The House and Senate are both not in session today. The Senate will reconvene at 3:00 P.M. on Monday to continue work on the United States Innovation and Competition Act of 2021. The House will next reconvene for votes on Monday, June 14th after two committee work weeks and Memorial Day recess.
President Joe Biden will welcome Korean President Moon Jae-in to the White House today, making him the second foreign leader to visit the United States after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga came last month and underscoring the importance of Asia to the administration’s foreign policy. Biden and Vice President Harris will meet with the Korean leader before they all participate in a Medal of Honor ceremony for a 94-year-old Korean War veteran. In the evening, Biden and Moon will hold a joint news conference. As part of the visit, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced an agreement to deepen cooperation in a range of industries including pharmaceutical companies making Covid-19 vaccines, electric-vehicle batteries and semiconductor producers. Raimondo on Friday morning held a roundtable on supply chain issues with South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Sung-wook. The meeting was attended by more than a dozen executives from companies including Samsung Electronics Co., LG Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Hyundai Motor Group. President Biden and President Moon Jae-in will also discuss a diplomatic approach to achieving the denuclearization of North Korea and South Korea is expected to suggest an exchange of millions of COVID vaccine doses on a one-for-one basis: The U.S. provides vaccinations now from its growing pile of unused shots. South Korea—with less than 3% of the population fully vaccinated—will send its supply to the U.S. in the months ahead.
