MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Hey. Good afternoon, everyone.
Q Good afternoon.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, thank you. All right. Happy Tuesday.
Okay. I have a — I do have a couple things at the top. So, bear with me here.
So, on September 23rd to the 25th, the president will travel to New York City to participate in the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In addition to addressing the General Assembly on Tuesday, the president will meet with world leaders to discuss cooperation in tackling threats to international peace and security, advancing global prosperity, and protecting human rights.
We will have more to share on the president's engagements as UNGA — at UNGA in the upcoming days.
Yesterday, as you all know, the White House — led by the National Security Council and Office for Pandemic Preparedness and Response — hosted a convening of federal agencies, global and domestic public health partners, advocacy organizations, and community leaders to discuss the escalating mpo- — mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and also elsewhere.
The Biden-Harris administration is diligently working to combat the significant increase of mpox cases in the DRC and ensure our own preparedness and resilience here at home.
We've been closely monitoring the spread of mpox in DRC since 2023, working closely with the government of DRC as well as regional and global health partners to reduce the impact of this outbreak and safeguard public health.
Over the past few months, the United States has provided an additional $20 million to support mpox preparedness and response efforts in Central and Eastern Africa, and we are prepared to spend an additional $35 million on the response. We have also been surging vaccines to the response, with 50,000 doses of vaccines arriving in DRC just last week.
The U.S. will continue to be a global leader in the mpox response and bolster domestic preparedness as well.
Today, on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, Senate Democrats will once again put forward a bill to safeguard access to IVF for families across the country.
As you'll remember, Senate Republicans have blocked this bill multiple times before, refusing to protect access to fertility treatments for women who are desperately trying to get pregnant.
As President Biden has said, the disregard for a woman's right to make these decisions for herself and her family is outrageous and unacceptable.
Republican officials have had every chance to protect reproductive freedom since the Supreme Court's extreme decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. And at every turn, they have refused to do so. Instead, their — their dangerous agenda is having devasting consequences for women's health and lives.
Repubub- — Repubu- — Republican officials think they can message their way out of their support for extreme policies that cut off access to IVF and put women's health and lives at risk.
But no attempt to rebrand can change the fact that Republican elected officials have spent decades trying to eliminate the constitutional right to choose and undermine reproductive freedom everywhere.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Republican elected officials got what they wanted, and they are not going to stop there.
President Biden and Vice President Harris believe that every woman should have the right to make their own decisions and access the care they need, including fertility treatment. And they will continue to fight alongside Democrats in Congress until the protections of Roe v. Wade are restored in federal law for all women in every state. Senate Republicans should truly — they should truly join us.
And today is Voter Registration Day. Without getting into politics from here, we can all recognize the importance of the right to vote and have that vote counted.
Since President Biden came into office, he has worked to protect that right by promoting nonpartisan access to voter registration and making voting more accessible for everyone who is eli- — eligible, from tuden- — students to veterans to Tribal communities.
The president and the vice president believe that to fully secure the right to vote in every state, Congress must take action and pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
We will keep working to make sure Americans can engage in the democratic process and have their voices heard.
