WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants the next coronavirus relief package to be “very generous” with direct stimulus payments to Americans that are potentially more than $1,200.
“It may go higher than that, actually,” Trump said in an interview with ABC affiliate KMID in Texas during a trip to the state.
“I’d like to see it be very high because I love the people,” he said. “I want the people to get it.”
The president didn’t elaborate on how much he’s eyeing for the direct payments. When he left the White House earlier in the day, Trump said his priorities for this next relief measure are those payments and an eviction moratorium. He said Congress can take care of other issues “later,” acknowledging that Republicans and Democrats are “so far apart” on other major issues.
The Senate Republican stimulus plan released Monday proposes up to $1,200 per person for those with an income of up to $75,000. Democrats passed legislation in May that also includes $1,200 in direct payments, with a similar structure to what was implemented in March.
Negotiators from both parties signaled Wednesday, however, that they made no progress on a deal when they met for a third time this week.
“We don’t have an agreement on anything,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters after a meeting with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Pelosi told reporters that Republicans offered the idea of a “skinny bill” that she said “does nothing” to address the coronavirus, which she said Democrats are not accepting. Pelosi and Schumer have been pushing for an extension of the $600 of unemployment benefits, which expire by the end of the week. Republicans, meanwhile, have proposed $200 a week which would transition to 70 percent of a person’s prior salary in October.
Both California and Florida — the two states with the highest number of coronavirus cases in the country — set new records for single-day coronavirus deaths on Wednesday. The heartbreaking milestones come as the U.S. surpasses 150,000 deaths from the virus.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said 197 people in the state died from COVID-19 on Tuesday, the state’s highest in a single day. The state also reported 8,755 new positive cases.
According to Johns Hopkins University, California has the highest number of confirmed cases in the U.S., with at least 473,785. If California were its own country, it would have the fifth-highest number of cases behind only the U.S., Brazil, India and Russia.
Florida’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday that 216 people died from the virus on Tuesday, a new single-day record for the state just one day after setting its previous record of 186 new deaths. An additional 9,448 people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to at least 451,423 confirmed cases.
The Sunshine State surpassed New York — a former hot spot that reported six new COVID-19 fatalities Wednesday — in total confirmed cases Saturday. Many ICUs across the state are at or nearing capacity.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management announced Wednesday that all state-run COVID-19 testing sites will be closed Friday through Tuesday due to the incoming tropical storm, CBS affiliate WCTV reports.
Arkansas, Montana and Oregon also reported record high single-day deaths on Wednesday. Nearly half of all states are now part of the government’s so-called “red zone” due to surges, which disproportionately affect communities of color.
Debates over mask mandates and school reopenings continue to rage across the country. President Trump has pushed for reopening, telling CBS News’ Catherine Herridge earlier in July that schools are making a “terrible decision” if they decide to continue with distance learning in the fall.
The world’s biggest COVID-19 vaccine study is now underway, with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the U.S. government — one of several candidates in the final stretch of the global vaccine race.
Sharp contractions in personal consumption, exports, inventories, investment and spending by state and local governments all converged to bring down GDP, which is the combined tally of all goods and services produced during the period.
Personal consumption, which historically has accounted for about two-thirds of all activity in the U.S., subtracted 25% from the Q2 total, with services accounting for nearly all that drop.
Spending slid in health care and goods such as clothing and footwear. Inventory investment drops were led by motor vehicle dealers, while equipment spending and new family housing took hits when it came to investment.
Prices for domestic purchases, a key inflation indicator, fell 1.5% for the period, compared to a 1.4% increase in the first quarter when GDP fell 5%, The personal consumption expenditures price index dropped 1.9% after rising a tepid 1.3% in Q1. Excluding food and energy, the “core” PCE prices were off 1.1%.
However, personal income soared, thanks in large part to government transfer payments associated with the coronavorus pandemic. Current-dollar personal income rose more than six-fold to $1.39 trillion, while disposable personal income shot up 42.1% to $1.53 trillion.
Despite the rise, personal outlays tumbled by $1.57 trillion, due in large part to a drop in services spending.
Imports surged 10% for the month, offsetting the 9.4% drop in exports.
WASHINGTON – Millions of Americans are unemployed. Schools across the country are only weeks away from reopening. And cases of COVID-19 continue to spike.
Pressure is mounting as Congress and the White House enter yet another round of negotiations on what would be a fifth round of emergency stimulus funding to help counter the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. But a deal is proving elusive.
Congressional leaders and the White House, after days of negotiating this week, appear to be on entirely different pages on what should be included in the bill. Some described the process as a “mess” and another lamented that even among Republicans, there was “no consensus on anything.”
“I’m not optimistic that we’ll reach any kind of comprehensive deal,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday evening before another negotiation meeting with top Democrats.
The two sides find themselves trillions of dollars apart in a political environment far different than when they passed previous emergency coronavirus measures this spring. The pandemic’s continued toll has have shifted the political ground beneath them as President Donald Trump stumbles in the polls and crucial November elections stand just months away.
“I’m going to speak in animal terms. Say you are at the zoo. You see a giraffe. You see a flamingo. These two bills aren’t mateable,” Pelosi said Tuesday during closed-door talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Meadows and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., according to a source familiar who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Here’s a look at the uphill battle this relief package is facing and why negotiations for this bill are so different than emergency funds that came before it:
Policy priorities for Democrats and Republicans are more apparent in the latest package, as members of both parties huddle in their respective political corners.
Republicans have dubbed the House’s bill a liberal wish list and Democrats claim the Senate proposal is a weak bill aimed at prioritizing businesses over workers and American families.
Democrats are pushing a $3 trillion plan while Sen. Mitch Connell’s $1 trillion offering he unveiled Monday is being rejected by some in his own party who say it’s too much.
That means many priorities of House Democrats – billions for state and local governments, the U.S. Postal Service and food assistance, among others – aren’t even mentioned in the Senate Republican bill.
There are seemingly untouchable issues for each side too.
Democrats want to extend the current $600 per week unemployment benefit that expires July 31 while Republicans want much less. Republicans want liability protections for employers, including schools, businesses and nursing homes who might be sued by employers and customers, but Democrats oppose such protections saying it would come at the expense of workers, consumers and patients.
“Neither this bill nor anything resembling it will ever become law – it’s a Democratic wish list filled up with all the party’s favored policies,” McConnell said after the House unveiled its $3 trillion package in May. On Monday, he called it a “multi-trillion-dollar socialist manifesto.”
Pelosi and Schumer similarly swatted down the GOP proposal, calling it on Tuesday “a sad statement of their values, selling out struggling families at the kitchen table in order to enrich the corporate interests at the boardroom table.”
Three months. That’s how long before Election Day, when voters will decide who should run the country and potentially change which party controls each chamber in Congress.
During any presidential election year, Congress typically isn’t expected to tackle any major legislation, but the pandemic and urgent needs nationally have forced leaders in both parties to the table. Throughout March and part of April, the administration and lawmakers on both sides quickly hashed out their differences and passed four bills totaling more than $3 trillion, a tremendous feat amid a bitterly divided Congress just on the heels of impeaching the president.
Fast-forward to today and the bipartisanship spirit between lawmakers and the administration – also worried about its own political future – has turned sour.
Polling has revealed Americans’ distaste with the president’s handling of the pandemic with former Vice President Joe Biden ahead in a number of battleground states that were pivotal to Trump’s 2016 win. Polls have also shown some of that distaste has bled down the ballot, hurting Republicans’ chances of keeping control of the Senate and taking hold of the House.
Those partisan lines in the sand could worsen as both Republicans and Democrats are scheduled to hold their national conventions in August, when both Biden and Trump will officially accept their party’s nomination for the White House.
Typically, the conventions mark the official start to campaign season. Neither party is going to be eager to pass something that could be seen as a win for the opposing party.
It’s not just Democrats who are panning the GOP stimulus plan. A number of Senate Republicans criticized it as too costly and full of unnecessary expenditures.
Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said there was “significant resistance” within the GOP caucus to the bill.
And that was before the discovery of a $1.75 billion provision in the Republican package to rebuild the FBI headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C. — a priority for Trump.
“We need a new building. It’s a bad building,” the president told reporters at the White House Wednesday about the FBI’s current home, which is in disrepair and considered inefficient for the bureau’s purposes.
But a number of Republican senators, including McConnell, say they didn’t know it was in the bill and oppose its inclusion in legislation aimed at helping Americans recover from the impacts of coronavirus.
“That makes no sense to me,” South Carolina Repulican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, told reporters Tuesday, adding he’d be “fine” stripping out the money.
It’s another distraction that could get in the way of a deal and test GOP loyalty to Trump as the election approaches. Republicans in recent weeks have split with the president on a number of areas, including urging him to wear a face mask in public and his opposition to the Pentagon stripping Confederate names from military bases.
Trump, as he left the White House Wednesday morning, said congressional Republicans who are opposed to the funds for a new FBI building should “go back to school and learn.”
GOP worries about deficits
Not only are there divisions among Republicans about what should be included, but some lawmakers have also voiced concerns over whether another package was even needed as the national deficit continues to balloon. As of last month, it hit $863 billion — more than 100 times what it was in the same month last year.
Cruz has been a vocal opponent of more spending. He told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday there was “sharp disagreement” among Republicans about their bill, and last week on Fox News, he said he stood up in a lunch meeting with his colleagues and told them, “What in the hell are we doing? We can’t just keep shoveling cash at this.”
Cruz argued Republicans needed to work on creating a “recovery bill” to roll back taxes and regulations instead of providing more funds.
His colleague, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has also sounded the alarm on the deficit.
“We don’t have any money in Washington. There’s no rainy-day account. There’s no savings account,” he told reporters Tuesday. “So, I’m not for borrowing another trillion dollars to pass out. That’s an illusion of wealth, not real wealth, when you create money and give it to people.”
“I think if Mitch can get half the conference that’d be quite an accomplishment,” Graham said Tuesday.
McConnell acknowledged the challenges in an interview with PBS NewsHour Wednesday evening, when he said “about 20 of our members think that we’ve already done enough.”
“That’s not my view,” he added, nor was it the view of the “majority” of Republican senators.
The tedious negotiations come as schools across the country are several weeks away from the start of a new school year.
Districts across the country are weighing whether they should reopen for students, offer a mixed mode of learning or stay closed as COVID-19 continues to spread.
Schools typically start in August or early September leaving little time for funds to pass Congress, get Trump’s signature and also get into the hands of school districts that will need boosted funds to ensure safety for teachers, children and staff.
While there are major differences between Republicans, Democrats and the administration , funds for education have seemingly emerged as a bipartisan bright spot – though not without some partisan bickering.
Democrats, who approved their bill in May, allotted $100 billion for schools. Republicans have set aside $105 billion, though their bill also gives money to private schools and ties some of the funds to schools reopening – proposals which Democrats oppose.
Pelosi has also signaled that Democrats now want more funds for schools since their $100 billion proposal was crafted months before schools were readying for the fall.
While there is agreement that schools need more funding, members of both parties have huddled in their respective corners. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called the Republican proposal an attempt at “bullying schools” into reopening.
“Democrats want schools to reopen for in-person learning if it can be done safely – but the partisan Republican proposal would put students, educators, and communities at risk by taking a one-size fits all approach and pushing school districts to ignore local public health officials,” they said in a statement. “This is not a plan to help schools reopen safely; it is a recipe for more chaos and illness.”
Some have remained confidant that despite the hurdles, funds would reach schools in time.
“I would expect that by the time we get to Labor Day, schools will begin to see money,” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told reporters on Capitol Hill, adding that there are mandates in the bill that force money to go out the door within 15 days. “It’ll go pretty fast.”
As negotiations continue, the Trump administration has floated a short-term fix – a temporary extension of the boost to unemployment benefits and a moratorium on evictions.
Mnuchin told reporters Wednesday he spoke to the president about a possible short-term extension.
“As of now we’re very far apart and because of that – the president and we have discussed a short-term extension to (unemployment insurance) and the evictions so that we have some period to negotiate before this runs out,” he told reporters on the White House South Lawn.
A key sticking point in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats has been whether to extend an additional $600 that about 30 million unemployed Americans received as part of their unemployment benefits.The enhanced employment insurance is set to expire this week. A federal moratorium that had shielded about 12 million Americans from eviction expired last Friday.
Democratic leaders, however, object to a short-term extension. Speaking to reporters following the end of negotiations on Wednesday afternoon, Pelosi and Schumer said Republicans had come up with a “skinny little bill that doesn’t address the moment.”
Asked about support for a short-term extension like Mnuchin had floated, Pelosi said, “there is no short-term extension” and Schumer said, “they don’t have anything that would pass the Senate.”
Some senators warmed to the short-term proposal, but others shot it down.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told reporters Tuesday, “Ultimately, it’s clear we’re not going to have a universal agreement in place Friday so there may be some things that have to be done that way.”
And the idea gained some traction on the other side of the aisle, too. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told reporters, “I think that for some period of time (unemployment extensions) could make sense.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he pitched a short-term fix to senators that would continue a boost to unemployment benefits that would start at $600 in August and then decrease by $200 per month, but his proposal did not appear to pick up much traction, either.
“I don’t want to see the supplemental payments cut off and having people suffering while we’re negotiating a very large package,” he said.
A Walmart in Burbank, California, on Wednesday. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
On Monday night, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the HEALS Act—Senate Republicans’ so-called COVID-19 relief package. Instead of protecting struggling Americans as COVID-19 cases spike and families face a nationwide wave of evictions, the GOP’s legislation slashes unemployment assistance for over 30 million unemployed Americans, lets eviction protections expire, and guts safety and health protections for workers and consumers.
Senate Republicans know it’s incredibly risky to send people back to work in the midst of a pandemic. But their plan doesn’t include the binding federal safety standard that labor unions are fighting for. In fact, it’s not designed to protect us at all—it’s designed to protect corporate bottom lines.
Republicans’ corporate immunity proposal, introduced in the Senate by Sen. John Cornyn as part of the HEALS package, would make it impossible for people to hold corporations accountable for cutting corners on safety precautions. The proposal would bar nearly any lawsuits related to COVID-19 exposure, with a narrow exception for intentional misconduct or gross negligence—defined at an extremely high standard plaintiffs could almost never meet.
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Corporate greed is already costing lives. At Walmart—the largest private employer of Black workers in America—just one in 10 workers report that masks are required and available in their stores. Workers at Amazon warehouses report that the company won’t clean the freezer suits workers must wear between uses, and that the company’s harsh quotas make it impossible for workers to socially distance. Airlines are already abandoning safety precautions adopted in the spring, packing planes full of people. The Republicans’ proposal takes away our last line of defense when corporate executives put profits ahead of our lives.
Worker safety is public safety: If companies get a free pass to put workers’ lives at risk, workers exposed to COVID-19 on the job could then spread the virus to their communities, seeding new waves of the pandemic. That’s exactly what has happened after President Donald Trump forced meatpacking workers back to work in cramped plants, where workers were denied PPE, discouraged from taking paid sick leave, and unable to socially distance during long shifts. At least 24,000 COVID-19 cases are linked to meatpacking plants, where workers are overwhelmingly Black or immigrant people making minimum wage. But emails obtained by ProPublica revealed meatpacking executives were far more concerned about their profits than workers’ lives—and waved away safety concerns by saying that “social distancing is a nicety that makes sense only for people with laptops.” Meatpacking workers across the country had to sue their employers after being denied PPE or being discouraged from taking paid sick leave. If Republicans strip workers of the power to hold bad employers accountable at the same time they make it impossible for workers to survive on unemployment insurance, they will be sending workers to their deaths.
McConnell argues that his proposal simply creates a “safe harbor” for companies that are complying with COVID-19 guidance. But in practice, this corporate immunity proposal would cover a sweeping range of COVID-19-related claims, with a narrow exception for intentional misconduct and gross negligence that would be extraordinarily difficult for workers or consumers to prove. And their proposal is riddled with loopholes that bad actors could easily exploit.
Republicans’ corporate immunity proposal would let corporations off the hook for COVID-19-related safety violations as long as they “make reasonable efforts” toward compliance (not, you know, actual compliance) with any applicable government standards and guidance. But there are currently no binding federal worker safety standards for the coronavirus pandemic, and the Republicans’ bill, unlike House Democrats’ Heroes Act, includes no plans to make one. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nonbinding guidance may leave workers out to dry. Just look at the CDC’s guidance for meatpacking plants: To comply, plants just have to “consider” giving workers enough break time to wash or sanitize their hands, rather than actually providing that time, and “consider consulting” with a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning engineer, rather than actually installing safe ventilation.
Worse still, the HEALS Act lets corporations pick and choose which rules they want to follow from federal, state, and local guidance. This risks creating a race to the bottom for states doing the least to protect their workers. Take Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp banned cities from issuing mask mandates. Even if the federal government issued a strong, science-based worker safety standard, if Georgia issued a lax standard that allows corporations to keep putting workers at risk, a Georgia-based corporation could simply opt to follow the weaker standard—and use this proposal to escape accountability in court.
Republicans’ corporate immunity proposal would even strip workers of the power to enforce a wide range of labor and employment protections, including protections under anti-discrimination law and the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets the federal minimum wage.* Corporations would be immune from lawsuits arising under these critical civil rights protections as long as the lawsuit relates to COVID-19 (with a narrow exception for intentional discrimination). That could mean that a college student whose school won’t accommodate her disability during online learning wouldn’t be able to sue under the Americans With Disabilities Act, or that a pregnant worker couldn’t hold her employer accountable for a reopening plan that didn’t accommodate her pregnancy.
If Mitch McConnell’s latest proposal passes, by October, unemployment insurance will be covering just 70 percent of the wages workers earned before the crisis. After decades of stagnant wages, most American families simply cannot live on 70 percent of their prior wages—and they will have no choice but to try to go back to workplaces that Senate Republicans are turning into deathtraps. We could give workers the support they need to stay safe. Instead, Republicans are sending them out to die to protect a corporate bottom line.
Correction, July 28, 2020: This piece originally misidentified the Fair Labor Standards Act as the Fair Labor and Standards Act.
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(Reuters) – California, Florida and Texas, the three largest U.S. states, all set one-day records for fatalities from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a Reuters tally showed, and the Miami-area school district said students would not return to classrooms when the new academic year begins as deaths from the virus spiked nationwide.
The United States has registered 10,000 deaths over the last 11 days, the fastest surge since early June, prompting heated debates between the American public and its leaders over the best course forward. New infections do not appear to be rising at the same pace.(tmsnrt.rs/2P87LUu)
“In light of viral surge in our community, it’s in the best interest of students and employees to commence the 20-21 school year at a distance,” Miami-Dade County Public Schools said on Twitter. Classes are set to begin Aug. 31 in Miami-Dade, which has more than 350,000 students, making it the country’s fourth largest school district.
With the scheduled reopening of schools days away in some states, President Donald Trump has pushed for students to return to class while teacher unions and local officials have called for them to stay home.
A total of more than 150,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Commercial pilot Rob Koreman of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said he was stunned by the climbing numbers.
“I’m a pilot and hit so many cities, so many people on board, I have to be aware,” said Koreman, 50. “Basically, none of this should have happened. We needed state coordination, if not flat-out a federal mandate.”
The pace of coronavirus infections has accelerated since late May and the epicenter has moved to the South and West from New York, which still has by far the highest number of fatalities of any U.S. state at more than 32,000.
California, Florida and Texas together account for one-quarter of the total U.S. population.
A LAWMAKER TESTS POSITIVE
The surge has hampered efforts to recover from an economic crisis brought on by stay-at-home orders and business closures that have thrown millions of Americans out of work.
“We have seen some signs in recent weeks that the increase in virus cases and the renewed measures to control it are starting to weigh on economic activity,” the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, said at a news conference following release of the U.S. central bank’s latest policy statement.
Many health experts say the outbreak could be brought under greater control if guidelines to maintain social distancing and wear masks in public were enforced nationwide.
Trump has rejected the idea of a federal mask order and was initially reluctant to be seen wearing one. Trump has since come around to supporting masks.
Representative Louie Gohmert, a Republican from Texas who has at times refused to wear a mask, tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, raising concerns that other members of Congress may have been exposed.
Officials in New Jersey, which has the country’s second-highest death toll, again pleaded with young people to avoid large gatherings.
“Coronavirus is more easily transmitted indoors. Crowded indoor house parties are not smart or safe,” Governor Phil Murphy wrote on Twitter.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicted in March that the pandemic could kill more than 81,000 people by July.
Slideshow (2 Images)
In its latest statement on July 14, the IHME said its model now projects the U.S. death toll at more than 224,000 by Nov. 1; it said many fatalities could be avoided by preventative measures such as masks and social distancing.
(GRAPHIC: Tracking the novel coronavirus in the U.S. – here)
(GRAPHIC: Where coronavirus cases are rising in the United States – here)
Reporting by Lisa Shumaker, Rich McKay, Tim Ahmann, Maria Caspani, Susan Heavey and Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Sonya Hepinstall and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Howard Goller, Cynthia Osterman
Trump’s recent withdrawal from the airwaves in Michigan came as his campaign shifted advertising dollars to other battlegrounds like Iowa. The move was first reported on Wednesday by The New York Times. According to the Times’s report, Biden has more than tripled Trump’s TV ad spending in Michigan over the last month.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign pointed out that the president still has massive amounts of airtime reserved in Michigan and remains confident in his prospects there. Indeed, the campaign has $11.4 million in television ads reserved beginning in September, and national buys mean that some of the president’s ads will still air in the state.
“Biden can continue to spend a million a week there if he wants to,” the spokesperson said in an email.
Laura Cox, the chair of the Michigan GOP, said that the Trump campaign has already “made unprecedented financial investments” in the state that had put Republicans on the path to victory there.
“The Trump Campaign and the RNC have made unprecedented financial investments in Michigan already this cycle and thanks to their efforts, the Michigan Republican Party has built the most robust and sophisticated ground operation the state has ever seen,” Cox said in a statement.
“We are confident that the president’s major commitment to Michigan will lead to victory in the Great Lakes State this November – just as it did in 2016.”
Still, the Trump campaign’s decision to shift ad spending away from Michigan comes amid signs that the state may no longer be the battleground that both parties had once thought it would be in 2020, especially given Trump’s narrow 10,000-vote win there four years ago.
Nearly every public survey out of Michigan in recent months shows Biden with a significant lead over Trump, and he currently holds an 8-point advantage in the most recent FiveThirtyEight polling average.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election handicapper, currently has Michigan in its “Lean Democrat” column.
Beyond polling, however, Trump has often put himself at odds with Michigan state officials, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D).
In May, he threatened to withhold federal funding from Michigan after Benson announced that the state would send mail-in ballot applications to all of its registered voters. And he has been particularly critical of Whitmer for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic in her state.
