We have a spending deal. Here's what's in it.

1. We've got a spending deal

Elizabeth Warren is not fond of this spending deal. (Steve Pope / Getty Images)

• Congressional negotiators have reached a deal to fund the federal government through September (except the Department of Homeland Security, because immigration politics).

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• You can read the full bill here.

  [Scribd]

• Support for the spending deal was lukewarm at best among House Democrats …

  [Roll Call / Emma Dumain]

• … and several House Republicans are already pledging to oppose it.

  [Roll Call / Emma Dumain]

• The deal will cancel the votes of the thousands of DC voters who backed marijuana legalization last month.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• But it'll also stop the DEA from cracking down on medical marijuana dispensaries in states where that's legal.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• The deal also dramatically loosens limits on donations to political parties.

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• That might not be a bad policy, though.

  [Bloomberg View / Jonathan Bernstein]

• There's a pretty remarkable provision giving Blue Cross Blue Shield a break on a key Obamacare rule.

  [National Review / Yuval Levin]

• Funds for crime victims are nearly quadrupled in the bill.

  [The Crime Report]

• The deal repeals part of Dodd-Frank meant to prevent banks from making risky investments with federally-insured money. Here's why it's important.

  [Roosevelt Institute / Mike Konczal]

• That provision led Elizabeth Warren to come out strongly against the spending deal.

  [Politico / Seung Min Kim]

• There are a whole bunch of other random riders too, including ones delaying rules on whole grains and sodium in school lunches and blocking trucker-sleep regulations.

  [AP]

2. CIA blowback continues

Former Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden, who oversaw the torture program. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

• President Obama is trying not to take a position on the newly released Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture.

  [NYT / Peter Baker]

• The US closed its detention center at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, handing over its last prisoner, who was tortured, to the Afghan government.

  [NBC News / Jim Miklaszewski and M. Alex Johnson]

• The Senate report makes it a lot harder for the International Criminal Court to not look into American war crimes.

  [Washington Post / Mark Kersten]

• Other countries could indict torturers too, under the principle of "universal jurisdiction" that led to Pinochet's arrest.

  [Bloomberg View / Eli Lake and Josh Rogin]

• The former Polish president and prime minister confirmed they let the CIA torture people at a black site in Poland.

  [LA Times / Carol Williams]

• Fred Kaplan: Bush and Cheney probably knew more about the torture regime than the Senate report lets on.

  [Slate / Fred Kaplan]

• The participation of medical professionals in the torture program is a pretty severe violation of professional ethics.

  [Atul Gawande via Jason Kottke]

• A publisher in Brooklyn is printing the torture report as a physical book.

  [NYT / Alexandra Alter]

3. Filibuster agonistes

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) at a Capitol Hill press conference on May 19, 2005; at that point, he was trying to lay the groundwork for the nuclear option, as the "Fair Up or Down Vote" sign indicates. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

• Republicans in the Senate are considering whether to keep Democrats' changes to the filibuster rule.

  [CBS News / Stephanie Condon]

• Lindsay Graham and John McCain want to restore a 60-vote threshold for nominations.

  [Roll Call / Humberto Sanchez]

• Ted Cruz, Orrin Hatch, John Thune, and Chuck Grassley want to keep the change.

  [Salon / Jim Newell]

• Lamar Alexander wants to ditch the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations too

  [Politico / Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim]

• Mitch McConnell has given mixed signals about his opinions on the issue.

  [Vox / Dylan Matthews]

• Of course, if McConell wanted to stop dabbling in half measures, he could just abolish the entire filibuster.

  [Vox / Dylan Matthews]

4. Misc.

• Are lab-designed babies and animals reprehensible, or a moral necessity?

  [Slate / Christine Rosen]

• Most immigration reform proposals get rid of the visa lottery. They shouldn't.

  [Businessweek / Allison Schranger]

• JSTOR denies people access to academic research 150 million times a year.

  [Chronicle of Higher Education / Jennifer Howard]

• What it's like to be a 58-year-old virgin.

  [NY Mag / Alexa Tsoulis-Reay]

• Michel Foucault's mainly influential on the Left, but late in life he took a strong libertarian turn.

  [Jacobin / Daniel Zamora]

5. Verbatim

• "The endless mythology around Santa and the endless fights over popular toys all revolve around bringing Christmas cheer to another generation of tiny humans who have yet to realize that everything is a lie."

  [Vox / Kelsey McKinney]

• "Sen. Rob Portman’s communications director is the antichrist."

  [Washington Post / Ben Terris]

• "She envied the cat as only a woman who was never left alone could."

  [The Toast / Mallory Ortberg]

• "In other words, the CIA is lying."

  [Sen. Mark Udall via The Guardian / Spencer Ackerman]

• "Behind each dull post — 'fair condition' and 'Please call, text, or e-mail' and 'pretty sturdy' — there is a history: a story of a this-will-do coffee table at a what-to-do time in life."

  [Washington Post / Jessica Contrera]

• "Not everybody who uses TweetDeck and is up on True Detective has perfect thoughts on race, either."

  [Freddie deBoer]

• "Well, if it upsets you this much to lose money, then maybe you shouldn't be illegally gambling."

  [NY Mag / Julieanne Smolinski]

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via