administering public benefits programs. The Department of Agriculture’s guidance explains how State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments should manage risks for uses of AI and automated systems in benefits programs such as SNAP. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a plan with guidelines on similar topics for benefits programs it oversees. Both agencies’ documents prescribe actions that align with the Office of Management and Budget’s policies, published last month, for federal agencies to manage risks in their own use of AI and harness AI’s benefits.
     
  • Announced a final rule clarifying that nondiscrimination requirements in health programs and activities continue to apply to the use of AI, clinical algorithms, predictive analytics, and other tools. Specifically, the rule applies the nondiscrimination principles under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to the use of patient care decision support tools in clinical care, and it requires those covered by the rule to take steps to identify and mitigate discrimination when they use AI and other forms of decision support tools for care.
     
  • Developed a strategy for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of AI deployed in the health care sector. The strategy outlines rigorous frameworks for AI testing and evaluation, and it outlines future actions for HHS to promote responsible AI development and deployment.


Harnessing AI for Good
President Biden’s Executive Order also directed work to seize AI’s enormous promise, including by advancing AI’s use for scientific research, deepening collaboration with the private sector, and piloting uses of AI. Over the past 180 days, agencies have done the following:

  • Announced DOE funding opportunities to support the application of AI for science, including energy-efficient AI algorithms and hardware. 
     
  • Prepared convenings for the next several months with utilities, clean energy developers, data center owners and operators, and regulators in localities experiencing large load growth.  DOE announced new actions to assess the potential energy opportunities and challenges of AI, accelerate deployment of clean energy, and advance AI innovation to manage the growing energy demand of AI.
     
  • Launched pilots, partnerships, and new AI tools to address energy challenges and advance clean energy. For example, DOE is piloting AI tools to streamline permitting processes and improving siting for clean energy infrastructure, and it has developed other powerful AI tools with applications at the intersection of energy, science, and security. DOE also published a report outlining opportunities AI brings to advance the clean energy economy and modernize the electric grid.
     
  • Initiated a sustained effort to analyze the potential risks that deployment of AI may pose to the grid. DOE has started the process of convening energy stakeholders and technical experts over the coming months to collaboratively assess potential risks to the grid, as well as ways in which AI could potentially strengthen grid resilience and our ability to respond to threats—building off a new public assessment.
     
  • Authored a report on AI’s role in advancing scientific research to help tackle major societal challenges, written by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.


Bringing AI Talent into Government
The AI and Tech Talent Task Force has made substantial progress on hiring through the AI Talent Surge. Since President Biden signed the E.O., federal agencies have hired over 150 AI and AI-enabling professionals and, along with the tech talent programs, are on track to hire hundreds by Summer 2024. Individuals hired thus far are already working on critical AI missions, such as informing efforts to use AI for permitting, advising on AI investments across the federal government, and writing policy for the use of AI in government.

  • The General Services Administration has onboarded a new cohort of Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) and also announced their first-ever PIF AI cohort starting this summer.
  • DHS has launched the DHS AI Corps, which will hire 50 AI professionals to build safe, responsible, and trustworthy AI to improve service delivery and homeland security.
  • The Office of Personnel Management has issued guidance on skills-based hiring to increase access to federal AI roles for individuals with non-traditional academic backgrounds.

For more on the AI Talent Surge’s progress, read its report to the President. To explore opportunities, visit https://ai.gov/apply

Biden Administration, Inequality, Joe Biden, News & Photo Features

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Continues to Call on Congressional Republicans and Internet Service Providers to Keep Americans Connected as the Affordable Connectivity Program Enters Final Month

The glaring contrast between President Joe Biden and the Democrats’ plan to increase equity and opportunity for all Americans and the Republicans, who are doing their best to reverse the progress made, is clear in how Congressional Republicans are refusing to re-authorize the Affordable Connectivity Program.  This fact sheet that shows the impact, state-by-state, is provided by the White House:

  
As part of the President’s Investing in America agenda, a key component of Bidenomics, the Biden-Harris Administration has made historic progress towards lowering costs – including internet costs – for American families across the country. The Affordable Connectivity Program, enacted under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as the largest internet affordability program in our nation’s history, has helped 23 million households save on their monthly internet bills. 

Today, May 1st, begins the final month that Affordable Connectivity Program households will receive any benefit on their internet bills. Without Congressional action to extend funding for the program, millions of Americans will see their internet bills go up or lose internet access at the end of this month. President Biden is once again calling on Republicans in Congress to join their Democratic colleagues in support of extending funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program, so tens of millions of Americans can continue to access this essential benefit.

Losing the monthly Affordable Connectivity Program benefit will have drastic, meaningful impacts on American households, according to survey data collected by the Federal Communications Commission. More than three-quarters of surveyed ACP households say losing their ACP benefit would disrupt their service by making them change their plan or drop internet service entirely. More than two thirds of households had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP, and this number is even higher for surveyed households residing in rural areas. These respondents also reported that ACP has enabled them to schedule or attend healthcare appoints, apply for jobs, complete work, and do schoolwork.

