Summary
From Joan E Greve and me:
- Joe Biden celebrated the distribution of 50m coronavirus vaccine doses since he took office last month. At an event this afternoon, the president emphasized Americans must remain vigilant about limiting their risk of contracting coronavirus. “This is not the time to relax,” Biden said. “The worst thing we can do now is let our guard down.”
- The US Food and Drug Administration today announced that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could be stored and transported at conventional freezer temperatures, rather than the ultra-cold temps that were initially recommended. Pfizer submitted data showing that the vaccine stays stable at regular freezer temperatures last week. The new FDA rules will make it easier for states to move and distribute the vaccine without the need for specialized cold storage equipment.
- The Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the minimum wage increase cannot be included with the coronavirus relief bill if it is to pass through the fillibuster-free reconciliation process. The prospect of increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour has faced stiff opposition from Republicans.
- The House passed the Equality Act in a vote of 224 to 206. The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate.
- Biden spoke to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman today, the White House announced moments ago. The call comes as the US government prepares to release an unclassified report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has been blamed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
- The Manhattan district attorney’s office has obtained Donald Trump’s financial records. The news comes three days after the supreme court rejected Trump’s request to block Cy Vance’s office from gaining access to the records as part of an investigation into the former president’s business dealings.
- The Senate confirmed Jennifer Granholm as the next secretary of energy. Granholm, a former governor of Michigan, was confirmed in a vote of 64 to 35. She is expected to play a major role in Biden’s promises to expand renewable energy sources.
- The House held a hearing on the security failures that occurred during the Capitol insurrection. Members of a House appropriations subcommittee pressed the acting chief of the the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, and the acting House sergeant at arms, Timothy Blodgett, on the insufficient preparation for the attack, despite many warning signs that Trump supporters could turn violent.
Updated
Senate parliamentarian rules that the minimum wage hike may not pass with simple majority
The Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the minimum wage increase cannot be included with the coronavirus relief bill if it is to pass through the fillibuster-free reconciliation process.
The Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the minimum wage will not be included in the covid bill. I’m already working on a bipartisan solution that can pass through Congress, ensure livable wages, job growth, and thriving small businesses. Got an idea? Please share it with me. https://t.co/iBpXPVP6tI
— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@RepDeanPhillips) February 26, 2021
The prospect of increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour has faced stiff opposition from Republicans. Most bills in the Senate need to get 60-vote supermajority support in order to overcome the filibuster. But some budget-related legislation, including the bulk of the relief bill, can be passed with just 51 votes through a process called reconciliation.
But a hike to the minimum wage does not qualify to pass through reconciliation, the parliamentarian ruled. Democrats hopes of squeezing through a minimum wage increase with a simple majority vote have been dashed.
What the arrests of Beverly Hills residents say about the US Capitol attack
Beverly Hills has seen more residents arrested for participating in the US Capitol insurrection than any other city in California.
Three of the 14 California residents charged in connection with the pro-Trump riot in Washington on 6 January so far are from the wealthy Los Angeles county enclave: Gina Bisignano, a salon owner, and Simone Gold and John Strand, two rightwing activists who have spread coronavirus misinformation through their roles in America’s Frontline Doctors, an organization that Gold, an emergency room physician, founded.
The 11 other Californians who have been charged in the riot are scattered across the state, from San Diego to San Francisco, with three clustered in towns around Sacramento, the state capital, and two from towns in the notoriously conservative Orange county, south of Los Angeles.
The prominence of Beverly Hills and the profile of the three residents who have been charged reflects what experts say are broader trends in the backgrounds of the more than 250 people charged so far in connection with the Capitol riot.
More than 90% of the people charged in the riots so far are white, researchers at the Chicago Project on Security and Threats found. About 40% are business owners or have white-collar jobs, the researchers found, and compared with previous rightwing extremists, relatively few of them were unemployed.
“There’s been this assumption that the most reactionary folks on the frontlines would be what’s often referred to as white working-class, but that’s of course not what we saw,” said Vanessa Wills, a political philosopher who studies the intersections of race and class. “The people who showed up are disproportionately small business owners.”
The people charged in the attack so far also did not come exclusively from Republican states or conservative enclaves. In fact, a majority lived in counties that Biden won, like Beverly Hills, nestled next to Hollywood in liberal Los Angeles county.
Only 10% of the people charged so far had identifiable ties to rightwing militias or other organized violent groups, the Chicago researchers found. Many more were people who had identified as mainstream Trump supporters.
Read more:
FDA allows Pfizer vaccine to be stored and transported at normal freezer temps
The US Food and Drug Administration today announced that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could be stored and transported at conventional freezer temperatures, rather than the ultra-cold temps of -80C to -60C that was initially recommended.
Pfizer submitted data showing that the vaccine stays stable at regular freezer temperatures last week. The new FDA rules will make it easier for states to move and distribute the vaccine without the need for specialized cold storage equipment.
“This alternative temperature for transportation and storage of the undiluted vials is significant and allows the vials to be transported and stored under more flexible conditions,” said Peter Marks, director FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement.
The US has reportedly carried out an airstrike in Syria, Reuters reports.
The United States on Thursday carried out an airstrike in Syria against a structure belonging to what it said were Iran-backed militia, two officials told Reuters.
The strike comes after a series of recent rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq.
The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the strike was approved by President Joe Biden.
The Guardian has not confirmed this reporting.
On Fox News, Mitch McConnell evaded questions about Donald Trump – but said he’d “absolutely” support the former president if Trump were the party’s presidential nominee in 2024.
‘There’s a lot to happen between now and ‘24,” he added, noting that at least four Senate Republicans were vying for the nomination. McConnell voted to acquit Trump on the charge of inciting the Capitol attack but nevertheless said that the former president was “practically and morally responsible” for the deadly riot, and hinted that Trump’s actions should be open to criminal prosecution.
Here’s more on McConnell’s contradictory statements on Trump following the impeachment trial:
Updated
What we know about the California coronavirus variant
Two new studies suggest that a Covid-19 variant first discovered in California has been spreading rapidly through the state.
The findings come as the US ramps up its efforts to track and catalogue various forms of the mutating virus, and raise fresh questions about the circulation of the coronavirus in the country.
What is the California variant?
The variant, which is called B.1.427/B.1.429, first caught the attention of scientists in November 2020 and belongs to a lineage – a branch of the coronavirus family tree carrying similar mutations – that is thought to have emerged in May.
The variant has been detected in 19 countries, and all across the US, though limited surveillance has found it concentrated in California.
The variant has three mutations that alter the shape of a protein, called spike, on the surface of the coronavirus. Other variants, including the ones first discovered in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil, also have mutations on their spike proteins. Researchers are concerned that these changes could make it harder for the immune system to quickly recognize and block the virus.
Why are we talking about it now?
Scientists around the world have been tracking Covid-19 variants by scanning samples taken from people infected with the virus. The US has been lagging behind other countries in doing this kind of monitoring – and still is. But some labs, including at the University of San Francisco, California, have recently redoubled efforts to figure out which variants are most common in the state.
While looking through samples from positive coronavirus tests to see if B.1.1.7 – the variant first detected in the UK – was circulating in the state, the USCF researchers realized that a different, homegrown variant actually accounted for a growing proportion of infections. Another team in Los Angeles found that that variant was spreading there as well.
Read more about the latest research, and what it all means, here:
Joe Biden spoke at the National Governor’s Association meeting.
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York spoke prior to Biden, welcoming the president to the Zoom meeting. Cuomo, who has been under fire for excluding thousands from the state’s nursing home death toll, said to Biden: “You reached out to us right after your election... Your promise of an ongoing functional partnership has already come to fruition.”
