“The world is adding a third weapon to the country's COVID-19 arsenal . An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted unanimously to recommend the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on the recommendation soon afterward. The Johnson & Johnson shot was authorized Friday by the Food and Drug Administration for people 18 and older. It requires only one dose and does not have to be frozen. Johnson & Johnson said it began shipping its COVID-19 vaccine Sunday and expects to deliver enough single-shot vaccines by the end of March.” Read more at USA Today
“Mexico's President is expected to ask President Biden about the US possibly sharing its vaccine supply. Mexico has several purchase agreements with drug makers, but many have gone unfulfilled. Meanwhile, more than 2,400 cases of the UK, Brazil and South Africa coronavirus variants have been detected in the US, and the CDC warns the actual number could be much higher.” Read more at CNN
“The Senate is now the focus of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package after the House approved it Saturday . The bill, known as the American Rescue Plan, narrowly passed 219-212. And it faces a similarly rocky path in the evenly divided Senate, with no Republicans expected to support the bill. The president will have to count on every one of the 50 Democratic senators — and a tie-breaking 51st vote from Vice President Kamala Harris — to make sure its key pillars remain in the bill. The measure would provide millions of Americans $1,400 stimulus payments, ramp up vaccine distribution and extend unemployment aid through the summer.” Read more at USA Today
“Jerome Powell — the Federal Reserve chairman, appointed by Donald Trump — has avoided talking about the bill’s details but has signaled he supports moving aggressively, rather than focusing on the deficit. One factor: Over the past two decades, forecasters have repeatedly been too optimistic about economic growth — which suggests that policymakers have usually done too little to support growth, not too much.
Roughly half of it is direct cash payments.
The biggest item (costing about $420 billion) is a package of $1,400-per-person checks for most households. Other major items include an expansion of jobless benefits ($240 billion); an expansion of tax credits for parents and low-income workers ($130 billion); health insurance subsidies ($65 billion); and housing assistance ($40 billion).
The other half of the bill is mostly aid to state and local governments, including money for schools as well as for coronavirus testing and vaccination.
The bill is popular.
Polls have found that about 70 percent of Americans support the plan, including a sizable share of Republican voters. The $1,400 direct payments are especially popular. ‘People need help right now, and I’m OK with my tax dollars doing that,’ Melissa Karn, 53, a Trump voter from the Phoenix suburbs, told The Times.
Research by Chris Warshaw of George Washington University suggests that the plan is the most popular piece of major federal policy since a minimum-wage increase in 2007.
Still, no House Republicans voted for the bill, and few if any Senate Republicans are likely to. Many believe that such a large amount of federal spending — following several other stimulus packages last year — is a waste of taxpayer money when the pandemic has already begun to recede. (A few Democratic economists agree.) Congressional Republicans also have a longstanding strategy of opposing any legislation proposed by a new Democratic president, to weaken him by making him look like a partisan figure.
The bill would substantially cut poverty.
In the language of economics, the bill is highly progressive — sending more money to middle-class and lower-income families than to upper-income families. Some of the cash payments would go only to lower-income families (like food aid), while others would be nearly across-the-board (like the $1,400 checks) but would have a larger proportional impact on poorer families.
Over all, an analysis by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University found that Biden’s proposal (which is similar to the House bill) would reduce poverty by almost 30 percent in 2021, moving 12 million Americans above the poverty line.
The bill’s least ambitious aspect: It’s temporary.
Franklin D. Roosevelt didn’t merely try to halt the Great Depression after taking office; he also restructured the U.S. economy, by creating federal programs and strengthening labor unions. Ronald Reagan, coming from the other side of the political spectrum, didn’t merely try to crush inflation; he also transformed the tax code.
The virus relief bill is not on the same scale, partly because most of its provisions would expire over the next few months. Biden has signaled that his next major proposal — known as Build Back Better — is his more sweeping attempt to fix the U.S. economy.
But the current bill may still have some long-term impact. Many Democrats hope that some of the provisions — like the universal monthly payment for children and the expansion of jobless benefits — will prove popular enough that Congress later extends them.
The Senate will alter the House bill.
The Senate will almost certainly remove a minimum-wage increase in the bill. It’s also possible that some Democratic senators will try to restrict how many households are eligible to receive the $1,400 checks — or otherwise reduce the bill’s size.
