Madame VP Kamala Harris’ Closet: Washington DC

For Friday, here is her schedule for the day

1) The President and The Vice President receive the President’s Daily Brief in the Oval Office.

2) Then The President had lunch with The Vice President at the Private Dining Room.

3) Vice President Harris hosted and participated in a roundtable meeting with Black women Voting Rights Advocates in a listening session on Voting Rights in the Roosevelt room.

During the meeting, the Vice President who was later joined by the President listened to the happenings on the ground from Black women voting rights activists who represented their respective groups in overflow numbers at the wooden conference table of the Roosevelt Room.

The leaders who participated in today’s meeting included:

Barbara Anriwine, Founder, Transformative Justice Coalition (Virtual)
Cora Masters Barry, Board Member, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Former First Lady of the District of Columbia
Donna Brazile, Adjunct Professor, Author, Political Strategist, Voting Rights Advocate
Clayola Brown, National President, A. Philip Randolph Institute
Latosha Brown, Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter
Helen Butler, Executive Director, Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda
Melanie L. Campbell, President & CEO, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation & Convener, Black Women’s Roundtable
Glynda Carr, Founder & President, Higher Heights for America (Virtual)
Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, President & Chair of the Board, National Council of Negro Women(Virtual)
Bishop Leah Daughtry, Founder & Co-Convenor, Power Rising
Felicia Davis, Director, HBCU Green Fund/Clayton County Black Women’s Roundtable(Virtual)
Jotaka Eaddy, Chief Organizer, Win With Black Women Collective
Karen Finney, Communications Advisor, NCBCP, Black Women’s Roundtable
Bernice King, CEO, The King Center (Virtual)
Tamika Mallory, Co-Founder, Until Freedom(Virtual)
Janice Mathis, Esq., Executive Director, National Council of Negro Women
Minyon Moore, Co-Convenor, Power Rising(Virtual)
Deborah Scott, Executive Director, Georgia Stand UP
Ariel Singleton, State Coordinator, Georgia Black Youth Vote/GA Stand-UP (Virtual)
Joycelyn Tate, Senior Policy Advisor, Black Women’s Roundtable (Virtual)
Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, Co-Chair, National African American Clergy Network
Victoria Kirby York, Deputy Executive Director, National Black Justice Coalition (Virtual)

4) Later in her office, Vice President Harris celebrated the birthday of her Opal Vadhan, her Personal Aid with her homemade cupcake.

Photo Credit: Peter Velz

Look Detail:

She wore her Prabal Gurung double crepe suit

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So sorry for the late posts, I had been sick and took a short break on here to mend myself. So I am back to updating.

Because July 4th was on a Sunday, Monday July 5th was a public day. There wasn't much on the 6th and 7th that is publicly known except for the statement, the Office of the Vice President release on the occasion of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the attack on First Lady Martine Moïse of the Republic of Haiti.

On July 8th, she began the day by joining President Biden in the Oval Office where they met with the White House National Security Team to receive a periodic update on the progress of our military drawdown from Afghanistan.

2) Then she departed for her first visit to her alma mater Howard University since Inauguration Day where she spoke a powerful defense of voting rights and the need to ensure that all American voices are heard in the political process and also launch the DNCs “I Will Vote” initiative.

Photo Credit: Howard University/Facebook

Madam Vice President is an alumna of the university where she addressed the Howard community, local community organizers and volunteers for civil rights organizations at the Louis Stokes Health Sciences Library. She spoke about the DNC party’s efforts to combat voter suppression and protect voting rights nationwide. At the campus event, Vice President Harris then unveiled a $25 million expansion of the Democratic National Committee’s “I Will Vote” initiative to address and overcome efforts across the country to make voting more difficult and burdensome.

3) Then she returned to White House where she joined President Biden in the Roosevelt Room where they met with leaders of Top Legacy Black civil rights Organizations in the country.

According to the White House's statement, "The group discussed the wave of anti-voter legislation that has recently passed or is pending in state legislatures across the country and the path forward to protect the right to vote. The group also discussed steps the Administration recently announced to address the rise in gun violence and the status of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that is currently being negotiated in the Senate. The President and Vice President reiterated that they will continue to push for Congress to pass critical legislation that protects the right to vote and combats subversion of the election process, while continuing to utilize all existing authorities in an all-of-government effort to ensure full voter participation and elections that reflect the will of the people.

The civil rights leaders provided an update on the work their organizations are doing, both nationally and in the states, to protect the right to vote. They also provided the President and Vice President with their ideas on ways to engage the public on civil rights issues."

The meeting participants included:

Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
Dr. Johnnetta Cole, National Chair and President of the National Council of Negro Women
Wade Henderson, Interim President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human
Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP (virtual)
Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League
Reverend Al Sharpton, President of the National Action Network

From the White House:

Danielle Conley, Deputy Counsel to the President
Tina Flournoy, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President
Catherine Lhamon, Deputy Assistant to the President for Racial Justice and Equity
Dana Remus, Assistant to the President and White House Counsel
Susan Rice, Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor
Cedric Richmond, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor and Director of the Office of Public Engagement

4) Later in the evening Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff hosted members of their staff for a post 4th of July party and barbecue at their official resident Naval Observatory.

