11 June 2021
The infrastructure deal announced Thursday night by a group of 10 Democratic and Republican senators is likely the best bipartisan bill President Biden is going to get.
Why it matters: It has the backing of Democrats' most rebellious party members — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) — as well as the support of key Republican senators. The question now is whether the group can convince progressives and the broader GOP conference to get on board, too.
Our thought bubble: It's going to be very hard to sell this package to the rest of Congress.
- Even with five Republican senators, it's still not the group of 10 GOP members they need to garner the 60 votes required to pass major legislation.
Driving the news: The proposal from a splinter group of the so-called G20 bloc of bipartisan senators focuses on "hard" infrastructure and doesn't touch on the more ambitious parts of Biden's package — the provisions outlined in the American Families Plan.
- It would cost $974 billion over five years, or $1.2 trillion if extrapolated over eight years. About $579 billion of the total would be new spending.
- The biggest sticking point remains how to pay for it. As of now, the plan would cover the cost of the entire bill without raising taxes.
- The group proposes paying for it through unspent coronavirus relief aid, public-private partnerships, indexing the gas tax to account for inflation and allowing states to borrow necessary money through a revolving loan fund.
- Biden has expressed resistance to several of those ideas, but he's also a former senator who knows how to cut deals.
The remaining challenge:
For Republicans: It's a very open question whether the Republican senators in this group (all considered moderates) represent the rest of their conference.
- Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) had the backing of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) when trying to negotiate her own agreement with Biden.
- McConnell has yet to say he'll support this new group's efforts. Without his blessing, most Republican senators won't go for it.
But, but, but: Agreeing to the deal would insulate Republicans from criticism they’d surely face if they just blocked such popular legislation.
- That's also a danger for progressives who might want to vote against it because it's not big enough for them or their Democratic constituencies.
For Democrats: Biden promised progressives a big, bold, once-in-a-generation infrastructure package that would bring about transformational change not only for roads, bridges and highways but also climate change, child care and education.
- This package doesn't do that, and the progressive wing of the party is already chafing to go the partisan route and pursue a reconciliation bill that would be far more ambitious.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee who has long been ready to stop talking to the GOP and go it alone, said a reconciliation bill would include both Biden’s American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan.
- That would create a combined price tag of nearly $4 trillion — which even more moderate Democrats tell us they would have a hard time backing.
What to watch: Even if this bipartisan group of 10 succeeds in striking a deal on the traditional infrastructure portion (Biden's Jobs Plan), Democrats insist they'll try to pass the rest (the Families Plan) via reconciliation.
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said this week that Democrats are working on a reconciliation bill as a backup plan in case the bipartisan negotiations fail.
- He added that he plans to move forward with an infrastructure bill in the Senate in July, whether or not a deal between the two sides is reached.
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.