Top of the Fold

• Chuck Schumer slyly plans to sidestep filibuster by expanding reconciliation process (Washington Times)

“The downside of reconciliation is it generally can be used only once per fiscal year, according to the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. … Earlier this year, Democrats used the process … to enact the American Rescue Plan, President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief effort. Because congressional Democrats and President Trump were unable to agree on a budget in 2020, that legislation technically counted for the previous fiscal year. As such, Congress can use reconciliation at least once more this year. They plan to use it to ram through an infrastructure plan costing up to $4 trillion and a package of tax increases. Mr. Schumer and his staff say a vague clause within the 1974 budget act could give them another go at using reconciliation to push through another big spending bill with a party-line vote. The clause states that ‘at any time after [a reconciliation bill] has been agreed to … and before the end of such fiscal year, the two Houses may adopt a concurrent resolution’ to revise the legislation. The majority leader said the clause would at the very least allow Democrats to do a third reconciliation bill this year. While the exact procedure remains unclear, Democrats would likely amend the American Rescue Plan to include broader federal spending measures.”

• Riot redux feared as antifa looms over trial in George Floyd death (Washington Times)

“The black-clad anti-fascist agitators have hardly missed a beat since President Biden was elected. They continue to smash windows, chuck projectiles and set fires in Portland, Oregon, while raising law enforcement fears of a riot redux pegged to the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis. ‘The Antifa protests last year were not anti-Trump protests, they were anti-government protests,’ said Betsy Brantner Smith, spokesperson for the National Police Association. ‘What they want is to destroy and dismantle the government, and they’ve been pretty successful in Portland. I think they’d like to see that success across the nation.’ She predicted that supporters of the movement are already mobilizing around the murder trial of Mr. Chauvin, 45, a former Minneapolis police officer who faces third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges in the May 25 death of 46-year-old George Floyd. ‘Whatever the outcome of the Chauvin trial will be, that’s going to be a tinderbox,’ she said. ‘That is going to be the rally cry for Antifa and Black Lives Matter to link arms and violently protest. It’s not just going to be in Minneapolis, but across the country.’”

Government & Politics

• President Biden announces 11 judicial nominees to federal bench, including leftist SCOTUS favorite Ketanji Brown Jackson (Fox News)

• Donald Trump veraciously accuses Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx of “trying to reinvent history” on COVID response (Fox News)

• Biden revenue plan includes “marriage penalty” because some earners would find themselves in a higher bracket by tying the knot and filing jointly (Fox Business)

• CDC extends its illegal and ineffective eviction moratorium (National Review)

• Biden administration plans major reboot for offshore wind power boondoggle (NBC News)

• “Disregard[ing] the terrorist threats in Iraq”: Democrats move to curtail war powers (Free Beacon)

Health

• CDC study: One dose of Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccine is 80% effective (NY Post)

• Slippery slope: Biden administration working to create vaccine “passports” (Disrn)

• WHO covers for China, asserts COVID likely first jumped into humans from animals (AP) | WHO admits it took China’s word on Wuhan lab leak (Examiner)

Economy

• Red states naturally leading economic growth, Commerce Department finds (Daily Wire)

• An inconvenient truth: China generated over half the world’s coal-fired power in 2020 (Reuters)

Around the Nation

• “A massive step forward for freedom”: Tennessee legislature passes permitless handgun carry, a.k.a. “constitutional carry,” bill (Tennessean)

• South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (sort of) bans male athletes from girls’ sports after curiously backtracking on legislation (UPI)

• Arkansas rightfully bans puberty blockers and hormones for “transgender” minors (UPI)

Annals of the “Social Justice” Caliphate

• Armed antifa attack freedom rally at Oregon State Capitol (PJ Media)

• Georgia voting law leads to totally unnecessary pressure to move MLB All-Star Game, Masters Tournament (Washington Times)

• Meanwhile, some 35% of sports fans watch fewer games because of politics (Daily Caller)

• University of Oxford considers scrapping sheet music for being “too colonial” (Daily Mail)

Closing Arguments

• Policy: Biden’s gun control plan is really class warfare (National Interest)

• Policy: Race and false hate crime narratives (Quillette)

• Humor: Controversial Georgia law requires poll workers to check voters for a pulse (Babylon Bee)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit Headline Report.

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