Biden’s First 10 Days
Part 2. January 24, 2021.
On his first full day in office, President Joe Biden announced his plan and the first steps as part of a national strategy to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
The focus of the government response is switching to:
- Exercising the Defense Production Act to ramp PPE and vaccine production
- Expanding testing, treatment, and the workforce
- Mounting a comprehensive vaccine strategy
One of the most important initial goals of the administration set during the transition, is to distribute 100 million Covid-19 vaccines in the first 100 days.
The most shocking for the Biden administration as early as during the transition period was discovering a complete lack of a vaccine distribution strategy under Mr. Trump, weeks after Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were approved for use in the U.S.
President Biden admits it will take time for his initiatives to change the way things are admitting things it keep getting worse first.
Another initiative aimed at gaining public trust in the governmental actions is reinstating press briefings and media appearances by Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health officials. When asked on CNN whether Trump’s ‘lack of candor’ cost lives, Dr. Fauci replied: “You know, it very likely did.”
To learn more: VOX, ABC News, CNN, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, NBC News
On Friday, the US Senate — now with a Democratic Majority — confirmed Lloyd Austin as nation’s first African American defense secretary. It’s expected that early next week Senate confirms more Biden nominees — Antony Blinken as the Secretary of State and Janet Yellen as the Secretary of Treasury. (The Washington Post, NPR, CNBC, Reuters, VOX, The Hill)
Confirmations apart, the two main issues on the Senate agenda are the new power-sharing rules and the upcoming impeachment trial. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and the man he replaced, Republican Mitch McConnell had numerous debates throughout the week but the deal is yet to be reached.
Per Reuters reporting, “Schumer is resisting McConnell’s demand for a promise to protect the long-standing Senate rule requiring a supermajority of 60 votes to advance most legislation, known as the legislative filibuster. Their argument is holding up the basic organization and work of the Senate as it begins the new year with 50 senators from each party. Committees have not reorganized to accommodate new members”.
Worth noting, that while The Senate is split 50–50 for the first time in 20 years, and for only the fourth time in history, the Democrats represent nearly 42 million more people than Republicans. (AP, WSJ, CNBC, The Recount, VOX, LA Times)
Chuck Schumer announced on Friday that the impeachment trial for Mr. Trump would begin on February 9.
Meanwhile, more details are emerging on the former President’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. A story the New York Times first broke on Friday, described Trump and Jeffrey Clark, a little-known Justice Dept. lawyer secretly plotting to oust the Acting Attorney General just before his term ended. DOJ officials convened on a conference call, asked each other: What will you do if Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen is dismissed? Answer was unanimous. They would resign.
The House impeachment managers will deliver the single article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday with senators to be sworn in as members of the impeachment court the following day. Butch Bowers, a South Carolina elections and ethics lawyer, was announced as Mr Trump’s attorney for the trial. (CBS News, AP, Reuters, AP)
- 7 Senate Democrats file ethics complaint “concerning the behavior of Sens. Cruz and Hawley related to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.” (NBC News)
- Nearly 1 in 5 defendants charged in relation to the attack on the U.S. Capitol have served in the military (NPR)
- “The U.S. strongly condemns the use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists in Russia today. We call on Russia to release those detained for exercising their rights, including Aleksey Navalny, and to credibly investigate his poisoning.” (U.S. Department of State, FT)
Quote of the day
“I can tell you I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the President, so it was really something that you didn’t feel that you could actually say something and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it.The idea that you can get up here and talk about what you know, what the evidence, what the science is, and know that’s it — let the science speak — it is somewhat of a liberating feeling.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci in his first White House briefing as US President Joe Biden’s top advisor on COVID-19 (CBS News)
