Senate passes one-week funding bill to stave off government shutdown
11 December 2020
The Senate on Fridaypassed a continuing resolution to fund the government for until Dec. 18, temporarily averting a shutdown as long President Trump signs the bill before midnight.
Why it matters: The short-term resolution is simply a time-saver, buying Congress an extra week to work out their differences over a longer-term funding deal as well as a coronavirus stimulus package — something they’ve tried, and failed, to pass for months.
Yes, but: There’s no motivator like the holidays to kick members into gear, and lawmakers are more hopeful than they’ve been in months about reaching any sort of compromise.
What they're saying: Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) objected to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's initial attempt to pass the the resolution via unanimous consent, demanding that Congress pass a relief deal with direct payments to Americans.
- Sanders said he would withdraw his objection this week, but would not do so when funding expires before Christmas.
- Hawley did the same, pleading: "If the Senate of the United States can find hundreds of billions of dollars to give to big government and big business, surely it can find some relief for working families and working individuals."
The big picture: Despite the momentum in stimulus talks, McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to budge on his red line of including liability protections for businesses in the next relief bill.
- Senate Republicans are also unlikely to back aid for state and local governments, a key Democratic demand.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said lawmakers "cannot go home" until a deal is reached, suggesting that Congress could stay in session until Dec. 26, when a slate of emergency aid programs are set to expire.
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.