The Democrats want to make America a little bit more like Europe.

Posted by :

September 30, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

A 'global transport system collapse'

The Democrats want to make America a little bit more like Europe.

A critical moment is at hand as President Joe Biden and his party try to remodel an economy that delivered rich rewards for a few, but steamrolled many working Americans.

A huge social safety net overhaul is included in a $3.5 trillion spending bill currently on a knife edge on Capitol Hill. The measure, funded by a hike on taxes on corporations and the rich, would be the most significant attempt to help working Americans in more than 50 years -- and that's according to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the former left-wing presidential candidate who essentially wrote the bill from his perch as Senate Budget committee chairman.

The ambition of the proposed new law is staggering. It seeks to cut child poverty in half by using tax credits and introduces universal free pre-K for three-and-four-year-olds. The cost of sending a tot off for pre-school can come as a nasty shock to new parents in the US. The bill also offers two years of free community college. Such institutions not only offer courses that are typically more applied than those at universities, but offer a way for students to limit costs by earning credits before transferring to more prestigious colleges to finish their degrees.

The massive bill would also provide hearing and dental care for seniors, paid family and medical leave and home healthcare for sick and elderly Americans. It invests in affordable housing. And by building a new energy efficient economy, it fleshes out US commitments ahead of the UN climate conference in Glasgow in November.

But some of this spending is headed for the chopping block. Republicans are opposed to all of it. And moderate Senate Democrats say the bill is too big and expensive, leading to a standoff with progressives in the House, who say its passage is a condition of their support for another pillar of Biden's agenda, a $1 trillion plan agreed with Republicans to mend roads, bridges and transportations systems.

Unless Biden and Democratic leaders can mend the rift, his entire domestic agenda could fail, in what would be a disaster for his presidency.

Subscribe to Meanwhile in America

The world and America

Tunisia's Najla Bouden Romdhan became the first female prime minister in the Arab world.

UK prosecutors detailed the last hours of kidnapping and murder victim Sarah Everard in court.

Over 100 people died in a prison riot in Ecuador.

And China built a 5,000-room quarantine center for overseas arrivals.

Meanwhile in America, House lawmakers grilled military leaders on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

A court suspended Britney Spears' father as conservator of her estate.

And nearly two dozen species will soon be declared extinct.

'It was unwinnable'

Gen. Mark Milley said he believed the war in Afghanistan had reached a stalemate about five to six years ago, during a House Armed Services hearing on Wednesday. "I think if you go back to five, six years ago, I knew it was stalemated. Lost is a different word but I believed it was stalemated, and I believed, five or six years ago that it was unwinnable for US military means. For several reasons."

A 'global transport system collapse'

As the global shipping system struggles to keep up with demand, seafarers, truck drivers and airline workers are at a breaking point, reports CNN's Hanna Ziady.

When Karynn Marchal and her crew were told that they wouldn't be allowed to go on shore upon docking in Hokkaido, Japan it was a big hit to morale. "None of us knew how long it would go on for," the 28-year old chief officer of a car-carrying ship told CNN Business.

That was more than 18 months ago. Marchal — and hundreds of thousands of seafarers like her — have not been permitted shore leave since.

After weeks on board a ship, a couple of hours on shore provides much needed respite. But seafarers can only leave a vessel in order to travel elsewhere, usually to return home. Marchal considers herself "one of the luckier ones," because she has at least been able to make it home to the United States.

"There are people who have been stuck at sea for over a year," she said.

In an open letter Wednesday to heads of state attending the United Nations General Assembly, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and other industry groups warned of a "global transport system collapse" if governments do not restore freedom of movement to transport workers and give them priority to receive vaccines recognized by the World Health Organization. Read the story here.

A Danish museum loaned artist Jens Haaning the equivalent of $84,000 for use in two conceptual art pieces intended to comment on the future of labor. Instead of incorporating the bills into his installation, Haaning delivered empty frames -- titled "Take the money and run."

Thanks for reading.

On Thursday, the US government faces a partial shutdown at midnight unless Congress passes a funding bill. Climate and energy ministers from around the world meet in Milan ahead of the COP26 climate summit.