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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Lois Beckett in Los Angeles (now) and Joan E Greve (earlier)

Manchin criticizes Republican opposition to 6 January commission: ‘There’s no excuse’ – as it happened

Joe Manchin speaks during a Senate appropriations committee hearing.
Joe Manchin speaks during a Senate appropriations committee hearing. Photograph: Reuters

Evening summary

We’re wrapping up our live US politics coverage for the night, with key political developments still unfolding, including an expected vote on the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate Trump supporters’ invasion of the Capitol on 6 January.

An updated summary of today’s key news:

  • Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are investigating whether Ukrainian officials attempted to meddle in the 2020 presidential election to undermine Biden and support Trump, the New York Times reported. The criminal investigation, which had not previously been made public, was opened under the Trump administration, and is separate from a federal investigation into Rudy Giuliani and Ukraine that is unfolding in Manhattan, the Times reported. One focus of the investigation is a Ukrainian politician, Andriy Derkach, who was sanctioned last fall by Trump’s Treasury Department and accused of being an active Russian agent.
  • Joe Biden touted America’s recent economic rebound in a Cleveland speech. “Covid cases are down. Covid deaths are down. Unemployment filings are down. Hunger is down. Vaccinations are up. Jobs are up. Growth is up,” the president said at Cuyahoga Community College. “Put it simply, America is coming back. America is on the move.”
  • Senator Joe Manchin fiercely criticized his Republican colleagues for opposing the bill to form a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection. “There’s no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for,” the Democratic senator said in a statement. But Manchin told reporters he is still unwilling to eliminate the Senate filibuster in order to get the commission bill passed. House Majority Jim Clyburn said Democrats should move to conduct investigations of 6 January through House committees if Republicans reject a bipartisan commission
  • Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell argued the commission would be “extraneous” to current investigations. “There’s no new fact about that day we need the Democrats’ extraneous commission to uncover,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. The Republican leader appears to have the votes necessary to defeat the commission bill when the Senate takes a procedural vote on the legislation this evening.
  • Senate Republicans released their latest offer in the negotiations over an infrastructure bill. The bill proposes spending $928bn on infrastructure over the next eight years, but most of that money was already going to be spent because of current policies in place. Only $257bn of the Republican proposal is considered new spending, and the White House said the offer still lacks funding for key initiatives.
  • The Biden administration has informed Russia it will not rejoin the Open Skies Treaty, according to the AP. The decision will almost certainly be a topic of discussion between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet for a summit next month in Geneva, Switzerland.

NYT: Federal prosecutors investigating whether Ukrainian officials tried to meddle in 2020 election

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating whether Ukrainian officials attempted to interfere in the 2020 presidential election to undermine Biden and help Trump, including by using Rudolph Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, to spread misinformation, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources “with knowledge of the matter”.

The existence of the criminal investigation has not previously been reported, the Times wrote, and the investigation is distinct from another federal investigation in Manhattan that is focused on Giuliani himself.

The focus of the newly reported investigation are current and former Ukrainian officials, including a Ukrainian member of parliament who met with Giuliani during a trip to Europe in 2019, and who had previously been identified by the Trump administration as a source of attempted election manipulation, the Times reported.

In September, several months before the 2020 election, Trump’s Treasury Department had already announced sanctions against Andriy Derkach for engaging in “a covert influence campaign” to undermine the election results, and accused him of being “an active Russian agent for over a decade”, the Times reported last fall.

“I have no reason to believe he is a Russian agent,” Giuliani told the Times in September. “There is nothing I saw that said he was a Russian agent. There is nothing he gave me that seemed to come from Russia at all.” But, he added: “How the hell would I know?”

Updated

Caitlyn Jenner criticized for confusing comma usage in ‘cancel culture’ tweet

Earlier this month, my colleague Andrew Gumbel reported that Caitlyn Jenner’s attempt to mobilize her fame to become the next governor of California was falling flat.

Today, the former Olympian and Kardashian step-parent tweeted about “cancel culture” in such a convoluted way that many of the Twitter reactions have simply focused on her comma usage.

Updated

Focus on the filibuster as GOP prepares to block commission on 6 January

Senate Republicans are poised to block the creation of a special commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, dashing hopes for a bipartisan panel amid a GOP push to put the violent insurrection by Donald Trump’s supporters behind them, the Associated Press reports.

