Axios Homepage

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell will make her first trip to wildfire-affected states amid another dangerous week of extreme heat and "critical" fire weather conditions, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The West is experiencing its worst drought this century, and repeated, extreme heat waves have dried out forests and grasslands, priming them to burn. Officials are gearing up for an unprecedented, prolonged peak fire season.

Senate Democrats are debating lowering the Medicare eligibility age as part of the $3.5-trillion "soft" infrastructure package, at the risk of jeopardizing centrist support for a measure being pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Why it matters: Giving Americans over age 60 access to Medicare would force Democrats to either add an estimated $200 billion to their overall infrastructure price tag or cut other progressive priorities currently in the package.

Members of the House are forming alliances and gearing for battle while waiting for the Senate to work out final details of an infrastructure deal.

Why it matters: The lower chamber has been on the sidelines during its two-week recess, yet representatives have been watching senators carefully in anticipation of their own debate on the measures that will be shipped their way.

The fate of roughly 80,000 people who applied for but hadn't been approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program rests with Congress — and the Senate parliamentarian.

Why it matters: A federal judge Friday blocked roughly 500,000 to 700,000 unauthorized immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from participating in DACA and receiving its deportation protections. Nothing changed — for now — for the more than 600,000 active DACA recipients.

Republicans are all over the map about how their party should proceed on the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal.

What we're hearing: GOP strategists tell Axios they've struggled over not only whether they support the current Senate negotiations but how to message off the broader infrastructure debate.

The rapid spread of the Delta variant around the rich world has injected increased urgency into the debate around booster shots, but the World Health Organization and public health experts are trying to keep the focus on getting vaccines to those who don’t yet have access.

Why it matters: Israel last week became the first country to offer boosters to people with weak immune systems, and Pfizer is pushing for rapid approval of boosters in the U.S., citing preliminary data that suggests immunity may begin to wane after six months.

The Justice Department has declined to prosecute former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for misleading Congress on the Trump administration's push to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.

Catch up quick: Ross had testified that the Trump administration wanted the addition due to a DOJ request for data so it could better enforce the Voting Rights Act. But internal records showed that Trump officials, including Ross, had planned to add the question long before the DOJ submitted its formal request in December 2017.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has decided which Republicans he will name to a select committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to Axios.

Driving the news: McCarthy will name Rep. Jim Banks (Ind.) as ranking member, alongside Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Rodney Davis (Ill.), Kelly Armstrong (N.D.), and freshman Troy Nehls (Texas).

A federal judge on Monday gave colleges their first major win in the battle to require that students be vaccinated.

Why it matters: Many students and parents consider these mandates essential to safely returning to campus. 586 colleges nationwide have some form of vaccine mandate, per The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The U.S. economic recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended in April 2020, the National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday.

By the numbers: The NBER initially said the recession brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic began in February 2020, making this is the shortest recession on record.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new guidelines Monday limiting Justice Department and FBI investigators from seizing materials from reporters and news outlets except in extreme cases.

Why it matters: The new policy follows disclosures that the DOJ, under the Trump administration, secretly obtained records of several journalists, including one at CNN, three at the Washington Post and four from the New York Times.

President Biden attempted to clarify comments he made last week about Facebook, saying on Monday that the company itself is not "killing people" — but those who post misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines are.

Why it matters: The Biden administration has ratcheted up pressure on social media companies, especially Facebook, to increase their efforts to eliminate misinformation on vaccines and the virus from their platforms.

38-year-old Paul Hodgkins of Tampa was sentenced to eight months in prison Monday after pleading guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony charge stemming from his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Why it matters: Hodgkins is the first Jan. 6 rioter to be sentenced for a felony, setting a benchmark for hundreds of other cases that prosecutors have brought against individuals involved in the Capitol attack.

"Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we've seen were expected and are expected to be temporary," President Biden said at the White House Monday, pushing back against fears of persistent inflation.

Why it matters: The White House, which has argued that inflation issues are short term, is concerned that fears of rising prices could derail Biden's legislative agenda, which includes massive spending packages.

Haiti's acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph told the Washington Post on Monday that he will step down from the role, which had seen him serve as de facto leader of Haiti in the wake of President Jovenel Moïse's assassination earlier this month.

