Biden wants Congress to take action on gun reform

The call for gun reform comes on the third anniversary of the Parkland shooting.

This is Day 26 of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.


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Biden predicts $15 minimum-wage hike won’t be in final COVID-19 relief bill

In a clip of Biden’s pre-recorded interview with "CBS Evening News" Anchor Norah O’Donnell, President Joe Biden Friday night said that his plan for a $15 minimum-wage hike in his COVID-19 relief bill likely won’t happen.

“Well, apparently, that's not going to occur because of the rules of the United States Senate,” Biden said on the minimum-wage effort.

“So you're saying the minimum wage won't be in this?” O'Donnell clarified.

“My guess is it will not be in it. But I do think that we should have a minimum wage stand by itself $15 an hour, and work your way up to the 15-- it doesn't have to be “boom. And all the economics show, if you do that the whole economy rises. I'm prepared, as president of the United States, on a separate negotiation on minimum wage, to work my way up from what it is now, which is-- look, no one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage. And if you're making less than $15 an hour, you're living below the poverty wage,” Biden said, suggesting an incremental shift to $15/hour.

Biden also spoke about overall negotiations, saying he was “wide open” on how to target direct payments to those who need it most but seemed to commit to an upper boundary of $75,000 per person, $150,000 a couple.

“I'm prepared to negotiate on that,” Biden said when asked what the limit should be on those getting [stimulus payments] ().

“But here's the deal: Middle-class folks need help. But you don't need to get any help to someone making 300,000 bucks or 250. So it's somewhere between an individual making up to 75 and phasing out, and a couple making up to 150 and phasing out. But, again, I'm wide open on what that is.”

-ABC New's Justin Gomez and Molly Nagle


Biden administration to reverse sanctions on Houthis: Source

Weeks after the Trump administration announced new sanctions on the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Biden White House is now moving to revoke them, a State Department official confirmed to ABC News.

The designation of the group, formally known as Ansar Allah, as a foreign terrorist organization on Jan. 11 was condemned by human rights groups and United Nations officials for hampering the delivery of international aid to the war-torn country on the brink of famine.

The official told ABC News that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has notified Congress of the intention to revoke the designation and "will share more details in the coming days."

"This decision has nothing to do with our view of the Houthis and their reprehensible conduct, including attacks against civilians and the kidnapping of American citizens. We are committed to helping Saudi Arabia defend its territory against further such attacks," the State Department official said in a statement to ABC News. "Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organizations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis."

Individual Houthi leaders have been sanctioned over the years, but former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's decision to designate the entire movement as a foreign terrorist organization essentially criminalized working with them, which aid groups say they have to do.

This is just the latest effort by the Biden administration to extricate the U.S. from the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. On Thursday, Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, announced that the U.S. would end "American support for offensive operations in Yemen."

Last week, Biden suspended two U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the coalition fighting the Houthis, that the Trump administration had green-lighted.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan


House passes budget resolution, paving way for Biden's COVID relief plan

The House passed the Senate-amended budget resolution in a 219-209 vote on Friday.

Maine Rep. Jared Golden was the only Democrat to vote no.

Final passage of the budget resolution now unlocks the next phase in drafting the COVID-19 rescue package, with the work divided among several Congressional committees.

Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters Friday that House committees will begin their work next week. They hope to have a final COVID-19 rescue package ready for votes in the House for the week of Feb. 22.

-ABC News’ Mariam Khan


Psaki maintains commitment to bipartisanship, won't give negotiation timeline

White House press secretary Jen Psaki stressed Friday that Biden has not given up on the idea of bipartisan support even though he said earlier in the day that it would be “an easy choice” between quick relief and drawn out negotiations.

“He is somebody who is keeping the door open. He will remain engaged with Republicans in the days ahead,” she said at Friday’s press briefing.

Psaki pointed to a number of areas of bipartisan compromise including funding for small businesses and some elements of the minimum wage, but acknowledged that there was still a gulf on agreements for scope and size.

When pressed by ABC News on what Biden viewed as a reasonable timeline for negotiations before he considers them “bogged down,” as he indicated in his remarks earlier in the day, Psaki declined to give guidance.

"I’m not going to set a timeline," she said.

The president, she said, "is certainly hopeful that there is opportunity for this bill, whatever form it takes, to have bipartisan support, and there's an opportunity to do that.”

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Ben Gittleson and Sarah Kolinovsky