“We understand the difficult situation you inherited upon taking office,” he continued. “When you went to the cupboard, it was all but bare.”
Biden’s remarks focused on the monumental task of distributing vaccines and coordinating an economic recovery plan.
“This cruel winter is not over,” Biden told the governors in attendance. But he signaled that “a hopeful spring” was coming.
“We need to be more ambitious right now,” Biden said of his Covid-19 relief plans. “Red state, blue state, millions of Americans are hurting badly.”
The president has been working closely with governors of both major parties – with a special focus on Republicans – to raise political support for recovery plans. Facing resistance from Republicans in the Senate and Congress, Biden has focused on courting governors in hopes they might pressure national representatives from their states to help secure much-needed economic relief.
Outrage as Marjorie Taylor Greene displays transphobic sign in Congress
The Republican extremist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene attracted widespread condemnation – from transgender groups, Democrats and her own party – after she hung a transphobic sign outside her office in response to fellow congresswoman Marie Newman raising a transgender pride flag.
The Georgia congresswoman put up the poster – which read “There are TWO genders: Male & Female. Trust The Science!” – after Newman, whose daughter is transgender and whose office is opposite Greene’s, hung the flag on Wednesday following an impassioned debate on the Equality Act, which Greene tried to block.
She has also called the bill “an attack on God’s creation” and refused to refer to Newman’s daughter as female.
Despite Greene’s attempts to delay a vote on the legislation, which would extend civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ people, it is expected to pass in the House, after which it will move on to the Senate, where it could face a filibuster. Joe Biden has said if it passes he will sign it into law.
Speaking on the House floor this week, Newman, who represents Illinois, said: “The best time to pass this act was decades ago. The second best time is right now. I’m voting yes on the Equality Act for Evie Newman, my daughter and the strongest, bravest person I know.”
After the debate, Newman tweeted a video of herself putting out the flag. She wrote: “Our neighbour, @RepMTG, tried to block the Equality Act because she believes prohibiting discrimination against trans Americans is ‘disgusting, immoral, and evil’. Thought we’d put up our Transgender flag so she can look at it every time she opens her door.”
Greene, who has a history of supporting dangerous conspiracy theories, including QAnon, wrote in response: “Our neighbour, @RepMarieNewman, wants to pass the so-called ‘Equality’ Act to destroy women’s rights and religious freedoms. Thought we’d put up ours so she can look at it every time she opens her door.”
The incident was widely condemned, with the Illinois Democrat Sean Casten branding the poster “sickening, pathetic, unimaginably cruel”. He added: “This hate is exactly why the #EqualityAct is necessary.”
Read more:
Updated
Bernie Sanders: US sick of subsidizing 'starvation wages' at Walmart and McDonald's
US taxpayers should not be “forced to subsidize some of the largest and most profitable corporations in America”, Bernie Sanders told a Senate hearing on Thursday.
As Congress debates the first rise in the minimum wage in over a decade, the Vermont senator said he had “talked to too many workers in this country who, with tears in their eyes, tell me the struggles they have to provide for their kids on starvation wages” even as the chief executives of companies including McDonald’s, Walmart and others take home multi-million dollar pay packages.
Executives from Walmart and McDonald’s were invited to the hearing, titled Should Taxpayers Subsidize Poverty Wages at Large Profitable Corporations?They declined to appear.
The senators heard from low-wage workers from McDonald’s and Walmart. Terence Wise, a McDonald’s employee from Kansas City, Missouri, said his low pay had led to his family becoming homeless.
“My family has been homeless despite two incomes. We’ve endured freezing temperatures in our purple minivan. I’d see my daughter’s eyes wide open, tossing and turning, in the back seat. Try waking up in the morning and getting ready for work and school in a parking lot with your family of five,” said Wise.
“That’s something a parent can never forget and a memory you can never take away from your children. You should never have multiple jobs in the United States and nowhere to sleep.”
Read more:
Today so far
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
- Joe Biden celebrated the distribution of 50 million coronavirus vaccine doses since he took office last month. At an event this afternoon, the president emphasized Americans must remain vigilant about limiting their risk of contracting coronavirus. “This is not the time to relax,” Biden said. “The worst thing we can do now is let our guard down.”
- The House passed the Equality Act in a vote of 224 to 206. The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate.
- Biden spoke to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman today, the White House announced moments ago. The call comes as the US government prepares to release an unclassified report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has been blamed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
- The Manhattan district attorney’s office has obtained Donald Trump’s financial records. The news comes three days after the supreme court rejected Trump’s request to block Cy Vance’s office from gaining access to the records as part of an investigation into the former president’s business dealings.
- The Senate confirmed Jennifer Granholm as the next secretary of energy. Granholm, a former governor of Michigan, was confirmed in a vote of 64 to 35. She is expected to play a major role in Biden’s promises to expand renewable energy sources.
- The House held a hearing on the security failures that occurred during the Capitol insurrection. Members of a House appropriations subcommittee pressed the acting chief of the the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, and the acting House sergeant at arms, Timothy Blodgett, on the insufficient preparation for the attack, despite many warning signs that Trump supporters could turn violent.
Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
Biden speaks with Saudi Arabia's King Salman
President Joe Biden spoke to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman today, the White House just announced.
“Together they discussed regional security, including the renewed diplomatic efforts led by the United Nations and the United States to end the war in Yemen, and the U.S. commitment to help Saudi Arabia defend its territory as it faces attacks from Iranian-aligned groups,” the White House said in a readout of the call.
“The President noted positively the recent release of several Saudi-American activists and Ms. Loujain al-Hathloul from custody, and affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law. The President told King Salman he would work to make the bilateral relationship as strong and transparent as possible. The two leaders affirmed the historic nature of the relationship and agreed to work together on mutual issues of concern and interest.”
The call comes as the US government prepares to release an unclassified report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has been blamed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
House passes Equality Act in nearly party-line vote
The House has passed the Equality Act in a vote of 224 to 206, with three Republicans joining all Democrats in supporting the bill.
Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick, John Katko and Tom Reed broke with their party to vote in favor of the legislation.
H.R. 5 - Equality Act passed by a vote of 224-206.
— House Press Gallery (@HouseDailyPress) February 25, 2021
If enacted, the Equality Act would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
But the bill faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate, where Democrats will need 60 votes to break a filibuster on the legislation.
President Joe Biden has already said he would sign the Equality Act if it can make it through the Senate. “Every person should be treated with dignity and respect, and this bill represents a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all,” Biden said in a statement last week.
Updated
Trans doctor Rachel Levine testifies in historic Senate confirmation hearing
Dr Rachel Levine, a pediatrician and health official from Pennsylvania, faced a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday as Joe Biden’s nominee for assistant health secretary. The process could see her become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate.
If confirmed, Levine, 63, would make history and break several glass ceilings. In a country which still only has a handful of openly trans public officials, she would be the most high-profile, occupying a senior position in the Biden administration with major responsibilities in the pandemic response.
Announcing her nomination last month, Biden said Levine would bring “steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get through this pandemic … She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”
As the confirmation hearing got under way on Thursday Levine faced hostile questioning from some of the Republican members of the Senate. Rand Paul, senator from Kentucky, compared transgender surgery misleadingly to genital mutilation and accused Levine of supporting “surgical destruction of a minor’s genitalia”.
Levine replied by saying that transgender medicine was very complex. “If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed, I will look forward to working with you and your office on the standards of care” in this field, she said.
Paul was rebuked by the chair of the committee, Patty Murray, for his “harmful misrepresentations”.
Joe Biden pledged that he would distribute 100m coronavirus vaccine doses over his first 100 days in office.
