First Lady’s Box Includes Noteworthy Guests
Overview
As prescribed by our nation’s Constitution, tonight, President Joe Biden will provide the annual State of the Union address before Congress. While the official speech has yet to be released, CSPEN took a few minutes to review the list of guests invited to attend the presentation in the official viewing box. Each of the individuals selected by the Administration to be present and recognized provide hints into at least some of the major themes that will be presented in the speech.
Taking a look at this year’s esteemed list, CSPEN noted that the stories of five of the twenty guests include topics that resonated with us and have ties to education. In reviewing the stories, we are confident that the President at some point in his speech will:
* Promote the $138 billion in student loan debt relief – the largest amount of student debt cancellation since the government established the HEA;
* Note the successes of the $700 billion American Workforce Initiatives announced last May, with an emphasis on the projects and investments and Workforce Hubs – the Administration program partnering with state and local officials, employers, unions, community colleges, high schools, and other stakeholders to ensure a diverse and skilled workforce can meet the demand for labor (meeting the demand for skilled workers to help achieve the goals of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law); and
* Salute the sacrifices of our nation’s active duty military, reservists, veterans and their families, including the advances made in support for spouses as part of President Biden’s Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors Executive Order.
Unfortunately what will not be a part of the speech are the harsh realities of who will wind up paying for the over a billion dollars in student loan debt relief (with potentially even more relief still to come), recognition of the critical roll that all sectors, not just a select few play in educating our nation’s labor force – in order to meet employer demand in not only workforce and infrastructure trade careers, but a myriad of careers across the entire economic spectrum, or any recognition of the fact that the majority of the spouses benefitting from the E.O. look to our community to help them start their careers.
Notable Guests of The Administration
Here are the guests and their stories that caught our eye…
Federal Student Loan Debt Relief
Keenan Jones (Plymouth, Minnesota)
Jones is a public middle school educator in Minnesota’s Twin Cities and a member of Education Minnesota. In April 2023, Jones wrote an email to President Biden to thank him for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which eliminated his remaining student loan debt after 10 years of public service and allowed him to continue his teaching career. Jones is one of the nearly 800,000 teachers, nurses, social workers, servicemembers, and other public servants who have received student loan debt forgiveness since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration.
Skilled Workers To Meet the Demand Employers
Samantha Ervin-Upsher (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Ervin-Upsher is an apprentice with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 432 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is 23 years old and a mother of two. In 2023, Ervin-Upsher met the First Lady during a visit to Pennsylvania to highlight the Investing in America Workforce Hub in Pittsburgh, an initiative that seeks to build career pathways through high schools, community colleges, and unions to job opportunities fueled by President’s Biden’s investments.
Mayor Garnett L. Johnson (Augusta, Georgia)
Johnson is the Mayor of the City of Augusta, Georgia. In 2023, Augusta was designated by the White House as one of five Investing in America Workforce Hubs, where President Biden’s agenda — including the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, and Inflation Reduction Act — is driving historic investments and creating good-paying jobs. The Augusta Workforce Hub is led by a partnership between Mayor Johnson and three Augusta regional education institutions focused on training students in growing sectors, such as advanced manufacturing and construction skilled trades, to prepare the next generation for technical jobs in the region. The First Lady was last in Augusta in July and November 2023, to meet with Mayor Johnson and highlight how the local community is working together to expand pathways to careers.
Rashawn Spivey (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
Spivey is the founder and owner of Hero Plumbing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His decision to become a plumber was inspired by his mother, who worked for one of the first Black-owned plumbing businesses in Wisconsin. After graduating from a plumbing program at Milwaukee Area Technical College and completing an apprenticeship with Plumbers Local 75, support from his local union enabled Spivey to launch his own plumbing business. Spurred by investments from the Biden-Harris Administration, Spivey expanded his plumbing business to focus on lead pipe replacements. Spivey and his team have replaced more than 825 toxic lead pipes, primarily at local daycare centers, to ensure safer drinking water for his community and protect children from lead poisoning. Through historic levels of funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the American Rescue Plan, the Biden-Harris Administration is working to replace every lead pipe in America in the next decade.
Support of Our Nation’s Veterans and Their Families
Tiffany Zoeller (Fayetteville, North Carolina)
Zoeller is a military spouse and works as a medical coder at Fort Liberty’s Womack Army Medical Center. In June 2023, Zoeller introduced the President at Fort Liberty to announce the Presidential Executive Order on Advancing Economic Security for Military and Veteran Spouses, Military Caregivers, and Survivors. This Executive Order is the most comprehensive set of administrative actions any President has ever taken to support military spouses, and included nearly 20 new actions aimed at enhancing military spouse career stability, employment resources, and career transition assistance. The First Lady, through her Joining Forces initiative, has worked to eliminate barriers to employment and increase economic opportunity for military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors.
