Voting rights voted down

Democrats’ voting rights bill is set to fail a test vote; Iran’s new hardliner president speaks out. Tonight's Sentences was written by Gabby Birenbaum. TOP NEWS Republicans will vote down the For the People Act [Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)]( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images - Democrats’ For the People Act, a comprehensive voting rights bill that would expand voting accessibility and curb gerrymandering, is expected to fail this afternoon when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer brings up a motion to begin debate on it, due to a lack of support from any Senate Republicans. [[CNN / Ted Barrett](] - Democratic leadership wants the party to be united on the legislation to highlight Republican opposition. Manchin has his own set of compromise proposals that he says he needs in order to pledge his support — though the GOP has rejected those as well. [[The Hill / Jordain Carney](] - On Tuesday afternoon, Schumer announced he had struck a deal with Manchin to try to advance the For the People Act and offer amendments to it. [[Twitter / Igor Bobic](] - But the vote is essentially a messaging battle: Progressives hope the episode underscores the need for filibuster reform, while moderates who have issues with the bill want the vote to signal that Democrats are trying to achieve the base’s priorities. [[Vox / Andrew Prokop](] - Moving forward, any Democratic election reform legislation can clearly only be achieved through removing the obstacle of the filibuster. [[CNBC / Jacob Pramuk](] - But that seems unlikely given an op-ed from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) in the Washington Post, who made clear that despite her support for the legislation, she does not believe in overturning the filibuster. [[The Washington Post / Kyrsten Sinema](] - The entire saga has upset progressive groups and voting rights activists, who have protested the lack of airtime President Joe Biden has given the issue and fear that a failure to advance legislation has grave consequences for democracy, as state-level Republicans continue to pass restricting voting bills. [[The Hill / Hanna Trudo](]  [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Raisi rejects Iran deal expansion - Iran’s president-elect Ebrahim Raisi, a conservative hardliner closely aligned with the Ayatollah, said he was unwilling to negotiate a broader deal with the US on Iran’s missile capabilities in his first press conference. [[The New York Times / Farnaz Fassihi, Isabella Kwai, and Ben Hubbard](] - The US and Iran are currently engaging in indirect negotiations in Vienna, Austria over the US potentially rejoining the 2015 nuclear deal, which former President Trump unilaterally left, that saw the US and its allies lift economic sanctions in exchange for Iran ending its uranium enrichment program. [[CNN / Tamara Qiblawi, Frederik Pleitgen, Claudia Otto, Ramin Mostaghim, and Lauren Said-Moorhouse](] - But Raisi said he will neither meet with Biden nor expand the boundaries of the deal, calling Iran’s ballistic missile program “nonnegotiable.” [[BBC News](] - Raisi also expressed a desire to improve Iran’s relationships with its regional neighbors, including potential for diplomacy with Saudi Arabia, though he demanded Saudi Arabia end its involvement in the war in Yemen. [[The Jerusalem Post / Seth J. Frantzman](] - Raisi will take office on August 8, giving an incentive to both the Biden administration and the Iranian negotiators to strike a deal before that date. [[The Atlantic / Karim Sadjadpour](] MISCELLANEOUS New Yorkers are engaging in ranked-choice voting for the first time in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. [[Politico / Erin Durkin and David Giambusso](] - The Las Vegas Raiders’ Carl Nassib has become the first openly gay active NFL player. [[ESPN / Paul Gutierrez](] - President Joe Biden’s original goal of having 70 percent of American adults vaccinated by July 4 likely will not be met. [[The Washington Post / Dan Diamond](] - NASA launched 128 baby Hawaiian squid into space in order to understand how spaceflight affects them in the hopes of better planning for potential health problems that astronauts may face. [[The Honolulu Star-Advertiser / Allison Schaefers](] Support our journalism Reader contributions help keep Vox and newsletters like Sentences free for all. Support our work from as little as $3. [Contribute]( VERBATIM “The Senate is only an obstacle when the policy is flawed and the process is rotten. And that's exactly why this body exists. Today the Senate's going to fulfill our founding purpose, stop the partisan power grab and reject S. 1." [[Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on Republicans’ use of the filibuster to halt the For the People Act](] LISTEN TO THIS [The Cost of Convenience]( Restaurant delivery apps have made it possible for many of us to order pretty much anything we want to eat with the click of a button. And during the pandemic that convenience became even more valuable. But at what cost? 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