We took note of Russia’s false claims about alleged U.S. biological weapons labs and chemical weapons development in Ukraine. We’ve also seen Chinese officials echo these conspiracy theories.
This is preposterous. It’s the kind of disinformation operation we’ve seen repeatedly from the Russians over the years in Ukraine and in other countries, which have been debunked, and an example of the types of false pretexts we have been warning the Russians would invent.
The United States is in full compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention and does not develop or possess such weapons anywhere.
It’s Russia that has a long and well-documented track record of using chemical weapons, including in attempted assassinations and poisoning of Putin’s political enemies like Alexey Navalny.
It’s Russia that continues to support the Assad regime in Syria, which has repeatedly used chemical weapons. It’s Russia that has long maintained a biological weapons program in violation of international law.
Also, Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very violations that Russia itself is perpetrating. In December, Russia falsely accused the U.S. of deploying contractors with chemical weapons in Ukraine.
This is all an obvious ploy by Russia to try to try to justify its further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine.
Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It’s a clear pattern.
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We have seen reports that Russia may be considering seizing the assets of U.S. and international companies that have announced plans to suspend operations in Russia or to withdraw from the Russian market.
These decisions are ultimately up to companies. As President Biden said earlier this week, we welcome the decisions of companies to exit Russia because they want no part of Russia’s war of choice against Ukraine.
Any lawless decision by Russia to seize the assets of these companies will ultimately result in even more economic pain for Russia. It will compound the clear message to the global business community that Russia is not a safe place to invest and do business.
When it comes to U.S. energy production – and how we achieve energy security – it’s important to look at the facts. So here are 9 specifics..
1. Production is up, rising, and approaching records, yet Russia’s actions still leave our consumers vulnerable. It’s a reminder that real energy security comes from reducing our dependence on fossil fuels
2. U.S. production of natural gas and oil is rising and approaching record levels: More natural gas than ever this year, more oil than ever next year, and, even with a global pandemic, more oil production this past year than during the previous administration’s first year.
Our focus is on ensuring everyone in America has access to free testing, whether at a doctor's office, pharmacy, community testing site or at home. We are continuing to scale up our testing program to meet demand and ensure people who want tests are getting tests.
In February, we took steps to make sure insurers cover asymptomatic PCR and point of care tests critical to helping the majority of Americans who have private insurance not worry about burdensome test costs.
We quadrupled the number of free pharmacy testing sites--today there are 20,000 sites with free quality tests. We also secured funding to ensure schools had $10 billion for testing and nearly $1 billion for rural clinics and hospitals.
Tomorrow, @POTUS heads to Chicago with a clear message: vaccine requirements work. Across the country, we’re seeing strong actions across industries for measures that keep workers safe from COVID-19. On this thread, I will outline just how effective these measures have been.
At Henry Ford Health System in Detroit went from 68% vaccinated to 98% of its workforce vaccinated thanks to a vaccine requirement.
At United Airlines, the vaccination rate among employees has gone from 59% to 98% in two months.
12 things @POTUS is so excited about in the bi-partisan infrastructure package: 1. The largest long-term investment in our infrastructure in nearly a century. 2. This will create millions of jobs.
3. Economists across the board agree that this plan mean millions more jobs, more workers participating in the labor force, higher productivity, and higher growth for our economy over the long term.
4. It is the largest federal investment in public transit in history. 5. It’s the largest investment in passenger rail since Amtrak’s creation. 6. It is the largest investment in repairing & reconstructing our bridges since the construction of the interstate highway system.