Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Off to a good start: “President Joe Biden signed two executive orders Friday to address the economic toll of the coronavirus pandemic, including expanding food stamps and beginning the process to require that everyone working for the federal government get a minimum wage of $15 an hour.”
* The final confirmation vote was 93 to 2: “The Senate on Friday voted overwhelmingly to confirm the first Black secretary of defense, retired four-star Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, who first needed Congress to approve a waiver for him to fill the Cabinet position.”
* Quite a story: “National Guard troops were allowed back into the Capitol to rest after some had been moved to a nearby parking garage, officials said.”
* Speaking of the Guard: “Nearly 200 members of the National Guard deployed to Washington in the days leading up to Wednesday’s presidential inauguration have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and some officials fear cramped rest and working quarters contributed to the spread, defense officials said.”
* NRA: “The National Rifle Association cannot transfer, stay or dismiss the New York Attorney General’s lawsuit filed in Manhattan seeking its dissolution, a judge ruled on Thursday.”
* A controversy we’ve been watching: “The Justice Department inspector general has begun examining the abrupt departure this month of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta after then-President Donald Trump complained officials in Georgia were not doing enough to find election fraud, according to people familiar with the matter.”
* Good move: “The Biden administration has moved quickly to remove a number of senior officials aligned with former President Donald Trump from the Voice of America and the agency that oversees all U.S.-funded international broadcasting.”
* Support newspapers: “President Biden’s White House has renewed subscriptions to The New York Times and The Washington Post after former President Trump canceled them out of anger over how he was portrayed. A White House source said physical copies of both papers arrived on Thursday morning, Biden’s first full day as president.” * Really? As one of their last acts during President Donald Trump’s tenure, the Trump team appears to have sacked the chief White House usher. * Oh my: “President Biden’s inaugural address on Wednesday attracted about a million and a half more viewers than tuned in for Donald J. Trump’s inaugural speech four years ago, according to preliminary data from Nielsen.” Have a safe weekend.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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