Tag: Trump botched COVID-19 response tanked the U.S. economy

Biden’s Pandemic Relief Package Is Popular — But GOP Obstruction Isn’t

Senate Republicans, who have promised to block a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package proposed by President Joe Biden, say that Democrats’ use of budget reconciliation to pass Biden’s plan would be a betrayal of Biden’s Inauguration Day promise to unify the country.

But a spate of polls released in recent days shows that Biden’s coronavirus relief package, as well as the executive orders he signed in his first days in office, have broad support from Americans all along the political spectrum.

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released Monday afternoon found that 74 percent of American adults support Biden’s proposal to provide $2,000 relief checks to Americans. Continue reading.

U.S. unemployment rate to remain above pre-pandemic level through decade, CBO says

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The nation’s unemployment rate will not return to its pre-pandemic levels through the rest of this decade, meaning millions could be out of work even after vaccines are widely distributed, according to a projection released Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The nonpartisan budget office also projected a faster-than-expected rebound in economic growth as the nation’s economy recovers more quickly than analysts had initially expected.

The U.S. economy is expected to grow by 4.6 percent this year before returning to more typical growth levels of slightly above 2 percent by 2023. Last year represented the worst year for gross domestic product since World War II, with the pandemic leading to a 3.5 percent contraction in the economy. Continue reading.

Jobless claims remained at historic highs last week, as Biden inherits the worst job market of any modern president

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Another 900,000 people filed new unemployment claims last week, President Donald Trump’s last in office, a snapshot of the significant labor market challenges facing President Biden.

An additional 423,000 people in 47 states filed new claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the program created to help gig and self-employed workers.

Altogether, nearly 16 million people were claiming benefits as of Jan. 2, the last week available for that measurement. That number is expected to increase in the coming weeks as people who were dropped from the unemployment rolls after their benefits expired file new claims to take advantage of the extension passed by Congress at the last minute in December. Continue reading.

Unemployment Claims Rise Sharply, Showing New Economic Pain

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Weekly filings for jobless benefits hit the highest level since July as the pandemic’s resurgence batters the service industry.

Ten months after the coronavirus crisis decimated the labor market, the resurgent pandemic keeps sending shock waves through the American economy.

Though more than half of the 22 million jobs lost last spring have been regained, a new surge of infections has prompted shutdowns and layoffs that have hit the leisure and hospitality industries especially hard, dealing a setback to the recovery.

The latest evidence came on Thursday when the Labor Department reported that initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose sharply last week, exceeding one million for the first time since July. Continue reading.

‘A real mess’: Trump is leaving behind crises and undermining Biden before he takes office

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When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office on Jan. 20, the list of crises he will face includes a massive cyber intrusion, a still-raging global pandemic, a slowing economic recovery and a lingering reckoning over the nation’s racial tensions.

President Trump is not making his job any easier and, in several ways, appears to be actively making it harder — going to extraordinary lengths to disrupt and undermine the traditional transition from one administration to another despite the nation’s many crises.

Trump has sought to play down or even deny the still-expanding cybersecurity breach that many experts blame on Russia, even as its impact has spread to a growing number of federal agencies. The delayed and turbulent transition process could complicate the Biden administration’s ability to address the challenge and shore up the nation’s cyber defenses. Continue reading.

Stealing to survive: More Americans are shoplifting food as aid runs out during the pandemic

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Retailers, police departments and loss prevention researchers are reporting an uptick in theft of necessities like food and hygiene products

Early in the pandemic, Joo Park noticed a worrisome shift at the market he manages near downtown Washington: At least once a day, he’d spot someone slipping a package of meat, a bag of rice or other food into a shirt or under a jacket. Diapers, shampoo and laundry detergent began disappearing in bigger numbers, too.

Since then, he said, thefts have more than doubled at Capitol Supermarket — even though he now stations more employees at the entrance, asks shoppers to leave backpacks up front and displays high-theft items like hand sanitizer and baking yeast in more conspicuous areas. Park doesn’t usually call the police, choosing instead to bar offenders from coming back.

“It’s become much harder during the pandemic,” he said. “People will say, ‘I was just hungry.’ And then what do you do?” Continue reading.

Bipartisan coronavirus relief talks stuck on liability waiver

Liability shield for employers still a work in progress; direct aid to households also a sticking point

A group of House and Senate lawmakers from both sides of the aisle has fleshed out details of their $908 billion coronavirus relief plan, except for the two thorniest issues: business liability protections and state and local aid.

A six-page summary of the group’s proposal circulated Wednesday morning said they had an “agreement in principle” to provide $160 billion in direct aid to states and localities and indemnify employers in some way from coronavirus-related lawsuits.

But that agreement didn’t solidify into finalized language Wednesday as negotiators had hoped. Continue reading.

A $4.5 billion Trump food program is running out of money early, leaving families hungry and food assistance charities scrambling

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Trump’s Farmers to Families Food Box program was set to end Dec. 31. Vendors in some states are running out of money already.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Only weeks before the holidays, a $4.5 billion food program that has kept millions of Americans fed through the pandemic is running out of money.

The Farmers to Families Food Box program, a staple of food lines across America, was launched by the Trump administration in May to support struggling farmers and feed jobless Americans battered by the pandemic. It was supposed to provide food support through the end of the year. But because of soaring demand and a shortage of federal money, it is ending a month early in many regions of the country, leaving tens of thousands of families without a critical supply of food.

Anti-hunger experts warned that several other federal food programs are also set to expire, causing food banks across the country to lose about 50 percent of the food they receive from the Agriculture Department, even as food banks report an average 60 percent increase in need. Continue reading.

Bipartisan group seizes spotlight, and more clout

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The clout of a bipartisan group of lawmakers aimed at forging consensus is on the rise. 

With the House expected to have its most narrow Democratic margin of control in decades, members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus see the group’s influence growing exponentially in the next Congress. And its members are looking to flex their strength in pushing for policies that can pass both chambers. 

The bipartisan group of roughly 50 members, which is co-chaired by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), has played a leading role in moving the needle on COVID-19 relief negotiations after a months-long stalemate. Continue reading.

Lawmakers face hurdles to COVID relief deal

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Negotiators in the House and Senate are racing to finish a massive end-of-year deal to fund the government and provide help to workers and families struggling through a worsening pandemic.

Last-minute sticking points are threatening to push the talks into the weekend or next week and may scuttle an agreement all together despite momentum for a deal that has been building since last week.

Congress is expected to pass a one-week stopgap measure as soon as Wednesday to keep the government funded through Dec. 18. Without such action, the government could shut down on Saturday. Continue reading.