$1.2 trillion "hard" infrastructure bill clears major procedural vote in the Senate
28 July 2021
The Senate voted 67-32 on Wednesday to advance the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
Why it matters: After weeks of negotiating, portions of the bill remain unwritten, but the Senate can now start debating the legislation to resolve outstanding issues.
- It was the second time the chamber voted to invoke cloture on the legislation after the first vote failed last week.
Details: The deal is expected to cost $1.2 trillion over eight years, and offers more than $550 billion in new spending, including...
- $110 billion in new funds for roads, bridges, and major projects, $40 billion of which is new funding for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation and $17.5 billion for major projects;
- $73 billion for the country's electric grid and power structures;
- $65 billion will be allocated for broadband;
- $55 billion for clean drinking water;
- $50 billion for flooding and coastal resiliency.
The big picture: The vote came after Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the lead GOP negotiator, announced that the bipartisan group had an "agreement on the major issues."
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said that he is considering keeping the Senate in session over the weekend to complete the bipartisan bill.
Go deeper: Bipartisan group reaches agreement on $1.2 trillion "hard" infrastructure bill
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.