Today, the president celebrated the distribution of 50m shots since he took office last month. “I’m here to report we’re halfway there: 50m shots in just 37 days,” Biden said.
President Biden: "One of my first goals in office...was to get 100 million COVID vaccine shots in people's arms in my first 100 days as president...today, I'm here to report we're half way there. 50 million shots in just 37 days."
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 25, 2021
Full video here: https://t.co/KetmVKd0lJ pic.twitter.com/r9NMhqKaUj
The Biden administration has been providing regular updates on its efforts to distribute coronavirus vaccines to states.
Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus response team, said earlier this week that the administration distributed an average of 1.4m doses a day last week.
That number was slightly down from the 1.7m average doses a day distributed the week before, likely due to the winter storm that affected deliveries in the central US last week.
Regardless, the numbers make clear that the administration is outpacing its goal to distribute 100m shots by late April, which is fortunate given that some health experts have said the White House should set a more ambitious goal.
Updated
Joe Biden acknowledged the question on everyone’s mind right now is when the country can return to normal.
“I can’t give you a date,” the president said. “I can only promise we will work as hard as we can to make that day come as soon as possible.”
President Biden: "The question I'm asked most often is, 'When will things get back to normal?' My answer is always honest and straightforward — I can't give you a date. I can only promise that we'll work as hard as we can to make that day come as soon as possible." pic.twitter.com/Ne8YxNq0q7
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 25, 2021
Biden previously said that he believed the country would be basically back to normal by Christmastime, but his advisers, such as the press secretary, Jen Psaki, have generally avoided committing to a timeline.
The president’s event to celebrate the distribution of 50m vaccine doses since he took office has now concluded. Biden did not respond to shouted questions from reporters as he left the event.
Updated
Biden says 'this is not the time to relax' as vaccinations ramp up
As vaccinations ramp up, Joe Biden emphasized that Americans must continue to take every precaution to limit their risk of contracting coronavirus.
“This is not the time to relax,” Biden said. “The worst thing we can do now is let our guard down.”
The president encouraged Americans to continue to regularly wash their hands and practice social distancing. Biden added, “For God’s sake, for God’s sake, wear a mask.”
Updated
Biden touts 'very promising' data on Johnson & Johnson vaccine
Joe Biden touted the “very promising” data on the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine that was released earlier this week.
The Food and Drug Administration may approve the vaccine for emergency use as soon as this weekend, and Biden pledged that the agency’s decision would be made without any “political pressure from me or anyone else”.
“If the FDA approves the use of this new vaccine, we have a plan to roll it out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make it,” Biden said.
Administration officials said earlier this week that 3 to 4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be ready to distribute next week, assuming the FDA approves it. That is much less than the 12 million or so doses that the Biden administration initially expected from Johnson & Johnson.
Joe Biden celebrated the progress his administration has made on coronavirus vaccine distribution and urged Americans to get vaccinated as soon as they are able to.
“The more people that get vaccinated, the faster we’re going to beat this pandemic,” Biden said.
The president applauded the work his officials have done, despite the Trump administration leaving them with “no real plan to vaccinate all Americans”.
“We’re halfway there: 50 million shots in just 37 days since I became president,” Biden said. “We’re moving in the right direction despite the mess we inherited from the previous administration.”
Biden celebrates distribution of 50m coronavirus vaccine doses
Joe Biden is now holding an event to celebrate the distribution of 50m coronavirus vaccine doses since he took office last month.
Biden has set a goal of administering 100m doses over his first 100 days in office, but his administration has been outpacing that goal in recent weeks.
The event began with several people receiving the first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
President Biden commemorates 50 millionth COVID-19 Vaccine Shot - LIVE on C-SPAN3 https://t.co/tafyvBo7y2 pic.twitter.com/FrMC0FLfKw
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 25, 2021
Updated
The Guardian’s Edward Helmore reports:
New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, has called for an independent investigation into the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, a day after a former aide accused the governor of sexual harassment.
In an essay published in Medium on Wednesday, former aide Lindsey Boylan described several problematic episodes with Cuomo, including an unsolicited kiss in his Manhattan office, an invitation to play strip poker on a government airplane, and an internal email from another aide indicating that the governor considered her a “better looking sister” of a rumored former girlfriend.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio calls for an “independent investigation” into Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) after sexual harassment allegations. pic.twitter.com/UIaK3iKEnT
— The Recount (@therecount) February 25, 2021
The governor’s press office responded to the “strip poker” element of Boylan’s allegations on Wednesday with flight records. “Ms Boylan’s claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false,” a statement read.
In remarks on Thursday, De Blasio, who has a contentious relationship with the governor, issued a call for an investigation into Cuomo’s behavior. “These allegations are really disturbing … This kind of behavior, if it’s true, is just unacceptable. We’ve got to get the truth about this,” he said.
Even senators are impatient to learn whether the Senate parliamentarian will rule that the $15 minimum wage proposal can stay in the coronavirus relief package.
On the Senate floor today, Democrat Brian Schatz was heard asking parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough, “So, how did you rule?”
McDonough replied, “We haven’t released anything.”
The Senate waits for Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough to weigh in on whether Democrats may increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
— The Recount (@therecount) February 25, 2021
Sen. @brianschatz (D-HI), on a hot mic, on the Senate floor today: “So how did you ruuuuule?” pic.twitter.com/1W87OwiIcF
McDonough’s office is expected to soon release a ruling on whether the minimum wage provision meets the requirements for reconciliation. The announcement could come later today.
The House is scheduled to vote on the coronavirus relief package tomorrow. House Democratic leaders have said they will introduce a standalone minimum wage bill if the proposal is stripped out of the relief package.
Manhattan DA has Trump's tax records, office confirms
The office of New York’s Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, has confirmed that the prosecutor is indeed in possession of Donald Trump’s relevant tax and financial records.
Reuters reports:
After a lengthy court battle, the Manhattan DA is in possession of Donald Trump’s tax returns and other financial records as part of a criminal investigation into the former president and his family-run Trump Organization, a spokesman for the office confirmed today.
The New York prosecutor’s office obtained the voluminous records on Monday, the same day the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Trump’s latest attempt to keep his longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, from turning over the records.
Danny Frost, a spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, confirmed the office’s receipt of the documents, which came some 18 months after a subpoena was issued for them.
The records, which include eight years of tax returns, could boost the district attorney*s investigation into the Trump Organization.
A spokesman for Mazars USA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Monday, after the Supreme Court ruling, Trump issued a statement calling Vance’s investigation part of “the greatest political Witch Hunt in the history of our country.”
Vance’s investigation initially focused on hush money paid by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen before the 2016 election to adult-film actor and producer Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who have said they had affairs with Trump in the past.
Vance later suggested the probe had broadened and could focus on potential bank, tax and insurance fraud, as well as falsification of business records.
House Democrats yesterday reintroduced policing legislation, named after George Floyd, the Black American man whose killing by police in Minneapolis last May sparked a tidal wave of new civil rights protests across the US and beyond.
Joe Biden has expressed his support for the legislation and will sign if it gets through the Senate and arrives at his desk at the White House.
I am pleased that the House will vote next week on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. I encourage the House to pass it. Following Senate consideration, I hope to be able to sign into law a landmark police reform bill.
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 25, 2021
CNN further reported that:
The bill - titled the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 - has provisions to overhaul qualified immunity for law enforcement, prohibitions on racial profiling on the part of law enforcement and a ban on no-knock warrants in federal drug cases.
It would also ban chokeholds at the federal level and classify them as a civil rights violation and would establish a national registry of police misconduct maintained by the Department of Justice.
The House could vote on this proposal as soon as next week, congressional aides told CNN.
