“California will require students to complete an ethnic studies course to graduate from high school under a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Friday, and it’s believed to be the first state to mandate such coursework,” Politico reports.
Vaccinating Kids Promises New Challenges
Washington Post: “The kickoff of the long-awaited children’s vaccination campaign is expected as soon as early November. And this time around, the government has purchased enough doses to give two shots to all 28 million eligible children ages 5 to 11.”
“Still, federal and state officials and health providers say that vaccinating children is likely to be a more challenging process than it was for adults and teens. The federal government plans to allocate the initial shots according to a formula to ensure equitable distribution, likely based on a state’s population of eligible children, according to a federal health official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share planning. Enlisting besieged health providers and persuading reluctant parents will complicate the process.”
Congress Lurches from Crisis to Crisis
“Congress disposed of a looming global economic catastrophe this week by doing what it does best: Not much,” the New York Times reports.
“After weeks of a market-threatening partisan stare-down, Senate leaders struck a not-so-grand bargain that raised the debt ceiling into early December, just two short months away. If history is any guide, lawmakers will then engage in the exact same fight all over again — and may even end up with yet another Band-Aid solution.”
Texas GOP Protects Incumbents with New Map
“The Texas Senate approved a map Friday that would largely protect incumbents in Congress while reducing the number of districts in which Black and Hispanic residents make up the majority of eligible voters — stymieing the growth of the state’s Democratic Party representation in Washington, D.C., the Texas Tribune reports.
“The congressional map is focused more on protecting incumbents than on growing the power of the dominant Republican Party in the state by flipping districts from blue to red.”
Biden Marks Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Joe Biden became the first president to issue a proclamation of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, CNN reports.
The holiday will be marked on Monday, which it shares with Columbus Day.
Matthew McConaughey Remains a Blank Slate
Dallas Morning News: “All right, all right already. If you’re running for Texas governor, Matthew McConaughey, what do you stand for?”
“As the Oscar-winning film star toys with jumping into the race, he’s rehearsing lines about why he refuses to reveal his stance on just about any hot button issue or policy challenge facing the state, all the while casting himself as a centrist in tune with the ‘sleeping giant’ in the middle of the electorate that shuns extremism and wants to ‘salvage’ American democracy.”
“No one even knows whether he’d run in the Democratic primary, where he’d likely face former El Paso congressman Beto O’Rourke, or in the Republican primary against Gov. Greg Abbott, or take a third-party path.”
Quote of the Day
“For the most part, Joe Biden and the Democrats would welcome Trump doing a tour across America to make the election a referendum about Trump. Most Republicans would privately hope Trump would stay away.”
— Republican strategist Mike DuHaime, quoted by McClatchy.
Sinema Wants to Cut $100 Billion in Climate Funds
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), “who began her political career with the Green Party and who has voiced alarm over the warming planet, wants to cut at least $100 billion from climate programs in major legislation pending on Capitol Hill,” the New York Times reports.
“The people familiar with her request, who asked to speak anonymously because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said that she had asked for a cut to the climate program as part of a larger effort by Democrats to hunt for ways to lower the price tag of the broader spending legislation.”
Global Supply-Chain Problems Threaten Recovery
“Global supply-chain bottlenecks are feeding on one another, with shortages of components and surging prices of critical raw materials squeezing manufacturers around the world,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The supply shocks are already showing signs of choking off the recovery in some regions.”
Select Committee Faces Reckoning with GOP Lawmakers
“As congressional investigators accelerate their probe of Donald Trump’s 2020 election challenges that culminated on Jan. 6, one thing is clear: All roads run through a handful of their GOP colleagues,” Politico reports.
“And getting those Republicans to testify could get ugly.”
“The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack has so far avoided directly roping in fellow lawmakers, even as it homes in on Trump’s inner circle. Yet each of its investigative steps so far has further underscored the roles that Trump’s staunchest House GOP allies played in his bid to throw out the election results.”
Democrats Move Closer to Dumping Iowa Caucuses
“President Biden is not a big fan. Former Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez is openly opposed. And elsewhere in the Democratic inner sanctum, disdain for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus has been rising for years,” the Washington Post reports.
“Now the day of reckoning for Iowa Democrats is fast approaching, as the national party starts to create a new calendar for the 2024 presidential nomination that could remove Iowa from its privileged position for the first time since 1972, when candidates started flocking to the state for an early jump on the race to the White House.”
“The caucuses’ reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state’s electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party’s inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party.”
Alaska Senate Candidate Fined for Illegal Fishing
Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka (R) has been cited and fined $270 for commercial fishing in a campaign ad without a commercial fishing crew license, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
Three U.S. Embassy Staff Face Expulsion from Russia
“Russia on Friday accused three U.S. Embassy employees of theft and demanded that they leave the country or face prosecution, exacerbating already tense relations,” the Washington Post reports.
The New Jobs Numbers Are Pretty Good, Actually
Neil Irwin: “When you peel apart the details, there is less reason to be concerned than that headline would suggest. The story of the economy in the second half of 2021 remains one of steady expansion that is more rapid than other recent recoveries. It is being held back by supply constraints and, in September at least, the emergence of the Delta variant. But the direction is clear, consistent and positive.”
“Much of the disappointment in payroll growth came from strange statistical quirks around school reopening. The number of jobs in state local education combined with private education fell by 180,000 in September — when the customary seasonal adjustments are applied.”
Capitol Police Whistleblower Delivers Scathing Rebuke
“A former high-ranking Capitol Police official with knowledge of the department’s response to the Jan. 6 attack has sent congressional leaders a scathing letter accusing two of its senior leaders of mishandling intelligence and failing to respond properly during the riot,” Politico reports.
Appeals Court Allows Texas Abortion Law to Resume
“The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Friday allowed Texas’ near-total abortion ban to again be enforced after freezing a federal judge’s temporary block of the law,” the Texas Tribune reports.
Washington Post: “The brief order, issued about five hours after the appeal was filed, did not rule on the merits of the state’s request. Any decision from the 5th Circuit could put the issue back before the Supreme Court, which declined to block the law when it took effect Sept. 1 but said it raises serious constitutional questions.”
McConnell Vows Not to Help on Debt Ceiling
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned President Biden on Friday that Republicans won’t help raise the debt ceiling later this year, and stated that a recent speech by Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) had “poisoned the well,” the New York Times reports.
McConnell’s letter is a warning to Democrats, but also gives an early signal to his own members that he won’t give Democrats the same offramp in December.
New York Times: “In a phone call with Mr. Biden, Mr. McConnell, who toiled to corral the votes needed to break his own party’s filibuster against the debt limit increase — and voted himself to do so — said Democrats should not expect such help in the future.”
DNC to Intervene In GOP Challenge to Mail Voting
“The Democratic National Committee is seeking to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Pennsylvania Republicans aimed at curbing the use of mail voting,” NBC News reports.
“Fourteen Pennsylvania Republican legislators filed a lawsuit against the commonwealth on Aug. 31, arguing that a 2019 law that expanded access to mail voting to all eligible voters was unconstitutional.”
