Biden news: Congress passes $1.9 trillion Covid bill as president says US to share surplus vaccines

Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan strongly condemned the Republicans on Tuesday for opposing a bill aimed at offering stronger protection to workers.

Speaking about the labour rights bill, the congressman said: “Heaven forbid we pass something that is going to help the damn workers in the United States of America. Heaven forbid we tilt the balance that has been going in the wrong direction for 50 years.”

In a stinging rebuke of the GOP, he added: “Now stop talking about Dr Seuss and start working with us on behalf of the American workers.”

Bill Clinton praised his longtime friend and advisor Vernon Jordan at a memorial for the civil rights activist.

The former president said Jordan, who died at the age of 85, was always in “the freedom business” and had an ability to inspire others.

“Vernon Jordan was worthy of our love and admiration because he was a man in full,” he added.

It’s 50 days since Joe Biden became president.

He laid out a raft of promises for his first 100 days in office, but how are these going?

One of his biggest successes so far has been the US’ vaccine rollout. The president promised to deliver 100 million jabs in his first 100 days.

This could be achieved as early as next week, with more than 75 million doses administered so far under the Biden administration.

Other pledges - like Mr Biden’s promise to set up a police oversight board - are still awaiting concrete action in the next 50 days.

A fake viral Facebook conspiracy has claimed that the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s net worth is now over $1m after enriching herself following her election to Congress.

In fact, AOC, one of the most high-profile Democrats, declared financial assets between $2,000 (£1,440) and $31,000 (£22,300) along with a student loan debt between $15,000 (£10,800) and $50,000 (£36,000), according to disclosures made in September 2020.

Mayank Aggarwal reports:

A top EU figure is to brief American politicians on how Brexit is affecting Northern Ireland.

Maros Sefcovic, the EU Commission vice president, will hold the briefing alongside Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister.

The fate of Northern Ireland, closely watched by Joe Biden, has been the most bitterly contested Brexit issue. London ultimately agreed to allow the UK region to remain aligned with the EU's single market for goods when it left the bloc's orbit last year, necessitating checks on some items arriving there from elsewhere in Great Britain.

Mr Biden has warned that maintaining the solidity of the Good Friday Agreement is key to any US-UK trade deal – something desperately wanted by Boris Johnson’s government.

Britain's unilateral extension of grace periods on checks of some goods to Northern Ireland last week has led to a promise of legal action from the EU and accusations from Ireland that its neighbour is not acting like a "respectable country".

The Friends of Ireland caucus, a bipartisan group on Capitol Hill that weighed into the Brexit debate on Ireland's behalf before the Northern Irish protocol was agreed in 2019, requested the briefing from both Mr Sefcovic and Mr Coveney, the European Commission said.

Additional reporting by Reuters

“Q tells us stuff and all of it’s lies,” a frustrated Alex Jones recently raved on his InfoWars radio show in the aftermath of the US Capitol riot.

“You keep interrupting me…” his caller, a believer in the QAnon cult whose acolytes like “Q Shaman” Jacob Chansley took part in the failed insurrection, started to complain.

“Because you’re lying! Because you’re full of s**t! That’s why! Because every goddamned thing out of you people’s mouths doesn’t come true,” Mr Jones frothed, working himself up into one of his trademark bellicose furies, writes Joe Sommerlad.

Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin, the US secretaries of state and defence, are to Japan and South Korea next week, amid growing concerns about rising China and North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.

The trip will run from March 16 to 18.

The United States is looking to strengthen ties with key allies as China takes an increasingly aggressive foreign policy approach in the Indo-Pacific region and elsewhere.

Together with South Korea and Japan, the Biden administration is also conducting a full review of its policy towards North Korea.

Additional reporting by Reuters

A top US admiral has warned that China could invade Taiwan in the next six years amid the growing conflict between the two Asian nations, writes Mayank Aggarwal.

Admiral Philip S Davidson, who is the US’s top military officer in the Asia-Pacific region, on Tuesday appeared before the Senate’s armed services committee and said that China is accelerating its ambitions to supplant the US and its leadership role in “the rules-based international order” by 2050.

“Taiwan is clearly one of their ambitions before that,” he cautioned, saying Beijing’s determination to take control of the island by force if necessary could manifest in the next decade or even “the next six years”.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Donald Trump, has claimed that unaccompanied migrant children could become the “terrorists [of] tomorrow”.

He made the baseless comment during an unhinged rant on Fox News in which he said the arrival of minors at the US-Mexico border would lead to a “national security crisis”.

Gino Spocchia reports:

The United States will order a further 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, a White House official has said.

Joe Biden will announce the plan at a meeting later in the day.

Johnson & Johnson’s manufacturing has been slower than forecast, but it is likely to resume shipments later this month.