“This legislation addresses police misconduct and excessive force, while creating greater transparency within law enforcement, and grants victims more direct avenues for redress.
“With this legislation, the federal government demonstrates its commitment to fully reexamining law enforcement practices and building better relationships between law enforcement and the communities they are sworn to protect and serve,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said in a statement.
“While the issue of policing can’t be solved by Congress alone, the federal government has a responsibility to address this issue. I look forward to working with my colleagues, across the aisle and in both chambers, to ensure this bill becomes law.”
Incidentally, the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd begged for his life, goes on trial for murder next month, beginning with jury selection on March 8.
Updated
Unclassified intelligence report on Khashoggi killing delayed - report
The release of the report by the US intelligence services into the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 has been delayed until after Joe Biden speaks with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, according to a new report.
#BreakingNews @CNN is reporting the release of the #Khashoggi report has been delayed until after @POTUS speaks with #SaudiArabia's King Salman - no word on when that will happen.
— Cindy Saine (@cindysaine) February 25, 2021
The report had been expected as early as today. and the White House said in its press briefing moments ago that the US president’s phone call with the king should take place “very soon.”
But there is no definitive word on when the two will speak or when the US report will be released or if it has indeed been delayed.
It’s believed that the US intel report will single out Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, for approving Khashoggi’s death.
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Stephanie Kirchgaessner:
Updated
Today so far
The White House briefing has now concluded. Here’s where the day stands so far:
- The Manhattan district attorney’s office has obtained Donald Trump’s financial records, according to CNN. The news comes three days after the supreme court rejected Trump’s request to block Cy Vance’s office from gaining access to the records, which include his tax returns.
- The Senate confirmed Jennifer Granholm as the next secretary of energy. Granholm, a former governor of Michigan, was confirmed in a vote of 64 to 35. She is expected to play a major role in Joe Biden’s promises to expand renewable energy sources.
- The House held a hearing on the security failures that occurred during the Capitol insurrection. Members of a House appropriations subcommittee pressed the acting chief of the the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, and the acting House sergeant at arms, Timothy Blodgett, on the insufficient preparation for the attack, despite many warning signs that Trump supporters could turn violent.
The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked why so many migrant children are attempting to enter the United States right now.
A reporter noted that some of Joe Biden’s critics have said it’s because his policies on managing the US-Mexican border are too lenient.
Psaki said it was actually because the conditions in some of the countries where these children are coming from are so poor that they feel they must flee.
The White House press secretary emphasized that the Biden administration would not support sending children back to their home countries without adequately reviewing their cases.
“That is not something that we’re going to do in this administration, and that is not going to be our policy,” Psaki said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the sexual misconduct allegations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
A reporter asked Psaki whether Joe Biden still believes Cuomo is the “gold standard” for leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic, a comment that the president made in April of last year.
Psaki does not say whether Pres. Biden still believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was "the gold standard" for COVID leadership, which Biden said in April 2020: "He made some positive comments on Gov. Cuomo and his role in New York at the time, as he did about a range of governors" pic.twitter.com/S8ZEC4qcq2
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 25, 2021
Psaki said that Biden complimented a number of governors from both parties at the time because they stepped up when there was a “vacuum of leadership at the federal level”.
“He made some positive comments about Governor Cuomo and his role in New York at the time, as he did about a range of governors,” Psaki said.
Back at the White House briefing, Jen Psaki addressed Joe Biden’s announcement yesterday that he is nominating three people to the US Postal Service’s board of governors.
If the nominees are confirmed, the board would be able to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has been criticized over recent delays in mail delivery.
Psaki seemed to signal that the White House expected DeJoy to be pushed out after the board vacancies are filled.
“The Postal Service needs leadership that can and will do a better job,” Psaki said.
Granholm confirmed as energy secretary
The Senate has confirmed Jennifer Granholm as the next secretary of energy, in a vote of 64 to 35.
Confirmed, 64-35: Executive Calendar #9, Jennifer Mulhern Granholm, of Michigan, to be Secretary of Energy @ENERGY
— Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) February 25, 2021
After an initial delay in the Senate, more of Biden’s cabinet nominees are now being confirmed.
The confirmation of Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, comes on the heels of the confirmations of Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, and Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture, earlier this week.
Asked about the delay in confirming his nominees, Biden said yesterday that he did not blame the Senate for the issue.
“I blame it on the failure to have a transition that was rational,” Biden said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki would not provide a specific timeline for when Joe Biden will speak to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
Psaki simply said the call between the two leaders will “happen very soon”. Biden was expected to speak to the Saudi king yesterday, but it does not appear that the call occurred yesterday.
This comes as the US government prepares to release its unclassified report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has been blamed on the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.
A White House reporter read out some of the caustic tweets that have caused trouble for Neera Tanden’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
The reporter asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki whether Joe Biden believes those tweets live up to his pledge that his administration would be committed to treating people with respect.
Psaki replied by noting that Tanden has apologized for her past comments and has said she will live up to Biden’s “expectation for a high bar of civility”.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki is now holding her daily briefing with reporters.
Psaki opened the briefing by noting that Joe Biden will participate in an event this evening to mark 50 million vaccine doses administered since he took office.
Biden pledged to distribute 100 million vaccine doses across his first 100 days in office, but his administration has been outpacing that goal in recent weeks.
The Guardian’s Sam Levine reports:
As of 19 February, there were 253 bills pending across the United States that would restrict access to the ballot, according to the latest tally by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The volume of bills illustrates how aggressively some states have moved to restrict access to voting weeks after an election in which there was record turnout.
Just weeks ago, the Brennan Center tallied up that there were 165 restrictive bills across 33 states, a major jump from the 35 bills that were pending at the same time a year ago.
One of the states where there has been the most activity is Georgia, where the state legislature is considering a wave of proposals to limit absentee and in person early voting after those voting options helped carry Joe Biden and two Democratic senators to victory in the state.
The Brennan Center also found there were 704 bills pending to expand voter access.
Vice-President Kamala Harris visited a pharmacy in Washington this morning to highlight the Biden administration’s efforts to distribute coronavirus vaccines directly to pharmacies.
The Giant pharmacy that Harris visited is one of more than 7,000 across the country where Americans can receive coronavirus vaccine doses.
Today I visited a Giant pharmacy in Washington D.C., where local residents are getting vaccinated. It’s one of more than 7,000 pharmacies administering millions of vaccines to Americans directly in their communities. We're making progress - when it's your turn, get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/PoSYcRvCYG
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) February 25, 2021
During the pharmacy visit, Harris described some of the side effects that she experienced after receiving her second dose of the Moderna vaccine.
“The first dose, I was fine. The second dose, I thought I was fine. Got up early in the morning, went to work, and then midday, I realized, ‘Yeah, I might I might need to slow down a bit,’” Harris said. “Just that one day, and then it was fine.”
Health experts have said that some people may experience mild flu-like symptoms after the second vaccine dose, but that is a normal immune response and should not deter anyone from receiving a vaccine.
At the House hearing on the Capitol insurrection, Democratic congresswoman Rose DeLauro pressed the acting chief of the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, on how many USCP officers are under investigation for their actions on January 6.
Pittman told her, “Right now we have 35 officers that are under investigation, and we do have six police officers that have been suspended with their police powers being revoked, so those investigations are ongoing at this time.”
Rep. @rosadelauro: "How many officers are under investigation?"
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 25, 2021
Acting U.S. Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman: "Right now we have 35 officers that are under investigation and we do have six police officers that have been suspended with their police powers being revoked." pic.twitter.com/AWQbcoiJBv
The investigations come after footage circulated of law enforcement officers posing for photos with some of the insurrectionists on January 6.
