OnPolitics: Democrats are getting closer to a social spending bill

Good afternoon, OnPolitics readers.

Senate Republicans blocked a vote today to advance Democrats’ latest voting rights and election reform legislation.

The bill – the Freedom to Vote Act – is more scaled back than previous pieces of voting rights legislation, like the For the People Act, but would establish some federally mandated election rules.

What is in the revised voting act? The Freedom to salomon boots Vote Act would create a federal standard for voting by mail and drop boxes – means of voting that Trump and some Republican lawmakers attacked during the 2020 election. The legislation would also expand early voting options and access to mail-in ballots, battle dark money in elections and allow for same day registration on Election Day.

The bill comes after months of Democrats haggling on the issue and as former President Donald Trump and Republican state lawmakers continue to push “the big lie,” advancing baseless conspiracy theories to falsely argue the 2020 election was stolen.

But nine months into President Joe Biden’s term, Democrats have not been able to advance any legislation due to Republican filibustering.

It’s Amy and Mabinty with today’s top stories.

Biden looks to scale back social spending bill to $2.2 trillion or less

The leader of progressive House Democrats said Tuesday her members had a “really good, productive meeting” with President Joe Biden as the president works to get separate wings of his party to agree to a legislative package between $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion for his climate and social safety-net agenda.

“We all still feel even more optimistic about getting to an agreement on a really transformational bill that will fundamentally lift people up,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., chair of the House Progressive Caucus.

Jayapal said Biden is sticking to a topline number between $1.9 trillion and $2.2 trillion, down from his original $3.5 trillion Build Back Better proposal, in a push to gain the support of moderate Democrats.

“Look, it’s not the number that we want. We have consistently sperry shoes tried to make it as high as possible,” Jayapal said, but added progressive Democrats are now focused on getting the bill’s social and climate programs jump-started.

Two out of 50: Biden needs the votes of all 50 Democratic members to pass the bill in the Senate in a procedure known as reconciliation, but Manchin and Sinema have balked at the price tag. Manchin has said his limit is $1.5 trillion.

House progressives have said they won’t take up another piece of Biden’s domestic agenda – a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that passed in the Senate in August – unless the more expansive reconciliation package advances.

What does the package provide? Biden’s social safety-net agenda seeks to transform the economy. But many of the proposals — higher taxes on high-income earners and corporations to pay for free community college, universal prekindergarten, subsidized child care, national paid leave, Medicare expansion and other liberal priorities — are still being debated on and could get cut from the final deal.

Real quick: Stories you’ll want to read

• Haiti’s ‘descent into hell’: The world now knows the 400 Mawozo gang, after it kidnapped a Haitian driver and one Canadian and 16 American missionaries. But at the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets bandits terrorizing the population have become part of daily life.
• A new tactic to handle migrants: The Biden administration is stepping up drone surveillance and communications with other countries to help prepare for migrant groups that could come to the United States’ southern border.
• The culture wars over education: Besieged by parent complaints about everything from critical race theory to questions about sexuality, boards are undoing efforts schools have made to include children of color and LGBTQ students and to teach about the full spectrum of the American experience.
• The fight over vaccine mandates: The Supreme Court declined to hear an emergency appeal challenging a vaccine requirement imposed on Maine health care workers, the latest defeat for opponents of vaccine mandates.

The unlikely place COVID rescue funds are going: Housing

From Austin to Indianapolis, Minneapolis to Seattle and San Diego, mayors are steering substantial portions of their rescue funds to one of their most elusive challenges: housing. Plans include building affordable housing for low-income residents, bolstering housing trust funds to provide gap-financing to developers, expanding rental vouchers and – like Austin – securing housing for those who lack a permanent home.

A USA TODAY review of plans submitted by U.S. cities to the Treasury Department found replacing lost revenue to avoid budget cuts is the most common use of COVID-19 rescue funds. But when it comes to new investments, no area has seemingly gotten more attention than affordable housing and programs for the homeless.

A few examples: Seattle plans to spend $49 million in COVID-19 rescue funds on homelessness and affordable housing that includes the addition of 400 new affordably priced units. San Diego County signed off on $85 million for homeless services and $15 million more for other housing priorities. Milwaukee will spend $30 million on housing initiatives including gap-financing to support 326 mixed-income affordable housing units. Los Angeles County is devoting $400 million to house the homeless.