| Presented by ExxonMobil |
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The phrase vote-a-rama still feels to me like an ‘SNL’ skit on Congress: |
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© Getty Images The Senate has begun a marathon vote-a-rama before passing the massive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package with a simple majority through budget reconciliation. Lol, this is accurate: Via Politico’s Caitlin Emma, Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett, “The protracted ordeal, known as “vote-a-rama,” is widely despised by members of both parties and guaranteed to leave sleepless members running on fumes just ahead of the bill’s passage in the upper chamber, likely Saturday. But there's no way around it.” https://politi.co/3kKyZzG What happened this morning to kick off votes: “Had [Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.)] wanted to delay the start of votes, he could have objected early this morning and forced votes to start late tonight. But Senate agreed to start earlier. Voting will end when senators stop offering amendments.” (Via CNN’s Manu Raju) https://bit.ly/2Outxoj |
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| SENATE BRACES FOR ‘GOD-AWFUL,’ ‘STUPID’ SESSION AHEAD OF COVID-19 RELIEF VOTE: |
| Via The Hill’s Jordain Carney: https://bit.ly/3kPtsrB |
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| LIVESTREAM OF THE SENATE TODAY: |
| Via C-SPAN: https://bit.ly/3rr6F88 Exclusive footage of tired senators grumbling to each other in a few hours: 
© Giphy |
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NEW — we could be looking at unemployment benefits of $300 instead of $400: |
| Via The Hill’s Alexander Bolton, “Senate Democrats are nearing an agreement within their caucus to reduce the boost in federal unemployment benefits in the COVID-19 relief bill to $300 from the $400 included in the House bill.” https://bit.ly/3kN6WQ5 Who is leading the charge: Moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Tom Carper (Del.). What we know about the potential agreement: “The ‘contours’ of the emerging deal call for keeping the weekly unemployment benefit at $300 but extending it to Oct. 4 to avoid the so-called August cliff.” ^ As a compromise to progressives: “In a concession to liberals, the deal would also make up to $10,200 in unemployment compensation exempt from taxes. The tax break would apply to benefits received in 2020.” |
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| Happy Friday! 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 |
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| A MESSAGE FROM EXXONMOBIL | |
ExxonMobil sets emission reduction plans for 2025 |
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We’ve announced plans to reduce the intensity of our emissions, which we expect to reduce our absolute upstream greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 30%, compared to 2016 levels. See details here. 
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I meeean, I wouldn't guess that Ron Johnson is making new friends today: |
| Via The Hill’s Jordain Carney, “Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is grinding the gears of the Senate to a halt as it seeks to move forward with President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.” https://bit.ly/3rkL4hu What Johnson is doing: “First, he’s forcing the Senate clerks to read the entire piece of legislation, a delaying tactic that irritated Democrats and even some Republicans. Then, he wants Republicans to sign up for shifts so they could potentially force hundreds of amendment votes.” For context on Johnson: “It is just the latest step by Johnson, who is up for reelection in a state narrowly won by Biden, to burnish his Trump credentials, whether that’s by repeating unfounded theories about the Jan. 6 attack or becoming the face of GOP opposition to the coronavirus bill that is broadly popular even among Republicans.” |
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Take that estimate and DOUBLE IT, baby: |
| The economy added an astonishing 379,000 jobs in February, more than double what economists had predicted. https://bit.ly/30gJIZe ^Wow — compare that to: The economy added just 49,000 jobs in January. The unemployment rate: Dropped from 6.3 percent to 6.2 percent. For context: “The latest jobs data — covering the first full months of the Biden presidency — points to early signs of improvement for an economy still struggling to dig itself out of a deep hole.” |
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| THIS IS A PRETTY INTERESTING REACTION FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: |
| White House chief of staff Ron Klain downplayed the strong jobs’ report. He tweeted: “If you think today's jobs report is ‘good enough,’ then know that at this pace (+379,000 jobs/month), it would take until April 2023 to get back to where we were in February 2020.” https://bit.ly/3qfpz0h |
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A House Democrat sues Trump: |
