Vox Sentences - Congress faces busy lame duck session

Congress has weeks to pass major legislation; rare anti-government protests erupt across China.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

What to watch for in Congress’s lame duck session

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• Congressional Democrats have just weeks left to pass significant legislation before Republicans assume control of the House in January. [Vox / Li Zhou]
• Lawmakers must pass two bills: one funding federal agencies past mid-December to avoid a government shutdown, and the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets next year’s military policy. [CBS News / Melissa Quinn]
• Democrats also want to codify same-sex marriage and reform the election certification process to prevent another January 6. There’s GOP support for both. [USA Today / Ken Tran]
• Democrats face pressure to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans have suggested they may use a fight over spending to get concessions; such a battle could damage the global economy. [Washington Post / Theodoric Meyer, Leigh Ann Caldwell, and Tobi Raji]
• Meanwhile, the White House is seeking additional funding to fight Covid-19 and financial support to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion. [Guardian / Lauren Gambino]

📍 If you read just one story

Vox's Dylan Matthews explains why Democrats have to head off another debt ceiling crisis while they still can. [Vox / Dylan Matthews]

China protests "zero Covid" policies

• Thousands of people took to the streets in cities and universities across China over the weekend to protest against the government’s restrictive "zero Covid" policy. [CNN / Jessie Yeung]
• Demonstrations began after 10 people died in an apartment fire on Saturday, leading some to question if lockdowns prevented emergency workers from responding in time. [Associated Press / Dake Kang]
• The frustration spiraled into broader calls for Leader Xi Jinping to step down. However, China wiped images of the protests from social media and has not responded to the protests. [BBC]
• Despite the intensity of the protests, Xi and the Communist Party remain powerful and unlikely to fall. [Vox / Ellen Ioanes]

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Early voting began in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• Ireland fined Meta $276 million for a 2021 data leak that breached the privacy of 533 million users. [The Verge / Emma Roth]
• Iran asked the World Cup to disqualify the US team for tweeting an altered image of the Iranian flag. [The Hill / Olafimihan Oshin] 
• Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, began erupting for the first time in 38 years on Monday. [New York Times / Derrick Bryson Taylor]

“We are gonna try to have as productive a lame-duck session as possible. It’s gonna be heavy work, long hours to try and get much done.”

[Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on end of the year priorities / USA Today]

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