
Blue Dog Dems Push Pelosi to Reopen Negotiations
A group of moderate Democrats in the House plans to send a
letter to congressional leaders urging them to start talking again
about the stalled coronavirus relief bill.
"As the House prepares to vote this weekend on a bill to protect
the United States Postal Service, we urge you to restart
bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on a fifth COVID-19 relief
package that is commensurate with the scale of this public health
and economic crisis," the group wrote in a draft of the letter,
according to
Roll Call.
The letter comes from the Blue Dog Coalition, a House caucus
with 26 members that advocates for fiscal responsibility, national
defense and bipartisan consensus. The group said there is
"considerable common ground" between the two sides in the
negotiations, including an extension for enhanced unemployment
benefits, more help for small businesses, funding for education,
and another round of stimulus payments.
Where things stand: Negotiations over a new relief bill
broke down earlier this month, and there are currently no clear
plans for restarting them, though pressure has been building for
legislation of some sort. "Lawmakers from both parties are growing
increasingly worried by the stalemate over a coronavirus aid
package, but internal divisions on each side are complicating their
efforts to propose new measures," The Wall Street Journal
reported Wednesday evening.
More than half the House Democratic caucus has urged House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi to add new funding for enhanced unemployment
benefits tied to the jobless rate to the bill providing $25 billion
for the Postal Service. The House is set to vote on that Postal
Service legislation on Saturday.
The White House, meanwhile, has been pushing for a "skinny"
relief package that would include an enhanced unemployment benefit,
money for the Paycheck Protection Program of loans to small
businesses and another round of direct payments to individuals.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday that
the administration would be open to $25 billion in emergency
funding for the Postal Service depending on what else was included
in the package. "We’re certainly open to looking at the $25
billion. But we want included in there relief for the American
people that thus far Speaker Pelosi has been entirely uninterested
in," McEnany told reporters.
Some Senate Republicans have also floated a roughly $500 billion
package — half the size of the previous GOP proposal — that
reportedly is expected to include a $300 weekly federal
unemployment benefit through December 27 while also providing a
liability shield for businesses and hospitals, $29 billion in
health-care funding and $105 billion for education. But it remains
unclear if that skinnier package can garner enough support even
among Senate Republicans.
Unemployment Claims Jump Back Above 1 Million
New jobless claims ticked higher last week, the Labor Department
announced Thursday, with 1.1 million people filing for state
unemployment benefits on a seasonally adjusted basis. Another
540,000 filed for claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a
program that provides aid to the self-employed and to workers who
have exhausted their state benefits.
The increase comes after two weeks of declining first-time
claims, which dropped below 1 million last week for the first time
since March. It also comes as the IRS
warns that millions of jobs could be lost for
years, with 37 million fewer jobs expected in 2021 than at this
beginning of this year, before the coronavirus pandemic.
A blip or something more alarming? Today’s numbers were
worse than expected, but most experts say it’s too early to
conclude that the economy has taken another significant stumble.
"It’s not going to be simply a straight-line recovery," said Brett
Ryan of Deutsche Bank.
At the same time, the data make it clear that the "labor market
is a long way from being healthy," Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford
Economics said in a note to clients. And despite an improving trend
on unemployment, it’s worth remembering that the numbers are still
shocking by historical standards, with new jobless claims exceeding
the pre-Covid record set in 1982 for 22 weeks straight. "While
there has been a steep decline from crisis peaks, the fact that
five months into the crisis initial claims are running at 1.1
million per week is, in absolute terms, very bad news," Joshua
Shapiro of the forecasting firm MFR said in a note.
Heidi Shierholz of the progressive Economic Policy Institute
said Thursday that the data present a strong argument for Congress
to revive the enhanced unemployment benefits that expired at the
end of July. "We remain 12.9 million jobs below where we were
before the virus hit, and the unemployment rate is higher than it
ever was during the Great Recession. Now isn’t the time to cut
benefits that support jobs," she
wrote.
Looking ahead, some economists emphasized that the failure
to reach an agreement on additional stimulus could be a serious
problem. "If we continue to see the pullback and nothing is done by
Washington, for state and local government as well, the headwinds
going in to the fall are going to be huge and they could easily be
a riptide that pulls us under again," said Diane Swonk, chief
economist at Grant Thornton.
Chart of the Day: Drug Costs for Covid-19 Patients
Reuters’ Chad Terhune
reports: "Medication costs for COVID-19 patients
hospitalized in the United States have dropped sharply since May,
reflecting advances in treatment, shorter stays and use of cheaper
generic drugs." He adds, though, that costs may rise again as
hospitals start to pay for remdesivir, the Covid treatment from
drug company Gilead Sciences.
Map of the Day: Coronavirus ‘Testing
Deserts’
As of July 15, more than 67 million Americans, or 20% of the
U.S. population, lived in census tracts that are at least 10 miles
from a Covid-19 testing location, according to a
new analysis by GoodRx, a prescription drug
discount site. All 50 states had at least one such "testing
desert," the site reports, while Texas, Ohio and Michigan had the
largest number of them. Testing deserts are more common in
low-income counties, the report finds.
The good news: Data collected by GoodRx show that from
June 13 to July 16, more than 1,300 new testing sites were added
nationwide, with Texas adding 293 and Arizona adding 121.
The bad news: Even after months of
increasing testing, the U.S. isn’t where experts say it needs to be
to combat the pandemic.
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News
Former Trump Aide Steve Bannon Charged With Swindling Donors
in Private Border Wall Effort – Politico
American Airlines to Cut Service to 15 Cities Once Terms on
Billions in Pandemic Aid Expire – Washington
Post
Ex-Postal Service Board Member Testifies Mnuchin Tried to
Politicize Agency – The Hill
White House Shifts More Budget Authority to Political
Appointees – Politico
Democrats Have Their Doubts About Biden’s Bipartisan
Bonhomie – New York Times
House Democrats’ Agenda Barely Mentioned at Convention as
Pelosi Forced to Talk About Trump – Roll
Call
Trump Administration Rejects Idea of Testing the Country Back
to Pre-Pandemic Normal – Washington Examiner
Rand Paul: No Incentive to Open Economy "if You Soften the
Amount of Suffering" – Axios
Furloughs Loom for 13,400 Federal Immigration
Employees – Roll Call
Here’s Why the Postal Service Wanted to Remove Hundreds of
Mail-Sorting Machines – Washington Post
Fed Officials Said the Economy Needed More Help From
Congress – New York Times
Michigan to Pay $600 Million to Victims of Flint Water
Crisis – New York Times
New York City Emergency Medical Workers Prepare for
Layoffs – NBC News
Aetna, Cleveland Clinic Launching Co-Branded Health
Plan – Fierce Healthcare
Views and Analysis
This Is Joe Biden’s No. 1 Job Before Election Day
– Michael Tomasky, New York Times
Can Joe Biden Revive Bipartisanship as President?
– Niels Lesniewski, Roll Call
The Rise in Jobless Claims May Be a Warning to Congress That
the Economy Needs Stimulus – Patti Domm,
CNBC
Trump’s Lost Wage Assistance Program No Substitute for
Federal Unemployment Benefits – Andrew Stettner and
Michele Evermore, Century Foundation
What the Post Office Needs to Survive a Pandemic
Election – Jessica Huseman et al, ProPublica
Trump Cites the V.A. as a Central Achievement. But Troubles
Simmer. – Jennifer Steinhauer, New York
Times
The U.S. Needs an SEC for Its Health Care System –
Regina Herzlinger, Bloomberg
Why There's Still Hope for Second $1,200 Stimulus
Checks – Lorie Konish, CNBC
Past Spending Has Not Bought Us Security. This Must
Change. – Gwen DuBois, Morning Consult
The Pandemic Hurts Countries That Don’t Value
Workers – Jacob Leibenluft, Foreign Affairs