NYC Added 279 Coronavirus Cases in One Day; Younger Adults Make up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S.

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By Washington Examiner. Mayor Bill de Blasio painted a terrifying picture of New York City’s battle against the spread of the coronavirus.

The city has faced one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 in the United States. During an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday night, de Blasio seemed surprised by the illness’s effect on the city.

“I’m really sorry to tell you this cause the number has gone up literally over 100 cases in the course of the day. We’re at 923 cases at this hour tonight with 10 people who have passed away,” de Blasio reported. “In the city alone.”

He continued, “It’s unbelievable how rapidly this crisis is growing right now.”

On Tuesday morning, the city had 644 cases, showing a daylong jump of 279 cases. This rapid increase may also be affected by the increased availability of coronavirus tests in the city. (Read more from “NYC Added 279 Coronavirus Cases in One Day” HERE)

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Younger Adults Make Up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S.

By New York Times. American adults of all ages — not just those in their 70s, 80s and 90s — are being seriously sickened by the coronavirus, according to a report on nearly 2,500 of the first recorded cases in the United States.

The report, issued Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that — as in other countries — the oldest patients had the greatest likelihood of dying and of being hospitalized. But of the 508 patients known to have been hospitalized, 38 percent were notably younger — between 20 and 54. And nearly half of the 121 patients who were admitted to intensive care units were adults under 65, the C.D.C. reported.

“I think everyone should be paying attention to this,” said Stephen S. Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “It’s not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they’re young and healthy.” (Read more from “Younger Adults Make up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S.” HERE)

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New Border Patrol Chief Says He Won’t Turn Illegal Aliens Over for Criminal Prosecution If Sanctuary Jurisdictions Won’t Return Them

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The Border Patrol’s new chief said this week that the law enforcement agency won’t be turning over illegal aliens accused of crimes if the prosecuting jurisdiction can’t guarantee that they’ll be given back to federal authorities for deportation afterward.

“My job is to protect the United States and to secure the borders, not to get prosecutions, so we are deporting people that have active warrants because the state will not give back that person to us, and we have to pick: federal law or state law,” Rodney Scott said recently at a briefing, as reported Tuesday by the Washington Examiner.

The new chief also said it doesn’t matter what kind of crime the illegal alien has been charged with if a jurisdiction won’t cooperate with immigration authorities.

“It doesn’t really matter the charge,” Scott explained, according to the report. “If they will not give confirmation that they are going to return the individual, then we are not going to turn them over. We’ll prosecute them federally, then deport them.”

Scott, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol, was named chief of the agency in late January. Before that, he headed up the agency’s San Diego Sector, which includes 60 miles of land border with Mexico and over 930 miles of coastal border stretching from California to Oregon. The sector also employs over 2,200 uniformed agents, according to its Fiscal Year 2019 report. (Read more from “New Border Patrol Chief Says He Won’t Turn Illegal Aliens Over for Criminal Prosecution If Sanctuary Jurisdictions Won’t Return Them” HERE)

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Federal Prosecutor Nukes Soros-Backed DA for Releasing Gangster Accused of Killing Cop

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Shutting down cities due to the Wuhan virus does not shut down murderers.

As the Philadelphia SWAT team was attempting to serve a warrant to Hassan Elliott, the suspect allegedly fired multiple rounds through his apartment door, fatally striking 23-year veteran Cpl. James O’Connor IV. While cop killings have become all too common recently, that is not the end of the story.

William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is now accusing Larry Krasner, the most vocal of the Soros-backed “justice reform” district attorneys, of keeping Elliott out of prison.

“Elliott was on the street for one reason: because of District Attorney Krasner’s pro-violent defendant policies,” said McSwain in a press release. “Those policies – which include permissive bail conditions for violent offenders, failing to pursue serious probation and parole violations by violent criminals, offering lenient plea deals for violent offenses, and outright withdrawing cases against violent felons – put dangerous criminals like Elliott on the street.”

McSwain, who has been in a war of words with Krasner for two years, went on to detail Elliott’s criminal history. “On June 8, 2017, Elliott was arrested on firearms charges, stemming from an incident in which he threatened a neighborhood resident with a gun. On January 24, 2018, he entered into a negotiated plea: Krasner’s office offered, and Elliott accepted, a below-guidelines sentence of 9 to 23 months’ incarceration, followed by 3 years of reporting probation.”

