July 27, 2020

Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines – COVID-19 D.C. Update – July 2020 #18

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced the “Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools Act” (HEALS Act). The Republican proposal includes several provisions designed to get children back to school, workers back to work, and winning the health care fight against the virus, McConnell said. Details have yet to be released, but while on the Senate floor, McConnell said that the measure would provide funding for education and childcare providers and give schools the flexibility they need. There will be another round of direct payments for households at the same US$1200 levels provided in the CARES Act. There will be a sequel to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help prevent more layoffs. Republicans will continue a federal supplement to state unemployment benefits but will cut unemployment from US$600 to US$200 per week. Republicans are offering economic incentives to boost worker retention and preserve the strength of national trust funds and long-term jobs. Also included will be legislation to incentivize Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) manufacturing in the U.S. The leader said the legislation will also focus on other U.S. production and protections from China such as high-tech semiconductors, critical minerals, and IP theft. Funding will also focus on diagnostics, treatments, vaccines, and health care workers, as well as Medicare protections for seniors.
- The Senate Republicans plan cuts unemployment benefits by US$40 per week and would be temporary until states could work out calculating and distributing payments at about 70 percent of a worker’s prior income, which would also amount to about US$200 per week. Democrats have ruled out the temporary extension and will continue to push keeping the benefits at US$600 through January. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck (D-NY) Schumer, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are scheduled to meet in the Speaker's Office at 6 p.m. to start negotiations on the package.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are pushing for narrower issue-by-issue coronavirus bills if talks stall, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is already rejecting trying to "piecemeal" a solution. Republicans remain divided on unemployment insurance that expires this weekend as scrutiny whether the Republican’s proposal can be administered to recipients on time continues to be in doubt.
National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has tested positive for COVID-19. He is at this time working from home. The announcement came days after a pilot for Marine One and a cafeteria vendor at the two eateries inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building tested positive for the coronavirus. The media is reporting that coworkers were not informed. O’Brien just returned from a trip where he met with European counterparts. Pictures show many encounters with colleagues in the U.S. and abroad, where he is photographed without a mask.
The Trump administration will invest another US$472 million into expanding Moderna’s clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of its coronavirus vaccine candidate. Moderna announced yesterday that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is providing the additional dollars as the phase three trial of the vaccine candidate is slated to start today. The Phase 3 clinical trial will enroll 30,000 healthy people at about 89 sites around the country. Half will receive two shots of the vaccine while the other half will receive a placebo. Dr. Anthony Fauci estimates that the trial will be completed by the end of the summer, and results might be available by November.
On Monday, President Trump toured a biotechnology plant in Morrisville, NC that is involved in developing components for a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Bioprocess Innovation Center of Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies "is manufacturing bulk drug substance for NVX-CoV2373, Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial, and is expected to progress into Phase 2 in mid-August and Phase 3 in the fall," according to a White House statement.
The U.S. Department of Labor inspector general’s offices says the agency has been unable to process a backlog of compensation claims from federal workers that have fallen ill with COVID-19. According to the report, the department expects to have received roughly 6,000 claims by next Tuesday, and has been slow processing those that they have already received. As of 16 June, the department had processed only 911 of the 2,866 claims it had received, the report said.
Thirty-two percent of Americans support President Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new low, according to a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Sunday. Support for the President’s handling of the pandemic has dipped among Republicans, although remains at 68 percent. The poll clocked Trump's overall approval rating at 38 percent, consistent with other recent polling.

In the News

Emergent BioSolutions said on Monday it signed a US$174 million agreement with AstraZeneca to develop and manufacture the British drugmaker’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate. AstraZeneca in June picked Emergent to help produce 300 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine pledged to the United States.
It’s the busiest week yet for corporate earnings reports. Companies like Apple, McDonald’s, Comcast, and GM will share their financial results for the previous quarter. Expect to hear lots of synonyms for "unprecedented."
A new national survey from review service Yelp says 60 percent of restaurants that shut down during the pandemic could now be closed permanently.
Google said on Monday it will extend its coronavirus work from home order to through June 2021. "To give employees the ability to plan ahead, we are extending our global voluntary work from home option through June 30, 2021 for roles that don’t need to be in the office," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in an email to employees.
Two of the biggest U.S. retailers are closing for Thanksgiving this year. Target said Monday it will close on Thanksgiving day, following Walmart’s announcement of the same plans last week. This represents a shift from the recent-year trend toward retailers opening their doors for post-Thanksgiving dinner shoppers.
RV sales are booming amid pandemic-caused social distancing. Dealers and RV manufacturers, such as Thor Industries, Winnebago, and Forest River, report spikes in demand in recent months, and industry analysts say several good months could be ahead. Wells Fargo reports that "dealers are saying as high as 80 percent of customers are first-time buyers ... vs. the typical 25 percent mix."

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DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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Coronavirus: The Hill and the Headlines – COVID-19 D.C. Update – July 2020 #18

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