US Domestic News Roundup: Demonstrators block traffic in Miami area to support Cuban protesters; Biden nominates surgeon, author Atul Gawande to senior job at USAID and more

Gawande, author of four New York Times best-selling books and a professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, would serve as the assistant administrator of USAID's Bureau for Global Health, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate. U.S. Senate Democrats agree to $3.5 trln for budget reconciliation bill U.S. President Joe Biden's drive for big new infrastructure investment got a boost on Tuesday when leading Senate Democrats agreed on a $3.5 trillion investment plan they aim to include in a budget resolution to be debated soon, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Demonstrators block traffic in Miami area to support Cuban protesters

Demonstrators waving Cuban flags and calling for change on the Communist-run island blocked a major highway and staged other protests in the Miami area on Tuesday in support of the wave of demonstrations that rocked Cuba on Sunday. The Miami area has long been home to the largest Cuban exile community and a focal point for anti-Castro sentiment.

Biden nominates surgeon, author Atul Gawande to senior job at USAID

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday nominated writer, surgeon and public health expert Atul Gawande to lead global health development at the U.S. Agency for International Development, including for COVID-19, the White House said. Gawande, author of four New York Times best-selling books and a professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, would serve as the assistant administrator of USAID's Bureau for Global Health, if confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Senate Democrats agree to $3.5 trln for budget reconciliation bill

U.S. President Joe Biden's drive for big new infrastructure investment got a boost on Tuesday when leading Senate Democrats agreed on a $3.5 trillion investment plan they aim to include in a budget resolution to be debated soon, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "We have come to an agreement," Schumer told reporters after more than two hours of closed-door talks that included Senate Budget Committee Democrats and White House officials. Republicans have not been part of these negotiations.

U.S. State Department invites U.N. racism investigators to visit U.S.

The U.S. State Department has invited U.N. experts who investigate racism and minority issues to conduct an official visit to the United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday. "Responsible nations must not shrink from scrutiny of their human rights record; rather, they should acknowledge it with the intent to improve," Blinken said in a statement.

U.S. Senate democrats roll out draft bill to legalize weed

Three top U.S. Democratic senators on Wednesday unveiled a discussion draft of a bill that aims to make cannabis federally legal, a move that would allow adult Americans to buy and possess up to 10 ounces of marijuana without facing criminal penalties. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act floated by Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, Finance Chairman Ron Wyden and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, would expunge federal non-violent marijuana crimes, further medical research and allow cannabis companies access to essential financial services such as bank accounts and loans.

Biden decries Trump's 'Big Lie,' but offers no new path on voting rights

President Joe Biden, under pressure from U.S. civil rights leaders, on Tuesday called it a "national imperative" to pass sweeping voting rights legislation that has stalled in Congress, but he did not outline a path to overcome Republican opposition. Numerous Republican-controlled states have passed new voting restrictions this year, a push encouraged by Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump.

'Mom guilt': Texas Democrats face hurdles in flight to fight voter law

In a bid to thwart legislation she fears will make it harder to vote, Erin Zwiener left Texas with dozens of her fellow Democratic state lawmakers - and one young companion. "Every member is having to make different considerations to be here," Zwiener said. "For me, that meant bringing my three-year-old daughter with me, because we don't have very solid childcare arrangements at home."

Searchers find another Florida condo collapse victim, raising toll to 95

Searchers at a partially collapsed condominium near Miami found another victim, raising the number of confirmed deaths to 95 on Tuesday as heavy rain and the gruesome challenge of identifying human remains slowed the recovery effort, officials said. With 892 truckloads of concrete and debris totaling 18 million pounds (8.16 million kg) carted from the Surfside, Florida, site in past 20 days, the search focused on 14 people who were still missing, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

In setback to Trump ally, Pennsylvania county will not comply with vote probe

One of the three Pennsylvania counties asked to provide access to voting machines for a Republican lawmaker's probe of the 2020 election has decided it cannot comply due to a directive from the state's top election official, the county's solicitor told Reuters. Tioga County's three Republican commissioners met on Tuesday and determined that acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid was within her authority in directing counties not to allow third parties to access their election equipment, according to the solicitor, Chris Gabriel.

U.S. charges four with plot to kidnap New York journalist critical of Iran

U.S. prosecutors have charged four Iranians, alleged to be intelligence operatives for Tehran, with plotting to kidnap a New York journalist and human rights activist who was critical of Iran, according to a Justice Department indictment unsealed on Tuesday. In recent years, Iranian intelligence officers have tricked a number of overseas activists to travel to destinations where they were kidnapped and sent back to Iran, U.S. authorities said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)