Senate Democrats will face a tricky choice in the coming days: Let the GOP murder President Biden’s agenda in exchange for not murdering the global economy? Or confiscate the GOP’s murder implement and get back to running the country? Much to think about.
 

• House Democrats passed a stopgap bill on Tuesday evening to avert a government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, with zero Republican votes. The bill also includes billions of dollars for disaster relief and the resettlement of Afghan refugees. Democratic leaders removed a provision to set aside $1 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system from the bill after progressives objected; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said he would bring up a separate bill to provide that funding. 
   
• The stopgap measure now heads to the Senate where a vote is expected next week, and unless Republicans change course, they will filibuster it. Former GOP Treasury Secretaries Steven Mnuchin and Hank Paulson reportedly met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this month to persuade him that refusing to help raise or suspend the borrowing limit and triggering a global economic catastrophe would be Bad, and both informed the Biden administration that McConnell wasn’t bluffing about his pledge to do it anyway.
   
• Disgraced former president Donald Trump made a Kool-Aid Man-like entrance into the standoff on Wednesday with a statement urging GOP senators not to release the hostage: “The only powerful tool that Republicans have to negotiate with is the Debt Ceiling, and they would be both foolish and unpatriotic not to use it now.” It’s a rare matter of agreement between Trump, the GOP leader he calls a “dumb son of a bitch,” and even anti-Trump Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who said this week that he’s an “absolute no” on voting to raise the debt limit. But it’s not a “negotiation” they’re after: Republicans are demanding that Democrats unconditionally agree to abandon the Build Back Better agenda, or they’ll torch the country. 

So what exactly would the U.S. defaulting on its debts look like?
 

• Remember 2008? Picture that, with fewer Twilight movies and one bonus global pandemic. Economists at Moody’s Analytics warned on Tuesday that a failure to act on the debt limit would cost the U.S. up to six million jobs, obliterate up to $15 trillion in household wealth, and send the unemployment rate back into the neighborhood of nine percent (from its current rate of around five percent). According to the analysts’ best estimate, Congress’s deadline to avert that scenario is October 20.
   
• Even if Democrats wanted to cave to McConnell’s hypocritical demand that they raise the debt limit themselves via reconciliation, it’s not clear that it’s still a viable option. House Budget Chair John Yarmuth (D-KY) said Wednesday that his staff had concluded there wouldn’t be enough time to add the debt limit hike to the reconciliation bill—or to write a new, standalone reconciliation bill—in time to prevent a default. Of course, if Republicans truly strap themselves to the We Wish To Crash The Economy platform, Senate Democrats could always abolish the filibuster, raise or get rid of the debt limit on their own, and then get on with the business of protecting American democracy, abortion rights, unionization efforts, a liveable future on this planet, etc, etc. 

Assuming that neither 10 GOP votes nor a reconciliation bill to raise the debt limit are on the table, there are only two possible outcomes: One in which the country plunges into financial mayhem with years of painful repercussions, and one in which Democrats give themselves permission to govern without the permission of a party bent on sabotaging them at all costs. They’ve got less than a month to choose their (and our) adventure.

This week on X-Ray Vision, Cody Ziglar and Alicia Lutes join host Jason Concepcion to explore the new anime series Star Wars: Visions and answer the question - with so many great Star Wars tv shows, do we still need more movies? New episodes of X-Ray Vision drop every Wednesday. Listen and follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

While centrists’ efforts to tank Democrats’ prescription-drug price reduction plan has (appropriately) infuriated both lawmakers and voters, another unpleasant revision in the House’s Build Back Better Act has gone largely unchallenged. The paid-leave plan in the House Ways and Means Committee version of the bill, written by Rep. Richie Neal (D-MA) includes a major gift to private insurers, in a break from the original proposal from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Whereas both plans would provide up to three months to care for a new child or a sick family member, Gillibrand’s plan would have done so by sending paid-leave benefits directly to workers through Social Security. Neal’s framework would preserve the role of private insurers, making the whole process more expensive and confusing—but delighting the insurance companies who are among Neal’s top donors. Progressive activists and lawmakers have chosen not to fight this one, possibly to focus on the partial win of including paid leave at all, or to avoid further complicating the struggle of getting the reconciliation bill across the finish line. Some hopeful news on that front: Eleven Senate Democrats have announced their support for House progressives’ pledge not to pass the Senate infrastructure bill until there’s a reconciliation package alongside it.

