Vox Sentences - Congress votes to stave off shutdown

The Senate voted to fund the government until December, but other priorities hang in the balance; Indigenous families in Canada come closer to reparations.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Shutdown crisis averted, but tough fights are ahead

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

• Congress voted to fund the government until December, narrowly averting a partial government shutdown that would begin at midnight. [CNN / Clare Foran and Ali Zaslav]
• A continuing funding resolution passed the House and Senate on Thursday; legislators haggled over funding for newly arrived Afghan refugees and aid for communities affected by natural disasters like Hurricane Ida, which hit the Gulf Coast last month. [Washington Post / Tony Romm]
• Shutdown prep had already started, according to the nonpartisan Office of Management and Budget; during a partial shutdown, many federal workers would be furloughed or have to work without pay. [Reuters]
• Congress still has to find a way to raise or suspend the debt ceiling before October 18, when Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen projects the government will run out of funds to pay the US’s debts. [Politico / Caitlin Emma]
• Also in the balance is a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was initially set for a vote in the House on Monday and may reach the floor on Thursday. [NYT / Emily Cochrane]
• Progressives say they won't vote for the bill without assurances from moderates that a $3.5 trillion social spending and climate bill will also pass. But on Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said he supports only a $1.5 trillion second bill. [NYT / Emily Cochrane]

Reparations for Canada’s First Nations families and children

• A Canadian court has ruled that the government owes reparations to Indigenous children and their families, who were discriminated against in the provision of government child and family services. [Al Jazeera]
• A tribunal ruled in 2019 that the Canadian federal government should pay Indigenous (or First Nations) children and their families billions after the tribunal found the government underfunded child and family services on First Nations reservations, then pushed those children into foster care. [Washington Post / Rachel Pannett]
• The federal government, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, challenged the tribunal’s ruling, saying he wants to “make sure we’re getting compensation right.” However, the federal court ruled that the compensation — set at $40,000 Canadian per child removed from their home — is not unreasonable. [The Guardian / Leyland Cecco]
• The news comes as Canada recognizes its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which commemorates First Nations victims of the country’s residential schools and honors survivors. [NPR / Rachel Treisman

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Britney Spears’s father Jamie Spears was suspended as her conservator — a major step in removing the conservatorship that has dominated the pop superstar’s life for 13 years. It could prompt an investigation of the elder Spears's actions. [NYT / Joe Coscarelli, Julia Jacobs, and Liz Day]

• The House panel investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol has issued subpoenas to 11 people who planned rallies in support of former President Donald Trump on that day. [AP / Mary Clare Jalonick, Eric Tucker, and Jill Colvin]
• Irmgard Fuchner, 96, was apprehended after attempting to flee her trial in Germany for the 11,412 murders she is alleged to have abetted as a typist at the Stutthof concentration camp. [Reuters / Thomas Escritt]
• The Department of Homeland Security has introduced new guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying that immigrants should not be deported simply for being undocumented and that the agency should focus on those that are a security threat or recently crossed a border into the US. [Washington Post / Maria Sacchetti]

“This suspension is directly what Britney wanted, she does not want Jamie in her life.”

[Britney Spears’s attorney Matthew Rosengart, on judge Brenda Penny’s decision to suspend Spears’s father Jamie as her conservator]

Former CDC Director Nancy Messonnier and former White House Covid-19 adviser Andy Slavitt explain the back and forth on vaccine booster shots. [Spotify]

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