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      'Congress is not going to be the Grinch': Covid relief bill set to pass on Sunday

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      “Congress is not going to be the Grinch,” a senior Democratic senator said on Sunday, as lawmakers stood poised to vote on a $900bn coronavirus aid package made possible by a late-night compromise on one of the final hurdles, a dispute over Federal Reserve pandemic lending authorities.The package will be tied to a funding bill to avert a government shutdown.Speaking to reporters the day after reaching the compromise with Senate Republicans, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said: “Barring a major mishap, the Senate and House will be able to vote on final legislation as early as tonight.”Republican senator Mitt Romney told CNN’s State of the Union: “I believe there is going to be a deal. There are always sticking points, but the big one was resolved last night … They’re working out some additional points but I think it’s going to get done. It’ll get done before Christmas.”Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, referred to a popular Dr Seuss character who “stole” Christmas when he told ABC’s This Week: “The great news is, Congress is not going to be the Grinch. We’re going to get this package done.”The coronavirus aid deal includes $600 direct payments to individuals and a $300 per week unemployment compensation supplement. The second-largest economic stimulus in US history, following the $2.3tn Cares Act passed in March, it will be tied to a $1.4tn spending bill that funds government programs through September 2021.The House was due to meet at noon on Sunday in order to take up the bill.“I do have optimism that it’ll pass,” House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox Business. “I am very hopeful that we get this done today.”Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the chamber’s top Democrat, told reporters she wanted to give members some time to review the package before calling a vote.“I think we’re close, we’re very close,” Pelosi said. “But we want to have members have enough time to review it all.”Donald Trump, whose administration has largely left negotiations to congressional leaders, used Twitter to complain.“Why isn’t Congress giving our people a Stimulus Bill? [The pandemic] wasn’t their fault, it was the fault of China,” Trump wrote. “GET IT DONE, and give them more money in direct payments.”Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, had insisted on language that would guarantee that the Fed could not revive emergency lending programs for small businesses and state and local governments after 31 December, when they expire under Cares Act relief legislation passed in March.Republicans said the programs represented unnecessary government interference and politicized the Fed. They accused Democrats of seeking to extend them as a way to provide unchecked funds for state and local governments controlled by their party. Democrats accused the Republicans of trying to limit President-elect Joe Biden’s options for boosting the economy after he takes office on 20 January.Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly said the senator’s agreement with Schumer “rescinds more than $429bn in unused Cares Act funds; definitively ends the Cares Act lending facilities by 31 December 2020; stops these facilities from being restarted; and forbids them from being duplicated without congressional approval.”A senior Democratic aide said Toomey had agreed to “drop the broad language in his proposal that would have prevented the Fed chair from establishing similar facilities in the future”.The Senate adjourned a rare Saturday session with a call from Republican leader Mitch McConnell to avoid last-minute disagreements.On Sunday, San Francisco Federal Reserve president Mary Daly told CBS’ Face the Nation the package would provide much-needed relief for the economy.“This support is unequivocally beneficial,” Daly said.In the 11 months since the first coronavirus cases were documented in the US, Covid-19 has killed around 316,000, by far the most in the world, and put millions out of work. Economists say growth will likely remain sluggish until vaccines are widely available in mid- or late 2021.On Sunday, Warner told ABC: “I was with Senator Schumer last night in his office until about 11pm. I was glad to see that Senator Toomey accepted Senator Schumer’s offer on a compromise … We did not think tying the hands of a future Fed or treasury made any sense.“…I’m very proud that in many ways this package only came about because a bipartisan group of senators spent a month working hard, showing the American people that we can actually do things when we have such an amazing need.“So folks who are going to run out of unemployment the day after Christmas, or potentially get kicked out of their apartment, or those long lines at the food banks: help is on the way.” More

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      Second federal prisoner scheduled to die in weeks has Covid, lawyers say

