Daily Digest for March 4, 2021 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning,
Cheered on by President Joe Biden, House Democrats hustled Wednesday to pass the most ambitious effort in decades to overhaul policing nationwide, able to avoid clashing with moderates in their own party who are wary of reigniting a debate they say hurt them during last fall's election.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was approved 220-212 late Wednesday.
The sweeping legislation, which was approved last summer but stalled in the Senate, was named in honor of Floyd, whose killing by police in Minnesota last Memorial Day sparked protests nationwide. The bill would ban chokeholds and “qualified immunity” for law enforcement and create national standards for policing in a bid to bolster accountability.
Democrats say they are determined to pass the bill a second time, to combat police brutality and institutional racism after the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black Americans following interactions with law enforcement — images of which were sometimes jarringly captured on video. Those killings drew a national and international outcry. [Read more from the AP]
House approves major election and campaign finance reform bill The For the People Act would dramatically overhaul the U.S. voting system and seek to limit the amount of dark money in politics. [Read more from NPR's Alana Wise]
Elaine Chao used DOT resources for personal errands, family business, IG report says The Transportation Department's inspector general referred the findings to the Justice Department in December of 2020. The DOJ declined to open its own investigation into the matter. [Read more from NPR's Jaclyn Diaz]
'Exit counselors' strain to pull Americans out of a web of false conspiracies With disinformation spreading on an unprecedented scale, experts in cult deprogramming are turning their focus to those who have fallen down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. [Read more from NPR's Tovia Smith]
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