Reuters US Domestic News Summary

U.S. senators weigh paring back Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid plan U.S. senators on Wednesday were eyeing potentially significant cuts to President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill as they awaited a ruling on whether the measure can include raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. Vice President Harris urges Black Americans: 'Let's not let COVID get us'

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris urged Black Americans on Wednesday to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as data shows Blacks and Hispanics lagging behind in inoculations. "Let's not let COVID get us. Let's get the vaccine instead, right?" Harris said in excerpts from an MSNBC interview. Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine closes in on U.S. approval

Johnson & Johnson's one-dose COVID-19 vaccine appeared safe and effective in trials, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday, paving the way for its approval for emergency use as soon as this week. The vaccine was 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19 in a 44,000 person global trial, the FDA said in documents ahead of a Friday meeting of independent experts who will advise the agency on emergency authorization. Biden revokes Trump bans on many green card applicants, temporary foreign workers

U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday revoked a proclamation from his predecessor that blocked many green card applicants and temporary foreign workers from entering the United States. Former President Donald Trump issued the bans last year, saying they were needed to protect U.S. workers amid high unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. senators weigh paring back Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid plan

U.S. senators on Wednesday were eyeing potentially significant cuts to President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill as they awaited a ruling on whether the measure can include raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The Senate parliamentarian was expected to decide soon whether Senator Bernie Sanders' proposed minimum wage increase is allowable under a rule allowing a simple majority of the 100-member Senate to approve the sweeping relief measure, instead of the chamber's typical 60-vote majority. U.S. Postal Service on 'death spiral' without urgent reform - chief

The U.S. mail system is losing $10 billion a year and urgently needs reform and legislative relief from Congress, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy told lawmakers on Wednesday. "I would suggest that we are on a death spiral," DeJoy told the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform committee at a hearing, who did not rule out changing first-class deliver standards or other significant changes. NRA sues NY attorney general, says she wants to destroy her 'political enemy'

The National Rifle Association filed a countersuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James, saying she lacks authority to invoke state laws governing nonprofits in her zeal to destroy the gun rights group. In a Tuesday night court filing, the NRA, which filed for bankruptcy last month and said it would switch its incorporation to Texas from New York, accused James of "weaponizing" her powers to pursue a "blatant and malicious retaliation campaign" against the group because she dislikes what it stands for. U.S. Supreme Court weighs scope of police power to enter homes without a warrant

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared reluctant to give police unlimited power to enter a home without a warrant when pursuing a suspect for a minor crime in a case involving a California driver tailed by an officer after honking his horn while listening to music. The driver, Arthur Lange, was later convicted of driving under the influence after being confronted inside his garage by California highway patrol officer Aaron Weikert in 2016. Lange is seeking to overturn his conviction by arguing that sobriety test evidence in the case was obtained by Weikert in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. Drunken driving charge dropped against Springsteen; $500 fine for drinking at beach

Bruce Springsteen was fined $500 on Wednesday after the rock 'n' roll legend pleaded guilty to a charge of consuming alcohol at a federally run New Jersey beach in November, and prosecutors dropped drunken driving and reckless driving charges. Springsteen, 71, whose songs have chronicled life in his home state of New Jersey and its shore scene for more than 50 years, entered his plea in an online arraignment before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Anthony Mautone in Newark. U.S. Supreme Court set to weigh Republican-backed voting restrictions

Fresh off an election in which former President Donald Trump made false claims of fraud, the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to ponder the legality of a restriction on early voting in Arizona that his fellow Republicans argued was needed to combat fraud. The Republican-backed law, spurred in part by a video purportedly showing voter fraud that courts later deemed misleading, made it a crime to provide another person's completed early ballot to election officials, with the exception of family members or caregivers. New York mayor sees high school classrooms reopening in current academic year

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday expressed optimism that high school students in the country's largest school system could return to their classrooms before the end of the current academic year. With the city's middle schools set to resume five-day-a-week in-class instruction on Thursday as the system strives to carve out a safe-learning strategy in the COVID-19 era, de Blasio said high school students would not be far behind.