Coronavirus updates: Wisconsin is 34th state to require masks; Florida pair arrested for violating quarantine; SEC to play only league games - USA TODAY
Coronavirus updates: Wisconsin is 34th state to require masks; Florida pair arrested for violating quarantine; SEC to play only league games - USA TODAY |
- Coronavirus updates: Wisconsin is 34th state to require masks; Florida pair arrested for violating quarantine; SEC to play only league games - USA TODAY
- 'These 2 bills aren’t mateable': Republicans, Democrats at odds on a coronavirus stimulus deal as pressure builds - USA TODAY
- 'I don't want a delay': Trump rows back on delaying election but not on mail-in ballots - USA TODAY
| Posted: 30 Jul 2020 04:37 PM PDT CLOSE  Correction: This video initially misstated Herman Cain's age. He was 74. The politician and business executive had contracted COVID-19. Wochit New U.S. COVID-19 cases showed signs of trending downward Thursday while deaths in Florida rose sharply one day after the U.S. death toll surpassed 150,000. In Washington, D.C., President Trump suggested delaying the November election, saying reliance on mail-in voting due to the pandemic would be "inaccurate and fraudulent'' despite lack of any evidence. And the Commerce Department issued a record-breaking report of the U.S. economy, announcing that the gross domestic product contracted at a staggering seasonally adjusted annual rate of 32.9% in the April-June period. In Florida, reeling from sharply rising daily death reports, the state's largest school district announced that it will begin the school year virtually on Aug. 31. This despite a push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to have school districts provide in-classroom options. Here are some significant developments:
📈 Today's numbers: The U.S. has recorded more than 151,000 deaths and over 4.4 million cases of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, there have been over 669,000 deaths and 17.1 million cases. 📰 What we're reading: Colleges have plans for classrooms and school buildings, but if students flock to frat parties and tailgates on Saturdays, then what? "Even if they don't allow spectators inside the (stadium), there's still going to be tailgates, there's still going to be apartment parties and Greek life parties," one sorority member told USA TODAY. Read more here. Our live blog is being updated throughout the day. Refresh for the latest news, and get updates in your inbox with The Daily Briefing SEC football teams to play only conference gamesTaking a similar approach as the Big Ten and the Pac 12, the Southeastern Conference said Thursday its football teams would play a 10-game season only against fellow league schools -- if there's a season at all amid the coronavirus pandemic. As it is, the start of the season will be delayed to Sept. 26, nearly a month later than originally planned. The SEC conference championship game, held in Atlanta, will be moved from Dec. 5 to Dec. 19, allowing for "one mid-season open date for each school and an open date on December 12 for all schools," the league said. The conference-only schedule eliminates a number of longstanding rivalries pitting SEC teams with opponents from other leagues, such as the games between South Carolina and Clemson, Florida and Florida State and Georgia and Georgia Tech. -- Paul Myerberg Wisconsin is 34th state to require face masksWisconsin became the 34th state to require face coverings to limit spread of the coronavirus when Gov. Tony Evers issued an order mandating their use indoors -- except for private residences -- through the end of September. The order, which would apply to the first few weeks of the school year if students return to classrooms, drew opposition from Republican lawmakers who successfully sued the Democratic governor in March over his stay-at-home order. Evers initially resisted issuing the statewide mask mandate, saying for weeks he was considering the idea but worried Republican lawmakers would take him to the conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court again. Molly Beck and Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Key West couple arrested for violating quarantineA Florida couple was arrested and charged with violating quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19, an escalation of enforcement in a state grappling with a spike in cases and deaths. Jose Freire Interian was walking his dog near his Key West home Wednesday when a neighbor began recording him on her cell phone. Hours later, police came knocking on his door with an arrest warrant and whisked Freire Interian and his wife to the county jail. They will go before a judge in August after posting bail Thursday morning. "If the law allows someone to be arrested for violating a quarantine order and they continue to thumb their nose at the law, yeah, they should be arrested," Key West City Manager Greg Veliz said. Freire Interian, 24, speculated the arrests were the result of a soured relationship with another tenant. "I didn't do anything. I was just walking my dog," he said. "It's not as if I left the house