White House outlines plan to vaccinate US children once FDA gives

More than a dozen Democratic senators have requested for paid family leave to remain in the Biden administration’s flagship $3.5tn spending package, reports the Associated Press.

In a letter sent to Biden, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House speaker Nancy Pelosi of California today, 15 senators, with moderate and progressive leanings, demanded for paid family leave to remain in the final version of the $3.5tn bill, a package that lawmakers are working to scale down.

“The pandemic has exposed an acute emergency on top of an ongoing, chronic caregiving crisis for working people and employers alike,” wrote the group in the letter. “We cannot emerge from this crisis and remain one of the only countries in the world with no form of national paid leave.”

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who took lead on the letter, told AP that while there is widespread support for paid family leave to be included in the final bill, she and other Democrats wanted to make sure the initiative wasn’t sacrificed to scale the bill down to $2tn.

Today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider the nomination of former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel for US ambassador to Japan amid pushback about Emanuel’s role in covering up the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.

During prepared remarks to the committee, Emanuel did not mention his involvement in the coverup of McDonald’s murder, instead discussing his priority to deepen an alliance between the US and Japan, reported the Associated Press.

McDonald was killed after being shot 16 times while running away from police officers. Emmanuel’s confirmation comes on the seventh anniversary of McDonald’s death.

Emanuel, who served as Chicago’s mayor for two terms, has been a controversial pick to the ambassadorship position. Progressives democrats and activists have argued that Emanuel’s handling of McDonald should disqualify him from assuming the role, who delayed releasing footage of the police killing while he was running for a second term as Chicago mayor and only did so after being mandated by a state court. The released footage resulted in protests across the nation and resulted in former officer Jason Van Dyke being convicted for second…