A $2.2 trillion relief package for the U.S. economy — the biggest in history — probably won’t be enough.“By any measure, this is a huge stimulus package. One thing that it cannot stop is the recession that is coming,” said James McCann, senior global economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments. Continue reading.
A group of Republican senators has struck a deal with leaders to allow the $2 trillion economic relief package to pass the Senate on Wednesday evening.
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) have agreed to drop procedural objections and let the bill move on a fast track in exchange for a vote on an amendment to the package to cap beefed-up unemployment benefits at 100 percent of workers’ salaries.
Their amendment will need 60 votes to pass, and it’s expected to fail, setting the stage for final passage of the mammoth coronavirus stimulus package later Wednesday evening. Continue reading.
Inside McConnell, Schumer and Mnuchin’s race to rescue the economy.It was going to cost $1 trillion.
Late on March 16, five days after the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic, Larry Kudlow — the one-time cable news talker turned top economic advisor to President Donald Trump — was in the Senate’s historic Mansfield room, telling a group of senior GOP senators something they didn’t want to hear.
The U.S. economy was going to need a lot of help — and fast. Americans faced dire consequences if Congress didn’t act quickly, warned Kudlow, alongside Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, acting Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and White House Legislative Affairs Director Eric Ueland. The senators were stunned and dismayed. Continue reading.
Direct payments to Americans are a key component of the historic $2 trillion coronavirus relief deal announced Wednesday.
The one-time payments are designed to help cover expenses for people experiencing financial setbacks due to the pandemic and the government’s efforts to prevent its spread.
“Struggling Americans are going to go to their mailboxes and find four-figure checks to help with their bills,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday.
Here are five questions and answers about the relief checks. Continue reading.
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – This afternoon, the Minnesota Legislature enacted a package of legislation to assist Minnesotans coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions. However, Senate Republican leaders chose to block efforts that would protect hourly workers’ pay in K-12 schools, and various other K-12 education measures to keep Minnesota’s education system intact, and the state’s teachers and students whole.
House K-12 Education Finance Committee Chair Jim Davnie (DFL-Minneapolis) released the following statement:
“I’m disappointed with the absence of any policy or finance provisions on K-12 education in today’s COVID-19 response bill. In the Minnesota House we worked on a bipartisan basis to develop a proposal that anticipated the needs of schools, staff, students, and families for a clear path in confusing times. Multiple attempts over the past week to engage the Senate GOP in a productive exchange were met with silence.
School staff and their families deserve to know if they are going to be paid during this distance learning period. Schools need to know if they are going to receive the anticipated revenues they need to pay those staff. High school seniors need to know if they are going to be allowed to graduate and younger students if they are going to progress to the next grade. Teachers and administrators need to know if they are going to be able to renew their licenses and everyone needs to know if state testing is on for this year or not.
A public health crisis is not a time for silence. The people of Minnesota expect action right now from their elected leaders. The GOP Senate failed Minnesota schools, staff, students, and families through their inaction today.”
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March 26, 2020  Below is an update on the COVID-19 pandemic as it pertains to Minnesota as of 5:30 PM on 3/26/2020. Updates from the Governor
Governor Tim Walz today joined leaders from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), Department of Employment and Economic Development, Department of Education, and the State Emergency Operations Center to answer questions from the press on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor shared details on his package of bipartisan COVID-19 proposals, which he worked on with the Legislature to ensure Minnesotans have the support and the right resources to combat the pandemic. The legislation:
The Governor also announced efforts coming out of his Children’s Cabinet to drive resources to child care providers, who are critical for our state’s emergency response. Today, six Minnesota Initiative Foundations launched an Emergency Child Care Grant Program to provide financial support to licensed child care providers in Greater Minnesota, serving families needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. They join Think Small, who stepped up last week to issue grants to family child care programs in the metro area serving families of emergency workers. |
Continue reading “Gov. Walz COVID-19 Update: March 26, 2020”
Well, it is ingrained in the state psyche.Minnesota is among the best states in the country at social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak.
That’s according to new data provided by Unacast, which has graded each state and county based upon their cellphone movements – Minnesota gets an “A” grade.
Since the outbreak began, Minnesotans have decreased their distance traveled by 45.66 percent, after state leaders called on residents to stay home when possible to slow the spread of the virus. Continue reading.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the past 36 years, is a widely respected immunologist and major public face of the Trump administration’s response to COVID-19. Despite his credibility established over decades as a public health official, right-wing media have begun to launch attacks against “Dr. Doom Fauci,” blaming the medical expert for allegedly harming the economy and undermining President Donald Trump. The New York Times reported that Trump is “losing his patience” with Fauci.
Despite lacking the platform of someone like Fox host Sean Hannity, fringe right-wing media figures and outlets — one of which formerly had a White House correspondent in the briefing room just to troll journalists — can still reach and influence the thinking of Trump, who is exposed to a wide range of ridiculous lies online.
Pro-Trump podcaster Bill Mitchell: Continue reading.
Writing in The Bulwark this Wednesday, Tim Miller chronicled how President Trump “downplayed the threat of and ignored warnings” of the burgeoning threat of coronavirus in the early days of the outbreak. Despite the documented evidence of the White House initially attempting to minimize the threat, the Trump administration is trying to establish an “alternate reality” that paints Trump as a competent leader who was ahead of the situation.
“On March 18 the Trump campaign put out a list of actions the U.S. government took to prepare for COVID-19. They meant this as exculpation; instead, it highlights just how asleep Trump was at the switch, despite warnings from experts within his own government and from former Trump administration officials pleading with him from the outside,” Miller writes. “Most prominent among them were former Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb, and Director for Medical and Biodefense Preparedness at the National Security Council Dr. Luciana Borio who beginning in early January used op-eds, television appearances, social media posts, and private entreaties to try to spur the administration into action.”
Speaking to Miller, Borio described the steps the Trump administration should have taken in January to get ahead of the outbreak — steps that include tech solutions for “tracing that protects civil liberties.” Continue reading.
— New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), at a news conference, March 24
As covid-19 cases continue to rise in the United States, some officials say President Trump is dropping the ball by not using the strongest powers he has under the Defense Production Act of 1950.
The law was enacted after the Korean War to ensure that the United States has enough supplies for its defense. Today, the underlying issue is a shortage of ventilators for patients and protective equipment for health-care professionals on the front lines. Ventilators can save lives because they allow patients to breathe when they cannot do so on their own. Continue reading.
