Senators spending more days, but fewer hours per day in session
29 July 2021
Data: Brookings Institution, U.S. Senate; Chart: Connor Rothschild/Axios
Senators are spending more days in session than past congresses — but fewer hours per day on average, according to data from the Brookings Institution and the U.S. Senate.
Why it matters: The Senate pushed to wrap up negotiations on the bipartisan infrastructure package on Wednesday ahead of its longest break of the year. Other lingering work is likely to cut into senators planned August recess, though.
Flashback: In 2018, then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) canceled August recess to pass appropriations bills — taking away critical campaigning time for senators up for re-election that year.
- The Senate also shortened its recess in 1994, when its break was delayed until late August, according to Pew Research Center.
The big picture: Despite those instances, the summer break has generally gotten longer for senators during election years, per Pew.
- The Senate spent an average of 16 days on August recess during election years between 1972 and 1982. That rose to 38 days between 2006 and 2016.
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.