Biden carefully teased an announcement but said it wouldn’t specifically pertain to Khashoggi’s murder.
He said, “there will be an announcement on Monday as to what we’re going to be doing with Saudi Arabia in general.”
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, Feb. 27, 2021.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The president then left the White House for Delaware.
On Friday the Office of Director of National Intelligence released a highly anticipated report on the death of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and Saudi dissident who was murdered and dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in Oct. 2018.
It revealed the U.S. intelligence community found Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill him.
In honor of Black History Month, NASA astronaut Victor Glover welcomed Harris to the International Space Station via virtual chat.
A pre-recorded video shared on Saturday by NASA, shows Harris and Glover discussing several topics, including the legacy of human spaceflight, observing Earth from the space station and prepping for missions from the Moon to Mars.
Glover is a long-duration crew member on the International Space Station and is responsible for spacecraft systems and performance.
Feb 27, 2021, 2:23 PM EST
House Democrat details reasons for voting "no" on COVID-19 relief bill
Rep. Jared Golden, one of only two House Democrats who voted against the COVID-19 bill early Saturday, detailed his decision to vote no in a lengthy statement, taking issue with the size and scope of the package -- and the large price tag that comes with it.
Golden said he supported funding for vaccine distribution and testing, and emergency unemployment benefits, but disagreed with the funding efforts that duplicate efforts still being funded by previous stimulus plans or that he views as unnecessary -- including the income range for the $1400 Direct Checks
Rep. Jared Golden attends a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Rayburn Building, March 6, 2019.
CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images, FILE
"This bill allocates $1,400 direct checks to individuals making up to $75,000 and married couples making up to $150,000, with phased-down checks for households with incomes as high as $200,000. Under this bill, it is estimated that over 90 percent of Maine tax filers would receive a check from the federal government. While those who have lost jobs or had hours reduced ought to receive income support, it is a waste to send a third round of government checks to wealthy individuals making almost three times the average household salary in Maine’s Second Congressional District," he wrote.
Golden also took issue with the inclusion of the Child Tax Credit expansion, a two-year enhancement of premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and multiemployer pension reform, saying he supported the policy but disagreed with passing them through an emergency bill.
“Many have popularly claimed that the biggest threat is not that Congress goes too big but that it goes too small in responding to the current economic situation," Golden wrote, paraphrasing Biden's common talking point.
"They are ignoring the possibility of a much-anticipated infrastructure proposal from the Biden Administration later this year which could offer a chance for Congress to further boost the economy if necessary. Between the money spent in 2020 and today’s package, we are already nearing $6 trillion in new spending in less than one year. This amount of new spending is unprecedented since World War II. It’s not unreasonable to take a step back and ask ourselves if we are making every dollar count and picking the right priorities. At some point, the bill has to come due, and when it does, it could put at risk critical programs such as Medicare or sap resources needed for important future priorities, from rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure to fixing our broken healthcare system.”
Notably, nowhere in the statement is the issue of the $15 minimum wage mentioned.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Feb 27, 2021, 1:30 PM EST
Harris delivers Black History Month address
Harris celebrated Black History month on Saturday in a keynote address at the 40th Annual Black History Month virtual celebration.
In her speech, she applauded the House for passing a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package and touted how the bill would lead to $1,400 direct payments for Americans, a child tax credit and $20 billion toward a national COVID-19 vaccination program.
She said she plans to get the bill “across the finish line.”
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at the 40th Annual Black History Month Virtual Celebration hosted by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (on screen) in the South Court Auditorium of the White House, Feb. 27, 2021.
“We are looking at a country in a situation where more than two in three Black Americans personally know someone who has been hospitalized or who has died from COVID-19,” she said.
“Black women workers are being forced out of the workforce in record numbers, and so many Black small businesses are being forced to close their doors,” Harris added.
“In so many ways, this pandemic has been an accelerator. And for those for whom things were bad before, they're even worse now for the fissures and the failures, the defects, the flaws in our system, during the course of this pandemic, have been blown up for all to see,” she said.
She celebrated the “the barrier breakers and the history makers” who came before her.
“I think of history in the context of a relay race. With each generation running their course and passing the baton to the next. And so, the baton is now in our hands and what matters is how well we run our portion of the race,” Harris said.
