Q And I just have a follow on the speech yesterday, just to follow up on this point. Noting that - that rhetoric and delivering speeches can - I understand the, kind of, inspiration - the inspirational kind of motivational factor there.
But just, frankly, can the American people expect any sort of policy rollout underlying the speech yesterday in the days ahead to actually address the threat to democracy?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, I think what the President was trying to do at this moment, and we've seen this before, is give Americans a choice. How do we move forward in this time, in this inflection point?
And one of the ways that we have seen time and time again in history is making sure people have their voices heard. And that comes in many different ways.
And he believes, as President, it is important for him to be very clear and direct, and to fight the hardest for our democracy. And so, that is what you saw. You saw a very strong message from the President.
It was clear what he was saying to the American people. It's time to, you know, take a stance. It's time to take action. And - and we also see that. We see that from polling about what the American people are anxious about. What they care about is our democracy. So it is not unusual. It is something that we have seen over the last several weeks.
And so, you know, the President is going to continue to have those conversations, and he's going to continue to make sure that he makes that clear.
Q But what's the administration's action, besides telling people to go vote?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I think we should not underestimate what that - what that can do - the power of the bully pulpit, the power of the President, and that - and that action that he took last night and what that could make happen, what that - what - the - what that could lead to. And we've seen that in the past.
This is not unusual - right? - to have a - a - to have a speech like this and to encourage people to act, to send a message so that - you know, so that the American people understand what is happening in this country.
And so, again, the President se- - believes that it is his job to level with the American people about threats he sees to our nation and our values. And that's what you heard from him last night. And we believe it did - it indeed resonated.
And so, again, this is something that he's going to continue to do. It is a powerful message that was delivered by the President.
I'm going to continue. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Q Yeah, thank you, Karine. Isn't a speech in which the President concludes by saying,
"Vote, vote, vote," inherently political? He wasn't referring to voting for any candidates. He was - he wasn't saying,
"Vote for Dr. Oz." He was saying, "
Vote to reject the MAGA forces." I mean, isn't that a political speech?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We don't think it's a political speech. When I was here yesterday, I actually said that he would mention voter participation and getting folks out there to make your voices heard. I said that at the podium yesterday when I was asked what this speech was going to be all about.
And, look, that is the most powerful tool - the most powerful tool that Americans have is to make sure their voices are heard. It is. It is the most powerful action that an American voter - an American can take. And so, that is what he is asking the American people to do.
I'm going to continue. I'm going to continue because you're - I've asked - I've answered that question a few times.
Q Well, I was going to a different topic -
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Go to a different topic.
Q Looking ahead to the Labor Day events that the President has - one in Pittsburgh, one in Milwaukee - will the President be speaking at those events? And is he going to be continuing the message we heard yesterday or talking more of an economic theme? What should we expect from the President on those days? And will he be appearing with the respective Senate candidates - Fetterman and Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I don't want to get ahead of what the President is going to say. As you - as you just mentioned, he'll be in Wisconsin and in Pennsylvania on Monday for the Labor Day activities that he'll be participating in.
I'm sure we will be hearing from the President. Don't want to get ahead of what he will say. And we'll have more to share on who will be attending, as we normally do. I don't have anything to share at this time.
Okay. Go ahead.
Q Hey, Karine. Thank you. On social media companies. Did the administration give Twitter and Facebook talking points over flagging what the President describes as mis- - misinformation?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Talk - say that one more time.
Q Yeah, did - has the administration helped Twitter and Facebook with talking points about what the administration believes is misinformation? Or how much coordination is there between the administration and social media companies?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I don't have anything to share with you on that. I'm not going to comment on that at this time.
Q Okay. Because the attorney generals from Missouri and Louisiana said there's a
"vast censorship enterprise across a multitude of federal agencies."
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, I'm just not going to comment at this time.
Q On another topic then, so, under this President, under President Biden, you saw student test scores have come - gone backwards; inflation has gone the wrong direction; workers real wages have come down. You know, we're seeing programs - spending on programs and promises that at some point in the future, the transition will be over. What - in the last 20 months, where's the progress?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, as far as the economy - as you know, the jobs report came out today. You heard from the President as he was giving remarks at his event just now on the American Rescue Plan, the Build Back Better Challenge dealing with 21 cities. And you heard from some of the folks who received the grant today, which is an important tool. It's going to change lives in Detroit; in Greenwood, Oklahoma; in areas that really need it.
And so that is, again, another important piece of the American Rescue Plan that only Democratic - Democrats voted for. And also, the American Rescue Plan helped turn the economy back on. And that's why we have seen the success of the - of our economic success this past year.
And you've asked me this - you know, I know you follow economy. But, look -
Q But inflation still outpaces wages.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, here, let me just talk about - let me talk about the report a little bit, because there's some good stuff in here that kind of touches on what you just asked me.
So, as you know, the good news is: In August, the economy created 315,000 jobs, which is important. We have created nearly 10 thousand - million jobs since President Biden took office, which is the fastest job growth in history.
So you're asking me, where's the success? Here it is. Wait. Let me finish.
Q Added back, most of those jobs.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Wait. Wait.
Q Two hundred and forty thousand were created.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hold on. Hold on. Let me - let me - the share of Americans who are working, because that's part of the question that you just asked me - what economists call the
"labor force participation rate" - went up, and that's important.
And for the first time, working age women - this is in the job report that we just saw today - are now back at work at rates not seen since before the pandemic.
So the bottom line is: Jor- - Jobs are up. Wages are up. People are back to work. And we are seeing some hopeful signs that inflation may be beginning to ease. We saw that in July. Right? From July to August, we saw that inflation was starting to ease. And you're talking about education.
When the President walked in to this administration, schools were closed, businesses were closed. And a lot of that is because we were in the pandemic, but not just that. It was so mismanaged by the last administration that we had to get to work to make sure that we opened up the schools, which we were able to do. Nearly all schools were opened in the first six months. Getting small businesses back open. And that was the work that -
Q But states like Florida and, at first, New York held off.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: That were - that was the work because of this President and Democrats. The American Rescue Plan helped do that. And it was mismanaged - what we saw by the last President, what - the way that he was handling the economy, the way they were handling COVID and getting shots in arms, making sure that people were able to get back to work. That is just a fact.
And so, that is - is there a lot of - is there more work to be done? Of course, to bring down inflation. Absolutely. That's one of the reasons the President works so hard to get the gas prices to come down. That's one of the reasons we work so hard to get the Inflation Reduction Act so we can bring down cost of prescription drugs.
So, all of these things took work and it took leadership.
All right, I'm going to keep going.
Q Thanks, Karine. Can you talk a little bit about - more about COVID, particularly what the White House is doing to make sure that Congress passes the COVID funding package, you know, considering last time it didn't work out?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So - so, as you know, there remains a pressing need for additional funding for our COVID-19 response.
In March, to your point, we requested that Congress provide supplemental COVID-19 funding and repeatedly warned that without congressional action, we would be forced to make difficult tradeoffs and reallocate existing funding to meet pressing needs. That is precisely what happened.
The most recently, for example, because of congressional inaction, the lack of additional funding has prevented us from adequately replenishing our national stockpile, at-home - the at-home tests, which ends today, forced us to suspend sending a free test to Americans and leaves our democr- - domestic testing capacity diminished for a potential fall surge.
So while we have made tremendous progress in our ability to protect against and treat COVID-19, we must stay on our - on our front foot, and that requires additional resources.
So the updated funding request is for $22.4 billion to meet immediate short-term domestic needs, including testing, accelerating the research and development of next-generation vaccines and therapeutics, prepare for future variants, and support the global response to COVID-19.
So, again, this funding is vital. We're going to continue to work with Congress. We feel that we have the time - some time to make that happen. And so, that is - in order to continue our progress and build on our progress, we're going to continue to fight for that funding.
Q Is there anything, though, that the White House is kind of doing differently to try to, kind of, change the outcome? I mean, what makes you think that there will be a different outcome?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, we think that we - we think that there is, like last year - we were confident that Congress can reach a funding agreement, just like we did last year. So this is not new.
And but with one month until the end of the fiscal year, it's clear that Congress will first need to pass a short-term continuing resolution to keep the federal government running and provide the time needed to reach an agreement on a fully - on a full-year funding bill.
