Vice Presidential Pool Reports of June 12, 2024

VP Travel Pool Report #1 — JBA

Marine Two was wheels down at JBA at 1017, rolling to a stop a minute later at 1018.

VPOTUS exited the aircraft at 1020 and spent a few minutes speaking with and taking photos with Maj Nicholas Konishi, USMC, the outgoing director of flight line protocol here at JBA, and his family. He is moving to a new assignment.

She ascended the airstairs to Air Force Two without answering questions and boarded after waving to pool at 1023.

Today she is traveling to Charlotte for what her office described as a "moderated conversation" on medical debt. It's an official event and there are no campaign-related stops expected.

From OVP:

On Background From a White House Official:

Today, Vice President Kamala Harris is continuing her nationwide Economic Opportunity Tour by returning to Charlotte, NC for an event about investing in communities, building wealth, and ensuring every American has the ability to thrive. During a moderated conversation with Michael Ealy and Bakari Sellers, the Vice President will highlight how the Biden-Harris Administration has taken historic steps to advance economic opportunity by taking on medical debt, creating jobs, investing in small businesses, increasing access to capital, improving access to housing, forgiving student loans, and championing additional policies that put money in people's pockets and build wealth.

Vice President Harris will be joined in Charlotte by administration officials, state and local leaders, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. This includes Department of Housing and Urban Development Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman, Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, and the offices of U.S. Rep. Adams (NC-12) and U.S. Rep. Jackson (NC-14).This 12:30 p.m. ET moderated conversation will be livestreamed at WhiteHouse.Gov/Live.

During the Vice President's fourth Economic Opportunity Tour stop, she will also highlight:

• A new proposal to prohibit medical bills from being included on credit reports. This CFPB proposed rule would remove medical debt from the credit reports of more than 15 million Americans, raising their credit scores by an average of 20 points and leading to the approval of approximately 22,000 additional mortgages every year. Under the proposed rule, there would be zero Americans with medical debt listed on their credit reports, down from 46 million in 2020.

• Her call to action for states, local governments, and health care providers to take additional actions to reduce the burden of medical debt for millions of Americans, building upon the $7 billion in medical debt that is being eliminated by the end of 2026 thanks to the American Rescue Plan (ARP).

The Vice President's tour is a continuation of her travel to communities across the country. She has already made more than 50 trips to 19 states this year. Today's event will be the Vice President's fifth visit to North Carolina in 2024 and her 13th since being sworn in.

Additional background on the Vice President's Economic Opportunity Tour:
The Vice President's Economic Opportunity Tour is taking her back to several states across the country as she highlights how the policies of the Biden-Harris Administration have benefited the American people. It kicked off with a moderated conversationin Atlanta, GA in April and has continued with a speech in Detroit, MI and a moderated conversationin Milwaukee, WI last month.

During each stop, the Vice President is highlighting how the Biden-Harris Administration has delivered historic investments that have supported communities and helped people thrive. This includes:

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

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

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

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

• Forgiving more student loan debt than any administration in history and boosting investments in education, including a record $7 billion investment in HBCUs

• Erasing over $500 million in medical debt to date with support from the American Rescue Plan, capping the cost of insulin for seniors, and expanding access to health care with tax credits that led to a 49% increase in Black Americans who are enrolled in the Affordable Care Act

• Making housing more affordable and lowering child care costs by securing a 30% increase in funding for the Child Care Development Block Grant

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

Additional background on the Vice President's work to build economic opportunity:
Vice President Harris has long been focused on ensuring that minority and low-income communities have the capital and resources that they need to thrive. This includes consistent travel to meet with small business owners and entrepreneurs in underserved communities to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face.

• Last month, Vice President Harris announced $40 million in awards to more than 165 housing counseling agencies to help expand housing counseling services across the country. funds can be used to help homebuyers improve their credit, develop a budget, find down payment assistance programs, understand loan terms and types of mortgages, and identify housing discrimination. Counselors can also help renters search for housing and navigate the application process.

1. In May, Vice President Harris was in Detroit, MI to announce more than $100 million for small and medium-sized auto parts manufacturers to retool or upgrade their facilities and train their workforce. She also announced the launch of a new program to match government-backed loans with millions of dollars of private equity capital.

1. She also announced $5.5 billion to boost affordable housing, invest in economic growth, build wealth, and address homelessness in communities throughout America.

2. In April, the Vice President was in Atlanta, GA touplift a $158 million grant that Atlanta received under the Department of Transportation's Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program. The award is funding "The Stitch," a project in downtown Atlanta that will increase urban greenspace and reconnect communities that were divided by I-75 and I-85 in the 1950s and 1960s. "The Stitch" will help advance economic opportunity for historically underserved neighborhoods while reconnecting them to Atlanta's downtown.

3. Also in April, the Vice President traveled to Charlotte, NC to announce the grantees for $20B from the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to support community banks and access to capital for clean energy projects particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

4. In March, she traveled to Durham, NC toannounce $32 million in funds to support North Carolina-based, historically underserved entrepreneurs. The investment has catalyzed an additional $60 million in private venture capital investment, totaling more than $90 million to support and scale primarily women- and minority-owned businesses in the state.

