Biden focuses on health care

President Biden has promised to make health care more affordable and available. His executive order today takes one immediate step in that direction.

As a result of his action, the Department of Health and Human Services is set to reopen enrollment on the federal Affordable Care Act exchange between Feb. 15 and May 15.

This would give Americans who missed the most recent sign-up period, which ended Dec. 15, access to Obamacare policies — and to federal assistance to pay for them. Roughly 15 million uninsured people could benefit, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nearly 9 million of them could qualify for free or subsidized coverage, according to the Foundation. Individuals making up to about $51,000 and families of four earning up to about $104,800 are eligible for subsidies.

Some 36 states use the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, for enrollment. But most, if not all, of the states that run their own marketplaces are also expected to launch special sign-up periods, according to a White House official.

Still, it's unclear how many people will take advantage of the chance to select an Obamacare policy.

The Biden administration is promising to conduct a "robust outreach" effort to make these folks aware of the opportunity and help them sign up, the official said. It will include paid advertising, direct outreach to consumers and partnerships with community organizations.

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President Biden just signed two health care executive actions, including one reopening enrollment on the federal Affordable Care Act exchanges.

Biden said the orders are aimed at undoing "the damage Trump has done."

Open enrollment on the federal exchanges, which the Trump administration cut in half to six weeks, ended on Dec. 15. But Biden has the power to reopen sign-ups, which will allow the uninsured to select policies under a special enrollment period.

Biden's order will call on the Department of Health and Human Services to reopen enrollment on healthcare.gov, which serves 36 states, to those who need coverage from Feb. 15 until May 15. The agency is expected to do so today, according to a White House official.

"As we continue to battle Covid-19, it's even more critical that Americans have meaningful access to health care," Biden said.

Biden will also sign measures aimed at:

Read more about his executive actions here.

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Sen. John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, said he is confident former President Trump will not be convicted in the upcoming impeachment trial. 

Barrasso told CNN’s John King that a large number of Republicans would not vote to censure Trump.

“45 Republicans voted that it is unconstitutional to try a president — a former president, a citizen — for impeachment at this point. There is not going to be a conviction,” he said. 

Barrasso accused Democrats of staging “a partisan crusade” with the impeachment trial, adding that it is “vindictive.” 

“They're saying that is even higher priority than focusing on getting people back to work, getting kids back to school, getting relief out there. They're saying it's a higher priority than allowing President Biden to put his Cabinet in place,” he said. 

Barrasso added that lawmakers have been receiving threats and warned that he believes impeachment is “going to pour more gasoline on the fire.”

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President Biden is expected to reopen enrollment on the federal Affordable Care Act exchanges today as part of a series of executive actions related to health care that he will sign at a 1:30 p.m. ET event at the White House.

It will be Biden's first move toward delivering on his campaign promise to bolster the landmark health reform law that he championed as vice president. And it comes as more Americans could be facing the loss of coverage because of the pandemic-fueled economic downturn.

Here are some key things to know about where things stand with the law, and the changes Biden wants to make:

Read more about today's executive actions here.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said the District will have extra security precautions ahead of upcoming impeachment proceedings as well as President Biden’s expected address to a joint session of Congress, but they do not want troops and fences to be long-term fixtures. 

Bowser said that current fencing by the White House and around Capitol Hill is temporary at this point. “We don’t want extra troops or fences to be a long-term fixture,” she said.

“There’s been a lot of appropriate attention to the injuries that officers incurred, not just our officers at MPD, but as the Capitol Police, both physical and traumatic injuries that we are concerned about and Chief Contee is very concerned about,” Bowser added when asked by CNN’s Whitney Wild about what resources are being provided for officers who responded to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Outgoing Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Roger Mitchell said that DC Acting Police Chief Robert J. Contee has been working to support his officers.

“Chief Contee has made it clear he is placing an emphasis on the mental health support of his officers,” Mitchell said.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken spoke with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Thursday and reiterated to him that the US is reviewing its agreement with the Taliban “and whether the Taliban are living up to their commitments to cut ties with terrorist groups, to reduce violence in Afghanistan, and to engage in meaningful negotiations with the Afghan government and other stakeholders,” according to a State Department readout.

Blinken has been fairly vague about the administration’s plans for Afghansitan. At a news briefing yesterday he cited the need to understand “exactly what is in the agreements that were reached between the United States and the Taliban to make sure that we fully understand the commitments that the Taliban has made as well as any commitments that we’ve made.”

The administration is keeping Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad in his role for the time being.

According to the readout of the Ghani call, Blinken “reiterated his desire for all Afghan leaders to support this historic opportunity for peace while preserving the progress made over the last 20 years with regard to human rights, civil liberties, and the role of women in Afghan society.”

“The Secretary committed to consultations with the Government of Afghanistan, NATO allies, and international partners regarding a collective strategy to support a stable, sovereign, democratic, and secure future for Afghanistan,” it said.

In a floor speech Thursday, Sen. Majority Whip Dick Durbin read the horrific injuries of United States Capitol Police officers sustained during the Jan. 6 attack into the record ahead of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial next month. 

“Some of my colleagues and many people on their side are saying we shouldn’t spend time talking about what happened January 6… it’s hard to get over it when you consider the facts that I just read into the record,” he said. 

The Illinois Democrat read a piece by Heather Cox Richardson, a historian, who quoted testimony from the Acting US Capitol Police Chief discussing the reports of injuries from the attack into the record. He said:

He continued, “I hope it's part of the record of this impeachment hearing so that this generation and future generations will have no doubt what happened that day. Already we have those who are in denial, who are arguing that this was really some far-left group that was taking over the demonstration. A ludicrous argument on its face. And we have many who are in complete denial that it happened or that it had anything to do with right-wing politics. They are wrong. We saw it. We recorded it. We're going to put it in as part of the record so that America knows what happened on that day.”

Durbin said he doesn’t know what the outcome of the trial will be, but he believes “it’s an important milestone in America's history for us to stop and recount what actually happened in this building on January 6.” 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said House Democrats are getting ready for the potential use of reconciliation if they cannot get bipartisan support on Biden’s Covid-19 economic rescue package. "We will pass a reconciliation bill, if we need it," she said at her weekly news conference, adding "we’re not taking any tools off the table." 

Pelosi’s comments come as Democrats are signaling they don’t plan to wait very long to get buy-in on the plan from Republicans and as a number of Republicans have balked at Biden’s proposal. 

About reconciliation: This is a process that requires the House and Senate Budget committees to first pass a budget with specific instructions to House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees to write a Covid relief bill. The Senate would then have to pass that budget with 51 votes, but when they do that it will unlock a lengthy budget vote-a-rama in the Senate that will keep us up through the night as members offer hundreds of political amendments.

Once the budget passes the House and Senate, each committee writes their Covid relief bill. And that bill will have to meet a very specific set of criteria that will be tested by the Senate parliamentarian in a process we affectionately refer to as a "Byrd bath." It's named after former Sen. Robert Byrd, who established a set of rules reconciliation bills have to comply with in order to make sure the budget process wasn't taken advantage of by the majority party. There

You can read more about the process here.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, led a group of 50 House progressives in sending a letter to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris asking them to prioritize reoccurring direct checks in the next Covid-19 relief package, instead of just a one-time payment.

Politico was first to report the letter.

Biden unveiled a $1.9 trillion Covid-relief plan, billed as the American Rescue Plan. It includes bigger stimulus checks, more aid for the unemployed, the hungry and those facing eviction and additional support for small businesses, states and local governments.

You can read more about the plan here.