White House wants to focus economy on Middle East with summit as Biden heads
Categories: International news News Today news USA News
White House wants to focus economy on Middle East with summit as Biden heads
Vice President Kamala Harris will welcome a group of state and local officials to the White House on Wednesday as the administration seeks to draw attention to key elements of President Joe Biden's cornerstone legislative achievement.
Harris will headline a half-day White House Summit on the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion economic package Biden signed into law in the depths of the dual-pronged economic and public health crisis in 2021.
The summit will detail a series of specific state and local efforts and more than $40 billion in funding for workforce development across industries. At its core, it's viewed by administration officials as a way to highlight successful models for other officials around the country to utilize as they seek to spend the remaining funds from the law.
"What we really wanted to do was to be able to give people a sense that the American rescue plan is helping people not just get back to work, but get back to better jobs at better pay and, so doing, meet many of the jobs most in demand in both the private and public sector," a senior administration official told CNN in a preview of the summit, which will also highlight plans to disburse more than $3 billion additional, competitively awarded ARP funds in the months ahead.
The summit comes as Biden is set to face a critical foreign policy test with his first trip to the Middle East, which includes stops in Israel, the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia. But the event underscores a recognition inside the White House that the domestic economy remains the administration's top and most pressing priority.