Axios

The House voted 275-134 on Monday to increase direct payments from its coronavirus relief package to $2,000 per person, up from the $600 checks that Congress had previously approved.

Why it matters: The measure is unlikely to pass the GOP-controlled Senate, but could further divide President Trump and Republicans ahead of the crucial Senate runoffs in Georgia next week.

President Trump's brash communication style — combined with a societal shift towards streaming, where there are no regulatory restrictions on speech — has forced the entire media industry to present information in a more candid and less polished way.

Why it matters: It’s no longer uncommon to hear cable anchors use foul language or for TV or radio personalities to make indecent remarks on air. Now that the standard has been set, it’s hard to see how networks and news outlets could go back to their postured presentations of the past.

A member of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 advisory team told CNBC on Monday that Biden plans to invoke the Defense Production Act to boost production of coronavirus vaccines.

Why it matters: The law allows the president to direct the private sector to prioritize manufacturing in the interest of national defense.

President Trump personally fed the N.Y. Post's "Page Six" when he lived in Manhattan, and reached for that Post first once he moved to Washington. Rupert Murdoch — co-chair of Fox Corp. and executive chair of News Corp, which includes the Post — became a Trump confidant.

Where it stands: Murdoch had grown exasperated with Trump before the election, and now it's divorce. The Post, which endorsed Trump, says in an editorial that Trump is "cheering for an undemocratic coup" with his efforts to overturn the election he lost.

President-elect Biden will spend 2021 trying to return America to what he considers a more normal time, while President Trump tries to lock down control of the GOP — all at a time when misinformation and alternate narratives get even worse.

• Here are five of the biggest storylines that will shape America next year, according to Axios experts — from politics to business, technology and media.

Getting a cranky, stubborn President Trump to belatedly sign the COVID relief bill, after unemployment benefits had already lapsed, was like being a hostage negotiator, or defusing a bomb.

Driving the news: The deal was closed on a Sunday afternoon phone call with Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy. "This is good," Trump finally said, an official familiar with the call told me. "I should sign this."

Authorities said on Sunday that they believe Anthony Quinn Warner was responsible for the Christmas Day explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, Tennessee, and that the 63-year-old died in the blast.

What's new: Four days before the explosion, Warner told a neighbor that “Nashville and the world is never going to forget me," per AP. The neighbor told the news agency that nothing about Warner raised any red flags. “He was just quiet," the neighbor said.

President Trump signed a bill to extend unemployment benefits and avert a government shutdown, the White House said in an emailed statement Sunday evening.

Details: While Trump signed the current bill providing $600 checks for most Americans hours before a midnight government shutdown deadline, he is continuing his push to bring that amount to $2,000, as Axios reported earlier.

Several lawmakers on Sunday railed against President Trump and demanded he sign the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill and $1.4 trillion government funding measure passed by Congress last week.

Why it matters: Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans lapsed overnight, and the federal government may be forced to shut down this week if Trump does not sign the measure.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on "Fox News Sunday" urged President Trump to sign the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill and $1.4 trillion government funding measure passed by Congress or risk being "remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behavior."

The big picture: President Trump indicated in a video last week he won't sign the measure unless it's amended to increase the $600 direct payments to Americans. Unemployment benefits for millions of Americans lapsed overnight and Trump's refusal to sign the bill could trigger a government shutdown this week.

Expanded unemployment benefits are set to lapse for millions of struggling Americans after President Trump resisted calls to sign the stimulus bill before the end of Saturday.

Why it matters: "States cannot pay out benefits for weeks that begin before the bill is signed, meaning that if the president does not sign the bill [Saturday], benefits will not restart until the first week of January. But they will still end in mid-March, effectively trimming the extension to 10 weeks from 11," the New York Times reports.

Federal prosecutors and Nashville police on Saturday said they are following more than 500 leads and tips in their investigation into an explosion that rocked downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on Christmas morning.

The big picture: The explosion, which injured at least three people, caused widespread telephone, internet and other outages in central Tennessee and in parts of neighboring states. Federal agents searched the home of a possible person of interest in the Nashville suburb of Antioch Saturday, per multiple reports.