The US House of Representatives has given a final approval to a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that gives President Joe Biden his first major victory in office.

The economic stimulus measure -- one of the largest in American history -- provides $400 billion for $1,400 direct payments to most Americans, $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, an expansion of the child tax credit and increased funding for vaccine distribution. Forecasters expect it to supercharge the US economic recovery.

"Help is here," Biden wrote in a tweet after the vote. He plans to sign the bill on Friday.

Approval by a 220-211 vote in the Democratic-controlled chamber came with zero Republican support after weeks of partisan debate and wrangling in Congress.&nbsp;

The massive spending push is seen as a major driver, coupled with a quickening pace of COVID-19 vaccinations and a slowing infection rate, in a brightening outlook for the economy.

Republicans said the measure was too costly and was packed with wasteful progressive priorities. They said the worst phase of the largest public health crisis in a century has largely passed and the economy is headed toward a rebound.

Democrats were eager to get the final bill to Biden's desk for his signature before current enhanced federal unemployment benefits expire on Sunday.

<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/biden-administration-to-hold-first-face-to-face-meet-with-chinese-officials-next-week-369538">Also read |&nbsp;Biden administration to hold first face-to-face meet with Chinese officials next week</a>

The bill is apparently very popular with the public. A Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll, conducted March 8-9, showed that 70 per cent of Americans support the plan, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans. Among Republicans, five out of 10 say they support the plan, while nine out of 10 Democrats supported it.

The legislation could have high stakes for both parties. If it succeeds in giving the economy a major boost, the plan could improve Democrats' political fortunes as they attempt to hold their slim majorities in Congress in the 2022 midterm elections.

Only one House Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the package, saying its high borrowing costs endangered the recovery.

The version passed by the Senate in an marathon weekend session removed a $15-per-hour federal minimum wage increase by 2025; tightened the eligibility for $1,400 direct payments, capping them at those earning below $80,000, cut the unemployment insurance payment to $300 per week from the House's $400 and targeted some of the state and local government aid to smaller communities.

States that voted for Trump in the November election are due to get a larger amount of education and child-care aid per resident than those that backed Biden, according to estimates from two congressional committees.

Residents of Republican-leaning states, which tend to have lower household incomes, also are likely to get larger stimulus checks and tax breaks as well, according to an independent research group.

With the COVID-19 aid bill now completed, attention turns to Biden's next round of major legislation, including massive infrastructure investments, immigration reforms and climate change initiatives.

(with inputs)

The US House of Representatives has given a final approval to a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that gives President Joe Biden his first major victory in office.

The US House of Representatives has given a final approval to a sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill that gives President Joe Biden his first major victory in office. The economic stimulus measure -- one of the largest in American history -- provides $400 billion for $1,400 direct payments to most Americans, $350 billion in aid to state and local governments, an expansion of the child tax credit and increased funding for vaccine distribution. Forecasters expect it to supercharge the US economic recovery. "Help is here," Biden wrote in a tweet after the vote. He plans to sign the bill on Friday. Approval by a 220-211 vote in the Democratic-controlled chamber came with zero Republican support after weeks of partisan debate and wrangling in Congress. The massive spending push is seen as a major driver, coupled with a quickening pace of COVID-19 vaccinations and a slowing infection rate, in a brightening outlook for the economy. Republicans said the measure was too costly and was packed with wasteful progressive priorities. They said the worst phase of the largest public health crisis in a century has largely passed and the economy is headed toward a rebound. Democrats were eager to get the final bill to Biden's desk for his signature before current enhanced federal unemployment benefits expire on Sunday. Also read | Biden administration to hold first face-to-face meet with Chinese officials next week The bill is apparently very popular with the public. A Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll, conducted March 8-9, showed that 70 per cent of Americans support the plan, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans. Among Republicans, five out of 10 say they support the plan, while nine out of 10 Democrats supported it. The legislation could have high stakes for both parties. If it succeeds in giving the economy a major boost, the plan could improve Democrats' political fortunes as they attempt to hold their slim majorities in Congress in the 2022 midterm elections. Only one House Democrat, Jared Golden of Maine, voted against the package, saying its high borrowing costs endangered the recovery. The version passed by the Senate in an marathon weekend session removed a $15-per-hour federal minimum wage increase by 2025; tightened the eligibility for $1,400 direct payments, capping them at those earning below $80,000, cut the unemployment insurance payment to $300 per week from the House's $400 and targeted some of the state and local government aid to smaller communities. States that voted for Trump in the November election are due to get a larger amount of education and child-care aid per resident than those that backed Biden, according to estimates from two congressional committees. Residents of Republican-leaning states, which tend to have lower household incomes, also are likely to get larger stimulus checks and tax breaks as well, according to an independent research group. With the COVID-19 aid bill now completed, attention turns to Biden's next round of major legislation, including massive infrastructure investments, immigration reforms and climate change initiatives. (with inputs)

Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid bill wins final approval in House

Indian-American Maju Varghese, who previously served as a key member of the Biden campaign and the inaugural committee, was on Tuesday formally appointed as Director of the White House Military Office. As the WHMO Director, Varghese will oversee all military operations aboard Air Force One on Presidential missions worldwide.

The White House Military Office (WHMO) is a department within the White House Office that provides military support for White House functions, including food service, presidential transportation, medical support, emergency medical services and hospitality services. Varghese, who is in his early forties, was one of the four members of the presidential inaugural committee, which organised the activities surrounding the swearing-in of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on January 20.

He previously served as the chief operating officer of the Biden campaign during the 2020 presidential election, overseeing the campaign’s day-to-day operations and leading it through an unprecedented shift to remote working. Varghese was born in the US to parents who immigrated from Thiruvalla, Kerala. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherts. He earlier served in the White House under president Barack Obama in various roles, including as the assistant to the president for management and administration and deputy director of advance. He has also worked as the chief operating officer at The Hub Project and as a senior advisor at the law firm Dentons.

As the assistant to the President for management and administration from July 2015 to January 2017, Varghese was responsible for day-to-day operations of the White House complex including oversight of White House budget, personnel, facilities, tours and major events. As special assistant to the President and deputy director of advance from June 2014 to July 2015, he served as the head of the US delegation for pre-advance visits around the world composed of White House staff, National Security staff, the White House Military Office and the United States Secret Service.

Varghese is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the Maurice A. Dean School of Law at Hofstra University. President Biden and Vice President Harris on Tuesday announced the appointments of additional White House staff who will serve in the Office of Administration, White House Counsel’s Office, Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Administration, White House Military Office, Office of Presidential Correspondence, and Speechwriting.

The new staff bring a breadth of exceptional talent, diverse experience, and steadfast dedication to the White House and will play key roles supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to tackling the crises facing the country and building back better, a media release said on Tuesday. Faisal Amin has been appointed as Deputy Director of Management and Administration and the Office of Administration; Dan Jacobson as General Counsel for the Office of Administration; Dana Rosenzweig as Deputy Director of Management and Administration for Operations; Alicia O’Brien as Senior Counsel; and Jonathan Black as Special Assistant to the President and Senate Legislative Affairs Liaison.

Elizabeth Jurinka has been appointed as as Special Assistant to the President and Senate Legislative Affairs Liaison; Chad Metzler as Special Assistant to the President and Senate Legislative Affairs Liaison; Jim Secreto as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Confirmations; Eva Kemp as Director of Presidential Correspondence; Amber Macdonald as Senior Presidential Speechwriter and Jeff Nussbaum as Senior Presidential Speechwriter.

Indian-American Maju Varghese, who previously served as a key member of the Biden campaign and the inaugural committee, was on Tuesday formally appointed as Director of the White House Military Office.

Indian-American Maju Varghese, who previously served as a key member of the Biden campaign and the inaugural committee, was on Tuesday formally appointed as Director of the White House Military Office. As the WHMO Director, Varghese will oversee all military operations aboard Air Force One on Presidential missions worldwide. The White House Military Office (WHMO) is a department within the White House Office that provides military support for White House functions, including food service, presidential transportation, medical support, emergency medical services and hospitality services. Varghese, who is in his early forties, was one of the four members of the presidential inaugural committee, which organised the activities surrounding the swearing-in of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on January 20. He previously served as the chief operating officer of the Biden campaign during the 2020 presidential election, overseeing the campaign’s day-to-day operations and leading it through an unprecedented shift to remote working. Varghese was born in the US to parents who immigrated from Thiruvalla, Kerala. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherts. He earlier served in the White House under president Barack Obama in various roles, including as the assistant to the president for management and administration and deputy director of advance. He has also worked as the chief operating officer at The Hub Project and as a senior advisor at the law firm Dentons. As the assistant to the President for management and administration from July 2015 to January 2017, Varghese was responsible for day-to-day operations of the White House complex including oversight of White House budget, personnel, facilities, tours and major events. As special assistant to the President and deputy director of advance from June 2014 to July 2015, he served as the head of the US delegation for pre-advance visits around the world composed of White House staff, National Security staff, the White House Military Office and the United States Secret Service. Varghese is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and the Maurice A. Dean School of Law at Hofstra University. President Biden and Vice President Harris on Tuesday announced the appointments of additional White House staff who will serve in the Office of Administration, White House Counsel’s Office, Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Administration, White House Military Office, Office of Presidential Correspondence, and Speechwriting. The new staff bring a breadth of exceptional talent, diverse experience, and steadfast dedication to the White House and will play key roles supporting the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to tackling the crises facing the country and building back better, a media release said on Tuesday. Faisal Amin has been appointed as Deputy Director of Management and Administration and the Office of Administration; Dan Jacobson as General Counsel for the Office of Administration; Dana Rosenzweig as Deputy Director of Management and Administration for Operations; Alicia O’Brien as Senior Counsel; and Jonathan Black as Special Assistant to the President and Senate Legislative Affairs Liaison. Elizabeth Jurinka has been appointed as as Special Assistant to the President and Senate Legislative Affairs Liaison; Chad Metzler as Special Assistant to the President and Senate Legislative Affairs Liaison; Jim Secreto as Special Assistant to the President and Director of Confirmations; Eva Kemp as Director of Presidential Correspondence; Amber Macdonald as Senior Presidential Speechwriter and Jeff Nussbaum as Senior Presidential Speechwriter.

Indian-American Maju Varghese formally appointed as WHMO director

Joe Biden’s dogs have reportedly been returned to the family home in Delaware after showing aggressive behaviour towards White House staff.

Joe Biden's dogs have been returned to the family home

When President Joe Biden pledged last week to amass enough vaccine by late May to inoculate every adult in the United States, the pronouncement was greeted as a triumphant acceleration of a vaccination campaign that seemed to be faltering only weeks earlier.

And it is true that production of two of the three federally authorized vaccines has sped up in part because of the demands and directives of the new president’s coronavirus team.

But the announcement was also a triumph of another kind: public relations. Because Biden had tamped down expectations early, the quicker timetable for vaccine production conjured an image of a White House running on all cylinders and leaving its predecessor’s effort in the dust.

A closer look at the ramp-up announced last week offers a more mixed picture, one in which the new administration expanded and bulked up a vaccine production effort whose key elements were in place when Biden took over for President Donald Trump. Both administrations deserve credit, although neither wants to grant much to the other.

The Biden administration has taken two major steps that helped hasten vaccine production in the near term. Even before Biden was inaugurated, his aides determined that by invoking the Korean War-era Defense Production Act, the federal government could help Pfizer obtain the heavy machinery it needed to expand its plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Trump administration had repeatedly invoked that law, but its order for Pfizer only covered single-use supplies like plastic liners, not durable factory equipment.

Crucially, Biden’s top aides drove another vaccine manufacturer, Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson, to force a key subcontractor into round-the-clock operations so its vaccine could be bottled faster. That company had fallen behind on the production targets laid out in its federal contract. Only after Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House’s chief pandemic adviser, and Dr. David Kessler, who oversees the vaccine effort, demanded the company commit more resources did it publicly pledge to meet a crucial deadline in May.

At the same time, though, Biden benefited hugely from the waves of vaccine production that the Trump administration had set in motion. As both Pfizer and Moderna found their manufacturing footing, they were able to double and triple the outputs from their factories.

Biden had been in office less than a month when Moderna announced that it could deliver 200 million doses by the end of May, a month earlier than scheduled, simply because it had become faster at production. Pfizer was able to shave off even more time, moving up the timetable to deliver its 200 million doses by a full two months, partly because of newfound efficiencies and partly because it was given credit for six doses per vial instead of five.

All this enabled Biden to announce that his administration would have enough doses in hand by the end of May to cover all 257 million adults, two months earlier than he had promised just a few weeks earlier. His aides noted that on Sunday, the nation hit a daily record of 2.9 million shots, 3 1/2 times as many as were given on Inauguration Day.

“Throughout our response, we’ve provided clear timelines based on the available, authorized vaccines,” said Kevin Munoz, a White House assistant press secretary. “We don’t plan to just meet these timelines, but rather to overperform them.”

To Trump administration aides, the new president’s crowing rings off-key. Biden is proclaiming victory off his predecessor’s achievements while wrongly grumbling about a mess he says he inherited, they say.

“They criticize what we did, but they are using our playbook every step of the way,” said Paul Mango, the Trump administration’s deputy chief of staff for health policy and a senior official in the crash vaccine development effort then known as Operation Warp Speed. He said Trump’s team oversaw the construction or expansion of nearly two dozen plants involved in vaccine production and invoked the Defense Production Act 18 times to ensure those factories had sufficient supplies.

The Biden team is “maintaining a very nice trajectory,” Mango said. “But don’t criticize us to make yourselves look better.”

Still, corporate, state and federal officials agree that Biden’s White House has been more active than his predecessor’s in trying to build up the nation’s vaccine stock.

The new administration’s relationship with Pfizer is markedly better. Trump and his aides had accused the company of slow-walking its vaccine development to hurt Trump’s reelection bid. The company announced its vaccine was robustly effective on Nov. 9, nearly a week after Election Day, then filed its application for emergency use authorization on Nov. 20.

Pfizer officials privately suggested that the Trump administration not only was wrongfully bad-mouthing the company but also had refused for months to invoke the Defense Production Act to order suppliers to prioritize Pfizer’s needs, as it did for the other vaccine developers under federal contract.

Biden’s aides started talking to Pfizer executives about what the company needed to make more doses even before Inauguration Day. When Biden traveled to Michigan on Feb. 19 to visit Pfizer’s plant, Dr. Albert Bourla, the company’s chief executive, effusively praised the new administration as “a great ally,” saying officials had helped the company secure critical materials and equipment.

The biggest piece of locking in enough doses to cover the nation’s adults before June was Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson. As recently as two weeks ago, Dr. Richard Nettles, Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson’s vice president for medical affairs in the United States, would say only that the company would supply 20 million doses by the end of March and 100 million doses by the end of June. That fell short of its contract for 37 million doses by the end of March and 87 million by the end of May.

