Summary
- Republican senators voted against debating Democrats’ election and voting reform legislation, as expected. Sixty votes are required to open debate on any measure under the Senate’s filibuster rules – and in a 50-50, evenly divided Senate – all 50 Republicans voted against advancing and debating the legislation.
- “Make no mistake about it: it will not be the last time that voting rights come up for a debate in this Senate,” Chuck Schumer said following the vote. “We are going to explore every last one of our options. We have to. Voting rights are too important.”
- Joe Biden is “absolutely revolted” by voter suppression legislation being passed in many Republican-controlled states, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said at today’s media briefing. Biden, who had made voting rights a key issue during the presidential campaign, is running out of options for pushing forward voter protections.
- Republicans have dismissed the need for any such legislation as state legislators from their party move forward with rules making it harder for Black people, young people and poor people to vote. Moderate Democrats have rejected calls to eliminate the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation without Republican support.
- Pressure is building on Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris (who has taken control of border policies) to end the Title 42 rule. The Trump administration adopted the rule during the coronavirus pandemic – it allows the authorities to expel summarily migrants crossing the US-Mexico border seeking sanctuary.
Updated
More than 150 healthcare workers who refused to abide by Houston Methodist hospital’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate have resigned or been fired, the hospital said.
The Texas hospital had suspended 178 employees after announcing a vaccine mandate. In mid-June, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the mandate.
The US district judge Lynn Hughes, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan ruled: “Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giving them the Covid-19 virus. It is a choice made to keep staff, patients, and their families safer.”
Updated
US Covid deaths dip below 300 a day for first time since March last year
Amanda Holpuch and agencies:
US deaths from Covid-19 have dipped below 300 a day for the first time since March last year during the first wave of the pandemic.
Data from federal sources also showed the drive to put shots in arms at home approaching an encouraging milestone: 150 million Americans fully vaccinated.
Joe Biden was however expected to fall short of his commitment to shipping 80m Covid-19 vaccine doses abroad by the end of June, because of regulatory and other hurdles.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters getting the shots shipped was proving to be “a Herculean logistical challenge” – which the administration has been unable to meet.
The US death toll from Covid-19 stands at more than 601,000. The worldwide count is close to 3.9m. The real figures in both cases are believed to be markedly higher.
About 45% of the US population has been fully vaccinated, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 53% of Americans have received at least one dose, the CDC also said on Monday.
New cases are at about 11,400 a day, down from more than 250,000 in early January during the most recent US surge of coronavirus. US deaths per day are down to 293, according to Johns Hopkins University, after topping out at more than 3,400 in mid-January.
The coronavirus was the third-leading cause of death in the US in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer, according to the CDC. Now CDC data suggests more Americans are dying every day from accidents, chronic lower respiratory diseases, strokes or Alzheimer’s disease than from Covid-19.
“When we’re talking about the right to vote, it is not a Republican concern or a Democratic concern – it’s an American concern,” said Kamala Harris, as she left the Senate chamber after presiding over the procedural vote.
It is unusual for a vice-president to be so vocal about Senate matters – veeps tend to stay removed as they preside over the chamber. But the White House has made voting rights a key issue, even as it runs up against massive barriers to advancing voter protections.
Harris has been put in charge of overseeing the administration’s push on voting rights. So far, she has met with activists and civil rights leaders and used her position to elevate the issue – but it remains unclear what else she can do to help advance legislation.
Updated
“And make no mistake about it: it will not be the last time that voting rights come up for a debate in this Senate,” Chuck Schumer said following the vote. “We are going to explore every last one of our options. We have to. Voting rights are too important.”
Here’s what’s at stake, per my colleague David Smith:
The For the People Act is seen as a crucial counterweight to hundreds of voting bills introduced by Republican-controlled states, many of which include measures that would make it harder for Black people, young people and poor people to vote. Fourteen states had enacted 22 of these laws by mid-May, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Senate votes to kill debate on voting rights bill
Republican senators voted against debating Democrats’ election and voting reform legislation, as expected.
Sixty votes are required to open debate on any measure under the Senate’s filibuster rules – and in a 50-50, evenly divided Senate – all 50 Republicans voted against advancing and debating the legislation.
“We can argue what should be done to protect voting rights and safeguard our democracy, but don’t you think we should be able to debate the issue?” said Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer.
It’s unclear where Democrats can go from here. Progressives have pushed to end the filibuster, which would allow them to vote and narrowly pass voting rights reform without Republican support. But moderate Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have rejected the idea.
Updated
The Senate is now voting on whether to advance Democrats’ voting and election reform bill.
Sixty senators need to vote to advance the measure in order to begin debate on it – but all 50 Republicans have committed to voting against doing so.
Democrats on the Senate floor are using today as an opportunity to make their broader case for voting rights reform.
I’m speaking on the floor right now about the critical importance of protecting our freedom to vote. The fight is just beginning. https://t.co/2Qtu9t3Ujm
— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) June 22, 2021
I’m heading to the Senate floor to speak about why we need the critical democracy reforms in the #ForThePeopleAct.
— Senator Amy Klobuchar (@SenAmyKlobuchar) June 22, 2021
This is a moment for bold action. The fight has just begun.
Watch here: https://t.co/X6WxnlJUc3
In March, I made an urgent call upon this body to protect the right to vote.
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) June 22, 2021
Today, I rose again to make a similar request of my colleagues. The Senate must open debate to preserve the foundation of our democracy & the sacred notion of one person, one vote. pic.twitter.com/8UxmsnWrIY
In a circular argument, Republicans have accused Democrats of using the procedural vote today to show that Republicans are unwilling to work with them, and to make a case for eliminating the filibuster – and thus justifying their votes to kill debate on the For the People Act
“Today’s show vote is about Democrats building their case to blow up the filibuster and destroy this institution if they don’t get their way – which is exactly why we must preserve the filibuster,” said Republican senator Mitt Romney, calling the bill “divisive”.
Updated
Texas governor vetoes bill protecting dogs from abuse
The governor of Texas has pulled a surprise move, vetoing a bipartisan bill that would have provided greater protections for dogs against human abuse.