Pittman said she expected the investigations to take between 60 and 90 days, and she committed to making the findings of the investigations public once they become available.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi briefly misidentified Republican Senator Ron Johnson as Don Johnson, as in the actor who starred in “Miami Vice”.
House Speaker Pelosi accidentally calls Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) “Don Johnson” of Miami Vice.
— The Recount (@therecount) February 25, 2021
Pelosi says Johnson “seems to be taking the lead” on Republican response to January 6 insurrection. pic.twitter.com/c7YDtdonDV
Pelosi said Johnson, who amplified a baseless conspiracy theory about the Capitol insurrection during a Senate hearing earlier this week, “seems to be taking the lead” on the Republican response to the January 6 attack.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced confidence that the Senate parliamentarian would allow the $15 minimum wage proposal to stay in the coronavirus relief bill.
“We will pass a minimum wage bill,” Pelosi said. “We must pass a minimum wage bill.”
House majority leader Steny Hoyer has said the chamber will vote on a standalone minimum wage bill if it is stripped out of the relief package, but it’s unclear whether such a bill could make it through the Senate.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was disappointed by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell’s remarks criticizing Democrats’ proposal for a 9/11 commission-style panel to review the Capitol insurrection.
In a Senate floor speech yesterday, McConnell said the draft proposal for the commission was “partisan by design” because the panel would favor Democrats.
Pelosi said she was open to negotiating the exact party breakdown of the commission, and she emphasized the important thing was the scope of the panel’s investigation.
“That’s not the point though. That’s easily negotiated,” Pelosi said. “The point is the scope.”
House speaker Nancy Pelosi is now holding her weekly press conference, a day before the chamber is expected to pass Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.
The Democratic speaker noted that the Senate parliamentarian could issue a ruling at any moment on whether the $15 minimum wage meets the requirements to be included in the reconciliation bill.
“If you hear before I do, let me know,” Pelosi told reporters, adding that Democrats have a “very, very strong argument” for including the provision.
House holds hearing on security failures on January 6
A House appropriations subcommittee is now holding a hearing on the security failures that occurred during the Capitol insurrection on January 6.
The acting chief of the the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, and the acting House sergeant at arms, Timothy Blodgett, are testifying at the hearing.
The predecessors of Pittman and Blodgett both resigned in the days after January 6, amid criticism of their handling of the Capitol attack. They testified at a joint Senate hearing earlier this week.
In her opening statement, Pittman described some of the failures among the USCP force during the insurrection.
For example, Pittman said, some officers were not sure when to use lethal force as the violent insurrectionists stormed the Capitol.
The insurrection resulted in five deaths, including one USCP officer.
The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani reports:
Latino and Black Americans continue to be vaccinated against Covid at the lowest rate despite political promises to redress inequalities, new analysis reveals.
Only 4.6% of Latinos and 5.7% of Black Americans have so far received a vaccine dose, compared with 11.3% of white Americans and 10.5% of Asian Americans, according to analysis by APM Research Lab shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Pacific Islanders have the highest inoculation rate, according to the limited data available, with 16.3% (about one in six) already having received at least one dose. Maryland has vaccinated 43.4% of this population – the highest reported proportion of any community in any state.
The second-highest rate is among Indigenous Americans, with 12.8% (one in eight) already having received at least one jab.
Despite some progress, the available state health data clearly suggests that access to the Covid vaccines – just like testing and economic aid – is disproportionately low for Latino and Black Americans, the two largest minority communities in the US.
The website for DC residents to book vaccine appointments crashed this morning, as the service was flooded with appointment requests.
As of today, city residents with certain pre-existing conditions are eligible to receive the vaccine, but it appears the website was not updated to reflect that.
From a local WAMU reporter:
Loads of D.C. residents aged 16-64 with pre-existing medical conditions who were told they could register for COVID-19 vaccine appointments now are facing busy phone lines and a website that crashes and also wasn't updated to reflect the new categories of people who are eligible.
— Martin Austermuhle (@maustermuhle) February 25, 2021
As the DC vaccine website was crashing, Vice-President Kamala Harris was visiting a pharmacy in the city where residents can receive the vaccine.
Joe Biden and Harris are also holding an event later today to mark 50 million vaccine doses being administered in the US.
The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith, wrote earlier this week that Donald Trump’s failure to keep his financial documents away from the Manhattan district attorney may be his most consequential loss yet:
The DA has said little about why he wants Trump’s records but, in a court filing last year, prosecutors said they were justified in seeking them because of public reports of ‘possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization’ – Trump’s family business empire – thought to include bank, tax and insurance fraud.
Now that investigation is gathering momentum. Vance, who earlier this month hired a lawyer with extensive experience in white-collar and organised crime cases, will be able to find out whether the public reports were accurate by studying actual financial records, spreadsheets and email correspondence between the Trump Organization and accounting firm Mazars USA.
If wrongdoing is established, it raises the spectre of Trump some day in the future standing in the dock in a New York courtroom and even facing a potential prison term. No wonder he fought so hard to cling to power and the immunity from prosecution that it conferred.
CNN has more details on the financial records that the Manhattan district attorney’s office has received from Donald Trump’s accounting firm:
Prosecutors obtained the records on Monday, according to a source, just hours after the US Supreme Court denied Trump’s last-ditch effort to keep the records private.
The millions of pages of documents, sources say, contain Trump’s tax returns spanning from January 2011 to August 2019, as well as financial statements, engagement agreements, documents relating to the preparation and review of tax returns, and work papers and communications related to the tax returns.
Manhattan DA receives millions of pages of Trump's financial records - report
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has reportedly received Donald Trump’s financial records as part of their investigation into his business dealings.
According to CNN, the records include millions of pages of documents.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has obtained former President Donald Trump’s tax returns and related records, according to sources familiar with the matter.
— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) February 25, 2021
The records include millions of pages of documents, the sources say.
The report comes three days after the supreme court rejected Trump’s request to block Cy Vance’s office from obtaining the records.
The president has attempted for years to keep his financial records, particularly his tax returns, out of public view.
The financial records will be made available to a grand jury, so they will not be publicly released, but Trump launched a series of legal challenges to try to prevent Vance from gaining access to them.
This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will hold an event today to celebrate 50 million coronavirus vaccine doses being administered in the US.
This morning, the vice-president visited a pharmacy in Washington where city residents can receive vaccine shots.
.@VP stops by @GiantFood pharmacy in Southeast DC to highlight one of the pharmacies where local residents can get vaccinated.
— Sabrina Singh (@SabrinaSingh46) February 25, 2021
Mask up and when it’s your turn, get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/xRexjihkuZ
Biden initially pledged to distribute 100 million vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office, but his administration has been outpacing that goal in recent weeks.
The White House coronavirus response team said yesterday that an average of 1.4 million doses were administrated per day last week.
That was slightly down from 1.7 million average doses per day the week before, likely due to the winter storm that disrupted vaccine deliveries and distribution across the central US.
Rightwing group nearly forced Wisconsin to purge thousands of eligible voters
A well-connected conservative group in Wisconsin nearly succeeded in forcing the state to kick nearly 17,000 eligible voters off its rolls ahead of the 2020 election, new state data reveals.
The group, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (Will), caused a national uproar in late 2019 when it successfully convinced a county judge to order the state to immediately remove more than 232,000 people Wisconsin suspected of moving homes from the state’s voter rolls. The state, relying on government records, had sent a postcard to all of those voters asking them to confirm their address, and Will sought to remove anyone who had not responded within 30 days.
