In Washington:

• On Wednesday, President Biden told House Democrats that he is willing to compromise on the individual stimulus payments’ income eligibility limits but remained firm on the checks’ size being $1,400. Biden said that backing anything less than $1,400 would mean starting his presidency with a broken promise.  “I am not going to start by breaking a promise to the American people,” he told the caucus.  Under the relief package passed by Congress late last year, individuals making less than $75,000 and couples making less than $150,000 received the full $600 payment.

• The House completed the critical step of adopting the vehicle that would host the Democrats' $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill.  On Monday, the chamber adopted its fiscal 2021 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 11) with instructions to authorizing committees to draft the coronavirus aid package over the next two weeks. The vote was 218-212.  “The time for decisive action is now,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said ahead of the vote. “Americans cannot afford to wait. They can’t afford any further delay.”  

• Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Republicans are prepared with  a “host of amendments” to the budget measure, including provisions on whether “taxpayers should fund checks for illegal immigrants” and whether “Democrats should raise taxes on small businesses.”

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader McConnell have agreed to an organizing resolution for a 50-50 split in the Senate.   The final power-sharing agreement will now allow Democrats to assume control of the committees after weeks of negotiations between two leaders. 

• A Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis says President Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion relief plan would boost the economy by 0.6 percent this year even if most Americans will pocket most of the $1,400 stimulus payment. Penn Wharton estimates that about 73 percent of the money would flow into household savings rather than boost consumption, limiting the proposal’s short-term overall economic benefit.  Still, the aid would provide substantial relief to lower-income households.  The report also concluded that the added debt would be a long-term drag on the economy, amounting to a 0.3 percent cut in economic output by 2040.

• New coronavirus cases in the U.S. have fallen to pre-Thanksgiving levels, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Rochelle Walensky told reporters Wednesday, and infection rates are continuing to decline. Cases have declined since hitting a peak on January 8, dropping to an average of nearly 144,000 per day from January 26 to February 1, Walensky said. Deaths are continuing to increase, but the pace is slowing. Walensky cautioned Americans not to let their guard down, especially as variants that likely have increased transmissibility continue to multiply.

• Reps. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) and Mark Pocan (D-WI) blasted Facebook over anti-vaccine pages it hosts in a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The pair demanded to know why anti-vaccination pages are allowed to spread misinformation on the site, and how the company plans to remove them. The letter comes after anti-vaccine demonstrators shuttered a vaccination site at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles for about an hour on Saturday. In December, Facebook said it would remove misinformation about coronavirus vaccines as vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna were nearing approval.

• CDC Director Rochelle Walensky maintained Wednesday that vaccinating teachers are not required to reopen schools safely, citing data from her agency finding in-person classes safe when paired with other precautions. While Walensky and the administration talk up safe reopening, teachers’ unions and progressives remain skeptical, calling for teachers to be vaccinated first. Congressional Republicans, meanwhile, have urged a quick return to in-person classes. The science on the safety of school reopening remains “in flux,” with evidence not clearly pointing in either direction, as detailed in an Axios summary of recent studies.

In the News:

• According to a new study, the Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine may have the potential to reduce transmission of the virus.  The findings are the first such evidence of a vaccine reducing transmission. “Researchers measured the impact on transmission by swabbing participants every week seeking to detect signs of the virus. They found a 67 percent reduction in positive swabs among those vaccinated."

• World Health Organization (WHO) investigators in Wuhan are set to visit a laboratory today, which has been the focus of conspiracies and speculation about the coronavirus pandemic’s origin.

• Bristol Myers Squibb announced it has reached an agreement to develop Rockefeller University’s novel monoclonal antibody combination to treat Covid-19. The drugmaker secured exclusive rights to manufacture the combination therapy that includes two monoclonal antibodies that neutralize the virus. Rockefeller University launched clinical trials of the treatment in January. Preclinical data suggests the therapies could be effective against emerging variants.

• More than a quarter of colleges are offering in-person components this spring, according to new data published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Smaller institutions are more likely to be in person, as are private four-year colleges. Public universities and community colleges are much more likely to be online. The data show that about 40% of colleges are primarily online this spring. About 200 colleges have delayed the beginning of in-person classes. The frequency and prevalence of testing for the coronavirus is expected to be greater than in the fall semester.