Mr. Evers, however, said his intention was the opposite — to reassure voters they could vote without fearing for their health. “Time and time again, the Guard has stepped up to help their neighbors, friends and communities, as they will be doing on Election Day,” he said in a statement.
Iowa restores voting rights to felons.
Gov. Kim Reynolds, Republican of Iowa, issued an executive order on Wednesday to restore voting rights to as many as 60,000 state residents with felony convictions, making Iowa the latest in a line of states that have reversed policies seen as disenfranchising minority voters.
Iowa had previously enforced one of the most restrictive voting policies in the country: Former felons’ only option for registering to vote was to petition the governor’s office individually.
The order, which comes on the heels of a similar move by Florida, was not Ms. Reynolds’s first choice. She had urged the state’s legislature, which is controlled by Republicans, to pass a constitutional amendment that would have automatically restored voting rights to felons once they had served their sentences.
But lawmakers resisted, and Ms. Reynolds, who had worked closely with civil rights leaders, opted for an executive order to allow eligible former offenders to register before the election this fall.
An estimated 10 percent of the state’s Black residents were deemed ineligible to vote under the previous policy, according to state estimates.
“Today we take a significant step forward in acknowledging the importance of redemption, second chances and the need to address inequalities in our justice system,” Ms. Reynolds said in a statement, adding that she would continue to press for an amendment to the state’s Constitution. “The right to vote is the cornerstone of society and the free republic in which we live. When someone serves their sentence, they should have their right to vote restored automatically.”
White House negotiators indicate a deal could be reached by the end of the week; congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports from Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed Democratic leaders on Wednesday for moving “one inch in eight days” on coronavirus relief negotiations, but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responded by calling the comments “potshots.”
“Speaker Pelosi herself called this crisis a wonderful opportunity, and it’s clear they view it that way because while Americans are struggling, the Democratic leaders have moved about one inch in eight days,” McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor. “For the sake of the millions and millions who need more help, let’s hope they decide to get serious soon.”
Republicans have accused Democrats of playing politics by not accepting their offers to extend the extra $600-a-week federal unemployment benefits in the short-term while both sides hammer out a new relief package. Now McConnell may be open to even more of a compromise.
Schumer, D-N.Y., however, accused McConnell of bowing out of relief negotiations and letting the administration take the wheel.
“The Republican leader has decided that he would rather just lob partisan potshots from the floor each morning rather than join in productive negotiations,” Schumer said. “It is difficult to listen to the Republican leader spin such a malicious fiction about why Congress has yet to pass another round of relief when he can’t even sit in the room with us and negotiate.”
A man walks past a retail store that is going out of business due to the coronavirus pandemic in Winnetka, Ill., June 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that he and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows will meet with congressional leaders every day until there’s an agreement.
House Democrats want to keep the federal unemployment benefit enhancements at a higher level than Republicans have previously supported. McConnell complained on Wednesday that Americans receiving unemployment could theoretically make more than essential workers because the $600 benefit is so high.
The Democrats also want to send $1 trillion to state and local governments to help combat the virus, but that’s “something we’re not going to do,” Mnuchin said on Sunday.
“That meeting was not about an investigation at all,” she said. “That is something that would have crossed the line.” If Obama or Biden, who is now the Democrats’ presumptive nominee to challenge Trump in November, had talked about the investigation of Flynn, “that would have set off alarms for me,” she said. The main point of the meeting, she said, was to figure out what the Russians were up to.
Within hours of the explosion, Israel offered to provide its old foe, Lebanon, with humanitarian aid. It was not clear the help would be welcomed.
The approach was made through foreign mediators, since Israel and Lebanon have no diplomatic relations. It came just over a week after Israel said it had repelled an infiltration attempt by a Hezbollah squad along its northern frontier, in part by firing artillery shells into southern Lebanon.
Israel invaded Lebanon 2006, attempting to uproot Hezbollah, the Shiite militia and political party. They fought a devastating, monthlong war, and violence on a smaller scale has flared repeatedly since then. Hezbollah is now part of Lebanon’s governing coalition.
No Lebanese politician would want to be seen as allied with or beholden to Israel, whichremains deeply unpopular across Lebanon’s political spectrum.
Israel’s defense minister, Benny Gantz, and foreign minister, Gabi Ashkenazi, both former army chiefs of staff, offered medical assistance via “international defense and diplomatic channels,” Mr. Gantz said on Tuesday on Twitter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed a top adviser to speak with a United Nations envoy about how to deliver aid. On Wednesday, in Parliament, he said, “we are ready to offer humanitarian assistance, as human beings to human beings.” He conveyed the same message in Arabic on Twitter.
