Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day

Biden battles to save his economic agenda, it’s Big Tech earnings season, and Covid-Zero ambitions get another reality check.

As ever, President Joe Biden and the senior Democratic leadership are busy trying to clinch a politically palatable -- scaled down -- version of his economic agenda, with a trip to Europe later this week intensifying the pressure. Underscoring the urgency, Biden met Sunday with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin, who has deployed his powerful vote in the 50-50 Senate to impose a big reduction in the original $3.5 trillion plan for social spending and climate-change measures. The latter is an especially thorny issue given the upcoming global climate conference in Glasgow. Democrats are aiming to include strong climate change provisions to meet Biden’s goal of a 50% cut in U.S. greenhouse gases by 2030.