The Energy 202: Trump administration jams in environmental rollbacks in final days Dino Grandoni
with Alexandra Ellerbeck Even as they re packing their bags, President Trump s team is jamming in more rollbacks to energy and environmental restrictions.
As Juliet Eilperin and I report, the slew of new rules several of which will help the fossil fuel, logging and mining industries that have benefited from past Trump administration action sets up a clash with the incoming president. President-elect Joe Biden and his aides may spend months unwinding these policies as they gear up to cut greenhouse gas emissions unless congressional Democrats or federal judges step in to overturn them more quickly. Biden becomes president Wednesday.
1. President-elect Joe Biden on Friday doubled down on his plan to get 100 million COVID-19 vaccine shots to Americans within his first 100 days in office, calling the rollout so far a "dismal failure." So far just 10 million Americans have gotten their first vaccine doses. If necessary, Biden said in a speech he'd invoke the Defense Production Act to ramp up vaccine production. He'd then mobilize the National Guard, FEMA, and public health.
The Cybersecurity 202: The cybersecurity stories that rocked 2020 will pose even bigger challenges in 2021 Joseph Marks
with Tonya Riley
Election security was the cybersecurity story dominating 2020, and it is likely to dominate 2021 as well. That reflects an old saw about cybersecurity that it is a race without a finish line. Some things went well this year: years of tireless work by state and local officials kept November’s presidential election safe from foreign hacking or major technological snafus. But faith in the election was battered by President Trump’s baseless claims that his loss was illegitimate. And the government’s cybersecurity chief, Christopher Krebs, who did more than anyone in the federal government to shepherd states’ election security work, paid with his job when he wouldn’t endorse Trump’s baseless claims.