The result? Elliott was paroled on the same day, after serving just seven months and 16 days for a violent gun charge, even though he is a known member of a violent local gang and is even seen on video brandishing a weapon with his face behind a mask. Liberal politicians suddenly find guns to be innocuous, so long as you are a gang member who assaults someone with one.

McSwain also details how Elliott was accused of violating his parole numerous times. Yet despite those violations and an arrest for possession of cocaine, Elliott was freed in January 2019 without any bail being set. Remember, when liberals like Krasner talk about going soft on “low-level” drug possession, they refuse to factor in prior history. In this case, the police parole department labeled him as a “high risk” offender.

On March 1, 2019, just hours after he walked out of a court hearing stemming from the cocaine charge, Elliott and another gang member allegedly fatally shot Tyree Tyrone at close range. According to McSwain, “Video showed Elliott fleeing the scene and his fingerprints were found on one of the alleged murder weapons.”

OK, by now you’re thinking, a guy like this, especially after being targeted by police as one of the most dangerous suspects under “Operation Pinpoint” – even before the murder – would be behind bars, right? Not under Krasner’s definition of “low-level, nonviolent” offender. Krasner chose to drop the cocaine charge after Elliott became a fugitive and failed to show up at court three weeks later.

“The drug case should not have been dropped because it could have – and should have – been used as a means to get Elliott into custody and off the street on the murder warrant,” wrote McSwain. “If Elliott had shown up for court, he would have been arrested for murder. He didn’t know that there was an existing murder warrant, so there was certainly a chance that he would eventually show up for the drug trial if the case had not been withdrawn (he had, in fact, already shown up for it once, on March 1). But that possibility was eliminated when Krasner’s office eagerly withdrew the case.”

Thus, Krasner had multiple opportunities to ensure that Elliott was behind bars, thereby saving two lives. “Krasner has infected the District Attorney’s Office with a sickness that has deadly consequences for the entire City,” concluded McSwain in the lengthy statement. “Enough is enough. This madness must stop.”

So how does this all tie back into the issue of the day – Wuhan coronavirus? Well, as I reported yesterday, blue cities throughout the country are either releasing criminals they refer to as “low-level” or are urging police not to arrest them for crimes during the crisis. Fox 29 reports that Philly police are being told to process “low-level” criminals but defer their arrests until a warrant is served after the crisis is over. Good luck finding them at that point, and God knows how many more crimes they will commit.

So which crimes are considered low-level under the order? All narcotics offenses, theft from persons, retail theft, theft from auto, burglary, vandalism, all bench warrants, stolen auto, economic crimes, and prostitution.

Look, we all understand that there are staffing and logistical problems now, but to prospectively announce such a categorical jailbreak will openly invite rampant undeterred lawlessness. Some of these offenses are serious crimes and are very harmful to society. Moreover, those referring to “low-level” crimes in this context keep ignoring the point. So many of these crimes are committed by violent gang members. This will lead to more needless murders because so many people with records like Hassan Elliott will be let out indefinitely after being caught for theft or drugs, regardless of their prior records.

One thing is clear: While restaurant owners fear arrest for defying the shutdown, many criminals will have free rein to burglarize their vacant stores. How are we supposed to respect the government’s unprecedented economic shutdown when we are seeing a drastic asymmetry of priorities and justice? (For more the author of “Federal Prosecutor Nukes Soros-Backed DA for Releasing Gangster Accused of Killing Cop” please click HERE)

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Think It’s Bad Now? Wait 4 Weeks; Virus Lives on Cardboard; US Hospitals Totally Unprepared for Demand Seen in Italy; Iran Warns Virus May Kill ‘Millions’ There

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COVID-19 ‘Worry About 4 Weeks From Now,’ Researchers Warn

By Neuroscience News. As the U.S. takes early “social distancing” steps, a Harvard epidemiologist is urging the nation to walk away faster, saying there’s danger in ambling down a path similar to Italy, where three coronavirus cases four weeks ago blossomed into 10,000, leading to more than 600 deaths, an overstressed health care system, and a land shuttered.

Epidemiology Professor Marc Lipsitch, head of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, called the pace of coronavirus testing in the U.S. “utterly inadequate” and “a debacle” that robs public health officials of information crucial to devising an effective response and protecting health care workers. Testing has been so slow that no one knows the extent of the U.S. epidemic, though scientists guess at somewhere between “tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands” of cases.

With COVID-19 cases thought to double every five to seven days, their spread can occur rapidly, and it is critical that steps taken so far — canceling business meetings, working from home when possible, moving college classes online, postponing conferences — become more widespread, before circumstances become critical.