During the month of May, as funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program runs out, millions of households will receive only a partial subsidy on their internet bills and some will receive no discount at all if their provider opts out of the partial benefit.

At this crucial time, the White House is encouraging providers to take steps to keep their consumers connected by offering low-cost or no-cost plans or providing discounts.

On October 25, 2023, President Biden sent Congress a supplemental request for $6 billion to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. Despite that request, Republicans in Congress have failed to act. Without action from Republicans in Congress, this program will sunset at the end of May and tens of millions of Americans may no longer be able to afford high-speed internet service. It is time for Republicans in Congress to step up for families across the country.

Here is a state-by-state breakdown of the number of households that will see a $30 or $75 per month increase on their internet bill if Congressional Republicans fail to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program. This breakdown includes estimates of percentages of households enrolled in ACP in every Congressional District.

·        Alabama

·        Alaska

·        American Samoa

·        Arizona

·        Arkansas

·        California

·        Colorado

·        Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

·        Connecticut

·        DC

·        Delaware

·        Florida

·        Georgia

·        Guam

·        Hawaiʻi

·        Idaho

·        Illinois

·        Indiana

·        Iowa

·        Kansas

·        Kentucky

·        Louisiana

·        Maine

·        Maryland

·        Massachusetts

·        Michigan

·        Minnesota

·        Mississippi

·        Missouri

·        Montana

·        Nebraska

·        Nevada

·        New Hampshire

·        New Jersey

·        New Mexico

·        New York

·        North Carolina

·        North Dakota

·        Ohio

·        Oklahoma

·        Oregon

·        Pennsylvania

·        Puerto Rico

·        Rhode Island

·        South Carolina

·        South Dakota

·        Tennessee

·        Texas

·        U.S. Virgin Islands

·        Utah

·        Vermont

·        Virginia

·        Washington

·        West Virginia

·        Wisconsin

·        Wyoming

Economy, Housing, Inequality

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Key Progress on Efforts to Close the Racial Wealth Gap

Under President Biden’s leadership, the home appraisal gap—an indicator of potential racial and ethnic bias—has shrunk by more than 40%
 
80% of Congressional Republicans are supporting a plan that would reverse this progress, while cutting Medicare, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act

This fact sheet is provided by the White House:

Nearly three years ago at a speech to commemorate the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, President Biden committed to addressing racial inequities in the home appraisal process and increase the share of federal contract spending awarded to small disadvantaged businesses by 50%. During remarks at the National Action Network Convention, President Biden highlighted how his Administration is delivering on that promise and announce key progress being made to create opportunity in historically under-resourced communities and narrow the racial wealth gap.
  
While the President and Vice President continue working to close the racial wealth gap and create more opportunities for all Americans, 80% of Congressional Republicans are supporting a plan that would move the country backwards.  Their plan would defund the President’s executive orders on racial equity, while cutting Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and Social Security—raising the Social Security retirement age in the process. Congressional Republicans would also roll back billions of dollars in investments and tax incentives that support small businesses as they shift to a clean economy.  Moreover, the Congressional Republican plan would also increase prescription drug, energy, and housing costs, while fighting for tax giveaways for the very rich and big corporations.
 
In direct contrast, closing the racial wealth gap has been central to the Biden-Harris Administration’s economic agenda, and the progress we are making under the President’s leadership is delivering for communities nationwide, including Black Americans. The President’s announcements today to build on this progress include:

Rooting out bias in the home appraisal process. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is releasing new data showing that the “appraisal gap”—the likelihood that homes in communities of color are undervalued compared to homes in majority-white communities—has been cut by more than 40% since the Biden-Harris Administration took action on appraisal bias. The data also show that some states have eliminated the gap entirely. In these states, families in communities of color are no more likely to have their home valued at less than the agreed contract price than are families in white communities. This means that more Black Americans and people of color are able to build greater wealth from owning a home.
 
While there can be many reasons why an individual home is valued below the agreed-upon contract price, systemic undervaluation in communities of color can indicate racial bias in the appraisal process.
 
On June 1, 2021, the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, President Biden announced the creation of the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE): a first-of-its-kind effort to root out bias and advance equity in the home appraisal process. Since releasing the PAVE Action Plan in March 2022, the Task Force has made critical progress towards implementation, including major steps to empower consumers to take action against appraisal bias; prevent algorithmic bias in home valuation; and support a well-trained and more representative appraiser profession. 
 
Rooting out bias in appraisals can help narrow the racial wealth gap. According to a recent study, eliminating racial disparities in the amount of wealth families gain from owning a home would narrow the wealth gap by 16% between Black and white households and by 41% between Latino and white households.
 
