Senate Overwhelmingly Passes House’s Coronavirus Bill, Immediately Switches Attention To ‘Phase 3’ Stimulus Package

Reuters: U.S. Senate Passes One Coronavirus Aid Package While Working On Another
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation on Wednesday providing billions of dollars to limit the damage from the coronavirus pandemic through free testing, paid sick leave and expanded safety-net spending. President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, and Congress and the White House are discussing additional stimulus measures that could cost more than $1 trillion. Lawmakers in the Republican-led Senate largely set aside their ideological divisions, passing the legislation by a bipartisan vote of 90-8, with all “no” votes coming from Republicans. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives also passed the bill by an overwhelming bipartisan margin last Saturday. (Cowan and Morgan, 3/18)

Modern Healthcare: Trump Signs Second Major COVID-19 Relief Package
President Donald Trump has signed Congress' second major COVID-19 relief package which includes an increase in state Medicaid funding that hospitals liked and a requirement that insurers do not charge cost-sharing for services related to coronavirus testing. Here's a rundown of the major provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act relevant to the healthcare industry. The Senate passed the bill 90-8, and President Trump immediately signed it. (Cohrs, 3/18)

The Hill: Trump Signs Coronavirus Aid Package With Paid Sick Leave, Free Testing 
“The [Families First Coronavirus Response Act] makes emergency supplemental appropriations and other changes to law to help the Nation respond to the coronavirus outbreak,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday evening announcing he had signed the bill. (Chalfant, 3/18)

Reuters: Explainer: What's In The U.S. Coronavirus Aid Bill That Just Passed Congress?
The bill would provide free coronavirus testing for those who need it. The Trump administration has struggled to make such tests available. The legislation would require private healthcare insurers to pay for all testing costs for beneficiaries with medical coverage. It also would cover testing costs for people who receive health care through government-run programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. It provides $1 billion to the National Disaster Medical System, a coordinated healthcare system and partnership involving several federal agencies, to cover costs for people without medical insurance. (Sullivan, 3/18)

Politico: Senate Passes Coronavirus Package As Treasury Proposes Rescue With Emergency Checks
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans were inching closer on Wednesday to unveiling their proposal for a third, even larger stimulus package to address the epidemic, which is likely to include some of Treasury's ideas. The Senate’s approval Wednesday of the House-passed coronavirus bill, known as “phase two,” comes as Republican senators are expected to begin negotiations with Democrats on a trillion-dollar “phase three” stimulus package as early as Wednesday night. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backed the House bill, which grants paid sick leave to hourly employees and expands unemployment insurance. “It is a well-intentioned bipartisan product assembled by House Democrats and President Trump’s team that tries to stand up and expand some new relief measures for American workers,” McConnell (R-Ky.) said of the House bill, which House lawmakers passed early Saturday and later approved technical corrections on Monday. (Levine and Desiderio, 3/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Passes Paid-Leave Bill To Combat Pandemic, Turns To Administration’s Stimulus Plan
In remarks Wednesday morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) criticized the prospect of a one-time cash grant to Americans. He has laid out his own $750 billion stimulus plan that includes expanding unemployment insurance and a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. Mr. Schumer also warned against putting a focus on economic stimulus to the exclusion of other priorities, and said other issues needed to be addressed, like increasing the supply of masks, hospital beds and ventilators. “Now, a few of my Republican colleagues have proposed a one-time cash payment of $1,000. But my fellow Americans, this is not a time for small thinking. This is not a time for small measures. This is a time to be bold, to be aggressive,” he said. (Hughes, Davidson and Duehren, 3/18)

The Hill: Senate Republicans Eye $75K Income Threshold For Coronavirus Checks 
Senate GOP negotiators are eyeing income thresholds of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples for the direct payments President Trump has proposed to ease the economic impact of the coronavirus. Republican senators say they want to model direct payments on the stimulus checks former President George W. Bush sent out in 2008 during the financial crisis. Twelve years ago, the rebates were reduced for individual incomes above $75,000 and joint incomes above $150,000. (Bolton, 3/18)

The Hill: GOP Embraces Big Stimulus After Years Of Decrying It 
A $1 trillion federal stimulus. Bailouts for crippled industries. Cash payments to every American. Soaring deficits into the indefinite future. No, it’s not the Obama-era response to the Great Recession; it’s the Republicans’ plan to brace the plummeting economy amid sinking markets and mass layoffs resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic. (Lillis and Wong, 3/18)

