Good morning, US politics live blog readers, it’s going to be busy in Washington today and we’ll bring you all the developments so let’s get going.
- Joe Biden will deliver remarks to the public this afternoon on the latest in the coronavirus crisis. The pandemic is not yet under control in the US but there is enough progress on vaccinations and efforts to stop the spread for an announcement stemming from new CDC data that’s expected to include guidance that some mask-wearing can be relaxed for those who’ve been immunized.
- The US president is under pressure from many parts of the globe to do more on manufacturing and shipping vaccine to other countries where Covid-19 is raging and getting worse. Nations such as India, Mexico and Brazil are suffering. Biden said yesterday that the US will send 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in the US elsewhere, but that’s just a tiny start in what’s needed.
- The White House coronavirus response team will give a briefing late morning on the latest with the disease around the country and progress on combating it.
- Biden is also expected to announce an executive order today raising the minimum wage paid by federal contractors to $15 an hour. The current minimum, established in the Obama administration, is $10.95. Hundreds of thousands of workers are expected to benefit.
- Also, the president is expected to request $80 billion from Congress to strengthen tax law enforcement, which the administration believes will raise more than $700 billion over a decade, by tougher auditing on wealthy individuals and corporations.
- Policy executives from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will testify in US Senate committee hearing today on how their algorithms determine what pops up on our social media feeds.