The Morning Dispatch: How Worrisome Is the New COVID Variant?

Happy Tuesday! The Chicago Cubs made a very bad trade last night, and one of your Morning Dispatchers is very angry about it. (Editor’s note: The St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers fans on staff, however, are thrilled.)

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• The House of Representatives voted 275-134 on Monday to boost the size of the stimulus checks in the recently passed coronavirus relief package from $600 per person to $2,000 per person. President Trump has repeatedly voiced his support for the measure, but it was mostly Democrats (alongside a few dozen Republicans) who voted to approve it. The measure now heads to the Republican-held Senate, where it is unlikely to pass—if it is even brought up for a vote at all. Replacing $600 checks with $2,000 checks would cost about $464 billion, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.

• The House voted 322-87 to override President Trump’s veto of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which funds various national security priorities—including the military. The Senate will vote on whether to override the veto as early as today. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday he plans to filibuster the vote until Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brings the $2,000-per-person checks up for a vote. 

• Nearly 1.3 million people were screened at U.S. airport checkpoints on Sunday, according to data from the Transportation Security Administration. Although the figure is just about half the nearly 2.6 million who flew on the same day last year, it represents the highest single-day tally since the onset of the pandemic in March.