The Republican governor, Greg Abbott, vetoed a bill on Friday that would have made unlawful restraint of a dog a criminal offense, sending animal rights activists and legislators on both sides of the aisle into a fray and spurring the hashtag #AbbottHatesDogs.
State senate bill 474, dubbed the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, aimed to ban the use of heavy chains to keep dogs tethered. The bill had bipartisan support in the legislature, passing the house 83-32 and the senate 28-3.
In his veto, Abbott said state statutes already existed to protect dogs from animal cruelty, and the penalties proposed in the bill of $500 to $2,000, and jail time of up to 180 days, were excessive. The bill said that dog owners could have dogs outside but could not restrain them with short lines and chains or anything that could cause injury and pain to the dog.
Dog owners would have faced a $500 penalty for a first offense and class C misdemeanor, and the next penalty would have been a class B misdemeanor, for a fine of up to $2,000 and up to three months in jail.
“Texans love their dogs, so it is no surprise that our statutes already protect them by outlawing true animal cruelty,” he wrote. He said the bill would compel every dog owner, on pain of criminal penalties, to monitor how much time a dog spends in the bed of a truck, leash length and other things.
Abbott said Texas was not a place for that kind of “micro-managing and over-criminalization”.
Read more:
Today so far
It’s been a lively day so far and there is plenty more action coming up, especially as the US Senate prepares in about half an hour to hold the procedural vote on the For the People Act, the sweeping legislation designed to counter voter suppression efforts sweeping many Republican-controlled states of late.
My colleague Maanvi Singh on the US west coast will take over from here and bring you all the developments.
Here are some of the main news items in US politics up to this point.
- Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin issued a statement that he will vote this afternoon in favor of advancing the For the People Act voting rights legislation. It’s symbolic, as the Republicans will filibuster it and block the bill, but the prospect of Democratic unanimity on this after weeks of strife is a step forward for that party.
- Pressure is building on Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris (who has taken control of border policies) to end the Title 42 rule adopted by the Trump administration in the coronavirus pandemic that allows the authorities to expel summarily migrants crossing the US-Mexico border seeking sanctuary.
- Vice president Kamala Harris will preside over the vote today in the Senate over the voting rights legislation. This is an unusual move which Senator Richard Blumenthal called a “powerful” symbol of the importance given this issue by the White House.
- Joe Biden is “absolutely revolted” by voter suppression legislation being passed in many Republican controlled states, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at today’s media briefing.
Updated
Interior secretary Deb Haaland announced today in remarks to the National Congress of American Indians 2021 mid year conference, a Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive review of the troubled legacy of federal boarding school policies.
JUST IN: The Department of Interior is launching the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, an investigation that will aim to identify past boarding school sites, burial sites and locations, Secretary Haaland announced at the NCAI conference Tuesday.
— Aliyah Chavez (@AliyahJChavez) June 22, 2021
Today’s announcement is accompanied by a secretarial memo in which Haaland directs the department, under the supervision of the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, to prepare a report detailing available historical records, with an emphasis on cemeteries or potential burial sites, relating to the federal boarding school programs, NBC in Oklahoma reports.
Haaland recently reflected on the inter-generational trauma created by these policies in an op-ed for the Washington Post titled “My grandparents were stolen from their families as children. We must learn about this history.”
She said: “The interior department will address the inter-generational impact of Indian boarding schools to shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past, no matter how hard it will be. I know that this process will be long and difficult. I know that this process will be painful. It won’t undo the heartbreak and loss we feel. But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a future that we’re all proud to embrace.”
NBC continued:
Beginning with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the United States enacted laws and implemented policies establishing and supporting Indian boarding schools across the nation. The purpose of Indian boarding schools was to culturally assimilate Indigenous children by forcibly relocating them from their families and communities to distant residential facilities where their American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian identities, languages, and beliefs were to be forcibly suppressed. For over 150 years, hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities.
The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative will serve as an investigation about the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of residential Indian boarding schools.
Interior Department officials say the work will proceed in several phases and include the identification and collection of records and information related to the Department of Interior’s own oversight and implementation of the Indian boarding school program, as well as formal consultations with Tribal Nations, Alaska Native corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations to clarify the processes and procedures for protecting identified burial sites and associated information.
Secretary Haaland will receive the final written report on the investigation by April 1, 2022.
Updated
Vice-president Kamala Harris will preside over the US Senate for this evening’s procedural vote on the For the People Act.
NEW: Vice President Kamala Harris will preside over the Senate during the cloture vote on the For The People Act, @SymoneDSanders tells us.
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 22, 2021
Democratic hold-out Joe Manchin has now said he will vote with the rest of the Democrats in the chamber to advance the legislation to the debate stage.
This won’t happen, because the Republicans are expected to filibuster the bill and prevent Democrats getting the 60 votes needed to move the bill on.
But the prospect of unanimity from the Democrats in the vote, expected at 5.30pm, has brightened the skies for them and Harris gracing the chamber, in a slightly unusual move, to preside over the vote is a striking one.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, just popped up on CNN, telling Jake Tapper:
“It’s symbolic but it’s a powerful symbol and a sign of the White House’s engagement,” Blumenthal said.
“It’s only an opening round, it’s a vote to move forward to talk about the bill.”
Republicans will be unanimous in opposition, Blumenthal predicted, and the bill will be blocked.
“Make no mistake, we are by no means done after today, it’s just the beginning,” he said, prior to future versions of the legislation coming to the floor – including if that means persuading Manchin and other moderate Democrats to support reforming the filibuster rule.
“I’m in favor of abolishing it,” he said.
Updated
Pressure on Biden to end pandemic-related exclusions, expulsions at US-Mexico border
Joe Biden denounced, while he was campaigning for the White House, a program put in place under Donald Trump that returned tens of thousands of Central American asylum seekers to violent Mexican border cities to wait as their cases wound through US courts.
It was known as the Remain in Mexico policy and on his first day in office Biden halted the program, allowing some who had been waiting in danger for a long time to enter the US to go through their legal applications.
Yet, Reuters reports, he kept in place a Trump-era health order, known as Title 42, that allows US officials to rapidly expel migrants at US borders during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, five months into Biden’s presidency, the scenes at the Mexican border are little changed.
Many of the families living in tents in Reynosa - just across from McAllen, Texas - arrived after they were expelled by U.S. officials to Mexico without a chance to present their asylum claims.
Since Biden took office, U.S. border authorities have recorded more than 400,000 expulsions under Title 42, according to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. The vast majority of those expelled are Mexicans and Central Americans. Repeat crossings are common.
A White House spokesperson said Title 42 was a public health directive, not an immigration enforcement tool, and was necessary on health grounds. The Biden administration says it is working to strengthen the asylum system along the border.
But advocate groups, U.N. officials and even some fellow Democrats here say the continuation of Title 42 is subjecting migrants to the same dangers - kidnapping, extortion, and sexual violence - as the policies of the Trump administration.
Nearly 3,300 migrants and asylum seekers stranded in Mexico since Biden took office have been kidnapped, raped, trafficked or assaulted, according to a report here by the New York-based group Human Rights First released Tuesday.
“We believe that it is time to end Title 42,” Kelly Clements, the deputy high commissioner for the United Nations refugee agency, told Reuters. “We think now it is having the effect of sending more people, and children in this case, into harm’s way.”
The Reuters report has some more detail on this and also features the harrowing account of Salvadoran asylum seeker Liset Ortiz, who was kidnapped in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso, on her way to the United States. You can read the full story here.
The vote in the US Senate is just under two hours away. Here’s Joe Biden.
We can’t sit idly by while democracy is in peril – here, in America. We need to protect the sacred right to vote and ensure “We the People” choose our leaders, the very foundation on which our democracy rests. We urgently need the For The People Act.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 22, 2021
Send it to my desk.
Here’s Senate majority leader and New York Democrat Chuck Schumer welcoming Joe Manchin’s agreement to vote this afternoon in favor of advancing the voting rights For the People Act to the debate stage.
Republicans will block this, but if things now go as expected, Schumer will at least be able to display party unity on the Senate side of the Hill.
He’s flanked here by Senators Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
.@SenSchumer: "I'm pleased to report that Senator Manchin and I have come to an agreement...Sen. Manchin has informed me that he will vote Yes on the motion to proceed to debate the legislation."
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 22, 2021
Full video here: https://t.co/vFtFZFkj2u pic.twitter.com/GwL51rnUOM
And here’s more of Manchin.
Manchin criticizes his Republican colleagues for refusing to allow debate on his compromise voting rights proposal, but nonetheless says he "remains committed to finding a bipartisan pathway forward." pic.twitter.com/phwj72F64N
— Jan Wolfe (@JanNWolfe) June 22, 2021
Updated
Manchin will vote with fellow Dems to advance voting rights bill
Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has put an end to a smidge of suspense on Capitol Hill, by issuing a statement that he will vote this afternoon in favor of advancing the For the People Act voting rights legislation to the next stage of congressional consideration.
This is entirely symbolic, unfortunately, as all Republicans in the Senate are expected to support filibustering the legislation - so the bill will not garner the necessary 60 votes to advance to the debate stage (US Senate is split 50-50 Dem-GOP) and will be blocked.
But the fact that the Democrats in the Senate will now be expected to demonstrate unanimity in advancing the bill is something/
Manchin has proposed a compromise version of the bill, which has won support from Barack Obama, Stacey Abrams, a tentative nod from the White House and zero Republican support. He does not support passing the bill as currently written (SR1).
But it appears that after much discussion and thought, Manchin will support his colleagues in voting to advance this bill to the debate stage.
The procedural vote is due at 5.30pm ET today.
In a statement moments ago, Manchin said: “Over the past month, I have worked to eliminate the far reaching provisions of S.1, the For the People Act – which I do not support. I’ve found common ground with my Democratic colleagues on a new version of the bill that ensures our elections are fair, accessible and secure.”
He added: “Today I will vote ‘YES’ to move to debate this updated voting legislation as a substitute amendment to ensure every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot and participate in our great democracy.”
Democrats believe this is an important step to bring Manchin on board with the party on the bill, later perhaps persuading him and Arizona moderate Senator Kyrsten Sinema to agree to reform the filibuster so the Republican minority can’t crush Biden legislation and bills like SR1 can be passed with a simple majority (Kamala Harris has a tie-break vote in the Senate).
That’s 50 votes. Dems need 60 to overcome the expected filibuster https://t.co/Qm1Vu5GJRU
— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) June 22, 2021
The Biden administration warns: Democracy is in peril.
The OMB statement of administration policy on S1 is pretty dire:
— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) June 22, 2021
“Democracy is in peril, here, in America. The right to vote – a sacred right in this country – is under assault with an intensity and an aggressiveness we have not seen in a long time.” pic.twitter.com/WJNDzpBZ4p
Updated
Interim summary
As we await the procedural vote in the US Senate on the For the People Act and various lawmakers and factions set out their stalls on Capitol Hill, here’s a quick recap on the main events of the morning so far in US political news.
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that Joe Biden is “absolutely revolted” by attempts to restrict voting access going on in many Republican-led states across the country, hence the priority to pass voting rights protections at the federal level.
- Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging those who are still voluntarily avoiding getting vaccinated against Covid-19 to get the vaccine, saying that nearly every US coronavirus death at this point is “entirely preventable”.
- With just a few hours left before the vote is due in the US Senate on whether to advance the For the People Act voting rights legislation to the next stage, allowing debate on the bill, pivotal Democratic Senator Joe Manchin says he’s not made up his mind yet.
- Key vote due today on the Biden administration’s voting rights legislation. The US Senate has been underway since 10am ET and the vote is expected on whether to invoke cloture (allow debate to start on the bill) at 5.30pm ET.
Bleach peddler: Trump consumed 'miracle cure'
The leader of a spurious church which peddled industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for Covid-19 is claiming he provided Donald Trump with the product in the White House shortly before the former president made his notorious remarks about using “disinfectant” to treat the disease.
Mark Grenon, the self-styled “archbishop” of the Genesis II “church”, has given an interview from his prison cell in Colombia as he awaits extradition to the US to face criminal charges that he fraudulently sold bleach as a Covid cure.
In the 90-minute interview he effectively presents himself as the source of Trump’s fixation with the healing powers of disinfectant.
“We were able to give through a contact with Trump’s family – a family member – the bottles in my book,” Grenon says. “And he mentioned it on TV: ‘I found this disinfectant’.”
Full story:
Ahead of an important procedural vote on Democrats’ expansive voting rights bill, the feeling among Senate Democrats is a mixture of gloom and defiance.
Asked today if he thought Sen. MANCHIN in the end votes for S1, Sen. Kaine said:
— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) June 22, 2021
"Yes...I'm not giving you intel but I think so. I think so."
The Senate is scheduled to vote on advancing Democrats’ voting rights package, the For the People Act, Tuesday afternoon and the wide expectation among Democrats and Republicans is the bill will be blocked through the filibuster, a legislative maneuver that lets a minority of senators stall or block movement on a bill.
For Democrats, in a perfect world the failure of the voting rights bill would trigger an effort in Congress to defang the filibuster.
But there is no support among the Republican caucus for gutting the filibuster, and not quite enough unity in their own caucus to get rid of the rule.
That leaves them with an unclear path forward on passing the Biden administration’s agenda or key protections for voting as Republican state lawmakers across the country push new laws that critics say are meant to hinder voting by voters of color.
“My hope is that if what we see is a unified effort to filibuster voting rights it will stiffen the spine of my Democratic colleagues to protect our democracy,” Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, a Democrat, said.
“No Senate rule is more important than the constitutional right to vote,” Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia said in referencing to protecting the filibuster.
The right to vote is sacred—it is the foundation of our democracy. Congress cannot stand idly by as attacks on the ballot box ramp up nationwide. This body has a solemn duty to protect the people's voice.
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@SenatorWarnock) June 22, 2021
We must pass voting rights. No matter what. https://t.co/HpqeBzfDs3
Yesterday, former president Barack Obama, in a rare move, weighed in on the expected filibuster of the voting rights package saying “that’s not acceptable.”
Other Democratic standard bearers have offered similar denunciations and warnings. Democratic outside groups have announced plans to pour millions into voting rights initiatives in the aftermath of the voting rights bill vote.
That spending reflects the sense of defiance among Democratic lawmakers as well.
“If Republicans say that they are willing to veto even a discussion about protecting our democracy then that puts it directly to Democrats. Are we going to stand up and be counted?” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said.
“Or are we going to let the Republican veto hold? I think that it’s an important step today to get every senator on record about willingness to talk about protecting our democracy. And if that fails then the Democrats are going to have to talk about what the next path forward is.”
Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii said it was important for Democrats to keep a sense of hope.
“That doesn’t mean that if we fail today there won’t be disappointment but there will never be despondency. We will regroup and plan anew and charge right back up the mountain,” he said.
Fissures within the Democratic party persist though. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, one of the most conservative members of the Senate Democratic caucus penned an op-ed published Monday night explaining her ongoing opposition to changing the filibuster, a position at odds with her colleagues.
“If [Senator ] Mitch McConnell believes that he will get even the tiniest advantage from removing the filibuster in the future, he will do it, regardless of what Democrats have done in the past,” Warren said in reference to McConnell, the Senate minority leader.
The op-ed argued there is a longterm risk for Democrats if they gut the filibuster now.
“Certainly there is risk to get rid of the filibuster but there is risk if we let the status quo where nothing happens continue,” Senator John Hickenlooper of Colorado, another moderate Democrat, said.
The #ForThePeople Act is about protecting the right to vote, stopping billionaires from buying elections, and starting to #EndCorruptionNow. This isn’t about politics – it’s about protecting our democracy and restoring Americans’ faith in government.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 22, 2021
Biden "absolutely revolted" by voting restrictions being enacted in GOP-led states - White House
White House press secretary Jen Psaki is holding her media briefing, hot on the heels of the coronavirus team briefing.
As the For the People Act legislation heads for a likely doomed vote in the US Senate at 5.30pm ET today, Psaki emphasized one of the reasons why passing legislation on this topic is a huge priority for Joe Biden and the efforts are “not over” even if they go nowhere on Capitol Hill this afternoon.
Psaki told reporters that Biden is “absolutely revolted” by attempts to restrict voting access going on in many Republican-led states across the country.
Psaki says President Biden is "absolutely revolted by the wave of anti-voter laws based on the same repeatedly disproven lies that led to an assault on our nation's capital." pic.twitter.com/ubILrqJ0LT
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 22, 2021
Here’s our Sam Levine (we recommend you sign up for his Fight to Vote news letter):
Updated
Anthony Fauci, the US’s top public health official, who leads the White House coronavirus team and is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, used the briefing just now to outline how the US has been following the UK in terms of infections recently.
Just as the UK came to be dominated by the UK variant and now the Delta variant that originated in India, so the same thing is happening in the US, leading health officials to speak of the joy of celebrating the summer while being on guard against a resurgence of the disease in the coming months - especially if people continue to shun the vaccine.
The Delta variant now accounts for 95% of new cases in the UK and youth are driving new infections, Fauci said, citing a study by Imperial College, London.
Fauci pointed out that the available vaccines are up to 93% effective against serious illness caused by the variants currently still spreading.
The Delta variant “is currently the greatest threat to the US in our attempt to eliminate Covid-19...we have the tools so let’s use them to crush the outbreak,” Fauci added.
The US expects to have 70% of adults over the age of 30 vaccinated by July 4th and to reach that goal with all adults “a few weeks” later, which is behind schedule.
Fauci was asked during press Q & A whether, if 20% to 30% of US adults continue to avoid being vaccinated, whether we’ll see the kind of surge and deaths that we saw in previous surges at the height of the pandemic, when 1,000 people were dying a day.
