2020 Cartoons

Collins blasts Democrats for blocking coronavirus stimulus plan, says they’re ‘playing with fire’

Senate Democrats late Sunday blocked the $1.3 trillion economic rescue package Republicans say would help businesses and families hurt financially by the coronavirus outbreak, prompting U.S. stock futures to fall 5 percent and sparking a new wave of uncertainty that the two sides can get together and forge an agreement.
Democrats insist that President Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are using the funds to put corporations ahead of families. The attempt to advance the legislation stalled in a 47-47 vote. Sixty votes were needed to pass.
Many Americans are facing unforeseen hardships after the coronavirus outbreak hit the country and temporarily closed businesses. The stimulus was championed by Trump, who said Saturday that the package was very close to being a done deal.
McConnell blasted his Democrat colleagues and accused them of being influenced by Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"I want everybody to fully understand if we aren't able to act tomorrow, it will be because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dicker when the country expects us to come together and address the problem," McConnell said on the floor.
Democrats risk being portrayed by Trump as politically bent on stopping him at any cost. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the move by Democrats is "irresponsible and unwise."
"They are playing with fire," she said, according to the New York Times.
McConnell’s office said early Monday that three votes are expected later Monday after his remarks at around noon.
The Sunday vote came while at least five GOP senators were in self-quarantine, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who became the first U.S. senator to announce he tested positive for the virus.
Many Democrats complained that the draft aid package did not go far enough to provide health care and unemployment aid for Americans, and failed to put restraints on a proposed $500 billion "slush fund" for corporations. They said the ban on corporate stock buy-backs are weak and the limits on executive pay would last only two years.
"They’re trying to advance a proposal that would be great for giant corporations and leave everyone else behind," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Democrats also pushed for add-ons including food security aid, small business loans and other measures for workers — saying the three months of unemployment insurance offered under the draft plan was insufficient.
Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said the draft package "significantly cut back our hospitals, our cities, our states, our medical workers and so many others needed in this crisis."
MARK LEVIN: PEOPLE ARE SICK AND DYING AND PELOSI IS PLAYING GAMES
Pelosi, D-Calif., urged colleagues to "take responsibility" as Democrats prepared their own draft. The House had just returned from a weeklong recess.
After the bill failed to move forward, McConnell tore into Democrats, accusing them of backing out of a bipartisan agreement once Pelosi and Schumer intervened. He claimed Pelosi took "a week off" and "poured cold water on the whole process."
"She's the Speaker of the House, not the Speaker of the Senate," McConnell said, according to Politico. "We were doing just fine until that intervention."
Schumer was in touch with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin late into the night Sunday to negotiate the plans. Their last meeting was at 11: 45 p.m. inside Schumer’s officer in the Capitol.
We’re closer now than we were in the past 48 hours to an agreement, Schumer said. “Can we overcome the remaining disagreements in the next 24 hours? Yes. We can and should.”
Earlier, Mnuchin told “Fox News Sunday” that he was looking forward to wrapping up the package on Sunday.
He said that the government will provide direct deposits, with an average family of four receiving approximately $3,000, as well as “enhanced unemployment insurance” for those laid off due to the outbreak.
The fourth part, Mnuchin said, is “a significant package working with the federal reserve, which will provide “up to $4 trillion of liquidity that we can use to support the economy.”
“The U.S. economy is strong. We’ve stopped major parts of it, but when we get through this virus, as I’ve said, I think you’re gonna see the U.S. economy come back to the strength, we have great companies, we have great workers," he said. "What we need to do is have a bridge to get through this. And this isn’t the financial crisis that’s gonna go on for years.”
Fox News' Ronn Blitzer and the Associated Press contributed to this report

Stock market futures plunge as Senate fails to advance aid package

U.S. equity futures climbed off limit down Sunday evening as Congress continues to grapple over the details of a third COVID-19 stimulus package and as millions of Americans remain isolated at home in an attempt to combat the disease.
Top-level negotiations between U.S. Congress and the White House continued after the Senate voted against advancing the $2 trillion economic rescue package.
The Democrats said the bill was tilted too much toward aiding corporations and would not do enough to help individuals and healthcare providers.
At 4:30 a.m. ET Dow futures were trading down 735 points, or 3.8 percent, after having fallen by as many as 954 points. S&P 500 futures, which fell by the limit 5 percent, were off 3.6 percent.
The losses come after the major averages last week suffered through their sharpest weekly drop since the 2008 financial crisis as more industries instituted massive layoffs and business slowed to a near standstill.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average last week tumbled 4,011 points, or 17.3 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lost 14.98 percent and 12.64 percent, respectively.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News' John Roberts on Sunday morning the third stimulus package will have four components, consisting of small business retention loans that will provide two weeks of cash flow to pay workers and some overhead, direct deposits amounting to approximately $3,000 for a family of four, enhanced employment insurance for those who are laid off and up to $4 trillion to support the economy.
He added there is a "significant amount of money" for hospitals and medical professionals.
COVID-19, which has caused eight states to issue "stay-at-home" orders, has infected more than 32,700 people in the U.S. and killed 409, according to the latest figures provided by Johns Hopkins University & Medicine. One hundred seventy-people have recovered.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for May delivery plunged before paring that loss to 0.5 percent at around $22.48 per barrel while gold futures for June delivery traded up by nearly the same amount at $1,498 an ounce.
In Europe, London's FTSE fell 4.8 percent, Germany's DAX declined 4.6 percent and France's CAC dropped 4.1 percent.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei added 2 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 4.9 percent and China's Shanghai Composite declined 3 percent.

Trump hints possibility of less-restrictive approach in coronavirus fight

President Trump tweeted Sunday that his administration will reassess its response to the coronavirus outbreak at the end of the 15-day period that calls on Americans to limit their normal behaviors in an effort to slow the spread of the virus.
Businesses across the U.S. have been turned on their heads as federal, state and local governments called for drastic measures to block more infections. Stocks on Wall Street plunged to their worst losses in more than three decades.
"We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself," the president tweeted in caps lock, before announcing the reassessment.
Trump last week moved to blunt the impact of the pandemic on a U.S. economy fundamentally altered by a push for the nation to stay home. Hotels, restaurants, airlines, and retailers have suffered major losses. The emergency stimulus bill also hit a snag in the Senate hours before Trump's tweet.
The GOP-controlled Senate failed to move forward with the $1.4 trillion "Phase Three" stimulus package intended to help businesses and families devastated by the downturn over the coronavirus outbreak.
Many Democrats had complained that the draft aid package did not go far enough to provide health care and unemployment aid for Americans, and failed to put restraints on a proposed $500 billion "slush fund" for corporations, saying the ban on corporate stock buy-backs are weak and the limits on executive pay would last only two years.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, exiting the Capitol just before midnight, struck an optimistic note: "We're very close," he said, adding negotiators would work through the night.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., after meeting multiple times with Mnuchin, said progress was being made.
"There's a good chance we'll have an agreement," Schumer said as the Senate gaveled close, shortly before midnight. "We are fighting for a better bill."
Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of hedge fund behemoth Bridgewater Associates, sounded the alarm Thursday over the coronavirus crisis and said U.S. corporations will lose up to $4 trillion and Trump needs to dramatically increase his stimulus plan.
Dalio’s comments come a day after Bill Ackman, another billionaire investor, called on the president to shut down the country for 30 days or “America will end as we know it.”
Fox News' Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this report

‘By Monday’ never seemed so far away after Senate fails to advance coronavirus stimulus package

