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Secretary Of State Mike Pompeo States Russia Behind Recent Cyberattack On U.S. Federal Government Departments; President Trump Tweets China Possibly Behind Recent Cyberattack On U.S. Federal Government Departments; U.S. To Begin Distribution Of Second Coronavirus Vaccine Produced By Moderna; Congress Continues Negotiations Over Economic Relief Bill; President-Elect Joe Biden Announces Nominees For Environmental Posts In His Administration; President-Elect Biden Nominates Congresswoman Deb Haaland As Interior Department Secretary. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired December 19, 2020 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
We begin with breaking news on that massive cyberattack on U.S. government agencies. CNN is now learning the White House was prepared to name Russia as the culprit behind the massive attack in step with what the U.S. secretary of state has already said. But then you heard from the president after days after silence earlier today via tweet, placing more blame on the media and claiming it couldn't be Russia but maybe even China.
Let's bring in Jeremy Diamond. He's at the White House. So Jeremy, what more can you tell us about the president not only out of step with his secretary of state, but then apparently others in the White House who wanted to corroborate that it's Russia who's behind this kind of cyberattack?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: -- the rest of the U.S. government, that is what we're seeing here because over the last several days we have watched as U.S. government agencies have come closer and closer and closer to pointing the finger here at Russia for this significant cyberattack on U.S. government infrastructure, perhaps one of the most significant in several years.
And yet, what we see here from the president is not only attempting to downplay the possibility that Russia was behind this, but also downplaying the significance of this cyber hack, again, for reasons that we can only guess here.
But it is clear that the president's views here seem to have impacted official U.S. government, pointing to Russia as the culprit of this attack. My colleague Kevin Liptak is hearing from several familiar with the plans, that the White House had actually planned to release a statement yesterday afternoon directly blaming Russia for the recent massive cyberattack on U.S. government agencies. That statement, though, was pulled back. It wasn't clear to officials at the time why that was happening.
But then you see this morning the president coming out on Twitter suggesting that China may have been involved, downplaying the possibility of Russia's involvement, and downplaying, of course, the severity of the attack. So you can kind of put two and two together here. But before that happened, what you already saw was the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just yesterday in a radio interview making very clear that Russia was behind this.
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MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: There was a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside of U.S. government systems, and it now appears, systems of private companies and companies and governments across the world as well. This was a very significant effort. And I think it's the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity.
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DIAMOND: Now the FBI, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Office of Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, they already call this a significant and ongoing cyber campaign despite the president downplaying this now.
And now the question is what exactly will be the official statement from the White House on this cyberattack and specifically as it relates to assigning blame. Officials say that that is not clear at this point, how they can reconcile the statement from the president versus the prevailing view inside the government right now, which is making very clear that this was not only a significant attack, but that Russia was behind it. Fred?
WHITFIELD: Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that.
And then there's more breaking news. This one on the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. fast approaching the rollout of a second vaccine against COVID-19, and right now, a CDC subcommittee is discussing the Moderna vaccine in the final steps before it can be administered.
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Once the CDC Director Robert Redfield gives the OK, doses of Moderna could go out Monday. That would make the U.S. the first country in the world administering two vaccines. It's a historic achievement. Earlier in the week, it was the Pfizer that had been administered to frontline workers.
But all that hope is tempered by the crushing reality of this crisis. A key model now projects 562,000 Americans could die by April. Every week, we're seeing record highs by every metric, cases, deaths and hospitalizations all spiking to staggering heights.
And right now, on a Saturday, Congress is working. They're trying to finally deliver a COVID relief bill to an American public in desperate need. Leadership says the goal is to reach a deal tonight and then hold a vote tomorrow. And that timeline leaving very little margin for error.
There's another high wire act going on this weekend, and that's massive operation to roll out the Moderna vaccine. Pete Muntean is right in the middle of the action in Olive Branch, Mississippi. Why is this location so central to this potential rollout?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are waiting for the shipments to begin here, Fredricka. Operation Warp Speed just held a briefing. It says that trucks will leave here starting tomorrow. The deliveries will begin on Monday. It all begins right here.
This is a McKesson facility, that's the company in charge of the distribution of the Moderna vaccine, and it's a bit of a strategic spot. We are not too far away from Memphis, that's the headquarters of FedEx. It and UPS will be responsible for carrying these vaccine shipments to 3,000 individual locations. Those are places like hospitals and pharmacies.
