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National

Space

Axios Space

The United Arab Emirates' Hope spacecraft launched Sunday on a journey to Mars. 

Why it matters: This mission, which launched on an H2-A rocket from Japan, marks the UAE's first mission to Mars. It kicks off the first of three missions to the Red Planet this summer, with China and the U.S. to follow in the coming weeks.

Details: The Hope probe is designed to orbit Mars and gather data about the world's weather from above, filling in gaps in scientific knowledge left by previous missions.

The probe's instruments will be able to track the day-to-night cycle of the planet's weather on a global scale. 

The UAE sees this homegrown mission as a way of fostering scientific and technical expertise in the country and in the Middle East as a whole.

Hope will now fly through space until it reaches its orbit around Mars in about seven months.

Background: The Hope probe isn't the UAE's first foray into space, and it isn't the end of its ambitions. 

In 2019, the first Emirati astronaut, Hazzaa Al Mansoori, launched on a mission to the International Space Station. 

The UAE is also expected to launch a mission to the Moon in 2022. 

The big picture: Space has become a marker of geopolitical status in recent years. Smaller nations have been able to send their own satellites to orbit due to lowered launch and development costs. 

But even so, Mars missions are usually reserved for only those space agencies with the most resources and support. 

The Hope mission — if it successfully orbits Mars — vaults the UAE into that small, elite club. 

UAE launches its first mission to Mars

China and the U.S. are to launch Mars missions in the coming weeks.

Mars as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope

Mars seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Photo: NASA/ESA/STScI

Science

Future

Energy

World

News and analysis of the scientific advances fueling AI and quantum computing, revolutionizing biology and medicine, and tackling climate change. Science is changing the world and colliding with the global politics that shape it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to release his phase four legislation this week — more than two months after House Democrats unveiled their $3 trillion plan. McConnell's will be far more narrow in scope and include a roughly $1 trillion price tag, sources familiar with the bill tell Axios.

Why it matters: Several states, including some key to President Trump's re-election strategy, say more help is needed as new coronavirus cases are forcing them to shutter their economies again or at least slow their reopenings.

The Senate GOP bill's release will officially kick off bipartisan negotiations between Congress and the White House on the next round of coronavirus funding.

But time is running short. The House is scheduled to break on July 31, and the Senate is scheduled to break on Aug. 7.

Sources familiar with McConnell's forthcoming measure tell us the proposal will include:

A heavy emphasis on education, giving schools increased funds to help prepare for fall reopenings. 

Widespread liability protection, including for restaurants, hotels, hospitals, universities and school districts. (Many Democrats are strongly opposed to this, but McConnell has said this is a red line).

Increased funding for COVID-19 testing and vaccine research and development. The bill is also likely to include a tax credit for vaccine R&D.

Extension of the Paycheck Protection Program. Republicans will propose that the $134 billion left in the previous program’s coffers be reappropriated for phase four. Small business' revenue loss will be a key parameter for eligibility, one source said. 

A payroll tax cut “is having a renaissance moment,” another source said, who says to expect something on that given Trump's insistence it be included.

There will not be additional money for state and local governments. But Republicans want to ease previous guidelines for how states can spend the leftover money appropriated in the CARES Act to ensure money gets to smaller localities. 

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sees that as "an absolute must-have," one of the sources said.

Worth noting: The final bill still hasn't been written, and the details and dollar amounts are still being debated.

What's next: McConnell will brief the Republican conference on Tuesday then roll it out publicly later this week.

The House and Senate would then have a short window to hash out a compromise bill before they break for the August recess. 

COVID-19 legislation will also compete with other big priorities, including the National Defense Authorization Act and a series of appropriations bills.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer tells Axios: "I've told members not to schedule anything for the first week in August, even though we're not scheduled to be in. We're going to be in as long as it takes us to get something done."

Between the lines: Republicans have been asserting for months that the government must evaluate the economic impact of reopening the country before passing another large stimulus bill, and many had privately hoped that a phase four bill would be more of a longer-term stimulus than emergency relief.

But as one Senate Republican aide put it: "We still need to do surgery to stop the bleeding."

Says Hoyer: "The crisis is still with us. Almost every economist tells us if you don't respond, it's going to cost you more in the long run."

The big picture: Unlike in the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak, the latest economic bill comes as rural, red states — like Texas, Arizona and Florida, are being hit the hardest. 

These states are seen as battlegrounds for Trump in November.

Inside McConnell's coronavirus relief bill

His plan comes more than two months after House Democrats unveiled their $3 trillion plan.

Politics

Mitch McConnell

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Policymaking

Coronavirus

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Top stories & latest news on the Federal Reserve, real-time data, plus the biggest shifts happening in the U.S. and global economy.

Economy

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

The U.S. health system faces critical questions about cost, access and equity. Technological advances and new discoveries about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s are transforming patient care and reshaping public health.

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Hill Leaders

Axios Hill Leaders

Media Trends

Axios Media Trends

Data: Advertising Analytics; Note: Spending is for the weeks of July 7 to July 28, data as of July 15; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Joe Biden is outspending President Trump this month with big TV ad buys in traditional swing states, as Trump focuses on digital ads to shore up his base in what should be Republican strongholds

By the numbers: Biden and affiliated Democrats have outspent Republicans by $4 million in Michigan, $3.5 million in Pennsylvania, $2 million in Arizona and $700,000 in Wisconsin, according to data provided to Axios by Advertising Analytics through July 28. 

