- DoJ watchdog investigation will look into possible internal collusion with Trump’s attempts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory
- Fauci: US scientists working to upgrade Covid vaccines for variants
- Dominion Voting Systems to file lawsuit against Giuliani
- Biden to drop Trump’s military transgender ban
- Sign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email
Updated

Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on 20 January 2021.
Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters
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12:14
DoJ watchdog to investigate possible internal collusion with attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory
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11:21
‘Right thing to do’
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11:17
Biden overturns US military transgender ban
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11:07
California to ease lockdown restrictions
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10:52
GOP Senator who criticized Trump in relation to Capitol insurrection won’t seek re-election
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09:43
Biden’s Made in America push
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09:25
More than 130 police officers injured during 6 January Capitol pro-Trump insurrection
Psaki just announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been dispatched to assist at an under-staffed vaccination site.
More details shortly.
Psaki just confirmed that Joe Biden tore up Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.
And Biden is to maintain travel restrictions on Europe, Britain, Ireland and Brazil and add South Africa restrictions, to try to curb the spread of variants of the coronavirus disease.
An update, the vaccination center was in West Virginia, MSNBC reports.
Kyle Griffin
(@kylegriffin1)Jen Psaki says FEMA has been deployed in West Virginia to assist with vaccinations efforts.
Updated
The White House press briefing has just begun. Press sec Jen Psaki just announced that from now on, her briefings will be accompanied by someone delivering the material using sign language.
Jan Wolfe
(@JanNWolfe)The White House briefings will have an American Sign Language interpreter. Today’s interpreter is joining virtually. pic.twitter.com/lis4YewAuQ
Updated
Five days after the end of Donald Trump’s presidency, the supreme court today halted lawsuits accusing him of violating the US Constitution’s anti-corruption provisions by maintaining ownership of his business empire, including a hotel near the White House while in office.

Trump International Hotel, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC. Photograph: Eva Hambach/AFP/Getty Images
The action means that after four years of litigation the top US judicial body will not rule on the meaning and scope of the Constitution’s so-called emoluments provisions, a largely untested area of constitutional law.
The provisions bar presidents from accepting gifts or payments from foreign and state governments without congressional approval.
The justices threw out lower court rulings that had allowed the lawsuits to proceed, Reuters reports, and ordered the two cases dismissed because they became moot with Trump leaving office.
One of the cases was filed by the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland, while the other by plaintiffs including the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Trump had appealed the lower court rulings.
“Only Trump losing the presidency and leaving office ended these corrupt constitutional violations and stopped these groundbreaking lawsuits,” CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.
Maryland attorney general Brian Frosh and District of Columbia attorney general Karl Racine said in a joint statement that their case was significant because a lower court “ruled on the meaning of ‘emoluments’ for the first time in American history.”
Frosh and Racine said Trump and his Justice Department appointees who defended him “went to extreme lengths to prevent us from uncovering the true extent of his corruption.”
The Justice Department, now under Democratic president Joe Biden’s administration, declined to comment on the Supreme Court’s action.
In one of the cases, plaintiffs including CREW, a hotel owner and a restaurant trade group said the Republican former president’s failure to disentangle himself from his businesses had made him vulnerable to inducements by officials seeking to curry favor.
The plaintiffs said that they lost patronage, wages and commissions from clients who chose Trump’s businesses over theirs because of the ability to gain his favor. After a federal judge initially threw out the case, the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals revived it in 2019.
A 2020 decision by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US circuit court of appeals allowed the similar lawsuit by the District of Columbia and Maryland to proceed. That suit focused on the Trump International Hotel in Washington, which became a favored lodging and event space for some foreign and state officials visiting Washington.
A third lawsuit filed by congressional Democrats against Trump ended last year after the Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal of a lower court ruling that the lawmakers lacked the necessary legal standing to pursue the case.
Walter Shaub, the former top US government ethics watchdog, who resigned early in the Trump administration, was sharply critical of the Scotus decision. today.
Walter Shaub
(@waltshaub)That’s insane. They’re not moot. He still has the money. When any other federal employee violates the emoluments clause they have to forfeit the money. https://t.co/09kAERxBB7
Shaub had previously strongly criticized the president over his failure to divest from his business holdings, saying he was “extremely troubled” that Trump simply turned over his investments to his two oldest sons.
Updated
It looks as though Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy will preside over Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the senate next month.
Manu Raju
(@mkraju)New – Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Senate pro tempore, is expected to preside in impeachment trial, two sources tell me and @JoanBiskupic – not Chief Justice John Roberts
Senators preside when the person facing trial isn’t the current president of the United States, per one source
It was known that it wouldn’t be Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts, as it was during Trump’s 2019 impeachment trial when Trump was a sitting president, and there was growing speculation that vice-president Kamala Harris, as the president of the Senate, would not preside over the upcoming melodrama.
So it looks like Leahy will be in charge, as president pro tempore.
The senate describes the role of president pro tempore as: the person who presides over the [senate] chamber in the absence of the vice president. The president pro tempore (or, “president for a time”) is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.

