What A Day - Default Averted

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

President Biden signed the bipartisan debt ceiling bill into law, averting default and an economic crisis just days before the June 5th deadline posed to lawmakers. The final legislation – which passed swiftly through the House and Senate last week – suspends the nation’s debt limit until 2025.Nearly 300 people were killed and more than 800 others were injured in a train accident in Eastern India on Friday. While the government has launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, the mass casualties have renewed calls for authorities to take more action to ensure the country’s rail system is safer.And in headlines: A federal judge rejected Tennessee’s anti-drag law, California officials are looking into the arrival of more than a dozen migrants to Sacramento from Texas, and the Directors Guild of America has reached a “historic” deal with Hollywood studios.Show Notes:Crooked Media’s Friend of the Pod Discord – serverhttps://fotp.supercast.com/Tre'Vell Anderson at the MLK Memorial Library — https://dclibrary.libnet.info/event/8491650#branchWhat A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Monday, June 5th. I'm Traevel Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice, and this is What A Day, where we are totally not jealous of the fan who met Oscar Isaac while he was on FaceTime with Pedro Pascal over the weekend. I'm trying to think of which two celebrities I would want to meet in a double FaceTime. What do you got? Oprah and Beyonce or something like that. I knew you were going to say Oprah and Beyonce. I felt it in my soul.

On today's show, a federal judge ruled Tennessee's anti-drag law as unconstitutional. Plus, the Directors Guild of America has reached a deal with Hollywood Studios. But first, with just two days to spare, President Biden signed legislation over the weekend that lifts the country's debt ceiling and averts what would have been an unprecedented default on the federal government's debt. It was critical to reach an agreement. And it's very good news for the American people. No one got everything they wanted, but the American people got what they needed.

We averted an economic crisis, an economic collapse. We're cutting spending and bringing the deficits down at the same time. That was him over the weekend touting this deal as a show of unity and bipartisanship. But let us not forget what it took to get here and how the Republicans were basically holding an increase in the debt ceiling hostage. Yes, there was a lot of negotiation and debate on this deal. I would say Republicans were not playing particularly fair, it felt like to me. So can you talk a little bit about the highlights? Were there any highlights? Let's start there.

And the lowlights of which I know there were many. Tell us how things ended up in the end. Yeah, so the final agreement after a whole lot of back and forth, as you mentioned, it passed the House on Wednesday of last week and the Senate on Thursday. It suspends the debt limit until 2025, which is after the next presidential election. I think that's probably the biggest highlight, okay? That's my spoiler alert for where I'm about to go. And then the deal also restricts some government spending. So the debt limit is now at $31.4 trillion.

That's a good thing. That's a positive. Some of these highlights or lowlights or rather, Josie, you will have to make your decision on your own for them. Right. But I think a highlight is medical care for veterans, which will be funded at levels that Biden actually wanted. This includes a $20.3 billion fund for vets who've been exposed to toxic substances or environmental hazards. Okay, I'll take that. I just know bad is coming.

So I'm just prepping myself, you know. Well, a big old but is coming. Here's a low light. It rescinds almost $30 billion in unspent coronavirus relief money that Congress had previously approved for dozens of federal programs, including rental assistance, small business loans, and broadband for rural areas. Because, of course, Jos josie as you know the pandemic is over and so you know was there even a pandemic who knows three years of our life just you know right down the drain right as if it didn't happen in addition to that the deal also rescinds 1.4 billion dollars in funding that was supposed to be used by the irs to crack down on tax fraud

and the deal includes an agreement to take another $20 billion from the IRS over the next two years. That's a low light because, right, the IRS getting this funding was supposed to be a positive so that they would, you know, cut back on tax fraud, particularly for the most rich of among us. And so that's probably a low light there. If you have tried reaching the IRS in the past year, if you need to call them and you've tried calling them, it's truly impossible to get them on the phone. It takes months, not even an

exaggeration. And so I'm glad to know that it will even be harder for no reason. That is what it is looking like. That's great to hear for everybody. But here's a win for you, or at least I think Democrats would consider this a win. They got some new expanded benefits for veterans, as I mentioned,

as well as the unhoused population and young people aging out of foster care. And of course, the biggest low light for me, as I mentioned on Friday's show, is that the pause in student loan repayments will end in August. So now I have to stop ordering takeout as much. So not great for me. I probably should have been cooking at home anyway, but whatever. No, not good for anybody. But again, Josie, right? The global economy has

been saved, right? So I guess as citizens of the world, we have to take all of this as a net positive nonetheless. Look, I hear that and I think it's correct. However, I also think the idea that you can hold us hostage and then we have to be really happy that you didn't ruin the economy is a scam. Sounds right. Okay. In other news, a major tragedy out of India. On Friday, at least 288 people were killed and more than 800 were injured in a train accident in India. The accident involved three trains, two passenger trains and a goods train and occurred in Odisha state. It is the worst real accident in at least two decades. Wow, super tragic there. What exactly happened here that three trains collided?

How did that happen? We don't know all the details yet because it just happened. The government said they're launching a full investigation, but we just sort of know the beginnings. But what we do know is that a passenger train was traveling between Kolkata, which is formerly Calcutta, and Chennai, and derailed after hitting a goods train. And then after the derailment, many of the derailed train cars ended up on another track, and another passenger train collided with those. Preliminary reports say all of this was due to signal failure. And there were a few elements that made this crash particularly deadly. The

passenger trains were both traveling at about 125 miles per hour, which is considered full speed. The goods truck was carrying iron ore, which made the impact even worse given the weight of iron. The trains were packed full. There was even a wait list. They're usually packed full at this time of year with students traveling back home at the end of the year. And one of the passenger cars landed on top of another passenger car, which as you can imagine, exacerbated the casualties that much more. And apparently, survivors are trying to crawl out using the flashlight on their phones. Meanwhile, reports say the aftermath is just devastating. And one factor that made all of this even worse may have been the actual location of the incident. Apparently, the hospital that many injured are being taken to is three hours away from the accident site, which obviously reduces the ability of the injured to get immediate treatment, etc.

So it's just been a tragedy of, I mean, unbelievable proportions. Yeah. So you mentioned that the government is launching an investigation. What's going to happen next here? So the government has announced compensation for families of those injured or killed equivalent to about $6,000 for those killed and about $1,200 for those injured. I'm not sure that's much relief at the moment for the families of those suffering. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the site and has said that there will be consequences. He said, This incident is very serious for the government. Whoever is found guilty will be punished severely.

Meanwhile, railway workers are trying desperately to get the railroads back up and running. The railways minister has said they are hoping for a, quote, complete normal-like situation by Wednesday morning. But there is a bigger problem here. According to The New York Times, rail safety in India is safer than it's been at certain times in the past. But the amount spent on like track maintenance and other measures has been falling in the past couple of years. And there has been some concern about something like this happening, right? And really just longstanding questions about rail safety in a country that transports 8 billion people a year by train.

So this is just a major tragedy, devastating for the country. And we will continue to follow this story as there's more news, but that is the latest for now. We will be up with some headlines. Headlines. A federal judge blocked Tennessee's anti-drag law over the weekend, ruling it unconstitutional and too vague to be enforced. The first in the nation law would have banned drag shows on public property in the state and classified such performances as quote-unquote adult cabaret shows. And it would have charged offenders with a misdemeanor or a felony for a repeat offense. A Memphis LGBTQ plus theater company filed a lawsuit to stop the law from going into effect, saying it would hurt

their business because many of their shows include drag performances. And U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker sided with the company, saying that the law would encourage discriminatory enforcement. The decision is a huge win for LGBTQ Plus advocates nationwide and keeps the law from being enforced. It was originally set to go into effect in April. Love this. We've been talking about the impact of drag bans and so glad that a federal judge, even one appointed by Trump, is wise enough to recognize that this was not okay. Yeah, it's a big deal.

It's also just a sign that this law was so wild, a federal judge couldn't even figure out a way to uphold it. So that's the good news. Teachers in Temecula, California are set to hold rallies this week and next after a school board voted to ban an elementary social studies textbook and its accompanying curriculum over its mention of gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The vote came down during a heated board meeting that was open to the public last month, where audience members shouted at school officials as they debated the issue. And just before the vote, the board's president baselessly claimed that Milk was a pedophile. I really want to underscore baselessly, because there's just absolutely no truth to that. Two things of note

here. One, the textbook has already been used, vetted, and approved by dozens of Temecula teachers this past year, as well as the California Department of Education. And two, the textbook has already been used, vetted, and approved by dozens of Temecula teachers this past year, as well as the California Department of Education. And two, the book itself does not even mention milk. Wow. The reason that conservative board members are against the book is because milk is mentioned in the course's supplemental materials. Wow. The school board's decision could leave thousands of elementary schoolers without a social studies textbook in the coming school year. And it speaks to how widespread the effort to ban books on race, gender, and sexuality is,

extending even to Democratic-led states like California. This is a reminder to everybody who's maybe interested in running for office and is progressive, you may want to check out your local school board because crazy things are happening over there. Oh, yes. Everybody should stay vigilant, right?

Because it's not just happening in Republican-led states. It's not happening in the Democratic ones as well. It's better, apparently, for people to not even have a textbook than to have a textbook that mentions Harvey Milk and their supplemental materials. Absurd. Absurd. California officials are looking into the arrival of 16 South American migrants to Sacramento from Texas via a chartered plane Friday night.

According to California Governor Gavin Newsom, more than a dozen migrants were left on the doorstep of a local church without any advance notice and were first transported to New Mexico from Texas before arriving in California. He says his administration is investigating the circumstances of the trip, including if anyone was misled or if any criminal laws were violated, including kidnapping. California Attorney General Rob Bonta also met with the migrants and, in a statement Saturday, said that some of them had paperwork appearing to be from the state and Capitol will welcome the individuals who arrived Friday with open arms and will provide them with the, quote, respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience. Eddie Carmona, a campaign director with an organizing group that's been helping the migrants, told the Associated Press that the migrants arrived with only a backpack's worth of belongings each and were, quote, lied to and intentionally deceived.

The news comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have both bused and flown immigrants to Democratic cities around the country without advance notice in the past year. Jesus. And finally, as the writer's strike continues into its sixth week, the Directors Guild of America has reached a, quote, historic deal with Hollywood Studios on a new three-year contract. In a statement released late Saturday night, the negotiating committee said it reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP, that achieves, quote, major breakthroughs, including

increases in wages and streaming residuals, new safety regulations, including the ban of live and ammunition on set, and restrictions on the use of AI. Next, the tentative agreement will be submitted to the DGA board for approval at a special meeting happening tomorrow. The DGA's deal comes just days before SAG-AFTRA will begin new contract negotiations with the AMPTP. As for the Writers Guild of America, they've reaffirmed that their fight isn't over and in a letter to members last week said, quote, our position is clear to resolve the strike the companies will have to negotiate with the WGA on our full agenda. It's interesting to me that they can, you know, work out a deal with the directors. Yeah.

But not work out a deal, you know, with the writers. Yeah. That is very telling. It is extremely telling. It does feel like something could be happening here. And I'd like to encourage them to make that thing happen absolutely especially because the writer's strike is having a greater and greater impact i feel like on so many you know related industries not just the writers yeah and so totally the longer it goes on the greater that impact is um so they

need to get their butts back to negotiation table. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And do better. Restaurants, right, have been saying that they have like a lot less people coming in because of the writer's strike in the area. Like we're just seeing a kind of ripple effect really from the strike.

Yeah. So come on, guys. Get it together. Get it together. And those are the headlines. Two more things before we go. First, are you a ride-or-die member of the WOD squad?

Do you have thoughts or feedback on the stories we've covered, the segments we've done? Do you want proof that this pod is made by real humans and not chat GPT? Can confirm. If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are in luck. One of our real human producers, Raven Yamamoto, is doing a live AMA-style feedback session on Cricket's exclusive Discord server for Friends of the Pod subscribers.

You can find Raven in the What A Day channel tomorrow, June 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific time, where they will be answering your burning questions for the team. That brings you your favorite daily news podcast. And you can hang out with other WOD squatters while you're at it. That sounds cool. Love that. Yes, absolutely. Visit the link in our show notes to find out how to join Cricket's Friend of the Pod Discord server so you don't miss out. And number two, if you are in the Washington DC area, I will be there on Wednesday evening,

June 7th. For my book tour, I will be discussing We See Each Other, a Black trans journey through TV and film with Racine Pendarvis at the MLK Memorial Library at 7 p.m. We'll include a link in the show notes to RSVP. Come and celebrate pride with me. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, support your local drag queens, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just books about the incredible life and legacy of Harvey Milk, like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at

Cricut.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Trayvon Anderson. And get it together, Temecula. Remember Meet Me in Temecula? The Twitter situation? Were you there for that? No. There was a good Twitter incident years ago where someone said meet me in Temecula.

It's a huge fight. We should bring that person back. So you want to wage war in Temecula? I'm trying to wage war. That's all I'm trying to do. Apparently we got to. Apparently. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media.

It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producer is Itsy Quintanilla. And Raven Yamamoto is our associate producer. Jossie Kaufman is our head writer. And our senior producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. you