Vox Sentences - Signed, sealed, infrastructure's yours

Biden signs a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law; the international climate change conference COP26 ends with mixed results

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Biden signs $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty 

• President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law on Monday afternoon. It’s a much-needed success that comes after years of failed attempts by previous administrations. [CNBC / Jacob Pramuk]
• The bill will invest more than half a billion dollars to upgrade the country’s physical infrastructure — roads, airports, internet access, electrification, etc. — over the next five years. [CNN / Betsy Klein and Kate Sullivan]
• Though polls have found the bill to have bipartisan grassroots support, several Republicans who joined Democrats to pass the legislation — 19 senators and 13 members of the House — have received death threats and harassing phone calls. [Washington Post / Felicia Sonmez]
• Although Biden would like to celebrate his victory on infrastructure, the positive momentum from passing the infrastructure bill could be short-lived as negotiations on Democrats’ broad social and climate spending package have hit several snags. [Roll Call / David Lerman, Jennifer Shutt, and Evan Campbell]
• That package, which would fund new child care, affordable housing, and green infrastructure, is currently awaiting a vote in the House, after which it will be revised in the Senate. [Politico / Burgess Everett]

International climate conference ends with mixed results

• Nearly 200 countries agreed to reconvene next year to strengthen reduction targets and offer more support for developing countries at the end of two weeks of talks at the UN climate change conference in Glasgow on Saturday. [NBC/ Rhoda Kwan]
• Some experts say the final agreement — the “Glasgow Climate Pact” — will make it possible to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, but it fell short in providing a deal to help developing countries recover financial damages from the impacts of climate change. [Washington Post / Maxine Joselow]
• There were some major victories during the conference: 100 countries agreed to end deforestation by 2030, and another 100 promised to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent. The US and China also reached a joint agreement to increase ambition to reduce emissions in a rare sign of cooperation. [NYT]
• But in the final hours of negotiations, major coal-producing countries weakened  language on a coal phase-down. Environmental advocates, particularly those from small island countries, had sought to phase out coal completely. [Guardian / Fiona Harvey, Damian Carrington, and Libby Brooks]
• The world is far from in the clear when it comes to curbing climate change, putting pressure on next year’s negotiations to be held in Egypt. “Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread. We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. [AP / Seth Borenstein and Frank Jordans]

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended Kamala Harris on Sunday night against claims that Harris had a rough start to the vice presidency. [Guardian / Martin Pengelly]

• Trump ally and adviser Steve Bannon turned himself in to the FBI Monday morning after refusing to appear for a Congressional subpoena to testify before the January 6 commission. [Politico]
• The jury is hearing final arguments in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, accused of  killing two people and injuring another during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last summer. [ABC / Bill Hutchinson]
• Danny Fenster, an American journalist recently sentenced to 11 years hard labor in a Myanmar prison, was allowed to leave the country on Monday. Fenster had already served six months. [AP / Grant Peck and David Rising]

“How many times have we heard that bipartisanship isn’t possible anymore? Or that important policy can only happen on a party line? Our legislation proves the opposite. And the senators who negotiated this legislation show how to get things done. The senators in our group of 10 effectively represented the needs of the regions we represent.” 

Arizona's Sen. Kyrsten Sinema delivers remarks at the signing of $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill / CNN

 London's ultra-wealthy aren't building up and out — they're building down. [YouTube]

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