Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2019 President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Individuals to Key Administration Posts   Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key positions in his Administration: Brian McGuire of New York, to be a Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs and, upon confirmation, to be designated as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs. Mr. McGuire currently serves as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs. Previously, he was a policy director at the Denver-based law and government consulting firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP. Additionally, Mr. McGuire served as Chief of Staff to Senator Mitch McConnell after working for several years in various senior communications roles in Leader McConnell’s Senate Leadership Office. Upon graduation from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he also worked as a journalist in New York.  Mr. McGuire earned his B.A. from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Dallas. Chad Wolf of Virginia, to be the Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Strategy, Policy, and Plans.  Mr. Wolf currently serves as Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to his appointment as the Chief of Staff, he served as both the Acting Chief of Staff and the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department. Additionally, he served as the Chief of Staff at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Before joining the Administration, Mr. Wolf was Vice President and Senior Director at Wexler & Walker, a bipartisan public policy consultancy, served as Assistant Administrator of Transportation Security Policy, and worked as a staff member in the U.S. Senate. He earned his B.A. in history from Southern Methodist University and a master certificate in government contract management from Villanova University.

Trump Administration Accomplishments

The White House

Trump Administration Accomplishments

• Almost 4 million jobs created since election.
• More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
• We have created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since my election.
• Manufacturing jobs growing at the fastest rate in more than THREE DECADES.
• Economic growth last quarter hit 4.2 percent.
• New unemployment claims recently hit a 49-year low.
• Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
• African-American unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
• Hispanic-American unemployment is at the lowest rate ever recorded.
• Asian-American unemployment recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
• Women’s unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years.
• Youth unemployment has recently hit the lowest rate in nearly half a century.
• Lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for Americans without a high school diploma.
• Under my Administration, veterans’ unemployment recently reached its lowest rate in nearly 20 years.
• Almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election.
• The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans. We are committed to VOCATIONAL education.
• 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future—the highest ever.
• Retail sales surged last month, up another 6 percent over last year.
• Signed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in history. After tax cuts, over $300 billion poured back in to the U.S. in the first quarter alone.
• As a result of our tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.
• Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
• Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup.
• Opened ANWR and approved Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines.
• Record number of regulations eliminated.
• Enacted regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions.
• Obamacare individual mandate penalty GONE.
• My Administration is providing more affordable healthcare options for Americans through association health plans and short-term duration plans.
• Last month, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history. And thanks to our efforts, many drug companies are freezing or reversing planned price increases.
• We reformed the Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone.
• Signed Right-To-Try legislation.
• Secured $6 billion in NEW funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
• We have reduced high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent during my first year in office.
• Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
• Increased our coal exports by 60 percent; U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high.
• United States is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
• Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.
• Cancelled the illegal, anti-coal, so-called Clean Power Plan.
• Secured record $700 billion in military funding; $716 billion next year.
• NATO allies are spending $69 billion more on defense since 2016.
• Process has begun to make the Space Force the 6th branch of the Armed Forces.
• Confirmed more circuit court judges than any other new administration.
• Confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
• Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Deal.
• Moved U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
• Protecting Americans from terrorists with the Travel Ban, upheld by Supreme Court.
• Issued Executive Order to keep open Guantanamo Bay.
• Concluded a historic U.S.-Mexico Trade Deal to replace NAFTA. And negotiations with Canada are underway as we speak.
• Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.
• Imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to protect our national security.
• Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices.
• Net exports are on track to increase by $59 billion this year.
• Improved vetting and screening for refugees, and switched focus to overseas resettlement.
• We have begun BUILDING THE WALL. Republicans want STRONG BORDERS and NO CRIME. Democrats want OPEN BORDERS which equals MASSIVE CRIME.

President Donald J. Trump Approves Mississippi Disaster Declaration

  

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2019

President Donald J. Trump Approves Mississippi Disaster Declaration Today, President Donald J. Trump declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Mississippi and ordered Federal assistance to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, flooding, and tornado from December 27 to December 28, 2019. Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms, flooding, and tornado in the counties of Clarke, Covington, Forrest, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Marion, Newton, Perry, and Wayne. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. Brock Long, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Jon K. Huss as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. Additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT:  FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV

POTUS Signs Funding Bill - Declares National Emergency

Memorandum from the Physician to the President

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2019

Memorandum from the Physician to the President

West Wing Reads: Wilbur Ross, Ivanka Trump Introduce Workforce Advisory Board

Wilbur Ross, Ivanka Trump Introduce Workforce Advisory Board “The chief executives of Apple Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Walmart Inc., are among 25 prominent Americans who will shape Trump administration efforts to develop job training programs to meet the changing demands of U.S. employers,” Margaret Talev reports for Bloomberg. “The creation of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, announced by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and President Donald Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump on Wednesday, will work with the National Council for the American Worker established last July by an executive order.” Click here to read more. “President Donald Trump is headed to Miami on Monday to speak about the ongoing turmoil in Venezuela, a move that could embolden interim president Juan Guaidó and put further pressure on Nicolás Maduro to flee the country,” David Smiley and Franco Ordoñez reports for the Miami Herald. “Trump is scheduled to speak at Florida International University, where he’ll reaffirm his support for Guaidó and, according to the White House, hammer socialism as a scourge.” In the Washington Examiner, Eddie Scarry writes that what President Trump said is true—he really did start building more border wall in Texas. “The project funds six miles-worth of concrete and steel barrier of the sort that [border] agents told me in January is immensely successful in deterring illegal border crossings. The wall will be supplemented by ‘detection technology, lighting, video surveillance, and an all-weather patrol road parallel’ to the barrier, according to a release sent out by the CBP in November.” “I agree with the Trump administration’s free market approach” to healthcare, Dr. Marc Siegel writes in The Hill. "My patients want to know what their medicines cost, even if their insurance ends up covering it. In fact it is ‘price opacity’ that has enabled health costs to soar, while patients are blinded . . . The Trump administration and HHS should be applauded for their efforts to extend and expand price transparency."

Presidential Message on School Safety: Remembering the Parkland Tragedy

Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2019 Presidential Message on School Safety: Remembering the Parkland Tragedy   One year ago today, a horrific act of violence took the lives of 14 students and 3 educators in Parkland, Florida.  On this somber anniversary, we honor their memory and recommit to ensuring the safety of all Americans, especially our Nation’s children. The day after the tragedy in Parkland, I told the Nation that school safety would be a top priority for my Administration.  We took immediate action, committing ourselves to a sacred vow to do everything in our power to ensure that evil does not stalk our children on the playgrounds or in the hallways of our Nation’s schools.  Within days, I convened a listening session at the White House, during which young men and women, joined by family and friends, recounted stories of survival and heroic acts of bravery and remembered those lost to senseless violence. We learned a lot that afternoon, exchanging many strong ideas on preventing violence in our schools.  These important suggestions resulted in the creation of the Federal Commission on School Safety to consider recommendations spanning a broad range of topics important to protecting our students and securing our schools.  Carson Abt, a survivor and now a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, suggested that we need to ensure that all schools have the resources necessary to institute active shooter protocols and drills.  Julia Cordover, another Parkland survivor, asked that my Administration take action to ban bump stocks.  Alaya Barnett, a student at Friendship Technology Preparatory Academy in Washington, D.C., suggested improvements to counseling services for victims of bullying.  And Sandy Hook mom, Nicole Hockley, urged enactment of the STOP School Violence Act, which authorizes $1 billion over the next ten years to prevention programs and reporting systems nationwide. We have made tremendous strides.  One month after that important meeting, I signed the STOP School Violence Act and Fix NICS Act into law.  The Departments of Education and Health and Human Services began the process of expanding health and other services to low-income public elementary and secondary schools.  The Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation also convened a School Safety Summit that discussed how to better identify troubled students, conduct threat assessments, and institute anonymous reporting systems.  Additionally, my Administration has completed a regulatory process, which it had started in October of 2017, to ban bump stocks. On December 18, 2018, the Federal Commission on School Safety released a compelling 180-page report directly addressing many of the ideas exchanged last February at the White House and in listening sessions, panel discussions, and field visits held all across the country.  The report offered nearly 100 diverse and evidence-based policy recommendations, ranging from use of Extreme Risk Protection Orders to improved mental health and counseling services in our schools.  To protect against acts of violence on school grounds, the Commission also recommended a structure of interagency and intergovernmental collaboration, strengthening the working relationship between educational personnel, law enforcement, and State and local leadership. Melania and I join all Americans in praying for the continued healing of those in the Parkland community and all communities where lives have been lost to gun violence.  We reaffirm the bonds of faith, family, community, and country that unite us as one Nation.  Today, as we hold in our hearts each of those lost a year ago in Parkland, let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe.   ###