Democrats on the commission refused to comply with the order, believing that the underlying data wasn’t reliable, and wanted to give voters until April 2021 to confirm their address before they removed them. Appeals courts intervened and blocked the removals; the case is currently pending before the Wisconsin supreme court. There were still more than 71,000 voters still on the list at the end of January who did not respond to the mailer (152,524 people on the list updated their registration at a new address).
But new data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission shows how disastrous such a purge could have been. And the dispute underscores the way fights over how states remove people from their voter rolls – often called purging – has become a critical part of protecting voting rights in America.
Across the country, Republicans and conservative groups have pushed for aggressive purging, saying it helps prevent fraud. Democrats and voting rights groups say the process can be done haphazardly, leaving eligible voters, particularly minority groups and students, at risk of being wrongly purged.
Read more here: Rightwing group nearly forced Wisconsin to purge thousands of eligible voters
Dr Fauci urges 'if a Covid vaccine is available, regardless of which one, take it'
Dr Anthony Fauci has said this morning that if a coronavirus vaccine is available, regardless of which one it is, Americans should take it.
Associated Press report that the top infectious disease expert told NBC that a third vaccine becoming available “is nothing but good news” and would help control of the pandemic.
Regulators announced yesterday that Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe Covid-19. It’s expected to be approved soon by the FDA, probably as early as tomorrow.
Fauci warned people not to hold off on getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while waiting for the slightly more effective Pfizer or Moderna shots.
He says it’s a race “between the virus and getting vaccines into people” and “the longer one waits not getting vaccinated, the better chance the virus has to get a variant or a mutation.”
Fauci says public health officials are always concerned about virus variants and stressed following public health measures of wearing masks and social distancing. The predominant coronavirus variant in the United States is from Britain. Fauci says the vaccines distributed in the US “clearly can take care of that particular strain.”
730,000 Americans filed initial jobless claims last week
Weekly initial jobless claims fell to 730,000 last week. It is a total that is much lower than at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic impact on the economy, but still way above pre-coronavirus figures, which used to average at around 200,000 per week. Ben Popkin writes for NBC News:
While the latest figure snaps the six-week streak of first-time claims above 800,000, it is still the 49th week that the number has been higher than at any time during the Great Recession.
“Jobless claims are the one data series that has been trending in the wrong direction of late,” Brett Ryan, an economist for Deutsche Bank, wrote in a note.
The hardest-hit industries are those in the service sectors and those that depend on travel and face-to-face customer engagement, such as restaurants, hospitality, and leisure.
Continuing claims fell to 4.419 million, double their pre-pandemic levels, as more Americans burn through their six months of state unemployment benefits and turn to long-term federal unemployment benefits.
Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation to launch $3m survival fund
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has launched a $3 million survival fund to provide financial support for marginalised communities.
It comes amid the wait for Congress to pass a new round of federal Covid relief funding worth $1.9 trillion. President Biden has pledged to pass an extensive programme of Covid relief in his first 100 days of office - with or without Republican support.
Announcing the fund on their website, Black Lives Matter (BLM) said it was part of a “long legacy of groups stepping into support those failed by our government….In the words of the Black Panther Party, this is about ‘Survival Pending Revolution’.”
In the 1960s and 70s, the phrase ‘Survival Pending Revolution’ was used as a slogan to describe an umbrella of over 60 community programmes run by the Black Panthers, including the Free Breakfast for Children Program which at its height fed over 10,000 children per day.
The foundation has said it plans to make up to 3,000 microgrants of $1,000 each available to “all Black people facing economic hardship” although there is “special consideration for members of the trans community, single parents/guardians, and formerly incarcerated people.”
The US has the world’s highest incarceration rate with 716 prisoners per 100,000 members of the population. According to US Bureau of Justice statistics, the rate is 5.8 times higher for Black males (2,272 per 100,000) than for white men (392 per 100,000).
The foundation raised over $90 million in 2020 and ended the year with a balance of more than $60 million after spending nearly a quarter of its assets on grant funds and other charitable giving.
The BLM foundation has already begun asking recipients to apply for the Survival Fund as it plans to use its endowment to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic on black communities.
And how will the Congressional Republican party react to that Trump CPAC speech at the weekend? There are some notable absentees from the CPAC agenda, including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.
Jordain Carney writes for the Hill this morning that the Senate Republicans are keen to avoid “an intraparty bloodbath that would threaten their chances of taking back the majority in 2022.”
Tensions within the party have been on full display since the ugly mob attack on the Capitol and the impeachment vote and Senate trial that divided Republicans and left Trump and McConnell trading charges in public.
Even on Wednesday, the tensions were evident when House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep Liz Cheney disagreed over Trump’s attendance at a conservative conference this weekend.
Sen John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, acknowledged the current signs of disunity but predicted competing factions of the party would unify. “I think there will be a lot more coordination than it might appear at the moment,” Thune said.
“The former president, the NRSC and Sen McConnell and his team, I think, will be realizing that for us to succeed we’ve got to succeed as a team,” he added, referring to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Sen Kevin Cramer, who aligned himself closely with the former president, said he wasn’t convinced that Trump was ready to “blow up” the party. “Donald Trump’s a pretty pragmatic guy. ... I am just not that worried about it,” Cramer said, predicting that Trump would be “team builder and not a wrecking ball” within the party.
Read more here: The Hill – Senate GOP works to avoid having ‘22 war with Trump
Kristen Holmes, national correspondent at CNN, has a couple of details about Donald Trump’s CPAC speech at the weekend. She says that it is as yet unfinished, raising the spectre for organisers – and the rest of the Republican Party – that he could go in several different directions with it. She says though, per sources, “expect more railing against the election.”
But ultimately, those around him know the speech Trump gives Sunday depend on what speech Trump WANTS to give when he arrives at CPAC the day of, despite what might be on paper in front of him. Whatever tone Trump strikes, source says to expect more railing against the election.
— Kristen Holmes (@KristenhCNN) February 25, 2021
You will hear a lot about “cancel culture” at CPAC over the next few days, and how it is a terrible thing, even as Republicans in Congress try to prevent Neera Tanden taking a role at the Office of Management and Budget at least partially over her past Twitter output. Dana Milbank writes forcefully at the Washington Post this morning on that hypocrisy:
Can you believe that Neera Tanden called Hillary Clinton the “anti-Christ” and the “real enemy”? Oh, wait. It was Ryan Zinke who said those things. Fifty-one Republican senators (and several Democrats, including Joe Manchin) confirmed him as secretary of the interior in 2017.
And how about the times Tanden allegedly called the NAACP a “pinko organization” that “hates white people” and used racial epithets? My bad. That was Jeff Sessions. Again, 51 Republican senators (and one Democrat, Manchin) voted to confirm him as attorney general in 2017.
Surely Tanden went beyond the pale when she “liked” a tweet calling then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry a “traitor” and “Vietnam’s worst export,” and when she suggested Clinton supporters leave the country. Except Mike Pompeo was the one who did those things. He won confirmation as secretary of state in 2018 with the votes of 50 Republicans and six Democrats, including Manchin.
But, Milbank argues, it isn’t the hypocrisy over the tweets that is the worst thing.
What really must sting about Tanden’s tweets is not that they were mean, but that, for the most part, they were true. Then-President Donald Trump called former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman a “crazed, lying lowlife” and a “dog,” Tanden’s now-deleted tweet said: “Trump just called a black woman a dog and about 80% of the GOP don’t think he’s racist. The whole party needs to be defeated in November.”
Read more here: What terrible things did Neera Tanden tweet? The truth
That vaccine roll-out is not without hitches, though, as Vivian Ho reports for us:
Access codes meant to give Californians of color priority access to Covid-19 vaccine slots have been getting passed around among other residents in the state, allowing some to cut the line and get appointments meant for underserved Black and Latino residents.