to go shopping." -- The Associated Press Gunman at hotel fires warning shots when mother, son don't keep social distanceA gunman at a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, was arrested after firing four warning shots after telling a woman and her son they weren't socially distancing. According to the Miami Beach Police Department report, Douglas Marks, 29, told the two guests at the Crystal Beach Suites Hotel lobby to leave because they weren't distancing. She said she ignored Marks but overheard him saying, "Let me take care of them. I have two people not following directions." The woman said she heard Marks repeat "you all need to leave" and then heard gunshots and ran out of the hotel with her son. The shots didn't result in any injuries. -- David Oliver 'Frontline Doctors' may not live up to nameThe group that calls itself America's Frontline Doctors, whose video features a Houston doctor who has made outrageous claims, may not quite live up to the billing. USA TODAY confirmed that most are physicians with active state medical licenses, but their specialties and experience suggests they were offering little more than personal opinions rather than research experience on infectious diseases. The group's video, which was taken down by Facebook and Twitter for spreading COVID-19 misinformation, was retweeted by President Donald Trump. The president also used the term "very impressive'' in referring to group member Dr. Stella Immanuel, who has said some medical conditions are caused by dreaming about having sex with demons and witches and claimed "alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments." Like Trump, Immanuel has touted the disproved benefits of hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19. Speaking with MSNBC, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease specialist, called the group "a bunch of people spouting something that isn't true." -- Ryan W. Miller and Joel Shannon Phillies staffers test positive; weekend series postponedMajor League Baseball continues to struggle containing the coronavirus during its nascent season, and it's not just the Miami Marlins. The Philadelphia Phillies said Thursday one of its coaches and a home clubhouse employee have tested positive for the virus, forcing postponement of their weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, site of the series, has been temporarily closed. The Phillies and Marlins have been out of action since Sunday, when the Marlins opted to play their game in Philadelphia despite four of their players testing positive for COVID-19. Now, 17 Marlins players and two staff members have contracted the virus, and their season was paused by Major League Baseball until at least Monday. No Phillies players are known to have tested positive. -- Gabe Lacques Europe to Americans: Stay homeA European vacation probably won't be in the cards for Americans this summer. For the second time this month, the European Union extended its travel ban on Americans on Thursday, as COVID-19 infections continued to rise across the United States. On July 1, the EU started lifting its travel restrictions outside the bloc and welcomed travelers from 14 countries, including Canada, South Korea and Australia. The U.S. was left off that initial list, and the EU extended its ban on American visitors July 16 before Thursday's action. For the EU to welcome visitors, the coronavirus outbreak in a given country needs to be equally contained or better than in the bloc. -- Curtis Tate and Deirdre Shesgreen New cases trending down nationally?Based on a seven-day rolling average, daily cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. have fallen to 65,266, down about 3% from a week ago, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Researchers prefer to see two weeks of trending data, but University of Florida biostatistician Ira Longini said he thinks "the direction is real." More good news: The percentage of positive tests nationwide dropped from an average of 8.5% to 7.8% over the past week. Still, Dr. Ali Khan, dean of the University of Nebraska College of Public Health, warns that yet a another boom in cases is possible. "This disease will continue to hopscotch around until it finds tinder – susceptible individuals – like any good fire," Khan said. Florida daily death toll continues to climbFor the third consecutive day, the Florida Department of Health reported a new daily record for COVID-19 deaths Thursday. The 253 fatalities represented a jump of almost 20% from the record set the previous day. The total death toll among Florida residents now stands at 6,586, almost half of them in July. A USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data through late Wednesday shows seven states set records for new cases while eight states had a record number of deaths. New case records were set in Arkansas, Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico and West Virginia. Record numbers of deaths were reported in Arkansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas. – Mike Stucka and Cheryl McCloud Former presidential hopeful Herman Cain dies of COVID-19Herman Cain, one-time presidential hopeful and former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, died Thursday after being hospitalized in Atlanta for coronavirus treatment a month ago, according to his website and social media. "Herman Cain – our boss, our friend, like a father to so many of us – has passed away," wrote Dan Calabrese on Cain's website. Calabrese said Cain, 74, was "pretty healthy" in recent years but that his history with cancer landed him in a high-risk group for the coronavirus. Cain recently joined Newsmax TV and was working toward launching a weekly show. Newsmax said Cain had attended a rally for President Donald Trump in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June, less than two weeks before he was diagnosed. Newsmax said it was not known where Cain, chair of Black Voices for Trump, was infected. Trump suggests delaying election, rips universal mail-in votingPresident Donald Trump lambasted mail-in voting Thursday, suggesting in a tweet that Election Day be delayed from the current date of Nov. 3, though the president lacks the legal authority to delay elections on his own. Mail-in voting could be a crucial part of the election process this year as the pandemic discourages in-person polling. But Trump tweeted that effort is "already proving to be a catastrophic disaster" and said it would make it easier for foreign governments and entities to influence the vote. The date of the presidential election is set by federal law, meaning Congress, not the president, has the power to change it, according to Edward Foley, a law professor from Ohio State University and an election law expert. Delaying a presidential election would be unprecedented – the nation did not do so even during the Civil War, the flu pandemic of 1920 and World War II. But Trump's tweet nevertheless drew criticism from Democrats and Republicans for once again sowing doubt about the accuracy of elections. – David Jackson, Joey Garrison and John Fritze Woman who trashed Target mask display cites mental illness for spiralMelissa Rein Lively's spiral in an Arizona Target was caught on video for all to see when she recorded herself destroying a mask display in early July. She says she regrets her explosion and is in treatment for mental illness. Lively, the CEO and founder of a public relations firm, said she lost all of her clients and her husband filed for divorce after the videos of her expletive-filled rants went viral. "I think mental illness has been really something that has not been addressed as a result of this pandemic," she told USA TODAY. "Because what happened to me was scary and it changed my life forever. I felt I had absolutely no control over my actions." – Kelly Tyko Virus could have long-term impact on the heart, studies revealNew evidence suggests the coronavirus has lasting effects on the heart, raising alarm to cardiologists who have been concerned about potential COVID-19 long-term heart injury. Two German studies, published this week in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Cardiology, found heart abnormalities in COVID-19 patients months after they had recovered from the disease. "We need to understand longer term clinical symptoms and outcomes that might occur in patients who've had it and recovered," said Dr. Thomas Maddox, chair of the American College of Cardiology's Science and Quality Committee. "That will just take some time to look at as more and more people get the infection and recover." – Adrianna Rodriguez Florida, struggling with virus surge, closing testing sites ahead of stormAll of Florida's state-supported COVID-19 testing sites will temporarily close as the state remains in the possible path of a storm predicted to become Tropical Storm Isaias overnight. The Florida Division of Emergency Management said its drive-thru and walk-up coronavirus testing sites would close at 5 p.m. ET Thursday. The testing sites have tents and other free-standing equipment that can't withstand tropical storm-force winds. The closures come as the state struggles to get a handle on an outbreak that has already killed more than 6,500 residents. The storm is expected to slam the state with heavy rains and strong winds as early as Friday. The sites will remain closed until they are safe to reopen, with all them expected to reopen by 8 a.m. on Aug. 5 at the latest, authorities said. – Ginny Beagan, Treasure Coast Newspapers Fast, at-home testing plan revealed, but hurdles remainThe Food and Drug Administration has opened the door to COVID-19 testing that could be fast, cheap, and handled entirely at home — if companies don't find the rules too burdensome. The FDA template spells out how a sample is to be collected and analyzed without the need to send it to a lab for analysis. The template also outlines how accurate the tests must be, with slightly lower standards than lab-based tests. It's not clear, however, how long it will take the technology to catch up. "The software alone will pose an incredibly large hurdle for many," Dr. Michael Mina, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said via email. "Unfortunately the template does not offer this type of 'new' avenue that I think is going to be necessary if we want to see truly $1 daily tests become a reality." – Karen Weintraub and Ken Alltucker Florida's largest school district will begin school year online-onlyFlorida's largest school district said it will begin the school year online-only Aug. 31, a week after it was originally scheduled to start. Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said data on infections and hospitalizations will determine a decision on in-person learning, which will be announced in late September. Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging districts to offer both online and in-person options. Florida reported more than 200 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, bringing the state death toll to 6,333. The number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 9,446, marking the 36th consecutive day the state has recorded more than 5,000 new cases. California withholds money from two defiant citiesCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom is withholding federal coronavirus relief funds from two Central Valley cities defying his public health orders by allowing all businesses to reopen amid the pandemic. The governor blocked nearly $65,000 from Atwater in Merced County and more than $35,000 from Coalinga in Fresno County. The two cities were notified last week by the state's Office of Emergency Services of the possibility of losing funds if they continued to defy state orders, but local officials chose to stand firm with their decisions. More COVID-19 resources from USA TODAYOn Facebook: There's still a lot unknown about the coronavirus. But what we do know, we're sharing with you. Join our Facebook group, "Coronavirus Watch," to receive daily updates in your feed and chat with others in the community about COVID-19. In your inbox: Stay up-to-date with the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic from the USA TODAY Network. Sign up for the daily Coronavirus Watch newsletter here. Tips for coping: Every Saturday and Tuesday we'll be in your inbox, offering you a virtual hug and a little bit of solace in these difficult times. Sign up for Staying Apart, Together here. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/07/30/covid-updates-us-over-150-k-deaths-florida-miami-dade-school-district/5537967002/  |
| Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:12 AM PDT CLOSE The new GOP plan includes another check for Americans and continued help for the unemployed. USA TODAY WASHINGTON – Millions of Americans are unemployed. Schools across the country are only weeks away from reopening. And cases of COVID-19 continue to spike. Pressure is mounting as Congress and the White House enter yet another round of negotiations on what would be a fifth round of emergency stimulus funding to help counter the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. But a deal is proving elusive. Congressional leaders and the White House, after days of negotiating this week, appear to be on entirely different pages on what should be included in the bill. Some described the process as a "mess" and another lamented that even among Republicans, there was "no consensus on anything." "I'm not optimistic that we'll reach any kind of comprehensive deal," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday evening before another negotiation meeting with top Democrats. The two sides find themselves trillions of dollars apart in a political environment far different than when they passed previous emergency coronavirus measures this spring. The pandemic's continued toll has have shifted the political ground beneath them as President Donald Trump stumbles in the polls and crucial November elections stand just months away. "I'm going to speak in animal terms. Say you are at the zoo. You see a giraffe. You see a flamingo. These two bills aren't mateable," Pelosi said Tuesday during closed-door talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Meadows and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., according to a source familiar who was not authorized to speak publicly. Here's a look at the uphill battle this relief package is facing and why negotiations for this bill are so different than emergency funds that came before it: More: Meadows: 'Not optimistic' on COVID-19 stimulus deal, including unemployment boost GOP and Dems want very different thingsPolicy priorities for Democrats and Republicans are more apparent in the latest package, as members of both parties huddle in their respective political corners. Republicans have dubbed the House's bill a liberal wish list and Democrats claim the Senate proposal is a weak bill aimed at prioritizing businesses over workers and American families. Democrats are pushing a $3 trillion plan while Sen. Mitch Connell's $1 trillion offering he unveiled Monday is being rejected by some in his own party who say it's too much. That means many priorities of House Democrats – billions for state and local governments, the U.S. Postal Service and food assistance, among