“The situation we should be worrying about is the situation four weeks from now, not the situation now,” Lipsitch said. “That’s hard for people to get their heads around, but it’s really important.”

While questions exist about the virus’ transmissibility outdoors versus indoors, the crowds at gatherings such as St. Patrick’s Day parades, the Boston Marathon, and the Indy 500 auto race call into question whether even those signature events should be held. Officials already have canceled Boston’s St. Patrick’s parade. (Read more from “US Hospitals Totally Unprepared:‘Worry About 4 Weeks From Now,’ Researchers Warn” HERE)
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People May Get Virus From Touching Cardboard

By David Aaro. The study in the New England Journal of Medicine . . . found the virus is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces.

“The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel,” according to the NIH.

The study mimicked the virus being transmitted from an infected person onto everyday surfaces in a household or hospital setting by coughing or touching objects, the agency said. Scientists then investigated how long the virus remained infectious on these surfaces

“The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects, according to the NIH. (Read more about Hospitals Totally Unprepared HERE)
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[H]ealth officials say that the American healthcare system may not be prepared for what comes next if residents don’t heed warnings to limit their interactions.

“The bottom line is things will get much worse,” Dr. James Phillips, an assistant professor at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN Tuesday night. “We need to focus on keeping people on the front lines in the fight so we can continue to provide care to the patients. In the long run, this is about patients and keeping people from getting sick and dying [but we’re] at a significant risk of overwhelming the number of beds we have.”

. . .With the measures, leaders hope to slow the spread of the virus and prevent the country’s healthcare system from becoming overwhelmed. As it is, there aren’t enough hospital beds, medical staff or equipment to handle the spike in cases that could come, healthcare professionals say. . .

“We have a choice to make — do we want to really lean into social distancing and mitigation strategies and flatten the curve or do we just want to keep going on with business as usual and end up being Italy?” [Trump’s Surgeon General Dr. Jerome] Adams said. (Read more about Hospitals Totally Unprepared for What May be Coming HERE)

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Iran: Millions Could Die

By AP News. Iran issued its most dire warning yet Tuesday about the new coronavirus ravaging the country, suggesting “millions” could die in the Islamic Republic if people keep traveling and ignore health guidance.

A state TV journalist who also is a medical doctor gave the warning only hours after hard-line Shiite faithful on Monday night pushed their way into the courtyards of two major shrines that were finally closed due to the virus. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a religious ruling prohibiting “unnecessary” travel.

Roughly 9 out of 10 of the over 18,000 confirmed cases of the virus in the Middle East come from Iran, where authorities denied for days the risk the outbreak posed. Officials have implemented new checks for people trying to leave major cities ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on Friday, but have hesitated to quarantine the areas. (Read more from “Iranian Hospitals Totally Unprepared: Islamic Republic Warns Virus Could Kill ‘Millions’ in Islamic Republic” HERE)

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Somali Man Who Confirmed That Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother Says He Is Living in Fear After Threats From Congresswoman’s Friends

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The man who came forward to say on the record that leftist congresswoman Ilhan Omar married her own brother has told DailyMail.com he is now in fear for his life.

A woman close to Omar posted a YouTube video packed with degrading insults about wheelchair-bound Abdihakim Osman and pressed members of her Somali-American clan to go after him.

Osman has made a complaint to police in Minneapolis and repeatedly demanded that YouTube take down the offending video — which was met with silence from the media giant until DailyMail.com asked why it was still on the site. . .

In the video, the woman, Malyun Ali, asked members of Omar’s Majeerteen clan ‘What is wrong with you? . . .

‘You Majeerteen men, we despise you,’ she added, talking to her clan members. ‘You are letting this ox seated on the ground harass us. (Read more from “Somali Man Who Confirmed That Ilhan Omar Married Her Brother Says He Is Living in Fear After Threats From Congresswoman’s Friends” HERE)

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New Helicopter-Killing Army Artillery Cannon Destroys Target at 39.8 Miles; The Marines Are Fielding Their Impressive New Grenade Launcher

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By Fox News. When a precision-guided artillery projectile exploded an enemy target from 64km (39.8 miles) away in the Arizona desert during a recent live-fire exercise, the Army took a new step toward redefining land-attack tactics and paving the way toward a new warfare era in long-range fires.

