28 September 2020
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday unveiled House Democrats' new $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill.
Why it matters: Negotiations with the Trump administration have stalled since the House passed its $3 trillion HEROES Act in May. The pared-down bill, which is $200,000 smaller than Democrats' most recent proposal, is part of Pelosi's last-ditch effort to strike a deal with the White House.
- The updated proposal includes funding for schools, small businesses, restaurants, airline workers and more, and "serves as our proffer to Republicans to come to negotiations to address the health and economic catastrophe in our country," Pelosi said in a statement.
- The proposal was unveiled minutes before Pelosi was set to have a call with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. The two top negotiators agreed to speak again on Tuesday morning, according to a top Pelosi aide.
Details: Among other measures, the bill earmarks $75 billion in funding for coronavirus testing contact tracing and isolation measures, "with special attention to the disparities facing communities of color,"
- The bill updates the Paycheck Protection Program "to serve the smallest businesses and struggling non-profits, providing hard-hit businesses with second loans, and delivering targeted assistance for the struggling restaurant industry and independent live venue operators."
- It also includes a second round of $1,200 payments per taxpayer and $500 per dependent, while extending weekly $600 federal unemployment payments through January.
- It provides $436 billion for a year’s worth of help to state, local, territorial and tribal governments to pay first responders and health workers.
What to watch: Pelosi has frequently said that Democrats would be willing to drop $1 trillion from the HEROES Act if Republicans would come up $1 trillion. In July, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a roughly $1 trillion bill that was dismissed by Democrats as a "half-hearted, half-baked legislative proposal."
- "Democrats are making good on our promise to compromise with this updated bill," Pelosi wrote.
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.