Politics updates: Biden introduces Cardona as choice for Education secretary
This week, USA TODAY Politics focuses on the run-up to President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration and the effort in Congress to get through a fresh round of COVID-19 economic relief.
Dates to watch:
Jan. 6: Congress will count and certify the electoral results in a joint session.
Jan. 20: Inauguration of Biden, who will take the oath of office.
Be sure to refresh this page often to get the latest information on the transition.
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
DC Mayor announces 'Dr. Anthony S. Fauci Day'
On Wednesday, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser proclaimed Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020, “Dr. Anthony S. Fauci Day” in the nation’s capital.
The date, which is also Christmas Eve, is Fauci’s birthday. The nation's leading infectious disease expert will be turning 80 years old.
Fauci is a prominent member of the White House's coronavirus task force and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He has become a public figure and reassuring face of the country’s response to the pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and upended daily life.
“We are incredibly proud to count Dr. Fauci among the many DC residents who are sacrificing so much to keep our communities healthy and safe,” Bowser wrote in a tweet that pictured Fauci displaying the proclamation.
— Savannah Behrmann
Biden introduces Cardona as choice for Education secretary
President-elect Joe Biden introduced Wednesday his nominee to lead the Education Department, Miguel Cardona, as someone trusted with the experience to reopen schools safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden said he will ask Congress to provide funding for more testing, safety equipment such as ventilation, and funding for teachers as part of his goal to reopen most schools within his first 100 days in office.
Biden said Cardona, the Connecticut education commissioner, assured that every student could engage in remote learning through steps such as providing 140,000 laptops. Cardona later secured funding for masks, Plexiglas and testing to reopen schools safely, Biden said.
“That’s the vision, resolve and initiative that are all going to help us contain this pandemic and reopen the schools safely,” Biden said.
Cardona, whose grandparents moved from Puerto Rico, was born in public housing and grew up to attend public schools, teach in them and become an administrator in his local district.
“That is the power of America,” Cardona said. “I, being bilingual and bicultural, am as American as apple pie and rice and beans. For me, education was the great equalizer.”
Biden nominees:Biden to nominate Miguel Cardona, proponent of reopening schools
Cardona warned of challenges ahead, including difficult opportunities for people of color or with lower incomes. But he said while education is sometimes known as a flor pálida, or wilted rose, the country has no higher duty than to build better paths through education for the next generation.
“We must be the master gardeners who cultivate it,” Cardona said.
— Bart Jansen
Pelosi calls for Christmas Eve vote to raise COVID stimulus payments to $2,000
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pushing for a Christmas Eve vote on a proposal raising the amount of direct payments included in the just-passed COVID stimulus bill from $600 to $2,000 putting pressure on Republicans to follow President Donald Trump’s demand that Congress increase the amount.
In a letter to fellow House Democrats Wednesday morning, Pelosi, D-Calif., said the House will try to pass an amendment to the bill under a procedure known as “Unanimous Consent” during its pro forma session when most members are out of town. But such a move requires the agreement of GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy under House rules and the California Republican hasn’t indicated what he’ll do yet.
“If the President truly wants to join us in $2,000 payments, he should call upon Leader McCarthy to agree to our Unanimous Consent request,” she wrote in her “dear colleague” letter.
There was no immediate response from McCarthy’s office. If it passes the House, it would be sent to the Republican-led Senate for approval.
Pelosi and other Democrats had been pushing for the $2,000 payments but Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had shot the idea down during negotiations. The $600 amount per individual (or $2,400 for a family of four) that Congress finally settled on had been proposed by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
But only a day after Congress overwhelmingly passed the $900 billion relief bill, Trump called the deal a "disgrace" in a tweeted video and urged congressional leaders to make changes to the bill, including increasing direct payments for Americans.
Progressive Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., already have drafted language for a proposal to raise the amount.
"Me and @AOC have the amendment ready," Tlaib tweeted with a photo of the provision’s language. "Send the bill back, and we will put in the $2,000 we’ve been fighting for that your party has been blocking."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also voiced approval for raising the value of direct stimulus payments to Americans, noting “We spent months trying to secure $2,000 checks but Republicans blocked it. Trump needs to sign the bill to help people and keep the government open and we're glad to pass more aid Americans need."
— Ledyard King
HHS Secretary Azar: COVID-19 vaccine 'for every American who wants it by June 2021'
A nearly $2 billion deal announced Wednesday between the U.S. government and Pfizer and BioNTech will supply the U.S. with an additional 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine.
Pfizer already has a contract to supply the government with 100 million doses of the vaccine by summer 2021. The government also has the option to acquire up to an additional 400 million doses.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement that the latest deal can give people confidence “that we will have enough supply to vaccinate every American who wants it by June 2021.”
Operation Warp Speed is on track to have about 40 million doses of vaccine by the end of this month, of which about 20 million would be allocated for first vaccinations. Distribution of those doses would span into the first week of January.
— Associated Press
Bye, Barr: Last day of tumultuous tenure as attorney general
Attorney General William Barr departs the Justice Department Wednesday after a tenure serving as one of Trump’s most aggressive defenders before breaking with the president’s increasingly desperate efforts to overturn the November election.
"Over the past two years, the dedicated men and women of this Department...have risen to meet historic challenges and upheld our vital mission to enforce the rule of law," the attorney general said in a statement. "I have been continually inspired by your professionalism and outstanding work. As I did almost 30 years ago, I leave this Office with deep respect for you, and I will always be grateful for your devoted service to the Nation we love.”
Barr, serving his second stint as attorney general, emerged as a steadfast advocate for Trump even in the face of the damning findings outlined in the Russia investigation, while intervening in the prosecutions of the president allies.
Yet in a vivid display of Trump’s brand of transactional relationships, the president earlier this year turned on his attorney general when Barr indicated that a much-anticipated review of the Russia inquiry would not be completed until after the election. Trump had hoped the review would boost his campaign.
The attorney general’s most dramatic break with the president came this month when he said the Justice Department had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the vote.
Barr’s comment in an interview with the Associated Press represented an especially public retreat from Trump’s repeated and unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and the campaign to overturn the president’s election loss to President-elect Joe Biden.
As Trump weighed dismissing the attorney general, Barr submitted his resignation that takes effect Wednesday.
Before leaving, however, Barr poked the president again, saying Monday that there was no reason to appoint special counsels to take over an ongoing tax investigation involving Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, or to pursue unfounded claims of election fraud. Trump has privately pushed for both appointments.
At the same time, Barr said Russia was to blame for the massive cyberattack that has penetrated at least a half-dozen federal agencies, even as Trump has pointed the finger at China and sought to downplay the seriousness of the breach.
As Barr exits, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen fills the post as acting attorney general.
— Kevin Johnson