Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'We Need To Do It': McConnell Wants COVID-Relief Bill By End Of The Year
Louisville Courier Journal: Mitch McConnell Wants Congress To Pass COVID-19 Relief Package In 2020
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he wants Congress to pass a new coronavirus relief package by the end of this year, regardless of which party wins control of the White House and the Senate in the 2020 election. Hot off his own reelection victory Tuesday night, McConnell expressed hope that Democrats and Republicans who are currently in office will come together to finally approve a fresh round of long-awaited aid, even though negotiations in recent months have failed. (Watkins, 11/4)
The Washington Post: McConnell Wants A New Stimulus Bill When Senate Returns
McConnell’s comments could open the door to a new phase in economic relief talks that have sputtered off and on for months. Most recently the key players have been House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who spent many hours negotiating around an approximately $2 trillion package that McConnell and Senate Republicans viewed as too costly. (Werner, 11/4)
In related news about COVID's economic toll —
CNBC: U.S. Economy Needs 'Really Big' Covid Relief Package, Says Paul Krugman
The U.S. may need several hundred billion dollars a month in “disaster relief” to keep the economy afloat as a raging coronavirus outbreak continues to suppress prospects for workers and businesses, Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said on Thursday. “We really are still very much in the disaster relief stage,” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia.” “A lot of people are going to be out of work, a lot of businesses are going to be stressed. We need to just make life tolerable for them,” he added. (Nee Lee, 11/5)
The Washington Post: Apartment Company Owned By Jared Kushner Moves To Evict Hundreds Of Families As Moratoriums Expire
Westminster Management, an apartment company owned in part by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, has submitted hundreds of eviction filings in court against tenants with past due rent during the pandemic, according to interviews with more than a dozen tenants and a review of hundreds of the company’s filings. (O'Connell, Gregg and Narayanswamy, 11/5)
The Washington Post: How A Contested Election Impacts Your Finances And The Economy
Americans woke up Wednesday morning to an undecided presidential election, which could be the case for some time, depending on legal challenges and recounts. For the economy, that means uncertainty is here to stay in 2020. Business leaders and investors tend to hate uncertainty, and this political situation adds more of it as the nation is already dealing with a second big wave of coronavirus cases and a contentious battle in Congress over another stimulus package. The early read among economists and Wall Street analysts is to buckle up for a wild few weeks. (Long, 11/4)
Anchorage Daily News: Does Wearing A Mask Help The Economy? An Alaska Economist Weighs In On Incentives To Slow Virus Spread And Avoid A Lockdown
Kevin Berry is an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he researches how people respond to risks like wildfires, climate change and pandemics — he even wrote his dissertation on pandemic prevention. These days, he also teaches a course on pandemic economics at UAA, and he recently participated in a briefing where Anchorage leaders, hospital officials and business representatives urged the public to dial up efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 and help keep businesses open .Berry agreed to speak with the Daily News about the pandemic’s impact on the economy. (Krakow, 11/4)
