Joe Manchin voices ‘serious concerns’ about $3.5tn budget after Senate approval – live

Before adjourning for its August recess, the Senate confirmed Ken Salazar to serve as the next US ambassador to Mexico.

Salazar was unanimously confirmed via voice vote, making him the first of Joe Biden’s ambassador nominees to receive Senate confirmation.

Salazar previously served as a US senator from Colorado and as the interior secretary under Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2013.

Colorado governor Jared Polis congratulated Salazar on his confirmation, saying, “Colorado is proud that one of our great statesmen will be representing the United States in Mexico.”

The Senate is now officially adjourned until Monday, September 13, after the upper chamber passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill and advanced Democrats’ $3.5tn spending package.

The House was originally scheduled to return from recess on September 20, but majority leader Steny Hoyer announced yesterday that the chamber would return early to consider the spending package.

The House is now expected to return on August 23 and “will remain in session until our business for the week is concluded,” Hoyer said in a letter to colleagues yesterday.

The Guardian’s Kevin Rawlinson reports:

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has lost a high court battle to prevent the US government expanding the grounds for its appeal against an earlier refusal to allow his extradition to face charges of espionage and hacking government computers.

On Wednesday, judges said a report from Assange’s psychiatric expert that was submitted at the original hearing in January could form part of Washington’s full appeal in October.

Sitting in London, Lord Justice Holroyde said he believed it was arguable that the evidence given by Prof Michael Kopelman should have had less weight attributed to it when the original decision was made.

The lieutenant governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, said she will be delivering an address and holding a media availability at 2 pm ET today.

This will mark Hochul’s first formal remarks since governor Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation yesterday. Hochul will become governor in two weeks, when Cuomo’s resignation takes effect.

Hochul had previously described Cuomo’s alleged sexual harassment as “repulsive and unlawful,” and she welcomed the news of his resignation.

She said yesterday: “I agree with Governor Cuomo’s decision to step down. It is the right thing to do and in the best interest of New Yorkers. As someone who has served at all levels of government and is next in the line of succession, I am prepared to lead as New York state’s 57th governor.”

Once she is sworn in, Hochul will become the first woman to ever serve as governor of New York.

Hallie Golden reports for the Guardian:

The Oregon governor declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as the region prepared for triple-digit temperatures mere weeks after a deadly heatwave clobbered the Pacific north-west.

Kate Brown said: “Oregon is facing yet another extreme heatwave, and it is critical that every level of government has the resources they need to help keep Oregonians safe and healthy.”

The declaration took effect at midday on Tuesday amid concerns over the safety of residents, some of whom do not have air conditioning, and the impact the soaring temperatures could have on critical infrastructure. The order is expected to remain in place until 20 August.

Brown recommended Oregon residents take proactive steps to keep cool, including staying well hydrated; visiting one of the dozens of cooling centers at libraries, community centers and other spaces across the state; and keeping tabs on neighbors, friends and family.

Read the full report:

In case you missed it yesterday: the Texas supreme court has voided a lower court’s order temporarily barring the arrest of Democratic legislators who fled the state to block the passage of voting restrictions.

The Guardian’s Dani Anguiano reports:

The court blocked a restraining order that protected the lawmakers from being arrested after they fled the state in July to stop a Republican effort to enact new voting restrictions. By fleeing the state, Democratic lawmakers denied the Republican-led legislature the quorum needed to proceed with the bill.

The court’s decision means that those who have returned to the state can be detained and forcibly brought to the state capitol to re-establish quorum, according to the Texas Tribune.

The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, had already called another special session to pass the voting restrictions, putting more pressure on the Democratic legislators.

Abbott has pledged to “continue to call special session, after special session, after special session every single month until we address and vote on these bills”.

Senator Joe Manchin’s criticism of Democrats’ $3.5tn spending package could jeopardize both that legislation and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate yesterday.

Some House progressives have indicated they will not support the bipartisan infrastructure bill unless they receive assurances about the $3.5tn spending package, which includes a number of large investments in childcare, health care and climate-related initiatives.

Manchin’s “serious concerns” about the price tag of that bill could threaten its Senate passage because Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer needs all 50 Democrats on board to pass the proposal via reconciliation.

So if Manchin (or fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, who has also voiced concerns about the bill’s cost) tank the legislation, some House progressives may vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

And House speaker Nancy Pelosi only has a three-seat majority to work with as she tries to pass both pieces of legislation. There is very little wiggle room for Democratic leaders in either chamber of Congress.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer announced yesterday that the chamber will return from its August recess early to take up the $3.5tn budget bill.

The House was not originally scheduled to return to session until September 20.

Hoyer said in a letter to his colleagues yesterday, “For your scheduling purposes, assuming that the Senate does, in fact, complete work on a budget resolution, the House will return to session on the evening of August 23 to consider that budget resolution and will remain in session until our business for the week is concluded.”

Hoyer noted that the House will also consider the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which faces a rocky path to Senate passage because of the filibuster. Civil rights activists have been demanding that Democrats continue to fight for national voting rights legislation, despite fierce Republican opposition.

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

Senate Democrats approved the blueprint for their $3.5tn budget bill early this morning, after a marathon session that included an hours-long “vote-a-rama” on the proposal.

The 50-49 vote fell along party lines, as Senate Republicans continued to fiercely criticize the bill as a reckless spending spree. Because Democrats are advancing the bill using reconciliation, they do not need any Republican support to pass it.

“It’s been quite a night,” Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said after the vote. “We still have a ways to go, but we’ve taken a giant step forward to transforming America. This is the most significant piece of legislation that’s been considered in decades.”

But there are still serious hurdles ahead for the bill. One of the most centrist members of the Senate Democratic caucus, Joe Manchin, said after the vote that he has “serious concerns about the grave consequences” of another large spending package.

“Given the current state of the economic recovery, it is simply irresponsible to continue spending at levels more suited to respond to a Great Depression or Great Recession – not an economy that is on the verge of overheating,” Manchin said.

If Schumer cannot keep Manchin on board, the bill will not pass the evenly divided Senate, so the stakes could not be higher.

The blog will have more details on the bill coming up, so stay tuned.