Senate Passes Bill to Combat Coronavirus Epidemic… Only One ‘No’ Vote; U.S. Employment Report Expected to Show Strength Before Coronavirus Spread
By Townhall. The Senate has passed the $8.3 billion measure to combat the coronavirus by a near unanimous, 96-1 vote. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the lone “no” vote. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth of Warren (D-MA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) were absent. The bill will now head to President Trump’s desk.
Senate votes 96-1 to PASS the $8.3 billion Coronavirus supplemental funding package.
The bill, which overwhelmingly passed in the House yesterday, now goes to President Trump's desk for his signature.
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) March 5, 2020
“I applaud this package and was proud to support it,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement after the vote. “It provides targeted resources for a serious national response to a serious challenge.”
“The majority of the supplemental resources will be directed to the Department of Health and Human Services. That includes billions of dollars in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and for the Infectious Diseases Rapid Response Fund.” (Read more from “Senate Passes Bill to Combat Coronavirus Epidemic… Only One ‘No’ Vote” HERE)
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U.S. Employment Report Expected to Show Strength Before Coronavirus Spread
By Reuters. U.S. job growth likely slowed in February, but the pace probably remained consistent with a healthy labor market despite the coronavirus outbreak, which stoked financial market fears of a recession and prompted an emergency interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve.
Though the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly employment report on Friday will not fully capture the impact of the coronavirus, which spread in the United States beginning in late February, there are so far no signs that the epidemic has hurt the labor market. Layoffs remain low and small businesses and services sector industries continue to hire at a solid clip.
The Fed on Tuesday slashed its benchmark overnight interest rate by a half percentage point to a target range of 1.00% to 1.25%, in the U.S. central bank’s first emergency rate cut since 2008 at the height of the financial crisis.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the economy’s strong fundamentals, but said “the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity.”
“The job market is the firewall for the economy,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “If we are going to get through this and avoid a recession, the job market can’t show any significant cracks. So far the signs are encouraging.” (Read more from “U.S. Employment Report Expected to Show Strength Before Coronavirus Spread” HERE)
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