The National Pulse By Staff Writer
“I’ve asked her, the VP, today—because she’s the most qualified person to do it—to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle and the countries that help—are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border,” Biden said.
“If you deal with the problems in country, it benefits everyone. It benefits us, it benefits the people, and it grows the economies there,” Biden said. “Unfortunately, the last administration eliminated that funding—did not engage in it, did not use it—even though there was over $700 million to help get this done. We’re re-instituting that program.”
But Harris herself is now pushing back – claiming to be in charge of the “root causes” of what is happening at the border, but not the border itself.
Open Borders. Closed to Press.
A delegation of Biden officials and members of Congress visited Carrizo Springs, Texas, on Wednesday amid outcry over the lack of press access to border detention facilities and criticism of Biden and Harris for not making the trip themselves. The White House allowed one TV camera to accompany the delegation.
Harris said Wednesday that she and Biden will visit the border “at some point,” but that the White House wants to focus on “bringing our allies together” and “developing those countries.”
“At some point, absolutely we will go down to the border and I’ve been down to the border,” the vice president said. “But the reality also is that in addition to the border, we also need to deal with the root causes. We need to deal with what’s happening in the Northern Triangle and address it in a way that is about not only diplomacy but bringing our allies together. Dealing with what we need to do around aid in a way that is about developing those countries so that we also deal with the cause of why people are coming into our country.”
Issue of the Day: Meeting With Celebrity Athletes.
The big issue for team Biden on “Equal Pay Day 2021”: meeting with female soccer players who appeared at the White House to discuss how under-compensated they are.
“I’m an unadulterated fan,” Biden said to U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) players Megan Rapinoe and Margaret “Midge” Purce. “You’re all heroes for so many people—and that’s not hyperbole to suggest that—on and off the field.” He went on to add that it “doesn’t matter if you’re an electrician, an accountant or part of the best damn soccer team in the world—the pay gap is real . . . This team is living proof that you can be the very best at what you do and still have to fight for equal pay.”
Rapinoe, standing next to the president of the United States, said, “I have been devalued, I’ve been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman.” Earlier in the day, Rapinoe, whose team is long embroiled in an equal pay lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, had testified about gender discrimination before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
“Equal Pay Day,” March 24, is a symbolic estimate of how far into the year women would have to work to make up the disparity between men’s and women’s earnings the previous year.
