Pelosi elected to 4th term as House speaker

She’s the third speaker in the last 25 years to win with less than 218 votes.

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 17 days.


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Overview: Trump signs pandemic relief after unemployment aid lapses, $2000 checks go to House vote

After days of opposition and hours before the federal government was going to shut down, Trump signed a $2.3 trillion bill into law Sunday night to avert a government shutdown and extend $900 billion in coronavirus pandemic relief -- but millions of American will be impacted by his delay.

Trump’s Sunday night signature came after two critical unemployment programs lapsed over the weekend, leaving roughly 14 million Americans who have relied on the income without a week of benefits during the holiday season. While the current bill shells out $600 direct payments for most Americans, Trump is breaking from his party by continuing his push to bring that amount to $2,000.


In a Sunday night statement announcing he had signed the bill, Trump -- who has sat on the sidelines of negotiations for months -- also called on Congress to make more revisions to cut down excess spending, saying "wasteful items need to be removed" from the bill and that he would send back a “redlined” version.


The move is forcing Senate Republicans, many who did not support more direct payments, to say whether they stand with Trump on increasing payments and revisiting the bill’s language or by their previous positions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday is bringing a vote on a stand-alone bill to increase economic impact payments to $2,000 to the House floor, and while it’s expected to pass the House, it’s unclear whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will take up the measure in the Senate.

The president has no public events on his schedule as he continues his holiday from Mar-a-Lago, and threatens, via Twitter, a challenge to the counting of the Electoral College vote in Congress on Jan. 6.

Biden, meanwhile, is pressing forward with his transition with less than a month until his inauguration. The president-elect is slated to meet with members of his national security and foreign policy agency review teams on Monday and deliver afternoon remarks on their "findings and the key challenges his administration will inherit" from Wilmington, Delaware.


Harris receives COVID-19 vaccine, urges McConnell to put her bill on $2K checks to floor vote

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris publicly received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday morning at United Medical Center in Southeast D.C., a predominantly African American community that has been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with Harris telling the public, "this is about saving lives."

"There is a big difference between the vaccines and vaccinations," Harris said after getting the shot, a frequent saying from the president-elect who is expected to take aim at the Trump administration in afternoon remarks on the pace of vaccinations.

"I trust the scientists, and it is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine. So I urge everyone, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. It’s about saving your life, the life of your family members and the life of your community," Harris added.

Asked to respond to the chances of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell bringing the House-passed measure to raise stimulus checks to $2,000 to a vote, Harris promoted her own legislation that's been sitting in the Senate.

"Well, I actually have a bill for that," Harris said with a smile. "Awhile back, I recommended that folks receive a $2,000 check. And so, I would urge Mitch McConnell  to put my bill on the floor for a vote."

Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, is also receiving the first dose of the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday. Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, publicly received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine last week. Vice President Mike Pence and the nation's top expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, were also vaccinated on camera -- but the Biden transition team is arguing not enough Americans are seeing the same treatment.

More than 2 million Americans have gotten the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine, though officials from Operation Warp Speed said they planned to have 20 million doses of the vaccine distributed to the public by Friday.

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson, Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle