Trump sets Easter as possible date for lifting restrictions
Sen. Mitt Romney tests negative for coronavirus
Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney said Tuesday that he tested negative for COVID-19, but will remain self-quarantined at his home in Utah.
“Nevertheless, guidance from my physician, consistent with the CDC guidelines, requires me to remain in quarantine as the test does not rule out the onset of symptoms during the 14-day period,” he said in a statement.
Romney had self-quarantined after interacting last week with Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY., who tested positive for the coronavirus. Romney is one of several senators who self-quarantined after Paul’s diagnosis.
– Savannah Behrmann
Congressman with the coronavirus says he’s still in the hospital
Rep. Ben McAdams, D-Utah, one of two members of the House of Representatives to test positive for the coronavirus, said in a statement released Tuesday he was still in the hospital.
“I remain in the hospital on the advice of doctors. They are monitoring my occasional need for supplemental oxygen and have advised me that I still need to be here,” he said.
McAdams was admitted to the hospital on Friday evening after experiencing “severe shortness of breath.”
He said in a statement released Sunday he was feeling “relatively better.”
–Nicholas Wu
Sailors on deployed aircraft carrier test positive for coronavirus
Three sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for coronavirus, the first time a ship deployed at sea has been affected by the pandemic, Navy officials announced Tuesday.
The Roosevelt had been in port at Danang, Vietnam 15 days ago for a port visit. The sick sailors have been flown from the ship to a military hospital in the Pacific region, said Navy Adm. Michael Gilday, the chief of naval operations.
Gilday declined to say how many other sailors had been in contact with the affected sailors, saying he did not want to signal vulnerability to adversaries.
It’s not clear that the sailors contracted the virus in Vietnam, Gilday said. The ship paid a port call there 15 days ago. Aircrafts have also been flying to and from the Roosevelt.
There are more than 5,000 sailors aboard the Roosevelt. The Navy has canceled port visits for ships except those in need of repair or resupply.
No sailors in the submarine corps have tested positive for the virus, Gilday said. Social distancing in the close quarters of a submarine would be impractical.
Trump sets new date for lifting restrictions: Easter
Trump said Tuesday that he would like to have the government restrictions on travel and social gatherings eased by Easter, which comes on Sunday, April 12.
“We’re going to be opening relatively soon,” Trump said during a Fox News town hall Tuesday. “I’d love to have it open by Easter … It’s such an important day for other reasons but I’ll make an important date for this too. I would love to have the country, opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”
Asked if it’s possible for the country to return to normal by Easter, Trump said, “I think it’s absolutely possible. Now, people are going to have to practice all of the social distancing and things we’re doing now. … But we have to get our country back to work.”
Trump seemed to suggest Americans could both go to work and adhere to social distancing practices but did not specify how that would work.
Shortly after Trump’s remarks, three major U.S. health organizations – representing the nation’s doctors, nurses and hospitals – issued a public plea to Americans to stay home.
“Staying at home in this urgent moment is our best defense to turn the tide against COVID-19,” wrote the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, and American Nurses Association in an open letter.
“Physicians, nurses and health care workers are staying at work for you. Please stay at home for us.”
Trump has said he is looking at easing the health restrictions, which have crippled the U.S. economy, even as experts warn against such a move.
Health officials and lawmakers have said that lifting the social distancing restrictions could be disastrous for both the U.S. economy and for public health.
“There will be no normally functioning economy if our hospitals are overwhelmed and thousands of Americans of all ages, including our doctors and nurses, lay dying because we have failed to do what’s necessary to stop the virus,” Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Utah, tweeted on Tuesday.
But Trump has appeared to brush off that assessment.
“I’m not looking at months,” Trump said on Monday of the duration of social distancing guidelines that have led to widespread business closures and other disruptions. “We will be back in business as a country pretty soon.”
Trump’s comments come as other political leaders enact stricter measures. On Monday, four U.S. states announced more rigid orders for residents and businesses, an International Olympic Committee member revealed this year’s games would be postponed and U.S. deaths approached 600, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.
– Deirdre Shesgreen
After easing tensions, Trump returns to attacking Cuomo
President Donald Trump has had an on-again, off-again relationship with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in recent weeks as the nation has responded to the coronavirus pandemic. It appears Trump was ready to pick up the fight again Tuesday.
