Axios

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot announced its latest batch of subpoenas Tuesday evening, this time focusing on two advisers to Donald Trump Jr. and a former White House official.

Why it matters: The panel said the three individuals subpoenaed — Andy Surabian, Arthur Schwartz and Ross Worthington, are believed to have been involved in the planning and preparations for the rally that former President Trump attended prior to the riot — an allegation strongly rejected by Surabian's attorney.

President Biden on Tuesday called the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection an attempted "coup."

Why it matters: In a speech on voting rights in Atlanta, Biden used strong language to lambast former President Trump and his supporters for trying to "win through violence what he had lost at the ballot box."

Jerome Powell’s second term as Federal Reserve chair will be defined by his response to the economy he helped create.

Why it matters: Powell's job will be harder in many ways than when the Fed was focused on just keeping the country afloat at the onset of the pandemic.

Medicare has proposed covering the controversial Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm, but only for patients who enroll in a randomized clinical study.

Why it matters: Medicare is sending a signal to the pharmaceutical industry that Aduhelm — an IV medication with unproven clinical benefit, serious side effects and a $28,000 annual price tag — and other Alzheimer's drugs must show they work to gain Medicare's full coverage and payment.

President Biden on Tuesday threw his support behind changing the Senate's filibuster rules in an effort to pass voting rights legislation.

Driving the news: "I believe the threat to our democracy is so grave that we must find a way to pass the voting rights bill, debate them, vote, let the majority prevail," Biden said in a major speech in Atlanta. "And if that bare minimum is blocked, we have no option but to change the Senate rule, including getting rid of the filibuster for this."

Unvaccinated federal employees will need to submit to weekly COVID testing beginning Feb. 15, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.

Why it matters: More than 90% of the 3.5 million federal workers had received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine ahead of Biden's deadline in November. The new guidance on testing applies to those who have received or applied for exemptions.

Roughly 86% of school board members say they had no Latino colleagues on their board last year, according to a new EdWeek Research Center survey of more than 1,500 school board members.

Why it matters: The small number of Latino school board members highlights the lack of Hispanic political power at local levels even as the number of Latinos in public schools grows.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said Republicans would immediately retaliate if Democrats change the Senate's filibuster rules.

Driving the news: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to colleagues earlier this month that the Senate will debate and vote on changing Senate rules by next Monday if Republicans block a vote on the Freedom to Vote Act.

House Democrats on Tuesday postponed their annual retreat scheduled for Feb. 9 to 11 due to the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, Axios has confirmed.

Driving the news: The decision is based on "guidance from the Office of Attending Physician," Democratic Conference Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to lawmakers, Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman reports. Jeffries added that "the health and safety of the Members, their families and staff is our top priority."

Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) on Tuesday called for lawmakers who repeatedly defy the House chamber mask requirement to be restricted from the House floor.

Why it matters: The demand comes amid a raft of new restrictions in the House aimed at combating the highly infectious Omicron variant, which has caused a surge of coronavirus cases.

The Department of Justice is opening a new unit to investigate acts of domestic terrorism, a top national security official said during a Senate committee hearing Tuesday.

Why it matters: The FBI and Justice Department warned repeatedly last year that the threat of and investigations into acts of domestic terrorism have increased since 2020.

NIAID director Anthony Fauci, in a fiery exchange with Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday, accused the Kentucky senator of "making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain."

Driving the news: "In usual fashion, senator, you are distorting everything about me," Fauci said, responding to repeated attacks by Paul during a hearing before the Senate's health panel on the federal response to COVID-19 variants.

Former President Donald Trump announced guest speakers today for his Saturday rally in Arizona, and most of them share a common trait: they led efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Why this matters: Trump, who remains the most powerful figure in the Republican Party, is making his false claims about the 2020 election the centerpiece of the GOP platform.

The U.S. announced a new contribution of more than $308 million in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan on Tuesday, bringing the total U.S. aid for the country and Afghan refugees to nearly $782 million since October.

Why it matters: Millions of Afghans face a harsh winter and rapidly dwindling food and fuel reserves, and the Taliban, which reclaimed the country in August after the U.S. ended its military presence there, lack resources to respond to the growing humanitarian crisis, according to the Washington Post.

Social distancing and self-quarantining have spiked in recent weeks as Omicron puts the nation in a crouch like last spring before vaccines became widely available, according to the latest installment of the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

The big picture: 36% of vaccinated survey respondents who have tested positive for the virus or think they've had it now say they were infected after being fully vaccinated. That compares with 22% in mid-December, and just 6% last summer.

Former President Trump and the Trump Organization filed a motion Monday for a preliminary injunction against New York Attorney General Letitia James' investigations into the business, accusing her of "unconstitutional" abuse of process.

Why it matters: Trump is seeking a stay in the civil investigation by James' office into the family business while the outcome of his lawsuit against the attorney general is pending or for James to "recuse herself from involvement in any capacity in the active civil and criminal investigation," according to the filing.

A federal judge on Monday challenged former President Donald Trump's claims of "absolute immunity" from three lawsuits related to the U.S. Capitol riot, per Law360.

Why it matters: U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., is for the first time considering Trump's defense that claims against him "directly contravene the absolute immunity conveyed on the President by the Constitution as a key principle of separation of powers."

On the somber sidelines of former Sen. Johnny Isakson's funeral in Georgia last week, Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) discussed a piece of urgent business: the importance of passing election reforms.

Why it matters: The exchange underscores the existential stakes not only the Democratic Party but some of its individual leaders attach to voting rights legislation. The setting was appropriate, given Georgia Republicans have enacted a series of changes that could impact the election efforts of Warnock and other key Democratic candidates.

The House Administration Committee — another key player in the building drive to reform the Electoral Count Act — will call for at least four changes to the century-old legislation in a report being released as early as this week, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Calls to update the act, which dates to 1887 and was the vehicle by which former President Trump hoped to reverse his 2020 election loss, have been a rare area of bipartisan interest in both chambers.

More than a third of House members are prepared to vote remotely this week — a reflection of the deep coronavirus fears coursing throughout the highest level of government, as well as the embrace of proxy voting for other reasons.

Why it matters: Proxy voting was enacted to allow representatives to reduce their risk of contracting the virus, but it has also undercut the convening of the People's House and allowed alternative political activity, including foreign trips and fundraising.

Engineers are working to stabilize a luxury San Francisco apartment building that is tilting about three inches per year, the AP reports.

Why it matters: At the current rate, the 58-story, 419-unit Millennium Tower is on track to reach a 40-inch tilt in a few years, which could render elevators and plumbing unusable, according to AP.

A coalition of Georgia voting and civil rights groups announced Monday they're going to skip President Biden's speech highlighting the issue on Tuesday in Atlanta.

Driving the news: "We’re beyond speeches. We’re beyond events," LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said during a Zoom meeting attended by reporters. "What we are demanding is federal legislation."