Ultimately, the Senate and House both need to pass identical bills for Biden to sign one. Many Democrats want to pass a final bill by March 14, when some benefits from an earlier stimulus — like expanded jobless benefits — start to expire.” Read more at New York Times
“Former President Donald Trump addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference on Sunday. In his keynote address, the former president said his successor, Joe Biden, had ‘the most disastrous first month of any president in modern history,’ and restated false claims that the election was stolen from him. Read more at NPR
“This could be a busy month for Democratic lawmakers when it comes to immigration reform. They're hoping to resurface a series of bills that would legalize undocumented immigrants and get those bills on the House floor before April 1. If they meet that deadline, lawmakers could avoid having to go through committee again. The bills would grant legal status to thousands of undocumented farmworkers and address immigrants who came to the US illegally as children. Biden is also pursuing a sweeping bill known as the US Citizenship Act that tackles the whole US immigration system and seeks to legalize millions of undocumented immigrants already in the US.” Read more at CNN
“After a second former aide made sexual harassment allegations against him, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a statement Sunday saying his behavior may have been ‘insensitive’ but was ‘misinterpreted.’” Read more at NPR
“At least 18 people died and more than 30 were injured as Myanmar's security forces launched their deadliest crackdown on peaceful demonstrators since the military coup that upended the country’s government last month. The UN Human Rights Office condemned the military’s use of force and reiterated the right of the people to peacefully assemble. Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi is also facing another charge amid the latest conflagration. Her lawyer reportedly says she was charged under Myanmar's colonial-era penal code prohibiting publishing information that may ‘cause fear or alarm.’ Suu Kyi has not been seen by the public or her lawyers since she and other civil leaders were detained at the start of the coup.” Read more at CNN
“Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of corruption and influence peddling on Monday and sentenced to one year in prison. Sarkozy was also given a two-year suspended sentence.
Prosecutors had demanded a four-year sentence for the 66-year old with a requirement to serve at least two years. In justifying the requested sentence, they cited the damage Sarkozy had inflicted on the French presidency.
Monday’s sentence can still be appealed and it remained unclear if Sarkozy would have to spend any time in prison even if an appeal were to fail.
The charges against Sarkozy, who was president between 2007 and 2012, were centered around the question whether the former French leader was behind a deal with a magistrate to illegally receive information on inquiries linked to him, using false names and unofficial phone lines.” Read more at Washington Post
“Kicking off the strangest awards season of all time, road drama ‘Nomadland’ and mockumentary sequel ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ took home big honors at Sunday night's glitchy Golden Globes. Hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the Golden Globes were even more unpredictable and chaotic than usual, thanks in large part to the show’s hybrid virtual format. Amid the mayhem were some genuinely terrific moments, as ‘Nomadland’ drove off with the night’s biggest award for best drama, and Jodie Foster (‘The Mauritanian’) and Andra Day (‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’) appeared genuinely surprised by their unexpected acting wins. Here are more of the best and worst moments from the show.” Read more at USA Today
“The Biden administration is expected to make an announcement Monday related to sanctions on Saudi Arabia in response to the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi . Biden’s administration has been criticized over its decision to thus far not directly punish Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, despite the declassification of an intelligence report which clearly implicated the prince in Khashoggi’s death. The State Department has issued 76 visa restrictions on Saudi nationals who are ‘believed to have been engaged in threatening dissidents overseas, including but not limited to the Khashoggi killing.’ Yet, bin Salman himself is not set to face any repercussions for the attack. The White House has so far resisted calls to enact punishments directly on bin Salman, arguing the geopolitics of the situation require a more delicate approach.” Read more at USA Today
Prince Philip moved to new hospital - “Britain's Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was moved from one London hospital to another on Monday for treatment of an infection and observation of a preexisting heart condition, Buckingham Palace announced.” Read more at CNN
Costco is increasing its minimum wage to $16 per hour, but there's more to the story. Read more at USA Today
American Airlines diverted a flight after a 'disturbing and unacceptable' passenger fight over racial slur. Read more at USA Today
“A string of mass abductions of students is disrupting education in Nigeria, which already has one of the highest number of out-of-school children globally.” Read more at Bloomberg
“McKinsey’s leadership vote reveals cracks in its global partnership. A $573 million settlement for the company’s work with opioids makers prompted complaints from overseas partners, as tension rose amid changes made by top partner Kevin Sneader. His failed bid for re-election made him the firm's first managing partner in decades to serve just one term.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Prince Harry says the process of separating from royal life has been very difficult for him and his wife, Meghan.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry invoked the memory of his late mother, Princess Diana, who had to find her way alone after she and Prince Charles divorced.
‘I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side, because I can’t begin to imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago,” Harry said, adding, “because it’s been unbelievably tough for the two of us.’” Read more at AP
“Lives Lived: Fred Segal’s laid-back style and namesake jeans made his clothing boutiques an emblem of Los Angeles cool, attracting Bob Dylan, Farah Fawcett and the Beatles. Segal died at 87.” Read more at New York Times
“FEMA published a long list of foreseeable events that could stress our national capabilities past the breaking point, Felix Salmon writes:
Earthquakes are at the top of the list. The scariest one, which could be as large as 9.2 on the Richter scale, will take place someday in the Pacific Northwest, which is ill-prepared for such a catastrophe along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Other regions at risk are California, along the San Andreas Fault, and the New Madrid Seismic Zone on the Arkansas–Tennessee border.
An extreme solar flare could be utterly devastating, causing a magnetic storm powerful enough to result in power outages across most or all of the country. Such an event caused major damage in 1859, when America was much less electrified.
A cyberattack would have a similar effect in terms of its impact on the information economy — but could be even harder to recover from if the attack was maintained indefinitely.
Hurricanes and wildfires are now an annual occurrence. But Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and other major cities — including D.C. — have done very little in terms of beefing up their ability to withstand such events.
The next pandemic could be much deadlier than this one, and even more disruptive.
The bottom line: Catastrophe will strike. Building resilience now would save trillions of dollars — and possibly millions of lives. Read more at Axios
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