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Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before the Senate Banking Committee today, warning lawmakers that the economy is, to use the technical term, big-time fucked. Where they disagree is on how to address it.
- Powell reiterated his suggestion that Congress approve more spending for states and businesses to help prevent permanent economic damage, while Mnuchin tried to defend the White House’s approach, arguing that the solution is to make sure states and businesses reopen quickly. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) pressed Mnuchin on that plan, asking “How many workers should give their lives to increase our GDP by half a percent?” Lawmakers also grilled Mnuchin and Powell on the slow rollout of lending programs created by the CARES Act, recent changes to the rules of those programs, and an overall lack of transparency about where stimulus money has been and will be spent.
- Back at the White House, President Trump escalated his efforts to
make it safe for Americans to go back to work pin the blame for his failures on the World Health Organization. In a factually challenged letter sent to the WHO director on Monday night, Trump threatened to permanently cut U.S. funding to the organization unless it makes unspecified reforms to demonstrate independence from China, within 30 days. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at a WHO forum yesterday that China will donate $2 billion to fight coronavirus, underscoring how delighted China would be to fill the U.S. leadership vacuum with its own influence.
- We still don’t know whether Trump is really taking hydroxychloroquine, tossing back Tic Tacs that an aide solemnly assured him were hydroxychloroquine capsules, or lying to promote the unproven drug for mysterious reasons. (A statement from the White House physician was conspicuously vague on this point.) What’s cool about each of these scenarios is that they all set a very dangerous example. Trump’s announcement has drawn criticism from medical experts, Nancy Pelosi, and the senior managing editor of Fox News’s health desk, as well as a sick burn from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). (To his credit, Trump managed to take the high road over Pelosi for a record-breaking six minutes.) Vice President Mike Pence said today he is not riding the hydroxychloroquine train.
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While Trump lashes out at China and defends his right to take a dangerous, ineffective drug, substantive response efforts are off the rails.
- The Trump administration plans to end over 40,000 National Guard deployments on June 24, one day before thousands of members would become eligible for federal benefits. Unless the deployments are extended, states will lose crucial frontline workers just as they reopen—over the objections of Republican and Democratic officials—purely, it seems, to prevent National Guard members from qualifying for early retirement and education benefits.
- The White House’s newly launched food-relief program, touted by both the president and his daughter Ivanka, has been relying on contractors without food-distribution experience or the necessary licenses. At least one contractor has been seeking out suppliers on Facebook. As a result of this thoughtful, Jared Kushner-inspired approach, food banks are scrambling to get a hold of desperately needed deliveries.
With economic experts warning of “permanent damage,” top Republicans have continued to drag their feet on additional stimulus spending, and Trump reportedly told GOP senators today that he’s even opposed to extending the $600-per-week unemployment benefit increase. That would represent a devastating blow to laid-off workers, and by extension, to the economy. Trump likes to frame public-health measures in opposition to economic health, but in reality, he’s hanging American workers out to dry in an effort to force them back into jobs that no longer exist because he failed to keep Americans safe from the virus.
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Need an uplifting break from...everything? Head on over to our YouTube to watch Senator Sherrod Brown and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Connie Schultz talk to Jon Lovett about Senate negotiations over the next stimulus bill, and what it’s like to quarantine together. Check it out and be sure to subscribe to our channel →
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Florida’s COVID-19 data chief was forced to resign by the state’s health department, a day after she objected to an order to delete records showing that people had tested positive for coronavirus or developed symptoms long before their cases were tallied. Announcing her removal, Rebekah Jones issued this warning: “As a word of caution, I would not expect the new team to continue the same level of accessibility and transparency that I made central to the process during the first two months. After all, my commitment to both is largely (arguably entirely) the reason I am no longer managing it." Florida isn’t the only state manipulating its data to make reopening look more appealing: Georgia published a graph presenting data in non-chronological order, which gave the false impression that cases were steadily declining. Jones’s firing is a disturbing escalation in Republican-led states’ attempts to downplay the severity of their outbreaks, even if it means manipulating the numbers themselves.
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- The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted along party lines to advance the nomination of Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) to be President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence. Ratcliffe is an unapologetic Trump loyalist who had to withdraw from the same nomination last year after he was caught lying about his thin resume, but it’s amazing how much someone’s fortunes can improve over the course of a year during which GOP senators decide not to care.
- Several companies are quietly canceling their “hero pay” bonuses for essential workers, and Kroger has even asked employees to return the extra money they already received.
- Trump is set to tour a Ford plant in Michigan on Thursday, in defiance of the workplace safety rules implemented by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). Whitmer’s office acknowledged the violation, but welcomed the visit.
- New York University announced it will resume in-person classes this fall, with adaptations to classrooms and other safety protocols.
- “Jane Roe”—the Roe v. Wade plaintiff who sued to secure the right to abortion was paid to become anti-abortion later in life, she revealed in a new documentary filmed before her death.
- At least 116 nurses have died of COVID-19 in Brazil, the highest toll for nurses anywhere in the world. Brazil’s health-care system has been overwhelmed by the outbreak, and nurses face a serious shortage of personal protective equipment, exacerbated by President Jair Bolsonaro’s extreme COVID denial.
- Texas officials announced that summer camps will be permitted to open this summer, with classic camp activities like Sitting Alone at Campfire, Sanitizing Marshmallow Stick, and Staring Forlornly at Forbidden Lake.
- Trump won’t unveil Barack Obama’s official White House portrait, as would be traditional, which is actually a refreshingly elegant insult from Trump. Less tweeting, more oil painting-based personal attacks.
- Speaking of ~elegance~, a Maryland restaurant is using inner tubes to enforce social distancing. Finally, a dignified return to public life.
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Georgia Republicans canceled a state supreme court election, which means Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) gets to appoint a Republican who will serve for at least two years. Georgia was scheduled to hold an election today to fill the seat of Justice Keith Blackwell, a Republican whose term expires this year, and who sent a letter to Kemp announcing he didn’t intend to run for reelection. After receiving the letter, Kemp informed the state’s chief elections officer that he planned to fill Blackwell’s seat by gubernatorial appointment, and the elections officer then canceled the election. Both candidates filed lawsuits seeking to reinstate the election, which were rejected by the state’s Supreme Court. The decision was based on some sloppy language in Georgia’s constitution, and the upshot is that justices who belong to the same party as the governor now have an easy path to maintain partisan control over their seats for an extra two years before an election takes place.
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Michigan’s secretary of state announced that all registered voters will receive absentee ballot applications.
Philadelphia election officials are distributing thousands of absentee ballot applications in food boxes for needy residents in an effort to reach low-income voters.
A South Korean study found that recovered coronavirus patients who later test positive are not able to transmit the infection.
Magic Johnson will offer $100 million in loans to minority- and women-owned businesses.
Former Google chairman Eric Schmidt and his family have donated $4.7 million to NPR to help sustain regional newsrooms.
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