During a Fox News town hall in the Rose Garden, Trump slammed Cuomo for not ordering more ventilators himself years ago. The president pointed to reports that Cuomo chose to ration the state’s supply of emergency ventilators rather than order more five years ago.
Cuomo is now overseeing a state that has become the epicenter of the disease.
“I’m not blaming him or anyone else,” Trump said before quickly adding that: “He’s supposed to be buying his own ventilators.”
The president’s remarks were the latest instance in which he has said states should take the lead in ordering medical equipment needed to confront the virus. Cuomo and other state officials say they have struggled to find that equipment on the market. Democrats have pressed Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to require companies to expand production of the equipment.
– John Fritze
Trump: Lawmakers ‘coming together’ on coronavirus stimulus
President Donald Trump said lawmakers appear to be close to reaching an agreement on legislation to stimulate the faltering economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think they’re actually coming together,” Trump said during a Fox News Virtual Town Hall. “I hear from just a few minutes ago they are doing pretty well.”
Congressional Republicans and Democrats are negotiating details of a stimulus package of about $2 trillion. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said earlier that negotiations were on “the five-yard line” with their progress toward a deal.
–Michael Collins
South Korean media report: Trump asked for help in securing medical equipment
President Donald Trump asked his South Korean counterpart for help in securing medical equipment, according to an account in Yonhap News.
“President Donald Trump asked President Moon Jae-in for medical equipment related to the new coronavirus infection,” the South Korean news outlet reported.
The White House read-out of the call did not mention such a request. In a statement to reporters, Judd Deere, the White House’s deputy press secretary, said Trump and Moon discussed the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“President Trump reiterated his commitment to employ the full weight of the United States Government and work with global leaders to save lives and restore economic growth,” Deere said.
Yonhap reported that Trump asked if South Korea could provide medical equipment to help the U.S. respond to COVID-19 and Moon told him that if South Korea could do that, he would “support it as much as possible.”
Moon suggested there could be regulatory hurdles with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approving South Korean medical supplies, but Trump said he would take “immediate action” to clear those issues.
The White House did not immediately respond to a question about the different accounts. But Foreign Policy magazine also reported that State Department officials have been directed to ask U.S. allies to increase its exports and its production of medical equipment and protective gear needed in the United States.
That conflicts with Trump’s public assertions that the U.S. does not need to take extraordinary steps to meet the needs of U.S. hospitals and health care workers who are on the frontlines of the epidemic.
– Deirdre Shesgreen
Congressional leaders say deal on massive coronavirus stimulus close
WASHINGTON — Republicans on Tuesday continued to hit Democrats on a number of provisions included in a $2.5 trillion House coronavirus bill, calling it a liberal wish list and faulting Democrats for attempting to use a crisis for political gain.
Several moderate Democrats joined Republicans in voicing some level of skepticism over the length of the negotiations and the House bill because of items – such as measures taking on climate change, mail-in voting and funds for the Kennedy Center, a D.C. preforming arts center – that appeared unrelated to the worsening crisis.
“Now is not the time to try to establish a slush fund for your donors, as I believe Mitch McConnell has done or attempted to do. Now is also not the time to put in your own legislative pet projects, tenants of the Green New Deal, that you know will only likely stifle this,” Rep. Max Rose, a moderate New York Democrat, said of the House bill. “There is a fierce sense of urgency that we are feeling on the ground in New York, and New York right now is experiencing what other parts of the country will very likely experience weeks, or months from now.”
What’s in the stimulus proposals?:Congress’ $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, visualized
Rep. Dean Phillips, a moderate Democrat representing a swing district in Minnesota, said on Twitter that both parties shouldn’t be attempting to include provisions in this bill unrelated to the virus. “The coronavirus relief bill shouldn’t be a vehicle for anything unrelated to mitigating the direct effects of the epidemic,” he said.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., also expressed impatience over the last-minute House bill and its laundry list of new demands. “I am not for the green deal,” he said from the Senate floor Monday. “Who’s throwing that stuff in? I have no idea. I wouldn’t vote for it.”
Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Republican facing a tough reelection battle in November, also appeared antsy to get a deal accomplished. He was the lone Democrat to vote in favor of moving forward on the Senate emergency package on Monday.
“I believe that we needed to really send a message to the American people and to both sides of the aisle that the clock is ticking, that we need to get this done and we need to get it done now, and the best way to do that is to proceed,” Jones said on CNN on Monday.
– Christal Hayes and Ledge King
The parts of the House bill drawing scrutiny
While the House offered its own stimulus bill on Monday, Congress is likely to take up a bill that originated in the Senate. Congressional leaders have signaled a deal is close to being made. Here are some of the key provisions in the House’s $2.5 trillion stimulus package that have drawn scrutiny:
- Offers $35 million for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Preforming Arts for operations and maintenance requirements related to the coronavirus.
- Requires airlines getting help to fully offset the annual carbon emissions of such air carriers for domestic flights beginning in 2025.
- Rescinds several executive orders limiting collective bargaining.
- Requires corporations receiving aid to pay full and part-time workers a minimum hourly wage of $15 or more starting no later than Jan. 1, 2021.
- Cancels outstanding debt of the United States Postal Service owed to the Treasury and authorizes USPS to borrow up to $15 billion from Treasury to keep operating.
- Requires states provide at least 15 days of early voting, provide “no-excuse” absentee vote-by-mail, and mail a ballot to all registered voters in an emergency and gives $4 billion to help them.
– Christal Hayes and Ledge King .
Stocks climb on hopes for a coronavirus stimulus package from Congress
U.S. stocks rallied Tuesday on hopes that Congress would pass a stimulus bill to shield the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 1,700 points, or more than 9%.
Stocks stabilized overnight after a turbulent start to the week as Congress was nearing a rescue plan that could inject $2 trillion into the economy. The measure is designed to provide direct payments of $1,200 to most Americans, help small businesses shuttered across the country and aid the hard-hit travel industry.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said negotiators were on “the five-yard line” with their progress toward a deal. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer praised the elements of the deal under discussion and said an agreement could be announced within hours.
– Jessica Menton
Durbin urges Trump not to ease coronavirus restrictions too soon
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., on Tuesday implored President Donald Trump not to ease too soon public restrictions aimed at stemming the spread of coronavirus.
“Don’t follow somebody talking on cable TV and their recommendations,” Durbin said on the Senate floor. “Follow the experts in public health who have dedicated their lives to saving the lives of others.”
The comments from the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat came the day after Trump signaled impatience with federal social distancing guidelines that are hurting the economy.
“I’m not looking at months,” Trump said. “Why would we close down 100% of the country?”
The remarks were a major departure from Trump’s prediction just days ago that the guidelines could potentially be in place through the summer.
In times of crisis, Durbin said, presidents “are expected to be credible with clarity and consistency.”
“I hope the president will remember that as he makes his decision on policy,” Durbin added.
– Maureen Groppe
Schumer: stimulus deal could come in ‘next few hours’
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said a stimulus deal to combat the impacts of the coronavirus would come in the “next few hours.”
Schumer noted he had told reporters last night they were on the “five-yard line,” but now, they were on the “two-yard line,” he said during a speech on the Senate floor.
He said he had just finished a “very productive” meeting with White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland, incoming White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
Among the outstanding issues Democrats were still pressing for, Schumer said, were a “significant increase in money for the health care system” and policies that put “workers first” like restrictions and oversight on funds for corporations.
“The few outstanding issues, I don’t see any that can’t be overcome within the next few hours,” he said.
Schumer said, “we are very, very pleased with what seems to be moving forward in the bill,” before adding details of the measure. He said it includes:
- “unemployment insurance on steroids”
- “If you lose your job in this crisis, you can be furloughed by your employer. That means you stay on that — you stay on that employer’s work list if you have health benefits with the employer, you can keep getting them.”
- “The federal government will pay your salary, your full salary for now four months. We had asked for four months and four months looks like what we’re going to get when we come to this agreement.”
– Nicholas Wu
Trump admin. to use Defense Production Act for first time for test kits
The Trump administration is expected to officially trigger the Defense Production Act for the first time on Tuesday to obtain about 60,000 coronavirus test kits to help health care workers confront a widespread shortage of medical supplies amid the unfolding crisis.
FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor told CNN his team planned to “use the DPA for the first time today.”
“There’s some test kits we need to get our hands on,” he said, adding that the administration would also insert “DPA language” into mass contracts for 500 million masks.
The Korean War-era law allows President Donald Trump to address the shortage of medical supplies by directing private companies to expedite the production of medical equipment. Trump invoked the DPA last week but has resisted calls from governors and other officials to actually enforce it as the administration scrambles to expand coronavirus testing across the country.
