Obama endorses string of progressive policies during John Lewis eulogy
30 July 2020
Former President Obama endorsed a slew of progressive policies related to voting rights during his eulogy for the late Rep. John Lewis on Thursday, including abolishing the Senate filibuster.
Why it matters: Revoking the Senate's long-standing 60-vote threshold used by senators to delay or block legislative action would significantly limit the minority party's power in the chamber.
The big picture ... Obama said removing the filibuster may be necessary to pass the following legislation:
- Automatically registering Americans to vote
- Making Election Day a federal holiday
- Giving equal representation to citizens of Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico
- Ending partisan gerrymandering
- Restoring voting rights for convicted felons
- Expanding early voting
- Restoring the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act
What they're saying: "If all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the god-given rights of every American, then that's what we should do," Obama said.
Between the lines: Obama's endorsement of eliminating the filibuster comes as Democrats are currently favored by the Cook Political Report to gain five to seven Senate seats, which could give them the majority needed to abolish the chamber rule.
- Joe Biden has yet to concretely say if he would direct his Senate allies to pursue abolishing the filibuster if elected president.
- He told the New York Times in July that it will "depend on how obstreperous they become,” referring to Republicans.
Go deeper ... Obama: "John Lewis will be a founding father" of America's better future
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.