In a March 2020 demonstration firing of the emerging Long Range Precision Fires program at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., an Army Howitzer blasted an Excalibur 155m artillery round out to ranges twice that of what existing artillery weapons are now capable of. The new weapon in development, called Extended Range Cannon Artillery, not only preserves the GPS-guided precision attack options characteristic of present-day artillery, but also extends attack ranges from roughly 30km (18.6 miles) out to nearly 70km (43.5 miles). This, senior Army weapons developers explain, gives ground artillery commanders the ability to destroy previously unreachable air and ground targets.

“It enables commanders to attack their fight differently, provides them a number of weapon systems besides attack helicopters and unmanned aerial systems to go after targets that are further down the battlefield, deeper as we like to call it, in the battlefield,” Gen. Joseph Martin, vice chief of staff of the Army, told reporters following the demo.

The new ERCA cannon, fired from a prototype self-propelled howitzer called the M1299, features a longer barrel and new, self-described “super-charged” propellant. The first operational systems are slated for delivery to the Army by 2023.

Martin explained that the service is now evaluating the operational concept of how this new weapon will be integrated and deployed, given that it naturally gives commanders new attack options that impact developing combat tactics and strategies. (Read more from “New Helicopter-Killing Army Artillery Cannon Destroys Target at 39.8 Miles” HERE)

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The Marines Are Fielding Their Impressive New Grenade Launcher

By Popular Mechanics. The U.S. Marine Corps is nearly finished rolling out the service’s new grenade launcher, one that improves on a previous model in practically every way. The M320 grenade launcher can be fired as a standalone weapon or attached to the underside of a M4A1 carbine rifle.

For decades, the U.S. military has relied on the M203 launcher to lob grenades beyond throw range. The M203, fitted underneath the barrel of a M16 rifle or M4 carbine, allowed grenadiers to launch high explosive dual purpose (HEDP) grenades to a range of 150 meters against point targets, including armored vehicles or building windows, or 350 meters against area targets like advancing enemy troops. Unlike its predecessor, the M79, the M203 gave soldiers the ability to use both a grenade launcher and a rifle. . .

The M320 can be fitted with a shoulder stock or mounted underneath the barrel of a M4A1 carbine. As Military.com explains, the older M203 launcher was loaded from the bottom of the breech, something that made loading while prone more difficult, while the newer M320 is loaded from the side. This also ensures that a dud round manually ejected doesn’t fall straight to the ground. The M320 can accept longer grenades, particularly flare and illumination types.

The M320 can launch the new Pike laser guided grenade, which is effective against personnel and enemy vehicles to ranges of up to 2 kilometers (2,187 yards). The Pike can also be set to fly through windows and doorways, exploding among enemy soldiers taking cover. (Read more from “The Marines Are Fielding Their Impressive New Grenade Launcher” HERE)

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Report: Senior Obama DOJ Officials Privately Suggested Flynn Didn’t Lie to FBI

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Top officials from the Obama-era U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) privately told Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller that they were concerned about the FBI’s conduct in investigating President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

The officials suggested that retired Lt. Gen. Flynn did not lie to the FBI about his dealings with Russia despite claims to the contrary and added credence to assertions that the DOJ coerced the former White House official into making a guilty plea on a charge of lying to the bureau.

Mueller’s Russia collusion hoax investigation led to Flynn making a guilty plea for allegedly lying to the FBI, which resulted in a conviction. . .

Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates is one of the officials who raised concerns about the FBI investigators’ treatment of Flynn, the Just the News outlet founded by award-winning investigative journalist John Solomon revealed on Monday.

Specifically, during her short stint as attorney general, Yates, an Obama holdover, reportedly complained to the Muller team about a January 24, 2017 effort by the FBI to interview Flynn about his dealings with Russia without letting the former White House official know he was under investigation. (Read more from “Report: Senior Obama DOJ Officials Privately Suggested Flynn Didn’t Lie to FBI” HERE)

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Donald Trump Wins Republican Presidential Nomination

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By Breitbart. President Donald Trump officially earned the delegates required to be the Republican nominee on Tuesday.

After winning the primaries in both Florida and Illinois on Tuesday night, the president passed the delegate threshold of 1,276 required to win the nomination. (Read more from “Donald Trump Wins Republican Presidential Nomination” HERE)

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How Postponing Primaries for COVID-19 Could Complicate the 2020 Race

By PBS. With concern over novel coronavirus shutting down much of public life in the United States, states holding upcoming primaries face a dilemma. The Centers for Disease Control and the Trump administration have recommended postponing gatherings of people over a certain capacity, while many schools, libraries and other places that often double as polling centers have shuttered their daily operations as a precaution.