This rollout, about four times the size of the initial Pfizer vaccine rollout, Operation Warp Speed says it's learned a lot since then, and actually General Gustave Perna apologized for states not getting the amount of vaccine that they were initially promised. Here's what he said.
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GEN. GUSTAVE F. PERNA, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: I am responsible, and I take responsibility for the miscommunication. Here is the bottom line. I want to make sure that we are 100 percent committed to fair and equitable distribution to everybody in the United States of America. And I give you my personal word that is what I'm driving to.
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MUNTEAN: Six million Moderna doses will leave tomorrow, that on top of Pfizer doses that will be going out. About 8 million total doses will be going to all 50 states and U.S. territories. There is a bit of an advantage that the Moderna vaccine has over the Pfizer vaccine, though. It does not need to be as cold.
In fact, it can be stored in a regular freezer. That opens this vaccine up to a lot more places, including rural areas. They don't need continual shipments of dry ice or special deep freezers. This is a massive movement, Fredricka, and it all begins right here in Mississippi.
WHITFIELD: Wow, that's pretty extraordinary. Pete Muntean, thank you so much. So vaccines or not, the U.S. is suffering through the worst days yet
of the coronavirus pandemic. Friday saw the highest single day case count to date. December is already the second highest month in recorded new cases, and medical experts warn it's only expected to get worse.
Here now, CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro. So Evan, what's happening?
EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, as you mentioned, in a way this is the hardest time to talk about this, because we're seeing those images like Pete was reporting on of the vaccine rolling out. You're seeing footage of people getting the vaccine, and it gives everybody hope this might be over pretty soon.
But the science tells us that's just not the case. As you mentioned, Friday was one of the single highest record days of new cases that we've seen since this pandemic began. Three of those highest days have been in the past week. Five of those highest days have been in the past month. So this thing is still very much with us.
Let's dig in on those Friday numbers a little bit. You're looking at nearly 250,000 new cases reported on Friday. That's more than 250,000 in a single day. More than 114,000 people in American hospitals are being treated for complications of coronavirus.
Folks are waiting to see what will happen with this vaccine, but we're still waiting to see what will happen because of Thanksgiving when people traveled. Listen to Dr. Amesh Adalja from Johns Hopkins who talked a bit about what we might be seeing in the next coming weeks.
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AMESH ADALJA, SENIOR SCHOLAR, JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR HEALTH SECURITY: We haven't even seen the brunt of what happened during Thanksgiving, and then on top of that with Christmas. Deaths lag cases, and you just have to look at the sheer number of cases that are occurring every day, and then translate to certain percentages that are going to need hospitalization and a certain percentage are going to die.
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MCMORRIS-SANTORO: So, look, beautiful, stirring images of vaccines rolling out, and vaccine being put in people's arms. But numbers showing us we're still very much in the darkest days of this thing, and vigilance is incredibly important, Fred.
WHITFIELD: While the numbers continue to soar everywhere, are there any states that are actually seeing some kind of improvement?
MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Yes, we are seeing some states. We have a map here we can show you, some states where cases are falling. But as I mentioned, as I said before and what Dr. Adalja said, we still have numbers coming from Thanksgiving and from the Christmas holiday. And so for people who are thinking about this, they need to think about masks, social distance, and staying isolated as much as they possibly can, as this vaccine rolls out, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right, pretty simple measures. Thank you so much, Evan McMorris-Santoro, appreciate it.
Right now, lawmakers on Capitol Hill continue to work toward a deal on a $900 billion aid package. A live look right now at the Senate floor as senators try to hash out their differences in a rare Saturday session. Late last night, Congress approved a last minute, 48-hour stopgap spending bill, avoiding a U.S. government shutdown for now. But lawmakers remain divided over the details for a COVID economic relief package. For the very latest, let's bring in Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. So Manu, how are things looking?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's still a major sticking point, so it's unclear exactly how this will be resolved, when it will be resolved, when there will be votes and when the American people will ultimately get relief.
On a conference call that just happened with the Republican senators and the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussing the latest on the talks, Mnuchin made it very clear that they have not resolved what is now the biggest sticking point, which is whether to pare back the Federal Reserve's emergency lending authority.
Republicans want to do that. They contend continuing this program would essentially amount to a slush fund. Democrats say that is certainly not the case. The believe what the Republicans are pushing would essentially restrict the incoming Biden administration in its efforts to contain this crisis.
So they've been going back and forth over this language behind the scenes for several, for a couple of days now. Late last night talks occurred between the leadership staff of Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi. They traded proposals into the morning. I'm told by multiple sources they believe that they're getting closer to a deal, but that sticking point still remains.
There's also a question about whether this could come together in time for a vote, by the time that government funding expires by Sunday night. What the goal of the House Democrats is to reach a deal today. They want to get that deal today. They want the bill text to be drafted by tomorrow morning so when the House Rules Committee meets and sets up a final vote on the House floor, they can get that all straightened up and through the House by tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow evening.
The question will be whether or not they can also do that in the United States Senate. And the Senate is a body that requires 100 senators to all agree to set up a vote. If one person objects, that could delay the process further. And right now, there's a bit of an attendance problem, I'm told, among the Republican side.
Mitch McConnell on this conference call, according to multiple sources, noted that a dozen Republican senators who have left town, their votes on nominations teed up for today. It's unclear if those senators will all come back by tomorrow evening because they may need every vote possible to get a bill through if a vote is indeed set up on this deal.
So there are a lot of questions about the process. Certainly, the policy disagreements remain even though folks are waiting for this relief and the bill that they're discussing right now, Fred, includes about $600 of a direct payment for individuals under a certain income threshold, renews expiring unemployment benefits, also enhanced benefits of $300 a week, provides about $330 billion in small business loans.
So a lot of relief in this $900 billion package. But can they get there, can they get it through Congress. Still a big question. Fred?
WHITFIELD: Yes, it's a bad situation, needs real serious resuscitation for a lot of people. Manu Raju, thank you so much.
Coming up, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to unveil his environmental team at any moment, and some of his picks are expected to make history. We'll bring you that announcement live straight ahead.
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WHITFIELD: Right now we're awaiting for President-elect Joe Biden to make an appearance in Wilmington, Delaware. He's expected to announce his environmental team at any moment now. This team is expected to take him in a sharply different direction than President Trump's administration and is also expected to make history with some of the picks.
CNN's Rebecca Buck joining me now. Good to see you, Rebecca. So President-elect Biden seems to be positioning his team to move quickly on some of the biggest issues.
REBECCA BUCK, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right, Fred. And of course, all of these picks, the Senate confirmed positions are going to be need to be confirmed by the Senate. So that is going to be out of President-elect Biden's control, how quickly that process moves, and of course it will hinge on whether the Senate is controlled by Republicans ultimately, or by Democrats. That will come down to those Georgia Senate runoffs that we've been talking so much about.
But in the meantime, it's clear that Biden is not asking for permission to move ahead with these picks from any of the senators, and also making clear what his vision is going to be as president- elect for his cabinet and for his agenda. And so these picks today are a continuation of what we've seen from him already in terms of his cabinet picks.
Today, the focus in a few minutes when Biden comes to speak is going to on his climate and energy team here. You see here some of his picks that he is going to announce today. Michael Regan to lead the EPA, former Governor Granholm is going to be leading the Department of Energy.
I want to zero in on Congresswoman Deb Haaland, who Biden is going to nominate to lead the Interior Department. This is a significant nomination for a few reasons. You mentioned in the intro how Biden is really breaking new ground with a lot of his nominations, and this is one of those picks. Haaland would be the first Native American to serve in this position. The Interior Department, of course, oversees not only public lands but also tribal lands, so this is a really significant pick for that reason.
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But also an interesting pick because it's something that really is getting excitement from across the Democratic spectrum. Biden is someone who ran for president as more of a moderate. He, of course, has a reputation has someone who has worked across the aisle throughout his career.
But many of his cabinet picks have really been exciting Democrats across the spectrum. It really tells you a lot, Fred, about how he's going to govern.
WHITFIELD: He's receiving, first, a very mixed reaction, and especially with Haaland's nomination, he's received a lot of affirmation from groups that were a little initially troubled by what they thought was a lack of a diversity of some of his picks. All right, Rebecca Buck, thank you so much.
Stay with us. We'll have live coverage of the Biden announcement as soon as it begins, and we'll be right back.
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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Right now, we are waiting for President-elect Joe Biden to make an appearance in Wilmington, Delaware. And he's expected to announce his environmental team at any moment now. The stage is set.
