25 June 2021
Capitol Hill infrastructure negotiations have taken on a complexity that matches their planetary and political stakes.
Driving the news: President Biden and a bipartisan Senate group yesterday unveiled the bare bones of an eight-year, $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that includes energy and transit provisions.
- But its fate is tethered to a larger package, with bigger climate investments, that Democrats hope to write and move under the filibuster-proof reconciliation process.
- "If this is the only thing that comes to me, I’m not signing it. It’s in tandem,” Biden said of the bipartisan plan.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi similarly said the House would only act on it if Senate Democrats can move a reconciliation plan.
Why it matters: Fraught and intricate two-track negotiations will be needed to achieve anything close to the hundreds of billions of climate-related investments — and separate additional tax incentives — Biden first pitched in March.
The big picture: The bipartisan outline, per a White House summary, includes:
- $73 billion for grid-related measures that would provide the "single largest investment in clean energy transmission in American history."
- $15 billion for electric vehicle initiatives — including charging and bus electrification — and $49 billion for public transit.
- $47 billion for "resiliency." That's vague but the White House calls it the largest investment in physical and natural resilience ever.
But, but, but: It omits massive chunks of Biden's and other Democrats' proposals, such as a "clean energy standard," Biden's $174 billion vehicle electrification goal, major spending on new efficient homes and more.
- "Climate leaders in Congress should reject this deal unless it’s accompanied by a reconciliation bill with bold climate investments," Evergreen Action executive director Jamal Raad said.
- Progressive lawmakers like Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) have rallied around the "no climate, no deal" slogan.
- But the challenge for Democrats is that reconciliation also needs to corral moderates while satisfying progressives demanding unprecedented climate investments.
What we're watching: What exactly the White House and Democrats want in energy portions of the reconciliation plans that would also have provisions on child care and other "family infrastructure."
- For instance, Biden yesterday discussed $300 billion in tax incentives. He didn't get specific.
- The White House has previously proposed new tax credits for transmission, extended renewable power credits and expanded EV purchase incentives.
Go deeper: Infrastructure's remaining potholes
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.