Biden’s next pandemic challenge: Getting Americans to accept the virus

Biden’s next pandemic challenge: Getting Americans to accept the virus-politico:  President Joe Biden’s first 100 days saw real gains against the pandemic, but the next 100 days — and the 100 days after that — will determine how well Covid-19 is contained.

President Biden’s Speech Before Congress

President Biden’s Speech Before Congress-politico:  President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session Congress was the most ambitious ideological statement made by any Democratic president in decades—couched in language that made it sound as if he wasn’t making an ideological argument at all.

'Part of the fabric': Democrats say Biden's sweeping changes will be hard to undo

'Part of the fabric': Democrats say Biden's sweeping changes will be hard to undo-politico:  President Joe Biden is taking more steps to expand the government’s role in public life than any U.S. leader since Lyndon B. Johnson — and, unlike LBJ, he’s doing it with the slimmest of ruling majorities.

Census surprise: Texas gains only 2 seats as shift to Sun Belt slows

Census surprise: Texas gains only 2 seats as shift to Sun Belt slows-politico:  The Census Bureau released long-delayed reapportionment numbers that reshuffle the 435 congressional districts among the 50 states for the next decade, locking in additional clout for the Sun Belt and siphoning away power from the Rust Belt.

17 senators ask Biden to push for Medicare expansion

17 senators ask Biden to push for Medicare expansion-politico:  A group of 17 senators sent a letter Sunday to President Joe Biden urging him to attempt to expand Medicare as part of his American Families Plan.

Senate passes anti-Asian American hate crime bill

Senate passes anti-Asian American hate crime bill-politico:  The Senate on Thursday passed an anti-hate crimes bill aimed at addressing a surge in attacks on Asian Americans amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Biden’s climate plan faces global skepticism

Biden’s climate plan faces global skepticism-politico:  The U.S. government finds itself in an unfamiliar position midway through President Joe Biden’s global climate summit: struggling to deploy the moral authority and financial heft needed to assume global leadership.

Bidenworld fears many vaccine skeptics may be unreachable. They're trying anyway

Bidenworld fears many vaccine skeptics may be unreachable. They're trying anyway-politico:  The Biden administration is launching a renewed, more nuanced push to tackle a resistance problem of its own — it has more Covid vaccines than people willing or able to take them.

Inside the Democratic strategy to expand voting rights state by state

Inside the Democratic strategy to expand voting rights state by state-politico:  Red and blue states are on opposite tracks in shaping the electoral process: As Republicans pass some of the most restrictive voting laws of modern times, Democrats are ramping up a strategy to expand voting rights by passing bill after bill to make it easier for more Americans to access the ballot box.

Senate moves toward bipartisan endgame on AAPI hate crimes legislation

Senate moves toward bipartisan endgame on AAPI hate crimes legislation-rollcall:  The Senate is on track to vote this week on an expanded version of a bill to address a rise in violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as a House committee plans work on its own similar legislation Tuesday.

‘Her death was preventable’: Andy Barr channels grief into bill honoring his late wife

‘Her death was preventable’: Andy Barr channels grief into bill honoring his late wife-rollcall: Most of us are familiar with Kübler-Ross’ five stages of grief.  Rep. Andy Barr knows them entirely too well — his wife, Carol, died suddenly last June, just a few weeks shy of her 40th birthday.  In the last few months, Barr’s worked through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, but there’s still one more step to go: lawmaking.

Key Democrats flex ‘SALT’ muscles ahead of infrastructure debate

Key Democrats flex ‘SALT’ muscles ahead of infrastructure debate-rollcall: A new caucus pressing for repeal of the $10,000 limitation on state and local tax deductions boasts the support of more than one-third of Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee, which will be ground zero for critical revenue portions of the upcoming infrastructure package.

Brady decision not to seek another term opens top GOP post on Ways and Means

Brady decision not to seek another term opens top GOP post on Ways and Means-rollcall: House Ways and Means ranking member Kevin Brady said Wednesday he'll retire after this Congress, a move that wasn't altogether a surprise given the Texas Republican is term-limited out of his role after next year.

Senate GOP to decide April 21 on internal earmark ban

Senate GOP to decide April 21 on internal earmark ban-rollcall: Senate Republicans will decide next week whether to join their House colleagues in reversing a ban on earmarks or let a conference-wide prohibition remain in place.  Senate Republicans are scheduled to meet April 21 to “affirm” conference rules, including the “permanent” ban members adopted in 2019, according to a Senate Republican aide not authorized to speak publicly.

How New Mexico became the country’s unlikely vaccination star

How New Mexico became the country’s unlikely vaccination star-politico:  Shortly after the first Covid-19 vaccine was cleared for emergency use in December, leaders of New Mexico’s largest health care system suggested they should shut down the slick coronavirus vaccine appointment website they had opened weeks earlier.

Parties ready for battle over Biden’s fiscal 2022 spending plan

Parties ready for battle over Biden’s fiscal 2022 spending plan-rollcall:  President Joe Biden’s departure from the principle of “parity” in his first budget request — or equal increases in defense and nondefense discretionary spending — signals a rocky road ahead for next year’s appropriations bills.

CDC declares racism ’a serious public health threat’

CDC declares racism ’a serious public health threat’-politico:  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday labeled racism as a serious threat to public health and said it would take steps to address the matter.

Democrats hope to extend new insurance subsidies before 2022 midterms

Democrats hope to extend new insurance subsidies before 2022 midterms-rollcall:  Health insurance shoppers who buy coverage on the state and federal exchanges are likely to see a discount in their premiums as soon as next month, thanks to the recent COVID-19 relief law, but prices could rise again in 2023 if Congress doesn’t extend new subsidies before then.

Chuck Schumer is thinking big

Chuck Schumer is thinking big-politico:  Chuck Schumer vowed in November that when his Democrats “take Georgia, then we change the world.” He wasn’t far off.  The New Yorker’s ascension to Senate majority leader gave President Joe Biden the power to spend trillions of dollars that would not have materialized had now-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell held onto one of Georgia’s two Senate seats.

Second filibuster-proof maneuver OK’d by Senate parliamentarian

Second filibuster-proof maneuver OK’d by Senate parliamentarian-rollcall:  The Senate's top referee on procedural matters ruled Monday that a revised budget resolution could potentially be used to pass another reconciliation bill, according to Senate Democratic officials.

Biden’s infrastructure plan would boost science, tech, R&D funding

Biden’s infrastructure plan would boost science, tech, R&D funding-rollcall:  President Joe Biden’s proposal to invest $2 trillion in American infrastructure and climate change efforts also aims to reverse a more than decade long decline in federal spending on science, research and development, and technology, as a proportion of the nation’s overall spending.

Business class and bureaucracy hell: Surviving global travel during Covid

Business class and bureaucracy hell: Surviving global travel during Covid-politico:  Disconnected and labor-intensive travel controls are set to make mass tourism a nightmare, if you can even afford it.

California's rooftop solar program collides with equity concerns

California's rooftop solar program collides with equity concerns-politico:  A pandemic-era backlash against California's yawning wealth gap is taking aim at the state's pioneering climate policies. The latest target: incentives for rooftop solar panels.