Reuters reported Tuesday that Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson had informed European Union officials that production problems might delay shipments, and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said that he had heard similar warnings from the company.

In the United States, the company’s biggest worry was getting the vaccine bottled by two subcontractors. That “fill-and-finish” work is divided between a plant in Michigan run by Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, or GRAM, and a plant run by Catalent in Bloomington, Indiana. The Biden team pushed Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson to order GRAM to move from normal business hours to 24/7 operations, one senior administration official said. Another federal official said Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson was largely on track but did “scale up a bit faster” under pressure.

Officials also brokered an unusual partnership between Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson and a longtime competitor, Merck &amp;amp; Co. The Trump administration repeatedly explored using Merck’s plants to bolster vaccine production but never reached an agreement.

Zients, the pandemic adviser, said Sunday that the new alliance had helped the Biden administration set its new May goal. In fact, though, Merck is likely to bottle only a few million doses of Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson’s vaccine by then, according to people familiar with its operation. The main benefit of the partnership will come later in the year, when Merck will have retooled a huge plant with the capacity to produce as many as 100 million doses of vaccine a month, they said.

Beyond the nuts and bolts of production, Biden’s White House has pursued a starkly different messaging campaign than Trump’s: underpromise, and then try to overdeliver. Trump routinely boasted of imminent achievements, including a vaccine rollout before Election Day, only to fall short. By contrast, health experts complained, at least initially, that Biden was overly cautious.

When the vaccine rollout began in December, Biden vowed that his administration would average 1 million shots a day during his first 100 days in office — enough to vaccinate 50 million people by the end of March.

After less than a week in office, he raised the goal by 50%, to 1.5 million shots per day. The nation passed Biden’s initial target about a month ahead of schedule and is now averaging 2.17 million doses per day.

Carefully calibrated goals “avoid losses,” said David Axelrod, the senior strategist for President Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. “Certainly they must have learned that lesson from watching Trump.”

“Internally, you drive to the highest possible goal you can make. Externally, you set a floor that you are reasonably confident you can achieve,” he said.

When President Joe Biden pledged last week to amass enough vaccine by late May to inoculate every adult in the United States, the pronouncement was greeted as a triumphant acceleration of a vaccination campaign that seemed to be faltering only weeks earlier.

When President Joe Biden pledged last week to amass enough vaccine by late May to inoculate every adult in the United States, the pronouncement was greeted as a triumphant acceleration of a vaccination campaign that seemed to be faltering only weeks earlier. And it is true that production of two of the three federally authorized vaccines has sped up in part because of the demands and directives of the new president’s coronavirus team. But the announcement was also a triumph of another kind: public relations. Because Biden had tamped down expectations early, the quicker timetable for vaccine production conjured an image of a White House running on all cylinders and leaving its predecessor’s effort in the dust. A closer look at the ramp-up announced last week offers a more mixed picture, one in which the new administration expanded and bulked up a vaccine production effort whose key elements were in place when Biden took over for President Donald Trump. Both administrations deserve credit, although neither wants to grant much to the other. The Biden administration has taken two major steps that helped hasten vaccine production in the near term. Even before Biden was inaugurated, his aides determined that by invoking the Korean War-era Defense Production Act, the federal government could help Pfizer obtain the heavy machinery it needed to expand its plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Trump administration had repeatedly invoked that law, but its order for Pfizer only covered single-use supplies like plastic liners, not durable factory equipment. Crucially, Biden’s top aides drove another vaccine manufacturer, Johnson &amp; Johnson, to force a key subcontractor into round-the-clock operations so its vaccine could be bottled faster. That company had fallen behind on the production targets laid out in its federal contract. Only after Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House’s chief pandemic adviser, and Dr. David Kessler, who oversees the vaccine effort, demanded the company commit more resources did it publicly pledge to meet a crucial deadline in May. At the same time, though, Biden benefited hugely from the waves of vaccine production that the Trump administration had set in motion. As both Pfizer and Moderna found their manufacturing footing, they were able to double and triple the outputs from their factories. Biden had been in office less than a month when Moderna announced that it could deliver 200 million doses by the end of May, a month earlier than scheduled, simply because it had become faster at production. Pfizer was able to shave off even more time, moving up the timetable to deliver its 200 million doses by a full two months, partly because of newfound efficiencies and partly because it was given credit for six doses per vial instead of five. All this enabled Biden to announce that his administration would have enough doses in hand by the end of May to cover all 257 million adults, two months earlier than he had promised just a few weeks earlier. His aides noted that on Sunday, the nation hit a daily record of 2.9 million shots, 3 1/2 times as many as were given on Inauguration Day. “Throughout our response, we’ve provided clear timelines based on the available, authorized vaccines,” said Kevin Munoz, a White House assistant press secretary. “We don’t plan to just meet these timelines, but rather to overperform them.” To Trump administration aides, the new president’s crowing rings off-key. Biden is proclaiming victory off his predecessor’s achievements while wrongly grumbling about a mess he says he inherited, they say. “They criticize what we did, but they are using our playbook every step of the way,” said Paul Mango, the Trump administration’s deputy chief of staff for health policy and a senior official in the crash vaccine development effort then known as Operation Warp Speed. He said Trump’s team oversaw the construction or expansion of nearly two dozen plants involved in vaccine production and invoked the Defense Production Act 18 times to ensure those factories had sufficient supplies. The Biden team is “maintaining a very nice trajectory,” Mango said. “But don’t criticize us to make yourselves look better.” Still, corporate, state and federal officials agree that Biden’s White House has been more active than his predecessor’s in trying to build up the nation’s vaccine stock. The new administration’s relationship with Pfizer is markedly better. Trump and his aides had accused the company of slow-walking its vaccine development to hurt Trump’s reelection bid. The company announced its vaccine was robustly effective on Nov. 9, nearly a week after Election Day, then filed its application for emergency use authorization on Nov. 20. Pfizer officials privately suggested that the Trump administration not only was wrongfully bad-mouthing the company but also had refused for months to invoke the Defense Production Act to order suppliers to prioritize Pfizer’s needs, as it did for the other vaccine developers under federal contract. Biden’s aides started talking to Pfizer executives about what the company needed to make more doses even before Inauguration Day. When Biden traveled to Michigan on Feb. 19 to visit Pfizer’s plant, Dr. Albert Bourla, the company’s chief executive, effusively praised the new administration as “a great ally,” saying officials had helped the company secure critical materials and equipment. The biggest piece of locking in enough doses to cover the nation’s adults before June was Johnson &amp; Johnson. As recently as two weeks ago, Dr. Richard Nettles, Johnson &amp; Johnson’s vice president for medical affairs in the United States, would say only that the company would supply 20 million doses by the end of March and 100 million doses by the end of June. That fell short of its contract for 37 million doses by the end of March and 87 million by the end of May. Reuters reported Tuesday that Johnson &amp; Johnson had informed European Union officials that production problems might delay shipments, and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said that he had heard similar warnings from the company. In the United States, the company’s biggest worry was getting the vaccine bottled by two subcontractors. That “fill-and-finish” work is divided between a plant in Michigan run by Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, or GRAM, and a plant run by Catalent in Bloomington, Indiana. The Biden team pushed Johnson &amp; Johnson to order GRAM to move from normal business hours to 24/7 operations, one senior administration official said. Another federal official said Johnson &amp; Johnson was largely on track but did “scale up a bit faster” under pressure. Officials also brokered an unusual partnership between Johnson &amp; Johnson and a longtime competitor, Merck &amp; Co. The Trump administration repeatedly explored using Merck’s plants to bolster vaccine production but never reached an agreement. Zients, the pandemic adviser, said Sunday that the new alliance had helped the Biden administration set its new May goal. In fact, though, Merck is likely to bottle only a few million doses of Johnson &amp; Johnson’s vaccine by then, according to people familiar with its operation. The main benefit of the partnership will come later in the year, when Merck will have retooled a huge plant with the capacity to produce as many as 100 million doses of vaccine a month, they said. Beyond the nuts and bolts of production, Biden’s White House has pursued a starkly different messaging campaign than Trump’s: underpromise, and then try to overdeliver. Trump routinely boasted of imminent achievements, including a vaccine rollout before Election Day, only to fall short. By contrast, health experts complained, at least initially, that Biden was overly cautious. When the vaccine rollout began in December, Biden vowed that his administration would average 1 million shots a day during his first 100 days in office — enough to vaccinate 50 million people by the end of March. After less than a week in office, he raised the goal by 50%, to 1.5 million shots per day. The nation passed Biden’s initial target about a month ahead of schedule and is now averaging 2.17 million doses per day. Carefully calibrated goals “avoid losses,” said David Axelrod, the senior strategist for President Barack Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012. “Certainly they must have learned that lesson from watching Trump.” “Internally, you drive to the highest possible goal you can make. Externally, you set a floor that you are reasonably confident you can achieve,” he said.

Biden got the vaccine rollout humming, with Trump’s help

The House of Representatives plans to pass US President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill this week. This bill will offer a lifeline for millions of American families and businesses.

Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill on the brink of becoming law

US President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The House Tuesday voted to advance and cleared the way clearing the way for the measure to be considered the next day.&nbsp;The House will consider the legislation starting at 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters. The bill was sent over to the House on Tuesday morning from the Senate, where Democrats have effective control.&nbsp;

Preliminary debate began on Tuesday afternoon.

The House voted 219-210 along party lines to advance the measure to a final debate and vote. No Republicans voted yes, and just one Democrat voted no. The bill's expected approval on Wednesday will enable the Democratic president to sign the legislation into law later this week.

Passage of the massive package, one of the biggest US anti-poverty measures since the 1960s, would give Biden and the Democrats who control Congress a major legislative victory less than two months into his presidency.

During the debate, multiple Republican members repeatedly asked unanimous consent to call up another measure, the Reopen Schools Act, but were ruled out of order.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/senate-impasse-broken-us-covid-relief-bill-now-back-on-track-368456">Also read |&nbsp;Senate impasse broken, US Covid relief bill now back on track</a>

The Senate passed its version of the bill on Saturday after a marathon overnight session. The chamber eliminated or pared back some provisions in an original House bill, including an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The changes the Senate made must be approved by the House before it can make its way to Biden's desk.

Republicans, who broadly supported economic relief early in the coronavirus pandemic, have criticized the price tag of the relief package. It now appears likely to go to Biden without a single Republican voting for it in either the House or Senate.

Democrats hold a very narrow majority in the House, meaning that without any Republican support, they can afford to lose only a handful of votes by their own members against the bill. They lost two moderate Democrats the first time the bill went through the House, but one of those, Representative Kurt Schrader, said he changed his mind and backed the Senate-passed version.

(with inputs)

US President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The House Tuesday voted to advance and cleared the way clearing the way for the measure to be considered the next day.

US President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The House Tuesday voted to advance and cleared the way clearing the way for the measure to be considered the next day. The House will consider the legislation starting at 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters. The bill was sent over to the House on Tuesday morning from the Senate, where Democrats have effective control. Preliminary debate began on Tuesday afternoon. The House voted 219-210 along party lines to advance the measure to a final debate and vote. No Republicans voted yes, and just one Democrat voted no. The bill's expected approval on Wednesday will enable the Democratic president to sign the legislation into law later this week. Passage of the massive package, one of the biggest US anti-poverty measures since the 1960s, would give Biden and the Democrats who control Congress a major legislative victory less than two months into his presidency. During the debate, multiple Republican members repeatedly asked unanimous consent to call up another measure, the Reopen Schools Act, but were ruled out of order. Also read | Senate impasse broken, US Covid relief bill now back on track The Senate passed its version of the bill on Saturday after a marathon overnight session. The chamber eliminated or pared back some provisions in an original House bill, including an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The changes the Senate made must be approved by the House before it can make its way to Biden's desk. Republicans, who broadly supported economic relief early in the coronavirus pandemic, have criticized the price tag of the relief package. It now appears likely to go to Biden without a single Republican voting for it in either the House or Senate. Democrats hold a very narrow majority in the House, meaning that without any Republican support, they can afford to lose only a handful of votes by their own members against the bill. They lost two moderate Democrats the first time the bill went through the House, but one of those, Representative Kurt Schrader, said he changed his mind and backed the Senate-passed version. (with inputs)

Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid package expected to pass Congress Wednesday

WASHINGTON — It was a familiar play by Donald Trump: lashing out at his enemies and trying to raise money from it.

The former president this week escalated a standoff over the Republican Party’s financial future, blasting party leaders and urging his backers to send donations to his new political action committee — not to the institutional groups that traditionally control the GOP’s coffers.

“No more money for RINOS,” he said in a statement released Monday by his bare-bones post-presidential office, referring to Republicans In Name Only. He directed donors to his own website instead.

The aggressive move against his own party is the latest sign that Trump is trying to wrest control of the low-dollar online fundraising juggernaut he helped create, diverting it from Republican fundraising groups toward his own committee, which has virtually no restrictions on how the money can be spent.

Last week, Trump sent cease-and-desist letters — which appear to have little legal standing — to the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warning them not to appeal to donors using his name and image.

The jockeying comes as the party struggles to chart its path forward after losing the House, the Senate and the White House during Trump’s tenure, with moderate party leaders pushing the party to move beyond the divisive former president while much of the GOP base remains firmly behind him. Who controls a majority of donors’ cash is set to be a fiercely contested point of dispute as Republicans try to regroup and take back power in the 2022 midterm elections.

What’s more, Trump’s advisers believe the future of party fundraising is in low-dollar contributions, not the class of major donors who have mostly signaled that they want distance from him after his monthslong push falsely claiming that the Nov. 3 election had been stolen, which led to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Trump’s maneuvering is born partly out of his anger toward Republican leaders who he feels were disloyal when they edged away from him after Jan. 6. The former president is also being encouraged by people like Dick Morris, the notorious political consultant known for flipping between the parties, who has been meeting with him in New York and encouraging him to take on the party he once led.

Trump’s actions could give him a stream of money at a time when his private company is struggling under the scrutiny of investigations, with some discussions of whether properties need to be sold. His business is now politics, and political action committees have few restrictions on how they operate and use their money, according to campaign finance experts.

The former president could, in theory, pay himself and his family members salaries from the money raised there.

“That sort of PAC has no meaningful restrictions on how it could spend its money,” said Adav Noti, the senior director of trial litigation at the Campaign Legal Center.

People close to the former president say there has been no discussion about Trump giving himself a salary. But historically, his political committees have paid to use his properties, among other things, indirectly enriching him.

Republican fundraising groups have pushed back against the former president. In a letter Monday responding to the cease-and-desist request by Trump’s committee, Justin Riemer, the chief counsel for the RNC, stated, “The RNC, of course, has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of those common goals.”

But in a sign of the delicate dance between Trump and a Republican Party fearful of alienating its most popular figure, Riemer also said that the RNC had not and would not make fundraising appeals using Trump’s name or likeness without his approval.

And on Tuesday night, Trump released a second statement walking back his earlier attacks on the Republican committees.

“I fully support the Republican Party and important GOP Committees, but I do not support RINOs and fools, and it is not their right to use my likeness or image to raise funds,” he said. But even as he tried to clarify that he supported his party, he gave another plug for his own group. “If you donate to our Save America PAC at DonaldJTrump.com, you are helping the America First movement and doing it right,” he said.

For now, aides said, Trump’s plan is to stockpile money so he can remain a force in politics and help candidates challenging dissident Republicans like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who supported impeaching him this year.

Trump, along with the national party, raised roughly $250 million between Election Day and President Joe Biden’s inauguration. More than $60 million of that went to a new political action committee. That committee and the former president’s campaign committee were both converted to linked political action committees. Trump’s aides said this week that they had not yet started to send fundraising solicitations since he left office, but planned to do so in the coming days.

The Republican clash could resonate particularly in the House.

If Trump is successful in persuading donors to give money to him instead of supporting Republican House candidates directly, he could cause problems for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who is trying to take back the House in two years. He needs to flip five seats to do so.

“If you control the money, you control the party,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor.

Some Republican strategists noted that less than a decade ago, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, was the biggest fundraising name in GOP politics. Now he barely recognizes his party.

The strategists played down the threat Trump poses to Republican fundraising. “The donors that are unique to him who would be affected by that message are people who wouldn’t have donated in the first place,” said Josh Holmes, a political adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader.

Holmes also said that as the Biden administration rolled out new policies like a nearly $2 trillion relief bill, Republicans would coalesce in opposition and develop new fundraising constituencies.

“In midterms, you raise a lot of money out of opposition to an administration and policy,” Holmes said. “In presidential years, it becomes more of a face and name of each of the parties. We’re naturally entering a different era of fundraising.”

So far, all Trump’s organization has done is release endorsements for loyalists in key states, like Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who is running for reelection. But longtime party fundraisers see that as a reminder by Trump to those lawmakers that they need to stick with him, or else he could pull his endorsement down the road.

Trump aides were split over whether the RNC should have received the threatening letter at all. Ronna McDaniel, the group’s chairwoman, won her job in large part because of Trump’s support. Some of his aides told her that Trump himself had not known that she received one of the threatening letters.

There have historically been tensions between some of Trump’s advisers and RNC officials. But in a phone call with McDaniel over the weekend to smooth over the relationship, Trump played down any intent to directly target the RNC or prevent it from reaching its donors. The takeaway from an overall pleasant conversation, people familiar with the call said, was that Trump was still supportive of Republican donors’ giving money to the RNC and that he did not plan to stand in the way.

The RNC is planning to hold part of its spring fundraising gala at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. That plan was in the works before the cease-and-desist letters. The Four Seasons in Palm Beach, which is hosting the rest of the gala, had social distancing and space requirements that would not allow for the 350 people who wanted to attend the Saturday night reception where Trump is scheduled to speak. The hotel also expressed concerns about hosting the former president.

WASHINGTON — It was a familiar play by Donald Trump: lashing out at his enemies and trying to raise money from it. The former president this week escalated a standoff over the Republican Party’s financial future, blasting party leaders and urging his backers to send donations to his new political action committee — not to the institutional groups that traditionally control the GOP’s coffers.

WASHINGTON — It was a familiar play by Donald Trump: lashing out at his enemies and trying to raise money from it. The former president this week escalated a standoff over the Republican Party’s financial future, blasting party leaders and urging his backers to send donations to his new political action committee — not to the institutional groups that traditionally control the GOP’s coffers. “No more money for RINOS,” he said in a statement released Monday by his bare-bones post-presidential office, referring to Republicans In Name Only. He directed donors to his own website instead. The aggressive move against his own party is the latest sign that Trump is trying to wrest control of the low-dollar online fundraising juggernaut he helped create, diverting it from Republican fundraising groups toward his own committee, which has virtually no restrictions on how the money can be spent. Last week, Trump sent cease-and-desist letters — which appear to have little legal standing — to the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, warning them not to appeal to donors using his name and image. The jockeying comes as the party struggles to chart its path forward after losing the House, the Senate and the White House during Trump’s tenure, with moderate party leaders pushing the party to move beyond the divisive former president while much of the GOP base remains firmly behind him. Who controls a majority of donors’ cash is set to be a fiercely contested point of dispute as Republicans try to regroup and take back power in the 2022 midterm elections. What’s more, Trump’s advisers believe the future of party fundraising is in low-dollar contributions, not the class of major donors who have mostly signaled that they want distance from him after his monthslong push falsely claiming that the Nov. 3 election had been stolen, which led to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Trump’s maneuvering is born partly out of his anger toward Republican leaders who he feels were disloyal when they edged away from him after Jan. 6. The former president is also being encouraged by people like Dick Morris, the notorious political consultant known for flipping between the parties, who has been meeting with him in New York and encouraging him to take on the party he once led. Trump’s actions could give him a stream of money at a time when his private company is struggling under the scrutiny of investigations, with some discussions of whether properties need to be sold. His business is now politics, and political action committees have few restrictions on how they operate and use their money, according to campaign finance experts. The former president could, in theory, pay himself and his family members salaries from the money raised there. “That sort of PAC has no meaningful restrictions on how it could spend its money,” said Adav Noti, the senior director of trial litigation at the Campaign Legal Center. People close to the former president say there has been no discussion about Trump giving himself a salary. But historically, his political committees have paid to use his properties, among other things, indirectly enriching him. Republican fundraising groups have pushed back against the former president. In a letter Monday responding to the cease-and-desist request by Trump’s committee, Justin Riemer, the chief counsel for the RNC, stated, “The RNC, of course, has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of those common goals.” But in a sign of the delicate dance between Trump and a Republican Party fearful of alienating its most popular figure, Riemer also said that the RNC had not and would not make fundraising appeals using Trump’s name or likeness without his approval. And on Tuesday night, Trump released a second statement walking back his earlier attacks on the Republican committees. “I fully support the Republican Party and important GOP Committees, but I do not support RINOs and fools, and it is not their right to use my likeness or image to raise funds,” he said. But even as he tried to clarify that he supported his party, he gave another plug for his own group. “If you donate to our Save America PAC at DonaldJTrump.com, you are helping the America First movement and doing it right,” he said. For now, aides said, Trump’s plan is to stockpile money so he can remain a force in politics and help candidates challenging dissident Republicans like Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who supported impeaching him this year. Trump, along with the national party, raised roughly $250 million between Election Day and President Joe Biden’s inauguration. More than $60 million of that went to a new political action committee. That committee and the former president’s campaign committee were both converted to linked political action committees. Trump’s aides said this week that they had not yet started to send fundraising solicitations since he left office, but planned to do so in the coming days. The Republican clash could resonate particularly in the House. If Trump is successful in persuading donors to give money to him instead of supporting Republican House candidates directly, he could cause problems for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who is trying to take back the House in two years. He needs to flip five seats to do so. “If you control the money, you control the party,” said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor. Some Republican strategists noted that less than a decade ago, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, was the biggest fundraising name in GOP politics. Now he barely recognizes his party. The strategists played down the threat Trump poses to Republican fundraising. “The donors that are unique to him who would be affected by that message are people who wouldn’t have donated in the first place,” said Josh Holmes, a political adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader. Holmes also said that as the Biden administration rolled out new policies like a nearly $2 trillion relief bill, Republicans would coalesce in opposition and develop new fundraising constituencies. “In midterms, you raise a lot of money out of opposition to an administration and policy,” Holmes said. “In presidential years, it becomes more of a face and name of each of the parties. We’re naturally entering a different era of fundraising.” So far, all Trump’s organization has done is release endorsements for loyalists in key states, like Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who is running for reelection. But longtime party fundraisers see that as a reminder by Trump to those lawmakers that they need to stick with him, or else he could pull his endorsement down the road. Trump aides were split over whether the RNC should have received the threatening letter at all. Ronna McDaniel, the group’s chairwoman, won her job in large part because of Trump’s support. Some of his aides told her that Trump himself had not known that she received one of the threatening letters. There have historically been tensions between some of Trump’s advisers and RNC officials. But in a phone call with McDaniel over the weekend to smooth over the relationship, Trump played down any intent to directly target the RNC or prevent it from reaching its donors. The takeaway from an overall pleasant conversation, people familiar with the call said, was that Trump was still supportive of Republican donors’ giving money to the RNC and that he did not plan to stand in the way. The RNC is planning to hold part of its spring fundraising gala at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. That plan was in the works before the cease-and-desist letters. The Four Seasons in Palm Beach, which is hosting the rest of the gala, had social distancing and space requirements that would not allow for the 350 people who wanted to attend the Saturday night reception where Trump is scheduled to speak. The hotel also expressed concerns about hosting the former president.

Trump, hungry for power, tries to wrestle away GOP fundraising

The Joe Biden administration is granting temporary protected status to Venezuelan migrants living in the United States and is also working to coordinate international pressure against President Nicolas Maduro to hold free and fair elections.

US grants temporary protection to Venezuelan refugees

The White House marked International Women's Day with an executive order to create a gender policy council. It comes at a time when women are disproportionately suffering from the pandemic's economic fallout.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order establishing a White House Gender Policy Council to advance gender equity and address the challenges for women who have borne the brunt of the pandemic downturn.&nbsp;

Biden administration also marked the occasion with the historic selection of two women to key military command posts.

US President Biden announced the nomination of two women to lead US military commands, who will be only the second and third women to hold such senior military positions in the United States.

US Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost, the only woman to have reached the rank of four-star general, the military's highest, was nominated to head Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).

Three-star army general Laura Richardson was nominated to lead Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which covers Central and Latin America. She will also receive her fourth star.

If the Senate confirms their nominations, then Van Ovost and Richardson will follow Lori Robinson, who was the first woman to helm a military command. She led Northern Command (NORTHCOM) before retiring in 2018.

On International Women's Day, top US officials acknowledged the disproportionate economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, where women have accounted for more than half of all workers who have been pushed out of the labour market.

"The pandemic has exacerbated barriers that have historically impacted women and girls," said Julissa Reynosa, co-chair of the Gender Policy Council.&nbsp;

“Today, the global crises we now face have made abundantly clear both the contributions of women and the challenges facing women,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in remarks to the European Parliament. “If we build a world that works for women, our nations will all be safer, stronger and more prosperous.”

The council’s mandate is to work across the federal governments’ domestic and foreign policy to fight discrimination and bias, boost economic security, increase access to health care, and advance general equality through diplomacy, trade and defence.

(With inputs from agencies)

The White House marked International Women's Day with an executive order to create a gender policy council. It comes at a time when women are disproportionately suffering from the pandemic's economic fallout.

The White House marked International Women's Day with an executive order to create a gender policy council. It comes at a time when women are disproportionately suffering from the pandemic's economic fallout. President Joe Biden signed an executive order establishing a White House Gender Policy Council to advance gender equity and address the challenges for women who have borne the brunt of the pandemic downturn. Biden administration also marked the occasion with the historic selection of two women to key military command posts. US President Biden announced the nomination of two women to lead US military commands, who will be only the second and third women to hold such senior military positions in the United States. US Air Force General Jacqueline Van Ovost, the only woman to have reached the rank of four-star general, the military's highest, was nominated to head Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). Three-star army general Laura Richardson was nominated to lead Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which covers Central and Latin America. She will also receive her fourth star. If the Senate confirms their nominations, then Van Ovost and Richardson will follow Lori Robinson, who was the first woman to helm a military command. She led Northern Command (NORTHCOM) before retiring in 2018. On International Women's Day, top US officials acknowledged the disproportionate economic hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, where women have accounted for more than half of all workers who have been pushed out of the labour market. "The pandemic has exacerbated barriers that have historically impacted women and girls," said Julissa Reynosa, co-chair of the Gender Policy Council. “Today, the global crises we now face have made abundantly clear both the contributions of women and the challenges facing women,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in remarks to the European Parliament. “If we build a world that works for women, our nations will all be safer, stronger and more prosperous.” The council’s mandate is to work across the federal governments’ domestic and foreign policy to fight discrimination and bias, boost economic security, increase access to health care, and advance general equality through diplomacy, trade and defence. (With inputs from agencies)

Women’s Day: Biden creates gender policy council, names two women generals to lead military commands

United States President Joe Biden, who pledged to bring back pets inside the White House recently suffered a setback after two German Shepherds belonging to the family were returned to their home in Delaware. 
 
Major Biden, one of the Biden dogs exhibited aggressive behaviour, which prompted the relocation as reported by CNN. Major was adopted by the Biden family in November 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association (DHA) situated in Wilmington. Major's induction into the White House marked the first rescue dog to grace the halls of the presidential residence. The family's other dog, Champ also joined Major.

It is being described as a "biting incident" involving a White House security official. The condition is unknown, but the dogs have still been moved.

Major, three-years-old is the younger of the Biden dogs, and has shown agitated behaviour on multiple occasions, including jumping and barking, and "charging" at staff members, according to CNN.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/indoguration-for-major-biden-as-joe-biden-prepares-white-house-move-355817" hreflang="en">'Indoguration' for Major Biden as Joe Biden prepares White House move</a>

The other dog is called Champ is roughly 13-years-old. Owing to his age, he has physically slowed down. Both the dogs had moved into the White House in January, a week after Biden's presidential inauguration.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/biden-admin-to-form-task-force-to-deal-with-microsoft-hack-linked-to-china-368613" hreflang="en">Biden admin to form task force to deal with Microsoft hack linked to China</a>

Jill Biden, during an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" said that she had been "obsessed" with settling the dogs, for both the dogs belong to varied age groups.

She referred to lifestyle changes for the dogs, who were not used to taking the lift, and going out on the South Lawn with many people watching them. "I've been obsessed with getting everybody settled and calm", she told Clarkson.

United States President Joe Biden, who pledged to bring back pets inside the White House recently suffered a setback after two German Shepherds belonging to the family were returned to their home in Delaware.