He said he would expect local or regional surges but “I do not foresee a surge like we saw over the last 18 months...even if we do we will not see 1,000 deaths a day.”
Fauci appeals to the “recalcitrant” not to persist in avoiding being vaccinated.
Nearly every US coronavirus death at this point "entirely preventable" - CDC
Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is urging those who are still voluntarily avoiding getting vaccinated against Covid-19 to get the vaccine.
“Every death is tragic. Nearly every death is, at this point, entirely preventable,” she said at the White House coronavirus team briefing today, which is still underway.
“We know our vaccines work,” Walensky added.
She warned that US health experts are very wary of a situation where variants currently dominating new infections - until recently the variant that originated in the UK and now the variant that originated in India - “could lead to further mutations that evade our vaccines” and if more people don’t get vaccinated it could produce “a chain that could lead to a more dangerous strain”.
Walensky also warned that 20% of people who’ve had Covid-19 are reporting various symptoms associated with “long Covid” - symptoms that persist more than four weeks after initial infection.
She listed “brain fog”, headaches, heart palpitations, coughing, joint pain, insomnia and prolonged loss of the sense of taste and/or smell.
The White House coronavirus briefing has begun. Jeff Zients, response coordinator since 2021, succeeding Deborah Birx, is leading up to letting everyone know that Joe Biden’s goal to have 70% of US adults vaccinated with at least one shot by the July Fourth holiday is a bit behind.
Meanwhile, he’s talking about the fact that new cases of Covid-19 in the US are down 90% since Biden took office in January, when the pandemic was at its peak a year after the first infections on the west coast.
More than 1,000 people will gather on the White House lawn on July 4, Zients said. That’s a much bigger gathering that the kind of neighborhood backyard cookouts that the president predicted would be possibly by July 4 as the US declared “independence from the virus”.
Zients says that 16 states and the District of Columbia have achieved the goal of 70% of adults having had at least one shot. The US expects to reach 70% of adults over the age of 27 having had at least one shot by the end of the July 4 holiday weekend..
He predicts the 70% of all adults goal will be achieved “a few weeks after”. Just to note, the struggle to make the numbers in the US is less about vaccine supply now and more about people declining the vaccine.
Zients said the aim is for “America to look like America again....the virus is in retreat, we are entering a summer of joy.”
He added: “But we are not done. Individuals who are still unvaccinated are still at risk.” Zients noted that the Delta variant, which originated in India, is still spreading across the US and younger people appear to be more vulnerable to it.
The current vaccines are highly effective against the Delta variant.
Updated
Donald Trump has “zero desire” to be speaker of the House of Representatives, his spokesman has said, though the former president continues to entertain discussion of the outlandish idea.
Under congressional rules, the House speaker does not have to be a sitting member of Congress, though all of them so far have been.
The notion of a Trump speakership was raised by his former adviser Steve Bannon. Trump himself called it “so interesting” last week, while current House minority leader and aspiring speaker Kevin McCarthy perhaps ironically misspoke when he seemed to encourage speculation.
McCarthy told Fox News: “You know, I’ve talked to President Trump many times, he tells me he wants to be speaker, and I think he should be president.”
A spokesperson later said the California representative had meant to say Trump thought McCarthy should be speaker.
On Monday, Trump was asked about the idea in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. Characteristically, he failed to fully disown it.
“Well,” Trump said, “I’ve heard the talk and it’s getting more and more. But it’s not something that I would have considered but … certainly there’s a lot of talk about it.
“I have a good relationship with Kevin, and hopefully we will do everything traditionally … so I have seen talk about that but it’s nothing that I’ve ever considered.”
Punchbowl News asked Jason Miller, Trump’s outgoing spokesman, for comment.
Trump, Miller said, “has zero desire to be speaker”.
Oregon progressive Senator Jeff Merkley and Minnesota’s Senator and former Democratic presidential candidate, Amy Klobuchar, introduced the For the People Act, along with majority leader Chuck Schumer, in the Senate in March.
.@AmyKlobuchar is absolutely right.
— Jeff Merkley (@JeffMerkley) June 22, 2021
This bill is critical for our country. We must fight with everything we've got to pass the For the People Act and save our democracy. https://t.co/eDaJi5Z53G
Today they probably know it is going to be parked in a cul-de-sac and the Republicans, aided by Democrat Joe Manchin, are going to throw away the keys.
Here’s what Merkley tweeted yesterday.
Make no mistake: Our democracy is in crisis. Republican lawmakers are trying to restrict Americans' right to vote all across the country.
— Jeff Merkley (@JeffMerkley) June 21, 2021
Tomorrow we have a chance to right these wrongs by passing the For the People Act. We must get it done!
And here’s Klobuchar earlier today reminding everyone that Barack Obama has spoken out to support a compromise version of the bill put forward by Manchin (which has garnered, to this moment, no Republican support and, therefore, is going nowhere without changes).
President Obama agrees: we must pass the For the People Act. https://t.co/vPMvLCzrm5
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) June 22, 2021
The vote due at 5.30pm ET today is not on the whether to pass the bill or make changes to the bill, it is merely on whether to invoke cloture and begin debating the bill.
Updated
Michigan ends most coronavirus restrictions early
At one minute past midnight today, Michigan went from being a state that was recently at the center of surging coronavirus infections to a place where cases have “plummeted” and most virus-related restrictions have been dropped.
The opening up occurred a week earlier than planned, even though the state has reached a level of 61% of adults vaccinated compared with its stated goal of 70% having at least one shot prior to restrictions being lifted.
Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer was on CNN this morning hailing the “exciting moment after a long, tough year for everyone”, maintaining that the authorities were “really hitting this virus on lots of fronts”.
It’s been a tough year, but we’ve gotten through it – together.
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) June 22, 2021
✅ Cases are down.
✅ Hospitalizations are down.
✅ Vaccination numbers are strong.
