The White House was bullish on vaccines, masks and its stimulus bill Wednesday as the Senate prepared to tackle the $1.9 trillion package that could start putting $1,400 in the pockets of most Americans – although fewer than the House version allowed – in two weeks.
What the White House is not keen on is states lifting pandemic restrictions at a time when experts warn the nation is till susceptible to a major surge in infections driven by coronavirus variants.
President Joe Biden slammed those decisions Wednesday, a day after the Texas and Mississippi governors said they're discarding masking mandates, and said they're "a big mistake.'' Only about 8% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 
"The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking that, in the meantime, everything's fine, take off your mask, forget it," Biden said. "It still matters."
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves responded on Twitter, saying, “I just think we should trust Americans, not insult them.”
Earlier Wednesday, the Biden administration announced it will invest $100 million to prep Merck Co. factories to produce COVID-19 vaccine developed by rival Johnson & Johnson. Biden said Tuesday that sufficient vaccine should be available for all adults by the end of May.
Far outside Washington's political beltway, governors were preparing to return some semblance of normalcy to their states. Texas and Mississippi dropped all mask mandates. New York state was testing a high-tech "Excelsior Pass'' allowing participants to confirm vaccinations or recent negative COVID-19 tests and gain entry to events at theaters and arenas.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has warned that "now is not the time to release all restrictions."
The Senate was initially expected to begin debating the pandemic stimulus bill Wednesday but that has been delayed. Under the plan, according to two sources familiar with the deliberations not authorized to speak on the record, the stimulus checks would start to phase out for Americans earning $75,000 a year and phase out entirely at $80,000 of income for individuals. The House bill had capped income at $100,000.
The bill also includes funding for state and local governments, tax credits for families and bigger unemployment checks.