Vox Sentences - Georgia on Biden's mind

President Biden endorses a Senate rules change to protect voting rights; China places 20 million under lockdown to contain Covid-19 outbreaks.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

Biden endorses filibuster reform on voting rights

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty

• President Joe Biden endorsed changing Senate filibuster rules that have stalled voting legislation during a speech in Georgia Tuesday, imploring Americans to choose “democracy over autocracy.” [AP /Alexandra Jaffe, Colleen Long, and Jeff Amy]
• Ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, Republican legislatures across the country have passed laws making voting more difficult in response to former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Democrats want to counter those laws with legislation instituting new federal voting protections called the Freedom to Vote Act. [Washington Post /  Seung Min Kim]
• But Democrats don’t have the 60 Senate votes they need to overcome the filibuster and to pass the legislation. That’s led to an effort to change filibuster rules so that the Freedom to Vote Act could be considered with the 50 votes Democrats have. [CNN / Nicole Chavez]
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to bring a vote on filibuster reform to the floor before MLK Day if the GOP filibusters the voting right bill. (They’re expected to.) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said Republicans would retaliate if the filibuster is eliminated. [The Hill / Jordain Carney]
• Despite Biden’s speech, he still faces significant challenges within his own party. Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have publicly indicated they don’t support removing the filibuster. [Politico / Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine]

China lockdowns grow to 20 million people

• Across China, 20 million people are on lockdown as officials work to contain a rash of Covid-19 outbreaks just weeks ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. [AP / Ken Moritsugu]
• After discovering 21 cases, including two cases of omicron in the city of Tianjin, just 70 miles from Beijing, officials tested the entire population of 14 million. [Fortune / Grady McGregor]
• To pursue their “zero-Covid” strategy, officials locked down the cities of Xi’an, Yuzhou, and Anyang, causing widespread disruptions across China. Hong Kong is reportedly planning to ban international travelers from 150 countries. [Guardian / Helen Davidson]
• Though 80 percent of China’s 1.4 billion population were fully vaccinated as of last month, omicron’s fast rate of transmission and ability to evade available vaccines is leaving officials scrambling to keep community spread under control. [Washington Post / Eva Dou and Lyric Li]

According to projections from the WHO, half of Europe will be infected with omicron in the next six to eight weeks. [BBC]

• During a Senate health committee meeting on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci confronted Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for spreading lies and encouraging attacks on his life. [Washington Post / Salvador Rizzo]
• A California dog has been returned to its owner after going missing for four months; a skier found the pup trapped in the Lake Tahoe snow in December. [Marina Pitofsky /USA Today]
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is again under fire for allegedly throwing a party during coronavirus lockdowns. [AP / Jill Lawless]
  

“We’re beyond speeches. We’re beyond events. What we are demanding is federal legislation.”

[LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, explains her decision not to attend Biden’s speech on Tuesday]

What happens when all the teachers get sick? [Spotify]

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