Ellen Knickmeyer And Matthew Daly
Former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden s nominee to be transportation secretary, speaks as Biden looks on during a news conference at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool via AP) December 17, 2020 - 5:42 PM
WASHINGTON - Joe Biden wrapped up a team heavy on deal-makers and fighters to lead his climate effort Thursday, tasking it with remaking and cleaning up the nationâs transportation and power-plant systems, and as fast as politically possible.
While the president-elect s picks have the experience to do the heavy lifting required in a climate overhaul of the U.S. economy, they also seem to be reassuring skeptics that he wonât neglect the low-income, working class and minority communities hit hardest by fossil fuel pollution and climate change.
Mr. Biden visited Atlanta this week looking to boost Mr. Ossoff and Mr. Warnock in their races against Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
A Democratic sweep of the races in the Jan. 5 election would flip control of the Senate, with Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.
“There are folks in Congress threatening to do everything in their power to block our efforts,” Mr. Biden says. “We need you to get out there and vote for Jon Ossoff as well as Raphael Warnock. We need them in the Senate.”
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Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported each morning this week: Monday,
299,181; Tuesday, 300,482; Wednesday, 303,849; Thursday, 307,501.
The number of confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases will crash through 17 million today. New cases are averaging 212,000 per day in this country. Hospitalizations for the virus set a U.S. record on Tuesday.
Lawmakers project an air of confidence they will soon be able to pass a monstrous COVID-19 relief and omnibus funding package, but 11th-hour snags could send Congress into a weekend session as it looks to complete its year-end business.
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With Inauguration Day two months away, construction crews work on the platforms where the president-elect will take the oath of office, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON, D.C. Stay away.
That s the message from the congressional committee organizing inauguration ceremonies for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
A day after Biden s own organizing committee announced that the swearing-in would take place on Jan. 20 outside the Capitol Building, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced that permitted attendance at the event will be drastically reduced due to COVID-19 precautions.
The travel schedule, which an administration official said is subject to change, has dual benefits for Pence.
He is expected to use his last trip as vice president to tout the administration s foreign policy achievements, including the normalization of relations between Israel and a number of Gulf states including Bahrain.
It will also allow Pence, rumored to be harboring his own presidential ambitions, to get out of Washington after performing the awkward job of announcing his and Trump s defeat to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
The trip kicks off on the same day that Congress will meet for a joint session to formally count the electoral votes for president and vice president. Under federal law, the president of the Senate a role held by the vice president is charged with presenting the electoral votes and announcing the winner.