“President Biden signed two executive orders on Friday to provide help to struggling families and raise wages for certain workers, turning once again to the power of the executive branch to advance his economic goals as the legislative chances for his broader stimulus package remain uncertain.
‘The crisis is only deepening,’ Mr. Biden said during remarks at the White House, calling the need to help those out of work and unable to afford enough food ‘an economic imperative.’
‘We have the tools to help people,’ he said. ‘So let’s use the tools. All of them. Now.’
Mr. Biden’s executive orders are intended to increase the amount of money poor families get for food each month and provide additional meal money for needy students whose schools have been closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The president will also direct the Treasury Department to find ways to deliver stimulus checks to at least eight million Americans who are eligible for money but have not yet received funds.
A second executive order will lay the groundwork for the federal government to require a $15 an hour minimum wage for its employees and contract workers, while making it easier for federal workers to bargain collectively for better pay and benefits. Read more at New York Times
“The Justice Department’s top leaders listened in stunned silence this month: One of their peers, they were told, had devised a plan with President Donald J. Trump to oust Jeffrey A. Rosen as acting attorney general and wield the department’s power to force Georgia state lawmakers to overturn its presidential election results.
The unassuming lawyer who worked on the plan, Jeffrey Clark, had been devising ways to cast doubt on the election results and to bolster Mr. Trump’s continuing legal battles and the pressure on Georgia politicians. Because Mr. Rosen had refused the president’s entreaties to carry out those plans, Mr. Trump was about to decide whether to fire Mr. Rosen and replace him with Mr. Clark.
The department officials, convened on a conference call, then asked each other: What will you do if Mr. Rosen is dismissed?
The answer was unanimous. They would resign.
Their informal pact ultimately helped persuade Mr. Trump to keep Mr. Rosen in place, calculating that a furor over mass resignations at the top of the Justice Department would eclipse any attention on his baseless accusations of voter fraud. Mr. Trump’s decision came only after Mr. Rosen and Mr. Clark made their competing cases to him in a bizarre White House meeting that two officials compared with an episode of Mr. Trump’s reality show ‘The Apprentice,’ albeit one that could prompt a constitutional crisis.
The previously unknown chapter was the culmination of the president’s long-running effort to batter the Justice Department into advancing his personal agenda. He also pressed Mr. Rosen to appoint special counsels, including one who would look into Dominion Voting Systems, a maker of election equipment that Mr. Trump’s allies had falsely said was working with Venezuela to flip votes from Mr. Trump to Joseph R. Biden Jr. Read more at New York Times
“The Senate will start President Trump's second impeachment trial during the week of Feb. 8, Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) announced on Friday.
‘Both the House managers and the defense will have a period of time to draft their legal briefs just as they did in previous trials. ... Once the briefs are drafted, the presentation by the parties will commence the week of Feb. 8,’ Schumer said from the Senate floor.
Schumer's announcement comes after he disclosed earlier Friday that the House article of impeachment will be delivered to the Senate on Monday.
Under the agreement between Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the article will be read at 7 p.m. on Monday. Senators will be sworn in Tuesday and a summons will be issued to Trump.
Trump's response to the article and House's pre-trial brief will be due by Feb. 2, and Trump's pre-trial brief will be due six days later.” Read more at The Hill
“Lloyd J. Austin III was swiftly sworn in as secretary of defense on Friday, filling a senior national security position in President Biden’s cabinet, one briefly threatened by unease among lawmakers to again put a recently retired general in charge of the Pentagon.
Mr. Austin, the first Black defense secretary in the nation’s history, faces numerous global and domestic threats at once, including racism in the armed forces, a persistent menace he encountered over his decades-long Army career, and one that secretaries before him have failed to treat as an overarching threat to their mission.
Many of those arrested after a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 have current or previous ties to the military. Just hours after Mr. Austin was confirmed, the White House announced that the administration would conduct a ‘comprehensive threat assessment’ of domestic extremism across various national security agencies. Read more at New York Times
“In December, pharmacists made the happy discovery that they could squeeze an extra vaccine dose out of Pfizer vials that were supposed to contain only five.
