| ADMINISTRATION: Biden is heading into a rough period in which he wants to move his legislative agenda into law while juggling pressures to manage the economy, vaccination rates, the end of a 20-year war, Russia’s backing of cyber extortion, state legislative changes to voting rights and his own party’s acute anxieties about losing majorities in Congress next year. On Tuesday, the president will travel to Philadelphia to try to reassure Democrats that he will use his bully pulpit to assail GOP legislative efforts in the states to make it harder for some Americans to vote in the next cycle. The White House, which in June released a list of actions on the issue, says Biden will again outline steps his administration is taking to “protect the sacred constitutional right to vote.” It is unclear how much the White House can do at the federal level after Republicans in Congress recently blocked sweeping efforts by Democrats to pass voting rights legislation (CNN). “I'll have much more to say … because I plan on speaking extensively on voting rights as well as going on the road on this issue,” the president told reporters early this month. The New York Times: Biden’s oratory with out-of-town audiences can be heavy on Washington Speak and minutiae. He cheerfully labeled one of his recent speeches “boring” immediately after delivering it. The Associated Press: One of the president’s old-school oratorical techniques is to lean over his podium to lower his voice and whisper into the mic in order to emphasize a point. > Afghanistan: There is no shortage of second-guessing, including among Democrats, about Biden’s decision to pull all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by August to end a nearly 20-year war and hand the country’s future to the Afghan people, despite widespread worries that the Taliban will overrun the government. Today, Army Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, will symbolically end the nation’s involvement there by relinquishing responsibility during a Kabul ceremony after overseeing the war for nearly three years, The Washington Post reports. Virtually all other troops, contractors and equipment already have departed. Former Democratic Defense Secretary and former CIA Director Leon Panetta (interview HERE) said over the weekend that Biden should have coordinated more clearly with Afghans before emptying the Bagram air base (pictured below). Jeh Johnson, former Homeland Security secretary, said Biden could have left 2,500 U.S. forces in Afghanistan. “If I were advising the president, I probably would have recommended that we keep in place, in-country, [a] highly trained force of about 2,500 or so for counterterrorism purposes,” Johnson told CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The Hill: Pentagon spokesman John Kirby argued that U.S. troop withdrawal does not automatically mean the United States has lost all leverage against the Taliban. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Biden made “the best of many poor choices” that were available to the United States in Afghanistan after two decades (The Hill). > Child tax credits: On Thursday, the IRS will begin to send monthly payments to U.S. families as part of the expanded child tax credit signed into law as part of the coronavirus relief measure, reports The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda. Parents with an income of less than $150,000 (married and filing jointly) will get a maximum of $300 for each child under the age of 6 and $250 for each child ages 6 to 17 in monthly advance payments through the end of the year. The other half of the money will be a part of filers’ tax refunds in 2022. Families with higher incomes or with older dependents will get smaller payments. CNET: See if you’re eligible. CBS News: Who will need to opt out? > Criminal justice reform: Biden is under pressure from his left flank to select a new breed of federal prosecutors, reports The Hill’s Harper Neidig. 
© Getty Images ***** CORONAVIRUS: Health officials on Sunday pushed back against the need for Americans to receive a booster vaccination in the coming months to boost protection against COVID-19 and variants of the virus that have caused case totals to spike in recent days. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said that it is currently unnecessary for individuals to receive an additional shot. The comments came days after Pfizer indicated that it will seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming months for the booster jab. “Well, certainly they theoretically could. What the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and the FDA were saying...is that right now, given the data and the information we have, we do not need to give people a third shot, a boost superimposed upon the two doses you get with the mRNA and the one dose you get with [Johnson & Johnson],” Fauci said, adding that that research is ongoing to determine whether that will change. “This isn't something that we say, ‘No, we don't need a boost right now. The story's ended forever,’” Fauci said. “No, there's a lot of work going on to examine this in real time to see if we might need a boost” (The Hill). According to former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, a potential booster shot is unlikely to be recommended for the masses if it becomes recommended at all. Gottlieb told “Face the Nation” that the most likely recipients will be older and immunocompromised individuals who received their vaccinations more than seven to eight months ago. “It’s not going to be a general recommendation for the entire public because for most people … who are younger, have intact immune systems, they’re probably going to have sufficient protection from their original vaccination and they’re not going to need a booster,” Gottlieb said. Pfizer is scheduled to brief health experts today about its plans, according to The Washington Post, though that meeting could be delayed until another day this week. The Sunday Shows: Fauci in the spotlight. The Hill: Gottlieb: “We've probably missed a window” for providing booster shots for the delta variant. Politico: Vaccines will get full FDA approval, Fauci predicts. The Hill: U.S. turns corner, but the world is way behind on COVID-19. While the U.S. stands pat and focuses on reaching people still hesitant to get vaccinated, especially in Republican-leaning states, Israel is taking a different approach. Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz announced Sunday that adults with compromised immune systems who had already received two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine could receive a booster shot, adding that the decision was effective immediately. The development comes as Israel has seen cases rise over the past month after experiencing single digit totals in June. The country reported a high of 528 new cases on July 6, the highest since late March (The Hill). The Hill: Fauci: Delta strain is a “nasty variant.” The Associated Press: South Africa ramps up vaccine drive, too late for this surge. Reuters: Australia's COVID-19 Delta outbreak worsens despite Sydney lockdown. The Associated Press: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set to roll back all England lockdown restrictions on July 19. > Military: Panetta, who was Defense secretary during the Obama administration, told Greta Van Susteren on “Full Court Press” on Sunday that Biden should order all U.S. military to receive COVID-19 vaccine doses. The Army has said it is preparing to administer such inoculations in the fall if vaccines are no longer under emergency authorization and are instead licensed for regular use by the FDA (Army Times). Public health specialists have argued that in the case of COVID-19, emergency use and licensed use is a distinction without a difference. “I frankly think the president ought to issue an order requiring everybody in the military to get a COVID-19 shot, period,” Panetta said. “That's an issue involving our national security. The last damn thing you need is to have those in the military that are our warriors unable to respond to a mission because they've gotten COVID-19. There's no excuse for that. When I was in the Army, I got every shot required by the military, shots in both arms, as well as everywhere else. There is no reason we should not require a COVID-19 shot for everyone in the military, period.” The Hill: Fauci: There should be more COVID-19 vaccine mandates at the local level. The Hill: United CEO: Guess is that the airline mask mandate will expire in September. | 
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