5. In January, she traveled to Las Vegas, NV where she announced a proposed SBA rule that will make Americans with a criminal record who have served their time eligible for SBA loan programs that help individuals start and run small businesses. Last week, the Vice Presidentannounced the final rule at an event with recipients of presidential pardons and criminal justice advocate Kim Kardashian.

• Last year, she announced that Treasury's CDFI Fund has awarded over $1.73 billion in grants to 603 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) across the country through the CDFI Equitable Recovery Program. These funds will strengthen the ability of CDFIs to help low- and moderate-income communities.
• Last year, she also announced 43 winners of the $125 million American Rescue Plan-funded Capital Readiness Program (CRP) awards competition, critical funding that is helping underserved entrepreneurs launch and scale their small businesses. Through this program, the Urban League of Greater Atlanta received a $3 million award to deliver incubator and accelerator services through its Entrepreneurship Center.

• In 2022, the Vice President also announced a first-of-its-kind public-private sector initiative — the Economic Opportunity Coalition (EOC) — that is a historic public-private partnership of more than 20 private sector organizations that will invest tens of billions of dollars to create opportunity and grow wealth in historically underserved communities. The EOC has already surpassed over $1 billion in increased member company deposits into community finance institutions.

• The Vice President has also called on companies in Investing in America sectors—semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy manufacturing, transportation, heavy industry, and biomanufacturing—to strengthen and diversify domestic supply chains by committing at least 15% of their U.S.-based contract spending on outside goods and services from small and underserved businesses by 2025.

• As a Senator, the Vice President partnered with key Congressional stakeholders to secure a transformative $12 billion investment for CDFIs and MDIs in December 2020.

Additional background on the Vice President's previous travel to North Carolina this year:

• In April, the Vice President was in Charlotte toannounce $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants that will mobilize private capital and deliver clean energy and climate solutions.

• In March, she was in Raleigh with President Biden to highlight their ongoing work to lower prescription drug costs, protect Medicare and Medicaid, and fight for reproductive freedom.

• Vice President Harris also visited Black Wall Street in Durham to announce investments in strengthening entrepreneurship, increasing access to capital, and supporting small businesses.

• She began 2024 by visiting Eastway Middle School in Charlotte to announce $285 million in funding to help schools across the nation hire and train mental health counselors.

VP Travel Pool Report #2 — wheels up

Air Force Two was wheels up en route Charlotte at 1038.

VPOTUS spoke to pool off the record for a few minutes after boarding.

Traveling with VPOTUS per OVP:

Department of Housing and Urban Development Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman

Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm

VP Travel Pool Report #3 — CLT

Air Force Two was wheels down at Charlotte Douglas International Airport at 1132.

VPOTUS deplaned via front air stairs at 1141 and was met by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, after which she proceeded directly to her SUV.

Motorcade is rolling to event site as of 1145 for what is expected to be a roughly 20-minute ride.

VP Travel Pool Report #4 — arrival at event site

Motorcade passed through back gates of Johnson C Smith University at 1156 for VPOTUS' moderated conversation, which will be available via livestream on the White House YouTube channel and whitehouse.gov.

Pool did not see VPOTUS exit her vehicle or enter the venue.

VP Travel Pool Report #5 — holding

Pool is now holding at the back of the Stephen Joyner Sr Court at Johnson C Smith University. The program is ongoing and it is being livestreamed, with Governor Cooper having just finished delivering some remarks.

Your pooler has been advised that VPOTUS is currently recording a video for social media with a person who was impacted by yesterday's announcement regarding medical debt being taken off credit reports.

VP Travel Pool Report #6 — VP speaking

VPOTUS entered to "Hail, Columbia!" and began speaking at 1251. Her remarks as part of this "moderated conversation" with Bakari Sellers and actor Michael Ealy are being livestreamed on the White House's YouTube channel and whitehouse.gov/live.

VP Travel Pool Report #7 — Remarks end, local TV interview

The "moderated conversation" with VPOTUS wrapped at 1320. It was livestreamed on whitehouse.gov/live and the White House's YouTube channel.

Your pooler is advised that VPOTUS will spend the next few minutes taping an interview with Colin Mayfield, an anchor with local NBC affiliate WCNC, that will air this evening.

We are currently holding at the event site while that is ongoing.

VP Travel Pool Report #8 — motorcade rolling

VPOTUS' motorcade is rolling to CLT as of 1346.

Pool did not observe her exit the building or enter her vehicle.

VP Travel Pool Report #9 — back at CLT

Motorcade arrived at CLT AT 1401.

VPOTUS then exited her vehicle a quick photo with volunteers before boarding Air Force Two at 1402.

VP Travel Pool Report 10 — wheels up

Air Force Two was wheels up and headed for JBA at 1415.

VP Travel Pool Report #11 — back at JBA

Air Force Two was wheels down at Joint Base Andrews at 1513 following an uneventful flight from Charlotte.

After a quick taxi to the passenger terminal, VPOTUS exited the aircraft and descended the front airstairs at 1522 before returning a salute from the Air Force officer at the bottom who then escorted her to Marine Two.

She boarded Marine Two at 1523, at which point it spun up its' rotors, taxied, joined up with an identical aircraft and lifted off at 1529, thus bringing this day trip (and your pooler's responsibilities) to an end.

Enjoy the rest of your day!