Now, it appears, the bill is due. Pfizer plans to count the surprise sixth dose toward its previous commitment of 200 million doses of Covid vaccine by the end of July and therefore will be providing fewer vials than once expected for the United States.
And yet, pharmacists at some vaccination sites say they are still struggling to reliably extract the extra doses, which require the use of a specialty syringe.” Read at New York Times
“President Biden’s plan to use a Cold War-era law to boost the Covid-19 vaccination effort isn’t likely to expand production significantly in the near term, but it could jump-start vaccinations by increasing other supplies such as syringes, vaccine manufacturers and experts say.
Mr. Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to take certain steps to expand vaccine manufacturing, such as producing more equipment and materials used to make shots. He also will use the act to boost supplies such as “low dead space” syringes, which can be used to squeeze more doses out of vaccine vials.
Mr. Biden, inaugurated Wednesday, has set a plan to administer 100 million vaccine doses in the first 100 days of his presidency.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Democrats are mulling whether they can use the 14th Amendment to prevent former President Trump from ever holding office again.
The discussions are in the early stages — and top members of the Senate caucus aren’t yet convinced it’s a viable remedy — but senators are exploring their options as they plot a strategy after Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol.” Read more at The Hill
“People who have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine can schedule their second shot up to six weeks later if they are not able to get one in the recommended time frame, according to updated guidance this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Read more at Washington Post
Mr. Aaron eyed the flight of the ball as he hit his 715th career homer in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Atlanta in 1974.HARRY HARRIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — “Hank Aaron, who faced down racism as he eclipsed Babe Ruth as baseball’s home run king, hitting 755 homers and holding the most celebrated record in sports for more than 30 years, has died. He was 86.
The Atlanta Braves, his team for many years, confirmed the death Friday. No other details were provided.
Playing for 23 seasons, all but his final two years with the Braves in Milwaukee and then Atlanta, Mr. Aaron was among the greatest all-around players in baseball history and one of the last major league stars to have played in the Negro leagues.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Larry King, the Brooklyn-bred man who became cable TV’s most well-known talk-show host, died Saturday. He was 87.
King had been hospitalized with COVID-19. He passed away Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to Ora Media, a production company King founded with Mexican media mogul Carlos Slim.
‘For 63 years and across the platforms of radio, television and digital media, Larry’s many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster,’ the company said.
Over the course of more than five decades years in radio and TV broadcasting, half of it spent hosting CNN’s ‘Larry King Live,’ King mingled with the famous and infamous, and average people who became either. Read more at USA Today
“House Democrats have renewed their long-stalled demand for Donald Trump’s federal tax records, but the Biden administration has not decided whether it will drop its predecessor’s objections and release the Treasury Department records to investigators, Justice Department attorneys told a federal judge Friday.
U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden declined Friday to lift a stay on a pending House lawsuit. Instead, the judge agreed to give Treasury and Justice Department officials two weeks to report back to him, acknowledging that President Biden’s team was just settling in after the inauguration this week.
McFadden also kept in place an order requiring the government to give the former president’s lawyers 72 hours’ notice before releasing his tax return information to allow them to file a request to block the release.” Read more at Washington Post
“Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) said Friday she did not vote for former President Trump in November's election but pledged she would stay in the Senate Republican Conference, once again ruling out the possibility of caucusing with Senate Democrats.
Murkowski called for her fellow Republicans to rethink and rebuild what their party is about, urging it to be the more inclusive party it was under former Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Murkowski noted that she has previously said ‘if the Republican Party continues to be the party of Trump, I’m not quite sure where I fit.’” Read more at The Hill
“The $1 billion jackpot-winning Mega Millions ticket, the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history, was sold in Michigan, according to the Mega Millions website. Friday's winning numbers were 4, 26, 42, 50, 60 and Mega Ball 24.” Read more at USA Today
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