Day 15: "We need to act." - a podcast by Matt Kiser

1/ Biden urged congressional Democrats to press ahead with the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan, saying “I’m not going to start my administration by breaking a promise to the American people.” Biden said he was open to negotiating the price tag for his Covid-19 relief proposal, including narrowing the distribution of $1,400 stimulus checks to focus on poor and middle-class people, but that he wouldn’t reduce the amount of the stimulus checks. “I think we can better target the number,” Biden said, but “We need to act — we need to act fast.” (NPR / NBC News / CNN / Bloomberg / Politico / Wall Street Journal)

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  ? Dept. of “We Have It Totally Under Control.”

  
  


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  Global: Total confirmed cases: ~104,222,000; deaths: ~2,263,000

  
  


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  U.S.: Total confirmed cases: ~26,523,000; deaths: ~450,000

  
  


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  Source: Johns Hopkins University

  
  


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  CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said teachers do not need to get vaccinated against Covid-19 before schools can safely reopen. “There is increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated,” Walensky said. “Vaccinations of teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools.” (CNBC)

  
  


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  California and New York announced plans for stadium sites for mass Covid-19 inoculations. (NBC News / Bloomberg)

  
  


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  The AstraZeneca vaccine may slow transmission of the coronavirus. (New York Times)

  
  

2/ The Senate approved a power-sharing agreement for governing the upper chamber that will allow Democrats to take control of committees. Without the so-called organizing resolution for the evenly-split Senate, Republicans had remained in control of committees and the confirmation process for Biden’s nominees. (CNN / Politico / Wall Street Journal)

3/ More than 370 Democratic congressional aides signed an open letter to senators urging them to convict Trump for inciting a violent “attack on our workplace” that threatened the peaceful transition of power. “As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inci...

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