Achieving record federal investment in small disadvantaged businesses. Today, President Biden is also announcing that in Fiscal Year 2023, agencies surpassed the President’s goal for federal contracting dollars going to small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs), awarding SDBs a record-breaking $76.2 billion, or 12.1% in federal contracts. This sets a new all-time record for federal dollars to SDBs, surpassing the record set by the Biden-Harris Administration last year of $69.9 billion, and illustrates continued progress towards the President’s goal of 15% to SDBs by 2025. Three consecutive years of record-breaking awards to SDBs underscores the Administration’s unwavering commitment to leveling the playing field for the Nation’s small businesses and ensuring that no talent is left on the sidelines, even in the face of legal attacks that seek to undercut the Administration’s efforts.
 
Increasing federal investments in under-resourced businesses not only helps more Americans realize their entrepreneurial dreams and strengthens the supplier base, but also narrows persistent wealth disparities. According to analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, eliminating racial disparities in business ownership rates would narrow the wealth gap by an additional 22% between Black and white households and by an additional 17% between Latino and white households. Recognizing this historic opportunity, in 2021, the President set a bold goal of increasing the share of the more than $630 billion in contracting dollars going to SDBs each year, including Black, Latino and Asian American-owned small businesses, to 15% by 2025—or an increase of 50% from 2010.
 
Canceling student loan debt. The Biden-Harris Administration also today announced that it is canceling an additional $7.4 billion in student loan debt for 277,000 borrowers. This brings the total amount of debt relief approved by the Administration to $153 billion for 4.3 million Americans. Today’s announcement builds on the President’s announcement earlier this week, laying out his Administration’s plans that would cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans, if implemented as proposed. These plans would cancel runaway interest for over 25 million borrowers, cancel loan debt for borrowers eligible for forgiveness programs but not enrolled in those programs, and cancel student debt for borrowers experiencing hardship in their daily lives preventing them from paying back their loans.
 
Black and Latino borrowers are more likely to experience growth in their student loan balances due to excessive interest accumulation. Four years after graduation, Black bachelor’s degree borrowers, on average, owe more than they borrowed. These plans would not only help create more financial stability for millions of working and middle-class families, they would also help address the disproportionate debt burden on communities of color and advance racial equity.
 
Today’s announcements build on the progress the President has made to leverage the full force of the Federal Government—including with the signing of two executive orders on advancing racial equity—in order to ensure the promise of America for all communities, including Black Americans. Here are just a few examples of how Bidenomics and the President’s Investing in America agenda are already delivering for Black Americans:

  • Under President Biden, the Black unemployment rate and gap between Black and white unemployment hit record lows. 
  • Black wealth is up 60% relative to pre-pandemic levels.
  • The share of Black business owners more than doubled between 2019 and 2022.
  • Black-owned businesses are being created at the fastest rate in 30 years.
Biden Administration, Health Care, News & Photo Features

Fact Sheet: Vice President Harris Announces Historic Advancements in Long-Term Care to Support the Care Economy

These advancements in long-term care to support the care economy are the latest the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to improve safety, provide support for care workers and family caregivers, and to expand access to affordable, high-quality care. This fact sheet is provided by the White House:

Vice President Harris is announcing two landmark final rules that fulfill the President’s commitment to safety in care, improving access to long-term care and the quality of caregiving jobs. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect and to have access to quality care. That’s why, today, Vice President Harris is announcing two landmark final rules that fulfill the President’s commitment to safety in care, improving access to long-term care and the quality of caregiving jobs. Ensuring that all Americans, including older Americans and people with disabilities, have access to care – including home-based care – that is safe, reliable, and of high quality is an important part of the President’s agenda and a part of the President’s broader commitment to care. Today’s announcements deliver on the President’s promise in the State of the Union to crack down on nursing homes that endanger resident safety as well as his historic Executive Order on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers, which included the most comprehensive set of executive actions any President has taken to improve care for millions of seniors and people with disabilities while supporting care workers and family caregivers.


Cracking Down on Inadequate Nursing Home Care


Medicare and Medicaid pay billions of dollars per year to ensure that 1.2 million Americans that receive care in nursing homes are cared for, yet too many nursing homes chronically understaff their facilities, leading to sub-standard or unsafe care. When facilities are understaffed, residents may go without basic necessities like baths, trips to the bathroom, and meals – and it is less safe when residents have a medical emergency. Understaffing can also have a disproportionate impact on women and people of color who make up a large proportion of the nursing home workforce because, without sufficient support, these dedicated workers can’t provide the care they know the residents deserve. In his 2022 State of the Union address, President Biden pledged that he would “protect seniors’ lives and life savings by cracking down on nursing homes that commit fraud, endanger patient safety, or prescribe drugs they don’t need.”

The Nursing Home Minimum Staffing Rule finalized today will require all nursing homes that receive federal funding through Medicare and Medicaid to have 3.48 hours per resident per day of total staffing, including a defined number from both registered nurses (0.55 hours per resident per day) and nurse aides (2.45 per resident per day). This means a facility with 100 residents would need at least two or three RNs and at least ten or eleven nurse aides as well as two additional nurse staff (which could be registered nurses, licensed professional nurses, or nurse aides) per shift to meet the minimum staffing standards. Many facilities would need to staff at a higher level based on their residents’ needs. It will also require facilities to have a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide skilled nursing care, which will further improve nursing home safety. Adequate staffing is proven to be one of the measures most strongly associated with safety and good care outcomes.

To make sure nursing homes have the time they need to hire necessary staff, the requirements of this rule will be introduced in phases, with longer timeframes for rural communities. Limited, temporary exemptions will be available for both the 24/7 registered nurse requirement and the underlying staffing standards for nursing homes in workforce shortage areas that demonstrate a good faith effort to hire.

Strong transparency measures will ensure nursing home residents and their families are aware when a nursing home is using an exemption.

This rule will not only benefit residents and their families, it will also ensure that workers aren’t stretched too thin by having inadequate staff on site, which is currently a common reason for worker burnout and turnover. Workers who are on the frontlines interacting with residents and understanding their needs will also be given a voice in developing staffing plans for nursing homes. The Biden-Harris Administration also continues to invest in expanding the pipeline of nursing workers and other care workers, who are so essential to our economy, including through funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


Improving Access to Home Care and the Quality of Home Care Jobs


Over seven million seniors and people with disabilities, alongside their families, rely on home and community-based services to provide for long-term care needs in their own homes and communities. This critical care is provided by a dedicated home care workforce, made up disproportionately by women of color, that often struggles to make ends meet due to low wages and few benefits. At the same time, home care is still very inaccessible for many Medicaid enrollees, with more than threequarters of home care providers not accepting new clients, leaving hundreds of thousands of older Americans and Americans with disabilities on waiting lists or struggling to afford the care they need.

The “Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services” final rule, finalized today, will help improve access to home care services as well as improve the quality caregiving jobs through its new provisions for home care. Specifically, the rule will ensure adequate compensation for home care workers by requiring that at least 80 percent of Medicaid payments for home care services go to workers’ wages. This policy would also allow states to take into account the unique experiences that small home care providers and providers in rural areas face while ensuring their employees receive their fair share of Medicaid payments and continued training as well as the delivery of quality care. Higher wages will likely reduce turnover, leading to higher quality of care for older adults and people with disabilities across the nation, as studies have shown. States will also be required to be more transparent in how much they pay for home care services and how they set those rates, increasing the accountability for home care providers. Finally, states will have to create a home care rate-setting advisory group made up of beneficiaries, home care workers and other key stakeholders to advise and consult on provider payment rates and direct compensation for direct care workers.


Strong Record on Improving Access to Care and Supporting Caregivers


Today’s new final rules are in addition to an already impressive track record on delivering on the President’s Executive Order on Care. Over the last year, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

  • Increased pay for care workers, including by proposing a rule to gradually increase pay for Head Start teachers by about $10,000, to reach parity with the salaries of public preschool teachers.
  • Cut child care costs for low-income families by finalizing a rule that will reduce or eliminate copayments for more than 100,000 working families, and lowering the cost of care for lower earning service members, thereby reducing the cost of child care for nearly two-thirds of children receiving care on military bases. Military families earning $45,000 would see a 34% decrease in the amount they pay for child care.

Supported family caregivers by making it easier for family caregivers to access Medicare beneficiary information and provide more support as they prepare for their loved ones to be discharged from the hospital. The Administration has also expanded access to mental health services for tens of thousands of family caregivers who are helping veterans

Climate Action, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Environmental Protection

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Key Actions to Strengthen Electric Grid, Boost Clean Energy Deployment and Cut Dangerous Pollution from Power Sector

This fact sheet on what the Biden-Harris Administration is doing to strengthen the electric grid, boost clean energy deployment and create jobs, and cut dangerous pollution from the power sector was provided by the White House:

A solar array on a New York State farm. This month the EPA announced $20 billion in grant awards under two competitions from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to create a national network to fund tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across America, especially in communities historically left behind and overburdened by pollution. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

Since Day One, President Biden has led and delivered on the most ambitious climate and environmental justice agenda in history, including securing the largest-ever climate investment. The power sector, which is responsible for a quarter of annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, now has more tools than ever – including unprecedented financial support, efficient permitting, and long-term regulatory certainty – to reduce pollution and upgrade the grid to support more factories, electric vehicles, and other growing sources of electricity demand.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing key actions to build on this momentum and deliver clean electricity to more homes and businesses, helping lower energy costs for American families and power the U.S. manufacturing renaissance driven by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, while providing cleaner air and water to communities long overburdened by pollution from fossil fuel power plants.
 
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a suite of standards to cut greenhouse gas emissions as well as toxic air pollution, water pollution, and land contamination from fossil fuel power plants. EPA’s greenhouse gas emission standards will avoid 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047, equivalent to the annual emissions of 328 million gas cars, and together with the other standards will provide hundreds of billions of dollars in climate, environmental justice, and public health benefits, including fewer premature deaths, asthma cases, and lost work and school days. The standards announced today will ensure that power companies use modern, cost-effective technologies to reduce pollution and protect the health and wellbeing of communities, including communities historically overburdened by pollution.
 
The Department of Energy (DOE) is announcing up to $331 million through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for a new transmission line that will be built with union labor – the latest awards from the Administration’s $30 billion investment in strengthening America’s electric grid infrastructure. A capacity contract from the Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP) will support a new 285-mile transmission line from Idaho to Nevada, bringing more than 2,000 Megawatts of needed transmission capacity to the region. The Southwest Intertie Project-North is expected to provide hundreds of jobs to workers with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
 
Alongside this critical investment, DOE is releasing a final rule to make federal permitting of new transmission lines more efficient, ensuring meaningful engagement with Tribes, local communities, and other stakeholders. The rule establishes the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorization and Permits (CITAP) program, which aims to improve coordination across agencies, create efficiencies, and establish a standard two-year timeline for federal transmission authorizations and permits. The CITAP program gives transmission developers a new option for a more efficient review process, a major step to provide increased confidence for the sector to invest in new transmission lines.
 
DOE is also issuing a final rule to create an even faster track for completing environmental reviews of upgrades to existing transmission lines, which will increase reliability and lower energy costs. The rule creates a categorical exclusion, the simplest form of review under the National Environmental Policy Act, for projects that use existing transmission rights of way, such as reconductoring projects, as well as for solar and energy storage projects on already disturbed lands.
 
Additionally, today, the Administration is launching an effort to mobilize public and private sector leaders to expand the capacity of the existing U.S. transmission network, setting an ambition to upgrade 100,000 miles of transmission lines over the next five years. The Administration has made funding available through the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) program to support upgrades to existing transmission lines, and DOE’s categorical exclusion issued today will speed up the process to upgrade existing lines. The power sector can achieve this ambition primarily by deploying modern grid technologies like high-performance conductors and dynamic line ratings that enable existing transmission lines to carry more power. As a complement to building new lines, deploying solutions like these offer fast and cost-effective ways to unlock hundreds of gigawatts of additional clean energy, increase system reliability and resilience, reduce grid congestion, and cut energy costs.
 
These efforts all work in tandem – historic investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda that are making America a magnet for clean energy investment; continued permitting progress to get projects up and running; and smart standards to provide rules of the road for power companies, enabling them to seize the unprecedented opportunities to deliver clean electricity across the country. These steps – which are part of a broader slate of Earth Week announcements – build on President Biden’s actions since Day One to tackle the climate crisis and advance environmental justice.
 
Upgrading the Electric Grid for Reliability and Resilience
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is delivering the largest investment in grid infrastructure in history—more than $30 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These investments will help deliver reliable, affordable electricity to families and businesses, prepare for worsening natural disasters that strain the grid, and unlock the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy. To help expand the transmission system at the pace necessary to confront the climate crisis, today’s actions and additional recent steps will help streamline permitting and overcome financial hurdles:
 

  • Completing a New Transmission Line: Today the Department of the Interior (DOI) is celebrating the completion of the Ten West Link transmission line from Arizona to California. The line began transmitting electricity today and will increase reliability and unlock more than 3,200 megawatts of capacity from solar projects. DOI approved the construction of this project in 2022.
     
  • Continuing to Invest in Grid Upgrades: Last week applications closed for up to $2.7 billion in DOE grant funding under the second round of the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program for projects to upgrade and modernize the transmission and distribution system to increase reliability and resilience. This builds upon $3.46 billion in projects selected for grid upgrades in October 2023, which are funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
     
  • Charting the Future of the Grid to Meet Emerging Challenges: Last week DOE released the 2024 Future of Resource Adequacy Report to lay out solutions to meet increasing electricity demand while cutting emissions and maintaining affordability. DOE also released the Innovative Grid Deployment Liftoff Report to chart pathways to deployment of modern, commercially available transmission and distribution technologies that could support 20 to 100 gigawatts of peak demand.

Revitalizing U.S. Manufacturing and Securing Clean Energy Supply Chains
Thanks to incentives from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the clean energy future will be made in America. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, private companies have invested almost $80 billion in clean energy manufacturing. Strengthening U.S. clean energy supply chains not only benefits American workers but also makes it easier to deploy clean energy even faster to cut emissions. Recent actions continue the progress to build and secure domestic supply chains and ensure that the U.S. will lead the world in clean energy manufacturing:
 

  • Expanding U.S. Clean Energy Manufacturing and Creating Good-Paying Jobs: The Treasury Department and DOE recently announced $4 billion in Inflation Reduction Act tax credit allocations for over 100 manufacturing projects across 35 states under the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Tax Credit (48C). This includes projects to manufacture transformers and grid components, electric vehicle components and chargers, and transmission cables, produce clean steel, and process critical minerals and materials. These allocations include $1.5 billion for projects in historic energy communities that have experienced closure of coal mines and power plants.
     
