--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Wednesday, February 3rd. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Senate Democrats are moving ahead with their $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. They can pass the bill without Republican support using a process known as budget reconciliation. NPR explains what this term means and why you're hearing it a lot more. Especially now that Democrats have such a slim majority in the Senate.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: See, it takes 60 votes to get most bills through the Senate because of the filibuster. And I'm saying most because there are exceptions. Reconciliation is one of those exceptions. So here's how to think of it. If a bill affects federal spending and revenue, it can be passed through reconciliation. Spending a couple of trillion dollars on stimulus is reconciliation worthy, by the way.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, Democrats only need a simple majority to use this tool, and they have it. And Republicans cannot block them with a filibuster. Reconciliation is what President George W. Bush used to get his tax cuts through. It's what President Bill Clinton used to overhaul the welfare system.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Typically, Congress only gets to use this once a year when the budget comes up. But this year is a little bit different. The last Congress didn't pass a 2020 budget, which means this new Congress can use reconciliation for both a 2020 and 2021 budget.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So if at least 10 Republican senators don't agree with Democrats on stimulus, here's how things might go through the reconciliation route. The House passes the bill, sends it over to the Senate. A clock starts ticking. The Senate only has 20 hours to debate the reconciliation measure. After the clock runs out, then comes what they call a voter-rama, I like saying that word.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, this is a marathon session of offering amendment after amendment to the budget measure. It can go on for hours and only stops when senators run out of steam. Now Democrats are saying that they happy to have Republican input and support but they also making it clear that they won be talked out of a stimulus bill And they ready to use reconciliation to go it alone if they need to
--:-- Shamita Basu: President Biden wants to undo Trump-era immigration policies. Remember what he said on the campaign trail? If I'm elected president, we're going to immediately end Trump's assault on the dignity of immigrant communities. We're going to restore our moral standing in the world and our historic role as a safe haven for refugees and asylum seekers.
--:-- Molly O'Toole: (Guest) But as the new Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently said, reversing Trump's immigration policies can't be done with just the flick of a switch.
--:-- Shamita Basu: (Voiceover) Molly O'Toole is an immigration reporter for the LA Times who's been covering this issue for years. And she writes, even with Biden in office, people at the border are still holding their breath. Trump oversaw more than 400 changes to immigration policy, including many that went into effect after he lost the election.
--:-- Molly O'Toole: (Guest) This is one reason Biden's latest immigration moves are more focused on reviewing those Trump policies, not so much undoing them. Just for example, yesterday he signed several executive orders. One of them focuses on family separation. Biden is creating a task force to work on reuniting parents and children.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Right now, there are more than 600 parents that are still apart from their children after being separated at the border during the Trump years. But the LA Times reports the executive order is vague about what happens after a family is reunited. There's no guarantee that families will be allowed legally into the U.S.
--:-- Molly O'Toole: (Guest) Because of Trump's remain in Mexico policy, 70,000 migrants are stranded at the U.S. southern border. Biden's order only reviews that policy. That's not the same as changing it. The same goes for Trump's public charge rule, which makes legal status much harder to get for people who use programs like Medicaid or food stamps.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And no matter what Biden tries to get done on immigration he going to face opposition on multiple fronts from the courts from Congress Plus there are some major logistical challenges Already a federal judge blocked his 100 deportation moratorium Biden is also inheriting a massive backlog of immigration cases There are 1.3 million cases waiting to be heard. And some people could be waiting for years.
--:-- Molly O'Toole: (Guest) So, big picture. Changing the U.S. immigration system is a huge undertaking. Some advocates say they're frustrated change is not happening faster. Millions of people who aren't sure what their future holds will live under the weight of Trump-era policies for months to come.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Donald Trump's impeachment trial begins next week, and we're getting a glimpse of what each side is going to say. Trump's attorneys will argue the former U.S. president played no role in inciting the January 6th riot at the Capitol. House prosecutors, on the other hand, will say Trump was singularly responsible for the insurrection.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll have much more coverage of the impeachment trial in the days ahead. But today, let's focus on the rioters themselves. A new analysis shows what we saw that day seems to be the product of a whole new kind of American radicalism. One that goes beyond violent far-right groups.
--:-- Robert Pape: (Guest) That analysis comes from Robert Pape and Kevin Ruby. They work for the Chicago Project on Security and Threats. Their group has studied international and domestic terrorists for more than a decade.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And in The Atlantic, they write about their research into the almost 200 people charged with crimes related to storming the Capitol. They analyzed court documents and media coverage. They went through data on demographics, past arrest records and militant group affiliations.
--:-- Robert Pape: (Guest) They found a majority of suspects in the Capitol riot do not have a connection to existing far-right militias, white nationalist gangs, or groups like the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, or Three Percenters. Unlike previous episodes of right-wing extremism, 90% of the people arrested at the Capitol were not in those kinds of groups.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And a common misconception about people who gravitate toward extremist behavior is that they uneducated or unemployed These rioters don fit that description In fact you might say they had a lot to lose They were CEOs doctors lawyers, accountants.
--:-- Robert Pape: (Guest) Court documents show only 9% of those arrested are unemployed. 40% were business owners or worked in white-collar jobs.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What this Atlantic article lays bare is that the Capitol riot shows the U.S. is dealing with a new element in American politics. a mass political movement with a foundation of violence. These researchers are warning old counterterrorism methods may not work here. Simply focusing on far-right groups won't be enough.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Jared Kushner, Stacey Abrams, Greta Thunberg, Alexei Navalny. What do these people have in common? They were all nominated for Nobel Peace Prizes. And although that sounds like a big accomplishment, really, the truth is, even you could be nominated.
--:-- Shamita Basu: CNN has an article explaining what it takes to receive one of these nods. And the truth is, it's kind of not a big deal. You just rained on my parade. I'm going to cross that one off my wish list. Sorry, Duarte.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Now, there are hundreds of thousands of people qualified to make a nomination. Former prize winners, national office holders, professors. they can all submit a nomination. That's how Jared Kushner got his. It was submitted by Alan Dershowitz, one of the lawyers who defended President Trump during his first impeachment trial.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He's a professor emeritus of law at Harvard, which makes him eligible to submit a nomination. Typically, about 200 people are nominated every year. The deadline already passed to be nominated this year. But there's always next year if you want to throw my name in the hat or get yourself on the radar, Shavita.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That's right, Dorote. Dream big. Well, dream moderately big. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
