Lawmakers late on Sunday released a long-awaited $900 billion coronavirus relief bill that is expected to be passed by Congress on Monday and signed into law by President Trump.
The relief package will be combined with a $1.4 trillion measure to fund federal agencies through the end of September and a package extending expiring tax provisions.
Both Democrats and Republicans touted various aspects of the relief package, though Democrats wanted a significantly larger bill. Continue reading.
Getting vaccinated for COVID-19 won’t provide immunity from the public health directives to wear a cloth face mask in public.
“We are going to be in this mask phase well into 2021,” predicted Dr. Anthony Harris, associate medical director at occupational health firm WorkCare. “It won’t be until fall of next year that you’ll begin to see masks not being a part of our normal day-to-day, at the earliest.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized two COVID-19 vaccines so far, including Moderna’s vaccine, which got a green light Friday. Randomized clinical trials involving more than 70,000 people documented 94 to 95% fewer cases of COVID in adults who got vaccinated vs. those who received a placebo. Continue reading.
President Trump has long seized on the tax break as a way to revive the restaurant industry. But economists have panned it as ineffective and largely benefiting the wealthy.
The draft language of the emergency coronavirus relief package includes a tax break for corporate meal expenses pushed by the White House and strongly denounced by some congressional Democrats, according to a summary of the deal circulating among congressional officials and officials who are familiar with the provision.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a proposal that had not yet been publicly released.
President Trump has for months talked about securing the deduction — derisively referred to as the “three-martini lunch” by critics — as a way to revive the restaurant industry badly battered by the pandemic. Continue reading.
These include police and firefighters, teachers, day-care staff, grocery store workers and prison guards
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Grocery store employees, teachers, emergency workers and other people on the front lines of America’s workforce should be next to get the coronavirusvaccine, along with adults ages 75 and older, a federal advisory panel said Sunday.
The recommendations, which came two days after regulators authorized a second coronavirus vaccine, will guide state authorities in deciding who should have priority to receive limited doses of shots made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. More than 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been distributed, and 556,208 of those shots were given as of 2 p.m. Sunday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The groups designated Sunday include about 49 million people, some of whom could begin getting shots early in the new year. The priorities represent a compromise between the desire to shield people most likely to catch and transmit the virus, because they cannot socially distance or work from home, and the effort to protect people who are most prone to serious complications and death. Continue reading.
Congressional leaders on Sunday reached a mammoth deal to fund the government and provide long-sought coronavirus relief as lawmakers race to wrap up their work for the year.
The deal will tie a $1.4 trillion bill to fund the government until Oct. 1 to roughly $900 billion in coronavirus aid. In order to give Congress time to process and pass the agreement, the House and Senate passed a one-day stopgap bill on Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced the deal from the Senate floor on early Sunday evening. Continue reading.
The coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath could transform the landscape for U.S. businesses.
With a larger remote workforce, expanded delivery options and lingering health fears likely to last long after the pandemic is under control, business owners and entrepreneurs are asking tough questions and bracing for an uncertain future.
Businesses that pay richly for offices and storefronts in bustling downtowns are reconsidering whether high rents and tight crowds still make sense. A national wipeout of small businesses may leave plenty of vacated real estate for major companies to fill. And shortfalls in federal aid for struggling businesses could deepen the economic damage to be repaired when the pandemic subsides. Continue reading.
Rep. Phillips calls for more aid for firefighters, police, first responders and state and local governments ahead of a long winter
WASHINGTON, DC. – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) praised the passage of a bipartisan emergency relief package to help American families and small businesses struggling during the most devastating public health emergency in modern American history.
Last week, Phillips and Problem Solvers Caucus (PSC) members from the House of Representatives joined a bipartisan group of Senators – including Mitt Romney (R-UT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) – to release a framework for the compromise passed today. This is the culmination of months of work, led by the PSC Co-Chairs, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Tom Reed (R-NY), along with Reps. Dean Phillips and Dusty Johnson (R-SD), who released a “March to Common Ground” framework in September and have pushed leaders from both parties to cast partisan politics aside and come together for the American people.
Continue reading “Phillips, Problem Solvers Lead Break-Through Compromise to Deliver Needed Aid to American Families and Small Businesses”Public health authorities and social media companies are scrambling to battle coronavirus misinformation as they try to ensure that enough Americans get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Health experts say at least 70 percent of the country needs to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity and completely crush the outbreak that has killed more than 300,000 Americans.
National polls show an increasing number of Americans are willing to get a coronavirus vaccine, but that some populations, particularly Black and Latino people, are reticent. Continue reading.
Four people so far have had allergic reactions after getting the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Experts say that shouldn’t deter most people from getting a jab.
Allergic reactions reported in two health workers who received a dose of Pfizer’s vaccine in Alaska this week have reignited concerns that people with a history of extreme immune flare-ups might not be good candidates for the newly cleared shots.
The two incidents follow another pair of cases in Britain. Three of the four were severe enough to qualify as anaphylaxis, a severe and potentially life-threatening reaction. But all four people appear to have recovered.
Health officials on both sides of the pond are vigilantly monitoring vaccinated people to see if more cases emerge. Last week, British drug regulators recommended against the use of Pfizer’s vaccine in people who have previously had anaphylactic reactions to food, medicines or vaccines. Continue reading.
