POLITICO NIGHTLY: Infection protection vs. the vax

 

BY RENUKA RAYASAM Presented by With help from Joanne Kenen and Tyler Weyant People line up outside of a free Covid-19 vaccination site in the Hubbard Place apartment building in Washington, D.C. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images NEEDLE POINTS — Some Republicans have justified their stance against Covid vaccine mandates by arguing that previously infected people have immunity against the virus. “The people that have thus far have not gotten, have not received the vaccine are not going to do it until this White House acknowledges natural immunity,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) on Wednesday, shortly before the Senate voted to repeal the Biden Administration vaccine requirement for private sector employees. West Virginia, Arkansas and Florida all allow people who recovered from Covid to skirt vaccine requirements. More than half a dozen other GOP-led states are trying to pass similar exemptions. But how much protection does a previous Covid infection provide against future illness? “It’s certainly better than nothing,” Dan Barouch, who runs a Harvard virology lab, told Nightly. It’s not better than a vaccine, however. An infection generally triggers a broad response in the respiratory tract where the virus circulates — the nose, throat and lungs, said Prasanna Jagannathan, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford. That puts an infected person at a lower Covid risk than someone who is unvaccinated and hasn’t been infected. About half of previously infected adults are unvaccinated, according to a study of U.S. blood donors from January to August 2021. There’s evidence that immunity from infection is comparable to vaccine-induced immunity for about six months, the agency says. For mild infections that number might be closer to three months, according to researchers at University of California, Los Angeles. Vaccine-induced immunity is more targeted and consistent. That means protection from the vaccine is far more reliable, and infection also comes with magnitudes higher risks of long-term illness and death, said Ellen Foxman, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine. Two-dose vaccine immunity does wane after six months, but has continued to provide protection for most people against severe infection even with Delta. Early data suggests that Omicron is better at evading the vaccine’s defenses, but they’re not totally eliminated — and the protection against severe disease is still strong. Some previously infected people might not even have that temporary protection. More than one-third of people who had Covid produced zero protective antibodies. “Sure, being previously infected does afford you some protection,” Foxman said. Unlike vaccines, which have been rigorously studied for effectiveness against variants, it’s more complicated to test the protectiveness of immunity from infection because everyone produces a different reaction to the virus and antibody tests are unreliable predictors of immunity. “But are you really willing to gamble your health and the health of your loved ones when no one has studied your individual case?” When the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine gets injected into an arm, particles in the muscle engineer an immune response that is focused on the spike protein, which keeps the virus from infecting a person’s cells, Jagannathan said. Intuitively, it may feel like a broad response that comes from infection would be better than a targeted response from vaccination, but that hasn’t been the case, he said. Real-world data reveals the spike protein is especially important when it comes to protection against severe illness from new Covid variants. Researchers in his lab and others are still trying to figure out exactly why. “We know that immunity is short-lived and not as good as immunity through mRNA vaccines,” said Melanie Ott, director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology. One study of hundreds of previously infected Kentucky residents showed that the unvaccinated were more than twice as likely to be reinfected than those who got a shot after getting Covid. A study of blood donors in Manaus, Brazil , suggested that more than three quarters of the population had been infected by October 2020. That didn’t prevent the city of 2 million from experiencing a second Covid outbreak late last year and early this year, due to a new variant (Gamma) that sent people back to intensive care units even though they had been previously infected. Researchers are still trying to get a handle on how much immunity a Covid infection provides, but there’s just no reason for someone who recovered from Covid not to get a shot, Jagannathan said. Even though the mechanisms are different, one way to think about an infection is that it’s similar to getting one Covid shot, Barouch said. Early evidence from South Africa suggests that prior infection plus two Covid shots might offer as much protection as three Covid shots. “The infection provides some protection,” Ott said, “but with the vaccine it’s a super shot.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at rrayasam@politico.com, or on Twitter at @RenuRayasam. A message from UnitedHealth Group: UnitedHealth Group recognizes the environment is a key part of what makes the communities in which we live and work sustainable, viable and healthy. We are doing our part by committing to achieve operational net zero emissions by 2035 and working towards a paperless consumer and provider experience in the next 2 to 3 years. Learn more.   