Vice Presidential Pool Reports of December 13, 2021

VP Supplemental Pool #1 - Tested and Rolling Out

Hey everyone! I'm you're VP Pooler for today! Harris is headed to Maryland for a briefing and remarks about EV investments. The pool is tested and loaded up in our vans and rolled out at 7:51.

Here's the information from the official schedule: At 10:20AM EST, the Vice President will receive a briefing on electric vehicle investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Build Back Better Act. This briefing at the Brandywine Maintenance Facility in Prince George's County, Maryland will be pooled press.

At 11:00AM EST, the Vice President will deliver remarks on electric vehicle investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Build Back Better Act. National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm will also deliver remarks. These remarks at the Brandywine Maintenance Facility will be pooled press.

Background from WH official:

On Monday December 13th, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the Biden-Harris Administration's Electric Vehicle Charging Action Plan that fast tracks Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments. [See Fact Sheet Attached]

The Vice President will make the announcement during her remarks at Brandywine Maintenance Facility in Brandywine, Maryland, where she will also receive a briefing about the work to electrify the Prince George's County vehicle fleet.

The Electric Vehicle Charging Action Plan moves forward the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, establishing a joint electric vehicles office between the Departments of Energy and Transportation, issuing guidance and standards for states, and ensuring consultations with diverse stakeholders, including manufacturers, governments, equity and environmental justice groups, civil rights groups, and tribal communities. The Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy will also launch a new Advisory Committee on Electric Vehicles and aims to appoint members to this committee by the first quarter of 2022. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will hold an event on Tuesday, December 14th to formally establish the joint office.

Prince George's County has started to electrify its vehicle fleet. As part of that effort, electric vehicle chargers were installed in the parking lot of the Brandywine Maintenance Facility. These chargers are currently the only ones in the local area, filling a key gap in the region's electric vehicle charging network.

During her remarks, the Vice President will tout the benefits of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which makes the most transformative investment in electric vehicle charging in U.S. history and will make chargers more accessible alongside our highways and in urban, suburban, and rural areas. She will also make the case for the Build Back Better Act, which will cut the sticker price of new and used electric vehicles.

The Vice President will be joined by:

• Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm
• National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy
• Senator Ben Cardin
• Senator Chris Van Hollen
• Majority Leader Steny Hoyer
• Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks
• Mahidhar Reddy, CEO & Founder at SemaConnect
• Antoine Thompson, Executive Director, Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition
• Martin Harris, Acting Director, Prince George's County Department of Public Works and Transportation

During her time in the Senate, the Vice President led on several pieces of legislation to address the climate crisis and advance environmental justice - including the Clean School Bus Act, the Wildfire Defense Act, the Water for Tomorrow Act, the Water Justice Act, and the Environmental Justice for All Act, which helped to shape key provisions of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

VP Supplemental Pool #2 - Arrived

We arrived at the Brandywine Maintenance Facility just before 8:40. The VP is not with us. She's coming later.

Here are members of staff with the VP today:
Symone Sanders- Sr Advisor & Chief Spokesperson for the VP
Michael Fuchs- Deputy Chief of Staff for the VP
Kate Childs Graham- Director of Speechwriting for the Office of the VP
Kristine Lucius- Director of Leg Affairs for the OVP
Michael Collins, director of office of public engagement and intergovernmental affairs

VP Supplemental Pool #3 HARRIS EV briefing / event started

Harris came out of the building around 10:25 for a tour and briefing of three vehicles.

"A beautiful day. Good morning everyone," Harris said as she walked over. There EVs and three briefers we're waiting for her.

With Harris on tour:
- Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate Advisor
- Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD-05)
- Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD)
- Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
- Angela Alsobrooks, Prince George County Executive (D-MD)
- Mahidhar Reddy, CEO & Founder at SemaConnect
- Antoine Thompson, Executive Director of Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition
- Martin L. Harris, Acting Director of Department of Public Works and Transportation, Prince George County

"How many of these cars do you have in the fleet," Harris asked Harris the first briefer.

(Entire fleet will be electric by 2035.)

"And they need to be charged how frequently?" Harris asked.

Harris walks over to the second EV with a charging station and was briefed on it. The breifer demonstrated how the someone would use it. The briefer tells her she can plug it in.

"I was going to ask you if I could. And there's no sound or fume! ...How do I know it's actually working," Harris said laughing."

It's done charging when it's a blinking green, according to the briefer.

Harris talked about the administration wanting "to make electric vehicles accessible for everyone." Spoke about people in rural America, and in apartments needing access. "Absolutely make it accessible for everyone and easy. Just like filling up your car with gas."

Harris moved over to a Ford van with "The All Electric 2022 Ford E Transit"

Harris talked about the importance of "the symmetry between the potential we have here achievable protection and the lessons learned by the rollout of broadband."

"When we think about the rollout of electric vehicles, we have those lessons in mind. Parity and equity and ... thinking about communities that usually get overlooked."

The event is NOT livestreamed so I will try and send as much from her speech as possible.

VP Supplemental #4 — Harris speaking/ comments on Tornadoes

VP Harris came out about 11:07. She was preceded by Secretary Granholm, Gina McCarthy, Senator Cardin, Leader Hoyer.

Will send color, quotes and otter link after speech.

Harris started speech talking about tornado damage:
"Our hearts first go out to the communities that have been impacted. You've lost so much and so fast. We are committed to helping you and helping to heal the wounds which will probably be long lasting. We will continue to monitor the situation closely."

VP Supplemental Pool Report #5 - Speech Over

Harris finished speaking around 11:22. Here is the otter since it wasn't live-streamed https://otter.ai/u/BzrwSFFJP3QSczwf7QFwFYp75sU. The pool is now waiting to head out.

The room we're in is an assembly line for EV cars. There are cords hanging from the ceiling. There's a burgundy track where cars are driven on

Harris' stage is in between two EVs. Ones a silver Ford F-150 and the other is a red Chevrolet Volt according to staff. There are more than 45 black folding chairs for the audience which includes Cardin, Van Hollen, Hoyer, Gina McCarthy and Sec. Granholm.

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Photo attached.
[APP Note: There was no image file included in the report received by the APP.]

Supplemental Pool #6 — rolling out

Pool rolled out around 11:37 en route to the White House.

VP Supplemental #4 — FIX Harris speaking/ comments on Tornadoes

Had a few tweaks to Harris' quote on tornadoes:

"Our hearts of course go out to the communities that have been impacted. You've lost so much and so quickly. So we are committed — the president and I and our administration — to helping you and to helping to heal the wounds, which will probably be long lasting. And we will continue of course to monitor the situation closely and to do everything in our power, as the federal government and as leaders to help you get through this."

Supplemental Pool #7 — holding for next event

And we're back! VP Harris is doing a round table in her ceremonial office with private sector CEOs who have made commitments to invest in Northern Triangle countries.

Pool is holding for event to start. Slated to start at 3:30.

Participants:

• * Sherry S. Bahrambeygui, CEO of PriceSmart
• * Guillaume Le Cunff, CEO of Nespresso
• * David MacLennan, CEO of Cargill
• * Juan Pablo Mata, Co-CEO of Grupo Mariposa
• * Michelle Nunn, CEO of CARE International
• * Fabien Simon, CEO of JDE Peet's (Note: JDE Peet's owns Peet's Coffee)
• * Blanca Treviño, Co-Chair, Partnership for Central America and CEO, Softtek
• * Anderson Warlick, CEO of Parkdale Mills
• * Paula Santilli, CEO of PepsiCo Latin America (Virtual Participation)
• * Brad Smith, President and Vice Chair of Microsoft (Virtual participation)

Background from WH:
On Monday, December 13th at 3:30pm EST, as part of her role addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, Vice President Kamala Harris will announce during a roundtable with CEOs that new, private sector investments in Central America now total over $1.2 billion. (See Embargoed Fact Sheet, attached.)

These commitments are in response to the Vice President's Call to Action, launched in May, for businesses and social enterprises to make new, significant commitments to sustainably address the root causes of migration by promoting economic opportunity.

The roundtable on Monday will take place in the Vice President's Ceremonial Office, and it will be part of a virtual conference convened by the State Department, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Partnership for Central America to support investment in the region.

Announcements that companies will make tomorrow, include:

• * PepsiCo will invest $190 million through 2025. This will improve their infrastructure and manufacturing plants and expand their distribution routes, in alignment with their Positive Value Chain initiative to achieve net-zero emissions.
• * Cargill will invest $150 million over the next 5 years in their local supply chain, expanding support for more more than 19,000 farmers in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
• * Parkdale Mills will make a new investment of $150 million to build a new yarn spinning facility in Honduras and support an existing facility in Virginia, helping their customers shift 1 million pounds of yarn per week away from distant supply chains and increasing U.S. supply chain resilience.
• * CARE International is announcing a $50 million Center for Gender Equity in Central America focused on women and young people and designed to reach 500,000 individual women and their families, impacting two million people in total. CARE will support companies joining the Call to Action with technical assistance to ensure that a gender-based lens is applied to new programs and investment.
• * Grupo Mariposa, a Guatemalan company, will provide more than 70,000 neighborhood stores access to credit and digital tools to improve administrative management; support 3,500 small

