  Sunday 09.26.21
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by Paul LeBlanc and Zachary B. Wolf : Decision time Whether President Joe Biden will emerge with a victory for his sweeping social agenda in the coming days boils down to a simple question: Can disparate wings of the Democratic Party come together to pass big legislation?
The nuts and bolts. The week ahead serves as a high-stakes test of the decision to tie the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, which has already passed the Senate, to the $3.5 trillion climate change and social benefits bill, which hasn't passed anywhere.
The idea was to use that linkage to satisfy both the party's moderate and progressive wings. So far it has produced posturing rather than a result.
Don't expect a vote on Monday. Democrats acknowledged on Sunday that the planned vote on one pillar of the plan -- the bipartisan-backed infrastructure bill -- would not happen by Monday.
Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the leader of House progressives, said on CNN's "State of the Union" there simply aren't enough votes for the party to pass the proposal right now. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged she wouldn't bring the measure for a vote knowing it would fail.
Capitol Hill crunch time. Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and senior White House officials have spent the weekend working to broker an agreement on the far-reaching social and environmental package.
But so far they have been unable to strike a deal between progressive and moderate Democrats on a top-line figure for the bill or a framework of programs contained in the plan.
The legislation for weeks has raised concerns among moderates who worry some of the measures -- including on drug pricing and climate -- go too far, as progressives say they've already compromised enough.
What's Biden saying? The President said at the White House Friday he was confident Democrats would ultimately reach an agreement and that he would sign the bipartisan infrastructure package as well as the $3.5 trillion package to expand the nation's social safety net into law.
"Now we're at this stalemate at the moment and we're going to have to get these two pieces of legislation passed. Both need to be passed," he told reporters.
Keep an eye on the clock. Congress must also pass legislation by September 30 to fund the federal government and by mid-October to raise the debt ceiling in order to pay the country's bills. : Movement in Del Rio About 4,000 migrants apprehended by US Customs and Border Protection in Del Rio, Texas, over the last weeks have been expelled under a public health authority, known as Title 42, and 10,000 to 12,000 migrants have been released into the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday.
"That is a public health authority. It is not an immigration policy. It is exercised as the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control (and Prevention), has ordered, in light of the arc of the pandemic," Mayorkas told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."
"The public has to remember that we are in the midst of a pandemic. The Delta variant caused a setback. ... This is a public health imperative to protect migrants themselves, local communities, our personnel and the American public."
He also said there are about 13,000 migrants who arrived in Del Rio in that same timeframe that have been put in immigration proceedings to determine whether they can remain in the US or be removed.
: Vaccine snapshot Though national daily Covid-19 cases are inching downward, the overall Delta-influenced wave isn't done -- and cases still may spike, especially as colder weather approaches.
The best course of action? Experts are unwavering: Vaccinate the unvaccinated.
The big picture. The US has fully vaccinated more than 55% of all residents as of Friday, CDC data shows, while 75% of the vaccine-eligible received at least one dose of inoculaton.
The leaderboard. The state with the highest rate of vaccination is Vermont at 69% of all residents, followed by Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
The stragglers. There remain 18 states that have yet to fully vaccinate at least half of all residents, data shows: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Vaccination rates matter (a lot). A recent CNN analysis showed the average rate of Covid-19 deaths in the 10 least vaccinated states was more than four times higher over the past week than the rate in the 10 most vaccinated states.
A dose of optimism. "I think this Delta wave may be the last major wave of infection, assuming nothing unexpected happens, (such as getting) a variant that pierces the immunity offered by prior infection (and) by vaccination," former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNN last week.
"So, assuming that doesn't happen, and I think it's unlikely, this will be the last major wave of infection, and this becomes a more persistent, endemic risk," he said. : What are we doing here? We're trying to connect the dots at a time of political, cultural and economic upheaval. All CNN Newsletters | Manage Profile
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