Paying tribute

President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden paid respects last night to Capitol Police Ofc. Brian Sicknick, whose cremated remains were lying in honor at the Capitol Rotunda. A congressional tribute to Sicknick was held this morning, before he was interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Sicknick died from injuries sustained at the Capitol during the violent assault there on Jan. 6. He was beaten by insurrectionists while attempting to secure the building during the attack. He was 42 years old. —ABC News

• — White supremacist violence. In response to the Capitol attack and other incidents, Rep. Jackie Speier has sent a letter to Biden urging him to issue an executive order identifying white supremacy and violent extremism as a threat to national security. Speier, who chairs the House Armed Services Military Personnel subcommittee, also pushed federal agencies to screen military recruits and those seeking government security clearances for ties to violent extremism on social media. —Reuters
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• — Voting reform. Some House Democrats hope to pass ranked-choice voting legislation this year, as part of a package of reforms designed to reduce extremism in politics, making politicians more responsive to the majority of voters rather than the noisy minorities in both parties. Advocates also want to increase the number of House members for the first time in more than 100 years, and to move to multimember congressional districts. —Yahoo! News
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• — COVID-19. On the pandemic front, Biden is urging Senate Democrats to go big on coronavirus relief, making an aggressive case in favor of his $1.9 trillion rescue package as Democrats take the first steps to advancing the legislation. The administration also announced that it will begin direct shipments of coronavirus vaccines to pharmacies next week, expanding access to the shots as concerns about variants of the virus grow. —The Washington Post

Sargent: How corruption helped foster the insurrection

"[A] broader accounting into this dark event also demands a serious examination of the apparent role of numerous other Trump officials in corrupting our understanding of the violent right-wing extremist threat, which may have left us unprepared for the attack. Democrats in the House are scrutinizing the role that the political manipulation of this understanding of right-wing violence inside the government might have played in facilitating the insurrection..." —Greg Sargent in The Washington Post

Greg Sargent is a columnist at The Washington Post and the author of "An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Trumpian Disinformation and Thunderdome Politics."

MORE: A Pennsylvania mother's path to insurrection —The New Yorker

'Americans need to be reminded of the value of democracy'

Former Department of Homeland Security cyber chief Suzanne Spaulding, a key official involved in the response to Russian interference efforts in 2016, is pushing hard for more to be done to combat disinformation as the nation reels from the fallout of the 2020 election. "While we had realized that we've done pretty well with respect to the security of our election infrastructure, at the end of the day, what we really were worried about was information operations," she said. With foreign and domestic disinformation and misinformation causing many Americans to lose faith in democracy, Spaulding is calling for a renewed focus on civics education. —The Hill

MORE: People say Facebook biggest source of misinformation: poll —The Hill

Bond: Have at him, Mitch

"Unlike most of his colleagues, [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell knows that the GOP is at a tipping point. Republicans can continue to embrace Trump's toxicity and big-lie tactics and continue to coddle extremists. Or, they can, like the fictional newscaster Howard Beale in 'Network,' declare that they are mad as hell, are not going to take it anymore, and are going to change their ways and reclaim their party. ... Will McConnell really rise to the moment and gather 17 GOP votes to convict Trump, and ban him from ever holding federal office again? On behalf of many Americans who want to lower the volume in Washington and return to civility, I pray that he does." —Richard Bond on CNN

Richard Bond was the Republican National Committee Chair from 1992-1993.

MORE: Republicans take sides in widening rift over party's future —The Washington Post

Blinken rebukes Russia

Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the Russian government yesterday after Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was sentenced to more than two years in prison. Navalny's arrest last month has sparked mass protests across Russia, leading to hundreds of his supporters being jailed. "The United States is deeply concerned by Russia's actions toward Alexei Navalny. We reiterate our call for the Russian government to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Navalny, as well as hundreds of other Russian citizens wrongfully detained in recent weeks for exercising their rights," Blinken said. —CNBC

MORE: Moscow court orders Kremlin foe Navalny to prison —Associated Press

Focus on voting

Talk about irony. One of the most vocal figures who pushed conspiracy theories about fraud in the 2020 election and sued to block the certification of Georgia's election result, lawyer and pro-Trump activist L. Lin Wood is being investigated for possibly voting illegally. According to the Georgia secretary of state's office, officials opened the investigation after a news report said Wood indicated that he has been living in South Carolina, despite voting in Georgia in the November general election. —The Wall Street Journal

• — Georgia. Lin Wood isn't Georgia's only voting problem. Republican state senators introduced a package of bills on Monday that would prevent voters from being automatically registered to vote when they get their driver's licenses; ban ballot drop boxes, requiring absentee ballots to be returned through the mail or at county election offices; and roll back a state law allowing registered voters to cast an absentee ballot for any reason. —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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• — Arizona. A new proposal from a Republican lawmaker in Arizona would allow the state legislature to elect presidential electors of their choice, overturning the vote results from the state's presidential election. Calling the bill a "punch in the face" to voters, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs asked, "So we should just get rid of the presidential election altogether? In reality, that's what this bill would do." —The Center Square
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• — Virginia. There is some good news out of Virginia. On the first day of Black History Month, state legislators advanced a bill to help ensure voter protections. Known as the Voting Rights Act of Virginia, the bill is modeled after the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and aims to eliminate voter suppression, intimidation, and discrimination through changes in voting laws and practices by election officials. It cleared the House in a 55-45 vote. —NBC News

Piccone: Before the Summit for Democracy, we have work to do

"Rather than a big summit gathering this year, this administration should do two things first: demonstrate our capacity for self-correction through a series of domestic reforms, and begin a process of consultation with its closest democratic friends on the goals and modalities of a global democratic renewal agenda. These two steps would help shore up our own fractured and increasingly dangerous politics and inspire greater confidence and cooperation among other democracies around the world." —Ted Piccone of the Brookings Institution

Ted Piccone is a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Brookings Institution.

MORE: Biden urged to create commission on trust in democracy —The Fulcrum

"It's long past time for Republicans to clean up their act. It may even be too late." No kidding! The GOP has been assiduously collecting racists and other misfits since Reagan, gradually becoming increasingly overt in its appeals to this "basket of deplorables." Its situation is tantamount to someone who has been gorging on junk food for decades and now needs to shed 250 pounds. —Barry L., Massachusetts

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