WHAT'D I MISS? — New York to impose statewide mask mandate: All New Yorkers must wear masks inside any business that does not implement a vaccine requirement , Gov. Kathy Hochul said today, announcing one of the most stringent mandates in the nation. The new requirement, which takes effect Monday and will be reassessed on Jan. 15, comes amid a surge in Covid-19 cases throughout much of upstate New York, and as more cases of the Omicron variant are confirmed throughout the state. — SCOTUS allows clinics’ challenge to Texas abortion ban to proceed: The Supreme Court again declined to block an unusual, privately enforced Texas state law severely limiting abortions in a ruling today, though the high court’s majority said some challenges brought by clinics against the law could proceed. While the court’s conservative majority slammed the door on several legal avenues abortion clinics and doctors sought to use to nullify the statute, the justices said state courts could act to block the law, and federal courts may be able to limit some fallout from the statute, like the threat to doctors’ licenses. The Supreme Court at dusk. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images — Trump campaign lawyer wrote two memos claiming Pence could halt Biden’s victory: A Donald Trump campaign lawyer issued two legal memos in the week before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack that claimed then-Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to refuse to count presidential electors from states that delivered Joe Biden the White House. The memos from then-Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, which contain widely disputed legal theories about Pence’s ability to stop a Biden presidency, underscore Ellis’ promotion of extreme arguments that she promulgated amid Trump’s effort to reverse the election results. Her actions have remained largely below the radar as House investigators probe Trump’s inner circle.   JOIN TUESDAY FOR A WOMEN RULE 2021 REWIND AND A LOOK AHEAD AT 2022: Congress is sprinting to get through a lengthy and challenging legislative to-do list before the end of the year that has major implications for women’s rights. Join Women Rule editor Elizabeth Ralph and POLITICO journalists Laura Barrón-López, Eleanor Mueller, Elena Schneider and Elana Schor for a virtual roundtable that will explore the biggest legislative and policy shifts in 2021 affecting women and what lies ahead in 2022. REGISTER HERE.     — CBO says Dems’ social spending bill would add $3T to deficit if programs made permanent: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a GOP-requested estimate that found the Democrats’ social spending package would add $3 trillion to the deficit — if its provisions are made permanent. Democrats have not committed to making all of the programs in areas like housing, prescription drug pricing, child care and home care permanent. However, they’ve repeatedly said they will fully offset any future extensions. — U.K. court permits Assange extradition to U.S. on spying charges: A British appellate court opened the door today for Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States by overturning a lower court ruling that found the WikiLeaks founder’s mental health was too fragile to withstand the American criminal justice system. The High Court in London ruled that U.S. assurances were enough to guarantee Assange would be treated humanely and directed a lower court judge to send the extradition request to the home secretary for review. The home secretary, who oversees law enforcement in the U.K., will make the final decision on whether to extradite Assange.   A message from UnitedHealth Group:     FROM THE HEALTH DESK EXIT STRATEGY — Nightly contributor Joanne Kenen emails: The Build Back Better Act that the Democrats are struggling to pass contains a little-known bipartisan measure that aims to benefit both public health and criminal justice reform. It would allow states to use Medicaid to give health insurance to incarcerated people for 30 days before their release from jail or prison. Experts say it would improve health on both sides of the bars. And that could help them stay out of prison, instead of going right back inside. People in jails and prisons have more chronic disease — conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, hepatitis and TB — and very high rates of behavioral health problems like addiction and mental illness. Covid has also ravaged prisons. The risk of death and hospitalization in the first weeks out is many times higher than other people’s. And health challenges, mental or physical, raise the odds that they boomerang right back to the courthouse. “There’s tragic recidivism based on health status,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a George Washington University law professor and Medicaid expert. People without the right medical support, particularly for mental and behavioral health, are just more likely to get in trouble all over again. It was the risk of overdose in particular, and the opportunity to help people with substance abuse disorders or other mental illnesses to get into treatment in the community before they relapse, that propelled the proposal known as the Medicaid Re-entry Act, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat who was one of the original co-sponsors, said in an interview with Nightly. “Historically, we used criminal models for drug addiction rather than a public health model in addressing addiction and substance use disorder,” Baldwin said. “This gives us an opportunity to pivot.” The Re-entry Act wouldn’t make more people eligible for Medicaid (though a separate BBB provision would close the Medicaid gap that has left poor people without coverage in the dozen states that reject Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion). Many people in jails and prisons are Medicaid-eligible, because of poverty, disability or both. But their coverage gets cut off while they are behind bars. And it doesn’t turn on automatically when people are released. In fact, it can take weeks to get coverage back in place. Establishing continuity in health coverage before their release — what’s called a “warm handoff” into community care — can make a big difference. “It’s a very big change for criminal justice, and has the potential to improve public safety goals,” said Vikki Wachino, who