British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “joked” on a Monday night conference call with manufacturers, who have been urged to join a national effort for the impending coronivirus crisis, that the emergency project to build more life-saving ventilators could be known as “Operation Last Gasp,” Politico reports.
House Democrats Scale Back Paid-Leave Program
“The Democratic-led House scaled back a paid-leave program that the chamber had tried to enact days earlier, following pressure from businesses worried about financial burdens from the sweeping bill in response to the coronavirus crisis,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“In revised legislation that Democratic leaders billed as a technical correction, but represented a significant rewrite, the House modified a program aimed at providing paid leave to people affected by the coronavirus. The new measure would still provide two weeks of sick leave to a wide swath of workers affected by the pandemic, including those who are in quarantine, caring for family members with Covid-19, and those who have children whose schools or day-care centers have closed.”
GOP Impeachment Votes Were Shortsighted
Michael Gerson: “Every time Vice President Pence appears for a coronavirus briefing, it is a reminder what the votes of just 20 Republican senators for impeachment might have accomplished for the republic.”
“Pence is no Franklin D. Roosevelt, but neither is he an obviously outmatched leader like his boss. The vice president is a sycophant but not an incompetent. He possesses the type of qualities one might find in an effective governor facing a hurricane. President Trump possesses the qualities one might expect in a shady businessman trying to shift responsibility for bad debt and mismanagement — which was the main leadership qualification on his pre-presidential résumé.”
“Never has the phrase ‘President Pence’ had a better ring to it. Never have Republican votes against impeachment seemed more shortsighted and damaging to the country.”
Trump Seeks $850 Billion In Emergency Stimulus
“The Trump administration is asking Congress to approve a massive economic stimulus package of around $850 billion to stanch the economic free-fall caused by the coronavirus,” the Washington Post reports.
“Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will present details to Senate Republicans later Tuesday. The package would be mostly devoted to flooding the economy with cash, through a payroll tax cut or other mechanism, with some $50 billion directed specifically to helping the airline industry.”
“The $850 billion package would come in addition to another roughly $100 billion package that aims to provide paid sick leave for impacted workers, though the details of that legislation remain very fluid as it moves through Congress.”
Playbook: “Sometimes — and it’s not often — members of Congress decide to go big and move quickly with a breakneck speed that’s hard to fathom. That may be happening right now with the Phase Three stimulus.”
A New Kind of Crisis
“The coronavirus pandemic is a disaster with no modern parallels, with no escape and no safe harbor. This may be the most sustained period of widespread public pain since World War II,” Axios reports.
“Even the worst catastrophes we’ve experienced — from natural disasters to terrorist attacks — have happened in one place, at one time. But global reach of the coronavirus, and the societal and economic shutdowns it’s triggering, will touch everyone, everywhere, for a long time.”
Why the Economy Is in Great Danger
Neil Irwin: “That relationship, between spending and income, consumption and production, is at the core of how a capitalist economy works. It is the basis of a perpetual motion machine. We buy the things we want and need, and in exchange give money to the people who produced those things, who in turn use that money to buy the things they want and need, and so on, forever.”
“What is so deeply worrying about the potential economic ripple effects of the virus is that it requires this perpetual motion machine to come to a near-complete stop across large chunks of the economy, for an indeterminate period of time.”
“No modern economy has experienced anything quite like this. We simply don’t know how the economic machine will respond to the damage that is starting to occur, nor how hard or easy it will be to turn it back on again.”
Axios: “Economists have removed their rose-colored glasses in recent weeks and are beginning to price in scenarios for the world that are as bad or much worse than the global financial crisis.”
Why Trump Abruptly Changed Tone on Pandemic
Associated Press: “The shift was informed in part by a growing realization within the West Wing that the coronavirus crisis is an existential threat to Trump’s presidency, endangering his reelection and his legacy.”
“Trump has told advisers that he now believes the virus will be a significant general election issue and he took note of the clear-eyed, somber tone used by his likely general election foe, Joe Biden, in Sunday’s Democratic debate.”
Trump Bragged About Cutting Pandemic Team In 2018
A video has emerged of Donald Trump talking about cutting the US pandemic response team in 2018 – days after claiming that he knew nothing about the disbanded White House unit, the Independent reports.
Trump said of the pandemic team that “some of the people we’ve cut they haven’t been used for many, many years and if we ever need them we can get them very quickly and rather then spending the money.”