  • Securing the U.S. Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain: Last week, DOE announced several milestones on the path to establish a domestic fuel supply chain for nuclear energy and reduce our reliance on imports. DOE recently closed the requests for proposal to purchase high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) needed for advanced nuclear reactors, which is part of a $700 million program secured through the Inflation Reduction Act. Moreover, an enrichment plant (located in Piketon, Ohio) produced the first 100 kilograms of civilian HALEU ever in the United States with future plans to expand to 900 kilograms. U.S. capabilities will increase further thanks to an additional $2.7 billion made available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in the Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Development, which, when paired with $2.2 billion from France and the United Kingdom meets and exceeds a commitment made last fall at COP28 to pool funds to develop a safe and secure global supply chain.

 
Deploying Clean Energy to Meet America’s Power Needs
The President’s Investing in America agenda has unleashed unprecedented investment in deployment of clean energy technologies, attracting hundreds of billions of dollars in private sector investment and creating over 270,000 new clean energy jobs. The Administration is taking additional steps to accelerate buildout of clean energy and remove roadblocks to deployment to ensure that new clean energy resources can come online fast to meet growing demand. Recent actions include:
 

  • Accelerating Offshore Wind Deployment: Yesterday DOI announced plans for the next five years of offshore wind leasing, as well as a final rule to modernize offshore wind regulations. Over the next 20 years, the final rule is expected to result in cost savings of roughly $1.9 billion to the offshore renewable energy industry, savings that can be passed onto consumers or used to invest in additional job-creating clean energy projects.  Additionally, DOE released the Offshore Wind Liftoff Report, charting a path to success for the next wave of projects through continued innovation and cost reductions, along with DOE’s latest steps to support offshore wind manufacturing and transmission development.  Through these actions, the Biden-Harris Administration continues to support state leadership and use every tool available to responsibly grow an American offshore wind industry that will create thousands of good-paying jobs, including federal investments and approvals under President Biden’s leadership of 10 gigawatts of commercial-scale offshore wind projects, with the first two already providing power to the grid, as well as over 1 million acres newly leased to provide offshore wind opportunities for years ahead.
     
  • Promoting Development of Renewable Energy on Public Lands: This month DOI issued a final rule to reduce fees for solar and wind projects on public lands by 80 percent and announced that DOI has now permitted more than 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects on public lands, surpassing a major milestone ahead of 2025.
     
  • Speeding Up Process to Connect New Power Plants to the Grid: Last week DOE released the Transmission Interconnection Roadmap, a first-of-its-kind report laying out solutions to accelerate the process to connect clean energy projects to the grid and reduce wait times for new solar, wind, and battery projects. The Roadmap complements $10 million that DOE recently made available for analytical tools and other approaches to accelerate the interconnection process. Additionally, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is moving forward to implement a series of major transmission reforms, including a final rule to streamline the interconnection process.
     
  • Taking Advantage of Extensive Geothermal Energy Resources:  Last week DOI adopted categorical exclusions to expedite the review and approval of geothermal energy exploration on public lands. In addition, DOE recently released a new Pathways to Commercial Liftoff report on geothermal power, which showed how U.S. geothermal energy production could grow by a factor of 20 to 90 Gigawatts by 2050.
     
  • Improving the State and Local Renewable Energy Siting Process: Last week DOE opened a funding opportunity for state-based collaboratives to build capacity to improve renewable energy planning and siting processes. This funding, supported by the Inflation Reduction Act, will accelerate the siting process to bring renewable energy online faster while improving outcomes for host communities, local governments, and disadvantaged communities.

 
Ensuring All Communities Benefit from Clean Energy
From Day One, President Biden has prioritized ensuring that all communities benefit from clean energy deployment, including the energy communities and workers that have powered our nation for generations and the low-income households that are burdened with high energy bills. The Administration has followed through on these commitments—not just talking about coal and power plant communities but investing in them. The President’s Investing in America agenda is creating good-paying and union jobs in energy communities, bringing solar energy to low-income households to reduce energy bills, supporting community engagement and improved outcomes for state and local permitting, and increasing grid reliability and resilience through distributed energy solutions. The President’s Justice40 Initiative sets a goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal in climate, clean energy, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that have been marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. Recent actions continue this progress:
 

  • Reducing Energy Bills for Low-Income Households: This week the EPA announced $7 billion to deploy solar energy for low-income communities through the Solar for All program, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. The 60 selections will provide funding to support 60 states, territories, Tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofits to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from solar, cutting annual electricity bills by more than $350 million for low-income households, creating an estimated 200,000 jobs, and increasing grid reliability.
     
  • Deploying Clean Energy in Energy Communities: DOE recently announced up to $475 million for five projects in Arizona, Kentucky, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia to accelerate clean energy deployment on current and former mine lands. The projects, supported by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will deploy geothermal, pumped-storage hydropower, solar, and battery storage and will spur new economic opportunities in communities that have helped power the nation for generations.
     
