Pool Reports of September 15, 2021

WH Pool #1: Today's participants and details on the 1:30 meeting with business leaders and CEOs on COVID-19 response

Good morning. Call time is noon but a WH official sends along the following background on today's 1:30 meeting. But first the schedule.

From a WH official:

• Since the President's announcement last Thursday, we continue to see broad-based support from across the country for vaccine requirements and similar efforts.
  
  • Axios/Ipsos: Six out of ten Americans support vaccine requirements.
  • Morning Consult: About three in five Americans support the President's vaccine requirements
  • CNN: More than half of Americans support requirements for vaccination in the workplace

• The reason is simple: vaccine requirements are good for the economy and they work – they get more people vaccinated and accelerate the path out of the pandemic.

• Vaccine requirements are effective.
  
  • When Tyson Foods announced its requirement – only 45% of its workforce had gotten a shot. In less than a month, it increased to 72%
  • After United Airlines announced its vaccine requirement, the vaccination rate for employees went from 59% to 79% in less than a month.
  • In Washington State, the weekly vaccination rate jumped 34% after the Governor announced requirements for state workers
  • Fox News reported just yesterday that "90% of full-time employees reported they are fully vaccinated" after the company mandated everyone report their vaccination status or undergo regular testing.

• Vaccine requirements are good for the economy.
  
  • Goldman Sachspredicted that the country would see a positive impact on employment as a result of the President's policy. Because higher vaccination rates mean less spread of COVID, which will help people return to work. They estimate that the new requirements will boost the number of vaccinated individuals by 12 million people, and create a net positive impact on employment since higher full vaccination rates will reduce virus spread, which should boost labor demand and labor force participation.

o Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said "The evidence across countries is that more vaccinations means fewer infections, hospitalizations and deaths, which in turn means a stronger economy."

o Indeed.com "For many employers who have been on the fence, the fact that the federal government is going to require a vaccine—I suspect that will push them over the edge."

o Justin Wolfers, Economist at University of Michigan: "Viewing Biden's vaccine mandate as simply economic policy, it's surely the cheapest and most powerful economic stimulus ever enacted."

· Today, the President is meeting with business leaders and CEOs that have instituted vaccine requirements or are working to implement the new rules:

• • Greg Adams, Chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente. Thanks to the organization's strong vaccine requirement, all Kaiser Permanente employees must get vaccinated by September 30th, and nearly 90% of its 240,000 employees are already vaccinated, and they're sharing best practices with other organizations implementing vaccine requirements.

• • Madeline Bell, President and CEO of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In July, CHOP announced that it would institute a vaccine requirement for all staff, and today nearly 90% of its workforce is vaccinated with about a month left before the deadline.

• • Josh Bolten, President and CEO of Business Roundtable. The Business Roundtable, which represents more than 200 businesses that employ a total of 20 million workers welcomed the President's announcement last week.

• • Roz Brewer, CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. In August, Walgreens put in place a vaccine requirement for office staff, and they are working to implement it across the company.

• • Tim Boyle, President and CEO of Columbia Sportswear. The day after the President's remarks, Columbia expanded its vaccine requirement, and Mr. Boyle said he was "thrilled" with the White House's announcement.

• • Bob Chapek, CEO of The Walt Disney Company. In July, Disney put in place a vaccine requirement for all salaried and non-union employees. One month later, they became one of the first large employers in the country to reach an agreement with its major union.

• • Molly Moon Neitzel, Founder and CEO of Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream. Like many small business owners, the pandemic impacted Molly Moon's Ice Cream. She believes vaccinations are key to ending the pandemic, so after the President's announcement, she began actively planning to implement a vaccine requirement.

• • Brad Smith, President of Microsoft. In August, Microsoft announced it would require all employees to be fully vaccinated before entering the company's offices.

• • William Tate IV, President of Louisiana State University. August 24, the day after the FDA granted full approval of the Pfizer vaccine, LSU put in place a vaccination requirement for all students, faculty and staff. Additionally, LSU became one of the first schools in the nation to require either proof of vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test to enter its football stadium.

· The President will discuss their leadership on putting into place strong COVID-19 requirements that help keep a safe workplace. This event will also serve as a rallying cry for more businesses across the country to step up and institute similar measures.

• The Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.