Misuse of these codes was reported at vaccine sites in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, said Brian Ferguson, spokesperson for the California office of emergency services, to the Guardian.
The codes were one of the tools devised by California leaders to address inequities in vaccine distribution in the state. They were given out to leaders and nonprofits in the Black and Latino communities in LA and the Bay Area to administer to eligible individuals – those 65 years or older, frontline healthcare workers, longterm care residents, and essential workers in the agriculture, food, education, childcare and emergency services sectors. Individuals then could use the code to book a vaccination appointment on the state’s vaccine scheduling website.
Instead, the codes ended up passed on by text message and email, oftentimes with misinformation. “My daughter says that the Oakland Coliseum needs to fill up appointment slots in the next few days to prevent spoilage of excess vaccines!” read an email that Oakland resident Jhumpa Bhattacharya received from a friend on Monday. “If you are interested in getting a vaccine before this Wednesday, the link and access code are pasted below. They’ll schedule appointments for both shots at the same time.”
The friend who forwarded Bhattacharya the email had gotten it from a mother at a preschool cooperative for families of color. That mother had received it from a woman who worked at a racial justice nonprofit. “It’s not quite the same story about the white affluent people in LA,” Bhattacharya said, referencing a Los Angeles Times investigation about the codes getting passed around by the “wealthier, work-from-home set in Los Angeles”. “I don’t think any of these people were ill-intentioned. Some of these people are essential workers and just aren’t eligible yet. People just want to get vaccinated so they can live their lives.”
Read more of Vivian Ho’s report here: California vaccine sites see misuse of codes meant to prioritize Black and Latino residents
White House chief of staff Ronald Klain is in a buoyant mood over the latest vaccination numbers.
Six weeks ago, 14% of people over 75 in the US had gotten one COVID vaccine shot.
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) February 25, 2021
Today, that number stands at nearly 60%.
The New York Times reports this morning that nursing homes, for so long a dangerous place to be during the coronavirus pandemic, have seen a steep fall, in new cases and deaths, outpacing national declines as vaccinations begin to take effect. The paper writes:
The coronavirus has raced through some 31,000 long-term care facilities in the United States, killing more than 163,000 residents and employees and accounting for more than a third of all virus deaths since the late spring. But for the first time since the American outbreak began roughly a year ago the threat inside nursing homes may have finally reached a turning point.
From late December to early February, new cases among nursing home residents fell by more than 80 percent, nearly double the rate of improvement in the general population. The trendline for deaths was even more striking: Even as fatalities spiked over all this winter, deaths inside the facilities have fallen, decreasing by more than 65 percent.
“I’m almost at a loss for words at how amazing it is and how exciting,” said Dr. David Gifford, the chief medical officer for the American Health Care Association, which represents thousands of long-term care facilities across the country.
“If we are seeing a robust response with this vaccine with the elderly with a highly contagious disease,” he said, “I think that’s a great sign for the rest of the population.”
The New York Times notes that about 4.5 million residents and employees in long-term care facilities have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine now, and that new cases in American nursing homes are at their lowest point since May 2020.
Read more here: New York Times – Nursing homes, once hotspots, far outpace US in Covid declines
Astra Taylor, author of Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone, and an organizer with the Debt Collective, writes for us today to say that Joe Biden is already backtracking on his promises to provide student debt relief:
At his recent town hall, Joe Biden made a series of convoluted and condescending comments about American student debt. His remarks cast doubt on his ability, or willingness, to confront this country’s ballooning student loan crisis. Within hours, #cancelstudentdebt was trending on Twitter.
Biden’s rambling justification of the status quo was peppered with straw men, invocations of false scarcity and non-solutions. He pitted working-class Americans against each other, implying that people who attend private schools aren’t worthy of relief, as though poor students don’t also attend such schools. He said that money would be better spent on early childhood education instead of debt cancellation, as if educators aren’t themselves drowning in student debt, and as if we can’t address both concerns at once. He suggested relying on parents or selling a home at a profit to settle your debt, a luxury those without intergenerational wealth or property cannot afford. And he touted various programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), that have totally failed borrowers: over 95% of PSLF applicants have been denied.
In contrast to Biden’s smug comments, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley recently revealed that she defaulted on her student loans. Similarly, at a recent Debt Collective event, congressional hopeful Nina Turner said that she and her son owe a combined $100,000. Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has, of course, proudly confessed to being in debt, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that becoming a congressperson was easier than paying off her debt. Philadelphia councilmember Kendra Brooks (who is planning to introduce a city resolution calling on the Biden administration to cancel all student debt) has also spoken out about her own struggles as a borrower. Their experience and candor – and commitment to real solutions including cancellation – demonstrate why we need debtors, not millionaires, in our public offices.
Let’s be clear about another thing. Biden absolutely has the legal authority to use executive power to cancel all federal student debt. Congress granted this authority decades ago as part of the Higher Education Act. It’s even been put to the test: in response to the Covid pandemic, Donald Trump and his former education secretary, Betsy DeVos, used that authority three times to suspend payments and student loan interest.
Read more here: Astra Taylor – Biden is already backtracking on his promises to provide student debt relief
The coronavirus pandemic has been having an effect on the way that the Biden administration has been carrying out its foreign diplomacy. In stark contrast to the previous administration, which frequently eschewed Covid precautions in the White House, Joe Biden hosted his first foreign leader virtually this week, in the shape of a large-screen version of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, leading to some highly unusual photographs of the two together.
Antony Blinken has tweeted this morning that he is making his first visits this week as secretary of state to Canada and Mexico. That would be a lot of travel to fit into one day, but he’ll also be doing it virtually.
It is a great privilege to make my first visits, virtually, to Canada and Mexico tomorrow. These visits underscore the importance of our relationships. Together we can make great progress to defeat the pandemic, increase regional security, and grow prosperity for our citizens.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) February 25, 2021
The lineup at CPAC 2021 – switched to Florida from Maryland because of coronavirus safety constraints – suggest that Donald Trump’s dominance of the Republican Party is entirely undiminished by his loss of the White House and Republican setbacks in Congress.
Speakers include his allies such as Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state; Ben Carson, the ex-housing secretary; Sarah Sanders, a former White House press secretary; Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota; Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host; Jon Voight, an ardently pro-Trump actor; and Donald Trump Jr, the 45th president’s son.
There are also slots for Senate Republicans including Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Cynthia Lummis and Rick Scott, and House Republicans such as Kevin McCarthy, Mo Brooks, Madison Cawthorn, Matt Gaetz and Jim Jordan, all of whom voted to challenge Joe Biden’s victory. The “big lie” of a stolen election is expected to thrive at CPAC.
That is not least because the conference will culminate on Sunday with Trump himself. In his first post-presidential speech, he is expected to promise to back Maga candidates in next year’s midterm elections, condemn Biden’s reversal of his immigration policies and reserve particular venom for his foes within the Republican party.
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC, told the Reuters news agency: “Donald Trump is going to stay in the game and will be involved in primaries and he’s going to opine and he’s going to give speeches, and for establishment Republicans it puts shivers down their spine. They’re very concerned he’s going to continue to have an impact. My advice to them is to get used to it.”
Among the talking points will be a straw poll of attendees on their preferences for the Republican nomination in 2024. Given the section of the party that now rules CPAC, there is little doubt that Trump will emerge the winner.
Tim Miller, former political director of Republican Voters Against Trump, said: “He’s gonna speak right after the 2024 straw poll, which presumably will show him with a landslide victory, and so I think it’s set up for him speak in a way that will signal that he sees himself as the leader of the party, as the frontrunner for 2024. He will attack those who have questioned him in that regard.
“I’m sure he’ll be received overwhelmingly positively by the crowd in those appeals. The Republicans are doing this to themselves. They had an opportunity to put a stake in his heart, they didn’t take it and he’s in charge of the party right now.”
Read more of David Smith’s report here: ‘The base is solidly behind him’: Trumpism expected to thrive at CPAC
Republican protests about some of the elements in the proposed economic package have cut no ice with Rep Ilhan Omar. She said of a tweet by Sen Marsha Blackburn outlining the costs of some of the items she was objecting to that “They are not even trying anymore.”
They are not even trying anymore. https://t.co/ZLKazrmK5Y
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 25, 2021
Blackburn had highlighted Planned Parenthood among things that would be funded by money directed to healthcare services, and was also objecting to $335m out of $1.9 trillion dollars going to support museums and libraries which have been forced to close their doors during the pandemic.
Democrats have been keen to paint their Covid relief proposals as having bipartisan support among the public. Joe Biden has said “The vast majority of the American people — more than 70% of the American people, with all the polls you all conduct, including a majority of Republicans — want us to act, and act big and quickly and support the plan.”
Not every poll suggests there is a majority of public support for the plans among Republicans, and one place there definitely isn’t is Washington DC.
Alan Fram reports for the Associated Press this morning on the GOP pushback. By late Wednesday, not one Republican in either chamber had publicly said he or she would back the legislation. Republican leaders were honing attacks on the package as a job killer that does too little to reopen schools or businesses shuttered for the coronavirus pandemic and that was not only wasteful but also even unscrupulous.
“I haven’t seen a Republican yet that’s found something in there that they agree with,” said House minority leader Kevin McCarthy. “I think all Republicans believe in three simple things: They want a bill that puts us back to work, back to school and back to health. This bill is too costly, too corrupt and too liberal.”
The hardening opposition suggested that Biden’s first major legislative initiative could encounter unanimous Republican opposition. That was a counterpoint to the new president’s refrain during his campaign about bringing the country together and a replay of the Republican wall that new President Barack Obama encountered in 2009 and most of his administration.
Democrats showed no signs of backing down, citing the assistance the measure would spread to people, businesses and state and local governments. “If congressional Republicans want to oppose all that, my response is: Good luck,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor.
Erin McCormick reports for us that at least one in eight health workers lost in the pandemic died after the vaccine became available:
As healthcare workers in the US began lining up for their first coronavirus vaccines on 14 December, Esmeralda Campos-Loredo was already fighting for oxygen.
The 49-year-old nursing assistant and mother of two had started having breathing problems just days earlier. By the time the first of her co-workers were getting shots, she was shivering in a tent in the parking lot of a Los Angeles hospital, because no medical beds were available. When she gasped for air, she had to wait all day for relief because there was a critical shortage of oxygen tanks.
Campos-Laredo died of Covid-19 on 18 December, one of at least 400 health workers identified by the Guardian/KHN’s Lost on the frontline investigation who have died since the vaccine became available in mid-December, narrowly missing the protection that might have saved their lives.
“I told her to hang in there, because they are releasing the vaccine,” said her daughter Joana Campos. “But it was just a little too late.”
In California, which became the center of the national coronavirus surge following Thanksgiving, 40% of all healthcare worker deaths came after the vaccine was being distributed to medical staff.
An analysis of the Guardian/KHN’s Lost on the Frontline database indicates that at least one in eight health workers lost in the pandemic died after the vaccine became available. Unlike California, many states do not require a thorough reporting of the deaths of nurses, doctors, first responders and other medical staff. The analysis did not include federally reported deaths where the name was not released and may be missing numerous recent deaths that have not yet been detected by the Guardian/KHN.
The vaccine is now widely available to healthcare workers around the country and since mid-January, Covid-19 cases have been trending downward in the US.
Read more of Erin McCormick’s report here: At least 400 US healthcare workers have died of Covid since December
Number of people hospitalized with Covid in US falls below 55,000
There were 74,502 new cases of coronavirus recorded in the US yesterday. The total caseload, according to the numbers collected by the Johns Hopkins University stands at 28,309,566.
There were 3,230 deaths, with the total US death toll now at 505,529.
The data from the CDC indicates that over 20 million people in the US have now been fully vaccinated with two doses of a Covid vaccine. That’s around 6% of the population.
The number of people hospitalised in the US fell below 55,000 for the first time since 5 November.
Yesterday Joe Biden announced increased plans to distribute masks in the US to help combat the spread of Covid. A White House statement said:
The Administration will deliver more than 25 million masks to over 1,300 Community Health Centers across the country as well as 60,000 food pantries and soup kitchens, reaching some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations.
Recipients will be encouraged to take an individually wrapped package of two masks for each person in their household. These masks will be no cost, high-quality, washable, and consistent with the mask guidance from the CDC. All of these masks will be made in America, and will not impact availability of masks for health care workers.
Biden also took action yesterday to formally continue the national emergency initially declared over the coronavirus by his predecessor Donald Trump on 1 March 2020.
Overnight the Washington Post has reported that a coronavirus variant detected in California this winter rapidly became dominant in the state over five months and now makes up more than half of the infections in 44 counties. One of the risks to vaccination roll-out globally is that mutations in the coronavirus may evade the vaccine. Joel Achenbach and Carolyn Johnson write:
The United States has been ramping up scrutiny of the shape-shifting virus, and scientists have identified many genetically distinct variants, but there is continued uncertainty and debate over which of these mutations are significant and to what extent. The variant identified in California has emerged as potentially the first homegrown “variant of concern” in the United States, though it has not yet been designated that by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The variant contains a mutation that scientists suspect is enhancing the virus’s ability to bind to human receptor cells. If truly more transmissible, as the new study contends, the California variant joins a growing list of virus variants circulating in the United States.
“Fundamentally, it doesn’t change the direction we are going, which is we want to hold cases down to where we can get the pandemic under control. Simply having a more infectious variant circulating is not going to be the end of the world,” said Charles Chiu, a professor of laboratory medicine and infectious diseases at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine, and the senior scientist behind the new research.
Read more here: Washington Post – New research shows California coronavirus variant is more transmissible
Welcome to our coverage of US politics for Thursday, on a day when the Biden administration will once again try and throw the spotlight onto their coronavirus response.
- President Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris will participate in a White House event today celebrating the 50 millionth shot of a Covid vaccine in the US. He has promised to deliver 100 million shots by his first 100 days. The event is at 2.30pm EST (1930 GMT).
- There were 73,386 new coronavirus cases recorded yesterday in the US, with 3,148 further deaths.
- The FDA declared Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot Covid vaccine to be safe and effective, paving the way for emergency use approval tomorrow.
- We are expecting the US at some point – possibly today – to declassify information about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The release is expected to be preceded by a call between Biden and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman. Yesterday press secretary Jen Psaki said “The president’s intention, as is the intention of this government, is to recalibrate our engagement with Saudi Arabia.”
- A former member of embattled Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration who previously accused him of sexual harassment offered new details, saying he once kissed her on the lips without consent.
- A US navy veteran who was experiencing a mental health crisis died after a police officer called out to help him knelt on his neck for several minutes, asphyxiating him, lawyers for his family have said.
- The American Conservative Union annual CPAC event will feature Donald Trump’s first major post-presidency speech on Sunday. The event gets underway tonight with a welcome reception – the speeches start in earnest on Friday.
- Also on Biden’s agenda for today: lunch with Kamala Harris, the president’s daily briefing, and he’ll take part in the National Governors Association’s Winter Meeting. Psaki will give the White House press briefing at noon (1700 GMT).
