Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
(Want to get this newsletter in your inbox? Here’s the sign-up.) Good evening. Here’s the latest.1. No.46 may be in the White House, but No.45’s legacy still lingers in Washington. The House will transmit its article of impeachment charging former President Donald Trump with “incitement of insurrection” to the Senate on Monday, prompting the start of a trial unlike any other in American history. Mr. Trump’s impeachment trial, just weeks after he urged on a mob that attacked the Capitol, is the second one in just over a year. No other president has ever been impeached twice, and no former president has ever been put up on trial. Senators Chuck Schumer, above, and Mitch McConnell have been discussing delaying the heart of the trial — in-person arguments — until the following week. That could appeal to Democrats who have been trying to ensure that the impeachment trial does not get in the way of confirming President Biden’s cabinet picks. Mr. Biden did secure a key appointee today: The Senate confirmed former Gen. Lloyd Austin as defense secretary on a 93-to-2 vote, making him the first African-American to lead the Pentagon.2. President Biden signed several executive orders that aim to provide economic relief to the unemployed and others suffering during the coronavirus pandemic. The first order is designed to get more aid to families struggling to afford food and speed delivery of millions of stimulus checks. The second will lay the groundwork for the federal government to require a $15-an-hour minimum wage for its employees and contract workers. Above, volunteers with the Los Angeles Food Bank. Mr. Biden’s top economic adviser said that the orders were not a replacement for the sweeping $1.9 trillion relief program that Mr. Biden outlined earlier this month. That plan has already met swift resistance from Republicans in Congress. Separately, Mr. Biden called the chief of the National Guard Bureau to apologize after troops who were brought in to protect his inauguration were forced out of the Capitol and ordered to sleep in an unheated parking garage. Photos of the troops sleeping on the floor have sparked an uproar.3. As the U.S. vaccine rollout continues to stumble, federal regulators are tweaking their recommendations for second doses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people could switch to another vaccine for their second dose, though only in “exceptional situations.” Patients can also extend the interval between doses to six weeks from three or four. Scientists have not studied those changes in large clinical trials, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, has repeatedly advised against them.