ran Medicaid near the end of the Obama administration and has since done a lot of work on this re-entry challenge. “When leaving prisons and jails, having supports including health care means people are more likely to rejoin families, participate in communities and not return to jail or prison.” A month of pre-release Medicaid smooths out the health care transition, connecting the inmates to health care and social services that can get them re-settled and off to a decent start in the community. People reentering the community, particularly if they’ve been incarcerated for so many years that their connections to the outside are attenuated, juggle multiple needs; housing, employment, connecting to parole officers and the like. Health care may get shoved to the bottom of the list, with a whole lot of very bad consequences. Some states, notably Ohio, have already begun testing ways of getting people pre-release care, and it’s seen as promising enough to take it national. Release, however welcome, is a high-risk moment. Sometimes prisoners are let out in the middle of the night, without drugs they need — insulin, mental health medications, or anti-addiction medicines, said Dan Mistak, director of health initiatives at Community Oriented Correction Health Services. For anyone who has stayed off drugs while incarcerated, relapse is common and overdose is a high risk. Even someone who tries to recalibrate to a lower dose after prolonged abstention, often makes a fatal miscalculation. The Medicaid provision would start two years after enactment, and it’s a state option, not a mandate. Still it’s likely that most states, across the political spectrum, would adopt it within the next few years. Continuity is preferable to having newly-released people “dropped with no parachute” on Medicaid’s lap, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. But putting pre-release Medicaid in place is complicated, and may not look the same in every state, noted the association’s federal policy director Jack Rollins. There’s a lot to work out, including data flow. “Correctional facilities systems are not designed to talk to Medicaid,” noted Rollins. But as Wachino pointed out: “Past criminal justice reforms” — the Prison Rape Elimination Act and the Second Chance Act, both signed by George W. Bush; the First Step Act signed by Donald Trump — “have been driven on the Hill by an interest in redemption. And I think that potential is here with the Re-entry Act. Redemption.” Nightly contributor Joanne Kenen, POLITICO’s former health editor, is the Commonwealth journalist-in-residence at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     NIGHTLY NUMBER 6.8 percent The increase in the cost of key goods and services in the U.S. in 2021, the Labor Department reported today. U.S. consumer prices raced ahead in November at the fastest pace in 39 years. PARTING WORDS Fans rush the court after the Rutgers Scarlet Knights defeat the Purdue Boilermakers 70-68 in a game at Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway, N.J. | Rich Schultz/Getty Images HOOP NIGHTMARES — Nightly deputy editor Tyler Weyant emails: Maybe it’s a last-second, buzzer-beating shot to secure a great upset ( hello, Rutgers-Purdue Thursday evening). Maybe it’s defeating an in-state rival for the first time (we see you, James Madison-Virginia). The emotions take over, the shouting reaches a fever pitch, the clock strikes 0:00. And students stream onto the court. Court storming in college basketball is nothing new, but it does come with Covid risks far greater than the football fan swarms who prompted preseason hand wringing. “I think we can use the colloquialism, ‘It’s a whole other ballgame,’” said Christine Petersen, a University of Iowa epidemiologist. I interviewed Petersen in October during football season, when she told Nightly the outdoor nature of the games alleviated the risk for field-storming fans. For basketball, particularly during the biggest games of the season, the danger is simply greater, she said. “It’s an inside space, and you have a lot of people in that space. If it’s a sold-out game, and if the game leads to a buzzer beater — a lot of people screaming, jumping up and down and storming the court. That's a lot of expelled aerosol,” Petersen said. She compared the risk of a court storming to one of the earlier and most prominent indoor Covid case studies: A March 2020 choir practice in Skagit County, Wash . Time and again, the data has shown that infected people singing or shouting in a closed space can spread infection, a situation found frequently at top-level basketball games. Nor does the risk end at the final buzzer. “I am worried about what can happen in the arena. I am more worried about what happens after the game is over and they go to the bar,” Petersen said. Petersen’s advice for college hoops fans: Try going to worse basketball games. Big games with rowdy fans packed in tight quarters increase the risk that much more. Sign her up for the quieter dates on the calendar. Iowa-Western Illinois, when the students are on winter break, anyone? “I'm good with going in general if it’s not wall to wall, but I just am not ready to be shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of screaming people,” Petersen said. A message from UnitedHealth Group: The U.S. health care sector is responsible for 8.5% of U.S. emissions. Decarbonizing the health system can help limit the harmful effects of climate change and its impact on marginalized communities. UnitedHealth Group is partnering with the National Academy of Medicine to meaningfully reduce the carbon footprint of the U.S. health care system. See how we’re working to minimize our impact on the environment and help create more sustainable, viable and healthy communities.     Follow us on Twitter Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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RSN: FOCUS | Fentanyl, God, and Gas Prices: Kevin McCarthy's Forever Speech Was Total Nonsense