Broad Republican opposition was expected in what would be the first successful Senate filibuster of the Biden presidency.

The Republican opposition to the bipartisan panel has revived Democratic pressure to do away with the filibuster, a time-honored Senate tradition that requires a vote by 60 of the 100 senators to cut off debate and advance a bill. With the Senate evenly split 50-50, Democrats need support of 10 Republicans to move to the commission bill, sparking fresh debate over whether the time has come to change the rules and lower the threshold to 51 votes to take up legislation.

Many Democrats are warning that if Republicans are willing to use the filibuster to stop an arguably popular measure, it shows the limits of trying to broker compromises, particularly on bills related to election reforms or other aspects of the Democrats’ agenda.

For now, though, Democrats don’t have the votes to change the rule. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, both moderate Democrats, have said they want to preserve the filibuster. Manchin said earlier today that there is “no excuse” for Republicans to vote against the commission, but that he is “not ready to destroy our government” by doing away with the procedural tactic.

Others, including historian Kevin Kruse, disagreed.

‘Vax for the Win:’ California launches coronavirus vaccine lottery

California will give away $116.5 million to help encourage state residents to get the coronavirus vaccine, SFGate reports, mirroring a similar lottery program launched in Ohio.

“We’re pulling out all the stops to get everyone vaccinated by June 15,” the California governor’s account tweeted.

Clyburn: House committees must investigate Capitol attack if GOP blocks commission

Speaking on CNN ahead of an expected vote on the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the 6 January attack, Jim Clyburn is already calling for Democratic action if Senate Republicans block the bill.

The NRA’s annual meeting is back and scheduled for this September

This is Lois Beckett, picking up our live politics coverage from Los Angeles.

The National Rifle Association’s annual meeting for members is back this fall, after being cancelled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the gun rights group announced today.

The event, which in the past has attracted tens of thousands of gun aficionados, is scheduled for early September in Houston, Texas. It comes as the group continues to face major legal challenges.

Updated

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 Biden touted America’s recent economic rebound in a Cleveland speech. “Covid cases are down. Covid deaths are down. Unemployment filings are down. Hunger is down. Vaccinations are up. Jobs are up. Growth is up,” the president said at Cuyahoga Community College. “Put it simply, America is coming back. America is on the move.”
  • Senator Joe Manchin fiercely criticized his Republican colleagues for opposing the bill to form a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection. “There’s no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for,” the Democratic senator said in a statement. But Manchin told reporters he is still unwilling to eliminate the Senate filibuster in order to get the commission bill passed.
  • Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell argued the commission would be “extraneous” to current investigations. “There’s no new fact about that day we need the Democrats’ extraneous commission to uncover,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. The Republican leader appears to have the votes necessary to defeat the commission bill when the Senate takes a procedural vote on the legislation this evening.
  • Senate Republicans released their latest offer in the negotiations over an infrastructure bill. The bill proposes spending $928bn on infrastructure over the next eight years, but most of that money was already going to be spent because of current policies in place. Only $257bn of the Republican proposal is considered new spending, and the White House said the offer still lacks funding for key initiatives.
  • The Biden administration has informed Russia it will not rejoin the Open Skies Treaty, according to the AP. The decision will almost certainly be a topic of discussion between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin when they meet for a summit next month in Geneva, Switzerland.

Lois will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Updated

There has been a pause in the Senate votes on amendments to the Endless Frontier Act, and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin is now delivering a floor speech denouncing anti-Semitism.

It appears that Senate leaders are trying to work out a deal to speed through the remaining votes on the bill, but they haven’t reached an agreement yet.

Once the amendment votes are completed, the Senate will move on to its procedural vote on the 6 January commission bill, but the exact timing on that is still unclear. It may be a long night for the Senate.

Updated

The Senate has been holding a series of votes on amendments to a science and technology research bill. Once those votes wrap up, the upper chamber will move on to a procedural vote on the 6 January commission bill.

Senate Republican leaders have indicated they believe they have the votes to defeat the commission bill, which passed the House with some Republican support last week.

Updated

Alexandra Villarreal reports for the Guardian:

Natalie Jackson, a prominent Florida attorney whose clients include Trayvon Martin’s family, is running to replace Representative Val Demings in Congress next year.

Just days into her campaign for the Orlando-based House seat, Jackson has already garnered endorsements from two powerful civil rights champions: attorney Benjamin Crump and Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother.

