McConnell Vows to Hold ‘Painstaking Investigation and Thorough Review’ After US Capitol Breach
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday announced that there would be a review of security protocols after a group of protestors stormed into the U.S. Capitol disrupting Congress’s joint session on Wednesday.
“Yesterday represented a massive failure of institutions, protocols, and planning that are supposed to protect the first branch of our federal government,” McConnell said in a statement. “A painstaking investigation and thorough review must now take place and significant changes must follow.”
He added that initial bipartisan discussions have commenced in congressional committees of oversight and congressional leadership.
Biden inauguration plans nationwide memorial for COVID-19 victims
December 31, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden s inaugural committee is planning a nationwide memorial for those lost to COVID-19. The Presidential Inauguration Committee on Thursday said that before his swearing-in, Biden on Jan. 19 will lead a memorial for the Americans who have died during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. COVID-19 death toll has surpassed 340,000. PIC is inviting cities and towns around the country to join Washington, D.C., in illuminating buildings and ringing church bells at 5:30 p.m. ET in a national moment of unity and remembrance,
the committee said. In Washington, D.C., a memorial ceremony will include lights around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which will be the first time lighting around the Reflecting Pool has memorialized American lives lost,
New jobless claims unexpectedly decline for 2nd week in a row
December 31, 2020
The number of Americans filing new jobless claims has again declined unexpectedly while remaining historically high. The Labor Department on Thursday said 787,000 Americans filed new jobless claims last week, down 19,000 from the revised level of the week before. This was the second consecutive week that the number of new jobless claims declined unexpectedly, as economists were anticipating the number of claims would climb to 828,000.
Bloomberg notes, however, that the figures are often volatile around holidays. Last week, the Labor Department reported 803,000 new jobless claims, down from 892,000 the previous week. Still, both numbers remain higher than the record number of weekly claims prior to the coronavirus pandemic, 695,000, and the latest number of claims is still almost four times higher than at this point a year ago.