Good afternoon, friends.
We hope you had a nice and relaxing fourth of July holiday. Here’s the latest news to know.
Timeframe for Phase Four Takes Shape: Congress appears ready to use July to put together another stimulus package to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus. While the timeframe had been in flux, comments from U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave the strongest indication yet that the legislative branch hopes to reach and pass an agreement by the end of the month. “This is not over. We are seeing a resurgence in a lot of states,” McConnell said on Monday. “I think the country needs one last boost.” He said he is “pretty sure” a bill will come together in the next couple of weeks.
The devil is in the details: The Trump administration and Senate Republicans appear to be on the same page in terms of price tag – believing the phase four legislation should be at or below $1 trillion. The White House believes it has identified a few areas of potential bipartisan agreement, including on surprise medical billing, price transparency for pharmaceuticals, and tweaking the reimbursement rate for telemedicine. The administration is currently opposed to extending the $600 enhanced unemployment benefit but does seem open to some sort of enhanced UI. Perhaps most notably, it seems likely the administration will support another round of stimulus checks. Money for state and local governments continues to be a flashpoint, and McConnell is holding his red line on liability protection, insisting that the bill include protections for businesses, schools, and others that reopen.
SBA, Treasury Release Some Paycheck Protection Program Loan Data: Bowing to pressure from critics over its handling of the program, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Treasury Department on Monday released detailed loan-level data regarding the loans made under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The release included loan-level data, including business names, addresses, NAICS codes, zip codes, business type, demographic data, non-profit information, name of lender, jobs supported, and loan amount ranges for all loans above $150,000, which account for nearly 75 percent of the loan dollars approved. For loans below $150,000, SBA released all of the above information except for business names and addresses.
Death Rate Falls, Cases Rise, ICUs Reach Capacity: On Tuesday, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert said the country’s declining mortality rate is due in part to rising infections in young people, who aren’t as likely to die from the virus as the elderly. But Anthony Fauci warned that doesn’t mean the consequences aren’t serious, as younger patients have accounted for a widening share of all coronavirus hospitalizations. “It’s a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death,” he said. More than 2.9 million cases and 131,480 deaths have been reported across the country, according to data from John Hopkins University. The U.S. saw a record number of 60,021 new cases Tuesday, and 35 states are seeing growing numbers of cases from last week. As the cases rise, dozens of hospitals in Florida have run out of space in their intensive care units, and Arizona is also swiftly approaching full capacity for ICU beds, while Texas, another hot spot, reported more than 10,000 new cases on Tuesday alone.
Trump Wants Schools Open: President Trump on Tuesday launched an all-out effort to reopen schools this fall, arguing that some state and local officials are keeping schools closed for political reasons. “They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,” Trump said Tuesday at the White House. “No way. We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools.”
Nursing Union, Doctors Association Raise Concerns About Short Supply of PPE: The personal protective gear that was in dangerous short supply during the early weeks of the pandemic is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs, according to a report from the Associated Press. A national nurses union is concerned that gear has to be used, and a doctors association is warning that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies. “We’re five months into this and there are still shortages of gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, masks, N95 masks,” said Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United, who cited results from a survey of the union’s members. “They’re being doled out, and we’re still being told to reuse them.”
Feds Award $2 Billion For COVID-19 Vaccine, Drug Supplies: The federal government awarded $2 billion to two drugmakers to support development and manufacturing of an experimental drug and a potential vaccine against COVID-19. The new funding shows the federal government is taking steps to try to ensure that more effective tools against the pandemic are ready by fall and winter. Noravax Inc., said it would receive $1.6 billion to fund clinical studies of its experimental vaccine and establish large-scale manufacturing doses. Its shares soared nearly 29%. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it has received a $450 million federal contract to manufacture thousands of doses of its experimental treatment that the government will distribute at no cost to the public if the drug is authorized for use by regulators. Shares of Regeneron rose 3.5%.
U.S. Officially Withdraws From WHO: The administration on Monday formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization. The pullout won’t take effect until a year from now, meaning it could be rescinded under a new administration or if circumstances change. Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, who chairs the Senate Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions Committee, disagreed with the decision. “Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it. Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of vaccines, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States. If the administration has specific recommendations for reforms of the WHO, it should submit those recommendations to Congress, and we can work together to make those happen,” he said. Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden pledged that the U.S. would immediately rejoin the World Health Organization if he’s elected.
House Appropriations Committee Advancing Spending Bills: After today (Wednesday), House Democrats will have held subcommittee markups for all 12 appropriations bills, with five set to be considered by the end of the week in full committee. Those bills can be reviewed here. The Senate had plans to begin committee consideration in mid-July but cancelled due to disagreement over what kind of amendments are considered appropriate, particularly related to COVID and policing. While the Senate Appropriations Committee might consider the bills in September, a continuing resolution (CR) funding government until after the November elections is certain.
On the Home Front:
Mask Mandates: As of Monday, 35 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico had implemented some type of mask requirement order. Late Friday, our home state governor, Bill Lee, declined to issue a statewide directive and instead granted county mayors in 89 Tennessee counties the authority to issue local mask requirements.
Senate Race: Tuesday brought dueling internal polls from Republican candidates Bill Hagerty and Manny Sethi, who are vying to replace retiring Lamar Alexander in the U.S. Senate. Sethi released a poll showing him closing in on Hagerty (Hagerty 33%, Sethi 31%), but Hagerty’s campaign responded quickly, releasing its own poll showing the former U.S. ambassador with a wide lead (Hagerty 45%, Sethi 29%). Early voting begins July 17 and runs through August 1. Click here to review your voter registration information, including the early voting schedule and polling place(s) in your area.
Strong Start to Absentee Voting: Requests for absentee ballots in the Volunteer State are ahead of the number cast in the August 2016 primary and are close to matching the levels of that year’s presidential election, according to data gathered and compiled by The Tennessean. July 30 is the last day to request an absentee ballot. More information here.
As always, we’ll continue to keep an eye on what is – or is not – happening in our nation’s capital and provide updates as appropriate. Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or if we can assist you in any way.