 

 

19 November 21

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FOCUS | Fentanyl, God, and Gas Prices: Kevin McCarthy's Forever Speech Was Total Nonsense
Paul Blest, VICE
Blest writes: "Democrats' hopes for a quick House passage of their Build Back Better bill ended Thursday night, and Friday morning, as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took the floor around 8:30 p.m. and went on ... and on ... and on."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called it “one of the worst, lowest-quality speeches I have ever had the absolute atrocious lack of privilege to witness.”

Democrats’ hopes for a quick House passage of their Build Back Better bill ended Thursday night, and Friday morning, as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took the floor around 8:30 p.m. and went on… and on… and on.

In total, McCarthy spoke for just over eight and a half hours until after 5 a.m., breaking the record for longest House floor speech. But it wasn’t enough to stop the bill: The House reconvened a few hours later and passed Democrats’ $1.75 trillion climate, social, and tax policy reconciliation bill thats been the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.

House Democrats were racing to pass the bill Thursday night shortly after the Congressional Budget Office released figures showing that, with the inclusion of enhanced Internal Revenue Service tax measures in the bill, it would reduce the deficit over ten years—a central demand of conservative House Democrats who cut a deal with House leadership to ensure the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

But while the House has no equivalent of the Senate filibuster, which can and does stop legislation from passing, McCarthy used his privilege as the top Republican in the House to speak for an unlimited amount of time. Ironically, the previous record for longest floor speech was set by his counterpart—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who as House minority leader gave an eight-hour-plus speech in support of DACA recipients.

The bill as passed by the House includes four weeks of paid family leave, funding for universal pre-kindergarten, more than $500 billion in climate funding, the ability for Medicare to negotiate the prices of some expensive prescription drugs, and increased Internal Revenue Service enforcement, which the CBO said Thursday would raise more than $200 billion and, over time, reduce the deficit by more than $127 billion through 2031.

McCarthy spent part of his speech on the Build Back Better bill that Congress is debating, at one point saying the bill costs more than it did to win World War II. But he also used the time to lay out a smorgasbord of short- and long-term Republican grievances.