United States President Joe Biden, who pledged to bring back pets inside the White House recently suffered a setback after two German Shepherds belonging to the family were returned to their home in Delaware. Major Biden, one of the Biden dogs exhibited aggressive behaviour, which prompted the relocation as reported by CNN. Major was adopted by the Biden family in November 2018 from the Delaware Humane Association (DHA) situated in Wilmington. Major's induction into the White House marked the first rescue dog to grace the halls of the presidential residence. The family's other dog, Champ also joined Major. It is being described as a "biting incident" involving a White House security official. The condition is unknown, but the dogs have still been moved. Major, three-years-old is the younger of the Biden dogs, and has shown agitated behaviour on multiple occasions, including jumping and barking, and "charging" at staff members, according to CNN. Also read: 'Indoguration' for Major Biden as Joe Biden prepares White House move The other dog is called Champ is roughly 13-years-old. Owing to his age, he has physically slowed down. Both the dogs had moved into the White House in January, a week after Biden's presidential inauguration. Also read: Biden admin to form task force to deal with Microsoft hack linked to China Jill Biden, during an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" said that she had been "obsessed" with settling the dogs, for both the dogs belong to varied age groups. She referred to lifestyle changes for the dogs, who were not used to taking the lift, and going out on the South Lawn with many people watching them. "I've been obsessed with getting everybody settled and calm", she told Clarkson.

Biden's dogs reportedly returned to Delaware after 'biting incident' at White House

The United States and South Korea have reached a new accord under which&nbsp;they will share the cost of the American military presence in the region.

The State Department said on Sunday that South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;will increase its contribution to the cost of US&nbsp;forces stationed in the country under an agreement reached with the United States.

The agreement reflects the Biden administration’s "commitment to reinvigorating and modernizing our democratic alliances around the word to advance our shared security and prosperity," a State Department spokeswoman said.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-south-korea-to-conduct-military-drills-north-koreas-reaction-feared-368532" hreflang="en">US-South Korea to conduct military drills; North Korea's reaction feared</a>

The proposed six-year "Special Measures Agreement" will replace the previous arrangement that expired at the end of 2019.

The spokeswoman said the agreement included a "negotiated meaningful increase in host nation support contributions," but gave no further details.

There are about 28,500 US&nbsp;troops stationed in&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;as deterrence against North&nbsp;Korea. More than 90 per cent&nbsp;of Seoul's contributions under the previous agreement went directly back into the&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean economy, the spokeswoman added.

The negotiations had been gridlocked after former US&nbsp;President Donald Trump rejected Seoul's offer to pay 13% more, for a total of about $1 billion a year, and demanded as much as $5 billion. Seoul currently pays Washington about $920 million a year.

The deal must still be approved by the&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korean legislature.&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea's Foreign Ministry confirmed an agreement in principle in a statement but offered no specifics.

“Both sides will make a public announcement and hold a tentative signing ceremony after completing internal reporting procedures. The government will resolve to sign an agreement in a swift manner to resolve its vacuum that has lasted more than a year," the ministry added.

After 9/11 the US launched a war on terror. According to a study conducted by Brown University that fight has spread to over 80 countries.

President Joe Biden has vowed to revitalise US&nbsp;alliances after four years of strains under Trump and build a united front to counter the challenges posed by Russia, China and Iran.

South&nbsp;Korea&nbsp;began paying for the US. troop presence in the early 1990s, after rebuilding its war-devastated economy. The two countries signed a treaty of mutual defence at the end of the 1950-1953&nbsp;Korean War, which provided the basis for the stationing of US&nbsp;forces in&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea.

Chun said the new deal was a win for the alliance because it would improve the overall conditions for US&nbsp;forces, while the six-year extension would provide much-needed stability

"I hope that this agreement will highlight the fact that 'Korea&nbsp;is not a freeloader' and is and has been a reliable ally," he said.

The announcement came after&nbsp;South&nbsp;Korea's chief envoy, Jeong Eun-bo, arrived in Washington for the first face-to-face talks with U.S. envoy Donna Welton since Biden's administration took office in January.

After the last pact expired, some 4,000&nbsp;South&nbsp;Koreans working for the U.S. military were placed on unpaid leave, prompting the two countries to scramble for a stopgap agreement to let them return to work.

The United States reached an agreement with Japan last month on Tokyo's contribution to the stationing of about 55,000 U.S. forces there, keeping Japan's annual costs steady at about $1.9 billion.

The United States and South Korea have reached a new accord under which they will share the cost of the American military presence in the region. The State Department said on Sunday that South Korea will increase its contribution to the cost of US forces stationed in the country under an agreement reached with the United States.

The United States and South Korea have reached a new accord under which they will share the cost of the American military presence in the region. The State Department said on Sunday that South Korea will increase its contribution to the cost of US forces stationed in the country under an agreement reached with the United States. The agreement reflects the Biden administration’s "commitment to reinvigorating and modernizing our democratic alliances around the word to advance our shared security and prosperity," a State Department spokeswoman said. Also read| US-South Korea to conduct military drills; North Korea's reaction feared The proposed six-year "Special Measures Agreement" will replace the previous arrangement that expired at the end of 2019. The spokeswoman said the agreement included a "negotiated meaningful increase in host nation support contributions," but gave no further details. There are about 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea as deterrence against North Korea. More than 90 per cent of Seoul's contributions under the previous agreement went directly back into the South Korean economy, the spokeswoman added. The negotiations had been gridlocked after former US President Donald Trump rejected Seoul's offer to pay 13% more, for a total of about $1 billion a year, and demanded as much as $5 billion. Seoul currently pays Washington about $920 million a year. The deal must still be approved by the South Korean legislature. South Korea's Foreign Ministry confirmed an agreement in principle in a statement but offered no specifics. “Both sides will make a public announcement and hold a tentative signing ceremony after completing internal reporting procedures. The government will resolve to sign an agreement in a swift manner to resolve its vacuum that has lasted more than a year," the ministry added. After 9/11 the US launched a war on terror. According to a study conducted by Brown University that fight has spread to over 80 countries. President Joe Biden has vowed to revitalise US alliances after four years of strains under Trump and build a united front to counter the challenges posed by Russia, China and Iran. South Korea began paying for the US. troop presence in the early 1990s, after rebuilding its war-devastated economy. The two countries signed a treaty of mutual defence at the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which provided the basis for the stationing of US forces in South Korea. Chun said the new deal was a win for the alliance because it would improve the overall conditions for US forces, while the six-year extension would provide much-needed stability "I hope that this agreement will highlight the fact that 'Korea is not a freeloader' and is and has been a reliable ally," he said. The announcement came after South Korea's chief envoy, Jeong Eun-bo, arrived in Washington for the first face-to-face talks with U.S. envoy Donna Welton since Biden's administration took office in January. After the last pact expired, some 4,000 South Koreans working for the U.S. military were placed on unpaid leave, prompting the two countries to scramble for a stopgap agreement to let them return to work. The United States reached an agreement with Japan last month on Tokyo's contribution to the stationing of about 55,000 U.S. forces there, keeping Japan's annual costs steady at about $1.9 billion.

US and South Korea reach new accord on cost-sharing deal for troops

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of his administration's efforts to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.

Joe Biden's signs executive order to expand voting access

A US official said that President Joe Biden`s administration is expected to put together a task force to deal with major cyber intrusions that Microsoft said this week were linked to China as relations between the two -- Washington and Beijing -- continues to spiral downwards.CNN, citing the US official, reported that there are an estimated 30,000 affected customers in the US and 250,000 globally, though those numbers are expected to increase.&nbsp;

However, the White House declined to comment on the number of victims affected.

"We are undertaking a whole of government response to assess and address the impact. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive to agencies and we`re now working with our partners and looking closely at the next steps we need to take. This is an active threat still developing and we urge network operators to take it very seriously," a White House official said.

The US official said that the task force or, "Unified Coordination Group" (UCG), is a multi-agency effort initiated by the National Security Council, that includes FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and others.The National Security Agency also has a role in the response, though it`s not clear if its involvement is codified as part of the UCG directive, according to another source familiar with the situation."

"This has the potential to simultaneously affect organizations that are critical to everyday life in the US," a source familiar with the investigation into the attack told CNN, noting that state and local government agencies were among those affected.

The Hill reported that Cybersecurity group FireEye on Thursday night announced it had found evidence that hackers had exploited a flaw in a popular Microsoft email application since as early as January to target groups across a variety of sectors.

FireEye analysts wrote in a blog post that the company had observed the hackers -- who Microsoft announced earlier this week were a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as "Hafnium" -- exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft`s Exchange Server email program to target at least one FireEye client beginning in January.

The news outlet further reported that Microsoft said the Chinese hacking group was actively exploiting previously unknown security flaws in Exchange Server to go after groups running the program.The company noted that Hafnium had previously been known to steal information from organizations including infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, defense contractors, policy think tanks and non-governmental organizations.

In February, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) warned that the efforts made by the Chinese Communist Party to obtain US health data, particularly DNA, through hacking had stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic.According to The Hill, the agency noted that these efforts had increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Chinese biotech group BGI offering COVID-19 testing kits to the majority of countries and establishing 18 testing labs over the past six months alone, allegedly as part of an effort to obtain health data.

The NCSC wrote that US health data was an attractive target for the Chinese government due to the diversity of the population and because of the nation`s comparably lax safeguards for personal data.Under the Trump administration, ties between the two countries had deteriorated over issues such as human rights violations in Xinjiang, encroachment on the special status of Hong Kong, accusations of unfair trade practices by Beijing, lack of transparency concerning the pandemic and China`s military aggression in various parts of the world.

Meanwhile, Chinese hackers also have been trying hard to crack Indian cyberspace. There have been more aggressive attempts of hacking by Chinese hackers since last one year.Various government organisations like the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) are following trends and keeping a track of attempts made by the Chinese post the Galwan clash.

A US official said that President Joe Biden`s administration is expected to put together a task force to deal with major cyber intrusions that Microsoft said this week were linked to China as relations between the two -- Washington and Beijing -- continues to spiral downwards.

A US official said that President Joe Biden`s administration is expected to put together a task force to deal with major cyber intrusions that Microsoft said this week were linked to China as relations between the two -- Washington and Beijing -- continues to spiral downwards.CNN, citing the US official, reported that there are an estimated 30,000 affected customers in the US and 250,000 globally, though those numbers are expected to increase. However, the White House declined to comment on the number of victims affected. "We are undertaking a whole of government response to assess and address the impact. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive to agencies and we`re now working with our partners and looking closely at the next steps we need to take. This is an active threat still developing and we urge network operators to take it very seriously," a White House official said. The US official said that the task force or, "Unified Coordination Group" (UCG), is a multi-agency effort initiated by the National Security Council, that includes FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and others.The National Security Agency also has a role in the response, though it`s not clear if its involvement is codified as part of the UCG directive, according to another source familiar with the situation." "This has the potential to simultaneously affect organizations that are critical to everyday life in the US," a source familiar with the investigation into the attack told CNN, noting that state and local government agencies were among those affected. The Hill reported that Cybersecurity group FireEye on Thursday night announced it had found evidence that hackers had exploited a flaw in a popular Microsoft email application since as early as January to target groups across a variety of sectors. FireEye analysts wrote in a blog post that the company had observed the hackers -- who Microsoft announced earlier this week were a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as "Hafnium" -- exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft`s Exchange Server email program to target at least one FireEye client beginning in January. The news outlet further reported that Microsoft said the Chinese hacking group was actively exploiting previously unknown security flaws in Exchange Server to go after groups running the program.The company noted that Hafnium had previously been known to steal information from organizations including infectious disease researchers, law firms, higher education institutions, defense contractors, policy think tanks and non-governmental organizations. In February, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) warned that the efforts made by the Chinese Communist Party to obtain US health data, particularly DNA, through hacking had stepped up during the COVID-19 pandemic.According to The Hill, the agency noted that these efforts had increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with Chinese biotech group BGI offering COVID-19 testing kits to the majority of countries and establishing 18 testing labs over the past six months alone, allegedly as part of an effort to obtain health data. The NCSC wrote that US health data was an attractive target for the Chinese government due to the diversity of the population and because of the nation`s comparably lax safeguards for personal data.Under the Trump administration, ties between the two countries had deteriorated over issues such as human rights violations in Xinjiang, encroachment on the special status of Hong Kong, accusations of unfair trade practices by Beijing, lack of transparency concerning the pandemic and China`s military aggression in various parts of the world. Meanwhile, Chinese hackers also have been trying hard to crack Indian cyberspace. There have been more aggressive attempts of hacking by Chinese hackers since last one year.Various government organisations like the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) are following trends and keeping a track of attempts made by the Chinese post the Galwan clash.

Biden admin to form task force to deal with Microsoft hack linked to China

The Senate on Saturday passed President Joe Biden`s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan in a party-line vote after an all-night session that saw Democrats battling among themselves over jobless aid and the Republican minority failing in attempts to push through some three dozen amendments.

The final bill includes $400 billion in one-time payments of $1,400 to most Americans, $300 a week in extended jobless benefits for the 9.5 million people thrown out of work in the crisis, and $350 billion in aid to state and local governments that have seen the pandemic blow a hole in their budgets.

The Senate voted 50-49, with no Republicans voting in favor, on what would be one of the largest stimulus packages in U.S. history.

Several Republicans left the chamber immediately after the vote, while Senator Bernie Sanders fist-bumped Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The fight is not over as the bill needs to return to the House of Representatives, which approved a slightly different version a week earlier.

The standoff within the Democratic party over the jobless benefits and the all-night effort by Republicans to amend a bill that polls show is popular with voters illustrated the difficulty that Biden will face in pushing other policies through a Congress that Democrats control by the narrowest of majorities. The bill is a priority for Biden as the country battles a pandemic that has killed more than 520,000 Americans.

The chamber set a record in its longest single vote in the modern era -- 11 hours and 50 minutes -- as Democrats negotiated a compromise on unemployment benefits to satisfy centrists like Senator Joe Manchin, who often walks a delicate tightrope as a Democrat representing a state, West Virginia, that overwhelmingly supported Republican former President Donald Trump in the November election.

The extended unemployment payments, which are to be paid out on top of state jobless benefits, proved to be the most contentious part of the bill. The House bill had set the supplemental benefit at $400 a week, but Senate Democrats finally agreed to knock that down to $300.

The House bill also featured a measure to more than double the minimum wage to $15 per hour, which the Senate also rejected.

Moderate Democrats feared that the higher jobless benefits and minimum wage hike would overheat the economy and hurt businesses in rural states.

Senate Democrats used a process called reconciliation to pass the measure with a simple majority rather than the 60 of 100 votes normally required under the chamber`s rules.

It was unclear whether Democrats will try to use that maneuver on other policy goals such as legislation dealing with climate change and immigration.

One Republican, Daniel Sullivan of Alaska, left Washington on Friday night for a family funeral, meaning that Democrats did not need Vice President Kamala Harris` tie-breaking vote in the normally 50-50 chamber.

Republicans have broadly supported previous stimulus packages to fight the virus and revive the economy. But with Democrats in charge of the White House and both chambers of Congress, they criticized this bill as too expensive.

The country has yet to replace 9.5 million jobs lost since last year and the White House says it could take years to do so.

