Axios

Delta Air Lines is urging the Department of Justice to put unruly passengers on the federal "no-fly" list so that "individuals who have endangered the safety and security of our people do not go on to do so on another carrier," CEO Ed Bastian wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland Friday.

Why it matters: 2021 saw a sharp increase in unruly airline passengers, many of whom initiated physical attacks on ground workers and flight attendants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday that it will expand a program that detects the coronavirus in wastewater as part of an effort to better track infection trends across the U.S.

Why it matters: Roughly 40-80% of people with COVID-19 shed viral RNA in their feces, according to CDC estimates. That makes wastewater surveillance a critical tool for monitoring the virus' spread.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that former President Trump is "wrong" to claim that Pence could have overturned the results of the 2020 election during the election certification.

Driving the news: "I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election," Pence said while speaking at a conference hosted by the Federalist Society in Florida.

Thousands of teachers across Puerto Rico left school and protested their working conditions and wages on Friday, AP reports.

Driving the news: Schools in San Juan and other cities, including Mayaguez and Aguada, were without teachers as they took to the streets, clapping and banging on pots to demand higher wages.

Michael Avenatti was convicted Friday of charges that he stole nearly $300,000 from porn actor Stormy Daniels, AP reports.

Driving the news: Jurors convicted Avenatti of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for instructing Daniels’s literary agent to send him $300,000 that belonged to Daniels for her book, "Full Disclosure," about an alleged affair with former president Donald Trump.

The Republican National Committee on Friday said those involved the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection were involved in "legitimate political discourse."

Driving the news: The RNC on Friday voted to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for serving on the House Jan. 6 select committee, which the resolution called a "persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."

Much of the institutional GOP worked against Trump in 2016, and much of the heft they believed their endorsements carried evaporated as voters saw in real-time how Donald Trump had little need for them.

The big picture: "You wouldn't know that these groups were paper tigers — unless you ever ran against one of them," one top consultant told Axios' Jonathan Swan and Lachlan Markay.

Congressional staffers formally announced on Friday the start of their "efforts to unionize the offices and committees of the United States Congress."

Driving the news: Both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have indicated they support the staffers' unionization efforts in recent days.

Republican National Committee members on Friday voted to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for serving on the Jan. 6 select committee.

Why it matters: A reported draft of the resolution says the RNC will "cease any and all support" of the two anti-Trump lawmakers.

A Republican-led group of voters on Thursday filed a lawsuit claiming New York's newly drawn congressional maps are unconstitutional.

Driving the news: The lawsuit claims that the new district lines did not follow the state constitution’s process outlining redistricting requirements and therefore "the congressional map is entirely void," according to court filings.

The House on Friday voted 222-210 to pass the COMPETES Act, a bill aimed at making the U.S. more economically competitive with China

The big picture: The White House wants this bill to pass with enough Republican votes in the House and Senate so it can claim it is bipartisan legislation, Axios' Sarah Mucha reports.

Travis and Gregory McMichael, two of the three white men who killed Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020, will stand trial on federal hate crime charges after a judge this week rejected plea agreements.

Why it matters: A federal judge made a rare move this week in rejecting the plea deal that the McMichaels reached with federal prosecutors.

The Biden administration is taking initial steps to meet a tough goal: powering the government with zero-carbon power around the clock.

Driving the news: Yesterday the General Services Administration — the government's landlord — and the Defense Department announced a formal request for information (RFI) to solicit input.

A Senate hearing on Thursday showed intense interest in the Federal Reserve's climate work as Republicans' fear of anti-oil banking policies gives a key nominee a rocky path to confirmation.

Driving the news: Senate Banking Committee Republicans pressed Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden's pick for the Fed's top banking cop, on whether she'd seek to limit credit to fossil fuel industries.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has been laboring to get Republicans on board with the COMPETES Act but those efforts are meeting with resistance in the House.

Why it matters: The Republican opposition is forcing the White House to rely on Democrats in House, but officials are optimistic that bipartisanship will prevail in the Senate when two China competitiveness bills are merged.

President Biden plans to maintain former President Trump's tariffs on solar cells and panels, but loosen some restrictions on importing supplies from Asia to help combat climate change, according to people familiar with the matter.

Driving the news: Biden will issue a proclamation on Friday morning to extend the so-called Section 201 tariffs, due to expire Sunday, for another four years, an administration official said.

Americans' concerns about the Chinese government's human rights abuses, surveillance and international competitiveness — and fears of another COVID-19 outbreak — are driving down enthusiasm about this year's Winter Olympics, according to a new Axios-Momentive poll.

The big picture: Seven in 10 survey respondents disapprove of allowing China to host these Olympics — but half plan to tune in anyhow.

A Republican National Committee panel advanced a resolution on Thursday to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for their roles with the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot, Politico first reported.

Why it matters: If the RNC were to censure two of its own when the 168 committee members vote on it at the winter meeting in Salt Lake City on Friday, as expected, it would mark a major escalation in the push to oust from the GOP Republicans seen as disloyal to former President Trump.

Democrats have drawn themselves aggressive maps in Illinois and New York as part of their efforts to overcome perceived Republican redistricting strengths this midterm year.

• They've also been in position to veto some GOP maps and win court challenges to Republican districts.

Why it matters: The wins are adding up, with Democrats now set to potentially gain two to three seats through redistricting.

The U.S. government is deploying a novel strategy to preempt Russian disinformation, publicly accusing the country of specific plots to fabricate a pretext for invading Ukraine.

Why it matters: The statements, made twice during the past three weeks, reflect lessons learned from the Obama administration's handling of Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea. That involved many of the same players now serving in senior roles under President Biden.

Twenty-eight states currently have at least one Black member of Congress representing them, with New York having more than any other state, according to data from the House Office of the Historian.

Why it matters: The data provides insight into how long it has taken for Black Americans to be fairly represented in the halls of Congress, news coming as the nation marks Black History Month.

Some Trump-to-Biden swing voters are reflexively opposed to U.S. military involvement in Ukraine, even if Russia invades.

Why it matters: This key takeaway from Axios' latest Engagious/Schlesinger focus groups comes as President Biden deploys the first major group of U.S. troops to shore up NATO defenses in Eastern Europe in response to Russia's buildup on the border.