Tag: pandemic

The Senate Stimulus Proposal in Response to Coronavirus Fails to Meet the Moment

Center for American Progress logoAs they work to pass a bill to address the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19—and the efforts to contain it—Congress and the White House must achieve two urgent tasks. The first is to provide the tools necessary to get the public health crisis under control. The second is to offer economic relief to workers, families, small businesses, and others. Millions are facing a sudden and, in some cases, complete drop in their income as a result of the measures states, cities, and the country as a whole have taken in service of the public health response.

The Senate Republican bill fails to meet this moment. It is ambitious in providing bailouts to large corporations but does nothing to protect workers at the firms being rescued. It hands out corporate tax cuts from wish lists crafted long before this crisis began. In fact, the bill includes provisions that effectively deepen the corporate tax breaks that were provided in the 2017 law signed by President Trump—even providing some retroactive tax cuts that are essentially unrelated to the crisis at hand.

But the bill falls far short in addressing the immediate and acute pain that is being felt by many of the workers, families, and communities being hit hardest by the COVID-19 virus. It entirely ignores the means we have at the ready to directly support workers who have been laid off or seen their income drop to zero. It neglects families who are struggling to get food on the table in an uncertain time. And it fails communities that are being stretched to the brink to address health and economic crises simultaneously. Where it does provide relief to families and individuals in need, it provides too little, and cruelly leaves out or provides less to those who are likely to face the greatest strain. Continue reading.

The danger of a second wave

Washington Post logoHOW LONG will the coronavirus pandemic last? No one knows, but almost surely longer than a few weeks. Even if the initial response saves the health-care system from disaster, there is a strong possibility of a second or third wave. Serious planning ought to be underway now about how to cope.

A true endpoint will come when a vaccine or therapy is discovered, tested, manufactured and distributed widely enough to protect a large share of the population, in addition to the point when sufficient people have recovered from sickness to possess natural immunity against a reinfection. But a vaccine could be a year to 18 months away, at least; and President Trump’s optimism at a news conference Thursday notwithstanding, antiviral drugs are hard to develop, even on a crash basis.

In the meantime, the goal must be to “flatten the curve,” or suppress the extent of infection enough to avoid massive overload on hospitals, as already happened in Italy. This might take two or three months, judging by China’s experience. That brings us to summer. If heat and humidity don’t impede the virus, what then? A study published this week by the Imperial College London, based on modeling, warned that if the first suppression measures are relaxed too soon or for too long, “we predict that transmission will quickly rebound.” Hopefully, some people who were sick will recover with natural immunity. But a large chunk of the population will remain as vulnerable in August as they are today. Continue reading.

To Respond to the Coronavirus, Trump Should Take 6 Immediate Steps on the Defense Production Act

Center for American Progress logoThis week, President Donald Trump announced that he was invoking the Defense Production Act (DPA) to leverage domestic private industry to generate much-needed medical equipment and supplies that are essential to an effective national COVID-19 response. Unfortunately, he walked it back on Twitter fewer than 24 hours later. Trump is now emphasizing that states need to figure out how to find these supplies on their own. This is a mistake. The Trump administration needs to implement the DPA immediately to avoid the worst-case scenario of massive shortages of critical medical supplies across the country.

Below are six steps that President Trump should be taking now on the DPA:

  1. Stand up a management structure for effective and efficient DPA implementation. This structure will need to bring together state, federal, and other authorities involved in dealing with the coronavirus crisis to ensure that the movement and distribution of needed supplies and equipment can be expedited to those areas most in need. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Response Coordination Center (NRCC), which has representatives from all federal departments and agencies, should take the lead, working in close coordination with the Defense Logistics Agency on logistics and national distribution. Continue reading.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler Dumped Millions in Stock After Coronavirus Briefing

Sen. Kelly Loeffler is the second senator who has gotten rid of their holdings right as the stock market went bad.

The Senate’s newest member sold off seven figures’ worth of stock holdings in the days and weeks after a private, all-senators meeting on the novel coronavirus that subsequently hammered U.S. equities.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) reported the first sale of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24, the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on the coronavirus.

“Appreciate today’s briefing from the President’s top health officials on the novel coronavirus outbreak,” she tweeted about the briefing at the time. Continue reading.

U.S. markets wrap up worst week since the 2008 financial crisis

Washington Post logoU.S. markets wrapped up one of their messiest-ever weeks Friday, recording their worst finish since the 2008 financial crisis. The Standard & Poor’s 500 tumbled 15 percent from where it began Monday, with stocks wrenched all week in hourly spasms as investors tried to fathom where the coronavirus will eventually leave the U.S. economy.

The craziness ran right up to the closing bell, with the S&P and the Dow Jones industrial average plunging more than 3 percent minutes after the World Health Organization warned that global health systems were “collapsing” under the strain of the pandemic.

Wall Street’s meltdown over the past month has erased all of the stock market gains since President Trump entered the White House. On Feb. 12, the Dow peaked at 29,551.42 — a 49 percent jump from its close on Trump’s Inauguration Day in January 2017. But within a span of weeks it has lost a third of its value as the coronavirus crisis has played out. On Friday, it lost an additional 913.21 points, roughly 4.6 percent, to close at 19,173.98. Continue reading.  Free article.

Tax filing deadline moved to July 15 amid coronavirus outbreak

Axios logoTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced Friday that the IRS’ tax filing deadline was extended three months to July 15 amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The big picture: Mnuchin already announced earlier this week that the government would defer up to $300 billion in tax payments for three months. That move allowed individuals to defer up to $1 million and corporations to defer up to $10 million — interest-free and penalty-free. View the post here.

Trump triggers Defense Production Act in coronavirus fight

The Hill logoPresident Trump said Friday he will trigger emergency war powers to accelerate the production of medical supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump told Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a phone call on Friday morning that he would use the Defense Production Act, according to Schumer’s office.  

Trump at a news conference after the Schumer call said he has put the act “into gear,” but it’s not yet clear to what extent the White House is using the law to access more supplies. Continue reading.

‘At War With No Ammo’: Doctors Say Shortage of Protective Gear Is Dire

New York Times logoThe lack of proper masks, gowns and eye gear is imperiling the ability of medical workers to fight the coronavirus — and putting their own lives at risk.

The Open Cities Community Health Center in St. Paul, Minn., is considering shutting down because it doesn’t have enough face masks. Doctors at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis are performing invasive procedures on coronavirus patients with loose fitting surgical masks rather than the tight respirator masks recommended by health agencies. At a Los Angeles emergency room, doctors were given a box of expired masks, and when they tried to put them on, the elastic bands snapped.

With coronavirus cases soaring, doctors, nurses and other front-line medical workers across the United States are confronting a dire shortage of masks, surgical gowns and eye gear to protect them from the virus.

In interviews, doctors said they were increasingly anxious, fearing they could expose not only themselves to the virus, but their families and others. Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips: NEW-COVID-19 Emergency Support Available to Minnesotans

Dear Neighbors,

This week, I joined our entire Congressional Delegation in petitioning the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide assistance to Minnesota businesses following significant economic impacts from the coronavirus (COVD-19) pandemic.

I’m reaching out to let you know that Minnesota small businesses are now eligible for the SBA Economic Injury Loan Program and can apply by clicking here. 

In Minnesota, small businesses are the economic engines of our communitites – and even if you don’t own one yourself, chances are you or someone you love depends on the goods, services, or employment that a small business provides. Please share this information with the small businesses in your neighborhood and continue to support one another in these uncertain times. Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips: NEW-COVID-19 Emergency Support Available to Minnesotans”