Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Biden says it's a 'big mistake' for states to lift mask mandates U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said decisions to end the required wearing of masks - such as those by governors of Texas and Mississippi - amounted to "Neanderthal thinking" given the rising death toll from the coronavirus pandemic.


Reuters | Updated: 04-03-2021 05:22 IST | Created: 04-03-2021 05:22 IST
Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Cuomo apologizes but will not resign in wake of sexual harassment allegations

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday said he would not resign in the wake of a series of sexual misconduct accusations leveled against him by young women but offered a fresh apology and vowed to "fully cooperate" with a review by the state's attorney general. "I am not going to resign," Cuomo told a news conference after he offered an emotional apology for what he said was behavior that made "people feel uncomfortable." Millions of U.S. households would not get COVID-19 payments under new Biden plan

Millions of U.S. households who received coronavirus-relief payments under President Donald Trump would not get aid under a modified version of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion aid package announced on Wednesday, analysts said. Under a compromise with centrist Democrats in the Senate, those payments would only go to individuals who earned less than $80,000, or couples who earned less than $160,000.

Senate Democrats trim parts of Biden's COVID-19 aid bill, Republicans threaten delay President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill would phase out $1,400 payments to high-income Americans in a compromise with moderate Democratic senators reached on Wednesday as the Senate prepares to vote on the bill.

The Democratic-controlled Senate expects to open debate on the package as early as Wednesday evening, with a final vote for passage seen later in the week. Before the bill hits the chamber floor, Democrats are negotiating limits to a measure Republicans have attacked as wasteful. U.S. House cancels Thursday session after police warn of possible plot on Capitol

The U.S. House of Representatives canceled its planned Thursday session, after the Capitol Police warned on Wednesday that a militia group could be plotting to breach the building that was subjected to a deadly attack on Jan. 6. The House had been scheduled to debate and vote on a police reform bill, but a Democratic aide said plans changed due in part to the police warning, based on intelligence that "an identified militia group" could present a security threat. Biden says it's a 'big mistake' for states to lift mask mandates

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said decisions to end the required wearing of masks - such as those by governors of Texas and Mississippi - amounted to "Neanderthal thinking" given the rising death toll from the coronavirus pandemic. Asked if he had a message to Texas and Mississippi, Biden told reporters: "I think it's a big mistake. Look, I hope everybody's realized by now, these masks make a difference." Pentagon moved slowly to approve January 6 Capitol Police request for National Guard

Pentagon officials took more than three hours to approve a request by the U.S. Capitol Police for National Guard troops to back up police under attack by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, a military commander told a Senate hearing Wednesday. Major General William Walker, the District of Columbia's National Guard commander, told senators that an emotional Capitol Police chief Brian Sund, who resigned after the riot, contacted him at 1:49 p.m. on Jan. 6 to request urgent National Guard backup as violent demonstrators began to attack the Capitol building. U.S. judge orders release of Proud Boys member charged in Capitol riots

A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered the release of a prominent member of the far-right Proud Boys group while he awaits trial on charges stemming from his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Calling her decision a "close call," Chief Judge Beryl Howell in Washington said the U.S. government failed to show that Ethan Nordean posed such a danger to the public that he must be jailed while his case unfolds. U.S. suspends federal agent who joined crowd outside Capitol during rampage, lawyer says

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has suspended an agent who was outside the Capitol when a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the building, his lawyer said, in the first known case of authorities examining the conduct of a fellow federal agent during the deadly riot. The agent, Mark Ibrahim, declined to comment other than to say in a phone interview that he "never entered the building," when the crowd breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, setting off violence that left five dead. U.S. House set to pass sweeping election bill, Senate prospects unclear

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday is expected to pass its flagship election reform bill, which would update voting procedures and require states to turn over the task of redrawing congressional districts to independent commissions. The legislation, whose number "H.R. 1" indicates the importance Democrats attach to it, "is designed to restore the voices of Americans who felt left out and locked out for too long," Representative John Sarbanes, the original sponsor of the legislation, said in remarks outside the U.S. Capitol. Search mounted for missing Alaska leader accused of sexual misconduct

The U.S. Coast Guard scoured the waters off Kodiak Island on Wednesday in search of a Alaska Native leader who abruptly quit his executive positions and went missing in his helicopter after being accused of sexual misconduct. Andy Teuber, former president of the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), the largest tribal health organization in the United States, disappeared after piloting a chopper on Tuesday afternoon from Anchorage.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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