All because of the millions of Michiganders who have taken this seriously. Now let’s all go enjoy that Michigan summer. pic.twitter.com/kEwa7m7HdK
“This is great news and a day all of us have been looking forward to for more than a year,” Elizabeth Hertel, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said and the Detroit Free Press reported today.
“We have said all along that the vaccine would help us return to a sense of normalcy and today we announce that day is here.”
You can read more details in this piece.
Hillary Clinton adds:
If you're eligible and haven't gotten vaccinated yet, it's time.https://t.co/OKNsTYHytM
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 21, 2021
Updated
Manchin still playing cards close to vest
With just six hours left before the vote is due in the US Senate on whether to advance the For the People Act voting rights legislation to the next stage, allowing debate on the bill, pivotal Democratic Senator Joe Manchin says he’s not made up his mind yet.
He gaggled-on-the-move with reporters in the bowels of the Capitol moments ago and left everything up in the air.
Here’s CNN.
Sen. Joe Manchin said he has not made a decision on how he will vote tonight. “We are still waiting to see the final… I gotta make sure we are going to move to a better compromise.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 22, 2021
“Everybody is working on it real good.” He said they are working on a “much better” bill. https://t.co/7IqyvJjVa3
This is a good way of putting it:
The “Big Lie” of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election that motivated a violent insurrection at the Capitol has sparked an unprecedented wave of voter suppression laws in the states. The For The People Act must be passed or Democracy will die !!
— William P Yardley (@WilliamYardle10) June 22, 2021
Or, realistically, this. The Guardian’s Daniel Strauss is on Capitol Hill today and wryly remarks.
Only an event in Congress could have so much buildup for such a predictable outcome. https://t.co/KzQNjLz8r9
— Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) June 22, 2021
Updated
While lawmakers on Capitol Hill grind through their disagreements, activists are mobilizing.
Tomorrow, the Poor People’s Campaign, led by the Reverend William Barber, who focuses on “moral marches” to end poverty in America, is bringing a “moral march on Manchin and McConnell” to Washington, DC, with busloads of protesters demonstrating in favor of Joe Biden’s voting rights legislation.
“In a democracy, poor and low-wealth people must have two things: the right to vote and living wages,” Bishop Barber said in a statement yesterday.
He sees not just the Republicans, led by their Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, but conservative Democrats such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia, as obstacles, at best delaying at worst destroying the prospects for sweeping legislation on Capitol Hill to protect voting rights currently under vicious attack in many GOP-controlled statehouses across the US.
Barber continued: “Joe Manchin and Mitch McConnell are threatening our democracy by resisting these two things. If our elected leaders are blocking the For the People Act, which will stop the tyranny that is happening in state capitols, they are not on the side of the people. Now is the time to fight for our democracy.”
“The manipulations and tactics of those like Manchin, McConnell and the ruling wealthy elite demand a mass movement of poor and low-wealth people and their allies for a Third Reconstruction. Voting rights are not just a black issue, it will hurt poor and low wealth people of every race, creed, sex and disability. Voter suppression allows people to get elected who block living wages and health care. It is constitutionally inconsistent, morally indefensible, politically unacceptable and economically insane. We are facing a moral question. Which side are you on?”
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the campaign, said: “What is happening in state legislatures across the country in terms of passing voting restrictions is threatening our democracy. What extremists are doing in state legislatures is hurting all of us. There has been a clarion call coming out of West Virginia, Kentucky and all across the nation. We must fight to defend our democracy and protect and expand voting rights. From West Virginia to Kentucky and beyond, people are rising up to stop the filibuster and demand living wages, healthcare, infrastructure and more.”
“@RevDrBarber reignited his Moral Marches to end poverty at the place where it all started eight years ago, the outdoor mall behind the North Carolina General Assembly.” @YonatShimron @RNS #PoorPeoplesCampaign #3rdReconstruction #MoralMonday https://t.co/FZM43mQJV5
— Repairers of the Breach (@BRepairers) June 22, 2021
Meanwhile, here’s what Hillary Clinton retweeted:
The For the People Act must pass soon to take effect before the midterms, so we've launched the Deadline for Democracy. Events are planned in every state during the upcoming recess to show the overwhelming support for democracy reform. Join the movement: https://t.co/cULeaueyK6 pic.twitter.com/rZHVKeLAM9
— Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) June 21, 2021
Updated
White House to push back deadline to reach coronavirus vaccination goal in US
The White House coronavirus response team meets in public in the early afternoon today and will update everyone on the Biden administration’s “month of action” efforts to vaccinate as many people in the US as possible.
Biden admin. to concede that it will likely fall short of Pres. Biden’s goal of partially vaccinating 70% of American adults by July 4, but will insist it has “succeeded beyond our highest expectations” in returning the US to a pre-pandemic normal. https://t.co/aUnJM3Gzuf
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) June 22, 2021
The team is expected to concede that the US that will fall short of Joe Biden’s stated goal of ensuring vaccinating 70 percent of American adults have had at least one shot of vaccine by Independence Day, July 4th.
NBC reports that the administration will, however, insist it has “succeeded beyond our highest expectations” in returning the nation to a pre-pandemic normal.
Jeffrey Zients, the head of the White House Covid response team, was slated to announce that the administration has hit its 70 percent vaccination target among Americans aged 30 and older, and is poised to reach that threshold for those 27 and older by the Fourth of July.
But it will take “a few extra weeks” to include all Americans 18 and older to that group, Zients is to acknowledge.
“The reality is, many younger Americans have felt like Covid-19 is not something that impacts them and have been less eager to get the shot,” he plans to say, according to advance remarks obtained by NBC News.
But Zients and other administration officials say it is undeniable that Americans will be celebrating the Fourth of July holiday in a way that few could have predicted was possible when Biden took office five months ago.
“We always intended July 4 as a moment to take stock and celebrate the progress we’ve made. But by no means was it an end point,” a senior administration official told NBC News.
“What really matters is what the country feels like and what Americans are safely able to do. Restaurants and schools have been able to reopen. There will be celebrations that are very different than what we talked about even a few weeks ago.”
Biden set two public goals on May 4: seeing 70 percent of American adults receive at least one dose of the vaccine in two months, and seeing 160 million Americans fully vaccinated by then.
Zients also plans to acknowledge the U.S. won’t reach that second goal until “no later than-mid July.”
“Fight of his presidency” versus “disastrous proposal” - what’s at stake in the vote today on the For the People Act sweeping legislation on voting rights?
When you lose an election, you’re supposed to try to win over more voters.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 21, 2021
Instead, Republicans are trying to stop people from voting.
That tears at the very fabric of our democracy.
And that's why the Senate will move forward on critical voting rights legislation.
The Associated Press has a comprehensive backgrounder this morning on the whole thing, for those wanting to refresh their minds, unravel the whole, tangled shebang after recent developments, or coming to the topic for the first time.
We won’t launch the whole article below, because it’s long, but you can read it here and we’ll blog an extract.
The AP says:
The Democrats’ expansive elections and voting bill is all but certain to be rejected in a key test vote in the Senate, providing a dramatic example of Republicans’ use of the filibuster to block legislation and forcing hard questions for Democrats over next steps.
The far-reaching proposal, at nearly 900 pages, is viewed by backers as the civil rights issue of the era, legislation that is suddenly of the highest priority after the 2020 election as states impose restrictive new laws that could make it more difficult to vote. In the evenly split Senate, Republicans are united in opposition, seeing the bill as federal overreach and denying Democrats the 60 votes that would be needed to overcome the filibuster and begin debate.
“Are you afraid to debate?” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday ahead of the vote. “We’re about to find out.”
Months in the making, Tuesday’s showdown over the For the People Act, as it is called, is hardly the end of the road but the start of long campaign ahead. President Joe Biden has vowed what the White House calls the “fight of his presidency” over ensuring Americans’ access to the polls. At stake is not only election rules that make it easier to vote but also Democrats’ own ability to confront the limits of bipartisanship and decide whether or not the filibuster rules should change.
Republican leader Mitch McConnell blasted the legislation ahead of the debate as a “disastrous proposal” that will get “no quarter” in the Senate.
The party that controls Washington has been preparing for this moment for months, even as lawmakers faced their own internal divisions over the sprawling bill, which would remove hurdles to voting erected in the name of election security, curtail the influence of big money in politics and reduce partisan influence over the drawing of congressional districts.
As recently as last week, Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate West Virginia Democrat, said he couldn’t support the bill without changes he wanted as a way to draw Republican support.
Manchin remained a holdout late Monday following a meeting with Biden at the White House, where the two discussed voting rights. The senator would not say whether he would vote with his party in trying to advance the bill, explaining he was still reviewing the final version. “I have to see the rest of it tonight,” he said at the Capitol....
The rock-solid opposition from the GOP senators brings to a head questions over the filibuster, the decades-old Senate rule that requires 60 votes for most bills to advance.
While some Democrats want to change the Senate’s rules to push the elections bill and other priorities past the filibuster, Manchin and others including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., are opposed to taking that next move. Biden, too, has said in the past that he wants to leave the filibuster intact...
As the Senate action churns, more changes could be coming to the bill.
Democrats want to protect against intimidation at the polls in the aftermath of the 2020 election. They propose enhancing penalties for those who would threaten or intimidate election workers and creating a “buffer zone” between election workers and poll watchers, among other possible changes.
A compromise version of the bill proposed by Manchin last week hasn’t garnered Republican support - or full-throated support from the White House, incidentally. It received mumbles of encouragement from the White House and support from Barack Obama and Georgia voting rights activist leader Stacey Abrams - in a state controlled at the state level by the Republicans, where a full-on push for voter suppression is underway in ways that affect, especially, lower-income voters and communities of color, who tend to vote Democratic.
In 2020 and again in 2021, voters of color turned out in historic numbers to show our power. Now, our freedom to vote is under attack, and the fight continues.
— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) June 21, 2021
Make your voice heard today. Call your Senators at 888-453-3211 and demand they pass #S1, the #ForThePeopleAct. pic.twitter.com/cjvZZiqhls
Updated
New Yorkers go to the polls to choose their Democratic candidate for mayor
There’s no doubt about where New York congresswoman and famed progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands on the city’s mayoral race. There’s voting today in the Democratic primary, which means that as a Democratic-voting city, we’ll soon know who’s going to be the next mayor.
Here’s AOC on Twitter this morning:
Today’s NYC To Do List:
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 22, 2021
✅ Wake up 🌞
✅ Head to the bodega for coffee and a sandwich ☕️
✅ Rank @MayaWiley #1 for Mayor 🗳 https://t.co/hrSlJMKKrZ
Left-winger Maya Wiley is a strong contender but has a challenge against the current front-runner and centrist, Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams, who ascended to the front of the pack after New Yorkers cooled on the celeb candidate, if you like, entrepreneur and former Democratic candidate for US president, Andrew Yang.
Here’s Wiley at a press conference yesterday evening, a long, sunny one on the summer solstice.
The results of today’s vote won’t be known today, and it could be a much longer process, because of ranked voting, absentee ballots, etc.
Here’s my colleague Adam Gabbatt on the race.
Updated
The US Senate convenes in a few moments, at 10am ET (2pm Greenwich Mean Time), and there will be a lot of running around, both literally and figuratively, until the great test vote takes place at 5.30pm ET.
The chamber is scheduled to vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed on the For the People Act. Wot? Essentially, the Senate will vote on whether the huge voting rights bill should advance to the next stage of its congressional journey - the debate stage.
That would precede, ultimately, a vote on the bill itself.
But it’s academic, because what we expect is that the Senate will not vote to proceed to debate. The Republicans won’t support it and the Democrats need 60 votes to move to the next stage, per the filibuster rule. That won’t happen because the Republicans, who are in the minority, won’t produce 10 senators willing to vote with the Dems. The chamber is split 50-50 Dem-GOP (with vice president Kamala Harris as the tie-breaker on bills, where necessary, that need only a simple majority - such as budget-related spending bills, but not the For the People Act).
So a point of interest will be to see if Democrat Joe Manchin votes to invoke cloture and move the voting rights bill to the debate stage. There’s some debate, indeed, about whether he would vote for debate but ultimately vote against the bill in its current form. It’s exhausting and exasperating for liberals.
The voting rights bill is likely to collapse once and for all in the Senate today but The Associated Press says it’s “the end of the road but the start of long campaign ahead” for Joe Biden’s White House to see how they can move its agenda forward on voting rights, infrastructure funding, police reform and more. Rewritten legislation? Ending the filibuster? Reforming the filibuster? Constructing, say, a more limited infrastructure spending bill that can bypass the filibuster rule.
It’s going to be a hot summer in Washington.
Today, White House aides will be fanning out on Capitol Hill to talk to lawmakers and urge progress in the short and longer terms.
In contrast to Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s op-ed in its own pages arguing for the Senate filibuster rule staying put, the Washington Post has published an editorial titled: “If Republicans block a compromise voting-rights bill, reform the filibuster”.
West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin has proposed a compromise version of the sweeping For the People Act voting rights legislation, in hopes of winning more support for the issue in the Senate. But Republicans refuse to sign on even to advancing the measures to a debate on the package, let alone a vote on passing it.
The Post argues thus:
It is telling that the argument Republicans most often make against proposals such as Mr. Manchin’s is not that early voting and voter notifications are bad ideas, but that setting election rules is the states’ job, not the federal government’s. They are wrong, according to the plain text of the Constitution, which expressly gives Congress power over federal elections.
But the consequence of congressional inaction is to enable Republican state leaders to continue stacking election rules against Democrats, limiting access to the ballot box and manipulating voting maps to obtain illegitimate partisan advantage......
....Mr. Manchin’s reforms deserve a full hearing and an up-or-down vote. If his proposal does not get its due, Democrats should consider reforming the filibuster. There is no shortage of ideas about how to adjust the procedural maneuver without abolishing it, such as demanding that minority senators show up to sustain their filibusters; requiring three-fifths of present and voting senators to end a filibuster, rather than three-fifths of all senators; or reducing the number of votes needed to overcome filibusters. These are just a few possibilities.
If Republicans will not permit a vote on even the most obvious of pro-voting reforms, something needs to change. Senators should be cautious in reshaping the chamber’s rules — but not to a fault.
Arizona's Sinema writes on why she opposes scrapping the filibuster
Joe Biden met, separately, yesterday with West Virginia moderate senator Joe Manchin and Arizona moderate senator Kyrsten Sinema, as he tries to push forward his legislative priorities.
They are the most outspoken Democrats in the finely-balanced Senate to oppose blowing up the rule - meant to inspire bipartisanship - that bills normally need 60 votes in the Senate to advance through various stages of debate and voting and, ultimately, to pass.
But Simena had an opinion piece published in the Washington Post overnight where she spells out why “We have more to lose than gain by ending the filibuster” in order to push the Biden legislative agenda through when Republicans won’t support it.
She wrote:
It’s no secret that I oppose eliminating the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. I held the same view during three terms in the U.S. House, and said the same after I was elected to the Senate in 2018. If anyone expected me to reverse my position because my party now controls the Senate, they should know that my approach to legislating in Congress is the same whether in the minority or majority.
Once in a majority, it is tempting to believe you will stay in the majority. But a Democratic Senate minority used the 60-vote threshold just last year to filibuster a police reform proposal and a covid-relief bill that many Democrats viewed as inadequate. Those filibusters were mounted not as attempts to block progress, but to force continued negotiations toward better solutions.
And, sometimes, the filibuster, as it’s been used in previous Congresses, is needed to protect against attacks on women’s health, clean air and water, or aid to children and families in need.
My support for retaining the 60-vote threshold is not based on the importance of any particular policy. It is based on what is best for our democracy. The filibuster compels moderation and helps protect the country from wild swings between opposing policy poles.
To those who want to eliminate the legislative filibuster to pass the For the People Act (voting-rights legislation I support and have co-sponsored), I would ask: Would it be good for our country if we did, only to see that legislation rescinded a few years from now and replaced by a nationwide voter-ID law or restrictions on voting by mail in federal elections, over the objections of the minority?
There is more, and you can read the full op-ed here. But she ends:
Instability, partisanship and tribalism continue to infect our politics. The solution, however, is not to continue weakening our democracy’s guardrails. If we eliminate the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, we will lose much more than we gain.
Showdown in US Senate expected over key voting rights bill
Good morning, live blog readers. Yesterday may have been the longest day of the year but today may feel longer for Democrats as tension builds in Washington towards the big vote on whether to advance legislation on massive voting rights reforms. It’s going to be a lively day, so let’s get started.
- The sweeping For the People Act to bolster voting rights is set to come up for what is essentially a test vote in the US Senate today. Most Democrats want to vote to advance the bill to the debate stage but Republicans are almost certainly going to block it by not lending any support and therefore not giving their opponents the 60 votes they need (in a chamber split 50-50) to overcome the filibuster and set the bill on its way. Expect fireworks.
- Republican support is not expected but all eyes will be on the conservative Democratic holdout, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, to see if he will vote to advance the bill and at least show solidarity with his party colleagues – the bill would still go into a coma but Dems will have demonstrated unanimity.
- As of last night, Manchin was still a “don’t know” – at least publicly – on which way he’ll decide.
- New York City’s mayoral race will essentially be decided today when the city votes in the Democratic primary. There’s almost no chance that a Republican will be voted in as mayor – to take over from Democrat Bill de Blasio at the end of the year – so the Dem primary today will give us the odds-on winner of the whole thing. Results not expected for some time and the current front runner is Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams.
- Michigan lifts most coronavirus-related restrictions today, one week ahead of schedule, as the state has gone from being the recent center of infections in the US to a situation where cases, governor Gretchen Whitmer said this morning, “have plummeted”. So although the state hasn’t yet reached the goal of 70% of adults having had at least one shot of the vaccine, it’s decided that reaching 61% is good enough.
