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The Guardian - US
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Joan E Greve and Lois Beckett

Manchin urges House to pass infrastructure bill but does not endorse $1.75tn framework – as it happened

Joe Manchin left the press conference without taking questions.
Joe Manchin left the press conference without taking questions. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Evening summary

We’re wrapping up our live US politics coverage for today. Here’s an updated summary of today’s key events.

  • Joe Manchin called on the House to quickly pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, even as he refused to endorse Joe Biden’s framework for the $1.75tn reconciliation package. Manchin, one of the two Democratic holdouts on the reconciliation package in the Senate, said he would not support the legislation until he had a clearer sense about how it would impact the deficit.
  • Despite Manchin’s statement, the White House expressed confidence that the senator would ultimately support the reconciliation package. “Senator Manchin says he is prepared to support a Build Back Better plan that combats inflation, is fiscally responsible, and will create jobs,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “The plan the House is finalizing meets those tests.”
  • House progressives indicated they still hoped to pass both the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package later this week. Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal said she trusted Biden’s assurances that the reconciliation bill framework can attract the support of all 50 Democratic senators.
  • Biden addressed the Cop26 climate change conference, underscoring the urgent need to curb carbon emissions. “We meet with the eyes of history upon us and with profound questions before us,” Biden said in Glasgow. “It’s simple. Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us, or will we condemn future generations to suffer? This is the decade that will determine the answer.” Meanwhile, Trump told supporters that climate change is a “hoax”.
  • The supreme court heard oral arguments in the case over Texas’ six-week abortion ban. Five of the court’s conservative justices allowed the ban to go into effect in September, but at least two of those justices — Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — sounded skeptical today when hearing Texas attorneys’ justifications for the law.
  • Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said Mark Zuckerberg should step down as chief executive, and said the stakes of Facebook taking safety seriously could be measured in the loss of millions of lives over the next decades.
  • Ahead of a planned senate vote this week on legislation to protect voting rights, only one GOP senator, Lisa Murkowski, has expressed her support.
  • Tomorrow’s closely contested gubernatorial election in Virginia will be a key sign of just how challenging the 2022 midterms may be for Democrats.

Updated

Democrats mark confirmation of federal appellate court’s ‘first openly lesbian judge’

The confirmation of Justice Beth Robinson is a milestone, Chuck Schumer tweeted:

Some background on Robinson’s career:

AP: Images of vulnerable Afghans removed from Pentagon website

The Pentagon on Monday said it has temporarily removed from its visual information website tens of thousands of photos and videos of Afghans who supported the US war effort and were deemed vulnerable to Taliban retaliation, the Associated Press reports.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that starting in August, during the US-led evacuation, all imagery showing the faces or other identifiable features of vulnerable Afghans was removed. He said the images will be returned to the public domain when it is deemed safe.

Military weighs penalties for those who refuse Covid vaccine

As deadlines loom for military and defense civilians to get mandated Covid-19 vaccines, senior leaders must now wrestle with the fate of those who flatly refuse the shots or are seeking exemptions, and how to make sure they are treated fairly and equally, the Associated Press reports.

Exemption decisions for medical, religious and administrative reasons will be made by unit commanders around the world, on what the Pentagon says will be a “case-by-case” basis. That raises a vexing issue for military leaders who are pushing a vaccine mandate seen as critical to maintaining a healthy force, but want to avoid a haphazard, inconsistent approach with those who refuse.

Military vaccination rates are higher than those of the general population in the United States and the reasons for objecting – often based on misinformation – are similar to those heard throughout the country. But unlike most civilians, military personnel are routinely required to get as many as 17 vaccines, and face penalties for refusing.

The military services report between 1%-7% remain unvaccinated. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has called for compassion in dealings with those troops, which total nearly 60,000 active duty service members, according to data released last week.

Jury selection underway at Kyle Rittenhouse homicide trial

The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse opened Monday with the challenging task of seating jurors who hadn’t already made up their minds about the young aspiring police officer who shot two people to death and wounded a third during a night of anti-racism protests in Kenosha last year, the Associated Press reports.

The jury that is ultimately selected in the politically charged case will have to decide whether Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, as his lawyers claim, or was engaged in vigilantism when he opened fire with an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, is also facing a charge of illegal possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.

