In Washington:

• President Biden on Tuesday began what is expected to be a weeks-long sales pitch to tout the new coronavirus relief package. Biden visited Smith Flooring in Chester, Pennsylvania, a small business that received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan and which is eligible for an employee retention tax credit in the American Rescue Plan Act. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris, meanwhile, traveled to Denver to highlight small businesses that benefited from the Act.

• More lawmakers are calling for an extension of the April 15 federal tax filing deadline due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 100 House members on Tuesday urged the IRS to postpone the deadline, “as Americans, and the IRS, continue to grapple with the...pandemic.” The letter was directed to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig and Treasury Department tax official Mark Mazur. Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) led the letter.

• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is extending its zero-tolerance policy for disruptive behavior on flights amid a rash of unruly passenger refusals to wear anti-coronavirus masks. The FAA announced that the extension will remain as long as the federal transportation mask mandate is in effect. Under the policy, passengers can face fines of up to $35,000 and jail time for assaulting or threatening airline crew or passengers. It was due to expire March 30. The FAA said Tuesday that airlines have reported over 500 unruly passenger cases since late December. 

• On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed 81-17, Isabel Guzman to lead the Small Business Administration on Tuesday, putting her in charge of implementing much of Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act and will oversee the Paycheck Protection Program, the over $687 billion loan initiative, and other small business assistance programs.

•  After months of relative silence, former President Donald Trump on Tuesday recommended Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19.  “I would recommend it,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News. “And I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly. But again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that and I agree with that also. But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine and it is something that works.”

• The Food and Drug Administration will allow some developers of Covid-19 tests to market their products for regular at-home use without first studying how well the tests perform in people without symptoms.

• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that a tax provision he added to the COVID relief law “sets the stage” for President Joe Biden to cancel $50,000 of student loan debt per borrower through executive action.

In the News:

• Europe's top drug agency on Tuesday said regulators remain confident in the safety of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine after a dozen European countries suspended use of the drug over concerns about blood clots. Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said, "[at] present, there is no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions.” The agency has convened experts from around the world for an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the findings of its investigation into blood clotting reports.

• Moderna has begun testing its COVID-19 vaccine on children and infants between the ages of six months and 12 years as the drugmaker seeks to expand approval for its vaccine to children. Moderna is the first of the companies with vaccines authorized in the U.S. to launch testing among infants. Both Moderna and Pfizer have already started trials for children 12 and older in the hopes of making vaccines available to the age group this year. 

• Visa and Mastercard say they will postpone planned swipe fees until April 2022, giving in to pressure from lawmakers who objected to raising costs for businesses still reeling from the coronavirus crisis.