Tag: covid-19

WASHINGTON (AP) — With a key coronavirus rescue fund now exhausted, negotiations are accelerating in Washington over President Donald Trump’s $250 billion emergency request to help smaller employers across the country keep workers on their payroll.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are in talks about legislation to shore up a paycheck subsidy program. The Small Business Administration announced Thursday it has reached its $349 billion lending limit and is no longer accepting applications.

House and Senate Democratic aides expect to launch another round of talks Thursday by phone with Treasury officials about Democratic demands for additional money for hospitals and state and local governments.

The outlook for the legislation is unclear, and negotiators are unlikely to meet a potential deadline of a vote during Thursday afternoon’s pro forma session.

The Capitol is largely shuttered, requiring consensus from all sides for any legislation to pass, and top GOP leaders are vowing to stick closely to Trump’s request despite Democrats’ additional demands. Long-standing feuds and rivalries hang over the talks, including a toxic relationship between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump.

But the unprecedented legislative environment gives Democrats considerable influence, even if their funding requests for hospitals and state and local governments may have to be scaled back significantly or dropped, at least for now. Democrats blocked a fast-track bid to pass the funding last week, and Republicans in turn stymied their efforts for additional funding for other priorities in a brief debate that was mostly a messaging exercise.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a joint statement Wednesday night with top House Republican Kevin McCarthy of California urging quick funding for the payroll protection program. The Senate is away from Washington through May 4, though it convenes twice each week for pro forma sessions that could be used to pass more coronavirus aid — though only if no senator objects.

Republicans amped up the pressure for a “clean” extension of the paycheck program in statements Wednesday night. House GOP Whip Steve Scalise said Democrats “need to stop holding small businesses and workers across America hostage to their endless spending demands.”

“Our nation is not the same as it was a month ago,” McCarthy said in a call with reporters on Thursday. “This isn’t a time to play politics; there’s plenty of time to play politics.”

With leaders unable to readily summon lawmakers to Washington, the usual power dynamics are scrambled, especially in the House. There, Minority Leader McCarthy, for example, can stymie legislation more easily than if members are present, and Pelosi, D-Calif., cannot rule the House with her typical tight grip.

At issue is a $350 billion paycheck protection program that’s a centerpiece of last month’s $2.2 trillion rescue bill. The program gives grants to businesses with fewer than 500 workers so that they can maintain payroll and pay rent while shutting down their businesses during social distancing edicts.

The program,has been swamped by businesses applying for loans, and has reached its appropriations limit. Mnuchin says an additional $250 billion is needed immediately.

But Democrats want money for hospitals burdened under COVID-19 caseloads and additional funding for states and local governments straining as the economy slides into recession.

They also want to make sure the paycheck protection program is opened up more to businesses that don’t have established relationships with banks that have been accepting applications for rescue funding.

“We cannot allow the billions, hundreds of billions of dollars being spent to fight the horror of the coronavirus and the impact on our economy to further harden the disparity of the lack of access to credit for so many in the small-business community,” Pelosi said Wednesday on CNN. She also reiterated demands for “desperate state and local governments” and hospitals.

Pelosi is pressing to add money to be distributed by community development financial institutions, which are small, nontraditional lenders that focus on making loans in underdeveloped and underserved neighborhoods, typically communities with larger minority populations.

Eventually, the need for consensus seems likely to result in a relatively limited package.

“It’s a matter of adding money to things they’ve already done so long as the amounts aren’t out of whack with reality,” said Hazen Marshall, a former GOP leadership aide who lobbies Congress. “They can probably thread this needle if they can just keep it to money.”

Republicans are increasingly agitating to help rural hospitals, while Democrats are also keen to boost aid to cash-strapped states and local governments whose revenues have cratered. Aiding the states may be a stretch for now, however, as the issue can easily provoke fights between large, high-tax states like California and New York and smaller states more typically run by Republicans.

Senate Democrats are already eyeing the next coronavirus bill, proposing that it include $30 billion for a comprehensive federal plan to ramp up testing and its supply chain for diagnostic materials, as well as the ability to trace the spread of COVID-19.

Greater access to testing is a key element to have in place in order to reopen the economy, as Trump is itching to do. The proposal envisions emergency money to quickly scale up testing and develop a pipeline to ensure an adequate supply of material.

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Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

Even as many leaders hope to reopen stores, factories, airplanes and schools quickly and safely to ease economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic, health authorities warned that returning to normal is a distant goal.

The wave of layoffs that has engulfed the U.S. economy since the coronavirus struck forced 5.2 million more people to seek unemployment benefits last week, the government reported Thursday.

President Donald Trump wants to ease guidelines on social distancing, but business leaders caution that they need more coronavirus testing and personal protective equipment before people can safely go back to work.

Here are some of AP’s top stories Thursday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.

WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:

— Ten nurses have been suspended from their jobs at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, after refusing to care for coronavirus patients without being provided protective N95 face masks. They are among hundreds of doctors, nurses and other health care workers across the U.S. who say they’ve been asked to work without adequate protection. Some have taken part in protests or lodged formal complaints. Others are buying — or even making — their own supplies.

— Dr. Giovanni Passeri has worked every day at a hospital since his ward received its first COVID-19 case on March 7 in hard-hit Parma province in northern Italy. An AP photographer documented his day and night, from his tense 12-hour overnight shift to his drastically altered routine at home with his wife and 10-year-old son. What emerges is an intimate portrait of a doctor from a medical staff that well-wishers have affectionately dubbed their “warriors.”

— Doctors fear that the focus on the coronavirus pandemic could waylay efforts to combat other diseases. Resources to fight illnesses like tuberculosis, HIV and cholera that kill millions every year could be depleted by the pandemic’s toll on hospitals, medical workers and supplies.

— Facebook, Google and other platforms are taking unprecedented steps as potentially dangerous coronavirus misinformation spreads around the world. The companies are removing bad health advice and other falsehoods promoted by politicians and others while directing users to credible sources like the World Health Organization.

— As governments across the world enact emergency measures to keep people at home and stave off the pandemic, some are unhappy about having their missteps publicized. Others are taking advantage of the crisis to silence critics and tighten control.

— In China, where consumer spending propels most of the country’s growth, people have been slow to return to shopping malls and auto dealerships. Authorities are trying to encourage spending by handing out shopping vouchers, but many people are uneasy about a possible resurgence of the coronavirus or losing their jobs.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.

Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.

One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.

You should wash your phone, too. Here’s how.

TRACKING THE VIRUS: Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people you’re worried about live.

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ONE NUMBER:

— 22 million: Roughly 22 million have sought jobless benefits in the past month — easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record.

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IN OTHER NEWS:

— LOVERS’ GAZE: A co-worker snapped a photo of two nurses, a husband and wife, in an eye-to-eye embrace despite layers of protective gear. The image is inspiring people around the globe.

— IRAN’S MUSICIANS: Performance halls in Iran are closed and many residents are isolated in their homes amid the Mideast’s worst outbreak. But some Iranian musicians are finding performance spaces where they can play, including on rooftops and in doorways and empty porches.

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Follow AP coverage of the virus outbreak at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ranks of Americans thrown out of work by the coronavirus ballooned Thursday to at least 22 million in just four weeks, an unprecedented collapse that has fueled widening protests and propelled President Donald Trump’s push to relax the nation’s social distancing guidelines.

Trump planned to announce new recommendations later in the day to allow states to reopen, despite warnings from business leaders and governors that more testing and protective gear are needed first.

The government said 5.2 million more people applied for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the running total to about 22 million out of a U.S. work force of roughly 159 million — easily the worst stretch of U.S. job losses on record.

Some economists say the unemployment rate could reach 20% in April, the highest since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

While some leaders and citizens around the U.S. have called on government to reopen stores, factories and schools, health authorities and many politicians warned that returning to normal is a distant goal and that lifting restrictions too soon could allow the virus to come storming back.