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      A second federal prisoner scheduled to be put to death next month, as the Trump administration rushes to execute more people before Joe Biden takes power, has tested positive for Covid-19, his lawyers said on Friday.Cory Johnson’s diagnosis came a day after attorneys for Dustin John Higgs confirmed he had tested positive at a US prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, where both men are on death row.Johnson, Higgs and a third inmate, Lisa Montgomery, are scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at the federal complex just days before Biden takes office.The Trump administration resumed federal executions after a 17-year pause in July and has carried out 10 death sentences since then, including two last week. It has executed more people in a single year than any other administration in more than 130 years and this year has killed more inmates than all the states put together.Johnson’s lawyers, Donald Salzman and Ronald Tabak, called on federal authorities to strike their client’s current execution date of 14 January – six days before inauguration day. Higgs is scheduled to die a day later.Montgomery’s execution date is 12 January, but because she is the only woman on federal death row she is held at a separate prison in Texas and would need to be brought to Indiana to be executed. She would be the first woman killed by the US government in 67 years.Johnson’s attorneys said his infection would make it difficult to interact with him in the critical days leading up to his scheduled execution, adding: “The widespread outbreak on the federal death row only confirms the reckless disregard for the lives and safety of staff, prisoners, and attorneys alike.”“If the government will not withdraw the execution date, we will ask the courts to intervene,” they said.The US Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons did not respond to requests for comment.Prosecutors alleged Johnson was a crack cocaine dealer who killed seven people in 1992 in an attempt to expand the territory of a Richmond, Virginia, gang and silence informants. His legal team has argued that he is intellectually disabled, with a far below average IQ, and therefore ineligible for the death penalty.Higgs was convicted of ordering the 1996 murders of three women in Maryland. Montgomery was convicted of using a rope to strangle a pregnant woman in 2004 and then using a kitchen knife to cut the baby girl from the womb, authorities said.The Bureau of Prisons confirmed in a statement on Thursday that inmates on federal death row have tested positive for Covid-19. As of Thursday, there were more than 300 inmates with confirmed cases at FCC Terre Haute. The Bureau of Prisons said “many of these inmates are asymptomatic or exhibiting mild symptoms”.Nationwide, one in every five state and federal prisoners has tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate more than four times as high as the general population, according to data collected by the Associated Press and the Marshall Project. More

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      Mike Pence receives Covid-19 vaccine on live TV: 'I didn't feel a thing'

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      Mike Pence received the Covid-19 vaccination on live television on Friday morning, saying it was a “medical miracle” and reassuring Americans facing a surging rise of cases around the country “that hope is on the way”.The televised event came amid concerns that the rollout of the vaccine in the US could be hampered by doubts from people over its quick authorization, the anti-vaxxer movement, and skepticism from some in the Black community because of historic distrust of institutions.“Confidence in the vaccine is what brings us here this morning,” the vice-president said. “I didn’t feel a thing. Well done.”His wife, Karen Pence, and the US surgeon general, Jerome Adams, also received shots during the televised White House event. It was also attended by Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, and Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who praised Pence and said it was “now up to all of us to step forward and get vaccinated”.In recent days, Fauci has been advocating that Pence, as well as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, get the vaccination as soon as possible “for security reasons”. Biden officials have said the president-elect will receive the vaccine in public in Delaware on Monday to send a “clear message it is safe”.A few hours after Pence was vaccinated, House speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted photos of her vaccination.Today, with confidence in science & at the direction of the Office of the Attending Physician, I received the COVID-19 vaccine. As the vaccine is being distributed, we must all continue mask wearing, social distancing & other science-based steps to save lives & crush the virus. pic.twitter.com/tijVCSnJd7— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 18, 2020
      Pence is the first member of the White House to be publicly vaccinated. Trump was infected with Covid-19 in October and multiple outbreaks of the virus have occurred among staffers.After initial reports that White House officials would be receiving the first doses of the vaccine, Trump tweeted last week that he halted the Oval Office’s rollout. “I am not scheduled to take the vaccine, but look forward to doing so at the appropriate time,” he said.On Friday, Pence alluded to the imminent approval of a second vaccine developed by drug company Moderna, saying “we have one and perhaps, within hours, two vaccines.”A panel of outside advisers with the Food and Drug Administration, which is in charge of approving vaccinations, held a meeting yesterday to discuss Moderna’s vaccine. Following the meeting, the FDA could make an approval as early as Friday afternoon that would allow the vaccine’s distribution for emergency use.The US federal government has said it has six million doses of the Moderna vaccine ready for distribution upon its approval. Nearly three million doses of a vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech were distributed throughout the country this week after it was approved late last Friday.While the White House has tried to soften the appearance of the virus’ spread in the country, Pence acknowledged that “with cases rising across the country, hospitalizations rising across the country, we have a ways to go”. On Thursday, the US had 233,271 new cases of the virus and 3,270 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.Nearly 310,000 Americans have died from Covid-19 infection.States around the country have seen increases in infections after the Thanksgiving holiday at the end of November. Public health experts have pleaded with American to stay home as Christmas and New Year approaches, and millions of Americans are expected to travel to see family. The American Automobile Association estimates that 85 million people will be traveling, most by car, between 23 December and 3 January.An influential data model from Seattle-based Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) predicted on Friday that the US will see an additional 262,000 deaths by 1 April, reaching a total of 562,000 deaths by that point. IHME had previously predicted a total of 502,000 Americans would have died from Covid-19 by that time. The institute cited rising infection and hospitalizations numbers for the uptick in its prediction. The vaccine’s rollout will save 34,000 lives, according to the institute, though it noted that mandates on masks and indoor gatherings could further curb the spread.“The most important measures to keep the death toll down in the next months will be expanding mask use and re-imposition of some mandates in states with severe stress on hospital systems”, the institute said in a statement. More

