'Two is fine...three is absolutely better'

Good news. There's a new coronavirus vaccine on the horizon. The Food & Drug Administration says the Johnson & Johnson vaccine provides strong protection against severe disease and death from COVID-19, and may reduce the spread of the virus by vaccinated people. The FDA could authorize the vaccine as early as Saturday, and distribution could begin next week. Unlike the other two authorized vaccines, Johnson & Johnson's is a single shot and can keep for three months at normal refrigeration. It could thus allow the number of fully vaccinated Americans to rapidly increase and make it easier for pharmacies and clinics to stock. —The New York Times

• — On the stimulus front. Democrats and Republicans tangled over the size and scope of President Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan today, despite broad public support for the package and a new push by business leaders to get it passed. As the bill heads to the House floor for a vote as early as tomorrow, the resistance it faces is emblematic of the difficulties facing Biden, who had hoped to be a bridge beyond Washington's partisan gridlock. —CNN
   
• — A key sticking point. At issue for Republicans is the $15-an-hour minimum wage increase included in the relief bill. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated recently that raising the minimum hourly wage to $15 by 2025 would cost 1.4 million jobs and increase the deficit by $54 billion over 10 years. However, it also would lift an estimated 900,000 people out of poverty. —The Washington Post
   
• — Local Republicans feel differently. Some of the relief plan's biggest supporters are Republican mayors, whose cash-strained cities are feeling the effects of the pandemic acutely. In all, 32 Republican mayors are among the 425 mayors nationally who urged timely passage of the relief package in a letter to Congress through the U.S. Conference of Mayors. So far, no Republicans in the House or Senate have publicly supported the bill. —USA Today

Ghitis: Banish conspiracies back to the fringes

"Conspiracy theories are nothing new. But when they move from the edges of society to the centers of government and media, they pose grave dangers, as we saw on Jan. 6. Ideas, however ridiculous, cannot be outlawed. But the people who promote such ideas, claiming they are legitimate, credible information, should be corralled back where they belong, on the lunatic fringe." —Frida Ghitis on CNN

Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist and analyst. She is the author of "The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television."

MORE: QAnon: Why this crazy conspiracy theory is now focused on March 4 —CNET

White House goes postal

Remember Louis DeJoy? He's the postmaster general who received a lot of attention last summer, when his overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service led to precipitous service declines—and concerns about election mail. Yesterday, he testified to a House panel that he intends to press forward with his plans to raise prices and slow the mail, and brushed off calls to resign. The White House isn't taking it lightly. President Biden nominated two Democrats and a voting rights advocate to fill three of four openings on the USPS's governing board. If confirmed, the new slate would potentially create enough votes to oust DeJoy and curtail his plans. —The Washington Post

MORE: Biden's CIA pick warns of China and Russia at amicable confirmation hearing —The New York Times

What's the Equality Act?

The House is set to pass the Equality Act today, a sweeping bill that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The legislation would amend existing federal civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to extend protections for LGBTQ Americans. Critics of the bill say it could infringe upon religious liberty or lead to inequality in athletic contests, giving transgender women a competitive edge. President Biden has pledged to sign the Equality Act into law, but first it faces an uncertain future in the Senate. At least 10 Republicans would have to vote with all Democrats for a filibuster-proof majority. —USA Today

MORE: Susan Collins backs off sponsorship of LGBTQ rights bill —Bangor Daily News

WaPo Ed Board: A war on democracy?

"Unable to persuade a majority of voters to vote for their presidential standard-bearer or Senate candidates in some key races, many have decided that instead of trying to compete in a free and fair vote they will make the contest less free and less fair. Republican state lawmakers are introducing voter-suppression bills all over the country. But ground zero is Georgia, where former president Donald Trump and two Republican Senate incumbents unexpectedly lost." —The Washington Post

MORE: Georgia Senate approves election reform package, including absentee ballot signature-match overhaul —The Center Square

Focus on the insurrection

The House Appropriations Committee, which has direct oversight of the U.S. Capitol Police, held a hearing today about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which caused $30 million in damage and led to five deaths. Capitol Police Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told lawmakers the department's emergency protocols were "not adhered to" during the attack, largely because the assualt was much bigger than the overwhelmed officers expected. She also testified that security measures at the Capitol complex have since been "hardened" to prevent a similar attack from happening again. —Associated Press

• — MTG ally stormed the Capitol. Anthony Aguero, a livestreamer and associate of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, said on video following the Capitol assault that he was among those who had entered, and he disputed those who claimed it was done by Antifa. Greene, who has promoted violent conspiracies as well as the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, falsely suggested that those who attacked the Capitol were Antifa activists disguised as Trump supporters. —CNN
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• — "Partisan by design." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bid to create a large-scale congressional review of the insurrection is in jeopardy after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a draft version of the proposed commission, which would give Democrats a 7-4 majority on the panel. McConnell also wants the review to include an analysis of broader political violence—a nod to GOP complaints about riots that broke out across the country last summer. —Politico
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• — Christian opposition. In an open letter, a coalition of more than 100 evangelical Christian pastors and ministry and seminary leaders condemned the role of "radicalized Christian nationalism" in feeding the political extremism that led to the insurrection. The co-signers are calling on Christian leaders to take a public stand against racism, Christian nationalism, conspiracy theories, and political extremism. —NPR

Leighninger: Elections are only half the story

"As people become more dissatisfied with their political systems, their trust in public institutions continues to fall. This has enabled authoritarian figures, who argue that rule by a tyrant is better than rule by democracy, to seize power in many countries. We should recognize we need reforms to governance, not just elections. To understand the problems with our democracy, and the ways we might improve it, we should be looking at what happens in between elections and not just how we vote." —Matt Leighninger in The Fulcrum

Matt Leighninger is the director of public engagement at Public Agenda, a non-profit, non-partisan research and engagement organization focused on strengthening democracy, building trust, and expanding economic opportunity.

MORE: Nick Penniman: How to rebuild democracy and heal America's wounded soul —USA Today

Any discussion of America's COVID-19 response must include our unequal, unfair, and profit-driven healthcare system. While Italy and a few other European countries have single-payer systems and have suffered higher per-capita deaths than the U.S., the situations are not comparable, and require a more nuanced discussion than I can provide here. We all are eager to get back to normal, but we must come to terms with the fact that "normal" in the United States was a problem before the pandemic. It is unspeakable that a country as wealthy as the United States has 30 million people uninsured and countless others underinsured. The pandemic will end and there will be celebrations, but the victory laps we will take will be pyrrhic. —John G., Washington

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.