Trump is also facing headwinds in other battleground states, including his adopted home state of Florida, which the Cook Political Report moved into the Lean Democrat column on Tuesday.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Tropical Storm Isaias developed Wednesday night.
This is one of those storms that is going to be very tricky for us here in South Florida because its current track gives us two very different weekend forecasts.
Today, Isaias will pass by or over Hispaniola, which may interfere with it somewhat. By tonight, we will have an even better idea of how it may impact our weekend.
Once Isaias moves up into the Bahamas tomorrow, it is expected to be impacted by drier air and wind shear. These two things are the reason the official forecast keeps it as a Tropical Storm through the weekend and not strengthening into a hurricane. Is a minimal hurricane out of the question? We can never say never, but there are no forecasts that have it becoming a hurricane right now.
1) Isaias follows the the European model which brings the center of the storm onshore into South Florida and then west of us. This gives us very windy and rainy weather from about late Saturday morning through most of the day on Sunday, and then possibly a few bands of rain on Monday as well as it moves north of us.
2) Isaias follows the American model (and the HWRF) and stays off to our east. This gives us perhaps a few bands of rain along the coast, but also could end up giving us a mostly sunny and breezy/windy weekend.
So, I think the main thing we will emphasize this morning is that we could have a very rainy and windy Saturday afternoon through Sunday, but there’s always hope that it passes to our east giving us a lot less trouble over the weekend, and that we will know a lot more after it clears Hispaniola later tonight.
Federal officers to start leaving Portland; Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf weighs in.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told “Bill Hemmer Reports” Wednesday that federal agents will not leave the city of Portland, Ore. until a federal courthouse that has been repeatedly attacked by rioters is “safe and secure.”
“We will continue to keep law enforcement officers in the area to make sure that that courthouse is secure at the end of the day,” Wolf told host Bill Hemmer.
Earlier Wednesday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced that federal agents would begin a “phased withdrawal” from Portland Thursday. Wolf said that he and the governor had agreed on a plan to end “the violent activity in Portland directed at federal properties and law enforcement officers” that called for “the robust presence of Oregon State Police in downtown Portland.”
“Over time,” Wolf told Hemmer, “if the Oregon State Police and the plan that has been put in place is successful, and we can responsibly draw down law enforcement assets there, then we will.”
Portland has seen 62 consecutive nights of protests and demonstrations stemming from the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler have repeatedly described the federal presence in terms of an “occupying force” and accused the Department of Homeland Security of an “illegal occupation” that has incited more violence in the city.
“What we know is that the violence in Portland, specifically, was there well before DHS or law enforcement officials arrived in Portland,” Wolf responded. “The mayor, by his own words, declared that the city was under violence for more than a month before we got there, so this idea that we have somehow incited violence, the idea that enforcing federal law incites violence, is absolutely backward and I don’t understand that.”
The acting secretary added that he has only ever asked for “state or local law enforcement to step up and help us police around there [the courthouse] and to hold individuals accountable.
“So, Governor Brown has decided to step up. We see a sizable force of Oregon State Police that will be deployed to the area, and we will see if the plan that they have put in place will help quell the violence that we have seen around that federal courthouse in Portland, and we are going to take a cautious view of that.”
The Oregon State Police told Fox News Thursday that special operation teams and uniformed troopers would assist city police and federal agents in the hope of instilling “an atmosphere that affords the removal of the protective fence and restore a semblance of normalcy, while meeting community expectations and our obligations to protect the federal property.”
“I understand what his plan is,” Wolf said of Oregon State Police Superintendent Travis Hampton. “They would have to successfully implement that plan [for the federal agents to leave]. I think they have to understand the criminal nature that they are up against every day. We will partner with them to do that. Again, we will protect federal property. That is our responsibility. I will continue to be our responsibility.”
Federal officers to start leaving Portland; Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf weighs in.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told “Bill Hemmer Reports” Wednesday that federal agents will not leave the city of Portland, Ore. until a federal courthouse that has been repeatedly attacked by rioters is “safe and secure.”
“We will continue to keep law enforcement officers in the area to make sure that that courthouse is secure at the end of the day,” Wolf told host Bill Hemmer.
Earlier Wednesday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced that federal agents would begin a “phased withdrawal” from Portland Thursday. Wolf said that he and the governor had agreed on a plan to end “the violent activity in Portland directed at federal properties and law enforcement officers” that called for “the robust presence of Oregon State Police in downtown Portland.”
“Over time,” Wolf told Hemmer, “if the Oregon State Police and the plan that has been put in place is successful, and we can responsibly draw down law enforcement assets there, then we will.”
Portland has seen 62 consecutive nights of protests and demonstrations stemming from the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Brown and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler have repeatedly described the federal presence in terms of an “occupying force” and accused the Department of Homeland Security of an “illegal occupation” that has incited more violence in the city.
“What we know is that the violence in Portland, specifically, was there well before DHS or law enforcement officials arrived in Portland,” Wolf responded. “The mayor, by his own words, declared that the city was under violence for more than a month before we got there, so this idea that we have somehow incited violence, the idea that enforcing federal law incites violence, is absolutely backward and I don’t understand that.”
The acting secretary added that he has only ever asked for “state or local law enforcement to step up and help us police around there [the courthouse] and to hold individuals accountable.
“So, Governor Brown has decided to step up. We see a sizable force of Oregon State Police that will be deployed to the area, and we will see if the plan that they have put in place will help quell the violence that we have seen around that federal courthouse in Portland, and we are going to take a cautious view of that.”
The Oregon State Police told Fox News Thursday that special operation teams and uniformed troopers would assist city police and federal agents in the hope of instilling “an atmosphere that affords the removal of the protective fence and restore a semblance of normalcy, while meeting community expectations and our obligations to protect the federal property.”
“I understand what his plan is,” Wolf said of Oregon State Police Superintendent Travis Hampton. “They would have to successfully implement that plan [for the federal agents to leave]. I think they have to understand the criminal nature that they are up against every day. We will partner with them to do that. Again, we will protect federal property. That is our responsibility. I will continue to be our responsibility.”
Democrats were equally pessimistic on Wednesday about reaching a compromise, and they placed the blame squarely on Republicans for opting to wait until late July, just as the jobless aid was expiring, to start negotiations on a relief package.
“What short-term extension?” Ms. Pelosi asked after meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Mr. Meadows and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader. “There is no short-term extension. They don’t have anything.”
Several Republicans also appeared reluctant to embrace the prospect when asked on Wednesday. One Republican aide likened the idea of a short-term bill to paying a ransom twice.
“Our Republican friends don’t seem to come close to meeting the moment,” Mr. Schumer said.
Analysts in Washington said they saw a rising risk that lawmakers might not reach a comprehensive agreement before a scheduled recess early next month.
“These negotiations are in a bad, bad place,” said Jon Lieber, the managing director for the United States at the Eurasia Group and a former adviser to Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.
“There is no progress being made at the moment, which reflects the strong hand the Democrats think they have, the ineptitude of the administration and the lack of consensus within the Senate G.O.P.,” Mr. Lieber said.
Republican lawmakers acknowledged that the path to agreement appeared daunting, though some insisted that a consensus deal could emerge.
The Trump administration is to pull federal paramilitaries out of Portland starting on Thursday in a major reversal after weeks of escalating protests and violence.
Oregon’s governor, Kate Brown, said she agreed to the pullout in talks with Vice-President Mike Pence.
Brown said state and city police officers will replace Department of Homeland Security agents in guarding the federal courthouse that has become the flashpoint for the protests.
“These federal officers have acted as an occupying force, refused accountability, and brought violence and strife to our community,” the governor said. The head of the US homeland security department said agents would stay near the courthouse until they were sure the plan was working.
Donald Trump said the pullout will not begin until the courthouse is protected. “We’re not leaving until they secure their city. We told the governor, we told the mayor: secure your city,” said the president.
But the announcement is a significant retreat by the administration after Trump sent federal forces to Portland at the beginning of July to end months of Black Lives Matter protests he described as having dragged the city into anarchy.
Instead of quelling the unrest, the arrival of paramilitaries fuelled some of the biggest demonstrations since daily protests following the killing of George Floyd, a Black American, by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May.
The situation escalated particularly after agents in camouflage were filmed snatching protesters from the streets in unmarked vans.
Far from imposing order, the federal force, drawn from the border patrol, immigration service and US Marshals, was largely trapped inside the federal courthouse they were ostensibly there to protect, emerging each night to fire waves of teargas, baton rounds and stun grenades in street battles with the protesters. But the demonstrators retained ultimate control of the streets.
Anger at the presence of the paramilitaries brought thousands of people out each night and acted as a lightning rod for broader discontent with Trump, including over his chaotic and divisive handling of the coronavirus epidemic which has killed nearly 150,000 Americans and shows no signs of abating.
Najee Gow, an organiser for Black Lives Matter, gathers with other protesters at the courthouse. Photograph: Amy Harris/Rex/Shutterstock
Although the protesters will claim victory in achieving the demand of their nightly chant, “Feds go home”, the demonstrations are likely to continue with the focus shifting back toward the Portland city police with which there had been running battles before the arrival of the federal agents.
It is not immediately clear what impact the pullout will have on Trump’s threat to send federal forces to other cities, ostensibly to quell violent crimes.
The mayors of Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and 11 other cities accused the president of deploying federal law enforcement officers “for political purposes” amid suspicions that Trump is more interested in creating conflict than ending it in the run-up to the election.
In a letter to the White House, the mayors said they were disturbed at the actions of federal agents in Portland, calling their failure to wear proper identification and the snatching of protesters off the streets “chilling”.
“These are tactics we expect from an authoritarian regime – not our democracy,” the letter said.
Although the arrival of the federal forces reinvigorated the protests for racial justice in Portland, the nightly battles also distracted from them. Tensions have been building between the demonstrators focused on storming the courthouse and those leading more peaceful protests for reform after Floyd’s killing.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Portland warned that the Black Lives Matter movement was being co-opted by “privileged white people” pursuing other agendas, such as anti-capitalism. It said they were playing into Trump’s hands by provoking nightly confrontations with the federal forces.
On Tuesday night, Najee Gow, an African American organiser for Black Lives Matter, waded into the group of a few dozen young white people taunting the federal agents. He accused them of racism for being more invested in fighting at the courthouse than pushing for racial justice.
“What are you doing? This is the racist shit we’re talking about. You don’t push a black agenda and do this,” he shouted at the white protesters who pulled back, but later returned.
“They want to destroy property. They are tarnishing the Black Lives movement and they are making a mockery out of Portland on the fucking world stage,” a furious Gow told the Guardian.
“Lending is a particular tool, and we’re using it very aggressively, but fiscal policy is essential here,” Powell said. “As I’ve said, more will be needed from all of us, and I see Congress is negotiating now over a new package, and I think that’s a good thing.”
“Models are really only as good as the assumptions that you put into the model, but when you start to see real data, you can modify that model, and the real data are telling us that it is highly likely that we’re having a definite positive effect,” Dr. Fauci said on the show, later adding: “It looks more like the 60,000 than the 100,000 to 200,000. But having said that, we’d better be careful that we don’t say, ‘OK, we’re doing so well, we can pull back.’”
The next day, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, whose model is closely watched by the White House, increased its own projection, warning that there would likely be about 135,000 deaths by early August. The institute’s model, which includes a wide range of possible scenarios, now projects about 220,000 deaths by November.
Adding to the difficulty of predicting human behavior, Professor Pitzer said, is that public policy can be influenced by the models: seeing a forecast may prompt officials to take actions that make the forecast less likely to come true.
“Models are useful for playing out scenarios, but they’re not really meant to be accurate in generating long-term predictions,” she said. “They can be good at short-term forecasting — what might happen in the next couple of weeks. But longer term, knowing exactly what the trajectory of the epidemic will be —there are just too many variables.”
One by one, they passed through the grand Capitol Rotunda to pay respects to the civil rights icon.
It was a solemn display of unity as congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle offered praise for longtime Georgia Rep. John Lewis. There was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called Lewis the “conscience of the Congress”; and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who praised him as a model of courage. Vice President Mike Pence and former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, came as well.
But missing was a man whose absence spoke volumes: President Donald Trump.
“No, I won’t be going,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he planned to pay his respects to Lewis, the first Black lawmaker to lie in state in the Rotunda. Lewis’ body was later moved to the steps on the Capitol’s east side for a public viewing.
Trump’s absence was another break in convention for a president who has broken so many norms, and one that underscored his separation from much of Washington society, along with his dismal relationship with Democrats on Capitol Hill — especially members of color.
Trump had long harbored resentments toward Lewis.
A spokeswoman for Lewis, who died of pancreatic cancer, brushed off any talk of politics when asked whether the Lewis family had any communication with the White House about whether Trump should attend, calling it “irrelevant.”
“I would say that this is not a political event,” said Brenda Jones, the congressman’s longtime spokeswoman. “It’s our time to pay respect to a man who did a great deal for this country. And that’s all we want it to be.”
Jones added that “people can pay their respect in a lot of different ways. … He has that right. Let him to do what he wants to do. And I’m sure that John Lewis would be supportive of it.”
The White House did not respond to questions about why the president did not attend. But Trump’s off-the-cuff declaration Monday afternoon that he wouldn’t go caught some White House aides off guard, according to two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose private conversations.
While the chances of Trump going were always slim, there had been preliminary conversations in the West Wing about Trump potentially making a visit on Tuesday. Trump had previously expressed a reluctance to publicly mourn Lewis because he remained angry about the congressman’s past criticisms.
While the president’s lingering grudge played a role, White House officials also are leery of sending Trump places he isn’t wanted and weren’t sure what kind of reception he would have received.
Pence, who had a personal relationship with Lewis, was seen as a safer choice. Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, like Pence a former House member, and other Cabinet members also attended.
Trump had an antagonistic relationship with Lewis. After Trump’s election, Lewis called him an illegitimate president because of Russia’s efforts to help him win, and the congressman boycotted Trump’s 2017 inauguration as a result. Trump countered by blasting Lewis’ Atlanta majority-Black district as “falling apart” and directed him to “finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner-cities of the U.S.”
In December of that year, Lewis refused to speak at the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum because Trump would be there. Lewis also endorsed Biden and urged young Black voters to rally behind the former vice president.
While Trump did acknowledge Lewis’ death on Twitter, it took him 14 hours to do so and his message felt more perfunctory than heartfelt, especially in contrast with his effusive tribute to television personality Regis Philbin, who died last week.
“Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing. Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family,” Trump wrote.
But for many, Trump’s absence wasn’t missed.
“I think it’s better if he doesn’t attend,” said Phillip Estes, 53, an urban planner from Washington, D.C., who was among the hundreds who gathered to pay their respects to Lewis on Tuesday.
“He would probably just make it all about himself,” Estes said.
Jay Stegall, 33, an American University graduate student originally from Lewis’ Atlanta district, echoed those sentiments as he stood with his two young sisters and his 4-year-old daughter.
“It wouldn’t have been authentic,” Stegall said. “It would just have been another photo op for him. He definitely wouldn’t have understood the meaning of the moment.”
Born to sharecroppers during Jim Crow segregation, Lewis was beaten by Alabama state troopers during the civil rights movement, spoke ahead of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington and was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 2011 by the nation’s first Black president.
The tweet, sent from aboard Air Force One as Mr. Trump traveled to Texas, was the latest example of the president stoking racial division as he seeks to win over voters in his bid for re-election. White suburban voters, particularly women, were key to his victory in 2016 but are slipping away from him.
The remarks also came just days after aides had convinced the president that his best re-election strategy was to demonstrate that he was focused on a comprehensive response to the surging coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks, as the president’s poll numbers have tumbled, some of his advisers have told Mr. Trump to try to convince a skeptical nation that he has been effective in managing the virus crisis and is taking it seriously.
Last week, Mr. Trump resuscitated the White House briefings focused on the pandemic, keeping them shorter and more focused than the ones he conducted in March, when he often rambled in his comments, sparred with the news media and engaged in fanciful speculation, including that injecting disinfectant into the human body could help fend off the virus.
He also changed his stance on face masks, calling it “patriotic” to wear one, and even appearing in public with one on. On Monday, Mr. Trump promoted what he claimed was quick progress on a vaccine during a trip to North Carolina to visit a plant working on one.
But since he took office, Mr. Trump’s presidency has unfolded along two tracks: the scripted one, which he sticks to for hours or sometimes days at a time, and the one guided by his own instincts, often revealed on Twitter. Mr. Trump has been more eager to talk about culture wars, and draw attention to images of unrest on the streets of cities led by Democratic politicians, than to stay focused on the virus.
The U.S. surged past 150,000 COVID-19 fatalities Wednesday as states battle a resurgence of the virus with differing attitudes about how to stop the spread.
And there is not much relief in sight. The three most populous states – California, Texas and Florida – were among several that set seven-day records for virus deaths this week. Others set records for new cases. Tennessee and Arkansas set records for both.
The first known U.S. death was Feb. 6. Almost six months later the number of deaths is appalling – and could reach 200,000 in less than two months from now.That’s based on the current average of 1,019 deaths per day this last week.
Experts say the increase in cases and deaths is largely because of states easing restrictions and reopening their economies too soon.
