With so many crazy things happening, sometimes things fall through the cracks. Here are some headlines that you may find interesting and worth discussing.
Biden Administration:
- A group of prominent Democrats announced legislation on Thursday calling on President Joe Biden to cancel some student loan debt using his executive power.
- The resolution, which is nonbinding, calls on Biden to use executive action to wipe out up to $50,000 in federal student loan debt for all borrowers and to ensure there is zero tax liability for borrowers after any administrative debt cancellation. It also suspends student loan payments and interest for the duration of the pandemic and says the Secretary of Education has broad administrative authority to cancel the debt.
- Biden administration weighs plan to directly send masks to all Americans.
- President Biden on Thursday said he plans to sign an executive order to begin the process of raising the refugee admissions cap up to 125,000 after it was drastically reduced under the Trump administration.
- President Biden outlined a sweeping vision of restored American global leadership on Thursday, announcing an end to U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen and vowing to confront Russia and China.
Congress:
- Democrats in the U.S. Senate were poised on Thursday to take a first step toward the ultimate passage of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal, in a marathon “vote-a-rama” session aimed at overriding Republican opposition.
- U.S. congressional investigators found “dangerous levels of toxic heavy metals” in certain baby foods that could cause neurological damage, a House Oversight subcommittee said in a report released on Thursday.
- Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Thursday will propose providing at least $3,000 per child to millions of American families, lending bipartisan support to President Biden’s push to dramatically expand child benefits.
- Controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has co-sponsored legislation that would ban U.S. embassies from flying the LGBTQ Pride flag.
- If passed, H.R. 85, the Old Glory Only Act, would require the secretary of state to ensure “that no United States diplomatic or consular post flies any flag other than the United States flag over such post.”
Impeachment:
- Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump said on Thursday that he would not voluntarily testify at his impeachment trial next week, wasting little time to swat back an invitation by the House managers to answer questions under oath about his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol.
COVID-19 Updates:
- The city attorney for San Francisco, with support from Mayor London Breed, is suing San Francisco Unified and its school board over prolonged campus closures, saying school leaders “have no meaningful plan” to reopen classrooms.
- Florida grocery store captures country’s divide over wearing masks.
- A resolution passed Thursday by Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled General Assembly repealed the state’s mask mandate and public health emergency aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Riots/White ISIS/Wing Nut Watch:
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is criticizing Republicans who she said are seeking to discredit her over her account of the mob attack on the Capitol last month.
- Parler CEO John Matze Fired by Board, Investor Dan Bongino Says He Is ‘No White Knight’
Other headlines:
- Former President Donald Trump on Thursday resigned his membership in a top U.S. actors and screen union that was reviewing disciplinary action against him after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a Jan. 6 attack that left five people dead.
- Firearm sales soared in January after a mob-led assault on the U.S. Capitol and the arrival of a new administration that favors tighter gun restrictions.
- More than 2 million firearms were bought last month, according to The Washington Post’s analysis of federal gun background-check data. That is an 80 percent year-over-year spike and the second-highest one-month total on record.
