Aboard Air Force One
En Route Albuquerque, New Mexico
1:08 P.M. EDT
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hello! All right. Today, we're headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where President Biden will visit Central New Mexico Community College to provide an update on our work to provide extra breathing room to borrowers as they prepare to restart loan payments next year.
Central New Mexico Community College is a Hispanic-serving institution where 37 percent of the students are Pell Grant recipients. Under our plan, Pell Grant recipients who meet the income requirements are eligible for up to $20,000 in debt cancellation. And almost half of student loan debt held by Latino borrowers is expected to be cancelled under our plan.
As the President announced this morning, close to 26 million people have provided their information to the Department of Education to have their student loans reduced or forgiven under our plan. Of those, more than 16 million are on track to be approved for relief this week.
But if state Republican officials get their way, tens of millions of borrowers will be robbed of their opportunity to get this extra breathing room as they prepare to restart loans pay- — loan payments next year. Remember, Republican members of Congress at the same time are calling for a $3 trillion handout to Big Pharma, corporations, and the ultra-wealthy.
While at the community college, the President will be joined by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham; Senator Ben Ray Lu- — Lu- — sorry — Luján; Congresswoman — Congresswoman Melanie Stansburg- — Stansbury; Central New Mexico Community College President Tracy Hartzler, and additional community leaders and students.
Later today, the President will also participate in a political event with Governor Lujan Grisham and other state and local officials.
This evening, we're traveling on to San Diego, where the President will participate in a political event with Congressman Levin — Mike Levin.
Tomorrow morning in San Diego, the President will join Congressman Levin for a visit to an American technology company that will benefit from passage of the President's CHIPS and Science Act and more chips being made in America. The company also has a focus on hiring veterans, as they transition from military to civilian life.
Today we're seeing a resurgence of American manufacturing driven by passage of CHIPS, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act. In recent weeks, the President has traveled to New York and Ohio to highlight historic investments in manufacturing semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing technology in the United States.
These events highlighting the President's commitment to building more in America and — stand in stark contrast to congressional Republicans who have spent the last several weeks talking about ripping away the progress we've made, raising costs for working people, and putting Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block.
And tomorrow evening, the President will travel on to Chicago, Illinois, through Saturday morning, before heading to Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon for a political rally with former President Barack Obama and other officials.
Finally, the State Department just confirmed that U.S. embassy officials in Moscow were able to visit Brittney Griner today. We are told she is doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances.
As we have said before, the U.S. government made a significant offer to the Russians to resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful — wrongful detentions of American citizens Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
I can also tell you that in the subsequent weeks, despite a lack of good-faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russians through all available channels. This continues to be a top priority.
With that, Aamer, you want to kick us off?