Washington got unexpected good news on Friday after data showed that U.S. employment surged in February, adding 379,000 jobs, significantly higher than many economists had expected.

The Senate on Saturday passed President Joe Biden`s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan in a party-line vote after an all-night session that saw Democrats battling among themselves over jobless aid and the Republican minority failing in attempts to push through some three dozen amendments.

The Senate on Saturday passed President Joe Biden`s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan in a party-line vote after an all-night session that saw Democrats battling among themselves over jobless aid and the Republican minority failing in attempts to push through some three dozen amendments. The final bill includes $400 billion in one-time payments of $1,400 to most Americans, $300 a week in extended jobless benefits for the 9.5 million people thrown out of work in the crisis, and $350 billion in aid to state and local governments that have seen the pandemic blow a hole in their budgets. The Senate voted 50-49, with no Republicans voting in favor, on what would be one of the largest stimulus packages in U.S. history. Several Republicans left the chamber immediately after the vote, while Senator Bernie Sanders fist-bumped Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The fight is not over as the bill needs to return to the House of Representatives, which approved a slightly different version a week earlier. The standoff within the Democratic party over the jobless benefits and the all-night effort by Republicans to amend a bill that polls show is popular with voters illustrated the difficulty that Biden will face in pushing other policies through a Congress that Democrats control by the narrowest of majorities. The bill is a priority for Biden as the country battles a pandemic that has killed more than 520,000 Americans. The chamber set a record in its longest single vote in the modern era -- 11 hours and 50 minutes -- as Democrats negotiated a compromise on unemployment benefits to satisfy centrists like Senator Joe Manchin, who often walks a delicate tightrope as a Democrat representing a state, West Virginia, that overwhelmingly supported Republican former President Donald Trump in the November election. The extended unemployment payments, which are to be paid out on top of state jobless benefits, proved to be the most contentious part of the bill. The House bill had set the supplemental benefit at $400 a week, but Senate Democrats finally agreed to knock that down to $300. The House bill also featured a measure to more than double the minimum wage to $15 per hour, which the Senate also rejected. Moderate Democrats feared that the higher jobless benefits and minimum wage hike would overheat the economy and hurt businesses in rural states. Senate Democrats used a process called reconciliation to pass the measure with a simple majority rather than the 60 of 100 votes normally required under the chamber`s rules. It was unclear whether Democrats will try to use that maneuver on other policy goals such as legislation dealing with climate change and immigration. One Republican, Daniel Sullivan of Alaska, left Washington on Friday night for a family funeral, meaning that Democrats did not need Vice President Kamala Harris` tie-breaking vote in the normally 50-50 chamber. Republicans have broadly supported previous stimulus packages to fight the virus and revive the economy. But with Democrats in charge of the White House and both chambers of Congress, they criticized this bill as too expensive. The country has yet to replace 9.5 million jobs lost since last year and the White House says it could take years to do so. Washington got unexpected good news on Friday after data showed that U.S. employment surged in February, adding 379,000 jobs, significantly higher than many economists had expected.

US Senate passes Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid bill on party-line vote

Amanda Gorman, the poet who shot to worldwide fame after performing at US President Joe Biden's inauguration, has narrated her experience on Twitter of alleged racial discrimination at the hands of a security guard.

Gorman received widespread acclaim for her reading of The Hill We Climb on January 20 at the US Capitol.

The 22-year-old said she was followed by a guard on a walk home on Friday, and was told she looked suspicious.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/entertainment/lifestyle/news-how-amanda-gorman-overcame-speech-impediment-with-help-of-a-hamilton-song-358458">Also read | How Amanda Gorman overcame speech impediment with help of a 'Hamilton' song&nbsp;</a>

"This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day, a threat," she wrote.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be. <a href="https://t.co/hY9miR0b6J">https://t.co/hY9miR0b6J</a>
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAmandaGorman/status/1368016803553710082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

Gorman said the guard offered no apology to her after she proved she lived in her own apartment building.

She also re-shared a post she made in February which said: "We live in a contradictory society that can celebrate a black girl poet &amp; also pepper spray a 9 yr old" - in reference to an incident in Rochester, New York.

"Yes see me, but also see all other black girls who've been made invisible. I can not, will not, rise alone."

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight. He demanded if I lived there because “you look suspicious.” I showed my keys &amp; buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat. <a href="https://t.co/MmANtQqpBs">https://t.co/MmANtQqpBs</a>
— Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheAmandaGorman/status/1368010884111421440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

Born in Los Angeles in 1998, Gorman&nbsp;was the youngest poet ever to recite at a presidential inauguration, a role first given to Robert Frost by John F&nbsp;Kennedy in 1961.

The 22-year-old Harvard University graduate was invited to perform in Washington after First Lady Jill Biden saw one of her readings.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/amanda-gorman-becomes-youngest-inaugural-poet-in-us-history-358151">Also read |&nbsp;Amanda Gorman becomes youngest inaugural poet in US history</a>

She is also the recipient of the Poets &amp; Writers Barnes &amp; Noble Writers for Writers Award and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.&nbsp;

Amanda Gorman, the poet who shot to worldwide fame after performing at US President Joe Biden's inauguration, has narrated her experience on Twitter of alleged racial discrimination at the hands of a security guard.

Amanda Gorman, the poet who shot to worldwide fame after performing at US President Joe Biden's inauguration, has narrated her experience on Twitter of alleged racial discrimination at the hands of a security guard. Gorman received widespread acclaim for her reading of The Hill We Climb on January 20 at the US Capitol. The 22-year-old said she was followed by a guard on a walk home on Friday, and was told she looked suspicious. Also read | How Amanda Gorman overcame speech impediment with help of a 'Hamilton' song "This is the reality of black girls: One day you're called an icon, the next day, a threat," she wrote. In a sense, he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be. https://t.co/hY9miR0b6J — Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) March 6, 2021 × Gorman said the guard offered no apology to her after she proved she lived in her own apartment building. She also re-shared a post she made in February which said: "We live in a contradictory society that can celebrate a black girl poet & also pepper spray a 9 yr old" - in reference to an incident in Rochester, New York. "Yes see me, but also see all other black girls who've been made invisible. I can not, will not, rise alone." A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight. He demanded if I lived there because “you look suspicious.” I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat. https://t.co/MmANtQqpBs — Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman) March 6, 2021 × Born in Los Angeles in 1998, Gorman was the youngest poet ever to recite at a presidential inauguration, a role first given to Robert Frost by John F Kennedy in 1961. The 22-year-old Harvard University graduate was invited to perform in Washington after First Lady Jill Biden saw one of her readings. Also read | Amanda Gorman becomes youngest inaugural poet in US history She is also the recipient of the Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award and is the youngest board member of 826 National, the largest youth writing network in the United States.

Amanda Gorman, Biden inauguration poet, says security guard labelled her 'suspicious'

Top aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo were alarmed: A report written by state health officials had just landed, and it included a count of how many nursing home residents in New York had died in the pandemic.

The number — more than 9,000 by that point in June — was not public, and the governor’s most senior aides wanted to keep it that way. They rewrote the report to take it out, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The extraordinary intervention, which came just as Cuomo was starting to write a book on his pandemic achievements, was the earliest act yet known in what critics have called a monthslong effort by the governor and his aides to obscure the full scope of nursing home deaths.

After the state attorney general revealed this year that thousands of deaths of nursing home residents had been undercounted, Cuomo finally released the complete data, saying he had withheld it out of concern that the Trump administration might pursue a politically motivated inquiry into the state’s handling of the outbreak in nursing homes.

But Cuomo and his aides actually began concealing the numbers months earlier, as his aides were battling their own top health officials, and well before requests for data arrived from federal authorities, according to documents and interviews with six people with direct knowledge of the discussions, who requested anonymity to describe the closed-door debates.

The central role played by the governor’s top aides reflected the lengths to which Cuomo had gone in the middle of a deadly pandemic to control data, brush aside public health expertise and bolster his position as a national leader in the fight against the coronavirus.

As the nursing home report was being written, the New York State Health Department’s data — contained in a chart reviewed by The Times that was included in a draft — put the death toll roughly 50% higher than the figure then being cited publicly by the Cuomo administration.

The Health Department worked on the report with McKinsey, a consulting firm hired by Cuomo to help with the pandemic response. The chart they created compared nursing home deaths in New York with other states. New York’s total of 9,250 deaths far exceeded that of the next-highest state, New Jersey, which had 6,150 at the time.

The changes sought by the governor’s aides fueled bitter exchanges with health officials working on the report. The conflict punctuated an already tense and devolving relationship between Cuomo and his Health Department, one that would fuel an exodus of the state’s top public health officials.

In the past week, Cuomo’s once seemingly unshakable grip on power has been buffeted by a wave of scandal. Three women have accused the governor of inappropriate conduct, including workplace sexual harassment. On Wednesday, he publicly apologized for his actions, which are soon to be subjected to an independent investigation overseen by the state attorney general.

The crisis over Cuomo’s behavior with women came just as his administration had been dealing with political turmoil over nursing homes. Lawmakers moved to strip him of the emergency powers he had been granted during the pandemic, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have opened a separate investigation.

An outside lawyer hired by the state has begun interviewing officials about the handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions.

The aides who were involved in changing the report included Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s top aide; Linda Lacewell, the head of the state’s Department of Financial Services; and Jim Malatras, a former top adviser to Cuomo brought back to work on the pandemic. None had public health expertise.

In response to a detailed list of questions from The Times sent Tuesday, the governor’s office responded with a statement Thursday night from Beth Garvey, a special counsel, who said “the out-of-facility data was omitted after D.O.H. could not confirm it had been adequately verified.” She added that the additional data did not change the conclusion of the report.

The tension over the death count dated to the early weeks of the pandemic when Cuomo issued an order preventing nursing homes from turning away people discharged from the hospital after being treated for COVID-19. The order was similar to ones issued in other states aimed at preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.

But by late spring, Republicans were suggesting that the order had caused a deadly spread of the virus in nursing homes. Cuomo disputed that it had. Still, critics and others seized on the way the state was publicly reporting deaths: Unlike other states, New York excluded residents who had been transferred to hospitals and died there, effectively cloaking how many nursing home residents had died of COVID-19.

The 33-page report, which was issued in July by the state Health Department, found the governor’s policies were not to blame, but it became a turning point in the Albany debate over the governor’s policies.

The day after it was published, legislators began calling for hearings and requesting complete data. Public health officials criticized its approach. A think tank began seeking for the data the next month, as did the Justice Department.

Health officials, nursing home operators and even some of Cuomo’s aides expressed bafflement at the governor’s apparent insistence on delaying the release of the data for so long, as none of the information released so far has changed the overall number of COVID-19 deaths in New York — now more than 47,000, including more than 15,000 nursing home residents.

But the July report allowed Cuomo to treat the nursing home issue as resolved last year, paving the way for him to focus on touting New York’s success in controlling the virus.

“I am now thinking about writing a book about what we went through,” Cuomo said four days after the report’s release, his first public comments about a possible book.

By that point, he was already seeking formal approval from a state ethics agency to earn outside income from book sales, according to a person with knowledge of his planning at the time.

The governor’s policy to direct nursing homes to accept and readmit patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus remains a subject of intense debate. An investigation by the attorney general’s office, released in January, said that Cuomo’s memo to nursing homes was consistent with federal guidance, but it “may have put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities.”

Garvey said in her statement that the governor’s order did not drive nursing home deaths, a conclusion that was also reached in the Health Department report.

At the time, when the report was being prepared, Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, still enjoyed broad popularity for his televised news briefings.

For its report, the Health Department had drawn on data submitted by the state’s more than 600 nursing homes, which were particularly hard hit in March and early April, as New York became a global epicenter.

“To us, it was clear: that you’ve got to report cases and deaths by all categories — case in nursing home, case in hospital,” said Stuart Almer, chief executive of Gurwin Health Care System, which runs a 460-bed nursing facility on Long Island that has recorded 65 resident deaths from COVID-19. “We always had confidence, and still do, in our numbers.”

State health officials could see from the data that a significant number of residents died after being transferred to hospitals. The state health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, had been aware as early as June that officials in his department believed the data was good enough to include in the report, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

But Zucker testified to lawmakers in early August that the department was still auditing the numbers and could not release them. State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, the chair of the health committee, suggested during the hearing that the data was being withheld to improve the governor’s image.

“That’s a problem, bro,” Rivera told Zucker. “It seems, sir, that, in this case, you are choosing to define it differently so that you can look better.”

In a statement issued Thursday, Gary Holmes, a spokesperson for the Health Department, echoed Garvey’s words, disputing that the numbers had been ready in time for the report and saying said that, regardless, they would not have changed its conclusions.

Dr. Eleanor Adams was the Health Department’s lead on the report, but her draft was substantially rewritten by Malatras, now the chancellor of the State University of New York system. He was among a number of officials and former advisers temporarily recruited by Cuomo to assist with the pandemic response.

The back-and-forth went well beyond the usual process of the governor’s office suggesting edits to an agency report, and became “intense” at times, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

Health officials felt the governor’s office, whose opinion was conveyed by Malatras, wanted to simplify too much. They worried it was no longer a true scientific report but feared for their jobs if they did not go along.

Even so, an edited version prepared by Malatras did not remove the higher death toll.

That occurred later, after DeRosa and Lacewell became aware of its inclusion. It was taken out soon after.

Top aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo were alarmed: A report written by state health officials had just landed, and it included a count of how many nursing home residents in New York had died in the pandemic.

Top aides to Gov. Andrew Cuomo were alarmed: A report written by state health officials had just landed, and it included a count of how many nursing home residents in New York had died in the pandemic. The number — more than 9,000 by that point in June — was not public, and the governor’s most senior aides wanted to keep it that way. They rewrote the report to take it out, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times. The extraordinary intervention, which came just as Cuomo was starting to write a book on his pandemic achievements, was the earliest act yet known in what critics have called a monthslong effort by the governor and his aides to obscure the full scope of nursing home deaths. After the state attorney general revealed this year that thousands of deaths of nursing home residents had been undercounted, Cuomo finally released the complete data, saying he had withheld it out of concern that the Trump administration might pursue a politically motivated inquiry into the state’s handling of the outbreak in nursing homes. But Cuomo and his aides actually began concealing the numbers months earlier, as his aides were battling their own top health officials, and well before requests for data arrived from federal authorities, according to documents and interviews with six people with direct knowledge of the discussions, who requested anonymity to describe the closed-door debates. The central role played by the governor’s top aides reflected the lengths to which Cuomo had gone in the middle of a deadly pandemic to control data, brush aside public health expertise and bolster his position as a national leader in the fight against the coronavirus. As the nursing home report was being written, the New York State Health Department’s data — contained in a chart reviewed by The Times that was included in a draft — put the death toll roughly 50% higher than the figure then being cited publicly by the Cuomo administration. The Health Department worked on the report with McKinsey, a consulting firm hired by Cuomo to help with the pandemic response. The chart they created compared nursing home deaths in New York with other states. New York’s total of 9,250 deaths far exceeded that of the next-highest state, New Jersey, which had 6,150 at the time. The changes sought by the governor’s aides fueled bitter exchanges with health officials working on the report. The conflict punctuated an already tense and devolving relationship between Cuomo and his Health Department, one that would fuel an exodus of the state’s top public health officials. In the past week, Cuomo’s once seemingly unshakable grip on power has been buffeted by a wave of scandal. Three women have accused the governor of inappropriate conduct, including workplace sexual harassment. On Wednesday, he publicly apologized for his actions, which are soon to be subjected to an independent investigation overseen by the state attorney general. The crisis over Cuomo’s behavior with women came just as his administration had been dealing with political turmoil over nursing homes. Lawmakers moved to strip him of the emergency powers he had been granted during the pandemic, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have opened a separate investigation. An outside lawyer hired by the state has begun interviewing officials about the handling of nursing homes during the pandemic, according to a person with knowledge of the discussions. The aides who were involved in changing the report included Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s top aide; Linda Lacewell, the head of the state’s Department of Financial Services; and Jim Malatras, a former top adviser to Cuomo brought back to work on the pandemic. None had public health expertise. In response to a detailed list of questions from The Times sent Tuesday, the governor’s office responded with a statement Thursday night from Beth Garvey, a special counsel, who said “the out-of-facility data was omitted after D.O.H. could not confirm it had been adequately verified.” She added that the additional data did not change the conclusion of the report. The tension over the death count dated to the early weeks of the pandemic when Cuomo issued an order preventing nursing homes from turning away people discharged from the hospital after being treated for COVID-19. The order was similar to ones issued in other states aimed at preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. But by late spring, Republicans were suggesting that the order had caused a deadly spread of the virus in nursing homes. Cuomo disputed that it had. Still, critics and others seized on the way the state was publicly reporting deaths: Unlike other states, New York excluded residents who had been transferred to hospitals and died there, effectively cloaking how many nursing home residents had died of COVID-19. The 33-page report, which was issued in July by the state Health Department, found the governor’s policies were not to blame, but it became a turning point in the Albany debate over the governor’s policies. The day after it was published, legislators began calling for hearings and requesting complete data. Public health officials criticized its approach. A think tank began seeking for the data the next month, as did the Justice Department. Health officials, nursing home operators and even some of Cuomo’s aides expressed bafflement at the governor’s apparent insistence on delaying the release of the data for so long, as none of the information released so far has changed the overall number of COVID-19 deaths in New York — now more than 47,000, including more than 15,000 nursing home residents. But the July report allowed Cuomo to treat the nursing home issue as resolved last year, paving the way for him to focus on touting New York’s success in controlling the virus. “I am now thinking about writing a book about what we went through,” Cuomo said four days after the report’s release, his first public comments about a possible book. By that point, he was already seeking formal approval from a state ethics agency to earn outside income from book sales, according to a person with knowledge of his planning at the time. The governor’s policy to direct nursing homes to accept and readmit patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus remains a subject of intense debate. An investigation by the attorney general’s office, released in January, said that Cuomo’s memo to nursing homes was consistent with federal guidance, but it “may have put residents at increased risk of harm in some facilities.” Garvey said in her statement that the governor’s order did not drive nursing home deaths, a conclusion that was also reached in the Health Department report. At the time, when the report was being prepared, Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, still enjoyed broad popularity for his televised news briefings. For its report, the Health Department had drawn on data submitted by the state’s more than 600 nursing homes, which were particularly hard hit in March and early April, as New York became a global epicenter. “To us, it was clear: that you’ve got to report cases and deaths by all categories — case in nursing home, case in hospital,” said Stuart Almer, chief executive of Gurwin Health Care System, which runs a 460-bed nursing facility on Long Island that has recorded 65 resident deaths from COVID-19. “We always had confidence, and still do, in our numbers.” State health officials could see from the data that a significant number of residents died after being transferred to hospitals. The state health commissioner, Dr. Howard Zucker, had been aware as early as June that officials in his department believed the data was good enough to include in the report, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. But Zucker testified to lawmakers in early August that the department was still auditing the numbers and could not release them. State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, the chair of the health committee, suggested during the hearing that the data was being withheld to improve the governor’s image. “That’s a problem, bro,” Rivera told Zucker. “It seems, sir, that, in this case, you are choosing to define it differently so that you can look better.” In a statement issued Thursday, Gary Holmes, a spokesperson for the Health Department, echoed Garvey’s words, disputing that the numbers had been ready in time for the report and saying said that, regardless, they would not have changed its conclusions. Dr. Eleanor Adams was the Health Department’s lead on the report, but her draft was substantially rewritten by Malatras, now the chancellor of the State University of New York system. He was among a number of officials and former advisers temporarily recruited by Cuomo to assist with the pandemic response. The back-and-forth went well beyond the usual process of the governor’s office suggesting edits to an agency report, and became “intense” at times, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. Health officials felt the governor’s office, whose opinion was conveyed by Malatras, wanted to simplify too much. They worried it was no longer a true scientific report but feared for their jobs if they did not go along. Even so, an edited version prepared by Malatras did not remove the higher death toll. That occurred later, after DeRosa and Lacewell became aware of its inclusion. It was taken out soon after.

Cuomo aides rewrote nursing home report to hide higher death toll

United States President Joe Biden said that Indian-Americans are taking over the country, referring to the high number of people from the community getting a place in his administration. He has congratulated the team of NASA scientists.

Your Story: United States President Joe Biden congratulates team of NASA scientists

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday rounded out his White House staff with a host of new appointments focused on COVID-19, criminal justice, the economy and other major issues, including a new top adviser on technology and competition issues.

The White House announced six additional staffers to its National Economic Council, including Columbia University professor Tim Wu, who coined the term "net neutrality" and has warned against an economy dominated by a few giant firms.

Wu authored "The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age" in 2018, in which he warned about the inequalities created by extreme economic concentraion. 
He has previously served as senior enforcement counsel to the New York Attorney General and as adviser at the Federal Trade Commission and the National Economic Council.

"Putting this twitter feed on hold for now -- so long!" Wu, said in a post on Friday.

His appointment is a win for progressives, who have pushed for tougher scrutiny of big tech firms such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Google and is likely to shape the White House`s approach on tougher antitrust enforcement.

Google and Facebook have been sued by federal and state regulators for using their dominance to hurt rivals whereas Amazon and Apple are still under investigation.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Committee, said Wu`s appointment shows the administration is serious about promoting competition in the United States. "America has a major monopoly problem that must be urgently addressed," she said.

Congressional Democrats have already begun talks with the White House on ways to crack down on tech companies, including making them responsible for disinformation and addressing their market power.

Several Republicans have also sought to hit back at Big Tech, including efforts to scrap a law known as Section 230 that shields online companies for liability over users` posted content.

In the White House statement on new staff, Biden also named 13 additions to his Domestic Policy Council and two more staffers to the White House COVID-19 response team.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday rounded out his White House staff with a host of new appointments focused on COVID-19, criminal justice, the economy and other major issues, including a new top adviser on technology and competition issues.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday rounded out his White House staff with a host of new appointments focused on COVID-19, criminal justice, the economy and other major issues, including a new top adviser on technology and competition issues. The White House announced six additional staffers to its National Economic Council, including Columbia University professor Tim Wu, who coined the term "net neutrality" and has warned against an economy dominated by a few giant firms. Wu authored "The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age" in 2018, in which he warned about the inequalities created by extreme economic concentraion. He has previously served as senior enforcement counsel to the New York Attorney General and as adviser at the Federal Trade Commission and the National Economic Council. "Putting this twitter feed on hold for now -- so long!" Wu, said in a post on Friday. His appointment is a win for progressives, who have pushed for tougher scrutiny of big tech firms such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Google and is likely to shape the White House`s approach on tougher antitrust enforcement. Google and Facebook have been sued by federal and state regulators for using their dominance to hurt rivals whereas Amazon and Apple are still under investigation. Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Committee, said Wu`s appointment shows the administration is serious about promoting competition in the United States. "America has a major monopoly problem that must be urgently addressed," she said. Congressional Democrats have already begun talks with the White House on ways to crack down on tech companies, including making them responsible for disinformation and addressing their market power. Several Republicans have also sought to hit back at Big Tech, including efforts to scrap a law known as Section 230 that shields online companies for liability over users` posted content. In the White House statement on new staff, Biden also named 13 additions to his Domestic Policy Council and two more staffers to the White House COVID-19 response team.

Biden beefs up White House staff, including Big Tech critic Wu

In the first two months of his presidency, US President Joe Biden has taken concrete steps to overturn his predecessor Donald Trump's policies. One of those moves were initiating hearing for asylum seekers living near the US -Mexico border.

Asylum seekers living near US-Mexico border plead for entry into US

The Myanmar junta's brutal tactics against the peaceful protesters continued on Wednesday as the United Nations said that at least 38 people died on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to 50. Meanwhile, a SpaceX rocket on Wednesday exploded after a seemingly successful flight and landing.

Click on headlines to read more

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/only-today-38-people-died-us-condemns-brutal-violence-by-myanmar-military-367809">'Only today, 38 people died': US condemns 'brutal violence' by Myanmar military</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2021/03/04/185394-myanmar-protests.jpg?itok=KnWlGBJE" />

International criticism against Myanmar military junta got fiercer on a day that was the bloodiest so far amid pro-democracy protests in the country. United Nations said that at least 38 deaths occurred on Wednesday ( March 3). This has brought the death toll to 50.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/spacex-rocket-explodes-on-ground-367798">SpaceX rocket explodes on ground</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2021/01/30/180669-spacex-starship-rocket.jpg?itok=kLvjorCo" />

SpaceX rocket on Wednesday exploded after a seemingly successful flight and landing.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/swedish-police-probe-stabbing-incident-as-terror-motive-after-8-injured-367810">Swedish police probe stabbing incident as 'terror motive' after 8 injured</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2021/03/04/185390-police11.JPG?itok=dKpL1I-j" />

Swedish police on Thursday opened "suspected terrorist" investigation after a man stabbed eight people with a knife in the city of Vetlanda.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/alarming-situation-in-brazil-as-record-covid-19-death-toll-seen-for-second-straight-day-367800">'Alarming' situation in Brazil as record Covid-19 death toll seen for second straight day</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2020/10/09/164043-coronavirus-in-brazils.jpg?itok=tLVQAAzH" />

With 1,910 new deaths due to novel coronavirus, Brazil on Wednesday for the second consecutive day registered a record death toll.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-pm-imran-khan-to-seek-vote-of-confidence-after-senate-election-defeat-367799">Pakistan PM Imran Khan to seek vote of confidence after Senate election defeat</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2021/02/05/181415-untitled-design-5.jpg?itok=gPa5Iaco" />

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament after the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaaf(PTI) lost a key Senate seat in Islamabad.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/neanderthal-thinking-joe-biden-slams-texas-mississippi-for-dropping-mask-wearing-requirements-367811">'Neanderthal thinking': Joe Biden slams Texas, Mississippi for dropping mask-wearing requirements</a>

<img src="https://cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/styles/story_page/public/2021/02/17/183114-wh1.jpg?itok=rMLnV5KS" />

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticised Republican-ruled states Texas and Mississippi for dropping measures to wear masks, calling it "Neanderthal thinking".

The Myanmar junta's brutal tactics against the peaceful protesters continued on Wednesday as the United Nations said that at least 38 people died on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to 50.

The Myanmar junta's brutal tactics against the peaceful protesters continued on Wednesday as the United Nations said that at least 38 people died on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to 50. Meanwhile, a SpaceX rocket on Wednesday exploded after a seemingly successful flight and landing. Click on headlines to read more 'Only today, 38 people died': US condemns 'brutal violence' by Myanmar military International criticism against Myanmar military junta got fiercer on a day that was the bloodiest so far amid pro-democracy protests in the country. United Nations said that at least 38 deaths occurred on Wednesday ( March 3). This has brought the death toll to 50. SpaceX rocket explodes on ground SpaceX rocket on Wednesday exploded after a seemingly successful flight and landing. Swedish police probe stabbing incident as 'terror motive' after 8 injured Swedish police on Thursday opened "suspected terrorist" investigation after a man stabbed eight people with a knife in the city of Vetlanda. 'Alarming' situation in Brazil as record Covid-19 death toll seen for second straight day With 1,910 new deaths due to novel coronavirus, Brazil on Wednesday for the second consecutive day registered a record death toll. Pakistan PM Imran Khan to seek vote of confidence after Senate election defeat Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is set to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament after the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaaf(PTI) lost a key Senate seat in Islamabad. 'Neanderthal thinking': Joe Biden slams Texas, Mississippi for dropping mask-wearing requirements US President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticised Republican-ruled states Texas and Mississippi for dropping measures to wear masks, calling it "Neanderthal thinking".

Morning news brief: Myanmar police violence, SpaceX rocket, and more

US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden </a>on Wednesday criticised Republican-ruled states Texas and Mississippi for dropping measures to wear masks, calling it "Neanderthal thinking".

"The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking, that in the meantime everything's fine -- take off your mask, forget it. It still matters," the US president said.&nbsp;

Biden's remarks came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted mask mandate in the state on Tuesday, saying it's time to open "100 per cent".

Watch |&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/us-senate-nears-vote-on-bidens-covid-19-aid-bill-367803/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

He said the opening of businesses up to 75 per cent have hurt small players and the state now has the "tools" to protect the Texans from the deadly virus.&nbsp;

Mississippi, which announced lifting compulsory mask-wearing on Wednesday hit back at Biden's comments, with Governor Tate Reeves saying "Mississippians don't need handlers". &nbsp;

"As numbers drop, they can assess their choices and listen to experts. I guess I just think we should trust Americans, not insult them," the Republican governor wrote in a tweet.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) have also warned of dropping guard to prevent the spread of Covid-19, saying it could lead to a potential fourth wave of the virus in the country.&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/adult-population-of-us-to-be-vaccinated-by-may-joe-biden-367551">Adult population of US to be vaccinated by May: Joe Biden</a>

"Now is not the time to release all restrictions," Rochelle Walensky, USCDC said.

"Continue wearing your well-fitted mask and taking the other public health prevention actions that we know work."&nbsp;

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticised Republican-ruled states Texas and Mississippi for dropping measures to wear masks, calling it "Neanderthal thinking".

