Watch Live: Biden and lawmakers respond to Zelenskyy's plea
CBSN
President Biden is expected to address the nation late Wednesday morning to share what the U.S. is doing to assist Ukraine, hours after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded with Congress and the president to approve a NATO-enforced no-fly zone over Ukraine and to provide more air-defense capabilities.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called Zelenskyy's address "incredibly effective, and said, "I think the message to President Biden is he needs to step up his game."
Lawmakers including McConnell want the president to do more, particularly when it comes to providing air defense systems and getting fighter jets to the Ukrainians. The Biden administration has rejected the idea of transferring aircraft because it is concerned Russia might view that as an escalatory move.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.