May 22, 2018

Prison reform bill passes the House

Photo: Sara D. Davis/Getty Images

The House passed a prison reform bill Tuesday evening 360-59, with broad bipartisan support. The bill would send 4,000 prisoners home, provide sanitary products to incarcerated women, outlaw shackling during childbirth and make it easier for inmates to earn time in home arrest or half-way houses.

Big picture: The debate will only heat up in the Senate, where Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley along with Sens. Dick Durbin, Corey Booker and Kamala Harris are demanding that sentencing reform be included in any criminal justice reform effort.

  • Yes, but: Adding changes to federal sentencing guidelines to the bill would risk losing the support of some hardline Republicans — and possibly the President.

This is a win for Jared Kushner, who has been working behind the scenes for months on criminal justice reform, and President Trump who publicly endorsed the bill just last Friday.

Go deeper

Axios
Updated 40 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 2 p.m. ET: 12,785,483 — Total deaths: 566,210 — Total recoveries — 7,033,187 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 2 p.m. ET: 3,278,946 — Total deaths: 135,029 — Total recoveries: 995,576 — Total tested: 39,553,395 — Map.
  3. Politics: Trump wears face mask in public for first time.
  4. States: Florida smashes single-day record for new coronavirus cases with over 15,000 — Miami-Dade mayor says"it won't be long" until county's hospitals reach capacity.
  5. Public health: Ex-FDA chief projects "apex" of South's coronavirus curve in 2-3 weeks — Coronavirus testing czar: Lockdowns in hotspots "should be on the table"
  6. Education: Betsy DeVos says schools that don't reopen shouldn't get federal funds — Pelosi accuses Trump of "messing with the health of our children."
Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow
Fadel Allassan
3 hours ago - Health

Florida smashes single-day record for new coronavirus cases

Data: Covid Tracking Project; Chart: Axios Visuals

Florida reported 15,299 confirmed coronavirus cases on Sunday — a new single-day record for any state, according to its health department.

The big picture: The figure shatters both Florida's previous record of 11,458 new cases and the single-state record of 11,694 set by California last week, according to AP. It also surpasses New York's daily peak of 11,571 new cases in April, and comes just a day after Disney World reopened in Orlando.

Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow
Rashaan Ayesh
3 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Pelosi: Trump is "messing with the health of our children" with push to open schools

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' aggressive push to fully reopen schools this fall is "malfeasance and dereliction of duty," accusing the Trump administration of "messing with the health of our children."

Why it matters: Trump has demanded that schools reopen as part of his efforts to juice the economy by allowing parents to return to work, despite caution from health officials that little is known about how the virus impacts children.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow