| Some Biden Cabinet nominees face a difficult confirmation path; vaccine corruption is causing scandals in Argentina and Peru. Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum. | | | | | | | Tanden nomination unlikely, Becerra and Haaland face opposition | | | | | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images | | - The path to 50 confirmation votes for Biden's Office of Management and Budget nominee Neera Tanden is looking unlikely after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (WV) said he would oppose her confirmation. [Vox / Ella Nilsen]
- Tanden, who ran the center-left think tank Center for American Progress, has come under fire in the confirmation process for her hundreds of since-deleted "mean" tweets against both Republicans and further-left Democrats, including Sen. Bernie Sanders. [The Washington Post / Seung Min Kim, Annie Linsky, and Jeff Stein]
- While Tanden has apologized for her tweets and the White House has stuck by her, she will likely need at least one Republican senator to support her. But the pool is slimming, with Sens. Collins and Romney saying they would vote against her. [NPR / Alana Wise]
- Democrats and advocates are calling out the "double standard" of punishing Tanden, a woman of color, for adversarial tweets after Republicans, and Manchin on some occasions, voted to confirm a number of controversial Trump nominees and, of course, supported Trump himself. [Politico / Laura BarrĂ³n-Lopez and Christopher Cadelago]
- Assuming she does not find the support, Tanden will be the first Biden nominee to be rejected by the Senate. But two other upcoming picks — interior nominee Deb Haaland and health and human services nominee Xavier Becerra — could also face contentious hearings. [The Wall Street Journal / Andrew Restuccia and Eliza Collins]
- Haaland's nomination is historic; she is the first Native American nominated to a Cabinet position — at a department with a history of mistreating Indigenous people. But her anti-fracking views and opposition to oil and gas exploration on public land have drawn the ire of Republicans, who have called her radical. [The New York Times / Coral Davenport]
- Her hearing is expected to be tense. At the center of the debate, again, is Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee that she appeared in front of. He appears undecided thus far, but Haaland could also receive votes from some Republicans in states with large Native populations. [CNN / Clare Foran, Kristen Holmes, and Liz Stark]
- Indigenous activists and organizers have flooded social media with support for Haaland, who also enjoys good standing among the Democratic Party's left wing, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). [Indian Country Today / Aliyah Chavez]
- California Attorney General Becerra is another nominee facing stringent Republican opposition. A group of 11 Senate Republicans authored a letter expressing "grave concerns" over Becerra's past support for Medicare-for-all and abortion rights. [NBC News / Sahil Kapur]
- Activists and others have said the fact that nominees of color are being so intensely challenged has not gone unnoticed. In the center of it all is Manchin, whose support, or lack of, will be critical in determining which nominees advance. [The Guardian / Ed Pilkington]
| | | Vaccine access scandals emerge in Argentina and Peru | | - Vaccine distribution corruption is becoming a problem, as health ministers in both Argentina and Peru have resigned over scandals involving well-connected people receiving privileged access to vaccines. [Reuters]
- In Argentina, the health minister was fired after a radio host revealed he was invited to get a vaccine because of his personal connection with the official. Powerful people in government and trade unions, as well as health department employees, received access to "VIP" vaccines. [The Financial Times / Benedict Mander]
- Argentina's government has already received criticism for its slow vaccine rollout, which is behind projections. The country of 40 million people has only received 1.5 million shots. [The Associated Press / Debora Rey]
- In Peru, nearly 500 well-connected people, including a former president, secretly received the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine before it was even authorized for use in the country. Mass resignations have followed. [The Wall Street Journal / Ryan Dube]
- Now, the country's health minister will investigate the full list of 487 people, including several government ministers, who used their positions to receive early access. [CNN / Claudia Rebaza and Mitchell McCluskey]
| | | | | | | Virginia, which executed more people in the last 45 years than any state besides Texas, voted to abolish the death penalty. | | | | | | | "This is no different than when Obama became the first Black president and what that signified. This is a historical mark for Indian Country as a whole." | | | | | | | | | | |
Today, nearly all of the world's smartphones are powered by Android. Which means Google is the gatekeeper to the Internet for billions of people. The story of Android is the story of how Google became so big. And it started with an existential threat. With Google in survivalist mode. [Spotify / Shirin Ghaffary and Alex Kantrowitz] | | | | | | | | |  | This email was sent to edwardlorilla1986.paxforex@blogger.com. Manage your email preferences, or unsubscribe to stop receiving all emails from Vox. If you value Vox's unique explanatory journalism, support our work with a one-time or recurring contribution. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.
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