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      US surpasses 17m coronavirus cases just a day after setting record death toll – live updates

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      Biden picks Deb Haaland for interior secretary – reportCongress closes in on $900bn Covid aid bill as Friday deadline loomsFDA says extra doses of vaccine contained in Pfizer vials can be usedBiden and Pence will soon receive Covid vaccine Sign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email 9.44pm GMT Joe Biden released a statement today emphasizing the need for the US government to prioritize cybersecurity, as new details about the recent hack of several federal agencies continue to emerge.“I want to be clear: my administration will make cybersecurity a top priority at every level of government — and we will make dealing with this breach a top priority from the moment we take office,” the president-elect said in his statement. 9.24pm GMT Senator Mitt Romney criticized the White House for its “inexcusable silence and inaction” over the recent hack targeting US government agencies, which has been attributed to the Kremlin.pic.twitter.com/iEsWD1V4KI Related: Deep US institutional secrets may have been exposed in hack blamed on Russia Continue reading… More

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      Trump appointee urged ‘herd immunity’ approach to combat Covid – report

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      Top White House appointee in Department of Health and Human Services said in an email in July, ‘we want Americans infected’A top White House appointee in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) urged health officials in July to double down on a “herd immunity” approach to combating the Covid-19 pandemic, writing “we want [Americans] infected”.Paul Alexander, a former aide to HHS assistant press secretary Michael Caputo and a known herd immunity advocate, wrote an email to Caputo on 4 July – right as virus cases were spiking in the Sun Belt – laying out his case for herd immunity. Continue reading… More

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      US Congress closes in on $900bn Covid aid bill as Friday deadline looms

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      Bill will include $600 to $700 stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefits US congressional negotiators on Wednesday were “closing in on” a $900bn Covid-19 aid bill that will include $600 to $700 stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefits, as a Friday deadline loomed, lawmakers and aides said.Top members of the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives and Republican-controlled Senate sounded more positive than they have in months on a fresh response to a crisis that has killed more than 304,000 Americans and thrown millions out of work. Continue reading… More

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      in US Politics

      Biden says deal close on new coronavirus relief bill as he hails latest pick for diverse cabinet – live

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      Key events

      Show

      2.42pm EST14:42
      Texas AG files antitrust lawsuit against Google

      1.35pm EST13:35
      Early afternoon summary

      1.11pm EST13:11
      Kamala Harris urges faith in coronavirus vaccine

      12.47pm EST12:47
      Biden said signs of agreement on new coronavirus economic relief bill “encouraging”

      12.14pm EST12:14
      Biden introduces Buttigieg as his nominee for transportation secretary

      11.42am EST11:42
      Harris impatient over stimulus bill – says “people are suffering”

      10.52am EST10:52
      Secretary of State Pompeo to isolate over contact with Covid-positive person

      Live feed

      Show

      4.37pm EST16:37

      The availability of intensive care unit beds in the San Francisco Bay Area fell below 15% on Tuesday, the threshold that triggers a regional stay-at-home order.
      Much of the Bay Area had preemptively enacted the stay-at-home order earlier in the month, but three counties did not. They will now have to enact the stricter rules by midnight Thursday.
      At 12.9%, ICU bed availability in the Bay Area is still better than in Southern California (0.5%), the San Joaquin Valley (0%) and greater Sacramento (14.1%). The only region that will not be under stay-at-home orders as of Friday will be rural Northern California, where just 1.7% of the state’s approximately 40m people live, according to the state’s health department.
      The remaining 39.4m Californians are barred from holding private gatherings of any size and required to wear a mask. Almost all of California is also under a curfew requiring residents to stay home between 10pm and 5am.

      4.04pm EST16:04

      A major winter storm heading for the eastern seaboard could delay shipments of the coronavirus vaccine, Alexandra Villarreal reports for the Guardian US:

      Treacherous weather could bury parts of the eastern US in snow, ice or flooding and cause power outages, hazardous travel conditions, or even tornadoes on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the National Weather Service, threatening all forms of transportation being used by the vaccine manufacturing facilities, centered in Michigan, as they fly and truck vials around the country.
      It is set to be a record storm for December. Meanwhile the first Covid-19 vaccinations got underway at nursing homes, where the virus has killed more than 110,000 people in the US. Elderly and infirm people in long-term care have been among the most vulnerable and residents in nursing homes in Florida and Virginia have been among the first people being inoculated in the US this week.

      Read the full report here:

      3.43pm EST15:43

      An investigation into allegations that managers at a Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Waterloo, Iowa, placed bets on how many of their workers would contract Covid-19 “found sufficient evidence” to fire seven managers on Wednesday, the Des Moines Register reports.
      The allegations of the betting pool emerged in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in November by the family of Isidro Fernandez, a Tyson Foods employee who died in April after contracting the coronavirus.
      More than 1,000 workers out of about 2,800 tested positive for Covid-19 before the plant closed down in early May to implement new safety measures. At least six employees died during the pandemic.
      Tyson Foods enlisted the former US attorney general Eric Holder to investigate the allegations of a “cash buy-in, winner-take-all betting pool” among managers and supervisors.
      “We can tell you that Mr Holder and his team looked specifically at the gaming allegations and found sufficient evidence for us to terminate those involved,” a company spokesman, Gary Mickelson, told the Des Moines Register.

      Sarah Beckman
      (@SarahBeckman3)
      INBOX: @TysonFoods fires 7 plant management employees at its Waterloo location after an investigation of claims they bet on how many employees would test positive for #Covid_19. Full statement here: pic.twitter.com/meOf3geqhe

      December 16, 2020

      Updated
      at 4.26pm EST

      3.21pm EST15:21

      Hello everyone, this is Julia Carrie Wong in Oakland, California, picking up the liveblog for the next few hours.
      A bit of catharsis for the end of the year: the mayor of Atlantic City plans to auction off the chance to blow up the former Trump Plaza casino as a fundraiser for the local Boys & Girls Club, the AP reports.
      The former casino opened in 1984 and closed in 2014, one of three casinos that Donald Trump owned in the New Jersey resort town, alongside the Taj Mahal and the Trump Marina. The building has stood vacant for years and become a public safety hazard. It is slated for implosion on 29 January.
      “Some of Atlantic City’s iconic moments happened there, but on his way out, Donald Trump openly mocked Atlantic City, saying he made a lot of money and then got out,” mayor Marty Small told the AP. “I wanted to use the demolition of this place to raise money for charity.”
      Details of the auction will be announced at a press conference tomorrow, according to the Press of Atlantic City. If you have $1m and a burning desire to press a button and make something that used to belong to Trump go boom, you can tune in here at 11am EST Thursday.

      Press of AC
      (@ThePressofAC)
      Want to press the button and implode Trump Plaza? Atlantic City may offer that chance https://t.co/Zaw9kIhzFX

      December 16, 2020

      Updated
      at 3.37pm EST

      3.04pm EST15:04

      A top Trump appointee in the health and human services department urged top health officials in July to take on a “herd immunity” approach to combating the Covid-19 pandemic, saying in emails describing young Americans: “we want them infected.
      Paul Alexander, a former aide to the health department official Michael Caputo and a known “herd immunity” advocate, wrote in an email to Caputo that “there is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD.”
      The emails were released as part of a House investigation, led by Democratic Representative James Clyburn, into the White House’s attempts to interfere with the work of career scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
      “Infant, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions, etc have zero to little risk … so we use them to develop herd … we want them infected,” Alexander wrote in an email.
      Politico reported that Alexander had the support of the White House when making his recommendations, though Trump officials have denied that they wanted to embrace the herd immunity strategy.

      Updated
      at 3.11pm EST

      2.42pm EST14:42

      Texas AG files antitrust lawsuit against Google

      Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just announced his office is filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google for its “anti-competitive conduct, exclusionary practices and deceptive misrepresentation” around advertising, Paxton said in a video announcing the lawsuit.

      Texas Attorney General
      (@TXAG)
      #BREAKING: Texas takes the lead once more! Today, we’re filing a lawsuit against #Google for anticompetitive conduct.This internet Goliath used its power to manipulate the market, destroy competition, and harm YOU, the consumer. Stay tuned… pic.twitter.com/fdEVEWQb0e

      December 16, 2020

      “Google repeatedly used its monopolistic power to control pricing, engage in market collusions to rig options in a tremendous violation of justice,” he said. “These actions harm every person in America.”
      Paxton said other states have joined the lawsuit, though it is unclear how many states have joined.
      The Texas attorney general is just coming off of the lawsuit he filed against four states, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, for allegedly mishandling the election, an 11th-hour, baseless attempt to help Donald Trump keep the White House after his loss to Joe Biden. The Supreme Court quickly threw out the lawsuit last week.

