Evening summary
That’s all from me today. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest politics stories:
- Stocks plunged in the US, with all three major US stock indexes following their European counterparts with broad sell-offs fueled by fears of surging cases of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus and renewed lockdowns and economic pressures.
- With Operation Allies Refuge set to begin this month, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said today that the US is now preparing to initially relocate up to 2,500 Afghan citizens – 700 individuals employed by the US government and their families – temporarily at Fort Lee, Virginia.
- Vice-president Kamala Harris tested negative for Covid-19 after meeting with Texas Democrats, some of whom have tested positive after fleeing the state to Washington to prevent quorum on a restrictive voting bill.
- US attorney general Merrick Garland has formalized a new policy to broadly prohibit prosecutors from subpoenaing reporters’ phone and email records.
- A Trump supporter was sentenced on Monday to eight months in prison for his role in the 6 January insurrection in Washington.
- The House select committee investigating the 6 January attack announced that four police officers who were physically and verbally attacked by rioters will testify at its first hearing on 27 July. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy has reportedly chosen the five Republicans who will sit on the committee. They include three representatives who voted to overturn the election results.
Updated
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer will file cloture on a placeholder bill for the bipartisan infrastructure plan tonight, setting up a vote on Wednesday.
Schumer NOW on Senate floor updates the timing of infrastructure legislation: "Tonight in a few minutes, I will file cloture on a shell bill which will act as the legislative vehicle for the bipartisan infrastructure framework. That vote on cloture will take place on Wednesday." pic.twitter.com/FRGPFkeh8d
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) July 19, 2021
This is a procedural move that paves the way for actual debate and, perhaps one day, a vote, but it remains unclear whether Republicans plan to support the deal.
House Republicans who tried to overthrow election reportedly appointed to select committee investigating violent attempt to overthrow election
House minority leader Kevin McCarthy will appoint representative Jim Jordan and two other representatives who voted to overturn the presidential election to the select committee investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, Politico reports.
Jordon, Troy Nehls, and Jim Banks all voted in support of the baseless objections to the certification of the presidential election on 6-7 January, even after the violent mob attack on the US Capitol. They are three of the five names that have been chosen by McCarthy to serve on the select committee, alongside Rodney Davis and Kelly Armstrong.
Jordan was a particularly fervent advocate of the anti-democratic propaganda campaign to undermine faith in the election results.
The select committee will hold its first hearing on 27 July, with witness testimony from four of the police officers who have spoken publicly about being assaulted by the violent mob. They include officer Harry Dunn, who was injured after being crushed against a door by the rioters, and sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who was beaten with a flagpole, both of the US Capitol police.
Updated
Democratic lawmakers have proposed a “carbon border tax” on goods imported from countries that are not reducing carbon emissions, the New York Times reports.
The tax would raise as much as $16bn a year while attempting to level the playing field between US companies complying with US environmental regulations and foreign companies with lower restrictions.
Per the Times:
A border tax is typically designed to even out the burden for a nation that has imposed a tax or price on carbon dioxide emissions. Companies abroad that want to sell iron, steel, aluminum or other commodities to the United States would be required to pay a price for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit in making their products, which would erase any competitive advantage. The hope is that it will encourage other countries to also price carbon and drive down emissions.
It also is considered a way to prevent American companies whose manufacturing processes emit heavy amounts of carbon pollution from relocating to countries with looser environmental rules, a phenomenon known as leakage.
Under the Democratic proposal, a tariff starting in 2024 would apply to roughly 12 percent of imports coming into the United States. It would cover petroleum, natural gas and coal as well as products that have a large carbon footprint like aluminum, steel, iron and cement. The list of covered goods could expand as the United States improves methods of calculating the carbon intensity of different products.
American Academy of Pediatrics recommends universal masking for schools
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that everyone over the age of 2 be required to wear masks when schools reopen this fall, in new guidance released Monday.
The recommendations from the major professional association for pediatricians contradicts those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released earlier in the month, which called for masks only for those who have not been fully vaccinated.
Both groups have called for a return to in-person learning after a year of severe disruption for students. The AAP guidance also address issues including building ventilation, testing, cleaning standards and mental health support.
“There are many children and others who cannot be vaccinated,” said Sara Bode, MD, chair-person elect of the AAP Council on School Health Executive Committee, in a statement. “This is why it’s important to use every tool in our toolkit to safeguard children from Covid-19. Universal masking is one of those tools, and has been proven effective in protecting people against other respiratory diseases, as well. It’s also the most effective strategy to create consistent messages and expectations among students without the added burden of needing to monitor everyone’s vaccination status.”
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN: “I think that the American Academy of Pediatrics (is) a thoughtful group. They analyze the situation, and if they feel that that’s the way to go, I think that is a reasonable thing to do.”
US government warns against travel to UK on 'Freedom Day'
The US State Department and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both urged Americans not to travel to the UK due to the rising number of Covid cases on Monday, Reuters reports.
The federal agencies issued their new guidance on the day the UK government had deemed “freedom day” as it lifted all coronavirus-related restrictions.
“Do not travel to the United Kingdom due to Covid-19,” the state department’s travel advisory reads. “Do not travel” is the highest level of alert issued by the state department.
The CDC also listed the UK at its highest level of concern, writing, “If you must travel to the United Kingdom, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel. Because of the current situation in the United Kingdom, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”
The travel advisory is just the latest blow to the UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s premature efforts to celebrate “freedom” from the coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus infections are surging in the UK, hospitalizations are on the rise, and Johnson is himself currently in self-isolation after being exposed to the virus by his health secretary, Sajid Javid.
Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the violent rightwing street gang the Proud Boys, pleaded guilty today to charges stemming from the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a historic Black church in Washington DC, the Department of Justice announced.
Tarrio admitted burning the banner during a pro-Trump protest in DC on 12 December 2020. He was arrested on 4 January 2021 as he entered DC. At the time of his arrest he was carrying to high-capacity firearm magazines, which he said he intended to sell to a customer, resulting in an additional charge.
Tarrio pleaded guilty to one count of destruction of property and one count of attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 180 days.
Following his arrest, a judge ordered him to leave Washington DC, preventing Tarrio from attending the 6 January riot at the US Capitol. The stay-away order will remain in place until Tarrio’s sentencing, which is scheduled for 23 August.
In late January, Reuters revealed that Tarrio repeatedly worked with federal and local law enforcement as an informant following an arrest in 2012.
Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland, California, picking up the blog for the rest of the day. Stay tuned for more news ...
Today so far
- Stocks plunged in the US, with all three major US stock indexes following their European counterparts with broad sell-offs fuelled by fears of surging cases of the Delta variant of the Covid-19 virus and renewed lockdowns and economic pressures.
- With Operation Allies Refuge set to begin this month, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said today that the US is now preparing to initially relocate up to 2,500 Afghan citizens - 700 individuals employed by the US government and their families-- temporarily at Fort Lee, Virginia.
- Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative for Covid-19 after meeting with Texas Democrats, some of whom have tested positive after fleeing the state to Washington to prevent quorum on a restrictive voting bill.
- US attorney general Merrick Garland has formalized a new policy to broadly prohibit prosecutors from subpoenaing reporters’ phone and email records.
House committee on 6 January attack announces witness list
Republicans blocked efforts for a bipartisan, 9/11-style investigative panel into the 6 January attack on the US Capitol earlier this year.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi responded with the House select committee set on investigating the attack.
With the committee’s first hearing on “the law enforcement experience” scheduled for next week, the committee released its list of witnesses: private first class Harry Dunn and sergeant Aquilino Gonell of the US Capitol police department, and officers Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan police department.
JUST IN: The House Select Committee on the January 6th Insurrection announces their list of witnesses for their first hearing next week. pic.twitter.com/85cIc0blFE
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) July 19, 2021
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, has formalized a new policy to broadly prohibit prosecutors from subpoenaing reporters’ phone and email records – an abrupt shift after the Trump administration secretly seized records from several major news outlets in an effort to root out leaks.
Garland said the justice department would also support legislation to make the policy permanent.
“A free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy,” a memo said. “The Department of Justice will no longer use compulsory legal process for the purpose of obtaining information from or records of members of the news media acting within the scope of newsgathering activities.”
The DoJ held meetings with media executives after companies including the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post revealed that reporters’ records had been seized during the Trump era.
Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative for coronavirus after meeting with Democratic Texas lawmakers, some of whom have tested positive, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Five Texas Democrats who fled the state to Washington to prevent quorum on a restrictive voting bill have tested positive for Covid-19.
Harris, who has been directed by Joe Biden to take lead on the issue of voting rights, met with the lawmakers days before their positive test. All parties involved had been vaccinated.
“What’s important for everybody to know is the vice president was tested,” Psaki said at today’s White House press briefing. “She, of course, takes these precautions seriously and we would follow any advice or public health officials give us.”
Quick recap on the infrastructure situation: reminder that today Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer was set to file cloture on the $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure plan that the bipartisan group that originally hashed out the deal spent the weekend arguing over - specifically over a $100bn hole that arose after Republicans took issue with plans to beef up IRS enforcement.
Filing cloture today would have meant the Senate would vote to close debate on the bipartisan bill on Wednesday, thus moving things along so that Democrats could turn their full attention on the $3.5tn reconciliation infrastructure bill focused on social services and environmental measures.
Well.
“No comments,” Schumer says when entering the Capitol and asked if he was definitely moving forward with Wednesday’s procedural vote on the infrastructure plan
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 19, 2021
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has weighed in as well, echoing what other Republicans have said: that it’s tough to end debate on a bill when there is no actual text of the bill yet.
From colleague Jason Donner. McConnell on bipartisan infrastructure bill: I think we need to see the bill before we decide whether or not to vote for it.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 19, 2021
Schumer has proceeded on bills before while still negotiating terms, such as on the China competition bill and the Asian American hate crimes bill. But Republicans have been fairly outspoken that they will not be rushed on this one.
Updated
The US is set to begin this month “Operation Allies Refuge,” the evacuation of Afghans whose lives are at risk because they worked for the US government as translators and in other roles.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said today that the US is now preparing to initially relocate up to 2,500 Afghan citizens - 700 individuals employed by the US government and their families-- temporarily at Fort Lee, Virginia.
Vern Buchanan, a Republican congressman, said on Monday he had tested positive for Covid-19 even though he is fully vaccinated.
“I look forward to returning to work as soon as possible,” said the 70-year-old, who has been in Congress since 2007. “In the meantime, this should serve as a reminder that although the vaccines provide a very high-degree of protection, we must remain vigilant in the fight against Covid-19.”
The Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, told reporters a surge in cases in his state and others in the US south was due to a “seasonal pattern”, rather than the Delta variant and so many Americans choosing to remain unvaccinated.
One statistic released by the White House estimated that 20% of new US cases last week occurred in Florida. DeSantis, who has insisted the state will impose no more virus-related lockdowns or mandates, told reporters the increase was expected in mid-summer.
DeSantis also said it was counterproductive to berate or ridicule people who have concerns about the vaccine or simply do not want it.
More worldwide Covid news here:
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to have a terrible afternoon and stock markets have fallen across the world.
The prospect of slowing global growth resulted in most stock markets across Europe experiencing significant falls, after a slide in Asia overnight that came when Indonesia reported an increase in cases and some athletes tested positive at Tokyo’s Olympic village, with the Games due to open on Friday.
Wall Street investors joined the stock market sell-off, with the Dow down more than 2% by lunchtime in New York.
My colleague Phillip Inman writes that in the UK the FTSE 100 closed earlier down 2.4% at 6,844 points, its biggest one-day fall since 11 May and its lowest close since early April.
Fears that a relaxation of lockdown rules by Boris Johnson’s government would aid the spread of new variants in the UK also weighed heavily on the value of the pound, which lost ground against the euro and the dollar. Sterling dropped to $1.37, its lowest since April, and was down about 0.6% against the euro to €1.16.
Analysts said few markets were immune to the sense of trepidation that accompanied warnings from health professionals that the virus could still cause a surge in hospitalisations and harm to younger people despite higher vaccination rates.
We’ll have a US report when the markets close, meanwhile, this from London:
And you can follow the dedicated business live blog out of London for a bit longer, until Wall Street calls it a day.
Updated
US stocks plunge amid Covid variant fears
Stocks plunged in the US on Monday morning, as all three major US stock indexes followed their European counterparts with broad sell-offs fuelled by fears of surging cases of the Delta variant of the Covid virus and renewed lockdowns and economic pressures.
The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were both down more than 2% by midday, the Dow on track for its worst day in nearly nine months. US 10-year Treasury yields fell to a five-month low.
“Despite the Covid or Delta variant fears,” Oliver Pursche, senior vice-president at Wealthspire Advisors in New York, told Reuters. “Sell-offs can happen at any time and people like to slap a reason on it. We think the US economic recovery is on track and will continue.
“Hopefully, [the infection surge] gives people a wake-up call, maybe they should get vaccinated. It’s clear that the vaccine works, it’s overwhelmingly safe and people should get vaccinated.”
Concurrently, the US Business Cycle Dating Committee said the recession touched off by the coronavirus lasted only two months, ending in April 2020 after a sharp drop in economic activity caused by the first stages of the pandemic. The group of macroeconomists who assign the start and end dates of US business cycles said indicators of both jobs and production “point clearly” to a rebound beginning in May.
Around 22m jobs disappeared from company payrolls in March and April 2020, sparking concern about a new Depression and leading Congress and the White House to approve several massive relief packages to keep firms and households afloat.
But during May 2020 2.8m people were brought back to work, and over the next year about 15m jobs were recovered. That said, the hole in the US job market remains substantial, and filling it a focus of the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve.
This year may still see the fastest expansion of economic activity in 40 years, but rekindled fears about the pandemic on Monday hit markets hard.
Capitol attack: Trump supporter gets eight-month sentence
A Florida man was sentenced earlier today to eight months in prison for his role in the 6 January insurrection in Washington, a punishment likely to set a benchmark for later cases.
Paul Hodgkins, from Tampa, pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding after he breached the US Senate chamber during the attack on the US Capitol.
Hodgkins was filmed wearing a Trump 2020 T-shirt, with a flag over his shoulder and eye goggles around his neck, and seen taking a selfie with a self-described “shaman” in a horned helmet and other rioters on the dais behind him.
He is the first rioter to be sentenced for a felony crime in connection with the attack, which saw hundreds storm the Capitol after they were fed lies about election fraud. More than 570 people have been charged regarding the riot, during and after which five people died.
Prosecutors had asked for Hodgkins to serve 18 months, saying in a court filing he “like each rioter contributed to the collective threat to democracy” by forcing lawmakers to temporarily abandon their certification of Joe Biden’s victory and to scramble for shelter.
Speaking in court in Washington on Monday, Hodgkins apologised and said he was ashamed. Reading from a prepared text, he described being caught up in euphoria as he walked through Washington, then followed a crowd of hundreds up Capitol Hill and into the Capitol building itself.
“If I had any idea that the protest ... would escalate [the way] it did ... I would never have ventured farther than the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Hodgkins told the US district judge, Randolph Moss.
He added: “This was a foolish decision on my part.”
Updated
Summary
- The Department of Justice charged four Chinese nationals in the Microsoft Exchange server hack. The four had been working for the Ministry of Security State Security for the People’s Republic of China at the time of the hack.
- Meanwhile, the Department of Justice decided that it won’t charge Wilbur Ross, the commerce secretary for Donald Trump, for misleading Congress on why he wanted to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Census.
- Joe Biden touted the US economy in a quick speech looking to quell concerns connecting recent price increases to inflation. He noted that 3 million jobs have been created and that the economy has experienced the highest growth rate in decades.
- Five Texas Democrats who fled the state for Washington to prevent quorum on a restrictive voting bill have tested positive for Covid-19. All had been vaccinated.
Earlier today, Joe Biden made some comments on Facebook and the spread of misinformation when it came to vaccinations. He had to clarify, saying that the company “isn’t killing people”, but misinformation and the spread of misinformation is.
President Biden clarifies his statement about Facebook: "My hope is, that Facebook instead of taking it personally, that somehow I'm saying 'Facebook is killing people', that they would do something about the misinformation." pic.twitter.com/GXfZOHxWKl
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 19, 2021
At today’s briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified a bit further, not quite letting Facebook off the hook but not making any blatant accusations.
“Our fight is not with one social media platform. It is with the virus,” Psaki said. “We have a role, everybody has a role, in combating misinformation. In terms of monitoring whether there have been steps that have been taken (to combat misinformation), there are all things you all can assess. There is no secret monitoring...do you have access from these companies on who is receiving misinformation? I don’t think that information has been released.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated at today’s press briefing the Biden administration’s commitment to closing down Guantanamo Bay.
“Our goal is to close Guantanamo Bay,” Psaki said.
This comes as the administration transferred a detainee out of the controversial detention facility for the first time. Psaki noted that 39 individuals remain at Guantanamo: 10 eligible for transfer, 17 eligible for periodic review board, 10 involved in the military commissions process and two who have been convicted.
Updated
At today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki went a little more in depth on any differences between Russia and China when it comes to cyberattacks and economic sanctions imposed by the US because of cyberattacks. “We are not differentiating,” she said.
The elephant in the room though is that the US is much more economically dependant upon China than on Russia. The US received $163bn in exports in 2019 from China, as compared to the $10.9bn in exports from Russia. Imposing sanctions on China that are similar to the sanctions imposed on Russia could actually turn around and harm the US in the long run.
Psaki denied that this played a factor in the country’s response, pointing out that the US joins with an “unprecedented” group of allies in “exposing and criticizing” China, in addition to filing charges against four of the accused hackers.
“We take cyber actions against our country and against private sector entities quite seriously,” she said. “We are not holding back. We are not allowing any economic circumstance or consideration to prevent us from taking actions where warranted. We reserve the option to take additional actions where warranted as well. This is not the conclusion of our efforts as it relates to cyber activities with China or Russia.
DoJ won't prosecute Ross for misleading Congress on Census
A government investigation has found that Wilbur Ross, Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, misled Congress about why he wanted to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 Cencus.
It is a federal crime to make false statements before Congress, but Joe Biden’s Department of Justice will not prosecute Ross.
Critics said the Trump administration was trying to influence districting for elections by adding a question about citizenship to the Census, as undocumented people would therefore avoid the survey and cities with high populations of such people, which tend to vote Democratic, might consequently lose seats.
The AP explains:
According to critics, the citizenship question was inspired by Republican redistricting expert Tom Hofeller, who had previously written that using citizen voting-age population instead of the total population for the purpose of redrawing of congressional and legislative districts could be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.
In congressional testimony, Ross said the Department of Justice requested adding the citizenship question to the census form in late 2017 for the purpose of enforcing federal voting rights law. The inspector general said that “misrepresented the full rationale”.
The supreme court blocked adding the question ahead of the 2020 Census.
Ross, now 83, is a longtime Trump associate who features in many of the rash of recent books about the Trump administration – often for falling asleep during meetings and speeches.
Here’s Sam Levine on what ultimately happened regarding districting after the Cencus was done:
Updated
When asked about the Microsoft hack, Joe Biden said one reason the US has not imposed sanctions against China over the cyberattacks - but did so against Russia in connection to the SolarWinds hack - was that the investigation is still ongoing.
