Thursday’s top story: House votes to impeach president for only third time in US history. Plus, the Cats movie lives down to its disturbing trailer
Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
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US news
Trump impeachment: House prepares for crucial vote amid whistleblower row – live
Fury erupts over Republican naming the alleged whistleblower who triggered the congressional investigation into Trump and Ukraine
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The House has passed a major piece on healthcare legislation during the Judiciary committee impeachment hearing break.
The bill, HR 3, passed by 230 votes to 192 mostly along party lines. It would lower the cost of prescription drugs by allowing government to negotiate prices with manufacturers. It makes major changes to the US government’s Medicare program by capping out of pocket drug cost expenses under to the program to $2,000 and creates new dental and vision benefits.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s bill would cap Medicare recipients’ out-of-pocket costs for medicines at $2,000 a year. It would use about $360 billion of its projected 10-year savings from lower drug costs to establish Medicare coverage for dental care, hearing, and vision, filling major gaps for seniors.
But the legislation has no chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, and the White House has issued a veto threat. Still, Democrats saw a victory in the message their bill sends to voters.
Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Thursday accused her more moderate rivals of failing to stand up to the rich and pledged to fix a “rigged” US economy, as she sought to re-energize her stalled campaign.
Warren delivered pointed criticisms aimed at several others vying to win the Democratic nomination to face Donald Trump in the 2020 election, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Reuters writes.In a speech to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Warren also faulted unnamed Democrats for soft-pedaling their rhetoric for political reasons.
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House releases transcripts from key witnesses in Trump impeachment inquiry – live
Committees release depositions with Marie Yovanovitch and Michael McKinley and say Volker and Sondland transcripts will follow
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8.45pm GMT
Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director Kate Bedingfield has cast doubt over the feasibility of Elizabeth Warren’s payment plan for Medicare for all.
“At a...
Pete Buttigieg: race is between me and Warren – as new poll puts him fourth
- Buttigieg: Senator’s Medicare for All plan is ‘polarising’
- Opinion: Goodbye, Beto. A sad end to a pointless campaign
Pete Buttigieg is fourth in a four-strong pack clear of the Democratic presidential field, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But he thinks the final choice of who will challenge Donald Trump will be between him and Elizabeth Warren.
Related: Liberty and Justice for Democrats in Des Moines – but no clear Iowa star
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Top Democrats criticize Elizabeth Warren’s Medicare for All plan – live
Biden campaign and others not sold on Warren’s $20tn proposal while Nancy Pelosi says any Trump impeachment case must be ‘ironclad’
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8.00pm GMT
Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said that it was “certainly possible” the House would vote to impeach Trump.
Speaking to reporters on the White House driveway, Conway went on to at...
‘I took a stand’: the centrist Democrat navigating impeachment in a divided district
Abigail Spanberger caught in delicate balance of advancing policy agenda and ensuring Trump is held accountable
At a middle school auditorium three hours south of the capital, where an intensifying impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump consumes all aspects of political life, the Virginia congresswoman Abigail Spanberger greeted a restive crowd of constituents with a PowerPoint presentation on the American system of government.
Related: Make no mistake: Medicare for All would c...
Make no mistake: Medicare for All would cut taxes for most Americans | Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman
Not only would universal healthcare reduce taxes for most people, it would also lead to the biggest take-home pay raise in a generation for most workers
The debate about healthcare has been at the center of the Democratic primaries, yet it is hard to make sense of the conversation. For some, public universal health insurance – such as Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All bill – would involve massive tax increases for the middle class. For others, it’s the opposite: Medicare for All woul...
Third Rudy Giuliani associate arrested at JFK airport – live
David Correia was detained in a campaign finance case involving associates of Trump’s personal lawyer with Ukraine links
joe biden: i did it, you owe me everything.
elizabeth warren:
pic.twitter.com/UTUVtiUzUnElizabeth Warren having to talk slow and quiet to Biden like you do the aggressive asshole at your job who is all, "I MADE YOU" is making my PTSD act up.
The fact that Biden yelled at Warren, “I got you the votes!” speaks to everything we know about peak white male fragility. #DemDebate
Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg is on the attack following last night’s debate – a shift in position for the mayor who largely avoided attacking his rivals.
Pete Buttigieg, continuing his criticism of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, says his 2020 rival has been "more specific and forthcoming about the number of selfies she's taken" than about laying out details of how she'd pay for "Medicare for All." https://t.co/nzy3E5BYfV
Buttigieg got a lot of early interest by saying things like “the compromise position is single payer” and “Republicans are going to call us socialists anyway.” It’s a real question whether the same voters who liked that approach will like his new one. https://t.co/Yu2tQfbUSr
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Democratic debate: candidates round on Warren over healthcare – live
Twelve Democrats including Biden, Warren and Sanders face off in largest presidential primary debate in US history
- Full story: Democrats to face off in debate
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1.49am BST
Candidates are now taking a question on American income inequality. Specifically, the moderators asked Bernie Sanders about his proposed wealth tax.
Pressed on whether the pl...
A wave of labour organizing is sweeping America. Will Democratic leadership catch on? | Malaika Jabali
Despite this growing progressive fervor, Democrats have not put forth policies to show they stand with the workers enduring economic stagnation and a weakened social safety net
Workers are fed up. From teachers and hotel workers to nurses and auto workers, about three dozen labor strikes since 2018 have made the nation’s headlines. Over the weekend, a youth-led climate strike spanned the globe and a walkout of General Motors workers entered its second week. For the past several weeks...