Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021

December 13, 2021

Well, folks, thanks for coming in. I was telling my Cabinet before you all came in that when I was a kidâin grade school and high school and collegeâone of my closest friends was a guy named Pete McLaughlin. And if you're a real basketball fan, he was the "sixth man" on the Riordan-Walker team in Providence College back in the late sixties. And anywayâand he used to have an expression when someone would say something that wasâand I'd say, "Look, you've got to know how to know."

You've got to know how to know. Unfortunately, he passed away some time ago. But you know, you can go on the Library of Congress and, if you don't know how to read the card catalog, it doesn't do you much good; it's all a matter of luck.

And since I got involved in public office and got elected, I've reallyânot a jokeâI've tried starting my home office in my home Stateâlike, get to a point where people could get theirâwe assumeâbureaucracies assumeâthat people understand how they function. But it's, really, a very complicated web for the vast majority of people, whether they have Ph.D.'s or high school educations.

And so today I'm signing an Executive order to ensureâto ensureâthat the Federal Government puts you, the American people, at the front of the line and forâfirst in everything we do. I'm directing 17 agencies here to focus on more than 30 key areas to make it easier to apply for services and benefits that they're entitled to and they've paid for and is theirs, their Government.

Let me give a few examples. For millions of people who retire each year, you should be able to apply for Social Security benefits without needing to go to a Social Security office and have Medicare proactively reach out to you with the tools you need to manage your health and save money.

Or if you're one of the tens of millions of people who move each year, you should be able to take and update your address one time, in one place, and check off which agencies that new information should go to instead of going to each one separately to let them know.

And if you seeâyou'll see better technology to speed security lines and wait times at our national airports; make filings and refunds to the IRS more rapid; and for disaster aid, which I was talking a little bit earlier today about; and to student loans. The list goes on.

The bottom line is, we're going to make the Government work more effectively for the American citizens so it's not as confusing and it's straightforward. And we're going toâbecause I believe this will go a long way to restoring faith in Government.

I know it sounds like a simple thing, but I think it's pretty consequential. And so I'm about to sign that now. And I'd ask all the Cabinet members to come around behind me here, if you would.

Put this on.

[*At this point, the President put on his mask and began signing the Executive order and distributing pens*.]

Getting there. [*Laughter*] I used to wonder how Barack did this all in oneâ[*inaudible*]. [*Laughter*]

[*The President finished signing the Executive order and distributing pens.*] Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:39 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to former President Barack Obama.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Improving government service delivery, signing the Executive order.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Obama, Barack.

Subjects: Government organization and employees : Federal programs, improvement efforts; Government organization and employees : Government services and information, access and format improvements; Health and medical care : Medicare and Medicaid; Natural disasters : Response and recovery efforts; Social Security and retirement : Social Security program.

DCPD Number: DCPD202101049.