Asked why Biden purchased an additional 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Psaki said he wanted to be “over-prepared and over-supplied.” She specifically noted that scientists aren’t sure which vaccine works best on children, and that the doses could potentially be used as a booster against emerging Covid variants.
The White House press briefing has begun, with press secretary Jen Psaki outlining a plan for Biden, the vice president and their spouses to visit states across the country next week as part of a campaign to promote the $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill he signed just moments ago.
Psaki said Americans can expect to start seeing direct deposits in their bank accounts as early as this weekend, after Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan that will send $1,400 checks to most Americans. She said the payments would continue to be sent in waves over the next several weeks.
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Biden signs $1.9tn ‘American Rescue Plan’
With the flick of his pen, Biden signed into law a $1.9tn coronavirus relief package, cementing the first major legislative victory of his presidency.
“This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving the people of this nation, working people, the middle class folks, people who built the country a fighting chance,” Biden said in brief remarks before signing the landmark legislation.
The bill will send $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, extend unemployment benefits, provide federal assistance for housing, food and health care, dramatically expand the child tax credit. It also spends tens of billions of dollars on vaccine distribution and Covid testing.
Touting the bill’s broad public support, Biden said the plan’s passage by the House of Representatives on Wednesday ensured that “their voices were heard.”
Biden signed the bill into law a day ahead of schedule, and hours before he was due to give the first prime-time address of his presidency, during which the president vowed he would have “more to say” about the legislation.
Explaining the scheduling change, Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, said the president wanted to “move as fast as possible.” Klain said the White House still planned to hold a celebratory ceremony with members of Congress on Friday.
Ronald Klain
(@WHCOS)The enrolled bill arrived last night — so @POTUS is signing it today — we want to move as fast as possible. We will hold our celebration of the signing on Friday, as planned, with Congressional leaders! https://t.co/4Z1N9WQroN
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Biden and Harris to travel to Georgia next Friday
Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, are headed to Atlanta next Friday to promote the administration’s $1.9tn stimulus aid package.
The destination is significant because the bill’s passage, the first major legislative feat of his presidency, was made possible by the election of two Democratic senators from Georgia in January, which gave Democrats control of both chambers of Congress. The relief package was passed without any Republican votes.
The Georgia senators, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff both promised to deliver $2,000 stimulus checks if the state delivered Democrats the majority.
The bill Biden will sign into law shortly will send $1,400 direct payments to most American families, which Democrats say comes in addition to the $600 checks provided for in the last relief bill, enacted by Trump before he left office.
The promotional push around the legislation is part of a recognition by Democrats that they didn’t do enough to sell their economic recovery plan in 2009, when Barack Obama took office in the depths of the economic meltdown. Many Democrats now believe their reticence to claim credit for the massive stimulus package allowed Republicans to cast it as federal overreach and led to their crushing losses during the midterm elections of 2010.
Biden will discuss the plan during his first prime-time address on Thursday night. He will travel to Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to promote the bill while Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff are dispatched to Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico to help educate the public on what’s in the measure.
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Arizona is part of a push by Republican-controlled legislatures across the country impose new voting restrictions after Trump’s unexpected loss in the state.
Speaking to CNN about the efforts underway in Phoenix, which would restrict the state’s vote-by-mail system which has been used by voters of both parties for years, Republican lawmaker John Kavanuagh said there was a “fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans” when it came to the franchise.
“Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud,” he said. “Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote – but everybody shouldn’t be voting.”
He continued: “Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.”
The comment has sparked significant backlash online.
Our voting rights reporter, who has been covering the rise of efforts to curtail voting access across the country following the 2020 election, said his comments amount to a “dog-whistle idea” that is often used to justify curtailing voting access.
Sam Levine
(@srl)This is an appalling, dog-whistle idea that runs in the background of a lot of anti-voting measures. Barriers aren’t such a big deal because they will sort out people who don’t really want to vote. The people who want to vote will find a way to cast a ballot https://t.co/M2hhaQX4Ee
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Senate advances Becerra’s nomination
The Senate on Thursday voted to proceed with the nomination of Xavier Becerra to lead the Health and Human Services, a procedural step that paves the way for his confirmation next week. The final tally was 51-48.
As noted earlier, a Senate panel deadlocked over his nomination, forcing Schumer to bring it to the floor for a full vote on whether to move his confirmation forward.
Some Republicans have argued that Becerra is unqualified to lead the department of Health and Human Services, but their opposition has so far failed to derail his nomination.
Schumer, who used his powers to force the nomination out of a deadlocked committee, defended Becerra during a speech on the Senate floor earlier today.
I’m perplexed that none of my Republican colleagues would vote for him. He’s a capable man. He’s worked hard to make sure that people get healthcare. Some have said: well, he’s not a doctor. Neither was the previous Trump nominee for HHS, who happened to be a pharmaceutical company executive. What would Americans prefer?
With the support of Manchin and Collins, who announced their intention to vote for him earlier on Thursday, Becerra is all but guaranteed to be confirmed as the nation’s first Latino secretary of Health and Human Services.
House passes bill to close “Charleston loophole”
The House narrowly approved a bill that would close the so-called Charleston loophole that allows dealers to complete gun sales if a buyer’s background check has not been completed by the FBI in three days.
The measure would extend the window for conducting background checks from three days to 10 days.
The final vote was 219 to 210 with two Democrats voting against the measure and two Republicans voting for it.
Like the universal background check bill passed earlier, the legislation faces a difficult path in the Senate.
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Biden to sign $1.9tn stimulus plan Thursday
Biden will sign his $1.9tn coronavirus aid package into law today, a day after Congress gave final approval to the bill.
The White House initially said that Biden would sign the bill on Friday following his prime-time address on Thursday night.
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, announced her support for Xavier Becerra.
Laura Litvan
(@LauraLitvan)INBOX: GOP Sen Susan Collins says she’ll vote to confirm Xavier Becerra to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services
Her support, along with Manchin’s, effectively guarantees his confirmation, which is expected next week.
After Pelosi took a victory lap over the passage of Biden’s stimulus bill, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy opened his press conference by assailing the aid package as misguided and bloated with liberal priorities that are not directly related to controlling the pandemic.
“The only bipartisan vote was the vote against the bill,” McCarthy said, before turning to the growing humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border. He said he’ll be leading a delegation to the border on Monday.
Republicans have seized on the issue to attack Biden, blaming his more humanitarian approach to immigration for encouraging migrants from Central America to travel north.
Responding at her earlier press conference, Pelosi said the Republican focus on immigration was only the latest iteration of their strategy to stoke culture wars.
“I guess their Dr Seuss approach did not work for them so now they’ve had to change the topic,” she said.
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Pelosi expressed a lot of enthusiasm – and few details – about a forthcoming push to pass a sweeping infrastructure bill.
“We see this as a tremendous opportunity,” she said.
Erica Werner
(@ericawerner)Pelosi asked how large an infrastructure bill should be.
“I thank you for the question, it’s one of my favorite topics,” Pelosi says.
Talks about jobs, commuting, farm country, roads and bridges, water systems, housing, and also Trump.
Does not say how large bill should be.
As a candidate, Biden proposed a $2tn plan that aims to combat climate change and tackle longstanding racial disparities.
Biden has said he wants the next bill to be bipartisan, and has already convened a handful of meetings with lawmakers of both parties. There are already signs that this may be an all-but impossible task.
Some Democrats have tossed out figures like $3tn or even $4tn – enormous sums that are sure to be a nonstarter for Republicans, who want a narrow, targeted bill focused on roads, bridges and waterways.
But with the Senate filibuster preventing action on much of the Democrats’ agenda, progressives view a public works bill as perhaps the last best chance of notching major victories before next year’s midterm elections. Among the provisions Democrats and activists have suggested should be included in an infrastructure bill: immigration reform, lowering the Medicare eligibility, a public option, and an permanent version of the expanded child tax credit that was passed in Biden’s stimulus bill.
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Pelosi on $15 minimum wage push: ‘We’re not giving up on that’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opened her weekly press conference by touting the House’s passage of a universal background checks bill and making the case for a $15 federal minimum wage. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25.
Pointing to a chart that shows the incremental increase of the minimum wage over the next five years, she says advocates of a $10 or $11 minimum wage should back the plan because it would only gradually rise above those thresholds. A minimum wage provision was ultimately stripped from the Senate-version of the $1.9tn stimulus plan approved by Congress on Wednesday.
“We’re not giving up on that,” Pelosi said of the push for a $15 minimum wage. She also promised to continue to fight for action on gun control.
At the end of her press conference, she pointed again to the placard and asked reporters to consider whether they could live on the current federal minimum wage.
Pelosi at her news conference on Capitol Hill. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
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Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer says the chamber will vote on the nomination of Deb Haaland to be interior secretary, after Republicans forced additional debate on her candidacy.
