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       Psaki dismisses criticism of Biden’s voting rights remarks, calls it ‘hilarious’

       President Joe Biden’s approval rating is sitting at just 40 per cent, one year into his presidency.

       A new poll from Morning Consult/Politico showed that 56 percent of respondents disapproved of his job performance so far, while 68 per cent also felt the US was moving in the wrong direction.

       The poll results come as the White House plans a Wednesday press conference for Joe Biden to promote his administration’s efforts to combat the Omicron surge and the greater availability of home testing kits.

       The president will also announce a plan to distribute hundreds of millions of N95 masks for free to Americans, according to Politico.

       The masks will reportedly come from the federal government’s stockpile of 737 million N95 masks in the Strategic National Stockpile, which have been sourced from 12 domestic manufacturers.

       Last week Mr Biden acknowledged that for some Americans getting hold of high-quality masks was “not always affordable or convenient.”

       Meanwhile, the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection of the US Capitol has subpoenaed and obtained records of phone numbers linked to Eric Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr’s fiancee, according to CNN.

       It comes as additional subpoenas have been issued on Tuesday to other members of Donald Trump’s inner circle, including Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Boris Epshteyn.

       Recommended What time is Joe Biden’s press conference? Joe Biden to give out 400 million free N95 masks Free Government covid tests: How to order online

       Key points Biden to speak to reporters on Wednesday Trump holds first 2022 rally in Arizona Trump attacks Democrats, disloyal Republicans at rally in Arizona First sedition charges handed down in Capitol riot cases New poll shows Biden approval rating at 40 per cent

       Show latest update 1642615496 Democrats working on round two of Build Back Better

       Senate Democrats are back at the drawing board working on a new version of President Joe Biden’s signature Build Back Better Act that would be palatable for Sen Joe Manchin, a key holdout on the bill whose lack of support tanked the original version last month.

       NBC News reported the development on Wednesday, suggesting that Democrats are serious about getting some form of a social safety net bill passed before the 2022 midterm elections.

       Read more from NBC News:

       NEW in @MTPFirstRead. Senate Dems are quietly working on a Manchin-friendly BBB. One idea on the table to entice him, per a source? Making it a deficit reduction bill. https://t.co/hnqU4xrixK pic.twitter.com/bdNFoTvPCE

       — Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) January 19, 2022

       John Bowden 19 January 2022 18:04

       1642613969 No. 2 Senate Republican issues threat to Democrats on filibuster

       Sen John Thune delivered a floor speech on Wednesday threatening further changes by Republicans to weaken the filibuster in retaliation should Democrats go through with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s plan to debate and pass changed to the 60-vote threshold rule.

       Mr Thune, a senator from South Dakota, is next in line behind Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in leadership. He is one of many senators on the Republican side who publicly flirted with former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, but did not support objections to the Electoral College count on January 6.

       "We're not gonna do it, not if you don't. If you do, sure. Then it's all bets are off,” he said, referring to attempts to weaken the filibuster or scrap it entirely.

       Republicans previously changed Senate rules in 2017 to remove the 60-vote threshold for the confirmation of Supreme Court justices after Democrats did the same previously for some federal appointments.

       Watch Mr Thune speak here:

       Number two Senate Republican John Thune (R-SD) promises Republicans won't change the filibuster when they're next in the majority — unless Democrats do now.

       "We're not gonna do it, not if you don't. If you do, sure. Then it's all bets are off." pic.twitter.com/TmjHw9RPKL

       — The Recount (@therecount) January 19, 2022

       John Bowden 19 January 2022 17:39

       1642611932 Warren excoriates Senate GOP in floor speech on voting rights

       Sen Elizabeth Warren, one of the Senate’s leading progressives, spoke about the Democrats’ voting rights legislation on Tuesday while ripping the Republican Party for what she said was a transparent push to end “free and fair elections” in America.

       Notably, her speech did not call out Sens Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema, two Democratic holdouts against modifying the filibuster rule in a way that would allow passage of the legislation despite unified GOP opposition.

       “American democracy is under attack, and fifty Democratic Senators agree on the right response to this attack,” said Ms Warren.

       She added: “Unfortunately, Senate Republicans would rather destroy our democracy than have free and fair elections. And so they support those around the country who are trying to block access to voting and who are trying to rig how votes get counted.”

       John Bowden 19 January 2022 17:05

       1642610883 White House previews no further actions from Harris ahead of voting rights vote

       While President Joe Biden is set to speak with reporters later today and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to have the upper chamber vote on elections and voting legislation, Vice President Kamala Harris had only one public event scheduled - the swearing-in of an ambassador.

       The former senator and current tiebreaking vote in the equally-divided Senate, Ms Harris was assigned to head the administration’s push to rally Congress and pass a bill protecting voting rights and access by Mr Biden last year. But in recent weeks, much of the public-facing actions on that issue have been headed up by Mr Biden himself, with Ms Harris’s main contribution being a speech alongside the president in Georgia.

       As the latest push by Democrats looks poised to fail despite furious renewed activism on the issue from around the country, questions remain about how effective the two former senators in the White House have been in moving the stagnant Senate to action.

       John Bowden 19 January 2022 16:48

       1642607096 Biden to speak today

       President Joe Biden will speak this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. from the White House’s East Room, where he is planning to hold the first presidential press conference of 2022.

       Expect questions to center around the last-ditch attempts by the White House and Democrats in the Senate to push Sens Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema in favour of changing the filibuster rule, which forces legislation to reach 60 votes before passing the Senate.

       The president will also likely face tough inquiries about his dismal approval rating, negotiations over his signature Build Back Better Act, and his administration’s Covid-19 response.

       John Bowden 19 January 2022 15:44

       1642603824 How has Biden fared in his first year in office?

       A year into his presidency, Joe Biden’s approval rating stands at just 40 per cent, a new poll has shown. Did the Democrat promise too much? Or did he simply inherit problems too large to fix in such a short space of time?

       Andrew Buncombe has the Premium analysis on Biden’s first year in office.

       Whatever happened to Biden’s promised ‘return to normal’? Any leader would have struggled in the circumstances, but Biden’s campaign promises set the new president a high bar, writes Andrew Buncombe

       Harriet Sinclair 19 January 2022 14:50

       1642602309 Psaki shares Tweet defending Biden over Colleyville comments

       Jen Psaki has hit out at the suggestion President Joe Biden did not acknowledge the antisemitic attack in Colleyville as an act of terror.

       The White House Press Secretary shared a tweet on Tuesday evening damning the suggestion and branding it a political attack.

       Harriet Sinclair 19 January 2022 14:25

       1642596702 What the Biden administration’s masks announcement means

       CNN’s Dr Sanjay Gupta has this report on the new release of hundreds of millions of high-grade Covid-19 masks from the strategic national stockpile.

       Andrew Naughtie 19 January 2022 12:51

       1642595382 White House’s Ukraine warnings grow more dire

       As Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian officials before talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, the Biden administration is warning that the anticipated Russian invasion of Ukraine could begin at any moment.

       Catch up here:

       Russia could invade Ukraine ‘at any point’, US warns as Blinken lands in Kiev Ukrainian defence ministry estimates 127,000 Russian troops near border

       Andrew Naughtie 19 January 2022 12:29

       1642594205 How voting rights manoeuvre will play out in the the Senate today

       Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer are planning a procedural move tonight that will put their voting rights legislation to the test. It is not expected to work, but could at least force some senators who have stayed at arm’s length from the debate to nail their colours to the mast. Here’s a sense of what will happen later.

       Andrew Naughtie 19 January 2022 12:10

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