In recent years, Jackson has collaborated with Crump on some of the nation’s most high-profile police violence cases, representing the families of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, according to Florida Politics.

“What we saw with George Floyd, we saw his family get justice in court. But that five minutes of justice didn’t address the entire criminal justice system, nor did it address the economic inequality in Orange county,” Jackson said.

“We need to bring about that type of change. So I feel I can be best suited in the legislature to do that.”

US tells Russia it will not rejoin Open Skies Treaty – report

The Biden administration has reportedly informed Russia that the US will not rejoin the Open Skies Treaty as Joe Biden prepares for his first in-person meeting with Vladimir Putin next month.

The AP reports:

U.S. officials said Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told the Russians that the administration had decided not to reenter the Open Skies Treaty, which had allowed surveillance flights over military facilities in both countries before President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact.

Thursday’s decision means only one major arms control treaty between the nuclear powers — the New START treaty — will remain in place. Trump had done nothing to extend New START, which would have expired earlier this year, but after taking office, the Biden administration moved quickly to extend it for five years and opened a review into Trump’s Open Skies Treaty withdrawal.

The officials said that the review had been completed and that Sherman had informed Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov of the U.S. decision not to return to Open Skies on Thursday. The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The decision will almost certainly be a topic of discussion between Biden and Putin when the two leaders meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on 16 June.

Updated

Reporters asked Joe Biden what flavor ice cream he ordered at Honey Hut. “Chocolate, chocolate chip,” the president replied.

Asked for his message to Republicans who are opposing the bill to establish a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection, Biden told them, “Eat some chocolate, chocolate chip.”

Elaborating a bit more, Biden added, “I can’t imagine anyone voting against establishing a commission on the greatest assault since the civil war on the Capitol. But at any rate, I came for ice cream.”

Updated

Before returning to Air Force One to make the trip back to Washington, Joe Biden paid an unexpected visit to Honey Hut Ice Cream in Cleveland to get some of his favorite dessert for the road.

The president purchased a scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone, and he posed for a photo with one of the Honey Hut employees.

A New York Times photographer captured a high-resolution picture of the list that Joe Biden held up during his remarks in Cleveland.

The list identifies Republican lawmakers who have touted the benefits of the American Rescue Plan after they unanimously voted against the bill in Congress.

Senator Roger Wicker, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and House Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik are a few of the names on the list, the picture shows.

Joe Biden said the US economy needs to be reimagined to allow working Americans to more directly benefit from the success of the companies they work for.

“We must restore the connection between the success of our economy and the people who produce that success, hardworking Americans,” Biden said. “That connection has been severed.”

The president argued that rising wages should be a feature, not a bug, of a strong economy. He also pledged that he would judge the success of his economic policy based on how working Americans are faring.

“We started seeing the stock market and corporate profits and executive pay as the sole measure of our economic success,” Biden said. “Let me tell you something — my sole measure of economic success is how working families are doing.”

Biden also reiterated his call for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, a proposal that was stripped out of his coronavirus relief package.

“No one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty,” Biden said.

The president’s remarks in Cleveland have now concluded, and he will soon start his journey back to Washington.

Updated

Joe Biden emphasized the need to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans while reducing the tax burden for working-class citizens.

The president criticized Republicans for approving the 2017 tax cuts that disproportionately benefitted the wealthiest Americans. Biden has proposed rolling back those tax cuts to pay for an infrastructure package, but Republicans are adamantly opposed to that.

“We had no problem passing a $2 trillion tax plan that went to the top 1% that wasn’t paid for at all. It just increased the debt $2 trillion,” Biden said.

“Every time I talk about tax cuts for working-class people, it’s, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do?’ Well, we’re going to take back some of that 1% money and make them pay for it.”

Joe Biden criticized congressional Republicans for touting the benefits of the coronavirus relief package to their constituents after they unanimously opposed it.

The president help up a list of Republican lawmakers who have boasted about the benefits of the package for their districts’ businesses and services.

“I mean, some people have no shame,” Biden said with a laugh.

Biden celebrates businesses reopening and vaccinations rising: 'America is on the move'

Speaking in Cleveland, Joe Biden celebrated the reopening of US businesses as more Americans get vaccinated against coronavirus.

“We’ve turned the tide on the once-in-a-century pandemic,” Biden said. “And now we’re faced with a question: what kind of economy are we going to build for tomorrow? What are we going to do? I believe this is our moment to rebuild an economy from the bottom up and the middle out.”