By late afternoon, at least 28 of the 150 or so prospective jurors summoned had been dismissed, about a dozen of them because they had strong opinions about the case or doubts they could be fair. Some also expressed fear about serving on the jury because of public anger but were not immediately let go.

One juror said she did not want to serve on the Rittenhouse jury because “either way this goes you’re going to have half the country upset with you and they react poorly.” She said: “I don’t want people to come after in their haze of craze.”

Updated

Facebook whistleblower: ‘A million, or maybe 10 million lives on the line’

My colleague Dan Milmo has more on Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s speech in Lisbon today, including her call for Mark Zuckerberg to step down as chief executive.

“I think Facebook will be stronger with someone who is willing to focus on safety,” Haugen told the European audience.

She argued that the stakes for Facebook focusing on safety over profits or growth are extremely high: “I genuinely believe that there are a million, or maybe 10 million lives on the line in the next 20 years, and compared to that nothing really feels like a real consequence.”

Facebook’s announcement last week, in the face of intense questioning over the consequences of its technology for the health of children and democracy, that its parent company would rebrand as ‘Meta’ was part of a pattern at the company, Haugen argued: “I think there is a meta problem at Facebook which is that over and over again Facebook chooses expansion in new areas over sticking the landing on what they have already done and I find it unconscionable that, as you read through the documents, it states very clearly there needs to be more resources on very basic safety systems.”

Read the full story here:

Updated

Murkowski says she supports a voting rights bill. No other GOP senator does.

Ahead of a planned Wednesday senate vote on a voting rights bill, only one Republican senator has announced her support of the legislation.

That’s a stark contrast from just 15 years ago, when voting rights received unanimous support in the senate, Ari Berman, a longtime reporter on the voting rights beat, noted:

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen says Zuckerberg should step down

In her first public address since she leaked a trove of damaging documents about Facebook’s inner workings, whistleblower Frances Haugen urged her former boss, Mark Zuckerberg, to step down and allow change rather than devoting resources to a rebrand, Reuters reports.

“I think it is unlikely the company will change if [Mark Zuckerberg] remains the CEO,” Haugen told a packed arena on Monday at the opening night of the Web Summit, a tech fest drawing dozens of thousands to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

Things that are back to normal: New York City’s Thanksgiving Day parade

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will return to its pre-pandemic form this year, with its route restored through Manhattan, high-flying helium balloons once again pulled by handlers and crowds welcomed back to cheer them on, the Associated Press reports.

This year’s parade — the 95th annual — will snap back to form after bowing to pandemic restrictions last year. It will feature 15 giant character balloons, 28 floats, 36 novelty and heritage inflatables, more than 800 clowns, 10 marching bands and nine performance groups and, of course, Santa Claus.

Trump calls climate change a ‘hoax’, like his loss in the 2020 presidential election

In an email to supporters, the former president labeled climate change a “hoax”. Politico’s Scott Waldman, a White House reporter focused on climate change, said this was the first time Trump had “ranked [climate change] alongside his own conspiracies”.

Updated

US prisons face staff shortages as officers quit amid Covid, conditions worsen

At a Georgia state House of Representatives hearing on prison conditions in September, a corrections officer called in to testify, interrupting his shift to tell lawmakers how dire conditions had become, the Associated Press reports.

On a “good day”, he told lawmakers, he had maybe six or seven officers to supervise roughly 1,200 people. He said he had recently been assigned to look after 400 prisoners by himself. There weren’t enough nurses to provide medical care.

“All the officers … absolutely despise working there,” said the officer, who didn’t give his name for fear of retaliation.

In Texas, Lance Lowry quit after 20 years as a corrections officer to become a long-haul trucker because he couldn’t bear the job any longer. Watching friends and coworkers die from Covid-19, along with dwindling support from his superiors, wore on him.

“I would have liked to stay till I was 50,” said Lowry, 48. “But the pandemic changed that.”

Read the full investigation:

Updated

Estranged wife of Trump-endorsed senate candidate testified he choked her

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports from a custody hearing today that included tearful testimony, under oath, from the estranged wife of Sean Parnell, a Trump-endorsed candidate competing in the Republican primary for an open US senate seat in Pennsylvania. The race is seen as a key 2022 battleground for the political control of the senate.

Parnell has responded:

A former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, Ryan Costello, tweeted that Parnell was a “disaster of a candidate” and should get out of the race:

Updated

AP: Robert Durst indicted on a murder charge in disappearance of his first wife in 1982

New from the Associated Press:

Millionaire real estate scion Robert Durst was indicted Monday on a murder charge in the death of his first wife, Kathie Durst, who disappeared nearly four decades ago, prosecutors said.

The second-degree murder indictment in the New York City suburbs comes weeks after an investigator in the case filed a criminal complaint against the 78-year-old Durst, who was recently sentenced to life in prison in California for killing a confidante who helped him cover up the slaying.

Durst was transferred to a state prison medical unit last week less than two weeks after being hospitalized on a ventilator with COVID-19 following sentencing in the Los Angeles case.

A warrant has been issued for his arrest in the killing of Kathie Durst, Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah said in a statement announcing the indictment.

“When Kathleen Durst disappeared on January 31, 1982, her family and friends were left with pain, anguish and questions that have contributed to their unfaltering pursuit of justice for the last 39 years,” Rocah said.

Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe wishes Trump still had Twitter, CNN reports

On the eve of a very tight race for Virginia governor, the Democratic candidate told CNN that he wished “from a political perspective” that Donald Trump still had a Twitter account, even though “for the sake of the country” it’s good that Trump is off the site.

Politico’s Christopher Cadelago interpreted this remark to mean that “Republicans are still getting what they need from Trump,” even without the former president’s powerful Twitter account, but that Democrats are not.

Updated

More updates on a potential Republican win for Youngkin in Virginia tomorrow

Some more data points on tomorrow’s closely-watched election in Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin has a chance to take back the governor’s mansion from Democrats just two years after Democrats turned the state blue in 2019.

New tax rate on top US firms abroad will help Americans at home, Yellen says

The treasury secretary Janet Yellen has said US multinationals who have spent years avoiding paying tax on American soil will be forced to help fund improvements to education, social and infrastructure programmes, thanks to the landmark global tax deal.

Speaking in Ireland, where 800 US companies are based, Yellen said the new global tax rate agreed by 136 OECD countries halted the “race to the bottom” where multinationals scoured the world for the lowest corporation tax rate, failing to pay their dues to the populations that helped them make billions every year in profits.

What will the results of Virginia’s gubernatorial election tell us about the midterms?

This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live US politics coverage from our West Coast bureau in Los Angeles.

The University of Virginia’s Center for Politics has a deep dive on the very close race for governor in Virginia, and what the outcome of that election might signal about the relative strength of Democrats and Republicans going into the 2022 midterm elections.

The full article is worth a read, but two of the key points:

The takeaways for the national environment shouldn’t be all that different whether McAuliffe wins by a tiny margin or Youngkin wins by a similarly small margin...Both of those possible results — a narrow win by either candidate — would suggest a significant falloff for Democrats from their strong Virginia performances in the Trump era and represent, at the very least, a bright red “check engine” light at the midpoint of the Democrats’ journey from last year’s presidential race to next year’s midterm.

And if the results are not close:

A Youngkin win by several points would offer confirmation that the political environment has broken wide open against Democrats. Meanwhile, if McAuliffe wins by several points, it may indicate that Biden’s poor approval ratings are not as much of a drag on Democrats as one might otherwise think.

Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Lois Beckett, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Joe Manchin called on the House to quickly pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, even as he refused to endorse Joe Biden’s framework for the $1.75tn reconciliation package. Manchin, one of the two Democratic holdouts on the reconciliation package in the Senate, said he would not support the legislation until he had a clearer sense about how it would impact the deficit.
  • Despite Manchin’s statement, the White House expressed confidence that the senator would ultimately support the reconciliation package. “Senator Manchin says he is prepared to support a Build Back Better plan that combats inflation, is fiscally responsible, and will create jobs,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “The plan the House is finalizing meets those tests.”
  • House progressives indicated they still hoped to pass both the infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package later this week. Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal said she trusted Biden’s assurances that the reconciliation bill framework can attract the support of all 50 Democratic senators.
  • Biden addressed the Cop26 climate change conference, underscoring the urgent need to curb carbon emissions. “We meet with the eyes of history upon us and with profound questions before us,” Biden said in Glasgow. “It’s simple. Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us, or will we condemn future generations to suffer? This is the decade that will determine the answer.”
  • The supreme court heard oral arguments in the case over Texas’ six-week abortion ban. Five of the court’s conservative justices allowed the ban to go into effect in September, but at least two of those justices -- Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- sounded skeptical today when hearing Texas attorneys’ justifications for the law.

Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Schumer sets up Wednesday vote on John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he will file cloture later today on the motion to proceed to the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

That move will set up a Wednesday vote on the voting rights bill, which would restore some of the key protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Those protections were gutted as a result of the supreme court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v Holder.)

“The fight to protect our democracy from voter suppression and election subversion continues in the United States Senate,” Schumer said in a floor speech.

Historically, the Senate has been able to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act in a bipartisan fashion, but the Wednesday vote will almost certainly fail.

Senate Republicans are expected to filibuster the bill, meaning Democrats will need to convince ten of their colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join them in order to advance the legislation.

But as of now, only one Republican senator -- Lisa Murkowski of Alaska -- has indicated she supports the bill.

'Democrats look forward to passing' infrastructure and reconciliation bills, Pelosi says

House speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that Democrats remain committed to soon passing both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package, despite Joe Manchin’s latest statement on the negotiations.

“The House, Senate and White House continue to move forward with the Build Back Better Act – which will be one of the most historic, consequential legislative victories For The People in a century,” Pelosi said in a new statement.

“Build Back Better will grow the economy without increasing inflation, because it is fully paid for,” she added.

Although Pelosi’s statement does not explicitly mention Manchin’s name, that comment seems to be a response to his concerns about whether the legislation may negatively contribute to the federal deficit.

“Democrats look forward to passing the Build Back Better Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework For The People,” Pelosi concluded.

Mondaire Jones echoed Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal, saying the House should pass both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package this week.

So it seems like House progressives are mostly brushing aside Joe Manchin’s latest statement on the reconciliation package, in which he refused to explicitly endorse Joe Biden’s framework for the bill.

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal downplayed the significance of Joe Manchin’s latest statement on the reconciliation package.

The Washington congresswoman said the House still intends to pass both the reconciliation package and the bipartisan infrastructure bill in the next few days.

Jayapal reiterated that Joe Biden reassured House Democrats about his framework for the $1.75tn reconciliation package ultimately gaining the support of all 50 Democratic senators, and she said she would let the president handle any necessary conversations with Manchin.

Jayapal urged congressional Democrats to “keep tempers down” as they navigate what they hope will be the final stage of the negotiations over the two bills.

White House expresses confidence Manchin will ultimately support reconciliation package

The White House has released a statement insisting Joe Manchin will ultimately support the $1.75tn reconciliation package, even though the Democratic senator has not committed to doing so.

“Senator Manchin says he is prepared to support a Build Back Better plan that combats inflation, is fiscally responsible, and will create jobs,” press secretary Jen Psaki said in a new statement.

“The plan the House is finalizing meets those tests—it is fully paid for, will reduce the deficit, and brings down costs for health care, child care, elder care, and housing.

“Experts agree: Seventeen Nobel Prize-winning economists have said it will reduce inflation. As a result, we remain confident that the plan will gain Senator Manchin’s support.”

During his meeting with House Democrats last week, Joe Biden also said that he believed his framework for the reconciliation package would win the support of all 50 Democratic senators.

But in his statement to the press moments ago, Manchin emphasized he had not yet decided whether he would support the final version of the package.

“I’m open to supporting a final bill that helps move our country forward, but I am equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country,” Manchin said.

Joe Manchin would not explicitly endorse Joe Biden’s framework for the $1.75tn reconciliation package, and the West Virginia senator would not commit to supporting the final version of the legislation.

“I’m open to supporting a final bill that helps move our country forward, but I am equally open to voting against a bill that hurts our country,” Manchin said.

That will not likely be reassuring for the House progressives who want guarantees about the future of the reconciliation package before supporting the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

House Democratic leaders had originally hoped to hold votes on both bills later this week, but it’s unclear how Manchin’s latest statement may affect that timing.

Joe Manchin fiercely criticized House progressives for refusing to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the reconciliation package moves forward.

“The political games have to stop,” the Democratic senator said. “Holding this bill hostage is not going to work in getting my support for the reconciliation bill.”

Of course, Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the other key Democratic holdout in the Senate, have used their two votes to demand drastic cuts to the reconciliation package and are now refusing to endorse Joe Biden’s framework for the smaller bill.

So one could make the argument that the “political games” are not restricted to the progressive wing of the Democratic party.

Manchin urges House to pass infrastructure bill without endorsing reconciliation framework

Joe Manchin held a press conference this afternoon to offer some clarity on his opinion of Joe Biden’s framework for the $1.75tn reconciliation package.

However, the West Virginia senator instead just reiterated his demand that the House pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill without explicitly endorsing the framework.

“I’ve worked in good faith for three months,” Manchin said. “And I will continue to do so. For the sake of the country, I urge the House to vote and pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill.”

House progressives have said they will not support the infrastructure bill until the reconciliation package moves forward as well.

But Manchin said he would not endorse Biden’s framework for the reconciliation package until he has more information about the legislation’s cost.

“To be clear, I will not support the reconciliation legislation without knowing how the bill would impact our debt and our economy in our country. And we won’t know that until we work through the text,” Manchin said.

The Democratic senator left the press conference without taking questions.

Updated

Donald Trump is scheduled to host a Virginia campaign event today for Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor in a race headed down to the wire. But Youngkin will not participate, as he attempts to balance appeals to the former president’s supporters with a semblance of independence.

Trump will host a phone-in “tele rally” as he seeks to boost Youngkin past his Democratic opponent, the former governor Terry McAuliffe.

John Fredericks, a conservative radio host and Trump’s campaign chair in Virginia in 2016 and 2020, said tens of thousands of participants were expected for “the largest Tele-rally ever”.

“The key to a Republican victory in Virginia rests clearly on the shoulders of Trump voters turning out on game day in massive numbers,” Fredericks said in a statement.

The contest is seen by many as a referendum on the Biden presidency and a bellwether for midterm elections next year. The realclearpolitics.com polling average has Youngkin up by less than two points; Fivethirtyeight.com puts him up by one.

McAuliffe was due to stage rallies in Roanoke, Virginia Beach and Richmond and in northern Virginia. Youngkin was to rally in Roanoke, Richmond, Virginia Beach and Loudon county.

McAuliffe, a close ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, has campaigned with Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris, former president Barack Obama and other high-profile Democrats. Nonetheless he has struggled to generate enthusiasm in a state Biden won by 10 points.

Youngkin, a businessman, has not appeared with Trump. On Saturday, he told reporters: “I’m not going to be engaged in the tele-town hall. The teams are talking, I’m sure.”

Biden apologises for US Paris withdrawal under Trump

Given that Republicans used to get very upset about Barack Obama’s supposed “apology tour” of the world, mostly as a way to complain about a president keen to engage diplomatically and not with mindless bombast … Joe Biden might expect some blowback at home for an apology he offered at the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland today.

Joe Biden.
Joe Biden. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AFP/Getty Images

“I guess I shouldn’t apologise,” the president said, “but I do apologise* for the fact that the United States – the last administration pulled out of the Paris accord. It put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit.”

Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris climate deal, to which Biden recommitted.

Biden also said “the American people, four or five years ago, weren’t at all sure about climate change, whether it was real … well, they have, as they say in southern parts of my state [Delaware], ‘seen the lord’. They’ve seen what’s happened back home. The incredible changes that are taking place. And they’re now finally ... seeing the sense of urgency that you all are.”

Put it this way: views on the climate crisis tend to vary on partisan lines, Democrats thinking the need for action is more urgent than Republicans do. Also, this headline from The Verge is rather handy: “More Americans believe in climate change but still can’t quit fossil fuels”.

Here’s Oliver Milman and Nina Lakhani’s report from Glasgow on Biden’s speech at Cop26:

*Blogger’s note. Though I am not Scottish, I would be glad to accept an apology from Joe Biden, or any American, come to that, for pronouncing Glasgow “Glass-gau”. It is, most assuredly, “Glazgo”. I’ll wait.

