What Did Joe Biden Do Today?
November 4, 2024 Recap
The Biden-Harris Administration's Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity (APEP), launched in 2022, aims to enhance economic cooperation and competitiveness across the Western Hemisphere. Representing 90% of the hemisphere’s GDP, APEP includes 12 nations, such as Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia. Key initiatives focus on fostering bottom-up economic growth, creating quality jobs, and strengthening supply chains in semiconductors, medical supplies, clean energy, and critical minerals.
In its first year, APEP has facilitated a $1 billion investment pledge for early-stage companies in Latin America and the Caribbean, supported training programs for hundreds of entrepreneurs (particularly women and underserved communities), and launched the Americas Partnership SME Inclusive Trade Inventory for supporting small businesses. Efforts also include $7 million in funding for the Biodiversity and Natural Capital Facility and the CHIPS ITSI Semiconductor Initiative, which aims to boost semiconductor manufacturing in partnership with universities.
APEP has strengthened partnerships between regional countries for clean energy, transparency, space exploration, and sustainable agriculture and has supported efforts to align technical standards to reinforce supply chains. In short, APEP is creating economic opportunities, fostering sustainable growth, and building resilient regional supply chains across the Western Hemisphere.
President Biden congratulated Maia Sandu on her reelection as President of Moldova, highlighting it as a historic moment. He noted that Moldovan voters supported Sandu’s vision for a secure, prosperous, and democratic future, aligning Moldova with European and democratic values. This election followed a recent constitutional referendum showing support for EU membership. Biden emphasized that, despite attempts by Russia to destabilize Moldova’s democratic institutions, the Moldovan people successfully exercised their right to determine their future.
President Biden and Vice President Harris honored Quincy Jones in their statements following his passing, celebrating his unparalleled contributions to music, culture, and social change. President Biden described Jones as a musical genius who overcame segregation and poverty to become one of America’s most influential figures, transforming music “one beat, one rhythm, and one rhyme at a time.” Biden praised Jones’s seven-decade career as a producer, composer, and instrumentalist who discovered iconic artists and shaped unforgettable music. With an extraordinary 28 Grammy Awards and an EGOT, Jones's achievements solidified Black culture as a cornerstone of American culture. Biden emphasized that Jones deeply believed in the healing power of music to uplift and inspire, not only in America but also across Africa. President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden extended their condolences to Jones’s family and all who were touched by his contributions.
Vice President Harris remembered Quincy Jones as a trailblazer and personal friend, commending his commitment to breaking barriers and lifting others. She highlighted his roles as a composer, arranger, producer, and activist who brought joy to millions and fought for civil and human rights. Jones united artists to drive change and offered mentorship to young people of color, inspiring the next generation. Harris reflected on his generosity, kindness, and selfless support, noting that his legacy endures in his music and the lives he impacted. She and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff prayed to the Jones family and those who loved him.
Vice President Harris concentrated her final campaign day in Pennsylvania, emphasizing the state’s critical role in her bid for the White House. Pennsylvania’s 19 Electoral College votes make it the most influential of the seven swing states, potentially decisive. Speaking to enthusiastic crowds, Harris clarified that every vote mattered, urging Pennsylvanians to make a decisive impact. “We need everyone in Pennsylvania to vote,” she told an energized audience in Allentown, affirming, “You are going to make the difference in this election.”
Pennsylvania’s polling showed a razor-thin margin between Harris and her opponent, former President Donald Trump, who held a rally nearby in Reading. Harris and her campaign took a notable approach by refraining from mentioning Trump’s name directly, instead promoting themes of optimism and collective ambition. “Momentum is on our side, can you feel it?” she asked supporters, who cheered as she emphasized that her campaign was rooted in “the ambitions and aspirations and the dreams of the American people.”
The Allentown rally featured an appearance by Grammy-winning artist Fat Joe, who, raised by Puerto Rican and Cuban parents, criticized recent remarks made at a Trump rally in New York. At that rally, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, a warm-up act, had sparked controversy by referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” Fat Joe addressed the Allentown crowd, many Latino and Puerto Rican, urging them to make their voices heard against the rhetoric by voting. “My Latinos, where is your pride?” he asked, emphasizing Harris’s support of the Latino community: “If I tell you that Kamala Harris is with us, she’s with us.”
Harris echoed this sentiment, reaffirming her support for Puerto Ricans and commitment to representing all Americans. “I stand here proud of my longstanding commitment to Puerto Rico and her people, and I will be a president for all Americans,” she stated. Harris’s Pennsylvania tour included a stop in Scranton, Biden’s birthplace, where she was greeted with cheers and a backdrop of homemade “VOTE FOR FREEDOM” signs.
Throughout her campaign stops, Harris underscored one of her campaign slogans, “We Are Not Going Back,” which underscores her stance on protecting reproductive rights. She criticized Republicans who supported the Supreme Court’s reversal of federal abortion rights and assured voters that she would protect a woman’s right to choose. “Ours is the fight for the future, for freedom, like the fundamental freedom for a woman to make decisions over her own body and not have the government tell her what to do,” Harris told her supporters.
Harris wrapped up her Pennsylvania tour in Pittsburgh and will make one last stop in Philadelphia for a high-profile rally with special guests Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey.
Source: Al Jazeera
Vice President Harris and composer, arranger, record and movie producer, Quincy Jones
