Schumer says Senate will vote on Democrats' comprehensive election reform bill in June
28 May 2021
The Senate will vote on Democrats' landmark elections overhaul bill — the "For the People Act," also known as H.R. 1 or S. 1 — in the last week of June, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a letter to colleagues on Friday.
Why it matters: The sprawling voting reform and anti-corruption legislation is viewed as a top priority for Democrats, who are seeking to combat the wave of restrictive voting bills making their way through Republican state legislatures across the country.
- The bill faces an uphill climb in the 50-50 Senate, where it needs 60 votes in order to advance. At least one Democrat, moderate Sen. Joe Manchin, has expressed resistance to some elements of the reform package.
- Schumer's announcement came just minutes after Republicans invoked the first legislative filibuster of the Biden presidency in order to block a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. The For the People Act will likely face a similar fate.
What they're saying: Schumer said the legislation is "essential to defending our democracy, reducing the influence of dark money and powerful special interests, and stopping the wave of Republican voter suppression happening in the states across the country in service of President Trump’s Big Lie."
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.