WH Pool #2 Details on virtual discussion on National Hispanic Heritage Month

From a WH official:

Today, at 4:00PM ET the White House will host a virtual discussion to kick off National Hispanic Heritage Month and highlight the benefits of the President's Build Back Better Agenda for the Latino community. The roundtable will feature Isabel Guzman, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Education and Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, who will share their experiences as Latino leaders in the President's historic Cabinet. The conversation will be moderated by Cristobal Alex, White House Deputy Cabinet Secretary.

The virtual roundtable will be streamed live: La Casa Blanca on Twitter & La Casa Blanca on Facebook

WH Pool #2 Two minute warning to briefing.

[APP Note: This should probably be labled as Report #3.]

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WH Pool #4 NEWS: Biden: "I have great confidence in General Milley"

Biden, in response to a question at the end of his prepared remarks to business leaders, expressed confidence in Milley.

Quotes from Covid portion of the remarks to come.

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Apologies, I skipped Pool #3, but only a few of you were gracious enough to point it out.

WH Pool #5 Fuller quotes from the business leader event still to come, but first, here's the full exchange on Milley

Biden: Thank you all for being here..."

Reporter: "Sir, Did General Milley (inaudible) do the fight thing, in your opinion, sir...In your opinion did General Milley do the right thing?"

Biden, clearly heard the question, which was shouted over wranglers who were trying to hasten the pool's exit.

Biden: "I have great confidence in General Milley."

WH Pool #6 Color and quotes son Biden's meeting with business and academic leaders

When pool entered the ornate four-storey library on the south side of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the president was facing the room, with four flags behind him, seated at the head of a horseshoe configuration, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on his left and Jeff Zients on his right, followed by business and academic leaders down the line.

Biden began the meeting by addressing two participants who were appearing remotely on a video screen, including Brad Smith of Microsoft.

Please check COVID quotes against transcript but I have great confidence in the seven word Milley quote at the end.

Biden: "Brad, how are you? Good to see you."

Smith: "I apologize for not being there in person..."

Biden: "Folks, last week I made a six point plan to defeat the pandemic based on science. And the vaccination is key to getting the pandemic under control and keeping-- and keeping -- the economy strong.

"And the first part of the plan is the vaccine vaccine, this is a, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated (unintelligible) right now. And the Labor Department is working on the emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more workers to ensure that workers are coming back and ready to be tested. And it's going to take a little bit for them to put those requirements in place under the law. We're also going to require all health workers, healthcare workers, to get vaccinated. In addition to that, if you seek and receive care at health facilities, you are (unintelligible). And that's what we're doing, period."

"And in total, the vaccination is going to cover 100 million workers. Two thirds of all workers and it builds on previous requirements that we saw so far. And the vaccine requirements work, and more companies are instituting them even Fox News is requiring it. I am not being facetious when I say that, but it's interesting that they've stepped forward and done that as well."

"And the group I'm meeting today is leading the way. We'll hear from the CEOs and presidents of Disney, Microsoft, Walgreens, Columbia sportswear, Kaiser Permanente Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and (unintelligible). And we're joined by Josh Bolten, who represents the Business Roundtable.... And it represents over 200 major businesses and the champions vaccine mandate to keep businesses open and workers safe."

"And also we have Bill Tate who is instituting a requirement for Louisiana State University...that went from a requirement for vaccinations. The vaccination rate at Louisiana State University went from 63 to 81% of students vaccinated in weeks."

"It's about being a virus and it's about saving lives--that's what this is all about And here's what Wall Street had to say recently. Goldman Sachs: vaccinations will have a positive impact on employment, which means less threat of COVID, which will help people return to work for unity."

"Vaccinations mean fewer infections, hospitalizations and deaths, and in turn it means a stronger economy. And I think everyone like everyone -- I think everybody should join me today and I look forward to working together to beating this pandemic to keep our economy growing and growing and growing strong. Thank you all for being here."

Reporter: "Sir, Did General Milley (inaudible) do the fight thing, in your opinion, sir...In your opinion did General Milley do the right thing?"

Biden, clearly heard the question, which was shouted over wranglers who were trying to hasten the pool's exit.

Biden: "I have great confidence in General Milley."

We have a travel photo lid until 4:30 and the 5PM event.

WH Pool #7 Pool is advised that 5pm nat sec event in East Room is expected to start promptly

?If the East room were a football field, the President's lectern is on the 25 yard line.

Pool is in place five yards away.

WH Pool #8 you saw it live

President listened to PMs Morrison and Johnson and then gave remarks.

He did not answer a variety of shouted questions, mostly on what this new agreement meant for China.

WH Pool #9 travel photo lid has been called

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