Biden says his economic plan is working but urges additional ‘generational investments’

Senate Democrats lined up alongside Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.), one of their least-favorite Republicans, to support a measure urging the Biden administration to declassify intelligence on whether the novel coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab. A Democratic-led House subcommittee is pledging an investigation into the virus’s origins, including the lab’s safety record.

And President Biden, in an usual public statement, directed U.S. intelligence agencies to “redouble their efforts” to determine the cause of the pandemic, suggesting that while the virus could have jumped from animals to humans, it also could have escaped from the lab.

Vice President Harris met Thursday with chief executives from 12 companies and organizations that have committed to investing in Central America, part of diplomatic efforts Harris is leading to address the root causes of migration from the “Northern Triangle” countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Harris opened by stressing that “nobody wants to leave their grandmother” and that private businesses had “a very significant role to play in creating jobs and promoting economic opportunity and creating long-term development” in the region so that people would have more reasons to stay.

A majority of Americans believe the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol — in which supporters of President Donald Trump overran the complex in a violent and deadly siege — was an attack on democracy, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

Of those surveyed, 55 percent said they believed the storming of the Capitol was “an attack on democracy that should never be forgotten,” while 39 percent said that “too much is being made” of the events of Jan. 6 and that it was “time to move on.”

A key Senate Republican on Thursday issued a critical review of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s handling of the coronavirus, faulting “mistakes” at the agency for setting back the nation’s response to the pandemic.

“Structural and cultural reforms at CDC are needed to ensure the organization is modern, nimble, mission-focused, and able to leverage cutting-edge science so that the United States is better prepared for the next threat that will come our way,” Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, wrote in a five-page brief shared with The Washington Post.

Former House speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is expected to offer a veiled criticism of President Donald Trump in a speech Thursday night in which he will urge the Republican Party not to rely on the “appeal of one personality.”

But Ryan, according to excerpts of his prepared remarks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., will not explicitly name Trump in this critique. When Ryan does name Trump, it is to praise him for advancing “practical conservative policy.”

In remarks in Ohio on Thursday afternoon, Biden chided Republicans who have boasted about some parts of the coronavirus relief package to voters in their districts — despite having voted against the measure.

Every Republican in Congress opposed the $1.3 trillion stimulus package when it passed the House and the Senate in March. Yet in the months since its passage, some Republican lawmakers have touted its benefits.

A new bill from congressional Democrats would allow college athletes to unionize, making it possible for students from across universities to band together to form unions within athletic conferences.

The bill from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) would rewrite federal labor law to define all college athletes receiving scholarships and other pay as employees of both public and private universities, in what would be a significant reimagining of the college sports landscape.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Thursday released a rare statement assessing its ongoing work investigating the origins of coronavirus.

Biden had quoted from the statement the day before, and the statement itself didn’t provide any new details beyond what the president said on Wednesday.