Spiegel Stuff: The Hill's 12:30 Report: Senators brace for marathon vote-a-rama | Sets up coronavirus relief vote without GOP support | Marjorie Taylor Greene apologizes | Gets standing ovation from some colleagues | McCarthy announces no disciplinary action | Republicans rally to keep Cheney in power | Ford creates clear N95 masks | 35M vaccine doses given | Mask less Fla. grocery store video goes viral

LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS RELIEF PACKAGE

Spotted: senators stretching and warming up for the marathon:

Via The Hill’s Jordain Carney, “Senators are preparing for a chaotic, potentially all-night, session as Democrats race to lay the groundwork for passing coronavirus relief legislation.” https://bit.ly/2YJrzCy

First, Dems need effective change the rules: For a coronavirus relief package to pass in the Senate with just 51 votes instead of the usual 60, the Senate must first pass a budget resolution to temporarily change the rules — i.e. bypass the filibuster. That means Democrats could pass the measure without a single Republican vote.

Why that equals a marathon day: For Senate Democrats to pass the budget resolution, Republicans are first allowed to force a vote on anything they want. Basically to give Democrats a headache with a marathon of votes and make them pay for changing the rule.

^ That’s called a vote-a-rama: This is the first one in more than three years. “As of Wednesday night, there were nearly 550 amendments that had been filed, with that number expected to grow before the hours of back-to-back voting gets underway.”

Timing: The vote-a-rama is expected to start this afternoon and could extend into Friday morning, depending on how many amendments are filed.

The full explanation of the upcoming vote-a-rama: https://bit.ly/2YJrzCy

HOW A VOTE-A-RAMA GIVES ‘GOP A CHANCE TO INFLICT PAIN ON DEMS’:

Via Politico’s Jennifer Scholtes and Caitlin Emma: https://politi.co/2YGCBbP

DOES THE HOUSE HAVE TO APPROVE THE RULE CHANGE? YES, THEY DID YESTERDAY:

The House voted 218-212 to allow Congress to pass the mammoth $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package without Republican support.

HOW A LITTLE KNOWN SENATE REFEREE WILL PLAY A BIG ROLE IN BIDEN’S RELIEF PLAN:

Via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton: https://bit.ly/2YHzFvx

It’s Thursday! I’m Cate Martel with a quick recap of the morning and what’s coming up. Send comments, story ideas and events for our radar to cmartel@thehill.com — and follow along on Twitter @CateMartel and Facebook.

Did someone forward this to you? Want your own copy? Sign up here to receive The Hill's 12:30 Report in your inbox daily: http://bit.ly/2kjMNnn

IN CONGRESS

Marjorie Taylor Greene got a standing ovation by some colleagues:

Via The Hill’s Juliegrace Brufke, “Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) apologized for her past controversial remarks and embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory during a heated closed-door House GOP conference meeting — and received a standing ovation at one point from a number of her colleagues.” https://bit.ly/2LhPCoY

The theme of her remarks: “Greene told her colleagues that she made a mistake by being curious about ‘Q’ and said she told her children she learned a lesson about what to put on social media, according to two sources in the room. She also denied that she knew what Jewish space lasers were and defended her comments that past school shootings were staged by stating that she had personal experience with a school shooting.”

HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY ANNOUNCED NO DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS:

In a statement, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced he would not seek any disciplinary actions against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) for her embrace of conspiracy theories. https://bit.ly/36Klo5s

McCarthy’s statement: “Past comments from and endorsed by Marjorie Taylor Greene on school shootings, political violence, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories do not represent the values or beliefs of the House Republican Conference. I condemn those comments unequivocally. I condemned them in the past. I continue to condemn them today. This House condemned QAnon last Congress and continues to do so today.”

SO, WHAT’S NEXT — HAPPENING LATER TODAY:

The House is voting today on whether to remove Green from the House Budget and Education committees.

BACK STORY — WHAT DID TAYLOR GREENE DO?

Here’s the gist: “Various outlets have unearthed remarks by Greene supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits that Democrats and Hollywood are behind an international child sex peddling scandal; backing violence against Democratic officials; arguing that schools shootings were staged to win support for gun control; and suggesting that California’s wildfires were caused by a space laser to make way for a high-speed rail project linked to PG&E and the Rothschilds.” https://bit.ly/2LhPCoY

Establishment Republicans: Liz Cheney STAYS:

Via The Hill’s Juliegrace Brufke, Mike Lillis and Scott Wong, “The establishment wing of the GOP won a rare and dramatic victory Wednesday night when Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) beat back an attempt by Donald Trump’s staunchest allies to knock her from power as retribution for voting to impeach the former president just three weeks earlier.” https://bit.ly/3jg7ywO

The vote by secret ballot: 145-61 in favor of keeping Cheney in leadership

LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

Clear N95 masks — how cool:

Via The Detroit Free Press’s Phoebe Wall Howard, “Ford Motor Co. has designed and created clear N95 face masks so that hearing impaired people can read lips while protecting themselves from COVID-19, the company announced Tuesday.” https://bit.ly/39Jtn4J

What next: “A patent is pending for the new design, which is awaiting federal approval to qualify for N95 status from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.”

Photo of the clear N95 mask: https://bit.ly/39Jtn4J

CASE NUMBERS:

Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 26,561,428

U.S. death toll: 450,887

Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y

VACCINATION NUMBERS:

Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 35 million shots have been given

Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 1.34 million doses.

For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million

Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH

Getting traction: This looks like a video from BC — that’s ‘Before COVID’:

This video has more than 2.6 million views since yesterday.

Watch: https://bit.ly/2Lhj2DE

NOTABLE TWEETS:

Well, Bernie Sanders officially has his signature pose:

Makes sense.:

ON TAP:

The House and Senate are in. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C.

9:30 a.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris received the President’s Daily Brief.

1:30 p.m. EST: First votes in the House. The House’s full agenda today: https://bit.ly/36H5lFG

2 p.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

2:30 p.m. EST: The Senate begins voting. The Senate’s full agenda today: https://bit.ly/3cHHqd0

4:30 p.m. EST: Last votes in the House.

Tuesday: The Hill is hosting a virtual event on “Complex Generics & The Prescription Drug Landscape.” Details and how to RSVP: https://bit.ly/2YIZyLh

WHAT TO WATCH:

10 a.m. EST: The House Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on domestic terrorism threats. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3pUBGAA

11:30 a.m. EST: White House press secretary Jen Psaki held a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/2MXVB2A

1:30 p.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris speak with State Department staff. Liestream: https://bit.ly/3oNXSe3

2:45 p.m. EST: President Biden delivers remarks at the State Department. Livestream: https://bit.ly/2YJuDyt

5:30 p.m. EST: Lawmakers will share their stories from the Jan. 5 Capitol insurrection. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will begin. Details: https://bit.ly/3pPUyAr

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF...:

Today is National Homemade Soup Day.

And because you made it this far, here’s a true fashion icon modeling all the outfits she couldn’t wear last year: https://bit.ly/3trexrv