The decision of when and how to ease up rests not with the White House but with state and local leaders, who imposed the mandatory lockdowns and other restrictions put in place over the past month.

The outbreak has infected more than 2 million people worldwide and killed more than 137,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, though the true numbers are believed to be much higher. The death toll in the U.S. reached about 31,000, with over 600,000 confirmed infections.

Fallout from the virus spread in ways both predictable and devastating, from police torching an illicit food market in Zimbabwe, to emergency flights carrying foreign farm workers to Britain and Germany, and protests at U.S. state capitols against job losses.

In France, Amazon suspended operations after a court ruled it wasn’t doing enough to protect its workers in the country. The online retailer has six warehouses in France.

In Britain, a government survey found that a quarter of companies had suspended business. Cargo traffic at Europe’s massive port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands sank 9.3% in the first quarter from the same period a year ago, and its CEO warned of worse to come.

The World Health Organization’s European chief said optimism that the spread of the virus is declining in Italy, Spain and France has been tempered by the knowledge that it is rising or remaining at a high level in Britain, Russia and Turkey.

“The storm clouds of this pandemic still hang heavily over the European region,” Dr. Hans Kluge said.

In the U.S., the government said home-building collapsed in March, with housing starts tumbling 22.3% from a month ago. A day earlier, the U.S. reported that American industrial output shriveled in March, registering its biggest decline since the nation demobilized in 1946 at the end of World War II. Retail sales fell by an unprecedented 8.7%, with April expected to be far worse.

The International Monetary Fund said fallout from what it calls the “Great Lockdown” will be the most devastating since the Depression.

That has made leaders all the more anxious to send people back to work and school and to rebuild devastated economies.

Italy’s hardest-hit region of Lombardy is pushing to relaunch manufacturing on May 4, the day that the national lockdown is set to lift. Regional officials are considering ordering companies to stagger opening hours to avoid cramming public transportation.

But Italy’s deputy economic development minister, Stefan Buffagni, called the plan premature: “Going in a random order risks fueling confusion among citizens and businesses.”

In the U.S., thousands came out in Michigan and Oklahoma to protest the lockdowns they say have destroyed livelihoods.

In Michigan, some were masked and armed with rifles, but many unmasked people defied stay-at-home orders and jammed nearly shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the Capitol building in Lansing. In Oklahoma, cars plastered with protest signs drove past the Statehouse in Oklahoma City: “All jobs are essential,” read one sign on the back of a pickup truck.

“This arbitrary blanket spread of shutting down businesses, about putting all of these workers out of business, is just a disaster. It’s an economic disaster for Michigan,” said protester Meshawn Maddock.

In Michigan’s northern Leelanau County, Sheriff Mike Borkovich said enforcing the restrictions is taking a toll.

“People are frantic to get back to work. They have been very edgy,” he said.

Troubling data indicate the worst may still be to come in many parts of the world.

Japan’s prime minister announced he would expand a state of emergency to the entire country, rather than just urban areas, as the virus continued to spread. Japan has the world’s oldest population, and the elderly are especially vulnerable to the coronavirus.

The British government was set Thursday to extend a nationwide lockdown for several more weeks, as health officials say the coronavirus outbreak in the country is peaking. Britain awaited its first flight of Romanian farm workers, and more than 30,000 other workers registered for flights to Germany to help plant and harvest.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged stepped-up efforts to prepare Africa for the virus, warning that the continent “could end up suffering the greatest impacts.”

In Zimbabwe, where food was scarce even before the outbreak, police raided a market, torching 3 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and scattering farmers who had broken travel restrictions to try to sell their crops.

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Perry reported from Wellington, New Zealand. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed.

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Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

WASHINGTON (AP) — With a key coronavirus fund nearly exhausted, negotiations are accelerating in Washington over President Donald Trump’s $250 billion emergency request to help smaller employers across the country keep workers on their payroll.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke Wednesday morning about legislation to shore up a paycheck subsidy program that has nearly reached its $349 billion lending limit. House and Senate aides were set to meet with Treasury officials later in the day.