  • Building Opportunities for Coal and Power Plant Communities to Continue Powering America: DOE recently released an information guide and technical study for communities and stakeholders who are considering replacing their coal plants with nuclear. Coal-to-nuclear transition can significantly reduce the cost of nuclear plant construction, while creating new high-paying jobs, increasing community income and revenue, and improving public health. DOE’s study found that, with adequate planning and training support, most workers at an existing coal plant should be able to transition to work at a replacement nuclear plant.
     
  • Building a National Network to Finance Local Clean Energy Projects: This month the EPA announced $20 billion in grant awards under two competitions from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to create a national network to fund tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across America, especially in communities historically left behind and overburdened by pollution. One selectee, the Green Bank for Rural America, will help bring clean energy to rural America and energy communities, with a particular focus on Appalachia, helping ensure that the communities that have powered the nation for a century do not get left behind in the energy transition.
     
  • Funding Microgrids for Tribal Communities:  DOE recently announced a $72.8 million conditional commitment to fund a solar-plus-storage microgrid on the Tribal lands of the Viejas Band of the Kumeyaay Indians. This will reduce the cost of energy, power local commercial business, create 250 construction jobs prioritizing Tribal, minority and veteran-owned contractors, and enhance the Tribal energy sovereignty.
     

Advancing Environmental Justice: Through the Justice40 Initiative, 518 programs across 19 federal agencies are being reimagined and transformed to ensure the benefits reach the communities that need them most. Federal agencies are making this happen with the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, which is used to identify communities that benefit from the Justice40 Initiative.

Biden Administration, Consumer Protection, News & Photo Features

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Rules to Deliver Automatic Refunds and Protect Consumers from Surprise Junk Fees in Air Travel

Newly finalized rules will mandate automatic, cash refunds for cancelled or significantly delayed flights and save consumers over half a billion dollars every year in airline fees 

Biden-Harris Administration announced final rules that require airlines to provide automatic cash refunds to passengers when owed and protect consumers from costly surprise airline fees. © Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com

WASHINGTON – Building on a historic record of expanding consumer protections and standing up for airline passengers, the Biden-Harris Administration announced final rules that require airlines to provide automatic cash refunds to passengers when owed and protect consumers from costly surprise airline fees. These rules will significantly expand consumer protections in air travel, provide passengers an easier pathway to refunds when owed, and save consumers over half a billion dollars every year in hidden and surprise junk fees.
 
The rules are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s work to lower costs for consumers and take on corporate rip-offs. President Biden signed an Executive Order on Promoting Competition in 2021 that encouraged DOT to take steps to promote fairer, more transparent, and competitive markets.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced rules that require airlines to provide automatic cash refunds to passengers when owed and protect consumers from costly surprise airline fees. The President released the below statement and video.


“Our department just issued rules to protect people from hidden airline fees and to require airlines to give passengers automatic cash refunds when owed,” said Transportaiton Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “No more having to fend for yourself and jump through hoops to get your money back—airlines will have to automatically do this. This is about airlines treating passengers better, and it will save people more than half a billion dollars. Avoiding unwanted, expensive, unnecessary surprise airline fees.”

“Too often, airlines drag their feet on refunds or rip folks off with junk fees,” President Biden stated. “It’s time Americans got a better deal. Today, my Administration is requiring that airlines provide automatic refunds to passengers when they’re owed, and protect them from surprise fees.

“We all know what it’s like when airlines drag their feet on refunds or surprise us with junk fees. That’s why today my Administration is holding airlines accountable and bringing costs down for American families. This is just one part of my Administration’s plan to prevent companies from playing the American people for suckers. It matters,” Biden stated.


 Requiring Automatic Cash Airline Refunds
The first rule requires airlines to promptly provide passengers with automatic cash refunds when owed because their flights are cancelled or significantly changed, their checked bags are significantly delayed, or the ancillary services, like Wi-Fi, they purchased are not provided.
 
Without this rule, consumers have to navigate a patchwork of cumbersome processes to request and receive a refund — searching through airline websites to figure out how to make the request, filling out extra “digital paperwork,” or at times waiting for hours on the phone. Passengers would also receive a travel credit or voucher by default from many airlines instead of getting their money back, so they could not use their refund to rebook on another airline when their flight was changed or cancelled without navigating a cumbersome request process.
 