The president credited his administration with helping to bring back jobs that had disappeared at the beginning of the pandemic and making vaccines widely available.

Biden noted that more than 50% of American adults are now fully vaccinated, while that figure was 1% when he took office in January.

“Covid cases are down. Covid deaths are down. Unemployment filings are down. Hunger is down. Vaccinations are up. Jobs are up. Growth is up,” Biden said. “Put it simply, America is coming back. America is on the move.”

Updated

Biden delivers remarks on economy in Cleveland

Joe Biden is now delivering remarks on the US economy and vaccination efforts at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.

Standing in front of signs saying “Blue Collar Blueprint for America,” Biden noted US businesses have been reopening in recent weeks, as vaccinations ramp up.

The president also made a joke about Ohio’s million-dollar lottery to encourage residents to get their coronavirus vaccinations.

“I hear that Ohio has a new millionaire,” Biden said.

Joe Biden is now touring the manufacturing technology center at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio.

Once the tour concludes, the president will deliver remarks on the economy at the community college’s metropolitan campus, so stay tuned.

President Biden is planning to meet with Republicans next week after a group of GOP senators presented a revised infrastructure plan, Bloomberg reports. Republicans’ counter-proposal remains more than $1tn short of Biden’s latest proposal.

“We’re going to have to close this down soon,” Biden has remarked of his conversations with Republicans.

The GOP counter-proposal to Biden’s infrastructure plan is $928bn over eight years, but the majority is money that Congress was already expected to green-light.

On Friday, Biden lowered his infrastructure proposal to $1.7tn, down from an initial $2.25tn proposal, Bloomberg says.

Updated

US intelligence authorities have recognized that the intel community has two theories on the origins of Covid-19. Two agencies believe that coronavirus surfaced naturally due to human contact with infected animals, while a third agency is “embracing a possible laboratory accident as the source of the global pandemic,” Reuters reports.

“The U.S. Intelligence Community does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has remarked in a statement Thursday. ODNI also says that the majority of US agencies thinks there is not “sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.”

This ODNI statement has not specified which of its 17 agencies thinks Covid-19 came from sick animals, and which agency thinks it came from a lab accident. The ODNI says that these agencies’ beliefs are with “low or moderate confidence”, which means they think the evidence is hardly conclusive.

The ODNI’s statement comes one day after President Biden announced that he would “redouble” efforts to probe the origins of Covid-19. Biden has asked the Intelligence Community to report back to him in 90 days on their findings.

Biden has said that he would release the report after 90 days “unless there’s something I’m unaware of.”

Updated

Joe Biden’s administration is facing an onslaught of criticism from environmentalists after opting to defend the approval of a massive oil and gas drilling project in the frigid northern reaches of Alaska.

In a briefing filed in federal court on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice said the Trump-era decision to allow the project in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s north slope was “reasonable and consistent” with the law and should be allowed to go ahead.

This stance means the Biden administration is contesting a lawsuit brought by environmental groups aimed at halting the drilling due to concerns over the impact upon wildlife and planet-heating emissions. The US president has paused all new drilling leases on public land but is allowing this Alaska lease, approved under Trump, to go ahead.

The project, known as Willow, is being overseen by the oil company ConocoPhillips and is designed to extract more than 100,000 barrels of oil a day for the next 30 years. Environmentalists say allowing the project is at odds with Biden’s vow to combat the climate crisis and drastically reduce US emissions.

“It’s incredibly disappointing to see the Biden administration defending this environmentally disastrous project,” said Kristen Monsell, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that have sued to stop the drilling. “President Biden promised climate action and our climate can’t afford more huge new oil-drilling projects.”

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Senator Joe Manchin fiercely criticized his Republican colleagues for opposing the bill to form a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection. “There’s no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for,” the Democratic senator said in a statement. But Manchin told reporters he is still unwilling to eliminate the Senate filibuster in order to get the commission bill passed.
  • Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell argued the commission would be “extraneous” to current investigations. “There’s no new fact about that day we need the Democrats’ extraneous commission to uncover,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. The Republican leader appears to have the votes necessary to defeat the commission bill, which passed the House last week.
  • Senate Republicans released their latest offer in the negotiations over an infrastructure bill. The bill proposes spending $928 billion on infrastructure over the next eight years, but most of that money was already going to be spent because of current policies in place. Only $257 billion of the Republican proposal is considered new spending, and the White House said the offer still lacks funding for key initiatives.

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

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, also released a statement in response to Republicans’ latest infrastructure proposal.

“At first review, we note several constructive additions to the group’s previous proposals, including on roads, bridges and rail,” Psaki said.

“At the same time, we remain concerned that their plan still provides no substantial new funds for critical job-creating needs, such as fixing our veterans’ hospitals, building modern rail systems, repairing our transit systems, removing dangerous lead pipes, and powering America’s leadership in a job-creating clean energy economy, among other things.”

Psaki also expressed hesitation about the Republican proposal to use unspent coronavirus relief funds to help pay for the infrastructure package.

Looking at the timeline for passing a bill, Psaki said, “Though there are no votes in Congress next week, we will work actively with members of the House and Senate next week, so that there is a clear direction on how to advance much needed jobs legislation when Congress resumes legislative business during the week of June 7.”

Biden on Republicans' infrastructure counteroffer: 'We have to finish this really soon'

Joe Biden took a few questions from reporters before boarding Air Force One to travel to Cleveland, Ohio, for a speech on the economy.

Asked about Senate Republicans’ latest counteroffer in the infrastructure negotiations, Biden said he had a brief but positive conversation with Senator Shelley Moore Capito about the new proposal.

“I haven’t had a chance yet to go over the details of the counteroffer made by Capito,” Biden said. “We’re going to meet sometime next week, and we’ll see if we can move that.”

Echoing Senate Democrats, the president emphasized the need to wrap up the infrastructure negotiations in the coming weeks.

“I told her we have to finish this really soon,” Biden said. “We’re going to have to close this down soon.”

Some Senate Democrats are already pushing to use reconciliation to pass an infrastructure bill, thus avoiding a potential Republican filibuster of the legislation.

The family of Officer Brian Sicknick met with several Republican senators as the Senate prepares to vote on the bill to establish a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection.

One of those senators, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said in a statement that he offered his condolences to the family of Sicknick, the US Capitol Police officer who died of a stroke the day after the January 6 insurrection.

In his statement, Johnson emphasized that the insurrectionists “should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” but he did not agree with the family on the need for a commission to study the attack.

“Although we respectfully disagreed on the added value of the proposed commission, I did commit to doing everything I could to ensure all their questions will be answered,” Johnson said.

Senate Republicans are poised to use the filibuster to defeat the commission bill, which passed the House last week.

The family of Officer Brian Sicknick is on Capitol Hill today, meeting with senators and pushing them to support establishing a bipartisan commission to study the January 6 insurrection.

Sicknick was a US Capitol Police officer who died the day after the insurrection. He collapsed shortly after clashing with rioters, and he later died at a nearby hospital. A medical examiner said last month that Sicknick died after suffering two strokes.

Asked how she felt listening to Republicans who oppose establishing a commission, Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Brian Sicknick, told reporters, “This is why I’m here today. I mean, usually I’ll stay in the background, and I just couldn’t stay quiet anymore.”

Senator Joe Manchin indicated he was not open to eliminating the filibuster in order to get the January 6 commission bill passed.

“I’m not willing to destroy our government, no,” the Democratic senator told reporters on Capitol Hill.

Manchin added, “I think we’ll come together. You have to have faith there’s 10 good people.”

According to CNN, Senate Republican leaders are confident they have the votes necessary to defeat the commission bill today.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer lamented that the January 6 commission bill cannot secure widespread bipartisan support in Congress.

Reflecting on how the “big lie” of widespread election fraud in the presidential election has overtaken the Republican party, Schumer said the country must put a stop to this “cancer” in the GOP.

The Democratic leader specifically criticized Republican legislators in Arizona for “chasing a bananas-crazy right-wing Internet conspiracy” that China tampered with ballots to swing the election to Joe Biden.

“We need to stand up to the big lie,” Schumer said. “We must get at the truth and do everything in our power to restore Americans faith in our elections and this grand, ongoing, noble experiment of democracy.”

With that goal in mind, Schumer said a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection is “exactly what the doctor ordered”.

McConnell dismisses 6 January commission as 'extraneous' to current investigations

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell dismissed the idea of forming a bipartisan commission to study the Capitol insurrection, arguing that such a panel would be “extraneous” to the current investigations underway at the justice department and in Congress.

McConnell’s comments in a Senate floor speech this morning came as Republicans prepared to block the House-approved bill to convene a 6 January commission. If Republicans do block the bill, it may mark the first official use of the Senate filibuster in this session of Congress.

“There’s no new fact about that day we need the Democrats’ extraneous commission to uncover,” McConnell said moments ago.

The Republican leader noted that more than 440 people have already been arrested in connection to the Capitol insurrection and the attorney general has promised to maintain the investigation of the attack as a top priority for the justice department.

Democrats have pointed out that much remains unknown about the Capitol attack, including some insurrectionists’ potential ties to Republican lawmakers.

“I do not believe the additional extraneous commission that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts or promote healing,” McConnell said. “Frankly, I do not believe it is even designed to do that.”

McConnell added: “I’ll continue to urge my colleagues to oppose this extraneous layer when the time comes for the Senate to vote.”

Updated

Democratic Senator Bob Casey signaled this morning that it may be time to move on from negotiating with Republicans and instead pass an infrastructure bill using reconciliation, allowing Democrats to circumvent the Senate filibuster.

Asked whether it was time to focus on setting up a reconciliation pathway for the infrastructure bill, Casey told CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, “I think we’re getting to that point, Jim. It’s an old expression, fish or cut bait.”

Casey said Joe Biden had done “really good work here to engage Republican senators,” but he argued it was time for negotiations to come to a conclusion.

“I do think we’re getting to the last chapter of this,” Casey said. “Now the last chapter could result in an agreement, but it could also result in no agreement.”

Casey expressed a desire to move on to Democrats’ “next set of agenda items,” like funding universal pre-kindergarten and two years of community college for American families.

The Guardian’s Sam Levine and Daniel Strauss report:

After six months of aggressive Republican efforts to restrict voting access, Democrats are facing new questions about how they will actually pass voting rights reforms through Congress.

The most recent hand-wringing comes as Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democratic senator, made clear earlier this month he still is not on board with the For the People Act, which would require early voting, automatic and same-day registration, and prevent the severe manipulation of district boundaries for partisan gain.

Senate Democrats, including Manchin, met privately on Wednesday to map out a path forward on the bill, which has already passed the US House.

Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia said: “I think members of the caucus understand the urgency and we’re focused on getting something passed. We have an obligation to the American people to find a way to protect our democracy.”

Manchin’s opposition comes at a critical moment when there is escalating concern about aggressive state Republican efforts to curtail access to the ballot. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa and Montana have all put new restrictions in place this year.

Many see this as an existential moment for the Democratic party and fear that Republicans will permanently reap the benefits of a distorted electoral system if Democrats cannot pass federal legislation. There is heightened urgency to act quickly so that crucial protections can be in place when the once-per-decade redistricting process gets under way later this year.

Manchin lambasts Republican opposition to 6 January commission bill

Senator Joe Manchin has released a statement fiercely criticizing his Republican colleagues for opposing the bill to create a 9/11-style commission to study the Capitol insurrection.

“There’s no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for,” the Democratic senator said.

Singling out the Senate minority leader, Manchin said, “Mitch McConnell has made this his political position, thinking it will help his 2022 elections. They do not believe the truth will set you free, so they continue to live in fear.”

Senate Republicans are poised to block the passage of the 6 January commission bill using the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for approval.

The question now becomes whether Manchin would be willing to scrap the filibuster to get the commission bill through the Senate. Manchin has been a fierce defender of the filibuster, and he has previously indicated he is not willing to eliminate it.

Updated

Moments after Senate Republicans concluded their press conference, one of their Democratic colleagues offered some criticism of their latest infrastructure proposal.

“I don’t really think this is a serious counteroffer,” Senator Elizabeth Warren told MSNBC.

The Democratic senator added that the Republicans’ proposal to redirect unused coronavirus relief funds toward infrastructure would not win any fans in the White House.

Updated

Shelley Moore Capito argued that Senate Republicans and Joe Biden are actually closer on an infrastructure deal than their topline numbers would suggest.

The Republican senator said she believed they could reach an agreement if Biden removed funding for issues like elder care and green energy from his plan, which would bring them much closer to an agreed-upon cost for the bill.

“I think the gaps are much less,” Capito told reporters.

However, Biden has consistently argued that the green energy sector and the care economy are critical parts of American infrastructure and must be included in this bill.

Something else to keep in mind: most of the latest Republican plan reflects baseline spending on infrastructure items.