When asked on the difference between the two governments’ involvement, Biden responded: “My understanding is that the Chinese government, not unlike the Russian government, is not doing this themselves, but are protecting those who are doing it and maybe even accommodating them being able to do it,” he said. “That may be the difference.”
Joe Biden touted his administration’s efforts to get Americans vaccinated and pass a rescue plan. He talked up the child tax credit under the American Rescue Plan: for the first time this month, working families with children under the age of 6 will receive $300 for each child and working families with children between the ages of 6 and 17 will receive $250 for each child.
“That money is a game changer. For some it’s a life changer,” Biden said. “That’s just one example of how we’re building an economy: from the bottom up and the middle out.”
He addressed issues with price increases, and concerns that the the recent increases may be a sign of persistent inflation.
“Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we’ve seen were expected and are expected to be temporary,” he said. “The reality is you can’t flip the global economic light back on and not expect this to happen. As demand returns, there are going too be global supply chain challenges.”
Joe Biden used this moment to ask Americans to not get complacent with the pandemic. “Our economic recovery hinges on getting the pandemic under control,” he said. “We can’t let up, especially with the Delta variant.”
“The data couldn’t be clearer: If you’re unvaccinated, you are not protected,” Biden said. “Please, please get vaccinated. Get vaccinated now. It’s safe. It’s free. It’s convenient. This virus doesn’t have to hold you back any longer. It doesn’t have to hold our economy back any longer. The only way we put it behind us is if more Americans get vaccinated.”
Biden: Capitalism is alive and 'very well'
Joe Biden has taken the podium to laugh off all the predictions of “doom and gloom” that electing him to office would bring about depression and the death to capitalism.
The US went from a low of creating 60,000 jobs per per month to 60,000 jobs every three days - in total, more than 600,000 jobs per month, or “more than 3 million jobs all told.”
“That is the fastest growth, I’m told, in any administration’s history,” Biden said.
“Six months into my administration, the US economy has experienced the highest economic growth rate in almost 40 years,” Biden said. “And now the forecasters have doubled their projections for growth in the economy to 7% or higher. In fact, the US is the only developed country in the world where growth projections today are stronger than they were before the pandemic hit.”
Updated
The Senate rules committee is holding its first field hearing in two decades today, discussing voting rights in Atlanta after Senate Republicans blocked the sweeping For the People Act last month.
For the first time in two decades, the Senate Rules Committee is on the road to shine a light on what is actually happening in Georgia.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) July 19, 2021
Georgians, like every American, deserve the right to vote. pic.twitter.com/6PfZX9f2uy
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell categorized the hearing as the Democrats “bringing their own partisan circus to town”.
McConnell on Senate Rules Cmte field hearing today in Georgia on voting rights: “Democrats’ fake outrage may have driven jobs & opportunities out of the state of Georgia,but I’m sure Georgians will appreciate that Democrats are bringing their own partisan circus to town instead.”
— Craig Caplan (@CraigCaplan) July 19, 2021
Joe Biden is set to speak on the economy and the bipartisan infrastructure plan at 11.30 local time. CNN is reporting that the president will use this speech to counter concerns that his economic plan will accelerate inflation.
The speech comes with the bipartisan group working on the bipartisan infrastructure plan at odds over spending, and as Democrats hope to pass a $3.5tn human infrastructure bill alongside it - a bill Republicans are already balking at because of its size.
Biden will likely spend time during his remarks touting the more than 3 million new jobs created since he took office and unprecedented projected growth. But the speech comes
5 Texas Dems in Washington test positive for Covid
Texas Democrats made headlines when they fled the state for Washington to prevent quorum on a restrictive voting bill dubbed “Jim Crow 2.0” by the left.
Now, however, five of them have since tested positive for Covid-19. All the lawmakers have been vaccinated. “When my Texas House Democratic colleagues and I broke quorum to stop anti-voter legislation, we knew that tactic would come with real personal sacrifice,” said Texas state representative Trey Martinez Fischer in a statement.
However, he noted that he is experiencing “extremely mild symptoms” and is quarantining until he tests negative.