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday criticised Republican-ruled states Texas and Mississippi for dropping measures to wear masks, calling it "Neanderthal thinking". "The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking, that in the meantime everything's fine -- take off your mask, forget it. It still matters," the US president said. Biden's remarks came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted mask mandate in the state on Tuesday, saying it's time to open "100 per cent". Watch | He said the opening of businesses up to 75 per cent have hurt small players and the state now has the "tools" to protect the Texans from the deadly virus. Mississippi, which announced lifting compulsory mask-wearing on Wednesday hit back at Biden's comments, with Governor Tate Reeves saying "Mississippians don't need handlers". "As numbers drop, they can assess their choices and listen to experts. I guess I just think we should trust Americans, not insult them," the Republican governor wrote in a tweet. Meanwhile, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) have also warned of dropping guard to prevent the spread of Covid-19, saying it could lead to a potential fourth wave of the virus in the country. Also read | Adult population of US to be vaccinated by May: Joe Biden "Now is not the time to release all restrictions," Rochelle Walensky, USCDC said. "Continue wearing your well-fitted mask and taking the other public health prevention actions that we know work."

'Neanderthal thinking': Joe Biden slams Texas, Mississippi for dropping mask-wearing requirements

After more than 40 days in office, President Biden Joe Biden has hit his first domestic roadblock. His nominee to run the budget office withdrew her name after bipartisan opposition over her offensive twitter history. WION's Palki Sharma gets you the story.

Gravitas: Honeymoon over for Joe Biden?

The latest crisis facing the Joe Biden administration in Iraq. 10 rockets hit a military base which hosts American troops. What challenges will this attack throw up for President Biden? WION's Palki Sharma gets you a report.

Gravitas: Biden's growing challenges in West Asia

US President Joe Biden's approval rating is&nbsp;witnessing a downward trend and have fallen in the past two months, according to a poll conducted by Monmouth University.

The poll&nbsp;states that Biden's approval rating stands&nbsp;at 51 percent nationwide, with 42 percent of the United States disapproving him as their leader. His&nbsp;disapproval rating has jumped from 30 per cent to 42 per cent.&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/bidens-honeymoon-phase-comes-to-an-end-367964/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

The poll also finds the job rating for Congress at 30 per cent&nbsp;approve and 59 per cent&nbsp;disapprove and views of the nation’s trajectory at 34 per cent&nbsp;who say it is headed in the right direction and 61 per cent&nbsp;saying it is on the wrong track.

Both ratings were slightly better in January: 35&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;approve to 51&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;disapprove for Congress and 42&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;right direction to 51&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;wrong track for the country. The prior poll’s results were a historical high in eight years of national polling by Monmouth. While the current ratings have declined, they remain on the higher end of the range across which they have fluctuated since 2013.

Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute said&nbsp;"It’s probably not a surprise that Biden’s honeymoon period has closed quickly. He does maintain a net positive rating, but the Covid stimulus package will be the first significant test of how stable that support is."

Americans continue to give President Biden broadly positive marks on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic but when it comes to Congress, they’re impatient to see more action.

Just over 6 in 10&nbsp;Americans support the $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package currently making its way through Congress, while 34&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;oppose it. Strong support registers at 35&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of the public while strong opposition stands at 23 per cent. Overall support for the plan comes from 92&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of Democrats and 56&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of independents, but just 33 per cent&nbsp;of Republicans.

Most Americans are satisfied with one key component of the package – the $1,400 per person payments to individuals and families who meet certain income levels. A majority&nbsp;say this amount is about right. Another 28&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;would like to see larger payments and just 14% want smaller payments.

Another aspect of the stimulus plan – increasing additional unemployment benefits from $300 to $400 per week and extending them through the summer – receives support from 67&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;of Americans. Just 30&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;are opposed to an extension of jobless aid.

A majorityof the public also supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, while 45&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;are opposed to this. The minimum wage hike was included in the House bill passed last week but is likely to be stripped from the Senate version due to a parliamentary ruling.

“Even though the decision to jettison the minimum wage hike is largely out of Democrats’ hands, one lesson from 2009’s recovery bill is that you don’t get much credit if it is seen as a half measure. The question is whether the minimum wage hike is considered essential. It will be interesting to see how public opinion reacts to the final legislation, both in the short-term and the long-term,” said Murray.

The bill passed by the House did not garner any Republican votes. It will almost certainly face the same fate in the Senate without significant changes. Looking at the plan as a whole, the public is evenly divided on whether the $1.9 trillion amount should be cut in order to gain bipartisan support (48 per cent) or whether the full plan should remain intact even if it only gets support from senators in one party (45 per cent).

US President Joe Biden's approval rating is witnessing a downward trend and have fallen in the past two months, according to a poll conducted by Monmouth University.

US President Joe Biden's approval rating is witnessing a downward trend and have fallen in the past two months, according to a poll conducted by Monmouth University. The poll states that Biden's approval rating stands at 51 percent nationwide, with 42 percent of the United States disapproving him as their leader. His disapproval rating has jumped from 30 per cent to 42 per cent. The poll also finds the job rating for Congress at 30 per cent approve and 59 per cent disapprove and views of the nation’s trajectory at 34 per cent who say it is headed in the right direction and 61 per cent saying it is on the wrong track. Both ratings were slightly better in January: 35 per cent approve to 51 per cent disapprove for Congress and 42 per cent right direction to 51 per cent wrong track for the country. The prior poll’s results were a historical high in eight years of national polling by Monmouth. While the current ratings have declined, they remain on the higher end of the range across which they have fluctuated since 2013. Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute said "It’s probably not a surprise that Biden’s honeymoon period has closed quickly. He does maintain a net positive rating, but the Covid stimulus package will be the first significant test of how stable that support is." Americans continue to give President Biden broadly positive marks on his handling of the coronavirus pandemic but when it comes to Congress, they’re impatient to see more action. Just over 6 in 10 Americans support the $1.9 trillion Covid stimulus package currently making its way through Congress, while 34 per cent oppose it. Strong support registers at 35 per cent of the public while strong opposition stands at 23 per cent. Overall support for the plan comes from 92 per cent of Democrats and 56 per cent of independents, but just 33 per cent of Republicans. Most Americans are satisfied with one key component of the package – the $1,400 per person payments to individuals and families who meet certain income levels. A majority say this amount is about right. Another 28 per cent would like to see larger payments and just 14% want smaller payments. Another aspect of the stimulus plan – increasing additional unemployment benefits from $300 to $400 per week and extending them through the summer – receives support from 67 per cent of Americans. Just 30 per cent are opposed to an extension of jobless aid. A majorityof the public also supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, while 45 per cent are opposed to this. The minimum wage hike was included in the House bill passed last week but is likely to be stripped from the Senate version due to a parliamentary ruling. “Even though the decision to jettison the minimum wage hike is largely out of Democrats’ hands, one lesson from 2009’s recovery bill is that you don’t get much credit if it is seen as a half measure. The question is whether the minimum wage hike is considered essential. It will be interesting to see how public opinion reacts to the final legislation, both in the short-term and the long-term,” said Murray. The bill passed by the House did not garner any Republican votes. It will almost certainly face the same fate in the Senate without significant changes. Looking at the plan as a whole, the public is evenly divided on whether the $1.9 trillion amount should be cut in order to gain bipartisan support (48 per cent) or whether the full plan should remain intact even if it only gets support from senators in one party (45 per cent).

US President Joe Biden approval rating declines in two months

Newly elected President of The Unites States Joe Biden's popularity takes a hit. The latest govt has left Joe Biden with some real challenges ahead i.e Nuclear Deal with Iran, Paris Climate Agreement. So is it an end to Biden's honeymoon period?

Biden's honeymoon phase comes to an end

Joe Biden administration told a federal court in the US that it needs more time to decide whether it will release Donald Trump's tax records, said credible media reports. As per media reports that cited a court filing from the govt, the Justice Department and Treasury Department said that they needed time to weigh how to respond to a subpoena by House Democrats. These Democrats are asking for six years of tax records to be released.

Government lawyers told the court that as transition was still going on at Justice and Treasury departments, they needed more time to respond to House Democrats' demand for release of Trump's tax records.

The legal battle dates back to 2019.

Donald Trump has always kept his tax records a secret. This has given reason to his critics to allege that he was evading taxes and has avoided paying millions of dollars to the government.

Trump has for years claimed that his business was "under audit" and that he would release his tax returns once the audit was completed. However, the "audit" seems to have gone on for years and there have been no concrete signs of Trump wanting to make his tax record public.

His tax records had become an issue both in 2016, as well as 2020 US Presidential elections with Democratic Party upping the ante against him.

Joe Biden administration told a federal court in the US that it needs more time to decide whether it will release Donald Trump's tax records, said credible media reports.

Joe Biden administration told a federal court in the US that it needs more time to decide whether it will release Donald Trump's tax records, said credible media reports. As per media reports that cited a court filing from the govt, the Justice Department and Treasury Department said that they needed time to weigh how to respond to a subpoena by House Democrats. These Democrats are asking for six years of tax records to be released. Government lawyers told the court that as transition was still going on at Justice and Treasury departments, they needed more time to respond to House Democrats' demand for release of Trump's tax records. The legal battle dates back to 2019. Donald Trump has always kept his tax records a secret. This has given reason to his critics to allege that he was evading taxes and has avoided paying millions of dollars to the government. Trump has for years claimed that his business was "under audit" and that he would release his tax returns once the audit was completed. However, the "audit" seems to have gone on for years and there have been no concrete signs of Trump wanting to make his tax record public. His tax records had become an issue both in 2016, as well as 2020 US Presidential elections with Democratic Party upping the ante against him.

Trump tax returns: Biden administration seeks more time to decide on release, say reports

The United States President Joe Biden said that three-quarters of Americans and about 60% of the Republicans support the proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.

US Senate nears vote on Biden's COVID-19 aid bill

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday spoke with Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido&nbsp;to increase "multilateral pressure" against President Nicolas Maduro for a "peaceful, democratic transition" of power.&nbsp;

The United States considers Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela and Maduro's reelection win in 2018 was deemed fraudulent.&nbsp;

Watch |

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/santa-gives-food-to-poor-hit-by-pandemic-and-recession-in-venezuela-351425/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido today. Secretary Blinken stressed the importance of a return to democracy in Venezuela through free and fair elections," state department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

It said that the secretary of state called for "efforts to work with likeminded allies", including the European Union and Lima Group to "increase multilateral pressure" on Maduro for a "peaceful, democratic transition".&nbsp;

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-in-no-rush-to-lift-venezuela-sanctions-seeks-serious-steps-by-maduro-366912">Biden in no rush to lift Venezuela sanctions, seeks 'serious steps' by Maduro</a>

The relations between the countries were stained during the tenure of former president Donald Trump, who imposed severe sanctions on Venezuela and its state oil company in a bid to oust Maduro from power.&nbsp;

The statement by the US secretary of state's office also added that Washington will work with its allies for a political solution to the crisis and to push humanitarian assistance in the South American country.&nbsp;

Guaido declared himself as the country's leader in 2019 and his legitimacy has been accepted by over 50 countries, including the US.&nbsp;

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday spoke with Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido to increase "multilateral pressure" against President Nicolas Maduro for a "peaceful, democratic transition" of power.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday spoke with Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido to increase "multilateral pressure" against President Nicolas Maduro for a "peaceful, democratic transition" of power. The United States considers Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela and Maduro's reelection win in 2018 was deemed fraudulent. Watch | "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido today. Secretary Blinken stressed the importance of a return to democracy in Venezuela through free and fair elections," state department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. It said that the secretary of state called for "efforts to work with likeminded allies", including the European Union and Lima Group to "increase multilateral pressure" on Maduro for a "peaceful, democratic transition". Also read | Biden in no rush to lift Venezuela sanctions, seeks 'serious steps' by Maduro The relations between the countries were stained during the tenure of former president Donald Trump, who imposed severe sanctions on Venezuela and its state oil company in a bid to oust Maduro from power. The statement by the US secretary of state's office also added that Washington will work with its allies for a political solution to the crisis and to push humanitarian assistance in the South American country. Guaido declared himself as the country's leader in 2019 and his legitimacy has been accepted by over 50 countries, including the US.

US Secretary of State talks with Venezuela's Guaido to increase 'pressure' on President Maduro

In one of the biggest blows to US President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> since he took over the White House, his budget director pick has withdrawn her name from the race on Tuesday.

Neera Tanden's withdrawal comes after centrists on both sides made it clear they would not be voting for her. This is a result of&nbsp;several of her tweets in which she&nbsp;openly criticised and questioned lawmakers and their intentions.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/as-us-approves-johnson-johnson-coronavirus-vaccine-biden-warns-americans-366715" hreflang="en">As US approves Johnson &amp; Johnson coronavirus vaccine, Biden warns Americans</a>

On Tuesday, Biden announced he already accepted her request for withdrawal of her nomination.&nbsp;

"I have accepted Neera Tanden's request to withdraw her name from nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget," the president said in a statement. "I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel, and I look forward to having her serve in a role in my administration."

The 50-year-old, who heads a progressive think tank said she has decided to withdraw her name to allow other lawmakers to focus on other priorities.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-president-joe-bidens-challenges-in-west-asia-366693" hreflang="en">US President Joe Biden's challenges in West Asia</a>

"Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities," she wrote in her withdrawal letter to Biden.

While her withdrawal from the race has not come as a surprise, it has received a lot of criticism, especially from locals who have taken to various social media platforms to express their opposition to the apparent 'discrimination towards Asian women'.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/bidens-ustr-nominee-tai-backs-use-of-tariffs-vows-focus-on-enforcement-366296" hreflang="en">Biden's USTR nominee Tai backs use of tariffs, vows focus on enforcement</a>

Many people believe Tanden's only 'sin' was tweeting her opinion openly and being a 'woman of colour'. Tanden is of Indian-origin.

Tanden withdrew her name after last week&nbsp;Republicans refused to vote for her citing her personal tweets&nbsp;attacking members of both parties. Later, Joe Manchin, a conservative Democratic senator, also announced he would not be voting for Tanden&nbsp;due to the same reason.

Tanden needed 51 votes in the evenly-divided Senate. While Vice President&nbsp;Kamala Harris&nbsp;would have acted as a tiebreaker, Manchin's refusal to vote for his fellow party-members forced Tanden to withdraw her nomination.

Her withdrawal from the race leaves the Biden administration without any clear replacement, as of now.

In one of the biggest blows to US President Joe Biden since he took over the White House, his budget director pick has withdrawn her name from the race on Tuesday.