The baseline number indicates how much the US will spend on infrastructure if the current level of activity continues, adjusting for inflation.

The $928 billion figure actually includes only $257 billion in new infrastructure spending over that baseline number.

That works out to spending an additional $32 billion or so on infrastructure in each of the next eight years, which will not likely please Joe Biden and his team.

Updated

It’s also important to keep in mind that much of the spending proposed by Senate Republicans comes from unused coronavirus relief funds.

Joe Biden and his team have indicated they are not at all pleased with the idea of redirecting coronavirus relief money to infrastructure.

But Republicans have said they are adamantly opposed to rolling back the Trump-era tax cuts to pay for the infrastructure plan, which is what Biden originally proposed.

Shelley Moore Capito said Senate Republicans’ latest $928 billion infrastructure offer is “sticking with the core elements of infrastructure”.

The Republican negotiators have consistently clashed with Joe Biden over how to define infrastructure as it relates to items that will be included in this massive bill.

For example, the president and his team have proposed massive investments in the green energy sector, but Republicans have been far less inclined to include that funding in this bill.

Republicans introduce nearly $1tn infrastructure plan

Senate Republicans are now formally introducing their counteroffer to Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan at a press conference on Capitol Hill.

The Republican negotiating team, led by Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, is calling for spending $928bn over eight years to strengthen America’s infrastructure systems.

That proposal includes an increase of $91bn to improve roads and bridges and $48bn more to invest in water infrastructure.

“Senate Republicans continue to negotiate in good faith,” Capito said. “We’re trying to get to that common goal of reaching a bipartisan infrastructure agreement.”

However, the new Republican proposal is still far less than the $1.7tn plan that Joe Biden’s team outlined in their counteroffer last week.

Updated

Republicans to propose $1tn counteroffer to Biden's infrastructure plan

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

Senate Republicans will soon hold a press conference on Capitol Hill to introduce their latest counteroffer to Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan.

The new Republican plan is expected to cost around $1tn, which is nearly double the cost of their initial infrastructure proposal.

Joe Biden gestures toward Senator Shelley Moore Capito during an infrastructure meeting in the Oval Office.
Joe Biden gestures toward Senator Shelley Moore Capito during an infrastructure meeting in the Oval Office. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

However, $1tn would still be far less than what the president has called for spending. Biden originally outlined a $2.25tn plan, but he counteroffered with a $1.7tn proposal last week.

According to reports, Biden indicated to Senate Republicans in a meeting last week that he would be comfortable with $1tn as the topline number for an infrastructure bill.

However, at that cost, many items will probably be left out of the final legislation, which could frustrate Democrats, some of whom are pushing to pass the bill using reconciliation and thus bypass Senate Republicans.

If Biden rejects the latest Republican offer, reconciliation may be the only way to get an infrastructure bill passed.

The Republican press conference will begin in about 20 minutes, so stay tuned.

Updated

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Kelly Osbourne slams 'disgusting' body shamer after troll likens her look to 'dead body'
TV personality Kelly Osbourne has slammed a "disgusting" body shamer, after a troll claimed she was "too thin and fragile" and likened her look to "a dead body".
BANG Premier
BANG Premier
3 Dangerous Foods You Should Never Feed Your Cat
1. Onions and Garlic Onions, garlic, chives, leeks, and other members of the allium family are extremely toxic to cats. Even very small amounts whether raw cooked dried or powdered can damage your cat’s red blood cells and potentially lead to a dangerous condition called anemia. The scary part? Toxicity…
Times Pets
Times Pets
Why Are Kristen Bell's Nobody Wants This Co-Star And More Having To Defend Her Marriage To Dax Shepard?
There's a lot to this situation.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Luci4 Cause of Death Clouded in Suspicion With Foul Play Angle Explored by LA Police
The sudden death of rapper Luci4 has led to an investigation into possible foul play, leaving fans and family searching for answers.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
New Spider-Man: Brand New Day Rumor Suggests One Villain Will Be Important For The Web-Slinger’s Future Films
Still. No. Trailer.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Reality check: America’s Next Top Model docuseries never apologises for abuse of contestants
If you’ve spent much time on the internet, you probably know how to yell “I was rooting for you!” The clip from “Cycle 4” (iykyk) of America’s Next Top Model which aired in 2005 went uncontrollably viral.
The Conversation
The Conversation
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