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DAILY NEWS BRIEF
Biden delays voting on infrastructure bill
President Biden asked House Democrats to hold off voting on the $1T infrastructure bill until an agreement is reached on the social policy and climate bill.
Progressives threatened to block the infrastructure bill if the House Democrats did not consolidate around the social policy and climate bill.
In a closed-door meeting with the House Democrats, Biden said the price tag of the social and policy and climate bill should drop from $3.5T to $2T. The original reconciliation bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, planned to spend $3.5T over 10 years on initiatives toward education, healthcare, and climate.
Republicans have claimed the social policy and climate bill is wasteful and potentially damaging to the economy.
On Thursday, Congress passed and Biden signed a continuing resolution bill to fund the government till Dec. 3.
Attempts to raise the debt ceiling are still ongoing. Biden said Friday that it would be "irresponsible" of Senate Republicans to filibuster a bill to do so. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said this week that the government would run out of money on Oct. 18 if the limit is not raised
Philippine President Duterte announces retirement
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has announced his retirement from politics.
He was expected to run for the office of vice-president in next year's election.
Elected to power on the platform of fighting the country's crime and drug crisis, he is facing an investigation by the International Criminal Court into possible crimes against humanity during his "war on drugs."
A survey conducted by Social Weather Survey in June reported that 60% of Filipinos felt that it was unconstitutional for him to run for vice-president. The country's constitution bars anyone from contesting for a second term as president after their first six-year term.
It is being speculated that the announcement is to make way for his daughter to run for president. She has also filed for re-election as mayor of Davao, the country's third-largest city.
Candidates can register until Oct. 8, but withdrawals and substitutions are allowed until Nov. 15. During the 2016 elections, Duterte utilized this window to make an 11th-hour entry to contest and become president.
Trump files injunction to restart his Twitter account
Former U.S President Donald Trump has filed a request for a preliminary injunction against Twitter in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of Florida, asking the judge to force Twitter to restart his account.
The former President argues that the decision to ban his social media account was coerced by the U.S Congress.
His social media accounts were banned by Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms following the Jan. 6 U.S Capitol protests by his supporters.
Following his loss in the U.S elections last year, Trump was very active on his social media properties, particularly Twitter, claiming that his loss was because of widespread fraud despite a lack of evidence.
Trump argued in the filing that Twitter let the Taliban regularly tweet updates about it taking control of Afghanistan