WASHINGTON
(AP) — In a massive federal effort, President Donald Trump asked
Congress to speed emergency checks to Americans, enlisted the military
for MASH-like hospitals and implored ordinary people — particularly
socially active millennials — to do their part by staying home to stop
the spread of the coronavirus.
His
proposed economic package alone could approach $1 trillion, a rescue
initiative not seen since the Great Recession. Trump wants checks sent
to the public within two weeks and is urging Congress to pass the
eye-popping stimulus package in a matter of days.
As
analysts warn the country is surely entering a recession, the
government is grappling with an enormous political undertaking with
echoes of the 2008 financial crisis.
At the Capitol on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed the Senate would not adjourn until the work was done.
“Obviously, we need to act,” McConnell said. “We’re not leaving town until we have constructed and passed another bill.”
But first, McConnell said, the Senate will vote on a House-passed package
of sick pay, emergency food and free testing, putting it back on track
for Trump’s signature — despite Republican objections. “Gag, and vote
for it anyway,” he advised colleagues.
It was a signal of what the GOP leader called the “herculean” task ahead.
Senators gathered at an otherwise shut-down Capitol as Americans across the country were implored to heed advice and avoid crowds.
Young adults, in particular, are being urged to quit going out because
even seemingly healthy people can be spreading the virus that causes the
COVID-19 illness.
Even
so, presidential primary elections unfolded in Florida, Illinois and
Arizona. Ohio’s was called off hours before the polls were set to open.
After
a savage drop at the start of the week, the stock market rose as Trump
and aides sketched out elements of the economic rescue package at a
briefing. Economists doubted that would be enough to stop millions of
jobs losses, even if in the short term.
Bigger
than the $700 billion 2008 bank bailout or the nearly $800 billion 2009
recovery act, the White House proposal aims to provide a massive tax
cut for wage-earners, $50 billion for the airline industry and $250
billion for small businesses. Two people familiar with he package
described it to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity
because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The
amount that would be sent out in checks Americans is not yet disclosed.
The White House said it liked GOP Sen. Mitt Romney’s idea for $1,000
checks, though not necessarily at that sum and not for wealthier people.
“This is a
very unique situation,” said Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, exiting a
private briefing of Senate Republicans. “We’ve put a proposal on that
table that would attract a trillion dollars into the economy.”
One GOP leader, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, told reporters afterward it “could be” up to $1 trillion.
Senate
Democrats produced their own $750 billion proposal, which includes $400
billion to shore up hospitals and other emergency operations in
response to the global pandemic and $350 billion to bolster the safety
net with unemployment checks and other aid to Americans.
“The
aid has to be workers first,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, not what happened in 2008, when the big banks took precedence.
Schumer also said it’s time to call out the National Guard to provide
security as communities reel from the crisis.
The
slow-moving Congress is being asked to approve the far-reaching
economic rescue as it tries to rise to the occasion of these fast times.
A roster of America’s big and small industries — airlines, hotels, retailers and even casinos — lined up for hoped-for aid.
For
most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms,
such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people
with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness,
including pneumonia.
The
vast majority of people recover from the new virus. According to the
World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two
weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks
to recover.
Still,
health officials are urging Americans to stay home to prevent an
onslaught of cases that could overwhelm hospitals as happened in Italy,
among the countries hardest hit.
As
Congress considered aid, the Pentagon on Tuesday said it would provide 5
million respirator masks and 2,000 specialized ventilators to federal
health authorities. And Medicare was immediately expanding coverage for
telemedicine nationwide to help seniors with health problems stay home
to avoid infection.
More
than two dozen Senate Democrats urged Trump to invoke the Korean
War-era Defense Production Act to increase production of masks,
ventilators and respirators, as well as expand hospital capacity to
combat the coronavirus. Federal officials said the administration is
working with the Army Corps of Engineers to see about erecting temporary
hospitals, as is done in the military, to handle an expected surge of
cases.
Schumer compared the government response needed to a wartime mobilization.
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who marshaled the earlier package through a
bipartisan vote last week, fielded a call from Mnuchin on Tuesday
morning and another from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in the
afternoon, encouraged by the Fed chairman’s perspective that Congress
could think big with interest rates at nearly zero.
In
the call with Mnuchin, she and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of
the House Transportation committee, “emphasized that protecting workers’
paychecks and benefits was their top priority, and that immediate
action was needed,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill on Twitter.
The debate is sure to revive the sharp divisions over the costly bank bailout and economic recovery of the Obama and Bush eras.
Much
about the proposed checks is not known, such as whether the amount
would vary by the income of the recipient or whether everyone would get
the same sum. Mnuchin said “it’s clear we don’t need to send people who
make $1 million a year checks, OK?”
Economists
from both parties endorsed mailing checks of at least $1,000 to all
American households as the quickest way to offset the sharp slowdown in
economic activity.
“We
need to pay people to stay at home,” said Heidi Shierholz, a senior
policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think-tank.
The group predicted that without a huge stimulus package, the U.S.
economy could lose three million jobs by this summer.
Still,
some GOP senators were skeptical about the massive aid on the table.
“I’m going to be very leery of doing something like in 2008,” said
Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun.
“Right
now, the plan around here is basically to just to start shoveling money
out of a helicopter,” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. “This is a bad idea. …
We don’t need a policy where Washington, D.C., handpicks winners and
losers.”
Despite
federal guidelines against so many people gathering, senators had no
choice but to convene. Legislating cannot be done from home.
But
late Tuesday, another lawmaker, Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., announced
he would self-quarantine after contact with a constituent who later
tested positive for coronavirus.
___
Associated
Press writers Andrew Taylor, Matthew Daly, Martin Crutsinger, Colleen
Long, Chris Rugaber, Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking in Washington
contributed to this report.
___
The
Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education.
The AP is solely responsible for all content.
