Vice Presidential Pool Reports of September 9, 2021

VP pool #1 — checking in

Good morning. VP Harris is set to give opening remarks at a high-level economic dialogue with Mexico. The pool has assembled and is heading toward the Indian Treaty Room.

Here is the description from today's guidance.

the Vice President will deliver opening remarks at the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED). Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar will also participate. There will be a pool spray at the top of this meeting in the Indian Treaty Room.

Vp Pool #2 — event begins

The event is ongoing. Harris walked in at 1104 with most of the two countries' delegations listed below. After intro from Sec Raimondo, she began welcoming "our friends, our partners" and talked about the importance of more cooperation in. World of covid, climate change, cyber threats and supply chain disruption. She said the expanded cooperation was sketched when she was in Mexico with AMLO. She spoke about 6 minutes. Sec Ebrand of Mexico is now speaking.

Chairs were arranged on long tables, Americans on the right by the entrance and Mexicans on the left by the windows, 7 per side. A pair of alternating flags were positioned along the wall by the end of the tables. The Treaty room has ornate tiled floors, a balcony with a fancy black metal railing, a round chandelier and a darkened skylight, among other features. A few dozen staffers from the two countries were positioned along the walls, all in masks.

PsrticipAnts:

US Participants
-Vice President Kamala Harris
-Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce & U.S. Delegation Chair
-Antony Blinken, Secretary of State
-Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
-Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative
-Samantha Power, USAID Administrator
-Ken Salazar, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico

Mexico Participants
-Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Secretary
-Tatiana Clouthier, Secretary of Economy
-Esteban Moctezuma, Mexican Ambassador to the U.S.
-Gabriel Yorio, Under Secretary of Finance
-Luz Maria de la Mora, Under Secretary for Foreign Trade
-Roberto Velasco, Chief Officer for North America
-Lydia Antonio, Director General for International Treaties' Monitoring, Administration and Compliance Oversight

VP Pool #3 -- closing details and quotes -- no news

The pool was ushered out at 11:14, shortly after Mexican Sec. Marcelo Ebrard (misspelled in prior report. Please forgive the typo.) spoke in English. VP Harris left a couple minutes after the pool departed. The event was scheduled to resume without her. The seating order on the US side was: Salazar; Mayorkas; Blinken, Harris, Raimondo; Tai, Power.
Audio in the room was bad so quotes are partial quotes are needed until the official transcript comes out. My apologies.

Raimondo started the event by wishing everyone "Good morning, buenos dias."

Harris' remarks were brief and mostly welcoming and highlighted "the importance of the partnership and relationship" and investing in green and sustainable economies that will create jobs for people of southern Mexico and Central America among others.

She said when she visited Mexico in June, she and President Lopez agreed to restart the US Mexico economic dialogue. Since the dialogue was suspended several years ago, "So much has happened, so much has changed, so many challenges" have emerged "and yes also opportunities." Challenges include COVID, climate change and "cyber attacks that threaten our security…our national security and our economic security." Opportunities include the fact that "our world is also more interconnected."

"Mexico is our closest neighbor… and a strategic partner and one of our most important economic relationships. Mexico's economic stability is in the interest of the United States. We talked about this in Mexico city, 18 states in the United States count Mexico as their first or second export destination. One billion dollars crosses our shared border every day."

"This high level economic dialogue is an opportunity to deepen our ties and advance our collective goals. Together, we will strengthen supply chain resilience. Together, we will modernize our hemispheric infrastructure."

Ebrard thanked Harris and said it was a pleasure to see her and spoke more briefly.

VP pool report #4

Pool is in the EEOB. Vice President Harris will meet with abortion rights advocates shortly after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a DOJ lawsuit aimed at blocking Texas SB8, which bans abortion as early as 6 weeks and offers a $10,000 incentive for private parties to sue anyone who "aids or abets" an abortion in Texas.

Pool spray at top at 3:30.

Meeting participants
Amy Hagstrom Miller, Founder and CEO, Whole Woman's Health
Anna Rupani, Executive Director, Fund Texas Choice
Joana Calderon, Texas abortion patient
Lauren Jones Mayfield, Associate Pastor, Highland Baptist Church
Shannon Brewer, Mississippi Clinic Director, Jackson Women's Health Organization
Dr. Lisa Hofler, Assistant Professor, University of New Mexico Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Dr. Bhavik Kumar, Medical Director for Primary and Trans Care, Planned Parenthood of Gulf Coast

Staff at table
Jen Klein, Co-Chair of the Gender Policy Council
Julissa Reynoso, Co-Chair of the Gender Policy Council
Rohini Kosoglu, Domestic Policy Advisor for the VP
Danielle Conley, Deputy Counsel to the President

VP pool #5/reproductive rights meeting

VP at far end of table in her ceremonial office.

11 other women seated at table. Amy Hagstrom Miller of Whole Woman's Health at far end.

"The right of women to make decisions about their own bodies is not negotiable," the vice president said.

"We need to codify Roe v Wade," she said at end of 9 minute spray in response to a pool question about what legislation or other steps the administration cN take to protect abortion rights.

Before that, VP described the Texas law as an "abortion bounty law empowering vigilantes." She criticized the US Supreme Court ruling last week refusing to halt enforcement of SB8 I'm grounds that is allows people with no connection to a woman seeking an abortion a "private right to interfere with a woman's relationship with her health provider....The Supreme Court has allowed a state law to stand that deputizes citizens... to proclaim themselves in a position to have the right to interfere with those choices."

A bit more from VP Harris from the pool spray on reproductive health.

No one else spoke, and that'll be it from me on this.

"All of this, again, is in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling as it relates to the Texas law, which is essentially an abortion bounty law, empowering vigilantes with a private right of action to interfere with a woman's relationship with her health care provider. The Supreme Court has allowed a state law to stand that deputizes citizens, anyone, to proclaim themselves in a position to have the right under law to interfere with those choices in Texas. Today, however, the United States Department of Justice has spoken loudly in saying that this law is patently unconstitutional."

The fight isn't confined to Texas, she said.
"Right now there are 22 states that have laws that could be used to restrict the legal status of abortion. 22. Ninety provisions that restrict access to reproductive health care were passed in 2021. Ninety provisions. Some states like Kentucky and Mississippi have only one abortion clinic."

FOREIGN PRESS POOL: US/Mexico HLED

Foreign Press Pool / Meeting of the US/Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue

- At exactly 11:04am ET, VP Harris, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken & Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard entered the Indian Treaty Room in the East Wing of the Eisenhower Executive Office building. Members of both governments delegations were already sitting down facing each other in separate tables:

Members of the Mexican delegation sitting at the table:
- Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Minister
- Tatiana Clouthier, Economy Minister
- Luz Maria de la Mora, Deputy Economy Minister
- Gabriel Yorio, Deputy Finance Minister
- Roberto Velasco, Chief for North American Affairs at the Foreign Ministry
- Estaban Moctezuma, Mexico's Ambassador to the US
- Lydia Antonio de la Garza, director general for enforcement, Ministry of the Economy

Members of the Mexican delegation sitting at the table:
- Kamala Harris, VP
- Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State
- Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce
- Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary
- Katherine Tai, US Trade Representative
- Samantha Power, USAID Administrator
- Ken Salazar, US Ambassador to Mexico

- Secretary Raimondo introduced VP Harris and welcomed the Mexican delegation. Immediately afterwards, VP Harris gave remarks (around 5 minutes in total) followed by Mexican FM Ebrard (around 3 minutes in total). The pool was allowed to listen to both principals remarks and was ushered out around 11:15am ET. No questions from the press were allowed.

FRAGMENTS from VP Harris remarks at the top of the meeting:
(Harris was using a face mask)

"A global pandemic has undermined the stability of our global economy. Supply chains have been disrupted and threats from climate change to cyber attacks have threatened our security"

"Our world is more interconnected and more interdependent than ever before, again highlighting the importance of the partnership and the relationship between the United States and Mexico. Mexico is our closest neighbor, Canada as well, and a strategic partner in one of our most important economic relations. Mexico's economic stability is in the interest of the United States. We talk about this in Mexico City. Eighteen states in the United States count Mexico as the top one or second export destination. One billion dollars crosses our shared border every day in goods"

"Together we will strengthen supply chain resilience. Together we will modernize our hemisphere's infrastructure through the plan the President has outlined and in partnership and cooperation with our friends"

"We will invest in an inclusive and green development capacity and we will create jobs for the people of Southern Mexico and Central America"

FRAGMENTS from Mexican FM Marcelo Ebrard at the top of the meeting:
(Ebrard was speaking in English. He was using a face mask and was difficult to follow. Please check quotes with transcription coming out later)

"We are going to [present] a new vision for North America"

"This dialogue is about vision of the future"

"We are going to put all our efforts and commitment to fulfill our goals, the shared goals"

"There are a lot of things we will share with you, with your team about the economy, the supply chains. How are we going to face the situation that the pandemic showed us. We are not well prepared....We can do a lot of things together in pharmaceuticals, in automotive equipment, in semiconductors, mobility for clean energy in the region"

"And also to share with you a letter from the President of Mexico about Central America and South of Mexico in order to include all this region in the future of the North American region"