26 March 2021
Progressive Democrats in the House are privately discussing how they can push President Biden for a second spending package substantially bigger than the $3 trillion over a decade floated in various news outlets this week.
Why it matters: These members are attuned to the climate group Sunrise Movement's argument that "the crises we face demand at least $1 trillion per yearover the next decade," two sources familiar with the conversation told Axios.
- Sunrise's extremely ambitious proposal — at least $10 trillion — could quickly emerge as a benchmark for House progressives to rally around.
- "Progressives feel like this package will define Biden's presidency," one source said, "and that $3 trillion over 10 years feels low, and it may not meet the scope of what we need to do — in particular on climate."
The strategy was discussed during a phone call Tuesday among members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Several raised concerns about the size of Biden's next spending package, which the president plans to unveil Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
- They regard the reported scope of the proposal — which some moderates such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) already consider at the far reaches of acceptability — as too small to meet the moment, the source said.
- "He should be bold with his opening offer."
Between the lines: Biden's next spending bill will involve a longer, messier and more complicated fight between the ideological factions of the Democratic Party.
- In the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that just passed, there was agreement among Democrats from the beginning it was going to be entirely deficit-financed.
- But the next package will likely be more of a running battle. Biden has said he wants to hike corporate and high-income earners' taxes to pay for much of the new spending — which sets up a fight between progressives and moderates.
- And the ambitions for the proposal keep expanding — everything from meat and potatoes infrastructure (roads, bridges, ports), to broadband and climate initiatives.
- There are also proposals for substantial investment in social welfare, including expansion of the child tax credit, universal pre-kindergarten, free community college and other measures.
Bottom line: "The parameters of the battle will not be locked in at the beginning," said the source familiar with the House progressives' internal discussions.
- Progressives will view Biden's announcement next week as an opening framing, "and then Congress is going to have a lot more agency in this fight because it's going to be longer. Congress won't have to act by a certain date."
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.