| WHAT'S BREWING
BIDEN VOWS 100 MILLION VACCINE SHOTS IN 100 DAYS Biden said Tuesday that his health care team is working to ensure 50 million Americans will be vaccinated against the virus within his first 100 days in office. (The drugs closest to securing emergency approval in the U.S. require two shots.) “This team will help get at least 100 million — at least 100 million COVID vaccine shots — into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days. One hundred million shots in the first 100 days,” he said. [HuffPost]
LOEFFLER'S HUSBAND IN ANOTHER STOCK SWINDLE In mid-March, with the American economy in free fall, Jeffrey Sprecher, husband of Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and chair of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange, started buying. Loeffler was one of several senators who faced public outrage for initially unloading millions of dollars in stock before most Americans understood the towering threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Then shortly before the CARES Act (the $2 trillion emergency stimulus package) was introduced in the Senate, her husband reversed course and purchased up to $1 million in new shares. [HuffPost]
1 IN 5 WOMAN HAVE LEFT THE WORKFORCE Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) is pointing out how the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic crisis have disproportionately pushed women out of the workforce. About 22% — over 1 in 5 — of women in the U.S. have left the labor force since the start of the pandemic, according to a report released Tuesday by Porter’s office, which cited an October survey from the Bipartisan Policy Center. As the pandemic has led to virtual schooling and the closure of day care centers, women have borne the brunt of child care at home. [HuffPost]
SCOTUS REJECTS BID TO REVERSE BIDEN'S PENNSYLVANIA WIN The Supreme Court has rejected Republicans’ last-gasp bid to reverse Pennsylvania’s certification of Biden’s victory in the electoral battleground. On Tuesday, the court without comment refused to call into question the the certification process in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf already has certified Biden’s victory and the state’s 20 electors are to meet on Dec. 14 to cast their votes for Biden. [AP]
ARMED MEXICAN NATIONALS SMUGGLED TO GUARD TRUMP WALL Construction companies hired to help erect Trump’s southern border wall secretly helped armed Mexican nationals illegally cross into the U.S. and paid them to provide security at construction sites, according to a whistleblower complaint unsealed Friday. Sullivan Land Services and subcontractor Ultimate Concrete are accused of having facilitated the illegal crossings. [HuffPost]
A USEFUL COVID RELEIF BENEFIT IS ABOUT TO EXPIRE A little-known paid leave program established by Congress as part of the second stimulus package passed in March is set to expire at the end of December. Under the program, employees can take two weeks of sick leave fully paid up to a maximum amount, or up to 12 weeks off (including 10 weeks paid at two-thirds of their salary) to care for kids who aren’t able to go to school. Business owners are reimbursed via a tax credit. [HuffPost] | 