Overnight Ruling Stops Ohio Primary
“Ohio’s polling places are closed on what was to have been the state’s presidential primary, following an overnight ruling from the Ohio Supreme Court,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
“The Ohio Supreme Court effectively allowed the election to be postponed from March 17 in a remarkable early-morning decision.”
Americans Don’t Trust What Trump Says
A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll finds just 37% of Americans now say they had a good amount or a great deal of trust in what they’re hearing from President Trump, while 60% say they had not very much or no trust at all in what he’s saying.
Bonus Quote of the Day
“We are at war. It is of course a sanitary war. We are not fighting against an army, or another nation. But the enemy is here. It is invisible, elusive and it is progressing. And this requires our general mobilization.”
— French President Emmanuel Macron, quoted by Politico, in a televised speech to his nation, in which he announced a 15-day lockdown to slow the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump Was Warned of Pandemic During Transition
Politico: “The briefing was intended to hammer home a new, terrifying reality facing the Trump administration, and the incoming president’s responsibility to protect Americans amid a crisis. But unlike the coronavirus pandemic currently ravaging the globe, this 2017 crisis didn’t really happen — it was among a handful of scenarios presented to Trump’s top aides as part of a legally required transition exercise with members of the outgoing administration of Barack Obama.”
“And in the words of several attendees, the atmosphere was ‘weird’ at best, chilly at worst.”
Bernie’s Not Planning on Going Quietly
“Bernie Sanders’ path to the Democratic nomination is closing, but a quick exit is far from guaranteed — even if he gets wiped out Tuesday. From his debate posture to staffing moves to the ‘virtual rally’ he convened Monday evening, the Vermont senator is signaling that he may not be ready to concede,” Politico reports.
“If Sanders remains in the race, it will be in part to keep his ‘political revolution’ alive. According to people familiar with his thinking, Sanders will not only consider what’s best for his campaign, but also the progressive movement.”
“Many of Sanders’ aides and allies also expect him to press onward after Tuesday. They see a benefit in amassing as many delegates as possible in order to influence the party platform at the Democratic National Convention this summer — even if Sanders himself can’t win the nomination.”
Quote of the Day
“I don’t think we can assume that we can keep reconvening the Senate every week like we did this week. I don’t think we can make that assumption… With what might happen to airlines or travel schedules, with individual members having to go into quarantine or being exposed — I don’t think we can operate as if we can just bring the Senate and House back whenever we want.”
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), quoted by Politico.
White House Pivots After Dire Report on Death Toll
“Sweeping new federal recommendations announced on Monday for Americans to sharply limit their activities appeared to draw on a dire scientific report warning that, without action by the government and individuals to slow the spread of coronavirus and suppress new cases, 2.2 million people in the United States could die,” the New York Times reports.
“To curb the epidemic, there would need to be drastic restrictions on work, school and social gatherings for periods of time until a vaccine was available, which could take 18 months, according to the report, compiled by British researchers. They cautioned that such steps carried enormous costs that could also affect people’s health, but concluded they were ‘the only viable strategy at the current time.'”
Washington Post: “Nearly eight weeks after the first coronavirus case was reported in the United States, Trump conveyed that he at last recognizes the magnitude of the crisis that is threatening lives across the nation, disrupting the economy and fundamentally upending the daily rhythms of American life.”
DeWine Orders Ohio Polls Closed on Election Day
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced late Monday that polls will be closed on Tuesday for the presidential primary election, citing a “health emergency” tied to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.
The decision will be made despite a judge ruling earlier that he would not postpone the primary.
VA Deletes Mission About Serving Civilian Patients
“The Department of Veterans Affairs serves as a backup health system in times of crisis, but its mission statement for this crucial role was deleted from the agency’s website Friday as many in the country grew concerned that the coronavirus could overload civilian hospitals,” the Washington Post reports.
Echoes of 1929
Politico: “The early signals from the coronavirus crisis point to a scale of damage unseen in the modern U.S. economy: the potential for millions of jobs lost in a single month, a historic and sudden plunge in economic activity across the nation and a pace of sharp market swings not seen since the Great Depression.”
“Kevin Hassett, the former White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman who remains in contact with Trump and the White House, said in an interview that jobs reports for March and April could show horrific numbers that will force massive congressional action if it has not already occurred by then.”
“He predicted losses of perhaps over 1 million jobs in coming reports and a spike in the jobless rate.”