And after making some very big promises on the environment during his campaign, Biden says he is building a team to move quickly on some of the biggest items on his agenda, and if confirmed by the Senate, would also include the first African-American man to head the Environmental Protection Agency in Michael Regan, and the first Native American cabinet secretary in Representative Deb Haaland.
I want to bring in now Jonathan Nez is the president of the Navajo Nation, and Margaret Talev is a CNN political analyst, and the politics and White House editor for "Axios." Good to see both of you.
JONATHAN NEZ, PRESIDENT, NAVAJO NATION: Thanks for having us.
WHITFIELD: Wonderful. So Margaret, you first. What is Biden trying to say in this environmental team that he has assembled? MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG NEWS:
Fred, some of this is clearly diversity and sending a message about the diversification of his cabinet and his leadership team, but it goes beyond just faces and optics. This really goes to the idea of the theme of environmental justice, the idea that poor minority communities often are the most disproportionately impacted by pollution or health problems, asthma, cancer rates, property values, what happens to their land.
And when you have people who represent and can speak to some of those affected communities, there's more credibility and there's more thoughtfulness in policymaking. But we're also seeing, look, representation of African-Americans, of Native Americans, of women, and of different regions of the country including really like the Midwest, the manufacturing belt, the auto industry, the south, North Carolina. So it is a pretty comprehensive strategic approach.
WHITFIELD: Jonathan, I want to ask you about Deb Haaland in particular who could become the first Native American cabinet member. What does it mean to have an indigenous woman help mend, fix, illuminate federal government's relationship with Native Americans, and how does this redesign your expectations of how federal, public, and tribal lands are overseen?
NEZ: Well, thank you for having us, Fredricka. In the Navajo way of life teaching, women are the foundation of our nation. And I think many of the Native American tribes throughout this country are the matrilineal society.
So having Deb, a Native American woman, to be steward of the federal lands here in this country is just overwhelming to many of us in Indian country. And I think she'll bring an important new world view, a different perspective to the Biden-Harris team in taking care of our lands.
Here on the Navajo Nation, over 500 uranium mines are still open, and bringing an indigenous person to a cabinet level, being a cabinet member, is overwhelming to Native Americans because I think it's going to show that it is time to heal our land and to protect our land. And she will bring, really, a nurturing perspective to federal lands throughout the country.
So I appreciate the Biden-Harris administration for keeping their promise that their team will look like America, and this is one choice that does just that.
WHITFIELD: And Representative Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo Nation of New Mexico. And Margaret, this job of interior secretary means managing this country's 500 million acres of lands, natural resources, managing agencies from U.S. Park Services to Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Where do you see the priorities placed that perhaps have been overlooked, undermined before?
TALEV: Well, I think when you look at it in the context of today's announcement, you have to really think about how the economic needs but also the tribal needs of these tribes are going to come face-to- face with Biden's energy policy and climate policy.
And one interesting area I think that we're going to be looking to is, in New Mexico in particular, which is also Deb Haaland's home state, how are Biden's calls for bans on new oil and natural gas drilling permits, including on federal lands that are overseen by the interior, how are those going to be impacted by Deb Haaland's arrival and New Mexico's desires as well as her own desires and what tribes are asking for.
So these are complicated issues. When you look at the needs of Native Americans, COVID is a massive concern. Education is a massive concern. Health care is a massive concern. But there are also real economic concerns, in part spurred on by the pandemic and the economic repercussions that we're all experiencing, and a real desire to have more control over your land and your destiny.
So I think these, they're a complicated set of issues, and that when you look at the portfolio of Interior, she's going to be juggling a lot.
WHITFIELD: Yes. And Jonathan, I want to zero in a little bit more on who Representative Haaland is. She's 60 years old, and in addition to, of course, being a member of Congress, she is a member of the Laguna Pueblo Nation. And she had tweeted that "Growing up in my mother's Pueblo household made me fierce.
I'll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all our protected land." And it's really the two latter items, fierce for our planet and all our protected land that I'd love to hear your perspective on and what you believe her commitment will be to climate change, to the land in this beautiful country.
NEZ: Right. And she grew up like many of us on the reservations on our nations knowing how to not have running water or electricity or even a concrete floor. But this just also shows the diversity of this team, the Biden-Harris administration.