A growing number of states have gone ahead and postponed their primaries, raising questions about how the 2020 presidential race will move forward in a time of public crisis. . .

Three states are pushing forward with voting on Tuesday: Illinois, Arizona and Florida.

Looking further ahead, Kentucky’s secretary of state also recommended moving the state’s elections, initially set for May 19, to June 23. These changes come after Georgia postponed its primary from March 24 to May 19, and Louisiana postponed from April 4 to June 20. Maryland will also move its primary, originally scheduled for April 28, to June 2. (Read more from “How Postponing Primaries for COVID-19 Could Complicate the 2020 Race” HERE)

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Coronavirus Layoffs Surge Across America, Overwhelming Unemployment Offices

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By Politico. Employers are slashing jobs at a furious pace across the nation due to mass shutdowns over the coronavirus, slamming state unemployment offices with a crush of filers facing sudden crises.

Long before official government data is expected to reveal the depths of the economic shock inflicted by the coronavirus, reports from state officials and businesses around the country indicate the gathering of a massive wave of unemployment on a scale unseen since the Great Recession.

In New Jersey, 15,000 people applied for unemployment benefits on Monday, a twelvefold increase over normal levels. In Connecticut, nearly 8,000 applications arrived over the weekend, an eightfold increase over the norm. Rhode Island officials reported Tuesday a five-day rise in claims due to the coronavirus from 10 on March 11 to 6,282 on March 16.

More than 45,000 Ohio workers have applied for unemployment over the past week, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services told Sen. Rob Portman, a nearly sevenfold increase over the previous week. (Read more from “Coronavirus Layoffs Surge Across America, Overwhelming Unemployment Offices” HERE)

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Steve Mnuchin Warns of 20% Unemployment If Coronavirus Stimulus Doesn’t Pass

By New York Post. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US unemployment rate could soar to a staggering 20 percent if Congress fails to pass a $1 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.

Mnuchin shared the potentially disastrous outlook in a closed-door Tuesday night meeting with Republican senators, a source told Reuters.

The treasury secretary was trying to persuade the Republican lawmakers to pass the bailout package that would include checks to Americans facing financial hardship amid the coronavirus outbreak sweeping the nation.

Mnuchin’s spokeswoman, Monica Crowley, said he wasn’t issuing an economic forecast, but instead was just illustrating the potential risks of inaction. (Read more from “Steve Mnuchin Warns of 20% Unemployment If Coronavirus Stimulus Doesn’t Pass” HERE)

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Pentagon Pushes Back on Joe Biden’s Horrible Coronavirus Plan; Senate GOP Crafting New Massive Coronavirus Package at ‘Warp Speed’

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By U.S. News. The Pentagon on Monday pushed back against an idea former Vice President Joe Biden proposed at a Democratic presidential debate Sunday night for how the military could support federal efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

“I would call out the military now,” Biden said at the debate in Washington, D.C., against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “They have the ability to provide this surge that hospitals need. … They have the capacity to build 500 hospital beds and tents that are completely safe and secure. It’s a national emergency, and I would call out the military.”

Military officials, however, said during a briefing Monday afternoon about the coronavirus – which causes a disease known as COVID-19 – that the rapid-response medical capabilities currently at their disposal might not provide much help.

“The challenge is, they’re designed to take care of trauma patients and combat casualties,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, the surgeon for the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, said during a press briefing. “We don’t have a lot of 500-bed hospitals designed for contagious disease outbreaks.” (Read more from “Pentagon Pushes Back on Joe Biden’s Horrible Coronavirus Plan” HERE)

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Senate GOP Crafting New Massive Coronavirus Package at ‘Warp Speed’

By Politico. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will work at “warp speed” to craft a massive new stimulus package to help Americans deal with the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis, vowing that senators “will not leave” Washington until it’s done.

And Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said Tuesday there is a “high level of interest” among Republicans for a Trump administration proposal to send as many as two $1,000 checks directly to individual Americans to help respond to the economic slowdown, a move that could cost an estimated $500 billion, according to GOP sources.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made a pitch for the initiative at a lunch with Senate Republicans on Tuesday, part of an $800 billion-plus package being floated by the White House that also includes as much as $250 billion in emergency loans for smalls businesses being hit by the economic slowdown.

Under the Mnuchin plan, direct payments — on a means-tested basis — could be sent to American via the IRS as early as next month, although even that may not be as fast as some in Congress want. (Read more from “Senate GOP Crafting New Massive Coronavirus Package at ‘Warp Speed'” HERE)

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