Trump is widely outspending Biden, albeit on a smaller scale, on digital — most notably in Texas (which last voted for a Democratic president in 1976) and Georgia (where Trump won handily in 2016).

Why it matters: The president's allies once boasted of his prospects to expand the 2020 map into places like Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire and New Mexico.

Trump's handling of the coronavirus and race relations has weakened him nationally, and polls arguably give Biden the rationale to stretch the map for his own party.

The big picture: At least right now, neither candidate is pursuing a particularly aggressive offensive strategy.

Biden is playing it safe, focused on nailing down the places where Trump beat Hillary Clinton by a hair, rather than swinging for the fences. 

Meanwhile, Trump's spending suggests a defensive crouch that aims to hold the base and keep Biden voters home rather than win new converts.

Yes, but: Biden's play-it-safe strategy could change dramatically in the fall, but the campaign is holding its cards close to its chest. 

While Republicans have already booked $145 million in post-Labor Day TV ads in 11 states, the Biden campaign has yet to place its autumn buys — an approach that avoids telegraphing its strategy, but at some cost.

The bottom line: Biden is reinforcing a single public message in traditional battleground states — that Trump isn't fit to lead. Trump is broadcasting on different frequencies, with diffuse messages. 

An analysis of this month's spending shows Biden and allied Democratic groups are focusing on broad, anti-Trump TV attack ads in key battleground states.

Most of Biden's messaging has focused on Trump's lack of leadership. He's offering a contrast and pledging to bring the country together. 

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign continues to play by its own rules, targeting vigilant supporters online with divisive topics like criminal justice reform, immigration and fake news.

Data: Bully Pulpit Interactive; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

What's next: A three-week snapshot before the nominating conventions may offer important clues on the campaign's geographical theories of the race, but it doesn't necessarily predict where the campaigns will fight it out after Labor Day. 

Trump appears to be using Facebook buys to do some management now, biding his time on big TV buys until he can see where the numbers are moving on the economy and COVID-19. 

Trump's strategy may change after independent expenditure campaigns spend the summer softening up Biden.

Biden's current strategy is aimed at a win, not a landslide.

Biden's summer ad strategy: Outspend Trump but play it safe

Trump is playing digital defense in what should be Republican strongholds.

Campaign advertising

Media

2020 election

Joe Biden

President Trump and top White House officials are privately considering a controversial strategy to act without legal authority to enact new federal policies — starting with immigration, administration officials tell Axios. 

Between the lines: The White House thinking is being heavily influenced by John Yoo, the lawyer who wrote the Bush administration's justification for waterboarding after 9/11.

Yoo detailed the theory in a National Review article, spotted atop Trump’s desk in the Oval Office, which argues that the Supreme Court's 5-4 DACA ruling last month "makes it easy for presidents to violate the law."

The president has brought up the article with key advisers, two Trump administration officials tell Axios. 

Yoo writes that the ruling, and actions by President Obama, pave the way for Trump to implement policies that Congress won't.

Some could remain in force for years even if he loses re-election.

Yoo — who next week will be out with a new book, "Defender in Chief," on Trump's use of presidential power — tells Axios that he has met virtually with White House officials about the implications of the ruling.

What's next: The first test could come imminently. Trump has said he is about to unveil a "very major" immigration policy via executive order, which he says the Supreme Court gave him the power to do.

The order could include some protections for immigrants who traveled to the U.S. illegally as children, something most Americans support. 

That could be a political olive branch to Latino voters, though the Trump administration moved to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which led to the Supreme Court's involvement.

The order could also include significant new restrictions on immigration that couldn't get through Congress but are favored by the president, Jared Kushner and hardline adviser Stephen Miller.

Driving the news: Yoo told Axios that Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion "sets out a roadmap about how a president can use his prosecutorial discretion to under-enforce the law."

The recourse would be if the next president tries to reverse what's set in motion.

"Suppose President Donald Trump decided to create a nationwide right to carry guns openly," Yoo writes in his National Review op-ed. "He could declare that he would not enforce federal firearms laws, and that a new 'Trump permit' would free any holder of state and local gun-control restrictions."

"Even if Trump knew that his scheme lacked legal authority, he could get away with it for the length of his presidency. And, moreover, even if courts declared the permit illegal, his successor would have to keep enforcing the program for another year or two."

Reality check: This is a somewhat strained reading of both procedural history and the law, according to Axios’ Sam Baker. The Supreme Court has never ruled either way on DACA’s legality.

But the Supreme Court wouldn’t be able to decide the merits of anything Trump does before the election.

Two administration officials told Axios that although the president has shown an interest in Yoo's thinking, the White House wouldn't rely solely on that.

Scoop: Trump's license to skirt the law

Lawyer John Yoo believes the ruling paves the way for Trump to implement policies that Congress won't.

Axios

Sunday's top stories

UAE launches its first mission to Mars

Inside McConnell's coronavirus relief bill

Biden's summer ad strategy: Outspend Trump but play it safe

Scoop: Trump's license to skirt the law

House Democrats call for IG probe into use of federal agents in Portland

Florida Rep. Donna Shalala: "I'm terrified for the first time in my career"

Jim Clyburn calls for Congress to pass John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of 2020

Portland mayor accuses federal agents of violating civil rights

Trump declines to say he'll accept results of election: "I have to see"

Chris Wallace fact-checks Trump on U.S. coronavirus mortality rate

Chinese ambassador struggles to explain Xinjiang footage of blindfolded prisoners

Europe's lessons on reopening schools

Biden leads Trump by 15 points in new poll as coronavirus cases spike