Will small businesses get more Covid cash?

Some senators are pushing for more support for small businesses as omicron spreads; Kazakh protests are about much more than the price of oil.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Restaurants, small businesses still need relief funds, senators say

Alex Brandon/Getty Images

• Sens. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Roger Wicker (R-MS) are spearheading a bipartisan effort to introduce legislation offering targeted assistance to small businesses suffering due to the omicron surge. Lawmakers have been discussing a roughly $68 billion package to support businesses like restaurants, gyms, and performance venues that could suffer as the highly transmissible variant spreads. [Reuters]
• Talks started in December, just as omicron began making its way through the US and threatening the economic recovery that had been building over the past several months. With new restrictions on indoor seating and venue capacities, small businesses in the service, leisure, and entertainment industries could suffer. [WSJ / Amara Omeokwe]
• Wicker and Cardin have been seeking to build support for the new measure, reportedly trying to bring Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Mark Warner (D-VA) on board for the new spending measure. Other legislators, like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), have been pushing to replenish coronavirus relief funding packages that have either run out of money or have expired. [Washington Post / Tony Romm]
• Cardin and Wicker said Wednesday that their standalone bill would initially fund restaurants, as many didn’t get access to previous funding before it ran out in October 2021. “Fully half of the eligible restaurants did not receive money because it was not adequately funded,” Wicker said. Some Senate Republicans are loath to spend more stimulus money, and the White House didn’t comment specifically on Cardin and Wicker’s proposed legislation. [Bloomberg / Erik Wasson]
• Small businesses have been pushing for assistance from Washington for months; omicron and renewed restrictions added new urgency to those requests. A bipartisan group of House lawmakers agreed, sending a letter to Congressional leadership on December 17 calling for more funding for these businesses “before it is too late.” [Politico / Zachary Warmbrodt]
• But the talks are still in very early stages, if not stalled for now. One senior Biden administration official said that a small pot of funding might become available in the future, but “the economy is booming, there are millions of open jobs, and we do not believe people should be sitting at home if they are vaccinated and boosted, as most adults are.” [CNN / John Harwood and Betsy Klein]

Kazakhstan protesters burn government buildings in fourth day of major unrest

• Over the past four days, protests in Kazakhstan have progressed from anger over rising fuel prices to a serious threat to the country’s ruling class. The Central Asian nation, once a part of the Soviet Union, is a significant exporter of petroleum and one of the wealthiest nations in the region, but suffers from autocratic rule and massive wealth inequality. [NYT / Valerie Hopkins and Ivan Nechepurenko]
• By Wednesday, protesters initially furious at the government’s decision to double the price of gas to 22 cents per liter had stormed government buildings, television stations, businesses, and the airport in the major city of Almaty. In response, the entire cabinet has resigned or been fired, the internet has been shut down, and a state of emergency has been declared. [NPR / Nell Clark]
• The nation’s longtime post-Soviet ruler, Nursultan Nazarbayev, stepped down in 2019 after nearly 30 years in power, but still held significant sway as the head of the security council until he was sacked this week by his hand-picked successor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Much of the current ire is directed at him, with protesters shouting, “Leave, old man!” and pulling down statues of the former leader. [Guardian / Shaun Walker]
• Although Tokayev has reinstated gas price controls, protests have only accelerated, with disgruntled Kazakhs burning the presidential residence. He has promised a harsh crackdown and said protesters are “financially motivated.” [BBC]
• While a media blackout has made determining casualty numbers difficult, the Kazakh Interior Ministry says eight members of the security forces have been killed and more than 300 injured. No figures on civilian casualties have been released. [AP / Jim Heintz]

The Boy Scouts of America failed to reach agreement with 82,000 sexual abuse victims for a $2.7 billion settlement that would bring the organization out of bankruptcy. [Reuters / Maria Chutchian]

• US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Jeffrey Feltman will step down among deepening crises in the region, including in Ethiopia and Sudan. [National / Joyce Karam]
• North Korea has fired what is suspected to be a ballistic missile off its east coast, the nation’s first missile test since October. [NYT / Choe Sang-Hun]
• Palestinian prisoner Hisham Abu Hawwash will be released from Israeli prison on February 26, after a 141-day hunger strike. [Al Jazeera]

“I really want to piss them off, and we’ll carry on doing this — to the end.”

[French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking to the Le Parisienne newspaper, on tightening restrictions on unvaccinated people]

Vox’s Rebecca Jennings explains how the platform’s algorithm has been serving mental health content and raising questions about self-diagnosis.  [Spotify]

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