Patrick Leahy. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP
Leahy is also a movie star…..having appeared in Batman films.
Major changes.

Former US first lady Michelle Obama and now-first lady Jill Biden with Champ Biden in 2012.
Champ has since been joined in the Biden household by a much younger dog, Major, who just became the first rescue dog to inhabit the White House. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Some more details on that new investigation by the DoJ watchdog:
The Justice Department’s inspector general is launching an investigation to examine whether any former or current department officials “engaged in an improper attempt” to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz said today that the investigation will investigate allegations concerning the conduct of former and current Justice Department officials – but will not extend to other government officials, The AP reports.

Incoming Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, left, on January 20, succeeded Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell (right), on Capitol Hill. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
The investigation comes after The New York Times reported that a former assistant attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, had been discussing a plan with the then-president, Donald Trump, to oust the acting attorney general, try to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential race and suggest falsely that there had been widespread election fraud.
The announcement of the investigation comes two days after Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer demanded the inspector general launch a probe “into this attempted sedition.”
The New York Democrat, Schumer, said it was “unconscionable a Trump Justice Department leader would conspire to subvert the people’s will.”
Election officials across the country, along with Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed there was no widespread fraud in the election.
Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states won by Biden, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states.
The vast majority of the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, which includes three justices nominated by Trump.
Well that jogged things along. Joe Biden just signed the executive order at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office reversing Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.
President Biden
(@POTUS)Today, I repealed the discriminatory ban on transgender people serving in the military. It’s simple: America is safer when everyone qualified to serve can do so openly and with pride.
Biden said he would take questions later in the day, from gathered media. This was just a ‘spray’ as it’s known – a brief witnessing by members of the selected press pool of the president meeting someone or announcing something at the White House, etc.
Biden was wearing a mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus, as was the vice-president Kamala Harris, and the new defense secretary, Lloyd Austin.
Austin is the first Black American to serve as US defense sec and, of course, Harris is the first female and first Black veep, as Biden continues to mark the changes from the Trump era.

Joe Biden in the Oval Office. Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters
Updated
As we await Joe Biden and Kamala Harris appearing at the White House for an event with Lloyd Austin (20 mins behind published schedule, and counting….), here are some details from the WH fact sheet released with the announcement that the president is dropping Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving openly in the military, thanks to my Washington colleague Joan Greve for pinging that on in full.
President Biden signed today an Executive Order that sets the policy that all Americans who are qualified to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States should be able to serve. The All-Volunteer Force thrives when it is composed of diverse Americans who can meet the rigorous standards for military service, and an inclusive military strengthens our national security.
President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity. This question of how to enable all qualified Americans to serve in the military is easily answered by recognizing our core values. America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is no exception. Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. Simply put, it’s the right thing to do and is in our national interest.
In 2016, a comprehensive study requested by the Department of Defense found that enabling transgender individuals to serve openly in the United States military would have only a minimal impact on military readiness and healthcare costs. The study also concluded that open transgender service has had no significant impact on operational effectiveness or unit cohesion in foreign militaries.These facts were confirmed by testimony in 2018 to Congress by the then-serving Chief of Staff of the Army, Chief of Naval Operations, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and Chief of Staff of the Air Force that they were not aware of any issues of unit cohesion, disciplinary problems, or issues of morale resulting from open transgender service. In addition, former United States Surgeons General, who served under both Democratic and Republican Presidents, supported this posture, noted in 2018 that “transgender troops are as medically fit as their non-transgender peers and that there is no medically valid reason — including a diagnosis of gender dysphoria — to exclude them from military service or to limit their access to medically necessary care.”
Today’s executive action revokes the Presidential Memorandum of March 23, 2018 (Military Service by Transgender Individuals), and also confirms the revocation of the Presidential Memorandum of August 25, 2017 (Military Service by Transgender Individuals).
We paws for happy news.
Jill Biden
(@FLOTUS)Champ and Major have joined us in the White House! 💕🐾 pic.twitter.com/R035YnavVo
DoJ watchdog to investigate possible internal collusion with attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory
The US Department of Justice’s internal watchdog has said today that his office is launching an investigation in whether any department officials engaged in an improper attempt to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
This news just snapped on Reuters and clearly refers to the New York Times report at the weekend that said Trump plotted with an official at the Department of Justice to fire the acting attorney general, then force Georgia Republicans to overturn his defeat in that state.
Reuters adds that the investigation will be into whether current or former department officials made an “improper attempt” to seek to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Updated
Meanwhile, Joe Biden has brought back Dr. Kevin O’Connor as his physician, replacing Donald Trump’s doctor with the one who oversaw Biden’s care when he was vice president.
The White House confirmed that Dr Sean Conley, the Navy commander who served as the head of the White House Medical Unit under Trump and oversaw his treatment when he was hospitalized with Covid-19, will assume a teaching role at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, The AP reports.
O’Connor, a retired Army colonel, was Biden’s doctor during his entire tenure as vice president, having remained in the role at Biden’s request. He remained Biden’s physician while assuming a role on the faculty of George Washington University.
The White House said O’Connor was being commissioned by the president but was not rejoining the military. He is the first non-active duty doctor to serve as physician to the president in almost three decades.
Conley faced intense scrutiny over his lack of transparency during Trump’s illness with Covid-19.
Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said at the time that Trump’s condition was worse than Conley had let on.
Molly Nagle
(@MollyNagle3)Scoop: Joe Biden has chosen long-time physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor to be his WH Doc.
He’ll take over for Dr. Sean Conley in the position that came under intense scrutiny during President Trump’s time in office over transparency ⬇️ https://t.co/VRFLuaQmAj
Some recent history. It’s been just under a decade since Bill Clinton’s awful compromise law on gays in the military “Don’t ask, don’t tell” formally ended.
Clinton introduced the “DADT” law in 1993 as a compromise step to full equality, DADT allowed gay and lesbian members of the military to serve only if their sexuality remained secret or was not reported.
The Service-members Legal Defence Network estimated that since the law’s introduction and its end, 13,000 gay men, lesbians and queer troops more widely had been discharged after their sexual orientation was revealed.
Barack Obama had pledged to overturn “DADT” during his 2008 election campaign, but action on the issue appeared stalled until his January 2010 state of the union speech, when he said: “This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.”
The call was met with stony silence from members of the military seated in front of the president, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Obama was behind the curve compared with Joe Biden on making gay marriage legal in the US. But he made steady progress on all things queer and gender non-conforming as his years in the White House went on, and in the summer of 2016 the Obama administration ended the ban on openly transgender troops serving in the military.
Six months after taking office, Donald Trump went smartly about face on that.
The then freshly-minted 45th president tweeted at the time: “After consultation with my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States government will not accept or allow … transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military.”

Active duty members of the US military participate in the 2017 San Diego LGBT Pride parade in San Diego, California. Photograph: David Maung/EPA
Today is a new day for LGBTQ members and aspiring members of the US military.
DJ Judd
(@DJJudd)And there it is– the White House announces an executive action repealing Trump’s ban on trans service members in the military, writing, “President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity.” pic.twitter.com/cj0Fkn2Lyo
Updated
‘Right thing to do’
More on that:
Joe Biden has overturned a controversial ban by his predecessor on transgender individuals serving in the US military, a move that fulfills a campaign promise and will be cheered by LGBTQ advocates, Reuters reported seconds ago.
“President Biden believes that gender identity should not be a bar to military service, and that America’s strength is found in its diversity,” the White House said in a statement.
“Allowing all qualified Americans to serve their country in uniform is better for the military and better for the country because an inclusive force is a more effective force. Simply put, it’s the right thing to do and is in our national interest,” it said.
Idrees Ali
(@idreesali114)As one transgender man, who was forced to abandon joining the military after Trump’s 2017 Tweet, said today : “I know there are thousands of other people out there just like me who have been counting down to this day waiting to be able to start our careers and start our lives.” https://t.co/vFxqW4rUj2
Former Democratic president Barack Obama in 2016 allowed trans people to serve openly and receive medical care to transition genders, but Republican president Donald Trump froze their recruitment while allowing serving personnel to remain.
Kyle Griffin
(@kylegriffin1)Human Rights Campaign: “For years, transgender patriots were forced to continue to hide their identity while serving in our military. But today, thanks to Pres. Joe Biden, Secy. Lloyd Austin, and pro-equality voters across America, they may live and serve openly as themselves.”

It might be Spain but it’s a great pic. Transgender rights pride demo in Madrid last summer. Photograph: Juan Medina/Reuters
Here’s a vital read on this topic from the Guardian in 2019.
Updated
Biden overturns US military transgender ban
Speculation that Joe Biden will issue an executive order today to reverse a Pentagon policy that largely bars transgender individuals from joining the military appears to be about to come to fruition.
Reuters just pinged out a own-line snap, which backs up earlier reporting that the Biden/Harris administration plans on dumping a ban ordered by former president Donald Trump in a tweet during his first year in office.
The move to reverse the policy has the support of Biden’s newly confirmed defense secretary, retired Army General Lloyd Austin, who spoke of the need to overturn it during his Senate confirmation hearing last week.
“I support the president’s plan…to overturn the ban,” Austin said. “If you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, you should be allowed to serve.”
The decision comes as Biden plans to turn his attention to equity issues that he believes continue to shadow nearly all aspects of American life. The move to overturn the transgender ban is also the latest example of Biden using executive authority in his first days as president to dismantle Trump’s legacy.
It was unclear at present how quickly the Pentagon can put a new policy in effect, and whether it will take some time to work out details. Over the weekend Austin announced that he had ordered a comprehensive review of the sexual harassment prevention efforts within the US military.
The Guardian reported in 2019 that in the US, all four military service chiefs had testified before Congress that there were no known negative effects during the three years in which president Barack Obama opened the doors of the military to trans people.
Trump’s policy was a ridiculous, cruel mess.
California to ease lockdown restrictions
California governor Gavin Newsom will lift regional stay-at-home orders later today and announce the state is returning to a system of county-by-county restrictions intended to stem the spread of the coronavirus amid the ongoing pandemic crisis, two administration officials with knowledge said.

Mass Vaccinations as California Passes 3 Million.
A person takes a photo of a mass Covid-19 vaccination site at Dodger Stadium, with the downtown skyline in the background, on January 22, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. California has become the first state in the nation to record 3 million known coronavirus infections. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
The decision comes with improving trends in the rate of infections, hospitalizations and intensive care unit capacity as well as vaccinations, The Associated Press reports.
The order had been in place in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The change will allow businesses such as restaurants to resume outdoor operations in many areas.
During the weekend, San Francisco Bay Area ICU available capacity improved to 23% while the San Joaquin Valley increased to 1.3% – its first time above zero in the current surge of infections. The huge Southern California region, the most populous, remains at zero ICU capacity, however.
The change is based on projections, but the state has not disclosed the data behind the forecasts.
Early last year, the state developed a system of color-coded tiers that dictated the level of restrictions on businesses and individuals based on virus conditions in each of California’s 58 counties.
Then, as Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations rocketed, Newsom put in place a new system that grouped counties into five regions: Southern California, San Joaquin Valley, Bay Area, Greater Sacramento and Northern California.
Stay-at-home orders took effect if a region’s ICU capacity fell below 15%.

Gavin Newsom holds a news conference at Dodger Stadium on January 15. Photograph: Reuters
Here’s more from the Cincinnati Enquirer’s report about Ohio’s GOP Senator Rob Portman winding down his career in Congress.
Portman, 65, will be sworn in tomorrow as a juror in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate.
Portman said he hasn’t decided how he will vote on impeachment during former President Donald Trump’s trial.
“I’m a juror, it’s going to happen,” Portman said. “As a juror, I’m going to listen to both sides. That’s my job.”
Portman said Trump contributed to partisan gridlock in Washington, and he also laid blame on Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“I don’t excuse anything President Trump did on Jan. 6 or in the runup to it,” Portman said.
(In a statement) he said, in part: “I don’t think any Senate office has been more successful in getting things done, but honestly, it has gotten harder and harder to break through the partisan gridlock and make progress on substantive policy, and that has contributed to my decision.”
The Enquirer further reports that “after three decades in Washington, Portman has grown tired of the incivility in politics and the increasing partisan divide. One of Greater Cincinnati’s most prominent politicians, he was once expected to be headed to national office. He sticks to policy and refrains from personal attacks”.
But the timing from Portman seems extraordinary.
Updated
GOP Senator who criticized Trump in relation to Capitol insurrection won’t seek re-election
Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio said today he won’t seek re-election and plans to end a career in federal government spanning more than three decades.
Portman’s announcement comes the same day the Senate is receiving the House impeachment article against former the Republican president, Donald Trump.
While some Republican senators have criticized going ahead with the trial next month with Trump out of office, Portman said last week he would listen to both sides before making a decision on how to vote, The Associated Press reports.
Portman, who turned 65 last month, is among establishment Republicans who clearly struggled with supporting Trump.
Jessie Balmert
(@jbalmert)Ohio’s U.S. Sen. Rob Portman won’t run for re-election; Republican cites ‘partisan gridlock’ https://t.co/CE2Fl0QdA0 via @enquirer
Once dubbed “The Loyal Soldier” in a front-page profile story in his hometown newspaper the Cincinnati Enquirer, Portman usually supported Trump in carefully worded statements. After Trump called the presidential election rigged, Portman said Trump had a right to a probe of any irregularities.
But in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, Portman said Trump needed to go on national TV to address his supporters and tell them to refrain from violence.
“Both in his words before the attack on the Capitol and in his actions afterward, President Trump bears some responsibility for what happened on January 6,” Portman said.
Portman was elected handily twice to the US Senate, but was considered likely to face primary opposition in 2022.
Portman, who served in the presidential administrations of both Bushes (George HW and George W), was under consideration by both the late John McCain and Mitt Romney to be their running mates in their respective presidential bids.
Portman also helped them and other GOP presidential candidates practice for debates by playing their Democratic rival.
He was elected to Congress from southern Ohio in a 1993 special election and won six more elections before being tapped by president George W. Bush to serve as US trade representative in 2005. Bush then nominated him to be his White House budget director in 2006.
Portman stepped down in 2007, then returned to politics in 2010 with a successful US Senate run, and won again in 2016, both times by landslide margins in a traditional swing state.
Updated
The United States is “proud to be back” in international efforts to slow the climate crisis, Washington’s new special climate envoy John Kerry told a summit of leaders earlier today.
Joe Biden’s administration is this week expected to release more policies it believes are needed to tackle climate change after rejoining the 2015 Paris climate agreement that predecessor Donald Trump quit saying it was too costly to the US economy, Reuters reports.

