Vice President Mike Pence received the Pfizer vaccine for Covid-19 this morning.
"I didn't feel a thing," he said after.
The vice president, second lady Karen Pence and Surgeon General Jerome Adams were all administered the vaccine by staff from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center during a televised ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building this morning politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
“Karen and I were more than happy to step forward before this week was out to take this safe and effective coronavirus vaccine that we have secured and produced for the American people. It’s truly an inspiring day,” VP Pence told reporters politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
The vice president added that he and the second lady “wanted to step forward and take this vaccine to assure the American people that while we cut red tape, we cut no corners” politi.co/3r9lBYF
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• EPA: Michael Regan
• Interior: Deb Haaland
• Energy: Jennifer Granholm
• Special presidential envoy on climate: John Kerry
• Domestic climate policy chief: Gina McCarthy
• Council on Environmental Quality chair: Brenda Mallory
If confirmed, this team will lead the Biden administration’s effort to tackle climate change.
The picks make good on some of Biden's core campaign promises – namely a jobs-focused clean energy transition and a focus on environmental justice, says @kelseytam.
EPA nominee: Michael Regan
Regan, a North Carolina environmental regulator, was a nod to the party’s progressive wing, which pushed Biden’s team to emphasize minority and poor communities facing threats from pollution. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
So here we are. It's Thursday morning, the government shuts down Friday, and we haven’t seen a word of the $1 trillion-plus in government spending and nearly $1 trillion in Covid relief. politico.com/newsletters/pl…
The two sides are haggling over the wording of policies and the structures of programs — big stuff, for sure, but standard in negotiations politico.com/newsletters/pl…
Top congressional aides and White House officials say it’s possible they will need to pass another short-term spending measure to avoid a shutdown Friday night politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a "herd immunity" approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
“There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD," then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, and six other senior officials. politi.co/3gPXWaY
"[I]t may be that it will be best if we open up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected" in order to get "natural immunity…natural exposure," Alexander wrote on July 24 to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, and other senior officials. politi.co/3gPXWaY
Biden will have his work cut out for him if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stays in control of the chamber, Sen. Bob Casey says politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
“I think he will try his best to engage in bipartisan collaboration, and see where it takes him,” Casey told us.
But Biden, he added, “knows how to throw a punch, too, and I think people need to understand that.” politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
There's some good news for Americans suffering right now. Congress is close to a near $900B coronavirus relief deal.
The deal is expected as early as this morning and is said to include relief checks of less than $1200. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
Pelosi, McConnell, Schumer and McCarthy met on and off for more than three hours last night to try to strike a relief deal. It was the first time they had all been together to talk about stimulus since the election. politico.com/newsletters/pl…
Don't forget: Friday is the government funding deadline and all the leaders agree a Covid relief deal should be paired with a funding deal. They have said they won’t leave town until a Covid deal is notched and passed. politico.com/newsletters/pl…
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recognized Joe Biden as the president-elect of the United States for the first time this morning politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
"Our country has officially a president-elect and a vice-president elect," Mitch McConnell said this morning.
The recognition comes 38 days after the race was called and a day after the Electoral College officially clinched Biden's win. politico.com/news/2020/12/1…
"Many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result. But our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20," McConnell said politi.co/38a3V6m