Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBy LIBBY CATHEY, JACK ARNHOLZ, LAUREN KING and MICHELLE STODDART, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — This is Day Nine of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Here is how events are unfolding. All times Eastern:
Jan 28, 4:00 pm
Emhoff makes 1st solo appearance as second gentlemen
The nation’s first second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, made his first solo appearance in his new role in the nation’s capital on Thursday afternoon.
Emhoff visited The Farm at Kelly Miller Middle School to meet with representatives of Dreaming Out Loud, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit “focused on food security and economic opportunity.”
He shared an elbow bump with the organization’s founder, Chris Bradshaw, ahead of a “farm tour” in which both gentlemen donned masks.
Earlier in the day, Emhoff tweeted his designation was now official after Merriam Webster added “Second Gentleman” to their dictionary, and playing off a phrase of his wife’s, said, “I might be the first, but I won’t be the last.”
Well, now it’s official. @MerriamWebster just added “Second Gentleman” to the dictionary.
I might be the first, but I won’t be the last. https://t.co/1PFsrYslgM
— Douglas Emhoff (@SecondGentleman) January 28, 2021
Emhoff, an attorney, also taught his first entertainment law class Thursday morning at Georgetown Law, where he is a visiting professor.
Jan 28, 3:43 pm
White House ‘not looking’ to split COVID-19 relief package
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a press briefing Thursday that the White House is “not looking to split” the COVID-19 relief package the Biden administration has proposed.
“The reason is because we are not going to put ourselves in a place, or anyone in a place, where we’re choosing between helping families to put food on the table and making sure kids get back to school, or making sure kids get back to school and getting a vaccine in the arms of Americans” Psaki said.
Earlier this month, Biden proposed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill with funding for ongoing vaccination efforts and to address immediate economic needs. However, even moderate Republicans in Congress, like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, have expressed concern with the price tag.
Jan 28, 3:30 pm
Biden’s DHS nominee moves toward confirmation
The nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to lead the Homeland Security Department has cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate and is now expected to move forward to a final vote on Monday evening.
Following Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s motion to limit debate on the nomination — the first time Schumer’s had to use the tool to bypass GOP efforts to slow down a Biden confirmation — the vote will go forward with a 50-vote threshold, according to a senior Democratic aide.
Mayorkas has received a wide swath of support from current and former law enforcement officials, including members of the largest federal law enforcement officer’s union, the Border Patrol union — a bipartisan group of four former secretaries and police chiefs across the country. The support came after a group of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to hold an additional hearing to consider Mayorkas.
He would be the first Latino and first immigrant to serve as Homeland Security secretary, if confirmed.
-ABC News’ Quinn Owen and Allison Pecorin
Jan 28, 2:10 pm
Biden signs executive actions to ‘undo the damage Trump has done’ on health care
Biden has signed two executive actions — one aimed at expanding enrollment for the Affordable Care Act amid the coronavirus pandemic and another that addresses reproductive health, according to the White House.
“It’s been a busy week, and I’ve signed executive orders tackling COVID-19, the economic and climate crises, as well as advancing racial equity. But today, we’re about to sign two executive orders that are, basically the best way to describe them, to undo the damage Trump has done,” he said from the Oval Office Thursday.
Biden signed one executive order that will open a three-month enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15, allowing more Americans to sign up for health care as COVID-19 continues to engulf the country.
The Biden administration expects “most or all” of the 13 states that operate their own health insurance marketplaces to also open up enrollment at the same time it opens up the federal health insurance marketplace for a special enrollment period, a White House official said Thursday morning.
Pres. Biden: “Today, I’m about to sign two executive orders. Basically, the best way to describe it—to undo the damage Trump has done. There’s nothing new that we’re doing here other than restoring the Affordable Care Act.” https://t.co/zWhGtFWZZ6 pic.twitter.com/Jn9BCS5uKg
— ABC News (@ABC) January 28, 2021
He then addressed reproductive health in a presidential memorandum which rescinds the Mexico City Policy, often referred to as the “global gag rule,” which was expanded under former President Donald Trump and blocks U.S. funding to international nonprofits that provide counseling or referrals for abortion, reviews Title X funding on abortion and removes the country’s endorsement of the Geneva Consensus, a nonbinding declaration signed by countries opposed to abortion and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020.
Jan 28, 1:53 pm
Biden’s HUD, Council of Economic Advisers picks appear for confirmation hearing
Biden’s pick for secretary of housing and urban development, Rep. Marcia Fudge, D.-Ohio, and his choice to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, Cecilia Rouse, testified before Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Development for a joint confirmation hearing Thursday morning.
Fudge emphasized her commitment to expanding accessible housing for Americans, if confirmed, and highlighted the housing crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need policies and programs that can adapt to meet your unique housing challenges, and I would very much like to work with each of you to find the right answers for your states,” Fudge said. “It bears mentioning, particularly in this moment of crisis that HUD, perhaps more than any other department, exists to serve the most vulnerable people in America. That mandate matters a great deal to me.”
She faced scrutiny from some Republican senators about past statements and tweets critical of the GOP, but Fudge pushed back and maintained that she would commit to working with Republicans, as she said she’s done in the House.
Rouse, who Biden nominated to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, also discussed her commitment to bolstering the American economy.
“We must take action to shepherd our nation’s economy back onto solid footing,” Rouse said. “But as deeply distressing as this pandemic and economic fallout have been, it is also an opportunity to rebuild the economy better than it was before, making it work for everyone by increasing the availability of fulfilling jobs and leaving no one vulnerable to falling through the cracks.”
Jan 28, 1:21 pm
Pelosi: ‘The enemy is within the House of Representatives’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday that she is concerned about threats against members of Congress in the wake of the Capitol attack and that the “enemy is within the House of Representatives.”
“We will probably need a supplemental for more security for members when the enemy is within the House of Representatives,” Pelosi said, asked about what’s being done to help members feel safe and about a demand by more than 30 House members to use their congressional allowances for personal safety in their home districts.
When asked to expand on what she meant by “enemy within” she responded, “We have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.”
Speaker Pelosi: “No one is above the law, not even a president of the United States. And Trump must be tried and convicted to ensure that no future president will think that it’s okay to insight insurrection.” https://t.co/PgmIg7LwKY pic.twitter.com/4z43rreDvY
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 28, 2021
Her comments come after some Republicans have tried, in recent days, to bring their guns on the House floor, despite guns being forbidden there and the addition of a metal detector at the chamber door.
Jan 28, 11:33 am
McCarthy to meet with Trump in Florida amid intraparty feud
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is traveling to Mar-a-Lago Thursday to meet with former President Donald Trump amid Republican Party infighting in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Trump’s second impeachment.
On Wednesday, McCarthy implored GOP colleagues on a conference call to stop attacking each other and to focus on countering the agenda from Democrats and President Biden, a person familiar with his remarks confirmed to ABC News.
“Cut that crap out,” he said of the intra-party attacks. “If you’re not focused on what you’re doing and what the Democrats are doing wrong, and you’re focused on talking about one another, I’m not putting up with that anymore.”
Some conservatives are threatening to back a primary challenger against No. 3 House Republican Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and nine other Republicans who backed Trump’s impeachment. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is traveling to Wyoming Thursday to rally against her, and other far-right members of the conference want her removed from party leadership.
McCarthy is expected to confront the issue at a conference meeting next week, as he also works to mend his relationship with Trump. Although McCarthy did not join the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, he said in his floor remarks at the time, “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters.”
Jan 28, 11:27 am
Schumer says Senate will move on COVID-19 relief next week
In line with the priorities of the Biden administration, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in his floor remarks Thursday said Democrats will begin moving forward on COVID-19 relief next week — with or without their Republican colleagues.
“If our Republican colleagues decide to oppose this urgent and necessary legislation we will have to move forward with out them,” Schumer said. “We have a responsibility to help the American people fast. The Senate will begin that work next week.”
Schumer said earlier this week that Democrats should be prepared to vote on a budget resolution next week — the first step on moving forward with budget reconciliation, which could allow Democrats to pass some COVID-19 priorities without Republican support.
“The dangers of undershooting our response are far greater than overshooting,” Schumer added.
Jan 28, 10:22 am
Biden to tackle health care as bipartisan duo looks to censure Trump
Biden will tackle the issue of health care on Thursday with two executive actions — one aimed at expanding enrollment for the Affordable Care Act amid the coronavirus pandemic and another that addresses reproductive health, according to the White House.
The president is expected to sign an executive order that will open a three-month enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15, allowing more Americans to sign up for health care as COVID-19 continues to engulf the country.
He will address reproductive health in a presidential memorandum, rescinding the Mexico City Policy, often referred to as the “global gag rule,” which was expanded under former President Donald Trump and blocks U.S. funding to international nonprofits that provide counseling or referrals for abortion, review Title X funding on abortion and remove the country’s endorsement of the Geneva Consensus, a non-binding declaration signed by countries opposed to abortion and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020.
The White House is also working to push Biden’s COVID-19 relief package and pushing back on a reporting the administration is considering splitting the proposal in two with the thinking a smaller package could gain more bipartisan support.
“We are engaging with a range of voices — that’s democracy in action — we aren’t looking to split a package in two,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted Thursday morning.
Meanwhile on Capitol Hill, with the outcome of Trump’s impeachment trial all but certain to end without a conviction, a bipartisan Senate duo is working on a resolution that for the second time in history would censure a U.S. president — and this one could potentially bar Trump from office by including elements of the 14th Amendment. The resolution might force Republicans to take a position on Trump’s actions rather than focusing on procedural arguments, but it’s unclear how much momentum it might gain with the trial set to begin Feb. 9 and with Biden hoping to push his priorities through the chamber.
Jan 28, 9:46 am
White House sends first second gentleman schedule in US history
The office of the vice president has released the first-ever “Daily Guidance for the Second Gentleman.”
It’s the first-ever public schedule for an American vice president’s husband because Doug Emhoff is the nation’s first ever second gentleman, tacking onto Harris’ historic first as the highest-ranking woman in U.S. government. However, Emhoff has participated in some events with Harris, which have been noted on her schedule as vice president.
The event on Emhoff’s schedule for Thursday is a 3 p.m. visit to a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit “focused on food security and economic opportunity.”
In another historic first, the nation’s first second gentlemen is also the first Jewish spouse, of any gender, for the presidency or vice presidency.
Jan 28, 5:48 am
Biden to address health care in two new executive actions
Biden will tackle the issue of health care on Thursday with two executive actions — one aimed at expanding enrollment for the Affordable Care Act amid the coronavirus pandemic and another that addresses reproductive health, according to the White House.
The president is expected to sign an executive order that will open a three-month enrollment period from Feb. 15 to May 15 on Healthcare.gov, allowing more Americans to sign up for health care as COVID-19 continues to engulf the country, according to a fact sheet outlining Biden’s planned actions.
Biden will also address the issue of reproductive health in a presidential memorandum, rescinding the “Mexico City Policy,” often referred to as the global gag rule, which was expanded under former President Donald Trump and blocks U.S. funding to international non-profits that provide counseling or referrals for abortion.
Thursday’s actions will continue a series of executive moves by Biden in his first week as president, setting an ambitious tone for his administration on a number of policy areas.
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