Many of them worked hard, and just like Deb Haaland, worked her way up, that bootstrap mentality, never giving up. And I saw a lot of her ambitions come to fruition in being the chair of the New Mexico Democratic Party to congresswoman, and now the secretary of interior. It's just overwhelming, not I'm sure for her, but all of us in Indian country to have the first ever secretary of interior that is a Native American.
And I know with her way of life teaching and her upbringing will also, again, bring that different perspective to the Biden-Harris team. And I think overseeing the 5 million acres of federal lands here, we have an opportunity, and I sure hope that we are able to bring other tribal leaders to the table to help protect these federal lands for the future of all people, including Native Americans. So I think that's one key strength that she brings to the Biden-Harris administration.
WHITFIELD: Yes, that's 500 million acres that you speak of. And Jonathan --
NEZ: I'm sorry, 500 million.
WHITFIELD: No, it's OK. Those numbers matter, before people start entering the room because we're getting a warning it could happen inside a minute now. And I wonder, Jonathan, what do you think people don't know about Native Americans today that her cabinet position will now help educate, illuminate people about.
NEZ: Right, I think now is the time to transition back to bringing traditional practitioners and elders to the forefront on how to manage federal lands. We've been talking about --
WHITFIELD: I'm going to leave it there. Jonathan Nez, thank you so much. Margaret Talev, don't go far. We're learning now to President- elect Biden and his environmental team that he's assembled.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- these distinguished nominees that it seems inappropriate for me to ask them to come all the way to Wilmington, Delaware, and then I'm not able to invite them to my home and show any hospitality. But hopefully we're going to get through this crisis sooner than later, and we can get back to normal.
Let me begin by saying good afternoon, and today I'm pleased to announce a team that will lead my administration's ambitious plan to address the existential threat of our time, climate change. Excuse me. Like their fellow cabinet nominees and appointees, members of our environmental and energy team are brilliant, they're qualified, tested, and they are barrier busting.
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Today, the announcement, we will make the sixth African-American, the sixth of African-American members of our cabinet, which is a record. After today our cabinet won't just be one of or two precedent breaking appointments but 12, including today's long overdue appointment of the first Native American cabinet secretary. And welcome, welcome, welcome. Thanks for being willing to do this.
Already, there are more people of color in our cabinet than any cabinet ever, more women than ever. The Biden-Harris cabinet will be historic. The cabinet that looks like America, that taps into the best of America, that opens doors and includes the full range of talents we have in this nation.
And like the rest of the team, today's nominees are ready on day one, which is essential, because we literally have no time to waste. Just this year, wildfires burned more than 5 million acres in California and Washington state. Across the west, roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey literally burned to the ground.
Intense and powerful hurricanes, tropical storms pummeled Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, across the Gulf and along the east coast. Record floods, hurricane speed wind storms, and severe droughts ravaged the Midwest, and more Americans see and feel the devastation in big cities, small towns, on coastlines, and in farmlands, in red states and in blue. Look, billions of dollars in damage, homes and memories washed away,
small businesses closed for good, crops and farmlands destroyed for the next generation of family farmers, and just last year, the Defense Department reported that climate change is a direct threat to more than two-thirds of our military operational critical installations in the world, particularly in the United States. And this could well be a conservative estimate. And so many climate and health calamities are colliding all at once.
It's not just the pandemic that keeps people inside. It's poor air quality. Multiple studies have shown air pollution is associated with the increased risk of death from COVID-19. Folks, we're in a crisis. Just like we need to be a unified nation in response to COVID-19, we need a unified national response to climate change. We need to meet the moment with the urgency it demands as you would with any national emergency.
And from this crisis, from these crises, I should say, we need to seize the opportunity to build back and build back better than we were before. That's what this this administration is going to do, with the help of these fine people.
When we think about climate change, we think jobs, good paying union jobs. A key plank of our build back better economy and economic plan is building a modern climate resistant infrastructure and a clean energy future. We can put millions of Americans to work modernizing water, transportation, and energy infrastructure to withstand the impacts of extreme weather.
When we think about renewable energy, we see American manufacturers, American workers racing to lead the global market. We see farmers making agriculture first in the world to achieve net zero emissions and gaining new sources of income in the process on the farm. And we see small businesses and master electricians designing and installing innovative energy conserving buildings and homes.
We're going to reduce electric consumption and save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in energy costs. And we will challenge everyone, everyone to step up. We'll bring America back, back into the Paris agreement, and put us back in the business of leading the world on climate change again.
The current administration reversed the Obama Biden fuel efficiency standards, and picked big oil companies over American workers. Our administration will not only bring those standards back, we'll set new ambitious workers that our workers are ready to meet today. We see American workers building an installing over 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across this country.
We see American consumers switching to electrical vehicles through rebates and incentives, and not only that, the federal government owns and maintains an enormous fleet of vehicles. We're going to harness the purchasing power of federal government to make sure we're buying clean electric vehicles that are made and sourced by union workers right here in America.
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All together this will mean one million, one million new jobs in the American auto industry. It will do another big thing -- put us on the path of achieving carbon pollution free electric sector by 2035 that no future president can turn back.
Transforming the American electric sector to produce power without carbon pollution will be the greatest spur of job creation and economic competitiveness in 21st century, not to mention the benefits to our health and our environment.
But we need to get to work. We've got to get to work right away. We'll need scientists at national labs, land grant universities, historical black colleges and universities to innovate the technologies needed to generate, store, and transmit this clean energy. We'll need engineers to design them, workers to manufacture them. We'll need iron workers and welders to install them. That's how we're going to become the world's largest exporter of these technologies, creating even more jobs.
We know how to do this. The Obama-Biden administration reduced the auto industry -- I should say rescued the automobile industry while reducing pollution, and at the same time, help them retool. We made solar energy costs competitive with traditional energy, weatherized more than a million homes.
The Recovery Act made record clean energy investments, $90 billion, on everything from smart grid systems to clean energy manufacturing. And we're going to do it again, but this time, bigger, faster, and better than before.
We're also going to build 1.5 million new energy efficient homes and public housing units that will benefit our communities three times over by alleviating the affordable housing crisis, by increasing energy efficiency, and by reducing the racial wealth gap linked to homeownership.
We're going to create more than a quarter million jobs, to do things like working toward plugging the 3,200,000 abandoned oil and gas wells that the EPA says pose an ongoing threat to the health and safety of our communities. They're going to be good-paying union jobs doing that. We're going to launch a new modern day civilian climate corps to heal our public lands, and make us less vulnerable to wildfires and floods.
And I believe that every American has a fundamental right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. I know that we haven't fulfilled that right. No, we haven't fulfilled that right for a generation or more in places like Cancer Alley in Louisiana, or right here in my state along Route 9 in the Delaware corridor.
Fulfilling this basic obligation to all Americans, especially low income white, black, brown, and Native American communities who too often don't have the clean air and clean water. It's not going to be easy, but it's absolutely necessary. And we are committed to facing climate change by delivering environmental justice. These aren't pie in the sky dreams. These are concrete, actionable solutions, and the team is going to get it done.
For the secretary of interior, I nominate Congresswoman Deb Haaland. She's of the Pueblo people, only 35 generations in New Mexico. And she's from a military family. Her mom, also Pueblo, served in the United States Navy. Her dad, a Norwegian American, a Marine now buried in Arlington.
A single mom, she raised her child while running a small business. When times were tough, they relied on food stamps. Congresswoman Haaland graduated from law school and then got involved in politics and public life. Two years ago, she became one of the first Native American women to serve the United States Congress.
She serves on the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Natural Resources and chairs the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forest, and Public Lands, which I have an incredibly sincere interest in.
Where she learned, she learned and she earned the respect of a broad coalition of people from tribal leaders to environmental groups to labor. As the first Native American cabinet secretary in the history of the United States of America, she'll be a true steward of our national parks, our natural resources, and all of our lands.
The federal government has long broken promises to Native American tribes who have been on land since time immemorial. With her appointment, Congresswoman Haaland, will help strengthen the nation- to-nation relationship, and I'm honored to accept that she has been willing when I called her to accept this critical role. Again, Deb, thank you for doing this.
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For secretary of energy, I nominate Governor Jennifer Granholm, first woman -- where's Jennifer? Back there. She's a great friend as well. First woman to ever serve as governor of Michigan. In 2009, she faced the collapse of the defining industry of her state and our nation. I saw firsthand how she responded. She bet on the auto workers. She bet on the promise of a clean energy future.
