President Joe Biden continues his streak of taking aggressive action through executive power. On his third day in office he signed an executive order to, “provide equitable emergency economic relief to working families, communities, and small businesses across the nation.” The action includes extending food stamp programs and speeding up the delivery of stimulus checks. He also signed an order requiring face coverings to be worn during travel on planes, buses, trains and in airports as part of his pandemic mitigation plan. Meanwhile conservatives are pushing back against an order that Biden signed on his first day in office restoring protections for LGBTQ Americans in schools, workplaces and healthcare centers. Rightwing groups bizarrely claimed that such an order would “erase women.” 

Meanwhile, as Democrats ready themselves for an ambitious legislative agenda in the Senate after four long years of Mitch McConnell blocking hundreds of bills, the former Majority Leader seems intent on stymying them. He has been blocking a Democratic resolution on Senate rules demanding that the majority party leave a 60-vote requirement in place to filibuster. Such a move would essentially give Republicans veto power over most bills. Democrats say they plan to reject the move. At stake is the “aggressive” plan that the new Senate Budget Committee chair Bernie Sanders has for progressive economic legislation. Senator Sanders has vowed to use the procedural power of “budget reconciliation” to move bills forward with a simple majority. 

Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would send the House-passed Article of Impeachment against the previous President to the U.S. Senate on Monday. Schumer rejected an attempt by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to try to delay an impeachment trial until January 29th. Republicans Senators are claiming there is not enough support in their party to vote to convict Donald Trump over his incitement of insurrection in a violent mob attack on January 6th. There is also a question of if Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts would indeed preside over the trial. Meanwhile the Senate Ethics committee has filed complaints against Republicans Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley for leading an attempt to overthrow democracy as represented by the 2020 election. Leader Chuck Schumer is being urged to deny the two men committee seats as well. 

In the House,