A presidential task force or White House task force is a board of advisors appointed by the president of the United States whose main purpose is to enact policies in relation to responding to either national emergencies, crises, or general policy initiatives. Presidential task force members are part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States who don't require United States Senate confirmation and can be dismissed at the discretion of the president. This is granted by the Constitution of the United States under Article Two, Section Two, Clause One, stating, "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices." [1]
The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.
The Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 is a United States federal law enacted on September 8, 1950, in response to the start of the Korean War. It was part of a broad civil defense and war mobilization effort in the context of the Cold War. Its implementing regulations, the Defense Priorities and Allocation System (DPAS), are located at 15 CFR §§700 to 700.93. Since 1950, the Act has been reauthorized over 50 times. It has been periodically amended and remains in force.
Jeffrey Dunston Zients is an American business executive and a government official in the administration of U.S. president Joe Biden. Zients is currently serving as the 31st White House chief of staff. Earlier in the Biden administration, he served as counselor to the president and White House coronavirus response coordinator from January 2021 to April 2022.
Steven J. Ricchetti is an American political aide serving as a Counselor to the President under President Joe Biden. He was the chairman of Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. Ricchetti previously served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden during the Obama administration and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under President Bill Clinton. In between stints in Democratic administrations, Ricchetti has worked as a lobbyist.
Andrew M. Slavitt is an American businessman and healthcare advisor who served as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from March 2015 to January 2017 and as a temporary Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 Response Coordinator in the Biden administration. A leader of the team that helped to repair the healthcare.gov website after its initial rollout, he was nominated by Barack Obama to run CMS in July 2015. In January 2021, Slavitt accepted a temporary role as Senior Pandemic Advisor to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 pandemic response team. He stepped down from that role in June 2021.
The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) is a United States governmental office that coordinates an ambitious whole-of-government approach to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The Initiative collaborates with the Deputy Assistant to the President and AA and NHPI Senior Liaison, White House Office of Public Engagement and designated federal departments and agencies to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPIs in the areas of economic development, education, health and human services, housing, environment, arts, agriculture, labor and employment, transportation, justice, veterans affairs, and community development.
The history of the United States from 2008 to the present began with the collapse of the housing bubble, which led to the Great Recession. The resulting economic downturn and general discontent led Barack Obama to win the presidential election in 2008, becoming the country's first African-American president. Obama's domestic agenda notably included economic stimulus packages and the Affordable Care Act. The year 2011 saw the formal end to the Iraq War as well as the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The War on Terror continued with a shift in attention toward the Islamic State in the 2010s.
The Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy (OTMP) was an office established within the White House Office by US President Donald Trump by Presidential Executive Order 13797 on April 29, 2017.
Benjamin H. Harris is an American economist who is currently the Vice President and Director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Throughout his career, he has served in several public-service positions, most notably as the chief economist and chief economic advisor to Vice President Joe Biden from 2014 until the end of the Obama administration, and as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist of the U.S. Treasury. Harris was the executive director of the Kellogg Public-Private Initiative at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the Chief Economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America, and the founder of the economic policy consulting firm Cherrydale Strategies. He has been a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal and regularly appears on cable television to discuss macroeconomics and public policy.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force was the United States Department of State task force during the Trump administration. The goal of the Task Force was to coordinate and oversee the administration's efforts to monitor, prevent, contain, and mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Also referred to as the President's Coronavirus Task Force, it was established on January 29, 2020, with Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar as chair. On February 26, 2020, U.S. vice president Mike Pence was named to chair the task force, and Deborah Birx was named the response coordinator.
The federal government of the United States initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with various declarations of emergency, some of which led to travel and entry restrictions and the formation of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. As the pandemic progressed in the U.S. and globally, the U.S. government began issuing recommendations regarding the response by state and local governments, as well as social distancing measures and workplace hazard controls. State governments played a primary role in adopting policies to address the pandemic. Following the closure of most businesses throughout a number of U.S. states, President Donald Trump announced the mobilization of the National Guard in the most affected areas. In January 2022, President Biden confirmed there's no federal solution to the pandemic as cases were climbing dramatically.
Matthew Maxwell Taylor Kennedy Jr. is an American government volunteer, political organizer, and member of the Kennedy family. He is the whistleblower who sent a complaint to the United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform regarding the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which he worked on as a volunteer. Kennedy worked for the Democratic Party on their 2020 campaign efforts.
Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a member of the Democratic Party who previously served as vice president for two terms under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017, took office after his victory in the 2020 presidential election over the incumbent president, Donald Trump of the Republican Party. Upon his inauguration, he became the oldest president in American history, breaking the record set by Ronald Reagan. Biden entered office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis, and increased political polarization. He withdrew his bid for a second term in the 2024 presidential election due to low popularity and concerns over his age and health. He is to be succeeded by Trump in January 2025, who won the aforementioned election.
The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020, and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week of November and the inauguration on January 20, Biden's presidential transition was shortened somewhat because the General Services Administration under the outgoing first Trump administration did not recognize Biden as the "apparent winner" until November 23.
The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler, Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Vivek Murthy and comprises 13 health experts. The board was then succeeded by the White House COVID-19 Response Team upon Biden's presidency in January 2021.
Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic has been propagated by various public figures, including officials of the United States government. The Trump administration in particular made a large number of misleading statements about the pandemic. A Cornell University study found that former U.S. President Donald Trump was "likely the largest driver" of the COVID-19 misinformation infodemic in English-language media, downplaying the virus and promoting unapproved drugs. Others have also been accused of spreading misinformation, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, backing conspiracy theories regarding the origin of the virus, U.S. senators and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, who downplayed the virus.
The White House COVID-19 Response Team was the task force during the presidency of Joe Biden to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. It was set up by President Joe Biden on his first day in office – January 20, 2021 – and replaced President Trump's White House Coronavirus Task Force and President Biden's transitional COVID-19 Advisory Board.
The following is a timeline of the presidency of Joe Biden during the second quarter of 2022, from April 1 to June 30, 2022. To navigate between quarters, see timeline of the Joe Biden presidency.
The following is a timeline of the presidency of Joe Biden during the third quarter of 2022, from July 1 to September 30, 2022. To navigate between quarters, see timeline of the Joe Biden presidency.