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House Republicans, conducting their own investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection, plan to accuse the Capitol security apparatus of "negligence at the highest levels," Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) tells Axios.

Why it matters: By placing blame on the building's top security officials, this shadow investigation gives the GOP an alternative frame for discussing the 2021 Capitol assault.

Banks told us the GOP investigators — who consist of exiles denied seats on the formal Jan. 6 committee, controlled by Democratic leaders — have "absolutely" uncovered new information.

The group plans to issue a report, including legislative recommendations, before this fall's midterms.

Reality check: The strength of security surrounding the Capitol building had been enough to protect it from assault since the British burned it in 1814.

That period encompassed the Civil War, the civil rights and Vietnam protests, as well as the disputed 2000 presidential election.

The only time it was breached, and the Confederate flag carried through its corridors, was after President Trump encouraged a crowd on the Ellipse to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

State of play: The information the group has gathered will determine what aspects of the Capitol assault warrant further scrutiny from a potential Republican majority, a source familiar with the probe told Axios.

They lack a key investigatory tool right now as the minority party in Congress: subpoena power.

Be smart: Trump isn't waiting for the report.

"If Nancy Pelosi does her job on security, there is no 'January 6,'" he said in a Feb. 4 statement.

He called the bipartisan select committee "nothing but a cover-up for Pelosi’s failure to act and Biden’s failed administration."

The big picture: The Jan. 6 committee has been seeking information about contacts with and around Trump leading up to and on the day of the riot.

It's sifting through troves of National Archives records, text messages and testimony from Trump associates and staff, as well as more than a dozen people who led groups of "alternate electors" for him.

The select committee is led by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

It includes two Republican members of the House, Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).

Their participation has so infuriated Trump that members of the Republican National Committee voted on Friday to censure them.

How we got here: Last July, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy sought to place Banks and Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and Troy Nehls (R-Texas) on the select committee.

McCarthy withdrew those appointments after Pelosi refused to seat Banks and Jordan, saying: "We will run our own investigation."

And so they have, devoid of the funding, permanent staff and other resources afforded the select committee.

Members have met between committee work and other official business, they said.

Without subpoena power, their interviews have been voluntary. Many have been limited to Capitol Police officers and officials, a source said.

They’ve been focused on what members say are failures by Capitol Police leadership, as well as the ongoing need for security improvements.

Context: A bipartisan Senate report last year concluded federal agencies and the Capitol Police failed to properly act upon intelligence pointing to violence on Jan. 6.

That, they said, left law enforcement unprepared for the deadly assault.

It remains to be seen what the GOP group's report will add to those findings.

Nehls told Axios he expects the report to include information not previously made public.

Davis told Axios the group has sought to determine "if decisions were made in a political sense, rather than a security sense."

Among the lingering criticism is that Pelosi and other Democrats didn't want a heavy law enforcement presence outside the Capitol after the scenes outside the White House following George Floyd's murder the prior May.

Editor's note: Updates to add that committee interviews have also included police officials, as well as officers.

GOP’s shadow Jan. 6 committee targets Capitol Police “negligence”

Photo illustration of the Capitol Dome surrounded by Representatives Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) and Troy Nehls (R-Texas) 

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photos: Kevin Dietsch, Anna Moneymaker, Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Eric Thayer/Bloomberg, Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Jan. 6

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President Biden is considering Stephen Robert, a former Wall Street executive with close ties to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to become U.S. ambassador to Italy, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The president has struggled with and waited to fill the post — despite the desirability of living in Rome. The ambassadorial residence, Villa Taverna, boasts a pool, private gardens and a three-story wine cellar, nestled in the catacombs below.

Democratic donors and diplomats had speculated the president was keeping the position open for Pelosi, if the Italian American decided not to run for re-election.

Her recent public announcement that she plans to run for an 18th full term this fall — and, now, the potential nomination of her ally — douses that thinking.

The intrigue: The speaker has pressed the White House to nominate Robert and signaled he's a priority for her.

A White House official said a final decision isn’t close to being made.

Between the lines: Robert, 80, was chairman and CEO of Oppenheimer & Co., a New York investment firm.

He also served as chancellor of Brown University from 1998-2007.

He's married to Pilar Crespi Robert, who's worked in the Italian fashion industry. She's the daughter of the late Count Rodolfo Crespi, an Italian Brazilian public relations specialist and journalist.

Together, they run the Source of Hope Organization, a charity focused on the developing world.

The big picture: More than a year into his presidency, Biden has yet to nominate ambassadors to some important countries.

Beyond Italy, they include the Republic of Korea — South Korea.

While some of his nominees were held up in the Senate, the president has been slow to announce his picks.

Many ambassadors are only arriving in their posts after the Senate confirmed more than 30 of them before the Christmas congressional recess.

Biden — a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — has sought to balance political and professional aspirations.

He's aimed to pair his nominations of donors and other political nominees with appointments for career civil servants.

In the end, the president will likely draw from the professional diplomatic ranks for about 70% of his foreign envoys.

Of note: Robert has given over $500,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Pelosi's leadership PAC, according to FEC reports.

He doesn't appear to be a major Biden donor.

Biden pegs Pelosi ally for Italy ambassador

The president has struggled with and waited to fill the post — despite the desirability of living in Rome.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seen during a news conference.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Photo: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Nancy Pelosi

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Long COVID is likely keeping a lot of Americans out of the workforce, experts say, — and that could continue for years as people struggle with persistent health problems.

The big picture: Long COVID isn't confined to older patients, and its symptoms can vary. The U.S. also doesn't have particularly strong support systems for people who need long-term COVID treatment.

1.6 million workers could be missing from the labor market right now because of long COVID, accounting for upwards of 15% of unfilled jobs, according to an estimate from Katie Bach, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

This makes every aspect of the labor shortage "more severe," she told Axios.

Details: Studies have estimated long COVID prevalence falls anywhere from 5% to 60% of COVID cases. Splitting the difference at 30%, more than 22 million Americans may be suffering from long COVID symptoms, according to the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

"Many of the patients we're seeing are in the 40-year-old range. They're people who are still working ... and then they got COVID," Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, director of the COVID Recovery Clinic at University Health in Texas, told Axios.

Researchers still don't understand what causes long COVID, and Verduzco-Gutierrez said she's seen a wide range of symptoms. Some patients had strokes, some required amputation, some developed asthma, and others developed POTS, which causes the heart rate to rise every time they stand up, she said. 

Patients have said "their COVID-related fatigue was 100 times worse than when they had cancer and were going through chemotherapy," Verduzco-Gutierrez said. 

She'll testify before a House subcommittee today about the debilitating impacts of long COVID. She's also calling for higher reimbursement to cover COVID clinic services and funding to improve the health care workforce's capacity to respond.

Between the lines: With the complexity of long COVID, there are typically several medical disciplines involved in treating these patients.

"We need Congress to be able to support these clinics and the workforce capacity for these clinics," Verduzco-Gutierrez said.

Not all doctors recognize the severity or unpredictable nature of the condition, 32-year-old long COVID patient Charlie McCone told CBS News. He said he's suffered debilitating symptoms, such as fatigue, for a year and a half and was originally denied disability. 

"It's critical we start measuring this pandemic not just in hospitalizations and deaths, but in disability," McCone said. "Because it's going to have an enormous impact on the workforce and already is." 

Editor's note: This story originally published on Feb. 3. 

Long COVID is contributing to America's labor shortage

Long COVID could be playing a big role our workforce shortage issue.

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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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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

<span style="color: #15a0ff">Health care</span> vs. <span style="color: #df954b;">economy-wide</span> inflation

Data: Altarum; Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios

Economy-wide inflation has outpaced health care inflation by a wide margin since last April, but Americans should expect health care prices to rise more soon.

The big picture: Companies can raise the prices of food, furniture and other commodities immediately. That's not how it works in health care, where prices are set by government programs or negotiated with private insurers in advance and are reflected in economic data later.

The state of play: Consumer prices are increasing faster than at any other point in the past 40 years.

Health care inflation, meanwhile, has hovered between 2–3% since the pandemic started. 

More, cheap generic drugs have kept medical inflation in check, whereas hospital and doctor services have driven a majority of the higher prices.

Health care inflation trended higher than general inflation in 2020 due to things like federal subsidies and higher Medicare payments for COVID hospitalizations.

Between the lines: The things that are driving current inflation — labor shortages, supply chain problems and a golden opportunity for companies to boost profits — also exist in health care.

That's especially true for labor, as workers are burned out and calling in sick. Hospitals and other providers consequently have had to pay higher base wages and higher rates for travel nurses and other temporary staff. 

What to watch: Medicare will release initial payment rates for 2023 in the spring and summer, and more importantly, some hospitals are signaling they will add higher costs and wages during their next round of negotiations with insurers.

"To be candid, that would not surprise me at all," Jennifer Mitzner, CFO of Baylor Scott & White Health in Texas, said at this year's JPMorgan Healthcare Conference when asked about inflation in rate negotiations. "I would imagine that's a conversation that's happening nationally."

These provider price hikes, along with the expectation that people will continue to get more care that was deferred during the pandemic, will likely lead to insurers raising premiums for 2023.

Yes, but: Don't expect future health care inflation rates to approach today's current rates, independent health care analyst Paul Hughes-Cromwick said.

The labor shortages are real, but hospitals and other providers also are under pressure to keep their already high costs under control.

Worth reminding: "There's a difference between price growth and price levels," said Corey Rhyan, a health economics analyst at nonprofit think tank Altarum. 

Relatively lower inflation now or in the future does not mean health care prices "are necessarily low or reasonable," he said.

Editor's note: This story originally published on Feb. 2. 

Why inflation hasn't hit health care the same way

It's important to understand how health care prices are set.

Inflation

Health care costs

Labor Market

Science

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Cancer treatments that modify a patient's immune cells to attack cancer cells are being re-engineered to try to treat more cancers in more people.

Why it matters: CAR-T immunotherapies have been successful in treating certain types of blood cancers in some people. But they struggle against solid tumors, which make up about 90% of cancers in adults.

"Solid tumors are the next frontier," says J. Joseph Melenhorst, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania who develops CAR-T therapies. 

How it works: CAR-T cells are made by collecting a patient's T cells — one actor in the immune system — and reprogramming a receptor on the T cell surface to bind an antigen found on the surface of cancer cells.

Those reprogrammed cells are then put back into the patient, where they can attack the cancer cell. 

CAR-T therapies are approved by the FDA to treat some blood cancers and multiple myeloma.

They've been successful in treating those cancers in some people, even those with advanced disease, but not all, and they are expensive and can have side effects, including releasing cytokines in the blood and affecting the nervous system.

The challenges: Solid tumors — including breast, prostate or lung cancers — are "almost impenetrable" for immune cells, Melenhorst says.

The T cells used in therapies need to enter the tumor's microenvironment — a hostile arrangement of blood vessels, proteins, and immune and other cells that surround a tumor, interact with it and influence its fate — to access the cancer cells.

Another challenge: solid tumor cancers can spread in the body and be difficult for T cells to find.  

And T cells can also become exhausted if they are exposed to the antigen they are targeting for prolonged times.

Both solid tumor and blood cancers can reemerge if cancer cells stop making the antigens on their surface that CAR-T cells target, allowing them to evade the attacking immune cells.

What's new: Scientists are experimenting with designing new CAR-T cells and therapies to find, attack and continuously surveil solid tumor cancers.

T cells are being engineered to target multiple antigens on a cancer in an effort to make it more difficult for cancer cells to escape and for cancers to return. In one study of a small group of patients with B-cell lymphoma, a blood cancer, the approach has shown early promising results.

But most of the antigen targets on solid tumors are also on types of healthy cells people can't live without, which poses safety concerns for patients.

A key aim for new CAR-T therapies is to be able to tailor their specificity.

"How to find an antigen that you can both safely target and use to effectively eliminate the tumor is a very challenging question," says Yvonne Chen, a scientist at UCLA who designs CAR-T cells. 

She and other researchers are exploring designing T cells that target cancer cells using an approach similar to logic gates in computing. 

CAR-T cells can be engineered to only attack a cell if it has one antigen but not another, making it more specific. But if it is too specific, cells of some types of cancer can slip by, prompting researchers to try to also program T cells to attack a cell that has one antigen or another one.

