Tag: U.S. economy

Economy faces grueling road to recovery from coronavirus

The Hill logoPresident Trump is pushing to loosen coronavirus restrictions to help revive a devastated economy, a move he hopes will lead to a quick recovery before Election Day.

The Trump administration this week rolled out guidelines for states to follow starting May 1, as some governors gradually allow businesses to reopen and scaled-down social gatherings to take place. The president also convened nearly a dozen advisory panels tasked with figuring out how to reboot every sector of the economy.

The widespread shutdown of businesses and social gatherings across the U.S. has been credited with slowing the spread of the deadly virus but at the cost of millions of jobs and likely thousands of businesses. As Trump nudges Americans out of isolation, he’s expressed confidence that the economy can swiftly return to its pre-pandemic strength. Continue reading.

Lawmakers express optimism about fourth coronavirus relief package

The Hill logoHouse Republicans expressed optimism Saturday that negotiators are honing in on a deal for a fourth coronavirus relief package. Multiple sources with knowledge of the talks told The Hill that a number of lawmakers expect to return to Washington as early next week in anticipation of movement on the legislation.

“They are close to a deal,” one GOP lawmaker said, adding that a vote as soon as Tuesday was not out of the realm of possibility.

While negotiators have struggled to strike a deal, one source familiar with the talks said they anticipate the agreement to include additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), funding for rural hospitals and additional testing. However, the source noted it all remains in flux.  Continue reading.

Why contact tracers are key to unlocking economy

The Hill logoA robust network of “contact tracers” is needed to control the spread of the coronavirus and eventually reopen the country, experts say, a massive undertaking for a public health system that has been understaffed and underfunded for decades.

State and local health departments are lobbying Congress for billions of dollars to hire at least 100,000 contact tracers — workers responsible for tracking down people who have been exposed to confirmed coronavirus cases and asking them to self-quarantine.

The goal is to break the chains of transmission within communities and prevent outbreaks before they happen, especially when a second wave of the virus hits in the fall.  Continue reading.

Coronavirus steals Trump economic edge

The Hill logoPresident Trump has the money, the bully pulpit and a firm grip on his party as he leans into his reelection race, but he no longer has what was long seen as the greatest strength of his presidency: a strong economy.

With less than 200 days to go before the election, Trump is now running as a president seeking to rebuild an economy that a little more than a month ago was riding along with historically low unemployment.

Since then, about 22 million people have filed unemployment claims, inviting comparisons to the Great Depression. Continue reading.

Kellyanne Conway lashes out at reporter for asking about diversity

AlterNet logoWhite House counselor Kellyanne Conway lashed out at CBS News correspondent Paula Reid after she was pressed to explain the evident lack of diversity on President Donald Trump’s recently announced “Opening Our Country Council.”

“Paula, I actually don’t know what’s happened to you,” Conway said in the tense exchange, which was captured by C-SPAN.

Referencing the long list of names rattled off by Trump at a Tuesday briefing, Reid first asked Conway to explain how the council would function. Continue reading.

Trump guidelines on reopening economy let governors make final decision

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Thursday evening unveiled guidance for a phased reopening of parts of the U.S. economy that leaves the final decisions up to governors.

The 18-page document, which was obtained earlier by The Hill and distributed to governors during a conference call Thursday afternoon, recommends that states see a downward trajectory in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases as well as flu-like symptoms before they move to lift stay-at-home orders and other restrictions meant to curb the spread of the virus.

It also recommends that states and regions see a decline in documented cases over a period of 14 days, ensure that hospitals can treat all patients without crisis care, and have a robust testing program in place including antibody tests for at-risk health care workers before moving to the phased reopening. Continue reading.

Pelosi warns of deadly risks if country reopens too soon

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday warned against reopening the country prematurely, saying the public health threat posed by the deadly coronavirus is a greater evil than the current economic hardship facing businesses and workers nationwide.

Speaking to reporters on a conference call, Pelosi roundly rejected the notion — one being promoted by a growing number of Republicans — that lifting social distancing restrictions for the sake of boosting the economy is worth the increased risk of spreading the coronavirus, even if it means more deaths.

The Speaker is calling for more widespread testing around the country, to gauge the regional prevalence of the deadly virus, before scaling back locally imposed prevention measures. Continue reading.

Trump’s coronavirus call with top Wall Street execs immediately devolved into ‘a bit of a disaster’: Politico reporter

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump on Wednesday held a call with top Wall Street executives and bankers to discuss reopening the economy. But according to Politico reporter Ben White, things did not go well.

“The whole thing was a bit of a disaster, the way they announced this on Tuesday,” White explained on MSNBC, “read a lot of corporate CEO names that had no idea they were a part of this effort to reopen the economy, didn’t give anybody really time to plan to be on these calls. Among the Wall Street executives, a lot of them had earnings yesterday and couldn’t be on the call. One JP Morgan executive tried for 20 minutes to get in and couldn’t.”

“What they’re telling the president is, yes, of course we want the economy reopened. We want businesses to start up again,” he continued. “But we cannot do that, our employees will not feel safe until the testing regime is much more widespread, until people don’t feel like they’re going out to be guinea pigs to get the virus. There’s simply no way to do it that way. Make people feel safe. Make business owners feel like demand is going to be there and then you can start to reopen. So the whole thing was slap dash in the way it was set up, and slap dash in the way it was executed and I think Trump heard a lot of things maybe he didn’t want to hear.” Continue reading.

Congressional task force to advise White House on post-pandemic economy has wide swath of party rosters

Group includes members of leadership in both chambers

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has joined a task force to provide counsel to President Donald Trump and the White House on when to loosen public health restrictions and how to get the economy moving after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump and some of his allies have pushed for a faster lifting of restrictions, stressing that the economic ramifications of job losses and business closures could be worse than the loss of lives from the coronavirus. Public health officials have urged a more gradual approach to loosening social distancing guidelines and sending people back to work, school and daily life. They see a dramatic expansion of testing for the virus as a prerequisite to reopening businesses.

“My highest priority on this task force will be to ensure the federal government’s efforts to reopen our economy are bipartisan, data-driven, and based on the expertise of public health professionals,” Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said in a statement. Continue reading.

Trump denied he wanted his name on stimulus checks. Here’s how it happened.

Washington Post logoWhen President Trump publicly denied on April 3 that he wanted his signature on stimulus checks that would be sent to millions of Americans struggling amid a pandemic, officials in the Treasury Department were already secretly working on a plan to get the president’s name on the payments.

Trump, who was reportedly musing about placing his signature on the checks as early as late March, defended the unprecedented move Wednesday.

“I don’t know too much about it. But I understand my name is there,” Trump said. “I don’t know where they’re going, how they’re going. I do understand it’s not delaying anything, and I’m satisfied with that. I don’t imagine it’s a big deal. I’m sure people will be very happy to get a big, fat, beautiful check and my name is on it.” Continue reading.