This is John Kerry talking at the Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, in 2019, as leaders voiced concerns about oceans warming, weather patterns being disrupted and other problems related to the climate crisis. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters
“We’re proud to be back. We come back with humility for the absence over the last four years and we will do everything in our power to make up for it,” Kerry told the Climate Adaptation Summit by video link.
Kerry was joined by China’s Deputy Prime Minister Han Zheng, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders.
“President Biden has made fighting climate change a top priority of his administration. We have a president now, thank God, who leads, tells the truth and is seized by this issue,” Kerry said.
Leaders stressed the importance of having Washington back at the table.
“Since I’m the first to take the floor after John Kerry, a warm welcome to the US back in the Paris Agreement,” said International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva.
“To tackle this great challenge we need all hands on deck and certainly the US is so critical for success.”
The online event, hosted by the Netherlands, aims to set out practical solutions and plans for dealing with climate change in the vital period until 2030.
As secretary of state under former US president Barack Obama in 2015, Kerry helped bring China to the table at the UN climate conference in Paris.
Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry
(@ClimateEnvoy)Grateful to be a diplomat again driving @POTUS Biden’s work combating climate change’s existential threat. Five years ago, we negotiated the Paris Agreement. Today we’ll all increase our ambition in pursuit of its goals, building back better — together.
The Senate is aiming to pass additional Covid-19 economic relief and healthcare funding legislation before the former, Donald Trump’s impeachment trial begins in early February, a lawmaker said this morning.
The news comes amid growing signs of agreement on the need to speed up vaccine distribution and administration services, which have had a very rocky start since the first vaccines received federal emergency authorization in December.
A day after some Republicans pushed back on the size of Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief proposal, Senator Angus King said the Senate plans to consider a bill in the next two weeks, while it also moves to confirm Biden’s Cabinet ahead of Trump’s trial start during the week of February 8, Reuters reports.
“We’re going to try to do something between now and the time of the impeachment trial beginning. That’s a tall order, because we also have to do the confirmations,” King, a Maine independent who caucuses (ie including the way he generally votes) with Democrats who lead the Senate, told National Public Radio.
“Two weeks would be an aggressive schedule but I think that’s where we’re going to be going,” he added.
It was not clear whether the Senate would try to pass the entire Biden proposal before February 8 or focus on legislation with a more limited scope.
King and Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who both participated in a call about Covid-19 relief with Biden administration officials yesterday, said there is broad agreement about the need to move forward on vaccinations.
“We can all agree: we need to have money out there for vaccines,” Cassidy told Fox News on Monday. “And testing, we can accept that.”
Senator Angus King
(@SenAngusKing)Today’s call between the White House and members of Congress was a bipartisan discussion focused on policy solutions – which is notable in itself. Let’s keep working together to speed vaccine distribution and support Americans during this pandemic. https://t.co/E19gh16nvs
King said there was a general consensus on Sunday’s call to do “whatever we have to do to speed up the vaccination process. I don’t think there’s going to be any debate about that.”
He added that the group on Sunday’s call would speak again on today or tomorrow.
In addition to the size of Biden’s plan, Republicans and some Democrats are concerned about a proposal to send $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, even some with fairly high incomes.
While Congress has already authorized $4 trillion to respond, the White House says the additional $1.9 trillion is needed to cover the costs of responding to the virus and provide enhanced jobless benefits and payments to households.
House committees are expected to work on legislation this week, with the aim of being ready to put a bill on the House floor during the first week of February.