“We need Congressional action by Monday,” warned one Republican administration source late last week to Fox.
“Monday” was supposed to be the deadline for the Senate to act on the third legislative phase of the coronavirus response. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) set up a process late last week where the Senate would take a procedural vote Sunday to begin debate on a “shell” of a bill. Once there was a deal, McConnell would insert the coronavirus package into the parliamentary empty box. The hope was that the Senate could get 60 yeas to open debate on the coronavirus measure Sunday – then speed up the process and pass the bill Monday. Then the House would have to move to align with the Senate sometime in the near future.
That all melted down Sunday night.
Republicans were always going to need buy-in by Senate Democrats to start debate on the legislation. As we always say on Capitol Hill, it’s about the math, it’s about the math, it’s about the math.
The current Senate breakdown is 53 Republicans and 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats. The procedural vote required 60 yeas to overcome a filibuster.
But lacking sign-off by Senate Democrats - to say nothing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) - the procedural vote garnered only 47 yeas. McConnell was for advancing the plan. But the Kentucky Republican changed his vote at the end. Senate rules allow a senator to call for a re-vote if they cast their ballot on the prevailing side of the issue – in this instance, the nays. So even though McConnell was for it, he strategically switched his vote so he could ask for another vote. Late Sunday night, there was no vote scheduled.
It’s unclear how fast the sides can forge an agreement – if at all. But it didn’t take an exercise in Euclidian Geometry to see that the procedural vote was going to fail on Sunday afternoon. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced he tested positive for coronavirus before the vote. Two other GOPers were already self-quarantining. Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) announced they would quarantine since they had exposure to Paul.
That means Senate Republicans barely have a majority right now: 48-47. McConnell excoriated Senate Democrats and Pelosi for blocking the shell bill Sunday.
“We’re fiddling here. Fiddling with the emotions of the American people. Fiddling with the markets. Fiddling with our health care,” thundered a visibly angry McConnell.
The Majority Leader then publicly lambasted Pelosi.
“She’s the Speaker of the House. Not the Speaker of the Senate. We don’t have one. We were doing just fine until that intervention,” bellowed McConnell.
But Senate Democrats weren’t going to budge unless there was sign-off from Pelosi. After all, Pelosi must figure out a way to shepherd a Senate-GOP produced product through her body. And, if time is of the essence, there are questions as to why McConnell forged ahead without the votes lined up.
And so, we’ll see if things move on Monday.
As the Senate voted, the Dow futures plummeted five percent within minutes of opening Sunday night. That’s the maximum decline allowed before circuit breakers kick in, suspending trading. That’s an ominous warning, portending a rocky trading session on Monday.
So what about all of that talk about Congress moving “by Monday?”
Fox was told last week that “by Monday” was a dire warning to lawmakers to wrap this up. It was reminiscent of the nighttime meeting on September 18, 2008 in the Speaker’s Office amid the financial crisis. Pelosi phoned then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson for a status report. Paulson told Pelosi that they urgently needed to talk in person at the Capitol that night as the country teetered on the edge of an economic collapse.
Pelosi later said that Paulson told her if they didn’t negotiate later that evening “we wouldn’t have an economy by Monday.”
Now, back to 2020.
“The markets are not going to tolerate inaction,” said one Republican source. “They need to move by Monday.”
So, we’ll see what they can resolve to avoid a bloodbath on Wall Street Monday morning.
And then there is the war of attrition: actual concern about the health of senators.
As I reported on the air last Wednesday night, Fox was told then that finishing the coronavirus bill was a race against time. Lawmakers needed to wrap this up before everyone on Capitol Hill got sick. Now “coronavirus is in the Senate,” as McConnell declared Sunday night. Some senators from both parties are livid at Paul, an ophthalmologist by training, for showing up on Capitol Hill as he awaited results of a coronavirus test. Paul’s positive test sent shockwaves through the Senate.
Some questioned the wisdom of why, day after day after day, GOP senators have repeatedly huddled for lunch meetings on Capitol Hill. At first, it was the standard location, the Mike Mansfield Room near the Senate chamber. Then, the Kennedy Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building. There were also conclaves in the Central Hearing Facility in the Hart Senate Office Building. Notably, no Democratic senator has yet tested positive. Democrats have held all of their meetings via conference call.
“Personally, I would just stay a lot further away if I had a test pending,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) of Paul. “Might not have gone to the gym. Might not have sat at a meal. Maybe I would make arrangements to vote all by myself without somebody else in the chamber. There’s lots of room here. He is a physician himself. So one would think his ability to assess the risk is pretty good. And maybe in that education and ability, he calculated wrong.”
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) scorched Paul on Twitter, though she didn’t mention her colleague by name.
“I’ve never commented about a fellow Senator’s choices/actions. Never once,” tweeted Sinema. “This, America, is absolutely irresponsible. You cannot be near other people while waiting for coronavirus test results.”
Most lawmakers think they are ten feet tall and bulletproof anyway. Lawmakers keep saying they are doing everything in compliance with CDC guidelines and in consultation with U.S. Capitol Attending Physician Dr. Brian Monahan.
But patience is running thin.
“We need to walk with the Attending Physician,” said one senior GOP source, referring to Monahan. “And Paul.”
This is why no one is quite sure how they bring the House back to vote on the phase three coronavirus bill. They’ve floated everything from approving the package via unanimous consent – where no one in the chamber objects – to stretching out the vote over a day or two. To be frank, House members are completely flipped out about having to come back to align with the Senate.
But that presumes the Senate can get an agreement and send it to the House.
Let alone, “by Monday.”

March 2020 Cartoons

Iran leader refuses US help, citing virus conspiracy theory

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader refused U.S. assistance Sunday to fight the new coronavirus, citing an unfounded conspiracy theory that the virus could be man-made by America.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments come as Iran faces crushing U.S. sanctions blocking the country from selling its crude oil and accessing international financial markets.

But while Iranian civilian officials in recent days have increasingly criticized those sanctions, 80-year-old Khamenei instead chose to traffic in the same conspiracy theory increasingly used by Chinese officials about the new virus to deflect blame for the pandemic.

“I do not know how real this accusation is but when it exists, who in their right mind would trust you to bring them medication?” Khamenei said. “Possibly your medicine is a way to spread the virus more.”

He also alleged without offering any evidence that the virus “is specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians which they have obtained through different means.”

“You might send people as doctors and therapists, maybe they would want to come here and see the effect of the poison they have produced in person,” he said.

There is no scientific proof offered anywhere in the world to support Khamenei’s comments.

However, his comments come after Chinese government spokesman Lijian Zhao tweeted earlier this month that it “might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe(s) us an explanation!”

Lijian likewise offered no evidence to support his claim, which saw the U.S. State Department summon China’s ambassador to complain.

Wuhan is the Chinese city where the first cases of the disease were detected in December. In recent days, the Trump administration has increasingly referred to the virus as the “Chinese” or “Wuhan” virus, while the World Health Organization used the term COVID-19 to describe the illness the virus causes. Even a U.S. senator from Arkansas has trafficked in the unfounded conspiracy theory it was a man-made Chinese bioweapon.

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.

Scientists have not yet determined exactly how the new coronavirus first infected people. Evidence suggests it originated in bats, which infected another animal that spread it to people at a market in Wuhan. The now-shuttered Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market advertised dozens of species such as giant salamanders, baby crocodiles and raccoon dogs that were often referred to as wildlife, even when they were farmed.

An article published last week in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Medicine similarly said it was “improbable” that the virus “emerged through laboratory manipulation of a related SARS-CoV-like coronavirus.”

Khamenei made the comments in a speech in Tehran broadcast live Sunday across Iran marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year. He had called off his usual speech at Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad over the virus outbreak.

His comments come as Iran has over 21,600 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus amid 1,685 reported deaths, according to government figures released Sunday.

Iran is one of the hardest-hit countries in the world by the new virus. Across the Mideast, Iran represents eight of 10 cases of the virus and those leaving the Islamic Republic have carried the virus to other countries.

