Vox Sentences - A January voting rights showdown

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushes a vote on voting rights reform; Israel offers a fourth Covid-19 vaccine shot for at-risk residents.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Democrats push for voting rights in the new year

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

• Just days ahead of the anniversary of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’ll hold a vote this month on changing Senate legislative filibuster rules if Republicans continue blocking Democrats’ voting rights legislation. [AP / Lisa Mascaro] 
• But first, Schumer said he’ll give the GOP one more chance to get on board with the voting rights package Democrats have been pushing for months. A vote on the bill hasn’t been scheduled yet, but Schumer said it’ll happen before MLK Day. [CBS / Kathryn Watson]
• The proposed voting rights legislation does many things, including making Election Day a holiday, expanding mail-in voting access, and simplifying voter registration. It comes in response to restrictive state laws passed in the wake of President Donald Trump falsely claiming election fraud cost him the 2020 election. [Washington Post / Jennifer Rubin]
•  The package has been stalled in the Senate for months due to a Republican filibuster, and Democrats' inability to find the 10 GOP votes they need to overcome it. [CNN/ Ali Zaslav]
• Moderate Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) have both said they support the voting rights bill, but that they are leery of an exception to the filibuster, which would enable the bill to pass with a simple majority.[The Hill / Jordain Cairney]
• Despite this opposition, Schumer has said he will bring a debate on filibuster reform to the floor of the Senate should the GOP filibuster the voting bill again, as they’re expected to. Democrats hope such a debate will increase pressure on Manchin and Sinema to change their minds; it’s uncertain, however, whether that will happen. [Wall Street Journal]

Israel offers 4th coronavirus vaccine dose

• Israel was the first country to approve a fourth booster shot against Covid-19 over the weekend, offering another jab for medical workers and people 60 or older four months after the previous dose amid surging cases of omicron.[Reuters / Maayan Lubell]
•  According to a preliminary study by Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine produces a fivefold jump in coronavirus antibodies.  [Washington Post / Steve Hendrix]
• “This is good news,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, of the study results Tuesday. “That’s an indicator of a very high likelihood that the fourth dose will protect vaccinated people to a great degree against infection [and] to some degree against severe symptoms.” [CNN / Elliott Gotkine]
• While the world waits for more data, White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said last week it was too soon to offer Americans a fourth dose. Depending on the results of other such studies “we may go a significant period of time without requiring a fourth dose,” Fauci said. [The Hill / Mychael Schnell]

A record 4.5 million Americans left jobs in November, according to new data from the US Department of Labor. [Washington Post / Eli Rosenberg]

• A judge will decide a civil sexual assault case Virginia Giuffre is pursuing against Britain’s Prince Andrew over allegations that Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her to engage in activity with the royal. [BBC / Doug Faulkner]
• Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of four counts of intent to defraud investors into believing her startup Theranos could perform hundreds of tests using just a drop of blood. Few expect her conviction to change the “fake it til you make it” mantra of Silicon Valley. [AP / Michael Liedtke]
• Hundreds of Virginia motorists — including Sen. Tim Kaine — were stranded on a major highway for more than 24 hours due to snow and icy conditions.  [NBC / Sophia Barnes]

"Being open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option, it's very, very difficult. It's a heavy lift.”

[West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin on the possibility of Democrats going it alone to eliminate the 60-vote threshold]

Vox’s Rebecca Jennings explains how the platform’s algorithm has been serving mental health content and raising questions about self-diagnosis.  [Spotify]

Read more from Vox

Three ways remote work could remake America

The Golden Globes are this weekend, but they won’t be on TV

Hog farming has a massive poop problem

The largest space telescope in history is about to blow our minds

The exhausting concept of the “2022 rebrand”

This email was sent to you. Manage your email preferences or unsubscribe. If you value Vox’s unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring contribution.

View our Privacy Notice and our Terms of Service.

Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 11, Washington, DC 20036.
Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved.