Biden warns Americans ‘this is not the time to relax’ as vaccinations ramp up – live

Here’s where the day stands so far:

• Joe Biden celebrated the distribution of 50 million coronavirus vaccine doses since he took office last month. At an event this afternoon, the president emphasized Americans must remain vigilant about limiting their risk of contracting coronavirus. “This is not the time to relax,” Biden said. “The worst thing we can do now is let our guard down.”
• The House passed the Equality Act in a vote of 224 to 206. The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate.
• Biden spoke to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman today, the White House announced moments ago. The call comes as the US government prepares to release an unclassified report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has been blamed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
• The Manhattan district attorney’s office has obtained Donald Trump’s financial records. The news comes three days after the supreme court rejected Trump’s request to block Cy Vance’s office from gaining access to the records as part of an investigation into the former president’s business dealings.
• The Senate confirmed Jennifer Granholm as the next secretary of energy. Granholm, a former governor of Michigan, was confirmed in a vote of 64 to 35. She is expected to play a major role in Biden’s promises to expand renewable energy sources.
• The House held a hearing on the security failures that occurred during the Capitol insurrection. Members of a House appropriations subcommittee pressed the acting chief of the the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, and the acting House sergeant at arms, Timothy Blodgett, on the insufficient preparation for the attack, despite many warning signs that Trump supporters could turn violent.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

“Together they discussed regional security, including the renewed diplomatic efforts led by the United Nations and the United States to end the war in Yemen, and the U.S. commitment to help Saudi Arabia defend its territory as it faces attacks from Iranian-aligned groups,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

“The President noted positively the recent release of several Saudi-American activists and Ms. Loujain al-Hathloul from custody, and affirmed the importance the United States places on universal human rights and the rule of law. The President told King Salman he would work to make the bilateral relationship as strong and transparent as possible. The two leaders affirmed the historic nature of the relationship and agreed to work together on mutual issues of concern and interest.”

The call comes as the US government prepares to release an unclassified report on the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which has been blamed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Republicans Brian Fitzpatrick, John Katko and Tom Reed broke with their party to vote in favor of the legislation.

If enacted, the Equality Act would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

But the bill faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate, where Democrats will need 60 votes to break a filibuster on the legislation.

President Joe Biden has already said he would sign the Equality Act if it can make it through the Senate. “Every person should be treated with dignity and respect, and this bill represents a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all,” Biden said in a statement last week.

Today, the president celebrated the distribution of 50m shots since he took office last month. “I’m here to report we’re halfway there: 50m shots in just 37 days,” Biden said.

The Biden administration has been providing regular updates on its efforts to distribute coronavirus vaccines to states.

Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus response team, said earlier this week that the administration distributed an average of 1.4m doses a day last week.

That number was slightly down from the 1.7m average doses a day distributed the week before, likely due to the winter storm that affected deliveries in the central US last week.

Regardless, the numbers make clear that the administration is outpacing its goal to distribute 100m shots by late April, which is fortunate given that some health experts have said the White House should set a more ambitious goal.

“I can’t give you a date,” the president said. “I can only promise we will work as hard as we can to make that day come as soon as possible.”

Biden previously said that he believed the country would be basically back to normal by Christmastime, but his advisers, such as the press secretary, Jen Psaki, have generally avoided committing to a timeline.

The president’s event to celebrate the distribution of 50m vaccine doses since he took office has now concluded. Biden did not respond to shouted questions from reporters as he left the event.

“This is not the time to relax,” Biden said. “The worst thing we can do now is let our guard down.”

The president encouraged Americans to continue to regularly wash their hands and practice social distancing. Biden added, “For God’s sake, for God’s sake, wear a mask.”

The Food and Drug Administration may approve the vaccine for emergency use as soon as this weekend, and Biden pledged that the agency’s decision would be made without any “political pressure from me or anyone else”.

“If the FDA approves the use of this new vaccine, we have a plan to roll it out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can make it,” Biden said.

Administration officials said earlier this week that 3 to 4 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be ready to distribute next week, assuming the FDA approves it. That is much less than the 12 million or so doses that the Biden administration initially expected from Johnson & Johnson.

“The more people that get vaccinated, the faster we’re going to beat this pandemic,” Biden said.

The president applauded the work his officials have done, despite the Trump administration leaving them with “no real plan to vaccinate all Americans”.

“We’re halfway there: 50 million shots in just 37 days since I became president,” Biden said. “We’re moving in the right direction despite the mess we inherited from the previous administration.”

Biden has set a goal of administering 100m doses over his first 100 days in office, but his administration has been outpacing that goal in recent weeks.

The event began with several people receiving the first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, has called for an independent investigation into the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, a day after a former aide accused the governor of sexual harassment.

In an essay published in Medium on Wednesday, former aide Lindsey Boylan described several problematic episodes with Cuomo, including an unsolicited kiss in his Manhattan office, an invitation to play strip poker on a government airplane, and an internal email from another aide indicating that the governor considered her a “better looking sister” of a rumored former girlfriend.

The governor’s press office responded to the “strip poker” element of Boylan’s allegations on Wednesday with flight records. “Ms Boylan’s claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false,” a statement read.

In remarks on Thursday, De Blasio, who has a contentious relationship with the governor, issued a call for an investigation into Cuomo’s behavior. “These allegations are really disturbing … This kind of behavior, if it’s true, is just unacceptable. We’ve got to get the truth about this,” he said.

On the Senate floor today, Democrat Brian Schatz was heard asking parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough, “So, how did you rule?”

McDonough replied, “We haven’t released anything.”

McDonough’s office is expected to soon release a ruling on whether the minimum wage provision meets the requirements for reconciliation. The announcement could come later today.

The House is scheduled to vote on the coronavirus relief package tomorrow. House Democratic leaders have said they will introduce a standalone minimum wage bill if the proposal is stripped out of the relief package.

• The Manhattan district attorney’s office has obtained Donald Trump’s financial records, according to CNN. The news comes three days after the supreme court rejected Trump’s request to block Cy Vance’s office from gaining access to the records, which include his tax returns.
• The Senate confirmed Jennifer Granholm as the next secretary of energy. Granholm, a former governor of Michigan, was confirmed in a vote of 64 to 35. She is expected to play a major role in Joe Biden’s promises to expand renewable energy sources.
• The House held a hearing on the security failures that occurred during the Capitol insurrection. Members of a House appropriations subcommittee pressed the acting chief of the the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, and the acting House sergeant at arms, Timothy Blodgett, on the insufficient preparation for the attack, despite many warning signs that Trump supporters could turn violent.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

A reporter noted that some of Joe Biden’s critics have said it’s because his policies on managing the US-Mexican border are too lenient.

Psaki said it was actually because the conditions in some of the countries where these children are coming from are so poor that they feel they must flee.

The White House press secretary emphasized that the Biden administration would not support sending children back to their home countries without adequately reviewing their cases.

“That is not something that we’re going to do in this administration, and that is not going to be our policy,” Psaki said.