Democrats Move Forward On Covid Relief – Senate Democrats early Friday morning approved a budget resolution that would allow them to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus bill without the support of any Republicans. The resolution passed 50-50 in the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. Because the Senate made some changes to the resolution, it will now go back to the House for the chamber to pass it for a second time. The move, called budget reconciliation, would allow the stimulus bill to be passed without the usual 60 votes in the Senate needed to get a bill approved.
Economy Adds Just 49,000 Jobs In January – The recovery of the US economy showed more disappointment in January as it added just 49,000 new jobs. Even more disheartening is the fact that many of the added jobs were government positions, rather than organic growth from a rebounding national economy. The unemployment rate fell to 6.3%, but a large portion of that drop was attributed to people dropping out of the labor workforce.
Biden Hasn’t Spoke to Netanyahu – Despite being in office for several weeks already, President Joe Biden has yet to speak directly to the leader of one of America’s closest allies, Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Biden has called the leaders of Canada, Mexico, the UK, France, Germany, NATO, Russia, and Japan, but not Netanyahu. Some question whether it is a sign that Biden dislikes Netanyahu and his style in leading Israel, and whether it foretells a strained relationship between the US administration and Israel over the next four years.
Smartmatic Sues Giuliani, Powell, Fox News – Smartmatic is suing Fox News and two pro-Trump lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, over claims they made about its voting systems. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants “invented” new facts and waged a “disinformation campaign” against the company. The lawsuit states, In their story, Smartmatic was a Venezuelan company under the control of corrupt dictators from socialist countries. In their story, Smartmatic’s election technology and software were used in many of the states with close outcomes. And, in their story, Smartmatic was responsible for stealing the 2020 election by switching and altering votes to rig the election for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.” Smartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion for defamation and disparagement that damaged the company.
Trump Declines to Testify in Impeachment Trial – President Trump’s attorney swiftly shot down a request from House impeachment managers requesting that he testify at his upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate. Trump has consistently called his second impeachment over allegedly inciting the January 6th riots at the US Capitol a sham, and many question if the Senate could even vote to remove him, considering that he has already left office and the move would only be symbolic.
Greene Kicked Off Committees – The Democrat-led House of Representatives voted Thursday night to kick Marjories Taylor Greene, a conspiracy theorist who floated anti-Semitic conspiracies and questioned the 9/11 attacks, off of her committee assignments, relegating her to a low status in the chamber. Several Republicans, including Lakewood’s representative in the House, Chris Smith, joined Democrats in voting to remove her from the committees.