(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will issue the first pardons of his presidency Friday to some lucky turkeys named Peanut Butter and Jelly.

In a ceremony at the White House, Biden will spare the poultry pair from becoming Thanksgiving dinner this year.

With the National Turkey Federation pledging that there are plenty of turkeys to gobble up during this year’s celebration — when more Americans will gather than in 2020 — Biden stuck to tradition, sparing two turkeys from the dinner table this year.

The White House selected the names Peanut Butter and Jelly from a list of options submitted by students in Indiana.

Peanut Butter, and his alternate, Jelly, traveled to the White House from Jasper, Indiana, early Wednesday, driven in a minivan outfitted as a “mini-barn” to the nation’s capital.

The responsibility of deciding which farm will supply the birds each year falls to the chairman of the National Turkey Federation — a process that Phil Seager, this year’s chair, began in July, when he asked turkey grower Andrea Welp if she would accept the challenge.

“That turkey needs to kind of learn to sit, stay, and in a perfect world, kind of strut a little bit and look good for the cameras,” Segar said.

Welp worked with a small flock to try to prep them for this process in the last six weeks, with Peanut Butter and Jelly last week being deemed the turkeys with the best temperament to handle the big moment, according to Segar.

Welp, a third-generation farmer from Indiana, said raising the presidential flock has been a lot of fun for her and her family and a highlight of her career.

“With another year of uncertainties with the pandemic, this project has really been something to look forward to, and has been a joy to be able to participate in. I know the kids have really had a lot of fun raising the birds, especially dancing to loud music to get them ready for all the media attention on the big day,” Welp said at a news conference Thursday, where the turkeys were first trotted out before the public.

After arriving in D.C., the two turkeys spent the day ahead of the pardoning having their feathers fluffed at the nearby five-star Willard Hotel.

“We do some extra prep to the room to make sure it’s comfortable for them, putting down shavings and making sure their food and water is accessible,” Beth Breeding, the spokesperson for the National Turkey Federation, told ABC News.

“We do our best to make sure that we leave the room cleaner than we even found it. We clean up afterwards and then we also work with the hotel to make sure the room is cleaned,” she added.

History of Poultry Pardons

The origin of the presidential turkey pardons is a bit fuzzy. Unofficially, reports point all the way back to President Abraham Lincoln, who spared a bird from its fowl demise at the urging of his son, Tad. However, White House Historical Association Historian Lina Mann warns the story may be more folklore than fact.

Following Lincoln’s time in office, the White House was often gifted a bird for the holidays from Horace Vose, the “turkey king” of Rhode Island, sending his top turkey to 11 presidents over four decades — though these turkeys were already slaughtered and dressed for the president’s table, Mann says.

The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition has its roots in politics and dates back to the Truman presidency in 1947.

“There had been this government-led initiative called “poultry-less Thursdays” to try and conserve various foods in the aftermath of World War II,” Mann said.

“But the poultry industry balked because Thursday was the day of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s and those were the big turkey holidays. So they were outraged,” she added.

After the White House was inundated with live birds sent as part of a “Hens for Harry” counterinitiative, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a turkey to smooth the ruffled feathers and highlight the turkey industry — although the turkey was not saved from the holiday fest.

Instead, President John F. Kennedy began the trend of publicly sparing a turkey given to the White House in November 1963, just days before his assassination. In the years following, Mann says the event became a bit more sporadic, with even some first ladies like Pat Nixon and Rosalynn Carter stepping in to accept the guests of honor on their husband’s behalf.

The tradition of the public sparing returned in earnest under the Reagan administration, but the official tradition of the poultry pardoning at the White House started in 1989, when President George H.W. Bush offered the first official presidential pardon.

“Let me assure you and this fine Tom Turkey that he will not end up on anyone’s dinner table — not this guy,” Bush said on Nov. 17, 1989.

“He’s granted a presidential pardon as of right now and … allow him to live out his days on a children’s farm not far from here,” he added.

In the 32 years since, at least one lucky bird has gotten some extra gobbles each year.

After they receive the first pardons of Biden’s presidency, Peanut Butter and Jelly will head back to Indiana to live out the rest of their lives at the Animal Sciences Research and Education Farm at Purdue University.

“Those folks who are going to be the next generation of leaders in our industry, so we’re really excited to partner with Purdue on that and to make sure that the turkeys have a home where they’re going to receive the highest quality of care,” Breeding said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House could vote as soon as Thursday evening on the second piece of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure improvement agenda — the largest expansion of the nation’s social safety net in 50 years — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

As Democrats barrel ahead towards a vote, with the chamber already starting debate on the “Build Back Better Act” Thursday morning, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it would release its final estimate on the cost of the total package in the afternoon.

Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference that the outstanding information would “hopefully” be released by 5 p.m., clearing the way for a vote on final passage later in the evening. Democratic moderates had promised progressives they would commit to voting for the social spending bill the week of Nov. 15 if the CBO provided more “fiscal information” to satisfy their cost concerns.

The social spending bill contains $555 billion for climate and clean energy investments. It would reduce the cost of some prescription drugs, extend the child tax credit, expand universal preschool and includes electric-vehicle tax credits, paid leave, housing assistance and dozens more progressive priorities.

The vote on the package could be pushed to Friday so to give lawmakers more time to review the cost estimates, but Pelosi presented a timeline that could send House lawmakers home to their Thanksgiving recess as scheduled.

“As soon as we get the scrub information we can proceed with our manager’s amendment to proceed to a vote on the new rules, the manager’s amendment, reflecting the scrub, not any policy changes, but just some technicalities about committee jurisdiction, etc.,” she said. “And then we will vote on the rule and then on the bill. Those votes hopefully will take place later this afternoon.”

The House vote would then send the package to the Senate, which is expected to amend the proposal in the coming weeks after the Thanksgiving recess as Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have not committed to the package in its current form.

Since Democrats plan to pass the measure through reconciliation, a lengthy budget process that would not require them to have any Republican support since Democrats have a narrow majority in both chambers, the legislation — months in the making — still has a long way to go, including back to the House, before it would even hit Biden’s desk.

Pelosi expressed confidence that with control of Congress hanging in the balance ahead of the midterm elections less than a year away, Democrats will be able to successfully sell their work to the American people — and do so more effectively than they did in 2010 after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, due, in part, to Biden using the “bully pulpit.”

“Joe Biden is very committed to messaging this. As you’ve seen he’s already on the road,” she said. “There’s no substitute for the bully pulpit of the president of the United States reinforced by the events we will have across the United States.”

Democratic members of Congress are also planning to hold 1,000 events before the end of the year to make clear to Americans “what we’re doing in this package,” according to the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, speaking to part one of Biden’s policy agenda on infrastructure signed into law on Monday.

“The messaging on it will be immediate, and it will be intense, and it will be eloquent, and it will make a difference,” Pelosi said.

Giving remarks in Woodstock, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, Biden also endorsed Pelosi’s timeline to pass part two of his infrastructure agenda this week.

“I’m confident that the House is going to pass this bill. And when it passes, it will go to the Senate,” Biden said. “I think we’ll get it passed within a week.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, in his quest to become the House speaker, blasted Pelosi at his press conference and said the reconciliation bill will “be the end of their Democratic majority.”

While the already-passed bipartisan infrastructure law itself and its individual components — rebuilding and repairing bridges, ports and roads, expanding broadband internet, and more — are widely popular, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Americans aren’t giving Biden credit for championing the law and getting it through Congress. The president’s approval rating is at an all-time low at 41%.

Democratic leaders and the White House continue to insist both pieces of legislation will be fully paid for, in part by imposing a 15% minimum tax on corporate profits that large corporations report to shareholders.

Pelosi on Thursday also tried to defend Democrats’ “Build Back Better” proposal from criticism over a key tax provision that has angered some in the caucus. Some moderates and leading progressives have criticized plans to undo a cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deductions — a reversal of Republicans’ 2017 tax law — popular in California, New York and New Jersey, given that the change would benefit wealthy suburban property owners.

The change would allow taxpayers to deduct up to $80,000 in state and local taxes from their federal tax returns after Republicans imposed a $10,000 cap on federal deductions four years ago.

A recent analysis from the Toxic Policy Center found the SALT cap increase would primarily benefit the top 10% of income-earning Americans. About 70% of the tax benefit would go to the top 5% of earners, who make $366,000 a year or more, the analysis said.

“That’s not about tax cuts for wealthy people. It’s about services for the American people,” Pelosi said. “This isn’t about who gets a tax cut, it’s about which states get the revenue they need to help the American people.”

ABC News’ Trish Turner and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

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