      Updated
      at 2.51pm EST

      2.23pm EST14:23

      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement this afternoon affirming her support in Joe Biden selecting US Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico to lead the Interior Department.
      Previous reports have said Pelosi and her second-in-command, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, warned the Biden-Harris team against picking another sitting Congressional Democrat as Haaland was rumored to be Biden’s top pick for interior secretary.
      “Congresswoman Deb Haaland is one of the most respected and one of the best Members of Congress I have served with,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Congresswoman Haaland knows the territory, and if she is the President-elect’s choice for Interior Secretary, then he will have made an excellent choice.

      Heather Caygle
      (@heatherscope)
      Here’s full statement: pic.twitter.com/9yYegtabPy

      December 16, 2020

      Haaland, who is a member of the Laguna Pueblo people, was one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress, along with Sharice Davids, who was also elected in 2018. The interior department is responsible for preserving federal lands and resources and is home to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which works with the country’s recognized Native American tribes.

      Updated
      at 2.24pm EST

      1.59pm EST13:59

      A top Trump appointee repeatedly urged top health officials to adopt a “herd immunity” approach to Covid-19 and allow millions of Americans to be infected by the virus, according to a new report by Politico today, which cited internal emails obtained by the House Oversight committee and shared with the news outlet.
      Politico reports that:

      “There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD,” then-science adviser Paul Alexander wrote on July 4 to his boss, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for public affairs Michael Caputo, and six other senior officials.
      “Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk….so we use them to develop herd…we want them infected…” Alexander added.
      “[I]t may be that it will be best if we open up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected” in order to get “natural immunity…natural exposure,” Alexander wrote on July 24 to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Caputo and eight other senior officials. Caputo subsequently asked Alexander to research the idea, according to emails obtained by the House Oversight Committee’s select subcommittee on coronavirus.
      Senior Trump officials have repeatedly denied that herd immunity — a concept advocated by some conservatives as a tactic to control Covid-19 by deliberately exposing less vulnerable populations in hopes of re-opening the economy — was under consideration or shaped the White House’s approach to the pandemic. “Herd immunity is not the strategy of the U.S. government with regard to coronavirus,” HHS Secretary Alex Azar testified in a House Oversight hearing on October 2.
      In his emails, Alexander also spent months attacking government scientists and pushing to shape official statements to be more favorable to Donald Trump.

      You can read more here.

      1.35pm EST13:35

      Early afternoon summary

      It’s been a lively morning in US political news as we await agreement on a deal for a new round of coronavirus economic relief legislation on Capitol Hill. Stay tuned!
      Here’s what’s occurred so far today:
      Joe Biden said it seems coronavirus stimulus negotiators are “very, very close” to reaching a deal and that the new coronavirus economic relief package looks “encouraging”. He added that the bill would be a “down payment” to “what’s going to have to be done” when he enters office in January.
      Biden and his vice-president elect, Kamala Harris, presented Pete Buttigieg as the incoming administration’s nominee to become transportation secretary. Biden described Buttigieg, who ran for the party nomination eventually won by Biden, was a policy wonk with a big heart and would be the first openly-gay cabinet member in US history to be confirmed (assuming that happens) by the Senate.
      Outgoing secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, is in quarantine after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for coronavirus. Pompeo’s most recent test showed he was negative for Covid-19.
      After months of roller coaster negotiations, it looks as though a new, compromise coronavirus economic relief bill is close to agreement on Capitol Hill.

      1.11pm EST13:11

      Kamala Harris urges faith in coronavirus vaccine

      Kamala Harris, the Democratic Senator from California and now US vice-president elect, earlier today urged Americans to wear masks and take the coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available to them.
      In more from her interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, Harris also spoke about one of Joe Biden’s earliest statements as the transition from the Trump administration to the Biden administration began, that he would ask all Americans to wear a face mask for the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris White House.
      “The hundred days of the mask, he is urging, like, there is no punishment, they don’t have to, but he is saying as a leader, ‘please everybody, work with me here, for the first 100 days, let’s everybody wear a mask’ and see the outcomes there,” Harris said.
      She added: “Because of course the scientists and the public health officials tell us there will be really great outcomes if people wear a mask when they’re in public.” More