Reaching a deal won’t be easy. The Capitol is largely shuttered, requiring consensus from all sides for any legislation to pass, and top GOP leaders are vowing to stick closely to Trump’s request despite Democratic demands. Long-standing feuds and rivalries hang over the talks, including a toxic relationship between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump.

But the unprecedented legislative environment gives Democrats considerable influence, even if their funding requests for hospitals and state and local governments may have to be scaled back significantly or dropped, at least for now. Democrats blocked a fast-track bid to pass the funding last week, and Republicans in turn stymied their efforts for additional funding for other priorities in a brief debate that was mostly a messaging exercise.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had no comment, according to spokesman David Popp. The Senate is away from Washington through May 4, though it convenes twice each week for pro forma sessions that could be used to pass more coronavirus aid — though only if no senator objects.

With leaders unable to readily summon lawmakers to Washington, the usual power dynamics are scrambled, especially in the House. There, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., for example, can stymie legislation more easily than if members are present, and Pelosi, D-Calif., cannot rule the House with her typical tight grip.

“Tell Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to STOP blocking critical funding for small businesses. The Paycheck Protection Program is about to run out of money — millions of jobs are hanging in the balance. Congress MUST ACT!” McCarthy wrote Tuesday on Twitter.

At issue is a $350 billion paycheck protection program that’s a centerpiece of last month’s $2.2 trillion rescue bill. The program gives grants to businesses with fewer than 500 workers so that they can maintain payroll and pay rent while shutting down their businesses during social distancing edicts.

The program is quickly running dry after being open for only a matter of days, though it’s unclear how much money has actually been distributed to businesses. Mnuchin says an additional $250 billion is needed immediately.

But Democrats want money for hospitals burdened under COVID-19 caseloads and additional funding for states and local governments straining as the economy slides into recession.

Democrats also want to make sure the paycheck protection program is opened up more to businesses that don’t have established relationships with banks that have been accepting applications for rescue funding.

“Democrats know that in order for the Paycheck Protection Program to succeed, it must work for everyone. That is why we have been asking for the Administration to work with us to help … underbanked small businesses and others who are struggling to access the PPP,” Pelosi said in a statement after it was reported that the program could run dry on Wednesday. She also reiterated demands for “desperate state and local governments” and hospitals.

Pelosi is pressing to add money to be distributed by community development financial institutions, which are small, nontraditional lenders that focus on making loans in underdeveloped and underserved neighborhoods, typically communities with larger minority populations.

The outlook for the legislation is unclear at best, and negotiators may not be able to meet a potential deadline of Thursday afternoon’s pro forma session.

Eventually, the need for consensus seems likely to result in a relatively limited package.

“I don’t see big new issues being put in the mix here,” said Steve Elmendorf, a veteran Democratic lobbyist.

“It’s a matter of adding money to things they’ve already done so long as the amounts aren’t out of whack with reality,” said Hazen Marshall, a former GOP leadership aide who lobbies Congress. “They can probably thread this needle if they can just keep it to money.”

Where the negotiation heads isn’t clear, but Republicans are increasingly agitating to help rural hospitals, while Democrats are also keen to boost aid to cash-strapped states and local governments whose revenues have cratered. Aiding the states may be a stretch for now, however, as the issue can easily provoke fights between large, high-tax states like California and New York and smaller states more typically run by Republicans.

Senate Democrats are already eyeing the next coronavirus bill, proposing that it include $30 billion for a comprehensive federal plan to ramp up testing and its supply chain for diagnostic materials, as well as the ability to trace the spread of COVID-19.

Greater access to testing is a key element to have in place in order to reopen the economy, as Trump is itching to do. The proposal envisions emergency money to quickly scale up testing and develop a pipeline to ensure an adequate supply of material.

“We need testing to be fast, free, and everywhere,” said Schumer, D-N.Y.

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Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report from Washington.