Closing summary
The Senate will meet this weekend to begin considering Democrats’ marquee spending plan to fight climate change and lower healthcare costs, which is the culmination of more than a year of fitful negotiations. Meanwhile in Texas, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban pitched his far-right vision of America and Europe’s future to an audience of conservatives.
Here’s a rundown of what else happened today:
- The justice department has filed charges against four current and former Louisville police officers over the death of Breonna Taylor.
- A court in Russia sentenced American women’s basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison after finding her guilty of drug smuggling. President Joe Biden said Griner is “wrongfully detained”.
- Alex Jones’s defamation trial continued after yesterday’s shock revelation that his attorneys shared Jones’ phone data with lawyers for the people suing him.
- The White House declared monkeypox a public health emergency as the virus spread across the United States.
- House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited South Korea, as China expressed its rage at her stop in Taiwan by launching military exercises.
- New York Democratic House representative Carolyn Maloney continues to do damage control after suggesting Biden won’t stand for a second term, although she apparently hasn’t completely backed down from the comment.
It looks like the Senate will convene this weekend to vote on Democrats’ plan to fight climate change, lower healthcare costs and tweak the tax code, CNN reports:
Schumer says the Senate will vote on the motion to proceed to the reconciliation bill on Saturday afternoon
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 4, 2022
After that, 20 hours of debate. After debate time or if time is yielded back, it’s vote-a-rama time. Then final passage. All at simple majority
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) August 4, 2022
The bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, has no support from Republicans, and will require the votes of every Democrat to pass the evenly divided Senate. The House of Representatives, where the party has a slim majority, will then need to approve it before it goes to Joe Biden for his signature.
