WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will meet in person Friday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in Wilmington, Delaware.
Their meeting comes as Congress finishes up its lame-duck session and Democrats and the White House have been unable to find a compromise on another Covid-19 relief package. Biden and Harris will be working closely with both Democratic leaders in the new Congress in their efforts to pass some of the new administration’s legislative proposals.
Biden served with both Pelosi and Schumer in Congress and Harris has been in the Senate representing California since 2017. Biden also spent his time as vice president during the Obama administration using his experience on Capitol Hill to help negotiate legislation.
- It’s Biden’s birthday. He turns 78 on Friday, which will make him the oldest U.S. president to take office.
- The Biden transition announced several low-profile White House appointments Friday morning, including Mala Adiga as the policy director to Dr. Jill Biden, Carlos Elizondo as the White House social secretary, Cathy Russell as the director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, and Louisa Terrell as the director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.
- Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, slammed President Donald Trump in a tweet late Thursday: “Having failed to make even plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the President has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election. It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President.”
- Retiring Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a statement Friday “If there is any chance whatsoever that Joe Biden will be the next president, and it looks like he has a very good chance, the Trump Administration should provide the Biden team with all transition materials, resources, and meetings necessary to ensure a smooth transition so that both sides are ready on day one. That especially should be true, for example, on vaccine distribution.”
- House Democratic committee chairs sent the General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy a letter demanding that she personally brief them about her refusal to grant the Biden-Harris transition team access to services and facilities that they need to make the transition to the new administration.
Trump, for the first time in days, has public events on his daily schedule. He is participating in a virtual meeting with Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders in the White House Situation Room early in the morning and is set to give remarks about delivering lower prescription drugs to Americans around 2:30 p.m. ET.