If confirmed, as expected, Haaland, who currently serves as a congresswoman from New Mexico, would the nation’s first Native American cabinet secretary.
House passes universal background checks bill
The House approved a bill to expand background checks for all firearm sales or transfers in the country, a top priority for advocates of stricter gun-control.
In a 227 to 203 vote, eight Republicans joined all but one Democrat in supporting the measure.
This is the first action Democrats have taken on the issue since winning control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, but the bill faces an uphill climb in the Senate.
Nevertheless, gun-safety advocates celebrated its passage.
In a statement, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said: “This is the moment to act on gun safety, and that starts with background checks on all guns sales.”
Expressing hope that the new Democratic majority in the Senate might finally pave the way for legislative action, she added: “Now, with Minority Leader McConnell out of the way, we look forward to the Senate taking action.”
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Senator Joe Manchin announced in a statement that he will vote to confirm Xavier Becerra, Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Manu Raju
(@mkraju)NEW: Manchin will vote for Becerra to HHS, a clear sign he will be confirmed to the post
The Senate Finance Committee was deadlocked along party lines over advancing his candidacy to the floor for a vote by the full Senate.
The result reflected the sharp partisan split over Becerra, who currently serves as the attorney general of California, and forced Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring it to the floor for a vote, in accordance with the power-sharing rules governing the 50-50 Senate.
Manchin’s support is a strong signal that Democrats will have the votes to overcome Republican opposition.
Jennifer Haberkorn
(@jenhab).@Sen_JoeManchin confirms he will vote for Becerra despite “very different records on issues like abortion and the 2nd Amendment.” He said Becerra “committed to me that he will uphold the law in regards to the Hyde Amendment.”
All but assures Becerra’s nomination will be approved
If a simple majority of senators agree, the chamber is expected to move forward to a final vote on his confirmation next week.
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The House is voting now on two gun-control measures: a universal background checks bill, and a measure that would close the so-called Charleston loophole, which the gunman used to buy a gun before murdering nine African Americans during a bible study at a historic black church.
That bill, introduced by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, would extend the window for background checks to 10 days from three days. Currently, someone can purchase a weapon if the requisite criminal background check isn’t completed within three business days.
Thomas Novelly
(@TomNovelly)At a press conference, @WhipClyburn said “I get a little emotional when I think about the ‘Charleston Loophole.’”
Clyburn recalls the 2015 tragedy at Emanuel AME Church and said this legislation marks major change.
“If you aren’t safe at a bible study, you aren’t safe anywhere”
Both bills are expected to pass the chamber, which is controlled by Democrats. The Senate has introduced similar bills, but there is little hope of forging a consensus with Republicans on the legislation after falling short so many times before.
Still, Democrats are hopeful that times have changed since the last time Congress seriously considered enacting gun-control legislation.
Sahil Kapur
(@sahilkapur)Sen. Chris Murphy sounding quite optimistic here: “I don’t think we should accept that there aren’t 60 votes in the Senate for universal background checks.”
In 2013, Dems had 55 seats, Manchin-Toomey polled up to 90-10%, got filibustered.
Murphy says it’s “a different world.” pic.twitter.com/BtUG2qGGmy
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Further from Minneapolis in the trial of ex-cop Derek Chauvin, charged with murdering George Floyd last year, Hennepin county judge Peter Cahill added the third degree murder charge to the docket after Chauvin failed to persuade appellate courts to block it.
A man holds a portrait of George Floyd during a press conference on the third day of jury selection at the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Wednesday. Photograph: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty Images
Cahill had earlier rejected the charge as not warranted by the circumstances of Floyd’s death but an appellate court ruled last Friday as part of the appeal by another former police officer, Mohamed Noor in the 2017 shooting death of Australian Justine Ruszczyk Damond in Minneapolis.
Legal experts told the AP that the additional charge helps prosecutors by giving jurors one more option to convict Chauvin.
However prosecutors had also been worried that rushing the charge back onto the docket could either give Chauvin more grounds for appeal or even cause the case to collapse.
Any prospect of Chauvin being acquitted, the case falling through or him being convicted on the lesser charge is likely to spark total uproar in the Twin Cities and ripple out across the country.
Here’s a previous report from reporters Amudalat Ajasa and Jackie Renzetti in Minneapolis on the communities there braced and craving justice.
And below is a vivid personal account from Ajasa on the last year in her Minnesota home during unprecedented upheavals of a pandemic and the biggest civil rights uprising since the 1960s.
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