DOT’s rule makes it simple and straightforward for passengers to receive the money they are owed. The final rule requires refunds to be:
 

  • Automatic: Airlines must automatically issue refunds without passengers having to explicitly request them or jump through hoops.
  • Prompt: Airlines and ticket agents must promptly issue refunds within seven business days of refunds becoming due for credit card purchases and 20 calendar days for other payment methods.
  • Cash or original form of payment: Airlines and ticket agents must provide refunds in cash or whatever original payment method the individual used to make the purchase, such as credit card or airline miles. Airlines may not substitute vouchers, travel credits, or other forms of compensation unless the passenger affirmatively chooses to accept alternative compensation.
  • Full amount: Airlines and ticket agents must provide full refunds of the ticket purchase price, minus the value of any portion of transportation already used. The refunds must include all government-imposed taxes and fees and airline-imposed fees.
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  • Protecting Against Surprise Airline Junk Fees
  • Secondly, DOT is requiring airlines and ticket agents to tell consumers upfront what fees they charge for checked bags, a carry-on bag, for changing a reservation, or cancelling a reservation. This ensures that consumers can avoid surprise fees when they purchase tickets from airlines or ticket agents, including both brick-and-mortar travel agencies or online travel agencies.
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  • The rule will help consumers avoid unneeded or unexpected charges that can increase quickly and add significant cost to what may, at first, look like a cheap ticket. Extra fees, like checked baggage and change fees, have been a growing source of revenue for airlines, while also becoming more complex and confusing for passengers over time. In total, thanks to the final rule, consumers are expected to save over half a billion dollars every year that they are currently overpaying in airline fees.
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  • DOT’s rule ensures that consumers have the information they need to better understand the true costs of air travel. Under the final rule, airlines are required to:
  • Disclose baggage, change, and cancellation fees upfront: Each fee must be disclosed the first time that fare and schedule information is provided on the airline’s online platform — and cannot be displayed through a hyperlink.
  • Explain fee policies before ticket purchase: For each type of baggage, airlines and ticket agents must spell out the weight and dimension limitations that they impose. They must also describe any prohibitions or restrictions on changing or cancelling a flight, along with policies related to differences in fare when switching to a more or less expensive flight.  
  • Share fee information with third parties: An airline must provide useable, current, and accurate information regarding its baggage, change, and cancellation fees and policies to any company that is required to disclose them to consumers and receives fare, schedule, and availability information from that airline.
  • Inform consumers that seats are guaranteed: When offering an advance seat assignment for a fee, airlines and ticket agents must let consumers know that purchasing a seat is not necessary to travel, so consumers can avoid paying unwanted seat selection fees.
  • Provide both standard and passenger-specific fee information:  Consumers can choose to view passenger-specific fee information based on their participation in the airline’s rewards program, their military status, or the credit card that they use — or they can decide to stay anonymous and get the standard fee information.
  • End discount bait-and-switch tactics: The final rule puts an end to the bait-and-switch tactics some airlines use to disguise the true cost of discounted flights. It prohibits airlines from advertising a promotional discount off a low base fare that does not include all mandatory carrier-imposed fees.

 
DOT’s Historic Record of Consumer Protection Under the Biden-Harris Administration
Both of these actions were suggested for consideration by the DOT in the Executive Order on Promoting Competition and build on historic steps the Biden-Harris Administration has already taken to expand consumer protections, promote competition, and protect air travelers. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, DOT has advanced the largest expansion of airline passenger rights, issued the biggest fines against airlines for failing consumers, and returned more money to passengers in refunds and reimbursements than ever before in the Department’s history. 

  • DOT launched the flightrights.gov dashboard, and now all 10 major U.S. airlines guarantee free rebooking and meals, and nine guarantee hotel accommodations when an airline issue causes a significant delay or cancellation. These are new commitments the airlines added to their customer service plans that DOT can legally ensure they adhere to and are displayed on flightrights.gov.
     
  • Since President Biden took office, DOT has helped return more than $3 billion in refunds and reimbursements owed to airline passengers – including over $600 million to passengers affected by the Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown in 2022.
     
  • DOT has issued over $164 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations. Between 1996 and 2020, DOT collectively issued less than $71 million in penalties against airlines for consumer protection violations.
     
  • DOT recently launched a new partnership with a bipartisan group of state attorneys general to fast-track the review of consumer complaints, hold airlines accountable, and protect the rights of the traveling public.
     
  • In 2023, the flight cancellation rate in the U.S. was a record low at under 1.2% — the lowest rate of flight cancellations in over 10 years despite a record amount of air travel
     
  • DOT is undertaking its first ever industry-wide review of airline privacy practices and its first review of airline loyalty programs

 
In addition to finalizing the rules to require automatic refunds and protect consumers from surprise fees, DOT is also pursuing rulemakings that would: 

  • Propose to ban family seating junk fees and guarantee that parents can sit with their children for no extra charge when they fly. Before President Biden and Secretary Buttigieg pressed airlines last year, no airline committed to guaranteeing fee-free family seating. Now, four airlines guarantee fee-free family seating, as the Department is working on its family seating junk fee ban proposal.
     
  • Propose to make passenger compensation and amenities mandatory so that travelers are taken care of when airlines cause flight delays or cancellations.
     
  • Expand the rights for passengers who use wheelchairs and ensure that they can travel safely and with dignity. The comment period on this proposed rule closes on May 13, 2024.

Travelers can learn more about their protections when they fly at FlightRights.gov. Consumers may file an airline complaint with the Department here.