• In his address to a joint session of Congress tonight, President Joe Biden is set to detail his American Families Plan, a $1.8 trillion social spending package to fund child care, education and paid leave and extend some tax breaks enacted by Congress in this year’s COVID-19 relief law. The White House’s plan would raise the top income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 37 percent, and would nearly double the top rate on capital gains and dividends. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Biden is reportedly expected to start naming ambassadors to high-profile posts as soon as this week. Among the names: Cindy McCain, the widow of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), for envoy to the World Food Program; Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel for ambassador to Japan; Comcast Corp. executive David Cohen for U.S. ambassador to Canada; former Interior secretary Ken Salazar for ambassador to Mexico; and Denise Bauer for ambassador to France. (The Washington Post)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 do not need to wear face masks outdoors unless they are in large crowds. Biden pitched the loosening of restrictions as a motivator for more people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. (The Associated Press)
• The Department of Justice rolled back a Trump administration policy that called for withholding millions in grant money from so-called “sanctuary cities,” – localities that refused to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. (Reuters) Biden also tapped Texas sheriff Ed Gonzalez, a critic of former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Bloomberg)

Biden Is Off to a Strong Start in Office. But Now Comes the Hard Part
Morning Consult

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Biden will pledge to tackle immigration in address to Congress, while signaling openness to more targeted deal
Marianna Sotomayor, The Washington Post

President Biden will recommit himself to overhauling the immigration system Wednesday during his first address to Congress, while signaling openness to Congress passing smaller parts of his agenda that have bipartisan support, including guaranteeing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Joe Biden Will Call For Drug Price Legislation In His Address To Congress
Jonathan Cohn, HuffPost

President Joe Biden on Wednesday night will ask Congress to pass legislation giving the federal government power to negotiate prescription drug prices, a White House official told HuffPost.

Inside Biden’s bubble: How an insular White House has kept drama and leaks at a minimum
Natasha Korecki and Daniel Lippman, Politico

When President Joe Biden sat in one of his first Oval Office briefings to discuss the earliest acts of his presidency — impending executive actions — he brought only five people into the room.

ICE Will No Longer Arrest Immigrants At Courthouses Unless There’s A Public Safety Threat
Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News

In 2019, a New York prosecutor set to take a burglary case to a grand jury needed the testimony of an undocumented immigrant to secure the indictment. The victim of the alleged burglary wondered: Would being undocumented affect the investigation?

Second Close Call Between Iranian and American Vessels Raises Tensions
Eric Schmitt, The New York Times

For the second time in a month, vessels from Iran and the United States came dangerously close in the Persian Gulf on Monday night, the Navy said on Tuesday, escalating tensions between the two nations as their negotiators have resumed talks toward renewing the 2015 nuclear deal.

FBI Opens Probe Into Shooting Death of Andrew Brown in North Carolina
Valerie Bauerlein, The Wall Street Journal

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday it has opened a civil-rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Andrew Brown, a Black man, by sheriff’s deputies serving drug-related search and arrest warrants in North Carolina last week.

Tim Scott seeks to balance role as dealmaker on policing and critic of Biden agenda in Wednesday night address
Mike DeBonis and Paul Kane, The Washington Post

When Sen. Tim Scott delivers the GOP response to President Biden’s first-ever address to Congress on Wednesday night, he will again find himself trying to manage a tricky political balancing act.

Senate to Reinstate Obama-Era Controls on Climate-Warming Methane
Coral Davenport, The New York Times

The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday to effectively reinstate an Obama-era regulation that sought to clamp down on the release of methane, a powerful, climate-warming pollutant that will have to be controlled to meet President Biden’s ambitious climate change promises.

Child Tax Credit Expansion Gets Push From Democrats Ahead of Biden Speech
Andrew Duehren, The Wall Street Journal

Democrats on Capitol Hill are making last-minute calls for the White House to propose making a recent expansion of the child tax credit permanent, in a final round of lobbying ahead of President Biden’s speech Wednesday evening laying out his antipoverty package.

Hoyer and Jeffries to pitch 20 percent boost for office funds to retain staff
Katherine Tully-McManus, Roll Call

Leaders in the House are raising the alarm that the sluggish growth of staffer pay makes recruiting and retaining talented staff difficult and are urging appropriators to include a 20 percent increase for office budgets for fiscal 2022.

Senate Democrats press Biden to admit more refugees
John Wagner et al., The Washington Post

President Biden is facing renewed pressure from more than 30 Democratic senators to admit more refugees into the United States this year and next, after furious pushback from his party and advocates this month when the administration announced that it would allow in fewer such migrants.

Republicans strain to dent Biden without getting personal
Melanie Zanona and Burgess Everett, Politico

Republicans demonized former President Barack Obama for eight years on their way to reclaiming Congress and the White House. They’re not looking to revive that strategy against Joe Biden.

Republican doctors in Congress try to boost vaccine confidence
Ariel Cohen, Roll Call

A group of Republican doctors and health care providers in Congress, led by Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, launched a public service campaign Tuesday to encourage COVID-19 vaccine participation among constituents.

Lower-than-expected state population totals stoke concerns about the 2020 Census
Tara Bahrampour et al., The Washington Post

A day after the government released the first results from the 2020 Census, some states and civic organizations were reeling from unexpected results, and wondered if the differences between projections and actual data might be an indicator of problems with the count.

D.C. officer who suffered heart attack on Jan. 6 calls out Trump for downplaying ‘brutal, savage’ riot
Tim Elfrink, The Washington Post

On Jan. 6, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone was swarmed by a pro-Trump mob and dragged down the Capitol steps, suffering a mild heart attack and a concussion as he was shocked with a stun gun and beaten.

Prosecutors Are Said to Have Sought Aggressive Approach to Capitol Riot Inquiry
Katie Benner, The New York Times

In the weeks after the deadly Capitol riot on Jan. 6, federal prosecutors in Washington devised a broad plan to root out possible conspirators, according to two people briefed on it: pull together the names of an array of people who may have known the assailants, and investigate them for ties to the attack.

California Man Dies After Officers Pin Him to Ground for 5 Minutes
Will Wright, The New York Times

Body camera footage was released on Tuesday of a 26-year-old man who died in police custody after officers in Alameda County, Calif., pinned him facedown on the ground for five minutes.

Andrew Brown Jr. shot five times, once in back of head, according to family-backed autopsy
David K. Li, NBC News

The Black man who died during an attempted arrest in North Carolina last week was shot five times, including once in the back of the head, his family said Tuesday.

US ‘Real ID’ deadline is now May 2023 because of COVID-19
The Associated Press

Americans will have more time to get the Real ID that they will need to board a flight or enter federal facilities.

A New York Post story about Kamala Harris triggered conservative outrage. Almost all of it was wrong. Now the reporter has resigned.
Paul Farhi, The Washington Post

A longtime New York Post reporter said she has resigned after being “ordered” to write a false story that claimed undocumented minors were being welcomed to the United States with copies of a children’s book written by Vice President Harris.

Former NC chief justice Cheri Beasley joins US Senate race. Here’s who else is running.
Brian Murphy, The News & Observer

The first Black woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court wants to make history again — this time as the first Black U.S. senator from North Carolina.

California braces for another ‘clown car’ of recall candidates
Carla Marinucci, Politico

Running in the California recall may be the best bargain on the planet for fame and fortune seekers.

David Perdue with millions in bank for Georgia Senate bid should plans change
David M. Drucker, The Washington Examiner

Two months after opting against a 2022 campaign, former Sen. David Perdue is sitting on a war chest of nearly $5 million.

Biden-aligned nonprofit launches voting rights initiative
Zach Montellaro, Politico

A nonprofit group founded by allies of President Joe Biden is launching a voting rights initiative, the latest sign that the White House views the issue as a key part of Biden’s early agenda.

Cuomo ‘looking at legal options’ to keep 27th House seat
Bill Mahoney, Politico

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that the state will explore its legal options after falling 89 residents short of retaining its 27-member congressional delegation, according to Census numbers released on Monday.

West Virginia is offering an incentive to get vaccinated: Money
William Wan and Paulina Firozi, The Washington Post

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) told his staff last week he wanted every idea they had. It didn’t matter how crazy or outside-the-box their proposals were.

NRA Says It May Have Legal Claims Against Former CFO
Jonathan Randles, The Wall Street Journal

The National Rifle Association said in a bankruptcy court filing in Dallas that it might have legal claims against its former finance chief, whom it has blamed for internal problems at the gun rights group that are now the subject of a pending enforcement action by New York’s attorney general.

The Secret Footage of the N.R.A. Chief’s Botched Elephant Hunt
Mike Spies, The New Yorker

Wayne LaPierre has cultivated his image as an exemplar of American gun culture, but video of his clumsy marksmanship—and details regarding his Rodeo Drive shopping trips—tells another story.

How to Design a Gender-Responsive Pandemic Recovery
Mercedes D’Alessandro (Argentine Ministry of Economy), Morning Consult

All around the world, the economic burden of the pandemic is borne disproportionately by women, slamming the brakes on recent momentum in the movement to close the gender gap and potentially pushing 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line.

The trivialization of American politics
Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call

Depending on your age, you may not remember when most federal elections were about issues.

Should Biden Emphasize Race or Class or Both or None of the Above?
Thomas B. Edsall, The New York Times

Should the Democratic Party focus on race or class when trying to build support for new initiatives and — perhaps equally important — when seeking to achieve a durable Election Day majority?

“Wokeness is a problem and we all know it”
Sean Illing, Vox

I called James Carville hoping to get his thoughts on President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office.

Biden’s Post-Trump Honeymoon
The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal

When President Biden addresses Congress Wednesday evening, he won’t salute his predecessor but he should. Donald Trump’s raucous Presidency has let the Democrat sell a radical agenda in the soothing tones of a return to normal, while the vaccine project known as Operation Warp Speed has teed up the end of the pandemic and an economic revival. 

Is There a War Coming Between China and the U.S.?
Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times

If you’re looking for a compelling beach read this summer, I recommend the novel “2034,” by James Stavridis, a retired admiral, and Elliot Ackerman, a former Marine and intelligence officer.