An official in Israel’s Ministry of Defense, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity, said there had been no reply from Lebanon by Wednesday evening. But another government official said contacts were underway between Israel and Nikolay Mladenov, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. Mr. Mladenov’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Asked later about possible Israeli aid to Lebanon, a United Nations spokesman, Farhan Haq, said: “Obviously we appreciate all offers of assistance from member states.”
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed more than 702,000 people worldwide.
Over 18.6 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.
Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 4.7 million diagnosed cases and at least 157,416 deaths.
Latest headlines:
Biden won’t travel to Milwaukee for Democratic National Convention
NYC to begin checkpoints enforcing state quarantine orders
Chicago Public Schools will start with all-remote learning, officials say
Here’s how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Please refresh this page for updates.
3:20 p.m.: Virginia becomes first state to launch COVID-19 tracing smartphone app
Virginia has become the first state to launch a smartphone app that aims to trace the spread of coronavirus.
The free app, COVIDWISE, tells users if they’ve been in contact with someone who has tested positive.
Those who test positive will get a unique code to enter into the app, the governor’s office said.
Other COVIDWISE users who have been near someone who tested positive will get a notice saying, “You have likely been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.”
Gov. Ralph Northam stressed that COVIDWISE does not track or store personal information, nor does it rely on GPS.
“Instead it uses the Apple Google Bluetooth Low Energy Technology, which assigns random keys to positive cases,” Northam said at a news conference. “It uses those keys to determine if you’ve been in close contact with someone who tests positive … and sends you an alert.”
“COVIDWISE works by using random Bluetooth keys that change every 10 to 20 minutes. iOS and Android devices that have the app installed will anonymously share these random keys if they are within close proximity for at least 15 minutes,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “Each day, the device downloads a list of all random keys associated with positive COVID-19 results submitted by other app users and checks them against the list of random keys it has encountered in the last 14 days. If there is a match, COVIDWISE may notify the individual, taking into account the date and duration of exposure, and the Bluetooth signal strength which is used to estimate proximity.”
2:15 p.m.: 4 University of Louisville sports teams on hold after outbreak linked to party
Four sports teams at the University of Louisville are temporarily suspended after a COVID-19 outbreak linked to a party, university officials said, according to ABC Louisville affiliate WHAS.
Twenty-nine students tested positive, WHAS reported.
Men’s soccer, women’s soccer, field hockey and volleyball are now all on hold, WHAS said.
Many other teammates and student athletes are quarantining since they were possibly exposed, school officials said, according to WHAS.
1:40 p.m.: US cruises suspended until at least Oct. 31
Cruise operators have agreed to voluntarily suspend U.S. cruises until at least Oct. 31, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) said Wednesday.
“This is a difficult decision as we recognize the crushing impact that this pandemic has had on our community and every other industry,” CLIA said in a statement.
“CLIA cruise line members will continue to monitor the situation with the understanding that we will revisit a possible further extension,” the statement said. “At the same time, should conditions in the U.S. change and it becomes possible to consider short, modified sailings, we would consider an earlier restart.”
12:35 p.m.: Florida has 50 hospitals with no open ICU beds
Florida has 50 hospitals with no available ICU beds, the state’s Agency for Healthcare Administration reported.
Two counties — Jackson and Nassau — have no open ICU beds, the agency said.
In Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, only 13 ICU beds remain, the agency said.
These numbers are expected to fluctuate throughout the day as hospitals and medical centers provide updates.
11:58 a.m.: Biden won’t travel to Milwaukee for Democratic National Convention
“After ongoing consultation with public health officials and experts—who underscored the worsening coronavirus pandemic—the Democratic National Convention Committee announced today speakers for the 2020 Democratic National Convention will no longer travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in order to prevent risking the health of our host community as well as the convention’s production teams, security officials, community partners, media and others necessary to orchestrate the event,” the statement said.
Biden will now give a speech accepting the nomination from Delaware.
11:40 a.m.: NYC to begin checkpoints enforcing state quarantine orders
New York City is beginning traveler registration checkpoints at some entry points to the city to make sure visitors and returning residents are complying with quarantine rules, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.
The “Sheriff’s Office in coordination with other law enforcement agencies will undertake traveler registration checkpoints at major bridge and tunnel crossings into New York City,” said New York City Sheriff Joseph Fucito.
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have a travel advisory in place for states with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a week average, or any state with 10% of higher positivity rate over a week average. Travelers arriving in the Tri-state area from those states must quarantine for two weeks.
Those coming to New York must also complete a traveler form.
Nonessential workers who do not follow quarantine orders could be fined $10,000. People who do not fill out New York’s travel form could be fined $2,000.
States on the list as of Wednesday are: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
11:02 a.m.: US clinches deal with Johnson & Johnson for potential vaccine
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to supply 100 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate to the United States for more than $1 billion.
Both the American pharmaceutical company and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the deal in separate statements Wednesday.
The agreement will support the company’s efforts to scale up doses of the experimental vaccine through large-scale domestic manufacturing; the U.S. government will own the first 100 million doses. The federal government also has an option to purchase an additional 200 million doses under a subsequent agreement, according to a press release from Johnson & Johnson.
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2.S, is still in the first and second phases of clinical trials. The company, which has committed to making the drug available on a “not-for-profit” basis, said it will launch a phase three study by September.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement that the Trump administration is assembling a “portfolio of vaccines” which will increase “the likelihood that the United States will have at least one safe, effective vaccine by 2021.”
10:32 a.m.: Chicago Public Schools will start with all-remote learning, officials say
All of Chicago’s public school students and teachers will begin the new school year at home next month due to the coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Wednesday.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said at a press conference that remote learning will be conducted for at least the first quarter of the school year, which runs through Nov. 6. The district will then work with the Chicago Department of Public Health to determine if it is safe to open schools with a “hybrid learning model” in the second quarter.
“By that point,” Jackson said, “we will evaluate the situation and make a determination about how we will move forward.”
Jackson noted that students will be engaged for the entirety of a normal school day — from their time with teachers, independent studying and small group learning.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the decision to start the school year remotely “is rooted in public health data and the invaluable feedback we’ve received from parents and families.” She added that it “makes sense” for a school district of such size and diversity.
“As we build out this remote learning model and seek to establish a hybrid learning model in the second quarter, we will continue to support and collaborate with parents and school leaders to create safe, sustainable learning environments for our students,” Lightfoot said.
The move comes on the heels of protests across the country held by teachers and activists demanding adequate classroom safety measures as schools debate reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic.
9:44 a.m.: Moderna on track to enroll 30,000 people in phase 3 trial
American biotechnology company Moderna announced Wednesday that it’s on track to recruit enough volunteers for the third phase of clinical trials for its potential COVID-19 vaccine.
The phase three study of Moderna’s vaccine candidate, mRNA-1273, began on July 23 and is being conducted in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health as well as the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
The trial will ultimately include 30,000 volunteers and Moderna said it expects to complete enrollment by September. It’s the final stage before the vaccine candidate could potentially be authorized for use by the Food and Drug Administration.
Each volunteer will be given either a dose of the vaccine candidate or a placebo. Researchers will monitor whether the drug protects the group from getting infected.
8:30 a.m.: Fourth-graders to be quarantined after student tests positive in North Carolina
A fourth-grade student at a private school in North Carolina has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a report by Durham ABC station WTVD.
Thales Academy said it was notified Monday that one of its student at its Wake Forest campus had tested positive after being exposed by a family member. The school then sent a letter home to parents explaining what happened and how it planned to move forward, WTVD reported.
The last time the infected student was on campus was Friday. The student was asymptomatic throughout their time at school, passing the temperature check and symptom-screening checklist for entry, according to WTVD.
Students potentially exposed have been contacted and will be quarantined for 14 days along with the teaching staff, WTVD reported.
Thales Academy welcomed students back to its campuses across North Carolina for the new school year in July. Vice President Mike Pence visited the school’s campus in Apex last week.
7:50 a.m.: Bolivia cancels the rest of its school year
Schools across Bolivia will remain closed for the rest of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Interim Bolivian President Jeanine Anez announced the decision earlier this week.
“Today we make the decision to close the school year,” Anez wrote in Spanish on Twitter. “It is very hard, but we do it to take care of the health of Bolivians, especially our children. Health is the most important thing, especially at this time.”
Last week, the South American nation’s highest electoral authority postponed the presidential election from Sept. 8 to Oct. 18 due to the pandemic, marking the third time the vote has been delayed.
More than 83,000 people in Bolivia have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and at least 3,320 of them have died, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
6:39 a.m.: Democratic and Republican governors band together to fill testing void
A bipartisan group of at least seven governors has teamed up with the Rockefeller Foundation to try to expand the use of rapid antigen tests to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, clinched the deal with the New York City-based private foundation in “the first interstate testing compact of its kind among governors during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a press release. The governors of Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia have all signed on to the agreement.
The governors are now in talks with the U.S. manufactures of the FDA-authorized fast-acting tests, which deliver results in 15-20 minutes, to purchase 500,000 per state, for a total of 3 million tests.
“With severe shortages and delays in testing and the federal administration attempting to cut funding for testing, the states are banding together to acquire millions of faster tests to help save lives and slow the spread of COVID-19,” Hogan said in a statement Tuesday night. “I want to thank my fellow governors for signing on to this groundbreaking bipartisan agreement, which we have just finalized after weeks of discussions with the Rockefeller Foundation. We will be working to bring additional states, cities, and local governments on board as this initiative moves forward.”
5:14 a.m.: Global death toll tops 700,000
More than 700,000 people around the world have now died from the novel coronavirus — another grim milestone in the pandemic.
As of early Wednesday morning, the global death toll from COVID-19 was at 700,741, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
3:37 a.m.: US daily case count shoots back up over 50,000
More than 57,000 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in the United States on Tuesday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The latest daily caseload is about 10,000 more than the previous day’s increase but still lower than the country’s record set on July 16, when more than 77,000 new cases were identified in a 24-hour reporting period.
A total of 4,771,519 people in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 156,830 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 70,000 for the first time in mid-July.
Many states have seen a rise in infections in recent weeks, with some — including Arizona, California and Florida — reporting daily records.
However, new data suggests that the national surge in cases could be leveling off, according to an internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News on Tuesday night. Only seven states and territories are on an upward trajectory of new cases, while 10 states are at a plateau and 39 states are going down, according to the memo.
Nationwide, the last week saw a 9.2% decrease in cases from the previous seven-day period. There was also a 7% increase in new deaths compared to the previous week, but the figure is lower than the 20-30% week-over-week increase the country has seen of late, according to the memo.
ABC News’ Gio Benitez, Dee Carden, Josh Margolin, Molly Nagle, Sony Salzman and Scott Withers contributed to this report.
Trump has provided no evidence to support the claim, and Yates said under oath that Obama’s only interest in Flynn was to ensure that it was safe to share sensitive national security information with the incoming administration while the FBI was probing concerns that Flynn was attempting to undermine sanctions leveled by Obama in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
“General Flynn had essentially neutered the U.S. government’s message of deterrence,” Yates said.
Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about those efforts, which he made during a series of phone calls, weeks before Trump’s inauguration, with Russia’s then-U.S. Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Transcripts of those calls show that Flynn urged Russia not to escalate in response to the Obama administration sanctions, and that Kislyak later told him Vladimir Putin refrained from retaliation because of his request.
Yates also rejected assertions that a discussion of a potential violation by Flynn of the Logan Act — a largely obsolete 18th-century law intended to prevent private citizens from interfering in foreign policy — was a central focus of the FBI’s reason for pursuing its Flynn investigation. Rather, she said, Flynn’s conversations with Kislyak and subsequent lies about those calls both publicly and to FBI agents investigating Russia’s efforts, were an obvious counterintelligence risk.
The Logan Act “wasn’t our primary concern,” she said. “It was a counterintelligence concern.”
Yates’ appearance before the Judiciary Committee, part of Chairman Lindsey Graham’s investigation into the origins of the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign’s links to Russia in 2016, is part of an effort by Trump allies to undercut the basis for the probe, which they say was a politically motivated effort to amplify charges of collusion between Trump and Russia.
But the hearing also offered Yates a chance to repeatedly knock down allegations of misconduct and incorrect assertions about the Obama administration’s actions in the closing days of the administration. Yates corrected Graham for incorrectly asserting that the FBI had closed its case on Flynn before it interviewed him on Jan. 24, 2017. She also called it highly irregular that the Justice Department recently dropped the case against Flynn, who reversed course and sought to withdraw his guilty plea earlier this year.
And Yates also emphasized that there was no effort to monitor Flynn’s communications. Though she said DOJ didn’t permit her to share exactly how the FBI obtained a recording of Flynn’s calls with Kislyak, monitoring of foreign operatives like Kislyak on U.S. soil is a routine practice.
“There was no surveillance of General Flynn,” Yates said.
Republicans focused much of their questioning on Yates’ Oct. 2016 approval of an application to surveil former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, who the FBI suspected of acting as a Russian agent. The application relied heavily on a dossier compiled by former British intelligence official Christopher Steele, who was collecting anti-Trump information for a company hired by the Clinton campaign and Democratic Party.
The so-called Steele dossier’s reliability has been undercut in the years since, and Republicans have accused the FBI of leaning on the opposition research document to justify monitoring Page. In addition, a review by inspector general Michael Horowitz found that the application included a slew of errors and omissions, though he did not find the application itself to be invalid.
Yates insisted that she rigorously reviewed the application but relied, as is required, on the factual representations made by the FBI to determine whether to approve it. She acknowledged that the Steel Dossier was an important component of the application and emphasized that anyone who participated in making false representations to the court that approved the warrant for Page should be held accountable.
Yates emphasized that despite the problems with the FISA application, Horowitz did not find evidence that political bias was a contributing factor and in fact did not include the political provenance of the Steele Dossier as one of the errors he found with the FBI’s process. Yates indicated she had internal discussions about potential political motivations behind the dossier with a lawyer in her office but added, “I was not aware the DNC was funding it.”
Graham said he intends to steer his committee’s continuing investigation toward the FBI agents and analysts who interviewed Steele’s primary source of information, a researcher whose identity was recently revealed after Graham released a redacted summary of the source’s FBI interview, declassified last month by the Justice Department. As the hearing wound down, Graham indicated that the summary he released was actually the first of three with Steele’s source and that he intends to interview “the intel analyst and case agent and two others.”