“Just as these new variants sweeping the country are more aggressive than ever, the wave of anti-voter legislation in this country is worse than we’ve seen in generations,” the lawmaker said. “That’s why, I will continue the fight for voting rights with every single fiber of my being.”
“That is the beauty of being vaccinated,” said Democratic Texas state representative Gene Wu. “Every single person who has tested positive so far have little to no symptoms, which is the point of the vaccine. If nothing else, we want this to be a reminder to all Americans: get your stupid shot now.”
“All of our #txlege colleagues who tested positive are having little to no symptoms. Which is the point, get your vaccines!”
— Gene Wu (@GeneforTexas) July 18, 2021
Thanks @MSNBC for having me on to talk about #VotingRightsAct & #covid19. pic.twitter.com/k9pF0rfIH3
Biden and Democrats push for infrastructure
This week marks six months that Democrats have held the majority in the Senate, and it kicks off with a lot of legislating on the joint pieces of infrastructure legislation that Joe Biden hopes to pass.
To recap: We have the $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure deal focused on improving roads, bridges and public transit that Democrats worked out with Republicans. Then we have the $3.5tn human infrastructure bill focused on improving social services and environmental measures.
Republicans were upset over the bundling of the two bills after the lengthy negotiating over the bipartisan deal. In particular, they balked at the size of the human infrastructure bill. In an interview on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures, Republican senator Lindsey Graham said he would advise his fellow Republicans to “learn something from our Democratic friends in Texas when it comes to avoiding a $3.5tn tax and spend package: Leave town.” Graham, of course, is referencing how Texas Democrats thwarted a restricting voting bill by fleeing the state and preventing quorum.
But first: the bipartisan deal. The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is expected to file cloture today on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, in an attempt to speed things up so that Democrats can then turn their focus on passing the human infrastructure bill.
Cloture is basically the procedure for ending debate and taking a vote. Yet senators in the bipartisan group that came up with the plan spent the weekend trying to solve a $100bn hole that arose after Republicans took issue with plans to beef up IRS enforcement, Politico is reporting.
“How can I vote for cloture when the bill isn’t written?” the Republican senator Bill Cassidy said on Fox News Sunday.
Secretary of state Antony Blinken has issued a statement on the People’s Republic of China and its “destabilizing and irresponsible behavior in cyberspace.”
This is in regards to the Microsoft hack that resulted in the Department of Justice filing charges against the four Chinese nationals working for the Ministry of State Security.
“Responsible states do not indiscriminately compromise global network security nor knowingly harbor cyber criminals – let alone sponsor or collaborate with them,” Blinken said. “These contract hackers cost governments and businesses billions of dollars in stolen intellectual property, ransom payments, and cybersecurity mitigation efforts, all while the (Ministry of State Security) had them on its payroll.”
NEW:
— Stephanie Myers (@_StephanieMyers) July 19, 2021
Secretary of State Antony Blinken releases statement regarding China's destabilizing and irresponsible behavior in cyberspace pic.twitter.com/Q7tJnApROj
DoJ charges four Chinese nationals in Microsoft hack
Howdy, liveblog readers. Happy Monday.
The Biden administration has joined with allies – including the EU, the UK and Nato – in accusing Chinese state-based hacking groups of being behind the exploitation of an estimated 250,000 Microsoft Exchange servers worldwide earlier this year.
The US Department of Justice charged four Chinese nationals working with the ministry of state security of the People’s Republic of China with global computer intrusion campaign targeting intellectual property and confidential business information.
There are several ways to read this, but one is pretty chilling.
— Raphael Satter (@razhael) July 19, 2021
DOJ says Chinese hackers were targeting research on highly infectious diseases including Ebola, MERS, and HIV.https://t.co/IERd6doOBf pic.twitter.com/PTGX8KDCdi
The White House said China’s “pattern of irresponsible behavior in cyberspace” was “inconsistent with its stated objective of being seen as a responsible leader in the world”.
More to come on this and more from Washington today.
In the meantime, you can read more here:
