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Daily briefing


10 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY: JANUARY 15, 2021


BIDEN UNVEILS $1.9 TRILLION CORONAVIRUS RELIEF PLAN, SECURITY CONCERNS FORCE
POSTPONEMENT OF INAUGURATION REHEARSAL, AND MORE

byHarold Maass
January 15, 2021
January 15, 2021

Alex Wong/Getty Images

1


BIDEN PROPOSES $1.9 TRILLION CORONAVIRUS STIMULUS PACKAGE

President-elect Joe Biden released details on his $1.9 trillion coronavirus
stimulus plan on Thursday. He said the cost was high, but, "The very health of
our nation is at stake." The proposal includes several key Democratic
priorities, including another round of direct payments to Americans. The plan
calls for sending most Americans relief checks of $1,400. It also would provide
$400 billion for expanded testing and vaccine distribution to help fight the
spread of COVID-19. The plan includes $400 per week in boosted unemployment
benefits through September, and $350 billion for state and local governments. It
also calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Republicans are
expected to object to the cost. Biden will need 10 GOP votes in the Senate to
beat a filibuster.

The New York Times

2


INAUGURATION REHEARSAL POSTPONED OVER SECURITY CONCERNS

The Biden inaugural planning team has postponed an inauguration rehearsal that
had been scheduled for Sunday, due to security concerns, Politico reported
Thursday, citing two people with knowledge of the decision. It is now planned
for Monday. Also, President-elect Joe Biden scrapped plans to travel by Amtrak
train from Delaware to Washington, D.C., for his Jan. 20 inauguration as a
precaution, The Associated Press reported. The decisions came as the FBI warned
of potential threats in Washington and at state capitols around the nation from
armed right-wing extremists. Federal authorities plan to shut down the National
Mall on Inauguration Day. There is already a heavy National Guard presence at
the Capitol in response to ongoing threats after last week's attack on the
building by pro-Trump insurrectionists.

PoliticoUSA Today
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3


JOBLESS CLAIMS JUMP AS CORONAVIRUS SURGE SHAKES ECONOMY

First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose to 965,000 last week, the
biggest weekly total in five months, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.
The figure marked an increase of 181,000 over the revised total for the previous
week. It far surpassed the 800,000 new jobless claims economists had predicted.
The change underscored the damage that surging COVID-19 cases and deaths have
done to the economy, as businesses lose customers and curb hiring. The federal
government reported last week that the economy lost 140,000 jobs in December,
the first monthly loss since April.

CNBC
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4


BIDEN CHOOSES JAIME HARRISON TO RUN DNC

President-elect Joe Biden has picked Jaime Harrison, who unsuccessfully
challenged Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) last year, to lead the Democratic
National Committee, according to Thursday news reports. Harrison, a former South
Carolina Party chair, smashed campaign fundraising records in his bid to unseat
Graham. He lost 44 percent to 55 percent, but raised his profile within the
party. He lost out to outgoing DNC Chair Tom Perez in a bid to lead the
committee in 2017. This time, Harrison benefitted from strong support from Rep.
Jim Clyburn (R-S.C.), an influential Biden ally, as well as Perez's decision not
to seek a second term. Incoming presidents usually install their own
party-committee chairs and staffers, letting them take control. The job is
expected to be especially challenging over the next two years, as Democrats
prepare to protect narrow majorities in tough 2022 House and Senate midterm
elections.

The New York Times
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5


EX-FIREFIGHTER ACCUSED OF THROWING FIRE EXTINGUISHER AT CAPITOL POLICE

A retired Pennsylvania firefighter was arrested Thursday and accused of throwing
a fire extinguisher that hit three police officers during last week's attack on
the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. The suspect, 55-year-old Robert Sanford,
was charged with four counts, including disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,
and assaulting a police officer. The allegations were not related to the death
of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who reportedly was hit in the
head with a fire extinguisher. Sanford's said his client got caught up in the
"mob mentality" of the moment and made a "split-second decision." "Trump says,
'We're going to the Capitol.' Next thing you know, thousands of people are
walking," the lawyer, Enrique Latoison, said. "When he got down there, things
got crazy."

NBC News

6


PROSECUTORS: SOME CAPITOL RIOTERS INTENDED TO ASSASSINATE ELECTED OFFICIALS

Some of the rioters in last week's storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters
intended "to capture and assassinate elected officials," federal prosecutors
said in a court filing Thursday. Justice Department lawyers made the allegation
in a detention memo for Jacob Chansley, the Arizona QAnon conspiracy theorist
photographed wearing horns in the U.S. Senate chamber at the desk of Vice
President Mike Pence. The memo said that Chansley left a note for Pence saying,
"it's only a matter of time, justice is coming." "Strong evidence, including
Chansley's own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the
Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United
States government," prosecutors wrote. Chansley's public defender did not
immediately comment.

Reuters
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7


MEXICO DROPS DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGES AGAINST EX-DEFENSE MINISTER

Mexico's attorney general's office announced Thursday night that it would not
pursue drug trafficking charges against a former defense minister, Gen. Salvador
Cienfuegos. Mexican authorities said they had reviewed information provided by
the United States, and concluded that Cienfuegos never communicated with any
criminal group. The attorney general's office also said there was no suspicious
increase in Cienfuegos' wealth to suggest illegal income. U.S. authorities
arrested the retired military leader in October at the Los Angeles airport,
accusing him of helping the H-2 cartel send heroin, cocaine, and
methamphetamines into the U.S., but the Justice Department dropped the charges
and sent him home weeks later after heavy pressure from the Mexican government.

The Wall Street JournalThe Washington Post

8


PENTAGON SURVEY: 1/3 OF BLACK SERVICEMEMBERS FACED DISCRIMINATION

A long-withheld Defense Department survey found that nearly a third of Black
U.S. military servicemembers reported facing racial discrimination, harassment,
or both within a year. Many people who said they experienced racial
discrimination or harassment also expressed high levels of dissatisfaction with
how complaints were handled. Many never reported the incidents. "Overall,
results reveal much work is needed to improve the reporting process for those
who experience racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination," the Defense
Department acknowledged in a report accompanying the data. The results of the
2017 survey had not been previously reported. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
said the Pentagon should have released the information sooner.

Reuters
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9


2020 TIES WITH 2016 AS WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD

Last year tied the record for the warmest since record-keeping began in 1880,
according to federal climate reports released Thursday. The high temperatures
matched those measured in 2016 despite a cooling La Niña Pacific Ocean current,
which nudged temperatures down in December, according to the latest National
Aeronautics and Space Administration study. A second NASA assessment using
different records and methods put 2020 0.04 degrees Fahrenheit below the record
global average temperature set in 2016. The year also brought massive wildfires
to California and a record number of Atlantic tropical cyclones. "These
long-term trends are very, very clear," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's
Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. "This is another piece of
evidence that tells us the planet is warming decade by decade by decade."

The Wall Street JournalThe Washington Post
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10


SIEGFRIED FISCHBACHER OF SIEGFRIED & ROY DIES AT 81

Siegfried Fischbacher of the magic duo Siegfried & Roy died at his home in Las
Vegas, his publicist said Thursday. He was 81. The cause of death was pancreatic
cancer, Dave Kirvin of Kirvin Doak Communications said. Fischbacher's long-time
show-business partner, Roy Horn, died last year of complications from COVID-19
at age 75. Before Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the German-born
duo's white tigers, Siegfried & Roy were a Las Vegas institution, performing six
shows a week, 44 weeks per year. When Horn died, Fischbacher said, "from the
moment we met, I knew Roy and I, together, would change the world. There could
be no Siegfried without Roy, and no Roy without Siegfried."

The Associated Press
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