Biden focuses on health care

President Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain said the White House “absolutely” rejects the idea that the President’s Covid-19 relief proposal is “dead in the water.”

Klain also defended one controversial aspect of the proposal; increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.

As it looks increasingly likely that former President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial will end in acquittal, many Democrats are hoping for a swift trial as short as “a matter of days” — and are ready to move on key items of President Biden’s agenda, starting with delivering a $1.9 trillion Covid relief package.  

Democrats are sensitive to ensuring Trump has a full trial with clear evidence. But they worry a long trial will compete for floor time with Biden’s long list of legislative priorities — like his large Covid relief package — and getting his Cabinet and other top government officials confirmed.   

Democrats are also arguing that because there is only one article of impeachment — incitement of insurrection — and lawmakers all witnessed the events firsthand, the proceedings should be able to move quickly.  

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez said “I don’t think based upon the limited nature of the impeachment article that it should take anywhere near the last impeachment (trial)” — which took almost three weeks.  

“This is a much less complicated set of facts than when we were dealing with Ukraine,” added Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, referring to Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial where he was charged with two articles of impeachment, one for pressuring Ukrainian officials to investigate his political rival, at the time, Biden.  

It’s not yet clear how long Trump’s impeachment trial will last — and the length will depend, in part, on how long House impeachment managers take to present their case, how long Trump’s defense team takes to respond, and when senators are ready to vote on a final judgement.  

“The House has to make a decision about how much time it's gonna take and what evidence it wants to put forward” and Trump’s legal team “has to get at least equal time, and probably more so that the fairness of the proceeding’s assured,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat from Rhode Island, told reporters on Wednesday.   

Now that Democrats have won the presidency, House and Senate, they’re anxious to start moving on Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief legislation after settling for a smaller stimulus package in December, which Democratic leaders said was just a start.  

“To do a trial knowing you'll get 55 votes at the max, seems to me to be not the right prioritization of our time right now. Obviously we do a trial, maybe we can do it fast, but my top priority is Covid relief... and getting the Biden Cabinet approved,” said Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine.   

“I would hope that we deal with that as quickly as possible to start addressing the needs of working families,” said Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday.  

Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat from Hawaii, said Thursday there’s “no reason” Trump’s trial should take weeks when “we don't even have a full complement of a Biden Cabinet nominees who have been confirmed.”  

Many Democrats also argue since the senators themselves were witnesses to the attack — there may not be a need to drag out the trial longer than a few days or a week.  

Whitehouse also speculated Wednesday that perhaps it’ll be in Trump’s best interest, as well, to have a quick trial.

Numerous Democrats and Republicans alike have pointed to the vote on Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s point of order to vote on the constitutionality of Trump’s impeachment trial on Tuesday as an indicator for how the trial’s final vote will likely land. Only five Republicans joined all Democrats to kill Paul’s motion and there is no sense that anywhere close to 17 Republicans could get to yes at this point. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during Thursday’s press briefing that President Biden’s actions on immigration are being pushed back to next week.

CNN reported earlier Thursday that though White House officials discussed having Biden sign a round of immigration-related executive orders as soon as this Friday, it appeared likely those will be pushed until next week.

Psaki wouldn’t say outright whether a federal judge’s recent decision to block Biden’s deportation pause played a role in the delay. 

According to a draft calendar document viewed by CNN's Betsy Klein, Biden was expected to center on immigration on Friday with executive orders on regional migration and border processing, the US refugee policy and the establishment of a family reunification task force, as well as an executive order directing immediate review of the Public Charge Rule.

Biden kicked off his term last week by signing out a series of immigration executive actions, moving swiftly to undo many Trump administration policies and ending the national emergency that diverted millions of dollars to the border wall.

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The Senate just voted 55-42 to break a GOP filibuster and advance the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to be President Biden's secretary of Homeland Security.

The vote came after Republicans objected to efforts to quickly install a critical leader of the country's national security apparatus.

Now that the nomination has cleared that procedural hurdle, a final vote on confirmation is on track for Monday evening.

Several Republican senators crossed party lines to vote with Democrats in support of breaking the filibuster, including Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rob Portman and Shelley Moore Capito.

Portman is set to be the ranking member for the Senate Homeland Security committee, while Capito will be ranking member of the Homeland Security subcommittee for the Senate appropriations committee.

Asked when he was going to put forward health care legislation, President Biden made it clear his priority is getting a coronavirus relief package through Congress. 

“We got a lot to do,” Biden said from the Oval Office Thursday, shortly after signing two executive orders on healthcare, “and the first thing I’ve got to do is get this Covid package passed.”  

He didn’t directly answer when the reporter followed up and asked if getting the relief legislation passed would require him to break it up into smaller bills to address some Republican lawmaker’s concerns about the price tag. 

“No one requires me to do anything,” he said, with a smile. 

More on Biden's Covid package: Billed as the American Rescue Plan, the package augments many of the measures in Congress' historic $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill from March and in the $900 billion legislation from December, which was scaled back to garner support from Senate Republicans.

Biden's $1.9 trillion proposal includes bigger stimulus checks, more aid for the unemployed and additional support for small businesses, states and local governments. It also includes increased funding for vaccinations and testing.

Now that Democrats control both chambers and the White House, Biden is pushing for the big steps he says are needed to address immediate needs and control the coronavirus pandemic.

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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.