Show an ad over header. AMP

DNC launches "Build Back Better" bus tour to sell Biden's agenda

10 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

The Democratic National Committee is trying to pump up President Biden and the party’s political agenda with a nationwide bus tour featuring mayors, governors and members of Congress, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: The tour comes as lawmakers in both parties gear up for a messaging war ahead of the 2022 midterms. It will also coincide with Congress' August recess — when members of the House and Senate will already be back in their districts.

  • Axios reported Sunday that Republicans believe inflation, crime and illegal immigration are shaping up as issues that will help them regain at least one congressional majority next year.
  • The “Build Back Better Tour” will traverse more than 10 states, touting Biden's legislative successes while attacking Republicans for voting against his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan and painting them as an impediment to the needs of everyday Americans.
  • It will also come on the heels of another expected victory for Biden: passage of the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package, expected Tuesday.

Details: The tour will kick off on Thursday, starting with an event in Virginia with former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is running again for governor in the state, before traveling across the South, Mountain West, Midwest and Northeast.

  • Other surrogates include Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero.
  • Axios was told the DNC plans to focus its onward messaging on Biden's plans for job creation, tax cuts for middle-class families and lower health care costs.

What they're saying: “[T]he DNC is hitting the road to make sure everybody knows that the ‘D’ in Democrats stands for ‘deliver,’” said Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison.

  • “We know there is still work to be done and the DNC’s ‘Build Back Better’ bus tour will remind people across the country that it is Democrats who are delivering results for the American people — no thanks to Republicans.”

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.