The best strategy then depends on the cancer in question, Chen says.

Between the lines: Finding and entering cancer cells that may have spread to different corners of the body can also be a problem for CAR-T cells, in part because tumors have their own defenses. 

It's especially challenging to access "cold" tumors that box out immune actors like T cells that CAR-T therapies use. 

Researchers at City of Hope used a virus that infects cancer cells to enter the cells in mice and get them to make an antigen recognized by CAR-T cells. Other strategies suppress, redirect, or otherwise modify the cells and cues of a tumor's defense system so the T cells can attack.

As CAR-T cells are being developed and tested, there's a need to monitor where they go in patients. Researchers this week described a technique that uses nanoparticles to track the engineered cells and whether they can find tumors.

The bottom line: "Immunotherapy has promise for solid tumors, but there is a need for a lot more research to make solid cancers respond like blood cancers do," Carl June, an immunologist and oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania who led the early development of CAR-T therapy, said at a press conference this week.

Go deeper: 2 cancer patients "cured" after immunotherapy treatment

The “next frontier” for pioneering cancer therapies

CAR-T therapies struggle to attack solid tumor cancers.

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At the moment the late Sen. John McCain green-lit Sarah Palin as his presidential running mate in 2008, he told top advisers: "F--- it. Let’s do it."

The intrigue: McCain balled up a fist and shook it as if rolling dice, N.Y. Times political reporter Jeremy W. Peters reveals in his forthcoming book, "Insurgency: How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted."

The conversation in August 2008 — which took place outside, at the water's edge near a hawk's nest on McCain's ranch in Sedona, Arizona — was confirmed for Axios by a top McCain source.

Why it matters: The incident gives new vividness to how impulsively McCain made a fateful decision that badly diminished him in his race against then-Sen. Barack Obama. 

Here's how Peters tells the story in his book (out Tuesday from Crown), which traces the Trumpification of the Grand Old Party over a three-decade arc, stretching back to Pat Buchanan in 1992: 

"Mark Salter, a longtime aide to McCain, cautioned him that voters could see a Palin pick as discordant with the message of readiness and experience that the campaign had been focusing on as a contrast with Obama, a forty-seven-year-old first-term senator. 'There’s worse things, John, than losing an election. You could lose your reputation,' Salter told him."

Steve Schmidt, a top campaign strategist often blamed for pushing Palin, "also thought Palin was a risk but said maybe it was one worth taking," Peters writes: 

[Schmidt] told McCain he should consider whether it would be worth it if he chose Palin and lost, but also knew in the end that he’d lost because he did something bold. "What you’ve got to decide," Schmidt told the senator, "is would you rather lose by seven going for it?" 

McCain turned to his wife, Cindy. "John, it's a gamble," she said. 

This made McCain's face light up. "Well, I wish you hadn’t said that," he said. McCain, an avid craps player, balled up his fist and blew on it, then shook it like he was about to roll a pair of dice. "F--- it," he said. "Let's do it." 

Between the lines: Schmidt thought that to have a chance at winning, McCain needed to be ahead coming out of the September convention.

Schmidt couldn't see that happening with either of the other finalists — Mitt Romney or Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Read a Times adaptation from "Insurgency": "The Fox News That Donald Trump Helped Build" (subscription).

McCain when he picked Palin: "F--- it!"

The incident gives new vividness to how impulsively McCain made the fateful decision.

Sarah Palin and Sen. John McCain at a rally in Hershey, Pa., on Oct. 28, 2008. Photo: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

John McCain

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The nation's first stretch of road to wirelessly charge electric vehicles while they're in motion will begin testing next year in Detroit.

Why it matters: "Electrified" roadways, which have wireless charging infrastructure under the asphalt, could keep EVs operating around the clock, with unlimited range — a big deal for transit buses, delivery vans, long-haul trucks and even future robotaxis. 

In-road charging could also help pave the way for more widespread EV adoption by relieving consumers of the need to stop and plug in their cars.

Driving the news: Electreon Wireless, an Israeli company whose plug-free charging infrastructure is already being tested in Europe, will deploy its first U.S. pilot in Detroit's Michigan Central district, a new mobility innovation hub near downtown. 

