The Senate has voted to reinstate a rule, which dates from the Obama era, that imposes limits on the methane gas that is emitted from oil and gas operations, the Washington Post reports. The rule, which requires companies to regularly test for methane leaks, was originally adopted in 2016 but was later undone by the Trump administration. The Post writes: The move marks both the first major congressional rebuke of former president Donald Trump’s environmental policies, and a step forward for the Biden administration’s ambitious climate agenda. “We have to stop lighting the matches of methane pollution,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), one of the bill’s sponsors, said at a news conference Wednesday morning. The vote is also the first time Democrats have used the 1996 Congressional Review Act to reverse a federal regulation. The measure cleared the divided Senate by a 52 to 42 vote. It is expected to easily pass the House and would then head to President Biden’s desk. Biden has called limiting emissions of methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that when released without being burned has more than 80 times the climate impact of carbon dioxide — key to his pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent by the end of the decade. Read the full story here. The hunger industry: does charity put a Band-Aid on American inequality? Nina Lakhani Alyson Graham raised three children by juggling multiple jobs and making tough choices about what they should go without. For more than 20 years, she made weekly visits to a food pantry, before going to the store to supplement the free groceries using food stamps and whatever money she had left after paying rent and bills. It was a struggle to put nutritious food on the table. “I always had two jobs when my kids were growing up, but still couldn’t make ends meet,” said Graham, 51, who worked minimum-wage jobs in call centres, bars and restaurants in Houston. “I couldn’t let the lights or water go off, and there were always other expenses like shoes and books, so I relied on food pantries and frozen food like chicken nuggets to fill them up. The system is so skewed, it’s almost impossible.” Graham’s story is a typical American story, and one that predates the unprecedented economic crisis caused by the pandemic. Every month, millions of working folks are forced to choose between rent, bills, healthcare, childcare and food because they are not paid a living wage. According to one measure, 43.5% of Americans were living in poverty or low-income households in 2017, with the latter often just one emergency or missed paycheck away from falling below the poverty line. Even when the economy is booming, at least one in eight families with children in the world’s so-called richest country do not have reliable access to sufficient nutritious food needed for a healthy active life, according to USDA data collected since the mid-1990s. In times of recession, a fifth or more families have experienced food insecurity, which research shows can cause lifelong damage to a child’s health, education and employment potential. No matter what the state of the economy, the need for food aid has continued to rise as wages and government assistance have failed to keep up with the cost of living. A third of food-insecure people are not considered poor enough to qualify for government food assistance. Biden"s $1.8tn plan for childcare and universal preschool The American Families Plan was unveiled just ahead of the president’s address to Congress, and reflects many of Biden’s campaign promises. It builds on his American Rescue Plan, which was the biggest expansion of the welfare state in decades. While the Rescue Plan was designed to bail the nation out of the depths of the coronavirus crisis – funding the $1,400 cheques that were sent to most Americans, and efforts to ramp up Covid-19 vaccinations – the plan unveiled on Wednesday aims to reshape the economy’s social infrastructure. The vision would be funded by rolling back Trump-era tax cuts, raising the capital gains rate for millionaires and billionaires, and closing tax loopholes for the wealthy, senior administration officials said in a call with members of the media. If the plan passes, about $300bn would be dedicated to funding education, $225bn would go toward childcare and another $225bn toward subsidizing paid family leave. The program reflects progressive ideas, including a national family leave program, which have only recently been adopted by mainstream Democratic lawmakers. The US is the only wealthy nation that does not have a federal policy for paid maternity leave, and is one of a very small group of wealthier countries that do not provide for paid paternity leave. During a press briefing last week, Brian Deese, a senior adviser to the president, said the plan “will provide critical support for children and families and, in – by doing so, critical support for our economy by boosting labor force participation and future economic competitiveness”. Tim Scott, the South Carolina senator who plans to deliver the Republican rebuttal to Joe Biden’s address to Congress tonight, will make an attempt to tout Trump-era accomplishments. “Thanks to Operation Warp Speed and the Trump Administration, our country is flooded with safe and effective vaccines. Thanks to our bipartisan work last year, job openings are rebounding,” Scott’s speech reads. Scott will also ask Americans to try to look back to before the coronavirus crisis hit - before more than half a million died. “Just before COVID, we had the most inclusive economy in my lifetime. The lowest unemployment ever recorded for African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans. The lowest for women in nearly 70 years,” Scott’s speech reads. The numbers there are more or less true - but they’re misleading Donald Trump often made these claims, throughout his presidency - implying that he, and Republicans were responsible. But those unemployment rates were falling before Trump took office, and the declines didn’t pick up speed when he stepped into the White House. Moreover, while Scott is implying that the economy was becoming more inclusive - that’s not really an accurate assessment of the data. Unemployment rates for all groups were declining. Unemployment for Black and Hispanic people didn’t really change in any notable way relative to the rates for other groups. The president will also be making a major pitch to the working class. “You feel left behind and forgotten in an economy that’s rapidly changing,” he plans to say, as he touts his jobs plan. “Let me speak directly to you.” Independent experts estimate the American Jobs Plan will add millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in economic growth for years to come. These are good-paying jobs that can’t be outsourced. Nearly 90% of the infrastructure jobs created in the American Jobs Plan don’t require a college degree. 75% don’t require an associate’s degree. The Americans Jobs Plan is a blue-collar blueprint to build America. And, it recognizes something I’ve always said: Wall Street didn’t build this country. The middle class built this country. And unions built the middle class. Between the lines: Biden knows that his economic relief plans, and his infrastructure plan, enjoy broad support - from both Democratic and Republican voters across the country. Republican lawmakers, who have staunchly opposed the plans, have found themselves in an odd position – having to defend why they think more roads and bridges, more economic stimulus, and other welfare programs are actually bad. It’s a hard sell, especially after a year of unprecedented grief and hardship. Biden will also want to appeal to progressives, who have been encouraged by his adoption of major progressive goals - but who have been hoping to push him to do more, to take on even bolder reforms to healthcare and social support programs. Biden address preview: president to speak about how "government still works" Joe Biden will talk about how in his first 100 days, his administration is working to “prove democracy still works”. Per a preview of his first address to a joint session of Congress tonight, Biden will tell lawmakers and the nation: We have to prove democracy still works. That our government still works—and can deliver for the people. In our first 100 days together, we have acted to restore the people’s faith in our democracy to deliver. We’re vaccinating the nation. We’re creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. We’re delivering real results people can see and feel in their own lives. Opening the doors of opportunity. Guaranteeing fairness and justice. Ahmaud Arbery killing: three men charged with federal hate crimes The Justice Department has announced that three men have been charged with hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. Arbery was killed last February, while he was out jogging. Greg and Travis McMichael, a white father, and son, armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man, who was out running, telling the police they suspected Arbery was a burglar. The Per the Justice Department: Travis McMichael, 35; Travis’s father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and William “Roddie” Bryan, 51, were each charged with one count of interference with rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping. Travis and Gregory McMichael were also charged with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing—and in Travis’s case, discharging—a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Summary That’s all from me for the day. I’m handing off to my colleague Maanvi Singh - who’ll bring you more live updates. Federal investigators on Wednesday searched the apartment of Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, and seized his electronic devices according to multiple reports. The search indicates an escalation of federal investigators’ criminal investigation into Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine. Joe Biden is scheduled to give his first joint address to Congress tonight, where he will speak on topics including Covid-19, gun violence, the economy and his latest stimulus plan. The event will be pared down from previous presidential address to Congress because of pandemic safety restrictions. The speech comes nearly four months after insurrectionists attacked the Capitol on Jan 6 in an effort to overturn the presidential election. A DC police officer who defended the Capitol during the attack condemned attempts to “whitewash” the attack in an emotional interview on Wednesday. More details from the New York Times on the search warrant executed at Rudy Giuliani’s apartment today: FBI agents on Wednesday morning also executed a search warrant at the Washington-area home of Victoria Toensing, a lawyer close to Mr Giuliani who had dealings with several Ukrainians involved in seeking negative information on the Bidens, according to people with knowledge of that warrant, which sought her phone. Ms Toensing, a former federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, has also represented Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch under indictment in the United States whose help Mr Giuliani sought. ABC News had more details on Toensing: Ms Toensing is a former federal prosecutor and senior Justice Department official,” said a statement released by Toensing’s law firm, diGenova & Toensing. “She would have been happy to turn over any relevant documents. All they had to do was ask. Ms Toensing was informed that she is not a target of the investigation.” In addition to Toensing, sources told ABC News that several other individuals were named in the search warrant served on Giuliani Wednesday morning, many of whom had ties to Ukraine, sources said. At Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress tonight, two women will be sitting behind the president for the first time because of their senior roles in US politics. As vice president, Kamala Harris will take one of the seats - she became the first female vice president in US history in January. The other seat is reserved for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who became the first woman to hold that role in 2007. Asked about this historical moment on Wednesday, Pelosi told MSNBC: “It’s about time.” The people in those two seats provide as a live reaction to the president’s remarks - a position Pelosi knows well. In 2020, she ripped up her paper copy of Donald Trump’s speech. In 2019, she inspired a meme by sarcastically clapping at Trump. The first lady, Jill Biden, has announced her “virtual” guests for Joe Biden’s address tonight in Congress. Usually, lawmakers who attend the joint session bring guests to represent policy areas they are focused on, but the crowd at this year’s speech is much smaller because of Covid-19 restrictions. Jill Biden said her guests would attend a virtual reception then watch the speech remotely. The guests are: Javier Quiroz Castro - a nurse and recipient of the deportation relief program, Daca Maria-Isabel Ballivian - executive director, Annandale Christian Community For Action (ACCA) Child Development Center Tatiana Washington - gun violence prevention advocate and organizer Stella Keating (she/her) - first transgender teen to testify before US Senate Theron Rutyna - IT director for the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation, has written for the Guardian on the role political leaders should play in global Covid-19 vaccine distribution. The US is a key figure in this debate because with the UK, it has bought up the majority of the existing vaccine supplies. Farrar writes: It is simply not acceptable that while an estimated one in four people in high-income countries have received a Covid vaccine, just one in 500 have received the jab in low-income countries, or that hospitals in poorer countries are still struggling to access basic supplies like oxygen, sedatives and PPE. Healthcare workers in every country, who are putting themselves at risk to protect us all, must be first in line for vaccinations. Right now, global political leaders are the only people who can make these essential resources available. Rich countries – including the UK and US – have bought up the majority of existing vaccine supplies. They urgently need to start sharing these doses with the rest of the world, alongside national rollouts in their own countries, and through the Covax programme. And they must set out a timetable for how these donations will be increased as they vaccinate more of their populations domestically. A federal grand jury added new charges today against three men charged with conspiracy to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, saying they planned to use weapons of mass destruction to destroy a bridge, the Justice Department said. Reuters reports that: Adam Fox, 40, of Wyoming, Michigan; Barry Croft Jr., 45, of Bear, Delaware; and Daniel Joseph Harris, 23, of Lake Orion, Michigan, were charged with knowingly conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property, the department said, in addition to a kidnapping conspiracy charge in October. The superseding indictment today alleges that they three planned to destroy a nearby bridge, which would have harmed and hindered Whitmer’s security detail and any responding law enforcement officers, a Justice Department statement said. The new indictment also alleged that Croft and Harris possessed a “destructive device” that was not registered as required by U.S. federal law. It said Harris also possessed an unregistered semiautomatic assault rifle. Fourteen men were accused of taking part in a plot by right-wing militia extremists to abduct Whitmer. One of them broke ranks with his co-defendants in January and pleaded guilty to a federal kidnapping conspiracy charge. Prosecutors have said all 14 suspects targeted Whitmer in retribution for public health orders she imposed placing restrictions on a wide range of social and business activity to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Summary Federal investigators on Wednesday searched the apartment of Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, and seized his electronic devices according to multiple reports. The search indicates an escalation of federal investigators’ criminal investigation into Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine. Joe Biden is scheduled to give his first joint address to Congress tonight, where he will speak on topics including Covid-19, gun violence, the economy and his latest stimulus plan. The event will be pared down from previous presidential address to Congress because of pandemic safety restrictions. The speech comes nearly four months after insurrectionists attacked the Capitol on Jan 6 in an effort to overturn the presidential election. A DC police officer who defended the Capitol during the attack condemned attempts to “whitewash” the attack in an emotional interview on Wednesday. The justice department just announced new charges are being handed down in the domestic terrorism plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, Gretchen Whitmer. A federal grand jury in Michigan provided a superseding indictment today which adds conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against three defendants and adds federal firearms violations for two defendants in the case. The document alleges three men charged in the plot intended to use weapons of mass destruction to destroy a nearby bridge “in effect, harming and hindering the governor’s security detail and any responding law enforcement officers,” according to the justice department. The updated document also alleges two of the men knowingly possessed firearms that were not registered to them as required by federal law.