Biden says 'no time to waste' on COVID relief bill
He made brief remarks Saturday after the House passed the legislation.
This is Day 40 of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Latest headlines:
Fauci: Need to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized use of a third COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S., declaring the Johnson & Johnson vaccine safe and effective in adults 18 and older.
ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos asked Dr. Anthony Fauci about hesitancy from people over its reported efficacy compared to others.
"What do you say to those who want to wait for Moderna and Pfizr?" Stephanopoulos asked.
"We have to get away from that line of thought," Fauci responded. "We have three highly efficacious vaccines. Safe and efficacious."
"If I went into a clinic and said we have JJ now, I would take the one that is available to me now," Fauci continued.
Biden sends letter on Syria airstrike to leaders of House, Senate
The White House released a letter Saturday from President Biden to the speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate on the airstrike in eastern Syria, in his effort to keep Congress "fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Act."
"I directed this military action consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive. The United States took this action pursuant to the United States' inherent right of self-defense as reflected in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter," Biden wrote in the letter.
This comes following some bipartisan criticism the White House received over the decision to carry out the airstrike in Syria.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Biden teases announcement on US actions with Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi report
As Biden departed the White House to board Marine One Saturday afternoon, he was asked if he planned to punish Saudi Arabia’s crown prince following a U.S. intelligence report that concluded he ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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.”
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.
The Saudi government has denied that that the crown prince was involved and instead blamed the death on a rogue team of government agents.
The killing has roiled the United States' longstanding ties with Saudi Arabia.
Biden said he spoke to King Salman on Thursday, one day before the report was released.
Harris calls NASA astronaut Victor Glover
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.
Biden honors Americans who died of COVID-19
In remarks ahead of a candlelight ceremony, Biden addressed the nation.
"Today we mark a truly grim, heartbreaking milestone: 500,071 dead," Biden said.
"That's more lives lost to this virus than any other nation on Earth. But as we acknowledge the scale of this mass death in America, remember each person and the life they lived," he continued.
"We often hear of people described as 'ordinary Americans.' There's no such thing. There's nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost were extraordinary. They spanned generations. Born in America, immigrated to America, but just like that, so many of them took their final breath alone in America," Biden said. "As a nation, we can't accept such a cruel fate. While we've been fighting this pandemic for so long, we have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow. We have to resist viewing each life as a statistic or a blur or on the news. We must do so to honor the dead, but equally important, care for the living, those they left behind -- for the loved ones left behind."