Why it matters: Joseph's decision to step down, which he said was “for the good of the nation," may resolve the leadership crisis set off by Moïse's death.

Shoppers are outraged by how expensive some stuff is getting.

Why it matters: Consumer sentiment is important because it’s generally correlated with spending. Complaints about prices today and concerns about inflation down the road have caused the recovery in sentiment to stall.

Rising new cases and Prime Minister Boris Johnson's journey back into quarantine dampened England's "freedom day" on Monday, when the country lifted most of its remaining coronavirus-related restrictions.

Why it matters: Face masks and capacity limits are no longer allowed in England, freeing up people to attend large events again, though scientists have warned that it could be dangerous to fully reopen when infections are increasing, according to AP.

The U.S., NATO and other allies are collectively calling out China for malicious cyberattacks, including a March attack that exploited a flaw in Microsoft's Exchange Server.

Why it matters: It's the first time that NATO, a military alliance founded in 1949 to confront the Soviet Union, has signed onto a formal condemnation of China's cyber activities.

The decision to move forward with the Olympics has put sponsors in a tricky position because the games are no longer the predictable investment that they were pre-pandemic.

The latest: Toyota — one of the Olympics' top sponsors — announced Monday that it will not be airing TV commercials in Japan related to the Games. Executives for Japan’s biggest automaker will also not be attending Friday's opening ceremony.

Face-recognition tech is coming to a store near you, if it's not there already, and that's sparking a new wave of opposition.

Why it matters: The systems can scan or store facial images of both shoppers and workers. Their use accelerated during the pandemic as retailers looked for ways to prevent fraud, track foot traffic with fewer employees, and offer contactless payments at a time when consumers were wary of interacting with others.

The rapid succession of precedent-shattering extreme weather events in North America and Europe this summer is prompting some scientists to question whether climate extremes are worsening faster than expected.

Why it matters: Extreme weather events are the deadliest, most expensive and immediate manifestations of climate change. Any miscalculations in how severe these events may become, from wildfires to heat waves and heavy rainfall, could make communities more vulnerable.

A growing swath of House Democratic candidates says the party needs to radically improve its heartland appeal to have any hope of keeping power in Washington.

Why it matters: With control of the House and Senate on the bubble, many ambitious Democrats — from the South to the Midwest to the Rockies — are running against their own national party's image.

Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are back on the rise in the U.S. as the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads across the country.

The big picture: This is happening almost exclusively to people who aren’t vaccinated, and it’s worse in places where overall vaccination rates are low.

Asian American Olympians representing the United States are competing for gold in Tokyo as Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are targets of violence and bigotry back home.

Why it matters: Advocates say the anti-Asian hate is taking a mental health toll on Asian Americans, and Asian American athletes are entering the games under the added pressure of competing in Asia before a worldwide audience.

Wildfires are growing across the western U.S., triggering evacuation orders, as the threat of "dry lightning" prompted red flag warnings and fire weather watches to be issued from central California to northwest South Dakota on Monday.

Of note: As temperatures again rise, 80 large wildfires were burning across nearly 1.2 million acres in the West Sunday — 10 more than the previous day, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Two more Texas Democrats who fled their state for D.C. in an effort to block a state GOP voting bill have tested positive for COVID-19, the state House Democratic Caucus said Sunday.

The big picture: The confirmation comes a day after three other Texas state House members tested positive for the virus, despite being fully vaccinated.

Zoom announced Sunday it has signed an agreement to acquire cloud contact center software provider Five9 in an all-stock transaction valuing the company at $14.7 billion.

Why it matters: This is Zoom's first billion-dollar acquisition and the second-biggest American tech deal this year, after Microsoft's planned $16 billion purchase of Nuance Communications, per CNBC.

Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO Group's hacking software has been used to spy on heads of state, journalists, activists and lawyers across the world, per an investigation by 17 news organizations and nonprofits, published Sunday.

Why it matters: Authoritarian governments and others have used this spyware "to facilitate human rights violations around the world on a massive scale," with 50,000 phone numbers of targets leaked — including the family of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, alleges rights group Amnesty International, which helped research the report, which NSO called "false."