--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Good morning. It's Friday, February 5th. I'm Duarte Giraldo. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Just after 5.30 this morning, Vice President Kamala Harris cast her first tie-breaking vote to pass the Senate's budget resolution.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It came after a marathon session of back-to-back votes. And even though Democrats did exactly what they said they would do, pass a budget resolution without Republican support, there were some notable signs of bipartisan agreement.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: This paves the way for President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package to clear Congress.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There were dozens of amendments to the resolution, And each one was deliberated in this voterama.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Now, The Washington Post explains the decisions on these amendments are non-binding. The final bill has not been written yet. The point is to give instructions to the Senate's committees on how to craft the eventual budget.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Historically, the opposition party uses these all-nighters to force the other side to go on the record with a yes or no vote for issues that might make headlines.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: We saw some of this last night as Democrats shot down several Republican efforts. One involved blocking funding for schools that refused to reopen after teachers were vaccinated.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Others had nothing to do with the budget, like an amendment that sought to mandate local police cooperate with federal law enforcement.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: But there were some moments of bipartisan support. Targeted checks were one of the things on that list. a resolution to make sure stimulus checks wouldn't end up going to high-income taxpayers passed 99 to 1.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Republican Senator Todd Young of Indiana proposed an amendment to prevent stimulus money from going to immigrants who are living in the country illegally. That one passed when eight Democrats voted with all Republican members.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: And both parties agreed on putting a pin in raising the minimum wage immediately.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When it was over, senators were relieved to finally call it a night. Right before it passed, Senator Amy Klobuchar tweeted, looking forward to seeing the sunrise.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: And as for the bill, next step, the House. The Washington Post says, this budget resolution is expected to pass immediately. Writing the actual bill, however, that will take weeks.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Democrats, meanwhile, are hoping to keep together their razor-thin coalition long enough for its passage sometime in mid House Democrats voted to strip Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: The Georgia Republican was on the House education and budget panels. This move could trigger a new kind of partisan warfare.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Republicans are already promising to retaliate the next time they're in the majority.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Yeah, this comes after a series of comments and actions surfaced from Green's past. She liked a social media post calling for the assassination of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She blamed a California fire on space lasers backed by Jewish bankers. She said school shootings were staged.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Green was also one of the most vocal advocates of false claims of election fraud by former President Trump. And she had previously promoted QAnon.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Greene is now publicly rejecting some of her past views. A day before the vote, she spoke about her past on the House floor.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: As Politico put it, what she said fell short of an apology, and it certainly wasn't enough to sway Democrats.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Here's Speaker Pelosi. I remain profoundly concerned about House Republicans' leadership acceptance of extreme conspiracy theorists, particularly disturbing their eagerness to reward a QAnon adherent, a 9-11 truther, a harasser of child survivors of school shootings, and to give them valued committee positions.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: The way the Republican Party chooses to react now will tell us a lot about where it's heading in the future.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As Politico explains, and we've talked about this on the show, some people in the party, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, want to distance the GOP from being associated with fringe views and conspiracy theories.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: But many House Republicans worry about angering Trump's base. Remember, nearly all of them opposed impeaching Trump on charges of inciting the Capitol insurrection.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Only 11 Republicans joined Democrats in yesterday's vote against Marjorie Taylor Greene. Some Democrats, meanwhile, want Greene to face even more severe consequences, including censure or expulsion from Congress.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: But the L.A. Times editorial board published a warning for Democrats saying, punishing Green may end up helping her more than hurting her.
--:-- Shamita Basu: She's already turned recent criticisms into a huge fundraising effort. Green, the board argues, is the Republicans' problem to solve, that the main damage she's doing is to the GOP.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: And as the paper puts it Democrats should just stay out of it
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you are pregnant right now you may be struggling to decide whether to get the COVID vaccine when it becomes available to you
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: We know that pregnant people who get COVID-19 are at greater risk for serious disease and pregnancy complications like preterm birth.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But pregnant people were not part of late stage clinical trials. They're being left to assess for themselves what are your risks and how should you manage them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Vox lays out all the pros and cons here. First, you should know that a lot of medical groups like the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology are saying the vaccine should be offered to pregnant women.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The American Society for Reproductive Medicine is going so far as to recommend it. These groups say there are a few reasons to be confident that the vaccine is safe.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: One, because it uses mRNA technology. there is no live virus in this vaccine, and mRNA doesn't appear likely to reach a baby either in the womb or through breast milk.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And two, early studies done on pregnant animals revealed no harmful effects.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Dr. Anthony Fauci said that of more than 10,000 pregnant women who've been vaccinated, there have so far been no red flags.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But we still don't have definitive data on vaccination and pregnancy.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: USA Today spoke with some doctors and experts who say the best way way to decide is to assess your risk with your doctor.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If you're a healthcare worker or frontline worker, if you come into contact with lots of people every day, it might be the right decision for you to get vaccinated.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: But if you're not in a high risk category, the experts say it might be okay to hold off until there's more data.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And that should be coming soon. All of the pregnant people who have already gotten the vaccine and others who went through the clinical trials and got pregnant afterward, researchers will be tracking them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: And that should lead to more precise guidance in the near future.
--:-- Shamita Basu: When Russia said its COVID-19 vaccine, called Sputnik V, was highly effective, the international community was skeptical.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: After all, the Kremlin has been credibly accused of doping its Olympic athletes and poisoning its enemies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So the New Yorker's Joshua Yaffa did some digging. And as he explains, from the beginning, politics and Russia's propaganda machine tainted this process.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Before early data was published and before phase three trials had even started, President Vladimir Putin was claiming success
--:-- Shamita Basu: When data finally was released some scientists questioned what they saw as irregularities
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: There were times when it seemed like Russia was treating the vaccine like some kind of arms race. Every time Pfizer or Moderna would announce a new finding, Russia would roll out its own good news within days.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And then there's the name itself, Sputnik, a reference, of course, to the Cold War space race with the West. It's got some real me first vibes.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Yaffe interviewed quite a few experts, and the general sense was Russia's PR around the vaccine was problematic.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yet at the end of the day, more and more scientists are coming to believe Russia's vaccine appears to work.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: And the biggest endorsement is coming from abroad. More than 50 countries have pre-ordered Sputnik V.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's cheaper than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and it's also easier to distribute because it doesn't need to be kept super cold.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: The vaccine may be a huge diplomatic win for Russia. Countries that might have turned to the West for help with COVID may end up owing Moscow a favor.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Super Bowl 55 is on Sunday. And here's an interesting COVID twist.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Because of the pandemic, it might actually be one of the best at-home viewing experiences ever.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This story comes from Adweek, which is reporting, this weekend's game is a dream scenario for camera crews.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: You see, because of COVID, the stands are not going to be as packed with fans as they normally are.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's going to be a little bit more than 20,000 fans, so about two-thirds of the stadium will be empty.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: CBS, which is broadcasting the game, will have 120 cameras.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And without all the usual people in the stands, they'll be able to get angles that are normally impossible.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: They'll also be debuting what they're calling the trolley cam.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's this giant camera setup that's rigged to these wires, sort of like a cable car.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: So we can zipline around from one end of the stadium to the other.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the idea here is that it should give people who are watching from home the experience of watching the game from the best seats in the house.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: And even if you're not a football fan and just there for those wonderful, kooky, funny and memorable multi-million dollar commercials, take a good look at the view of the game.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We may never be able to watch a Super Bowl like this again.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. Enjoy the weekend. We'll talk to you on Monday.