• and medium-enterprises (SMEs) with access to telemedicine, education, and internet connectivity; and expand telemedicine solutions to 2,000 remote communities.
• * PriceSmart is committing to additional support of USAID's $56 million Guatemalan Entrepreneurship and Development Innovation (GEDI) Initiative, which the Vice President announced in June, to help reach at least 500 entrepreneurs with business support services to help them grow and create jobs in areas of high out-migration.
• * JDE Peet's will increase its financial support for smallholder farmers in the region by 40%. The new support programs will include technical expertise, intended to allow for increased productivity, adaptation to the effects of climate change, diversification of incomes, and improved access to markets and credit.
• * In addition, companies are increasing their commitments further:
  • o Microsoft is announcing a new commitment that they will train over 100,000 people in soft and digital skills to enable access to higher-paying, local jobs. In addition, they will commit to expand internet access to 4 million people—up from the goal of 3 million they announced in May.
  • o Mastercard will publicly commit to investing $100 million in the region, to support their work to bring five million people in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras into the formal financial economy and to enable one million micro and small businesses to access online payment and management systems.

--Vice President's Leadership Overseeing Diplomatic Efforts with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico--

Encouraging Private Sector Investment

• * The Vice President's Call to Action has resulted in over $1.2 billion in private sector commitments thus far.

Addressing Corruption and Human Smuggling

• * During her trip to Guatemala in June:
  • o The Vice President announced that the Department of Justice would create a new Anti-Corruption Task Force.
    • * In October, DOJ launched a tip-line so that anyone with information about corruption-related crimes and possible violations of U.S. law can contact the Task Force.
  • o The Vice President announced that the Department of Justice would create a new Anti-Human Smuggling Task Force – which has since led to arrests and indictments:
    • * November 5 conviction in Phoenix, Arizona of two human smugglers who pled guilty to transporting and harboring over 100 migrants.
    • * November 2 indictment in Guatemala of 8 leaders of human smuggling organizations and the seizure $320K in illicit proceeds of human smuggling.

Making Diplomatic Progress

• * The Vice President's extensive diplomatic engagement with leaders around the world has led to important new commitments:
  • o Republic of Korea
  • * After the Vice President met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the Republican of Korea doubled foreign assistance to northern Central America to $220 million over five years.

• o Mexico
  • * Building on her visit in June and her meeting with the President of Mexico on December 1, the U.S. and Mexico announced Growing Opportunities that aims to reach 500,000 at-risk youth in Honduras. The first step is a new $40 million joint program that will provide professional training to 40,000 young people.

• * Additional diplomatic engagement by the Vice President has resulted in action: Japan committed to closer collaboration and has provided nearly $22 million in assistance to the three countries; Israel announced that it would collaborate with USAID on Agriculture, watershed management, and violence prevention programs in Guatemala and Honduras.

Securing $310 Million in Immediate Humanitarian Assistance

• * Since May, the U.S. has provided healthcare, shelter, water, sanitation, nutrition, and disaster risk reduction assistance to over half a million people affected by hurricanes and drought.

Increasing Foreign Assistance to Local Organizations

• * USAID will allocate $300 million over five years to empower local organizations in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Leading Development of a Root Causes Srategy

• * The Vice President led the development of a root causes strategy which was released in July, 2021.
  • o This strategy represents a new approach – with an added focus on women's empowerment, climate, human rights, gender based violence.
  • o It integrates various U.S. government tools, including diplomacy, foreign assistance, public diplomacy, and sanctions.
  • o Through a place-based approach, it targets areas from which migrants are most likely to come.

Supplemental Pool #8 — Meeting has started

Meeting started just after 3:32. Most of the attendees are in person with a couple visible on zoom.

VP Supplemental Pool #9 - event over, quotes and otter

The VP spoke for about 11 minutes and pool was escorted out. Otter to her remarks are below.

Harris touched on the now $1.2 billion in investments for the Northern Trianlge region, thanked the participants

Notable quotes:

"Six months ago, we had a commitment of $750 million. Today we have a commitment of over 1.2 billion."

"The people of El Salvador and Guatemala and Honduras; we have talked many times during our meetings about who they are. They are not unlike people all over the world. When they leave their home country, the place of their birth. A place where their grandmother might still live. They usually leave for one of two reasons not because they want to. But either they are fleeing some harm or because they simply cannot satisfy the basic need for themselves or their families if they stay."

"I will say I've also met with the people of Central America. And in those conversations, these extraordinary people have expressed an incredible amount of optimism. I believe borne out of their knowledge about the work that this group has been doing and the potential for collaboration and our partnership. They are aware of the root causes strategy and they see themselves in it they see their voices of leadership in it. And we are counting on them to lead. This is not about us coming in and telling anyone what they should do. It is about being partners and assisting and helping to facilitate the natural desire of the people in these nations. This is important work. This is good work. I think this reflects the best of who we are as the United States recognizing our responsibility as neighbors to these countries in the Western Hemisphere."

Link to Otter: https://otter.ai/u/oIs3nYiYsNliz5G2a1eervNysFo