04 March 2021
The House voted 220-210Wednesday to pass Democrats' expansive election and anti-corruption bill.
Why it matters: Expanding voting access has been a top priority for Democrats for years, but the House passage of the For the People Act (H.R. 1) comes as states across the country consider legislation to rollback voting access in the aftermath of former President Trump's loss.
- The bill allows voters to register securely online or on Election Day, and prevent voter purges from registration records.
- It would also restore voting rights for felons and expand early and absentee voting.
- It would set national standards for early voting and voter registration.
The bill also contains a number of "anti-corruption" provisions they argue strengthens ethics rules for public servants, transparency round campaign finance, and restrictions on lobbying.
- The bill requires presidential and vice presidential candidates to make tax returns publicly available, something that former President Trump refused to do.
- The bill will also close the loopholes that allow spending of foreign nationals in US elections.
- Democrats made the bill a center point of the 2018 midterm election and a similar package was passed in 2019.
The Biden administration weighed inon Monday, releasing a statement that as the U.S. faces "an unprecedented assault on our democracy, ... this landmark legislation is urgently needed to protect the right to vote and the integrity of our elections, and to repair and strengthen American democracy."
- Former President Trump, in contrast, called for heavy restrictions on mail-in and absentee voting Sunday while continuing to falsely claim the election was "rigged."
What’s next: The Senate Rules committee will hold a hearing and quickly move to markup on the companion bill later this month. If it comes to the floor, it will need 60 votes to pass — an unlikely
- “If anyone has doubts that this wasn't the fundamental number one issue of last year — in addition to the pandemic — but the number one issue when it comes to our constitutional rights as Americans, just look at January 6, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told Axios during a phone interview. “They literally were trying to stop people from counting the people's votes, the electoral college votes that were a result of all the elections in the country.”
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.