“We’re going to ask them, ‘oh by the way, did you tell anyone in the FBI that the reliability of the dossier has gone down to zero.’ And if you did tell somebody, who was it?” Graham said. “Then we’ll decide as a nation what accountability they should have, whether it be being fired, going to jail or whatever. That is the purpose of this investigation going forward.”
Graham (R-S.C.) said at the outset of the hearing that he considered the FBI’s rationale for interviewing Flynn to be a “sham.”
“We need to make sure going forward in the next transition, no matter who wins, that you can talk with foreign leaders without being afraid of going to jail,” Graham said.
Despite sharp questioning at times,Graham offered repeated praise for Yates, whom he said resisted some of the most controversial decisions made by the FBI during the outgoing days of the Obama administration. But his plaudits were quickly undercut by Trump, who contradicted Graham with a tweet in the early moments of the hearing.
“Sally Yates has zero credibility. She was a part of the greatest political crime of the Century, and ObamaBiden knew EVERYTHING!” Trump said, reviving an attack on his predecessor that he’s provided no evidence to support.
Trump also urged Republicans to press Yates on whether she was the source of a classified leak of a conversation between Flynn and Kislyak, which helped drive a public furor in the days leading up to Trump’s inauguration.
“Ask her under oath,” Trump said. “Republicans should start playing the Democrats game!”
No senators asked Yates about the leak, though she has previously denied being the source.
When Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) asserted that Yates didn’t like Trump, she replied, “I don’t respect the manner in which he has carried out the presidency.”
New York City is setting up quarantine checkpoints at “key entry points” along main bridges and tunnels to the city to screen travelers coming from more than 30 states with bad coronavirus outbreaks, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.
“Travelers coming in from those states will be given information about the quarantine, they will be reminded that it is required, not optional,” de Blasio said at a press briefing. “They’ll be reminded that failure to quarantine is a violation of state law and it comes with serious penalties.” The checkpoints will begin Wednesday.
Dr. Ted Long, head of New York City’s Test & Trace Corps, said that a fifth of all new coronavirus cases in New York City are from out-of-state travelers.
The new agency is deploying teams to Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal starting Thursday. They are checking in on travelers through calls and text messages, “and if we can’t get through to you on the phone, we’ve deployed teams that are now knocking on your door and making sure you’re safe,” Long said.
“We want you to come into New York City, but we need you to safely separate for two weeks when you arrive to keep New York City safe,” he said.
Long said the city will help those quarantining with free food deliveries, assistance with medications, telehealth services or “even a hotel stay.”
“We know that it’s not easy to get through a two-week period of safe separation, but it’s incredibly important and were going to do everything in our power to help you,” Long said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, alongside New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, issued the joint travel advisory in late June, ordering travelers from states with a significant Covid-19 communitywide spread to self-quarantine for 14 days. The original order applied to only nine states.
New York had previously stationed “enforcement teams” from the the state’s Department of Health at the city’s major airports to ensure compliance with the advisory. All passengers from incoming flights from states on the advisory are required to fill out a traveler form.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer appear to have reached consensus on a timeline for the next … [+] coronavirus stimulus package with Steve Mnuchin and Mark Meadows. The two agree on a second stimulus check, but are still far apart on extending the $600 federal unemployment benefit
AFP via Getty Images
It’s been four days since the $600 federal unemployment benefits officially expired and 10 days since the last payment went out in 49 states; lawmakers have yet to reach an agreement on the next stimulus relief package.
Democrats and Republicans have been at an impasse over the contours of the next coronavirus aid bill with little progress in reconciling the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives in May and the $1 trillion HEALS Act unveiled by the Senate last week. Meanwhile, close to 30 million Americans are waiting anxiously, now formally cut off from an enhanced unemployment benefit that was keeping many of them financially afloat.
After days of butting heads, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who have been leading negotiations for Republicans, emerged from discussions with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer with a glimmer of hope.
Commitment On Timeline: Reach Deal By Friday
While still far apart on key issues, there is at least agreement on the schedule to reach an agreement. Negotiators committed to a timeline of striking a deal by the end of this week so that both the House and the Senate could vote next week, according to reporters at both CNN and The Washington Post. Mnuchin “touted commitment to reach an agreement by the end of this week. Which is a week after the original deadline of last week,” tweeted CNN’s Phil Mattingly. “Mnuchin says agreement reached on timeline: Deal this week if they can make one, pass it next week,” echoed The Post’s Erica Werner, offering a slightly more somber assessment. Whether this sticks remains to be seen, but even a timeline is at least a minor cause for celebration given the current state of discussions.