Politico: Pelosi Looks To Lay Down Marker On Next Stimulus Plan
House Democrats are drafting a new stimulus bill to address the coronavirus pandemic — legislation designed as their counter-offer to a trillion-dollar package currently being assembled in the Republican-controlled Senate. On a private call Wednesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi directed her leadership team and committee chairs to begin further efforts to address the looming economic disaster caused by the growing coronavirus crisis. (Caygle, Bresnahan and Ferris, 3/18)

The New York Times: Washington Weighs Big Bailouts To Help U.S. Economy Survive Coronavirus
The scale of the problem is unlike anything Washington has faced before: The financial crisis, which sent unemployment skyrocketing to 10 percent, centered on foreclosures and the banking sector while this crisis is springing from dozens of places at once, as restaurants and movie theaters shut down, factories close and airplanes, public trains and buses run nearly empty of passengers. (Tankersley and Casselman, 3/18)

The Associated Press: Virus Poses A Test: Can Fractured Washington Still 'Go Big'?
The fast-moving coronavirus upending every facet of American life is testing whether Washington, a capital city fractured by years of bitter partisanship and inaction, can still do big things. Not since the Great Recession of 2008, and before that the 9/11 attacks, has the federal government attempted to mount such an ambitious response to an emergency, and so quickly. The country’s once-revered, now often maligned institutions — from the White House to Congress to the Federal Reserve — are being summoned into action to shoulder the lift. (Mascaro and Taylor, 3/19)

The Hill: House Lawmakers Look To Tamp Down Panic, Amp Up Response Efforts In Their Districts 
As the concerns over the spread of coronavirus continue to grow, a number of House lawmakers are working to tamp down panic and put response plans into action back in their home districts. Lawmakers recently passed two emergency coronavirus relief packages and are working on a third, but outside of the steps being taken in the Capitol, members said they’ve been working with local officials to ensure individuals have access to the proper information and resources needed to combat the virus as efficiently as possible. (Brufke, 3/18)

Reuters: Two Members Of U.S. Congress Test Positive For Coronavirus
Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida and Ben McAdams of Utah, said on Wednesday they had tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first members of Congress known to have contracted the respiratory illness. (3/18)

The Hill: Utah Democrat Becomes Second Lawmaker To Test Positive For Coronavirus 
Rep. Ben McAdams (D-Utah) announced Wednesday he tested positive for the coronavirus after developing symptoms on Saturday. McAdams, 45, is the second lawmaker to test positive for COVID-19. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), 58, announced his diagnosis shortly before the Utah Democrat. (Brufke, 3/18)

The Hill: Congressional Testimony On Pause For White House Officials Handling Coronavirus Response
The White House is temporarily stopping top officials engaged in the response to the coronavirus pandemic from giving testimony in hearings on Capitol Hill. "While the Trump Administration continues its whole-of-government approach to stopping the spread of COVID-19, it is counter-productive to have the very individuals involved in response efforts appearing at Congressional hearings," deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere said in a statement. "We are committed to working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time." (Samuels, 3/18)

CNN: Ron Johnson Questions Federal Guidance Issued To Fight Coronavirus As Cases And Deaths Rise 
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson cast doubt on the severity of federally issued guidance aimed at staunching the spread of the novel coronavirus, urging people to consider the economic drawbacks of the recommendations as health officials plead with the American public to heed them. "I'm not denying what a nasty disease COVID-19 can be, and how it's obviously devastating to somewhere between 1 and 3.4 percent of the population," Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday. "But that means 97 to 99 percent will get through this and develop immunities and will be able to move beyond this." (Kelly, 3/19)

The Washington Post: GOP Senator Says Only Small Percentage Of Population Might Die Of Coronavirus
As President Trump cast the nation’s battle against the coronavirus as war, one high-ranking Republican senator seemed to play down the gravity of the pandemic, saying the number of Americans who might die would be 3.4 percent of the population at most. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, called covid-19 a “nasty disease” that is devastating to those who contract it. (Itkowitz, 3/18)

The Washington Post: Congress Reviewed Its Doomsday Plans After 9/11. It Never Envisioned A Threat Like The Coronavirus.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin sat in a leadership meeting Monday night in the same room he was in the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, with the location and today’s environment reminding him of that fateful day. “Looking down the Mall, as the white black smoke came across from the Pentagon. I remember it well,” the Illinois Democrat said in an interview Tuesday. (Kane, 3/18)