Her leadership helped rescue the automobile industry in the United States of America, helped save a million American jobs, and helped bring Detroit back. Governor Granholm is just like the state she's led so efficiently and effectively for eight years -- hardworking, resilient, and forward thinking, someone not only capable of solving urgent problems, but someone who sees the opportunities of the future, and always, always with her eyes on needs and aspirations of working people.
We've become friends over time. Together throughout career, she's worked with states, cities, business, and labor to promote clean energy future with new jobs, new industry, cleaner and more affordable energy. Now I'm asking her to bring that vision and faith in America to the Department of Energy. Thank you for willing to do it, Jennifer. I appreciate it a bunch. For administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, I nominate
Michael Regan. Michael is a proud son of North Carolina. He turned a passion for exploring the woods and waters in intercoastal plain into a deep expertise on environmental science. He got his start at the EPA, serving with both Democrat and Republican administrations, working on everything from reducing air pollution to improving energy efficiency.
He currently serves as secretary of North Carolina's Department of Environmental Quality. When the governor told me how wonderful he was, I don't think he expected I was going to try to steal him. But governor, thank you very much for putting up with me. But the environmental quality he's brought to the people across the public and private and non-profit sectors helped build a new clean energy economy, creating quality jobs, and confronting climate change.
He led the charge to clean up the Cape Fear River, contaminated for years by dangerous toxic chemicals. He created North Carolina's first board of its kind to address environmental justice and equality and equity. It helped lift up frontline and fence line communities.
They are those communities that live along -- literally have fences separating them from the plants that are polluting, chemical and other plants that are polluting, helped lift up those front line and fence line communities who carried the burdens of industrial progress for much too long without sharing in any of the benefits.
Michael would be the second African-American official and the first African-American man to serve in this position. He shares my belief in forming consensus and finding common purpose. He's a leader who will respect the EPA's place as the world's premier Environmental Protection Agency and reassert that as the world premier agency that safeguards our entire planet, protects our lives, and strengthens our economy for all Americans.
And to chair the Council on Environmental Quality, I nominate Brenda Mallory, an accomplished public servant, brilliant environmental lawyer, daughter of working class family who has dedicated her life to solving the most complex environmental challenges facing America. She served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, helping safeguard our public lands, helping communities manage the natural resources and responsibilities.
Chair of CEO, Council on Economic Quality, I'm asking her to coordinate our environmental efforts across the entire federal government to solve some of the most persistent environmental problems America face today. Brenda would be the first African-American official to hold this critical position.
We are fortunate that one of the most widely respected environmental leaders in the country that accepted the call to serve again -- thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you -- to serve as the first ever national climate adviser.
By the way, in the back, we were talking about the environment, and I turned and said that this particular person's forgotten more about the environment than most people know. I was really -- I wasn't sure she was going to do it, but the first ever national climate adviser to lead the newly formed White House Office of Domestic Policy, I'm appointing Gina McCarthy.
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Gina was the former EPA administrator. In this role she led the office and shows how serious I am to ask her to come back, but it shows how committed she is to be willing to come back. Gina has got more than 20 years of experience and she's a policy wonk and a people person, a problem solver and a coalition builder.
As EPA administrator, she was instrumental in carrying out the Obama- Biden climate action plan, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, getting toxins out of the air we breathe, conserving critical water sources. She led our effort to help lower carbon emissions of existing power plants and power plants in the future. And by doing the necessary work here at home, she helped us rally the world around the Paris Climate Accords.
Today, I'm asking her to take a singular focus on carrying out the ambitious climate agenda here at home, and working with my special envoy, former Secretary of State John Kerry, who leads our climate effort around the world. I'm grateful that she agreed to do it. I'm looking forward to working alongside her again. I used to drive her crazy when I was vice president, always calling and asking all these questions. And she's thinking, my God, what's he going to do as president?
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: And to serve as our National Climate Advisor, I appoint Ali Zandi -- Zaidi. Excuse me. And Ali, you can call me Bidden. If I mispronounced your last name I apologize. He served as a top climate adviser to President Obama and me in the Office of Management and Budget, and the Domestic Policy Council. He helped draft and implement our climate action plan and secure the Paris climate agreement.
He currently serves as New York Deputy Secretary of Energy and Environment, and the state's chairman of Climate Policy and Finance. He's helping to create jobs, generating solar wind power, jobs building electric charging stations, and a more modern grid with bold climate action grounded in science, economic, and public health. And he's an immigrant from Pakistan who grew up in the rustbelt outside of Erie, Pennsylvania. I was in the better part of the state, northeast, Scranton and Pittsburgh area.
