Vox Sentences - BIF on the floor

The Senate finally has an infrastructure deal; Cuba is cracking down on protesters.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum.

It’s (actually!) Infrastructure Week

Win McNamee/Getty Images

• After months of negotiation, the bipartisan group of senators working out an infrastructure deal announced that they’ve agreed on a bill, which easily cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate and is now being debated. [The Washington Post / Tony Romm]
• Sixty-seven senators — all 50 Democrats and 17 Republicans — voted to advance debate on the bill, which authorizes $550 billion in new spending. [The New York Times / Emily Cochrane and Jim Tankersley]
• The bill is significantly smaller than President Joe Biden’s initial plan and has only modest climate spending, but still authorizes funding for some of his top priorities, including $66 billion in passenger rail investments, $55 billion for clean water, and $65 billion to expand broadband internet. [CBS News / Kathryn Watson and Jack Turman]
• While the outlook on the bipartisan deal is promising, there are still some obstacles. The coalition will need to hold on to 10 Republicans for the final vote. [The Associated Press / Lisa Mascaro, Kevin Freking, and Alan Fram]
• For many Democrats, particularly progressives, support of the bipartisan infrastructure deal hinges on the passage of their own $3.5 trillion budget bill, which is expected to include priorities such as universal prekindergarten and an extension of the child tax credit. [Yahoo! News / Christopher Wilson]
• But Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), the lead Democratic negotiator on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, potentially threw a wrench in those plans by saying she does not support the $3.5 trillion price tag. [The Arizona Republic / Yvonne Wingett Sanchez]
• In a warning shot, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said that there is no bipartisan bill without a larger Democratic budget bill, and that he was confident all 50 Senate Democrats would support an initial resolution on it next week. [Roll Call / David Lerman]
• Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), the House transportation chair, has been particularly irate that he did not get to write the bipartisan bill and that Sinema’s vote may keep him from influencing it, calling it “crap.” [Politico / Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle]

Cuban crackdown

• Less than three weeks after uprisings against the Cuban government and the economic crisis on the island, protesters are being tried and swiftly convicted for their participation. [CNN / Patrick Oppmann]
• Protests were peaceful. But over 100 protesters have disappeared, and over 700 have been detained — though those numbers may be higher given that they are difficult to track because the Cuban government has restricted the Internet. [The Arizona Republic / Laura Daniella Sepulveda]
• Cubans have described an atmosphere of fear on the island, with many expecting the crackdown to continue. Police officers are going door-to-door detaining people, and detainees have been denied access to defense lawyers. [The New York Times / Ernesto Londoño and Daniel Politi]
• A coalition of about 20 countries, including the United States, have condemned Cuba’s actions and announced sanctions against the Cuban government. [The Hill / Joseph Choi]
• Some Cubans have tried to seek asylum in the US, which has proven difficult. [Insider / Jack Herrera]

The US economy has officially returned to pre-pandemic size, with 1.6 percent growth in the second fiscal quarter of this year. [The New York Times / Ben Casselman]

• A new study found that states that expanded Medicaid saw a significant decrease in residents’ amount of medical debt. [Vox / Dylan Scott]
• Sunisa Lee, the first Hmong American to make the US Olympic team, won gold in the women’s all-around gymnastics competition, becoming the fifth-straight American to take the title. [The Minneapolis Star-Tribune / Rachel Blount]
• After 25 years, the children's show Arthur is ending. [BuzzFeed News / Ikran Dahir]

Support our journalism

"Good luck tanking your own party’s investment on childcare, climate action, and infrastructure while presuming you’ll survive a 3-vote House margin, especially after choosing to exclude members of color from negotiations and calling that a 'bipartisan accomplishment.'"

[Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) lack of support for the $3.5 billion Democratic budget bill]

Vox's Jamil Smith talks with Larry Krasner, the former civil rights attorney who's been district attorney of Philadelphia since 2018. They discuss the bold agenda of criminal justice reform that Krasner's office has been trying to implement and the recent upturn in violent crime across the country. [Spotify / Jamil Smith]

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