“You're celebrating it when inflation is at a 31 percent high!” McCarthy said at one point. “Gas prices! Thanksgiving! A border that in a few months breaks every record of the last three years combined.”

At another point, McCarthy told a bizarre story about his “friend in the Senate” who was told by a Chinese general that America was “weak because you believe in God and you take fentanyl.”

House Democrats spent much of McCarthy’s speech-time mocking and ridiculing him. When McCarthy quoted a Democratic moderate who said earlier this month that “nobody elected [Biden] to be FDR,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shouted: “I did!” Another Democrat added, “Me too!”

Rep. Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, kept a running tally on Twitter whenever McCarthy’s speech eclipsed an album’s running time or length of a movie. The first entry was the Beatles’ “Help!”, and by the time McCarthy was finished, he had spoken longer than the entirety of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“Kevin McCarthy promised he would give us all his wisdom about government,” Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin tweeted late Thursday. “At 11:30 pm, I don’t know how much wiser we are but we are definitely older.”

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a video from the House cloakroom calling it “one of the worst, lowest quality speeches I have ever had the absolute atrocious lack of privilege to witness.”

McCarthy finally finished his speech shortly after 5 a.m. When the House reconvened the next morning—three hours later—Pelosi referenced his hours-long tirade. “With respect for those who work in this Capitol and as a courtesy to my colleagues, I will be brief,” the House speaker said with a laugh.

The bill passed on a nearly party-line vote, with just one Democrat—Rep. Jared Golden of Maine—voting no because, as he said on Twitter, the bill doesn’t go far enough in taxing the wealthy.

After the bill attained the requisite number of votes after 9:30 a.m., House Democrats erupted in cheers. But while the House may have finally voted to pass the bill, it’s possible we’re nowhere near the finish line.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where the Democrats have the narrowest of margins to pass it—and conservative Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who spearheaded the bipartisan infrastructure bill, have not said whether they’ll vote for passage. Manchin has already said he opposes the inclusion of paid family leave in the bill.

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Kyle Rittenhouse during his trial. (photo: Sean Krajacic/AP)

Kyle Rittenhouse, Who Killed Two People, Acquitted of All Charges
Peter Wade, Rolling Stone
Wade writes: "The jury ruled that Rittenhouse, who brought a military-style weapon to a protest and shot three people, killing two of them, was acting in self-defense."

The jury ruled that Rittenhouse, who brought a military-style weapon to a protest and shot three people, killing two of them, was acting in self-defense

Kyle Rittenhouse has been acquitted of all charges. The jury in the high-profile trial found the teenager was acting in self-defense during a pair of deadly encounters last summer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Rittenhouse, 18, had been charged with five counts including reckless homicide, intentional homicide, and attempted intentional homicide. He was found not guilty of all five of them. The charges stemmed from when as a 17-year-old in August 2020, Rittenhouse brought an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle to a protest in Kenosha, where he shot and killed two men, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounded another, Gaige Grosskreutz. Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to all charges in January.

During a trial that often played out on live television, the prosecution sought to characterize Rittenhouse as a rogue vigilante who wanted to get revenge against people protesting the police, while the defense claimed he only wanted to protect a local business and was forced to fire his weapon in self-defense. The 12-person jury — which Rittenhouse helped select by randomly pulling names out of a tumbler — deliberated for over three days before announcing their decision on Friday. Rittenhouse broke down in tears as the jury read the “not guilty” verdicts.

The shootings took place amid unrest during a protest demanding justice and accountability for the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black father of six, in Kenosha. In response to news of the Blake shooting, which occurred amid broad demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd months earlier, professional athletes across multiple leagues refused to play as a protest against police brutality and systemic racism. Locally, protests in Kenosha resulted in burned buildings and cars, as police deployed tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd.