“We’re going to use it, we’re going to use it when we need it, and we’re going to use it today,” Gaynor said.
The president weighed in on using the law Tuesday morning, tweeting that the DPA was “in full force, but haven’t had to use it because no one has said NO! Millions of masks coming back up to States.”
Trump has argued he doesn’t need to enforce the law because companies are volunteering to manufacture supplies and he is against the idea nationalizing U.S. businesses.
– Courtney Subramanian
Rules Committee says remote voting not a likely solution
A report from the House Rules Committee released Monday found that moving away from live voting on Capitol Hill could prove difficult.
“Implementing remote voting would raise serious security, logistical, and constitutional challenges,” the report found. It cited risks from “enemy states” or “bad actors” who could try to break into and meddle with any online system, as well as the fundamental changes it would mean for how Congress operates and centuries of tradition.
A move to remote voting might make sense, but it would require lengthy study, the report said.
“This change cannot be implemented overnight, and likely cannot be accomplished in time to address the current crisis,” the report concluded. Remote voting would also require a rule change, which would itself have to be voted on in person.
The report said proxy voting “is likely the best of the options available under the circumstances.” That would allow a lawmaker to permit another member to cast their votes for them for a certain period of time. But, as with remote voting, it would require lawmakers to vote on a rule change and could face constitutional challenges.
Committee Chairman James McGovern said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked him to begin work on the report last week because lawmakers “on both sides of the aisle have expressed concerns regarding traveling and congregating en masse as this pandemic continues to spread across the country.”
The Rules Committee report suggested that simpler solutions would be to move to pass legislation under existing rules. For example, Congress could approve measures by unanimous consent, which does not require the lawmakers to be physically present. The downside of this approach, the report notes, is that a single member could object and derail the legislation.
Another option would be to have members vote in shifts to limit their exposure to one another. The problem with that approach is that it would not allow those who are ill or under quarantine. to vote.
– Will Cummings and Christal Hayes
McConnell: ‘We’re on the five-yard line’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Congress and the White House are close to a deal on a massive emergency stimulus package that would offer cash assistance to families, financial help to the health care industry and relief to businesses reeling because of the coronavirus.
“At last, I believe we’re on the five-yard line,” McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. “This majority has gone out of its way to make this process as bipartisan, and as open as possible. The administration has bent over backwards to work with Democrats and address their concerns.”
He went after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats for introducing a House bill that McConnell said includes an “encyclopedia of unrelated demands.”
At the time of his speech, reporters spotted Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and other key administration officials at the Capitol for another round of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans.
“The clock has run out. The buzzer is sounding,” McConnell said. “The hour of bargaining, as though this were business as usual, has expired.”
– Christal Hayes
Senate chaplain holds prayer for Rand Paul, John Bessler
Senate chaplain Barry Black opened Tuesday’s Senate session with a prayer for Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s husband John Bessler and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., both of whom have been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
“Give us patience and cheerful endurance and serenity of mind. And, lord, place your healing hands upon John Bessler, Sen. Rand Paul, and others who need to feel your touch. We pray in your great name,” Black said.
– Nicholas Wu
Pentagon: 321 coronavirus cases in military
The number of troops, their families and civilian military employees infected with the coronavirus jumped to 321 on Tuesday, the Pentagon reported. That’s up from 243 on Monday.
Of the 321 COVID-19 cases reported Tuesday, 18 of them, including nine troops, are in hospitals. So far, 17 troops have recovered.
On Monday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the illness could affect the military’s readiness to fight as commanders have canceled several combat training exercises.
The Pentagon is also deploying two field hospitals to aid local officials in New York and Washington, and two Navy hospital ships are scheduled to sail to New York and California to relieve pressure on civilian facilities.
– Tom Vanden Brook
Pelosi: stimulus deal possible in ‘next few hours’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday morning a deal on an economic stimulus package to combat the impacts of coronavirus may be reached in the “next few hours.”
“I think there is real optimism that we could get something done in the next few hours,” she said on CNBC.
Pelosi said Senate Democrats “have done a great job” making changes to the Senate bill that would benefit workers, to make the bill a “much more worker-oriented initiative,” and adding oversight provisions for Treasury’s lending to businesses.
She also said compromises had been made with Republicans on adding immunity for mask producers, too.
“It’s legislating, you don’t get everything you want,” she said. “People should put this in perspective.”