In one of the biggest blows to US President Joe Biden since he took over the White House, his budget director pick has withdrawn her name from the race on Tuesday. Neera Tanden's withdrawal comes after centrists on both sides made it clear they would not be voting for her. This is a result of several of her tweets in which she openly criticised and questioned lawmakers and their intentions. Also read | As US approves Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, Biden warns Americans On Tuesday, Biden announced he already accepted her request for withdrawal of her nomination. "I have accepted Neera Tanden's request to withdraw her name from nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget," the president said in a statement. "I have the utmost respect for her record of accomplishment, her experience and her counsel, and I look forward to having her serve in a role in my administration." The 50-year-old, who heads a progressive think tank said she has decided to withdraw her name to allow other lawmakers to focus on other priorities. Also read | US President Joe Biden's challenges in West Asia "Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities," she wrote in her withdrawal letter to Biden. While her withdrawal from the race has not come as a surprise, it has received a lot of criticism, especially from locals who have taken to various social media platforms to express their opposition to the apparent 'discrimination towards Asian women'. Also read | Biden's USTR nominee Tai backs use of tariffs, vows focus on enforcement Many people believe Tanden's only 'sin' was tweeting her opinion openly and being a 'woman of colour'. Tanden is of Indian-origin. Tanden withdrew her name after last week Republicans refused to vote for her citing her personal tweets attacking members of both parties. Later, Joe Manchin, a conservative Democratic senator, also announced he would not be voting for Tanden due to the same reason. Tanden needed 51 votes in the evenly-divided Senate. While Vice President Kamala Harris would have acted as a tiebreaker, Manchin's refusal to vote for his fellow party-members forced Tanden to withdraw her nomination. Her withdrawal from the race leaves the Biden administration without any clear replacement, as of now.

Neera Tanden, budget chief pick of Joe Biden, withdraws from race after Senate pushback

Neera Tanden withdrew from consideration to lead the Office of Management and Budget after facing opposition from senators over old tweets.

US Budget Chief nominee Neera Tanden withdraws nomination

After weeks of waiting, Judy Franke’s vaccine breakthrough came when her phone rang at 8 p.m. one freezing February night. There were rumors of extra doses at the Minneapolis convention center. Franke, 73, had an hour to get there. No guarantees.

“I called my daughter and she said, ‘I’m putting my boots on right now,’” said Franke, a retired teacher with a weakened immune system. “You need to go find the vaccine because the vaccine’s not going to find you.”

The clamor for hard-to-get COVID-19 vaccines has created armies of anxious Americans who have resorted to hunting for leftovers on the fringes of the country’s patchwork vaccination system.

They haunt pharmacies at the end of the day in search of an extra, expiring dose. They drive from clinic to clinic hoping that someone was a no-show to their appointment. They cold-call pharmacies like eager telemarketers: Any extras today? Maybe tomorrow?

Some pharmacists have even given them a nickname: Vaccine lurkers.

Even with inoculation rates accelerating and new vaccines entering the market, finding a shot remains out of reach for many, nearly three months into the country’s vaccination campaign. Websites crash. Appointments are scarce. Severe weather like last month’s winter storms can wreak havoc on shipments. Many Americans have been left feeling like they are on their own.

“There are people who feel desperate, and this is what they end up doing,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “It’s ridiculous. It’s wholly unnecessary. There should be a way to do this that does not require us going down this path.”

The leftover shots exist because the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have a limited life span once they are thawed and mixed. When no-shows or miscalculations leave pharmacies and clinics with extras, they have mere hours to use the vaccines or risk having to throw them away.

And so, tens of thousands of people have banded together on social media groups under one mantra: Better in an arm than in the trash. They trade tips about which Walmarts have extra doses. They report on whether besieged pharmacies are even answering the phone. They speculate about whether a looming blizzard might keep enough people home to free up a slot.

In Denver, suburban teachers stampeded a mass-vaccination site after they got an email saying they had an hour to claim 200 unused doses. In Massachusetts, hourslong lines wrapped around a DoubleTree Hotel after reports of extras ping-ponged across social media.

“It’s like buying Bruce Springsteen tickets,” said Maura Caldwell, who started a Minneapolis Vaccine Hunter Facebook group to help people navigate the search for appointments. The group now has 20,000 members. “It’s not easy. You can’t just sign up.”

Thousands of doses have already gone to waste because of power failures, paperwork mix-ups and a shifting jumble of state and local guidelines about what to do with leftovers. Earlier this year, health officials in California and New York state loosened their rules for who could be vaccinated when vaccines are about to expire.

Other health workers have distributed leftovers on their own. In Oregon, a vaccination team stranded on a snowbound highway went from car to car offering doses that would go bad in six hours. A doctor in Houston received national attention after he was fired for racing to inoculate 10 people — including his wife — before his vial of extra doses expired.

The pace of vaccinations has picked up to about 1.9 million doses per day, with more due as the single-shot Johnson &amp;amp; Johnson vaccine rolls out. But health experts said the scavenger hunt for leftovers highlights the persistent disparities in America’s vaccination rollout, where access to lifesaving medicine can hinge on computer savvy, personal connections and a person’s ability to drop everything to snag an expiring dose.

In Dallas, Kimberly White-Agent said she had struggled to find appointments for her brother and 83-year-old stepfather, even after city and federal officials opened a mass-vaccination site to serve their largely Black neighborhood. She resorted to putting them on wait lists and hoping an extra slot opened up.

“It’s like a mirage,” she said.

Some of the leftover chasers are not yet eligible to sign up for appointments. Others are old enough or sick enough to qualify, but said that overloaded vaccination websites and endless hold lines convinced them to abandon the official channels and search for themselves.

Gunnar Esiason, 29, has cystic fibrosis and said he was not about to wait until his New Hampshire vaccine appointment rolled around on April 21. So he started showing up at Walgreens pharmacies and state-run vaccination sites — wherever there was a whiff of an extra vaccine, until he got a tip that a Dartmouth medical center had a few extras.

“I knew I was going to a lot of ‘No’s,’” he said. “All I needed was one ‘Yes.’”

In Minnesota, Franke signed up for eight different vaccine lists managed by doctors, Walgreens, Walmart, even a state lottery, but said nobody called. Then last month, she got a tip that the mass-vaccination site at the convention center might have some extras.

There were about 20 other people already milling around in the lobby when Franke arrived, she said, and a health worker quickly emerged to inform them there were no leftovers.

But many in the crowd stuck around, and after a half-hour, the vaccination team allowed people 65 and older, teachers and emergency responders to get their shots. Franke lined up and said she cried with relief on the car ride home to the suburbs.

Ashok Shah, 77, a retired internal-medicine physician in Poughkeepsie, New York, tried to sign up. But failed again and again.

Shah said he and his 79-year-old wife spent weeks languishing on their county’s official vaccination lists. He would search fruitlessly for online appointments in the middle of the night, and put himself on informal wait lists kept by nearby pharmacies.

When it became clear there would be little progress, “We had to go looking,” he said.

In early February, with 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and a nearly impassable mound plowed into the base of his driveway, he said a Rite Aid called with the news that they had one spare dose.

“I said, I’ll take it,” said Shah, who got his second dose Tuesday. “Come rain, come shine, come snow, I’ll be there.”

But leftovers are getting harder and harder to find. More people are looking, and the extras are dwindling as pharmacies and public-health agencies get better at matching each day’s available vials with their list of appointments.

Vaccine teams in Fairfax County, Virginia, fill up individual syringes from a shared supply of vaccines to make sure they are not cracking open new vials at the end of the day. Several cities have created special leftover lists to offer doses to police officers, teachers or older people. Columbus, Ohio, said its “no waste” list of 250 people is full.

At Discount Drug Mart, a chain of 76 pharmacies in Ohio, the vaccination teams add up their doses against no-shows throughout the day, and start reaching out early to the 25 people who are on their rolling standby lists. Rarely, someone waiting in the parking lot at 9 p.m. or calling on a whim may land a vaccine.

“It’s a priority to never waste a dose,” said Jason Briscoe, the company’s director of pharmacy operations.

Often, the hunt just amounts to days of frustration. Sara Stoltz has spent days driving around Dallas trying to get a leftover dose for her 64-year-old mother. They get turned away from pharmacies whose wait lists are already full at 200 people deep. They stop at every Walmart they can, only to learn that nobody missed an appointment.

“I keep hearing rumors,” Stoltz said, with no dose behind them. “It’s like one of those urban myths.”

After weeks of waiting, Judy Franke’s vaccine breakthrough came when her phone rang at 8 p.m. one freezing February night. There were rumors of extra doses at the Minneapolis convention center.

After weeks of waiting, Judy Franke’s vaccine breakthrough came when her phone rang at 8 p.m. one freezing February night. There were rumors of extra doses at the Minneapolis convention center. Franke, 73, had an hour to get there. No guarantees. “I called my daughter and she said, ‘I’m putting my boots on right now,’” said Franke, a retired teacher with a weakened immune system. “You need to go find the vaccine because the vaccine’s not going to find you.” The clamor for hard-to-get COVID-19 vaccines has created armies of anxious Americans who have resorted to hunting for leftovers on the fringes of the country’s patchwork vaccination system. They haunt pharmacies at the end of the day in search of an extra, expiring dose. They drive from clinic to clinic hoping that someone was a no-show to their appointment. They cold-call pharmacies like eager telemarketers: Any extras today? Maybe tomorrow? Some pharmacists have even given them a nickname: Vaccine lurkers. Even with inoculation rates accelerating and new vaccines entering the market, finding a shot remains out of reach for many, nearly three months into the country’s vaccination campaign. Websites crash. Appointments are scarce. Severe weather like last month’s winter storms can wreak havoc on shipments. Many Americans have been left feeling like they are on their own. “There are people who feel desperate, and this is what they end up doing,” said Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. “It’s ridiculous. It’s wholly unnecessary. There should be a way to do this that does not require us going down this path.” The leftover shots exist because the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have a limited life span once they are thawed and mixed. When no-shows or miscalculations leave pharmacies and clinics with extras, they have mere hours to use the vaccines or risk having to throw them away. And so, tens of thousands of people have banded together on social media groups under one mantra: Better in an arm than in the trash. They trade tips about which Walmarts have extra doses. They report on whether besieged pharmacies are even answering the phone. They speculate about whether a looming blizzard might keep enough people home to free up a slot. In Denver, suburban teachers stampeded a mass-vaccination site after they got an email saying they had an hour to claim 200 unused doses. In Massachusetts, hourslong lines wrapped around a DoubleTree Hotel after reports of extras ping-ponged across social media. “It’s like buying Bruce Springsteen tickets,” said Maura Caldwell, who started a Minneapolis Vaccine Hunter Facebook group to help people navigate the search for appointments. The group now has 20,000 members. “It’s not easy. You can’t just sign up.” Thousands of doses have already gone to waste because of power failures, paperwork mix-ups and a shifting jumble of state and local guidelines about what to do with leftovers. Earlier this year, health officials in California and New York state loosened their rules for who could be vaccinated when vaccines are about to expire. Other health workers have distributed leftovers on their own. In Oregon, a vaccination team stranded on a snowbound highway went from car to car offering doses that would go bad in six hours. A doctor in Houston received national attention after he was fired for racing to inoculate 10 people — including his wife — before his vial of extra doses expired. The pace of vaccinations has picked up to about 1.9 million doses per day, with more due as the single-shot Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine rolls out. But health experts said the scavenger hunt for leftovers highlights the persistent disparities in America’s vaccination rollout, where access to lifesaving medicine can hinge on computer savvy, personal connections and a person’s ability to drop everything to snag an expiring dose. In Dallas, Kimberly White-Agent said she had struggled to find appointments for her brother and 83-year-old stepfather, even after city and federal officials opened a mass-vaccination site to serve their largely Black neighborhood. She resorted to putting them on wait lists and hoping an extra slot opened up. “It’s like a mirage,” she said. Some of the leftover chasers are not yet eligible to sign up for appointments. Others are old enough or sick enough to qualify, but said that overloaded vaccination websites and endless hold lines convinced them to abandon the official channels and search for themselves. Gunnar Esiason, 29, has cystic fibrosis and said he was not about to wait until his New Hampshire vaccine appointment rolled around on April 21. So he started showing up at Walgreens pharmacies and state-run vaccination sites — wherever there was a whiff of an extra vaccine, until he got a tip that a Dartmouth medical center had a few extras. “I knew I was going to a lot of ‘No’s,’” he said. “All I needed was one ‘Yes.’” In Minnesota, Franke signed up for eight different vaccine lists managed by doctors, Walgreens, Walmart, even a state lottery, but said nobody called. Then last month, she got a tip that the mass-vaccination site at the convention center might have some extras. There were about 20 other people already milling around in the lobby when Franke arrived, she said, and a health worker quickly emerged to inform them there were no leftovers. But many in the crowd stuck around, and after a half-hour, the vaccination team allowed people 65 and older, teachers and emergency responders to get their shots. Franke lined up and said she cried with relief on the car ride home to the suburbs. Ashok Shah, 77, a retired internal-medicine physician in Poughkeepsie, New York, tried to sign up. But failed again and again. Shah said he and his 79-year-old wife spent weeks languishing on their county’s official vaccination lists. He would search fruitlessly for online appointments in the middle of the night, and put himself on informal wait lists kept by nearby pharmacies. When it became clear there would be little progress, “We had to go looking,” he said. In early February, with 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and a nearly impassable mound plowed into the base of his driveway, he said a Rite Aid called with the news that they had one spare dose. “I said, I’ll take it,” said Shah, who got his second dose Tuesday. “Come rain, come shine, come snow, I’ll be there.” But leftovers are getting harder and harder to find. More people are looking, and the extras are dwindling as pharmacies and public-health agencies get better at matching each day’s available vials with their list of appointments. Vaccine teams in Fairfax County, Virginia, fill up individual syringes from a shared supply of vaccines to make sure they are not cracking open new vials at the end of the day. Several cities have created special leftover lists to offer doses to police officers, teachers or older people. Columbus, Ohio, said its “no waste” list of 250 people is full. At Discount Drug Mart, a chain of 76 pharmacies in Ohio, the vaccination teams add up their doses against no-shows throughout the day, and start reaching out early to the 25 people who are on their rolling standby lists. Rarely, someone waiting in the parking lot at 9 p.m. or calling on a whim may land a vaccine. “It’s a priority to never waste a dose,” said Jason Briscoe, the company’s director of pharmacy operations. Often, the hunt just amounts to days of frustration. Sara Stoltz has spent days driving around Dallas trying to get a leftover dose for her 64-year-old mother. They get turned away from pharmacies whose wait lists are already full at 200 people deep. They stop at every Walmart they can, only to learn that nobody missed an appointment. “I keep hearing rumors,” Stoltz said, with no dose behind them. “It’s like one of those urban myths.”

America’s most prized leftovers: COVID vaccines

joe-biden

Joe Biden, News on Joe Biden, stories on Joe Biden, articles on Joe Biden, Joe Biden stories at Wion, Joe Biden news, Joe Biden latest news

joe biden