On the second night of protests, Rittenhouse drove to downtown Kenosha from his home in Illinois, armed with an AR-15-style rifle that a friend purchased for him. Video taken prior to the shooting that night shows Rittenhouse telling the camera he is in Kenosha to “protect” a car dealership from protesters and “to help people.” Later, footage shows him identifying himself as an EMT offering medical help to protesters, although he admitted in his testimony that he was not actually a certified EMT. “He’s like a quack doctor. Practicing without a license,” Kenosha County prosecutor Thomas Binger said during closing arguments on Monday.

According to court documents and video footage, at one point during the unrest Rosenbaum began to chase Rittenhouse. Rosenbaum tried to engage Rittenhouse, leading Rittenhouse to shoot him four times, killing him. Others then pursued Rittenhouse, who tripped and fell. While Rittenhouse was on the ground, Huber struck him with a skateboard and tried to grab Rittenhouse’s rifle, leading Rittenhouse to shoot him once in the chest, killing him. Rittenhouse also shot the arm of 26-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz after Grosskreutz — who had been filming the unrest — approached him with a pistol drawn.

Rittenhouse took the stand last Wednesday to defend his actions. During testimony that was tearful at times, he said he brought the gun to “protect myself” at the protest and claimed he acted in self defense when he shot the men. Rosenbaum, he said, “ambushed” him in a parking lot and grabbed his weapon, although Rittenhouse admitted that Rosenbaum never touched his body. “If [Rosenbaum] would have taken my gun, he would’ve used it against me” and “killed me,” Rittenhouse claimed.

Rittenhouse recounted Huber hitting him with a skateboard and grabbing his weapon, and said he shot Grosskreutz because Grosskreutz had pointed the gun “directly” at his head. “I used deadly force,” Rittenhouse said of the shootings, adding, “I didn’t know if it was going to kill them. But I used deadly force to stop the threat that was attacking me.”

Grosskreutz, a volunteer paramedic, testified at the trial last week. “I thought that the defendant was an active shooter,” Grosskreutz said when explaining why he approached Rittenhouse with his weapon drawn.

After the shootings, Rittenhouse said he ran in the direction of police with his arms raised “because I didn’t do anything wrong.” The police drove past him in order to help the shooting victims.

In closing arguments, the prosecution painted Rittenhouse as a vigilante “wannabe soldier” who had “no remorse” for his actions. “So consider, for example, whether or not it’s heroic or honorable to provoke and shoot unarmed people,” Binger told the jury. “They enjoy the thrill of going around and telling people what to do, without the courage or the honor to back it up and without the legal authority to do so.”

Rittenhouse’s attorney, Mark Richards, portrayed the people Rittenhouse shot as the aggressors in his closing arguments. Richards accused the prosecution of “lying” and “misrepresenting” when it said that the teen started the violence.

“Kyle shot Joseph Rosenbaum in order to stop a threat to his person, and I’m glad he shot him because if Joseph Rosenbaum had got that gun, I don’t for a minute believe he wouldn’t have used it against somebody else,” Richards said. “He was irrational and crazy. … My client didn’t shoot at anyone until he was chased and cornered.”

Judge Bruce Schroeder, who presided over the trial, made a string of decisions that critics say abetted the defense. Judge Schroeder barred prosecutors from referring to the people Rittenhouse shot as “victims” or “alleged victims” when establishing the rules for the trial. Instead, he said they could be called “rioters,” “looters,” or “arsonists,” if the defense has evidence to prove those terms accurate. On Thursday, while the jury was present, Schroeder encouraged everyone in the courtroom to give a round of applause to a defense witness on Veterans Day because he had served in the Army. According to Associated Press reporter Michael Tarm, jurors joined in the clapping.

During the trial, prosecutors asked the judge to instruct the jury when they start their deliberations to consider lesser charges against Rittenhouse in the shootings of Huber and Grosskreutz. Lesser charges would lower the burden of proof needed for the jury to convict. On Monday, before closing arguments began, Schroeder dismissed a charge of illegal gun possession by a minor against Rittenhouse, citing a loophole in a part of the law that only applies to people under the age of 16. Rittenhouse was 17 at the time of the shooting.

Some have argued that the prosecution has made mistakes with the trial. At points, watchers speculated the defense might succeed in getting the judge to declare a mistrial “with prejudice,” which would effectively rule out any possibility of a future homicide conviction for Rittenhouse. Daniel Adams, a former Milwaukee County assistant district attorney who is not involved in the trial, told PBS Newshour that he found the prosecution’s case “incredibly underwhelming.”

“He’s got nothing,” Adams said. “I just don’t understand it. What are we doing here? We’re all kind of scratching our heads.”

As the attorneys made their final arguments, the state of Wisconsin prepared in advance for the reaction to the verdict. Gov. Tony Evers put approximately 500 members of Wisconsin’s National Guard on active duty so they could assist local law enforcement if needed.

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RSN: FOCUS: Bernie Sanders, AOC Slam Conservative Dems Over Build Back Better Deficit Demands

 

 

08 November 21

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FOCUS: Bernie Sanders, AOC Slam Conservative Dems Over Build Back Better Deficit Demands
Khaleda Rahman, Newsweek
Rahman writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Democratic lawmakers who held up passage of the Build Back Better Act by demanding to see analysis on how it would impact the budget deficit."

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed Democratic lawmakers who held up passage of the Build Back Better Act by demanding to see analysis on how it would impact the budget deficit.

The House passed President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure package with the support of 13 Republicans late Friday. Six progressive Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, voted against approving the bill.

It came after a deal was reached for progressives to back the infrastructure bill—which they held up for months in an effort to push moderates to back the bigger social safety and climate bill—if moderates agreed to back the Build Back Better Act after a cost estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The vote on the Build Back Better Act was postponed to later this month after five moderate Democrats demanded to see analysis from the CBO on the bill's long-term impacts on the budget deficit. They ultimately to agreed to back the Build Back Better Act by the week of November 15 if the CBO's estimate is consistent with the cost projected by the White House.

If the fiscal estimates on the bill raise issues, "we remain committed to working to resolve any discrepancies to pass Build Back Better legislation," Reps. Ed Case, Josh Gottheimer, Stephanie Murphy, Kathleen Rice and Kurt Schrader said in a statement.

But their stance prompted criticism from Sanders, who questioned why the lawmakers were not similarly concerned by CBO analysis showing the infrastructure bill would increase the federal deficit.

"Interesting. Conservative Dems want to make sure that Build Back Better is fully paid for at exactly the same time that they voted for an infrastructure bill that, according to the CBO, increases the federal deficit by $256 billion," Sanders tweeted on Saturday. "Not very consistent!"

Interesting. Conservative Dems want to make sure that Build Back Better is fully paid for at exactly the same time that they voted for an infrastructure bill that, according to the CBO, increases the federal deficit by $256 billion. Not very consistent!

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 6, 2021

Welcome to “Who’s a Deficit Hawk Anyway?”, where the debt concerns are made up and the CBO scores don’t matter https://t.co/ytfqsm6W0w

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 5, 2021

NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur on Friday had noted in a tweet: "The peculiar situation Dem leaders now face: some of the same holdouts demanding a CBO score showing Build Back Better is fully paid for are also strong supporters of the infrastructure bill, which CBO says is NOT paid for and adds $256 billion to the debt."

Ocasio-Cortez shared the reporter's tweet, adding: "Welcome to 'Who's a Deficit Hawk Anyway?', where the debt concerns are made up and the CBO scores don't matter."

In a statement hailing the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Biden said the Build Back Better Act would be a "once-in-a-generation investment in our people."

He said: "It will lower bills for healthcare, child care, elder care, prescription drugs, and preschool. And middle-class families get a tax cut.

"This bill is also fiscally responsible, fully paid for, and doesn't raise the deficit. It does so by making sure the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share and doesn't raise taxes a single cent on anyone making less than $400,000 per year. I look forward to signing both of these bills into law."

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