After an evening meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, President Trump has announced his support for House Resolution 6201 – The Cononavirus Response Act.
You can find the text of the House Bill HERE
Earlier today President Trump and the COVID-19 task force held a press conference to outline the latest mitigation steps. [Transcript Below]
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you. Thank you.
A beautiful day in the Rose Garden. Appreciate everybody being here. Today, I’d like to provide an update to the American people on several decisive new actions we’re taking in our very vigilant effort to combat and ultimately defeat the coronavirus.
We’ve been working very hard on this. We’ve made tremendous progress. When you compare what we’ve done to other areas of the world, it’s pretty incredible. A lot of that had to do with the early designation and the closing of the borders.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is saying the Democrats and White House have made an agreement to pass the content of the Coronavirus Response Act. However, there is no confirmation from the White House (yet).
President Trump is meeting with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in the White House right now.
WASHINGTON – House Democrats and the Trump administration reached agreement on a coronavirus response package Friday after a day of grueling negotiations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
“We are proud to have reached an agreement with the Administration to resolve outstanding challenges, and now will soon pass the Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” she wrote to Democrats after hours of back-and-forth with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The White House has announced that magnanimous big tech firm Google has ‘voluntarily’ joined the federal government (within the national state of emergency) to assist citizens with the effort to voluntarily ‘test’ for the coronavirus.
As announced the details are under rapid construction, but don’t worry during a crisis there’s no need for prudent pause. Trust is a currency.
President Trump noted today that over 1,700 data collection engineers from ‘big tech’ Google have been assigned by tech executives to create the system.
Google is undertaking this effort as a ‘free service’ to the American public. Everything is free, including the test.
Soon you will be able to use your hand-held transponder to sign-up, register for testing, and find your local neighborhood testing (dna collection) site.
Also noted, in a partnership with big corporate multinationals like Wal-Mart, CVS and Walgreens, citizens will be able to drive up to their local parking lot and have coronavirus ‘testing’ done without ever leaving your vehicle. There will likely be instructions to bring your transponder (phone) with you to facilitate a faster ‘check-out’ process.
As soon as the other big tech and social media companies recognize the proactive nature of the system it’s likely Apple, Facebook, Twitter and all social media platforms will create links to the Google HHS data-hub to assist with citizen registration and fulfillment. Lots of that pesky red-tape eliminated under the necessary framework of a national emergency.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin holds a brief media availability at the White House to discuss the potential economic impacts from Coronavirus and the direction of the treasury in response. Strong interview and Good interview.
Mnuchin notes there are some sectors who benefit and some that are negatively impacted. The key is to focus on the average American and ensure any negative impacts to U.S. workers are mitigated. Secretary Mnuchin is very sharp and he’s exactly on point in this interview.
President Trump will hold a press conference on COVID-19 today at 3:00pm ET. It is expected that President Trump will declare a national emergency.
UPDATE – Video Added
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, began exhibiting flu-like symptoms after returning from a speaking engagement in the U.K.
Mrs. Trudeau has now been confirmed to be infected with the Chinese Coronavirus.
Surprisingly, sources tell CTV News the couple’s children are not showing symptoms and are not being quarantined.
CANADA – Canadian government officials announced Thursday night that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for the coronavirus and “will remain in isolation for the time being.”
They also said the prime minister “is in good health,” and his wife “is feeling well,” showing “mild” symptoms. (link)
The White House Coronavirus Task Force includes: Vice President Mike Pence; Ambassador Debbie Brix, White House Corona Virus Response Coordinator; Secretary Alex Azar, Department of Health and Human Services; Dr. Robert Redfield, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Stephen Hahn, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Food and Drug Administration; and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Earlier today Dr. Anthony Fauci gives an update on coronavirus outbreak and how the White House is trying to combat the spread.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is attempting to exploit the coronavirus issue to pass a litany of permanent laws inside what was supposed to be a temporary legislative bill to assist those economically impacted by the coronavirus mitigation efforts.
Two issues are stark: (1) permanent and mandatory paid sick leave; and (2) a massive and permanent increase in medicare spending to benefit health insurance companies.
(Via The Hill) […] “There’s a couple major problems with it. Here’s one glaring problem: Under [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s bill, the Social Security Administration will be set up to administer the paid sick leave program. Now this will take more than six months, so it won’t work in time. It will also hamper the administration from putting out Social Security for those who need it right now that are in harm’s way,” he added.
Elania Plott is a CNN analyst who notes in her conversations with supporters of President Trump the disdain and distrust in media is worse than any time she can remember:
Perhaps this short recap video will help explain. CNN is now claiming that anyone who uses the term “Wuhan Virus” or “Chinese Corona Virus” is being xenophobic and racist. The Media Research Center looked into it and captured some rather stark hypocrisy: