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The @USATODAY team is tweeting facts & updates from our journalists' pandemic coverage to provide you context during President Trump’s coronavirus task force briefing. Stick with @usatodayDC for more.
The $484 billion deal will provide more funds to the Paycheck Protection Program, which was halted last week after it ran out of money. https://bit.ly/2yzkkmG
Sen. Mitch McConnell lauded the deal as a "bipartisan agreement” to help keep small businesses from shuttering and their employees from going on unemployment.
The deal also includes $75B to help overwhelmed hospitals and $25B for coronavirus testing, two provisions Democrats pushed for in negotiations.
McConnell blamed Dems for the PPP bill’s delay: “Democratic leaders blocked the money and spent days trying to negotiate extraneous issues that were never on the table.” https://bit.ly/2yzkkmG
PPP launched April 3 with an initial $349B for small businesses. In less than two weeks, 1.6M loan apps exhausted the funds. https://bit.ly/2XSHxv4
Shake Shack is sending back the $10M stimulus loan it got under PPP so the money can go to “restaurants who need it most.” https://bit.ly/2xACV1V
Calif. companies filed a class-action suit against JPMorgan Chase alleging unfair business practices toward small businesses seeking PPP loans. https://bit.ly/2XQv2jj
The latest PPP deal designates a portion of the money for smaller businesses without relationships with banks who had a harder time accessing funds in the first round.
Coronavirus PPP loans left small firms confused, wary and rushing to secure cash to survive. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/usaandmain/2020/04/13/coronavirus-small-businesses-scramble-secure-federal-ppp-loans/5133984002/
Bigger checks? Relief for states? Here's what could be in the next coronavirus bill: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/20/coronavirus-bigger-stimulus-checks-aid-states-may-next-bill/5164564002/
Talks over the next round of stimulus include possible $2,000 per month for all Americans, 16 or older, who earn up to $130k a year. https://bit.ly/3bpsigX
Health care workers on the front lines might get “hazard pay” in the next stimulus package. Trump has suggested bonuses.
Congressional leaders and the Trump administration haggled for weeks over details in the plan before coming to an agreement Tuesday.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin asked Congress this month for an additional $250B in emergency funds to bolster the program. Democrats objected to the GOP offer, demanding more for hospitals, state/local govts and food stamps.
USA TODAY fact check: Can banks keep stimulus payments to collect on outstanding fees and debts? https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/04/20/fact-check-can-banks-keep-covid-19-stimulus-checks-collect-debts/5156033002/
TX Rep. Joaquin Castro called the suspension of immigration an attempt to divert attention from "Trump’s failure" to stop the virus and an “authoritarian-like move" https://bit.ly/2XPmKsa
Over the past weeks, the administration has made moves to clamp down on asylum seekers and immigrants seeking entry into the country. https://bit.ly/2XPmKsa
Critics contend that Trump is using the crisis to further policies that have long been focused on making it more difficult for foreigners to live and work in the US.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the US, Trump and NY Gov. Cuomo have taken turns praising and attacking each other over testing, ventilators and PPE. https://bit.ly/3btOYfU
NY's Cuomo has argued the federal government must do far more, and at other times has thanked Trump for the administration's effort.
Cuomo has said: You shouldn’t expect governors to run around and do an international supply chain while trying to put together testing protocol in their states.
US coronavirus toll: nearly 44,000 deaths, 816,000 infections as of Tuesday. Worldwide cases are 2.5 million with 175,800 dead. https://bit.ly/2VmUeMG
LabCorp on Tuesday received FDA authorization for kits that enable people to collect nasal swab samples at home and mail them to a lab for testing. https://bit.ly/2ywNlzG
USA TODAY fact check: The US is getting a handle on how many people are dying, but experts say the nation is likely amid an undercount of the true death toll. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/04/17/fact-check-covid-19-death-toll-likely-undercounted-not-overcounted/5155251002/
As of Tuesday, 35 states and DC had ordered or recommended school buildings remain closed through the rest of the school year. https://bit.ly/3cAwZok
Until there’s a vaccine “it’s unfortunately not unlikely that we may see a second wave or even a third wave,” says an FDA director who oversees vaccines. https://bit.ly/2RVp2SR
The FDA’s emergency-use authorization is the first for a COVID-19 in-home test. The procedure reduces the need for PPE because no clinician is required to take a sample.
Antibody testing: Instead of looking in our throats for coronavirus, health care workers look for signs in blood that we developed antibodies to fight the virus. https://bit.ly/2RSZLZq
