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| Happy hump day, OnPolitics friends! |
| Today a lot of eyeballs were on the White House, where pop star Olivia Rodrigo met with President Joe Biden and his top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci to participate in a social media campaign urging young people to get their COVID-19 vaccination shots. |
| "I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccinations. I'm in awe of the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done and was happy to lend my support for this important initiative," Rodrigo said during a White House press briefing. |
| "It's important to have conversations with friends and family members encouraging all communities to get vaccinated and actually get to a vaccination site. … Thank you all for helping share this important message. It's so appreciated." |
| It's Mabinty, with the rest of the news out of Washington. |
Senate Democrats have a deal on 'human infrastructure' legislation |
| Good news for Biden: Senate Democrats reached an agreement Tuesday night on a $3.5 trillion budget plan that would expand Medicare, fund climate change initiatives and fulfill other parts of President Joe Biden's economic agenda that Democrats hope to pass on top of a bipartisan infrastructure bill. |
| After a lengthy meeting among Democrats on the Senate's Budget Committee, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York announced the agreement for a budget reconciliation package that would fund what Biden has called "human infrastructure." |
| Ok, how much does it cost? Schumer said that when including $600 billion in new spending Biden has proposed in a separate bipartisan infrastructure plan, the amount of new spending comes in around $4.1 trillion – close to Biden's full infrastructure and family agendas. |
| What does the legislation include? |
| The proposal includes: |
| • | Expanded caregiving for the disabled and elderly | | • | Universal prekindergarten | | • | Subsidized child care | | • | Free community college | | • | National paid family leave | | • | Extended child tax credits and an assortment of environmental initiatives | |
| Schumer said Democrats also added a plan to expand Medicare – long a battle cry for progressives – including coverage for dental, vision and hearing. |
| Do Democrats have the votes? Nope. At the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki suggested there are not yet enough votes to pass the package. "If there were enough votes for each of these priorities, there would be a vote, and it would have happened," she said. |
Real Quick: Stories you need to read |
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The youth can buy handguns, court says |
| A federal appeals court has ruled that prohibitions on selling handguns to Americans under 21 violates the Second Amendment, the latest legal victory for gun rights advocates in federal court. |
| The background: At issue is a gun control law signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 that banned the sale of handguns to people under 21 years old but permitted the sale of shotguns and rifles to those same people. |
| A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, said Tuesday that the law was an arbitrary restriction that relegated 18- to 20-year-olds to a second-class status under the Second Amendment. |
| What happens now? The decision is likely to be appealed and may eventually reach the Supreme Court. |
| Want to dress like Olivia, but for less? We got you covered. — Mabinty |
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