Covid's next phase

Having signed his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package into law today, a day earlier than planned, President Biden will address the nation tonight on the one-year anniversary of the first government-imposed pandemic shutdowns. "I'm going to launch the next phase of the Covid response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people," he said. "There is light at the end of this dark tunnel over the past year. We cannot let our guard down now or assume that victory is inevitable. Together, we're going to get through this pandemic and usher in a healthier, more hopeful future." —CNBC

• — More vaccines. Biden said yesterday that the administration is ordering an additional 100 million doses of the single-shot vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, in order to amass stockpiles as a safeguard against manufacturing disruptions or outbreaks of coronavirus variants. He also said if the U.S. has a surplus of vaccine doses, the administration will "share it with the rest of the world." —The Washington Post
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• — There's reason to worry about variants. And about the rest of the world. In Brazil, which has the world's second highest death toll and a president, Jair Bolsonaro, who says people need to "stop being sissies," a new COVID-19 variant is spreading throughout the country like wildfire. As hospitals are hitting capacity, many Brazilians are continuing to defy mask mandates and other restrictions, following Bolsonaro's bad example. —CNN
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• — Can it happen here? That's the big question. Americans are urged to maintain pandemic precautions until a critical mass of the population is vaccinated. Some state governments don't seem to get it. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has threatened to sue officials in Austin and Travis Co., Tx., if they don't lift their local mask mandates. Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order last week lifting Texas' statewide mask mandate. —CBS News

No more drop boxes in Florida?

It could happen. A Florida Senate panel voted yesterday to advance an election bill that would ban drop boxes used for mail-in ballots—a convenience that 1.5 million Florida voters used securely in the last election. The bill has drawn strong bipartisan opposition from local election officials. Lake Co. Elections Supervisor Alan Hays, a former Republican lawmaker, called the proposed ban "a travesty." Leon Co. Elections Supervisor Mark Earley warned that the bill "appears to be setting us up for another 2012, when we had long lines, chaos, and confusion." —CNN

MORE: Michigan House passes election reforms aimed at cleaning up voter rolls, supporting absentee voting —Detroit Free Press

Murphy: Georgia voting restrictions could hurt Republicans too

"The Republicans may have found Donald Trump's 11,000 Republican votes by subtracting 11,000 Democrats. But could those same lawmakers be subtracting Republican votes in the process, too? It's entirely possible, worried GOP strategists tell me, because the most restrictive changes legislators are contemplating in Georgia are not based on data or evidence, but on the former president's accusations and GOP voters' suspicions." —Patricia Murphy in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Patricia Murphy is a political columnist at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

MORE: Trump call to Georgia lead investigator reveals new details —The Wall Street Journal

Crisis at the border

The Biden Administration is making a push to address the causes of migration from Central America, as the U.S. faces a surge at the southern border. A Customs and Border Protection senior official told reporters yesterday that border crossings spiked by 28% last month, with the number of unaccompanied minors tripling in the last two weeks. President Biden is calling for "explicit commitments" from Central American governments to fight corruption, and he is proposing $4 billion in aid to organizations addressing economic opportunity, climate change mitigation, inequality, and violence in those regions. —NPR

MORE: Republicans call on Biden to stop surge at border —The Times and Democrat

Hohmann: What Blunt's retirement says about the GOP

"[Sen. Roy] Blunt wasn't the only Republican senator who tried to have it both ways. They governed, but they recoiled, for the most part, at standing up to Trump. This uneasy compromise worked, a little; they accomplished some goals. But it did nothing to stop the party's descent. And now the governing caucus is at risk of being replaced by people who share little of that inclination..." —James Hohmann in The Washington Post

James Hohmann is a political columnist at The Washington Post.

MORE: Jayapal asks for ethics investigation into Boebert, Gosar, Brooks —The Hill

Focus on global democracy

The State Department blacklisted two Iranian government interrogators this week, in the first such action against Tehran under the Biden Administration. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps interrogators of gross violations of human rights, including "torture and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" of political prisoners and people detained during 2019 and 2020 protests in Iran. —Reuters

• — Brazil. A justice on Brazil's Supreme Court has annulled corruption convictions against former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, widely known as Lula, who was found guilty of corruption and money-laundering in 2017. Lula allegedly helped a Brazilian engineering company secure lucrative contracts with the country's state-owned oil company in exchange for a beachfront apartment. He had been sentenced to 12 years in prison. —NPR
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• — Germany. Berlin hopes to strike a "New Deal" with the United States, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said this week, as the two countries look to strengthen relations. Speaking at an online event, Maas told Americans that "Germany is at your side," and said the two countries should work together on democratic reforms abroad, defense, and a common strategy on China and Russia. —Deutsche Welle
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• — Russia. In an effort to curb social media platforms that amplify dissent, the Russian state communications watchdog said it is slowing down the speed of uploading photos and videos to Twitter. Russian officials say Twitter failed to remove content encouraging suicide among children and containing drug references and child pornography. The company has accused Russia of attempting "to block and throttle online public conversation." —ABC News

Derviş: Leading by example begins at home

"Implementing an overall strategy to bolster liberal democracy and rebuild multilateralism will inevitably involve many shades of gray, as reality imposes unanticipated constraints. [T]he Biden Administration's early actions and the sincerity of its declarations suggest that it could become the most internationally transformative U.S. administration in decades. But whether that happens does depend, crucially, on Biden's domestic success in fostering economic progress for all Americans." —Kemal Derviş on Project Syndicate

Kemal Derviş is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

MORE: President Biden's second big bill may be package to curb China's influence —The Washington Post

I believe the two-party system is permanently broken and has been for a long time. It has left the majority of us outside looking in. You only need to see that the only registered voter group that is growing are independents. —Tom A., Oregon

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