--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Good morning. It's Thursday, January 21st. I'm Duarte Giraldo. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Joe Biden is moving fast to undo Trump's legacy. He got started last night by signing more than a dozen executive orders. Today, he plans to sign at least 10 more. These are all related to the coronavirus pandemic.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: You know, one year ago this week, the very first case of COVID was confirmed in the United States. And just a couple of days ago, we surpassed 400,000 deaths in this country. So President Biden's first and really most pressing challenge is going to be trying to turn this around.
--:-- Shamita Basu: CBS News has details on today's executive orders. And a lot of this is about coordination and logistics, quickly establishing a vaccine supply chain and working together with state and local governments to get them the doses they need. He'll also set up stadiums and community centers as vaccine stations.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Biden says he wants 100 million doses of the vaccine administered within his first 100 days in office. He also wants to see the majority of schools open in the first 100 days, and he's mandating masks on federal property. Another executive order will launch a study of how the pandemic has disproportionately impacted minority communities.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And as we've mentioned before on the show, President Biden is planning to send a nearly $2 trillion coronavirus package to Congress. But even with all of that, the Biden administration needs to change the hearts and minds of so many people who still don't believe the pandemic is real or a serious threat to them or their loved ones.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Biden's strategy calls for restoring, quote, trust, accountability and a sense of common purpose in our response to the pandemic. CNN reports that sources on the Biden team say they're starting from square one. In a conference call with reporters, Biden's COVID response coordinator Jeffrey Zients was pretty blunt. He said the Trump administration left the Biden team very little to work with, that there's no plan, no existing infrastructure set up from the previous administration.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In his words, it's, quote, so much worse than we could have imagined. We mentioned all the executive orders President Biden is signing, but when it comes to his legislative agenda, he needs to build a consensus. Democrats control the Senate, yes, but only because Vice President Kamala Harris is their tie-breaking vote. It's evenly split, 50-50.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: This presents a unique set of challenges for Democratic and Republican leaders. Right. They have to get together and agree on the rules for how the new Senate is going to do business, which sounds boring and procedural, but it matters a lot when it comes to what can get passed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell met to talk about how to run an evenly split Senate. So far, they haven't made a deal. McConnell wants Schumer to commit to preserving the filibuster. Right. And the filibuster is a way of blocking legislation.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Historically, this meant that senators would get up and make hours long speeches to delay things. And the only way to end debate and pass that bill would then be to round up 60 votes in the Senate. Now, Democrats could theoretically make a rule change to end the filibuster.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The argument against ending it basically comes down to giving the minority party a voice. And a big believer in that is Senator Joe Manchin. This conservative Democrat is set to be a power broker in the divided Senate, and he is promising to keep the filibuster alive.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: You know how long it's been since the Senate had a 50-50 split? It was 20 years ago under former Senate leaders Trent Lott and Tom Daschle. Now, in 2001, Republicans had the majority. Vice President Dick Cheney could cast the tie-breaking vote.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Lott and Daschle recently wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post explaining how they worked things out back then. Yeah, normally the majority party has more seats on each committee. But in 2001, Lott and Daschle decided to allow committee memberships to be split evenly.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: They also split the Senate budget, the staff, and office space, which was kind of a big deal because usually the majority party receives the greater share of all those things. Anytime a bill received a tie vote in a committee, they agreed it should not be killed. It should advance to the floor for a full Senate vote.
--:-- Shamita Basu: However, they did agree to allow the majority party to hold committee chairs and control which legislation came to the floor for votes So it possible Schumer and McConnell will follow the plan created by Lawton Daschle But as Politico points out Schumer and McConnell have a lot more to work out than Senate procedures
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: There's also outstanding questions about running former President Trump's impeachment trial. And of course, there's also a new stimulus package and other key items on President Biden's legislative agenda.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The United States is officially back in the Paris Climate Accord. That was one of Joe Biden's first acts as president. It's also an early signal to the world that Trump's America First policy is over.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: During President Biden's speech at the inauguration, he pledged to steer the U.S. back towards a role of international leadership. The world is watching, watching all of us today. So here's my message to those beyond our borders. America has been tested and we've come out stronger for it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again, not to meet yesterday's challenges, but today's and tomorrow's challenges. And we'll lead not merely by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: So now is a good time to look at Biden's philosophy on foreign policy issues. In The New Yorker, Robin Wright explains the pillars of Biden's worldview.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Yeah, you know, she describes Biden as a, quote, unapologetic globalist, meaning he will likely not let America act in isolation. Wright says convincing the world that after four years of strained relations, America deserves another shot at being a global leader. That's going to be a tough pivot for the Biden administration.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: And part of demonstrating good leadership is showing a willingness to cooperate and collaborate with others on the global stage. Wright calls Biden almost a romantic when it comes to the U.S.'s relationship with Europe.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And she explains one of Biden's top foreign policy priorities will be rebuilding ties with Europe that the Trump administration weakened. Biden also speaks favorably about international treaties and agreements. We mentioned the Paris Climate Accord earlier, but there are other examples.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: Biden reengaged the U.S. with the World Health Organization, too. The president also says he wants to quickly reenter the Iran nuclear deal which Trump left in 2018 Right So while the U pulled out of deals and drifted away from some traditional allies over the last four years Trump also connected with authoritarian leaders like Russia Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
--:-- Shamita Basu: Robin Wright says Biden will break from that. He's talked about being tough on autocrats while keeping diplomatic channels open. And Wright points out Biden has more respect for countries with fewer resources and less power. As president, Trump never set foot anywhere in Africa, whereas Biden visited the continent many times in his career.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: President Biden sent a wide-ranging immigration bill to Congress on his first day on the job. Vox calls it an ambitious package that marks a symbolic and substantive break with the Trump administration's policies.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The centerpiece of that bill is an eight-year pathway to citizenship. It applies to millions of foreign-born people currently living in the U.S. without legal status. If it becomes law, qualifying immigrants would be able to get a work permit and travel abroad, to visit family while their paperwork is getting done.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: After five years, if they pass background checks and pay taxes, they'll be able to apply for a green card. Now, under this plan, DACA recipients would be offered a fast track. The bill also reinstates and expands programs for refugees and asylum seekers, including new centers in Central America to screen, process and resettle people.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden's bill would allocate $4 billion over four years to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras to incentivize those governments to improve living conditions. This is an effort to make people want to stay in their home countries rather than migrate to the U.S. for opportunities.
--:-- Duarte Giraldo: There's money in it for border security, too, like improved screening technology and officer training. That enforcement piece may be the most persuasive part of this bill for some Republicans.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As we mentioned earlier, the split Senate means Democrats will need at least 10 Republicans to pass an immigration bill. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