“We were not careful and it became like a domino effect,” Dr. Anne Rimoin, epidemiologist and director of UCLA’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Initiative, told USA TODAY.
State and local laws differ widely on how to curb the spread of the virus: Some governors are advocating more aggressive social distancing and masks; others have fought mandatory restrictions and balked a shutting down their economies a second time in the face of a surge.
“Everybody rushed back to normal when what we really needed to be doing was doubling down,” Rimoin said. “We are not doing enough to suppress the spread of the virus.”
Increasingly, the virus is having a ripple effect on other areas of health. The United Nations said this week that coronavirus-linked hunger is leading to the deaths of 10,000 children a month because of fears of contamination and movement restrictions.
Dr. Deborah Birx of the White House coronavirus task force warned local and state leaders of a concerning rise in cases in 11 cities, according to audio obtained by the Center for Public Integrity. She listed Baltimore, Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.
“What started out very much as a southern and western epidemic is starting to move up the East Coast into Tennessee, Arkansas, up into Missouri, up across Colorado, and obviously we’re talking about increases now in Baltimore,” Birx said. “So this is really critical that everybody is following this and making sure they’re being aggressive about mitigation efforts.”
The record numbers of new weekly coronavirus cases that Arizona, Florida, Texas and California experienced a month ago are now playing out as record numbers of deaths in those states. Texas’ death toll continues to rise, and the state had a record 1,607 deaths in the week ending Monday, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.
That translates into a Texan dying every 6 minutes, 16 seconds. Texas’ weekly death toll is more than seven times its worst week through April.
An analysis of Johns Hopkins data released late Monday show eight states set records for new coronavirus counts – and eight set records for deaths. Many states that were seeing cases surge several weeks ago have stopped breaking records for new cases, including Alabama, Georgia, Nevada and South Carolina. But all of those states broke records for deaths on Monday night.
The U.S. is “knee-deep” in the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, recently said. “And I would say, this would not be considered a wave. It was a surge or a resurgence of infections superimposed upon a baseline.”
Southern and Southwestern states became a hotbed for the resurgence soon after they reopened in late May and early June. In about one month, Florida saw its case rate quadruple.
In the west, Arizona’s death toll is now more than five times worse than its worst week in the spring, while Florida is well over double. California is about 24% above its worst spring death toll.
According to a federal report, the “Red Zone” states climbed to 21, meaning they reached more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people in one week. According to The New York Times, the “Red Zone” states are Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.
With deaths rising, Americans are preparing for precautions to continue into the fall season. According to The Harris Poll survey of 1,970 U.S. adults from July 18-19, 61% of Americans are anticipating a stay-at-home fall with jobs continuing to be remote and parents choosing virtual courses from home.
Meanwhile, more and more retailers are mandating that face masks or coverings be worn in their stores, including large companies like Walmart, Target, CVS, Home Depot and Walgreens. Those decisions only add to the hot button issue as some believe that wearing a mask violates constitutional rights while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended masks as a way to prevent the spread of the virus.
Only recently did President Donald Trump make his first attempt at encouraging the use of face masks since the pandemic started. He also brought back daily coronavirus task force briefings this month after suspending them in April. The resurgence in cases, he claims, has been fueled by protests over the death of George Floyd, an increase in travel, migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and summer holidays.
Though experts generally blame the spike in cases on lax restrictions, the resurgence has left some states reconsidering their safety mandates. Infectious disease physician Alysse Wurcel told USA TODAY that some states might consider going back to an earlier phase. She said people won’t see immediate effects of safety protocols such as wearing a mask, but that wearing one is a best practice in preventing the spread of the virus.
“I think actions now will only show benefits in a month or two because the infection that spreads today will cause the illness in 14 days, which will cause the death a month or so later,” Wurcel said. “It’s really hard to convince people that whatever they are doing today, you won’t see the benefits of it for a month.”
As for a potential COVID-19 vaccine, scientists across the world are rushing to develop one. The Trump administration announced a $1.95 billion deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 100 million doses of their vaccine candidate, which the companies hope to get approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by October. The firms said Americans will receive the vaccine for free.
Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health and a U.S. biotech company called Moderna began the first large-scale American test for a potential vaccine with 30,000 volunteers.
Democrats have pushed to send significantly more money to Americans than Republicans have. They want to continue the $600 per week federal unemployment insurance boost into next year. The GOP has proposed to cut the benefit to $200 per week through September, then change it to 70% wage replacement.
Democrats’ plan for another round of direct payments to Americans also differs from the Republican bill. It would send another check of up to $1,200 to most individuals, and $2,400 to couples. The plan would add another $1,200 per dependent for up to three children, a maximum of $6,000 per household.
The Republican legislation would send checks of up to $1,200 to individuals and $2,400 to couples, with $500 per dependent of any age.
The GOP and Democrats are trying to resolve several other thorny issues in the legislation. Republicans did not put any new direct relief for state and local governments in their bill, while Democrats want nearly $1 trillion in aid.
After a meeting with Mnuchin and Meadows on Tuesday, Pelosi said the comments about legal immunity made McConnell sound “like a person who had no interest in having an agreement.”
The shots continued Wednesday. Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell accused Democrats of posturing and threatening the extension of key aid measures.
“Democrats would rather keep political issues alive than find bipartisan ways to resolve them,” he said.
Schumer then criticized Republicans for putting together a plan that many members of the GOP do not support. He said it was “littered with corporate giveaways” and “presidential pet projects,” but did not include key aid such as rental, mortgage and food assistance.
He also accused McConnell of operating in bad faith.
“Time is short,” Schumer said. “Speaker Pelosi and I will be back at the negotiating table with the White House later today. It’s time for our Republican colleagues to roll up their sleeves and get serious as well.”
Correction: The U.S. has now reported more than 4.3 million cases and roughly 150,000 deaths related to Covid-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. An earlier version misstated the figures.
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