In arguments before the supreme court today over the extreme Texas anti-abortion law, Elena Kagan, a liberal justice, interrupted the Texas solicitor general to say the law appeared to have been written by “some geniuses” to evade the broad legal principle that “states are not to nullify federal constitutional rights”.

Opponents of the Texas law say it undermines Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling which guaranteed the right to abortion.

Today’s hearing, by a court tilted 6-3 in favour of conservatives during the Trump years, thanks to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s mastery of pure hardball politics, is being eagerly watched:

Updated

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • House Democrats are still hoping to hold votes on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package this week. House leaders had initially planned to hold votes tomorrow, but that timeline has been altered as Democrats race to craft a drug pricing provision for the reconciliation package.
  • Joe Biden addressed the Cop26 climate change conference, underscoring the urgent need to curb carbon emissions. “We meet with the eyes of history upon us and with profound questions before us,” Biden said in Glasgow. “It’s simple. Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us, or will we condemn future generations to suffer? This is the decade that will determine the answer.”
  • The supreme court heard oral arguments in the case over Texas’ six-week abortion ban. Five of the court’s conservative justices allowed the ban to go into effect in September, but at least two of those justices -- Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- sounded skeptical today when hearing Texas attorneys’ justifications for the law.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

The New York City fire commissioner, Daniel Nigro, on Sunday slammed firefighters who took paid sick leave in advance of a Friday deadline to receive at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, raising the prospect of staffing shortages from Monday.

“The department has not closed any firehouses,” Nigro said. “Irresponsible bogus sick leave by some of our members is creating a danger for New Yorkers and their fellow firefighters. They need to return to work or risk the consequences of their actions.”

Opposition to vaccine mandates fueled by rightwing politicians and media figures led to protests in New York this week, with firefighters and police officers prominent in crowds at City Hall and Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor.

Fire officials previously said they were prepared to close up to 20% of fire companies and see 20% fewer ambulances in operation. The department also planned to change schedules, cancel vacations and seek non-fire department emergency medical service providers.

Officials said 9% of the whole municipal workforce remained unvaccinated after the Friday deadline.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the president’s chief medical adviser, said all Americans will likely soon be eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine booster.

“It will be very likely that everyone will be able to get a booster within a reasonable period of time,” Fauci said during the White House pandemic response team’s press briefing today.

Fauci emphasized that those who are fully vaccinated but have not yet received a booster are still “really quite protected against severe disease and hospitalization”.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, added that the “overwhelming” number of infections in the US continue to occur among unvaccinated individuals.

80% of US adults now have at least one coronavirus vaccine dose

About 80% of US adults now have at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and 70% of American adults are fully vaccinated.

According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 206,333,974 American adults have now gotten at least one vaccine dose, and 179,729,970 of them are fully vaccinated.

That translates to 79.9% and 69.6% of the American adult population, respectively.

Jeff Zients, the coordinator of the White House pandemic response team, celebrated the milestone during a press briefing today:

Almost a third of Republicans believe violence may be necessary to “save” the US, according to a new poll.

Researchers at the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, found that 30% of Republicans agreed with the statement “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country”.

Among Americans who believe the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, which it was not, 39% believe violence may be required.

The troubling statistics show the post-election rancour that led to the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January is still very much in place.

Republicans are most likely to believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence”, PRRI found, with just 11% of Democrats and 17% of independents agreeing with the statement. Among all Americans, 18% agreed.

Senator Joe Manchin said he will release a statement later today on Democrats’ reconciliation package, days after Joe Biden released a framework for the $1.75tn proposal.

“I think I will clear up a lot of things sometime today,” the West Virginia senator told CNN. “I think there needs to be clarity on where everybody stands.”

Biden has indicated that he believes the framework, which is the result of months of negotiations, can attract the support of all 50 Democratic senators.

However, Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the other key Democratic holdout in the Senate, have not yet explicitly endorsed the framework.

If Manchin indicates he will not support the framework, it would jeopardize both the reconciliation package and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

House progressives have said they will not support the infrastructure bill until the reconciliation package advances as well. Stay tuned.

Biden speaks at Cop26: 'We meet with the eyes of history upon us'

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, Joe Biden is now speaking at the opening session of the Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow.

