A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Drumroll Please…
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) unveiled the text of the long-awaited bipartisan infrastructure bill Sunday night.
- With $550 billion in new spending, the bill “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” runs more than 2,700 pages.
- We’ll assume you don’t have the time to go through all that, so here are some of the highlights, courtesy of CNN and the Associated Press:
- $110 billion for major infrastructure projects, including road and bridges
- $11 billion for transportation safety
- $39 billion for public transit
- $66 billion for rail (congratulations, Amtrak)
- Schumer predicted that the chamber would pass the bill “in a matter of days.”
Pelosi Punts
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is putting the onus on the Biden administration to extend the now-expired federal eviction ban after the House failed to do so on Friday.
- Pelosi argued in her statement that House legislation to continue the ban “will not be sufficient” because the Senate, largely hamstrung by the filibuster, is unlikely to take it up. Progressive Democrats, including Reps. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), held a protest over the ban’s expiration at the Capitol this weekend:
Housing is a human right. ? Thank you for leading the way @CoriBush ? pic.twitter.com/AwmEJoU5kv
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 1, 2021
The Making Of A Jan. 6 Mythology
- “How Ashli Babbitt went from Capitol rioter to Trump-embraced ‘martyr’” – The Washington Post
- “Already Distorting Jan. 6, G.O.P. Now Concocts Entire Counternarrative” – The New York Times
Why The Mastermind Is More Culpable Than The Killers
“Trump and the Capitol riot ‘hitman’ analogy” – MSNBC
A Cautionary Tale
A Tennessee GOP lawmaker who fought COVID-19 for eight months after flouting masks urged people to get vaccinated last week in his harrowing account of becoming so ill his family actually planned his funeral.
- “I have never been against taking the Covid-19 vaccine, but I understand the concerns of those who are hesitant,” state Rep. David Byrd wrote. “To them, I would say Covid is real and it is very dangerous.”
Flying Under The Radar
Tennessee’s Rhodes College is putting the burden of testing for COVID flatly on unvaccinated students, who will be required to pay $1,500 per semester for the school’s weekly testing program if they don’t have a medical or religious exemption for not getting the vaccine.
COVID By The Grim Numbers
Florida broke its record for COVID hospitalizations on Sunday. The previous record was set before vaccines became widely available.
Must-Read
“The Big Money Behind The Big Lie” – The New Yorker
Biden Admin v. Abbott Throwdown
The Justice Department is suing to put the kibosh on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) Trumpian order for state troopers to stop vehicles they suspect of carrying migrants.
Festering Wounds In Trump’s War Against Science
The mass exodus of demoralized government scientists during the Trump era has kneecapped Biden’s climate agenda–and the administration is struggling to bring them back after Trump’s blatant politicization of federal scientific work.
Biles Is Back
Simone Biles, who withdrew from the US gymnastics team final at the Tokyo Olympics for her mental health, will compete in the balance beam final, the last event in the gymnastics competition.
The Tragedy Of Trumpland Social Media Platform Knockoffs
GETTR, the social media platform launched by Trump’s allies, has GOTTen swamped with ISIS propaganda.
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