Beyond impeachment
| EDITOR'S NOTE
Hello,
The second impeachment trial of former President Trump is coming to a close, even more quickly than had been expected.
His legal team will likely take about four hours Friday to make their defense, well short of their allotted 16 hours. The impeachment managers, the House Democrats prosecuting the case against Trump, argued their case over the better part of two days, but even they did not use their full allotment of time. On Saturday, the Senate is likely to vote on the verdict. That is widely expected to result in acquittal, even with some GOP senators expected to join their Democratic counterparts.
With the trial out of the way, Congress and the Biden administration will turn their full attention to other priorities. Here are three key issues emerging as the most pressing:
Covid relief and vaccinations: Both houses of Congress have approved a budget resolution that would allow President Biden's $1.9 trillion package to pass with a simple majority in the Senate. The House, meanwhile, has been making quick progress on putting the bill together. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expects Biden to sign the final measure before key assistance programs expire. The Biden administration, meanwhile, struck a deal for 200 million additional doses of the vaccine.
Infrastructure: Biden has said this is his next priority, following the Covid relief package, and he is acting on it. On Thursday, he hosted a meeting with senators and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who appeared virtually, about putting together a plan to update the nation's infrastructure. To drive his point home, he tied his push to China's escalating power as a prime economic competitor on the global stage.
China: The most pressing foreign policy challenge of the Biden administration. It's about more than infrastructure, and it's about more than accountability for the initial spread of the coronavirus. It's about the balance of economic power in the world, and the future itself. Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe wrote in a recent CNBC op-ed: "Forging common cause among traditional U.S. partners and allies will take an unprecedented level of global engagement and give-and-take – and an acceptance of the reality of China's economic influence."
Follow along with CNBC.com's live coverage of the impeachment trial this afternoon and over the next several days.
Thoughts? Email Politics Editor Mike Calia at CNBCPolitics@nbcuni.com.
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