“We meet with the eyes of history upon us and with profound questions before us,” the US president said.

“It’s simple. Will we act? Will we do what is necessary? Will we seize the enormous opportunity before us, or will we condemn future generations to suffer? This is the decade that will determine the answer.”

Biden argued it was still possible to keep levels of global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and he expressed hope that the United Nations conference will kick off a “decade of ambition and innovation” to meet that goal.

For more updates from Glasgow, follow along with the Guardian’s Cop26 live blog:

The supreme court is now hearing oral arguments in the case over Texas’ six-week abortion ban, and the justices have already indicated some skepticism about the law’s legitimacy.

Neal Katyal, the former acting solicitor general under Barack Obama, noted that two of the court’s six conservative justices -- Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett -- were both sounding wary of Texas attorneys’ justifications for the law.

As Katyal notes, both Kavanaugh and Barrett ruled in favor of keeping the law in place two months ago, so their positions remain unclear. Stay tuned.

In briefs, Texas argued the supreme court should not review the case, and the state wrote the law specifically to frustrate opponents. SB8 deputizes private citizens to enforce its provisions in civil court, awarding plaintiffs $10,000 fees for any violation of its law, in an attempt to avoid federal court scrutiny.

However, Texas argued if the court did review its case, it should use the opportunity to overturn Roe v Wade. The landmark 1973 case allows abortion to the point a fetus can survive outside the womb. Texas’s law bans abortion before most people know they are pregnant.

The court appears unlikely to overturn Roe v Wade in this case, and will probably focus instead on two other issues. First, is the private enforcement mechanism constitutional and, second, can the federal government sue to stop it?

Both the Biden administration and abortion providers have asked the court to block the law, claiming it is incompatible with Roe v Wade and causing immediate harm to people seeking abortions in Texas.

As the supreme court prepares to hear oral arguments in the case over Texas’ six-week abortion ban, abortion rights supporters are protesting outside the court building.

Some of the protesters have shared their own stories of abortion to demonstrate the harm that Texas’ law could have on its citizens:

US supreme court to hear oral arguments over Texas abortion law

The US supreme court is set to hear oral arguments over whether Texas can continue to allow private citizens to enforce a controversial six-week abortion ban on Monday.

Texas’s ban has halted the vast majority of abortions in America’s second largest state geographically, where more than 6 million women of child-bearing age live.

The focus of arguments is whether Texas can allow private citizens to enforce an abortion ban in direct contradiction to supreme court precedent in Roe v Wade, which provides a constitutional right to abortion to roughly 24 weeks, and whether the federal government then has standing to stop the law in court.

The nine-member bench will hear from three parties: attorneys for Texas, the Biden administration and abortion providers.

As veteran Capitol Hill reporter Jamie Dupree notes, congressional Democrats have limited time to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the reconciliation package before Thanksgiving on November 25.

The House and the Senate are scheduled to be out of session next week, and lawmakers will then have only one week of work left before departing Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday.

However, that schedule could change if Democratic leaders decide they want some extra time to get the two bills passed. Stay tuned.

House Democrats hope to vote this week on infrastructure and reconciliation bills

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

House Democratic leaders had originally hoped to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the $1.75tn reconciliation package tomorrow, but that timeline is getting altered as lawmakers race to craft a prescription drug price proposal.

CNN reports:

Most House progressives signaled during a virtual meeting Sunday they are likely to back the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the social safety net bill when they both come up for a vote, which is likely to happen after Tuesday.

Several sources on the call told CNN that President Joe Biden has committed to progressives that all 50 Democrats in the Senate would support the legislative text as voted on by the House and that the Congressional Progressive Caucus is taking the President at his word. Moderate Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of Virginia, who are key votes, have not yet publicly endorsed the framework. ...

Meanwhile, shortly after, a House Democratic leadership aide told CNN that while there has been ‘extensive progress’ on drug price reform, a key initiative for Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders, the Rules committee will not be meeting Monday -- meaning a full vote will likely not take place on Tuesday.

Democrats are still hopeful about House votes happening later this week, although it’s unclear whether that will happen.

Regardless, with progressives signaling they will support both bills, it’s looking more and more likely that the two proposals will pass the House whenever they do come up for a vote.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

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