Post Politics Now: Biden tests positive for coronavirus; House to pass bill ensuring access to contraception
Today, the White House announced that President Biden has tested positive for the coronavirus and is experiencing “very mild symptoms.” In a statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden has begun taking Paxlovid and will isolate at the White House consistent with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but plans to “carry out all of his duties fully during that time.” Biden had planned to travel to Pennsylvania on Thursday to talk about efforts to combat gun violence.
Meanwhile, the House is poised to pass legislation ensuring access to contraception in its latest bid during a midterm election year to protect rights that Democrats argue are at risk because of a conservative Supreme Court. And the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is scheduled to hold a prime-time hearing focused on what President Donald Trump did — and didn’t do — on that deadly day.
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The latest: Pelosi says she hopes Biden’s symptoms are light, as hers were
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she hopes President Biden’s symptoms of covid remain light, noting during a regularly scheduled news conference that she never experienced serious illness after testing positive for the coronavirus in April.
“On my way here, I learned that president has been diagnosed with covid,” Pelosi told reporters. “I understand that the symptoms are light. I hope they continue to be so. That was my experience, and I hope that that’s the case for the president.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the other top Democrat in Congress, has also previously tested positive for the coronavirus and since returned to the job.
