What recent legislative challenges are affecting the U.S. government?
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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The Republican-led U.S. Senate did not get enough votes to advance legislation to reopen the government. NPR's Barbara Sprint reports it's the 10th time a vote like this has failed.
The 51 to 45 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to move forward. Senate Republicans need a handful of Democrats to join them in order to advance the bill. Two Democrats and one independent senator have repeatedly voted alongside Republicans. No new Democrats have joined them since that first vote.
As the stalemate continues, Senate Democrats insist Republicans have to negotiate with them in order to get their votes, specifically on the soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act subsidies. Republicans say reopen the government first, negotiate after.
Because the Senate doesn't plan to be in legislative session until Monday, it's expected that the funding lapse and negotiation impasse will hit the three-week mark next week. Barbara Sprint, NPR News, the Capitol.
Political mapmakers and voting rights advocates are watching to see when the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in a case that will shape the future of redistricting. Here's NPR's Hansi Lowong.
For this Louisiana redistricting case, it's not clear if the Supreme Court will break from its usual schedule of releasing major decisions in June. Louisiana officials have asked for ruling by early January.
Alana Odoms leads the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, which is representing a group of black voters in this case, and says whenever the court rules, it would determine whether the Voting Rights Act Section 2 could continue to protect against the dilution of racial minority voters' collective power in places where voting is racially polarized.
If Section 2 falls, legislatures could redraw maps whenever it helps them keep power, and communities of color could pay the price or would pay the price.
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