• The FDA has authorized Pfizer booster shots for Americans over 65, and those at high risk of serious illness.
   
• A second dose of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine substantially boosts protection, the company announced this week. 
   
• President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron will meet next month to smooth over the submarine kerfuffle, and Macron will send France’s ambassador back to Washington next week.
   
• Donald Trump has sued the New York Times, three of its reporters, and his niece Mary Trump over last year’s bombshell story about his tax history. “I think he is a fucking loser,” Mary Trump said, perceptively.
   
• Bipartisan police-reform negotiations have come to an end with no agreement, after Republicans objected to any overhaul of the qualified immunity doctrine, and also most other proposed reforms. Reason to abolish the filibuster #467397.
   
• Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of the few Republicans who makes noises about supporting abortion rights, said she opposes’ Democrats’ proposed legislation to protect abortion rights. Reason to abolish the filibuster #467398.
   
• A top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was targeted in an assassination attempt on Wednesday, and while wasn’t hurt, his driver was shot and wounded. Zelensky denounced the attack during a speech at the UN General Assembly.
   
• Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has urged company employees to fight Democrats’ drug pricing plan: “When we asked the Pfizer colleagues to develop a Covid-19 vaccine in less than a year, you did...Now, we are asking you to do something equally important.” 
   
• Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has appointed a new surgeon general who doesn’t believe in vaccine mandates, by some crazy coincidence.
   
• Here’s the Sexy Bernie Sanders Halloween costume you’ve all been begging for, and here’s the spookily on-brand response from Bernie’s team: “If fans of Sen. Sanders’ mittens are looking for a real scare this Halloween, they should see how hard the wealthy and world’s biggest corporations are fighting to stop Congress from finally addressing the long-neglected needs of the working class. I’m shuddering at my desk just thinking about it.”

Facebook appears to be done apologizing for its laundry list of serious, persistent problems, and will instead commit to an aggressive “Everything’s Great, Actually” game plan. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly approved a new initiative to boost positive stories about Facebook in users’ newsfeeds, a proposal that shocked several top executives when it was first introduced in January. Project Amplify has since been tested in three U.S. cities. The Information reported back in May that Zuckerberg wanted to fix Facebook’s image by making more media appearances to plug the company’s ~tech innovations~ and his less apologetic persona now seems to include using his platform to make light of serious reporting about it. Will aggressively ignoring its failures just as the Wall Street Journal publishes a whole pile of revelations about them help Facebook escape scrutiny? We’ll bump this one over to Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA).

Shut Down ICE Detention Sites Now

There’s no question: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention is known for abuse, pervasive medical neglect, and complete disregard for the dignity of people in its custody. Last year alone, reports emerged of increased use of force, solitary confinement, patterns of sexual abuse, forced sterilization, unprecedented fatality rates, and an utter failure to protect people from COVID-19 – and it is all paid for with more than three billion dollars of taxpayers’ money a year.

It's time to shut down the ICE Detention Machine. Add your name to the ACLU petition now. 

While Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has moved to close two detention sites so far, ICE has doubled the number of immigrants and asylum seekers locked up in detention centers under his watch and kept dozens of facilities with appalling records of abuse and neglect open.

For the detention sites that are closing, ICE is sometimes choosing to transfer people to other detention facilities rather than release them to their communities and families – jeopardizing the health of detained people and their ability to effectively present their cases.

It's clear. This ICE detention machine must end. But we need your help to bring lasting change and repair the harm that ICE has caused. Take action today. Sign our petition and tell the DHS to shut down ICE detention facilities now. 

Thanks for taking action, 

ACLU Team

President Biden announced that the U.S. will double its purchase of Pfizer vaccine doses to share with lower-income countries.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has announced a $30 million investment to defend Democrats’ majority in nine battleground states, the DSCC’s largest commitment this early in a cycle. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has signed two laws to protect the privacy of abortion providers and their patients.

Richmond, VA, has unveiled a new statue commemorating emancipation, two weeks after scrapping its monument to Robert E. Lee.