The Speaker said it was her goal to bring the bill to the House floor “under unanimous consent,” meaning the bill could be passed without taking a vote, as long as no member of Congress objected to it.
If a compromise wasn’t reached and a bill had “poison pills in it,” Pelosi said she would call members of the House back to vote to either amend the Senate bill, or pass their own and then reconcile the differences.
Asked whether it was possible to get both sides of the aisle to agree on a deal, Pelosi said “we’re all receptive to getting something done. We all know that everybody doesn’t write their own bill, it is a series of compromise. We think it has moved sufficiently to the side of the workers.”
– Nicholas Wu
Mnuchin, Schumer say a deal is close
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led talks late into the night Monday in search of a compromise on a nearly $2 trillion stimulus package to address the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, and said they hoped to have a deal in place Tuesday.
“We look forward to having a deal tomorrow,” Mnuchin told reporters after exiting Schumer’s office.
“That’s the expectation — that we finish it tomorrow and hopefully vote on it tomorrow evening,” added Schumer.
A version of the bill put forward by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell failed to get the 60 votes needed to end debate on Sunday and again on Monday, in largely party-line votes.
Coronavirus:How several states hunkered down the same day Trump promoted going back to normal
That measure called for direct, one-time payments to Americans – $1,200 to individuals and $3,000 for a family of four, loans to small businesses battered by mandatory closures, money to help hospitals and medical professionals, expanded unemployment benefits, and money to help larger corporations in troubled industries, such as the airlines.
Democrats argued the Senate bill favored businesses over workers and pushed for more protections for Americans unable to work amid the crisis, as well as more restrictions on corporations receiving federal assistance. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled her own $2.5 trillion version of the bill, which included larger direct payments to workers, money for states and a provision forcing President Donald Trump to order companies to manufacture needed medical supplies.
Where’s Fauci?:Doctor’s absence is noticed at White House coronavirus briefing
McConnell slammed Pelosi and congressional Democrats for their opposition to the Senate bill, saying, “The country doesn’t have time for these political games.”
Mnuchin and Schumer said both sides were close to a deal and the Treasury secretary said talks were expected to resume Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Schumer said he thought a deal could be reached on a package that could be voted on Tuesday night.
Trump also railed against Pelosi, accusing her of including provisions that were not related to the coronavirus.
“Republicans had a deal until Nancy Pelosi rode into town,” Trump said in a Monday tweet. “The Democrats want the Virus to win?”
– William Cummings
Trump says White House considering easing coronavirus restrictions
Even as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths rise in the U.S., President Donald Trump suggested the country should move away from the social distancing protocols – put in place to combat the spread – sooner rather than later because of the economic costs of those measures.
“Our country wasn’t built to be shut down,” Trump said at a White House news conference on Monday. “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.”
Trump said that after the current 15-day period of recommended closures ends on March 30, “we’ll make a decision as to which way we want to go.”
“This was a medical problem, we are not going to let it turn into a long-lasting financial problem,” the president said.
Health experts have insisted that social distancing is critical to reducing the spread of the virus and “flattening the curve,” meaning a stop to the exponential increase in confirmed cases. That case number now stands at more than 46,000 in the U.S., putting the U.S. behind only China and Italy in the number of people known to be infected.
– William Cummings
Johns Hopkins expert: early end to social distancing could ‘kill millions’
A leading expert in disease epidemics warned that the effects could be catastrophic if the U.S. does not continue with the social distancing guidelines that have been in place across the country.
In a series of tweets on Monday night, Dr. Tom Inglesby, the director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security, told those calling for an early end to social distancing that doing so would mean the rapid spread of the disease that “could potentially kill millions.”
He pointed to the success that Asian countries have had in reducing the spread of the illness through rigorous social distancing. He noted that in Wuhan, China, where the disease originated, it took three weeks for the distancing measures to reverse the rising trend. In the U.S., such measures have in place for about a week.
On Monday, Trump said his administration is examining ways to “cautiously resume” parts of the economy, saying in a tweet, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.”
“In last 24 hrs there’ve been prominent US voices calling for a stop to social distancing, citing rationale that they’re worse than impact of COVID itself,” Inglesby wrote. “It’s worth looking very closely at that claim, where we are in US COVID epidemic and what happens if we stop.”
– William Cummings
Contributing: The Associated Press
