Axios

A U.S. House subcommittee will host another hearing on a proposal to study compensation for America's history of slavery and racial discrimination.

Why it matters: The hearing scheduled Feb. 17 is part of a second attempt by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, to get a commission funded that would examine how reparations for African Americans would work and how descendants of enslaved people would be compensated for decades of trauma.

New footage of the Capitol siege released by House impeachment managers on Wednesday showed U.S. Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman directing Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to safety.

Why it matters: Previously unreleased footage shown during former President Trump's second impeachment trial underscores the violence and heroics on display as the Capitol was breached by Trump supporters on Jan. 6.

After initially apologizing for saying that the Capitol attack was a "hoax," Michigan State Sen. Mike Shirkey was caught on a hot mic saying he stood by those comments, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Why it matters: Prominent Congressional Republicans such as Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), and other Trump allies have baselessly floated the idea that Capitol rioters were members of Antifa or others posing as Trump supporters.

• Footage from Jan. 6 showed many rioters carried Trump flags, wore branded Trump clothing and chanted in support of Trump.

What they're saying: "I frankly don’t take back any of the points I was trying to make," Shirkey said, while talking to another Michigan lawmakers at a state legislative session.

• “That wasn’t Trump people,” Shirkey said at the private meeting on Feb. 3 in a diner first by The Detroit Metro Times. “That’s been a hoax from day one. That was all pre-arranged."
• "Why wasn't there more security? It was ridiculous, it was all staged,"

Background: A day earlier, Shirkey released an apology for calling the U.S. Capitol riots a hoax.

• “I said some things in a videoed conversation that are not fitting for the role I am privileged to serve," Shirkey said in a press release.
• "I own that.  I have many flaws. Being passionate coupled with an occasional lapse in restraint of tongue are at least two of them. I regret the words I chose, and I apologize for my insensitive comments.”

Of note: Separately, Shirkey was censured by the Hillsdale Republican Party, the Metro Times reported, for condemning armed "peaceful protesters" who stormed the Michigan state capitol and for "utter surrender" to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's pandemic measures.

Flashback: Trump summoned Shirkey and other Republican state lawmakers to Washington D.C. as part of the president's attempt to overturn the election results.

• Shirley and the delegation of Michigan lawmakers released a joint statement after the visit stating they "had not yet been aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan."

Tennessee's Republican Gov. Bill Lee said Monday that transgender girls should be banned from playing on middle and high school sports teams, claiming trans athletes will "destroy women's sports," AP reports.

Why it matters: His comments come as the Tennessee GOP attempts to pass legislation requiring student-athletes to provide "original" birth certificates in order to participate in school sports. They argue that trans girls have an edge in athletics because they were assigned male at birth, but research has shown there is no automatic advantage.

Wearing two face masks or adjusting a mask to fit more snuggly can better help protect against COVID-19 and its highly transmissible variants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised in new guidance out Wednesday.

Why it matters: Modeling shows the B.1.1.7 variant from the U.K. could become the dominant strain in the U.S. by the end of March, said Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, on Wednesday.

The would-be mass poisoning that a small town in Florida dodged last week is a chilling reminder that cybersecurity — often conceived in the popular imagination as purely an abstract province of ones and zeroes — can be a matter of life or death.

Why it matters: The fact that attackers were (if only briefly) able to access the control system for a municipal water supply should be a wake-up call for U.S. officials regarding the digital insecurity of many key pieces of infrastructure.

Prosecutors in Georgia have launched an investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results, including a phone call with the state's top elections official in which the former president asked to "find" enough votes to declare he won Georgia.

Driving the news: The Fulton County District Attorney's office on Wednesday sent letters to a number of state officials — including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was on the other end of the call — asking them to preserve any documents related to Trump's efforts, DA spokesperson Jeff DiSantis confirmed.

House Democrats' COVID-19 relief package unveiled last night includes $100 million for EPA to address "health outcome disparities from pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic," per House Energy and Commerce Committee bill text.

How it works: The proposed funding would provide $50 million for grants, contracts and other activities, and another $50 million for EPA-funded air quality monitoring and related efforts, panel Democrats said.

The Chicago Teachers Union approved a tentative agreement with the city to get the nation's third-largest school district on the "path to reopening school classrooms safely," the union announced on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The agreement ends a dispute between the union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot and will likely avert a strike by Chicago's teachers, per AP. Lightfoot had said it was safe to return to school with protocols in place, while the union contended the city was not doing enough to protect teachers.

Republicans, long reliant on big business and the rich, see a post-Trump future centered on working class white, Hispanic and Black voters, top GOP officials tell Axios.

Why it matters: This is a substantial shift, born of necessity and the post-Trump reality. It would push Republicans further away from the interests of corporate America and traditional conservative ideas like entitlement reform.

There are at least 165 proposals under consideration in 33 states so far this year to restrict future voting access by limiting mail-in ballots, implementing new voter ID requirements and slashing registration options.

Driving the news: As former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial begins over his role in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overturn President Biden's victory — fueled by baseless allegations of voter fraud — lawmakers in states with GOP majorities are pushing new ballot obstacles based on similar baseless allegations.

Ben Carson's former presidential campaign committee has been converted into a new political group that already has hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank.

Why it matters: Carson managed to serve four years as President Trump's secretary of Housing and Urban Development with minimal controversy. He announced a new think tank last week, and now the PAC formed from the remains of his 2016 political outfit is another indication he'll be staying engaged in GOP politics.

Members of President Biden's foreign policy brain trust are shifting back into the highest levels of government after spending the Trump era working together in many of the same powerful policy groups and lucrative business ventures.

Why it matters: The overlap points to a more coherent ideological approach to foreign policy than was evident in President Trump's notoriously fractious State Department. But there are some notable liabilities as well.

The made-through-TV impeachment presentation delivered by House managers presented a gripping narrative for the public but the rambling, legalistic rebuttal Donald Trump's attorneys presented won Tuesday with the pivotal Senate jurors.

Why it matters: The House managers are playing the outside game; they know it's a long shot their prosecution will alter the final result, so they're trying to shift public opinion. Trump's defense is playing an inside game — they're doing just enough to sustain the votes needed to acquit the former president.

More than 1,000 foreigners have seen their luck wasted — winning a coveted diversity green card lottery only to see their visas expire because of the coronavirus and former President Trump's immigration ban.

Why it matters: President Biden has been dismantling many of his predecessor's immigration policies, yet some coronavirus-related restrictions remain — threatening at least 6,500 issued visas set to expire by the end of March.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a briefing Tuesday that President Biden's goal to reopen most schools means reopening over 50% of schools for "some teaching" in person "at least one day a week." But they wouldn't necessarily fully reopen.

Why it matters: The White House's shift in language suggests Biden's original timeline was not realistic, as infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci noted earlier this month.

The Biden administration announced on Tuesday they will start delivering vaccines directly to community health centers next week in an effort to promote more equity in the vaccine distribution process.

Why it matters: Black and Hispanic people have been disproportionally impacted by the coronavirus, with higher rates of death while being vaccinated at much lower rates compared to white Americans.