The electrified road, up to a mile long, would allow EVs to charge whether they're stopped or moving, and should be ready for testing in 2023.

The state will contribute $1.9 million toward the project, which will also be supported by Ford Motor, DTE Energy and the city of Detroit. 

The big picture: Wireless EV charging is expected to grow to $827 million worldwide by 2027, says Meticulous Research. 

Most of that growth will be for "static" wireless charging systems in places like parking garages, taxi stands, and bus or truck depots.

Major U.S. players include WiTricity, WAVE, Momentum Wireless Power, Mojo Mobility, HEVO and Plugless Power, per the research firm.

Electreon claims leadership in the market for "dynamic" wireless charging — systems that allow vehicles to suck up juice while in motion.

It has ongoing pilots in Germany, Italy and Sweden, and will soon launch a plug-free charging network for 200 public buses in Tel Aviv. 

How it works: Wireless EV charging systems use magnetic frequency to transfer power from coils buried underground to a receiver pad attached to the car's underbelly.

An EV can pull into a designated parking place with an underground charging pad and add electricity the same way a smartphone charges wirelessly. 

Along an electrified road, vehicles with wireless charging capability can suck up energy as they drive, but for all other cars, it's an ordinary road. 

Between the lines: Wireless, or inductive, charging has multiple benefits over traditional EV plugs. 

Vehicles that charge on the go can use smaller, cheaper batteries.

They also don't need to be taken out of service for charging. More uptime means more revenue for fleet owners and better customer service for transit agencies.

A taxi waiting at the train station, for example, can add 10 minutes of charging without having to plug in. Buses can also top off their battery at the depot while loading passengers. 

And wireless charging is ideal for autonomous vehicles, which don't have a driver to plug a traditional charging cable into the car's socket. 

Yes, but: Wireless charging can add $3,000 to $4,000 to an already pricey EV, notes Meticulous Research.

Electreon, which is working with carmakers to add receivers to their vehicles, aims to get the cost down to $1,000 or $1,500, Stefan Tongur, Electreon's vice president of business development, tells Axios. 

Users would likely access the feature through a monthly subscription, he noted. 

Where it stands: President Biden is calling for 500,000 new public charging stations by the end of 2030, and Congress allocated $7.5 billion for EV charging in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package passed last November. 

 "What a great time to come to the U.S. and show there’s an alternative — a  smarter, faster charging system that takes us to where we need to be," says Tongur.

A roadway will charge your EV while you're driving

Vehicles with wireless charging could drive non-stop, with unlimited range

Electric vehicles

Breaking climate science and policy coverage as extreme weather events reshape communities. Keep tabs on the race to a low carbon economy, which may be bumpy as governments, climate tech startups and major oil and gas companies race to find their niche amid the changing energy landscape.

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State Of The Union With Jake Tapper And Dana Bash-9 19 17 Am - 9 24 42 Am-2022-02-06

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Sunday endorsed the re-election campaign of his Republican colleague Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Why it matters: Murkowski is one of seven Republicans who voted to convict former President Trump in his second impeachment trial, leading Trump to lambast her as "disloyal" and endorse her opponent.

What they're saying: "I'm endorsing my dear friend Lisa Murkowski. Alaska could only be so lucky to have her continue to serve them," Manchin said on CNN's "State of the Union."

"She knows I feel that way too, very strongly," he added after Murkowski thanked him.

Manchin endorses Murkowski's re-election bid

"Alaska could only be so lucky to have her continue to serve them," the Democrat said.

Axios

Sunday's top stories

GOP’s shadow Jan. 6 committee targets Capitol Police “negligence”

Biden pegs Pelosi ally for Italy ambassador

Long COVID is contributing to America's labor shortage

Why inflation hasn't hit health care the same way

The “next frontier” for pioneering cancer therapies

McCain when he picked Palin: "F--- it!"

A roadway will charge your EV while you're driving

Manchin endorses Murkowski's re-election bid

How the NFL's Rooney Rule failed minority coaches

Over 1 million years of life lost to drug overdoses

Winter Olympics opening ceremony viewership down 43% from 2018

There are hardly any houses left to buy