Today's politics recap
- The governor of Nevada announced he is immediately rescinding the state’s mask mandate, joining several other Democratic governors who have recently moved to relax coronavirus-related restrictions. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to recommend masking in areas of high and substantial coronavirus spread, which accounts for about 99% of all US counties right now.
- US prices rose by 7.5% in January compared to a year earlier, marking the country’s highest level of inflation in 40 years. A number of economists have said they expect inflation to subside over the coming year, but Democrats fear that the high prices at grocery stores and gas pumps could hurt their chances in the midterm elections this November.
- Joe Biden delivered a speech on the urgent need to lower US healthcare costs in Culpepper, Virginia. The president noted the US pays more than its peer nations for the same prescription drugs, and he reiterated his administration’s commitment to lowering healthcare costs for American families. “I’ve long said health care should be a right, not a privilege, in this country,” Biden said.
- The Senate unanimously passed a bill that will end the use of forced arbitration in workplace sexual harassment cases. The bill, which easily passed the House earlier this week, now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature. The White House has already indicated the president supports the bill and plans to sign it.
- The House oversight committee opened an investigation into potential violations of the Presidential Records Act by Donald Trump, after he retained and destroyed some documents relevant to the Capitol attack inquiry. The House committee investigating Capitol attack has also reportedly found gaps in critical hours on the day of the riot in White House telephone logs, according to the New York Times.
– Joan E Greve
Joe Biden urged American citizens in Ukraine to “leave now”.
In that interview with Nightly News, Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt that “things could go crazy quickly” in Ukraine.
If Putin is “foolish enough to go in, he’s smart enough not to, in fact, do anything that would negatively impact on American citizens,” Biden said. “I didn’t have to tell him that, I’ve spoken about that. He knows that.”
The US State Department has warned that it “will not be able to evacuate US citizens in the event of Russian military action anywhere in Ukraine.”
Updated