Many Unresolved Issues
While this is a step in the right direction, there are still a number of unresolved issues that could derail even this loose timeline. Overall, the two sides are still far on the overall cost of the relief bill. While Mnuchin highlighted progress he also dismissed the cost of the HEROES Act saying, “we’re not going anything close to $3.4 trillion. That’s just ridiculous.” Schumer echoed Mncuhin underlying assessment in recounting today’s negotiation session:“They made some concessions which we appreciated; we made some concessions which they appreciated. We’re still far away on a lot of the important issues but we’re continuing.”
Both sides are in agreement about sending Americans a second stimulus check, potentially $1,200 for single filers and other issues. “I think on testing, we’re close. On schools, in reality, we would be close if they wanted to be close. On child care. Hopefully on vaccine,” Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) said, according to The Washington Post. However, on other issues, the two sides remain at odds. These include aid to state and local governments as well as the thorniest point over what rate to extend the federal unemployment benefit.
Another potential issue has been an initial Republican demand to include a liability shield for businesses in the relief bill. McConnell had called originally called the provision a “red-line” in negotiations, but he has since taken a back-seat in the negotiations. Earlier today, he ceded the point further saying that he would support whatever agreement the White House and Democrats reached. “Wherever this thing settles between the president of the United States and his team, that have to sign it into law, and the Democrat not insignificant minority in the Senate and majority in the House, is something I’m prepared to support even if I have some problems with certain parts of it,” he told reporters.
Pressure Ratcheting Up On Congress
With the Senate set to recess on August 7th, members of Congress were starting to face the reality of heading home to face irate and struggling constituents without an agreement. “How do you think it looks for us to be back home when this is unresolved?” said Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas). “This is the most important thing we need to be doing.” In an election year, this is a prospect many members do not want to face.
Unemployment Lapse Continues
The consensus on a timeline to reach agreement and pass a bill is a step in the right direction, but will still leave millions of Americans with a temporary lapse in federal unemployment benefits. It will be roughly two weeks from the time the new stimulus law is passes until most states are able to implement the new benefits scheme and resume payments, according to Michele Evermore of the National Employment Law Project. That means that if Congress is able to stick to its current timeline and pass a bill early next week, Americans may not see money arrive until the end of August, which would more than one month since their last federal benefit payment.
Beirut’s residents are in shock and mourning after an enormous explosion at the city’s port ripped through the Lebanese capital, killing at least 100 and injuring more than 4,000, according to the emergency services. Hospitals are overwhelmed, with some too damaged by the blast to operate.
The explosion, which blew out windows and destroyed property for miles around, has been initially blamed on 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in an unsecured warehouse since 2014 at Beirut’s cargo port.
But the government subsequently announced an investigation to determine within five days the exact cause of the explosion and “who was responsible.”
Lebanon’s cabinet said Wednesday that all port officials who oversaw storage and guarding since 2014 will be put under house arrest, to be overseen by the Lebanese army, according to Reuters citing ministerial sources.
“I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened, to hold him accountable and impose the most severe penalties,” Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said early Wednesday, adding that it was unacceptable that such a volume of the explosive chemical had been present for six years in a warehouse without any “preventive measures.” It wasn’t immediately clear what ignited the volatile material.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, seen here at a campaign event in July, says he won’t tear down the border wall put in place during the Trump administration.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, seen here at a campaign event in July, says he won’t tear down the border wall put in place during the Trump administration.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden says if elected, he would not tear down the parts of the barrier along the U.S. Southern border built during the Trump administration — but he would cease construction.
“There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration, No. 1,” he told NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro during an interview with journalists from the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
“I’m going to make sure that we have border protection, but it’s going to be based on making sure that we use high-tech capacity to deal with it. And at the ports of entry — that’s where all the bad stuff is happening,” the former vice president said.
Biden committed to fully ending land confiscations, a more aggressive stance than President Barack Obama took when he came into office after President George W. Bush had approved border fencing to be built in the Southwest.
“End. Stop. Done. Over. Not going to do it. Withdraw the lawsuits. We’re out. We’re not going to confiscate the land,” Biden told Garcia-Navarro.
Obama oversaw the construction of a fence along the Southern border following Bush’s signing of the Secure Fence Act in 2006. As the Austin American-Statesman reported, the Department of Homeland Security built 654 miles of fence at a cost of $2.4 billion. Significant amounts of private land were seized by the federal government for to clear space for the barrier.
Ending China tariffs
On China, Biden said he would reverse President Trump’s tariffs and pushed back at the suggestion that some believe the Trump administration’s aggressive stance toward China has been effective.
“Manufacturing’s gone in recession. Agriculture lost billions of dollars that taxpayers had to pay. We’re going after China in the wrong way,” he said.
“China is stealing intellectual property. China’s conditioning, being able to do business in China, based on whether or not you have 51% Chinese ownership, that’s got to end.”
When pressed on whether China would have to meet any conditions for reversing tariffs, Biden deflected and said he would take a multilateral approach to get China to change its behavior.
“The question is, what is the appropriate behavior that they have to engage in international trade with us? They have to play by the international rules, and what we have done is, we have disarmed ourselves,” he said.
“We make up 25% of the world’s economy, but we poked our finger in the eye of all of our allies out there. The way China will respond is when we gather the rest of the world that in fact engages in open trade and making sure that we’re in a position that we deal with WHO the right way … That’s when China’s behavior is going to change.”
On taking a cognitive test
Biden bristled when asked by CBS’ Errol Barnett, a Black journalist, whether he had taken a cognitive test. “No, I haven’t taken a test. Why the hell would I take a test?” Biden said. “Come on, Man. That’s like saying you, before you got on this program, did you take a test where you’re taking cocaine or not? What do you think? Huh? Are you a junkie?”
In recent weeks, Trump has bragged about his own such test, which is meant to identify cognitive decline, not measure a person’s intelligence. He has tried to make Biden’s mental state an issue for voters.
Biden didn’t comment on that tactic beyond saying he looks forward to debating Trump. “Well, if he can’t figure out the difference between an elephant and a lion, I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about… I know you’re trying to goad me, but I mean, I’m so forward-looking to have an opportunity to sit with the president or stand with the president and the debates.”
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
Rep. Roger Marshall defeated controversial former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach Tuesday evening to win the Republican nomination for a Senate seat being vacated by longtime Sen. Pat Roberts, R-KS.
The win in the GOP primary means that Republican voters in the Sunflower State heeded their party’s advice by choosing the more moderate Marshall over the conservative firebrand Kobach. Republican leadership was concerned that a Kobach win would could ultimately flip the generally safe Senate seat to the Democrats in November’s general election.
“Kansas Republicans knew what was at stake in this primary, and tonight’s results prove voters will reject any Democrat efforts to buy this seat,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., said in a statement. “I’m more confident than ever Kansas will remain part of the Republican Senate Majority.”
Besides besting Kobach, Marshall prevailed in a crowded GOP primary field with the backing of major farm, business and anti-abortion groups but without an endorsement from President Trump.
Many Republicans’ fears about Kobach fueled ad campaigns that cost at least $15 million, with most of the spending by political action committees. Kobach is nationally known for advocating restrictive immigration policies and alienated independent and moderate GOP voters in losing the Kansas governor’s race in 2018.
The race for retiring Roberts’ seat had national implications even though the GOP hasn’t lost a Senate contest in Kansas since 1932.
Roberts declared his support for Marshall after the congressman had picked up endorsements from the U.S Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Farm Bureau, the National Right to Life Committee and Kansans for Life, the state’s most influential anti-abortion group. Marshall also had the backing of 97-year-old political icon Bob Dole, the former U.S. Senate majority leader and 1996 GOP presidential nominee.
Even with Marshall as the nominee, the GOP faces a potentially competitive Senate race. The Democratic nominee, state Sen. Barbara Bollier has raised more than $8 million for her campaign, a big sum in a low-cost media state like Kansas, with donations flooding in from outside the state. Bollier is a retired Kansas City-area anethesiologist and former moderate Republican who garnered national headlines by switching parties at the end of 2018.
The NRSC’s Young has already painted Bollier as the “hand-picked” candidate of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“Roger Marshall is a principled conservative who has, and will, deliver for Kansas families, and I look forward to him defeating Chuck Schumer’s hand-picked candidate, Barbara Bollier, this November,” Young said.
For her part, Bollier said she doesn’t care which candidate she’s going up against and slammed the Republicans on their moves to do away with thee Affordable Care Act during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It doesn’t matter who our opponent in #KSSen is, we know that they’ll be a hyper-partisan working to take healthcare coverage from thousands of Kansans in the middle of a pandemic. That’s for sure,” Bollier tweeted.
Republicans are trying to keep their 53-47 Senate majority with competitive races in other states, including Arizona, Colorado and Maine.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters Tuesday he is “prepared to support” a coronavirus stimulus package that includes an extension of the $600 enhanced unemployment checks that has now officially expired, as the GOP struggles to come to a consensus over the benefit.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks to members of the press as Senate … [+] Majority Whip Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) listens after a weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
KEY FACTS
With negotiations between Republicans and Democrats progressing slowly, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Monday that she’s not willing to negotiate the amount of unemployment relief, telling CNN, “I think that the number, the $600, is related more to the unemployment rate. If the unemployment goes down, then that number can go down.”
While Senate Republicans have proposed different cuts to the benefits, including a reduction to $200 a week before transitioning to a 70% wage replacement rate, President Trump on Friday signaled his support for the $600 checks.
McConnell on Tuesday said of the benefits, “If you’re looking for a total consensus among Republican senators, you’re not going to find it. So we do have divisions about what to do.”
However, McConnell said he would support a bill that included the $600 weekly checks if the Democrats, negotiating with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, agreed to it with the Trump Administration.
“Wherever this thing settles between the President of the United States and his team that have to sign it into law and the Democrats, a not-insignificant minority in the Senate and majority in the House, is something I’m prepared to support, even if I have some problems with certain parts of it,” McConnell said.
While it’s a sign of compromise, progress is still slow as a scheduled August recess for the Senate at the end of the week looms over the negotiations, making it increasingly unlikely a bill could be signed by then.
Key Background
As Covid-19 continues to ravage the U.S., Congress is at an impasse over a new stimulus package. In May, House Democrats passed the $3 trillion HEROES Act, which includes an extension of the unemployment benefits initially granted with the signing of the CARES Act in March. However, Senate Republicans refused to negotiate the bill and instead waited until the end of July to introduce the $1 trillion HEALS Act, a collection of proposals that’s divisive among the GOP. Trump is reportedly considering executive action to address two dire issues: supplemental enhanced unemployment benefits and an eviction moratorium for certain renters.
Big Number
30 million. That’s nearly how many Americans lost the $600 enhanced unemployment benefits after its expiration at the end of July, according to the Washington Post.
WASHINGTON – The first primaries of the month took place Tuesday.
And the results are still slowly coming in. Michigan, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri and Washington all held primaries Tuesday.
In Kansas, Rep. Roger Marshall won the GOP primary to replace retiring Sen. Pat Roberts.
Marshall’s main competitor was former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach. In the past several weeks, the race tightened between the two after a super PAC with links to Democrats spent $5 million boosting Kobach and slamming Marshall.
Marshall’s victory is also a win for Republicans who feared that if Kobach won the primary, it could possibly leave room for the Democrats’ candidate to win in the general election in November. In 2018, Kobach as the GOP nominee for Kansas governor lost the race to Democrat Laura Kelly.
However, a Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in Kansas in 88 years.
Marshall, who represents Kansas’s 1st Congressional District, was endorsed by Roberts and has the support by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Marshall will go on to compete against Democrat Barbara Bollier, who won her primary Tuesday evening. Bollier is a state senator who left the Republican Party in 2018.
Here are some other key takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries:
Progressive Cori Bush beats incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay
Cori Bush, a nurse and Black Lives Matter activist, defeated incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay in the Democratic primary for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.
Bush is the latest progressive candidate to beat an incumbent Democrat. Last month, Jamaal Bowman, a progressive candidate for New York’s 16th Congressional District, defeated Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent.
Bush, who became a political activist following the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and is backed by Justice Democrats, who helped elect progressive candidates like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Clay, who was first elected in 2000, replaced his father, Rep. Bill Clay Sr., who served that district from 1969 to 2001 and helped create the Congressional Black Caucus. Clay Jr. received endorsements from Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., as well as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In 2018, Clay and Bush went head-to-head in the Democratic primary. But Clay ended up victorious. It’s unclear how the results will play out this time around though, as Bush had more money and a more robust campaign.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib primary results still unclear
Results for the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District are slowly trickling in.
Incumbent Rep. Rashida Tlaib is facing off against Brenda Jones, the Detroit City Council president.
Jones jumped into the primary race in late March. Since entering the race, Jones has trailed in fundraising. She also announced in early April that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
This isn’t the first time Tlaib faced off against Jones. Tlaib during the 2018 midterms won the six-way primary race by less than 1,000 votes, with Jones finishing a close second.
Tlaib has been considered one of the most vulnerable members of the “Squad” for reelection. In July, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is also a member of the “Squad” — a group of progressive congresswomen elected in 2018 — bested her own primary challenger last month.
Peter Meijer wins GOP primary to replace Rep. Justin Amash
Peter Meijer, a military veteran and member of the family of a retail chain that shares their family name, won the GOP primary to replace retiring Rep. Justin Amash for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District.
Meijer was viewed as a favorite by pundits to win the race. However, several candidates, including state Rep. Lynn Afendoulis of Grand Rapids Township and former Sand Lake Village Trustee Tom Norton, ran aggressive campaigns against Miejer.
Meijer will go on to compete against the Democratic nominee, Hillary Scholten, in the general election in November. Scholten, an attorney, ran uncontested Tuesday and locked up a handful of major liberal interest group endorsements.
Amash left the Republican party last year after calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Amash briefly considering running for president as a third-party candidate, but then decided against it. Last month, he indicated that he would not seek reelection.
This is a widget area - If you go to "Appearance" in your WP-Admin you can change the content of this box in "Widgets", or you can remove this box completely under "Theme Options"
