Good morning. I'm Allison Michaels from the Washington Post and this is the Daily

202 for Friday January 22nd. In today's news, top Senate Republicans push to delay Trump's

impeachment trial.

And Biden signs an order requiring masks on planes, buses, trains, and at airports.

But first, the big idea.

President Biden is seeking a five-year extension with Russia

on the only treaty left that limits the world's

two largest nuclear arsenals.

And he's seeking that extension just days before it expires.

At the same time, his administration is preparing to impose new costs on Russia,

that's pending a newly requested intelligence assessment of Russia's recent activities.

The post John Hudson reports that Biden is ruling out a reset in bilateral relations with

Moscow.

Many U.S. presidents have taken this reset approach since the end of the Cold War.

Biden's decision to seek a five-year treaty extension reflects the rapidly approaching

deadline of February 5th for Washington to renew this new start pact, as it's called.

President Donald Trump tried to conclude a shorter extension with Moscow in the final months of his

presidency, but he failed to reach an agreement.

That failure came after Trump's nuclear envoy spent months trying to persuade China to join the accord

before eventually dropping that demand.

Here's why this treaty is important. Letting the treaty expire

would allow Moscow and Washington to deploy an unlimited number of nuclear-armed

...