Vox Sentences - Congress is really out here legislating

The US Senate passes a climate and health care bill; Egypt brokers a Gaza ceasefire.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

A historic climate and health care package

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• The Senate passed a major climate, health care, and tax bill on Sunday — a significant victory for Democrats and President Joe Biden ahead of this year’s midterm elections. [CNN]
• The bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, passed 51-50 along party lines, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote. [Guardian / Joan E. Greve]
• It pumps $370 billion into clean energy and climate initiatives, which will help the US slash greenhouse gas emissions by the decade’s end. [Axios / Ben Geman and Andrew Freedman]
• It also authorizes Medicare to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs and caps Medicare drug costs for seniors at $2,000 per year, beginning in 2025. [Barrons /Elizabeth O’Brien]
• It’s primarily paid for by a minimum 15 percent tax on billion-dollar corporations and stronger IRS enforcement. [The Hill]
• The House will return from recess Friday to vote on the bill. If all Democrats approve the measure, it will head to Biden’s desk for signature. [Slate / Jim Newell]

Israel and Palestinian militants agree to ceasefire

• Israel and Palestinian militants reached an Egypt-mediated ceasefire on Sunday, ending three days of violence that killed dozens of Palestinians and wounded hundreds more. [AP / Fares Akram and Tia Goldenberg]
• The conflict began Friday when Israel launched strikes it says were to preempt an attack from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. Islamic Jihad responded by shooting hundreds of rockets into Israel. [Reuters / Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell]
• At least 44 Palestinians, including 15 children, were killed in the worst flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence since last year. [New York Times / Isabel Kershner]
• Monday, Israel opened Gaza’s commercial crossing. It also removed movement restrictions on people living near the Gaza strip — a sign the fighting could be over. [Wall Street Journal / Dov Lieber]

David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, died Sunday at 89. [Wall Street Journal / Joseph Pisani]

• On Monday, Gabby Petito’s family filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Utah police. Petito was missing for weeks before being found dead in Wyoming. [NBC News / Marlene Lenthang]
• Michigan’s Democratic attorney general wants a special prosecutor to investigate whether her Republican challenger plotted to meddle with voting machines in the 2020 election. [CNN / Zachary Cohen and Sara Murray]
• The US will send $4.5 billion to help Ukraine’s government function amid Russia’s invasion. [Reuters / Andrea Shalal and Idrees Ali]

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“To pass such a major piece of legislation — with only 50 votes, an intransigent Republican minority, a caucus running from Bernie Sanders to Joe Manchin — wow.”

[Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer / Guardian]

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