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Of the three critical goals that Congress set for itself this week—funding the government to prevent a shutdown, raising the debt ceiling to prevent financial mayhem, and passing both pieces of President Biden’s infrastructure agenda to prevent a climate apocalypse—one of them is nearly in the bag.
- Spoiler: It’s not infrastructure. It now seems likely that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will delay Thursday’s scheduled vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, after House progressives made it abundantly clear that they would vote it down without a cross-party agreement on the reconciliation bill’s text. Pelosi told reporters on Wednesday that Biden and Senate Democrats need to reach “an agreement in legislative language” before the House can pass the BIF. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said that an agreement would not be possible by Thursday.
- The only reason it’s impossible is that Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have refused to offer any specificity about what they would support, and have instead objected to the $3.5 trillion proposal’s general vibes or adorably refusing to say anything at all. Manchin would much prefer to delay those negotiations until he’s already gotten everything he wanted: “All we need to do is pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, sit down, and start negotiating in good faith. That's it.” In other words, why can’t progressives simply trust that centrists will hold up their end of the deal?
- Mostly because of everything else they keep saying and doing! Manchin claimed to be unaware of any deal to link the two bills together, while in the same breath explaining that the deal precluded him from sabotaging the part he didn’t like. “Never heard of it. That two of them would be together? Why do you think we worked so hard to separate them?" (Keke Palmer voice) Sorry to this plan. The standoff over the infrastructure agenda has gotten so messy that Biden canceled a trip to Chicago on Wednesday to devote his full attention to figuring out what the fuck Kyrsten Sinema wants.
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At least federal employees can almost breathe a tentative sigh of relief, maybe!
- Everything is still chaos, but the Senate could vote later tonight on a bill to keep the government funded past the Thursday deadline. Democrats have stripped the debt limit increase that (outrageously) prompted Republicans to filibuster the whole bill earlier this week, so it should now be possible to pass it in time to avert a government shutdown. Just in case, the White House has issued a contingency plan for how health agencies will keep the federal coronavirus response operational if funding runs out.
- The flipside is that Democrats will need to find another way to solve the debt-limit problem before October 18, when the economy is scheduled to explode. On Wednesday the House passed a standalone bill to suspend the debt limit, after a handful of moderates threatened to vote it down, but unless Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell abandons his filibuster (or Democrats take away the option), it’s doomed in the Senate. The House vote does, however, show that Democrats have the votes to attach the debt limit increase to the reconciliation bill, if they decide to go that route.
It’s a good sign for progressives (and the country) that Pelosi seems prepared to delay Thursday’s BIF vote—that arbitrary deadline served only to delink the two bills and gave a few rogue centrists an opportunity to hijack the party agenda. Preventing a shutdown and a default are the real emergencies; getting Build Back Better across the finish line should take as long as it takes.
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September is National Voter Registration month and Vote Save America is working to raise $1.5 million through our No Off Years fund. Donations will go to help voter registration efforts in places where reaching new voters will help make the difference in our ability to win next year and beyond like Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, and more. We have already raised over $110,000 so far, but there is still more time to reach our goal. The sooner we get new voters registered, the sooner organizers can start building relationships and expanding their work to reach every last voter. To chip in, head to votesaveamerica.com/donate to learn more.
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In today’s edition of America’s Perfect Justice System, 131 federal judges have broken the law by not recusing themselves from lawsuits in which they had financial interests. A Wall Street Journal investigation found that judges around the country had failed to disqualify themselves from 685 court cases since 2010, improperly choosing to oversee cases involving companies in which they or their families held stock. The violating judges offered a range of explanations—some blamed court clerks or misspellings in their recusal lists that slipped past court conflict-screening software. Judges are free to own stock, but since 1974, federal law has barred them from hearing cases in which they, their spouses, or minor children have “legal or equitable interest, however small.” In cases where judges went ahead and did so anyway, their rulings on contested motions came down in favor of their own financial interests about two-thirds of the time.
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- The Senate parliamentarian has once again ruled that Democrats can’t include a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants in the reconciliation bill, after they pitched her an alternative proposal. It is another beautiful day to ignore the Senate parliamentarian!
- U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan questioned why federal prosecutors hadn’t charged a January 6 insurrectionist for threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after she was recorded saying, “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain.” The Justice Department agreed to let her plead down to a misdemeanor.
- A Trump donor has accused former Trump aide Corey Lewandowski of sexually harassing her at a charity event over the weekend. Meanwhile, Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) has denied a story (from an admittedly questionable MAGA-world source) that she and Lewandowski are having an affair.
- YouTube will start taking down all anti-vax content, instead of just misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines.
- The National Labor Relation Board’s top lawyer released a memo saying that athletes at private colleges qualify as employees, and are therefore eligible to unionize.
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has declared the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct, along with 22 other species.
- SpaceX is confidently preparing to launch the largest rocket in the history of spaceflight, before federal regulators have finished hastily skimming over the potential environmental impacts to approve it.
- South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, who recently wriggled off the hook for killing a man with his car, will review whether Kristi Noem did anything wrong by intimidating a state employee to get her daughter a real-estate appraiser’s license.
- A Danish museum gave an artist $84,000 for a commissioned piece and he instead delivered two blank canvases titled “Take the Money and Run.” Banksy is shaking.
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A network of right-wing health-care providers has made millions of dollars in the unproven COVID treatment business, because what use is a viral, deadly conspiracy theory if nobody’s profiting? Hacked data indicates that patients have spent at least $15 million on consultations and medications like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, in a windfall for health care companies working with the right-wing group America’s Frontline Doctors. That group produces widely-shared videos that refer to coronavirus vaccines as “experimental biological agents” and argue against public health restrictions, then refers its frightened followers to its telemedicine partners, who take their money in exchange for useless prescriptions. (Or in some cases, just take their money.) And in spite of promising patient privacy, two of the providers were “hilariously easy” to hack, according to the guy who hacked them. This is all incredibly dark, so please take a moment to enjoy this GOP Minnesota gubernatorial candidate going to bat for ivermectin with an anecdote about scotch-taping his butt hole.
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Take the ACLU’s Email Course on Race, Police, and Divestment
It’s been over a year since the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And still, police have killed more than 500 people in 2021 already – from Daunte Wright to 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, and far too many others. Meanwhile, the resounding calls to divest and defund the police continue to grow. Calls that Black organizers and advocates led long before now.
So what does it all really mean for our country? And how does this moment differ from so many past efforts in America to stop racist police practices that have terrorized Black people for centuries?
The ACLU will dive into these questions and more in our inaugural email course, “Racism in Policing” –and we want you to be a part of it. Sign up for the email course today.
In this four-email course, you’ll receive one lesson every week delivered to your inbox from us, Paige Fernandez and Carl Takei, your course guides and ACLU experts.
We’ll help you develop a deeper foundational knowledge of U.S. policing institutions, its inseparable ties to white supremacy and systemic racism, and the larger meaning behind police divestment as a solution for the safety of all communities.
By the end of our course, you’ll come away with historical context, learning resources, and the insight needed to take meaningful actions on this critical issue.
We truly couldn’t think of a more significant topic to delve into and we’re looking forward to having you with us. So don’t wait – sign up and let’s get started.
Your course guides,
Paige Fernandez
She, her, hers
Policing Policy Advisor, National Political Advocacy Department, ACLU
Carl Takei
He, him, his
Senior Staff Attorney, Trone Center for Justice and Equality, ACLU
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A Los Angeles judge has suspended Jamie Spears as conservator of Britney Spears’s estate.
Vaccine Mandates Are Working, military edition.
The non-profit New Story is 3-D printing 500 homes in a village in Mexico, and the first homes have already stood up to a magnitude 7.4 earthquake.
West Virginians are increasingly interested in transitioning to clean energy.
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