Capitol security flaws probed by lawmakers after deadly riot
Billy House, Bloomberg
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Demonstrators steal a Metropolitan Police riot shield outside the U.S. Capitol building during a protest in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.Bloomberg photo by Eric Lee.
Three former top U.S. Capitol security officials are facing aggressive questions from two Senate panels digging into the lapses that allowed a mob of Donald Trump's supporters to overwhelm police officers and ransack the building as Congress was certifying the presidential election results.
The joint hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Rules and Administration Committees on Tuesday is the first in a series of lawmaker inquiries into the origins of the Jan. 6 insurrection and the failure of the Capitol's security forces to anticipate and then quell the riot, which left five people dead.
'Uncomfortable truth': The new push for a slavery reparations commission in Congress
DeNeen L. Brown, The Washington Post
Feb. 10, 2021
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Weeks after Democrats took control of Congress and the White House, a Black lawmaker is making a renewed push for a national commission to examine the impact of slavery and reparations for descendants of millions of enslaved Africans.
Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee, D-Texas, announced the reintroduction of H.R. 40 to create the reparations commission last month, and next week the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is set to hear testimony on the bill.
H.R. 40 has a long history in the House, championed for decades by the late Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., and now by Lee.
One week in, Biden embracing order, routine
Matt Viser, The Washington Post
Jan. 27, 2021
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President Biden and first lady Jill Biden approach the White House after Biden's inauguration last week. While his predecessor's chaotic presidency was unsettling for many Americans, it is unclear whether Biden's lower metabolism is an antidote or an overcorrection - and whether he can protect his agenda from being engulfed by political wars.Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford
WASHINGTON - Almost every day of his young tenure, President Joe Biden has entered the State Dining Room, a portrait of Abraham Lincoln looking down and wood burning in the fireplace. He speaks on the planned topic of the day. He sits at an undersized desk and searches for a pen to sign his latest stack of executive orders. Within 30 minutes of entering the camera's frame, he has left it.