Iranian officials have criticized U.S. offers of aid during the virus crisis as being disingenuous. They have accused the Trump administration of wanting to capitalize on its “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran since withdrawing from the nuclear deal in May 2018. However, the U.S. has directly offered the Islamic Republic aid in the past despite decades of enmity, like during the devastating Bam earthquake of 2003.

Reassigning blame could be helpful to Iran’s government, which faced widespread public anger after denying for days it shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing 176 people. Widespread economic problems as well has seen mass demonstrations in recent years that saw hundreds reportedly killed.

Iranian hard-liners have supported conspiracy theories in the past when it suited their interests. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, some publicly doubted al-Qaida’s role and state TV promoting the unfounded conspiracy theory that the Americans blew up the building themselves.

Former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad similarly raised doubt about the Sept. 11 attack, calling it a “big lie,” while also describing the Holocaust as a “myth.”

Meanwhile on Sunday, Iran imposed a two-week closure on major shopping malls and centers across the country to prevent spreading the virus. Pharmacies, supermarkets, groceries and bakeries will remain open.

In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom said its armed forces are now taking part in combating the virus, setting up mobile hospitals in various cities.

And in Kuwait, authorities have instituted a nightly curfew from 5 p.m. to 4 a.m., warning violators face up to three years in prison and fines of $32,000 if arrested and convicted.

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Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

McDonald's, Boeing heed Trump's warning against buybacks

Corporate America is following the White House's lead in combatting economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic by standing down on stock repurchases even before potential government bailouts -- and despite the temptation of a more than 28 percent drop on the S&P 500 this year.
On Friday, McDonald's, AT&T and Boeing separately announced that share repurchases would be paused or suspended until further notice.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
MCD	MCDONALD'S CORP.	148.49	-1.01	-0.68%
T	AT&T INC.	28.45	-2.70	-8.67%
BA	BOEING COMPANY	95.01	-2.70	-2.76%

It was a move President Trump and other lawmakers had advised earlier this week for companies hit hard by the virus that might receive federal assistance, one that reflected widespread dissatisfaction with how cash from government bailouts was invested during the 2008 financial crisis.
"I don't want to have stock buybacks," said Trump. "I don't want some executives saying we're gonna buyback 200,000 shares of stock. I want that money to be used by the workers and the company to keep the company going," he added during a coronavirus task force briefing.
Aerospace giant Boeing took an additional step and suspended its 8.6 percent-yielding dividend indefinitely to conserve cash already depleted by the yearlong grounding of its best-selling 737 Max. CEO David Calhoun and Board Chairman Larry Kellner will not take a paycheck for the rest of the year.
BOEING SUSPENDS DIVIDEND, CEO CALHOUN TO FORGO PAY
The company is now "drawing on all of its resources to sustain operations, support its workforce and customers, and maintain supply chain continuity through the COVID-19 crisis and for the long term," according to a statement on Friday. Shares have lost over 70 percent this year.
As for telecom giant AT&T, the company tabled a planned, accelerated repurchase of $4 billion shares through an agreement with Morgan Stanley in the second quarter.
Scrapping the plan and any other repurchases will "maintain flexibility and focus on continued investment in serving our customers, taking care of our employees and enhancing our network, including nationwide 5G," AT&T said in an SEC filing described as an update regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. "Continued investments will help ensure the company is well-positioned when the pandemic passes and economies begin to recover."
AT&T stock has fallen 27 percent this year.
At McDonald's, CEO Chris Kempczinski, who took over in November, told CNBC that the company's buybacks are suspended but its dividend policy remains unchanged. The payout yields more than 3 percent.
The fast-food operator employs 2.2 million people globally and has seen its stock fall 25 percent this year.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
M	MACY'S INC.	6.02	-0.67	-10.01%

In separate news, retailer Macy's, which joined scores of rivals in closing stores amid the outbreak, suspended "its regular quarterly cash dividend payout beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2020. The company’s previously announced dividend payment occurring on April 1, 2020, is not affected by the suspension," the retailer said.