White House, Congress open COVID-19 relief talks; Birx says Trump was given ‘parallel set of data’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top aides to President Joe Biden have begun talks with a group of moderate Senate Republicans and Democrats on a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package as Biden faces increasing headwinds in his effort to win bipartisan backing for the initial legislative effort of his presidency.
Lawmakers on the right question the wisdom of racking up bigger deficits while those on the left are urging Biden not to spend too much time on bipartisanship when the pandemic is killing thousands of Americans each day and costing more jobs amid tightening restrictions in many communities.
At least a dozen senators met for an hour and 15 minutes in a virtual call with White House National Economic Council director Brian Deese and other senior White House officials Sunday. Many hope to approve a relief package before former President Donald Trump’s trial, which is set to begin in two weeks, overtakes Washington’s attention.
Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, called the opening talks a “serious effort.” Read more:
Here’s an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage.
- Trump’s Covid-19 task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx granted an in-depth interview with Margaret Brennan of CBS. Among the many newsworthy bits: She says she almost never saw or spoke with Trump. She says he was getting a “parallel set of data and graphics” that she wasn’t privy to.
- President Joe Biden on Monday will formally reinstate COVID-19 travel restrictions on non-U.S. travelers from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European countries that allow travel across open borders, according to two White House officials.
- Straining to handle record numbers of COVID-19 patients, hundreds of the nation’s intensive care units are running out of space and supplies and competing to hire temporary traveling nurses at soaring rates. Many of the facilities are clustered in the South and West.
- Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was working from isolation on Monday, a day after announcing that he had tested positive for COVID-19, his interior secretary said.
- Merck is giving up on two potential COVID-19 vaccines following poor results in early-stage studies.
- Chinese state media have stoked concerns about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite rigorous trials indicating it is safe. A government spokesperson has raised the unsubstantiated theory that the coronavirus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab, giving it more credence in China.
- The European Union’s executive body proposed Monday that the bloc’s 27 nations impose more travel restrictions to counter the worrying spread of new coronavirus variants but make sure to keep goods and workers moving across EU borders.
For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for the latest virus numbers.
—
What’s in Biden’s $1.9T coronavirus rescue plan
—
