Today in one sentence: Biden is reportedly planning to declare a national climate emergency in an effort to advance his environmental agenda that Joe Manchin has twice sabotaged; the House passed legislation to codify federal protections for same-sex marriage; the Secret Service said it could not recover the deleted text messages related to the Jan. 6 attack; Trump's former deputy national security adviser will testify publicly at Thursday's Jan. 6 committee hearing; the Justice Department said its investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results will continue even if he runs for president again; and 61% of Americans think Congress should do more to address global warming.

1/ Biden is reportedly planning to declare a national climate emergency in an effort to advance his environmental agenda that Joe Manchin has twice sabotaged. After Manchin torpedoed Democratic efforts to pass robust climate change legislation last week, Biden said he would take “strong executive action” on climate, but didn’t provide details. White House officials, however, said Biden will announce new steps to combat climate change on Wednesday, but will stop short of declaring a national emergency. The White House said Biden’s address will focus on “tackling the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity of a clean energy future to create jobs and lower costs for families.” An emergency declaration would unlock billions of federal dollars and give Biden broad executive powers to spend federal funds on clean energy projects, restrict oil drilling, and curb fossil fuel use. More than 100 million Americans are currently under heat advisories or warnings. The U.K., meanwhile, recorded its highest ever temperature for the second day in a row, prompting British officials to declare the first-ever “red” warning for extreme heat in England. (Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg / Associated Press / CNN / Politico)

2/ The House passed legislation to codify federal protections for same-sex marriage, including a requirement that states recognize valid marriages performed in other states. 47 Republicans joined all House Democrats in passing the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enshrine marriage equality into federal law. The bill also codifies the right to interracial marriage. Democratic leaders moved forward with the bill after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and suggested that the justices might revisit cases that legalized gay marriage and contraceptive rights. The legislation, however faces an uncertain future in the evenly divided Senate where it’ll need 10 Republican Senate votes to overcome the filibuster. (New York Times / Axios / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)

3/ The Secret Service said it could not recover the deleted text messages related to the Jan. 6 attack. Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari told the Jan. 6 committee last week that after requesting records of texts related to the Capitol attack he learned “many of these texts were erased as part of a device-replacement program.” Agents were instructed to upload any old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset. Many agents, apparently, failed to do so. The National Archives, meanwhile, asked the Secret Service to investigate the “potential unauthorized deletion” of agency text messages. (Washington Post / NPR / NBC News)

4/ Trump’s former deputy national security adviser will testify publicly at Thursday’s Jan. 6 committee hearing. Matthew Pottinger was in the White House during the Capitol riot and resigned shortly after Trump tweeted that Pence should have had more courage. Trump White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews will also testify. Matthews also resigned on Jan. 6, 2021. Meanwhile, Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the committee, has Covid-19 and will miss Thursday’s prime-time hearing. (CNN / New York Times / ABC News)

5/ The Justice Department said its investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results will continue even if he runs for president again. Recent reports indicate that Trump might declare that he’s running again in the near future in an apparent attempt to shield himself from potential prosecution. Trump wouldn’t legally enjoy any special protections as a candidate for president. The Justice Department has also added prosecutors and resources to its investigation in recent weeks. (Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)

poll/ 78% of Americans believe we will never be rid of Covid-19 in our lifetime. 29% of Americans, meanwhile, say the pandemic is over and 36% feel like most people around them have moved on from the pandemic, but they haven’t. (Ipsos)

poll/ 61% of Americans think Congress should do more to address global warming, while 52% think the president should do more, and 57% think their governor should do more. (New York Times)

poll/ 67% of voters say that Democratic candidates for Congress in their area aren’t paying enough attention to the country’s most important problems, while 31% say the candidates have the right priorities. Similarly, 65% of voters say that Republican candidates in their area aren’t paying enough attention to important national problems, with 33% saying that GOP candidates have the right priorities. (CNN)

Last year today: Day 181: Repatriated.
Four years ago today: Day 546: An incredible offer.
Five years ago today: Day 181: Secret dinner.