Photo Credit: Opal Vadhan 46/Twitter

Look Details:

For the day, Vice President Harris was wearing her go to Altuzarra but she wore the Kenton Jacket paired with her usual Serge Pants. Inside her jacket, she had on the Lafayette 148 New York Luxe Charmeuse Reversible Perla Blouse. For shoes she had on her Manolo Blahnik.

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Thursday marked a historical day. With many years of campaigning to mark Juneteenth a Federal Holiday, it finally came through with both the Vice President and then the Presidents signing into a Federal Day.

The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act bill was passed overwhelmingly by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday in a 415 to 14 vote after clearing the Senate unanimously, was first by the House Speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi then signed Vice President Harris who in her role as President of the Senate signed her first bill in the Roosevelt Room with a bust of Frederick Douglas looking on.

Photo Credits: Peter Velz 46/Twitter

The bill had been championed for years by Black legislators in the US Congress led by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas.

Then she move on and joined President Biden in the East Room for the President's signature to the bill into law. Before that the Vice President gave remarks, “Today is a day of celebration,” said Vice President Harris. “It is not only a day of pride, it is also a day for us to reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action.”

She also went on and reminded the 80+ White House guests who were invited which included Congress Legislators who helped passed in the bill, that they were gathered in a "house built by enslaved people," and said the holiday would be an occasion to "reaffirm and rededicate ourselves to action."

The campaign to federally recognise Juneteenth also as known as the US’s “Second Independence Day” began with Opal Lee, a 94-year-old Texan and many other Civil Rights Activists of her generation who has campaigned her entire life to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

Juneteenth which is marked on June 19th previously known as Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, Liberation Day or Emancipation Day commemorates the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans, when the last enslaved Black Americans were told they were free during the US Civil War between Confederate slave-holding states in the south and Union free states in the north

Confederate forces surrendered in April 1865, but the message of liberation did not reach the last enslaved Black people until June 19, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas. President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation two and a half years ago, liberating American slaves in 1863.

Most US states already recognise Juneteenth as a holiday or have an official observance of the day with most been a paid holiday for state employees in Texas, New York, Virginia and Washington, DC.

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On Wednesday, Madam Vice President welcomed 16 Texas State House and Senate Legislators to the White House and received them in the Roosevelt Room for a roundtable meeting.

The Lone-Star State Legislators who are all members of the State's Democrat Party worked out of the State legislature a few weeks back after they blocked a proposal to restrict voting in their state during a legislative session. This move narrowly prevented passage of the Senate Bill 7 in a majority-Republican legislature, a measure that would limit early voting hours, ban drive-through voting, make it easier to overturn an election and restrict mail-in ballots, among other things.

"And so, I’m very pleased to welcome you — and for many of you, welcome you back — to the White House to have yet another very important conversation, and this time about one of the most important pillars of our democracy, which is about the fundamental right to vote."

Vice President Harris who has been tasked by the President to tackle the issue of voting rights, said this during the press remarks, "When we look at these attempts to infringe on people’s access to voting, we know that it is going to impact people — Americans with disabilities, seniors, students, people of every walk of life. "

Vice President Harris reiterated hers and President Joe Biden's "absolute commitment" to seeing Congress pass two bills -- the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, or HR 4, and the For The People Act, or HR/SR 1.

The Legislators who attended were:

Rep. Gina Hinojosa of Austin
Rep. Senfronia Thompson of Houston
Sen. Carol Alvarado, Chair of the Texas Senate Democratic Caucus
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio
Rep Jasmine Crockett of Dallas
State Sen. Royce West of Dallas
State Rep. Jessica González of Dallas
Rep. Yvonne Davis of Dallas
Rep. Rafael Anchía of Dallas
Rep. Victoria Neave of Dallas,
Rep. Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, Chair of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus;
Rep Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio,
Rep. Ron Reynolds of Missouri City;
Rep. Jarvis Johnson of Houston,
Rep. Armando Walle of Houston,
Rep Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, chairs of the House Democratic caucus.
Sen Beverly Powell of Burleson,
Sen José Menéndez of San Antonio

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1) In a pre recorded video, Madam Vice President gave the opening remark at the 16th Brussels Forum 2021 organised by the German Marshall Fund of the United States(GMF).

The Vice President spoke about the importance of Democracy and re-instate the words said by President Biden, that "America is Back," on the diplomatic stage and with its G7 and NATO Allies.

At the 2021 Brussels Forum, I made clear that the strength of one democracy depends on the strength of all democracies. https://t.co/o2KAxVN4x5
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) June 15, 2021

On June 14, coinciding with the opening day of Brussels Forum, NATO’s Heads of State and Government will come together in Brussels for the first in-person NATO Summit since the start of the coronavirus pandemic to address the most pressing challenges for the transatlantic community as part of the NATO 2030 agenda.

2) She later went to the Southern Auditorium where she made a $1.25 billion investment to hundreds of Community Development Financial Institutions announcement during an event accompanied by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen at the White House complex.

She was also accompanied by Chairwoman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Service, Rep. Maxine Waters (D), Chairman of Senate Intel Committee, Sen Mark Warner.

The investments funds which comes through the "Rapid Recovery Program" will benefit more than 860 community development financial institutions, which lend to small businesses and people in disadvantaged communities that have trouble getting loans from big banks.

As a strong supporter of small, minority-owned businesses, the Vice President wearing her Prabal Gurung Hand Tailored Double Crepe Cream Suit said that the investment comes at a pivotal time in the country's economic recovery. With businesses beginning to re-open to full capacity across the country as virus cases plummet, but many have struggled to hire new workers

3) On the occasion of the 9th anniversary since the signing in place of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals(DACA Act) by President Obama to mark the occasion Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a roundtable meeting in the Vice President's Ceremonial Office with with a group of female immigrants who have temporary protection from deportation through DACA as the administration looks to revive a bipartisan push to grant DACA recipients legal status through a pair of bills that have languished in the Senate.

The group of women who are either DACA recipients, or "Dreamers," women with temporary protected status or green cards holders who met with Vice President Harris work as care professionals. Joining them were Senator Richard Durbin, D-IL., and Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J.,

4) Later in the evening, Vice President Harris hosted a bipartisan group of women Senators at her Official Residence the Naval Observatory for an early dinner. The group which includes 16 Democrats and 8 Republicans.

Photo Credit: Sen Stabenow (D-MI)

Out of the 24 who received and accepted the Vice President's invitation are mostly her old colleagues from her Senators days include:

Sen. Collins (R-ME)
Sen. Ernst (R-IA)
Sen. Capito (R-WV)
Sen Stabenow (D-MI)
Sen. Murray (D-WA)
Sen. Shaheen (D-NH)
Sen. Feinstein (D-CA)
Sen. Hassan (D-NH)
Sen. Hirono (D-HI)
Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN)
Sen. Smith (D-MN)
Sen. Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Sen. Duckworth (D-IL)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska)
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Sen. Jackie Rosen (D-NV)
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

The Vice President and Senators snacked on cheese puffs made by the Vice President then dined on roasted mahi-mahi and ended the night with strawberry rhubarb croustades and vanilla ice cream, according to a menu shared by Republican Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska paired with wines from the Vice President's home state of California.

Look Details:

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Later in the evening of June 7th, Madam Vice President depart Air Force Base in Guatemala City for her second trip arrives at Benito Juarez International Airport for her official visit to Mexico in Mexico City. She was welcome by the current Interim US Ambassador to Mexico, John S. Creamer

Photo Credit: Sabrina Singh 46/Twitter

June 8th:

1) Before the roundtable meeting with the Mexican authorities, Vice President Harris met with Mexico's Head of State President Andrés Manuel López Obrador where she was given a tour of the Palacio Nacional, which doubles as the President's Official residence, and showed her “The History of Mexico” by Diego Rivera.

Photo Credits: Peter Velz 46/Twitter

2) Then there was a signing of a memorandum of Understanding(MOU) which she witnessed, along with President Lopez Obrador, between the American and Mexican governments on migration cooperation on the Patio de Honor. The memorandum was to establish a strategic partnership to cooperate on development programs in the region

Photo Credit: Sabrina Singh 46/Twitter

3) Following that, the Vice President and the Mexican President met for private meetings and broader talks where it was reportedly said that the Vice President told Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that she saw him as a partner in tackling migration as they both agreed to deepen economic ties and invest to improve conditions in Central America.

Much of the focus for Tuesday's meeting was on improving livelihoods, and the United States pledged an additional $130 million over three years to support Mexican worker rights along with a goal of creating $250 million in investment and sales in southern Mexico, it said in a vaguely worded statement.

It was reported that the two sides will hold a meeting known as a high-level economic dialogue in September to look at ways to promote investment and make the most of a new trade deal, statements from both governments said.

Participating in the meeting from the Mexican side included: Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard; Government Secretary Olga Sanchez Cordero and the head of the National Immigration Institute, Francisco Garduño.

Representing the United States apart from the Vice President, were the charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in Mexico, John S. Creamer, and the special US envoy for the Northern Triangle of Central America, Ricardo Zuñiga, Juan Gonzalez, a special assistant to US President Joe Biden and senior director of the National Security Council for the Western Hemisphere and among others.

4) Later she met with female entrepreneurs in a hotel in downtown Mexico City. During their meeting, she listened to their stories on their business, how the pandemic have affected their business, life as a woman in Mexico.

5) Then she met with labor leaders in Mexico to express the United State’s solidarity with them. Supporting them to encourage workers are strong, our economies are strong. After which she met with and greeted the US Embassy's Mexico staff.