--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Tuesday, May 30th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On today's show, what's in President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy's proposed agreement to avoid a government default? How Vermont became a national leader in child care? And the food fight over the phrase Taco Tuesday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But first, let's catch up on a few big international headlines from the long weekend.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Russian officials said Moscow was hit with drone strikes on Tuesday morning, causing some damage to buildings. This would mark the first time drones have hit residential areas in the city, according to NBC News.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A Ukrainian official said Ukraine was not directly involved. It comes just hours after Ukraine's capital, Kiev, was hit by a series of drone strikes as well, reportedly killing at least one person.
--:-- Shamita Basu: In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a close runoff for re-election on Sunday, cementing another five-year term.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He got a little over 52 percent of the vote. Erdogan has been a dominant figure in Turkish politics for two decades.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He now enters his third decade having consolidated a lot of power under his role as president.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And yesterday in Uganda, President Ueri Museveni signed a series of strict anti-LGBTQ plus bills into law, among the harshest in the world.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Homosexuality was already illegal in Uganda. Now, anyone who engages in same-sex sexual acts can be sentenced to life in prison, and in some cases, even the death penalty.
--:-- Halima Athmani: In addition to this, people who are seen as promoting homosexuality could face up to 20 years in prison.
--:-- Halima Athmani: It would also seek to prosecute those who knowingly allow gay people to have sex on their premises, from private residences to hotels.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The U.N. Human Rights Office condemned the bill's passage, calling it a recipe for systematic violations of the rights of LGBT people and the wider population.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Arguably the biggest headline of the weekend in the United States is the news that President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an agreement over the weekend to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a potentially disastrous government default.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The deal would suspend the debt ceiling cap through the end of 2024 in exchange for new limits on federal spending, meaning Congress wouldn't have to revisit this issue again until after the next presidential election.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The president and the speaker getting on the same page about this was a big first step.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Next, they'll have to convince lawmakers in their party to get on board.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The House is expected to vote on the proposal either today or tomorrow.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The agreement would hold non-defense spending roughly flat for 2024 and impose limits for 2025.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It would boost military spending next year by about 3 percent and increase funding for medical care for veterans, including a $20.3 billion fund for vets who were exposed to hazardous environments or toxic substances.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden held onto his plan to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans, but this deal does spell out when monthly student loan repayments will resume at the end of the summer.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The terms of the agreement are far from the deal the Democrats initially wanted, but it also leaves out some provisions that Republicans had pushed for to cut future deficits.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Biden acknowledged some frustrations among members of both parties on Sunday, but he urged lawmakers to remember the looming deadline for a potential default and to move quickly and pass this legislation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And the agreement also represents the compromises means no one got everything they want. But that's the responsibility of governing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: One of the more impactful elements of the proposed deal are new work requirements for federal food stamps and family welfare benefits.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Republicans had pushed for big changes to these programs as well as Medicaid.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Around 40 million people get food stamps currently. And the way things stand now, if you're between 18 and 50 years old, you have no children, no dependents, no disability, you have to show you're working 20 hours a week to get food stamps.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This deal proposes raising the age limit to 54 years old. It has some exemptions for veterans and people experiencing homelessness.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Time has a helpful explainer that breaks down more of what's being proposed, including rescinding unspent pandemic relief money, expediting the approval process for energy projects and cutting back on new funding for the IRS.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As we get closer to the 2024 election, we're going to start looking more closely at the state of local politics in a series that we're calling the state of the state.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Every week, we'll zoom in on a particular state or local issue and examine how it's being debated and discussed among people who live there.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, along the way, we'll be asking whose interests are being represented here and why.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That means we'll cover the good and the bad, stories about coming together and stories about obstruction.
--:-- Shamita Basu: After all, what plays out at the local level ultimately shapes the political playbook at the national level.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So let's dive into our first ever state of the state, which takes us to Vermont.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Lawmakers there recently approved a plan that would invest tens of millions of dollars into the state's child care system.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As is the case in many states, child care in Vermont is in high demand and it's expensive.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The average cost a family in Vermont spends on child care is around $26,000 a year.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So this child care funding bill would be a huge deal for families if Republican Governor Phil Scott signs it into law.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it would make Vermont a national leader on the issue, according to Vox senior policy reporter Rachel Cohen.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: Most states right now just don't allocate real significant funding for child care. So this would change that by instituting a new payroll tax.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: Employers would cover at least 75 percent of that tax.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: The bill introduces new subsidies for families, and it would make child care free for families of four that make less than $52,000 annually.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: And it would also significantly expand the number of families who basically any child who goes to a child care program, the state will then reimburse that provider.
--:-- Rachel Cohen: And that allows the wages of child care workers to go up a lot, like they're thinking at least by a third.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Governor Scott has said he will reject any bill that imposes new taxes.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature, and they've promised to override a veto.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Vox describes this bill as being a decade in the making, owing to the strength of a pretty diverse coalition.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It started with philanthropists who were interested in programs that help children and families.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it grew to involve lots of volunteers who signed petitions and testified before state lawmakers.
--:-- Shamita Basu: They even got child care workers to share their stories to gain awareness.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That been really successful because over the course of the last 10 years they really helped build this group of parents and grandparents and business leaders and political legislators and community activists who all sort of are drawn to the issue for different reasons.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But that's kind of why it's become such a powerful issue in Vermont.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Childcare advocates in Vermont hope that one day all families in the state will pay no more than 10 percent of their household income on child care.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And they hope lawmakers and activists across the country look to Vermont as a roadmap for how to improve care for kids and families in their own states.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We're going to get into this last story with the help of a very loud LeBron James.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You know what it is! It's Taco Tuesday!
--:-- Shamita Basu: That is from a new Taco Bell ad, and that bleep is by them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's not by us. It's calling attention to the fact that Taco Bell doesn't own the trademark rights to the phrase Taco Tuesday.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's in a very messy food fight with the restaurants that do, a chain called Taco John's and a spot in New Jersey called Gregory's.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now, Taco Bell wants to cancel those trademarks so that anyone can use the phrase.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And that ad with James is part of their campaign.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's arguing any restaurant making tacos should be allowed to use the phrase Taco Tuesday because it's so generic.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A trademark attorney told the Wall Street Journal that it's likely Taco Bell will win this case.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The journal also points out there are plenty of other examples of times when a trademarked term became generic enough that the trademark got canceled.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Escalator, aspirin, yo-yo, these were all once trademarked.
--:-- Shamita Basu: If this case goes to trial, a judge might have to decide whether Taco Tuesday should get added to that list.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app, as well as coverage of last night's Game 7 between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Heat won and will now face the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We've got a narrated article coming up next from Sports Illustrated that sticks with basketball.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It's about the boom in parasports and two brothers at the heart of fueling interest in college wheelchair basketball.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
