20 July 2021
Prominent labor groups are urging progressive House lawmakers to stifle their concerns about the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure deal and give it their full support.
Why it matters: Even if the package wins enough Republican support in the Senate, Democrats are growing increasingly concerned progressives in the House will sink the deal.
- Rep. Peter DeFazio, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, unloaded Tuesday on the bipartisan deal, insisting it included "extraordinary deficiencies."
- "I’m not taking it,” DeFazio said. "We cannot miss this opportunity to deal with safety issues in a meaningful way."
- Building trade unions, which saw many of their members support President Trump, view the "hard" infrastructure plan for roads, bridges and other projects as a way to bring union households back in the Democratic fold.
What they are saying: "The message is mostly to progressive activists: Let's take a good deal for the American citizen and American public," said Mark McManus, general president of the United Association of Union Plumbers and Pipefitters.
- "These are good-paying union jobs for my membership," McManus said. "These are good jobs in each one of your districts."
- “Bipartisanship in this day and age is good for America,” said James Callahan, general president of the International Union of Operating Engineers. "The green retrofit is a win."
- "We can’t just shut the power grid off now because fossil fuel is dirty," Callahan added.
Between the lines: The union's basic argument to progressives is: Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
- "We are urging lawmakers to avoid being distracted by those who are focused on what the compromise does not do — as if perfection is the only measure of progress and success,” said Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America.
The bottom line: Most of the focus on the bipartisan deal has been in the Senate, but passage in the House isn’t a sure thing.
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.