Vox Sentences - The debt ceiling drama continues

The US has one week to avoid a debt catastrophe; China could see 65 million Covid infections per week in June.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

The US is still flirting with debt default

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• Thursday, President Joe Biden and House Republicans continued debt ceiling negotiations as the US approaches the deadline to avoid defaulting on its loans. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
• Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are reportedly close to reaching a deal to limit discretionary spending, but remain $70 billion apart over which programs to cut. [Reuters / Nandita Bose, Jarrett Renshaw, and David Morgan]
• Republicans want steep cuts in spending and additional work requirements for Medicaid and food aid recipients. Democrats are against both. [Associated Press]
• Any bill will need bipartisan support to pass, however. [CNBC / Christina Wilkie]
• Failing to raise or suspend the debt ceiling could lead to millions of job losses and a deep recession. [Vox / Emily Stewart]

China faces new Covid surge

• China is facing a new Covid-19 surge, fueled by the omicron XBB variant, that could peak at 65 million cases per week at the end of June. [NBC News / Janis Mackey Frayer and Jennifer Jett]
• The explosion in cases comes months after Beijing ended its “zero Covid” policy, after which more than 80 percent of China was infected. However, experts think the new wave will be less severe. [Washington Post / Lily Kuo]
• The elderly and those with health conditions remain at greater risk for complications, but so far, the new variant hasn’t led to more severe disease. [Fortune / Erin Prater]
• The actual toll of the new wave could be difficult to determine because Beijing stopped reporting domestic Covid-19 data in April. [NHK World]

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In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court on Thursday limited the EPA’s authority to protect US waterways under the Clean Water Act. [Vox / Ian Millhiser]

• Electronic brain and spinal cord implants helped a Dutch man with paralysis walk over a decade after his injury. [CNN / Jamie Gumbrecht and Deidre McPhillips]
• The German economy slipped into a recession in the first three months of 2023 as consumers pulled back on spending amid inflation. [BBC / Lucy Hooker]
• The Transportation Department is funding the removal of highways like Kansas City’s US 71 that divide and disproportionately impact Black and low-income communities. [NYT / Mark Walker]

“This is all about faith, it’s all about the belief that we’ve worked hard at since the beginning of our nation, and blowing away that faith, that confidence, I don’t think people really understand how valuable that is."

[Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, on the US defaulting on its loans / Vox]

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 In this episode of The Weeds we go on a deep dive with Vox reporters Fabiola Cineas and Ian Millhiser and look at the man behind the two affirmative action cases before the Supreme Court, the current state of affirmative action, and what a future without this policy would look like.

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