Senate Debates As Republicans Try To Derail $ 1.9tn Covid Bill – Live | American news

The White House briefing is now complete. Here’s where the day stands so far:

• The US economy added 379,000 jobs last month, according to the latest report from the labor department. The unemployment rate has fallen slightly to 6.2%.
• The Senate has begun its “vote-a-rama” on the bill for coronavirus relief. Senator Bernie Sanders has already submitted a proposal to add a federal minimum wage of $ 15 to the aid package, but that measure appears to have failed.
• Chuck Schumer promised the Senate would remain in session until the coronavirus control bill is passed. “The Senate will get a lot of votes. But we’re going to push forward and finalize this bill however long it takes, ”said the Democratic majority leader this morning. “The American people are counting on us and our nation depends on it.”

There are more to come on the blog, so stay tuned.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki rejected the idea that Joe Biden lawmakers were “disapproving” by delaying his first speech to a joint session of Congress.

“There is no aversion here,” said Psaki. “We are in the middle of a global pandemic.”

Psaki added that Biden planned to address Congress soon, and he is in close consultation with Congress leaders to set a date for that speech.

The White House has previously indicated that Biden will wait to address Congress until he signs the coronavirus control bill.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if Joe Biden would speak to the Turkish president shortly Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Psaki said the two leaders would “one day” speak, but she did not specify when that might happen.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Joe Biden does not engage in talks or negotiations about lowering the minimum wage threshold.

Psaki reiterated that Biden is strongly in favor Bernie Sanders’ proposal to increase the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, but she said the president is currently focused on passing the coronavirus control bill.

Psaki’s comments come because the Senate appears to have rejected Sanders’ amendment to add a minimum wage provision to the aid package.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if Joe Biden was concerned that it appears his bill for coronavirus relief will not receive bipartisan support in Congress.

“Bipartisanship is not defined by a single zip code in Washington, DC,” Psaki replied.

The press secretary noted that polls showed that a large majority of the American people support the aid package, and she argued that those polls more closely reflected the bipartisan support for the bill.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about the Mayor of Detroit’s rejection of a shipment of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine because of its lower efficacy compared to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

“Our team has been in contact with the mayor. There has been a bit of a misunderstanding, ”said Psaki.

Echoing public health experts, the press secretary again encouraged Americans to receive the three approved coronavirus vaccines that are made available to them.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said a group of senior officials will soon be traveling to the US-Mexico border to provide Joe Biden with a briefing on the influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the border.

Citing security concerns, Psaki would not provide details of which officers would go or where specifically along the border they would travel.

When a reporter noticed Donald Trump Psaki has criticized Biden’s immigration agenda, Psaki replied, “We are not taking our advice or former President Trump’s counsel on immigration policy.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked again Joe BidenThe Senate’s opinion on the filibuster.

“His opinion and position have not changed,” said Psaki.

Biden has previously expressed opposition to the idea of ​​scrapping the filibuster, although he has left himself some wiggle room as Republicans trying to thwart his entire agenda, which according to progressives is a virtual certainty.

From now, Democrats do not have the votes to eliminate the filibuster because at least two moderate Democratic senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Cinema, has said they are against the idea.

Jen Psaki said Joe Biden holds his first full press conference as president “before the end of the month”.

Biden has faced some criticism for not having held a solo press conference yet, as many reporters have noted Barack Obama and Donald Trump had already held press conferences at that time during their presidency.

Psaki defended the timing of the press conference, saying Biden was focused on responding to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic fallout.

The press secretary also noted that Biden often answers questions from reporters after his events, but the president usually only answers one or two questions before leaving.

Joe Biden will travel to Baltimore on Wednesday to meet with the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck, press secretary Jen Psaki just announced.

The trip comes days after the president announced that Merck would be producing Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine.

Biden said he would call on the Defense Production Act to help Merck facilities get the necessary resources to produce the vaccine.

Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, now holds her daily briefing, and she started the event by commenting on the latest job report.

“While it shows some progress, it also shows the long road ahead,” said Psaki.

The press secretary noted that the US economy still has about 9.5 million fewer jobs than in February 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic started.

When will the job report be discussed Joe Biden receives an economic briefing from the Minister of Finance Janet Yellen later today, Psaki said.

Richard Luscombe reports for The Guardian:

A former assistant to Andrew Cuomo who has accused the New York governor of sexual harassment has said she believes he is a “textbook abuser” who knew she was a survivor of sexual assault and nevertheless made inappropriate advances.

Charlotte Bennett, 25, Cuomo’s former executive assistant and health policy adviser, told CBS Evening News Thursday that Cuomo tried to propose to her for sex during an “awkward” meeting in his office last spring, and that she felt she “got this room as soon as possible.”

She said it was one of several incidents where the 63-year-old governor, who is also facing similar allegations from two other women, acted inappropriately.

“He’s abusing textbooks,” Bennett said, when asked how she would describe Cuomo. “He lets his temper and his anger rule the office, but he was very nice to me for a year, hoping that one day when he came to me, I would think we were friends or that it was appropriate or that it was. OK. ”