Reuters US Domestic News Summary

U.S. Democrats take first step to go it alone on Biden's COVID-19 aid Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday took the first step toward fast-tracking President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill without Republican support.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. U.S. Democrats take first step to go it alone on Biden's COVID-19 aid

Democrats in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday took the first step toward fast-tracking President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill without Republican support. The Senate voted along party lines, with Democrats edging out Republicans 50-49, to open debate on a fiscal 2021 budget resolution with coronavirus aid spending instructions. Using this strategy unlocks a legislative tool needed for Democrats to enact Biden's package in the face of Republican opposition. Biden to review U.S. access to goods needed to deal with pandemic

President Joe Biden is planning to take an executive action mandating a review of critical U.S. supply chains with an eye to securing U.S. industrial supplies made by competitors including China, according to four people familiar with the matter. The action, which will focus both on government contractors and private industry, aims to ensure the United States can supply the goods it needs to combat the COVID-19 crisis, as well as other critical technology and raw materials, the sources said. Two FBI agents killed, three wounded in early morning raid in Florida

Two FBI agents were killed early on Tuesday and three others were wounded while trying to serve a search warrant at a Florida home, an encounter that turned into one of the federal law enforcement agency's bloodiest in decades. As a team of law enforcement officers tried to execute the court-ordered warrant involving violent crimes against children at the home in Sunrise, Florida, shots were fired at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT), the FBI said in a statement. White House plans to send millions of vaccine doses to retail pharmacies

The White House next week will start shipping coronavirus vaccines directly to retail pharmacies alongside ongoing deliveries to states, increasing weekly supplies of shots nationwide to 11.5 million, a top aide said on Tuesday. U.S. President Joe Biden's COVID-19 response coordinator, Jeff Zients, said the program will launch on Feb. 11 and will make 1 million doses available to 6,500 stores. As supply grows, the program could expand to as many as 40,000 stores, he said. Pentagon purges advisory boards after flurry of Trump end-of-term appointees

New Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has stripped several hundred appointees of their posts on Pentagon advisory boards, a number of whom took office at the end of President Donald Trump's administration, two U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The appointees include Anthony Tata, a former acting senior defense official who in 2018 called former President Barack Obama a "terrorist leader" and was placed on the Defense Policy Board on Jan. 19, the last full day of the Trump administration. U.S. Senate confirms Mayorkas as homeland security secretary over Republican opposition

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security, making him the first Latino and immigrant to hold the position and further solidifying President Joe Biden's Cabinet. The Senate approved Mayorkas by a vote of 56-43 amid strong opposition from Republicans. Biden treads carefully in unwinding hardline Trump immigration policies

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered a review of asylum processing at the U.S.-Mexico border and the immigration system as he seeks to undo some of former President Donald Trump's hardline policies. Biden also created a task force to reunite migrant families who were separated at the border by Trump's 2018 'zero tolerance' strategy. U.S. Northeast digs out, flights resume after major snowstorm

People across the U.S. Northeast on Tuesday were digging themselves out from a massive storm that dumped more than 2 feet of snow on the region as airlines resumed flights and officials expressed relief the damage had not been worse. At least three people died due to the storm, which packed high winds and dropped about 30 inches (76 cm) of snow in parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and up to 1-1/2 feet (46 cm) in New York City. Thousands of households lost power and COVID-19 vaccination programs were suspended in several states. Pete Buttigieg becomes first openly gay cabinet secretary confirmed by U.S. Senate

Pete Buttigieg was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Tuesday on an 86-13 vote to head the U.S. Transportation Department, the first openly gay U.S. Cabinet secretary confirmed by lawmakers. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who challenged Joe Biden for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, will oversee aviation, highways, vehicles, pipelines and transit, as well as efforts to ensure safe transportation in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. He will take a key role in a White House effort to dramatically ramp up infrastructure spending. 'He invited us': Accused Capitol rioters blame Trump in novel legal defense

Emanuel Jackson, a 20-year-old Washington area man, was caught on video using a metal bat to strike the protective shields wielded by police officers as they tried to fend off rioters storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Jackson, awaiting trial in federal court on assault charges, is now adopting a novel legal defense: seeking to pin the blame on Donald Trump, citing the former president's remarks at a "Stop the Steal" rally shortly before the Capitol siege.