But all kidding aside, he knows we can beat the climate crisis and we can do it with jobs. He knows we can deliver environmental justice and revitalize communities as well, too often overlooked and forgotten. And every day, he'll walk into the White House knowing the world was looking for America to lead.
I say to each one of you, thank you for answering the call. And thank you to your families. We could not do this without them, couldn't do it without you. To the career civil services at the agencies, I know that many of you have felt forgotten for a long time. We look forward to working with you, to once again carry out your department's mission and honor the integrity of the offices and the organization you're involved in.
And to the American people, yes, the goals I've laid out are bold. The challenges ahead are daunting. But I want you to know that we can do this, we must do this, and we will do this. We are American. There's nothing we can't do if we do it together. So I say again to all of you, God bless you all, may God protect our troops.
And now I'm going to turn this to the team, starting with our next Secretary of Interior, Congresswoman Deb Haaland. Deb, the floor is yours.
REP. DEBRA HAALAND (D-NM), NOMINEE FOR SECRETARY OF INTERIOR: Thank you. Thank you. I'm proud to stand here on the ancestral homelands of the Lenape tribal nation. The president-elect and vice president-elect are committed to a diverse cabinet, and I'm honored and humbled to accept their nomination for secretary of the interior.
Growing up in my mother's Puebla household made me fierce. My life has not been easy. I struggled with homelessness. I relied on food stamps and raised my child as a single mom. These struggles give me perspectives though, so that I can help people to succeed.
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My grandparents who were taken away from their families as children and sent to boarding school in an effort to destroy their traditions and identities, maintained our culture. This moment is profound when we consider the fact that a former secretary of the interior once proclaimed his goal to, quote, civilize or exterminate us. I'm a living testament to the failure of that horrific ideology.
I also stand on the shoulders of my ancestors and all the people who have sacrificed so that I can be here. My dad was a U.S. Marine, and no matter where we were stationed, he made sure we spent time outdoors. Time with my dad in the mountains or on the beach, and time with my grandparents in the cornfield at Laguna taught me to respect the earth and to value our resources. I carry those values with me everywhere. I am a product of their resilience.
As our country faces the impacts of climate change and environmental injustice, the Interior Department has a role to address these challenges, the president-elect's goals driven by justice and empowering communities who have shouldered the burdens of environmental negligence. And we will ensure that the decisions at Interior will once again be driven by science.
We know that climate change can only be solved with participation of every department and of every community coming together in a common purpose. This country can and will tackle this challenge. The president elect and vice president-elect know that issues under Interior's jurisdiction aren't simply about conservation.
They're woven in with justice, good jobs, and closing the racial wealth and health gaps. This historic moment will not go by without the acknowledge of the many people who have believed in me over the years and had the confidence in me for this position. I'll be fierce for all of us, for our planet, and all of our protected land, and I'm honored and ready to serve. Thank you again.
JENNIFER GRANHOLM, ENERGY SECRETARY NOMINEE: Mr. President-elect, Madam Vice President-elect, thank you for your confidence. I bring my gratitude and that of the loves of my life, my husband and best friend and partner, Dan Mulhern, my glorious children and their equally magnificent spouses, Connor (ph) and Alexis (ph), Cece (ph), and Jack.
My commitment to clean energy was forged in the fire. I was governor of Michigan, as the president-elect said during the great recession when it struck and pushed our auto industry, which is the lifeblood of Michigan, to the brink of utter collapse. Workers were losing their jobs through no fault of their own, banks wouldn't lend, people were losing their houses. Our unemployment rate in Michigan was 15 percent, in Detroit, it was 28 percent.
But then, thankfully, as now, help was on the way. Joe Biden and the Obama administration worked with us to rescue the auto industry and the million jobs that are attached to it. They worked with us to retool and electrify Detroit for the future, of course, and to diversify Michigan's economy on the premise of this promising future in clean energy.
So today in the midst of another harrowing crisis, clean energy remains among the most promising jobs and economic growth sector in the world. Over the next two decades, countries and companies are going to invest trillions, trillions -- not just billions, trillions -- in electric cars and batteries and wind turbines and solar panels and energy efficient appliances and energy efficient buildings. They're going to upgrade their electric grids using smart technology.
