Dear Santa, COVID-19 vaccine and stimulus please

Another relief bill faces an uncertain fate in Congress. Meanwhile, 50 people in the United States die from COVID-19 per hour. Want to do some good? Here's how to help on this Giving Tuesday.

It's Alex again. Happy first day of the last month of 2020.

But first, it wasn't aliens after all: Human beings were responsible for removing that 10-foot metal monolith.

The Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe here!

Quote of the year: 'Stupidity on steroids'

Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan framework for COVID-19 relief in the latest effort to break the logjam in negotiations. Their proposal faces an uncertain future in a divided Congress that has only weeks left in session. The roughly $908 billion plan is intended as a temporary package that would run until April. It includes a federal boost in unemployment insurance and a reauthorization of the Paycheck Protection Program, among other provisions. "It would be stupidity on steroids if Congress left for Christmas without doing an interim package as a bridge," Sen. Mark Warner said. A note: This does not include another round of $1,200 checks.

President-elect Joe Biden called on Congress to approve a “robust” economic relief plan “now” but lowered expectations for the package by acknowledging Tuesday that anything approved during the lame-duck session of Congress would be “just a start.”

Biden's economic team faces stiff resistance

Biden unveiled an all-star economic team as the U.S. struggles to dig out of the worst recession in a century. Analysts expect stiff resistance from a split Congress whose Republicans are reluctant to further swell the massive deficit. The lineup is likely to push for a more aggressive economic blueprint than the Trump administration sought, including a robust COVID-19 relief package and ambitious proposals to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure, build a clean-energy economy and provide tuition-free community college. Biden wants to raise taxes on corporations and individuals earning more than $400,000.

• Neera Tanden, Biden's pick for budget chief, defends her credentials as conservatives deride her for being too liberal and liberals dismiss her as too conservative.

What everyone’s talking about

• Elliot Page, Academy Award-nominated star of "Juno," has come out as transgender: "I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer."

• 65 years ago, Rosa Parks' arrest ignited the civil rights movement and led to the yearlong Montgomery Bus Boycott.

• Louisville, Kentucky, police disproportionately targeted Black residents for "no-knock" search warrants, an analysis shows.

• In a new allegation, a lawsuit says Tyson officials lied to interpreters about COVID-19 dangers in its Iowa plant.

50 deaths per hour

Ninety-nine new COVID-19 cases per minute. Fifty deaths per hour. This is the United States, a nation crushed by COVID-19. In November, 4.4 million new cases were reported, more than double any other month of the pandemic, and 36,918 Americans died. In the Dakotas and Illinois, there was more than 1 death per every 1,000 residents related to the coronavirus. The USA has reported more than 13.5 million cases and more than 268,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: 63.4 million cases and 1.47 million deaths.

• These four states have been hit hard by COVID-19 yet balked at strict mask mandates. What is it like to live there?

All is not lost: Two COVID-19 vaccines are pending emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, much to the credit of science adviser to Operation Warp Speed Moncef Slaoui. "Vaccines have always been my first love. That's what I like the most," he said in an interview with USA TODAY. Here's how he did it.

Real quick

• YouTube's list of top-trending videos for 2020 is here – and some entertainment highlights earned a spot, including Dave Chappelle's Netflix special.

• Starbucks brings back its free coffee giveaway for first responders and health care workers as COVID-19 cases rise nationwide.

• Thom Brennaman, the disgraced former broadcaster who used an anti-gay slur, addresses the incident: "I'm embarrassed."

• COVID-19 may have been spreading in the USA at least a month before the first case was reported, a CDC study says.

Lawsuits, condemnation and democracy, oh my!

President Donald Trump sued Wisconsin officials in a last-ditch effort to reclaim a state he lost by about 20,700 votes. Allies of Trump want a federal court in Michigan to force state leaders to set aside election results and award its 16 electoral votes to the president. And an attorney for the Trump campaign said the federal government's former top cybersecurity chief should be "shot" for describing the U.S. election as secure.

To top it off: Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the presidential election.

• Trump's election lawsuits targeted counties with large Black and Latino populations.

A break from the news

• Is this $104 fake, pre-lit pine tree branch the worst Cyber Monday deal ever? Probably.

• The good, the bad and the just plain sad: Here's how TV shows are handling COVID-19 stories.

• Holiday shopping and COVID-19: Is shopping in stores safe during the pandemic? Avoid it when possible.

This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Sign up for The Short List newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19 relief, Biden economic team, Trump lawsuits: It's Tuesday's news