others – aren't even mentioned in the Senate Republican bill. CLOSE The US recently topped 4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and now has reached another unenviable milestone. USA TODAY There are seemingly untouchable issues for each side, too. Democrats want to extend the current $600 per week unemployment benefit that expires July 31 while Republicans want much less. Republicans want liability protections for employers, including schools, businesses and nursing homes who might be sued by employers and customers, but Democrats oppose such protections saying it would come at the expense of workers, consumers and patients. "Neither this bill nor anything resembling it will ever become law – it's a Democratic wish list filled up with all the party's favored policies," McConnell said after the House unveiled its $3 trillion package in May. On Monday, he called it a "multitrillion-dollar socialist manifesto." Pelosi and Schumer similarly swatted down the GOP proposal, calling it on Tuesday "a sad statement of their values, selling out struggling families at the kitchen table in order to enrich the corporate interests at the boardroom table." More: 'Suburban Lifestyle Dream': Trump attacks fair housing rule in tweet critics call 'vile' More: Trump says he did not ask Vladimir Putin about bounties on US troops Election nears, bipartisanship fadesThree months. That's how long before Election Day when voters will decide who should run the country and potentially change which party controls each chamber in Congress. During any presidential election year, Congress typically isn't expected to tackle any major legislation, but the pandemic and urgent needs nationally have forced leaders in both parties to the table. Throughout March and part of April, the administration and lawmakers on both sides quickly hashed out their differences and passed four bills totaling more than $3 trillion, a tremendous feat amid a bitterly divided Congress just on the heels of impeaching the president. Fast-forward to today and the bipartisanship spirit between lawmakers and the administration – also worried about its own political future – has turned sour. Polling has revealed Americans' distaste with the president's handling of the pandemic with former Vice President Joe Biden ahead in a number of battleground states that were pivotal to Trump's 2016 win. Polls have also shown some of that distaste has bled down the ballot, hurting Republicans' chances of keeping control of the Senate and taking hold of the House. Those partisan lines in the sand could worsen as both Republicans and Democrats are scheduled to hold their national conventions in August when both Biden and Trump will officially accept their party's nomination for the White House. Typically, the conventions mark the official start to campaign season. Neither party is going to be eager to pass something that could be seen as a win for the opposing party. More: 'Giant of a man': Three former presidents to attend John Lewis' funeral in Atlanta GOP clashing with Trump's prioritiesIt's not just Democrats who are panning the GOP stimulus plan. A number of Senate Republicans criticized it as too costly and full of unnecessary expenditures. Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said there was "significant resistance" within the GOP caucus to the bill. And that was before the discovery of a $1.75 billion provision in the Republican package to rebuild the FBI headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C. – a priority for Trump. "We need a new building. It's a bad building," the president told reporters at the White House Wednesday about the FBI's current home, which is in disrepair and considered inefficient for the bureau's purposes. But a number of Republican senators, including McConnell, say they didn't know it was in the bill and oppose its inclusion in legislation aimed at helping Americans recover from the impacts of coronavirus. "That makes no sense to me," South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, told reporters Tuesday, adding he'd be "fine" stripping out the money. 'Republicans are really fed up': GOP increasingly splits with Trump as his polls drag It's another distraction that could get in the way of a deal and test GOP loyalty to Trump as the election approaches. Republicans in recent weeks have split with the president on a number of areas, including urging him to wear a face mask in public and his opposition to the Pentagon stripping Confederate names from military bases. Trump, as he left the White House Wednesday morning, said congressional Republicans who are opposed to the funds for a new FBI building should "go back to school and learn." GOP worries about deficitsNot only are there divisions among Republicans about what should be included, but some lawmakers have also voiced concerns over whether another package was even needed as the national deficit continues to balloon. As of last month, it hit $863 billion – more than 100 times what it was in the same month last year. Cruz has been a vocal opponent of more spending. He told reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday there was "sharp disagreement" among Republicans about their bill, and last week on Fox News, he said he stood up in a lunch meeting with his colleagues and told them, "What in the hell are we doing? We can't just keep shoveling cash at this." Cruz argued Republicans needed to work on creating a "recovery bill" to roll back taxes and regulations instead of providing more funds. His colleague, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has also sounded the alarm on the deficit. "We don't have any money in Washington. There's no rainy day account. There's no savings account," he told reporters Tuesday. "So, I'm not for borrowing another trillion dollars to pass out. That's an illusion of wealth, not real wealth when you create money and give it to people." "I think if Mitch can get half the conference that'd be quite an accomplishment," Graham said Tuesday. McConnell acknowledged the challenges in an interview with PBS NewsHour Wednesday evening when he said "about 20 of our members think that we've already done enough." "That's not my view," he added, nor was it the view of the "majority" of Republican senators. More: 'I'm losing my patience': Jayapal, Nadler spar with Barr over Portland, politicization Schooling offers swift deadlineThe tedious negotiations come as schools across the country are several weeks away from the start of a new school year. Districts across the country are weighing whether they should reopen for students, offer a mixed-mode of learning or stay closed as COVID-19 continues to spread. Schools typically start in August or early September leaving little time for funds to pass Congress, get Trump's signature and also get into the hands of school districts that will need boosted funds to ensure safety for teachers, children and staff. While there are major differences between Republicans, Democrats and the administration , funds for education have seemingly emerged as a bipartisan bright spot – though not without some partisan bickering. Democrats, who approved their bill in May, allotted $100 billion for schools. Republicans have set aside $105 billion, though their bill also gives money to private schools and ties some of the funds to schools reopening – proposals which Democrats oppose. Pelosi has also signaled that Democrats now want more funds for schools since their $100 billion proposal was crafted months before schools were readying for the fall. While there is agreement that schools need more funding, members of both parties have huddled in their respective corners. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called the Republican proposal an attempt at "bullying schools" into reopening. "Democrats want schools to reopen for in-person learning if it can be done safely – but the partisan Republican proposal would put students, educators, and communities at risk by taking a one-size-fits-all approach and pushing school districts to ignore local public health officials," they said in a statement. "This is not a plan to help schools reopen safely; it is a recipe for more chaos and illness." Some have remained confidant that despite the hurdles, funds would reach schools in time. "I would expect that by the time we get to Labor Day, schools will begin to see money," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., told reporters on Capitol Hill, adding that there are mandates in the bill that force money to go out the door within 15 days. "It'll go pretty fast." Short-term extension gets a tepid receptionAs negotiations continue, the Trump administration has floated a short-term fix – a temporary extension of the boost to unemployment benefits and a moratorium on evictions. Mnuchin told reporters Wednesday he spoke to the president about a possible short-term extension. "As of now we're very far apart and because of that – the president and we have discussed a short-term extension to (unemployment insurance) and the evictions so that we have some period to negotiate before this runs out," he told reporters on the White House South Lawn. A key sticking point in negotiations between Republicans and Democrats has been whether to extend an additional $600 that about 30 million unemployed Americans received as part of their unemployment benefits. The enhanced employment insurance is set to expire this week. A federal moratorium that had shielded about 12 million Americans from eviction expired last Friday. Democratic leaders, however, object to a short-term extension. Speaking to reporters following the end of negotiations on Wednesday afternoon, Pelosi and Schumer said Republicans had come up with a "skinny little bill that doesn't address the moment." Asked about support for a short-term extension like Mnuchin had floated, Pelosi said, "there is no short-term extension" and Schumer said, "they don't have anything that would pass the Senate." Some senators warmed to the short-term proposal, but others shot it down. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told reporters Tuesday, "Ultimately, it's clear we're not going to have a universal agreement in place Friday so there may be some things that have to be done that way." And the idea gained some traction on the other side of the aisle, too. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told reporters, "I think that for some period of time (unemployment extensions) could make sense." Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said he pitched a short-term fix to senators that would continue a boost to unemployment benefits that would start at $600 in August and then decrease by $200 per month, but his proposal did not appear to pick up much traction, either. "I don't want to see the supplemental payments cut off and having people suffering while we're negotiating a very large package," he said. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/30/coronavirus-stimulus-trump-congress-struggle-reach-deal-relief/5534896002/  |
| Posted: 30 Jul 2020 03:41 PM PDT WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to row back on the idea of delaying the 2020 election, even as he continued to raise doubts about efforts to expand mail-in voting in some states to respond to the coronavirus. "Do I want to see a date change? No," Trump said at the White House hours after raising the idea of a delay in a tweet. "But I don't want to see a crooked election." Trump drew bipartisan derision Thursday for questioning whether the presidential election should be delayed over concerns about voting during the pandemic – and his longstanding and unproven assertion that mail-in ballots would lead to election fraud. Congressional Republicans bluntly rejected the idea and Democrats accused the president of attempting to sow doubt if the election doesn't go his way. Despite the blow back, Trump did not foreclose on continuing to push for a delay in voting – an idea that would require approval from Congress. Instead, he indicated he wasn't advocating for a delay while he simultaneously lamented efforts to expand mail-in voting. "What will happen in November – it's a mess," Trump said. "I want a result much, more more than you...I don't want to be waiting around around for weeks and months." Democrats said Trump's latest remarks were not overly convincing and likely foreshadowed a continuing effort to cast doubt about the election. Trump is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in battleground states, though analysts from both parties acknowledge there is ample time for the landscape to change. Political opponents said Trump is clearly threatening to dispute the election, either by a call for a delay or lawsuits over mail-in balloting. "Cut through his blaze of fraudulent claims about vote by mail, the @POTUS foreshadows months of resistance and legal wrangling if he doesn't win," tweeted Democratic strategist David Axelrod. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson also questioned Trump's strategy. "The President is single-handedly undermining his re-election with both nutty conspiracies about voting by mail and insane ramblings about delaying the election," Erickson tweeted. "A growing portion of his base is frustrated and thinks he's just trying to lose." The president had "pinned" the election tweet to his Twitter feed throughout the day Thursday, assuring that his 84.3 million followers would see it. By late Thursday, the pin was removed. Trump also called on lawmakers to approve a short-term extension of unemployment benefits, an idea that has been embraced by Republicans on Capitol Hill but that met with stiff resistance from Democrats. The two parties are struggling to negotiate another round of stimulus to address the economic harm caused by the virus. "We want a temporary extension of expanded unemployment benefits," the president told reporters at the White House on Thursday. "This will provide a critical bridge for Americans who lost their jobs to the pandemic through no fault of their own." Democrats want a broader agreement that would include other stimulus provisions. Trump started off his remarks Thursday by offering his sympathy for former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain, who died after a battle with COVID-19. "No one is immune," Trump said. "We can never ever forget the people who have been lost," Trump said. More: McConnell, Republicans nix idea of moving Election Day More: U.S. economy contracted record 32.9% in Q2 amid state shutdowns After a weeks-long hiatus, Trump returned July 21 to holding regular COVID-19 briefings that he had started earlier in the pandemic. Unlike in the past, Trump has kept the latest round of briefings relatively short and has not invited members of the White House coronavirus task force to join him at the podium. Trump last took questions in the briefing room on Tuesday. Since then, the nation surged past 150,000 COVID-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Several large states, including California and Florida, are setting new records for virus deaths. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/30/trump-hosts-coronavirus-briefing-after-floating-idea-election-delay/5547391002/  |
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