Can Biden's slimmed-down spending bill pass?

Biden has a new compromise spending bill; airstrikes in Tigray region reportedly kill 10, including three children.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Biden presses Democrats for a final spending deal

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

• The White House announced Thursday that it had come up with a new framework for a much-debated budget bill. At $1.75 trillion, the plan is greatly scaled down from the ambitious $3.5 trillion package originally proposed. Spending for many progressive programs, including a key clean energy plan and Medicare benefit expansion, has either been eliminated or greatly reduced. [Washington Post / Tony Romm, Amy Goldstein, and Dino Grandoni]
• President Joe Biden discussed the new framework with Democratic lawmakers, hoping for a deal before heading to Europe to meet the Pope and to attend the COP26 conference in Glasgow, which starts Sunday. “I need you to help me; I need your votes,” Biden reportedly told Democrats in the House of Representatives when presenting the plan Thursday morning. [Reuters / Trevor Hunnicutt and Richard Cowan]
• The bill needs all 50 Democratic senators to pass, and the party has had to make cuts to satisfy moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ). However, progressive Democrats in both the Senate and the House are still negotiating over issues like prescription drug costs and paid family leave. [WSJ / Andrew Duehren, Richard Rubin, and Natalie Andrews]
• Among the programs left out of the bill for now are free community college, paid leave, and a program to help fully switch to renewable energy sources. Greatly trimmed are plans for a Medicare benefit expansion, a key bill pillar for progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is chair of the Senate Budget Committee and one of the bill’s architects. [NYT / Jonathan Weisman, Jim Tankersley, and Emily Cochrane]
• After several plans for taxing corporations and the ultra-wealthy to fund the bill fell through, the framework includes a surtax — or an additional tax on the incomes of the wealthiest .02 percent of Americans, as well as a 15 percent minimum corporate tax, to help pay for the bill. [Politico / Rachel Bade, Garrett Ross, and Eli Okun]
• The so-called reconciliation bill, even in its reduced form, is still tied to a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said could come to the floor for a vote this week. But Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said legislators couldn’t be expected to vote on the infrastructure bill without agreeing on the full text of the reconciliation bill. [The Guardian / Joan E. Greve]

Airstrikes kill 10 in Ethipoia's Tigray region

• Air strikes carried out by the Ethiopian central government have hit the Tigrayan capitol of Mekelle, reportedly killing 10, including three children. The Ethiopian government said the strike hit a military target, but the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front — TPLF — and an area hospital disputed that assessment, saying a residential area was hit. [Al Jazeera]
• It's at least the eighth time in the past two weeks that the Ethiopian air force has conducted bombing sorties over the area. Aid groups including the UN’s humanitarian arm have faced serious difficulties in carrying out humanitarian activities in Tigray. The international community is pressing for an end to the conflict, with the US threatening sanctions. [Reuters / Dawit Endeshaw]
• Over the summer, President Abiy Ahmed’s government has cracked down on the region, blocking aid convoys from entering and expelling aid workers. UN humanitarian aid chief Martin Griffiths said in September that the region is on the verge of famine. [CBS / Pamela Falk]
• November will mark a year of the conflict in the Tigray region; during that time, thousands have been killed and about 2 million have been displaced. The fighting has also moved to the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara. [AP]

CEOs of some of the world’s biggest oil companies denied spreading misinformation to the public about how harmful their products were to the environment during a scathing congressional panel Thursday. [NBC / Josh Lederman]

• The US DOJ has reached a settlement with the families of victims of the 2015 Charleston church shooting; they will receive $88 million, a sum meant to compensate for a failed background check that allowed killer Dylann Roof to purchase a firearm. [Washington Post / Devlin Barrett]
• African nations are facing a shortage of syringes, the latest obstacle in the continent’s efforts to vaccinate its 1.3 billion people. [New York Times / Aina J. Khan]
• Venezuela offered to swap eight Americans for Nicolas Maduro’s alleged financier Alex Saab at a meeting in Mexico last year. [AP / Joshua Goodman]

“In view of the gravity of the reported situation, the Commission hereby suspends all payments relevant to the activities undertaken by your organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

[Letter from the European Commission to the World Health Organization,  after allegations of sexual violence committed by WHO staffers during the 2018-2020 Ebola response]

Sean Illing talks with Joe Bernstein of BuzzFeed News about online disinformation and what — if anything — can be done about it. [Spotify]

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