Martin Luther King III, Joe Kennedy III and other prominent figures have raised more than $1 million from small, daily donations to fight voting restrictions in a handful of Republican-controlled states.
Why it matters: Decades after the 1960s civil rights movement, two of its most prominent legacies — the King and Kennedy families — are still fighting to expand voting access. Nineteen states have enacted 33 new laws this year adding hurdles for some voters.
In the closing weeks of their closely watched Virginia gubernatorial race, Terry McAuliffe is going after Glenn Youngkin on unlikely ground — public education — as he tries to reverse the Republican's surprisingly strong challenge.
Why it matters: McAuliffe and his fellow Democrats are in danger of losing a bellwether election in a must-have presidential state. He's brought in President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Obama as his own efforts to make the race a referendum on Donald Trump have faltered.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday she expects the chamber to pass the bipartisan infrastructure plan by week’s end, and alternatives to corporate tax hikes and a “billionaires tax” will be used to finance President Biden’s promised expansion to the social safety net.
Why it matters: Pelosi’s comments come as House and Senate leaders try to wrap up a deal. What will get cut — and how the remainder will be paid — are linchpins to a final agreement.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) huddled with President Biden on Sunday morning in Delaware for a "productive discussion" about a deal on Biden's soft infrastructure reconciliation bill, per a White House readout of the meeting.
The latest: "They continued to make progress, will have their staffs work on follow-ups from the meeting, and agreed to stay in close touch with each other and the wide range of members who have worked hard on these negotiations," per the White House.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Mike Allen in an interview for "Axios on HBO" that President Biden should fire Anthony Fauci "just for lack of judgment, if nothing else."
The big picture: Paul claims vindication in his dispute with Fauci, played out at heated Senate hearings, over the level of risk of U.S.-funded research in Wuhan, where COVID began.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the Jan. 6 select committee, told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the committee is "working with" Facebook to obtain requested information and that it is examining the financing that went into the Capitol riot.
Why it matters: In August, the committee issued record requests from social media companies, including Facebook, regarding the lead-up and day of the insurrection. Thompson said the committee is in the process of negotiating with Facebook and other platforms for certain information.
Florida state Sen. Tina Polsky asked the state's top health official to leave her office after he refused to wear a mask during a meeting earlier this week, despite being informed that Polsky had a serious medical condition, Florida Politics reports.
Context: Polsky was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in August and is set to begin radiation therapy this week. She had not yet made her diagnosis public, per AP.
Twitter suspended the account of Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) Saturday after he intentionally misgendered Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official, a spokesperson for the platform told Axios.
What they're saying: "The account referenced has been temporarily locked for violating our Hateful Conduct Policy," the spokesperson wrote. "The account owner is required to delete the violative Tweet before regaining access to their account."
Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Sunday appeared on CNN's "Reliable Sources," and took issue with past statements from Facebook officials, suggesting the company welcomed new oversight.
Why it matters: Blumenthal, who chairs the Senate Commerce subcommittee on consumer protections, made his remarks amid a broader discussion on government regulation of the tech industry and new revelations about Facebook's internal practices.
Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on "Fox News Sunday" questioned Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's (D-Ariz.) opposition to raising taxes on corporations and high-income people, saying Sinema hasn't been clear on what it would take for her to support President Biden's spending bill.
What he's saying: "I guess my question for Senator Sinema is, she voted against the Trump tax cuts and I just don't understand why she's not willing, then, to raise some of the rates back to what they were before the bill she voted against was passed," Khanna said.
Responding to charges by Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday's "Axios on HBO," NIAID director Anthony Fauci told "ABC This Week" that it's "molecularly impossible" for U.S.-funded bat virus research in China to have produced COVID-19.
Why it matters: The issue 0f Wuhan research was reignited on the right last week with a National Institutes of Health letter to Congress disclosing more about the research.
Senior U.S. diplomat Sung Kim called on North Korea to stop missile tests and resume nuclear negotiations Sunday, AP reports.
Driving the news: Kim's remarks come on the heels of the country's submarine-fired missile launch last week, which violated multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Twice this year, President Biden has blurted out commitments that the U.S. is prepared to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion — forcing the White House to walk back his statements and leading to confusion over a high-stakes national security policy.
Why it matters: U.S. defense officials have publicly aired their concerns that China will take Taiwan by force in the next four to six years, perhaps sooner. The president's position on this question may soon have real-world, life and death consequences.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday he's declared U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield and nine other foreign envoys personae non gratae after they called for the release of jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala this week, per AP.
Why it matters: This would be the biggest rift with the West since Erdoğan came to power 19 years ago if the envoys were forced to leave, Reuters notes. Seven of the ambassadors Erdoğan has threatened to expel represent NATO allies of Turkey.
The latest "Saturday Night Live" cold open saw former cast member Jason Sudeikis resume his role as the "old" Joe Biden to reassure the "new" one, played by James Austin Johnson amid slumping poll numbers.
The big picture: Sudeikis' Vice President Biden, who's also this week's host, explained to Johnson's President Biden: "I'm you from eight years ago, man, the ghost from Biden's past — boo!" He noted they "may be from different eras, but ... we're Joe freaking Biden!"