| Via The Hill’s John Kruzel, “Former President Trump, his eldest son and several of his allies were sued on Friday by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) over their role in the run-up to the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.” https://bit.ly/3qqxWpW Details: “The 65-page complaint filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani of inciting the riot and violating a number of federal and D.C. laws.” Read the lawsuit: https://bit.ly/30jEN9G What this means for former Trump: “The lawsuit is the latest instance of potential legal exposure for the former president. Trump also faces a criminal probe in Georgia for pressuring officials to overturn President Biden’s electoral win and is under investigation in New York for possible financial crimes and civil violations related to his businesses.” |
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| LATEST WITH THE CORONAVIRUS | |
Expect CDC guidelines soon for vaccinated Americans: |
| The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been working for weeks on a series of guidelines for vaccinated Americans — and had been expected to release them yesterday. But the guidelines have still not been released: Via Politico’s Erin Banco, “The CDC was told to ‘hold off on releasing’ the recommendations, one of those sources said. The reason is still unclear but one senior [White House] official said the guidelines were still being finalized.” https://politi.co/2OqIwzT What we know about the behind-the-scenes process: “There is no evidence to suggest that the Biden White House is trying to suppress the CDC guidelines or override the judgement of CDC scientists.” https://politi.co/2OqIwzT |
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| WHAT TO GENERALLY EXPECT IN THE GUIDELINES: |
| Via CNN’s Jen Christensen: https://cnn.it/30td5aZ |
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| TIDBIT — THE POPE IS BACK TO TRAVELING: |
| Via CBS News, “Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday, the first visit by a pontiff to the country. He ended his personal coronavirus lockdown and left Italy for the first time in more than a year.” Video of the pope walking off the plane: https://bit.ly/2Otowwd |
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| COVID CASE NUMBERS: |
| Coronavirus cases in the U.S.: 28,828,931 U.S. death toll: 520,422 Breakdown of the numbers: https://cnn.it/2UAgW3y |
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| VACCINATION NUMBERS: |
| Total number of vaccinations administered in the U.S.: 82.6 million shots have been given. Seven-day average of doses administered: An average of 2.04 million doses For context: The U.S. population is roughly 331 million. Breakdown of the numbers: https://bloom.bg/3iVTPLH |
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| A MESSAGE FROM EXXONMOBIL | |
ExxonMobil sets emission reduction plans for 2025 |
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We’ve announced plans to reduce the intensity of our emissions, which we expect to reduce our absolute upstream greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 30%, compared to 2016 levels. See details here.
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Fact-check: true: |
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© Twitter The full photo of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg meeting with President Biden: https://bit.ly/3bWL9kM |
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Today in ‘taking-a-catchy-interior-décor-buzzword-and-taking-it-too-far’: |
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© Twitter See the full listing: https://bit.ly/3sMM4uU |
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| The Senate is in. The House is out. President Biden and Vice President Harris are in Washington, D.C. 9 a.m. EST: The Senate first met. The Senate’s full schedule today: https://bit.ly/3sQw37p 9:50 a.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris received the President’s Daily Brief. 12:15 p.m. EST: President Biden has lunch with Vice President Harris in the private dining room. 2:15 p.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris receive an economic briefing with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. 5:30 p.m. EST: President Biden and Vice President Harris receive a closed press COVID-19 briefing. |
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| 11 a.m. EST: The White House COVID-19 Response Team held a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3kLQKyF 12:30 p.m. EST: White House press secretary Jen Psaki holds a press briefing. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3qfBACF 3:15 p.m. EST: President Biden participates in a roundtable on the American Rescue Plan. Livestream: https://bit.ly/3kMVQup 8 p.m. EST: No. 1 New York Times best-selling authors Amie Parnes (a reporter at The Hill!) and Jonathan Allen are hosting a live discussion on their new book, “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency.” Details and how to watch live: https://bit.ly/3qnjdvE |
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| NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF...: | |
| Today is National Cheese Doodle Day. A true national gem. Tomorrow is National Oreo Day and Sunday is National Cereal Day! |
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Getting traction — Sorry, honey, I’m gonna be home late tonight. No, really, it’s the cat’s fault: |
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© Twitter |
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| And to kick off your weekend, here’s an elephant mother whose baby doesn’t want to wake up: 
© Twitter Watch: https://bit.ly/3uSbnxP |
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